English

As you may or may not have guessed I love the English language. I think it's wonderfully diverse, elegant and musical. I genuinely believe it's the most wonderful way of expressing oneself and communicating (albeit that my usage is often somewhat clumsy!)

Given my previous post about bookshops it's also no great shocker to say that I love reading and encountering new forms of the language. Another way of interaction that I enjoyed, especially when I was younger, was talking books. They were a great way of interacting with literature that was more advanced than my reading age. By my early teens I had gotten to grips with Bram Stoker and several of Dickens' best works this way. Listening to Sir John Gielguid and Sir Ralph Richardson acting out the Sherlock Holmes stories was another highlight and even now, years later, I still remember them well.

It therefore shames me to admit that there's one British writer who reliably leaves me at best cold and at worst in a cold sweat. This writer is William Shakespeare. Ever since I first encountered his work at school I have had a visceral dislike of it. It would be easy to blame this dislike on a bad experience at school and this, to an extent, is true. Reading a play out round a class in dull, dispassionate monotones is hardly a baseline to inspire awe and passion; especially when nobody really had a clue what the bloody hell was going on. I didn't just quit there though; I persevered through the remainder of school via different teachers with a usually unparalleled ability to capture the interest of pupils but still I could not engage with the material. Still every time the Shakespeare came out I was overcome with the desire to chew my arm off while injecting cyanide into my eyeballs.

Now I understand that the majority of Shakespeare's best work is in the form of plays (said works were read out in class after all) and the only way to interact with a play is to see it performed. So off to the theatre I went, suitably primed with a rough idea of what was about to happen. And still I was left cold, bored and irritated at how much of my life I had wasted. At this point I will point out I did go into all of the plays I saw with a consciously open mind. I wanted to like it but I just couldn't. In fact, about the only form of Shakespeare's work I actually enjoyed was the film version of Romeo and Juliet from the '60s. This was not down to the story it was down to the fact that a) I am a huge fan of Franco Zephereli as a director and b) I was massively attracted to Olivia Hussey who played Juliet (until I found out that she was at school with my dad).

Another form of English that I cannot seem to interact with or engage with is poetry. Now here I will admit I haven't encountered all that much and poetry is probably like whisky; nobody genuinely doesn't like it, they just haven't encountered the right example. At school we studied almost exclusively Scottish poetry (fair enough given we've produced our fair share of good poets). The only problem was, in my school, we were lumbered with some turgid crap that was forced upon us seemingly exclusively because the poet lived just down the road. Genuinely as far as I can tell, it was entirely devoid of artistic merit. I have since tried to engage with the poetry, particularly Burns, but unfortunately - because I spent school poetry lessons in my mental happy place as a form of self-preservation - I am really unsure and lacking confidence in how to interact with the material.

Again, I'm not particularly proud of this trait. I don't really enjoy being a bit of a philistine but at the moment, I'm not really sure how to go about changing it. I don't know if there is an 'Idiot's guide to poetry' on the market. If there is, let me know.

JR

Bookshops

Continuing the theme of places where I enjoy passing time, today I'm going to talk about bookshops.

Despite the fact that I'm an enthusiastic Kindle user, I still love "proper" paper books. I love the smell, the tactile experience and the sense of satisfaction as I watch my progress through whichever tome I happen to be reading. None of these things can adequately be replicated on an e-reader. An extension of this is that bookshops are pretty much the only shops where I can enjoy browsing.

I had almost forgotten this fact until recently. Most of the books I have bought recently have been via Amazon. This is either because I wanted them for my kindle or because it was cheaper to buy them second hand there than buy them new. Unfortunately new books are still prohibitively expensive even with money off and special offers. However, on the flip side, clicking through pages and pages of books on Amazon isn't nearly as satisfying. Also, it means I usually go on to Amazon to purchase specific books rather than browse and that's a shame since I have picked up some absolutely wonderful books over the years simply by picking one up, having a quick flick through and going on gut instinct.

Anyway, I rediscovered the pleasure of browsing in bookshops the other day when I had some time to kill before an appointment. I considered going for a coffee but I didn't much fancy forking out a fortune for something that I wasn't particularly going to enjoy in the first place. Therefore, I found myself ambling into the nearest bookshop with the vague notion that I might get some ideas for Christmas presents.

Strangely, despite my usual reticence to national chain stores, book shops are something of an exception. I generally don't have a problem browsing through Waterstones despite the fact that they have a near-monopoly on the high street book sales market. I rather like the layout of their shops which creates lots of little alcoves where one can go and explore. There is also ample provision of chairs so you can sit and flick through a book before deciding whether or not to buy it (or make a note of it to buy second hand on Amazon: cheeky but needs must at the moment). I love browsing through all the sections seeing what catches my eye. I love the feeling of being surrounded by so many stories, so many things to learn and the possibility that my outlook on life could be partially or completely changed by the contents between the covers.

Strangely and slightly counter-intuitively I don't get the same feeling in libraries. One would think that, if anything, the feeling would be magnified there since there's no pressure to buy. I think part of the problem may just be the atmosphere. Every time I go into a library I get hit by a wall of silence that is as oppressive as it is deafening. As I have said in previous posts, I really don't like the sound of silence. For some reason I find it deeply unsettling and being enveloped in that atmosphere makes it impossible to be at ease. In book shops however there is always a gentle murmur of human activity; not much but enough to be there in the background and be comforting.

One thing I don't like about modern book shops is the presence of franchised coffee shops in them. Apart from the fact that the pervasive smell of over-brewed  coffee and steamed milk ruins the smell of the books, it just doesn't seem necessary. I mean, the bigger department stores aside, which other shopping venues have built in catering? It all seems a bit much and a bit too blatant an attempt to part people from their cash whether they like it or not.

A final area which I haven't yet touched on but I absolutely love are second hand book shops. I love browsing through these and uncovering complete gems of books that I would probably never look twice at otherwise. Over they years I have found some complete gems in them and total bargains too. It is possible to emerge with several books and still have change of a tenner. Even better is the fact that most second hand book shops are run by charities so one can be fairly sure that most of what you spend is going to a reasonably good cause. Where I am at the moment, the charity book shops offer a reasonable chance of getting good quality antique books. I was heartbroken recently when I saw an early edition Pride and Prejudice in one. It would have been perfect for my girlfriend's Christmas present. Unfortunately I wasn't working at the time and couldn't justify the cost of buying it when there wasn't any prospect of work imminently. When I got a job a few weeks later the first thing I did was return to the shop to try and get it for her but unfortunately someone else had got there before me and snapped it up. Hopefully there will be others.

Anyway, on that note I will bring my ramble through the merits of book shops to a close.

JR

Kindle

This blog isn't going to be a haven for product placement (barring the odd book review) however I am going to post up a bit of a product review now.

As the title suggests; Santa brought me a kindle for Christmas. I must admit, I was VERY dubious to start with. I am a traditionalist when it comes to books. I love the smell and feel of a book. I enjoy browsing in bookshops, picking up books at random and discovering some truly magnificent (and some truly terrible) reads. Second hand bookshops especially are a source of joy; combining the browsing and discovery with the glow of a good bargain. I also secretly enjoy tracking my progress through a book by looking at the thicknesses either side of where I'm reading.

I was deeply suspicious of the kindle when I got it. For the first week I didn't touch it. It lay under my bed. Eventually I plugged it in and started prodding suspiciously at the buttons. I became a convert shortly afterwards. Firstly, it's really easy to use. I won't say it's intuitive because intuition is a subjective experience however I (as someone who is technologically inept) find it straight forward to use. It also has good battery life. I use it while commuting so there's lots of switching on and off as I change modes of transport. 

The screen is also brilliant to read from. Reading from an electronic display was one of the things I worried about most as I am acutely aware that I do not assimilate information well from a computer screen. Those worries disappeared swiftly. I forgot almost instantly that I wasn't reading from the printed page. Surprisingly, it's even more comfortable to read from than some books.

Finally, the pricing of books on amazon is good. To buy popular books costs around the same as it would to buy them second-hand on amazon. A major bonus given cash is quite tight at the moment. Added to that is the massive number of classics that are available for virtually nothing . I bought the entire works of Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan-Doyle and Dickens for less than a pound a piece. The complete works of Burns comes free. This has prompted several sprees of buying books I've been meaning to read for a while and still having change from a tenner.

There are a couple of downsides however. It's very easy to press the buttons to turn pages unintentionally which can mean lots of searching around. It can also be difficult to get an idea of one's progress through the book despite the percentage indicator at the base. This isn't a huge deal but it can sometimes be a bit off-putting. I'm also not a huge fan of the fact that it's impossible to gain any kind of control over the picture displayed on the screen when it is set on sleep. It seems like a bit of a pointless feature. It is also very, very difficult to navigate around within a book after you have started reading.

Unfortunately today my screen broke. Since I haven't heard of this happening to anyone else, I think it's just me being unlucky. I was steeling myself for a bit of an ordeal to get it sorted out however I was pleasantly surprised. Upon phoning amazon, I was promised an immediate replacement which was sent out straight away as well as a pre-paid label to use to return the damaged one. I know it's a new product so it's in their interest to get a reputation for good customer support as well as the product but I was still impressed and it is another reason I would recommend getting one if you were thinking about it.

All in all, I have been pleasantly surprised to be proved wrong in my suspicions and would confidently suggest that friends and family should get one if they don't already have one.

JR