The Book Tower
debut novel coming soon

It’s that time of year when I’m musing over my holiday reading. We’re away next week, and although seven days isn’t really that long I appear to have set aside a mini library for our trip. I’ve realised that it’s always wise to pack more books than you’d ever possibly read. Why? Well, I’m firmly starting to believe that a bad choice of book can seriously spoil a holiday. When I recently visited Chicago I took The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfield. Although this book received some good reviews I couldn’t stand it, and I unfortunately now associate Chicago with this tedious and badly written novel. Similarly,I associate The Sea by John Banville with Sicily, another novel I found overrated, but I also associate Sicily with The Bedtime Secrets of the Masterchefs by Irvine Welsh. Light, funny, unputdownable. A perfect holiday read.

Luckily, most of my holiday choices ove the years have worked out fine and I have happy book associations with far flung destinations. Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernières with Turkey. Travels With my Aunt by Graham Greene and, strangely, Dracula by Bram Stoker with Corsica. Great Expectations with the Algarve. Our Mutual Friend with California. Dickens works abroad – don’t ask me why. I’ll Go To Bed at Noon by Gerard Woodward and The Long Firm Trilogy by Jake Arnott with France. An Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler with Cyprus. The Testament of Gideon Mack by James Robertson with Florida. And, although it’s a very daft book, Bridget Jones’ Diary with Spain. Books can also make being stranded at an airport more or less bearable. Star of the Sea worked, Mary Reilly didn’t.

So I’m going well prepared this year. I’m packing authors that work on holiday for me, with a Graham Greene and the latest Irvine Welsh. I’m also taking some Cormac McCarthy, an author that appears to work for me generally, and Love in the Time of Cholera, a book I’ve been unable to settle into but may work well on the sunbed. I’m also backing up with a mystery read, usually a last minute airport buy. I discovered Welsh and de Bernières this way.

So picture me at my most comfortable. Usually the first by the pool to reserve my sunbed and reading space. Alternating between the book, the bar and the pool as the day goes on. Usually the last to leave the pool, reading as the sun sets. Happy holidays!

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From Booking Through Thursday.

Who’s the worst fictional villain you can think of? As in, the one you hate the most, find the most evil, are happiest to see defeated? Not the cardboard, two-dimensional variety, but the most deliciously-written, most entertaining, best villain? Not necessarily the most “evil,” so much as the best-conceived on the part of the author…oh, you know what I mean!

Of all the books I’ve read recently, my favourite literary villain has got to be Steerpike from the Gormenghast trilogy. He’s certainly evil, but he’s also deliciously conceived as you can really see his mind ticking over as he hatches his plots and schemes to get what he wants. When he meets his downfall you’ve been with him for a long time, over the course of two lengthy novels, and his passing creates a mixture of jubilation and regret.

The most evil villain I’ve recently encountered is Chigurh from Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men; devoid of any moustache twirling charm, but a captivating character nevertheless. He inhabits a world where the villain has certainly left the pantomime stage behind…

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My apologies to Pat Barker for temporarily putting her new novel Life Class to one side. After letting my daughter tear open the Amazon packaging for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday and officially declare its arrival in our house I have been unable to resist starting it. As hefty hardbacks with crisp, unspoilt pages go, this is one of the most attractive that’s fallen into my hands for a long time. And Rowling really does appear to be on top form.

On a shopping trip yesterday I wandered into Waterstones and was amused to see several people picking up copies of the book and reading the last page. Amusing because how could such a crazy action go anywhere in the region that is called enjoyable? I avoided these people and followed my tracks back into Marks and Spencer to find my family. There I spotted one or two people sitting on the floor, blocking out all the noise and mayhem and engrossed in the new Potter book. Surrounded by shoppers in a Summer sale frenzy, I wished I’d brought mine to read…

Two members of my family have already finished Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows – I’ve retreated into self imposed exile to finish the book and am a slow third of the way through. I’m saving all of my thoughts for a spoiler-free review, coming hopefully before the end of the week…

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Everybody’s been doing this lately, in fact I believe it is now compulsory for bloggers.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic struggle between two forces in your life and you are very concerned about a betrayal that could turn the balance. If this makes it sound like you’re re-enacting Christian theological events, that may or may not be coincidence. When in doubt, put your trust in zoo animals.

Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

(I found myself fiercely editing the html – but I’m a geek.)

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From Booking Through Thursday.

Okay, love him or loathe him, you’d have to live under a rock not to know that J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out on Saturday… Are you going to read it? If so, right away? Or just, you know, eventually, when you get around to it? Are you attending any of the midnight parties? If you’re not going to read it, why not? And, for the record… what do you think? Will Harry survive the series? What are you most looking forward to?

I have pre-ordered my copy of The Deathly Hallows from Amazon so I’m expecting it to come flying through the letterbox sometime on Saturday morning. Making sure I receive the book on the first day is about as far as I’m taking it though; I won’t be attending any midnight parties and I won’t drop everything to read the book from beginning to end in one magical session. As it’s the last one in the series I think it’s worth savouring, although I’m slightly worried about people releasing spoilers who’ve read it first and … well … spoiling it for me.

Although there are rumours that Harry will die I can’t really see this happening. I read something about J.K.Rowling downing a bottle of champagne and weeping drunkenly after she’d finished writing the book – maybe she’s killed him or another major character off, maybe it’s just an emotional experience for her. Not sure how I’d react to finishing the last line of a phenomenally successful series of books…

What I’ll probably miss the most is losing the sense of occasion that – let’s face it – rarely happens when a new book is released. The latest Harry Potter film has also just come out but I’m already bored with it – blockbuster films are released every week and are hyped so much I don’t want to see them – but – call me an old softie – there’s something romantic and right about a new book being celebrated…

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