And Another Book By this author in Matthew Quick,Quick Time

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Late last month regular readers to this blog may remember I chatted about Matthew Quick's novel The Reason You're Alive. Essentially I didn't like it. Feeling for reasons that the post chatted about that it was too American Republican for my taste and best avoided.

Well in the random way I pick books from the library I'd taken out The Good Luck Of Right Now by the same author, which I'd mentioned last week in passing in my post on the American football match in Llanharan I saw last week.

So I've never read a book by this writer and like London buses two come along in Matthew Quick succession.

Now I've finished the novel let me say this.....I loved it.

Essentially it's about a thirty nine year old man who lived with his mother who had to adjust to life since her death. He is clever but not emotionally attuned rather like a younger version of  Zachary Addy in Bones.

It's a quirky novel filled with quirky characters trying to cope with the quirky things that life brings. I won't say that the plot points will surprise you. There's one particular twist that's not so much telegraphed as lit up Las Vegas style. But that doesn't matter. It's watching different individuals deal with things that makes this book readable and indeed recommended.

Now the fact that I've read two novels by the same writer and have had two different reactions to them made me think. Of course I have favourite authors. But the chances of such a different response seems to occur more in books than in films or television. Why? Well I suspect we readers invest more in the book, we immerse ourselves in it. More than say TV for example where you know you're not in an island looking for treasure or trying to get around the world in eighty days. As a consequence the writer has more of a chance that the reader will consider a different work in a different light.

Also writers for the printed page are more likely to experiment with different genres/forms. So if your taste is not for a comedy then a Science Fiction novel set in a parallel universe might help you like a writer instead.

Random from the top of my head without doing any research I know. But interesting nonetheless.

Until the next time.

On Cardiff City, American Football In Wales, and The South Wales Valleys....As You Do.

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

As I'm writing this the biggest sporting news is that Cardiff City have won promotion to the Premier League after four years. This time they'll be managed by Neil Warnock (author of The Gaffer which I've discussed in this blog and is a good read)..

More than Swansea City it'll be very easy for me to go and watch them play West Ham. I've done it before. All I need to do is to pretend to be a Bluebird and look dejected when West ham win whilst keeping a monk-like silence so no one will suspect that inside I'll be happy as Larry...whoever he was.

Aside from that though I genuinely wish them well (along with Swansea City, Newport and Leyton Orient). I suspect for Cardiff City next season. A dull but stable season will suit most people fine.

But whilst they were getting promotion I was watching a different sport. American Football in fact from the British National Football League. The Welsh team, the South Wales Warriors were playing and I kid you not The Jurassic Coast Raptors from Dorset. Arguably the most stupid name in American Football history.

I like American football, with it's combination of violence and chess and as it was free to watch and wife/daughter didn't have anything better to counter it with I decided to go to Llanharan Rugby Club where the game was being held by myself (they don't like the sport).

As I took my spot the Welsh team were doing their pre match training. There was eventually a fair crowd for this game, given that the players were mainly doing this for the love of the sport and not for multi-million pound contracts. Still rules are rules. A bearded man with a clipboard asked a player whether he had a Warrior strip. Given that the player was wearing the strip he was not impressed.

Next the coach introduced the team to the team to wops and cheers from the team.

The Green Army

After that he told the players he expected a high score from them. He needn't have worried as it soon became clear that this game was going to get one sided as once the Warriors scored a touchdown they soon scored another one."They're not pushing" was a comment I heard one of the Warrior players make on their opponents. And it was true. I'd put more effort in opening a Jam jar than the Raptors did on the pitch.

After touchdown two

In all honesty the Raptors were an awful team. I could only recall one significant drive they had. And they didn't score from that.

After the third touchdown you knew it was going to be the sort of victory where the opposition had neither the energy, talent or resolve to beat the Warriors.

Half time. Time for food. A Hot Dog and a Pepsi. Wouldn't have been more American at that moment unless singing a Country and Western tune.

After I had the hot dog I was reading one of the two books I'd borrowed from the library. It was this:

Matthew Quick - The Good Luck Of Right Now

Regular readers will know I didn't like the last book of his I read. I won't chat about this properly until I've finished but so far so good.

The Warriors Half Time Warm-Up

Soon after the second half started the Welsh side scored again. I'd lost count by this time.

And then they scored again. and again. Come the last quarter I knew I was going to leave early. Why? Because you could tell that the Warriors Jurassic performance had like their Dinosaur namesake rolled over and died. There was a sort of surrender in their performance which meant it was pointless to stay on. And I left with about five minutes remaining.

"The game's not over" said the offensive coach to his men as I was walking passed them. Trust me it was over a long while before that.

I decided to drive around the South Wales Valleys before I went home. It was a spur of the moment thing. So I didn't stop until I reached somewhere near Treherbert. Still the views were stunning. Here they are.











And let me repeat. If my wife dies before me I'm moving to Treorchy. No matter what my wife or her Cardiff friends and family think. And this is the reason why. Let's face it. If I didn't tell you where I was you'd think France or Tuscany.

Until the next time.

The Reason You're Alive By Matthew Quick :American Conservative Literature?

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

So I finished yesterday one of the library books I'd borrowed a few weeks back which was this (even though I did a spoiler alert in the title)

Not Easy On The Eyes This Cover

Now the cover revals that Mr Quick was the author of The Silver Linings Playbook. I'd heard of the film, didn't realise it was a book, haven't seen/read either.

The best thing I can say about this novel was that it was readable. I'll give it that. Ultimately though I didn't like it. Firstly because until the end there are few moments in this book where anything really happens. It is mainly a reminiseence by the main character Vietnam War Veteran David Granger.

He is not just a war veteran but a Republican. It's his views that permeate the book. So that it's the sort of narrative where he is not just right politically but in everything else as well. He might be aware that he has certain flaws. But these are caused by what others inflicted on him. Such as him not being on good relations with his son is partly due to him being "a liberal".

He is not racist....apart from being of the view that all muslems are terrorists. Equally disturbingly he seems to think that paedophilia is accteptable if a) Done "back in the day" b) Consensual c) If your mind's messed up due to having fought in a war.

America is "the best country in the world". Well I'm old enough to say it isn't. Nowhere is perfect. Everywhere has problems they're just different.

The fact that it was a Conservative book did not bother me (I've praised Jeffrey Archer in this blog!).It's more the lack of nuance, subtlety that's annoying.

For all I know there may be hidden subtexts that I didn't catch. I don't think so. But you know any book is irritating where it has these so well hidden that you'd have to use infra red technology to highlight them.

The book cover of the UK paperback edition is interesting. Firstly the blurb says that the book "challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in others". That presumably refers to the politics. Also there are five comments of praise. None though from any British and only one from an American newspaper, which I think tells you how it was received.

So the question is this. Would this book have been published in Britain if it wasn't for The Silver Linings Playbook?

I don't think so.

Until the next time.