Tuesday 25 September 2007

McIllvanney and the power of reading

Just read William McIllvanney's Weekend, not perfect but I loved it, he seemed to have a great tenderness for his characters, one bullied woman was described as 'living in the corners of herself that he'd left to her'. This is a nice bit from it, about why reading is good: "The book makes heavier demands on us [than television]...A scene in it's pages doesn't appear ready-made before our eyes, so that all we have to do is lazily record it. We have to construct it in our imaginations. It is a much more participatory medium, more our own creation. It's a DIY experience, he thought. The practice of it empowers us with a sense of ourselves by demanding our own individual interpretation be earned by decodifying it." So there we are, reading is a highly developed intellectual activity!

I've also been reading a second book by Arnaldur Indridason - Icelandic crime - stars a tough cop who seems quite a cool guy, but to my horror the author insists on describing him, revealing that he's thick-set with bushy red hair!!! I've gone right off him, I have to say.

2 comments:

Aileen said...

Have you got something against people with red hair then Karen? Shame on you!

Karen said...

Red hair can be very nice, it was more the overall image...not what you expect in your average hero?