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#bookaday One that makes me laugh: Notes from a Small Island

This particular #bookaday challenge made me realise how few books have really made me laugh. I think most book that leave their mark do so because they are suspenseful, melancholy, shocking or thought-provoking. Few are actually laugh-out-loud funny.

Bryson’s Notes on a Small Island is insightful and well observed. His wit keeps you turning the pages and I identified with his observations all the more now that I am living abroad. I see England and its people differently.

Bill Bryson was born in Iowa and spent 20 years in England before moving back. He says, “I had recently read that 3.7 million Americans according to a Gallup poll, believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me.”

This is typical of his style, able to make jokes lovingly and without overtly pointing a finger or causing offence. I enjoyed this. It was a gift, which makes it more special.

#bookadayuk A book you pretend to have read. I haven’t. And a confession about Romeo and Juliet

Why would you pretend to have read a book? I’ve never lied about what I have read, because what’s the point? I do have a confession, though. We studied Shakespeare at school. I first read his work at the age of eleven and struggled with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Then at fifteen we looked at Romeo and Juliet as one of our GCSE texts. I struggled with romantic books then, and I still do in a way. Somehow, the whole forbidden love element of the story didn’t grab my attention. So I listened to the discussions, read the notes and miraculously managed to get a good grade in English Literature, despite never having read the whole text.

I later saw Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation but I struggled with this, too. I can understand why it was popular and I think he has an amazing eye for what works, but it was too overly dramatic for me. It wasn’t until we studied Othello that I really began to enjoy Shakespeare, and I made up for my sad lack of reading Romeo and Juliet by reading Othello three times! There was something about the darkness of Iago, and his persistence that held my attention. I saw a production of the play a few years ago at the Donmar Warehouse and was equally captivated. Both plays are tragedies but the effect they both had on me were vastly different.

Here is an interesting video of Ewan McGregor talking about the character of Iago in the play:

Do you have any favourite Shakespeare plays?

Or have you pretended to read something that you haven’t actually read?

#bookaday Second hand bookshop gem: War and Peace

My second hand bookshop gem has to be a charity shop copy of War and Peace. Still unfinished, though. #bookadayuk

#bookadayUK The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

This is a short #bookaday post today as I’ve already posted photos of yesterdays trip to Sopron, Hungary. Today’s #bookaday challenge is to choose a book that reminds you of someone you love. My husband bought and read this to me on our honeymoon. I love being read to (although it doesn’t happen often), and the magical settings of the book and the nature of the holiday at the time has burned this story into my memory. I look forward to going back and rereading it someday.

The Alchemist was first published in Portuguese in 1988, written by Brazilian born Coelho, and has been translated into 56 languages. It follows the story of a young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there.

The book is an international bestseller and has sold more than 65 million copies worldwide. It has become one of the best-selling books in history, setting the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author.

It’s not necessarily my favourite book but it is evocative and full of imagery, and the memories of hearing the story are what remains.

Sopron, Hungary

It was a bank holiday weekend here in Austria and we spent the day yesterday in Sopron, just over the western border of Hungary. It’s a beautiful town at the foot of the Alps, 60 km from Vienna and 220 km from Budapest, and is one of the oldest in the country. The first settlers were the Celts, then the Romans (as a trading spot along the Amber Route from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic and Byzantium), then a succession of Germans and Slavs. In recent years, Sopron helped to bring down the Iron Curtain, creating an escape route. It is one of the most beautiful towns in western Hungary. The medieval Inner Town (Belváros) is intact and its cobbled streets add to the charm. We whiled away the hours walking, drinking coffee and exploring small arches and hidden alleyways. It had so much character and a great sense of history.