A Town Like Alice

I have just finished this novel on the Kobo having borrowed it electronically from the local library. The fact that I could do this with the Kobo was a great surprise to me when I found out a couple of weeks ago and now gives me access to many more books than the nearly 200 free ebooks that you can down-load.

The novel is set in and around the Second World War and is narrated by an ageing solicitor called Noel Strachan who is contacted by a dying man in Ayr who wants to change his will in favour of his only living relative, a young woman in England called Jean Paget. He leaves here 350k (pounds) but insists it be kept in a trust until she is 35.

The first half of the book retraces Jean's earlier life as a prisoner of war in Malaya where she lead a group of women around the country from one Japanese military camp to another, in each case finding their presence resented by the local officer who promptly sent them off again to another station.

On the way they meet 2 Australian prisoners who help them find food on their journey and end up being caught stealing chickens. One of the Australians is nailed to a tree and beaten to death.

The group of women eventually settle in small village after their Japanese guard dies and learn to live like the locals, working in the paddy fields for around 3 years. After the war they are repatriated.

The second half of the story is about what she does with her money, but I won't spoil it for anyone who may want to read this one.

I think this novel was written with children in mind and while is introduces some of the harrowing experiences of war, they are not dwelt on and the story moves quickly to more encouraging experiences for Jean as she learns to put her newly found fortune to god use.

This book was voted in at 37 on the BBC's Big Read list, I suspect, due to people reading it at school and remembering it with fondness rather than it being the 37th best novel ever written.

Madchester

I was surfing on YouTube the other day and came across some film of The Charlatans playing live last year. They were playing a lot of their old stuff from when I was at university and were supported by Shaun Ryder who is now performing his old hits on his own.

Is it me or does this smack of desperation? It was slightly sad to see these, once great performers going through the motions of performing their old hits to make a bit of money.

The Charlatans have been one of the best preserved band from the Manchester days and had developed into a great band while others of their generation had given up. But this recent film looked like they were going through the motions and didn't care.

Shaun Ryder looks like he's doing the same. No Mondays to back him and not even Bez to freaky dance his way through the set.

The Inspiral Carpets reformed in the past few years but I can't see anything on YouTube except the odd piece filmed from someone's cell phone so it's hard to see how they were. James are still going and have continued pumping out great stuff, but even they split a few years ago and reformed in order to make some money.

The only band from that era that have stayed apart is The Stone Roses. I'd love to see them live having missed out the first time around, but I'd wonder what it would be like. Firstly they wouldn't come over here but I'd hate to see them as some tribute band. That's exactly what The Charlatans looked like on that video. A Madchester circus act or a Butlins Saturday night special.

In recent years the fabulous Dodgy reformed and our Brian went to see them in a wee club in Aberdeen. One of the greatest song writing groups in the past 20 years and they were playing to a handful of people in a pub. A little sad.

Is this recent collection of reformations a good thing or not. The bands rarely seem to have the same energy they used to have and most of them are clearly not on the same medication that made their music so inspiring the first time round.....but it would be great to see The Stone Roses again.

Any thoughts?

KOBO

It's happened. Despite saying that I prefer real books to eReaders I now have a Kobo (thanks wife) and I have to say, I love it.

It is Chapters bookstore's version of the Kindle and comes with 100 free classics. This allowed me to finish the last half of Middlemarch, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Treasure Island over the Christmas holidays and I am now working my way through Persuasion by Jane Austen, all without having to lug a pile of books around.

The screen takes a little getting used to as it has no backlight. This means that you need an external light to read the books but this gives the screen a "paper" quality. The screen never shuts down, however. While the Kobo is technically "off" the cover of the book that you are reading remains on the screen.

I see a huge advantage to having this over real books. You can store up to 1000 books on the unit and probably more in your online account so it's useful when travelling, particularly on planes. It's small, around the same size as a book but very thin, making it easy to carry in a bag or briefcase.

You can also download newspapers, magazines and read pdf files. I'm a convert.