A Spot of Bother

Monday night. I was all set. I was leading the Book Club review tonight, on Mark Haddon's "A Spot of Bother." Thanks to Sharon, who called me as I was brushing my teeth just as I was leaving (see, I get dressed up when I get a night off) I did half expect I may be on my lonesome, as Beth had got stuck in foreign land, Bron stuck teaching a foreign lang at the last minute when a colleague bailed an evening class, Sharon was minding baby with foreign bug (OK, hopefully just a cold, but it fits) and Petra had also indicated advanced absence. The other three newbies, unknown potentials.

But I guess that'll teach me for being set to lead the book "A Spot of Bother". Perhaps next time I'll do, "The five people you meet in heaven", or "House of Meetings" by Amis instead.

2 Hours, 66km and one speeding ticket later, I have to conclude that no one went tonight, or that due to my 35 minute search to find a parking space (into which I not entirely modestly maneuvered, with 5cm behind me and 10 in front), I was so late (20:35) that everyone who was not on above attendees list and I do not know, had gone elsewhere. If so, I apologise and hope they had less bother and more fun discussing it elsewhere.

The positive result is that I know Cafe Delia appears completely CLOSED anyway for future - no notice in window, but locked up. So, new venue suggestions on a postcard. The most popular vote wins a chewed version of my review of ASOB.... you know, an eight month old will eat anything made of paper.

So, the book. The book is funnier than my exploits. Characters are stronger than plot, in fact, the characters really are the plot. Their personalities, their frailties, worries and vanities, all revealed as shamelessly as if in magnified bathroom mirror style, with neon light. I may be one of the few in the world who will admit I read only one page of TCIotDitNightime, and decided not to buy. I'll have to go back to it. This made me laugh. A lot. It surprised me. A lot. (Especially as I did not follow through on aforementioned Curious Incident). As a result I had no expectations and have nothing to compare it with. Except that it reminds me very much of Franzen's "The Corrections." But The Corrections seems more 'Guardian' and 'ASofB' more Daily Mail. I think ASoB will be hugely popular precisely because it is a less literary. The complex detail of the characters' day-to-day, masks their rather simple lives. The one character who can see through it all, (aptly named 'Ray') seems to be the most simple to start with, but in fact proves to have more depth of character than them all - and they are all hugely realistic, if borderline stereotypical. Ingeniously crafted with detailed description they are further tinged by our own interpretations and prejudice of 'someone we know who is just like...'. Or by the book we know that the character reads. If TV's "Lost" can encourage so many to go out and buy a paperback which featured in the series, perhaps Haddon's generous helping of other titles included in this work, will get more books read. Not everyone may be into 'Ackroyd' or 'Pet Sematary', but the range is broad, there's something for everyone. Just like the story really. And I do like a happy ending, and here you get three.

PS: our next book is planned to be "An inconvenient Truth". - I conveniently ordered it online, amongst the others on the list and some which were not but I "really needed to get the next time I placed an order" - and yep, I agree, I ended up with an inconvenient truth indeed when the parcel arrived - I had ordered the DVD version, not the book - doh! "Where is that paper returns envelope...?"