My holiday reading
for the US. Gone With the Wind was breathtakingly racist, and the most alarming
thing was the insouciance with which Margaret Mitchell and her characters just
accepted the superiority of well-bred whites and that slavery was beneficial to
all. It was still a gripping read though, and I ended up sneaking off most
nights after the kids had gone to the bed to read a few more chapters while
overdosing on free root beer and cakes at the Resort Food Hall in Disney World.
Helen also had to tell me off for reading about Sherman's March to the Sea when
I should have been watching the Orca display at Seaworld.
I'd read anything by
Lucy Mangan, I've been a fan of her articles in The Guardian for years, and
when she writes a book about childhood reading that's just the nuts. My
responses to each chapter generally fell into one of two categories. A) I had
read the book and nodded along enthusiastically with agreement or B) I had not
read the book and stuck it straight on my Amazon wishlist so I was no longer
missing out. One book she raved about, 'Private: Keep Out', is now out of print
and battered second hand copies are changing hands for £700!
Cyril Hare's 'An
English Murder' kept me diverted on the plane back via Iceland. It was a
corking, classic english murder mystery. I was going to ask Alan if he had read
it, but we weren't able to meet up in NY unfortunately as Alec was unwell.
'Blood Meridian' was unremittingly violent and I lost my way at times. No doubt
a truer version of The West than Hollywood's, but I prefer the humour and
verbosity of Deadwood over unending barbarity and depravity. Finally, a defence
of Boabdil, the last Moorish ruler of Granada. His story is such a tragic one,
it's no wonder it has inspired so many paintings, books etc. Makes me desperate
to go back to Andalucia.
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