Saved from the Waves: Ian Grant

Our technical guy gets his feet wet...

Samuel Beckett - The Complete Dramatic Works
While I appreciate that a Samuel Beckett play might not be everyone's idea of a top night out, it's very much mine.  There's something truly life-affirming about writing that stretches language so far, and yet retains its essential warmth, tenderness and humour, even when what it has to say is almost unbearably bleak.  This volume reminds me of some unforgettable experiences, and more still to come.

Haruki Murakami - The Elephant Vanishes (in Japanese)
This was brought back from Japan by some friends and it's a treasured possession, even if I'll never be able to read it.  I love the idea that the impenetrable symbols come together to form the same ephemeral, elegant stories that so enchant me in translation.  Read Murakami and that might make some kind of sense!

Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness
I have a long-standing agreement with a friend: if either of us manages to read this monstrous philosophical tome, the other has to eat it.  The only flaw in this bargain is that eating it would be considerably easier than reading it.  Still, I'm not ready to give up hope just yet....

George Orwell - Keep the Aspidistra Flying
I've read this more times than I can remember; more than any other novel, certainly.  Some would say that my deep affection for it reveals much about my character, not all of it terribly good.  But it's a wonderful book, I think: before he wrote his classics, Orwell had a lovely eye for observation and a sharp way with social satire.  Much has changed since it was written, but just as much hasn't changed at all....

Bernard MacLaverty - Grace Notes
My favourite novel, for now.  Gentle and understated, but profoundly moving in its own quiet way.