Sunday 1 August 2010

Meg Rosoff and a plethora of parrots


On Thursday night I finished 'How I Live Now'. I can't tell you what Meg Rosoff did to my mind and my emotions during the course of that book. I felt as if I'd been put through a mangle. It was startling, addictive, and disturbing, and made me wonder how on earth the writer found the initial ideas.

When I was away from the book I found myself thinking wasn't it sad that such and such happened, but then I would remember it was 'just' a story. It was one of those books that became so real to me while I was reading it, that it was almost more real than the world around. I love books that do that to me - totally absorb me and take me to an entirely different place. I'm not going to tell you anything else about it, in case you haven't read it yet. You may love it or you may hate it, but either way I bet you won't forget it.

When I reached the end of 'How I Live Now', I was tempted to go right back to the beginning and start again. But I decided I should let it all settle in my mind, and so I decided to re-read Meg Rosoff's most recent novel 'What I Was'. Another terrific book. I often find I read books too quickly the first time as I want to know what happens, but the second time I slow down and notice the quality of the writing more. I've also been enjoying reading Meg Rosoff's blog here.

Regular visitors to Zigzag Road will know we've had a stray parrot-type bird in the area. It seems stray parrots are like buses, arriving in threes after a lengthy spell with none to speak of at all. Letters to the local newspaper report various sightings of our parrot, with suggestions that it may be a Crimson Rosella as I suspected. A second parrot has been seen a few streets away, but this one is green. And now a third parrot is on the loose. He is allegedly called Dylan and escaped while his owner was staying with friends in the area. My parrot (right) was 99p in a charity shop. He has no name. Perhaps you would like to suggest one.

9 comments:

Ellie Garratt said...

JoJo?

What is going on with the parrots in your road?! I think it's exciting when I see a dragonfly, but I'm easily pleased. I wonder if you'll be able to get photographs of the other two?

Old Kitty said...

Oh what a lovely avatar of roses!! Lovely!

This sounds like an amazing book - I loved that it's gotten under your skin so much that you were fretting about the situations in the book. Thanks for the review and the link to Ms Rossof's blog.

Oh these poor parrots! Good grief! I hope they remain safe wherever they are! I love your 99p parrot - hence my suggestion for his name. 99. LOL!

take care
x

HelenMWalters said...

I love your parrot! He looks like his name might be Woody - ahem!

Leigh Russell said...

Sounds like a great book. I'm going to check it out. Thank you for your kind comments about my news on Helen's blog.

Joanna said...

I love your parrot. In honour of the itinerant ones in your area, I think he should be called Romany.

joanne fox said...

Thank you for your parrot names. He is coming to a party with me in a couple of weeks as we are having a Hawaiian theme at work! Do they have parrots in Hawaii? They do now!

Talli Roland said...

That does sound like a good book - I must check it out.

I'm with Helen - I like the name Woody. :)

AlphaChick said...

I read this book a few years ago, and oh it was wonderful. You have made me want to read it again!

I like Woody and Romany. Then again I was always a Peanuts fan - Woodstock?

joanne fox said...

Welcome to Zigzag Road, Alphachick. I always liked Peanuts too. In fact I have some stickers in my stationery drawer to stick on envelopes (obviously not envelopes containing submissions!).

Do read this book, Talli, Leigh, Kitty, and anyone else who hasn't already!