planet impiazzi

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk
A murder mystery and love story framed by a philosophical debate on the nature and meaning of art in the Eastern and Western traditions, this is an exotic and fascinating novel, very different to your run-of-the-mill English language whodunnit.
Pamuk is Turkish and his writing emerges from an Asian/Islamic culture. This story - many stories within stories - told by a multiplicity of narrators, is set in Istanbul in the late 16th century. Pamuk tells of intrigue, murder and scandal among the artists in the Sultan's workshop, revealing a history and culture that is a revelation to European "infidels" such as myself (no matter how enlightened and un-Eurocentric I might like to think I am!). At the same time Pamuk's writing challenges the Western reader with a narrative voice and style that is distinctly Eastern.
It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did I was captivated, thoroughly immersed in the lives of the characters, and keen to get to the bottom of the murder mystery - I didn't manage to work out who the culprit was though!.
So give this a go. Persevere if you find it difficult to get used to the style. It is well worth the effort.

Last week was madly busy - three nights out socialising in a row, then one in with my cats, then a party. A veritable whirlwind. This week should be a bit quieter, I hope.

I gave up on Allen Carr's stop smoking book. Last time I read it I did stop for a little while, but this time it just wasn't getting to me. I got very bored with it. At the Bookcrossing meet up last week I picked up a few good novels and I was just itching to get on with them.Then on Friday there was stuff in the news about Orhan Pamuk being in court in Turkey for 'denigrating Turkishness' by raising historical human rights issues. As My Name is Red was sitting there on my 'to be read' pile, I couldn't resist it. I didn't really get much chance to read over the weekend, but so far I'm enjoying it.

This is my last week working for social services. I finish on Friday and have a lovely 10 day break before I start my new job at CarPlus. Looking forward to the new challenge - although I will miss my colleagues.

Finished reading, and thoroughly enjoyed The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills. This was on the Booker shortlist a few years ago, and deserved to be. It is a story about a trio of fence erectors, manual labourers, working away from home, in the middle of winter, living in a battered old caravan. These men take for granted the repetitiveness of their daily work, and grudgingly (though with much swearing) put up with the contempt shown to them by practically everyone they meet. Their lives revolve around frequent 'fag breaks' and nights in the pub. Mills has managed to write a very funny book - very dry - about what is quite frankly a completely miserable existence for these men. It is easy to draw an analogy between the fences they build - to restrain beasts - and the fact that their own lives are similarly restrained. There seems to be no escape for them - whatever they try to do to relieve the bone-wearing tedium, they are knocked back into place. But their spirit ensures that they will drain the last drop sustenance out of any situation, just as they will drain the last drop out of the last pint, (even if it means having no money left to buy breakfast). I found this to be a very refreshing novel that, in spite of December dusk and drizzle, celebrates the grit and determination of a downtrodden working-class.

I got bored of The Unconsoled, so picked Amsterdam by Ian McEwan off my 'to be read' shelf. I don't really see why this won the Booker. Yes, it is well written and readable, but nothing special. It's the usual McEwan fare: a dark story of arrogant men digging themselves into ever deeper holes - a modern morality tale where pride most certainly comes before a fall, and the reader can't help but feel pleased at the inevitable downfall of the unpleasant, two-dimensional protagonists.

I read Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland almost in one sitting. Told in four parts by four different characters, Hey Nostradamus! is the story of Jason Klaasen, and the effect a high school gun massacre has on his life, his family, and the community in which he lives. Coupland examines the ways in which people deal with faith and grief, and considers personal morality and the ways people seek to understand and justify the rights and wrongs that are part of their everyday experience. Each narrator delivers their story in a direct and open style, as if talking to someone close to them, creating a very readable, easily consumed text - although the subject matter is not always so easy to digest. But this is an affecting and enjoyable read.

I'm not very nice when I'm not well, and this week I've been full of cold. So I've been avoiding humanity, tucked up in bed reading most of the time. I'm hoping to be feeling better tomorrow because it's Gav's birthday and I'd really like to join the gang for a few drinks.

Anyway, like I said I've been reading and finished Anil's Ghost this afternoon. A very serious, thoughtful book. The story follows forensic pathologist Anil Tissera to Sri Lanka, her homeland (after many years away), to investigate death & disappearance for a human rights organisation. Her journey takes her and her colleagues into their own pasts, forcing them to confront their own ghosts, as well as examining history and conflict within the country. Ondaatje's careful prose, layered like Anil's forensic investigation, gradually reveals painful truths, both personal and political for characters and context. This wasn't an easy read, but it was a compelling and moving one that helps to give some perspective to what here in the West often appears to be a superficial world.