Holiday reading

I made the (understandable) mistake of assuming that the weather would be atrocious as usual and therefore did not give much thought to packing some decent reading material before we left.   The result was that I:-

1.  Finished 'Any Human Heart' by William Boyd.
2.  Read 'Case Histories' by Kate Atkinson
3.  Read Irish versions of the Sunday papers, Times, Observer and Telegraph
4.  Read Colm Toibin in LRB on Catholic Church

From this I have learnt that William Boyd is very clever and book clubbers, sorry I missed the discussion on this because I can now see that it would have been interesting.

Case Histories was a find because it's good of course but also it's the first of a series involving Jackson Brodie, private investigator.  I love it when I discover something I like and that there's more to come.  I suspect that the author has constructed Brodie as a sort of fantasy ideal man but what's also interesting about that is that the stories are about to be filmed, and Jason Isaacs has been cast in the lead role.   Okay, he's easy on the eye but there's always a difficulty when a prose character becomes alive on screen.   I suppose we'll have to wait and see and in the meantime, I can now look forward to 2 more books in the series!

Irish papers and radio so far as I could tell, were full of stories of petty and not so petty political corruption - no change there then.    As long as I have been aware of Irish politics, there was always a whiff or stench from Dublin.  What's different about the stories last week was the fact that corruption had been uncovered in local councils up and down the country.  Certainly no poverty of ambition on the part of those involved, in the scale of what passed for political favours.

Finally Colm Toibin on the Pope wearing Prada  - that's not a joke, he actually does.  Read it on the ferry coming back so technically still part of the holiday and it did take my mind off the crossing.    CT carries on the debate that Andrew Sullivan and others have been having for some time now about the complicity of the Church (ie the institution) in the abuse scandals which seem to be never-ending not least because of the Church's badly botched PR operation.    Beautifully written piece whatever about the subject matter.
Pretty heavy going really.    I need something human and lighter over the next couple of weeks - must find the new Barbara Trapido or maybe Anne Tyler.  Will keep you posted.

A new Whovian in town

Okay so you think you know people:  I mean in the sense that you read their blog and newspaper articles, you link to them in your blog (right hand column) and then out of the blue, comes confirmation that they are in fact also connected to you by the fact of their Whovian status!   I'm talking about Andrew Sullivan, who revealed today (at least it was not previously known to me) that he is and has been a lifelong DW fan.

For those of you who didn't already know, I am surrounded by Dr Who fans/obsessives/followers (delete as appropriate) and it's/his influence pervades our everyday existence in ways you might not be aware of.  For instance, dressing habits of a boy from the age of 3 and a half entirely dictated by DW.  Bear in mind that this was before the revival by Russell T Davis and therefore consisted of recycled beige shorts, cricket sweater and (my) old raincoat, which when it fell apart, was succeeded by a grey John Lewis dressing gown.  That look lasted for almost 2 solid years. (I blame John Lewis, they make them to last...) This was the Peter Davison look you see (with celery stalk).  Not easy to pull off and not the easiest outfit to wear on a beach in 28C heat...Anyway, every sartorial decision made by the boy, now 9, revolves around which Doctor is currently part of his ongoing and very real, fantasy life.  Between that and B Husband's lifelong devotion to Time Lord, I long ago decided to give in and go with it.

But because it is actually very good drama, I have come to admire it too.  Best thing about it for me is that DW is (conventionally) unarmed but wins every time, for reasons which Andrew Sullivan sets out lovingly in his article. I can't link to it because of the Sunday Times paywall, but if you link to his blog on the right, he usually posts his articles there anyway.  Enjoy!