the girl who’s afraid of foxes

JCT did the inevitable this morning and the ECB rate is now at 4.25% the highest in seven years. With inflation well in excess of the hallowed 2%, another increase before the year is out may even be on th ecards. the good news for anyone with savings is, in the past few days a rake of new savings products have come online including:

A new 5.3% on demand deposit account from Anglo irish bank
A new 18 month fixed term account from Bank of Ireland at 8% (i.e. 5.26% AER)
A new 20 month term acount from PTSB which earns 10% (i.e. 5.89% AER)

Every day there seems to nearly be something new. It’s refreshing to see a few decent deals starting to surface for deposit holders.

From previous posts, some of you may know that I am a big fan of short fiction, so it’s no surprise that this pretty definitive tome has been on my ‘to be read’ list (and every increasing pile!) for a while now. The fact that it is edited by the ridiculously talented Richard Ford pushed it right to the top of the list though. Ford’s selection is pretty much a who’s who of the genre. Classics from Raymond Carver, Richard Yates and Flannery o’Connor are a joy to reread. Newer voices such as ZZ Packer (reminded me of why I loved Drinking Coffee Elsewhere so much) and Jhumpa Lahiri are just as refreshing and it’s great to see Ford culling this collection from outside the realm of the usual suspects (as fantastic as John Updike’s contribution is!). Grace Paley’s Friends delivers a powerful lesson in dialogue, while John Cheever’s Reunion highlights the power of brevity at less than three pages.

I think anthologies are perhaps the best showcase for the variety inherent in short fiction, as sometimes a similar theme or atmosphere can underpin a single author’s collection (which can be a good thing as well of course). What is fantastic about this collection is the change of pace that it offers, it really is something that you can dip in and out of, or equally read chunks of in one sitting. Often with short stories I find I can only ready a couple at a time and them I need to digest them a little bit, unlike say with a novel that I could lash through in one sitting if the mood took me or the book was good enough. The mix of writing styles here lessens the need for this greatly. In this repect, it’s a good selection for those who don’t normally go in for short stories (as shocking as it is, such people do exist. I have lost count of the number of people who tell me they hate them because ‘they are just getting into it when it ends’!), and should also act as an introduction to some new writers for those who are fans of the genre (I already have a few pencilled in my notebook: Andre Dubus and Julie Orringer for starters).

The one downside of course is that because Mr Ford is far too modest we don’t get to appreciate his own gift when it comes to the short story. Maybe Granta should bundle a copy of A Multitude of Sins with the collection, although then it really would be too heavy to carry around!

Over the weekend The darklight festival gave me an excuse to finally check out the new Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin. The cinema looks fantastic and provided the perfect space and location for various talks, as well as providing a great venue for the films themselves. I was also pretty impressed with the minimal but sleek, red felt couches and white tables in the cafe, not least because they matched my book, DeNiro’s Game! The coffee was actually really, really good, and it’s a great place to just hang around and chat between films / talks etc.

I managed to catch the Darklight Shorts Best of Fest, Dark shorts and Light shorts, and there was some wonderful (and also pretty weird!) stuff. It’s seldom that you get the opportunity to see decent short films in Ireland, so Darklight has to be commended for that. I also managed to catch some snippets of some of the talks going on downstairs whilst hanging round between films, and they were so good we all had to kind of tear ourselves away. What was slightly annoying is that some of the films seemed to be running a little over schedule and were maybe too packed together, but I guess that’s inevitable at a festival when space is at a premium. This is one of my favourites that I saw over the weekend, called Circle of Life:

I remember having a chat in the pub with a few friends and my friend Jamie asked the question any self-deluding music elitist indie snob fears most: ‘So what’s your guilty pleasure?’. You’ve got to be honest. It’s no good picking a semi-respectable band and confessing you’ve their back catalogue hidden under the stairs. We’re talking serious shame status.

So he went for Neil Diamond, which I think is actually respectable enough (although then you remember Sweet caroline and think again). I proffered my support with ‘yeah, apparently his last album was really good in a non-commercial, more restrained, less cheesy kinda way’ or something to that effect (I’d probably had about four pints by this stage and it did take place a year ago so my memory isn’t the best!). Jamie then replied ‘No no, I meant his early stuff. It’s gold.’

Hmmm. Well I’m not too sure about that but the first track of his new album, Home Before Dark, certainly is gold. So bonus cool points go to Jamie for the foresight.

My guilty musical pleasures? I’m too cool for that.*

*Oh the reality is there are several, many, lots even, and all shall remain nameless.

The title of this book pretty much gives the game away, the key words being ‘ordinary person’s’. (I’ve just reread that and it sounds rather damning altogether! Hey, this book is not for special people ;)). By ordinary though I mean accessible and easy to read. Roy doesn’t really go in for long complicated arguments of substance; instead she writes from a more emotive stance. The result is that The Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire is a little repetitive and doesn’t really offer anything new. I mean we *all* know GWB is a **** and that the war in Iraq was all tied up in oil and that the Indian government is fucking over the majority of the citizens. But I am going to give her a little more credit as the book was published in 2004, when maybe not everyone was quite so aware of these things (I can’t remember what last year was like let alone 4 years ago) back then (although I was, obviously :D).

The first article is perhaps the most interesting or ‘new’, in that she discusses the displacement of people (without the Government helping to relocate them) due to the construction of dams, which have largely proved relatively ineffective. I thought this was going to set the tone of the book, with her focussing on smaller, personal stories rather than the broader brush strokes of neo-liberalism and Empire-building in general. However, what Roy does bring to the party, if not incisive revelations, is a damn decent turn of phrase. At times reading it on the train I even got a little restless, and starting shuffling my feet almost wanting to reach for a placard and go out and protest, pacefully of course :). If you read it (and it’s only 140 pages of quite big print so it won’t take long), don’t expect any great revelations, but as a trade-off at least Roy’s strength as a writer is all over it.

Which is younger than me. Now I feel old. Thanks for highlighting that David. He still seems to have kept that youthful look though (Wally, that is. Sorry David).

Loved Where’s Wally when I was a kid (and not such a kid, I remember a few years ago when i was Duty manager in a bookstore, three of us spent a good forty minutes sitting out the back going through the books. Ah the joy of being in charge!). When i was about 6 or 7 we got a WW jigsaw for Xmas and it took the sister ages to make but she finally got there. It was the ‘At the beach’ scene iirc. I was never any good at that spatial abstract stuff, I’m more about the words and maybe a little about the numbers.

This is hardcore.

And this is for the aficionados.

Happy Birthday Wally!

I like Novellas, but by and large they get a pretty bad press (bad-dum-tish!). Surely nobody couldn’t find these adorable and matching and pretty though, even if you would never actually read them? I want the whole set dammit. Now.

They have a few at the book depository as well.

The lovely Fictional Sheep has tagged me, with the following:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your [summer]. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

For once, it’s a meme that I might actually be able to complete! If I hadn’t written about Errors in my earlier post they’d be in this, so consider it a post-(pre?)script. I did the seeqpod thing too (copied from Fictional Sheep as well), which I’ve never done before so I feel all proud of myself. Go technology!

White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes. I’m pretty sure I posted this in my short-lived Songs of the Month Series (it got to #2….) and it’s still topping the Americana list. A very good album to be honest, though there’s something about that seems just a little too perfect. I like my songs a little rough around the edges sometimes. This one is gold though, I love the way it just takes off with its harmonies.

Have you got my Money - Jana Hunter. A very recent discovery I’ll admit, but this song is perfect for those hungover mornings when it’s raining outside and you remember that you finished off that bottle of JD last night. And you forgot to pick up the milk from the 24hour Spar on your way home from the Offie, so you can’t even make coffee. Shit, the coffee’s all gone too. And you can’t remember where you put your clothes.

State Trooper - Bruce Springsteen. Nebraska. Enough said really. Love the way the Bruce howls on this one.

Hit the Wall - Broken Social Scene presents Brendan Canning. This album so owns the Kevin Drew record. And he has a better beard. And there is a photo of him on the BSS site wearing a Barca jersey. I needed this song badly, as I was suffering BSS withdrawal symptoms.

Jupiter Room - Digitalism. This one represents my current gym/running listening which has tended to centre on the Moshi Moshi EP by Digitalism. This is one from a Kitsune maison mix though, number 2 I think. There’s a great bit in the middle that always makes me squeeze out that extra rep / half a k.

Car - Built to Spill. You get the car / I’ll get the night off / You’ll get the chance to take the world apart and figure out how it works. Reminds me of being fifteen and hating everybody. One of the best indie songs ever.

Dog on Wheels - Belle & Sebastian. B&S are my band, the first band I really, really loved. I remember being 14 and seeing them play the Olympia and thinking I was ridiculously cool. They have kinda broken my heart of late as nothing touches their early stuff. But every so often I go back through the albums / EPs and remember why they were at one time the best band in the world. I love the way the bassline is messy and it sounds like they lashed it out in an afternoon. The video is adorable as well.

It’s obligatory to tag people I believe, but I really can’t think of anyone right now.

The new Errors record is *finally* out and on its way to me from Norman Records.  They do dancey post-rock meets electro in a vaguely Ladytron kinda way. Here is Mr Milk from their last album for those unfamiliar. Oh and in case you need any more convincing, one of their bsides is called Maeve Binchy.

I can’t stop reading Award winners at the moment (inadvertently I hasten to add). Out Stealing Horses won the IMPAC last year and I always thought it wasn’t my kind of book: Norwegian old guy living on his own with a dog in a really remote location. Sounds exhilarating, no? Well ok, that’s a touch harsh. The story centres on Trond, who runs into Lars one night whilst he is out walking his dog Poker. The chance meeting causes the memories of a summer spent with his father living in a cabin by the woods to resurface. The location and setting plays a massive part in the book and the backdrop of the natural environment sets the tone of the book.

But i have to admit, I started reading it one evening on the train and right from the first page i was totally taken in by it. I nearly missed my stop (normally i have to be a good few chapters in for this to happen). The writing is simple and plain, but yet beautiful and elegant in an effortless kind of way. It really is a joy to read in the truest sense, and unlike a few books I have read recently the story is utterly compelling.  I think the last book I read where I almost contemplated finishing it in one sitting (if only I were not on the train obviously!) was The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It’s similar in some ways, in that it’s a very atmospheric and almost simple book, but obviously there is a lot more going on underneath the surface. In the case of Out Stealing Horses, the subject matter is far more ordinary and non-remarkable, but I think it meant a lot more to me and will probably stay with me longer, for this very reason.