Consolation Prizes, They Ain't

'Books, which we mistake for consolation, only add to our sorrow.'

This line comes from the character Black in Orhan Pamuk's My Name is Red. I've become a fan of Pamuk in recent years, ever since reading his tender memoir Istanbul: Memories of a City. 

Then I read Pamuk's The New Life, a metaphysical thriller about a guy who reads a life-changing book. Feeling somewhat more appreciative of spirituality in the last couple of years, I enjoyed the wisdom within.

However, I disagree with the quote in bold. 

Do books add to sorrow? 

Not in my opinion. It depends what you read. I don't read harrowing biographies or novels, but I'm pretty sure that despite all the tragic events in them, they become more positive towards the end and inspire the reader. 

The closest I got to this kind of book was reading the Angela's Ashes trilogy by the pioneer of miserable literature, the late Frank McCourt. I loved it. And far from depressing me, the trilogy introduced me to literature I'd not read before, namely Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (which I thought was brilliant!), and new observations on life.  

What do books do for us, then? (Or why I love them so much!)

The obvious answer is, they educate. You don't have be an astrophysicist to know that.

But not only do they educate. Far from add to any sorrow, they inspire me. Whether it's a fiction novel, a blog post, a business biography, a reference book on an area of interest, or a 'smart thinking' book... I feel inspired to write and by what I'm reading and what I'm learning from them. If the person who wrote the book can be that brilliant at writing or whatever else they specialise in, then so can I!

As well as educate, books broaden our (mental) horizons and provide us with different perspectives on the world. Though we may not always realise it, they develop our capacity for thought, even if we might not be trying to solve a mind puzzle or contemplating a piece of philosophy at the time. 

And books do offer consolation. When we're feeling bad, there are books out there that can help lift us out of the mire, books by people who have been through what we have. By reading others experiences and their ideas, we can also make sense of our own lives, not to mention life itself. Well, maybe some of it, at least!

Books are an aid to a lifelong project

That project goes by the name of happiness. They may have added to Black's sorrow in My Name is Red, but, for the reasons above, they've enriched this blogger's happiness.

Life is a learning curve, and when  the teachers and the lecturers are gone, you've still got to learn from someone. Books can help you live the life you want to lead, both personally and professionally. 

And I think here is where I'll end the lesson for today....!

Let's See How They Got On...

Have you ever read Outliers by Malcom Gladwell ?

Pretty interesting stuff, this interesting theory on success. The book challenges our assumptions that exceptionally successful people, or 'outliers' as Gladwell refers to them, are so because they're extraordinarily talented. In each chapter, he illustrates how people from different walks of life have made it big on circumstances other than sheer natural gifted-ness.

Gladwell argues that:

• culture
• timing / date of birth
• practice
• communication (in some cases)
• opportunities

... are all factors in success. Very interesting ideas, it has to be said.

And so...

This got me thinking about some of my own achievements, about my own life, and whether any of these factors could be said to have had an underlying influence. Let's take a look at the findings!

Timing/date of birth -- Let's start with my birthday. I was born in '79. This was also the same year Maggie 'Milk Snatcher' Thatcher became PM. Nasty! Can I attribute any of life's disappointments to spending the first 17 to 18 years of my life under Conservative rule? Since I've had a terrific upbringing, I think I'll say yes!

Culture -- Well, we Brits are famous for our good manners, reserved, er, manner and fleme britannique (the good ole British stiff upper lip). I'd have to say being quintessentially British has gotten me far at home and abroad. Cup of tea, old chap?

Practice -- According to Gladwell's Outliers, Bill Joy, one of the world's most successful computer programmers put in 10,000 hours of computer programming practice. Using my noggin and the power of Excel, that works out at 416 days, 6 hours. To be the very best at writing, blogging or anything else I choose to do, that's over a year of solid, round-the-clock practice. That sounds quite pleasurable, actually! Am I a geek?

Opportunities - Sticking with our friend Bill Joy, it turns out that not only did Billy boy put in 10,000 hours behind the computer screen, he also happened to be in the right place at the right time. At the time Joy attended university, computer programming was a tedious and lengthy process. However, he studied in Michigan, one of the first places in the world to switch to a new system of programming, the timeshare. Better still, the computer labs were open 24 hours a day. Joy may as well have given up his student digs and moved into it!

Have to say I've had my fair share of the breaks in the past. But at the same time, some of these breaks I've also created for myself. Not sure I can concur with Gladwell on this one (not that he cares, I imagine!). Sometimes you gotta make your own luck.

Communication --  I'm a languages specialist. I'm a wordsmith. I'm a customer service expert. I read a lot. I write a lot. It's gotten me places. (Just a short entry in case you felt I was waffling above!)

Didn't he do well!

Okay, I've been messing about in this post, but Gladwell puts forward some interesting arguments, though some of his theories may only ever be just that: theories.

Nevertheless, it makes his book somewhat inspiring. If you're no good at something, it doesn't mean you never will be. You've just got to keep at it and keep your eyes and ears open. Eventually the breaks will come and things will start to fall into place. The forces of the world will conspire to make it your oyster. Bon appetite, soldier!

This is your life?

Not sure what it is with me and (auto)biographies lately. I tend to think they're a vain kind of writing. 

Of all the subjects to write about, people write about their life as if we actually cared.  

Yet in a bizarre twist of fate, over the last year or so I've started to become quite interested in them. Since last summer, I've read:

• Motley Crüe: The Dirt 
• Marilyn Manson: The Long, Hard Road Out of Hell 
• Steven Tyler: Does the Noise in my Head Bother You? 
• A Book About innocent: Our Story & Some of the Things We've Learned
• Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
• Onwards: How Starbucks Fought for its Life Without Losing its Soul
• My Dark Places, by James Ellroy
• I, Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan by Alan Partridge

That's three rock (auto)biographies, three business ones, a comedy one and a part-autobiography part-crime investigation, and still I'm thirsty for more (keep your eyes peeled for Keith Richards's Life, Karren Brady's Strong Woman and Walter Isaac's Steve Jobs going cheap for me, would you!).

Life begins at...? 

My disillusionment with the genre stems from seeing bookshops littered with biographies and autobiographies by people who have barely been in showbiz 5 minutes yet feel compelled to tell the whole world their story. Take Jedward - barely out of school and they'd already published a book about their lives! It's dumbed down the genre.

I've enjoyed the above (auto)biographies - except for the Marilyn Manson one! - because the subjects have had interesting life experiences and ideas worth discussing. The point of biographical writing is for someone to look back on their career, on their achievements and low points (and how they came back from the latter!) and share some of the magic behind it all. 

To my mind, these days, the memories don't even have time to begin before the memoirs are already being published. But maybe I should get with the programme and think about writing my own memoirs?

What do you think? Do you think biographical writing has somehow lost its purpose?

Betty IV

I made a stupid mistake today. 

I phoned Grandad to say thanks for the money he had sent me. That's not the mistake, however. The mistake was dialling the wrong number without realising it. I was just one digit out, but that's no consolation.

A lady answered the phone. You haven't been with us for over a year now, so I wasn't expecting that. Then I felt elated: I thought it was you on the other end of the line.

But it wasn't.

I'm reading a good book at the moment by Orhan Pamuk called My Name is Red. There's a nice quote in it:: After some tragedy, we all feel the same way: In one last desperate hope, and without caring how comic and foolish we appear, we pray that everything might continue as it always has.

And it's so true. A small part of me has always hoped you'll come home, just like when I was waiting for you to suddenly start speaking while I stood by your side at the funeral parlour. 

I guess for a moment I saw a glimpse of this hope realised, then saw it fade away. 

I put the phone down and cried.

What have the 80s ever done for us?

They were tacky. They gave us mullets and the New Romantics. They virtually gave up on good taste. 

They were the 80s and kitsch was the norm!

I've sometimes been ridiculed for my love of this very cheesy decade. But here are a few things many of us can be grateful to the 80s for, and not just me. I must warn you it gets pretty random!

Do They Know It's Christmas Time? - Band Aid

We all remember the video. Phil Collins, Sting, Bono, Duran Duran, George Michael, the ever-colourful Boy George and several other 80s icons rounded up in the studio together by Sir Bob Geldof. 

Sir Bob and friends didn't just give us a timeless Christmas classic. They raised a great deal of awareness about the poverty in Africa and did much good with this well-written song, not to mention the Live Aid concert.

It was a decade in which, rather than complain about the state of the world from his armchair, one man decided to act and try to make it a better place.  

Michael J. Fox

Yes, he of Back to the Future and Teen Wolf fame, the latter making me feel better about quite hairy for my young years at the time! Good old Marty McFly who travelled backwards in time in one of the coolest cars ever to be created, whizzed about on a skateboard and riffed Johnny B.Goode at the school dance. 

This 80s heart-throb has made it into my list not so much because of the movies, good as they were, but because of his illness. Struck down by Parkinson's disease, he has created a foundation to try to research cures for the disease.

His story is a reminder to us all how cruel life can sometimes be. We should never forget it.

Appetite for Destruction by Guns 'N' Roses

In the 70s, it was the Sex Pistols whom everybody feared. Then came the late 80s and the 'Most Dangerous Band in the World'. In a decade riddled with synth, bad makeup and mullets - that said, I love it still! - came one of the most timeless rock albums ever: Appetite for Destruction!

They proved that the 80s were still capable of good music, even if all fashion sense had gone out of the window.'Paradise City' - what an anthem, and 'Sweet Child o' Mine' - what a guitar solo with its 1 000 million notes per second!

Even now I still listen to this album, hoping that heavy metal will see the light and once again be about virtuous playing and finely crafted songs, rather than about angst and lousy childhoods. I'll probably never see that day, but I can dream about if nothing else!

Space Raiders

I admit I've never liked these crisps. I did, however, like the price. At just 10p a packet, Space Raiders were the epitome of the cheap snack, that food could be affordable.

Not only that, in my adult years this concept would immediately help me identify (potential) shoplifters when working in customer service, who would ask 'Have you got any 10 pence crisps?'. If they asked that, you'd immediately suspect that if that's all they had on them, and that's all they'd come for, they had no need to be walking around the shop for 10 minutes after you'd already said no!

Thatcherism
Oooooooo controversial. 

Not because I think it's a good thing, however. Remember that saying, 'There's nothing like the sight of the battlefield after the battle to inspire a love of peace and a hatred of war' or something along those lines? Well, unfortunately, we had to experience Thatcherism just so we'd know how bad life under the Conservatives would actually be come future elections: expect rioting on the streets, iron fist-style government, tax cuts and major cuts in the public sector.

Sadly, we came full circle in the last general election, but, once they were finally out, at least we kept the Tories out for over 10 years before letting them back in. 

These are just a few of the things I think the 80s deserve a little gratitude for. They showed us some of the things that could be achieved; showed us some of the things that couldn't; and some of the things that simply shouldn't be tried!

What are you grateful to the 80s for? Or is there a decade you think we should owe particular thanks to? I'd be interested to hear.