Good Omens?

For a book entitled Good Omens, it has certainly been bad luck for me.... well... at least in the case that I hold it responsible for a rather nasty case of sunburn. But that is another story.

This was a text for my book club, and not one that I was that enthused about reading. However, it was a moderately entertaining story about how a seemingly inevitable apolcaypse came to be averted. It has some interesting characters - a demon not so much hellish, but just less than angelic - and a whole host of interesting character names. How does Anathema Device sit with you? Or Adam, the son of the Devil?

There are a few giggles along the way (check out the names of the four OTHER riders of the apocalypse) and while there was no real compulsion to keep reading, it was an easy enough time to do so. Read the interview at the front with the authors too, its kind of interesting.

Nineteen Minutes

This was a list text, not because the author is Jodie Picoult (who ridiculous amounts of people cite as their favourite “literary”(?) author), but rather due ot the subject matter. Nineteen Minutes is about a school shooting – the before and the aftermath, covered through a variety of perspectives from parents, students and the investigators.

While Nineteen Minutes places the responsibility squarely on the individual, it does emphasize the role of bullying in making this tragedy occur. In fact, it would be difficult to read this novel and not feel at least slightly sympathetic for Peter Houghton, the high school student who killed ten of the classmates and wounded another nineteen in the nineteen minutes of the title. In fact, in a somewhat unexpected twist at the end, the book could also be interpreted to suggest that under the right circumstances, each of us could be capable (is this the right word?) of this seemingly terrifying action.

If you are also a teacher, then this book is a must read, for the psychological aspect. I was left absolutely determined to take real action against bullying, as the novel points out how insubstantial many school’s bullying policies are – and woe betide the school that does not take this problem seriously.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

There have been a lot of disappointed readers of this slim volume of fairy tales from the world of Harry Potter. However, this is much the result of those readers being uninformed. This book should be viewed as more akin to “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” as opposed to one of the Harry Potter novels. It is simply a glimpse into the literary myth of the characters’ world. They are sweet little stories – the whole collection is probably only an hours worth of reading.

Each story is accompanied by notes from Albus Dumbledore – whose witty tone still does not fail to amuse. Rowling herself adds footnotes to the piece, to allow muggle readers to understand Dumbledore’s notes. These are often as fascinating as the stories themselves. On a further connection, Hermione is credited with the translation of the stories from the original runes.

This is a bit like walking down memory lane, nothing more. No mentions of Harry, but this shouldn’t be a surprise.

Before I Die

It’s always interesting subject matter – how people deal with the imminent and inevitable coming of death. And more interestingly, this novel appears to be aimed at younger readers. Tessa is a 16-year-old girl with cancer that has advanced to such a degree that she is no longer continuing treatment. Thus, she is left at home with her father and brother (her mother left the family many years ago, and still plays a peripheral role in Tessa’s life).

Tessa goes through many of the expected stages of grief, and it is actually refreshing that she handles it badly. This is no glib story of angelic patience and acceptance – Tessa experiences a wide variety of emotions and is a pain in the ass to those around her a lot of the time. Much more realistic, really!

As a way of coping, Tessa makes a list of all the things she would like to do before she dies. She starts with sex – awkward, but uncomplicated (for her at least, not so much for her adventurous friend Zoey who orchestrates many of these experiences). These early parts of the list are particularly adolescent; breaking the law and so on. But Tessa allows her list to be shaped by those around her. What is particularly beautiful, is the way she is still able to be touched by the people she meets in the last weeks of her life.

The last few chapters had me in tears, real page turners. If the idea interests you, give it a read. I think Jenny Downham does it better than others.