Housekeeping

Marilynne Robinson's voluptuous prose drew me into this simple story. Late in the book she asks "When did I become so unlike other people?", and it is the peculiar ones, the outsiders, the transients who shine in Housekeeping. The drowned ones in the lake by Fingerbone hold sway over the tight little town. And where is there room for Ruthie, growing up like her drifter aunt Sylvie, looking like her mother Helen who drove a car into that lake. For Lucille, survival means clothing herself in the appearance of conformity, and fleeing the shifting house built by her railwayman grandfather. This gorgeous little book makes me want to read Robinson's other novel, Gilead. And I'll let you know when I do.

Lost For Words

Hugh Lunn's Lost For Words is subtitled "Australia's lost language in words and stories". It is as scrumptious a book as ever you could wish to dip into. And I do dip. Here is a sample. Watch for more.

If you arrive somewhere worried about being in trouble you say "Will I throw my hat in first?"

[When you start working in a bookshop, most people stop giving you books as gifts. A very classy friend gave me this for my last birthday.]

Lords and Ladies

I've just ripped through Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, one of his Disc World novels. He never fails to amuse and entertain. Here is his delicious take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream where the Elves are really nasty. Naturally the witches save the day. I particularly like the advice of old crone Nanny Ogg to the new Bride-To-Be: "'I gave her a few tips. Always wear something in bed. Keeps a man interested.' 'You always wore your hat.' 'Right.'" And later, more on the hat, viz: "Nanny Ogg raised her hat and carefully lifted down a bowl of cream, custard and jelly which she had secreted there. She was a great picker-up of unconsidered trifles."

title page #1

I borrowed this copy of The Polysyllabic Spree from my local library. I like libraries. This is a brand new book. I thought I was the first to borrow it. But someone had been there before me. Someone who doesn't think that Writing In Books is Satanism. Someone who couldn't find a more apposite book in which to express their views. A book called "Catholicism Is Great" for example, or "Religions I Have Known". The library is located in Kings Cross. Our epigrammist could have found many many examples of Satanism just outside the door. Why did they choose the Hornby book? There may be some things we are just Not Meant To Know.

The Complete Polysyllabic Spree

The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby is a collection of columns he did for The Believer magazine on books he was buying and books he was reading each month (not the same thing). This book has been enormously enjoyable. Constrained by The Believer's policy of No Slagging Off, Hornby tries to read only those books he will enjoy. What relish - not to read those books we Should Read, but those we Want To Read. Hornby's book has inspired this blog, so I am pleased to acknowledge his influence. And also his absolution - he writes that "I suddenly had an epiphany: all the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal." So all those books I have yet to read which threaten to smother me one night, a huge sliding pile of words, are justifiable - even if I never read them. Hooray!