Four Fires

Have just begun to read Four Fires by Bryce Courtenay. I have not read any of his stuff for a long time, I am newly reminded of how damn good he is!

Four Fires is a novel, it is not real, it does not have any basis in fact...and yet I keep sympathising with various people and situations in the book and thinking things like "it's disgraceful how the refugees are kept out of the life of the town" or "poor Sarah, how is she going to cope?" and then I have to remind myself that I am reading a NOVEL not a biography of any kind!

This is going to be a good book, I can tell! If it is anything like The Power of One, this is going be a very good book - absoloodle! Read The Power of One to see what I am going on about! I do like good books, I read too much rubbish as it is!!

There are very few books that have made some impression on me. In fact, I can't even think of any right now! Most of what I read are kind of in and out of my mind pretty much immediately, having said that - Courtenay's books are amongst those that have grabbed my attention.

Some people claim that certain books have changed their lives, but I don't subscribe to that view - how can a book change your life, it would certainly have to mean something truly profound to you, and given how much and how fast I read, I just can't see any book having that kind of effect on me!

In fact, I do sometimes wish that I didn't read quite so fast! If a book is very good then I wish that I could read slower in order to enjoy it for longer, but I just don't seem able to slow down! Hopefully I am about to try a self-imposed experiment though - I have requested an audio-book of the first Harry Potter book from my youngest brother for my birthday, and I intend to sit down with the book in both my hands and my ears and try to read along with Stephen Fry and just enjoy the book at a (far more) relaxed pace! I shall have you let you all know how I get on!