With the end of the school year fast approaching you'd think I'd have more time for reading (High-Rise by J G Ballard) but actually it gets more manic at this time of the year and the reading has slowed down.
Snatches of quiet time are the norm of late. Nothing much sustained. Not good.
For me, reading is meditation time. I can slow my thinking and relax my body. School is the opposite of that - fast thinking, fast movement.
Doesn't help that High-Rise is a rather one-dimensional Lord Of The Flies in a high-rise apartment block dystopian yarn. Although it's written well, I don't have any emotional attachment with any of its characters.
It was made into a film, but I can't find it on Netfix or elsewhere - although, true, I haven't tried especially hard to find it.
Already I'm looking forward to the next book - whatever that may be.
Currently, I'm really enjoying the work of J G Ballard in Millennium People (week 31, book 34). Front cover's Daily Mail pull quote says it's "seductively compelling". Right on, brother! It's nice to read a book without literary pretentions that feels like literature. Try this bit -
Sitting forward, he massaged his cheeks, trying to bring colour into the gaunt bones. 'Look at the world around you, David. What do you see? An endless theme park, with everything turned into entertainment. Science, politics, education - they're so many fairground rides. Sadly, people are happy to buy their tickets and climb aboard.'
Watching Dunkirk last week drove me back to the original Winston Churchill speech and then, in typical surfing the interweb fashion, on to another movie version. Interesting to compare the two for emotional impact. For me, the biopic's visuals and the editing of the speech from the supposed writing to radio delivery is the more powerful, but, you be the judge.
What I really did love about the above scene was the moment Winston's young female secretary, typing the speech, noticed he'd entered another room. Her immediate reaction to follow him with a notepad said so much. No eye roll or sign of annoyance. Just obedience to the speech. Absorbed in the moment, masterful in thought, Winston's wandering was also a great character moment. My literary goal continues into the start of week 31 with the latest books: #33 -Notes on a Scandal (Zoë Heller) - a doozy story with a twisted narrator; and I've just started number 34 Millennium People (J G Ballard). Love and peace - Wozza
