bookswelike

bwl 41 - August 2007

Fiction

Anita Amirrezvani - The Blood Of Flowers

Set in seventeenth century Isfahan. We follow the fortunes of the young heroine as she faces trials and tribulations before achieving happiness. She tells her own story, interspersing her narrative with traditional tales that act as a counterpoint to her own and emphasise the 'Arabian Nights' quality of this attractive novel. I loved it - the exotic background, the details of the rugs and especially the lively independent heroine, reminiscent of Sheherazade, herself. (Ferelith Hordon)

Jon Cleary - The Faraway Drums

Even the most faithful admirer of Morris and Dalrymple cannot fail to appreciate this novel of high adventure, set in 1911 British India. As with the best of this genre, it is firmly based on historical fact, although one is duly distracted by the flights of fancy. Major Farnol, soldier and political agent, discovers a plot to assassinate George V on his visit to Delhi. An intelligent love-story as well, what more can one want? (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Philippa Gregory - The Boleyn Inheritance

Anne Boleyn leaves an inheritance of suspicion, betrayal and death which haunts the lives of the three women telling the story: her devious, jealous sister-in-law Jane Boleyn, homely Anne of Cleves and poor little, fun-loving Katherine Howard. Overshadowing them all is the brooding presence of the now monstrous King and the political game being played by the scheming Duke of Norfolk. Meticulously researched, this is a must for any fan of this author's historical novels. (Jenny Baker)

Xiaolu Guo - A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers *

When the author arrived in London she began a diary which became the seed for this romantic comedy - written in deliberately bad English - about a Chinese girl's attempts to understand the language, weird customs and attitudes she encounters. Then she meets an Englishman who changes everything and she enters a new world of sex, freedom and self-discovery in which she learns that the Chinese meaning of Love is sometimes different to that of the West's.

*Shortlisted for the Orange Broadband prize for fiction 2007 (Jenny Baker) * Winner of the Orange Broadband prize for fiction 2007

Mary Higgins Clark - I Heard that Song Before

The latest in her long series, this who-dun-it is rather far-fetched but still eminently suitable for a journey or a holiday. The underlying theme is the uncommon but very real problem of sleep-walking, and Clark, in her usual professional manner, weaves it into an intricate family situation with the regulation surprise twist. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Mary Hoffman - The Falconer's Knot

In her latest novel for young people, Mary Hoffman pays more than a passing nod to the current vogue for period crime novels. Here the background is medieval Umbria. Silvano, accused of murdering the rich farmer Tommaso, must take sanctuary with the Franciscans in Gubbio. Here also comes Chiara, destined to become a nun. But there are more murders and now one of the friars is implicated. A stylish novel with a richly imagined background. (Ferelith Hordon)

Donna Leon - A Sea of Troubles

The latest Commissaire Brunetti story to come my way and this time most of the action takes place on an island on the Venetian lagoon inhabited by a closely-knit community of clam fishermen. Brunetti is called in to investigate the murder of two of them. His secretary Elettra arranges to holiday there on a search for clues. A high risk task which leads to much suspense. I loved it. (Jeremy Swann)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude

Although this author's superb Love in the Time of Cholera was reviewed in bookswelike (bwl 20), I was surprised to find that his masterpiece One Hundred Years of Solitude had not been reviewed before. This stimulating fantasy, featuring life in the imagined jungle settlement of Macondo in Colombia, set Garcia Marquez's feet firmly on the path towards his Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. I strongly recommend this remarkable feat of creativity. (Jeremy Swann)

David Mitchell - Black Swan Green

Covert stammerer and secret poet, 13 year old Jason Taylor is growing up in the deadest village in England, anticipating a stultifying year but he hasn't reckoned with smouldering family discord, a junta of bullies, the Falklands War, a Gypsy invasion, an eccentric old lady or the weird behaviour of creatures called girls. Sometimes funny, sometimes painful, this novel brilliantly evokes the bewildering world of adolescence. It surely must be semi-autobiographical. (Jenny Baker)

Ellery Queen, Erle Stanley Gardner & Rex Stout - The Four of Hearts; The Case of the Substitute Face; Some Buried Caesar

In urgent need of escapist literature and having read everything in the house at least twice, I fished these out of a box of dilapidated paper-backs waiting to be thrown away and gobbled with glee this feast of American crime fiction of the 1930s to the 1950s. The actual titles don't matter, any by these authors would do. The protagonists, Queen, Perry Mason and Nero Wolfe, share a kind of liberating anarchy, outwitting dumb cops (so different from our conventional Detective Inspectors), browbeating and tricking witnesses, faking evidence, the ends - getting the bad guys - robustly and unquestioningly justifying the means. What's more I thoroughly enjoyed the quirky, energetic, witty writing, anathema to teachers when I was a child but now appreciable as examples of a kind of literary freedom belonging to an age of innocence long gone. I may be talking nonsense (blame it on the heat and pre-holiday exhaustion) but for fun and pure escapism these seem to me to be hard to beat. (Annabel Bedini)

J K Rowling - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

This is the best book in the series by far with a good main plot and excellent twists and side stories. J K shows different personality traits in all characters including Harry, Ron and Hermione while those from previous books fit perfectly into the story, creating a sense of tension and suspense throughout. Some points at the beginning are slightly boring but don't be put off because all in all it is a fantastic read. (Eloise May)

Edward Rutherfurd - Sarum

Based on exhaustive research by the military historian John Chandler, this novel portrays the story of Salisbury from beyond recorded time to the present day. The landscape shapes the destinies of five fictional families depicted against real people and events throughout the centuries. These lives mirror the social and political forces that shaped Britain in a grand panorama, so deftly done that fiction becomes a tool for the better understanding of the sweep of British history. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Wilbur Smith - Shout at the Devil

For the fans of Smith's Courtneys of Africa this early novel will come as a surprise. Set in German East Africa on the eve of the First World War, two freebooting adventurers - one a flamboyant Irish-American, the other an impeccable young Englishman - pit their wits against the gross German Commissioner and wage their own private war against Germany. An engrossing and enthralling read against a little-known and well-researched background, with subtle political overtones. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Peter Stamm - Unformed Landscape

A strange but credible tale of a young Norwegian girl who has always lived north of the Arctic Circle in a remote seaside port. Although she has a job and a young child, she is terribly lonely. After two unsuccessful marriages she begins to discover the outside world and the feelings within herself which she has always suppressed. The simplicity of the author's style is almost provocative, but you feel he has touched upon a universal truth. (Pamela Jaunin)

Non-Fiction

Harold Acton - Memoirs of an Aesthete

The author, historian and poet, born in 1904 into a wealthy Anglo-American family resident in Florence, paints an evocative picture of local life with its mixture of nationalities and eccentric figures. Taken in small doses, I found this gossipy autobiography interesting about a number of leading members of European artistic circles and about his experience in China, where he taught for several years between the two world wars. (Jeremy Swann)

Theo Aronson - Napoleon & Josephine - A Love Story

Two outsiders, a Corsican and a Martinique 'Creole', find in each other a rock in tempestuous times. Despite lovers, totally opposite personalities and a passion that ebbed and flowed, they came to recognise each other as soul mates, divorced by need of an heir and separated by reason of exile and Josephine's unexpected death. The inevitable mingling of the political with the personal and the evolution of a remarkable relationship makes for a fascinating read. (Clive Yelf)

Richard Barber (ed.) - The Pastons - A Family in the Wars of the Roses

Three generations of the Norfolk Pastons carried on (and preserved) a copious correspondence as the men spent time in London defending their property rights. These modern-English transcriptions of their letters, ably linked by just enough historical and social commentary, show our Ancestors to be remarkably familiar - ambitious, John, staunch, conciliatory wife Margaret, disappointing son John 1 - despite the unfamiliar, heart-in-mouth struggles (often carried on by the women at home) to survive the lawless times. Fascinating! (Annabel Bedini)

Elizabeth Burton - The Early Victorians at Home

Do you know what day to day life in Victorian times was really like? This detailed account provides a fascinating portrait of the houses, furniture, food (much of it unfit for human consumption), medicine, recreations and gardens, at all levels of society. This is basically a scholarly work and the author quotes numerous sources. It is enlivened by her wry comments and frequent anecdotes and quotations. (Wendy Swann)

Dave Gorman - Googlewhack! Adventure

Tales of a comic's adventures following a crazy bet (another one!). A googlewhack consists of two words entered into Google that only produce one hit and Dave Gorman's self-imposed task is to construct a chain of ten whacks by meeting the page author and persuading them to find the next whack in the process. Good-natured, contrived but saved by the genuine reactions of the people he meets. Sadly I remain whackless after weeks of trying . . . (Clive Yelf)

Tom Holland - Persian Fire - The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

The story of Thermopylae has captured the imagination over the centuries. But it was only one incident in a much bigger story. In Persian Fire Tom Holland tells this story - the first great clash between east and west. This is history as it is meant to be told. Like Schama, Lane-Fox and Tuchman among others, Holland is able to bring this distant period alive - and in particular the characters. This is a book to read. (Ferelith Hordon)

John Lloyd - The Book of General Ignorance

and John Mitchinson "Everything you think you know is wrong!" is the watchword of this entertaining romp through misconception and second-hand knowledge. If you've seen the BBC programme QI, you know exactly what to expect and reading it you can almost imagine Stephen Fry's voice floating through your head. As a result you're willing to believe almost anything, although I had some problems with definitions, rather than facts, but that just kept me sharp and on the lookout! (Clive Yelf)

William Manchester - The Last Lion - Vol. I, Visions of Glory 1874-1932

One would think the last word had been written about Churchill but, in this exhaustive study, Manchester surpasses himself for objective and sympathetic historiography. Though he hides every vestige of the author, a hint of real pain permeates his portrayal of this complex personality. We come to understand how so much original thinking, dedication and ability went begging and how strong and even noble was the character who waited forty years for his chance in history. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Raleigh Trevelyan - The Fortress - Diary of Anzio and After

First published in 1956 but available in paperback from £0.01 from Amazon - or lash out on a hardback. In turns moving, exciting and disturbing, this young officer's account of war at close quarters as the Allies fought their way north from Anzio towards Rome in 1944 is all the more impressive given his extreme youth - he was 20. Sobering descriptions of death and severe injuries and throughout, of one man's bravery and will to survive. (Wendy Swann)

Feedback

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Jenny Baker writes...Here's a mind boggling snippet from the front page of July 19's Daily Telegraph:

"The publishers with no sense of sensibility

A fan of Jane Austen who sent plagiarised versions of her novels to publishers as a joke had most of his efforts unrecognised and rejected.

David Lassman submitted the opening chapters of Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion - changing only character names and titles - to 18 publishers and literary agents. Penguin, which republished Pride and Prejudice last year, said Mr. Lassman's effort was "a really original and interesting read" - but did not follow it up.

Alex Bowler, an assistant editor at Jonathan Cape, was the only person to recognise Austen's work."

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