My reading is suffering hugely lately, with a collection of books sitting next to my bed, a few chapters of each read. The Christmas period, my new laptop and discovery of downloading TV and also my attention span having become worryingly short recently means I haven’t gotten into a book. The one exception to this is ‘The Road’, a book I was genuinely riveted by. Loaned to me by Tuathal and I thank him for that, the story is of a father and son struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. The story, incredibly effective though it is plays second fiddle to how author Cormac McCarthy creates such amazing imagery through his words, using minimal punctuation, short almost curt sentences, and yet captures your mind fully with the sheen he gives such simple language. Movie adaptations of novels always earn the collective frown of fans of source materials and I have to chime in with my hesitation here to welcome the news of the Viggo Mortensen/Charlize Theron led screen adaptation. I am a man fascinated by images and I am impressed by the work of John Hillcoat on ‘The Proposition’ - the director attached, however I do reserve judgement on how a movie can capture the quieter moments and effectively captured the thoughts of the tortured souls of the story which are described so brilliantly. Cormac McCarthy is also the man behind the novel, ‘No Country for Old Men’, the screen version of which is receiving much plaudits and is released this weekend. For the Coens to use a source other than of their own manufacturing speaks volumes.