Life of Pi book review

Firstly, I have to put my hands up and admit something. I didn't pick up Life of Pi because I wanted to. I didn't continue reading until the last solemn word because I enjoyed it. I read Life of Pi because I thought I should. It was written by Yann Martel and published in 2001, twelve whole years ago. It won a prestigious Man Booker Prize a year later. It was catapulted to the lofty heights of 'modern classic', and subsequently turned into a feature film in 2012. And so you might think that with this mind set that I didn't enjoy it. I hated it. I got nothing from reading this book apart from being able to add it to a list of 'modern classics I have read'. But that is far from the truth. This is one of the simplest stories you have ever read. Piscine Molitor Patel is stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean for months. With a tiger. Through the tool of first person narrative, themes of growth through adversity, life as a story, and what it means to be human, are interwoven. In this way this fiction book touches on one of the biggest lessons that I learnt during my anthropology degree, more than any other; that reality is the roaming narrative that we each write for ourselves and continually evolve. We create our own meaning. We define our own lives. And that is why I am grateful for this book. Barack Obama was too.

Carpe Diem xx

Review: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

It's cold. It's a Monday. It's still 8 weeks until the season of the mince pie. The only thing to do, of course, is to review Remarkable Creatures, which I read 3 weeks ago. I have wanted to read this for at least a year, after I went on holiday to Charmouth in Dorset, where the book is largely set. I also loved Tracy Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring and decided that this was a must read. This novel attempts to fill in the gaps of the lives of Victorian lady fossil hunters Elizabeth Philpot and Mary Anning. As an attempt to shed light on both sexism and scientific discovery in the Victorian age, this book is only half the answer. Creative license has been used liberally and the story is a romance. It does however read more like a film story and is certainly removed from a biography of either of the protagonists. A nice story and a great read for geologists, but slightly disappointing to me. Full marks for originality and imaginative storytelling though.

Carpe Diem xx

Review: Shopaholic Ties the Knot by Sophie Kinsella

Simultaneously the most infuriating and laugh-out-loud chick-lits I've ever read. Shopaholic was recommended by a friend, who let me borrow the entire series, and since I started reading them I've been hooked. How Sophie Kinsella, the alias of Madeline Wickham, could turn out so many books dedicated to her car crash of a protagonist, Rebecca Bloomwood, is almost as much of a mystery to me as how popular the series has been. The book is the third in the series, published in 2002, centred around Becky Bloomwood. The plot jumps around rapidly as Becky attempts to juggle wedding(s), jobs, family, friends and finances. This is a disaster in slow motion. You will either cry with frustration at her naivety and recklessness or laugh at the romance and joy splattered throughout. However much I might have loved to hate this book, I'm already on the next one!

Carpe Diem xx

Watch Wednesday: The White Queen review

BBC1's new drama The White Queen kicked off on Sunday, the first part of a ten-part blockbuster based on Philippa Gregory's book of the same name. Is it a historical drama? Is it a TV adaptation of a novel? Is it a romance? The truth is as ever is that it includes elements of all of these genres. 

As a historical drama I'm afraid it disappoints avid historians. The story is that of peasant and relative commoner Elizabeth Woodville and her rise to be 'The White Queen' of England alongside her husband King Edward IV. England is in a tumultous time as the Wars of the Roses (the Yorks and the Lancastrians) kicks off, and yet The White Queen is seemingly oblivious to the poverty and grit of 15th Century life.

As a romance the story is much more fitting. Some have described it as a romp buster and a bonk buster, but there is something beautiful about the cinematography of the piece, and the cast isn't half handsome! Swedish actress Rebecca Ferguson (Wallander, Vi) is Elizabeth Woodville to Max Irons (Red Riding Hood, The Host, Jeremy Irons son, and Edward Cullen lookalike) Edward IV, and the two have chemistry from the off.

Much has also been said about the filming taking place entirely in Belgium, but I don't think this detracts much from the landscape. Finally, I cannot comment much on its value as a novel adaptation as I started but didn't finish the paperback. I do however want to finish it now, which I think makes it somewhat of a success. As I said, there's also nine more hours to go.

What do you think?

Carpe Diem xx