To all who have visited through 2008, I would like to thank you for dropping by and I look forward to seeing you all again in 2009.
Please keep safe, have fun and enjoy the festive season.

Merry Christmas

from the Oh Waily Waily family.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Well, congratulate me then - I've made it through another BBC Top 200 Read and yet another book set in war time.  Captain Corelli and his mandolin are duly consigned to the return to the library pile.

As you may have noticed, I have already made comment regarding one thing that annoyed me about this book, and that was the feeling that the author had fallen into the Oxford Not-So-Concise Dictionary printing press.  This annoying feature lasted roughly for the first third to half of the book.  After that point Mr de Bernières seems to have calmed down somewhat.

Don't get me wrong.  It's not that I don't like to have my vocabulary stretched - I do.  It's just a case of feeling that it was written in a manner that almost suggested the literary equivalent of name-dropping.  You know the sort of thing - "See who I know and just how smart I am?"  When in fact a more judicious use of unusual words would have indeed suggested the author was very smart, but not attempting to rub our noses in his erudite language skills.  Okay, that's my first gripe over with.

The basic storyline follows Carlo Guercio, Antonio Corelli, Doctor Iannis and his daughter, Pelagia.  There is also a wonderful set of supporting characters to back up and give the texture to the story.  The setting is predominantly Greece, but moves through the war in Albania briefly before settling back into Cephallonia .  The majority of the book is devoted to the complicated relationship that builds between Pelagia and Corelli whilst the Italians occupy Greece during the war.

The novel moves from cynical to dark to gory to funny to heartwarming to horror to disbelieve very easily.  You are not always sure what the next chapter will be bringing.  The tone and language also changes throughout.  Some chapters are crammed full of a variety of uncommon words, while others are full of easy, smoothly readable descriptions of places, people  and their personalities.   There is no shortage of commentary on the nature of man during wars, and the infliction of pain on soldiers and civilians alike.  There is also a good dose of some absolutely hilarious, acid and brutal political commentary.  To illustrate this, I have taken two extracts from near the end of the book. The first extract is in the context of Greek liberation from the German occupation, only to be overrun by the communist andartes.

In all this there was both an irony and a tragedy.  The irony was that if the Communists had continued their wartime policy of doing absolutely nothing, they would undoubtedly have become the first freely elected Communist government in the world.  Whereas in France the Communists had earned themselves a rightful and respected place in political life, the Greek Communists made themselves permanently unelectable because even Communists could not bring themselves to vote for them.  The tragedy was that this was yet another step along the fated path by which Communism was growing into the Greatest and Most Humane Ideology Never to Have Been Implemented Even When it Was in Power, or perhaps The Most Noble Cause Ever to Attract the Highest Proportion of Hooligans and Opportunists.

The second extract is a commentary on Britain and it's position in the world.

In those days Great Britain was less wealthy than it is now, but it was also less complacent, and considerably less useless.  It had a sense of humanitarian responsibility and a myth of its own importance that was quixotically true and universally accepted merely because it believed in it, and said so in a voice loud enough for foreigners to understand.  It had not yet acquired the schoolboy habit of waiting for months for permission from Washington before it clambered out of its post-imperial bed, put on its boots, made a sugary cup of tea, and ventured through the door.

There are more moments like this.  If you particularly would like to poke fun at Mussolini, then you will love reading the chapters entitled The Duce and A Pamphlet Distributed on the Island, Entitled with the Fascist Slogan 'Believe, Fight and Obey'.

My only other major complaint, without giving the ending away, is that there is a pitifully weak break in the story with regards to how the author arranges the main characters' lives after the war is over.  The reason given for the actions of at least one character is nothing short of improbable and impossible, in the circumstances.  For me the ending itself  isn't unsatisfactory, but I can see for others it would be.  And I would completely agree with anyone who finds the manner in which it is arrived at as implausible and irritating.

Saying all that, though, I can still happily recommend the book.  Just keep a dictionary beside you for the first little while.  :)
I would give it a rating of 3 out of 5.

Now I am done with war stories for a little while.  I am done with despair and gruesome details and black deeds for now.
Jeeves and Wooster are calling me in a loud voice to join them, which I am more than happy to do.

- - -

On a slightly related note:

Has anyone seen the movie?  Is it any good?
Personally I can't abide Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz doesn't rate as "must see", so I have some serious doubts about it.  Would be interested to know other's opinions though.

Christmas Reading

Our public libraries have a "Take Five" competition running at the moment.  The aim of which is to encourage people to broaden their reading.   So today while returning Miss O's library books I picked up a bundle for my Christmas reading.  The fact that I may win a hamper of books is an added incentive, of course.

In addition to those already waiting in my reading queue, I have added the following goodies:

1. The Liar - Stephen Fry


2. Four Stories - Alan Bennett


3. Sellevision - Augusten Burroughs


4. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz


5. Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 - Garrison Keillor

Fortunately for me I noticed both Stephen Fry and Junot Diaz - the first author I just adore, the second is on my hit-list as the 2008 Pulitzer winner.  So I shall be kept busy over the next month - must find the suntan lotion, hat and sunglasses, it's going to be a lazy few hours in the sun.

- - -

Also, while on the subject of reading and books.  I am just over 100 pages in to Captain Corelli's Mandolin.   Why didn't one of you warn me that Louis de Bernieres had swallowed a dictionary !?!  I am most agrieved that I was not prepared for the onslaught of large and (unless I'm living under a rock) obscure words.

I jest not, I have roughly twenty words noted down for further investigation, and could have taken more if I had been bothered to note the various Italian and Greek words that are unfamiliar to this monolingual reader.  And to be frank, I think he takes the need to be fancy just a little too far on occasion, evidence the following partial quote:

...two bottles per diem.

What was wrong with saying two bottle per day???  It's not like he was describing anything other than the local priest trying to work out how long it would take him to work his way through the gifts of penance should he drink either two, three or four bottles of wine each day!!

But, the dictionary swallowing fiasco aside, I am beginning to enjoy the book.  The early chapter entitled "The Duce" is absolutely classic.  I haven't laughed and been horrified in equal measure for a long time.  I feel that the remainder of the book may mirror this - black humour mixed with unpleasant realities.

The English Patient

Finally I have managed to make my way through a book that, by Booker panel adjudication, is a worthy read.

Many, many years ago I went to the movies and saw Anthony Minghella's Oscar-winning adaptation.  I believe it won 9 golden statues in total.  Sadly, all these years later, I can barely remember much about it.  Apparently it wasn't earth-shattering in my world.   Now, having read the book I feel the urge to go back and see the film.  I have strong suspicions that Ralph Fiennes (eye-candy value aside) and Kristin Scott-Thomas may have been mis-cast.  Still, I'll withhold judgement until such time as I rent the movie.

So, the book.

I am a little bit out of practice in reading interesting novels, so please cut me some slack on my minimalist review and probable obtuse comments regarding the underlying themes of the novel.

A tale of woe before and during WWII.  Four people come together in the Villa San Girolamo as the war in Europe comes to a close.  The English Patient, who appears to have lost his memory and is badly burned in an aeroplane crash in the deserts of North Africa; Hana, a young Canadian nurse who has lost a baby and her father during the war; Caravaggio, a thief and spy who has his thumbs cut off by the Germans and knows Hana from their previous life in Canada; and Kip, a young Sikh who is working his way through Italy defusing bombs, booby traps and other nasty devices while blocking out the harsh reality of the personal and professional loss being a sapper brings.

The writing style is quirky, and disjointed, but you get used to it very quickly.  As the book moves on it gets easier to follow and it stops you from getting too bored with what is a particularly simple story about relationships.  The 'trick' of this novel is the way in which the author chooses to tell us about those relationships.
Ondaatje chooses to release small snippets of information at a time.  We get to know the characters at a leisurely pace, and without cramming masses of details into each passage.  It is a very relaxing novel in that sense.  You have time to think about everyone's story and what brings them to the point we join them at the Villa.  This can be quite hard going for those of us (no fingers pointed at Ms O, of course) who are used to reading books crammed with detail, forcing as much in to 300 pages as is humanly possible and treating their readers as though they have no imagination.  (Ooo, was I just scathing about most of the chick-lit and trashy reading I've been doing lately?)

Anyway.
I agree with the Amazon reviewers who gave it a 4 out of 5 rating.
Personally I would have to give it a 2.5 or 3.  I understand you may be confused by this double rating, so here's my explanation.
Even though I didn't find it a 4 star read, I know that it is.  This is the danger of reading candy floss books.  They can block your ability to appreciate the art of storytelling, especially if you get caught up in 'instantaneous gratification' mode and want things laid out in front of you at top speed, preferably without distracting things like interesting prose and unusual imagery.  Having read this novel, I now find myself feeling the need to check-in to junk fiction rehab.   Is it possible to get the DTs in a novel-reading sense?  I'm beginning to think it is.

Mr Ondaatje really has an eye for unusual phrasing and beautiful sounding words. So here are some that I thought worthy of noting down.
Imagery:

That which plucks the fowl.

Dust coagulating

The paranoia and claustrophobia of hidden love.

Words:

autodidact

burnoose

antiphonal

propinquity

fata morgana

---

Also on an historical note, the descriptions of the bombs and how many there were, was quite an eye-opener.
The names for them: Hermann, Esau, Satans.
The number of them: 2,500 unexploded bombs in August of the blitz, 3,700 by September.
The insanity of the mine-laying:

The scale of the laying of mines in Italy and in North Africa cannot be imagined.  At the Kismaayo-Afmadu road junction, 260 mines were found.  There were 300 at the Omo River Bridge area.  On June 30, 1941, South African sappers laid 2,700 Mark 11 mines in Mersa Matruh in one day.  Four months later the British cleared Mersa Matruh of 7,806 mines and placed them elsewhere.

More family history links

I thought that I would add a new page to the ever-growing list of genealogical resource pages on the internet. This is not meant in any way to be a complete reference list, and is largely based on my own research over the years. Therefore it has a fairly defined geographical content. ie mostly the UK and predominantly Scotland.

I maintain a del.icio.us genealogy tag. If you want to check it out on a regular basis you can do so here.

United Kingdom

• FreeCEN - UK Census Online Project
  Check the Database coverage link at the bottom of the home page to see if what you are interested in has been transcribed and added.


• GENUKI
  This is an excellent source for beginner genealogists or those expanding their research into new geographical areas.
  
  
  
  • GENUKI Country and County codes
    This contains the three letter county and country codes that you often see used. e.g. SCT = Scotland
  
  
  
  

Scotland

• Scotland's People - the Official website for the GROS


• Scotland GenWeb

Moray

• Moray Local Heritage Service
  This is a wonderful site. Specifically you want to search the computerised index - LIBINDX. There is a link in the navigation bar and in the body of this page.

England

• North East Births, Marriages & Deaths
  This is a gateway to records for the North East of England. Some of the register offices involved have online searchable databases. If you have family in this part of England, this is a good jumping off point.
  
  
  
  • Newcastle City Council - Births & Marriages online
  
  
  • Tees Valley Indexes - The indexes of Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees and Redcar & Cleveland.
  
  
  
  

Wales

• Abersychan and Garndiffaith Local History Group
  For those looking for information on part of the area once known as Monmouth and also as Gwent.

Ireland

• Enniskillen & County Fermanagh guide
  A general interest website for this area, but it does include a family history message board.


• The Gravestone Photo Project - County Fermanagh
  Just as the title suggests - a searchable database of photographed headstones.


• Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

New Zealand

• The National Library of New Zealand
  There is a family history section here, but it can also be useful for the digital collection as background.
  
  
  
  • Papers Past collection
  
  
  
  

The Month of November in Books

This month was another slow reading time.  I managed four books all up.  Here they are:

Fiction:

The first two books are by the same author.  I spotted them in desperation one Friday night at the library.  The book I was looking for wasn't to be found, so I had to take what I could get.  I must confess that I only read the two because they were here, at home, and they weren't hurting my brain cells to read.  No other reason for hitting the second book at all.

Dead Sexy
This is the second book in the Garnet Lacey series by Tate Hallaway.
Chick-lit for Buffy fans, probably, would be my best description of these books.  It is a witches, vampires and zombie-fest.  For those who like their stories quirky, you may enjoy this.  The Amazon reviewers gave it an average of 4 stars.
Personally I think that is a little over-generous.  I would have hit a 2 or 3 star rating for this.  I can't put my finger on exactly what it was that grated, but something about the writing or storytelling just didn't hit the spot for me.



Romancing the Dead
As I said at the start, this book only got past the eyes because it was here and not a struggle to read.  Perhaps I was also hoping that the series and Garnet Lacey would grow on me.  But no.  She didn't.
If the concept of a Goth witch with a vampire boyfriend, ex-boyfriend and an internal nasty Goddess sound like you, then take a trip to the local library and check these out.  They won't strain the brain, and maybe Garnet will appeal to you more than she did to me.



Don't Hex with Texas
This is the last in the current series of Katie Chandler stories.  Her author, Shanna Swendson does have other plotlines for these characters, but like all things in real life her publisher needs the number of book sales to stack up before committing to another installment.  Such is the life of an author, I guess.

In this book Katie has returned home to her very, very un-magical hometown in Texas.  You get to know her family and find out that maybe the magic community in New York aren't the truly strange ones.  I have thoroughly enjoyed this series.  It's not rocket science, and each book is sometimes better, sometimes worse than the others.  If this is the end for the character, then it wasn't too badly done and leaves it to your imagination what becomes of her and her beau, Owen.

Non-Fiction:

Tax in New Zealand
Another useful book from Martin Hawes.  In this instance, all about taxation and what you should be looking out for.
If you're in business you will probably know most of this, but it never hurts to keep current. Accountants are great, but if you don't know the way things work, you could be missing out by not asking all the right questions.  I would suggest this if you are starting up a business, or feel a bit unsure about how things really work.

***

That's it for November.  It wasn't particularly spectacular, but hopefully December will produce a few more interesting books.  I'm halfway through The English Patient, so all going well¹ there will be at least one Booker prize winner amongst the reviews.

¹. This means my ability to concentrate, grit my teeth, and actually make it through an entire book that is more than a bit of candyfloss.

New look dashboard

I quite like it.

It will probably take me a while to get around to finding everything again, but the grey and blue look is my kind of colour scheme.  Probably a lot of "pink" and "neon" blog owners out there crying over their keyboards at the blandness though.

On other unresolved issues I'm still getting 'interesting' links in my "click" list, some of which are not particularly palatable.  Supposedly they are from my "related posts" section - which, as far as I know I turned off a week after they introduced it.  Still, if that's the only glitch I have to suffer here at WP.com, then all is right in the world.
If those of you who visit see the "Possibly Related Posts" addenda at the end of any of my posts, could you please drop me an email or leave a comment.  Personally I have never seen any, but that's what the WP support staff seem to think is generating my unsavoury outgoing links.  I'd like to know one way or another for myself if some folk are seeing things I'm not.  [That's not to say my loyal readers are too fond of the drink, now.]

Oh, and for those who are not WP.com bloggers (or about to self-host WP 2.7), then this post has probably been a bit puzzling.  Don't worry - it's not you, it's just me rambling on about the stuff behind the blog.   By way of making that up to you, I shall be posting my November books review shortly, so see you then.