‘The Potter’s Field’ by Andrea Camilleri
Wednesday 3rd December – Wednesday 10th December
I won’t go into too much detail here as I think I have already written everything there is for me to say about Andrea Camilleri’s novels. Even then, I am probably repeating myself.
What I enjoy most is not so much the story as the opportunity to spend time with the characters. Even though I’m not sure I’d like them as much if they were real people, I enjoy reading the books a great deal and it’s always because of the characters rather than the pretty grim stories.
‘Art as Therapy’ by Alain de Botton and John Armstrong
Wednesday 10th December – Friday 19th December
This was a bit of treat with the rest of my leaving-present voucher. It had first caught my eye in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam back in the spring.
In this book, de Botton and Armstrong argue that art is consumed in the wrong ways currently. That we are often left unimpressed because we are told that a painting is impressive without a proper explanation as to why. They contend that we need different art for different purposes and that carefully selected pieces can make us more rounded, balanced individuals.
This is the kind of argument that at first reading can sound like the ramblings of delusional intellectuals or the insight of someone who is capable of looking from a different angle and declaring that in fact the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. Their arguments are certainly persuasive, not least because at times they managed to articulate something which had nagged at the back of my mind when visiting galleries – that a piece of world-famous art isn’t actually all that engaging.
‘The Outsider – A History of the Goalkeeper’ by Jonathan Wilson
Friday 19th December – Thursday 1st January 2015
I don’t think I’m stumbling across anything new when I say that certain writers write a certain way. I don’t think George Pelecanos is capable of writing anything other than a crime novel that ends in a violent shoot-out (and the bad guy inevitably dies), and I don’t think Jonathan Wilson is capable of writing in a different style from this. It suffers from the same flaws as ‘Nobody Ever Says Thank You’ but has the same redeeming qualities too. As ever, the level of research that has gone into this book makes me wonder if Wilson ever sleeps (knowing as I do that he combines his time between South America, Africa, the UK, editing the Blizzard magazine and writing for any sports website/publication that will pay him) and there is lots of interesting information conveyed to the reader throughout.
As mentioned above, it does have flaws: the slightly dry style, a common theme with ‘Nobody Ever Says Thank You’ and the inclusion of some rather dated and seemingly pointless anecdotes which led me to believe that the text was being padded somewhat. As a result, I would question who decides that this book needs to be written as a book, Wilson himself or his publisher. In the end the book goes from a history of the role of goalkeepers in general to a succession of detailed pen-pictures of significant keepers over the last century or so, loosely grouped according to the theme of the chapter. I guess this is where the book comes from – it’s too long to make a readable article on a website (and probably requiring too much research to make such a prospect profitable for JW), but probably lacking enough material for the full-length book to be an outright success.
Perhaps I’m casting JW in the role he identifies the goalkeeper here and picking up on a few mistakes rather than highlighting the many successes of this book. It is successful in analysing the origins of the role and identifying why it is regarded with such wariness by most people, and charting the subsequent evolution of the role, influenced by the changes in rules and tactics over time. In all, it should be applauded for covering all the angles and not remembered for straying from its line occasionally.
This came highly recommended by Emma and she was right on the money. It very rapidly had me hooked to the point that I think I read it in about five large chunks rather than steadily over the course of the ten days. The story is not what I would usually read in some ways, but that meant it was a refreshing change rather than a strange, foreign experience. I would definitely recommend it to virtually anyone as a very good thriller.
Tuesday 18th November -Wednesday 3rd December 
This was a leaving present from Lili, and came highly recommended. In the end, I think I read it in about five large chunks rather than steadily and consistently. While I don’t think Ken MacLeod is a brilliant writer, he had some great ideas and managed to make the book very readable. The future society he created was very convincing and there were some original ideas in there too, for example the idea that trees had been genetically modified to process more greenhouse gases and so were causing the climate to change just as dramatically as it is in reality, but instead it was making the planet colder, not warmer. If this book had a weakness it would be the ending. It was hard to predict where the book was going, but when the ending came it came suddenly and seemed a little contrived and vaguely explained. However, I was reading late at night, so it could be the case that the last couple of chapters would be better served by a second reading. That shouldn’t detract totally from what was otherwise an entertaining and diverting novel.
Taking a break from ‘Perfidia’ I decided the best plan was to whizz through a Montalbano novel as these provide a refreshingly light read whenever called upon.
Having enjoyed the break from Perfidia, I decided to read another. I picked this out from the pile of unread books as it pandered to my interest in both Italy and Italian football. Clearly, I got through it very quickly – 450-odd pages in less than a week. However, that shouldn’t disguise the fact that it was a disappointment.
Taking a break from ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ and in preparation for the imminent publication of ‘Perfidia’, I decided to treat myself to a James Ellroy. I re-read my favourite, ‘White Jazz’ a couple of years ago, so I was then torn between either ‘L.A. Confidential’ and ‘American Tabloid’ – and as you can see, ‘L.A. Confidential’ won.
Phil's Space 