Persevering

At the moment I am still reading Armadale by Wilkie Collins, a book that I have been reading for about 6 or 7 weeks. I have to say that I am finding it really hard work - 680 pages of hard work... I may have mentioned before that for years I avoided reading 'classic literature' because it reminded me of being forced to read books at school (which is maybe quite odd to think that given that I have an A-level in English literature and therefore *chose* to study a subject that meant having to read those books...). A few months ago I read Wilkie Collins' book 'The Woman in White' and I really liked that, but this latest book is not quite doing it for me. It just takes me back to those times of having to plough through page upon page of description and not a lot actually happening. I have read over 500 pages of the book and am having to push myself to get through the final quarter. By the end I am hoping that the sense of satisfaction at having finished it will outweigh the pain of keeping on reading it. I think the book is probably better than I give it credit for but he didn't half take a long time to get around to what he was saying. The book was serialised in a magazine originally and he was therefore paid for each section that he submitted, so the more material he provided presumably the more he got paid - need I say more.

Yesterday when I wandered back to my desk from my lunch break (which I had used to try and get though a few more pages of that book) there was a large box of Roses chocolates on my desk. I had helped someone prepare for an interview the other day and she had given the chocolates to say thank you, which was very kind of her and not at all why I had done it. I had been slightly concerned that I had managed to make her feel even more nervous about the interview but it seems that I had actually helped.

I was thinking about the BBC journalist Alan Johnston who was taken hostage last month. Obviously that is a very worrying time for all concerned but I wonder if it is a good thing for people to be making a fuss about it. I can see that people want to put pressure on the kidnappers to try and get them to release him, but I wonder if it might actually be counter-productive. The more publicity you give to someone, the more valuable they appear to be, the more valuable they are then surely the more likely the kidnappers are to want to hang on to him because they think they might be able to get something of value in return for him - or that it would have a bigger impact if they killed him. It strikes me that the more anonymous you are the better in these situations because if you're a 'nobody' and no-one gains from killing you or holding you hostage then the more likely you are to be released. But perhaps my logic is flawed. I can see as well that people might think that by showing that he was there doing good and that he is part of a family who desperately want him back etc might also be seen as helpful, but then I remember the example of Margaret Hassanwho was taken hostage in Iraq. She was there doing humanitarian work and actually held dual Iraqi-British citizenship, but her captors still killed her.

Maybe the petitions and protests about Alan Johnston are helping but I do wonder if lots of high profile public pressure might actually be counter-productive and end up doing more harm than good. I hope not, but I do wonder.