Couple of books recently read

Including: 

• Lego: A Love Story (Jonathan Bender);
• Labyrinth (Kate Mosse); and
• Paula Spencer (Roddy Doyle)

Lego: A Love Story is an interesting book. Jonathan Bender spent some time with AFOLs (Adult Fans Of Lego), attending their conventions, building their challenges and just generally falling back in love with Lego (though not quite to the same extent as some of the others described in the book). Nicely written, it's a really intriguing and at times puzzling story about how grown-ups still play, model, and build with what is traditionally seen as a child's toy.

He describes the model Titanic built for a convention, the input that the AFOLs have on the kits that Lego develop and the obsessive compulsions suffered and enjoyed by collectors and builders as they buy and sell individual bricks and pieces over the internet. I recommend this for anyone who is still a little bit of a child, and for anyone who isn't (yet) still a little bit of a child. Enjoyed, 4/5.

Labyrinth is a Grail tale - 2 stories set centuries apart in and around Carcassonne in Southern France. One woman is a modern day archaeologist, another a mediaeval woman living in the time of the Crusades. I read this, and I think you might like it if you like the grail legend type of thing, but it was just too long for me. I had stayed attracted to it for about half of it and so I finished it but it didn't leave a lasting impression on me either way. So, I suppose 2.5 out of 5. 

Paula Spencer - fans of the Van, the Snapper and the Commitments might be surprised by this book, as it doesn't quite have the same style as those. An excellent character study, it watches Paula (a recovering alcoholic who's just got out of a difficult relationship) for a year of her life. Really astute dialogue between the characters (mostly Paula's children and sisters) builds their personae into something really believable. This one was well able to keep my attention and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 4/5 

I'm finally reading Catch-22, and enjoying that. It's superficially zany, but I think there's a deeper commentary on madness in there. I can see how it's such a classic, and I love finally understanding the phrase! More on that later.

Caramel, liquorice, and apples

It's all in a Westvleteren XII beer from Belgium. A Trappist beer, an ordinarily very difficult to get hold of (only from the monastery, have to ring and arrange pickup etc etc), this came from a box sold as part of a fundraising initiative.

It's very robust and warming at 10.2%., but not overpoweringly so. Very smooth, and only lightly carbonated. Dark, though, with a light touch of foam head.

Taste wise, well to me it's got caramel, liquorice, and apples. In a very nice balance. This is a robust beer for enjoyment at slightly below room temperature, over a longish time. Boxes sell for around €50 including a pair of lovely gold rimmed glasses, and 6 lovely bottles, from many good beer stockists.

Book review: The Christmas club

This book by Stephen Price is A decent read, well told. 6 people meet in Christmas 1989 in an abandoned house in Donegal, have a great time and prise to meet up every year. They don't of course, life gets in the way, but they do meet again in 2002.

Intervening years have brought change to them all, success in varying degrees - and stresses and strains in other ways. The events of their final meeting are perhaps a commentary on the way Irish society changed over those years.

Would recommend.

Measuring the world, Or: A book review

I have just this evening finished "Measuring the World", Daniel Kehlmann's book about von Humboldt and Gauss - translated from the German, of course. Let me say from the outset that I enjoyed this book thoroughly, and even translated, it's writing is succinct, eloquent and very readable. It's a novel, told semi-biographially about the German explorer and scientist Alexander von Humboldt, and his explorations, and the German mathematician and scientist Carl Gauss.

These are 2 very different stories, one story centres on the wide-ranging explorations to South America, and Asia, that von Humboldt undertakes, discovering, naming, climbing and generally exploring his way around, compared to a more homely and less glamorous life that Gauss had, working on astronomy and of course, mathematics. In the end, of course, von Humboldt reflects on these differences and asks which, if either, of them, had the greater journey of discovery.

To be honest, I don't know enough about either man to know whether the book is highly fictionalised, or biographically accurate - it doesn't really matter though, I think there's enough truth in the book to make it believable. It evokes a wonderful sense of being in an age of constant discovery in all fields - geography, botany, anthropology, astronomy, mathematics, physics....you get the picture, and even as a translation it's brilliantly written and very very readable - I highly recommend it!

I recently finished a couple of books. Not at the same time, that would be confusing, but within the last couple of weeks.

One was Daemon, a techno-thriller by a chap called Leinad Zeraus. I never had heard of him before, but judging by the ending there's probably another book either out there already, or on the way shortly. This was very enjoyable. I don't know how to describe the plot, so Ill tell you briefly what happens. A games developer dies. Strange things start to happen - like deaths and that. Turns out, the games developer had left a set of instructions on some computers about causing some mischief and mayhem after his (admittedly early) death.

It's believable far-fetched, or would it be fairer to say far-fetchedly believable? Anyway, it'll take more than AVG antivirus to solve this problem! Highly recommended.

The other book will be mentioned shortly. Today we were in Stradbally for the steam rally. Not as good as 2006, but maybe it's cos we'd seen it before. Beer 2 is bubbling away nicely...

Oh, I totally forgot and had to come back - we had some beautiful icecream at Stradbally. Rossmore home-made icecream. Delicious, creamy, and better value than a 99. I had chocolate and hazelnut (which was really tasty without being overpoweringly chocolatey) and toffee, while M had vanilla and honeycomb (which was really nice, not too sweet!). I can't link to them cos they don't got no website!

Further edit - this from laoisfoods.com,and more from the Kilkenny People from some time or other "The ice cream factory set up at Rossmore, Rathdowney by Aubrey and Rebecca Stanley is now up and running. Trading under Rossmore Farm House Ice cream it is a family enterprise. They have their refrigerated van and sell on Fridays to the Farmer's Market, Portlaoise and on Saturdays to the market in Thurles.Anyone can call to the factory and purchase ice cream."

Some books I've been reading recently

I hope I've not mentioned these already - that's reasonably likely to happen!

Nicholas Evans - The Divide. I spose you'd call this family drama, as it centres around a family. Missing daughter, eco-activism, and a mystery associated with the finding of a body. Family intrigue, secrets and all kinds of things like that. Good. Not exceptional, but no waste of time.

James Siegal - Detour. Imagine going to Colombia to adopt a child? You're bound to be kidnapped and blackmailed, being double crossed at every turn. Still, you might enjoy it - I did!

Giles Milton - Edward Trencom's Nose. Like cheese? Like the smell of cheese? See a Greek connection? Neither did I, but there is one. This is a very unusual book - slow to start and slow to end, but very nicely written. You can forgive this for the front 2/3rds of the book, but on completion you feel something else might have been more rewarding. Meh-ok.

Terry Pratchett - Strata. Nah, don't bother. It's not a Terry Pratchett book, well, not one you'd want to read.

HG Wells - The first men in the moon. The moral of the story is, be careful if your neighbour invents an antigravity metal, it will only lead to trouble. That said, it's an imaginative tale, told in a Victorian kind of style. Readable, and well written considering it was probably one of the pioneers of offworld travel writing.

Frank Miller - The Dark Knight Returns: Graphic Novel - a proper dark Batman tale. It's a long comic, read it with that in mind, and it has a good story. Recommended.

A serious day - bottling, strawberries, and sausages

So, with the weather being well, ok, and us both having the day off, it being a Sunday, we headed off. Enniscorthy is the target, being the venue for the Enniscorthy Strawberry Festival. Subdue your excitement.

There was an All-Ireland Farmer's Market - consisting of about 17 stalls, not even one per county! Some of these sold strawberries (2), other sold preserves, cheeses, meats and vegetables. So that was ok - we had a sausage roll there made from sausage about 40mm diameter (verging on the too-thick side of cookability I think) which was tasty.

As there was little else happening, bar a cookery demonstration (and neither M or I were interested) we decided to seaside it, and ended up in Rosslare watching the Irish Sea do what it did. We stopped for grub on the way home in the Ramada resort near Tullow - this cannot be recommended as a course of action to anybody and we should have come home and barbecued, though we were absolutely ravenous at this stage.

Decided to bottle the beer tonight. This is a messy operation, and the following were noted:

1: Count your bottles, make sure you have enough. Add about 6 bottles to the "enough" number, because you mightn't actually fill the bottles as much as they claim to hold.

2: Get a no-rinse steriliser/sanitiser for your bottles. This will save on water and time. I had to rinse each bottle a couple of times - wasting water. This is A Bad Thing.

3: Grow some more arms, or else ask a helper to pass by. Someone to hold the siphon in the bucket whilst you're at the other end filling bottles is very brilliant.

4: Check the top of all bottles that you're proposing to use, as some fancy bottles (Wychwood ales for example) won't take a crown cap with the capper I've got.

5: Have a towel or 2 handy. Just in Case.

Books.

Hugh Laurie - an author? I didn't believe it until I read the book. "The Gun Seller" was leant (loaned?) to me, and I picked it up slightly incredulously. That said, I laughed out loud on a number of occasions quite early into the book, however, once I'd become used to the comic style (think Christopher Brookmyre) it wasn't quite so funny. If you want to know what its about, I suggest you read a proper review somewhere - in brief, there's an ex-army soldier, some arms dealing and that kind of stuff. I seem to remember a love interest too, but presume that's by the by. I can't remember much of it, except it was at least entertaining. 13/16.

V for Vendetta - Alan Moore and David Lloyd put this one together. Another of the great graphic novels (grown up books for children) I've read recently (see my Watchmen review - that's brill by the way - the book that is....). As I said before, it's obviously a more visual medium than most wordsonly books, but that makes it different, not sillier. An interesting, if slightly complicated story - it only really became clear to me on seeing the film - revolving around a less than liberal (read semi-dictatorial) police state in the not too distant future (10 years or so in the future). Well-drawn, and only let down by a slightly complex (in my reading of it) story. Not as good as Watchmen, but not by much!

In fact, the film is very very good too. Watch it.

2 posts in one day

To try and get the average back up after having been away for so long....

We saw Shrek the Third this afternoon. I thought it was good, having heard bad reports about it I was very pleasantly surprised. Definitely watchable - funny, if not as clever as the previous films.

Shrek doesn't want to be the king of Far Far Away after the king dies, so he goes on a quest to find the only other heir to the throne, then everybody gangs up on the bad guys again after the bad guys usurp the throne while Shrek and the other men (donkey and Puss ... in Boots) - just goes to show you shouldn't leave women to watch the fort. Oh, and he finds out that Fiona (Mrs Shrek) is with ogreling, so he's about to become a father. Naturally, there's some anxious expectation on Shrek's part throughout the film.

Would it surprise you if I said it all works out in the end? Oh, I've spoilt the ending. Sure, go and see it, and you'll enjoy it.

Another view on the film, here.

Ah. Here I am.

As in, I haven't been on blogger in a while, have I? Excuses here: Excuse 1 - We had Internet problems - in fairness to Eircom the first fault was cleared within 3 days, and the 2nd fault within 24 hours. Excuse 2: There is no excuse 2.

As the weather has been particularly bad of late, I have been doing a good bit of reading, so here's the low down on the literature.

This is Charlie Bird, by Charlie Bird and Kevin Rafter. The Household Name of RTÉ, you would assume that a man with a life as exciting and varied as they come would be able to write a humdinger of a memoir, wouldn't you? On the contrary, I found this book to be a little too dry and almost robotic in its presentation, and would find it hard to recommend it to be honest. There's no doubt that the content is interesting, everything from natural disaster to freedom fight has been covered by the man after all, but I think the writing lacks something.

The Cloudspotters Guide, Gavin Pretor-Pinney. This is a real gem of a book. Lovely asides, and a real easiness about it. I hope this guy writes about something else... Genuinely this book captivates and engages, and brings new insight and appreciation of the everyday picture show that takes place above our heads. Naturally, you mightn't take it all in after the first sitting, but it's the kind of book you might keep handy to identify clouds. Makes you want to sit outside of a summers evening, if we ever were to get one, with a couple of beers and watch the sky for entertainment. Highly recommended.

300 Frank Miller's graphic novel on which the recent, excellent, film was based. I saw this with a reduced price sticker on it in a bookshop. Sucker, it screamed at me. Yes, I replied. And I read it, or watched it - I'm not sure how you describe the act of appreciating a graphic novel (yes, it's a long comic for those of you who're thinking it...). (I've just come back up from the bottom of the post to say that the book is about the Spartans' defence of the Hot Gates in the battle of Thermopylae, against Xerxes and the nasty Persians. Wikipedia will sort you out for more background)

See, graphic novels are great, in a different way to "word-books". On one hand, the imagination is not so challenged, as you're shown graphically how characters and scenes look. But you can get a better sense of emotion from a well drawn facial expression, or a better sense of place from a well-drawn landscape - stories have a little more immediacy. Of course, the key is "well-drawn" - the genre wouldn't and doesn't work when the art isn't up to it.

I digress, however, but 300 is a well-drawn novel, and the film bears a great resemblance to the book. That said, it's easily read in an hour or so, and doesn't have the complexity of other books - so you don't feel so fulfilled after finishing it. Naturally, it's recommended as an easy read for an afternoon or something - though the book itself is a little unwieldy physically...

Around the World by Mouse, Harry Pearson. Harry tries to travel the world by using the internet. Hmm, this is certainly entertaining, if a little.....pointless? Maybe that's a little strong a word, but the book was more a "stream of consciousness" without any real aim. He mentions travelling on boats, or meeting people - but never actually says whether he was emailing these people, or viewing boats on websites - and the text seemed to be cut and pasted from the internet itself. Mildly amusing - mildly recommended.

The Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The second graphic novel (long comic) this post, and an excellent read it is too. The artwork is superb, the story is as engaging as any you'd find in an ordinary book, and it entertained me for a good long time. Characters are as deep and as "human" as in any other book, and the story is well stitched together. Genre-defining, according to the back of the cover - and agreed with by this reviewer. Most Highly Recommended. Out of 59, I'd give it 59, it's really good.

So, I'm going back to pray for rain, as the weather's been so bad this last month that praying for rain could only bring about an improvement. Goodnight, and sweat dreems.

A miscellany of reviews for your perusal

The first, in no particular order except this one, is a quick review of Ian Rankin's book, Hide and Seek. A continuation of the Rebus novels where a junkie death leads to yes, you guessed it, the dark underbelly of high flying Edinburgh society. Read and enjoy.

The second, being a review of the Eden Deli. You'll find this in Edenderry. A very tasty and indeed well-priced lunch (even if we timed it more like afternoon tea....) was enjoyed here on Saturday, but we barely had time to get there and back before M had to collect her sister and go on a road trip.

In third position, being another food type review. The Silken Thomas in Kildare was recently done up, and we made it there for grub on Sunday evening. We were going to go into their restaurant, Chapter 16, but decided bar food was the order of the evening and had a go at that menu instead. Well, I don't think I can tell you how much that was enjoyed. Great big tasty portions were served, from burgers, to mixed grills and cottage pie - every piled high plate was emptied greedily. Highly recommended for grub. (for 4 of us, starters, mains, 2 desserts, coffees, and a drink each - €100!!)

And in fourth, Zadie Smith's "On Beauty." Sometimes, you read a prize winning book and realise why it won. Other times, you win a prize-winning books shortlist competitor, and wonder what in the name of all things good in the world did the judges pick the winner for? I believe, and I may be wrong, that this book was a competitor of John Banville's "The Sea" in 2005 Booker prize. If so, why didn't it win? It's much more enjoyable, accessible, interesting, and engaging than "The Sea."

As the blurb says (and who am i to try to better blurb?) "Set in New England mainly and London partly, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding families [...] and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love...." It's well written and very engaging, and I recommend it above "The Sea" any day.

In other news, I brought the new (to me) car back to the dealer for NCTing today, and they gave me a loaner (not like some other dealers who charge for a replacement car). A 520i - armchair on wheels. Oh boy is it comfy!