The Rotters Clobber - Jonathan Coe

This is another book that's been on the radar for a long time and now that I'm reading again, it was high on the list of things to pick up.

I haven't read any Jonathan Coe before, but I have read great things about his books. What attracted me most about choosing this book to read was that it was one where the years matched up to mine - so growing up in the Midlands in the 70s was very relevant.

Though the book has good humour in it, it also covers some dark times like the IRA bombings, the strikes, the Unions, the music - even the old witch, Thatcher.

It's another book that had additional enjoyment for me as it revived some old memories and old friends came to mind. I re-found old versions of me and considered what I was doing myself back when I was growing up. I have to admit to there being mostly gaps when I look back, but this gave me a bit of structure to string some memories together.

As a story, this carried a lot with it - quite a few characters to get to know but all the characters worked well and were believable. The story carried enough intrigue to keep me keen to know what would happen along the way. And there was good humour along the way. It was well worth the read and left me keen to read another of his novels - maybe the latest called Expo 58.

A review from the internet:
"Birmingham, England, c. 1973: industrial strikes, bad pop music, corrosive class warfare, adolescent angst, IRA bombings. Four friends: a class clown who stoops very low for a laugh; a confused artist enthralled by guitar rock; an earnest radical with socialist leanings; and a quiet dreamer obsessed with poetry, God, and the prettiest girl in school. As the world appears to self-destruct around them, they hold together to navigate the choppy waters of a decidedly ambiguous decade."

Wandering - Hermann Hesse

As I am only just starting up again with the reading, I am finding that I want to revisit books from my past. This book was the first Hermann Hesse that I ever read and led to me reading every one of his novels in my late teens and early 20s.

I first read the book when I was going up to Glasgow to visit friends and somebody asked me to return it to somebody up there - the details are vague. Anyway, on the train I read the book - it didn't take long - it is a very short book. And I remember that I loved it - it was like nothing else that I had read previously - it had a magic to it - poetic and thought provoking.

The book that I read after this was Siddhartha by the same author and I really loved that book and though I read everything else that he wrote, it was that one that remains my favourite.

Having now read Wandering again, I am a bit nervous about picking up Siddhartha as it might be as disappointing as this was. Though it is well written and comes from a nice place, I couldn't connect with it and it left me with nothing - weird.

But I am no longer an 18 year old searching for magic. I think that at that age, I was impressionable and wanting things to be magical and I probably added my own layer over what I read. Maybe I wanted to feel like I'd discovered something so that I could impress others. I really don't know. Maybe I just loved the book for what it was and what it gave me at that time. I don't know.

But I do know that it isn't the sort of book for somebody like the me who is here now. But whilst writing this, I have decided that I will go back into Sidhhartha and see what I think now.

A review from the internet:
"The book is written as fiction, but it reads as autobiography, as do most of his little sketches wherein a personable narrator reveals his convoluted emotions. Wandering finds the fictional narrator at a psychological crossroads, and Hesse's clear, simple, and heartfelt prose makes the book a a candid and attractive reflection. The book is divided into 13 named chapters and almost as many poems completing each section; the sketches of the named sites are also included. The chapters chronicle a day's thoughts on a walking journey between southern Germany and northern Italy -- essentially Switzerland, where Hesse was to become a citizen in a few short years, disillusioned by his homeland and the recent war. The wanderer passes houses, trees, farms, skies. The pithy thoughts of our narrator are often insightful -- at least insightful into a solitary's soul."

Starter for Ten - David Nicholls

Another discovery from about 3 years ago that I am only now getting around to. I remember that I bought the book whilst wandering around Foyles in London and though it looked interesting, I'm not sure what it was that led to me to part with some of the hard-earned. Having said that, I'm really pleased that I did because I really enjoyed this book.

It was another book where I recognised myself within the main character - through a lot of the clumsy behaviour that affects teenagers. It was another where the eras matched with me, so I got most of the cultural references and that meant that I could further associate with it. This was a funny book, despite some moments where you cringed because of what the main character did.

Within the book, the main character was at university, which is not something that I went through - as I left school early with little paperwork, but most of my mates were at university and I spent a lot of time with uni people in my late teens. So the world in the book was very familiar to me.

The plot flowed through and it was easy to go along with - he tells a story with real ease and you plough through with seemingly little effort. I liked the main character and wished him well, but he was ... well, a teenager. So with that in mind, his decision making was pretty much flawed. I've been there!

I know nothing about the author or what else he's done, but I will investigate that as I enjoyed his writing style - it flowed so well. The characters were mostly believable people and he has a great sense of humour. I enjoyed the ride.

A review from the internet:
"The year is 1985. Brian Jackson, a working-class kid on full scholarship, has started his first term at university. He has a dark secret — a long-held, burning ambition to appear on the wildly popular British TV quiz show University Challenge — and now, finally, it seems the dream is about to become reality. He's made the school team, and they've completed the qualifying rounds and are limbering up for their first televised match. (And, what's more, he's fallen head over heels for one of his teammates, the beautiful, brainy, and intimidatingly posh Alice Harbinson.) Life seems perfect and triumph inevitable — but as his world opens up, Brian learns that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing
 
This is a comedy about love, class, growing-up and the all-important difference between knowledge and wisdom."

Necrophenia - Robert Rankin

I have read 2 or 3 other books by Robert Rankin, so I was more than happy to go for another - though it isn't his latest, I chose this one from 2008.

He has a writing style and way of 'talking' that is unique. He has created characters over the years that he incorporates in other books. He has created a world that is his alone. Anything can happen and usually does - the usual rules of what is possible, don't apply in his world.

Unlike other books that I've recently read, there are no characters that I can understand or associate with. It's a world that I don't know or really understand. But that doesn't matter. It all works for me.

It was a longer book than other recent ones, but the time went along easily and it swept me along towards an unknown conclusion - you'd be wasting your time if you tried to predict.

It is not a book that has left me with anything - it was just a good read and the story existed whilst I read it - and now it has gone. It is just enjoyable escapism with a lot of humour and literary tricks to keep it interesting. Happy to have read it.

A review from the internet:
"Rankin tells his story through Tyler, a wanna-be rock star who swears that his band The Sumerian Kynges played after The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, even though that "no one at all actually believes that The Sumerian Kynges even played there, let alone topped the bill." As well as being an obscure rock icon, Tyler is also a private investigator who almost saved mankind. Almost. And there's a city of gold somewhere in the plot. And zombies. And Elvis Presley. And Tyler's brother Andy, who changes the course of history when he literally kills the Zeitgeist of the 1960s with a clock. There's monsters, and mind-bending drugs, and ukelele maestros, and inside jokes galore.
 
And there's the Tyler Technique, a creation of Tyler's, wherein the practitioner of the technique, to get something done, does nothing at all, because "by doing absolutely nothing, the required something would come into being." And it works. Needless to say, the Tyler Technique has become my new personal dogma for the remainder of my existence.
 
Rankin is working at full chaos in Necrophenia, throwing anything and everything at the wall and using it whether it sticks or not. It's a bit overwhelming, and maddening, and it must be said that Rankin does get on one's nerves occasionally. But there's a lot of insane creativity on display, and as unbridled as Rankin gets, at least he's not boring."

It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It - Robert Fulghum

So why did I pick this one up next? I have read a book of his before - it was lent to me by a friend that I worked with a long time ago. The one I read then was called "Uh-oh".

This one is a book of short tales - they reflect his perspective on life and lessons he's learned. His view on things is slightly off kilter and he approaches things from different angles.

It is sort of interesting and it made me think a bit about some stuff, but there was something that I didn't like and I can't quite put my finger on it. I think that I am sceptical enough to think that he is trying too hard to be quirky and wise. He overdoes his under-playing. I don't know why I doubt him, but there is something that niggled me. He has been a minister and made it is that 'angle' on things that puts me off - not that it is religious in any way - it is just about life and how he views things.

It was a simple read - just a short book - and it was worth investing that amount of time, but I don't think that I'll be revisiting his stuff - though it does have value. In fact, it probably suited a younger version of me much better than this one that is around now.

A review from the internet:
"On the one hand, Robert Fulghum has served as an ordained Unitarian minister, and thus his essays abound with a theological orientation which is often inspirational. At the same time, his employment history is rather varied, to say the least, and his experiences diverse and occasionally bizarre. Yet, to assume that Fulghum is a narrator of the humorous and the ridiculous in his capacity as a careful student of the human condition is to diminish the impact of his insight and his compassionate consideration of those with whom he shares this planet. Perhaps it is best to consider him as a helpful neighbor whose mastery of the essential trivia of life makes him truly invaluable.

'It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It' is rather uneven work. Some of the essays are so profound as to elicit careful reflection. Others are so commonplace as to cause the reader to question if the paper used in the production of the book might have been better employed elsewhere. Still other pieces provoke laughter so infectious that one is compelled to follow the author’s instructions to read the book aloud. Indeed, it is difficult to believe that anyone could read his description of a particular wedding without rushing immediately into the next room to enlighten and amuse anyone who is available.

The range in quality in these essays, from quite good to quite bad, suggests that Fulghum himself is not sure what he is doing or why he has struck such a responsive chord in so many readers. Given his success, though, he is sure to do it again."