Bleak House #1

Don't get excited - I haven't finished this already.

I'm about a third of the way through and, as it may take me a while, thought an interim post may be in order. Also, writing a blog post means that I feel I'm making progress whilst not actually having to be reading the book.

At the moment, we still have Rachel sleeping in our room, and she seems to start waking up if I have the bedside light on, so my reading is mainly happening under the duvet with one of those little lights musicians clip onto their stands whilst playing in an orchestra. This isn't conducive to reading for long periods of time, though it does have the side benefit of making me feel like I'm about 8, reading after I'm supposed to have turned out the light and gone to sleep! It may be time to move her next door.

Anyway. Bleak House is interesting, so far. It has quite a light-hearted feel about it, despite the name. I think the characters are all intended to be lightly comical, and the names are predominantly ridiculous. It's not laugh out loud funny, but it may have been when written. It's fairly readable, and certainly easier going than other Dickens novels (Nicholas Nickleby, I'm looking at you). However, so far it seems to meander without particular intent, and is more like a loosely connected series of anecdotes than a novel. I do like to feel that there is narrative drive in a work of fiction and that the author is aiming for something...so far the reading experience is much like the last Harry Potter book where they wander around a forest for 600 pages. Apologies to Dickens fans for comparing this to JK Rowling! I'm sure it will go somewhere at some point but it does feel as though it could benefit from an editor's severe red pen.

Perhaps I'll go and read some more when Only Connect finishes...

1Q84

Now, this book isn't actually on the list but I thought I would talk about it anyway. Not least because my next read is Bleak House, and I suspect it may take some time. However, this is THE LAST DICKENS I WILL HAVE TO READ. Excuse the capitals, but I am excited. Bleak House may, in fact, be the last Dickens I ever read - I have improved on my previous record of struggling to finish anything but Oliver Twist, but have not been converted.

Anyway, I digress. 1Q84 is the new work from Haruki Murakami, a cult Japanese author and one of my all time favourites (I should thank my brother for introducing me to A Wild Sheep Chase, still my favourite, and giving me many happy hours of reading). Murakami writes in Japanese but works with two very good/sensitive translators and his novels are a joy to read. This one is broken into 3 volumes, volumes 1&2 published together, and 3 published slightly later - a week apart in the UK, but I think slightly longer in Japan.

I pre-ordered this on Amazon - one of the great joys of reading on a Kindle is that, as long as you leave the wireless connection switched on, a pre-ordered book is delivered automatically overnight, direct to the Kindle, allowing you to wake up in the morning and dive straight in. Or, wake up in the morning, see it's there, and spend all day desperately wanting to read it while you care for the baby...same difference!

The reviews of 1Q84 talked about this as having reference to Orwell's 1984 but I didn't really pick these up, other than the fact that it was set in 1984. Murakami is on his usual fine surreal form, exploring the story of Aomame, Tengo and Fuka-Eri who, through their contact with the world of the Air Chrysalis, find themselves in an alternate reality, which Aomame labels 1Q84 - Q standing for question. As ever with Murakami, there are recurring themes through the book - the preparation of food, ears, a lonely but attractive young man with an older married girlfriend, an unexpected role for sex in the drive of the narrative...

It's very difficult to describe this - if you haven't read any Murakami before, read Wild Sheep Chase or the Wind-up Bird Chronicle first, to get an idea of his style. Or Norwegian Wood or Sputnik Sweetheart which are still surreal but slightly easier to relate to. However, I would thoroughly recommend this as a very readable, intricate work. I couldn't put it down, and I'm sure I will go back to it more than once to appreciate the full intellectual achievement that it represents!

Next - Bleak House. < sigh >.