Summer Reads

As I am now entering the first week of my final year at University, I can officially say that my summer has ended [particularly with it now being Autumn]. As a result I thought I could discuss the books that I managed to read over the summer period. I do take a book with me to university but it is usually one. During term time I feel already bombarded with reading so it does feel like a somewhat less relaxing and enjoyable activity. The book I take to university with me usually needs to be a slightly easier read than what I would normally go for. This then means that over the summer period I usually cram in a fair few more books as I have a lot more free time on my hands.

Towards the end of the last term in my second year and into the beginning of the summer break I read Philip K Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’. Initially my dad introduced me and my sister to the Blade Runner film as it is one of his favourites and it quickly became one of mine and my sister’s favourite films as well. The storyline is complex, interesting and thought-provoking and in addition Harrison Ford may well look the best he has ever looked in a film [although it is a close run thing with Indiana Jones]. I also enjoyed the second film that starred Ryan Gosling. However, after years of only watching the film I thought it would be wise to read the novel that it was based on. The title of the book is very interesting, as it is clearly asking whether Androids have the ability to develop the kind of consciousness that humans posses. But I think the title is perhaps the best part of the novel! It was a difficult read and I was amazed that Blade Runner had been developed from the novel as there are numerous differences. They are almost completely separate in their premise. Most notably, the novel has some sort of emotional manipulation tool – like most Utopian novels – and Rick Deckard is importantly married. There is also a significant focus on the social ideas surrounding the concept of real and artificial animals; something which is only mentioned briefly in the film. Although the novel was enjoyable, I did find it slightly laborious to read, I didn’t feel that I got a very clear picture of the future it was set in. I was still confused about the ideas about Earth dying and the emotional manipulation machines that were used. I think this novel is one of the rare instances where the film is better than its source material. I would only recommend it if you particularly enjoy sci-fi novels. I would recommend Philip K Dick’s other novel ‘The Penultimate Truth’ much more.

In a brief interlude, I made a second attempt to read ‘Lolita’ by Valdimir Nabokov. I had tried to read it a few years ago and gave up on it, however I thought I would try again as it is well renowned. Once again, the novel didn’t quite capture my interest. This was not because of the ‘sensitive’ subject material – as the novel is famously about abuse of power and paedophilia – it was because I found it tremendously boring. I managed to read up to about two hundred pages and decided to give up, if a novel can’t pull you in by the two hundredth page then it’s never going to. The book was extremely slow, I did find the character of Humbert Humbert both creepy [as you’re supposed to] but also boring and stupid. I felt as if the narrative was taking far to long and at the end of the day it didn’t particularly interest me to reach the end. Just because a book is a classic doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to like it.

After deciding to stop reading ‘Lolita’ it just so happened that I visited Waterstones not long after. At this particular Waterstones I came across a non-fiction book titled ‘Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing’ by John Boughton. The cover did initially pull me in as it was of a 1960’s council tower block – and I am a stickler for something that has a 60’s air about it. However, after reading the title of the book and inspecting it more I found myself intrigued and bought it. I began reading it almost immediately, it was indeed very interesting. It detailed the establishment of council housing in the early 20th century and proceeded through to present day. The idea of the book was to demonstrate the changing attitude towards council housing, particularly the expectations of what they represent and the different requirements that presented themselves throughout the years. I found the changing attitudes to council houses interesting. Initially they were to create homely living for everyday people and promoted integration; as the years progressed the focus shifted more on the functionally of the housing, making them practical and affordable. The book was an interesting read and I also found out that it developed from an initial blog into a novel which was both intriguing and impressive. The only downfall of the book was that at times there was a bombardment of facts which were sometimes a lot to take in and required a lot of concentration. However, I do think it was an interesting read, particularly from a social/historical point of view.

The final book of my summer was David Mitchell’s ‘Utopia Avenue’, written by the same author of ‘Cloud Atlas’ which was turned into an atrocious film. As mentioned above I was drawn to this novel as it was set in the 1960s music scene in Britain which sounded just like my cup of tea. It was a fairly large novel and I particularly enjoyed the way it was structured. Mitchell sectioned the book into three albums which was then sectioned into side A and side B; not only this but each chapter within these sections was the title of a song from the album. If that wasn’t clever enough, the writer of the song on the album took on the point of view for that chapter. This allowed you to explore each character in depth. I do like a novel with differing point of views. It makes it more complex and diverse, you feel you are getting more of the complete story. It also changes up the feel of the text which keeps it interesting and the reader on their toes. The actual story was also enjoyable, it followed a band’s road to success and their struggles with their personal lives and sexualities in between. It was very interesting, particularly when a real musician would make an appearance – I think a music fan would definitely enjoy the novel. There was only one aspect of the novel that I didn’t particularly understand – a chapter that took on a sort of supernatural element seemingly out of the blue. I won’t explain it, so as not to spoil it but also because I probably couldn’t. I will say as well that at some points it did feel as if little was happening but I suppose if a novel is crammed with ‘action’ it might become hard to follow. If you are a fan of the 1960s music scene or enjoy the film ‘Almost Famous’ then I think this book would be for you.