I have just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy and it was one of the best books I’ve ever read, but also the most depressing.

This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is set in post-apocalyptic America, although we are never told the events leading up to this situation, and is based around a father and son who are travelling the road, surviving and looking for other good people. On the way, they see many horrifying incidents, as the lack of food and water has led many to cannibalism. But the father constantly reminds his son that they are the good men who are carrying the fire, a metaphor that is threaded throughout the novel. The Road tells their tale over the course of about a year and in that time, they meet only a handful of others, most of whom want to steal from them and they have to run away from, for fear of being eaten.

One effective method employed by McCarthy is the anonymity of the protagonists – they are simply named Man and Boy. Through this device, the reader feels that this pair could be anyone and this leads to an even greater sense of despair, as we cannot identify with the characters in a more personal way. 

Father and son in the film

With the film version released last week, I am hoping to see it soon and I am interested to find out how the director has decided to depict some of the more harrowing scenes in the novel.

Even though The Road is a depressing, and at times distressing, novel I would definitely recommend it – it’s a brilliant read that really makes you think and was difficult to put down.

I just finished reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and it is a brilliant read. 

Zusak tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a German girl growing up during World War Two with her foster parents in Molching, a small city in Germany. Liesel arrives in Molching uneducated but soon learns to read. Her love of words and language shape many of the events in her life, most significantly her friendship with her foster father, her friendship with the Jewish man, Max Vanderburg, that they hide in their cellar and her secret theft of books from the Mayor’s house.

Liesel’s story is told by the novel’s narrator, Death, amongst descriptions of the growing toll of deaths across Germany in the late 30s. The narrative is also interspersed with small notes from Death and sketches from Max. This technique is highly effective. The reader is kept in a constant state of suspense, as Death is telling the story in retrospective and gives hints as to what will happen in the next section of the novel. Furthermore, the use of Death as a narrator is itself unusual and I thought it would be off-putting. In fact, this unique choice of narrator allows the reader to concentrate on Liesel’s story but also exposes them to events happening across Germany and Europe at that time.

There have been countless novels written about the Holocaust and World War Two. However, rather than just another novel about that time, Zusak’s descriptive language and unexpected plot devices keep the reader enthralled.  He also effectively tells the story of one town and one girl in particular as a microsom of life in Germany, whilst reminding the reader of the horrific events that took place there, inflicted upon both Jews and Germans.

I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone, it is very easy to read and, after the first few pages, you won’t be able to put it down!

At the beginning of October, Amazon announced they would release an international version of their US bestseller Kindle – originally named Kindle 2 International Version!

Both the Kindle and Kindle 2 have both been widely praised and criticised. If you look at the Amazon website, as is to be expected, there is a lovely American cheesy video where Kindle customers talk about how their lives have been enhanced by this new device.

The main advantages of the Kindle are its portability, light weight and easy design. As one happy customer said, he can now read while he travels and this has increased his ability to read more frequently. With the advent of the iPhone and similar phone/laptops/music players, the Kindle does seem to be just another extension of this. No longer will anyone finish their book on their travels and be bored without a replacement – the Kindle can hold up to 1500 non-illustrated books.

But the Kindle is not as perfect as Amazon are marketing it to be. One American writer, Nicholson Baker, wrote a lengthy feature for the Guardian. In summary, Baker says that while he was sucked into the Kindle culture, he soon realised it had many downfalls. First up, the screen is grey and difficult to read off. Furthermore, no illustrations are possible in the Kindle, detracting from the colourful imagery that can add to many novels.

So, there are both upsides and downfalls to the Kindle. Although I am interested to see one first hand, I doubt I will shell out the new, reduced price of $259. There is something about having a tangible object to show for hours of reading and a physical representation of your favourite book that can’t be replaced by an electronic device.

Yesterday marked National Poetry Day, but is the art of poetry dying?

The Poetry Society filled the day with poetry-related events, taking placing at libraries and schools across the country. On the National Poetry Day website, some of our country’s politicians and journalists have each selected their favourite poet and explained why. Interestingly, while David Cameron and Nick Clegg are featured, there is a lack of any Labour MPs!

However, while some were aware of this day’s significance, the majority of the public have remained ignorant of its existence. This could be because poetry interests only a selected few and can often be seen as elitist – an art form for the intellectuals. Also, especially with the credit crunch, most people have many more important things to think about on a daily basis – their jobs and their finances. Yet, I believe that poetry can be enjoyed by all and, while a busy worker may not have time to get into a novel, it only takes a few minutes to read a poem.

So, I urge you all to read at least one poem if you can! And if you don’t have the time to find a good and short one, here is one of my favourites:

IN A STATION OF THE METRO by Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet black bough.

I recently discovered Jean-Dominique Bauby’s wonderful memoir The Diving Bell and The Butterfly. Jean-Do was the editor-in-chief at French Elle magazine, as well as a husband and father, before he shockingly seized in a cerebro-vascular stroke. He suffered from ‘locked-in syndrome’ and was left unable to communicate through normal means. It is through tremendous effort on the parts of both him and his nurse, Claude Mendibil, that he dictated this work through the only movement left possible for him – the blinking of his left eyelid. He would blink when Claude pointed to the correct letter and in this way form words and sentences.

Jean-Do’s work is free from self-pity and movingly expresses his wishes, fears and memories. As he struggles with his new condition, he reminisces over his past and the future that is now laid out in front of him. He expresses his feelings in elegantly descriptive prose, peppering his anecdotes with humorous asides about the hospital staff that lead you to almost forget about his condition. But there are also emotive scenes that evoke the reader’s sympathy. For example, when Jean-Do is drive through Paris, he weeps but is glad that he can do so “discreetly. People think my eye is watering”.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone, although it isn’t the cheeriest read throughout! I am intrigued to see the film version, which has won many awards, including the Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.