bwl 15 - October 2002
Fiction
| Paul Auster - The Book of Illusions
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| When I read the very good reviews here and there about Auster's latest book, I thought: "a story about a Vermont professor writing about a comic genius of the silent cinema, no way!" And then I bought it and read it and urge you to do the same. Do the same because of Auster's talent! (Laurence Martin Euler)
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| William Boyd - Brazzaville Beach
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| This is a remarkable fictional account of participation in a scientific study of the behaviour of chimpanzees against a background of civil war in the Congo. There are flashbacks to the narrator's matrimonial problems in England where she worked on a historical survey of hedgerows. Combining these unusual elements the author has constructed a compelling story which I strongly recommend. (Jeremy Swann)
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| Joan Clark - Latitudes Of Melt
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| In 1910, the St. Croix family rescue and raise a baby from an ice pan off Newfoundland's coast. Sea and ice are pivotal to the story, as are the child's magic qualities. Travelling between both shores of the Atlantic back and forth in time, her heritage is eventually revealed. It is beautifully written and, to quote Carol Shields, "... has wonderful moments of clarity and transcendence, but never loses sight of what an ordinary life is". (Polly Sams Plant)
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| Agnès Desarthe - Five Photos of my Wife
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| I would probably never have read this book if it hadn't been chosen for the book group I attend. An old man coming to terms with his wife's death, old age, his own mortality, his Jewish origins and family. Serious stuff, yet the book is strangely light hearted, its tone set by his decision to search the Yellow Pages to find an artist who will paint a portrait of his wife. It's quite a find. (Jenny Baker)
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| George Eliot - Middlemarch
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| Don't laugh! Most of us probably read this marvellous book out of duty, and far too young; or at most saw the BBC TV version. But beyond the required Victorian conventions it's a very adult book, the characters real and recognisable to us despite their 19th century country-town context, their fate evolving with unerring respect for human truth. A truly great novel - and what's more you genuinely want to know what happens next! (Annabel Bedini)
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| Nicci French - Killing Me Softly
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| Alice Loudon is well-adjusted, has good friends, wonderful career, loving boyfriend. One day she meets a stranger on the street and is hooked, literally and figuratively. Although some of this is not really new, the description of the strong sexual relationship is done with reticence and taste and shows, quite clinically but without the psychologist's jargon, how much easier it must be than we think to become obsessed with someone and an easy prey. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Batya Gur - Murder on a Kibbutz & Literary Murder
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| In both these books, the same hero who appeared in The Saturday Morning Murder, Israeli police inspector Michael Obayon, is involved in an enquiry into the mysterious deaths of members of two different closed societies. Quite apart from the ingenious whodunit plot of these novels, the intricacies of their recherché settings added much to the enjoyment I experienced in reading them. (Jeremy Swann)
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| Rosemary Rowe - A Pattern of Blood
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| A crime story which takes place in Roman Britain. Something a bit different which I enjoyed. (Julia Garbett)
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| Richard Russo - The Whore's Child
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| These short stories are like wonderful small novels. Each time you don't want the story to stop as you do want to know more about his characters' lives. It's the kind of book you want to have with you all the time and read it and re-read it as often as you can. (Laurence Martin Euler)
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| Vikram Seth - An Equal Music
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| A novel for all who enjoy a well written story but this one is enhanced by its musical background. The love story of Julia and Michael (love that is lost, found but ultimately denied) is paralleled by the musical theme. It is a beautifully written story which resonates when you finish it rather like a piece of music echoes in your head long after a concert. (Christine Miller)
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| Carol Shields - Unless
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| This is a remarkable book to linger over and savour and especially so as it is probably Carol Shields' swan song. Reta Winters, successful as a translator and as a writer of light fiction, is happily married with a family and a lovely house. Then all her certainties are challenged when without warning her eldest daughter decides to spend her days sitting on a Toronto street corner, a sign saying 'Goodness' hanging round her neck. (Jenny Baker)
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| Anita Shreve - Fortune's Rocks
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| This is the first book I have read by this author and I can't wait to try more. A lovely novel about a young girl in her mid-teens, holidaying with her parents at fashionable Fortune's Rocks on the east coast of America. Set in the very end of the 19th century, this is the tale of her passionate and destructive affair with a man much older than herself. I couldn't put it down. (Caroline Winstanley)
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| Iceberg Slim - Mama Black Widow
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| A Chicago pimp of the 1940's gives authentic voice to the deprivation, bigotry and despair of a whole underclass. Charting the inevitable destruction of a black plantation family's move to the city, this makes raw, uncomfortable but memorable reading. Like a Greek tragedy the malignant influence of the eponymous mother ultimately destroys them all, including the narrator, her drag queen son Otis. The dialogue may grate but the overall effect is to shock and disturb. (Clive Yelf)
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| Laurence Sterne - The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy
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| Although I haven't yet read the whole of this 18th century blockbuster, I felt I should lose no time in recommending it, the first stream-of-consciousness novel in the history of English fiction. To put it mildly, it is a remarkable work. Humorous, bawdy, digressive beyond belief, and full to the brim with vitality and sheer joie de vivre. (Jeremy Swann)
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| Rose Tremain - Sacred Country
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| Probably no need to recommend anything by Tremain - we all know her - but the subject matter of this one seems noteworthy: the right to pursue one's personal destiny, however unconventional and however great the obstacles. As usual, the development of her theme is beautifully and sensitively handled and provokes thought; but how does she manage to be so different with each book? (Annabel Bedini)
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| Brady Udall - The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint
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| Half-Apache child is run over by the mailman and left for dead. His quest to find the mailman and reassure him of his survival keeps Edgar going through small-town hospital, back-of-beyond reform school, non-functional Mormon foster family, the persistent attentions of an ambiguous 'protector' and more. Top marks for story-telling and writing (except for ubiquitous 'awhile' in place of 'a while'). An odd, engaging, funny, touching book. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Jane Urquhart - The Stone Carvers
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| Set in the wilds of Canada, this is the story of Klara, nicknamed the spinster, and her brother Tilman, a boy who could never stay in one place. World War I changes their lives forever but both find a kind of redemption when in 1933 they join the carvers working on the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy Ridge. If you enjoyed Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks or Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, then read this you must. (Jenny Baker)
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| Gillian White - Mothertime
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| Gillian White writes as though she has a team of writers: her books are all quite different, very easy to read - and also very good. This one is about 5 children (aged from 6 to 12 years) who evolve an ingenious plan to 'tame' their difficult, alcoholic mother. How the plan unfolds and continues becomes believable. The final results are completely surprising. As good as Anne Tyler, but completely different. Does that make sense? (Julie Higgins)
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Non-Fiction
| Martin Bell - An Accidental MP
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| In 1997 Martin Bell took on the infamous Neil Hamilton by standing as Independent for a seat in parliament. His autobiography tells the story of his fight to be elected as well as quite a lot of background about his years as a war reporter working for the BBC. Very humorous at times, it makes for a really interesting read. (Caroline Winstanley)
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| James Davidson - Courtesans and Fishcakes - The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens
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| Athenians, it seems, avoided overt displays of wealth for fear of taxation, showing off instead at private dinner parties (symposiums) or in their choice of ruinously expensive courtesans (hetaera). This book not only looks at their attitudes to drink, addiction to fish and fluid system of inherited wealth but it also throws light on how these concealed yet 'consuming passions' were to affect the politics and the ultimate downfall of Athens itself. Fascinating and enjoyable. (Clive Yelf)
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| Lesley Downer - Geisha - The Secret History of a Vanishing World
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| If you enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha (bwl 10) then this book is a must. Lesley Downer travelled to Kyoto and spent many months exploring the vanishing world of the Japanese Geisha. She tells of her experiences in this book providing a fascinating insight into a very secret world. (Caroline Winstanley)
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| Winifred Foley - A Child Of The Forest
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| Born in 1914 in the Forest of Dean, Winifred grows up in a small mining village where there is never enough to eat, the miners are atheists and philosophers and the wives are religious to a woman. This is a moving and delightful depiction of a world I knew nothing of. The dialogue is in the vernacular and sounds authentic and interesting - almost a different language. Quick to read and very enjoyable. (Julie Higgins)
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| Marvin Harris - Our Kind - The Evolution of Human Life and Culture
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| 500 pages and 112 chapters make this the ultimate bedside book. From the human foot, the distribution of hair and meat hunger of hunter-gatherers to the longevity of the female, human sacrifice, the origins of the yuppie (well it was first published in 1989...). Harris is especially good at differentiating between cultural and biological evolution to provide a dispassionate view of how we got here and where we might be going. A really enjoyable read. (Clive Yelf)
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| P D James - Time to be in Earnest
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| The doyenne of current English writers of detective stories, peer and public figure, kept a diary over twelve months in 1998/99. In addition to recording her daily life, she reminisces about her childhood and her life as a civil servant before she was able to live by her pen. Very interesting on her involvement in promoting her books and the writing of detective stories as well as on a host of other topics. (Jeremy Swann)
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| Jennifer Lash - On Pilgrimage
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| I was at school with the author and knew her well, though I didn't really appreciate her originality and powers of perception. After an operation for the cancer which eventually killed her she set off alone on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. This is a lively and moving account of her long journey through France, with numerous stops at places of pilgrimage both famous and almost unknown, on a quest for her long lost faith. (Wendy Swann)
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| Susan Loomis - On Rue Tatin
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| Having bought a dilapidated old house in Louviers, Susan Loomis and her husband set about restoring it. This is the story of their experience, from her days as a student cook in Paris to the moment the house is finished and she starts a cookery school. A cookery writer by profession, she fills her book with anecdotes and thoughts relating to food and each chapter includes delicious recipes. Anyone who loves cooking will love this. (Caroline Winstanley)
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| Pete McCarthy - McCarthy's Bar
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| More than the light-hearted pub crawl I had expected, often hilarious but thought-provoking too. The author drives slowly up the west coast of Ireland, taking in pubs and beauty spots and meeting a variety of funny, friendly people as he tries to make sense of his Irish/English identity. Whether you know the west of Ireland or not you may find this book makes you want to go there. (Wendy Swann)
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| Giles Milton - Nathaniel's Nutmeg
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| This tells the story of the spice trade in the 16th century and the desperate race between the Dutch and English to control the Spice Islands. It makes for a gripping tale - lots of grisly detail about the awful punishments that were doled out on board ship and the hardships the sailors had to endure, assuming they survived the journey. I'll never take a jar of nutmeg for granted again. (Caroline Winstanley)
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| Nick Rider - Short breaks in Northern France
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| If you're planning a day-trip, a weekend or a longer break, take this invaluable guide book. Each chapter concentrates on a specific region, high-lights an especially good restaurant, as well as recommending other places to eat, where to stay and shop, what to do and see. Our star finds were Nicol's, a small restaurant in St.-Valery-sur-Somme, the Hotel du Centre in Wimireux as well as the Parc Ornithologique du Marquenterre close to Le Crotoy. (Jenny Baker)
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| Christopher Ross - Tunnel Visions
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| Autobiography? Philosophy? From his position as part-time Station Assistant on the London Underground, much-travelled, widely-read Ross observes and ponders on humanity and its weird ways. The two strands of factual - and often very funny - account and philosophical reflection intertwine to produce an utterly original gem of a little book. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Chris Stewart - A Parrot in the Pepper Tree
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| Want a light-hearted, feel good read? Then look no further, especially if you have enjoyed Chris Stewart's best-selling, Driving Over Lemons (bwl 1). This continues the story of life in Las Alpujarras as well as a look-back at his earlier days, sheep shearing in midwinter Sweden and as a school boy drumming for Genesis. It's not all idyllic, in fact a lot of it is distinctly uncomfortable and not many of us would actually want the parrot! (Jenny Baker)
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| Margaret Visser - The Rituals of Dinner
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| Canadian academic sets her capacious mind to work on the 'origins, evolution, eccentricities and meaning of table manners' and comes up with a book every page of which is a feast in itself. Fact, anecdote, history, psychology, art - the how, who, why, what, when and where of eating habits are explored and explained in prose it would be a delight to read on any subject. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Richard Webster - Why Freud Was Wrong - Sin, Science and Psychoanalysis
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| A big, detailed and fascinating account that re-examines in detail the story of Freud and Psychoanalysis. Whilst admitting to Freud's undoubted genius, Webster attempts what he describes as a 'constructive' review of the case-histories, the relationships and the theories that helped shape the development of psychoanalysis. Central to this is the figure of Freud himself with his complex sexual, religious and messianic feelings. This is accessible, illuminating and fascinating stuff, well researched and persuasively argued. (Clive Yelf)
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| Feedback |
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Siobhan Thomson writes:
I've just scrolled through the 2002 list to see whether anything I've read recently has yet to be reviewed, but it seems not a one of my recent literary forays has been 'original' in that regard! A Feedback page sounds a great idea ... I would have had something to say about The Siege by Helen Dunmore (bwl 14) - very good, if bleak, Thinks by David Lodge (bwl 13) - also very good though for entirely different reasons and Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin (bwl 13) - ugh! |
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Julie Higgins writes:
Having been inspired to read Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible (bwl 4) I can only be grateful for the review. It has become one of my favourite books, and I recommend it constantly. I'm very glad to have discovered her. |
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Jenny Baker writes:
Since reading The Wrong Boy by Willy Russell (bwl 11) I've been urging all my friends to do so and also suggested it as a book choice to my reading group. Everyone has been over the moon about it. The consensus seems to be that, although it is billed on the cover as a comic masterpiece and parts of it are hilariously funny, it's underlying theme is very serious, even reducing some to tears. |
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