Architecture on the Carpet: The curious Tale of Construction Toys and the Genesis of Modern Buildings by Brenda and Robert Vale
The authors are professors of architecture at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. Their interesting permise is that architects (at least those who had been boys) were inspired by playing with construction toys. Some examples of these are familiar, e.g. Lego, Meccano, PlayPlax; others are better known in other countries, although many had British equivalents.
This sounds like a dry subject but the authors write with wit and a serious touch of sarcasm, looking for example at the discrepancies between the commerical description of the finished models and the reality of what could be built e.g. PlayPlax produces buildings in many dimensions (what, more than three?). They intersperse the details of the toys with examples of the architecture that, with a fair amount of imagination, they might have inspired. Architects themselves come in for a bit of criticism: "they need 7 years of training to learn how to dislike buildings that other people love".
An entertaining book. ❤❤❤❤❤
Broken Ghost, a novel by Niall Griffiths
Three independent individuals, each with personal problems and a flawed lifestyle witness a kind of vision on a Welsh mountainside. The novel narrates how each of their lives is affected by this, even although none of them is convinced of the event's significance. This is a thoroughly modern interepretation of an ancient myth that heavily influences Christian religion. The author paints each of his superficially undesirable characters with a precision that allows the reader to engage with them in the self-inflicted plight they each find themselves in. We are led to believe that the vision in some way alters their behaviour but in today's culture those changes are so subtle and contradictory that they are almost impossible to define. Griffiths' description of the characters' lives is profane and often shocking but is interspersed with a deeply poetic set of descriptions of the Welsh landscape. My best book of the year so far. ❤❤❤❤❤
The Plot Against America, a novel by Philip Roth
And Oxton Society Men's Book Club choice, this later novel of Roth's deals with his usual themes of Jewish culture in contemporary America but cleverly sets it within a fantasy plot in which Roth portrays himself autobiographically as a child in New Jersey before and during World War II. As the prelude to the war develops in Europe, America has to decide whether to engage or to remain neutral. Roth's premise is that the aviator Charles Lindbergh, known at the time to be a Nazi-sympathiser, is elected as President in place of Roosevelt and initiates a blatantly anti-semitic regime.
Thus the plot covers the internal family disputes over sympathy for the populist president, anxiety over a potential threat to their lives and the role of the media and it suppression by the State. Much of this could be said to be hightly relevant today yet, while Roth's descriptions of the conduct of the Lindbergh-supporting hard right might have seemed extreme when the book was written in 2004, it seems tame in comparison with what is happening in the US now.
This has many of the merits of Roth's best work. It is clearly well researched with a very interesting Appendix that explains the main political and media characters, all of whom were real, even if they did not behave exactly as described. This adds to the enjoyment of the book and somewhat compensates for the rather anti-climactic ending. ❤❤❤
The Pine Islands, a novel by Marion Poschmann
This sounded like a novel I would enjoy. The main character, a University academic undertakes a solo travel adventure in Japan inspired by the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho to find the pine islands of Matsushima. Unexpectedly he falls in with a young student whom he meets on a railway platform and who plans to commit suicide after visiting and choosing from a number of appropriate well-known suicide locations.
I was disappointed by the lack of development in the relationship between the two men and the inconsistencies in the plot (at one point they could barely communicate about basic practicalities due to the student's lack of English yet later they managed to dwell on philosophical matters in depth). Not all plots have to be resolved of course but it was disappointing too not to know what happened to the student, who simply disappeared from the scene and equally one is left guessing at the end about the future of the main character. Observations about Japan and its strange customs were appropriate but I felt they could have been obtained from a brief holiday visit to the country rather than from any in-depth research. ❤❤