Review: The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language by Mark Forsyth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was an excellent book that pulls off the very hard trick of telling a story about language in a way that is both humorous and informative. Based on what were originally blog posts, the short format lends itself to bite-size chapters that work very well, with each chapter feeding off the next in a way that leaves your wanting to read just one more chapter before you put the light out.
Now, if you’re like me, you’ll need to read this book twice. (At least.) It’s so informative and so full of interesting anecdotes that you’ll want to remember them, and quite frankly one reading is not enough. If, unlike me, you have a photographic memory, you may find you want to read the book a second time anyway. It’s that good.
The Etymologicon was a surprise Christmas hit for many people in the UK, and it’s easy to see why. And you can continue to get your etymological fix by following Mark Forsyth’s blog on http://www.inkyfool.com
Review: Kidnapped
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Many years ago, I read a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, which taught me that I didn’t really get on with reading stories written in Scottish dialect. Now, with a lot of water under the bridge, I thought I’d give Stevenson another go. The result? I still don’t get on with reading stories written in a Scottish dialect. Even with the help of the occasional footnote and the Kindle’s on-board dictionary, I found it distracting and hard to follow, and I just didn’t get on with it.
As to the story of Kidnapped itself, it’s interesting enough, though perhaps a bit plain to a modern reader. I was impressed by the descriptions of the Scottish wilds – Stevenson does a marvellous job of making it feel like you’re in a completely foreign country, which, I suppose, compared to the modern world, you are. There are similarities to Treasure Island in some of the scenes in which David Balfour is wandering the countryside. I don’t know whether Treasure Island or Kidnapped came first, but I’m sure one must have influenced the other.
But overall? Not really a story I enjoyed to any degree.
Review: Read This Before Our Next Meeting
Read This Before Our Next Meeting by Al Pittampalli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Very short book about getting the best use out of meetings in the office. I must admit, this book was better than i expected it to be, and after starting it with tongue very firmly in cheek I found myself being drawn in by its advice. Written from a very idealistic point of view, it advises, essentially, that you only ever have a meeting in order to ratify a decision, and shifts the focus from meetings to memos. I’m not entirely sure that this isn’t just shifting the burden of responsibility without actually saving any time or doing anything more effectively, but for the short investment of time needed to read this book, I challenge anyone not to come away without having got at least one useful piece of information. The FAQ-style final chapter is actually a pretty effective way of convincing the reader that, yes, you could make this style of meeting work in your office. An interesting read.
Review: Getting the Words Right
Getting the Words Right by Theodore A. Rees Cheney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pretty good, if somewhat overlong, book that gives you the basic rules for writing and revision to ensure that, whatever you’re writing, you end up with the perfect message (principles which, I should add, I’m not using here!). Divided into 39 chapters, one for each “rule”, Cheney argues quite effectively that the process splits into three basic principles, reduce, rearrange, and reword. This, of course, oversimplifies things horribly, but serves as a useful way of splitting up the book.
I felt that the book loses its way in the middle a little, though perhaps it’s not intended to be read from cover to cover in one go. The author does admit in the Afterword that if you’ve read the whole book, you probably have the patience to write one! However, it does end up on a very good high, the last chapter being devoted to common word mistakes and misunderstandings. While this could so easily have been a boring end, churning out the same old principles that schoolteachers have been preaching for years, it was actually a pretty fascinating quick-fire final round for the book, addressing some issues that I already knew about, and some that were completely new to me (who knew the difference between nauseous and nauseated? Not me!)
The book is written by an American, and does suffer on occasion from US-English advice, though not too much, and some of the examples have clearly suffered from the “Kindle-ising” process – there was a section where the examples should clearly have had some form of crossing out or editing that just didn’t appear in the Kindle version – but overall this is a good reference.
Review: Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
It’s very difficult reviewing a literary classic when you don’t feel able to give it unconditional praise. Well, it is for me anyway – perhaps that says something about me. I know that Madame Bovary is considered a pinnacle of the literary form. I know that it was meticulously written, has hidden patterns and is acknowledged by many great people as a triumph of the written form. But for me? Well, I thought it was OK.
Some parts of it I thought were terribly good. The grisly descriptions of the attempts to repair a club foot and the subsequent infection, gangrene, and amputation, were great fun. Emma Bovary’s paranoia at various times throughout the book, and ultimately when she poisons herself, are gripping. And there was much else about the book that I enjoyed. But I found quite a lot of the book unentertaining; there are many sections where little happens, many unnecessary (to my mind) lists of medical terms. Broad swathes of text which I found, frankly, boring.
And finally – and this, for me is the biggest criticism of the book – I just didn’t relate to any of the characters. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I have to like the characters to enjoy a book – far from it. I’ve enjoyed many books that were devoid of characters that I liked. But I just couldn’t relate to many of the characters in Madame Bovary. Emma herself is self-centred, naive, ultimately annoying. Her husband is too blinkered to be quite believable. Her various lovers seem to me to be just there for decoration, and Mme Bovary senior was just the stereotypical domineering mother-in-law.
This was a book I appreciated, I enjoyed in parts, but that I just couldn’t love.
Review: Separate Tables
Separate Tables by Terence Rattigan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Warning: this review contains spoilers.
I’m currently rehearsing this play for a production, so I think I can count as having read this book 
Terence Rattigan (and I’m not the first person to have said this) is enjoying a bit of a renaissance at the moment, and quite rightly so, in my opinion. Historically, Rattigan’s fame was somewhat undermined by the “new boys” of 50s drama: the Osbournes, the Pinters, the Millers, and their ilk. As a result, Rattigan was seen as rather old-school: to be classified with older, more traditional playwrights such as Noel Coward. Thankfully, the arts community now tacitly admits that this was a mistake, that there was far more to Rattigan’s genius than has been previously admitted, and hence we find Rattigan playing to audiences the country over.
Rattigan was, perhaps, the first playwright to seriously address many of the unmentionable social problems of the day – problems which are still just as relevant today. Themes such as suicide, depression, homosexuality, and politics litter his plays, but each is presented in such a subtle, well-crafted way that Rattigan’s plays seem neither drab nor depressing. The new boys of post-war drama can crawl back into their holes: Rattigan did it sooner, and better.
And so to Separate Tables, perhaps his most famous piece. Comprising two connected one act plays, both set in the same Bournemouth hotel, and set 18 months apart, we see in these plays life laid bare, from the mundane to the extreme. Some of the characters appear in both plays, while others appear in just the one. All of them are the products of the mind of someone who can observe human behaviour in its minutest detail.
The first play, “Table By The Window”, tells the story of John Malcolm, journalist, soak, wife-beater and has-been politician, and his poisonous love affair with his ex-wife, model Anne Shankland. Now there is a complicated relationship! The scenes with John and Anne together are particularly beautifully written and well-observed (Anne’s reactions to John’s somewhat idealistic rants are spot on), but John’s relationship with Pat Cooper, the hotel manageress, is also poignant. Her resignation to her situation with John is a wonderful contrast to John and Anne’s eventual (and inevitably doomed) decision.
The second play, “Table Number Seven” tells the story of the fall from grace of another hotel regular, Major Pollock. Rattigan actually wrote two versions of this play. In the earliest, and least well known, Pollock is arrested for trying to proposition men at night on the local pier. However, Rattigan himself felt that this would be too controversial for the staid old 1950s audiences, and so published a somewhat tamer version in which Pollock tries to feel the knees of women in the local cinema. Time marches on, however, and while neither seem particularly controversial nowadays, the “cinema” version does seem quite tame.
In “Table Number Seven”, the focus is on the relationship between Pollock (who, incidentally is not a Major at all) and Sybil, the painfully introverted daughter of another of the regular guests, Mrs Railton-Bell. The awkward relationship that these two misfits have struck up is rocked to its foundations by the revelations of the Majors actions, and the scenes between the two of them, and, once again between Pat Cooper and the Major are beautifully observed. Sybil’s eventual rebellion (such as it is) against her dominating mother brings a sigh of relief from the audience.
Traditionally, the parts of John Malcolm and Major Pollock are played by the same actor, as are the parts of Anne Shankland and Sybil. The contrasts between the characters in each play demand the talents of accomplished actors (and in really good productions, the audience may well be unaware of any double casting). However, it’s by no means a requirement for a good production of the play. In our production, we’re doing a bit of both.
Separate Tables is classic English drama, and rightly so. It’s fascinating reading, but like most plays, even better viewing.
Review: The Alchemist’s Secret
The Alchemist’s Secret by Scott Mariani
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Every review I’ve read of Scott Mariani’s Ben Hope series compares it to Dan Brown and his ilk. And you know what? They’re quite right. In making that comparison, you know exactly what you’re getting. Of course, a hell of a lot of people can’t stand Dan Brown, and those people should probably stay away from this book. But if you enjoy the occasional thriller with a bit of pseudo-scientific hocus-pocus thrown in, then this is probably worth a read. It’s a nice easy read, with nice easy characters, and a story that’s interesting enough to pull you along, and reasonably well written. All this sounds like I’m damning this book with faint praise. I’m not really – I enjoyed it quite a bit, but then I’m the sort of person that thinks not every book you read should be the best example of its craft, and not every film you see should be the finest film in the world. I’m happy reading a book or watching a film for sheer entertainment value, and not expecting a lot out of it. That’s what you get with this book.
As to the plot – do you really care? It’s some bunkum about an ex-SAS officer who goes around rescuing children and gets himself involved in a plot to steal the notebook of an alchemist who just might have found the secret to everlasting life. It’s fun, light-hearted, and entertaining. Just don’t expect it to stand up to close scrutiny.
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