(Hurrah to everyone who recognises that subject line.)
It's been two long weeks since I've updated, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about books and, indeed, reading them. I finished Barbara Ewing's The Circus of Ghosts recently (having been given a free copy by the publishers - thanks). I'd really recommend it. I think it's the follow-on novel of a previous title, but I only realised this when I was flicking through the list of Ewing's other titles. Anyway, if it is a sequel of sorts, it's not lacking at all. Except that the plot is a bit distracted at times, but I think that's more to do with Ewing that its sequentiality. Sometimes I wasn't sure if this was a Dickensian reconstruction of London life (which it does extremely well), a mock-up of hectic New York tenements (also done very well), a fictionalisation of mid-Victorian science (again.....), or a love story (stories, would be more accurate). Even if Ewing never quite decided what her novel was meant to be, it was enjoyable nonetheless. For a book to require zero effort is normally bad thing for me, but Ewing's book was an unexpected delight. One for the mums, I think.
I finished that Murakami proof, and my review is forthcoming. See, it's such an excellent novel that I really want my review to do it justice. I'm a bit of a slow thinker and writer, so it'll take me a bit of time to draft something that I think does it justice. Also, it doesn't come out until October 18th, so it's not like there's any rush on that.
I'm now reading Antal Szerb's Journey by Moonlight, from which I am expecting excellent things. As I understand it, if he had been an Anglophone writer (actually born Hungarian) he would easily be recognisable within the Anglophone canon. Because of his outsider status, he's taken a bit long to make his mark. Thus far, just 53 pages in, I can utterly see that he's far more gifted with words than most Anglophones are. With thanks to the Pushkin Press for publishing this!
For the future, I am hoping to do the following: write something about Auden (I got chatting to someone about him recently, and that reminded me how much more there is to him that just 'Stop all the clocks'); I'm hoping to read some Saramago, as, for professional reasons, I'll be going to an event about him; Lolita and Catch 22 will both be re-read, for Frances Wilson's book group at Somerset House (entitled 'How to become ridiculously well read in one year').
Sorry there are no pictures this time, but a boring list can only ever be that, illustration or no.
Keep reading, kids
x
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