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A House by the River by Sid Smith |
Stunningly original, well-written and so easy to read. China in a hundred year period, confirming my earliest intuitions about the land of my birth and youth and of the ambivalence between inhabitants and foreigners. I was drenched by the waters of the river: winters' icy cold or a salvation from the fierce heat of summer; peaceful or turbulent to match the characters' temperaments. East is East and . . . or 'ole man river, he jes' . . . come to mind.
(bwl 24 June 2004) |
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A Month in the Country by J L Carr |
Turgenev? No. But an equally passionately-written story in plain, beautiful English, evoking cruelties, kindnesses, sorrows in an isolated Yorkshire village, early post-World War 1. High summer. In an ancient church and graveyard, two highly-skilled, horribly psychologically mutilated ex-soldiers, strangers, slowly bond. A mystery is solved. They part, leaving their contracted work finely done. The tiny, diverse village community lives on. Totally unsentimental, just sublime.
(bwl 5 October 2000) |
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A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth |
Delightful writing in plain, narrative form, of the unsettling, early years of Indian independence. Absorbing details; funny; touches of pathos; colour a great feature: saris, flowers and pale skin - desirable in a suitable boy. You are kept guessing to the very end. The lack of privacy is startling in these three endearing families' entangled lives. I had already done by page what the poet Amit advises on page 1,371. Read it to find out!
(bwl 9 June 2001) |
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Anita and Me by Meera Syal |
A 1960's Indian child born into an isolated Black Country village before it is gobbled up by urban sprawl. A fertile little mind, she cannily bridges the gap between two cultures, finding truth, lies and reality. Tenderness and love flow around her - also the world's cruelties - yet many laughs for the reader. I'd say Syal calls 'a spade a spade', but that could be one of her own jokes! Clever, feeling writing, not told.
(bwl 13 April 2002) |
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Better - A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande |
The words "Wash your hands" sum up this riveting book 'diagonising' the human condition, by famous young US surgeon (of Indian extraction), as he takes us behind the medical mask and helps us to understand the work he and his colleagues try to do to console and help humanity with his wide experience and philosophy. Makes for exhilarating, humane and very interesting reading.
(bwl 45 April 2008) |
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Emotionally Weird by Kate Atkinson |
For readers - great fun. For writers - not just clever but very clever. A sink University in Scotland with appropriate students and lecturers. Three stories simultaneously - a different print for each. A student tries explaining her life to her mother who constantly comments and tells her own story. A shared essay goes the student rounds, never finished, maybe a Brontë, perhaps T S Eliot. Ingenious. To be slightly weird yourself will help!
(bwl 9 June 2001) |
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Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge |
Morgan - young, rich, Edwardian - narrates the hopes and plans of the first class passengers during the four days before the 'unsinkable' Titanic ended in ghastly catastrophe. Bainbridge writes flawlessly, in language he would have used, neither too impersonally nor sentimentally - with very well-researched descriptions of the floating hotel with its engine rooms - evoking the emotions and reactions of passengers and crew in ice-bound desolation.
(bwl 27 December 2004) |
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Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier |
'Every picture tells a story.' True! The timeless wonder of Vermeer's ravishing painting has inspired an interesting and lovely book on a possible history behind this portrait. Imagination and fine research leave a vivid impact on the reader of the isolated and harsh life in Delft in 17th Century Holland. Clear, beautiful writing, as the not-so-simple girl herself tells her tale.
(bwl 7 February 2001) |
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Having an Osprey about the House by Chris Sykes |
Sudden beauties observed: the diverse but shared troubles of our lives, the strangeness and quaintness of things, expressed in a language voiced so that we notice anew, recognise an affinity and can laugh - or cry. Who after all hasn't had an Osprey about the house? This is poetry for all who can read and love which leaves a lingering afterglow. The hauntings of childhood are particularly poignant.
(bwl 8 April 2001) |
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Jigsaw by Sybille Bedford |
For those whose lives span the 20th century, this novel-cum-memoir is a poignant reminder of how time flies. For the young 'uns, it's a beautifully written life, whizzing along in top gear, to and fro through Germany, Italy, France and London, full of pathos and touching fun. For all the speeding years, Billie - whose life we follow - has time, in her own words, for 'revealing and necessary details' . . . and she 'stops and stares'.
(bwl 27 December 2004) |
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The Bay of Angels by Anita Brookner |
Densely written, quietly introspective, as are all her novels, Brookner spins a web of charm and sadness with a few characters, despite their singularity and loneliness, defining a crowded world. Zoe relates her life from the 1940s to the present, lived partly in dim London flats and the brilliance of Nice. She speculates on where she has found happiness, if any, and concludes that . . . well, read it and find out!
(bwl 25 August 2004) |
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The Big Necessity: Adventures in the World of Human Waste by Rose George |
All living creatures must do this every day, but only one-quarter of humanity can go to a toilet, wipe, flush, wash their hands, and get on with life. The other three-quarters of the globe . . . well, anywhere will do, with effort and time, disease and problems rife. Interesting places and people are described. Don't fear, it isn't all statistics! But if how the world works interests you, then read this book.
(bwl 52 July 2009) |
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The Flight of the Maidens by Jane Gardam |
You roll gently into the story, then come the jolts. There's pathos and much humour. It's Summer 1946, three diverse schoolgirl friends in an obscure northern seaside town, pass the time between a safe, familiar life and going off into the unknown world of distant universities. Joyous writing by this subtle novelist, nailing down time, place and the upsets that have dogged people throughout the ages.
(bwl 10 August 2001) |
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The Long Afternoon by Giles Waterfield |
After WWI , Helen and Henry find the safest, most delightful niche in the Riviera. Comfortably cocooned by wealth, they make it their Edwardian-style home, leading an ostrich-like existence with friends and family. WWII with all its horrors gradually intrudes and inevitably tragic reality catches up with them. A kind, sympathetic factional novel of those indulgent, easy years by Helen and Henry's grandson. Vivid, quiet writing.
(bwl 12 January 2002) |
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The Mould in Dr Florey's Coat - How Penicillin Began the Age of Miracle Cures by Eric Lax |
Say penicillin - think Fleming? No, think Florey, Chain, Heatley and their fantastic girl assistants. True, Fleming first noticed the mould and took the glory for discovering the antibiotic - but it was these Oxford based chemists using incredible ingenuity under very primitive conditions (late 30s, war time, no money) who were responsible for making it non-toxic to humans. A very exciting, minutely-recorded document of human behaviour and personalities. Why Florey's coat? Read and find out!
(bwl 34 April 2006) |
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The Prescence by Dannie Abse |
Son, brother, husband, father, surgeon, writer, poet . . . a happy, fulfilled life . . . then in a flash no longer husband when a car kills his wife and he escapes. He copes, jotting down in diary form the first year of his loneliness. The writing is beautifully clear, poignant, angry, wistfully brave. Many will recognise a fellow soul.
(bwl 44 February 2008) |
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The Promise of Happiness by Justin Cartwright |
Set in the United States and Cornwall, this is the story of five people - all one family - and how they each cope with an incident that affects all their lives. The characterisation is excellent (you may recognize traits in yourself or in your friends). The writing is almost blank verse, though you wouldn't know it, so fine does it flow.
(bwl 52 July 2009) |
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The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor |
The serenity of Trevor's writing belies the turmoil in his characters' lives. He spins a story (he is a storyteller) beginning in Southern Ireland on the brink of division. A casual incident seals the fate of one family and for the next 60 years Lucy's guilt (Gault?), love and fixation ruins all she touches. Then redemption, for her.
(bwl 16 December 2002) |
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Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin |
"Too fragrant was life's early bloom/Too tart the fruit it brought!" - can sum up, in his own words, Hardy's life. This mild, amazingly intelligent man straddles the horrific social divide he was born into with strength, insight and bravery. Wonderfully researched (as always) by Tomalin. We are left thankful for a rich, strong and original mind who produced a peerless addition to our Island novelists.
(bwl 44 February 2008) |
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Village of Stone by Xiaolu Guo |
A refreshingly unsentimental evocation of the hidden lives of the billion-plus who exist in China's scattered northern coastal villages. Little Dog - orphaned, taken in by silent, harsh grandparents, fish her whole life - discovers, when 7 years old, an unknown thing: Happiness and that her real name is Coral. Finally, she lands in Bei-jing, 18 years old, finding a different, freer but still hidden-away life. A satisfying, informative read.
(bwl 36 September 2006) |
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