I recently read The War Of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts by Louis de Bernieres and I loved it. I borrowed Captain Corelli’s Mandolin from the library and probably have accrued ridiculous overdue fees as it’s taking a while to involve myself in the book. Slowly, but surely I’m entering the island of Cephallonia.

[From now on, I’ll be recording and blogging my reading history using All Consuming.]

One of the books recommended before I left Australia earlier this year was David Mitchell’s first novel, Ghostwritten. The narratives making up the story traveled through Japan, China, Mongolia, Russia and paralleled the places I was visiting. I would have loved the book anyway, but it felt even more special to be reading about a place having just seen it, smelt it and felt it.

Whilst in Amsterdam last week, I took advantage of an amazing bookstore there and bought Cloud Atlas, Mitchell’s third novel. As with Ghostwritten, it took a while to get used to the different textures used in the novel, but once my reading adjusted, the different pieces of the book fitted together quite cleverly.

I connected most with the story An Orison of Sonmi~451 a dystopia of genetically engineered slaves, forced consumerism and widespread environmental devastation. There’s nothing quite like a well written tale of a bleak future to make me feel quite hopeless about what’s going on in the present, so maybe that explains why I’m currently feeling a bit gloomy.

Anxiety about the future and things I can’t control aside, Cloud Atlas was an amazing book.

www.dailysonic.com

I’ve been reading this in stops and starts since I was in Vietnam at the start of the year. I’m enjoying it, but obviously it’s taking me a while to read!

I’m going very slowly and I’m not understanding every word, but I’m much better at reading French now!

It’s taken me about a week to get through the first 100 pages, but because I’m having to read so much slower to understand the French, I am enjoying the reading process.

I’m not sure what it would be like reading Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel before travelling, but reading it after returning I can say that it would be useful to read before.

Does that make sense? I hope so.

It’s just that there’s a lot of explanation to why one travels, how one travels and how one can get the most out the experience. And looking back at my travelling experience I know that I would have a gained a lot more if I had read this prior to travelling.

I’ve been encouraged to consider why I travelled and why I still want to travel. I now think more about the places I want to travel to and how I would get the most from visiting them. I think about how I can approach my hometown as if I am a visitor. I’ve even read about a man who took a tour of his bedroom!

I’m not sure what it would be like reading Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel before travelling, but reading it after returning I can say that it would be useful to read before.

Does that make sense? I hope so.

It’s just that there’s a lot of explanation to why one travels, how one travels and how one can get the most out the experience. And looking back at my travelling experience I know that I would have a gained a lot more if I had read this prior to travelling.

I’ve been encouraged to consider why I travelled and why I still want to travel. I now think more about the places I want to travel to and how I would get the most from visiting them. I think about how I can approach my hometown as if I am a visitor. I’ve even read about a man who took a tour of his bedroom!

In return for a loan of Mysteries of Pittsburgh, my friend James lent me Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges. A review I read somewhere described Umberto Eco as the only contemporary author to come anywhere near Borges writing style.

Let’s just say that way back when I first read Foucault’s Pendulum (in first year university) I ended up carrying around a list of words to look up definitions for. Thankfully, my vocabulary increased as a result and I can get through Eco and Borges without much trouble.

Anna Karenina is absolutely my favourite book ever. The love affair between Count Vronsky and Anna is tragic and beautiful, but the standout element of the story is the relationship between Levin and Kitty.

Could be categorised under “chick lit” but on the less frothy end of the scale.
The story is set in a book shop and it made me want to give up geeking and start selling books.
A nice story.