Ole luonani aina

Nimi: Ole luonani aina
Alkuperäinen nimi: Never let me go
Kirjoittaja: Kazuo Ishiguro
Julkaistu: 2005, alkukielellä ja suomeksi. Tämä painos 2011
Genre: Dystopia. Hieno sana.
Sivuluku: 394




Vähän huolestuttaa tämä lukutahti... toisaalta, ulkona on kylmä. Hyvä syy istua kotona teekupin kanssa ja lukea.


Kathy, Ruth ja Tommy ovat oppilaita Hailshamin hiukan erikoisessa sisäoppilaitoksessa. Kellään oppilaista ei ole vanhempia joiden luo mennä loma-ajaksi, joten koulu on kaikille koti. Opettajat, joita kasvattajiksi kutsutaan, kertovat opettamisen lisäksi lapsukaisille näiden elämien tulevasta tarkoituksesta, joka ei ole aivan sellainen kuin odottaisi.



Tiesin jo etukäteen mikä jutun juju oli, kirjasta tehdystä elokuvasta joskus spoilereita lukiessani, eikä se siis päässyt kauheasti yllättämään. Vähän harmi, mutta ei lukukokemus siitä kauheasti kai kärsinyt. Tahti oli rauhallinen vaikka tarina poukkoilikin ajassa parinkymmenen vuoden sisällä eestaas Kathy kertojanaan. Hän on tarkka ja melko säälimätön, ja totuus Hailshamin oppilaiden elämästä paljastuu hiljalleen, pala palalta.


   Näin jälkeenpäin ajatellen tajuan, että olimme juuri siinä iässä, jolloin tiesimme itsestämme joitakin asioita - suunnilleen sen, keitä me olimme ja millä tavalla me poikkesimme kasvattajista ja ulkopuolisista ihmisistä - mutta emme olleet vielä ymmärtäneet sen merkitystä. Olen varma, että olet itsekin joskus lapsuudessa kokenut saman kuin me tuona päivänä - ainakin sisäisesti, tunnetasolla, vaikka yksityiskohdat olisivatkin erilaiset. Todellisuudessa on samantekevää, kuinka hyvin kasvattajat yrittävät valistaa lapsia; puheet, videot, keskustelut ja varoitukset eivät saa asiaa menemään perille. Ei silloin kun lapset ovat kahdeksanvuotiaita ja asuvat yhdessä Hailshamin kaltaisessa paikassa, kun heillä on sellaisia kasvattajia kuin meillä, kun puutarhurit ja tavarantuojat vitsailevat ja nauravat heidän kanssaan ja kutsuvat heitä "kullanmuruiksi".  

The Quarry

Title: The Quarry
Author: Iain Banks
Published: 2013 by Little, Brown
Genre: Humorous drama
Pages: 326


Another brilliant present from Santa! Man, that guy... I'd wanted to read The Quarry as soon as it came out, but put off getting it since... well, it felt so final, I suppose. This being Mr. Banks' last book. I haven't read even half of his books, plenty to go, but still. As soon as I got it -Santa was a little late- and finished the 3-5 books I was currently reading, I picked The Quarry up and seriously did not want to put it down. Not for sleep, not for work. That's the dilemma of a damn good book: you either read it in a few big gulps and then it's over, or take your time and kinda... torture yourself with not reading. I went with the former, and now I'm sad that it's over. But also happy, because it was a damn good book. 

The Quarry has the same kind of premise as Banks' first book, The Wasp Factory: a father and peculiar son, living alone in a large house pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Kit, however, is not homicidal, just "on a spectrum that stretches from 'highly gifted' at one end to 'nutter' at the other." His father, Guy, is very much dying of cancer. His old group of friends, who used to live with him in the large house before Kit's time, are all coming together for one last weekend. And to find this one damn movie they made as twenty-somethings. Everyone is very adamant that it's not a porno, but...

Mr. Banks died of cancer himself last year, but apparently this book was almost finished by the time he found out that he was sick. The way Guy talks about his illness and his very imminent death, it sounded very real and painful. Maybe The Quarry was a way for Mr. Banks to come to terms with his own life ending so damn early. The book's publication was pushed forward, but he passed away about two weeks before it came out.

But it's not a sad book! Not by a long shot. I giggled to myself and even laughed out loud. Kit views the world differently from most neurotypical people, and there are references to current affairs and movies and even Gangnam style! It's about death and not wanting to die, but also about life and living it your own way, and it's definitely not a porno tape.


   I've watched a few people when they're asleep, and they're all the same: old-looking, or dead. I probably ought to have felt depressed at this, though at the time I felt oddly comforted, and in a strangely satisfying position of power. Also, I was usually more worried that they were about to wake up and start screaming. (I'm not a murderer or a rapist or anything; I just wanted to look, but I can reveal that people most definitely don't like waking up in the middle of the night to find somebody staring at them from a half-metre of so away. Or even a whole metre.)

Huonosti käyttäytyvät jumalat

Nimi: Huonosti käyttäytyvät jumalat
Alkuperäinen nimi: Gods Behaving Badly
Kirjoittaja: Marie Phillips
Julkaistu: 2009, Bazar. Alunperin 2007
Genre: Urbaania fantasiaa huumorilla höystettynä
Sivuluku: 301




Huonosti käyttäytyvät jumalat löytyi vuosi, pari sitten jostain divarista, ja nykyajan Lontooseen sijoittuva tarina vaikutti kiinnostavalta. Kirja jumahti kuitenkin piiitkäksi ajaksi hyllyyn, ja kun silloin tällöin mietin että voisi laittaa turhia/kaksoiskappaleita myyntiin/kiertoon, niin tämä oli ensommäisenä lähdössä. Kiertoon laittoa mietin taas tuossa pari päivää sitten, mutta päätinkin vihdoinkin lukea opuksen. En ole vielä päättänyt onko kirja yhä kiertoon mahdollisesti lähtevien pinossa vai ei...


Kun usko vanhoihin jumaliin alkoi hiipua kristinuskon sun muun myötä, Zeus, Hera, Athena, Artemis, Apollon ja koko muu sekava ja iso perhe muutti Olympokselta Lontooseen. Uskon myötä hiipuivat jumalten voimat, ja rukouksiin vastaamisen sijasta piti käydä hankkimaan rahaa laskuihin. Metsästämisen jumalatar Artemis ulkoiluttaa koiria. Afrodite työskentelee seksipuhelinlinjoilla. Apollon yrittää päästä TV-meedioksi, ja menee rakastumaan kuolevaiseen.


Oli ihan hauska ja nopea lukukokemus, vähän kuin piristävä välipala. Kirjan takakannessa seisoo että kirjasta on tekeillä TV-sarja, ja kappaskeppas: siitä onkin tehty viime vuonna ilmestynyt elokuva. Täällä näin. Tarina on siirretty New Yorkiin ja ilmeisesti osa jumalista on iloisesti unohdettu. Pikkasen epäilyttävää, vaikka/varsinkin koska Zeusta esittää Christopher Walken. Taidan pysyä vain kirjassa, ja siitä jääneissä hyvissä muistoissa.




   "Etkö sinä muuta tee?" Apollon sanoi. "Makaat vain sängyssä?"
   "Ja katson televisiota."
   "Minäkin olen televisiossa", Apollon sanoi. 
   "Ai olet?" Zeus sanoi. "Minä pidän Doctor Whosta. Hänkin on jumala."
   "Ei minusta", Apollon sanoi. 
   Sekunnin murto-osaa myöhemmin Apollon kimposi huoneen vastapäisestä seinästä kuin tennispallo.
   "Onpas", Zeus sanoi. "Hän on jumala."
   "Anteeksi", Apollon sanoi lattialta. "Tietysti on. Sotkin hänet johonkuhun toiseen."
   Apollon nousi ja pyyhki vaatteistaan pari kourallista tomua. Tänään ei ollut hänen vaatteidensa onnenpäivä. 
   "Isä", hän sanoi.
   "Olenko minä sinun isäsi?" Zeus sanoi hiukan pöllämystyneenä.

Richard

Title: Richard
Author: Ben Myers
Published: 2010 by Picador
Genre: Fictional biography
Pages: 392 + bibliography and such




Yeah. Again, within the year. I don't know, I just got an urge to re-read it sometime December.


Richard is Myers' take on what could have happened to Richey Edwards, the fourth member of the Manic Street Preachers, when he disappeared on the 1st of February 1995. It's purely fictional, based on the few more or less certain sightings of Edwards that were made within two weeks or so after his disappearance. It's touching and haunting and painful to read, but it's written beautifully and it's just so real to so many people.


The Manics came out with a new album last year. The song As Holy as the Soil (That Buries Your Skin) just breaks my fucking heart.





   Because you know fine well that love is just another philosophical construct - one based on sexual desire, insecurity and a deep-rooted fear of lifelong loneliness. Therefore to fall 'in love' is denying what you already know. And in denying what you know, you are somehow selling yourself out. And besides, there is no 'right person' out there for you. You're too boring and jealous and self-obsessed. 
   Maybe you're right.
   Your ideal woman would be a mirror. A mirror with a brain, but no mouth.
   That's not true. I've always got on with women better than men.
   You just can't commit to one.
   Right.
   Because you're fucked in the head.
   Right.
   And you're talking to yourself right now.
   Right.

The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

Title: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Author: H.P. Lovecraft
Published: 1951, this Voyager Omnibus edition in 1999
Genre: Horror and creepy things
Pages: 159


Lovecraft! Yay! Apparently Mr. Lovecraft wrote this short novel already back in 1927, but it wasn't published until 1951, after the author had already died. It tells the haunting tale of young Charles Dexter Ward and his ancestor Joseph Curwen. As a teenager Charles finds out about the strange man who lived some 150 years ago, a man whose memory has been buried quite as deep as his body. At least, that was the intention. Becoming curious, Charles, and the reader as well, find out more about Curwen and his spooky shenanigans.

It's been yeaaars since I last read this one, and it was in Finnish. It was cool to get to read it in the original language, but I have to admit that I had some trouble with the oldish language, especially when Curwen's old letters and such surfaced. I still remembered how the story goes, pooh, so it wasn't as shocking as I'd hoped for. The mood is dark and I often found myself telling the characters not to go there, not to touch that, not to chant that fucking formula you bleeding idiot! Do they listen? Nooo. They never do.


   In his first delvings there was not the slightest attempt at secrecy; so that even Dr Lyman hesitates to date the youth's madness from any period before the close of 1919. He talked freely with his family - though his mother was not particularly pleased to own an ancestor like Curwen - and with the officials of the various museums and libraries he visited. In applying to private families for records thought to be in their possession he made no concealment of his object, and shared the somewhat amused scepticism with which the accounts of the old diarists and letter-writers were regarded. He often expressed a keen wonder as to what really had taken place a century and a half before at that Pawtuxet farmhouse whose site he vainly tried to find, and what Joseph Curwen really had been. 


Back away, Charles, just... back away. Now. 

Bingo!

I'm gonna be playin' Reading Bingo! Reading Bingo Challenge 2014

Ticked that first box with Staalo already. Yay! More than 500 pages, that is.
Charles Dexter Ward is waaay more than 10 years old.
Richard is based on a true story.
Huonosti käyttäytyvät jumalat climbed from the bottom of the pile!
The Quarry for the mystery. There were two, actually: what's on the tape, and who's Kit's mum?
Ole luonani aina (Never let me go) was made into a movie.
Survivor: One-word title.
Assassin's Apprentice, and the whole series, written by a woman.
Royal Assassin is the second book of a series! Wow, I'm actually approaching a bingo. Like, almost.
The Liveship Traders books had plenty of non-human characters.
Dark Matter scared the daylights out of me!
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time has a blue cover. So close to a bingo...
Fool's Assassin was published this year. So, so close!
Small Favor is set in Chicago, USA, so... BINGO!
Let the Right One In is a best-seller, apparently in more than one language.
Author of Golden Boy, Abigail Tarttelin, is under thirty.
Why Don't You Stop Talking is a book of short stories.
Good Omens, definitely funny. Oh, look at that, that is a BINGO!
Kiss of the Spider Woman ticks Forgotten Classic.
Milk, sulphate and Alby Starvation is the first book by a life-long favourite author. Am I going to tick all those boxes? Damn well trying to!
I read about Fledgling online. Hello, TWO BINGOs!
1984. Numbers! BINGO!
The Giver was loved by a friend. That's a BINGO and another BINGO!
Mate was non-fiction, and very interesting! That famous dog, what was his name? Was it... BINGO!
Nation gets the honour of ticking that last box, Free Square. BINGO, BINGO, BINGO all around! Weeeeeeee! That was fun!

Staalo

Nimi: Staalo
Alkuperäinen nimi: Stallo
Kirjoittaja: Stefan Spjut
Julkaistu: 2012, Like
Genre: Urbaania fantasiaa!
Sivuluku: 722




Äitini kyseli ennen joulua että mitä sitä haluaisin joulu-/syntymäpäivälahjaksi. En osannut sanoa mitään, joten hän lykkäsi Kirjakerhon lehden käteen ja käski etsiä sieltä. Staalo oli ainoa kirja joka jäi edes pieneen, hieman humalaiseen mieleen, joten sanoin että Staalo. JA KYLLÄ KUULKAA KANNATTI.

Susso Myrén on suuren osan elämästään ollut kiinnostunut peikoista ja niiden mahdollisesta olemassaolosta, kiitos isoisänsä aikanaan ottaman valokuvan jossa tunnistamaton hahmo ratsastaa karhun selässä. Hän pitää aiheesta kotisivuja, ja on valmis ajamaan satoja kilometrejä Pohjois-Ruotsin lumisen talven läpi pelkästään sen mahdollisuuden takia, että häneen yhteyttä ottanut vanha nainen olisi mahdollisesti nähnyt jonkun ihme tontun omalla pihallaan.  Todisteita pikku ukkelista löytyy, ja kun paikkakunnalta yllättäen katoaa pikkupoika, Susso löytää itsensä keskeltä melko hyytävää peikkosatua. "You best start believing in ghost stories... you're in one!" ja sitä rataa.

Kirja on jaettu muutaman sivun mittaisiin lukuihin ja on niitä opuksia joita ei halua laskea käsistään. Välillä tuntui että on vähän turhan kanssa ympäriinsä juoksemista, mutta ei voinut olla jatkamatta lukemista. Pakko oli päästä eteenpäin ja nähdä miten kaikki päättyy vaikka välillä oikeasti pelotti hahmojen puolesta. Satuhahmoja vilisevä tarina oli kuitenkin täysin uskottava, Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi -tyyliin (pääni sisällä pidin kirjaa jonkinlaisena Päivänlaskun jatko-osana, tai ainakin samaan maailmaan sijoittuvana), ja päähenkilöt ovat nuuska huulessa jurottavia pohjoismaalaisia. Pidin. Kovasti pidin.


   - Näit sen siis lähietäisyydeltä?
   - Jo vain, Edit sanoi, - näin oikein hyvin. Sillä oli päällään takki, ja huppu oli nostettu ylös, sillä oli takin alla sellainen huppari. Ja silmät... Ne olivat kaikista pahinta, koska minusta tuntui kuin olisin katsonut silmästä silmään eläintä. Ne olivat kokonaan keltaiset, sairaalloisen keltaiset, pupilleina pelkät viirut. 
   - Niin kuin kissalla?
   - Niin, Edit sanoi. - Ihan niin kuin kissalla. 

A Song of Stone

Title: A Song of Stone
Author: Iain Banks
Published: 1997, this Abacus edition is from 2003
Genre: War and the upper classes
Pages: 280


From A Song of Ice and Fire to A Song of Stone. Dragons has suffered, being carried around in my bag, and it is a bloody big brick, so I took this one with me while visiting the parents over the holidays. Finished both last night. Hey, fifth of January and two books down already!

There is a war going on, and it's forcing Abel and Morgan to leave their home castle in search of a more peaceful place to weather the storm. On their way they come across a lieutenant and her small troop who 'convince' them to turn back, and take the soldiers with them, to rest inside the safety of the castle's stone walls.

Abel tells the story from his point of view, and, let's face it, is a bit of a pompous git. Almost poetic, though, his words drag you in and paint not so pretty pictures of his smallish world. He's also one of those characters you want to slap around a bit. But the story flows well and there is a mystery hidden within the castle's situation spiralling into chaos.


   She comes to me and puts her mouth to my ear. 'This is the dangerous bit, Abel,' she whispers. 'Soon the shooting starts.' I can feel her breath on my cheek, sense the physicality of this low murmur entering the soft convolutions of cartilage and flesh. 'You can stay here with the horses, if you like," she tells me. 'Or come on with us.'
   I shift my head, put my lips to her ear. Her olive-dark skin smells of nothing at all. 'You'd trust me with the horses?' I ask, amused.
   'Oh, you'd have to be tied up,' she says softly.
   'Tied up or getting to watch,' I tell her. 'You spoil me. I'll come.' 

A Dance with Dragons

Title: A Dance with Dragons
Author: George R. R. Martin
Published: 2011 originally, this paperback ed. 2012 by Voyager.
Genre: Watch out for them dragons. They kill you.
Pages: 1117 + family trees until the page count is 1184. PLUS 16 pages from the next book.


Finally, on with the show! And I'm all caught up with A Song of Ice and Fire. And now my wait begins. Oh, crap.

Dragons mostly happens simultaneously with the previous book, A Feast for Crows, but we get to hang out with the characters we didn't see in that one. Luckily towards the end of the book the timelines catch up, and we get a glimpse of people left hanging -even literally- at the end of Crows. Martin's still killing them characters all over the place, but new players step up to fight for the iron throne. Some of my favourites were in this one, and every time I was tempted to quick-read or skim over not-so-interesting-a-character's chapter, I always ended up being sucked in, reading every word. Intrigue, murder and so many plots, all around. Plus, one of my favourites lines in a book, ever:


   "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one."

Maybe even favourite line outside of a book? 

2013 in books!

Wow, has a year really already passed? Doesn't seem like it. Anyway, happy 2014! Let's do this book meme thing!



The first book you read in 2013:
Making History by Stephen Fry. It was a christmas present, and I absolutely loved it. I didn’t want it to end, and am looking forward to getting to re-read it one day.

The last book you finished in 2013:
Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. We took a weekend trip to Prague, and instead of dragging A Dance with Dragons along, I grabbed Rant for a re-read. It was a very good decision.

The first book you will finish (or did finish!) in 2014:
 I’m in the middle of a bunch of books right now: A Dance with Dragons (only about 200 pages to go!), The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, A Song of Stone, Richard and Staalo. The middle ones are short-ish, so I’m betting on one of those. On the other hand, I finally want to finish Dance. So… we’ll see!

Your favorite “classic” you read in 2013:
What classics did I read… Dune, The Bell Jar, Little Prince (in Finnish) and Catcher in the Rye. Oh, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles! I think I liked The Bell Jar the most. It was nowhere near as depressing as I had expected, somewhat humorous, actually. And interesting.

The book series you read the most volumes of in 2013:
None, really. Of the few series I’m reading/listening –Dresden Files, A Song of Ice and Fire, Company-books- I only read one of each in 2013.  I did read Skagboys, the prequel to Trainspotting, and then got the urge to re-read Trainspotting as well. Maybe that counts.  

The genre you read the most in 2013:
This year was all around the place, with fantasy and science fiction, drama and comedy, pulp fiction and biographies. A lot had something to do with history: I’m guessing that the winning genre was historical fiction. One of my favourites.

The book that disappointed you:
American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis. It didn’t as much disappoint me as… well, I don’t know. I get that the continuous lists of what everyone is wearing goes with the style and the world of the book, but they got a bit too overwhelming for me, and I quit after 60-80 pages. I’ll most likely give it another go some day. I re-watched the movie in October, so may take a while.

The book you liked better than you expected to:
Tempted to say The Bell Jar here again, but to get some variety, let’s go with Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. Like I said, I read it after having watched and loved the movie. I went in expecting some extra back story, maybe a few new characters, the usual things they drop out of movie versions, but there was so much more! Hell, there’s even recipes at the end!

The hardest book you read in 2013 (topic or writing style):
Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory. Fuck me but there was some creepy shit in that. Good book, but I haven’t been icked out that properly in ages. Years. I still shudder at the memory of what happened to Eric. And, like I said in my ‘report’, reading about the unnecessary violence towards animals was really difficult.

The funniest book you read in 2013:
Chuck Palahniuk’s Rant or Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies. One is more… creepy and full of black humour, the other pure comedy. I’ll go with Pratchett, it caused more wheezy coughing.

The saddest book you read in 2013:
Ben Myers’ Richard. A fictional take based on the facts known of the disappearance of Richey Edwards, back in 1995. Not what really happened to him, but in parts a reality for a lot of people.

The shortest book you read in 2013:
It’s a wee bit difficult to say with some of the books being in tiny little mobile phone size pages, but I guess Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince takes the cake, with only about 95 beautifully illustrated pages.  

The longest book you read in 2013:
 Dune or Dance with Dragons. Dune has 794 pages in this edition (883 with extras), Dance some 1120 pages plus so many extra bits, but I only made it to about page 870 in 2013. Does that count? I’ve been taking my time with it, keeping it in my locker at work (lunch break is usually juuust long enough for one chapter) because it’s gotten so scruffy from carrying it around in my bag. Plus, you know, trying to make it last a little longer so the wait for the next one won’t feel so long.

A book that you discovered in 2013 that you will definitely read again:
I, uh, I actually started to read Richard again a few weeks ago, and there were several I’d already read before. But to name a few that definitely made the list: Skagboys, Invisible Monsters Remix, Maxie Mainwaring, Lesbian Dilettante, and Valentine Grey. But I really need to work on that Books To Read For The First Time –pile first.  

A book that you never want to read again:
I don’t think I encountered any. I want to give American Psycho another go one day, and even though The Wasp Factory creeped me out so badly, I think I’ll want to read it again some day. So, none this year! Yay!

And finally, make a New Year’s Resolution:
I’m going to continue on The List, and read more books in 2014 than I did in 2013. Even if it’s just by one or two, I’m gonna beat those numbers!

Actually, if my calculations are correct, I read 30 books in 2012, and 33 in 2013, so, yay! Maybe aim for 35 in 2014? I wish I could read more, but full-time work and several time-demanding hobbies get in the way. Darn them. And sleep, darn sleep too!