bwl 72 - Spring 2014
Fiction
| Jo Baker - Longbourn
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| A 'downstairs' version of Pride and Prejudice - focusing on the lives of the servants to the Bennett family. Clever twists and sub-plots link to 'upstairs' - the brutal side of war as experienced by the regular soldiers in comparison with the officers that visit the grand house, and descriptions of the tough life of the ordinary folk maintaining a smooth running household - make this book a light but beautifully crafted read. (Mary Standing)
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| Sahar Delijani - Children of the Jacaranda Tree
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| Written by a young exiled Iranian - apart from some early chapters in which the writing is overblown - this is a disturbing and moving account of children growing up with the knowledge, often unspoken, always there, of the terrible things suffered by their parents' generation resisting the fundamentalism following the '79 revolution. Shifting backwards and forwards in time, the Jacaranda Tree, throwing its shadow over all their lives, becomes the symbol of love and hope. (Jenny Baker)
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| M J (Molly Keanes) Farrell - Mad Puppetstown, Full House, The Rising Tide, Loving Without Tears
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| I have recently immersed myself in these stories of the lost world of the great Anglo-Irish houses and their families, published between the 1930s and 1950s, They have two main themes in common: the effect houses have on their inhabitants and - particularly in the last three - the effect obsessively possessive mothers have on their children (you wonder what her own mother was like). Despite their common ground, Keanes never repeats herself, each story having its own acute perception and wit and appreciation of natural beauty (including rousing descriptions of her beloved hunting). What is more you don't know until the end if the dreadful mothers will 'win' or get their come-uppance, which makes each book a page-turner. I thoroughly recommend them if you can get hold of them! (Annabel Bedini)
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| Sebastian Faulks - A Possible Life
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| Five diverse short stories set in the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, a Victorian workhouse, a future time in Italy, nineteenth century rural France and the hippy US music scene in the 1970s. They are linked by a strong narrative and haunting characters as they try to make sense of their lives which have been shaped and determined by random events, while struggling to connect with those around them. (Sue Pratt)
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| Sebastian Faulks - Jeeves and the Wedding Bells
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| For fans of the master, just when you had accepted that there couldn't be any more, a new Jeeves and Wooster story. Faulks comes up with amusing dialogue and some classic Wodehouse situations: a scene in which Wooster, impersonating a butler, disastrously serves dinner, is up there with the best. But he lacks Wodehouse's deft economy with plot and character and sometimes the pace slackens. Still an entertaining read. (Tony Pratt)
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| Nathan Filer - The Shock of the Fall*
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Matthew a young schizophrenic, has been sectioned. He is writing and drawing his life story sometimes on a computer other times on a typewriter. He's trying to make sense of his life, his grief and his guilt following the death of his younger brother. The author is an experienced psychiatric nurse and makes Matthew into a living, breathing human being. Sad and funny, it's a remarkable read and, unlike some prize-winning books, fully deserves the awards it has won.
*2013 winner of the Costa First Novel Award and also the overall Costa Book of the Year
(Jenny Baker)
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| Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
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| A dark wonderland for the modern world. But down this rabbit hole is London Below, where all those who slip through the cracks end up. By helping a lady called Door, Richard - a hapless everyman - accidentally gets drawn in to this world and tags along to help her avenge her family's murder. Blending mythology with Tube names (it's no surprise there's an angel called Islington), this story conjures up a mystical place underneath our feet. (Kate Ellis)
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| Jack Higgins - Night of the Fox
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| Based on one of the most daring escapes of WW II, although fiction the historical facts are true. I knew very little about the occupation of the Channel Islands but what initially attracted me was the mention of Devonshire' s Slapton Sands which I had often visited and was the training place for the D-Day Landings. The story has many exciting twists and turns and the ending is not easy to foretell. Lighthearted and enjoyable. (Shirley Williams)
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| Andrea Levy - Small Island
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| Gilbert, an ex-RAF Jamaican, returns to London expecting a hero's welcome. His wife, Hortense, joins him there in hope of a better life. They rent a room from Queenie, whose husband Bernard has failed to return from his wartime post. When he does, he is appalled to find black immigrants living in his house. Four unique narratives reveal the protagonists' individual passions and prejudices in a book that is both funny and touching. (Siobhan Thomson)
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| Penelope Lively - Consequences
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| The book opens as they meet on a park bench in 1935 and is all about what happens next and over the next seventy years. Beautifully told and with delightful characters, it mirrors the changes in life and society during this time. The consequences of the title demonstrate how chance events have far reaching outcomes. For me the only criticism is in the ending - too convenient and improbable I'm afraid. (Sue Pratt)
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| Joseph O'Neill - Netherland
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| A cricket-playing Dutchman abandoned by his wife to their temporary apartment in The Chelsea Hotel in a post 9/11 NYC. This story has a surreal feel but captures the essence of New York with its endless possibilities. Hans's detached and increasingly desolate existence regains meaning when he is drawn into a friendship with his charismatic team mate, Trinidadian, Chuck Ramkisson. Chuck is living the American dream and has it all figured out . . . Excellent. (Rebecca Howell)
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| Barbara Pym - Excellent Women
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| What an excellent book. Pym deserves the accolades she has received and it is great that her reputation has been revived. In Mildred the reader meets a character who despite the rather bleak status she ascribes to herself of being an excellent woman, nevertheless is not to be pitied. Her observation of her world will make you smile - and wince. Pym's dialogue is a joy to read. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Philip Reeve - Mortal Engines - sequence
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| There are four novels in the Mortal Engines sequence: Mortal Engines; Predator's Gold; Infernal Devices and The Darkling Plain. Written for a teenage audience, these are for grown-ups too. Do not be put off by the description "steam punk". Here is a brilliantly imagined world where Municipal Darwinism rules. However, it is the characters who will stay with you. Highly recommended (Ferelith Hordon)
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| William Sutcliffe - The Wall
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| Published both as an adult and a children's novel, this is very much an example of the "cross-over". Though Sutcliff uses imaginary names it is clearly set on the Israel-Palestine border. When Joshua kicks his football over the Wall that keeps him safe (as he has been told), he decides to rescue it. What he discovers changes his life forever. Didactic, perhaps, but well worth reading. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Colm Tóibin - Brooklyn
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| Despite Jenny's reservations in her review in bwl 56, this for me was an absorbing exposition of how situations, the plans of others and our own vulnerabilities draw a person into making fateful choices in life and it passed the "what happens next?" test. The limitations of life in rural Ireland and among those clinging on in Brooklyn are convincingly portrayed although one development stretches credulity a bit. A clear and gripping story. (Tony Pratt)
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| Mary Wesley - Part of the Furniture
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| A believable, easy to read book, lighthearted but sad in many ways: relating how a 17-year old sees off two young men she has loved all her life and explaining the confusion of everyone at the beginning of WW II. It also shows how some young people were lucky enough to find respite from the turmoil of a broken family. Very difficult to 'put down' or predict whether the final twist would be happy or disastrous. (Shirley Williams)
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| John Williams - Stoner
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| This is quite simply a wonderful novel. Written in spare, simple, brilliant prose it is the story about an academic at an American university. It is also universal in its tragic eloquence. Stoner is in his life an heroic, flawed man who fights the good fight. A must read. (David Graham)
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Non-Fiction
| Pete Ayrton - No Man's Land
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| This book contains extracts both English and European of the literature of The First World War. If it has one common denominator it is of the futility waste and horror of that conflict. It is both moving and savagely eloquent and deserves a wide readership. (David Graham)
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| Rachel Cooke - Her Brilliant Career
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| Portraits of ten pioneer women achievers of the 1950s. The range is broad, from cookery writer to barrister and some - such as Nancy Spain, Sheila van Damm and Jacquetta Hawkes - were better known to me than others. But all are brought vividly and sympathetically to life and their fascinating lives illuminate the England of the time. Much to admire in the subjects and even more to like in the author. (Tony Pratt)
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| Douglas Hurd and Edward Young - Disraeli: or The Two Lives
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| Ironically, it takes a former Tory Foreign Secretary (with help) to change our perceptions of his most illustrious Victorian forebear. This short study is a complete hatchet job of the icon of one-nation Toryism (Dizzy didn't ever espouse this). In real life Disraeli was vain, unprincipled and treacherous. In death, until now, history has treated him well. This is a wonderfully compelling and refreshing re-evaluation. What next - a Clegg exposé of Gladstone's shortcomings? (Jeremy Miller)
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| Robert Macfarlane - The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
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| I was captivated by this exploration of ancient paths as diverse as the Icknield Way, The Broomway, sea 'paths' throughout the Hebrides, wanderings along disputed areas in Palestine, the Camino in Spain and the sacred peak of Mount Kailash in Tibet. Macfarlane weaves literature, history, geology and cultural anthropology into his lyrical descriptions as well as a moving memoir to his grandfather and a brief but poignant biography of his spiritual guide Edward Thomas. Unforgettable! Have bought my first pair of walking boots! (Denise Lewis)
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| Roger Pielke Jr - The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and politics
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| What's the difference between tornado politics and abortion politics? And how do we know when to rely on evidence? Written with a focus on policies and politics, it's just as appropriate for thinking about how we as society use science to inform our decisions, and what roles scientists might and could play in this. With almost no assumptions about prior knowledge, it's a fascinating read for those who've wondered about how big decisions are made. (Kate Ellis)
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| Edward Platt - The City of Abraham: History, Myth and Memory: A Journey through Hebron
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| The politics of the Israel-Palestine conflict are fraught and divisive. Here Edward Platt describes how he became fascinated by the city of Hebron, situated right in the middle of the argument; a city that like Jerusalem is at the centre of three world faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam since all claim descent from Abraham. I found it readable and bleak. But the history is fascinating. (Ferelith Hordon)
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| Jane Robins - The Trial of Queen Caroline: The Scandalous Affair that Nearly Ended a Monarchy
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| This unravelling of all the razzamatazz surrounding Prinny's repudiation of his wife leads to a greater understanding of the rise of the forces of the press and public opinion, and how by influencing each other pressure was put on the political and social issues of the day. This royal sex scandal threatened to trigger a revolution; Caroline became the 'People's Princess' long before Diana. A watershed in British history for the power of the press and its influence on politics. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)
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| Nina Stibbe - Love, Nina
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| This very entertaining book is an account of the years Nina Stibbe spent working as a nanny to a publisher's family. Set in North London in the 1980s, the material for the book came directly from letters she wrote to her sister who discovered them in a box during a house move years later. Many well-known literary names make appearances - Alan Bennett is a neighbour and regular supper visitor - conversations round the table hilarious, characters delightful. (Mary Standing)
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| Barbara Tuchman - August 1914
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| There could be no better time to read this definitive and vivid account of
the first thirty days of the Great War by a masterful and highly accessible
historian. Though Tuchman wrote this in 1963, it hasn't dated except in one
instance. Modern historians are perhaps more forensic about the horrific
atrocities committed during the German invasion of Belgium, sensitised by
contemporary stories of ethnic cleansing. Hopefully, history in this regard,
will not repeat itself. (Jeremy Miller)
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| Simon Winder - Danubia: A Personal History of Hapsburg Europe
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| Try as I might, and I have tried really hard, I cannot get into this book. The
author eschews the idea of family trees and chronological narratives which
makes life quite difficult. Danubia has been hailed as extremely funny.
Have I missed the joke? For me it is just too quirky and confusing and he
takes the reader's knowledge too much for granted. Better perhaps to read
this on holiday in latter day Hapsburg dominions. (Jeremy Miller)
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| Feedback |
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| Jenny, I'm glad you enjoyed Dear Life (bwl 71). You say that you are new to Alice Munro, but I (light-heartedly) refer you to my review of Selected Short Stories (bwl 14)! and also more recently Christine Miller's: Too Much Happiness (bwl 60) - could it be that you are not acting on bookswelike recommendations?!!! We thought you read all of them! I also highly recommend the first Munro that I was introduced to: Open Secrets - I have re-read this many times, though some of the stories probably appear in the later collection. Some people seem to find her stories rather cold, or disturbing, and possibly it's a question of getting used to the language of them and the particular landscapes, physical and emotional, that she writes about, because (like 'fine wine or malted whisky') they are worth taking time over and relishing. (Victoria Grey-Edwards)
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| bwl 71 was another fascinating selection - definitely need to give up work to devote more time to reading. So glad, Jenny, you enjoyed the Alice Munro - I am a big fan, as is a Canadian friend who has lived here for many years. However, when she selected a book of Munro's short stories for her book club, it was received with much less enthusiasm much to her surprise. (Christine Miller)
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| Just meant to say that I loved reading Midnight in Peking (bwl 67) - couldn't put it down. (Judith Peppitt)
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Feedback on Kate Atkinson's Life after Life (bwl 69)
A book of consequences and second chances in life. What if ? Different versions of Ursula's life are laid out before us over the last century with WW II being a pivotal theme. A clever and complicated work but the language is gently crafted to make it a flowing and fascinating read. (Rebecca Howell)
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Kindle thoughts
Pros:
1. Portability: slip it in your handbag or pocket so you always have something to read on the train etc.
2. Great on holiday: no more carting around a heavy pile of books
3. Ease of download plus browse and try at home: end up buying more than you intended!
4. Backlight: good for reading at night without waking your partner or in the garden on a warm summer twilight evening (once in a while anyway)
5. Keep an eye open: often bargains to be had and new books cheaper than hard backs
Cons:
1. Not easy to navigate if you want to refer back or check a family tree for example
2. For same reason not good for guidebooks and some non fiction when you want to skip back and forwards
3. Subjective, but I'm not good with touch screens. Touch something or a bit of the screen and all goes haywire
Overall: Best thing since sliced bread and would hate to be without it. (Sue Pratt) |
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