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Willoyd's Reading 2019


willoyd

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On 15/11/2019 at 8:11 PM, willoyd said:

Dolly by Susan Hill ***

Read as a book group choice.  Fairly slim volume.  Bog standard, and rather cliched, ghost story fare: isolated and bleak location (fens)? check; grim weather? check; orphan? check; spoiled child? check; single elderly relative (aunt)? check;  grim, suspicious housekeeper? check; spooky doll? check; mysterious toy shop? check; and so on and so on.  Maybe slightly different combinations, but whilst this was never less than very readable (this is Susan Hill after all), it was all so utterly predictable.  Three stars, rather than two, for the readability, but half a star for originality.

 

:lol: I'm sure I have a Susan Hill on my bookshelves somewhere - I've never read anything by her before, although I've seen The Woman in Black on stage and screen. I'm intrigued to see how cliched it is now, though the readability factor is encouraging.

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On 04/12/2019 at 12:37 PM, ~Andrea~ said:

 

:lol: I'm sure I have a Susan Hill on my bookshelves somewhere - I've never read anything by her before, although I've seen The Woman in Black on stage and screen. I'm intrigued to see how cliched it is now, though the readability factor is encouraging.

 

For me, Woman in Black was a completely different matter.  In many respects it was a very traditional Victorian style ghost story, but it worked superbly, and never felt cliched at all.  Genuinely gripping; I'd thoroughly recommend it.

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On 10/12/2019 at 12:14 PM, Hayley said:

I expected that The Woman in Black was going to be quite cliched horror before I read it, but I agree that it actually isn't. I enjoyed it more than I expected to. I'm slightly put off reading her other work after your review of Dolly though!

I haven't read anything else of hers in fiction, so can't comment more broadly, but her book Howards End is on the Landing, about her own reading over a year, was very enjoyable.  It was followed by a similarly themed book, Jacob's Room is Full of Books, which wasn't anywhere near as good.  Strikes me as perhaps a bit curate's eggy.

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9 hours ago, willoyd said:

I haven't read anything else of hers in fiction, so can't comment more broadly, but her book Howards End is on the Landing, about her own reading over a year, was very enjoyable.

 

I second the recommendation for Howards End is on the Landing, I really liked that book. I haven't picked up Jacob's Room is Full of Books, because of Willoyd saying it wasn't anywhere near as good.

 

Quote
curate's egg
/kjʊərətsˈɛɡ/
noun
British
  1. a thing that is partly good and partly bad.
    "this book is a bit of a curate's egg"

 

Ah, learnt a new expression today!

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19 hours ago, willoyd said:

I haven't read anything else of hers in fiction, so can't comment more broadly, but her book Howards End is on the Landing, about her own reading over a year, was very enjoyable.  It was followed by a similarly themed book, Jacob's Room is Full of Books, which wasn't anywhere near as good.  Strikes me as perhaps a bit curate's eggy.

It's funny you should say that because I was literally looking at Jacob's Room is Full of Books yesterday, but I didn't realise she'd already written a similar book!

 

8 hours ago, Madeleine said:

It's a funny expression isn't it!  I wonder how it came about, why a curate's egg?

This was bothering me so much I had to look it up :lol:, apparently it's from a cartoon that George De Maurier wrote for Punch! https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/163300.html

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12 hours ago, Athena said:

I haven't picked up Jacob's Room is Full of Books, because of Willoyd saying it wasn't anywhere near as good.

 

I need to emphasise that I thought it wasn't anywhere near as good - not that it would be for anybody else!  Other reviews have been far more positive, but this was my take at the time (November 2017).

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15 hours ago, willoyd said:

I need to emphasise that I thought it wasn't anywhere near as good - not that it would be for anybody else!  Other reviews have been far more positive, but this was my take at the time (November 2017).

 

Thank you!

 

18 hours ago, Hayley said:

This was bothering me so much I had to look it up :lol:, apparently it's from a cartoon that George De Maurier wrote for Punch! https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/163300.html

 

That's really interesting :).

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Book Acquisitions

It appears that my last catch-up on books acquired was at the beginning of October, so, two months down the line, here's a list of books added to my TBR shelves.  It's a long list, mostly acquired second hand through charity shops or local book sales, but overall TBR numbers have gone down as I've had a big cull of books I'm unlikely to ever get around to reading - mostly impulse charity shop buys, but the odd one that I've dipped into more for reference etc, then realised it wasn't a book I wanted to read in full.

 

Fiction

Tombland - CJ Sampson

A Lost Lady - Willa Cather

The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow

The Christmas Egg - Mary Kelly

History of Wolves - Emily Fridlund

Angel Pavement - JB Priestley

Maigret in New York - Georges Simenon

Melmoth - Saray Perry

Measuring the World - Daniel Kehlmann

Lord Peter Views the Body - Dorothy Sayers

Hangman's Holiday - Dorothy Sayers

 

Non-fiction 

The Long Spring - Laurence Rose (nature)

The Long Summer - Brian Fagan (climate history)

The Novel of the Century - David Bellos (literary history)

Night Trains - Andrew Martin (railway history)

Carrying the Fire - Michael Collins (autobiography)

Apollo 11 - David Whitehouse (space exploration)

A Cycling Year - Heather Dawe (local travel)
Gladstone - Roy Jenkins (biography)

Tide - Hugh Aldersley-Williams (earth science/nature)

The Moth Snowstom - Michael McCarthy (nature)

The Five - Hallie Rubenhold (history/biography)

Between the Sunset and the Sea - Simon Ingram (outdoors)

Invisible Women - Caroline Criado Perez (social science)

Hawthorn - Bill Vaughn (nature)

The Raptor and the Lamb - Christopher McGowan (science/nature)

Balzac - Graham Robb (biography)

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Book Reviews Nov-Dec part 1

It's a long time since the last book I reviewed (2 months), and a lot of books have sailed under the bridge (17), so in order to tidy things up sufficiently for the end of the year, here follows a fairly long string of very short reviews - it'll probably take up more than one post!

 

The Prime Ministers by Steve Richards *****

Fascinating study of the leadership skills of all the UK's prime ministers since, and including, Harold Wilson by a man who met and knew most of them.  Can be scathing, but politically even handed.  Interestingly, some of the longest chapters are on pretty short-lived individuals (at least as PM!), whilst the shortest is on Margaret Thatcher.  Full of insight - learned loads.

 

Sweet Nothing by Nicole Mowbray **

Memoir by a journalist about adoption and maintenance of sugarless diet.  Interesting subject, but far too woolly and 'tabloidy' in content, so ultimately very unsatisfying.  Some far, far better material on the same subject.

 

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry ******

Doorstopper novel about a team of cowboys running a cattle drive from Texas to Montana, and the book for Texas in my Tour of the USA challenge.  Never less than enthralling, with some of the most engaging characters that I've read about this year.  Rightly considered a classic of the genre by many.  Initially a 5-star, but upgraded to full 6.

 

The Harpole Report by JL Carr ******

A long held favourite overdue for a reread: George Harpole takes over as acting head of a small primary school, and has to learn to find his way through the spider's web of local authorities, parents, colleagues and other interested (and often antagonistic!) parties.  Told through a series of entries in the school log and other documents, this may be a book of the 70s, but it remains genuinely funny and relevant.

 

The Journey Home and Other Stories by Malachi Whitaker ***

One of the Persephone rediscoveries, Malachi Whitaker was a local writer (Bradford) once well known for her short stories.  Bit of a curate's egg this one, as I find most short stories collections are, but ultimately not totally convinced that these were worth reviving, although my not being a short story fan may mean bias.  Became rather tired of the sameness of her first paragraphs, where we almost invariably were told character and detailed description.

 

The Favourite by Ophelia Field ***

Biography of Sarah Churchill, first Duchess of Marlborough and famously favourite of Queen Anne.  Obviously well researched, and well written, but for me became a bit of a drag as much of it consisted of reporting he argy-bargy correspondence between her and the queen as Sarah gradually lost influence at court.  The author goes some way to restoring Churchill's reputation, but she did seem to spend so much of her time at loggerheads with those around her (even her husband at times, and they were very much a love match).  One of those rare occasions where I preferred the film!

 

Christmas, A History by Judith Flanders ***

Was looking forward to this, but it proved woollier and more lacking in insight than I had hoped for.  Got to the end, and felt I really hadn't learned very much, or, indeed, taken much in - it all passed me by in a bit of a vague blur.

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Book Reviews Nov-Dec part 2

 

Cover Her Face by PD James ****

A fairly conventional English murder mystery.  I find the author's writing distinctly above average for this genre, but whilst each book I've tried has been individually engaging, the format itself always seems too limited to be worth more than the occasional read.

 

Reading Allowed by Chris Paling ****

The author is an ex-BBC radio producer who has gone on to work part-time in a largish urban library.  Of the same ilk as Adam Kay (NHS doctor), Jack Sheffield (teacher), Shaun Bythell (bookseller) etc, although rather more empathetic of others than some of these.  It took a couple of goes to get beyond the first few pages, but once I did, it was eminently readable and echoed many of my own experiences working in that sector. Highlights the fact that libraries are so much more than just sources of books and other media - it's about the people and community.

 

In The Heart of The Country by HE Bates ****

Beautifully presented paperback, with lovely illustrations, this centres on the author's recollections of the English countryside in the early 1940s, during World War II.  Paints a vivid picture, and loved the writing, although it did get a little over-blousy at times (as does some of his fiction!), so much so that some of it just drifted past me - I need, and really want, to go back and read some chapters individually to get the most out of them.

 

Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons ***

A collection of short stories, of which the eponymous story is comfortably the best.  However, I enjoyed pretty much all of the others, even if some felt distinctly dated.  A cut above the previous set of shorts (see part 1) in terms of the quality and variety, but not sufficiently so to convince me to read more collections or to rate it a level higher.

 

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold *****

In a field completely swamped by various takes on the murder narrative and/or whodunnit, the author brings a completely different and fresh perspective to the Jack the Ripper story.  In this absolutely fascinating history, Rubenhold focuses on the lives of the five murdered women and brings them vividly to life.  All too often virtually dismissed as 'just' prostitutes and victims, here we see something completely different, that they were just as much victims of prejudice and an ill-informed media (nothing new there then!), and that in reality most had nothing to do with the sex trade, and that whether they did or didn't, they were above all "daughters, wives, mothers, sisters and lovers.  They were women.  They were human beings, and that surely, in itself, that is enough."  What I found almost as equally fascinating was the social history that their varied lives reflected, going way beyond the streets, alleyways and dosshouses of the East End. Of the murders themselves there is very little mention - Rubenhold leaves that for others, concentrating instead on their lives not their death (apparently much to the disgust of quite a few Ripperologists, but IMO absolutely spot on). It was very easy to see why this won the Bailie-Gifford Non-fiction Prize this year, being one of my best reads, fiction or non-fiction, in 2019. 

 

The Pull of the River by Matt Gaw ****

A series of canoe journeys exploring British rivers throughout one year, initially around the author's home in East Anglia, and then beyond, including trips along the Thames and following the Great Glen.  Always readable, only occasionally repeating, I ripped through this in little time seeing parts of the world from angles I'm unlikely to ever do myself, even if, ultimately, it never really progressed out of the shallows.

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A couple of quick reads in the past couple of days, means that I finish the year on 75 books, my second highest total ever, quite remarkable considering I got off to the slowest start ever!  Averaging just under 300 pages per book too, so whilst there were definitely some short volumes, there was a decent smattering of some pretty big reads as well.  Just the last set of reviews to complete, and then will swap over to the 2020 thread to write up the end of year review and 2020 preview.

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Book Reviews Nov-Dec Part 3

 

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens ******

No need to review this - it's a regular reread every couple of years, being a real favourite.  Every time I read it, I realise how fresh it still feels - I don't think I've seen any TV/film representation that matches its richness and depth, although the George C Scott version is probably the closest.  There was a Christmas production at the Leeds Playhouse a few years ago which was as memorable as the book, but otherwise nothing matches the original.

 

What The Fat? Sports Performance by Grant Schofield etc  ****

Not the greatest piece of literature, but part of my background reading into the low carb high fat, particularly in relation to controlling blood sugar levels.  Acquired this one as it's one of the few that tackles the various issues in matching diet and sports performance, which is an important element for me.  Skirts around things a bit in one or two places, but I managed to get most of what I wanted out of it, hence the 4 star award - it's not really a 4-star read otherwise!

 

The Christmas Egg by Mary Kelly ***

Promising early on, but whilst I enjoyed the writing style, the plot was all over the place, including a number of elements introduced without explanation or substance, and with little point (or so it appeared).  The 'climax' was, if anything, a bit of an anti-climax, and felt very contrived.  I've now tried several of these British Library reprints, and haven't found one that I thought resurrecting.

 

Stop What You're Doing and Read This by Carmon Callil etc ****

A series of short essays around the subject of reading and its importance.  As with quite a few essay collections, this would probably have benefited from being read one at a time with time in between to absorb each essay, but they were read in two or three larger chunks.  Even so, I found them interesting, and definitely worth revisiting one at a time. I found the essay on reading groups for therapy particularly interesting, but they were all worth the time.

 

Acts of Union and Disunion by Linda Colley *****

After a fairly traumatic period, we look to be finally heading towards Brexit, and (IMO) the long term break up of the UK.  It therefore seemed worth revisiting this collection of essays relating to a TV series that the author presented a few years ago to gain some sense of perspective. Colley writes succinctly, fluently and dispassionately in looking at various aspects of the United Kingdom and its makeup.  There isn't a huge amount of opinion, but there is plenty of useful contextualising background.  Me, I'm going to take advantage of my Scottish grandparents, and change citizenship come the day Scotland breaks away.

 

Paddington Helps Out by Michael Bond ******

These books may be aimed at children, but there is something completely ageless about the humour and the pleasure that these books provide.  This is the third in the series, and the stories, set just one year after Paddington arrives in Windsor Gardens, are classic examples Bond's writing.  The whole book is a very quick read, and provided a perfect way to see the year out on its very last day and leave it doused in a rather rosier glow than some events would justify.

 

So, that's all 75 books reviewed in one form or another.  Shortlists and awards for my books of the year will feature at the front end of my 2020 reading thread.

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