bwl 102 - Autumn 2021
Fiction
| Clare Chambers - Small Pleasures
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| Wonderful, witty, beautiful, glorious, miraculous, effortless to read, quietly compelling, stunning, dazzling, a gut punch ending - just some of the quotes on the cover - not to mention it being longlisted for the Women's Prize. The majority of my book group agreed but help! it did absolutely nothing for me. "Quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum" - as Lucretius remarked or in plain English - one man's meat . . . just proves how subjective reading is. (Jenny Baker)
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| Graham Greene - Travels with My Aunt
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| Henry, retired suburban bank manager, whose only interest is growing dahlias, meets his septuagenarian Aunt Augusta at his Mother's funeral. Relationships are not as he assumed. Aunt Augusta - who is still 'a bit of a gal' - takes Henry under her wing. They travel to Brighton, Paris, Istanbul and finally Paraguay mixing all the way with an underworld far removed from his origins and he becomes part of this milieu. A period piece, non-P C to some, to be read with tongue in cheek!
(Chris Cozens)
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| David Grossman - More Than I Love My Life
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| Gili's family are celebrating grandmother Vera's 90th birthday but when estranged daughter Nina arrives old wounds are opened. The novel takes us from Israel to Yugoslavia and to the desolate island, Goli Otok, where Tito's political prisoners were held. Under torture Vera must choose between defending her husband's political integrity or abandoning her child. Based on the life of Eva Panić Nahir, and fully acknowledged, indeed she asked him to write it - truly unpudownable.
(Jenny Baker)
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| Matt Haig - The Midnight Library
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| It's tempting to fantasize about a path not taken in one's life, and to feel regrets for a missed opportunity. But, what if this hindsight is flawed? Haig's beautiful and imaginative story is an 'It's a Wonderful Life' style antidote to our own - probably misplaced - regrets about life choices. By the close of this absorbing tale you may well decide that the best life for you is the one that you already have. (Sharron Calkins)
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| Matt Haig - The Humans
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| Professor Andrew Martin is walking naked through Cambridge, and thinking that there can be nothing more unpleasant than being human. As the weeks pass, however, Andrew warms to wearing clothing, warms to humans, and warms to planet Earth. In fact, when the time comes for him to leave, he refuses. This novel is very, very funny, and wonderfully believable. Human readers will love Andrew. He has fallen in love with humans, and in turn makes us fall in love with ourselves. A genuine joy to read. (Sharron Calkins)
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| Daisy Johnson - Sisters
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| If you are interested in dark and complex tales based on deep love, co-dependence and rivalry between sisters this is for you. It is very well written and, whilst easy to read, you have a deep sense of unease throughout as you try and work out what has gone on and is going on. I can say no more but it is a psychological thriller which I think just avoids straying too far into the absurd. (Rebecca Howell)
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| Mary Lawson - A Town Called Solace
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| Seven-year old Clara is looking after next door's cat while trying to make sense of life, the grown-ups don't tell her anything: what happened to Rose her run-away sister, why doesn't Mrs Orchard come out of hospital and who is Liam, the solitary man now living in her house? Why are the police involved and what happened thirty years ago? With this redemptive tale of grief, remorse and love Lawson has once again made magic. (Jenny Baker)
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| Pierre Lemaitre - All Human Wisdom
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| This sequel to The Great Swindle (bwl 96) begins with the funeral of a banker, his fortune inherited by his daughter whose life is changed by catastrophic injuries to her young son. She faces the enmity of a relative, a failed suitor trying to part her from her fortune and betrayal by servants. Revenge requires the help of some dubious characters. Set in the corrupt and venal world of pre-war France, this a fantastically entertaining story with never a dull moment. (Tony Pratt)
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| Geraldine McCaughrean - The Supreme Lie
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| Geraldine McCaughrean is one of my favourite authors currently writing for a young audience - but she is not necessarily the most popular. Her writing is razor sharp, replete with glorious vocabulary, her wit is as keen and her settings always a surprise. Here we are in Afalia, a country threatened by a cataclysmic flood. People rely on the News. But is it the truth? Clever, percipient, challenging - and often funny.
(Ferelith Hordon)
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| Sarah Moss - Cold Earth
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| Six assorted people arrive in Greenland to excavate an ancient Norse settlement while already anxious about a spreading global pandemic (NB 1st published 2009 ). When graves are discovered unsettling mental images form and tensions begin to rise. When their internet and satellite phone fail panic spreads as they realise they are alone and isolated. Full of suspense, anthropology, archaeology, mysticism, haunting or hallucination, now freezing and starving - can they survive? (Sue Pratt)
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| Marilynne Robinson - Gilead
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A first-person narrative, Gilead is a contemplative and engaging story of an aging Protestant pastor, examining his faith and indeed his life, for the benefit of his son. He is expecting it to be read after his death. As well as reviewing the complexities of the notion of faith, his own, and that of his small town congregation with its varied challenges, he aims to connect his son to his father's roots and sense of belonging, and so, maybe, to his own.
Ed's Note: Winner 2005 Pulitzer Prize - the first in the Gilead trilogy - see previous bookswelike
(Margaret Teh)
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| Lynda Rutledge - West with Giraffes
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| 1938, The Great Depression, Hitler threatens Europe, two giraffes survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic, and are driven in a custom-truck across America to a zoo in California. Now, Woody aged 101, the rough-neck lad who drove them is writing his memoirs. Inspired by true events, it's a life-affirming tale of a young man's coming of age, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time and above all the strange empathy that takes place between people and animals. (Jenny Baker)
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| Ali Smith - Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer
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| The author wanted to write a quartet of novels that reflected the times in which they were written, little knowing, I imagine, how turbulent they would be. The first novel, Autumn, was published in 2016 and the final, Summer, in 2020. Through characters meeting as strangers and others reuniting, she reminds us of our shared humanity. In the background are familiar issues such as the EU Referendum, immigration, climate change and repercussions of Brexit. She also draws on our engagement with art, film and science. Despite the time constraints she imposed upon herself, the novels do not feel rushed or skimpy in depth. There is levity and despair but ultimately there is the hope that comes with decency and regard for each other, These books have much to offer in my view.
(Christine Miller)
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| Jonathan Stroud - The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne
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| 'The secret of being an outlaw was to move fast and stay light on your feet' - a precept Scarlett follows meticulously. Then she meets Albert Browne - and life becomes complicated. This is a rollicking adventure from the master of the alternative setting, Jonathan Stroud. Here it is a Britain travelling across a Wessex, robbing banks, avoiding the Mentors, trying to reach the Free Isles. The action is non-stop, the characters engaging - great teen reading.
(Ferelith Hordon)
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| Amy Tan - The Kitchen God's Wife
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| Pearl and her Chinese mother Winnie have secrets from each other. Then for devious reasons, Winnie feels compelled to tell her life story: pre WWII Japanese invasion of China, WWII and above all her appalling marriage. (How does Tan manage to recreate, utterly convincingly, the reality of Chinese life during that period? She wasn't there!). Winnie's truth releases Pearl from her own silence. So a tasty sandwich: mother-and-daughter each end with enthralling historic reconstruction as filling. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Charles Yu - Interior Chinatown
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| Reading Charles Yu is a treat of dark humour. In this story of Asian actors (m/f) in the entertainment industry, we see the world through the eyes of frustrated actor Willis Wu, who has spent most of his career being 'generic Asian man'. He is called upon for roles like 'delivery man', 'disgraced son', or 'silent henchman'. What he really wants is beyond his reach. A biting look at the film industry from a minority Asian point of view - and it is brilliant. (Sharron Calkins)
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| Markus Zusak - Bridge of Clay
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| 'The Book Thief' was a hit - what about this latest novel from Markus Zusak? Long - and somewhat disconcertingly written moving seamlessly between past and the present of the characters, it took a little while to adjust. But it was worth it; a richly crafted portrait of a family - five brothers coping with loss and betrayal. But who is the betrayer and who the betrayed? And is the bridge real - or metaphorical? Well worth trying.
(Ferelith Hordon)
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Non-Fiction
| Christopher Clark - Prisoners of Time: Prussians, Germans and Other Humans
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| This series of essays covers aspects of Germany, from the serious - the attempts to convert Prussian Jews to Christianity, to the more capricious - a virtuous meditation on the nature of political power down the ages. Each raises questions about how we think about the past and about the pitfalls of history as a discipline. Clark, one of our finest living historians, has produced a work of such entertainment and value that only he could have written.
(Jeremy Miller)
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| Sally Coulthard - A Short History of the World According to Sheep
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| I'm not sure what I was really expecting of such a title but after a 'how we got to know each other' chapter of the humano-arian relationship this was less a lineal historical progression and more a thematic based approach. In fact if QI ever decided to do a book on sheep it would look not too dissimilar to this - full of 'Well fancy that!'s and 'Who'd of thought!'s. Not that I'm complaining though . . .
(Clive Yelf)
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| Sebastian Haffner - Germany, Jekyll & Hyde: An Eyewitness Analysis of Nazi Germany
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| Written in 1940 by a German who emigrated to England, this is still unmatched as a contemporary analysis of the Third Riech. So remarkable that the writer could, so early on, produce such acute insights into Hitler's character, political hold over Germany and his prescience and foresight is uncanny as one reads it with the hindsight and knowledge we now have. A very dynamic and dramatic read. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Sebastian Haffner - Defying Hitler: The Story of a German, 1914-1933
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| This extraordinary 'small political biography' was found in a hidden drawer, translated and published by his son Oliver Pretzel, after the death of the author and is now perhaps even more fascinating to the reader, almost ninety years later, by his clear, keen and poignant observations of Nazi Germany. It is as though a traveller had arrived in England and had described the insidiousness and total viciousness of what was happening to him and to so many others. A shattering read. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Stephen Halliday - The Great Filth: Disease, Death and the Victorian City
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| The huge unplanned growth of the Victorian city led to an explosion of disease, illness and early death against which enlightened doctors, scientists, midwives, public servants and engineers fought a desperate battle. However the battle was also fought against politicians and businessmen who were determined that the state be kept out of society and trade. As nothing changes hard-held beliefs like personal inconvenience, it took the Great Stink of 1858 to finally change their minds.
(Clive Yelf)
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| James Hamilton-Brown - Empire of the Clouds: When Britain's Aircraft Ruled the World
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| This story of post-war British aviation pits scientific and technical innovation allied to the personal 'can-do' attitudes of incredibly brave test pilots against a cost-cutting treasury, entrenched bureaucracy and self-serving, inefficient companies. Inevitably the latter prevailed and Britain not only surrendered the lead in military aviation but, with a few notable exceptions, effectively ducked out of the race altogether. A fascinating 'Boys Own' tale of derring-do laid low by the icy grip of austerity Britain.
(Clive Yelf)
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| Adam Hochschild - Lessons from a Dark Time and other Essays
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| These updated articles from his long career as a journalist/author is a reflection of his fear that the world - 'awash in a bitter stew of revived nationalism, anti-Semitism and hostility towards Muslims and refugees.' is slipping backwards. A passionate activist each essay grips you as though you were there. One to pick up read and re-read; who wouldn't want to read a man who states 'Donald Trump has bent and twisted the truth like pretzel dough'? (Lynda Johnson)
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| Jonathan Keates - Italian Journeys
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| The author defines himself as a traveller, thus his idiosyncratic Italian journeys are comprised mainly of eccentric episodes and meandering anecdotes that are fun to read, to a point, but they don't dwell long enough in any one area or city to give one more than a casual sense of place. What is extraordinary is that the tone changes as he moves from Lombardy, say, to Umbria. The flatter the countryside, the better he writes!
(Jeremy Miller)
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| Michael Lewis - The Premonition: A Pandemic Story
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| In his breathless and utterly unique style, the author tells the story of how a group of American scientists sought to identify, track and combat the virus that was killing people in Wuhan in January 2020. As usual, he carries the narrative forward through the forensic examination of 'unsung heroes'. Each cameo is highly engaging though I started to lose the plot and frustratingly could not connect his colourful tales to America's baleful Covid response.
(Jeremy Miller)
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| Tim Parks - The Hero's Way: Walking with Garibaldi from Rome to Ravenna
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| It is uncertain that I would have read a straightforward account of Garibaldi's retreat from Rome with Anita and his 'patriots' in 1849 but I really enjoyed experiencing the past and the present as the author and his partner follow in Garibaldi's footsteps. I learned so much about Garibaldi's determination, courage and strategic thinking during this difficult march with his loyal supporters alongside the Italian landscape, the people, their lives and the aches and pains of hiking. (Christine Miller)
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| Nathaniel Philbrick - In the Heart of the Sea: The Epic True Story that Inspired 'Moby Dick'
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| Impeccably researched, very moving but also chilling in its simplicity, this famous whaling tragedy really happened and is now newly and copiously documented and commentated, rich in details of whaling and whale biology, of other nautical and marine matters, of celestial navigation, and also of instances of survival and cannibalism which bring it up to the present day. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Karl Popper - The Open Society and its Enemies
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| A wonderful examination of totalitarianism with a side trip into philosophy, all clearly written and accessible. Popper believed strongly that philosophy should not be arcane and filled with jargon. Popper and Bryan Magee stand out as philosophers you want to read. The subject is deep but the water is sparkling clear. (Herb Roselle)
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| Nicholas Rankin - Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception 1914-1945
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| An in-depth history of camouflage and deception in the two world wars, from its beginnings in 1915 and thumbnail sketches of those chiefly responsible. It was chiefly the British who excelled in this, among whom was Ian Fleming, of James Bond fame. Promoted as a 'rollicking', 'delightful'and 'entertaining read', it is much more than that, in parts very moving, a tribute to so many lives selflessly dedicated, often dangerously, to winning the wars, excellently researched. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Sathnam Sanghera - Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain
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| This investigation by a British-born Sikh journalist reveals plenty of negatives, notably racism, slavery and looting, plus conspicuous episodes of discrimination and brutality, but most surprising is how much we have neglected our imperial past and its legacy. As a Brit, Sanghera, his knowledge informed by the immigrant experience, is often very critical but also often admiring. Better historical education is seen as important. You don't have to agree with everything but his attempt at fair-mindedness and the wealth of fascinating information are impressive. (Tony Pratt)
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| Guy Shrubsole - Who Owns England?: How we Lost our Land and How to Take it Back
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| Ground breaking research which shows that less than 1% of the population own half of England and why that matters (which includes issues of Climate Change). Shrubsole wondered why people were sleeping rough when large swathes of housing were standing empty. His research was getting nowhere so he set up a blog [whoownsengland.org] which together with trespassing on estates, digital mapping and the more recent 'Freedom of Information Act' enabled him to produce this important book. (Lynda Johnson)
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| Louis Theroux - Gotta Get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television
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| With its title taken from some t-shirt bootleg merchandise, Louis Theroux continues his autobiography in the same curious, awkward and self-deprecating style as his documentaries. Anxiety seems to be a keyword throughout his life, but allied both to a willingness to take chances and a fascination with people it also allows for a deal of thoughtfulness and meditation, continuing contact with many of his subjects for years after broadcast. A genuinely interesting and insightful read.
(Clive Yelf)
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| Sonke Neitzel and Harald Welzer - Soldaten - On Fighting, Killing and Dying: The Secret Tapes of German POWs
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| German POWs' conversations were routinely recorded by British intelligence officers and, with the transcripts being recently de-classified, these provide a new primary source for both a historian and a social psychologist. Examining the soldiers own views of their experiences and attitudes and how being a 'soldier' changes behaviour, it's a compelling and yet very difficult read, horrific in many parts and sadly lacking any sign of those redemptive flashes of humanity beloved of the movies.
(Clive Yelf)
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Poetry
| Sarah Crossan - Tomorrow is Beautiful: Poems to comfort, uplift and delight |
| Poetry has been making a come-back in recent years with the rise of the verse novel. There have also been some brilliant anthologies and this is one - the most recent. Sarah Crossan is a poet and novelist. Here she has collected a wide ranging selection of poems that reflect a sense of hope - there are poets from the past and many from the present. A volume full of glorious surprises.
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| Feedback |
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| I am tempted to pan recent releases for their overriding depressing dystopian tone. Even delivered in beautiful prose, novels need to contain some element of hope or redemption. If not, they may just as well be reports from the police and the domestic violence section of daily newspapers. (Margaret Teh)
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| I totally agree with everything Tony Pratt said about Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's one of those books that remain in the mind for months and I'm still amazed about how he managed to make me feel I knew and cared about a ROBOT! (Denise Lewis)
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| In the last bwl, Annabel Bedinia posed a question. Is it legitimate or even ethical for an author to base a fictional character on a real person and their life? Having just read David Grossman's More Than I Love my Life which is based on the real life story of Eva Panić Nahir my answer would be there is no dilemma when, as in this case, the author acknowledges his source which presumably neither Archer or West did. (Jenny Baker)
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| An interesting question that Annabel poses - but I disagree with her completely! There have been a lot of columns on a similar theme in the Times/Sunday Times recently, you've probably seen them. Also crops up with artists of all kinds, but I just think all are influenced and inspired by other people and experiences, often subconsciously (but not always!) and true originality is actually quite rare. To give a personal example - when we lived in Blakesley there was a writer - the village had several - and she wrote a series of novels about village life. She had lived in two local villages and always told one lot of villagers that her characters were based on the other village! We were very amused that for a posh family in 'the big house' she chose the name Standing, we of course being just peasant in-comers! It was always obvious who the characters were in fact loosely based on and then embellished. (Mary Standing)
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| Thinking about Annabel's question as to whether authors should take " real" people as characters for a novel, while I don't like it myself particularly - I prefer when the story is told by an "unknown" or minor character and the real feature but are seen through other eyes. - I don't think it is cheating as such. It can be exciting and open doors. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| It seems to me that the fourth estate has already purloined the life stories of such figures as Annabel mentions and sometimes indeed created them! Sadly there is salacious interest in the lives of prominent figures, witness The Crown, which I refuse to watch on Netflix in spite of the praise heaped on it from all quarters. I was on the other hand, fascinated by the mini series based on the Jeremy Thorpe scandal and also the one about the Profumo affair, which in fact tried to flesh out and elicit sympathy for Christine Keeler. The other more serious angle for me is that Teresa Gorman was my daughter's Godmother, and so I have had an unusual exposure to prominent figures and their lives. They relish the attention, I suppose I would conclude. Thank you for including me in the discourse Jenny. It makes your wonderful bookswelike more of a real book club. We might all be sitting round the fire, instead of floating in the ether. And thanks Annabel, for caring! (Margaret Teh)
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| It is important to remember that character and story-line theft have not always been considered plagiarism. In the time of Shakespeare, blatant transgressions were skills highly applauded by the Elizabethans. Creativity was measured in how well a writer could embellish and expand upon a known 'source'. A perfect example of a 'source' was Sir Robert North's translation of Plutarch's 'Life of Marcus Antonius'. Shakespeare lifted - straight from the source - the details from nineteen lines of prose describing the person and the barge of Cleopatra. He then made a 'lively turning' of these words to create twenty-eight lines of 'richly evocative verse' for his play 'Antony and Cleopatra'. The source of this information is 'The Genius of Shakespeare' by Jonathan Bate. In the real world, both of the books by Archer and West were well-received by the general public, and one was even turned into a film. All things considered, I take the Elizabethan point of view that works written purely for our entertainment should be primarily judged on how well they have entertained. (Sharron Calkins)
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