Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote
I've been meaning to read this book for years, ever since I watched the film (and fell in love with it) with my mother as a small child, but it wasn't until I picked it up in an offer where it was part of a set of 10 classic film adaptations for £10 at 'The Book People' , that I've actually managed to read it. I've heard many things about the book throughout the years, the main thing being that it is a lot darker than the film and that Audrey Hepburn portrays Holly Golightly as a more frothy character then Capote intended and I guess this put me off the book slightly.
Told through the eyes of one of Holly's neighbours in a brownstone apartment block in New York, a young frustrated writer who is reliving the story of Holly and her disappearance years earlier in a conversation with a local bar owner who was also infatuated with the glamorous socialite. Holly is portrayed as a glamorous socialite with a devil-may-care attitude but develops as the narrator grows to know her into a young woman with upwardly mobile aspirations who rather than being used by the elder wealthy men who's attention (and money) she courts, is actually manipulating them in order to escape from her impoverished roots. Strikingly beautiful, Holly uses all her feminine charms to manipulate men to help her in her struggle to the top, by whatever means they can, either using their money or in the case of the narrator using him for friendship and protection when her world turns upside down. Regardless of her many friends and lovers, Holly is unable to form true relationships, mainly through her reluctance to rely on others, even avoiding naming her cat so that they don't become too close. However, one of the tragedies of the novel is that by the end of the book we can see that she holds people at length only to protect herself from getting hurt, when what she craves is unconditional love and acceptance, something that is easy to identify with.
The tone of the book, as mentioned earlier is quite dark and though a quick read (it is only 270 pages) you are drawn into the narrators and Holly's world, although it is hard to build the characters in your own mind, rather than relying on the cinematic version if you know it well. The book is very well written and deserves it's reputation as a classic, the tone of the novel helps to build the mysteriousness of Holly, the desperation of the narrator as he attempts to help Holly and later his confusion following her disappearance. Capotes text is rich and descriptive, allowing you to imagine yourself with the narrator as though you were part of his memories and his development of Holly from a slightly one-dimensional frothy character to a woman with a complicated past and emotions allows you to build a relationship with her similar to that of the narrators.
I enjoyed reading this book and I am looking forward to re-watching the film to look for parallels, although I fear that I will now find it lacking after reading the book.
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Roseanne is nearing her 100th birthday in an Irish mental institution where she has been sectioned for well over half her lifetime. She is facing an uncertain future though as the hospital is being demolished and doctors have not yet decided what will happen to her. The story goes back and forth in time, with Roseanne recounting her life in journal format and her doctor noting what he discovers about her case as well as what is happening in his life, following the death of his wife. It's an easy read but quite depressing as Roseanne's life even prior to her incarceration was not a happy one and the background story of the Irish civil war and her experiences as a Presbytarian in a Catholic town were very interesting particularly because of my memories of the troubles in Ireland during my childhood. The book deserves the plaudits it has won in the last year and I will definitely be looking out for other titles by this author. It is well worth a read, but it is a bit of a tear-jerker and the happy-ish ending leaves the reader with a warm feeling - nice after the drama throughout the main body of the book. 
Written and set in 1950's suburban America, Revolutionary Road follows Alice and Frank, a married couple desperate to escape their banal lives and recapture the energy and excitement of their youth. We join the couple after two children and several years of marriage, and are introduced to their family and friends who are partly to blame for the couple's feelings of being trapped and unfulfilled. Throughout the novel we learn aspects of each characters history which helps us to see them as human as it serves to explain their reasoning's behind their thoughts and actions. The characters are easy to relate to and their dialogue is brutally honest, allowing the reader to identify with their feelings, hopes and dreams. With one central theme being that of betrayal, the book for me was reminiscent of the film American Beauty, yet far surpassed it as there was no Hollywood happy ending to sweeten the, at times, harrowing journey that the characters and reader followed. I really enjoyed reading Revolutionary Road and will definitely re-read it in the future as it is thought-provoking and distressingly realistic. It has also made me want to see the movie as I am curious as to whether certain parts will be re-written to fit better with what today's audience seems to demand of Hollywood blockbusters.
Set in suburban London in the 1970's, Karim, Kureishi's hero is a teenager dreaming of leaving his sleepy South London suburb for the bright lights of the city. His father - the Buddha referred to in the title is an infamous mystic who runs away with one of his disciples; Eva. Karim elects to follow his father to live with him, the enigmatic Eva and her son Charlie, the lead singer of a successful local bad and whom Karim (along with most of their school) hero-worships. Despite dropping out of 6th form college, Karim with the help of Eva manages to gain entry to the London theatre scene, where he meets a collection of eccentrics, often with some hilarious results. There are a lot of laugh out loud moments in this book, along with gasps of shock (and horror) as Karim recounts his burgeoning sexual experiences, however I found the bits in between a bit tedious. The descriptions of the 'new' punk music are interesting for music fans and the sub-plot of Karim's best friend Jamila's arranged marriage raises questions that are still relevant in today's society. Along with Karim's story, we also get a glimpse of what life was life for second generation Asians in the 1970's and how they coped with finding their niche in a society that treated them differently (both positively and negatively) whilst they felt more akin to their British neighbours than their parents and 'community'. Enjoyable in parts, in my opinion the book is probably more relevant to people who lived through the time period but it is worth a read for the humorous parts alone.
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Another book from the 1001 list, I'd seen this book in the bookstores on the bestseller shelves and had admittedly been put off slightly by the title, thinking it would be full of political propaganda but I decided to buy it as the third book in a three for two offer and figured I had nothing to lose in reading it. I couldn't have been further from the truth and I gobbled up this book on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Set in modern-day America and Pakistan, a Pakistani stranger approaches an American tourist at a cafe table in Lahore and proceeds over the course of an afternoon and evening to tell him his life story. Changez was a bright but impoverished student from Lahore who gains a scholarsip to Princeton, where he becomes one of the best in his graduating class, eventually gaining a place at an elite firm in New York. Through his relationship with one of his former classmates, Changez gains entry into Manhattan high society and begins to enjoy the trappings of an upper class lifestyle that his family in Lahore had recently fallen from. However, his charmed life changes dramatically following 9/11 and his reactions to this, coupled with the breakdown of his 'girlfriend' fuelled by events from the past that still haunt her, lead to the breakdown of his new position in life. Predictably Changez faces racism in New York, where ignorants mistake him for a terrorist and he finds himself yearning for and eventually returning to Pakistan. The novel is an easy read yet at the same time very thought provoking and it is refreshing to see an author clearly present Pakistan's resistance to westernized culture and gives the reader greater understanding of this, however I do think Hamid could have explored the theme further and pushed boundaries slightly more. Though not a political novel in the true sense, I believe the story would appeal to readers who are politically minded and who want to be able to see another point of view rather than what we are force-fed by western media.
Set in post-Civil war Barcelona, the protagonist, Andrea arrives in the bleak city at midnight to fulfil her dream of studying litterature at the university following the deaths of both her parents. She moves into the family home which she has not visited since childhood to live with her grandmother, to eccentric uncles, a strict aunt and the housekeeper. This is far from a happy home, filled with tension, an unhappy marriage and unfulfilled dreams and ambitions and Andrea feels far from at home here which leads her to form friendships at university that at first help her to escape her unhappy home life but that later lead her deeper into the troubles with her uncles. The novel is a well written translation of the original and explores some of the dark themes of civil war, filled with artistic characters that are almost too far-fetchedly troubled and set in a Barcelona that is bleak and brutalised, a far cry from the cosmopolitan metropolis we find there today. At parts the story is gripping and it manages to portray the psychological mark left on the city by the civil war without exploring unnecessarily the political backdrop and today's readers can still identify with Andrea's struggle to maintain independence from her miserable family, often to the point of near starvation. Lafont peppers the story with hints at a dark secret, mysteriously layering clues under the guise of seemingly (at least at first) innocent happenings that draw you into the story. It did take a couple of chapters for me to get into the story, but the book was enjoyable and had a comforting end, I shall definitely be looking out for more books from this author in the future.
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