(no subject)

[slemslempike]

After my last post dithering about when to mark 3000 books, in the end I lost count of where I was and accidentally the 3000th book I finished (including rereads) was Gyles Brandreth's memoir, which is a deeply unsatisfactory outcome. Bah. Oh well, it is a meaningless number anyway.

In my Booker reading project I just finished Oscar and Lucinda which I liked very much indeed. Part of it reminded me of Eva Ibbotson, which I think is just because I've recently read A Company of Swans and there's that whole boat up the overgrown wilderness thing. Next up is Remains of the Day. I have seen the film, but that does not count for these purposes. Nonetheless I shall enjoy imagining Emma Thompson throughout. (One of the panel who chose RotD was the novelist son of John Profumo.)

I have just signed up the free trial of Kobo Plus after I realised about four things on my wishlist were available that way. There isn't that much else that I've found - I don't see myself renewing. (Not deliberately, anyway. I absolutely see myself forgetting to cancel and renewing through absentmindedness.) This means I have an extra impetus to push myself to keep prioritising reading over scrolling mindlessly on my phone to finish up the free books.

Comments

[katlinel]

Was the Brandreth memoir an entertaining read? He tends to make my toes curl when he's on panel shows or quizzes, because his raconteur style rarely seems to fit those where quickfire humour works better, but I can imagine that lends itself better to memoir, assuming it's not ghost-written.

[slemslempike]

Yes, it was. I had read his memoirs of being in the whips office in parliament earlier this year and while I wouldn't describe it as unflinching, it was certainly much less surface level than I was expecting. He was content to expose some quite unflattering sides of himself (and I think he was aware that most of these were unflattering). This memoir was a bit more cuddly than parliament, but still good well constructed anecdotes. I don't think it is ghost written, and I'd agree it's better than his panel show work.