Reading

I did finish Birdsong and I did cry. It's a flawed book and I think he's a decent rather than a great writer, but his honesty and his sense of urgency sometimes lift the prose into moments of brilliance. I think that he does his subject matter justice, and that is no small feat.

I also read Persepolis: the Story of an Iranian Childhood. It's a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, who was ten years old when the Shah was deposed. Her family were part of the Tehran intelligentsia. It's a striking, carefully-crafted account of the Islamic revolution and the effects of the war with Iraq. There are many striking visual images, but the one that has been lingering is of the teenage girl expelling her rage and frustration to Kim Wilde's Kids in America, having risked her life to get the tape back across town to her home.

A little light reading

I decided to ease up and read Three Men in a Boat. (Because I want to read Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog next.)

It's bloody funny.