A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin

It's a shame about Ned Stark. This character has honesty and integrity; a natural leader who doesn't want the power associated with leading (there are woefully few of those around). To say that this book is about the Stark and Lannister families set in a pseudo-medieval backdrop is oversimplifying a complex plotline but much of the action is centred around their bitter rivalry.  The story entertains familiar themes in the fantasy genre - ambition for power, deceit, warring factions at the heart of kingdoms, relationships between humans and animals - and just for good measure, a healthy dose of illegitimacy and incest. 

You do have to trudge through the early scene-setting chapters necessary to this type of fantasy opera normally filling several novels.  Don't let this put you off however, I started the second instalment straight away after finishing the first.  Novel number one can be read in isolation, but the characters are so devious and nasty that you really hope they get their comeuppance.  And so I begin the second novel in anticipation. 

Ned and his family are at the centre of this first story - the attempted murder of Ned's small son and an accusation of another murderer made by his slightly disturbed sister in law sets in motion a chain of events which ends in a vicious war between rival families across kingdoms.   Innocents and oddballs caught up in events add extra depth to a tried an tested formula.  A good escapist romp. 

Are we devaluing paid work?

The views expressed in this post are my own only and are not related in any way to my employer or their views.

 In recent times I have come across many examples of 'professional' voluntary work - that is, voluntary work done by professionally qualified individuals, and also by graduates of all kinds, where I believe the work in question should be done by paid staff. Many of these examples come from library, archives and museum work, where budgets have been cut to such an extent that organisations feel they have are forced to look to volunteers to carry out such work, otherwise they argue, valuable work would not be done at all.

 This has been taken one step further by the recent trend for increasing numbers of public sector bodies to 'employ' graduates for project work where extensive cuts have been made and the are larger gaps then ever to be filled by volunteers. Don't get me wrong, I can see the advantage in supplying work experience for students and graduates, however, we have to ask ourselves what the cost is to the paid workforce. If we use an ever increasing supply of non paid 'staff', why would we go back to using paid staff?

 Over the last six months, the adverts for volunteers have increased alarmingly in the fields I work in, and have previously worked in. I have seen job adverts complete with person specs for volunteers for work that is obviously meant for qualified professionals - now being done by volunteers. We are not just talking about individuals expressing an interest in an area and asking for some hours of voluntary work - we are talking about some sectors actively recruiting volunteers, and training staff to recruit and line manage volunteers. I call that employment.

 Similarly in Universities, the explosion in work and voluntary opportunities for undergraduates in their place of study can't be a coincidence, when it follows widespread cuts in education funding. It's bad enough that students have no choice but to pay the current fees in HE but now they can be expected to work for their education, filling in the gaps in the business of running a university.

 At some point we have to say: enough. This is enough. Is there some point when we would be happy to go to a volunteer doctor, or dentist, or even surgeon? No? Would be want to engage a volunteer plumber or electrician? Would we want volunteer bin men or women on the street collecting our refuse? So what are we saying? Are we saying that we value some jobs more highly than others? Are we saying as a society that some jobs matter but others don't? It looks like we think librarians don't matter, or archivists, or many other information based professionals. How about teachers? When our children have a question at school, 54% of youngsters google them - only 3% ask a teacher. So we can substitute our teachers for volunteers, right? Think how pleased David Cameron would be if the big society was taken to that level.

 Though the information profession is feeling cutbacks keenly, there are other areas where young people are being asked to work for nothing and people with professional or industry experience are being asked to work for less. We need to shift the focus back to values of skills and experience, and adequate recompense for these attributes. Going down the road of cheap labour is not the answer: its short sighted and as a society this costs us far more in terms of social welfare and ill health, both physical and mental.

The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks

There are a few books by Iain Banks in our house - or even by Iain M Banks.  But this is the first that I've read, and I will be reading many more.  This story is about aspects of the human condition, and I'm going to list them here because my other half insisted that if I knew what it was about, I had to tell him.  Well, it's about a man getting over his first teenage love, about families and how nutty they are, tolerance and acceptance, and a small scale observation on large corporations.  

Alban McGill falls in love with this cousin as a teenager and spends the next ten years of his life getting over it.  But what happens in between is a life story of a man who is not quite as conservative as his family would like, who goes his own way, taking the long road, in the words of the Dixie Chicks.  Although the narration does meander a bit (hence the confusion about the exact premise of the story) it perfectly illustrates the story of a young man who has lost his way in the world, doesn't know where he quite fits, doesn't feel he belongs anywhere.  

Alban is a likeable, even loveable, character and I cheered him on which is he secret of the page turning quality of the novel.  I cheered particularly at his anti-capitalist outburst directed at the representative of the multimillion dollar company who wants to buy his family firm.  

Also lovely in this novel is the Shakespearian comedy duo of great Aunts Beryl and Doris, lending light relief with their mis-heard comments and half-sloshed ramblings, occasionally promoting a laugh out loud moment.   

Alban eventually does find his place in the world, but to tell how this happens would ruin the story... 

Madness in post 1945 British and American literature by Charley Baker at al

This title looks at the portrayal of mental illness, or 'madness', in postwar english writing literature. The term madness issued deliberately to de-medicalise it and dissociate from medically-defined types of mental illness. It challenges head-on the notion of madness as 'other' simply by using the term madness, and asks us to question our beliefs of what madness is, and why our perceptions of social norms exist as they do, and why anything other than these norms are locked away inside the sanatoriums often depicted in the novels examined in the book.

Amongst many themes, the role of institutions are examined, as are psychiatrists, and their relationships with their patients. Patients in the novels mentioned in the book suffer from a whole range of illness and psychosis, reminding us how far we have come (and how far we haven't). An obvious example is shell shock - what we now call post traumatic stress syndrome- and the treatment for it, which was institutionalisation immediately post-war.

 Modern life brings its own problems, however, and a common theme in the book is a warped sense of reality common in the LSD soaked 60s, and in the new century, isolation and fragmentation of society and the consequences this can bring to the vulnerable. In a fairly recent talk, psychologist Oliver James said that if we are said to be well in this society then we really are in danger of being mad, as this society is not a healthy one. Can we then use the bibliography of this book as a 'symptom checker'? Can we look at, for instance, Ken Kesey's 'One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest' and see now far we have come in the treatment of madness, the symptoms of which, taken in isolation, can identify most people at some time or another? When is, say, OCD madness and when is it attention to peculiarities of environment?

 This book poses many questions about postmodern society and how individuals interact with medical power, cultural differences and our perception of madness. The ultimate aim of this book is to try and use literature to understand madness from a non-medical point of view.

Nocturne by James Attlee

I looked forward to reading this book:  I adore the moon.  The very first and last chapter is about the author's moon watching in his home area; this was gorgeous reading, and really mirrored my own feeling of wellbeing about stepping outside into moonlight.  I don't know what it is about moonlight, but things always seem brighter with a white, full moon in the sky.

The book in split into several chapters of moonwatching in selected countries: the first is London, and provides us with some background about Galileo and his telescopic discoveries, lunar influence on William Blake's and Shelley's writing, and the experiment some years ago in a Hampshire town when the council switched off the street lights.  (The more I think this last item, the more I think it's a good idea, immediately saving the councils thousands of pounds, surely.)

Part two travels to Japan for the lovely sounding Autumn moon watching festival, which is the most important lunar festival in the Japan year, which falls on the 15th day of the 8th month.  This is when folks in Japan make trips to the best moon-biewing places in the land and they have parties, dancing and general merrymaking (although sometimes the sky gets contaminated with party lights which somehow defeats the point).

Part three visits Naples.  I didn't really care for this middle section of the book, Naples seemed dangerous, and willing to lead tourists astray in attempt to deprive them of their cash, hence a trip up Vesuvius when there was no chance of actually seeing any moon.  Apparently Dickens wandered around the same trip.  Part four is where it gets barmy - in Nevada, Las Vegas.  This is where the author visits a couple who have built an interstellar light collector to collect and focus moonlight for the purpose of curing illness.  The story around this is a bit of a shame, because it actually started out as a scientific experiment, but because of the associations around money being paid for cures, the scientific community won't touch it with a barge pole.  Read the book and decide for yourself.  However, the contrast between the brightly lit streets of Vegas where night is as bright as day, with the dark skies of the desert are interesting.

Part five was a chapter that I feel didn't really sit with the rest of the book.  This took a detour around Germany and the painter Johan Christian Dahl, whose painting was influenced by the moon, and the life of Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy.  Hess happened to be influenced by Rudolf Steiner whose ideas were based on the influence of the moon on earth's life, but perhaps this chapter should have focused on Steiner instead?

The book finishes in part six where it began - in London.  This is much more like it, here we get back to a final pursuit of the full moon on a clear night; worries about afternoon shower clouds and bad weather.  I loved the way the author abandoned any concerns about going out very late on a school night just to look at the moon.  Something maybe we should all do occasionally.

Which word?

This is the first of an occasional 'study skills' type post. I've noticed, both as a librarian and in day to day work that many people struggle with these type of skills, and spending a bit of time trying to get these right can really make a difference both in professional work and personal communication.

Today, getting the right word when words sound similar but mean slightly different things:
Enquire / Inquire
Actually both can be used, but enquire is commonly used for an informal 'to ask', and inquire for a more formal 'inquiry'.

Accept / Except
You may accept a gift, or accept or agree with a suggestion, but except is to put something aside or refuse it, for example, "I'll take all the fruit except the oranges".

Affect / Effect
Affect is to realise or fulfil something, eg. the oven temperature affects the baking of a cake.  An effect is the consequence of something, eg. the low oven temperature had a poor effect on my cake.

Lose / Loose
Lose is to misplace something, eg. you lose you keys.  Something is loose when it is not 'fixed' or set, eg. the screws are loose.

Bored / Board
Might seem an obvious one, but bored is what you used to be in Maths, ie. not interested.  Board is a rigid piece of card, or a committee.

Biannual / Biennial
I get confused myseldf with this one:  biannual means happening twice a year, and biennial is every two years.

Compliment / Complement
Compliment means praise or saying something nice about someone, eg. you give someone a compliment.  Complement means in addition to something, or a complement slip in formal letters.

Discreet / Discrete 
Discreet means respectful, low key about someone or something eg. "be discreet about that issue".  Discrete means separate or distinct, eg. the documents are in discrete packages.

Ensure/Insure
Ensure is when you try and 'make sure' of something, eg. Ensure you pack your swimming costume.
Insure is taking out insurance on the car. Enquire is Inquire is

Disinterested / Uninterested Disinterested is when you don't benefit from a situation, eg. A lawyer is disinterested in the outcome of a will. Uninterested is... just plain bored (see above).

Snowdrops by A.D. Miller

Short listed for the booker prize 2011. I'm not sure what I expected from this but it wasn't what I thought it would be. Very good at creating a tawdry, cheap and corrupt atmosphere, this novel makes you feel like you've sullied your hands just by picking it up.

The books starts by the narrator, Nick, beginning a 'letter' (the book) to someone. You don't know who the someone is, but suspect a woman, and none of the details linking Nick to this woman are known until well over half way through the book. However most of the details of Nick's story involves a Russian woman that's he falls madly in love with, and he into great detail about this affair, which you can't help but feel is unwise if he is writing to another woman. Who is the mystery woman, and why do feel that the Russian woman is a bad 'un even though you can't put your finger on why?

I did feel I wanted to shake Nick. He is a slave to parts of is anatomy which don't have a brain. He sort of knows he is getting into a bad situation, but he doesn't really care- as if he is slightly bored, and quite likes being naughty. The fatalism of Nick and his anatomy is quite annoying at times. He appears to have no will at all, but claims to have one of the happiest days/nights of his life with his Russain lady; he closes his eyes to the obvious manipulation of his Russain companions, and the fear around him. You know there will be tears before bedtime. By the end of the book I despised him.

I did like the description of the descent into Russian winter. The cold is dangerous, beautiful, and mirrors Nick's diminishing sense of free will.