bwl 64 - Spring 2012
Fiction
| W E Bowman - The Ascent of Rum Doodle
|
| Thrill to an epic tale of derring-do as a doughty brotherhood of British climbers pit their wits against the unconquered Mt. Rum Doodle. A naive and self-deceptive official expedition account, Rum Doodle is stylistically roped firmly between Diary of a Nobody and Ripping Yarns with a hint of Milligan lurking in the mountain mists. Imagined heroism becomes absurdity as we gaze pensively into the middle distance at the awesome crag and wonder "Will it go?" (Clive Yelf)
|
| Alan Bradley - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
|
| Meet the new heroine of detective fiction . . . Flavia de Luce, and she is eleven years old! The period is vintage, 1950 to be precise; the setting (you have guessed it) a substantial country house; the cast, eccentric. This is the first in the series, and I shall be looking out for more. Flavia is brilliant - but I like Inspector Hewitt; his code for Flavia is "P"! (Ferelith Hordon)
|
| Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
|
| Satan and his cohorts visit Moscow and cause havoc; Pontius Pilate examines his conscience about the crucifixion of Jesus and Margarita pledges her soul to the devil to save her lover. Three stories masterfully interlinked with humour, satire and a great deal of magic realism. Cowardice is the worst vice and imagination and the free word will triumph over terror and oppression, whether imposed by Caesar in the time of Jesus or Stalin in Soviet Russia. Mesmerising! (Denise Lewis)
|
| John Burnside - A Summer of Drowning
|
A haunting story set mainly in the white light of summer on a small island in the Arctic Circle. Liv looks back on a particular summer. She is living with her artistic mother almost in isolation with no sense of her future. Two boys and a man drown and another disappears mysteriously. Fascinated by myths she fears that something supernatural is happening but perhaps she is simply losing touch with reality.
Ed's note: John Burnside was winner of the 2011 T S Eliot Prize for Poetry with Black Cat Bone (Christine Miller)
|
| Candace Bushnell - One Fifth Avenue
|
| Once again, a very thick but very good read from the author of Sex and the City. Of course it's Manhattan, of course it's the right part of Fifth Avenue, of course the people are very rich but what she reveals about her characters is full of life's lessons. (Laurence Martin Euler)
|
| Charles Dickens - Martin Chuzzlewit & Barnaby Rudge
|
| To celebrate the Dickens' anniversary I decided to read a couple I couldn't remember having read before. I'm taking them together (doubling the words available!) because of their similarities. What is immediately striking is that every single character is either a caricature or a stereotype. The baddies are irremediably bad and all come to sticky ends; the goodies are mercilessly good and end happily. Women over thirty are figures of fun; younger women are pure, loving, self-sacrificing . . . Having said that, the fact remains that Dickens was a marvellous storyteller: even at his most torrid and credibility-stretching his imaginative use of language carried me along willingly (well, I did skip a bit). Unusually for Dickens, Barnaby Rudge takes place during the (luridly described) Gordon Riots, giving him an excuse to preach nondiscrimination. Chuzzlewit, on the other hand, is pure Victorian fiction with - it must be said - some wonderful characters. All in all great stuff! (Annabel Bedini)
|
| Emma Donoghue - The Sealed Letter
|
| Based on contemporary accounts and historical research, after a slow start, the novel gathers momentum as Donoghue fleshes out the characters and evokes the courtroom drama of a notorious Victorian divorce case between Vice-Admiral Codrington and his wife, Helen. Unwittingly her friend Emily Faithful, an early feminist, becomes embroiled in the drama which involves assignations, deceits, prejudiced witnesses and the appearance of a mysterious sealed letter all of which add to the tension. (Jenny Baker)
|
| Anna Funder - All That I Am
|
| A gripping account of the real-life efforts of the Anti-Nazi movement in the early 1930s in Germany and London. Told as a novel, but using the authentic names of movements and Underground leaders of the time - all acknowledged in an extensive bibliography - it is largely the reflection of two survivors. It is intimate while at the same time dealing with some of the most cataclysmic events of the 20th century. Unputdownable! (Margaret Teh)
|
| Graham Greene - Our Man in Havana
|
| A real surprise. Laugh out loud funny, a gripping and prophetic story line and a heart-warming endorsement of the little man up against the big battalions. A vacuum cleaner salesman finds himself caught up in the absurd but dangerous world of international espionage and inadvertently triggers a lethal series of events. Greene had the knack of anticipating historic flash-points and here gets in on the Cuban missile crisis a year or two before it happened. (Tony Pratt)
|
| P D James - Death Comes to Pemberley
|
| It is always dangerous to "create" a follow up to a classic and it very rarely works - not least because it is impossible to "recreate" the original style. P D James does well on that front and I didn't wince. From the title you might expect a "detective" story. In fact, that side is very understated and perhaps more authentic, but it makes for a lack of tension. Enjoyable that's all. (Ferelith Hordon)
|
| Margo Lanagan - The Brides of Rollrock
|
| Margo Lanagan is not an author to be trifled with. Her novels - and short stories - draw on fairy tales in all their original grimness. In this her latest novel she takes the story of the selkie wife - the bride taken from the sea - and explores the possible motives and consequences for a community in such a situation. Disturbing, haunting, clever - this is real writing for teens (and adults). (Ferelith Hordon)
|
| Michael Ondaatje - The Cat's Table
|
| In the early 1950s, eleven-year old Michael sails to England on a huge liner; relegated to the lowly 'Cat's Table', he and two other boys have endless adventures, spying on and trying to make sense of the astonishing behaviour of grown-ups. Moving between the actual voyage and his later life, Michael gradually realises that this time apart has influenced everything and everyone he touches. An absolute gem, one to savour and to read again. (Jenny Baker)
|
| Ann Patchett - State of Wonder
|
| A pharmaceutical company in Minnesota is funding an eccentric doctor whose research in the Amazon jungle will change women's lives for ever. A letter arrives informing them that an employee, sent to monitor the progress of the centre, has died. His colleague, Marina, determines to find out what happened. So begins a modern-day Heart of Darkness as she enters a secretive world of strange loyalties, mosquito-infected waterways and remote tribes. Dark, atmospheric, and engrossing. (Jenny Baker)
|
| Kate Saunders - The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop
|
| Take a brother and sister - twins; a new home inherited from a mysterious uncle; a cat called Demerara (who can talk) and a very grimy rat and you have the beginnings of a thoroughly enjoyable adventure involving a dastardly uncle, magic –and a lot of chocolate. Did you know there is a government department called the Secret Ministry of the Unexplained? You do now. For younger readers. (Ferelith Hordon)
|
| Joanna Trollope - Daughters-in-Law
|
| If you have, or perhaps had, a difficult mother-in-law, this is an interesting read and more profound than it seems at first. Basically it raises the obvious question: why is it so difficult for so many newly married women to get along with their mothers-in-law? Because if you have fallen in love with her son, why do you find his mother so bad? (Laurence Martin Euler)
|
| Anne Tyler - Morgan's Passing
|
| This tells the story of the eponymous Morgan, an eccentric Walter Mitty character, his large and long suffering family and his obsessive relationship with a young couple which starts with a dramatic incident and ends in an unforeseen way. Told with her customary warmth and affection, this book is full of humour and poignancy, set amid the minutiae of everyday American life. (Sue Pratt)
|
| John Updike - The 'Rabbit' Tetralogy - Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest
|
| Never having read Updike, I intended to try the first but just had to read all four and now understand why Julian Barnes reveres him. Written ten years apart from 1950 these novels capture the zeitgeist of small town, middle-class America. Harry Angstrom, flawed but endearing, attempts to escape the constraints and responsibilities of marriage and family life. With his unique prose style, Updike's portrayal of the human condition is utterly convincing. He said he was attempting "to give the mundane it's beautiful due". Bravo, Mr Updike! (Denise Lewis)
|
| Lauren Weisberger - Chasing Harry Winston
|
| Three thirty-something Manhattan girls are all chasing Harry Winston with each of them ending up with much more or much less than they expected. By the author of The Devil wears Prada - not serious but very entertaining . . . (Laurence Martin Euler)
|
| Emile Zola - Germinal
|
| In this his masterpiece which centres on a strike in 1860's N. France, Zola not only brings to life the desperate needs, the cruelty and greed, the love and humanity of his characters - be they the poverty-stricken miners, the idealistic Marxist, the arrogant anarchist or the comfort-loving bourgeoisie - he plunges you, almost literally, into the depths of the mine itself: the smells, the heat, the claustrophobia, the noise, the constant brooding presence of its awfulness. Truly unforgettable. (Jenny Baker)
|
Non-Fiction
| Rachel Campbell-Johnston - Mysterious Wisdom: The Life and Work of Samuel Palmer
|
| Samuel Palmer is a frustrating person to write about. As an artist his production over his working life was relatively small, in some cases literally so. He was also secretive and shy keeping some of his best pictures to be discovered only after he had died. In her sensitive account of this endearing, unassuming and sad genius, RCJ reveals how easy it was to misjudge his stature till long after his death. (James Baker)
|
| Tim Flannery - Here on Earth: A Twin Biography of the Planet and the Human Race
|
| This Australian zoologist and environmentalist takes a look at the history of the earth and mankind, believing that the understanding of the nature of each might provide a more optimistic future for the world. He supports the naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, who saw cooperation rather than Darwin's fierce competition. However, he warns that we must "strive to love one another and to love our planet as much as we love ourselves". Is that possible? (Christine Miller)
|
| Alexandra Fuller - Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness
|
The second of what Fuller's mother calls her "Awful Books" about her family in Africa, this one is specifically about her mother, self-styled "Nicola Fuller of Central Africa". Settling in Africa after the war, the Fullers moved from country to country according to political changes. Told by Alexandra, the story is both funny and sad, full of quirky insights and examples of courage and fortitude, but how does her mother feel about this invasion of her private life?
*Ed's Note: The first "Awful book" was Let's Not Go to the Dogs Tonight (Annabel Bedini)
|
| Matthew Hollis - Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last years of Edward Thomas
|
| This is by any standards a wonderful biography. Edward Thomas was a troubled soul. Writer, critic, friend of Robert Frost who urged him to write poetry and what a treasure he has left us. This so unwarlike man volunteered for service in the British army in WWI, was commissioned and was killed in that slaughter of a generation. In this book he is brought to vivid life as is the life of a vanished era. The closing pages tear at the heart. (David Graham)
|
| Richard Alexander Hough - Captain James Cook: An Autobiography
|
| If anyone's life could be summed up as 'three strikes and you're out!' it seems to be that of Captain Cook, chart-maker, navigator and explorer. The consummate professional progressed up the naval ladder to command two highly successful voyages but took one trip too many. Exhaustion, mental illness and a suggested parasitic infection blighted his third and fateful voyage but this fascinating book ensures due credit for the work for which he should be remembered.
(Clive Yelf)
|
| Brian Sewell - Outsider: Always Almost: Never Quite
|
| Still very much with us and well known for his art reviews and his recent TV journey through Italy, this is Sewell's frank and revealing autobiography in which with wit and perception he displays his knowledge of Renaissance Art - especially the drawings - acquired from his early association with Christies's and the Courtauld Institute through to the present day. He also is frank about his background, his experiences during National Service and his sexual orientation. An entertaining and compulsive reading. (James Baker)
|
| Mark Thomas - Extreme Rambling: Walking Israel's Separation Barrier. For Fun
|
| In 2010 Mark Thomas walked the entire length of the wall separating Israel from Palestine. There are some amusing moments and some reports of kindness, mainly by Palestinians he encounters, but mostly incredulity at the way Palestinians are being treated - having to wait for hours at the barriers to get to Israel where they work, having their homes (and a clinic in one place) destroyed and appropriated, and many other atrocities. Important, horrifying and occasionally funny. (Julie Higgins)
|
| Keith Waterhouse - The Theory and Practice of Lunch
|
| Pud or cheese? It has to be the sweet course: you never hear a couple ordering one piece of cheese and two knives. A menu bound in simulated pigskin like a nonaggression treaty between two very minor nations = a pretentious restaurant to be avoided. Crammed full of witty lines to make the committed luncher punch the air in delighted recognition. Almost as good as the thing itself. (Tony Pratt)
|
| John E Wills - 1688: A Global History
|
| 1688 may not be quite as memorable as 1066 when it comes to English history, but the 'Glorious Revolution' that deposed the Stuarts was certainly a rattling tale. Coincidentally the same year also saw equally significant 'rattling tales' in cultures large and small around the world and, with global communications unimaginable at the time, it's fascinating to see both how such isolated events could shape our modern world and how parochial historical perspectives can be.
(Clive Yelf)
|
| Feedback |
| -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- |
| Anyone new to the iPad might be interested in downloading The Telegraph Guide to the iPad. It's free - click here to take you there! |
| -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- |
| We're still wondering if someone might be able to explain why Jane Gardam called her novel A Long Way to Verona (bwl 63) when Verona is never mentioned. Does it have something to do with Romeo and Juliet or is it perhaps the home town of the Italian prisoner of war that the heroine comes across? Any ideas?
|
| -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- |
|
