bwl 61 - Summer 2011
Fiction
| Sybille Bedford - A Legacy
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| Like Jigsaw (bwl 27 and 39) this enthralling novel is semi-autobiographical. Set in Germany, France and Spain, it traces the history of Bedford's family before WW l. Her father was a German aristocrat her mother a Jewish-German who was partly English. Based on fragments, memories, hints and half revealed secrets there is something Proust-like about its style but happily minus the longueurs. If you enjoyed The Hare with Amber Eyes, I think this is one for you. (Jenny Baker)
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| Charlotte Bingham - The Wind off the Sea
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| Interesting, particularly as I remember the winter of 1947 and how severe it was. This is a romantic mystery, recalling the lives of a small community and how a kindly stranger, who seems to know the history of the place, can completely throw them off balance and make them review their present day situations. Again you do not know whether there will be a happy ending or whether people will ever recover from the stranger's arrival. (Shirley Williams)
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| Christopher Buckley - No Way to Treat a First Lady
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| The First Lady is accused of murdering the President. An entertaining and fast-paced story packed with outrageous and highly cynical humour at the expense of politicians, lawyers, the CIA, Hollywood and the media. A very good holiday read. (Tony Pratt)
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| Lee Child - The Hard Way
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| Kidnap in New York is a favourite subject in hard-hitting thrillers, but Child manages to be unusual and inventive, without sacrificing his talent for description and characterisation. The sound and feel of New York, the silence of the English countryside, the anger and despair of those involved, come over true and solid. The ties to the military in far-off places gives this an extra dimension. Reacher is slightly less plausible as super-hero, but for his fans a gripping read. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Delphine de Vigan - No and Me
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| Lou Bertignac is thirteen with an IQ of 160, a tendency to obsessive behaviour, and parents who've never recovered from the death of her baby sister. At a train station, Lou encounters No - eighteen, filthy and mercurial - and decides to interview her for a class presentation on homelessness. When No temporarily moves in with Lou, things change - but in unexpected ways. Written from Lou's perspective, the story is told with honesty and charm. (Siobhan Thomson)
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| Delphine de Vigan - Underground Time
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| Mathilde is a widowed mother who is being bullied out of her job by her boss. Thibault has just broken up with the woman he loves because he realises she will never love him back. Over 24 hours they travel through Paris, contemplating their options, never quite meeting and each doing an awful lot of self-indulgent moaning. I'm afraid I struggled to have any sympathy with either of them! (Siobhan Thomson)
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| Penelope Fitzgerald - The Blue Flower
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| To the dismay of both their families Fritz (the future Romantic poet Novalis) decides he's going to marry his 'heart's heat', twelve-year-old Sophie. Working round this historical fact, Fitzgerald draws us into late-eighteenth century Saxony, its extended families, their journeyings to and fro, their aspirations and fears, the intimate texture of their lives. She weaves a kind of magic without a single unnecessary word - I don't know how she does it, but it's truly wonderful! (Annabel Bedini)
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| David Foenkins - The Erotic Potential of my Wife
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| Knowing, amusing and definitely Gallic this novel is so French-farcical that I could almost see the Cage Aux Folles screenplay. The reader conspires with a reformed but inveterate collector as he seemingly conquers his almost autistic urges in order to win his wife and lead a 'normal' life. Resolve eventually crumbles as he admires his wife's legs whilst cleaning their windows, but ever-more desperate attempts to engineer and 'collect' these moments leads to much confusion . . . (Clive Yelf)
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| Mark Frutkin - Slow Lightening
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| The Spanish Civil War and engineer/artist Sandro has to flee Barcelona with the police on his tail. His journey back to his native village by bicycle, dodging road-blocks, encountering unexpected characters, intentionally echoes Don Quixote but the different kind of journey he undertakes hiding in the caves near his village is his alone, with lasting repercussions. A lovely book by a Canadian writer I'd never heard of before but will definitely look out for in the future. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Victoria Hislop - The Island
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| One of the most fascinating books I have read for sometime. A romantic story combined with a part of history, medicine and an area I knew very little about. Very sad in some parts and you do not know until the end whether there will be a happy ending of some kind. Very difficult to 'put down', but what joy to realise that in some parts of medicine we have well and truly 'made a difference'. (Shirley Williams)
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| Michel Houellebecq - Platform
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| Just finished this second Houellebecq - never want to read another! Please remind me I said that when the English translation of his latest, The Map and the Territory, which won the Prix Goncourt, comes out. (Denise Lewis)
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| Sophie Kinsella - A Desirable Residence
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| An academic couple who bought a Tutoring College as a financial venture have a house they can't sell, two mortgages, mounting debts, and a miserable teenage daughter who didn't want to move and whose cat has had to be given away. With this recipe for disaster, Kinsella (writing under her real name of Madeleine Wickham) has produced, with wit and wisdom, a light but most worthwhile novel. Lovely read for holidays and in the bath. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Robert Littell - The Stalin Epigram
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| This remarkable novel is built round real people caught up in Stalin's Great Terror. Its central character is the martyred poet Osip Mandelstam and his heroic wife Nadezhda whose great memoir Hope Against Hope defines the period. As does this powerful book encapsulating the triumph of the human spirit over a perverted ideology masquerading as the socialist promised land. I cannot praise it too highly. (David Graham)
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| Ian McEwan - Black Dogs
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| McEwan is so readable. Everything he turns his attention to is lit by his intelligence and sensitivity, and becomes interesting. The story centres on the lives of Bernard and June, parents of the narrator's wife. He uses flashbacks to tell their story, and to unravel the political, moral and religious ideas that shaped their lives. There is some lovely descriptive writing, especially of southern France. A very good read. (David Truman)
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| Audrey Niffenegger - Her Fearful Symmetry
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| A ghostly tale, centred around the gothic setting of Highgate Cemetery, which follows the life and after-life of Elspeth, sensitively exploring loss, desire, control and sacrifice through its array of intriguing characters including her lover and her estranged twin's twin daughters who, as a condition of her will, move from America to her London flat. Mystery and suspense build with promise but I was left unconvinced by the sinister elements which come to the fore. (Rebecca Howell)
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| Maggie O'Farrell - The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
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| Esme is a child who has been shaped by her family - particularly her mother,
who obviously has never liked her, her sister and her little brother who she
adores. More than sixty years later a grand-niece discovers her and takes
her under her wing. The novel is an unravelling mystery which takes the
reader on a journey of hope and despair and certainly kept me turning pages
for the whole of its length. A triumph indeed!
(Julie Higgins)
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| Catherine O'Flynn - The News Where You Are
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| O'Flynn's second novel is pitched against the background of Birmingham's legendary town planning and regional news programme. There is plot but its focus and beauty is the sensitive depiction of ordinary life through the vivid portrayal of Frank, a likeable news presenter, his family, colleagues and acquaintances. Despite his notoriety for bad jokes, Frank is prone to melancholy musings, illustrated by his obsessions over solitary deaths (think Eleanor Rigby). An easy, compelling read, witty and always poignant. (Rebecca Howell)
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| William Ryan - The Holy Thief
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| I have a new detective hero - Captain Alexei Korolev of the Moscow Militia's CID. Set in 1936 Stalinist Russia just as the pogroms are beginning, the author captures the edgy atmosphere of the city and a sense of conflicting beliefs as Communism takes over. The plot involves a stolen icon and is suitably convoluted, but it is Korolev who was the star - I will be looking for more. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| C J Sansom - Heartstone: Shardlake Goes to War
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| The fifth in the series. Katherine Parr is now Queen; lawyer Shardlake, charged by her servant to unravel the wrongs done to a young ward, becomes embroiled in the sinister world of the King's Court of Wards. War looms, a massive French fleet is approaching England. Over all hangs the ever present menace of the monster King and his powerful minions. Sansom, an historian as well as a novelist, paints a powerful picture of those malevolent times. (Jenny Baker)
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Non-Fiction
| Sarah Bakewell - How to Live: A life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer
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| I knew almost nothing about Montaigne. I did not realise that he invented the "Essay" as a literary form; a way of exploring thoughts and ideas. Using the framework of some of these thoughts, Bakewell presents Montaigne, the man, and his life. He steps off the page - it is a brilliant introduction to an extraordinary character. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Sarah Bradford - George VI: The full story behind The King's Speech
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| This accessible, detailed and readable biography has become the more relevant and interesting following the release of The King's Speech. Reading this book having seen the film brought the chief character, the King, his entourage, his family history, his whole reign vividly to life. Published in 1989 and now reissued, it is a breathtaking and fascinating read, with many valuable details and quotations from material only recently in the public domain. A great experience and highly recommended. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Stephen Clarke - 1000 Years of Annoying the French
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| Clarke, a Brit living in France, understands both the French and the English on their own terms, but is fascinated by their differences and their 'love-hate' relationship. This brilliant book with its serious undertone, is knowledgeable, full of entertaining anecdotes and gossip, and is as up to date as it can be. Sympathetic to issues both French and English, cheerful and devoid of pedantry: a book to read, to give to one's Francophile, or perhaps better still one's Francophobe, friends. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Stephen Clarke - Talk to the Snail: Ten Commandments for Understanding the French
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| Clarke not only understands the French, a major undertaking for anyone who isn't French but he has great sympathy for their peculiarities (I hesitate, being also a Brit, to call them failings ). This book about What, Why and How to Cope is not only hugely entertaining but serious and fair and, if one is, as Clarke says, linguistically challenged, one can get away with no knowledge of the language at all. Endearingly, his humour is often directed at himself and he never carps. Totally satisfying. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Edmund de Waal - The Hare with Amber Eyes: A hidden Inheritance
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| Inheriting 264 netsuke from his Great-Uncle is the catalyst for De Waal's quest to uncover their story. A fascinating account of the ascendancy of his Jewish family from the grand salons of Paris to the high society of Vienna. The Ephrussi's wealth and lifestyle are unparalleled but almost all is lost as the Nazis march relentlessly on Europe. De Waal's eloquent and modest style avoids sentimentality but one still feels the emotion as he uncovers his remarkable ancestry. (Rebecca Howell)
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| Elizabeth Gilbert - Committed: A love story
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| Eat, Pray, Love (bwl 60) ended with Elizabeth and a Brazilian-born Australian settling in America, swearing eternal love but never to marry. Then he is refused re-entry unless they do. This causes them to re-access their traumas and rediscover themselves and their mutual confidence. Included is a reflection on marriage customs in different countries and cultures and what can be expected of a permanent, loving union. As honest and illuminating as its predecessor - and oh so human. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Valerie Grove - So Much to Tell: The biography of Kaye Webb
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| Kaye Webb was an extraordinary person, synonymous with the "Golden Era" of Puffin. Reading this biography, one becomes aware that Kaye knew everybody from Walter de la Mare to Roald Dahl. Then there was The Puffin Club. Sadly it was too late for me. Kaye's energy and charisma spring off the page. She must have been overwhelming and impossible. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Max Hastings - Going to the Wars
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| Stimulating insights into war and war correspondents in places as diverse as Vietnam, Rhodesia and the Falklands. The first man into Port Stanley, Hastings himself is the star of this book - independently-minded, patrician, ruthlessly ambitious, self-critical, candid - at once both sympathetic and objectionable. Quotes with gusto devastating remarks made at his expense. (Tony Pratt)
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| Tom Holland - Persian Fire: The First World Empire and The Battle for the West
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| Before immersing myself in this wonderful historical narrative, I have to admit, I hadn't realised quite how impressive a creature the Persian Empire was, nor quite how arrogant, cocksure and, to be honest, slightly barmy the Greek city states must have appeared. However it also proves how military technological superiority allied to a favourable choice of battlefield (and possibly also being slightly barmy) can also change the course of history. A book to really savour. (Clive Yelf)
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| Thomas Levenson - Newton and the Counterfeiter
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| When William Chaloner began his extraordinary life as a counterfeiter of the King's (rather suspect) currency he probably never envisioned his bravado taking him almost to the position of running the Mint itself. A self-proclaimed 'expert', he hoped to remove the current incumbent after questioning and deriding his abilities. Unfortunately for Chaloner the new incumbent was Isaac Newton, forced by finances into a public position and not in the mood to have his abilities questioned. (Clive Yelf)
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| Charles Nicholl - The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street
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| This is a masterly evocation of Shakespeare's London during which he was a lodger in a house owned by one Mountjoy a French tire maker. He was involved in a matrimonial lawsuit in which the great playwright was a witness. His signature is on his witness statement, Charles Nicholl gives one a vivid sense of the man and his world. Mountjoy is a character in Henry V. Not a coincidence surely. (David Graham)
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| Helen Thomas - Front Row at the White House: My Life and Times
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| Thomas was the doyenne of the White House press corps, and this book covers eight presidencies, from Kennedy's to Clinton's. This compendium of her experiences is illuminating not only on the presidents themselves and their families, but on the on-going tussle between the public's right to know what their leaders are up to and the Executive's desire to cover up. Full of anecdotes and wise asides, this makes for fascinating reading, even on this side of the Channel. (Annabel Bedini)
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| Feedback |
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| Bwl is guaranteed entertainment. For the past few days I've been dipping in and out of it at random, sampling the reviews and comments of bwl reviewers. I may never move on to an actual book, just float about in the world of opinions and counter-opinions. I feel like the child who receives an expensive boxed gift on Christmas morning, then plays all day with the box only. Thank you for allowing me to paddle and splash around in your literary pool. Great, great fun! (Sharron Calkins) |
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| Must say the iPad has been wonderful for Middlemarch, despite having my lovely hardback copy which I've only read in the sun! It's just so easy on the iPad to look up all the words I didn't know, including all the Greek gods etc., you just hold your finger on the word, tap dictionary, and you have it. It's only the second book I've read on it, but already I don't feel that sense of alienation that I felt with the first one . . . and it was that American Jonathan Franzen so that could have contributed! And as I've been so immersed in it I can just pop it on the table and read when I'm eating etc . . . and it's so much easier to read in the car. (Denise Lewis)) |
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| As the person who wrote the review of The Finkler Question (bwl 59), I was amused by the comments in the last Feedback. What can I say? Simply that I was attempting to give it the benefit of the doubt. I felt I ought to try to see its good points, given its provenance and prize-winning status. But looking back on it, I agree with all the negative responses and wish I'd been more honest with myself! (Annabel Bedini) |
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| Nothing new for bwl I'm afraid. I'm just going through a phase of reading bits of different books at the moment (biog of Churchill, Macaulay's Towers of Trebizond, Chirac memoirs vol 1, Pride and Prejudice following taking a leaf out of Eloise's book by downloading all of Jane Austen for a pittance, etc). Took a sample first chapter of the latest le Carré and judging by that totally agree with my namesake's contribution in the last bwl. (Jeremy Swann) |
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| I recently read "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" (reviewed in bwl 57 I see) - I'm not sure how it happened that I came to read three French novels in a row (though not in French, I hasten to add). I found it highly entertaining, very charming and not in the least annoying! And for your amusement, I recently bought "The Blasphemer" which I was supposed to read for book club but (knowing that I was going to have to miss that meeting) chose not to, because I just knew I would dislike it (a good friend subsequently confirmed that I would "hate it"). I donated it to the raise-money-for-the-library bookstall at the school fair instead! (Siobhan Thomson)
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