Thoughts and happenings from a life on Malta

My wish list of books now spans many screens on the Amazon site. The iPad is becoming, more and more, a colourful compilation of covers of yet-to-be-read books, with Kindle's daily deal and its $0.99 offers adding to this rising literary tide. Subscriptions to a number of magazines and websites that are obligatory reading have become a leaded belt, dragging me below the relentless wave of sentences. Some years back I gave myself a breather by terminating the cable tv service, which helped release me from innumerable hours of square eyed activity. However, I find that these days my pleasure for reading is being asphyxiated by a time-deficit or stifled under a weight of words.

Kinnie, a Maltese soft drink with a bitter-sweet flavour, reminds me of this book, Love Virtually, by the Austrian author, Daniel Glattauer. In spite of it being an international bestseller with millions sold in the original German version, I only got to know about it because it was a birthday present from a dear friend of mine.

It is contemporary in idea because it follows the inception and subsequent development of a relationship conducted via email. It makes for a very flowing read, both in style and entertainment. so much so I finished it in a day. So, what is the connection to Kinnie? The story starts of sweetly enough, bringing a smile to my face on more than one occasion. However, the author is adept at turning what superficially seems to be a teasing play between the two main characters into a deeper understanding of the complexities and complications of a virtual relationship. By the concluding chapter, all two-emails worth, the reader is left in an emotional quandary and with a bitter taste.

A clear 10/10.

Shakespeare's biography reduced to a slim volume that can easily be read in a day? Can't be any good then, can it?

As Bill Bryson makes clear in the opening pages, so little is actually known about William Shakespeare. Interestingly, today's spelling of his name is not the way he ever signed it. Besides, from the few specimens left it is evident that Shakespeare never signed his name the same way twice.

So how do other authors turn out hefty tomes? As Bryson explains, a lot of what goes into those books is conjecture, plain and simple. Here, Bryson strips down to the bare facts but puts in lots of background information by way of compensation. This is what I found most enjoyable, reading about life and London in Shakespeare's time. It was so illuminating to find that modern day gripes - traffic, reluctance of people to walk anywhere - are really echoes from centuries past.

The closing chapter, which deals with a plethora of conspiracy theories about the authorship of the plays, is a fitting conclusion to the real mysteries of the man who authored well over half-a-million words but left so few tangible signs of his passage through this world.

A clear 10/10.