Week 7 Part 1- Spilling a paint can on dystopia

OK I'm back up to feeling pretty much 100% and I think some of the thanks is due to this week's first book- Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey.

Sometime in the not too distant future, "something" happened which caused the progress of society to halt and humanity to start devolving. Set at least 500 years from now, the humans of Fforde's novel have decreased ability to view the full spectrum of colour, pupils of their eyes are so tiny that they cannot see at all in the night and who live in a world that I imagined to be somewhat like the village Belle lives in Disney's Beauty and the Beast as the conveniences we have today have been removed by "leapbacks" by the government (items that have been leapbacked include bicycles with gears, most cars, all but one train line, most phones and the computer)- also there is a severe spoon shortage plaguing humanity. The world is run on a strict set of rules established by Munsell (named after the colour system) who is the founder of the society as seen in the novel. The society of the novel also runs along strict class divides based on the level of an individual's ability to see colour and what colour that is (people can see one or two only). People are split along colour lines into primary and secondary colours and grey. Peoples' names are derived from their colour, the towns and villages are ruled by a head prefect who is purple and three other prefects from the three primary colours, and the greys, who cannot see colour, are the lowest of the low and are therefore the workhorses on whom society is built. Yikes a lot of backstory!

Now to the actual plot, 20 year old Eddie Russett is or was a red on the way up. He is on the verge of his Ishihara- the test that establishes how strongly you see colour and what colour you can see (named for the colour blindness test of the same name)- and is sure that he will register a high enough percentage to be a red prefect one day. He is also on a half promise to marry Constance Oxblood- a strong red from a line of strong reds (unlike his Russett line which has some grey in its recent past)- and yes arranged marriage and doweries are back in favour by the future in which this novel is set. Unfortunately Eddie cheesed off some big wig in his hometown of Jade-On-Lime and so has to accompany his father (a swatchman i.e. a doctor) to the far off town of East Carmine to regains some humility by conducting a chair census. On the way as a chance encounter he meets Jane G23, a grey with a "cute" nose who threatens to break his jaw, and he is smitten. He and his father arrive in the backwaters of East Carmine to discover that the swatchman his father is supposed to be filling in for has died following self- misdiagnosis, Jane G23 is their maid and there is a naked man (who for the sake of Munsell's rules must be treated as invisible) living in the upper floor of their house, and don't forget the locals are just the right mix of the odd, the insane and the scamming. Pretty soon, Eddie is being scammed out of his return ticket to Jade-on-Lime, finding that anything can be sold in East Carmine, and that society might not fall into the clear rainbow he thought it did.

So why the sudden addition of what is clearly a quite complicated bit of sci fi/fantasy to my list of novels? I picked this up a few weeks ago- after setting the list- and it has been lying in my flat calling to me to read it since them- seriously it talks or maybe it's just the insanely colourful cover. I've found that there are three schools of thought on Fforde's novels-the enlightened, the dimwitted and the unaware. The enlightened (yes that includes me) have read more than one and love the crazy postmodern worlds and are happy to suspend their disbelief and go along for the ride; the dimwitted just don't get it; and the unaware haven't had a chance to yet as they haven't read any yet (if you are in the latter camp, do yourself a favour and find a copy of The Eyre Affair- it'll change your life). This book represents the first in what will be a new series for Fforde following the Thursday Next series and the Nursery Crime series and I would warn that it probably best to get into Fforde's other series before attempting this one as it is a bit of a leap if you aren't already aware of what to expect from Fforde. I'm going to steal from the critics whose comments are on the copy I read and add a bit to the mix when I say it is part Orwellian dystopia (the critics said 1984 and I agree but the oft repeated Munsell catch phrase of "Apart We Are Together" did remind me a little of the way the sheep repeat "Four Legs Good, Two Legs Baaaaad" in Animal Farm), part Wizard of Oz (after Glinda hits the Technicolor switch) and part Hitchhiker's Guide (the spoons thing- oddly at this very minute talking to someone on facebook about younguns being ignorant of Hitchhiker's Guide)- critics also compared it to Brave New World but I've not read it (please don't comment on that being a crime, I'm well aware it being one). I'm looking forward to the sequels especially as I quite liked the characters of Jane (though she was a tad predictable by the end), Tommo (he reminded me of Colin from Press Gang) and the Apocryphal man, and there are several things left up in the air that are quite intriguing- also I want to meet an orange, if there was one in the novel, they got lost somewhere as I don't remember them. I'm trying not to give too much away here because the book should best be read to be comprehended and I thought it was brilliant so I want you to have the same experience. I just hope that the sequels get out there because there were a few books in the Thursday Next series which were promised but never arrived (though there were of course other books in their place). As final note, I will give away the delightful facts that English sheepdogs are called Dulex dogs and as I suspected when reading it, Wikipedia confirms that East Carmine is probably in Wales.

See colourful cover....is it talking to you too?

Next I'm back to the list, back with classics and back with Americans as I dive into F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beauty and  Damned.

Week 6- Adding some reality to the mix

Hello people of blog land from the world of constant pain. That's right it's over a month since I displayed my deft skills of walking and fell and mashed my face somewhat, so it must be time for another injury. I've managed to mysteriously strain my trapezius muscle or at least that's what my self-diagnosis tells me, and have had shooting pain across my shoulders and up the back of my neck for three days (FUN!). The whole thing is made mildly worse by the fact I have no clue how I wound up with said injury but enough complaining from me and on to this week's book- Talking about Jane Austen in Baghdad by Bee Rowlatt and May Witwit.

Talking about Jane Austen in Baghdad is a collection of emails between the two authors which came about under some odd circumstances. Bee Rowlatt is a journalist for the BBC World Service and as part of this job in early 2005 she was contacting people in Iraq to discuss the aftermath of the US invasion. May Witwit, a lecturer at an all female English college in Baghdad, was one of the people she contacted and after the interview was over they remained in touch and became close friends- all via email. The two women talk about lives and the contrast between Rowlatt's life as a suburban London mother of three (the youngest of which was born during the time of their email correspondence so Rowlatt spends some of the book on maternity leave) and Witwit as a lecturer in a war torn country where she and husband are often woken by bombs and there are death threats being levelled at academics, people who are of Sunni not Shi'ite descent (like her husband) and women who opt not to wear long sleeves and an hijab in the streets and who drive themselves to work (like she does). Very quickly the tone of the emails moves beyond just the simple sharing of lives and the two women start working on a plan to get Witwit and her husband out of Iraq.

As someone who was strongly opposed to the US invasion of Iraq (don't get me wrong, Saddam needed to go but this wasn't the best way), it was fascinating to read the post-invasion opinions of someone in Baghdad. I picked this book as one for the Novel Challenge on a whim and was a little worried that, even though it was a true story, parts of it might to a bit too chick-lit for my liking and that it might downplay the effects of the war. It doesn't and the lives of both of these women are quite intriguing. Both women are very genuine and honest in their correspondence and even for the sections of the book when Rowlatt is a housewife, both are very focused on the importance of both work and family. The scars of the invasion will clearly be with Iraq for a very long time and Witwit spends a lot of her emails attempting to reconcile her dislike of the old regime and the fact that life under the new regime is actually often worse for the day-to-day lives of many ordinary Iraqis. Though the war and its after effects linger on, the news stations of the world have begun to forget about it (except when a coalition soldier is killed) and this book is strong reminder to the West that all these years after Bush Jr declared the war over, it still rages on the streets of Baghdad (granted the book ends in 2008 but I'm sure much of what it describes is still going on). It is an enlightening read and reminded me that the reality of war as told by those experiencing it directly conveys the situation with so much more poignancy than fiction ever could. I was somewhat reminded of both The Diary of Anne Frank and Zlata's Diary (you may not heard of the second one but it was one of my favourite books in the latter years of primary school, it is the diary of a girl in Sarajevo during the war in Balkans in the early 90s), however though I would recommend both of those books to teens (in particular teen girls) this is very much for adults and I think women in particular should find themselves a copy.

On a side note, this book would largely not have been possible without the work on a brilliant charity organisation that I had not previously been aware of. The Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA) helps academics who are forced to flee their homelands following a government crack down and/or massacre of academics. It was founded to assist academics in 1930s who were fleeing fascist regimes in Europe and nowadays it is doing a lot of good work in Iraq. For more info check out their website- http://www.academic-refugees.org/ . Yes I know I'm plugging for MS Australia with this Novel Challenge but as a possible future academic, I can't help but give CARA some publicity.

I'm now starting on something completely different and not on my original list of books- Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey.

Week 5 Part 2- Not so elementary....

Two days between posts....marvel at my speed. Time for some words on Conan Doyle's classic Hound of the Baskervilles which yes was the shortest of my books set aside for the MS Novel Challenge.


Written in 1904, the novel is set several years into the association of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson - though is still set in the period prior to Watson's marriage whilst he was still living with Holmes at Baker St. One morning, Holmes and Watson are visited by a slightly absent minded country doctor, Dr Mortimer, who tells the legend of the hound of the Baskervilles which haunts the Baskerville family who live on the moors and the death of Sir Charles Baskerville of a heart attack bought on by the supposed fright of seeing the hound of legend. Dr Mortimer is in London to meet the late Sir Charles's nephew and heir, Sir Henry Baskerville who has arrived from Canada, and dreads the effects that the story of his uncle's death may have on the young man. After Sir Henry has his boots stolen at his hotel and is stalked around the streets of London, Holmes volunteers Watson to return to the moor with the young baronet and Dr Mortimer to investigate the case as Holmes remains in London to follow up on a different case. Watson suddenly finds himself in the foggy moors where ponies disappear in bogs, where an escaped murderer is lose, where the servants are creepy and the neighbours odd, where a strange man appears out of the fog, and where the sounds of howls pierce the air.


I will start by saying that Sherlock Holmes to my mind one of the finest creations of the flurry of British fin-de-siecle speculative fiction from the close of the 19th century and he is simultaneously the second most misunderstood famous literary character out there thanks to the machinations of Hollywood (Frankenstein's monster of course being the first). When people come to Holmes they expect a pipe smoking, deer stalker wearing, genius on all areas who says "Elementary, my dear Watson" a little too often. Holmes may smoke a pipe but no more than the average 19th century man (Watson smokes one too in fact), there is NO clear statement in any of the books that he is wearing a deer stalker, he is noted by Watson on many occasions to be a complete idiot when it comes to areas that don't interest him, and he never in any of the books combines the word "elementary" with the phrase "my dear Watson" (though he says both separately on more than one occasion). Holmes of the books is at his heart an obsessive with a focused intellect that allows for fewer distractions and a complete inability to relate well to most other people. The obsessive nature of his character verges on bipolar disorder as when he has no case to interest him he spirals into a depressed state from which only drugs of various kinds can revive him (opiates in some of the books though not in Hounds of the Baskervilles- that said there is a scene in where Holmes spends an afternoon in his flat drinking two pots of coffee and smoking copious amounts of tobacco in order to "help" him focus). Thankfully the real Holmes is slowly creeping out following the underrated though very good Richard Roxburgh version of Hound of the Baskervilles (good to see Aussies do good in that version though odd that Roxburgh who plays Holmes and Matt Day who plays Sir Henry Baskerville now play hilariously different characters opposite each other in Rake), Guy Ritchie's recent Holmes film with Robert Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson, and my personal favourite (and I think the closest to Holmes of the books that has yet emerged) the Steven Moffat/Mark Gatiss modernised TV version with the Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson.

What of the book itself? My past experience of Holmes has been mixed. I loved the some of the short stories which I read at uni in particular The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire (still my favourite Holmes story) and liked two thirds of A Study in Scarlet. However the remaining third of Study in Scarlet (the first Holmes story and the only other of the "longer" ones I've read) is a dull and odd; it focuses on a tale of Mormons in America and does not feature Holmes or Watson but is the back story of the murderer and all I could think was someone needs to tell old Arthur to edit that bit somewhat. So I came to the Hound with that as my last Holmes experience on the page and the added issue of knowing the plot having seen film/TV versions of it. Even with these issues, at only 150 pages it is quite a short and easy read, and ultimately I enjoyed it thoroughly. I recommend that if you haven't seen it in film or TV format, or haven't been told the ultimate plot line, that you read the book first as many people I know who were less aware of the conclusion of the novel found it scary (as it is intended to be) whilst I did not. Even if you know the conclusion but haven't read the book, I still recommend it as it is well written, exciting and fast paced and if you've been watching most older adaptations of the novel, it will give you a view of the "real" Sherlock Holmes.

OK so not the book cover (mine had Holmes in a deerstalker with a pipe on it so not good) instead Holmes and Watson in the Steven Moffat/Mark Gatiss TV version, Sherlock. They are doing Hound of the Baskerville this season and it promises to be brilliant- I mean you combine the brilliance of the book with the fact that Steven Moffat is a TV writing/producing god and the fact the leads are easy on the eye and how could you go wrong. Seriously WATCH IT!

After some early 20th century supernatural mystery and some late 20th century supernatural biazzity, I'm heading for more reality next with Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad.

And another reminder, it's not too late to sponsor me at http://register.thenovelchallenge.org.au/The-Novel-Challenge/clarewoodley

Week 5 Part 1- Cats, Chaos and Complicated Women

This week I'm reaching for the stars- aiming for three books finished here at least. First finished is the book I mentioned in my last post Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Set in the mid 1980s, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is the story of Toru Okada. Okada has recently quit his thankless job as a low level legal clerk, his cat which was a symbol of his relationship with his wife has run away, and his wife, Kumiko, is acting oddly. His brother-in-law, Noburo Wataya, whom he hates connects Okada with the mysterious Malta and Creta Krano, sisters with odd mystic powers, who can supposedly help him find the cat. On Okada's own quest to find the cat, he meets May Kasahara the highly independent 15 year old who lives across the doubly dead ended alley beyond his house. As his life gradually falls apart, Okada continues to meet a revolving door of colourful characters and to tell the tale of others including WWII veterans Lieutenant Mamiya and Mr Honda, Cinnamon Asaka who does not speak, his mother Nutmeg Akasaka, and the mysterious woman who keeps trying to start explicit phone conversations with him. Okada is also dreaming of a darkened and curious hotel room, hearing the noise of a bird that sounds like it is winds up in preparation for spring, and developing the urge to sit in the bottom of dry wells. The main character is very passive and broken but he is at a turning point in his life as the novel transitions and as his life plummets, his brother-in-law who is his antithesis starts to rocket into greater and greater levels of success.

This book is quite fascinating.  It is may be very complicated but Murakami is a master of the complexity. He writes fascinating mystery women and the women of this novel are no exception. May Kasahara is the highlight in my opinion as she is a brilliant version of a teenage girl who is simultaneously so certain of herself and so racked with uncertainty- her very odd relationship with Okada is one of the few real platonic friendships that I've ever seen in print between an adult man and a girl in her mid-to-late teens. Okada himself walks blindly and passively through his life, and simply accepts everything that happens to him as if it is the natural order of things, he needs to bizarrity of the other characters to breathe life into him. The trips between different realities, the significance of the wind-up bird, the graphic stories of war, the time spend underground or in wells, the significance of the month of May and the season of spring, and the fact that almost every character (including the cat) changes names at some point in the novel all mean that this novel seems to be asking for uni students to tear it to pieces- I'm already making a mental note that if I ever get to teach a course on speculative fiction that it is front and centre on the book list. It also means that the book is ripe of the reread at some stage. I recommend the book but like Kafka on the Shore this one isn't for the weak stomached, I wasn't as grossed out by the violent sections of this but it will definitely be a bit much for some.

The edition I read- you can get it for bargain price of $12.95

Next time, Conan Doyle cliches and why they are wrong!

Week 4- Pre-emptive strike...talking about an unfinished book

Just so the week doesn't pass unblogged, a few preemptive words on Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. At present I'm not very far in (i.e. a bit over 100 pages of a 600 page novel) but I have a long train trip this arvo so will be further in by the end of the day.

Many of you may be asking who is Haruki Murakami and why would Clare choose a book by a Japanese author for her month (now three months) of novel reading fun. Those of you in the know will consider these stupid questions as why wouldn't you want to read a Murakami novel. Murakumi is one of Japanese most popular writers and his novel, Norwegian Wood, is one of the most widely read Japanese novel in both Japan and internationally (the film adaptation will be out later this year and having seen it at this year's Sydney film festival, I can say it is a pretty good interpretation of the text and definitely worth seeing). Norwegian Wood, which I read whilst overseas last year, was not the first Murakami novel I read. The first Murakami novel I read was the truly beguiling Kafka on the Shore and if you asked me why I was drawn to read it, I honestly couldn't tell you. Full of magic realism (at times even magic surrealism (claiming ownership of that term from the get go by the way- need to find a way to work it into the thesis)), heartfelt and just brilliantly written, it blew me away and I've been committed ever since then to reading more Murakami- a word of warning before you all rush out and buy Kafka on the Shore, there is a scene in the novel that is beyond traumatising for animal lovers and which counts as the only time I've had to put a book down and take a breather because it was just too stomach churning (yes good ol' super desensitised to violence me who powered through Clockwork Orange without pause and loves her Tarantino films). Norwegian Wood with its simple yet beautiful love story without an obvious touch of the surreal was a bit of a surprise when I read it. Unlike Kafka on the Shore it is novel that I would recommend to anyone as it is highly accessible and quite emotionally gripping.

So there is the main answer to any who ask why Murakami. The other shorter and less meaningful answer is that there is a $12.95 Vintage Classics edition of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

At this early stage, I've already discovered that The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is more in the vein of Kafka on the Shore than Norwegian Wood. It is quite strange at present but not in a bad way. It continues Murakami's obsession with water- which plays a central role in Kafka on the Shore and a minor role in Norwegian Wood- and cats- again central in Kafka on the Shore. The main character is a bit of an everyman (albeit an unemployed everyman) but the other characters are an odd mix. Most of the odd characters the main character has encountered thus far are female which will likely prove interesting- Norwegian Wood had an intriguing bunch of female characters but Kafka on the Shore was mainly about men ...and cats so it will be fun to compare. 

So far I'm enjoying the book and I must say I adore the idea that the book takes its title from- that there is a bird that lives near the main character and his wife that makes a noise that sounds like it is winding up for the spring. Can't wait to get to the end and see if like Kafka on the Shore, it becomes a book that is profound but deeply confusing and which I have to make a mental note to reread in order to understand better (Murakami has said that the key to understanding Kafka on the Shore is to reread it many times).

Next time, more on Murakami and maybe a bit of Conan Doyle.