I’m just reading a collection of short stories by David Malouf called ‘Every Move you Make’ and I’m absolutely stunned by them. This is the first time I’ve read his work, though I heard one of his stories on the radio - and then found the book second-hand. He’s an amazing writer who seems able to ‘voice’ almost any character he chooses, male or female, old or young. What he creates is so real, you’re inside the characters’ heads, seeing things through their eyes, watching their lives unfold like a video diary. There isn’t a single ‘G’day’ anywhere in the book, but the landscape of Australia is laid out in front of you, so hot and feral and alien you can smell the red dust. What Malouf seems best at are those quietly epiphanic moments that are so ordinary at the time, you don’t realise how important they are until you look back.
Favourite Books in the Last Month - Kate Atkinson: When will there be Good News. Bernard Schlink (The Reader): Self’s Deception - an interesting thriller.
Also tried an Italian ‘Giallo’, just translated into English - A Death in Tuscany by Michele Giuttari.
The Case of the Imaginary Detective - Karen Joy Fowler - really enjoyed the Jane Austen Book Club film, so thought I would buy this novel to read on the train. Interesting idea - the author being stalked by readers who re-create her detective on the internet in chat rooms and blogs, giving him a life of his own quite different to the author’s intentions. The author has to cope with the fact that her character has been ‘stolen’ by her readers.
Books I didn’t like -The Book Thief (Couldn’t get into the style of writing).
Currently reading, C.J. Sansom, Winter in Madrid.
