Welcome to this week’s blog, and our roundup of your comments and photos from last week.
Brian Aldiss may have gone, but he is not forgotten. Here’s caesarofthedogs on Barefoot In The Head:
It is a wild and strange book. The story is that during the Acid Head War, Arab states have dropped psychedelic drug chemical bombs all over Europe. Everyone has gone more or less loopy. New Messiah Colin Charteris (unlikely name for a Yugoslav aid worker) crusades from Loughborough (unlikely New Jerusalem?) across the continent, leaving autobahn-based destruction in his wake. The key is that not just the characters, but the text itself, becomes rapidly less sane as we go. Add a helping of Ouspenskian multi-identity philosophy and a squad of addled Midlands minor rock-stars and their grungy lyrics, and you begin to go pretty barefoot in the head yourself.
With the death of Brian Aldiss, I was inspired to revisit a book that I think may have seriously affected my entire life without me quite realising. I effortlessly remembered the opening line despite a 30 year gap: ‘The city was open to the nomad...’ I think I understand now: what I thought was me, this last 30 years, was just a ‘discarded Ouspenskian I’, dropped aside like a falling leaf by the real me, 30 years ago, as the real me became a world-disrupting novelist following in Aldiss’s grand steps (and overtaking, of course), while this me, this one here, typing here, idled away a non-existence in software, academia, and failed writing projects.
Read it if you dare.
And Techie27 has been reading his 1998 autobiography, The Twinkling of an Eye: My Life as an Englishman:
It has the rare quality of an autobiography that gives a good insight into the child who was father to the man. Even the later inevitable name dropping illustrates some point - rather than being aimed at those who relish celebrity gossip.
It is a journey through many decades of changing British society. At one point he mentions the problems of getting his semi-autobiographical novel A Hand-Reared Boy published in 1970. He says that in the 1950s it would have been impossible - yet in the 1990s it no longer seemed controversial when a new edition was published. The wheel has probably come full circle - many a publisher nowadays would probably feel it again controversial.
Sticking with genre, elliese has been enjoying Diana Wynne Jones’ Deep Secret:
It’s always been one of my favourites of her books; I love the Magids’ universe, and Rupert and Maree, and Nick is a character type Jones is particularly good at - selfish and impossible to pin down to anything, yet still actually a good person. I always enjoy the way she weaves those contradictions into a single coherent character. And I will always love the fondness with which she writes about sci fi and fantasy and fans. In my head, all fantasy conventions take place in the Hotel Babylon, and there are always Magids there.
Elsewhere, vermontlogger has found a historical “curiosity” – Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth:
A blackly comic tale of the decline and eclipse of a family of 18C Anglo-Irish landowners, four baronets in succession, each of them in his own way completely worthless. She wrote it straight out in one go and yet carries off the double of feat of conveying the loyal and ingenuous character of the aged steward who tells the story, even as he is conveying the awfulness of his masters. She knew the world she was talking about - she was one of those who had to flee the French in 1798.
Here’s a warning from history courtesy of Robert Rudolph:
Dipping into Philip Magnus’ biography of Kitchener and Robert Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra. Fascinating how a combination of weak leadership in the major powers and a few badly timed bluffs pushed things over the edge in August 1914... couldn’t happen now, of course...
And, some cheering tidings from OneAnotherName:
I read the Origin of Others by Toni Morrison over a slow pint of beer (it’s only a little book) and felt much younger than I have for a while.
Sounds like we all need to read that one.
Interesting links about books and reading
- “I stack up the books, three columns six or eight books at a time, and just wear that pile down.” Tom Hanks is one of us!
- Mary Beard explains why there’s more to pastoral poetry than “shepherds strumming.”
- The French Booksellers Association aren’t happy with Amazon.
- Jonathan Franzen says no.
If you would like to share a photo of the book you are reading, or film your own book review, please do. Click the blue button on this page to share your video or image. I’ll include some of your posts in next week’s blog.
If you’re on Instagram and a book lover, chances are you’re already sharing beautiful pictures of books you are reading: “shelfies” or all kinds of still lifes with books as protagonists. Now, you can share your reads with us on the mobile photography platform – simply tag your pictures there with #GuardianBooks, and we’ll include a selection here. Happy reading!
