Books

I've always loved reading. I don't remember learning to read (in Britain you typically start at about 4 I think, whereas here in France it's not till 6), and I certainly don't remember it being traumatic or difficult (unlike telling the time and times tables which. Well. Not so much fun).

I was often alone as a child, what with being the only child of parents who seemed to love moving from one end of the country to another every 12-18 months, and having no family to speak of (I actually have a pretty large family, but no one knows each other, everyone's much older than I am and many members are no longer speaking to other members. Dysfunctional, clearly). So books became one of my go-to activities.

I studied literature in high school (French, English and Latin), I studied literature at university (French, Spanish, classics-in-translation). I started a "buy-a-book-a-week" thing when I was a student and kept it up for years. Amazon loves me.

Strangely enough, I've never been a fan of libraries - I like BUYING books, OWNING books, REREADING FAVOURITE books; not borrowing-reading-returning books.

If you've read any previous entries in this blog, you'll probably be surprised, given my propensity for whining, complaining and bemoaning my fate, that many, many of my favourite authors and books are, in fact, funny. Laugh out loud funny. Hilarious, tears streaming down your face funny. Oh, and gory detective novels too, but lots of funny, for sure.

So, I've decided to let you in to my own personal library and share with you some of my favourite books. They're mostly not recent at all (but all "modern" - I love literature, but not so much the "classics", the "19th century" (or older) stuff; I've read my fair share of it, liked some, loved some even, but hated more. So yeah. This will most definitely be 20th and 21st century stuff), and you may already know most of them, but still. Here we go.

In this post, I'm going to talk about a book that makes me cry laughing every time I read it. Yes, it's simplistic and no, the characters aren't particularly likeable, but the book is funny: it's "Are you experienced?" by William Sutcliffe (1997!).

The summary of the plot is in the link, so I won't bore you with that. What I liked was how it perfectly captures the snobism of the "year-outers": I didn't do a year out (too cowardly) and believe me, you soon get fed up with those who did, banging on incessantly about their hardships and spiritual awakening in far-flung places (trekking in the mountains of Afghanistan, living rough in Bolivia, back-packing round Asia...). Yes, they may have had marvellous experiences, but it shouldn't make those who didn't do it feel like lesser human beings as a result... Dave is perfect in his role of boring, cowardly, unenthusiastic traveller, and Liz is equally perfect as the full-blown year-outer par excellence.

The writing is simple, though there are some clever character sketches. You don't really get much of a feel of India (there are all the stereotypes and clichés though), but that's not really the point. This isn't (AT ALL) a guidebook for those actually planning to back-pack round India. The setting is almost irrelevant, in fact: what counts is the attitudes of the characters, and many are hilarious (I particularly liked J - I'm sure I've met him, with his pretentious claptrap and money sent from Daddy).

If you're looking for something light to read, something that will make you laugh out loud but not overly tax your brain, a book to take on holiday or on a long train ride, this is the one!

Z

It has been said (by D and many others) that I have "dodgy tastes" in music, films, books, etc.

When it comes to music, I would prefer "eclectic" - I like classical, some jazz (not fusion though, drives me batshit), rock, pop, new wave, others 80s stuff, disco, indie... plus loads of others. Some of my favourites (and I'm proud to admit to all of these, nah!) incluse Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Neil Diamond, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cesaria Evora, Patty Smith, Adam and the Ants, and oh, I could go on forever - this is just CDs I've been listening to recently.

For films, I happily admit to loving musicals, from Gene Kelly and Bing Crosby (not so much Fred Astaire, but yeah, I'll watch them all the same) type stuff, to Howard Keel type things, right up to modern ones like (of course) Hairspray and Mamma Mia! The only "modern" musical I've hated, really hated, was "Dancer in the Dark", but that had a lot to do with my loathing of Björk and the ridiculous casting of Catherine Deneuve and the horribleness of the story.

For books, I like novels. Modern novels - funny ones, like Carl Hiaasen and Jasper Fforde, serious ones like Jodi Piccoult, detective ones like Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwell, and "chick lit" stuff like the Shopaholic series.

But now, a new addition to my (very, very short) TV show list is one that is unanimously appreciated in this house: the 1950s Disney version of Zorro with the delectable Guy Williams. D loves it, and C and L are obsessed with Zorro - they're totally absorbed in the storylines, biting the nails at the "suspense" moments, fearful that Zorro will get caught (they're little girls, they haven't clicked yet that Zorro never gets caught!). They sing the theme song, they dream of Zorro and everything has to stop every Saturday and Sunday at 8.10 pm - missing an episode is unthinkable! I was pretty indifferent at the beginning, but now, I'm as hooked as they are! Guy Williams is perfect as both Zorro and Don Diego de la Vega, Sergeant Garcia is hilarious and Bernardo is both hilarious and very sharp... Yeah, it's a fantastic series! It's just a shame that so few episodes were made (we're up to episode 35 out of 39... I fear that weekends will soon no longer be quite the same!).

I stand by my "dodgy" tastes!

And oh, if you've never seen any other Zorro than Antonio Banderas, I heartily recommend you get your hands on the Guy Williams version!

Z