Superfreakonomics Live

Of all the books we're that would become a live stage show Freakonomics (or rather the sequel Superfreakonomics) is a pretty unlikely choice, but it's happening, and it's touring the UK in June.

Sadly it's only Stephen Dubner, not the double act of Dubner and Levitt that's appearing. Dubner's the journalist not the economist, so it's not the full show that happened in the US.

Superfreakonics hasn't had the same impact in the UK as the original, probably because of the much-disputed 'climate change' chapter.

Also, it's not on in London, which is a bit strange.

The Ghost Hunter

Too late for last week's meeting on Will Storr Vs. The Supernatural, here finally is the trailer for the show where Derren Brown meets Lou Gentile.



Watch it on Monday at 10pm on Channel 4

Links for the Next Meeting - Will Storr Vs. The Supernatural

Here are a few links to look at before the discussion.

Kelly has already sent out details of the meeting time and location.



This is Will Storr being interviewed about the book by Richard and Judy

This is Will Storr’s website (I particularly liked the story about his bout with TB)

The Skeptic magazine apparently didn’t like the book very much

Here’s an article about Lou Gentile

A clip of Derren Brown with Lou Gentile

This is a blurb on the book from the Independent

& here's a site for the haunted pub in Cornwall - they seem to play quite a lot on the haunted connections.

Derren Brown Investigates

The first episode, showing tonight, should be required viewing for anyone reading Will Storr Vs. The Supernatural.

In the opening episode of the series Brown investigates a spiritualist.

Here's a clip:



Tonight at 10pm on Channel 4

Update - if you missed it you can watch it on 4OD

Links for the Next Meeting - The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

As with New York Trilogy, Wikipedia is pretty sparce, especially considering the book is so long!

Here are some reading notes - including:

"From the moment of his arrival, Ryder discovers that other people, many of them perfect strangers, know a great deal about him. What might account for these characters’ familiarity with Ryder’s affairs? Is the knowledge these characters possess about Ryder actually trustworthy?"

A 5 star review on Amazon

"This brilliant masterpiece is an utterly unique novel - unlike anything I have read among books written in the past fifty years. The story - of a concert pianist arriving in Central Europe only to find himself constantly walking into various unresolved emotional aspects of his life - brings us into contact with great seriousness and sadness, wonderful farce and is unremittingly strange and bizarre. Ishiguro writes brilliantly, and conveys the alienation and dissociation from the world brilliantly in his prose and his unique dialogue."

& a one star review

"Having greatly enjoyed his 'The Remains of the Day', I have to report that 'The Unconsoled' proved a bitter disappointment. I have read a number of favourable reviews and they are all, with respect, utter twaddle. 'The Unconsoled' invites the reader to follow the narrator (Ryder - apparently a famous concert pianist) on an ultimately pointless and curiously nightmarish - or perhaps simply dipsomanic? - visit to an obscure city in central Europe. Ryder's visit is punctuated (and ultimately thwarted) by a succession of long-winded and bizarre interruptions by unsatisfactory characters; his actions are played out against a backdrop of irrelevant recollections from his unhappy childhood. Events unfold in a way that is random and dreamlike - he stumbles between embarrassing encounters like an old maudlin bore in the grip of extreme drunkenness. The reader's attention wonders - what is the point of it all? Reading on, one anticipates some dramatic ending that will make sense of it all - but there is no such satisfaction. The denouement, such as it is, consists of Ryder's concert performance being abandoned, followed by an emotionally detached parting from his shadowy wife and son."

Politicians' favourite books

To capitalise on the General Election, Waterstones have polled several politicians to find their favourite books.

Here they are -

Vince Cable - including John Le Carre, Graham Greene, and Vikram Seth

William Hague - including Max Hastings, Robert Harris, and Rory Stewart

Peter Mandelson - including CS Lewis, Emile Zola and Alain de Botton

Ieuan Wyn Jones - including William Wordsworth, Antony Beever, and F Scott Fitzgerald

Nicola Sturgeon - including Alice Walker, Herper Lee, and Robert Tressell

Alice in Wonderland on the iPad

This looks great - a new experience in enjoying a book, as an app on the iPad: