Reading in Reykjavík

Now that you have read a real diary, try a fictional one. Last Wednesday I recommended a real diary because it helps to be familiar with the non-fiction diary form when reading fictional diaries. In fiction the diary form has been used to good effect in parody and for satire, but also for more innocent humour. It has also been used in dead earnest in fiction. It is one of the forms which epistolatory novels take, a sort of monologue where the reader takes on the role of the narrator's confessor. Here are some that I can recommend: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend. These are ostensibly written for teenagers, but can be enjoyed by adults as well. I have not read the sequels, but I do own them and plan to read them. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison. Written for teenage girls, but quite enjoyable. Have not read any of the sequels, but expect them to...

I am curious to know how book buyers feel about dust jackets on books. Please vote in my poll!

Originally published in 2 parts, on March 17-23, 2004 Book 8 in my first 52 books challenge. Entry 1: Full title: Himself and Other Animals: Portrait of Gerald Durrell Author : David Hughes Published: 1997 Where got: public library Genre: Biography, memoir This week's book is about one of my favorite authors: Gerald Durrell. David Hughes, a longtime friend of Durrell's, wrote the book as a tribute to his friend back in the seventies, but it wasn't published until after Durrell's death. It's more a portrait of the man than a regular biography - I guess it should be called a memoir rather than a biography. Entry 2: Finished it last night. The book is well written and set up as a busy week in the life of Gerald Durrell, back in the 1970's when it was originally written. Interspersed with descriptions of Gerry's daily routine, character and moods are comments and reminiscences of himself, his friends and his family. He is shown in different environments and ...

Read a published diary/journal or a collection of excerpts from diaries/journals. Diaries can be an excellent way of seeing into someone’s mind and also to find out little things about daily life in the past that can hardly be found anywhere else. For this reason historians find diaries to be an excellent source of research material. They also make good material for biographers. While the diaries and journals of famous people may be most interesting to the general public in the authors’ life time or recently after their death, in the long run it is often the diaries of ordinary people like Anne Frank and Samuel Pepys that end up being much more fascinating. While parts of Frank’s diary were written with the view of later publication, Pepys probably never intended his diaries for publication and so he is more candid and outspoken than he might otherwise have been. I am currently reading The Faber Book of Diaries , a collection of interesting diary entries chosen and edited by Simon Bret...

Year of publication: 1929 Series and no.: The Continental Op, first novel, preceeded by and based on short stories Genre: Noir thriller Type of investigator: Private detective Setting & time: Personville, a fictional town in the western USA, probably California or Nevada. Story: The nameless narrator, know to the reader only as the Continental Op, arrives in the small city of Personville where the crime situation has become so bad that people have started calling it Poisonville. His client is murdered before he can meet him, but the dead man’s father retains his services to find the killer. The Op starts investigating and uncovers all sorts of nastiness, and events finally lead to him becoming so annoyed with the place and it’s criminal elements that he decides to clean up the town. Review and rating: Like the previous two Hammett novels I have reviewed, this one is written in a spare and quick style and the narrative moves fast. The story is nasty and brutal and slightly tem...

Here are some books I have acquired recently: About half are BookMooch acquisitions and the rest I got at a second hand shop that sells stuff for charity. The one you can't see the title of is A Voyage by Dhow by Norman Lewis. I have already read The Thirteenth Tale , but getting it in hard covers was a piece of good luck.

Originally published in 2 parts, on March 9-12, 2004. Book 7 in my first 52 books challenge. Part 1: Author: Peter Ackroyd Published: 1985 Where got: public library Genre: mystery, horror I read this book years ago as part of a college course on modern English literature, but I remember nothing about it. Even now, when I'm almost finished with part one, I still remember nothing about the previous reading, which I guess shows how interested I was in it at the time. Every other chapter happens in the 18th century and is written in the style of that time, which takes a while to get used to. The other chapters are written in modern English and happen in modern times. The narrative point of view shifts between chapters, from 1st person to 3rd person. These stylistic changes necessitate a shifting of mental gears at the beginning of each chapter and make the book challenging to read. So far I'm finding it to be a dark and rather menacing narrative. Dyer, the 18th century narrator...