I gave up

Not on anything important but on The Russuan Dreambook of Colour and Flight by Gina Ochsner. The cover is attractive but the contents aren't - well not in my opinion. It centres round a run down an apartment block with a pile of rubbish in the courtyard, a rotting corpse which keeps appearing as a ghost to various people, feral children living in the courtyard and to cap it all an outside lavatory. Very realist literature.

It also features a former soldier who wanders around in a motorcycle helmet, a lady who charges for the use of the loo, Tanya who works in the local museum where all the exhibits have been made by the staff and Olga who works in a newspaper office rewriting news items into an acceptable format. There is virtually no plot. I read every word for the first 150 pages and skimmed the rest. As far as I was concerned it failed dismally as entertainment even though it has received good reviews.

Currently reading . . .

The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight by Gina Ochsner - I've been reading this for what seems like eternity and I keep thinking I'll stop and admit defeat. It is just too much attention to bodily functions, dirt and incomprehensible people who might or might not be dead.

Crusaders by Richard T Kelly - again I've been reading it for too long and keep thinking I'll give up. It's quite good and an interesting subject but about 150 pages too long and rather over written.

The Third Rumpole Omnibus by John Mortimer - a pick up and put down book as it's short stories and always a joy to read.

Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 by Lisa Appignanesi - I've just started this and it's very interesting. I had completely forgotten that Mary Lamb murdered her mother. Surprisingly enough she did not end up in prison but spent a short time in a private asylum and was then released into the care of brother Charles. She used to have a relapse every so often and would pack her own bag and tell her brother he needed to take her to the asylum.

Waiting in the wings - Anne Brooke's The Bones of Summer and Christopher Booker's The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories. I've wanted a copy of this ever since it came out and I finally decided I'd have to buy it. At 700 pages it is going to take some reading but I shall give it a go.

I also need to read - and write a review of - The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton which seems to be a sort of DIY story in that you could almost read the chapters in any order. I've read about 20 pages and have totally lost the plot. I think I'm going to have to start again with it. Reviews seems to suggest it is very clever - which I suspect translates as the reviewer couldn't understand it and hopes someone will enlighten him/her as to the meaning of the whole thing.