30th October 2011
Week 2 of free for three wasn’t half bad, spending as I did in Ibiza with the family. My main pursuit, aside from swimming and lying on a beach was reading. I whizzed through half a dozen books including King Leopold’s Ghost, a gripping but harrowing book about the Congo under Leopold the second, King of the Belgians).
Tales of murder and mayhem from Boris Akunin and Marcel Allain’s Fantomas seemed light relief by comparison. I also spent an afternoon reading Magnus Mills’ The Scheme for Full Employment, rather disappointing after his first two books, all a bit obvious in its moralising about people’s relationship to work.
An hour in the company of Kurt Vonnegut’s God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian proved much more satisfying. It’s always a pleasure to read anything by Vonnegut and although this is a very slight book, comprising ‘interviews’ with people who have passed through the pearly gates done originally as 90 second interludes on public radio, there’s lots of ideas to mull over, not least the thought that keeping score of the times when you are truly enjoying something is a good way to pass your time on the planet, just like Uncle Alex.
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