Thursday, August 03, 2006

Holiday reading

In general, I love the summer in London. So why go away on holiday at the time of year when there's good weather in one's home town? I've never understood why people take long holidays at this time of year.

Although at some point during the summer, I do usually go away somewhere in Europe with boyfriend number 1, but just for a week. Last year we went away with my sister and her family. They can't join us this year so the villa we've hired will just be for boyfriend number 1 and myself, a chance to spend some quality time with each other :-).

So what reading to take? I've said before that I like to read great novels rather than the latest trash which has caught the public's imagination! So I went for a rummage in one of the local bookshops to see what I could find and ended up buying:
  • Far from the madding crowd, by Thomas Hardy. The plot summary on the back tells that 'the beautiful and spirited Bathsheba ... discovers the terrible consequences of an inconstant heart'. Given my views on monogamy, that seems highly appropriate.

  • Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H.Lawrence. It's a well known story of infidelity of course, and according to a Daily Mail review it's 'the key novel in the struggle to liberalize public thinking about what is permissible in literary writing about sex'. So perhaps I can get a few tips for this blog!
I am unfortunately the kind of person that sometimes buys a book and doesn't read it. But if I do manage to read either, and if they are interesting in the context of this blog, then I may eventually post something about them :-).

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can I suggest 1? 'Assuming the position' by Rick Whitaker. Fantastic reading, memoirs of a pimp (nothing intended by this suggestion, if you're wondering) Happy holiday GB:-)

Anonymous said...

Going away on holidays in the summer are mainly are for heteros with 2.2 children.

I love reading trashy novels on holidays, especially chick lit. After spending a decade in the academic world discussing forms of literature from the Greeks to the post-modern, I have had enuff!

Anonymous said...

Gay Banker

You are extraodinary. I have no idea where you find the time to be a high flying investment banker, have boyfriends, read high lit, hunt and maintain this blog.

Anonymous said...

GB,
If you havent read it, I would recommend "Like People in History" by Felice Picano. A very well written gay novel with funny & memorable characters lived through different eras in American history. Check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0349108382/sr=1-1/qid=1154599687/ref=sr_1_1/102-6605523-7038564?ie=UTF8&s=books

Anonymous said...

I can't resist plugging any of the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brien. Not in the slightest bit gay (or even sexual) but beautifully written adventure stories about a friendship between two very differnt men at the beginning of the 19th century. Beware - there are 20 of them and they suck you in!

Anonymous said...

Nice to hear about boyf No 1... (who as you know I consider the only boyf). I miss reading about him and what he feels about the situation. Enjoy hols.
I read: A woman's Diary - a day by day account of a woman trapped in Berlin after the Russian Occupation in 1945. Powerful, gripping, beautifully written and painful. Also Read a book by Matthew Paris.

Anonymous said...

Oh, one more idea. 'Rubicon' by Tom Holland: the terific story of the end of the Roman Republic and the rise of the empire. It may sound dull if your not into history but reads like a novel!

Anonymous said...

Even before I clicked on your 'latest trash' link I was hoping it would be related to The DaVinci Code. Well done.

Anonymous said...

I read Far From The Madding Crowd when I was about 15 - with the help of a very good appendix section that somehow managed to explain all the very alien 'English-isms' to a born-and-bred Malaysian!

I remember wanting to be Bathsheba.