Angels and Demons
Dan Brown: Angels and Demons. (Disclaimer: I was forced to read this.) The good: after a plodding start, the plot did get interesting, and exciting enough that I wanted to keep reading and find out what happened. Nice twist at the end.
The bad: Wooden, two-dimensional characters. Romantic scenes written like Mills and Boon. Spelling out every plot development 2-3 times so nobody will miss anything. Sloppily written (either refer to the Swiss Guard as one body, or the Swiss Guards as a group of individuals, but don’t swap between the two, especially in one paragraph).
For fiction to be believable, it has to have a basis in truth, and this fell down on basic facts (such as the BBC telephone operator smoking at her desk, and people continually commenting that their cell phones didn’t have a dial tone — dial tone???), which destroyed the fantasy and left me wondering how much else of it was wrong.
All in all, a mostly enjoyable read. But there are many much better-written books out there.
Life is short. Read good books. Thumbs down to Brown.
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The problem
My name is Daniel, and I have a cockroach problem.
The first: a few days after I moved in, on the front doorstep. I squashed it with a boot.
The second: a couple of weeks ago, jumping out from the cupboard underneath the sink. It scurried away and escaped.
The third: last night in the pantry, in a packet of fettucini. Sigh. Chucked all the pasta out. Time to find the spaghetti jar and start packing all my food in sealed containers.
The fourth: I got on the train this morning and got the newspaper out of my bag. As if from nowhere, a cockroach appeared. Had it come from my bag? Did I have a stowaway? I couldn’t tell. A couple of people stared wide-eyed as it crawled across the carriage. I wasn’t sure if I should stomp on it. It went and hid underneath someone else’s seat. Maybe it thought the inspectors would ask for its ticket.
A thorough search of my bag when I got to work didn’t find any more. But eek, gonna have to clean the house thoroughly and take precautions against them.
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Chasing birds
Marita and Justine’s dog Maisie doesn’t like a lot of things, but she does like chasing other animals. Rabbits, cats, birds…
By far her favourite type of bird to chase looks a little like a pigeon, but has a pointy head, and makes a funny noise when it flies. This delights Maisie, and when she chases a few of them and they all take off at once making the funny noise, she’ll often let out a joyous “Woof!” for all to hear.
I’ve noticed some of these birds are sometimes in my street. When nobody’s looking, I’ll chase them on Maisie’s behalf, just so I too can elicit their funny flying noise.
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Settling into the neighbourhood
You know when you’re starting to settle into the neighbourhood when…
…someone knocks on your door to let you know you left your car lights on
…you remember what day is garbage day, without having to check
…the various shortcuts (by foot or by road) to strategic locations have been figured out
…the local amenities (post box, shop, late-night chemist, takeaway, spot where somebody leaves shopping trolleys, video shop) have all been located
…you’ve met most of the neighbours, even if you don’t remember their names
…you start to work out which cars go in which driveway
…you join in a game of street cricket (stumps is called when the ball goes down a drain)
About the only thing that hasn’t been done is some kind of house-warming do. Ummm… after I get the place tidied up a bit. Which should be in the Christmas break.
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In the mail
This envelope arrived in the mail. (Forwarded from my old address.)
Wow. It must be really really important.
Pah. Bloody Reader’s Digest. It’s going back “Not known at this address.”
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He who hesitates is lost
This entry relates to the procurement of items designed for offspring recreational pursuits during this seasonal time of year. As such, it will be protected by a wafer-thin vineer, in a probably pointless effort to throw certain people who might be reading off the track.
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Front/back
Last night I saw a cat in my front yard.
Tonight I found (most of) a dead bird in the back yard.
Coincidence? I think not.
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Astonishing literary discovery of the week
Astonishing literary discovery of the week: in the US version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day it referred to Australia, not Timbuktu.
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