A Book Blog by Books do Furnish a Room 2013

[Books do furnish a room]

I've been meaning to read Things Fall Apart for years bookworm!

Imperial Ambitions by Chomsky

This a re-read of a book I read some years ago; still as sharp and provocative.
This is Chomsky in his easy to grasp mode;not the philosopher or linguist. It is a series of interviews and talks and shows off the breadth of Chomsky's knowledge. He is equally happy going into the detail of US imperial history (Grenada, Guatemala 1954, Vietnam, Cuba and so on), quoting Mill, Cobden, Lord Curzon, Robert McNamara. He dissects US foreign policy in relation to Iraq and the middle east, arguing that the invasion of Iraq was the height of folly and a war crime. There are a few swipes at religious fundamentalism, the media, but the main thrust concerns US foreign policy and he argues that the US is a failed state. Chomsky analyses the origins of Al-Qaeda and asserts that it was US foreign policy, specifically the Clinton administration's missile attacks on Afghanistan and Sudan that created Al-Qaeda.
Chomsky also looks at the origins of propaganda, drawing on Taylorism (a doctrine which developed the ideas related to control of workers whilst at work and the production line) and the way it was used to look at how you controlled people outside work. Mein Kampf also drew on the ideas Henry Ford propounded in relation to society and the Jews, but took the use of propaganda to new levels.
There is lots here to ponder on and Chomsky is never dull and always provocative. His political thought can probably be described as anarcho-syndicalist; but of course that is a label and labels are always insidious. 

8 out of 10

Starting Benjamin Britten by Paul Kildea

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Unclay by Theodore Powys

Death arrives at the rural village of Dodder with orders to unclay (it’s what death does for a living) two of its inhabitants. He manages to lose the bit of paper with the names on. So he decides to take a bit of R and R and stay in the village for a while. There is a strong allegorical element in this novel and Powys as always is not afraid to deal with difficult issues. There is a good deal of humour in the book, but it is also very bleak. On the surface it is a simple story but the ideas are very complex. The cast of characters are interesting to say the least: a woman who thinks she is a camel, a man so afraid of love that he plants nut trees around his house to keep love out, the publican who thinks the local squire is the best thing ever, the local farmer who is thoroughly evil and enjoys nothing more than the infliction of pain, a local miser who plans to sell his young daughter in wedlock to the farmer so he has a young innocent creature to torture, the Parson who prefers to read Jane Austen to his parishioners rather than the Bible and a whole collections of locals who each have their own idiosyncrasies, some of which are very strange.
There is a good deal of carnality in this novel, a little akin to Hardy. However there is a difference, in Hardy there is usually a price to pay; remember Tess or Fanny Robin (Far from the Madding Crowd). For Powys this just seems to be the way people behave; it is morally neutral and anyway there is a great deal of other strangeness going on. However the sex and death link which Freud posited and Powys was clearly influenced by is not just looked at by Powys; it’s taken several times round the dance floor and is very much in plain sight. Death has, it seems, discovered the joys of sex and has intimate relations with most of the female cast (including the vicar’s wife); John Death is seemingly irresistible.
The book has its origins in Christian tradition, but it is not orthodox by any means. There is a real gothic horror feel to some of it;
“As Joe Bridle bent over the pond, two dead corpses rose up but, when he thought he knew their sodden faces, the waters thickened and the faces vanished.”
It is also a meditation and exploration of belief and life and death, something Powys also battled with; as he wrote elsewhere:
“Though not of the Church, I am of the Church. Though not of the faith, I am of the faith. Though not of the fold, I am of the fold; a priest in the cloud of God, beside the Altar of Stone. Near beside me is a flock of real sheep; above me a cloud of misty white embraces the noonday light of the Altar. I am without a belief; — a belief is too easy a road to God.”
In fact as you can see here Powys is very sceptical at times, “ ..at the bottom of the well of being one may discover, instead of a mighty God, only the cap and bells of a mad fool.”
Whilst there is a clear and very English heritage here going back to Donne and Cowper, as John Gray points out, there is also a clear link to the Greek sceptics like Pyrrho.
The ending as no surprise as the reader knows whose names are on the lost paper, but there are several twists and turns and Powys certainly has a sense of the macabre.
There are lots of hidden surprises and Powys has a great sense of theatre. John Death is a strange and endearing character with real flaws and failings and even the bit part characters are very strong. Well worth looking out for.
9 out of 10

Starting The Go-Between by L P hartley

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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

A real tour de force; but a plain tale simply told. Achebe illustrates and explains rather than judges and provides a moving and very human story of change and disintegration. Set in Nigeria in the nineteenth century  it tells the story of Okonkwo and his family and community. He is a man tied to his culture and tradition and fighting to be different to his father. He is strong and proud and unable to show his feelings. His courage and rashness get him into trouble with his community and traditions. The book also charts the coming of Christian missionaries to the area and the effects they had; especially in attrating those who were outcast and of low status. Okonwko's fate is tragic and is representative of the destruction of his culture.
I have been puzzled to read some of the negative reviews that just don't seem to get it; saying it is too alien(??), too simple, badly written and so on. Part of Achebe's genius is that he tells the tale like all good writers; he explains when he has too and creates nuanced characters. The white missionaries are not unthinking or one-dimensional; just convinced they are right. Okonwko is also nuanced; unable to show the feelings he clearly has (especially to his daughter) and so eager to be strong and to lead that he is unable to be compassionate like his peers. Achebe does not judge; he charts the decline of a culture. He is not saying one side is entirely good or bad and there are elements to shock (the treatment of twins) and areas of great strength.
The brilliance is in the capturing of a period of change and cataclysm in the Ibo culture; but it is also a simple father/son relationship story. Achebe powerfully shows that like many of the greatest authors, he has the ability to put complex ideas across simply.

9 out of 10

Starting You Shall Know Them by Vercors

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After Arkadia by Nella Bielski

An unusual novel; picked up in my favourite local antique/bookshop/rummage store for a mere £1.50. I have to admit I had never heard of Nella Bielski and there is little on wiki about her. Born in the Ukraine, studying philosophy at Moscow university and moving to France in 1962. She is a long-time collaborator with John Berger and has written novels, plays and film.
The blurb on the back of the novel quoted from the Times review by Jasper Rees; "hints of Nabokovian reverie and Pasternakian symbolism". That didn't put me off and I'm glad I bought it!
Having now read it and I can cetainly see the similarities with Pasternak.
Set initially in Odessa in the months and years leading up to the Russian Revolution, the novel centres on Jeanne, a dancer. She is suddenly unable to dance and becomes a silent screen star in Russia and to an extent in America. Jeanne is a waif-like almost transparent/transluscent character who appears (but isn't) fragile. Jeanne meets and falls in love with Alexander Illytch,a surgeon/doctor. At this point war and revolution intervene. Jeanne's mother and housekeeper leave for France and Alexander leaves for the front. Jeanne is left with a rag-tag of friends and acquaintances, Isaak and the consumptive Dasha, both Bolsheviks, Filaretov, a pianist at the local cinema,Grigory the coachman/handyman and his horse and Igoriok, a child whom jeanne has become responsible for in the chaos. The stumble along for a while until the chaos of the revolution strikes. Jeanne ends up in France with her mother, where she mixes with emigres, teaches dancing and relationships. The ending is abrupt and somewhat open. There is too much potential for spoliers, but the second half of the book is very powerful; an analysis of love, loss, friendship, family with a fair amount of food thrown in. It is also a very good account of the outworking of what would now be called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
I had not heard of Nella Bielski, but I was impressed by this profound and moving novel about how humanity copes with disaster and tragedy. The character of Jeanne is a remarkable creation; many layered, passionate, compassionate; one of the strongest and most interesting characters I have come across in a long time. Well worth looking up!

8 out of 10

Starting Small Island by Andrea Levy

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You Shall Know Them by Vercors

This is an odd novel which does not fall easily into any camp. It is gripping and difficult to put down, it has deep flaws, but raises interesting questions. The sory is a simpla one.
A man (Douglas Templemore) calls a doctor early one morning to ask him to look at a fairly newborn child. The doctor notes he is too late as the child is dead. Douglas affirms this is what he wants the doctor to confirm as he has recently injected the child with strychnine chlorhydrate. The police are called and ask about the child's mother;
" ...is the -er- mother here then?
"no" said Douglas
"Ah ... where is she?"
"She was taken back to the zoo yesterday"
"The Zoo? Does she work there?"
"No she lives there"

Here is the nub of the story. Douglas was part of an expedition to Papua new Guinea which had discovered a missing link type ape species known as Tropis for short. These creatures bury their dead and smoke meat and have other human type characterisitics. The land they are found on belongs to a large conglomerate who become very interested in the Tropis ability to be taught to do basic menial tasks. The industrialist intends to effectively breed them and turn them into slave labour to work in factories. they will need to be fed and kept healthy but not paid. It is argued that this is the same principal as other domestic animals like horses and cattle. Douglas and the scientists involved find this repulsive and some of them think the tropis may be human. However that will have to be established in court. Douglas, with help, artificially inseminates a Tropi female with his semen and a child is born. This is the child Douglas kills. He has had the birth registered and the child christened and he demands to be arrested and tried for murder. The court will therefore have to establish if Douglas is a murderer. To do that they will have to decide if the tropi is human. If the court decides Tropis are human, Douglas will have won, but he will be guilty of intentional (first degree) murder and will face the death penalty.
The stage is then set for the court arguments about the nature of man, metaphysics, religion, zoology. It's interesting philosophical and biological stuff and as I said gripping.
The first chapter is brilliant and the idea a good one, but there were serious flaws which I could not overlook. Even though it was written in the early 1950s and can be said to be "of its time" it is very Eurocentric and racist to a degree I found intolerable. The native  islanders of Papua and New Guinea are portrayed as almost sub-human. The argument seems to be that we don't have to prove they are like us (they are clearly "miles away"), just that they are close enough to other native tribes. For me, that ruined the very promising start and the excellent idea.

4 out of 10

Starting As a Man Grows Older by Italo Svevo

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The Go-Between by L P Hartley

A sublime novel, beautifully written and very evocative. It has, probably one of the most famous opening lines in literature. Do I need to quote it? Probably not, but I will because it does sum up the book; "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." In the early 1950s Leo Colston looks back on the long hot summer of 1900 when he turned 13, the memory of which he has blanked out. He discovers his diary and begins to piece together the events.
Hartley describes life in an English preparatory school rather well and the relationship between Leo and Marcus Maudsley is believeable throughout. Leo is invited to Brandhan Hall to spend part of the holidays (including his birthday) with Marcus and his family; a home much grander then Leo's. Here Leo accidentally falls into the role of go-between for Marian Maudsley (Marcus's sister, supposed to be engaged to Lord Trimingham) and a local farmer Ted Burgess. The tragedy is played out in the shimmering heat of the summer, set around life in the Hall, a cricket match and a general sense late Victorian/Edwardian sense of progress.
The description of a hot English summer is spot on ( I'm being reminded of that at the moment!)and there is plenty of symbolism going on beneath. Leo becomes obsessed with Mr Maudsley senior's wether station checking the rising Mercury (contrast Mercury, messenger of the gods). Leo's innocence, inquisitiveness and naivety perfectly counteract the desires, plots and plans of the adults. Hartley explores the nature of class and gender at the time; the cricket match is so exactly portrayed (Hall vs Village). there are also deeper meanings; the scene with the deadly nightshade is remarkable and Leo's interest in the signs of the zodiac all fit neatly together as part of the tapestry.
Of course, when reading and writing about it, Pinter's brilliant film starring Alan Bates and Julie Christie is in my mind and has become almost impossible to separate from the book. The remembering of repressed memories is very Freudian and the obvious defence mechanisms ring very true; as does the intrusion of adult sexuality into young innocence.
The restraint and not revealing everything adds to the power of the novel; just a beautifully written novel,

9 out of 10

Starting The City and the City by China Mieville

[poppyshake]

Great review .. it sounds brilliant. I'm adding it to my wishlist for sure

[julie]

Books -

 

I read The Go-Between many years ago and loved it .I remembered the opening line, which  caught my attention ,along with the hidden notebook or letters ? found from many decades previously. I like books like that, that begin with some type of old letters or journals of times past .. Great writing and definitely worthy a top-notch rating .

Glad to see it mentioned on here .  

[Janet]

The Go-Between by L P Hartley

It has, probably one of the most famous opening lines in literature. Do I need to quote it? Probably not...

I posted a long reply last night and then our internet went down. 

 

I'm a bit embarrassed because you say it's one of the most famous opening lines and I've never heard of it.     I love the sound of the book though (I have, at least, heard of it!) so I've added it to my wish list. Thanks for the review. 

[Books do furnish a room]

Thanks everyone; it was a lovely book; the film is also worth looking up!

 

Herzog by Saul Bellow

This is rightly perceived to be a classic, published in 1964. Written well before Bellow became the curmudgeonly conservative of his older age, when he attacked multiculturalism and post-modernism, it was a joy to read.
It concerns the mid-life crisis of Moses Elkanah Herzog; when his second wife Madeleine elects to end their marriage and start a relationship with Herzog’s best friend Valentine. Moses writes letters to and about all those involved (letters that are never posted) and also to significant political, religious and philosophical figures (current and historical). It is clearly a little autobiographical as there are many similarities between Herzog and Bellow, including the number of marriages they are on. Everything is told from Herzog’s point of view, so we don’t really know if the description of the end of the marriage is accurate or if Herzog is an unreliable narrator; although he is endearing, if not entirely stable. Herzog has insight into his plight and his own faults and has a good line in self ridicule. Despite the disintegration of Herzog’s life, the story is life-affirming and at times very funny.
It is, of course beautifully written and we are taken through all the labyrinthine meanderings of Herzog’s mind as he does sensible things, monumentally stupid things and begins to work through his problems in his own unique way. There are some odd notes; the character of Ramona springs to mind. She is the new woman in Herzog’s life (we are not sure how new). Herzog is a small time college professor in his late 40s. Ramona is younger, a marvellous cook, a voluptuous sex goddess, she loves Herzog unconditionally and is willing to save him and she is happy to put up with some of his less endearing habits (No wish fulfilment here Mr Bellow?). Of course the ex-wife Madeleine is a restless thinker and striver; more cerebral than Ramona. Sex goddess who cooks as well, in opposition to restless intellectual; what is he trying to suggest?
Despite the rather primitive male perspective, it is a great book and Herzog is rather likeable despite his incompetence and absurdity (or perhaps because of it).

8 and a half out of 10

Starting The Start of the End of it All by Carol Emshwiller
 

Edited July 22, 2013 by Books do furnish a room

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As a Man Grows Older by Italo Svevo

Interesting novel about the nature of jealousy and obsession. Svevo was a friend of James Joyce and was one of the models for Leopold Bloom. This is one of his early works and is much less well known than [book:Zeno's Conscience|84737] which Joyce championed.
The book documents the path of a relationship between Emilio Brentani, a not so young (approaching 40) failed writer turned insurance agent and the young and beautiful Angiolina. Wait a minute: this is the second book on mid-life crisis I've read recently ....
The other actors include Emilio's sister Amalia and his friend Balli who is a sculptor. Angiolina is clearly (to the reader and also to Balli) enjoying her youth with a variety of different suitors; something Emilio is in denial about, refusing to believe most of the time what is before his eyes (but is consumed with jealousy). It is noteworthy that the two main female protagonists are in distinct contrast. Angiolina has many lovers and deceives Emilio throughout. Amalia, his sister is devoted to him and takes care of him. She is described as being not good looking and can only dream of being married (literally, as Emilio hears her talking in her sleep). We seem to be back to the virgin/'lady of the night' conflict which many men seem to be obsessed with. However Svevo does not follow quite the usual line as there is no happy ending and neither woman finds any fulfilment and both are treated as objects by the men in their lives. Neither does Emilio find any happiness and lives on memories; he feels responsible for a tragedy and eventually is faced with the true nature and consequences of his obsession. There is also a touch of Dante and Beatrice about it all as well.
I liked the way that Svevo used the weather and landscape as a backdrop to the story and there are some good touches of humour and farce throughout. None of the characters are particularly likeable, especially the men, whose thought processes you are party to. It is a good study of obsessive love of an adored object; so obsessive that it damages everything else in your life.

7 out of 10

Starting Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Edited July 23, 2013 by Books do furnish a room

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Small Island by Andrea Levy

Mixed feelings about this one; read very easily and the historical context is one that interests me. However it did not really do what I thought it set out do, which was to chronicle the early years of the Windrush generation. There are four narrators; Hortense and Gilbert from Jamaica and Queenie and Bernard who are English (although Bernard feels like a bit of an add on, arriving in the last quarter of the book). That makes the book feel a little disjointed. A great deal of time is also spent with the earlier lives of three of the protagonists. Too much time, I think for the length of the novel. I think Levy is trying to write three novels in one. Firstly, life in Jamaica and Britain in the late 1920s and 1930s; Secondly, the war and the experiences of West Indian servicemen and interactions with locals and GIs. Thirdly, Windrush and beyond. That's all too much for one novel to take. As a consequence all three areas suffer. I also felt that the characters lacked something, which again may be as a result of trying to cram too much in. On the whole I prefer David Dabydeen's more thoughtful approach to the topic.
One part that did ring true was the racism in the white community, which I remember from the late 1960s and early 1970s. I particularly remember the unthinking and irrational nature of it which Levy portays well. This was a source of puzzlement to me as a child as I saw my elders behaving in ways which I thought were rude and inhuman. Levy describes the surprise and disappointment of the new arrivals as the encounter post-war London.
All in all a bit of a varied mixture which tried to do too much.

6 out of 10

Starting Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles

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The Start of the End of it All by Carol Emswiller

Quite a quirky and unusual collections of stories that are not easy to categorize, but are very good and thought provoking. Published by The Women's Press, the cover says science fiction, they won a fantasy award and they are most certainly feminist. A few are clearly science fiction, sort of, but they reflect on life and society now. Some are just straightforward short stories that are easily set in our present, many are open ended and have no obvious setting.
Having said that, these are good stories for a number of reasons. Emshwiller moves easily from lightness and humour to sadness and has a nice touch in satire. In many of these stories the lead role is taken by women, no surprise, but they are almost entirely older women in their 50s and above. They are strong, human surprising, often lonely characters (loneliness is one of the themes). All the characters have flaws, but that makes them all the more attractive and the stories all the better. Many of the female characters feel they don't belong and that is also a theme, as is resolution of this lack of belonging, in ways that vary and are not always entirely comfortable.
These stories do take some reading, often because Emshwiller makes you work for resolutions; it isn't all neatly wrapped for the reader and sometimes thought and a re-read is necessary.
I'm deliberately avoiding much detail about the stories because to describe most of them is almost to tell the stories; there are lots of subliminal and psychoanalytic half-references (watch out for the Jungian psychoanalyst). The alien invaders who promise women an end to the tyranny of men, only to replace it by, yes, you've guessed it! "Meet the new boss! Same as the old boss!"
The best stories are the ones which don't really have a direct science fiction element, they are often much more subtle and a couple of them reminded me of Virginia Woolf's shorter fiction.
All in all a good collection of stimulating short stories.

8 out of 10

Starting Guernica by Dave Boling

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Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles

Bizarre and periodically funny novel about how things can go spectacularly wrong from small beginnings. Set in a nameless city in Eastern Rurope. Oskar is an obssessively clean, tidy and neat composer who is going over to LA to get divorced from his wife. he asks an old university friend (who he hasn't seen for some years) to look after his flat. It is a bright, shiny minimalist flat. There is an expensive piano, expensive books, a shiny kitchen, an expensive leather sofa and most of all a massively expensive wooden floor which is Oskar's pride and joy. The aforesaid friend is something of a slob who is a little accident prone. Oskar leaves lots of notes everywhere about how to look after the flat and the floor. There are also two cats and voluminous instructions on how to care for them. Oskar's notes are odd and almost psychic (like the one under the piano lid saying don't play with the piano). There is a great deal of red wine and descriptions of hangovers. The inevitable happens and the friend, who is also the narrator, puts a glass on the floor and leaves a small stain. Then life just spirals out of control in a graceful and gradually spiralling way. Lots more wine stains, broken glass, blood, blue dye (you'll have to read the book for that), adventures with the rubbish chute, a reappearing animal corpse, a pack of wild dogs and general death and mayhem.
It is easy to read, fairly slight and amusing at times. The blurb in the book says it's about alienation and entropy, and at a stretch I suppose that's true. The ending is a bit dull and the build up to it is rather predictable; you can see it coming. I originally heard this on the radio as a book at bedtime reading. I remember it being funnier then; possibly it is better as an audio with some juicious editing because at times the joke is dragged out a bit.

6 and a half out of 10

Starting Vathek by William Beckford

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Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds

I used to read a lot more science fiction 20 years ago than I do now, but I've had this on my shelves for a while and the other Reynolds I read was ok. Reynolds is an Astrophysicist and clealry knows his stuff. This is the first of a trilogy and is on a grand scale, what is termed space opera, I suppose. The plot is complex with a number of narrative strands and focuses on why there appear to be few extant spacefaring civilisations and many more civilisations that appear to have ended/been destroyed. There are lots of interesting ideas related to how humans get around in the vast emptiness of space. The possibility of living on in digital form is not a new one, but Reynolds takes it a little farther. Like Iain Banks, Reynolds also uses the idea of a level of sentience in machines and does some interesting things with it. The space suits with views of their own and a good line in sarcasm are quite amusing. All of the three main protagonists have their own particular agenda and Reynolds weaves their coming together very well.
Two of the three main protagonists are female, and that was refreshing. The whole thing is a bit noir and at times there is a clautrophobic feel. There is also a bleakness to it, which wasn't a fault and at least Reynolds didn't use Banks's trick of slaughtering all of his main protagonists in his sci-fi novels. The characterisation is a little thin and two-dimensional at times and more emotional depth would have been welcome. The descriptions of the ship; a massive one, with a skeleton crew, in a sort of graceful degeneration, are very good. The timeline is confusing all the way though, but does manage to come together at the end. However the very end of the book is a bit of a fudge, but as it's the first part of a trilogy, that is forgiveable.
If you like your sci-fi a bit gothic and on a big scale with big ideas, then this may be for you.

7 out of 10

Starting Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

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The City and The City by China Mieville

My first China Mieville and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It does not easily lend itself to straightforward analysis. Mieville has said he wants to write in every genre and this one is very solidly a detective novel, with a good slice of Chandleresque noir. Yet, of course it is also much more; there is a strangeness to it which lends an air otherness which is not really science fiction or fantasy; but it works.
The action takes place somewhere in the east of Europe in the cities of Beszal and Ul Qoma. The cities occupy pretty much the same space geographically, but are entirely separate. Citizens of one city are brought up to unsee everything in the other city; people, buildings, traffic. The concept is a complex one and is presided over by a very secretive organisation called Breach, who have a great deal of power. Into this mix is thrown and old and mostly denied theory that there is a third hidden city between the two (Orciny). There is a murder that crosses borders, so police from two jurisdictions are involved. The whole plot is suitably convoluted and well balanced. Mieville throws in a lot of his influences. One of the main protagonists' experiences in Breach are pure Kafka. There are lots of other influences, but I also think Mieville's political views are also suggested. Many reviews have pointed out that for those who dwell within cities there is an unseen city; whether this be the homeless, the poor, night workers (the list is lengthy)and this is central to Mievill's idea. However he does not push this point; the plot and genre are central.
You can ignore the myriad references and still enjoy the book as pure detective; the main characters are all likeable and the villians not obvious. The descriptions of bureaucracy are excellent, and if you work in local government, all too true. I loved it.

8 and a half out of 10

Starting Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

[frankie]

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

 

Great review! I have a copy of the book, by chance... Somebody had left a beautiful, as good as new, hardback copy of it at the free library book exchange trolley and I snatched it like I've never snatched anything before I very much want to read it, but my mojo's not been up to it so far...

 

It really shows how well read you are, when I was reading your review. You make references to this and that as easy as a pea. I'm not trying to brown-nose you, but I just find it very inspiring how you must have read so many books in your life and remembering most of them and most about them.

 

 

Proust volume 6; The Fugitive

Six out of seven volumes completed! This volume to me felt more like a linking volume, a preparation for the conclusion; although a great deal happens, mainly in relation to the now departed Albertine. True to form, now she's gone our narrator wants her more than ever. We learn more about the lesbian tendencies of Albertine and her friends. Our narrator visits Venice with his mother and reads Ruskin. We come across Saint-Loup again and Gilberte and the two get married, leading to various asides by the narrator about society weddings.

As always it is beautifully written and has the usual dose of debauchery, loss, jealousy and paranoia. We return to a high level of introspection as the narrator analyses his grief. This minute analysis of an emotion and state of mind is something Proust does impeccably. And, of course, throughout the Albertine episodes the difference between the real Albertine and the Albertine of the narrator's imagination is illuminative of all human relationships. We do, of course live mostly in memory; the more so as we age. Our constructions and narratives of our lives can vary over time and conflict with each other and with the narratives of others. For this reason I am looking forward to seeing how Proust handles the passage of time in the final volume.

8 out of 10

Starting volume 7 Time Regained

 

Six out of seven, already, and I feel like you just started! I'm so very much impressed It's hard to read the review, because there's so much to the novel and the previous ones, and I'm not on the map with the different characters, but I'm simply sitting here, in awe, wishing I owned copies of all the Proust books. I do own one in English, but lately I've figured that the man wrote in French, so I'm very much entitled to read the books in Finnish!

 

Proust is an author who makes me feel a little intimidated.   I think Remembrance of Things Past is pretty long too, isn't it?   It would definitely be a Kindle one for me if I ever decided to tackle it, I think. 

 

I know how you feel... But if you are interested in Proust, and want to read something by him or about him, I would recommend How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton. I read it some years ago, I can't remember why exactly, but I was completely riveted!

 

What's more, when I took an introductory class to literature at the uni, the professor was very dismissive of Proust and said one should not read the books in chronological order, and maybe not at all. If one felt they had to, they could read Swann's Way and that's that. So I was more and more intimidated... But now I'm appalled. What kind of a literature professor tells his students not to read something?!?

 

I can't help but think of Monty Python whenever anyone mentions Proust! 

 

Sorry, but I laugh because I have no idea why that is Of course I'm not a Brit... I've tried watching Monty Python and I have many friends/pals who love the show, but it's never been for me

 

 

 

The City and The City by China Mieville

My first China Mieville and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It does not easily lend itself to straightforward analysis. Mieville has said he wants to write in every genre and this one is very solidly a detective novel, with a good slice of Chandleresque noir. Yet, of course it is also much more; there is a strangeness to it which lends an air otherness which is not really science fiction or fantasy; but it works.

The action takes place somewhere in the east of Europe in the cities of Beszal and Ul Qoma. The cities occupy pretty much the same space geographically, but are entirely separate. Citizens of one city are brought up to unsee everything in the other city; people, buildings, traffic. The concept is a complex one and is presided over by a very secretive organisation called Breach, who have a great deal of power. Into this mix is thrown and old and mostly denied theory that there is a third hidden city between the two (Orciny). There is a murder that crosses borders, so police from two jurisdictions are involved. The whole plot is suitably convoluted and well balanced. Mieville throws in a lot of his influences. One of the main protagonists' experiences in Breach are pure Kafka. There are lots of other influences, but I also think Mieville's political views are also suggested. Many reviews have pointed out that for those who dwell within cities there is an unseen city; whether this be the homeless, the poor, night workers (the list is lengthy)and this is central to Mievill's idea. However he does not push this point; the plot and genre are central.

You can ignore the myriad references and still enjoy the book as pure detective; the main characters are all likeable and the villians not obvious. The descriptions of bureaucracy are excellent, and if you work in local government, all too true. I loved it.

8 and a half out of 10

Starting Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

 

 

I like it that Mieville has said he wants to write in every genre... Reminds me of Boris Akunin and his detective series: I think I read somewhere that he wanted to write his detective books in all different genres... I've only read the first one so I don't really know if he carried out his plan...

 

I'm quite undecided about Mieville... Whenever I see his book at the library, I want to borrow it and read it. Then when I see reviews of his books on here, I'm put off. I don't know why!

 

I will be looking forward to your review on Murakami's Kafka!

 

And as always, great reviews. I love the variety of books you read. It's always inspiring!

[Books do furnish a room]

Thank you Frankie; but one of the reason's I've read more books is beacuse I'm older!! Wait till you're my age!

 

Benjamin Britten by Paul Kildea

This is an excellent and very readable biography of one of the great British composers. Britten is still something of an enigma and contradiction; a difficult subject, just as he could be difficult in real life. Quintessentially English, he seemed to be part of the establishment, yet he was hated by many parts of the establishment. He was a pacifist and totally anti-war; spending the first two years of the war in the US. He was gay and made no pretence of heterosexuality by getting married like many of his contemporaries. He lived with his partner Peter Pears (also Britten’s muse, the voice for whom he wrote his greatest works) from 1937 until Britten’s death in 1976. The relationship was turbulent at times; they were apart a good deal when Pears was on tour with operatic companies. They always fell out on the telephone and made up by letter! The relationship survived and Britten died in Pears’ arms.
Kildea works through Britten’s life in a systematic way, charting his great and minor works and their origins in clearly and informatively. He points out that Britten was often slated by the critics, often because he was too innovative, but also because he was not initially perceived to be part of the music establishment (and he was gay). Kildea also assesses (and he is competent to do so), those of Britten’s works which are weaker.
Peter Grimes is clearly a magnificent opera, powerful, tragic and steeped in the land and sea of Suffolk where Britten lived. Come to think of it, most of Britten’s major operas have a tragic turn; Billy Budd (based on the Melville short story), War Requiem (based on Owen’s poems), The Turn of the Screw, Owen Wingrave and Death in Venice. Death in Venice; it had slipped my mind that Britten had set it to music at about the same time as the Visconti film. I suddenly feel I would like to get hold of a copy and see what he made of it.
Peter Pears was, of course, the key to much of Britten’s music, having one of the great operatic voices of the twentieth century. Not the strongest tenor, but Britten always said that Pears had a better sense of the music and the feeling it required than anyone else he worked with. And, of course they were partners. It was no secret and was accepted by their inner circle of friends. It has to be remembered that for the first 30 years of their relationship homosexuality was not legal and periodically well known actors, musicians etc were entrapped by the police. Britten had some influential friends and had been made a Companion of Honour, but there was a reaction. Other composers like William Walton were resentful and believed there was a homosexual conspiracy in music! In 1952/3 Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, the Home Secretary, launched a Mccarthyite witch-hunt against gay men; sending out young police constables to entrap men (dubbed the “pretty police”). Alan Turing, the mathematical genius who helped to break the Nazi enigma code was one of those caught (he later committed suicide (probably). The tabloid press were on board, especially the Daily Express. Britten was also interviewed; sadly no records exist. However at this time Britten was writing an opera to celebrate the accession of Queen Elizabeth and maybe his response can be inferred. The opera had a gay composer (Britten) and of course a gay tenor as Essex (Pears). It also had a gay librettist, director, conductor, choreographer, producer and a gay interior designer. It was also based on a book by a gay writer. This was seen as deliberately provocative and the opera was panned by the critics. What the Queen thought is not recorded, however Britten remained on friendly terms with the royal family and they commissioned further works from him. Kildea doesn’t think Britten was on a crusade, and he is probably right, but there is a sense of giving the music establishment, tabloid press and government the finger.
Britten was in America in 1940 and lived for a year in a house in Brooklyn which he shared with W H Auden, Pears, Carson McCullers, Paul and Jane Bowles and the fiction editor of Harper’s Bazaar, George Davis. Others moved in and out staying for a while; Gypsy Rose Lee (I kid you not), Anais Nin, Kurt Weill, Salvador Dali and his wife (they moved in later in the year), various members of the Mann family (Britten became friends with Golo, which came in handy when he wanted permission to turn Death in Venice into an opera). Leonard Bernstein thought it was a mad house and Louis MacNeice said it was exactly what was to be expected from such a group of bohemian individuals. Whilst all the mayhem was going on Britten spent much of his time tinkering on the piano and writing stuff.
This is a fascinating biography, well worth reading.

9 out of 10

Starting Reversing the Gaze, Amar Singh's Diary
 

[Books do furnish a room]

Vathek by William Beckford

There is a story behind my purchasing this book. I occasionally bid on book lots at the local auction house. Recently I bid on a box of books which looked rather interesting. I managed to transpose the numbers and ended up with a different box of books, most of which I didn’t want. However there were seven folio society book from the late 1950s and early 1960s, which I have kept (sending the others back to auction). This was one of the folio society books.
I knew little about Vathek or William Beckford before this. It has been classified as a Gothic novel and was written in the 1780s. Byron cited it as a source and Keats certainly was influenced by Beckford’s descriptions of the underworld. Lovecraft and Poe were also influenced as have been other writers in the fantasy genre.
There is a touch of the Arabian Nights about this and it is set somewhere in the Middle East. It concerns wealthy potentate Caliph Vathek and his exceptionally cruel and evil mother Carathis. Vathek is fabulously wealthy, has lots of eunuchs, lots of wives, loves the pleasures of the flesh, has built a Babel like tower and is also thirsty for knowledge. The story is based around Islam and involves genies, djinn and even The Prophet putting in his views from heaven. Vathek desires more wealth and more power and that is where the “fun” begins. We have mysterious strangers, lots of acts of cruelty and immorality, magic artifacts and talismans, sacrifice (of children), pursuit of glory, feasting, pride and a journey to find treasure and fortune. The last twenty pages with the descriptions of hell are quite fun when everyone gets what they deserve.
These days the story is fairly unremarkable, although there are some unusual flourishes; it was originally written in French. It is effectively a pact with the devil novel; just set in an Islamic context. There are also some comic turns. The characters are predictable and rather flat and after a time the descriptions of even more fabulous wealth, debauchery and cruelty just become boring. As a whole it didn’t really work for me, but there are also other issues which revolve around Beckford himself.
Beckford was wealthy, very wealthy (inherited) and his income at the time was over£100,000 a year, which was a fabulous amount at the time. In later life he was a bit of a recluse and spent way too much money on pointless building projects. He wrote Vathek in his early twenties whilst in France. The reasons for leaving England are not entirely clear. It seems he was conducting an affair with a boy eight years his junior (William Courtenay, son of an aristocrat) . The boy’s uncle found out and advertised it in a newspaper. Beckford and his wife left the country for a while and he wrote Vathek whilst in France. Beckford continued to be noted for eccentricity and there are lots of stories about goings on at his home. All this is of little relevance really. What is of relevance is the source of his wealth; the slave trade and plantations in Jamaica. Byron, whilst appreciating Vathek made some rather acerbic comments about Beckford’s wealth. I am left with a picture of a man wasting large amounts of money of ornate buildings whilst the sources of his wealth suffer thousands of miles away. It left a bad taste.

4 out of 10

Starting Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

[Books do furnish a room]

Time Regained (volume 7 of Proust)

I've been reading Proust for just over a year, just a little a day. I'm going to miss dipping into it, it's become part of my life. Still so beautifully written that it's almost impossible to review. Some of the old favourites return again; Gilberte, Charlus, Morel, Mme Verdurin amongst others. The time period spans the First World War and takes us into the narrators' middle age and towards his own death. Memory and the weight of the past recur as themes and it is as though the narrator is making the sheer weight of the manuscript into the weight of the memories he carries. The flow of time and the sense that our presence in that flow is a temporary one and we will be washed away like those before us, was, for me a central part of this volume. We see old friends aged and passing on; nothing lasts forever.Proust plays with the nature of time and memory in ways that are subtle and often involuntary; memories triggered by chance meetings and sensations.
On a lighter note, the BDSM came as a bit of a surprise and I thought I'd wandered into Edmund White's memoirs or a Parisian shirt ripper! The war, although clearly having a significant impact on France, on the narrator's beloved Combray, and on his circle of friends; is not central. It's effects are seen by the waves it makes rather than by direct description.
Proust understood the importance of narrative and story in our lives; reminiscence becomes increasingly important as we grow older and we embellish and interpret as we go along weaving in new meanings amongst the old stories. Proust's genius is, for me, the way he grasped this tendency and expressed it so exactly. He seemed to understand the nature of time and memory in human consciousness in ways we are still now only beginning to grasp.

10 out of 10

Starting A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy

[Books do furnish a room]

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

How to review a novel like this. I remember Evelyn Waugh’s comment about having to review/critique P G Wodehouse; “like taking a spade to a soufflé”. There has been a little debate recently about who to put on the back of the new £10 note in this country. Jane Austen seems to have won; I would have voted for Virginia Woolf!
Stream of consciousness and set in a day, but definitely not Ulysses; this, for me, is one of the great novels. Not only is it beautifully written, it is beautifully constructed and Woolf switches the types of narration as quickly and easily as she switches characters around twenty of them in all. Clarissa Dalloway is the main character; a woman in her early 50s who is preparing for her party in the evening and looking back to a particular time in her youth. She shares the stage with Septimus Smith a young married man who fought in the war and who is suffering from what was then called shellshock and would now be called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; he is quite seriously ill and haunted by Evans, a close friend who died. There are so many strands running through this book that it’s difficult to know where to start.
The relationship of the past with the present is vital; having recently read “The Go-Between” there is an interesting parallel. Hartley’s “The past is another country” is similar to Woolf’s technique of bringing the past into the present, but making it almost alien and unknowable. I think you can say that for a number of the characters; for Clarissa and Peter, for Sally, especially for Septimus and Rezia.
Sexuality is a background flavour almost, but distinct. For Clarissa and Septimus there is a looking back to what is almost portrayed to be a gay relationship; Clarissa with Sally and Septimus with Evans. This is the past intruding into and ruffling the present again.
Mental ill health is another theme. I am aware that the original plan was to have Clarissa take her own life at the party, and Septimus was not part of the story. I think perhaps Woolf separated two parts of herself into the two characters, in an almost bi-polar way. The two characters never meet; I wonder if they met within Woolf. But this is also suggestive of the way society keeps mental health separate. The psychiatric establishment in the form of Bradshaw comes out of it very badly; the approach being worse than useless.
Inevitably, feminism is part of the mix. Clarissa has some independence because her marriage gives her space. The women who try to be independent by different routes do much worse. Sally, so daring and independent in her youth, becomes a very conventional mother of five and loses that spark. Miss Kilman, who has a degree in history, is lonely, bitter and born again. It is almost as though Woolf is saying the best way for her is a marriage that makes few demands and gives space, because at the moment the other ways lead to despair because of society.
Then there are all the literary references, the wonderful minor characters, the descriptions of the day. A great novel.
9 and a half out of 10

Starting The Professor by Charlotte Bronte

[willoyd]

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

How to review a novel like this. I remember Evelyn Waugh’s comment about having to review/critique P G Wodehouse; “like taking a spade to a soufflé”. There has been a little debate recently about who to put on the back of the new £10 note in this country. Jane Austen seems to have won; I would have voted for Virginia Woolf!

 

Totally agree (although, being an Austen fan too, I think they should both be on different notes)!!

 

I also agree with you completely about Mrs Dalloway: it was the book that turned me on to Virginia Woolf's work (I came to it having seen The Hours in the cinema), and reckon that she's now just about displaced Miss Austen off the top of my favourite authors pile: I would rate Mrs D as one of her best, but would just about give To The Lighthouse and The Years the nod. One of the few authors who I can reread (and reread!).  Hermione Lee's biography also showed me that she was an unutterably fascinating individual too.

Edited August 17, 2013 by willoyd

[poppyshake]

I think they should be both on different banknotes as Willoyd said. Jane has undoubtedly bought more pleasure to people but Virginia has probably stimulated more and caused more headaches

 

Brilliant review of Mrs Dalloway and it's not an easy book to review (I do believe I side-stepped it .. anyway your review reminds me .. I need to re-read).

[Athena]

Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds

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This one's on my shelf, great review ! 

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Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

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I haven't got this one, though I have three other books by Virginia Woolf. Great review!

[Books do furnish a room]

Thanks Athena, Poppy and Willoyd; I agree, they should both be on the currency.

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

Intermittently funny, sad, tragic, malicious and rather ghoulish novel; good in parts, but overlong and repetitive. It is certainly well written; Mantel is a great writer, as Wolf Hall has shown. The plot meanders rather a lot and doesn't really go anywhere.
The premise is simple. Alison is a psychic/medium, a good one, but rather disorganised. Colette becomes her sidekick and PA and organises her life. The dead, however are less easy to organise. Here's the key to the book. The dead are no different to the living, just as unpleasant, nasty, forgetful, vindictive. There is little of the grand reunions of families; most wander aimlessly, rather lost and are obsessed with trivialities. Mediums know this, but change the message to something more palatable. Spirit guides are generally not spiritual and thoughtful native americans or interesting foreign potentates. Alsion, most of the time, has Morris, a vulgar and crude circus performer who abused her as a child. He spends a large portion of the book doing unspeakable things with food and kitchen utensils. There are lots of spirits around Alison, most of them men who abused her in one way or another, who seem to be carrying on with their existences as they come and go.
The descriptions of the psychic circuit in the south of England, in dingy town halls and plastic hotels is very funny. As are the other members of the circuit, all looking for the next spiritual/psychic thing.
There is a good deal of flashback to Alison's horrific childhood; horrific beyond words and one wonders whether Mantel is making a link here. For all her upbringing though, Alison is relatively tolerant and kind. When she does become angry with someone (dispute over a car parking space), she is incisive and amusing. Her realtionship to the hard hearted Colette is central to the book. Colette is as damaged as Alison, leaving a loveless marraige, but unlike Alison has less of the milk of human kindness running through her veins. As time goes on, she is also abusive to Alison.
There is a good deal to provoke thought, quite a lot of humour (Alison and Colette living on a middle class housing estate and being mistaken for lesbians), some quite close to the bone descriptions of violence and abuse, which have more force because they are slightly understated; but ultimately the book runs out of steam before the end for me and the characters became arther irritating.
Nevertheless it was very easy to read, I liked the different take on death and afterlife and in parts it was very funny

6 out of 10

Starting Mulligan Stew by Gilbert Sorrentino