Given to me by a friend for Bookcrossing. Recently listed as one of the BBC's picks for 100 books you should read. Fly far little book!

Released at the TC Meet-up. First Sunday of the month, 12 noon at Ginkos. Enjoy!

P.S. If the book is too good to read and release, that's okay, you can keep it, just let me know that it's found a good home!

I expected this to be an excellent book, and it was. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did, though, which was a happy surprise. Even though the book is written in first person, which gets you about as close to the narrator as possible, Ishiguro is able to show how Stevens' professional dignity cuts him off from life, while also letting that distancing keep his story from being unbearably depressing. Highly recommended, even if, like me, you don't normally read Literature with a capital L.

In the OBCZ bookcase.

Taken from OBCZ shelves

One of the very few examples of a film version as good as the original book. The credit for this, of course, goes to the superb acting of Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. There are lots of other good performances too, and the Merchant Ivory production team does its usual elegant work. But so much of this story is about what's going on inside the head of the butler, Stevens, and only really great acting can bring that out.

The film is extremely faithful to the book (love that!), but the book carries on a bit further. Stevens speculates uncomfortably on the use of "banter," and decides that to be a better employee, he must put some effort into developing this skill. It's a perfect capsule of his inability to understand or form any human relationship.

If you want to compare and contrast, here's a link to the IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107943/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Placed in innae's Movie Bookbox