bwl 42 - October 2007
Fiction
| Pat Barker - Life Class
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| Life Class left me disappointed. The essence of sacrifice and despair in the First World War that Barker captured in Regeneration (bwl 19) is sadly missing. Instead we are given sex and gore. Life at the Slade is illustrated by repeated name dropping and by real and imagined Bloomsbury figures gathering unconvincingly at the Café Royal. The most interesting angle was the examination of art in War. (Judith Peppitt)
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| Nicci French - Until it's Over
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| A series of coincidences dogs London cycle-courier Astrid Bell, all seemingly unconnected except for her presence, so that when in the course of her job she arrives to collect a package and discovers a dead body, for the police it is more than coincidence. Astrid lives with six others in a peaceful community which falls apart when faced with murder. Another suspenseful, psychologically believable and well-structured book, up to the French high standard. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Joanne Harris - Runemarks
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| Just another famous author cashing in on the youth market? Taking the Norse Myths as her background, Harris creates an 'alternative' world where Religion a.k.a. The Reason dominates the lives of all. But the old gods are stirring; imagination cannot be suppressed - and Maddy, who thought she was just ordinary, finds herself involved in a race to fulfil a prophecy. But can she really believe Loki the Trickster? Richly imagined; worth reading. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Georgette Heyer - The Reluctant Widow
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| Feeling low - the cure: Georgette Heyer; not to everyone's taste, she is ideal for those 'Mars Bar' occasions. Lively characters, an ability to write dialogue and a sense of history - she does bring the past to life. While The Reluctant Widow may not be her best, it combines humour, mystery and romance into a very satisfying whole that does not require too much concentration but lifts the mood. Indulge yourself - try her (Stephen Fry does!). (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Khaled Hosseini - A Thousand Splendid Suns
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| Set in Afghanistan, this story of two women - both forced to marry an ignorant and brutal man - becomes a sort of metaphor for the turbulent history of that country from pre-Soviet invasion to Taliban rule, portraying all the horrors of war: loss, repression, starvation, physical and mental abuse. Yet finally the women find some sort of redemption through the power of love. It's an immensely readable and worthy successor to The Kite Runner (bwl 29). (Jenny Baker)
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| Alexander McCall Smith - Love Over Scotland
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| The third in the 44 Scotland Street series won't need recommending to McCall Smith fans, who've probably read it already . . . Personally, I believe it's easy to underestimate these deceptively simple stories of Edinburgh life. They may seem overly cosy and occasionally stretch our credulity (would six-year-old Bertie be accepted by the orchestra?) but underlying the quiet fun is a solid and philosophical perception of how real people act in a real world. (Annabel Bedini)
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| C J Sansom - Dissolution
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| If you've read this author's Winter in Madrid (bwl 38) you might enjoy his Tudor crime novels featuring Matthew Shardlake, a hunchback reformist lawyer and his loyal assistant, Mark. In this first book - there are two others - he is sent by Thomas Cromwell to investigate sacrilege and a gruesome murder in a monastery on the Sussex coast. Fast paced, atmospheric, full of satisfying historical detail, I guessed the who but not the why. (Jenny Baker)
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Non-Fiction
| Bill Bryson - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
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| Fans of Bryson won't be disappointed - this is a funny book. But underpinning this affectionate account of a 1950s Mid West childhood is a deeper reflection on changing America, from innocent optimism to uncertainty and moral duplicity. This is Bryson in elegiac mood (the book ends: 'What a wonderful world it was. We won't see its like again, I'm afraid') but also giving his country stick - sugar-coated, maybe, but stick nevertheless. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion
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| No sitting on the fence with a title like that and Dawkins 'does what he says on the tin', by addressing the claims of religion and dispatching them one by one. Which is fine but I suspect most readers at the very least treat religion as a cultural comfort blanket and this book eventually comes across as a touch of Supper-Nanny 'tough love'. Next he'll have a go at Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy . . . (Clive Yelf)
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| Helene Drysdale - Looking for George - Love and Death in Romania
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| Travelling around Romania with friends in 1979, undergraduate Helena meets priest-poet George. Back in Cambridge, she repeatedly receives yearning letters from him, begging her to help him escape. Twelve years later, Helena, now happily married, goes back to look for him, conscious that their encounter had changed his life. Her quest takes us through a subdued and frightened but still beautiful post-Communist Romania, and she finally uncovers the mystery of his disappearance. An unforgettable story. (Diana Davies)
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| Roger Fisher - Getting to Yes - Negotiating agreement without giving In
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| and William Ury and Bruce Patton
This very readable paperback proved an excellent solution to my search for a simple guide applicable to any situation (political, business, family, etc) in which a conflict between two parties needs to be resolved. The authors' connections with Harvard University and Harvard Law School testify to their knowledge, experience and authority in this area. Not surprisingly this small volume is a bestseller worldwide.
(Jeremy Swann)
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| Ed Husain - The Islamist - Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left
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| This is a chilling tale of a teenage Muslim who adopted fundamentalism and five years later rejected it. He explains so well the mind-set and commitment behind 'jihad' and the way it is a cancer slowly spreading in our midst. Everybody should read it because it is happening in our country. (Veronica Edwards)
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| Boris Johnson - Have I Got Views for You
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| And now he's standing for Mayor of London! But from way back as contributor and editor of The Spectator magazine and popular celebrity on TV, he is renowned as a bit of a clown in the UK. His weapon is humour behind which he makes salient points about serious subjects from politics to personalities. Whatever one's political affiliation, it's a good, entertaining and thought provoking read. You won't be disappointed. (James Baker)
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| Tim Mackintosh-Smith - The Hall of a Thousand Columns - Hindustan to Malabar with Ibn Battutah
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| If you can stand the knowing, flowery, often campy facetious prose, this is a marvellous read, remarkable for the author's erudition and profound sympathetic understanding of ancient and modern Hindustan which he manages to straddle and discuss, with many other related matters, all the while searching for/accompanying 14th century Moroccan philosopher Ibn Battutah on his travels. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| John Man - Genghis Khan - Life, Death and Resurrection
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| Everyone has heard of Genghis Khan but this new biography, supported by firsthand knowledge of Mongolia, highlights his complicated nature and discusses not only his dream of world domination leading to the largest empire ever known, but how a horrific mass-murderer and cold-blooded conqueror of millions could be revered, in Mongolia, as the father of his country, the founder of a dynasty, a spirit to be worshipped and a positive force for peace and reconciliation. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| William Manchester - The Last Lion: Vol. II, Alone 1932-1940
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Manchester analyses, brilliantly and passionately, the long wait endured by Churchill - not least due to his own fault - before becoming the great British War Leader, embodiment of victory to millions. Manchester gives him to us warts and all, from a backbencher - at 58 'already regarded as an anachronism' - to his coming to power in 1940, 'because he had seen through Hitler from the very beginning'. Let's hope that Volume III maintains this standard.*
* Editor's note: The Last Lion, Vol. I - Visions of Glory 1874-1932 was reviewed in bwl 41. William Manchester had started to work on Vol. III - the last of the series - but died quite recently. Apparently it will be completed and published in the foreseeable future as a posthumous edition. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
* Editor’s note: The Last Lion, Vol. I - Visions of Glory 1874-1932 was reviewed in bwl 41. William Manchester had started to work on Vol. III - the last of the series - but died quite recently. Apparently it will be completed and published in the fore |
| Orhan Pamuk - Istanbul - Memories of a City
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| The Turkish author, born in 1952 and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006, paints an elegiac picture in which he compares Istanbul today with how he remembers it from his childhood/youth and from stories of when it was the capital of the extensive Ottoman Empire. Although mournful and, as I found, better read interspersed with lighter stuff, Pamuk's memorable and moving account is beautifully written and repays careful reading. (Jeremy Swann)
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| Gordon Thomas - Gideon's Spies - The Secret History of the Mossad
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| Depending on which, if either, side one takes in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, this could be a comforting or disquieting picture of the lengths to which the Israeli security organisation Mossad goes to protect its state and citizens. The author provides an amazingly detailed account covering the period 1951 to 2004. It should prove an enjoyable read for any spy story aficionado. (Jeremy Swann)
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| Stella Tillyard - A Royal Affair - George III and His Troublesome Siblings
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| Famous for The Aristocrats (bwl 11), a compelling solid history recently made into a film, in her new book Tillyard discusses the life of George III and his siblings against, most unusually, the European aspect of the British royal house with its connections by marriage to Denmark and North Germany. An important issue is the birth, late eighteenth century, of the media's passion for revealing the personal scandals of royals and celebrities. Very rewarding. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Feedback |
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Wendy Swann writes:
A kind friend has given us a subscription to Slightly Foxed, The Real Reader's Quarterly, a booklovers' magazine consisting of articles and essays on beloved books both old and new, as well as on authors and other book-related matters. Slightly Foxed describes itself on its website (www.foxedquarterly.com) as intended 'for non-conformists - people who don't want to read only what the big publishers are hyping and the newspapers are reviewing'. Many of the contributors are authors themselves and even if you may never read some of the books/authors they recommend all the articles are lively and interesting and make excellent reading.
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Alice May (aged 8) writes:
I have finished the seventh Harry Potter book. I think it was really, really good, I enjoyed reading it too!
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