Friday, February 18, 2011

Saturday

Another Ian McEwan novel which I found at a used book sale. As the title implies, it follows the Saturday from waking to sleeping of a London neurosurgeon who expects it to be an ordinary day, and instead finds it to be life- and attitude-changing.

This is the third novel by McEwan that I have read, and I admire his gift for getting inside a person's head. He also finds a way to portray even a villain with some degree of sympathy, which is refreshing in these days of one-dimensional baddies in print and film.

He did a lot of collaboration with an actual neurosurgeon and I found the operating room narratives quite fascinating. They are detailed so others may wish to skip over them, but I enjoyed them.

Life

I was expecting to get Life by Keith Richards for a Christmas present, and indeed my oldest son came through. I had heard a lot about it and was expecting a good read, and ended up really enjoying it. There was a ghost writer collaborating with him, but I'm pretty sure much of it is his own words; anyone who has read or heard an interview with Keith will agree that he's intelligent and articulate, and the writing probably just needed some polishing. And possibly some kick-starting.

We hear a lot about his childhood and the legendary early meetings with Mick Jagger, who grew up in the same suburb of London. We learn stuff about his family that I personally had never heard before. He is candid about his use of drugs, the feud with Brian Jones and the later feud with Jagger which appears to be continuing in the present.

I recommend it to any Stones or rock and roll fan.