Book review

Only 2 days until my trip! Very excited, but hiding it well I think. It is pretty hard to maintain excitement when faced with whole days of desk sitting with little or no stimulation. I am beginning to think I should have thought about what to pack a little earlier. A slight list is being written today - may need to do a little shopping. Yesterday I cashed in my Unibooks voucher (received for taking the time to tell the uni how crap I thought they were at 'administration') and grabbed myself a couple of volumes for inflight entertainment. I am loathe to take them though because they are new books with nice uncrumpled pages and sharp corners. When they come back they will undoubtedly be dogeared and bent to some extent. I like to look after my books.

I am currently reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - just to get into the Indian spirit of things. I am not enjoying it much. I am still reading, but slowly and almost reluctantly. How on earth did this book win the Booker prize? Not only win it, but win the Booker of the Bookers? I find it plodding and self-aware and a little patronising. There's something a little creepy about the narrator telling a story about himself in the third person - particularly when you know the whole time that he is talking about himself. I guess the self-involved aspect is made more prominent than usual by the fact that the main character repeatedly claims his presence in the world alone is the cause of all these happenings around him. I think we are all aware that we all contribute and shape the world around us to a certain extent, his involvement in it all is just more direct.