bookswelike

bwl 10 - August 2001

Fiction

Anita Rau Badami - Tamarind Mem

Two voices tell the story. Kamini's perception of her parents' relationship, their interactions and those of her and her sister, Roopa, are beautifully evoked. In 'hearing' conversations spoken in lilting accents, and somewhat stilted English, we get to know the family and are caught up in their lives. We want to know more about the veiled mysteries, the tension that occurs behind closed doors. It is when the mother speaks that we start to understand. (Polly Sams Plant)

Hilary Bonner - A Wild Kind of Justice

Twenty years ago a man was acquitted of the horrific rape and murder of a young girl. Today, DNA evidence proves that he was in fact the killer, but the law of double jeopardy means that he cannot be tried again. Someone wants to make him pay for his crime. The compelling story centres on beautiful mysterious Dartmoor, and interweaves with the tale of an obsessive fated love affair. (Sandra Lee)

A S Byatt - Possession

Subtitled 'A Romance' this is more of a detective novel. Roland Michell, twenty-nine, is a graduate of Prince Albert College. He is studying the life of Randolph Henry Ash, an austere 19th century poet, when he finds two letters from him. After a lengthy search and a lot of help from an attractive professor at Lincoln University, he discovers a long hidden and tragic love story. Gripping. (Laurence Martin Euler)

Raymond Chandler - The High Window

A hard-hitting, fast-paced thriller set in California in the 0s though seemingly timeless. The hero, Philip Marlowe, is an American private-eye, best played by Humphrey Bogart in movie versions of Chandler's novels. Reading this one again after a 30 year interval, I was immediately struck by the excellent style of the writing. Very direct, witty, elegant, not a word out of place or superfluous. What a joy to read! (Jeremy Swann)

Michael Crichton - Airframe

I found this interesting because it is about Quality Assurance, which was my speciality during the last ten years of my working life. It is a good story and readable; also I found it plausible and I couldn't fault it as a practitioner, although no one tried to kill me because I was in danger of rattling a few bars! (John Bond)

Jane Gardam - The Flight of the Maidens

You roll gently into the story, then come the jolts. There's pathos and much humour. It's Summer 1946, three diverse schoolgirl friends in an obscure northern seaside town, pass the time between a safe, familiar life and going off into the unknown world of distant universities. Joyous writing by this subtle novelist, nailing down time, place and the upsets that have dogged people throughout the ages. (Joan Jackson)

Arthur Golden - Memoirs of a Geisha

Amazing - a novel by an American man, purporting to be by a geisha about her life in 1930s-50s Japan. Obviously incredibly well researched, it reads as complete truth and I had to keep reminding myself that it was in fact a novel. The story itself is not particularly exciting, but the vivid portrayal of a life, time and place I knew nothing about kept me turning every one of the 429 pages with fascination. (Julie Higgins)

Kate Grenville - The Idea of Perfection

Two strangers arrive in an Australian bush town (he, jug-eared and gawky, to demolish the old wooden bridge; she, too big and abrupt for comfort, to set up a museum). Their story, interspersed with that of the Chinese butcher and the banker's wife is funny, perceptive, down-to-earth and touching. Awarded the Orange prize by the female jury, it was the only title short-listed which the shadow male panel wholeheartedly endorsed. (Jenny Baker)

Nancy Huston - The Mark of the Angel

The heroine is Saffie, a young German woman with a troubled past: she arrives in Paris in 1957 and becomes maid, then wife to Raphael, a privileged French musician. She never loves him but she's grateful for what he gives her: security. One day she falls in love and drama follows... I discovered a great writer. (Laurence Martin Euler)

Jennifer Johnson - The Gingerbread Woman

The first of hers I've read, and it certainly won't be the last. Two people, both ravaged by misery and past history, come together briefly, and in some strange way begin to heal. A short book, and very quick to read, it involves Ireland North and South and New York, but still remains firmly in the small town in Ireland in which it is set. Very atmospheric, very moving, very uplifting. And also very harrowing. (Julie Higgins)

Jennifer Johnson - Two Moons

Mimi is elderly and frail, widowed and living with her divorced daughter. Life is stale and uneventful. Until Bonifacio comes to her and tells her he is her guardian angel. Everyone thinks she is going loopy, as he can't be seen by anyone else, but he makes her life fun. Is he real or not? We're never quite sure. The author dedicates the book to her mother, who "would have loved Bonifacio". Wouldn't we all! (Julie Higgins)

Ian McEwan - Amsterdam

Three ex-lovers of Mollie Lane meet at her funeral in North London. Clive, a successful but self absorbed composer; Vernon, an unscrupulous newspaper editor and Garmony, the Foreign Secretary with a secret. As in 'Enduring Love', McEwan uses their stories to discuss moral dilemmas: euthanasia, self-deception, conceit and hypocrisy. This is a charming novel of black comedy used to lighten serious issues. (Jenny Freeman)

Kathy Reichs - Déjà Dead

If you like to be terrified, checking all your doors and windows when reading, this is the book for you. P D James says it's great, critics say it's better than Patricia Cornwell and both are right. But don't read it when you're alone... (Laurence Martin Euler)

Michèle Roberts - Playing Sardines

A 'delicious' collection of short stories written with a poet's eye for language and imagery. 'Delicious' because food is a theme in some of the stories, along with obsession, jealousy and the anticipation of a loved one's return. Her descriptions of food, food stalls, the countryside are so intense that you both see and smell everything. The collection is diverse, as though gathered in a basket. Savour it! (Christine Miller)

Dorothy L Sayers - Thrones, Dominations

and Walsh, Jill Paton A happy discovery for this devotee of Dorothy Sayers: a posthumous work ably completed by a today's novelist. Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane, now back from their 'busman's honeymoon' and settling into their Mayfair mansion, are once again called in to help solve a murder mystery. The same old banter with Bunter and whimsy from Wimsey. I hope you will enjoy the 1936 setting as nostalgically as I did! (Jeremy Swann)

Carol Shields - The Republic of Love

Set in urban Canada, this is a serious yet lightly entertaining tale of the mutual love of a three times divorced presenter of a nightly programme on local radio and a researcher into mermaids on the staff of an institute of folk history. As in the novels of Richard Ford and Anne Tyler, I found the different characters and their situations convincing at the same time as stimulatingly offbeat. (Jeremy Swann)

Amy Tan - The Bonesetter's Daughter

Luling speaks excruciating English, is obstinate, forgetful, critical, superstitious and forever threatening to die. Her American-born daughter, Ruth, uncertain of her mother's love, regards her with embarrassed exasperation until she reads Luling's account of her early life in a remote Chinese village. Uncovering the secrets of Precious Auntie, dragon bones and Peking Man, Ruth comes to terms with the events of her own childhood and learns to understand herself. It's quintessential Amy Tan. Read it! (Jenny Baker)

Anne Tyler - Back When We Were Grownups

Fifty-three year old Rebecca lost her husband years ago but brought up their child and his three teenage daughters as well as looking after a lot of his family. One day, she thinks she has become a wrong person. If only she had married her teenage boyfriend would life have been much better or not? Rebecca is a real character and she doesn't know it. It's a great book and would make a great movie. (Laurence Martin Euler)

Anne Tyler - Earthly Possessions

This is one of Tyler's earlier novels, recently reissued, and has all the ingredients her fans have grown to expect: ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives who find themselves, either accidentally or on purpose, in less than ordinary situations, in this case Charlotte taken hostage by an inept bank robber. From the opening sentence: 'The marriage wasn't going well and I decided to leave my husband', we both agree, we were hooked. (James Baker)

Chris Ware - Jimmy Corrigan or The Smartest Kid on Earth

Almost impossible to describe: started in 1993 as a weekly contribution to a Chicago newspaper, over five years it developed into, as far as I know, the only 'novel' produced in comic strip form. It's a semi-autobiographical attempt to make sense of the author's life, especially regarding his failed efforts to meet his father whom he had never seen. It's funny, sometimes confusing, strangely moving, beautifully designed and executed. Buy it for a unique experience. (James Baker)

Non-Fiction

Nick Danziger - Danziger's Travels, Beyond Forbidden Frontiers

Hard to put down. Danziger, having been awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship, travels on foot and by local transport, through Asia, along the Silk Route; through forbidden areas [disguised as a Muslim] sharing the lives of diverse groups, including the Mujahedeen. He is the first foreigner since 1949 to enter the western province of China from Pakistan. Travel, culture, politics and danger. A communicator, listener and skilled writer. Stunning photographs. What more can you ask? (Lynda Johnson)

Carol Drinkwater - The Olive Farm

Perhaps just the thought of yet another saga of an expat's Mediterranean idyll sets your teeth on edge. If so, read no further. But you will miss a treat because Carol Drinkwater has the story-teller's knack of drawing you into the romance and drama of her life which is centred around an abandoned olive farm in the hills above Cannes. (Jenny Baker)

M F K Fisher - Long Ago in France

The author and her husband came to Dijon, our nearest largish town, from America in 1929. They spent three years there as impoverished students and learned to love the town, its people and above all the food and wine of France's gastronomic capital. This entertaining and mouth-watering account of their life there is marvellously evocative of a genteel world long gone. (Wendy Swann)

Antonia Fraser - Marie Antoinette

When Marie Antoinette, after a happy and relatively free royal family upbringing, left Austria to marry the dauphin Louis, she vowed to become completely French and, as a future queen, joint guardian of the interests of everything French. She was only fourteen. Despite the stultifying formality of the Versailles court and the gradual demonising of her when queen, culminating in trial and execution, she never betrayed that trust. This riveting account is both illuminating and heartbreaking. (James Baker)

Michael Hargreave Mawson, editor - Eyewitness in the Crimea

'Fred' Dallas, a company commander in the 46th regiment of Foot, wrote 137 letters from the Crimea. His initial enthusiasm and excitement soon turned to disbelief at the ineptitude of the army leaders. Dallas's talent for observation, his dry humour, philosophical acceptance of events, concern for his servants, soldiers and animals and his enlightened attitude to women are remarkable for a Victorian soldier. A fascinating read for those interested in the human side of history. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Dorling Kindersley - Istanbul: D K Eyewitness Travel Guides

Travel guides have certainly come a long way in the last decade and one really gets one's money's worth in terms of interesting background information illustrated with good colour photos. On a recent short visit to Istanbul this one from Dorling Kindersley not only proved a valuable aid to getting around but, once home again, its excellent pictures and snippets enabled us to vividly 'recollect in tranquillity' so many of the things we had seen. (Jeremy Swann)

B H Liddell Hart, editor - The Letters of Private Wheeler

Wheeler served in the British Army throughout the Peninsular War, fighting in most of the major battles and at Waterloo. The mystery is how a common soldier could write so well about army life, describe the battles with such accuracy, know about history and quote the classics. It has been suggested he was perhaps a schoolmaster who enlisted out of patriotism or to escape some sort of trouble. Whoever he was, his letters are enthralling. (John Bond)

David Macaulay - Cathedral

If, like me, you wondered how mediaeval craftsmen were able, without modern machines, to build the famous Gothic cathedrals with their soaring columns and arches, here is a book which tells you. The author describes the building of an imaginary cathedral to compete with those of Beauvais and Amiens, taking the reader step-by-step through the different stages and accompanying his account with a host of delightful drawings. For all ages. Fascinating! (Jeremy Swann)

Anne Mustoe - A Bike Ride

In 1983 Anne Mustoe, a busy and successful headmistress, looks out of a coach window in Rajasthan and sees a solitary man pedaling across the Desert. This is her fascinating and entertaining account of how two years later, aged 54, overweight, out of condition and wobbling on an unfamiliar bike, she set out from Westminster to follow a classical trail around the world accompanied by Alexander the Great, the occasional amorous waiter and a diary. (Jenny Freeman)

Tim Parks - Italian Neighbours - A Lapsed Anglo-Saxon in Verona

Tim Parks and his (Italian) wife Rita come to live, after being in London and New York, in Montecchio in the Veneto. They are both translators and he has written several novels. Immediately on arrival they are catapulted into the lives of the people living in the same apartment house, and the complexities of Italian social life, a mix of conservatism and lawlessness, is fascinating and somewhat bewildering to an Englishman. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Tim Parks - An Italian Education

Now blessed with a little boy, they move to a village near Verona, and Parks is confronted even more with the confusion of being English in Italy. Because Italians love children, his contacts deepen and his realisation that he has become less English and is rapidly becoming more Italian is expressed with amusement, affection and sometimes incredulity. It is most interesting to notice this development from foreigner to 'almost' native and a delight to read. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Edward Peppitt - Word 2000 Quick Fix

Are you fed up with trying to understand Word 2000 either from the Help menu or from some incomprehensible manual? If so, you will find this book extremely handy. It's cheap, only £4.99, small, beautifully laid out and written in a clear, concise way without any gobbledegook. It's one of a series and I can't wait to get my hands on some of the other titles. (Jenny Baker)

Michael Smith - The Emperor's Codes

Despite American claims, this fascinating book shows conclusively that British and Australian naval officers broke the Imperial codes long before Pearl Harbour. It chronicles developments throughout the war including how America chose to ignore warnings of an attack because it did not believe the Japanese would dare start a conflict, how Churchill warned Stalin of the German invasion, also ignored, and how the allies were able to monitor Rommel's strategy for defending the French coastline. (John Bond)

Philip Steadman - Vermeer's Camera

Now anyone can paint like Vermeer! All you need are: 17th C art materials (or 21st equivalent), a good apprentice artist training, unlimited patience (in painter and models), a Dutch interior with natural light, a large camera obscura, together with this absorbing book explaining how Vermeer did it. The author's life-long fascination with the mystery of Vermeer's astounding accuracy makes compelling reading. Oh, I nearly forgot, the only other crucial ingredient: a touch of genius. (James Baker)

Poetry

Ted Hughes - Birthday Letters

Some followers of Sylvia Plath are deeply suspicious of Ted Hughes's motives for publishing this collection, written over a 25 year period following her suicide, chronicling the love and pain of their relationship. But Seamus Heaney says it all: "To read Birthday letters is to experience the psychic equivalent of 'the bends'. It takes you down to levels of pressure where the undertruths of sadness and endurance leave you gasping . . . " (Jenny Baker)