bookswelike

bwl 75 - Winter 2015

Fiction

Ann Baer - Down the Common

With Wolf Hall (bwl 55) and Bring up the Bodies (bwl 65) about to be televised this imagined account of a year in the life of Marion, an ordinary medieval woman, fills in a few gaps by describing a life far removed from the Court of Henry VIII. I found it fascinating, but oh, what a struggle it was to merely survive! Each chapter represents one month, with exquisite pen illustrations by the author. (Mary Standing)

Sebastian Barry - The Temporary Gentleman

In his latest book, Barry continues to explore the lives of the Irish McNulty family who are at the centre of The Secret Scripture (bwl 53) and The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (bwl 57). Written in his lilting prose, this time the narrator is Jack, Eneas's brother, haunted by his memories of the past. Fans of Barry won't be disappointed but if you read this one first, the others are a must. (Jenny Baker)

Penelope Fitzgerald - The Bookshop

This, early, tale of a middle-aged woman opening a bookshop in an East Anglian village ends with such unmitigated sadness it's unkind to recommend it except for its clear-eyed (and often funny) evocation of an isolated community in the 1950s. Fitzgerald has an unerring instinct for the power-loving selfishness of 'proper' people intent on eliminating anything they have not thought of themselves, and the innocent, optimistic heroine's downfall rings all too true. It lived with me. (Annabel Bedini)

Richard Flanagan - The Narrow Road to the Deep North

The horrors of the Burma Railway are unflinchingly related, as Dorrigo Evans, surgeon and senior officer, tries to save his men. However it is more about the deep shadow this casts on his life and that of others who survived. Meanwhile the Japanese Commander tenaciously avoids capture as a war criminal. Another important thread is the love story that continues throughout the book. A complex book that is difficult to define in a few words. (Christine Miller)

Dick Francis - The Edge

While not one of his strongest, I still found myself gripped as Our Hero is given the task of exposing a smooth, ruthless villain trying to muscle in on the British racing scene. The action takes place on the Trans- Canadian railway, a train specially commissioned to advertise Canadian races. The pace may be slower than in many of Francis' thrillers - but he can still deliver a punch. Worth re-reading. (Ferelith Hordon)

Robert Graves - Wife to Mr Milton

Marie Powell (16, Catholic) married John Milton (33, Presbyterian, admirer of Cromwell) largely due to her father's debts. It was not a success and after a month, at the outbreak of the Civil War, she left him, returning only when it ended. A fascinating novel which throws a very different light, both personal and political, on the revered poet. An outstanding account of the times and the effects of the abrupt transition from monarchy to life in a Republic. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

A F Harrold - The Imaginary

and Emily Gravett
Many of us will have had an imaginary friend when a child. We grow out of them - but what happens if you don't want to? What happens to the friend. Amanda and her best (imaginary) friend, Rudger face this predicament as they come up against the sinister Mr Bunting. Harrold blurs the boundary between the real world and that of the imagination helped by Gravett's illustrations (Ferelith Hordon)

Eduardo Mendoza - An Englishman in Madrid

This book took a while to enjoy, but is very different to the usual ones; it is the hunt for a lost Velazquez. A stereotypical chaotic English Art Historian travels to Madrid on the brink of the Civil War, determined to find the missing masterpiece. He manages to get himself embroiled in every foreign plot occurring at that time in Spain. A gripping and very amusing tale. (Shirley Williams)

Patrick Modiano - The Search Warrant: Dora Bruder

Writer pieces together the story of a Jewish girl who goes missing in wartime Paris, throwing light on a dark period but it is the precarious nature of people's lives - how they slip beyond memory, and how they are lived n equally changing Quartiers and buildings of Paris = which registers. Nobel prize winning author who reminds me of W G Sebald. Highly recommended. (Tony Pratt)

Kenneth Oppel - The Boundless

A real Boys Own adventure and a thrilling train ride across Canada on a seven mile long train, its passengers representing every stratum of society. Will's father is the engineer who has designed and created this amazing machine sponsored by millionaire adventurer van Horne, and it is up to Will helped by a troupe of circus performers to foil the thief who wants rob him, Action packed adventure for young teens. (Ferelith Hordon)

John Preston - The Dig

The gripping story of the Sutton Hoo excavation, told from several points of view. A race against time and the onset of war as well as the archaeological event of a lifetime which gave rise to furious professional tussles and emotional change. Through it all, implicit themes of the rise and fall of civilisations, human impermanence and the possibilities for life after death are all the more powerful for being unstated. This one hooked me from the first line. (Tony Pratt)

James Robertson - The Testament of Gideon Mack

A n apostate Minister of the auld Kirk falls to a certain death but miraculously, after three days, he rises again to tell how he was saved by the Devil. Is he mad? Is this true? Is he having a joke? Mixing folklore, the supernatural, faith and its opposite, this is a tangled web that tingles the spine and, with its open-ended conclusion, challenges the reader to make of it exactly what they will. (Jenny Baker)

C J Sansom - Lamentation

In this sixth Shardlake novel, set in Henry VIII's final months, our hero is reluctantly drawn into an intricate plot concerning a stolen manuscript, which puts him, his associates and the Queen, Katherine Parr, in mortal danger. Dissidents are burnt alive. Lawyer and Historian, Sansom, brings Tudor London vividly to life, his characters, rich or poor, breathe. See back issues of bookswelike to read reviews of the previous books in the series. Let's hope this one is not the last. (Jenny Baker)

Colm Tóibin - Nora Webster

Step by step we follow Nora's life after the death of her beloved husband. She's no stereotyped weeping widow - Tóibin's inside knowledge (his father died when he was twelve) illuminates her fierce clinging to her own dignity, her stunned incapacity to be close to her children and her gradual discovery of another possible self. Written with quiet poetry and without obvious drama this intimate exploration of Nora's reality is nevertheless a subtly dramatic story. Compelling. (Annabel Bedini)

Alison Weir - A Dangerous Inheritance

A fascinating tale concerning two women of high birth, separated by time but linked by the most famous murder mystery in history: the Princes in the Tower. Lady Katherine Grey lived in Queen Elizabeth's time whereas Kate Plantagenet was the bastard daughter of Richard 111. The author very cleverly alternates between the two periods of history and the fates of the two ladies. A mixture of tragedy and love, showing how both periods were hard on anyone not conforming. (Shirley Williams)

Non-Fiction

Tracy Borman - Matilda: Wife of the Conqueror, First Queen of England

Although somewhat stilted and repetitious, here is a human profile of this overlooked figure. Connected to both French and English royal families, she contributed to the consolidation of Norman rule as well as founding churches and religious institutions. Of her nine children, her four sons became heirs to the French and English thrones. Remarkably, William took no mistresses and never got over her death. Excellent genealogical tables and a meticulous mention of varied and ancient sources. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

James Boswell - Boswell in Holland: 1763-1764

Dithery, depressed but dashing, Boswell was sent to study law at Utretch amongst those dreary Dutch, how staid, how boring even those in high society at the Hague. Having lost his journal before publication, this account relies on his personal memoranda, offering a glimpse of life among the upper classes during the Enlightenment before the French Revolution when so many were highly cultured as a matter of course. Very entertaining and very human. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Christopher Clark - The Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to War in 1914

In 1903, 28 Serbian army officers brutally murdered King Alexander and his Queen (she was reading a French novel at the time). So begins the most gripping and beguiling account of the decades of history that informed the events of 1914. That it takes over 100 pages just to describe the Balkan intrigues which culminate in Sarajevo is evidence enough that this is no ordinary history. Indeed it is a masterpiece not to be missed. (Jeremy Miller)

Nick Davies - Hack Attack: How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch

The Guardian's campaign to expose phone hacking in News International. In Davies's account the ruthlessness of NI's journalism was deployed with equal menace in its counter-attack on the Guardian. Politicians and police also come out very badly. The book ends with a wider critique of our society but this afterthought cannot equal the impact of the portraits of the Murdochs, Rebekah Brooks, Coulson et al in action. (Tony Pratt)

Malcolm Gaskill - Between Two Worlds: How the English became Americans

This scholarly, detailed history from the first calamitous settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the agonies of the Salem witch-trials and beyond, shows how the English colonies became an independent nation. The most original facet is the accent on the colonists: English men and women, deeply conservative, intolerant, hankering for older, purer forms of hierarchy and discipline. Self-righteous, fundamentalist, cruel and unforgiving as they undoubtedly were, their extraordinary courage produced forces which lit the fuse for revolution. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

William Hartson - The Things That Nobody Knows: 501 Mysteries of Life the Universe and Everything

If this book proves anything it's that the areas that we don't understand are the most interesting. Although at first glance it presents as a typical pot-boiler it actually covers a range of specialist subjects including mathematics, quantum mechanics and evolutionary biology and considers questions such as "What is the true value of the Hubble Constant?", before going on to explain the issues and why it's now referred to as the Hubble Parameter! Fancy that . . . (Clive Yelf)

Evelyn Juers - House of Exile: War, Love and Literature from Berlin to Los Angeles

Focusing on the dislocated existence of the émigré and exile in all its forms, Juers combines serious historical research and inspired creative writing in this collective biography of a group of European intellectuals centred around Heinrich Mann and his brother Thomas, including Bertolt Brecht, James Joyce, Franz Kafka and Virginia Woolf, all connected by their temerity to go on writing under extremely difficult circumstances. Full of anecdotal details, it reads like a novel. Fascinating! (Denise Lewis)

Jane Juska - A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-life Adventures in Sex and Romance

The 'New York Review of Books' advertisement read:
"Before I turn 67 - next month - I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me" which pretty much sums up the book. Documenting an intelligent but lonely woman's search for physical comfort, it's her choice of flawed and curious partners that provides the interest and humour. Or are all men like that? (Clive Yelf)

Penelope Lively - Ammonites and Leaping Fish: A Life in Time

This is not a memoir exactly rather a reflective look at old age, her own life, the history she has lived through, memories and how they shape us all, the pleasures of reading and writing and six objects important to her. The book is a joy to read - beautifully written (as you might expect), thoughtful and totally absorbing. If you have enjoyed her novels, you will enjoy this. (Christine Miller)

Neil MacGregor - Germany: Memories of a Nation

This is the companion volume to the British Museum's much lauded exhibition of the same name and accompanies the acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series in which MacGregor illustrates, as it were, the history of Germany in 30 episodes (still available as downloads*). It is easy to understand why people say that there should be an export ban on MacGregor. His lightly-worn but nevertheless erudite scholarship shines through everything he does. Floreat Neil!
*The website address is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dwbwz (Jeremy Miller)

Margaret MacMillan - The War that Ended Peace: How Europe Abandoned Peace for the First World War

If one had to read but one account of this momentous period of recent history, it perhaps should be this meticulously researched work since it certainly 'covers all the bases' between 1900 and 1914. However, to get getting a clearer picture, there are far more readable* and more intriguing** books. Whilst MacMillan has the advantage of not being European (she is Canadian), I felt no better informed after 608 pages, just exhausted.
*Tuchman's August 1914 qv **Clark's The Sleepwalkers qv (Jeremy Miller)

Henry Marsh - Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery

The occasional description of brain surgery may not be for the squeamish but this leading NHS neurosurgeon honestly describes his successes and failures with great compassion for his patients, their families and his colleagues. Another thread in the book is his critical frustration with the NHS itself as it loses itself in bureaucracy, delays and computer passwords. Some may wish to consider surgeons as 'gods' but I preferred his humanity. (Christine Miller)

Andrew Roberts - The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War

This one-volume history of WWII is unusually a critical study of the errors of both sides. Well researched, the author versed in his subject, does not sacrifice the theoretical for the personal. Very human and moving but very fair, much is seen from the German perspective and the 'what if' and 'ought to' are cogent and military-theoretically sound; the panorama is comprehensive but well constructed. A valuable contribution to the enormous mass of WWII literature. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

Charles Spencer - Killers of the King: The Men who Dared to Execute Charles I

The Civil War was over, Charles I captured and sentenced to death. This is the story of the fifty-nine who signed the warrant and their fate when Charles II reneged on his promise of amnesty and sought revenge to the last man. Thrilling, suspenseful and moving, Spencer provides a panoramic insight into the religious and political issues of the day, particularly pertaining to their effect on the budding colonialisation of America. An original and valuable addition to historical scholarship. (Kathie Somerwil Ayrton)

By Suggs - Suggs and the City: My journeys through disappearing London

In a conversational and amiable literary tour, Madness frontman Suggs takes a nostalgic look at those characterful bits of London yet to be developed, destroyed or sanitised. Being a fairly colourful character himself he can often call on his own anecdotes to illustrate the point (his breaking into the Groucho Club being a notable example) but sadly the text is punctuated with disclaimers that 'such and such' no longer exists. Get it while you can . (Clive Yelf)

Sylvain Tesson - Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin in the Middle Taiga

This diary of French explorer Tesson's six months living in a cabin on the shores of Lake Baikal is not about 'consolations (original title simply Dans les forets de Siberie): rather his quest for the freedom of mental and physical self-sufficiency. Trucked in over the ice - well stocked with vodka, cigars and books - and leaving in balmy early summer, this parallel exploration of internal and external landscapes is recounted with wonderfully quirky intelligence. A real delight! (Annabel Bedini)

Colin Thubron - In Siberia

This is a first Thubron travel work for me. I am impressed. His sensitive writing combined with the vast, bleak subject-matter of Siberia gave me a sense of the surreal. A fascinating but largely grim adventure into a post-Soviet wilderness, you feel the huge weight of history and loss hanging over an impoverished and isolated people. I wonder how much has changed now but I am not sure I am brave enough to travel there and find out. (Rebecca Howell)

Feedback

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Just read The Mussel Feast (bwl 74) and loved it. It's a small, slim book which demands to be read in one go. It begins cosily enough and then proceeds anecdote by anecdote to reveal the life of this so-called normal family and their tyrannical father. Even though he's not nice at all and his behaviour isn't funny, the story of how his wife and children try to live up to his impossible ideals of perfection manages to be comical as well as thought-provoking. (Jenny Baker)

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I agree with Jenny Baker, The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer (bwl 72) is a memorable read and remarkable for a debut novel. Told with compassion and empathy, with the additional insight and veracity of having been written by a mental health nurse. All the characters are finely drawn and totally believable. I felt part of their world. (Sue Pratt)

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I'd like to endorse every word of Ferelith Hordon's review of All Quiet on the Western Front (bwl 74). I too had avoided reading it when it was on our school reading list but thought the time had come, given the anniversary. The only thing I'd expand on is the 'universality' of this book. Written from the point of view of a German soldier in the trenches it could just as easily have been written by a Tommy - the horrors and deprivations are all too familiar as are the dogged attempts to keep cheerful and the snook-cocking at superiors. They were all so alike, those doomed young men - this book just underlines the senseless tragedy of that terrible war. (Annabel Bedini)

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Christine Miller's comment on 'The Goldfinch' (bwl 74) struck a chord with me. Why do some novelists have to be so long-winded? I note that the novel is one of the least finished on Kobo. Hilary Mantel's novels about Thomas Cromwell are enjoyable but why does she need three volumes? They could be tauter and more exciting in one. Surely economy of means - less is more - is part of the novelist's art? It may be objected that some of the greatest novels are very long but they are mainly 19th century, written - often in instalments - for a more leisurely age. I've just given up on a novel in which the author was determined to evoke every detail and every sensory impression going. There are only so many books to be read in a lifetime. Authors, please take pity on my mortality! (Tony Pratt)

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