Song for Sunday

Suede – Stay Together

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don't Haunt this Place

Song for Sunday

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don't Haunt this Place

Band/artist of the week: Bruce Springsteen
Song of the week: Ash - Uncle Pat

Song for Sunday

Broken Records – A Darkness Rises Up

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: Mogwai – 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong

Ordinary Thunderstorms

There is a great book in here waiting to get out. Unfortunately this isn't it. Don't get me wrong: I am a big fan of William Boyd and have read almost all of his novels. Unfortunately enjoying all the others more than this one.

My favourite of his novels is Armadillo and Ordinary Thunderstorms sounded like it came from a similar vein, so I was looking forward to this one. Literary thrillers usually work best with a certain amount of suspension of belief, but even allowing for that the plot is just too full of implausibilities and there are too many annoying little errors for it to be a complete pleasure like Armadillo.

Straight off we are confronted with the main character – climatologist Adam Kindred – behaving totally out of character. Or, to be honest, behaving totally unlike any rational person in the world would. And since the whole book flows from this one incident that is a bit of a problem. Boyd works hard and has clearly put a lot of thought into trying to justify Kindred's behaviour, but it still doesn't ring true. Things do improve from here, but there are too many convenient, clearly flagged events and situations which later turn into key plot devices and much of the plot seems forced and dependent on setting up an already mapped out narrative.

There are lots of great bits: the way he works the Thames throughout the book from the opening scene through two deaths and on to the very last pages, the Church of John Christ, Mr Quality and Adam's love interest – the (lovely) Rita, river policewoman who lives on a decommissioned navy vessel moored at Nine Elms Pier.

The innocent bystander caught in a big conspiracy and fleeing for his life isn't a new idea, but Boyd uses the contemporary London setting to bring a new slant, highlighting and raising lots of interesting points about society, politics and our global economic structures on the way. I have come to the conclusion that he isn't capable of writing a bad book, but it is a shame that the flaws and problems with this one means that it doesn't match-up to his best work.

Song for Sunday

Pavement – Here

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: We Were Promised Jetpacks – Keeping Warm

Song for Sunday

For a Minor Reflection – A Moll

Band/artist of the week: Mogwai
Song of the week: The National – Bloodbuzz Ohio

Song for Sunday

Pulp – Babies

Band/artist of the week: Mogwai
Song of the week: The Concretes – Good Evening

Song for Sunday

Phosphorescent – The Mermaid Parade (Live in Copenhagen September 20 2010)

The nine-minute full on wig-out version is also superb and, if you so desire, you can download the full track here.

Band/artist of the week: Arcade Fire
Song of the week: The Concretes – Good Evening

My holidays

 

Song for Sunday

Manic Street Preachers – Your Love Alone

This was one of the first videos on GoH way back in early 2008, but it never made a Song for Sunday. So remedying that fact and in anticipation of their new 'pop' album here it is again.

No band or song of the week because we are still at the beach, but they will be back next week.

Song for Sunday

The Concretes – Good Evening

Band/artist of the week: Arcade Fire
Song of the week: The Concretes – Good Evening

Gone

Right we're out of here. Time for the GoH early-Spring Summer holidays. It has been a long winter and everyone is in need of some time off and a bit of warm weather.

Not taking the blue shorts because they are too bit heavy, but that means that there is room for at least one hardback and two other books –

If you look carefully you will probably see us here.

Song for Sunday

Yo La Tengo – Sugarcube

Band/artist of the week: Rose Elinor Dougall
Song of the week: Rose Elinor Dougall – Carry On

Song for Sunday

The Clientele – Bookshop Casanova

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: The KLF – Build a Fire

Song for Sunday

Rose Elinor Dougall – Carry On

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: S Club 7 – Don't Stop Movin' (what happens when the offspring commandeer iTunes to help decide what their favourite song is for Show and Tell ...)

Turbulence

Giles Foden has a knack for unearthing fascinating side stories from real events and using them to construct novels and non-fiction. He's best known for his first novel, The Last King of Scotland, where a young Scottish doctor on a medical program in Africa ends up as the personal physician to Ugandan President Idi Amin.

Turbulence intrigued me for the most part, but was ultimately a bit of let-down. It is a literary thriller, based around solving one the most intractable scientific (or more specifically geophysical) problems of the Second World War: predicting the weather over six consecutive days to allow the D-day landings to be planned and executed.

Henry Meadows is a technical officer in the Met Office who is dispatched to Argyll in an attempt to retrieve crucial information from the reclusive Wallace Ryman. Ryman is an authority on turbulence whose work is viewed as crucial to aid the forecasters in providing accurate and reliable advice to the military top brass. Unfortunately Ryman is a rationalist and a conscientious objector who is indifferent to the project and whatever information he does share doesn't seem to be particularly relevant.

The first two-thirds, set in Argyll, when Henry is trying to befriend and get the information from Ryman works well. Then the story turns on a dramatic event which seems less traumatic than it should be. Henry's breakdown after isn't convincing and the book drifts off. Although events become more dramatic, they also seem less convincing and by the end very little seems to be real.

There is also the added distraction of a tacked-on, modern-day coda running throughout which doesn't shed any light on the historical events or add anything to our understanding of Henry or his actions. The final chapter is billed as an address to a conference about the forecasting for the landings and marking the fortieth anniversary. Again it seems unecessary and contrived, as if he didn't have the confidence in the core narrative and felt that it needed something extra. It is a great story and if Foden had concentrated on getting this right, ditching all the padding and authorial tricks then it would be a far more engaging book.

Song for Sunday

50 Foot Wave – Your Ghost

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: Rose Elinor Dougall – Find Me Out

Song for Sunday

Wild Beasts – We Still Got the Taste Dancin' on our Tongues

Band/artist of the week: Arcade Fire
Song of the week: Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains beyond Mountains)

Song for Sunday

Clogs – Last Song

Band/artist of the week: Arcade Fire
Song of the week: Arcade Fire – Sprawl II (Mountains beyond Mountains)

Booker longlist

No Amis. No Rushdie. No McEwen. Hurray!

The Booker Prize longlist was published last week and, although I haven't really been interested in it as prize since I stopped working in the bookshop (circa 1996), I had to take a look anyway. Just so that I could be mildly outraged by the judges narrow view of what constitutes literature and chuckle condescendingly at their predictable choices.

The last Booker winner I read was Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty in 2004 and I didn't rate that much. Life of Pi in 2002 was the last one that I actually enjoyed and before that it was Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha in 1993.

So, this year's list brought on an attack of slight incredulity including as it does two books I have already read that are fantastic (The Slap and The Stars in the Bright Sky), another that I can guarantee will be excellent (and is already on my to-read pile next to the bed – The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet) and another five which I quite fancy (C, February, In a Strange Room, Room and The Betrayal).

My take on The Slap is here and I will be banging on about The Stars in the Bright Sky at some point in the near-future. The bookies reckon Parrot and Olivier in America or The Long Song are in line for the fifty grand, but that only shows what turnips they are. My pick would have to be David Mitchell for The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet because lots of people reckon he should have won in 2004 for Cloud Atlas and although the judges say they 'put aside literary reputations and judge the novels on their individual merits' it is strange how often an author's past near misses help a book's chances.* And if I was a betting man I would put some money on Christos Tsiolkas for The Slap. I just have a funny feeling that it might be his year ...

*The fact that it is historical fiction won't hurt either.

Song for Sunday

Early Day Miners – Comfort/Guilt

Band/artist of the week: Arcade Fire
Song of the week: Rose Elinor Dougall – Find Me Out

Post Tour melancholy

So: now that the sleep deprivation has worn off and the dust has settled on the Champs-Élysées, what to make of Le Tour 2010? Well, for starters my predictions were about as bad as they have ever been. I got the winner right and that was it.

To be fair nobody else I saw managed to pick more than two out of the top five (oh, all right Monsieur Jean-Francois Quenet got three), but even so I would have done better if I had just republished last year's list.

The green jersey list would have been spot on if Petacchi had followed Cipollini's example and headed for the Riviera at the first sign of mountains and you ignore the fact that Robbie was placed below Rojas on a countback. And as for the mountains jersey, well the less said about that the better. I do find it sad that all the real mountain specialists don't seem interested in this classification anymore. They should just rename it the mediocre French journeyman's prize ...

Contador didn't seem to have the same form as last year and I would have loved to seen Schleck really attack him in the mountains. You also have to wonder what would have happened if Andy hadn't lost 42 seconds to Contador in the prologue. How could a serious GC contender lose so much time over 8.9 km? He even lost less time than that to Contador in the 52 km on the penultimate day.

Anyway, I seriously underestimated Schleck's form and if everything goes well for him you have to imagine him winning in the next year or two. And I drastically overestimated how strong Armstrong and Wiggins were – both were a big disappointment. Armstrong looked like he couldn't quite believe that his legs wouldn't keep up with the younger generation and he was unlucky at crucial points, but as Phil or Paul said, when lady luck gives up on you she really gives up. As for Wiggins he just never looked like a serious contender this year. I think the miscalculation on the opening prologue hit him hard psychologically and it will be interesting to see if he can get back in the top ten next year.

Rogers was an even bigger disappointment than Wiggins and Armstrong and, as he said himself near the end of the race, he just isn't cut out for the three week grand tours. Unlike a true GC contender who seems to get stronger as the race goes on you can just see Rogers fading away. Kreuziger did pretty well and I reckon you will see him on the podium before too long.

Song for Sunday

Laura Marling – Rambling Man

I am usually fairly immune to waify, singer/songwritery types, but this is rather lovely and has snuck in behind my defences over the last few weeks. The video reminds me of an old friend who lived in Brighton for a while, but only because of the swimming in the sea thing not the rambling or the suitcase or the birds or anything like that.

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: Rose Elinor Dougall – Find Me Out

Song for Sunday

Blondie – Union City Blue

A golden oldie as they used to say when I listened to the radio. Even after 30 years I still love this song. They don't make videos like this anymore – interesting to see where the design for the Guantánamo jumpsuits came from though ...

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: Rose Elinor Dougall – Find Me Out

Song for Sunday

Emma Pollock – Red Orange Green

Band/artist of the week: The National
Song of the week: Rose Elinor Dougall – Find Me Out