The Art of Racing in the Rain

Can you love and book and hate it at the same time? My answer is yes. That book is Garth Stein's the Art of Racing in the Rain.

The story is told from the point of view of a dog, which is fabulous and ingenious, but I always find that whenever a story revolves around animals, it is always sad. And this is no exception. I am not ruining anything for you, as we are told in the summary that the dog is at the end of his life and he is reflecting back on his years.

I spent the entire first chapter balling, hating the author, for his description of Enzo the dog at the end of his days was exactly, to a tee, describing my last days with Mack. And it didn't help matters that the dog on the cover of the book is the spitting image of Mack.

We put Mack down ten years ago this month, and I have had some sad memories since then, but nothing like this. I felt such anger toward the book, for making me feel this way, for dredging up those very real and distinct memories; but it was such a good book I had to keep reading. I finished it in two days: it was that good and I just needed to get through it.

Enzo's master is a amateur race car driver. I grew up watching a lot of Formula 1 and Indy, so I really enjoyed that aspect of the book and enjoyed seeing names of drivers that I grew up watching. And I still distinctly remember the day Ayrton Senna died.

Books don't usually have this strong an effect on me; but I usually avoid books with animals for this very reason.

Doomsday Book

My latest book club selection is the Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. This one happens to be my selection, so I need to come up with some questions for our book club meeting in April.

I can't remember how I came across this book: I was either surfing book club recommendation websites; or Chapters or Amazon recommended it based on my purchases.

If you like history, and the science fiction genre, I highly recommend this book. I would best describe it as a mix between Michael Crichton's (RIP) Timeline and Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders.

...ipsos Custodes

I have just finished reading Watchman. Just in time to catch a matinee showing tomorrow.

I have always loved comics. A guilty pleasure of mine. I have always been more intrigued by the Marvel world, my favourites, the X-men, but even I will agree DC has created the more classic characters: Batman, Superman, my personal favourites: Catwoman and the Joker. And even more significantly for me, DC penned the first graphic novel I have ever read: Watchmen.

It is considered one of the greatest English-language novels, and I will certainly have to agree. Watchman has found a place among my literary favourites: the Grapes of Wrath, Fahrenheit 451, Alice in Wonderland. It is a phenomenal piece of work, and I want to take this opportunity to talk about one aspect of it, with out giving too much away: Rorschach.

We meet Rorschach on page one; at least we meet his thoughts. I was immediately drawn to this character. There was something I truly liked about him.

As the story continued, I though he was such a cool character, until his de-masking...

Suddenly I hated him, was repulsed by him, I wanted to stop reading. In fact, I did just that. His true persona was so horrible I had to put the book down and take a break. Was it the words? Was it the graphics? Was it both?

24 hours later I picked the book back up, and continued reading, glad the story moved back to some of the other characters. But it was only a matter of time before returning to Rorschach's story. I was still hating. Still repulsed. And then, he put his mask back on. And like that, I liked him again.

I had to put the book down a second time and consider what was going on. What were these words and illustrations doing to me that I could easily be swayed by a mask being taken off, and put back on?

I tend to accept the goodness in people, until they give me a reason to dislike them. Distrust them. But I often find when their bad side is hidden again, I see the original good person, and forget about what I saw underneath. Do I find it that easy to forget? Do I find masks, whether physical or emotional, just make things easier? Or do I see that these people are truly good, but are intrinsically flawed?

Whatever it is, this book will make you think. Whether it's the overall plot, or in my case a particular character, it will switch something on and off in you, and you will wonder, what the hell just happened?

Welcome to Blackstock Bookworm

There was a time when I was good about posting what was on my reading list. I have fallen out of that habit, but have decided it is something I would like to start up again... so why not create a whole new blog!

I will do my best to keep my reading list updated and post comments and thoughts about the various books I'm reading.

Hope you enjoy.

Blackstock Bookworm (a.k.a. ShivB)