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Okay, this bugs me. Back, oh, years ago now, a band called The Dogs D’Amour put out a completely fantastic album called 'In the Dynamite Jet Saloon'. It was wonderful. Sleazy, catchy, spare and full of great songs. But this was back in the old days, before technology, so I bought it on a cassette tape. Cassettes don't last too well, and anyway, I don’t have anything to play it on anymore, even if it had kept its quality. Sadly, the album isn't available on CD, and I don't know if it ever was. So I thought I'd check it out on iTunes. And, yep, they don't have the album, but they did have an album called 'Unleashed' which had a bunch of the same songs. A compilation album, I assumed, so I bought my favourite songs from 'In the Dynamite Jet Saloon'.
Bad mistake.
This isn't a compilation. The songs have been re-recorded. I guess it’s a live album, although I don’t hear much of a crowd.
Man, I hate this. The original album was so good. This live album... isn't. Really isn't. They've completely lost the feel of the songs. They've lost the space and the sound. Why do bands do this? Why can't they have the original albums on iTunes? Why do we have to make do with third-rate, crappy live albums only?
I guess this is a reminder to listen to the 30 seconds excerpt before buying from iTunes again.
In better buying news, I've kept on my book-buying roll. I bought Iain M. Banks's new Culture novel, Matter. I think Banks is genuinely the best SF author working today. His stuff is brilliantly-written, smart, original and funny. He writes with complete freedom and confidence, and he seems to be able to do pretty much anything. (His non-SF stuff is pretty impressive too.) I started it last night, and it's everything I was hoping for so far.
I also bought Oisin McGann's Ancient Appetites. It's a YA fantasy/SF set in the Victorian era. I haven't started it yet, so I can't say much about it, but I'm looking forwards to it. McGann has been getting way better with every book, and this looks like his best so far.
I almost bought Joshua Mowll's Operation Red Jericho, which looks fantastic. It's exactly the kind of book I like reading and which I try to write. Full of adventure, outrageous ideas and fast action. The only reason I didn't get it was because the only copy the bookshop had was a battered one. I need to make another trip out soon, because my pile of unread books only just reaches the ceiling.
Now the obligatory updates:
'Dragons of Mars' progress:
February 20th target:
They are going to explode a boiler to destroy the machine. It's going to destroy the whole house. The clockwork robots will die. It's going to be sad.
These progress meters are turning out well. It's ages since I've written this much on a work day. Of course, it was helped by the fact that I woke up at 5 a.m. today (not by choice!)
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This is just going to be a quick entry, because we're off back to the UK today and I've got packing to do. We haven't done a whole lot since being in Michigan. We've met up with a few friends, spent lots of time in cafes and bought so many books we've also had to buy another suitcase to carry them all back with us. Sadly, I have to go back to work next week, so I'm not sure when I'm going to get a chance to read them all.
In the last couple of days, I've bought:
Jim Hines: Goblin Quest
Liz Williams: Snake Agent
Hilari Bell: The Last Knight
Can't even remember the rest of the books. It's all a bit overwhelming. Steph bought one about palaces, though, I recall. Surprisingly.
Yesterday, it snowed pretty much all day. Today, it's sunny and bright, but the snow is all still there. Steph has a few photos up on her flickr account. Here's one of me getting snowed on in my giant coat:
( Photo behind the cut )
I always start off a plane trip determined to use the time to write or plot out my novel. I always end up watching crappy movies. This time I'm determined I'm going to actually do writing. I'll let you know which crappy movies I end up watching.
Very soon we'll be back with Maya. I can't wait.
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| 2007-03-26 14:46 |
| Book Review: The Boy in the Burning House, by Tim Wynne-Jones |
| Public |
| books, reviews |
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First up in my informal reviews/recommendations/whatever-you-want-to-call-thems is Tim Wynne-Jones’s YA mystery, The Boy in the Burning House. It’s the story of Jim Hawkins, a boy whose father has disappeared without a trace, and Ruth Rose, the disturbed stepdaughter of the local pastor, Father Fisher.
When Jim first meets Ruth Rose, she is wild and abrasive. The accusations she makes about her stepfather, and her insinuations about Jim’s own father, repel Jim. But then he starts to notice some distinctly odd things about Father Fisher, and he begins to wonder if Ruth Rose might be right, about the pastor at least. What is the relationship between Father Fisher, Jim’s father and a teenage arsonist who burned himself to death in a hay-filled house when all three were children?
The Boy in the Burning House is a remarkably immersive experience. In a few short pages, Wynne-Jones has manages to paint the setting (a small family farm near a Canadian township) and rich characters. Consider, for example, the following sentence from near the beginning of chapter 1:
Incognito creek, his father had called it, because it didn’t draw much attention to itself, didn’t gurgle or splash much.
Not only does Wynne-Jones draw a simple but vivid picture, he also manages to illuminate Jim’s father’s personality, and by virtue of the particular selection of memories, Jim’s feelings towards his father too. Subtle touches like this permeate the book and make Wynne-Jones’s writing so three-dimensional.
In Ruth Rose and Jim Hawkins, Wynne-Jones has created an electric and challenging pair of lead characters. Ruth Rose is difficult, aggressive and sometimes even violent. She has a reputation for being deluded (a reputation that Father Fisher is keen to remind everyone of). Jim idolises his father and is unwilling to consider any suggestions that he may not have been perfect. He has only recently come back from the self-destructive depression brought about by his father’s presumed death. Trust between them is a fragile and easily-broken thing, but it’s key if they are to unravel the mystery.
Wynne-Jones doesn’t neglect the supporting characters either. Jim’s mother, Father Fisher, Ruth Rose’s mother, Jim’s dead father, and even Jim’s school-bus driver--each are fully-fleshed and believable. I remember attending a panel at the Glasgow WorldCon where George R.R. Martin talked about writing minor characters. According to Martin, every character, no matter how minor needs to have a complete story of their own. Although their story may intersect the main story only very briefly, each of them is the hero of their own, equally-important story. Wynne-Jones obviously believes in the same principle and applies it to great effect.
You won’t be surprised by the way the mystery itself turns out (although there are some revelations), but then that’s not really the point of the novel. It’s a story about whether two teenagers so widely distrusted can manage to convince the rational adults around them that the much-admired pastor has a dark background. It’s a people book, about trust, prejudices, characters trying to do their best in difficult circumstances and how powerless children can be in the face of a powerful, unscrupulous adult.
If you’re interested in rich, character-driven books, then I’d strongly recommend The Boy in the Burning House.
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