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A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar |
By contrast to the film, which is brilliant and moving, but is also sentimental and superficial, (and will create misunderstanding of the nature of schizophrenic illnesses), the book is a biography of mathematician John Nash, a Nobel Laureate of 1994 who recovered from 20 years of schizophrenic illness. Offering a conventional (but misleading) psychiatric view of psychosis as being largely genetically-derived, is nonetheless a gripping read.
(bwl 17 February 2003) |
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Dina's Book by Herbiorg Wassmo |
This gripping, informative novel, by a leading Scandinavian writer, paints a vivid picture of life in mid-nineteenth century Norway. A small girl - traumatized by guilt after accidentally causing her mother's terrible death - becomes psychotic, slowly recovers but is left with an impaired sense of personal identity and of her capacity to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Psychologically it is remarkably authentic, particularly regarding her transient sense of being her mother and confusing herself with other people.
(bwl 20 September 2003) |
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Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels |
This remarkable novel is written by a poet, and appropriately is loaded (at times perhaps over-loaded) with aphorisms, metaphors and poetic wisdom. It tells the story of the flight of a Jewish boy from the worst of Nazi cruelty, and of the remarkable character of his scholarly rescuer. It is very true to life and is by turns extremely painful, and extremely inspiring. It is an astonishing achievement, and deserves re-reading.
(bwl 26 October 2004) |
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Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie |
An innocent little fairy story with a profound underlying theme of maturation of the personality
(bwl 2 March 2000) |
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I Don't Know How She Does It by Alison Pearson |
This hugely entertaining novel by 'a Jane Austin of working mothers' is a witty, sometimes sad, and always streetwise tale of the trials of a mother of two who has to reconcile her successful City life with domesticity. All but the most rigid of male chauvinists will delight in the way she deals with the sexist attitudes of her male colleagues.
(bwl 20 September 2003) |
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Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks |
Oliver Sacks, the world's best known neurologist, addresses, in his inimitable personal way, the magic and mystery of music, and the brain processes that underlie its near-universal appeal and emotional power. The studies he presents of the often bizarre musical consequences for some patients with particular brain injuries are heavy going and at times make painful reading. This remarkable book is a must for all those with at least a passing interest in music.
(bwl 43 December 2007) |
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Paradise News by David Lodge |
Remarkably thought-provoking as well as funny. God is well and truly dead but the baby survives the emptying out of the bathwater. My mixed metaphor isn't meant as a deliberate challenge!
(bwl 2 March 2000) |
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The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells |
I couldn't put it down - a sort of anthology of interesting lives, arrogance, complacency, courage, fun, supported by huge amounts of bourbon, and an underlying drama of the transmission of destructive jealousy down the generations, a theme which the author doesn't really address.
(bwl 2 March 2000) |
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The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima |
This novel was inspired by the destruction by burning of the famous Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto in 1950 (subsequently completely rebuilt). I visited it in 1947 and was sad to learn of its destruction by a young Zen Buddhist acolyte. It is a tale of the destructive quality of primitive envy and provides food for thought for the thoughtful (bwl) reader. Perhaps I should mention that Yukio Mishima finally committed ritual hara-kiri. More food for thought!
(bwl 7 February 2001) |
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