The Art of Successful Side-Tracking.
So, I've finished the editing. I've written the reports. Right, I think, time to get back to my reading on silkworm imaginal discs. So I open the book, write a few notes (get a little side-tracked thinking how weird it is that we all start off as similar-looking embryos)...but then the damned postman shoves something that I can hear is not letters through the door, and obviously I have to go and take a look.
Well, actually, Dr Grump gets there first. She rips it open, pulls out the book, and for a few minutes just stands there gawping at the cover.
And it is this: THE ISLE OF DOGS by Daniel Davies from Serpent's Tail.
'What is that girl up to?' she says. 'Has she mistaken a car for a changing room?'
Then she taps the cover with one beautifully laquered finger-nail. ' I do hope she's alone in there, but I have my suspicions that she isn't. And what is that white strappy thing in her hand - surely not the rest of her underwear because, if it is, I feel compelled to point out that it doesn't match. Black bra, white thong - well, personally I would never go there...'
She hands the book to me and I am so busy peering into the car-window that it takes me a few minutes to notice the camera at the top right that is peering too.
And this is the point of the novel - our obsession with spying on each other.
Anyway, I have to tell you that the cover worked. My prurient curiosity now awakened, I looked eagerly inside. The initial conceit is excellent - rather like a modern, snappier version of James Robertson's at the start of THE TESTAMENT OF GIDEON MACK - and then it's straight into the first chapter which is set in a town two hours away from London.
At last a book set in a provincial town by a narrator who has rejected London! Londoners, he says, are too exhausted to do anything. A good point.
'If you want life, if you want intrigue, if you want possibilities, come out here - to the provinces.' Daniel Davies says.
And I feel inspired - and almost too excited to get back to the imaginal cells of the silkworm.
Well, actually, Dr Grump gets there first. She rips it open, pulls out the book, and for a few minutes just stands there gawping at the cover.
And it is this: THE ISLE OF DOGS by Daniel Davies from Serpent's Tail.
'What is that girl up to?' she says. 'Has she mistaken a car for a changing room?'
Then she taps the cover with one beautifully laquered finger-nail. ' I do hope she's alone in there, but I have my suspicions that she isn't. And what is that white strappy thing in her hand - surely not the rest of her underwear because, if it is, I feel compelled to point out that it doesn't match. Black bra, white thong - well, personally I would never go there...'
She hands the book to me and I am so busy peering into the car-window that it takes me a few minutes to notice the camera at the top right that is peering too.
And this is the point of the novel - our obsession with spying on each other.
Anyway, I have to tell you that the cover worked. My prurient curiosity now awakened, I looked eagerly inside. The initial conceit is excellent - rather like a modern, snappier version of James Robertson's at the start of THE TESTAMENT OF GIDEON MACK - and then it's straight into the first chapter which is set in a town two hours away from London.
At last a book set in a provincial town by a narrator who has rejected London! Londoners, he says, are too exhausted to do anything. A good point.
'If you want life, if you want intrigue, if you want possibilities, come out here - to the provinces.' Daniel Davies says.
And I feel inspired - and almost too excited to get back to the imaginal cells of the silkworm.
posted by Clare Dudman at 11:16 am
9 Comments:
My interests would have been aroused by such a sight as well.
Do not forsake the silkworms, though.
Ah, I love the security cam on the cover: my sis is doing a whole series of them as a project for fine art... This sounds like a good book!
I won't, Jud - though I rather think they have forsaken me.
What a brilliant idea for a fine art project, Barbara! You could say so much. In fact they do say so much - about us all, I suppose.
"[...] it takes me a few minutes to notice the camera at the top right [...]"
It's not that I'm asexual or too old, but the camera is the first thing I noticed. By the way, I think the camera is on the left ?
Duh! Left...of course, thanks Gilles. I'm useless at the left/right business. And I have to say I honestly didn't notice the camera until I took another look...
"I'm useless at the left/right business." That's interesting to know. Just in case I am ever in London again and needing directions...
Heh heh. Yes, giving directions is my particular area of expertise, CFR!
Sounds like a good one, I'll add it to my list. Thanks for reminding me of the Gideon Mack book too, I loved that, especially the underground scenes!
Yup, it's certainly very good writing from what I've read so far, Jem.
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