the digital, spiritual and empirical thoughts of darren r hill
The latest episode from Darren’s Imaginality is now live…
Darren gets bored with his room and decides to head out for a little change of scenery. Once there he shares a little on perspective, before offering three tips on finding inspiration when it is being elusive. Oh and there’s the sea too.
The Be Prepared Episode is now available from Imaginality
… the latest video from Imaginality shows what you can achieve by spending a little time each day
This was always going to be a difficult read. The Quarry is the final book to be written by Iain Banks before he died of Cancer. One of the main characters in the book is, yes, dying of cancer. Since the publication of The Wasp Factory Banks has dealt with extreme and dark situations. The Quarry isn’t as extreme and dark as that, but it does step from one shadow to the next.
The story revolves around a group of old university friends having a reunion one weekend about twenty years since their course. It is told through the eyes of Kit, the son of Guy, who is the man dying. The dialogue is gritty, earthy and hard-hitting. In one sense it explores the fact that all the characters, and perhaps us the reader, are all dying / failing / insignificant* (delete deepening which metaphor you want to explore). It doesn’t pull any punches but never dissolves into sentimentality or kitsch.
The Quarry is humanity in all its depravity and futility, yet also in all its fellowship and potential. This won’t bring you tears of joy, or indulge you in escapism. You may find yourself staring at the pages and seeing yourself in the words you read. Banks holds a mirror. As we look into it we see our lives… this was always going to be a difficult read.
… are revealed in the latest Imaginality Show episode.
I’m pushing myself to read a lot more this year. I was shocked to see the low number of books that I finished in 2013. I’m also trying to clear a pile of books that had been sitting around for a while. Mine by Robert R McCammon was one of those. I had begun to read it last year but had put it down after one and a half chapters not really getting into it. However, I picked it up again and…
… having got past the first couple of chapters, I was hooked. I will not use the cliché that I couldn’t put it down, but there were a couple of days when I read well over 100 pages in one sitting. For someone who struggles with attention at times, this is almost unheard of.
The psychological drama of the book is gripping. The two main characters are desperate to meet their needs and nothing will stop them. In a journey across the United States they leave a trail of death and destruction. The theme of child abduction is every parent’s nightmare and with a protagonist as warped and insane as Mary ‘Terror’, the nightmare is amplified.
If you want a thriller that will keep you gripped throughout, then Mine is a very good read.
