Oil! by Upton Sinclair

I try to avoid giving up part way through books as often as possible, but this is one that I have consigned to the one-day-when-i-have-nothing-else-to-read (i.e. never) pile.   

Prompted to pick it up after seeing the movie There Will Be Blood, I was thrilled when I started this novel to read stark differences between the opening pages and memories of the film.   Whilst the movie is in the voice of the Daniel Day Lewis character, the book is read through the voice of Bunny, the son.  In the movie a young Bunny (about 10 years old) becomes deaf through a workplace explosion, in the book this doesn’t happen – at least not up to where I read and he was an adult at this point! 

There is no doubt that Sinclair has a rich prose full of idiosyncrasies that kept my eyes glued to the first 200 odd pages.  After this I started to lose my way some and reading this became a bit just-get-through-this-section-and-it-will-get-better.  So now I’ve given up.  My hat goes off to anyone who gets through it.  I’ve got too much else on my ‘to read’ pile.

The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

What a classic this little story is.  Written in a style that seems filled with what are apparently literary errors (multiple changes in voice, over use of fragments etc…) this is a thoroughly entertaining and entirely enjoyable tale.

It follows the journey of Precious Ramotswe in her career as a lady detective.  Each case has its own quirky trait. Written as though it’s a playful good-always-triumphs-evil type of story the author then ties in a stark dash of reality or turns the story into a completely unexpected direction that urges the reader to continue.  I felt like I was reading a reality cartoon if that makes any sense. 

This is an unconventionally great little read.