About six months ago, I decided it was time for me to take on a literary "classic", so I picked up War & Peace off my bookshelf and dived in, determined to finish the book before the year was out.
Well, it's now the 2nd October and I've given up.One hundred and eighty-odd pages and I've had enough. I tried, I really did, but in the end the dense, hard-going prose got the better of me.
It's not the first 'classic' I've taken on, I hauled myself through Robinson Crusoe, and quite enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo, but neither of those could prepare me for the pure stodge of Tolstoy's novel.
Normally, I can sit down and read a good book for hours on end, sometimes long after I should really be asleep, but not this one. Sentence after sentence strained my eyes and hurt my brain, each new character sending me leafing backwards to work out who they were and what connection they had - and when I'd finally worked it out and resumed my place, I'd lost enthusiasm and gave up shortly afterward. I couldn't even bear to take it to Austria with me in May, I plumped for a trilogy of James Ellroy books, which I carried on with back home, with War & Peace sat neglected on my bedside table gathering dust.
Eventually, feeling guilty, I picked it up again and really dug in at the end of July and into August, even taking it on holiday to South Wales with me (yes, a second holiday, aren't I middle class?). Sadly though, I've not picked it up again since the beginning of September, and it doesn't fill me with excitement to think of doing so. Which has got me thinking...
Is it me? Or is it modern society in general that isn't able to handle such a literary challenge? It's safe to say that these days everything is given to us in easy to digest chunks, so when something like War & Peace comes along that requires commitment and concentration, we struggle. Welcome distractions like magazines, television or games consoles get in the way.
I've ready too many books to count in my lifetime, and this is only the second time I've given up on a book - the first time was Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. So maybe it's just the style of writing that has beaten me down.
I've read many Tony Parsons and Nick Hornby novels, and enjoyed the turning of every page, James Ellroy is also another of my favourites, and I can't remember how many times I've worked my way through the Adrian Mole canon (to the amusement and mocking of my family), and even as a youngster I was tackling Agatha Christie books before I left Primary School, so I know I'm not a stupid person (although my ex-wife did recently try to suggest I had mild Dyspraxia).
So, this post could be seen as a review, a poor one at that. But I am determined to return to War & Peace at some point in the future, and defeat the beast. For now though, I need to immerse myself in something a little lighter, so I will be picking up a book my brother gave me for my birthday back in July, 'Hope And Glory' by Stuart Maconie.
Just out of interest, are there any books that you readers have tried and given up on? If so, would you give it another go?
Three Quarters of this year has gone. Just like that. The Christmas juggernaut is truly in motion now. Has that terrified you to the core?
2012 marks fifty years since the very first time Bond, James Bond came onto our cinema screens, and this week, the Monday Mix-tape celebrates with ten of the best Bond themes, in no particular order, I hasten to add...
1) A View To A Kill - Duran Duran
Lots of dancing into fires!
2) Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings
Roger Moore's first Bond outing!
3) Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon
Apparently, you're the best!
4) The Living Daylights - A ha
One of Timothy Dalton's two Bond showings!
5) Thunderball - Tom Jones
Tom blasts his way through a Bond theme!
6) From Russia With Love - Matt Monro
Bond does easy listening!
7) We Have All The Time In The World - Louis Armstrong
Satchmo soundtracks George Lazenby!
8) Licence To Kill - Gladys Knight
The other Dalton as Bond film!
9) All Time High - Rita Coolidge
It's from Octopussy, and I've not heard of Rita before or since either!
10) James Bond Theme (from Dr No) - Monty Norman Orchestra
The iconic theme that started it all!
There you are, then. What I consider to be the best ten Bond themes. You may note an absence of more recent films being represented, and there is an explanation for that: they're not very good.
Enjoy these, and see you next week!
Hello again, everyone! Another week has flown past us, barely even registering on our radar. But that seems to be the way of things at the moment - going too fast.
This week I'm paying tribute to an artist that isn't everyone's cup of tea. His voice is instantly recognisable, perhaps not the best singer that there's ever been. It's Bob Dylan!!
1) Visions Of Johanna
Are you seeing things?!
2) All Along The Watchtower
The original made famous by Hendrix!
3) It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
Typical strange song title!
4) Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
Crazy stream of conscious story!
5) Simple Twist Of Fate
As simple as that?!
6) With God On Our Side
That's how alot of bad stuff is justified!
7) Gotta Serve Somebody
Basically, no matter who you are, there'll be someone above you!
8) All I Really Want To Do
That's really all he wants to do!
9) Girl From The North Country
Say Hi from me!
10) Like A Rolling Stone
The song that split his fanbase - going electric!
There you go, enjoy some Bob. Until next week!
In honour of the great City of Liverpool and the emotional journey of it's inhabitants over the past 23 years, this week's Monday Mix-tape is a celebration of Liverpool's musical heritage...
1) Ferry Cross The Mersey - Gerry & The Pacemakers
2) Confusion - The Zutons
3) Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles
4) Timeless Melody - The La's
5) Walkaway - Cast
6) Lucky You - The Lightning Seeds
7) Two Tribes - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
8) Nothing Lasts Forever - Echo & The Bunnymen
9) All Together Now - The Farm
10) Me And You Versus The World - Space
The date of the 12th September 2012 will forever be remembered as the day the UK, and probably the World, learned of the lengths the authorities went to in order to obscure the truth behind the worst Football disaster certainly in my memory, and probably in anyone's memory. On 15th April 1989, over 23 years ago, 96 people lost their lives at Hillsborough, the home of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.
Personally, I was only 8 years old at the time, and wasn't able to fully comprehend the meaning behind the pictures that were shown on Grandstand as the events unfolded. All I could think was 'Why aren't they playing football?' It's only been as I've grown older and read about it and heard about it that I was finally able to grasp the gravity of the matter. To think that 96 people left their homes on that fateful day to attend a football match, at what was a top division ground with history of hosting such games (FA Cup Semi-finals), and never returned is incomprehensible. To try and understand how their families have been feeling ever since is nigh on impossible.
I'm not going to go through what happened on the day, because it is well documented. What does need to be said is that at the time, the football supporter was tarred with the same brush as the football hooligan - trouble makers with only one thing on their mind: to cause mayhem and injury to rival supporters and the police, if possible.
A quick re-direction to the following article which was tweeted by Graham Linehan (writer of Father Ted, and the IT Crowd amongst other things) and written by someone under the name of 'Kerlarsenickoff', will help you to understand the atmosphere at the time...
http://kerlarsenickoff.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/dont-let-the-scouse-bashers-off-the-hook/
Now, I haven't seen the nuts and bolts of yesterday's document release, but the summary is pretty damning of the South Yorkshire Police authority. To learn that nearly half of the deaths could have been prevented by timely action and intervention is shocking in itself. But then put yourself into the place of the bereaved families, now surely left to wonder if their loved one(s) could have been saved. The original medical report stated that all 96 were either dead or brain-dead by 15 minutes past 3, but this has been shown to have been blatantly wrong.
Another re-direction, this time to the words of Henry Winter, Football Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/9539750/Hillsborough-families-will-get-justice-for-this-repugnant-and-heartless-horror-story-but-they-will-never-get-closure.html#
So, the truth is finally out there. The apologies have already been made by David Cameron on behalf of the Government, by Jack Straw for not pushing harder for full disclosure during his tenure in Government, and by The Sun newspaper, who so badly misjudged the balance between sensationalism, sales and the truth to the effect that I don't know if they sell any copies of their tawdry rag on Merseyside.
However, apologies alone should and can not be the end of it. The Hillsborough Families will unite in their desire to see criminal convictions for those found to have doctored statements, or any other act of criminality within the findings of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, and so they should. The nation will be behind them.
Finally, I take you to a BBC article published on their website earlier this evening, which also allows you to read more about the whole sorry debacle...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19592455
I for one will be waiting to see what happens.
JFT96
