Willoyd's reading 2010-2011

[willoyd]

Day 24: A book that you wish more people would've read

 

There are a number, and one (or at least the author of the book) I've decided to save for my favourite all-time book, but the simplest way to solve this was to go to my highest ranked books on LibraryThing, and choose the one that has least entries ascribed to it. And that is a book and author that I suspect pretty much nobody on this forum has heard of: The Ruins of Time by Ben Woolfenden

 

It's a long time since I read it, and it's now out of print, but it's basically a mystery set around the lead character investigating his family's history: When his father retires from teaching to devote himself to his obsessive research into his family history, Tom is by turns irritated and bored. But the multiple layers of dry genealogical facts unfold into the mysterious story of Elias Crane, Tom's grandfather, a minor artist in the late 19th century artists' colony in Newlyn, and his strange and troubled affair with Victoria Southley, a beautiful foundling adopted by the local vicar. This story forms a gripping novel-within-the-novel as Tom is drawn, in spite of his ambivalence, into his father's fanatical quest for the truth; and when his father dies, it is Tom who struggles to put the remaining pieces of the jigsaw together to breathe life into the past. I certainly remember being enthralled. It was Ben Woolfenden's first novel, and he seems to have sunk without trace, which is a pity, because it was an excellent book, and one that has attracted a number of good reviews. As it is, only 9 others have listed it on their LT lists, which is far too low for the quality of the book. I wonder what if more had read him in the first place??

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Day 25: A character you can relate to the most

 

I've thought long and hard about this, and I genuinely can't think of any. I think that's because, on the whole, I find female characters more interesting, but not being female myself, I don't 'relate' to them (plenty I would like to have known though!), whilst the male characters I enjoy reading about are equally not those I 'relate' to. Maybe I just don't relate to characters, or people in general?

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Day 26: A book that changed your opinion about something

 

So, we've reached Day 26, and today is the first day that I'm going to nominate a non-fiction book, yet non-fiction represents a good 50% of my reading. It is Small is Beautiful by EF Schumacher. It's not something that I had thought much about before reading it some thirty years ago, but it changed my whole outlook, and I remain desperately disappointed that we as a country seem to have learned the least (at least in western Europe), issues that are exemplified by the current crew's ill-thought out mantras of 'localisation' and 'The Big Society' (the ideas are great, but the execution is diabolical). The book's subtitle says it all 'A Study of Economics As If People Mattered'. But I won't go on further, as it could simply disintegrate into an angry rant not suitable for this friendly forum - no wonder it's said don't talk politics or religion! Suffice to say this book turned my thinking on its head and has profoundly influenced it ever since (which reminds me, I must reread it as it's been a few years since the last one).

 

This also raises another issue in my mind, if a bit more trivial. And that is that this is the first non-fiction book I've mentioned in 26 days. Not surprising perhaps, as the challenge is heavily skewed towards fiction type questions (although there are a few where non-fiction could creep in). Fair enough, but non-fiction does represent a large chunk of my reading, so to compensate a bit, I'm going to add one more day onto my challenge to make it a 31-day month, the final day being to name my favourite ten non-fiction books. A pretty big challenge it is too, as the range is vast, so limiting to ten will be even harder than with fiction, but I hope it will make an interesting list (for me at least, even if nobody else is reading this!).

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[poppyshake]

Of course we are reading this .. I look forward to reading your list, I don't read nearly enough non fiction so could do with some recommendations.

 

'Small is Beautiful' sounds like an interesting book and one that might go some way to answering the million questions that go round in my head everyday .. I nearly left the thread though when you mentioned 'The Big Society' .. that's worse than cursing in my book

[willoyd]

Of course we are reading this .. I look forward to reading your list, I don't read nearly enough non fiction so could do with some recommendations.

 

'Small is Beautiful' sounds like an interesting book and one that might go some way to answering the million questions that go round in my head everyday .. I nearly left the thread though when you mentioned 'The Big Society' .. that's worse than cursing in my book

 

Totally agree Poppy, so sorry to bring such bad language to the thread!

 

I haven't read Small is Beautiful for some time, so can't say whether I would now think it a great read - there's a lot I read in my teens and twenties that I thought was brilliant then which when I've gone back to I've been a bit more ambivalent about - idealistic youth versus slightly cynical/skeptical middle-agedom perhaps? But however it reads now, it certainly influenced me profoundly at the time, and has done ever since. As I said, I must give it another read (or maybe I shouldn't!).

 

If you find the topic interesting, another book I've got lined up on my TBR shelves is The Breakdown of Nations by Leopold Kohr. A couple of years ago, I stayed in Salzburg for a couple of days at the end of a week long solo cycling tour of Bavaria. It was very hot, and I took refuge one afternoon in Salzburg's town museum. It was beautifully cool and remarkably empty, the streets outside being crammed with tourists. I had a fascinating few hours in there, and one of the features was a rolling exhibition about famous people associated with Salzburg. Of the five featured whilst I was there, two really grabbed me. One was about Franz Wallack, the engineer responsible for the Grossglockner Highway, the other was about Leopold Kohr. He was the man who came up with many of the ideas that Schumacher later developed, and a great proponent of the small nation state, believing that people who live in them are generally happier, more peaceful and more prosperous. "Little states produce greater wisdom in their policies because they are weak. Their leaders could not get away with stupidity....." It was a room I spent a considerable amount of my time in, and I came away really keen to learn more. Breakdown of Nations is the book that sums all this up. Hmmmmm. Maybe it should go higher on that TBR list!

[willoyd]

Day 27: The most surprising plot twist or ending

 

I haven't read any of her books for ages, having gone through a phase in my teens and twenties of reading pretty much all of them and gradually tired of them, but there is no doubt that one individual was the absolute master (or mistress!) of the surprising, utterly memorable, plot twist, and there was none more surprising than in her great 'classic'. So if it's an individual book that's needed, then this title has to go to Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I won't however spoil it for anybody who hasn't read it by saying what the plot twist was, but it's superb, and caught me completely by surprise _ still remember the shock almost half a life time later.

 

But to be honest, the title could go to any one of half a dozen or so. I don't rate her so highly now, as I find that I need really good character development, at which she was rather poor, for full enjoyment but she was a genius when it came to the intricacies of plotting her crime stories.

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Day 28: Your favourite title

 

Most book titles are pretty innocuous. It's difficult to be otherwise when one is restricted to a couple of words or generate something that is too long for a book spine or to be memorable. Perhaps my favourite series of titles belong to the books of science essays by Stephen Jay Gould, which include Bully for Brontosaurus, Dinosaur in a Haystack, The Mismeasure of Man, Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes, Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and The Diet of Worms, The Lying Stones of Marrakech and The Hedgehog, The Fox and The Magister's Pox amongst others. They're great essays too!

 

However, if looking at individual titles, I think my nomination is split between two fiction books, who both use quotes from other books, simply because I find them so much fun and rather intriguing whilst enjoying the cross referencing:

 

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (taken from the subtitle to Three Men in a Boat), except she says plenty about it!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (taken from a famous exchange between Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in the short story Silver Blaze)

 

and it was only whilst typing them out that I realised they both involved dogs!

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Westwood by Stella Gibbons ****

 

This is one of a series of books by the author of Cold Comfort Farm that are being reprinted for the first time since the author's death by Vintage. In this one, written in the 50s and set in wartime London, Margaret, a young rather naive teacher, manages to insinuate herself into the family circle of an older man, a famous dramatist, who she admires, or rather develops an infatuation for. He, on the other hand, is rather pompous and self-regarding, and is avidly pursuing a close friend of Margaret's. And it's all about what happens!

 

Cold Comfort Farm this is not. Whilst there is still the element of satire (the dramatist is modelled on a well known individual of the time), it is altogether rather more thoughtful as Margaret gradually gets to grips with the 'real' world although there's humour, especially when Hilda, Margaret's friend, is centre stage.

Gibbons's writing is always clear and lucid, her characters clearly defined, and well developed. I'm not sure of all the plotting - the final chapter or so went just a little bit woolly on me. I can see why one reviewer at least has likened her to Jane Austen, even if I think Austen would have tidied things up rather more tightly. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this, and have already bought another of these reissues, Starlight.

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[Kidsmum]

Day 24: A book that you wish more people would've read

 

There are a number, and one (or at least the author of the book) I've decided to save for my favourite all-time book, but the simplest way to solve this was to go to my highest ranked books on LibraryThing, and choose the one that has least entries ascribed to it. And that is a book and author that I suspect pretty much nobody on this forum has heard of: The Ruins of Time by Ben Woolfenden

 

It's a long time since I read it, and it's now out of print, but it's basically a mystery set around the lead character investigating his family's history: When his father retires from teaching to devote himself to his obsessive research into his family history, Tom is by turns irritated and bored. But the multiple layers of dry genealogical facts unfold into the mysterious story of Elias Crane, Tom's grandfather, a minor artist in the late 19th century artists' colony in Newlyn, and his strange and troubled affair with Victoria Southley, a beautiful foundling adopted by the local vicar. This story forms a gripping novel-within-the-novel as Tom is drawn, in spite of his ambivalence, into his father's fanatical quest for the truth; and when his father dies, it is Tom who struggles to put the remaining pieces of the jigsaw together to breathe life into the past. I certainly remember being enthralled. It was Ben Woolfenden's first novel, and he seems to have sunk without trace, which is a pity, because it was an excellent book, and one that has attracted a number of good reviews. As it is, only 9 others have listed it on their LT lists, which is far too low for the quality of the book. I wonder what if more had read him in the first place??

 

I liked the sound of this so much that I've sent off for it from Amazon marketplace

[Weave]

The Ruins of Time sounds interesting, glad you enjoyed reading it willoyd

[willoyd]

Day 29: A book everyone hated but you liked

 

And so to the penultimate day - can't believe it's a month since I started this.

 

I don't know about everyone, but there are a fair number of books I've loved which many have disliked. But then they always seem to be at least partly counterbalanced by others who have equally loved them too. I can't think of any where I've been the only one. One of these like or love them in particular seems to divide people pretty starkly down the middle - certainly it has more than its fair share of critics who say that they just found it too heavy, dense, rambling etc etc. But I loved every second of it, and that is Herman Melville's Moby Dick . I've long liked my books meaty and chunky, and had a penchant for 19th century literature. This satisfies on both counts. But it's certainly not an easy read, with constant diversions into all sorts of esoterica about whales. You really just have to go with the flow, and let it all wash over you. If you do, there is a fabulous story to be discovered.

 

Like so many categories here, Virginia Woolf could easily have fitted in here - there are certainly plenty who don't like her work. And, much as I love her books, she doesn't feature in the next category either. Indeed, I don't think author or book have featured yet this challenge, even though both are amongst my favourites. Saving the best till last (or almost, if you allow for the non-fiction list).

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Day 30: Your favourite book of all time

 

The last of the thirty day challenge, but actually one of the easiest. Many people struggle to nominate a book for this. Personally, whilst there are half a dozen in with a shout, this is relatively straightforward. It's A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr.

 

This book and author could have featured in any one of a number of previous days, but I've been saving them both for this one. Jim Carr is one of the most individual authors I've read. Indeed each book is highly individual - this is a man who certainly did not write to a formula. Many of his books have an autobiographical element to them, but many equally have a strong element of fantasy about them. Not magical fantasy, but the way things pan out being rather unlike real life. I love them. A Month in the Country is, however, eminently believable, and is the account of the experiences of a young WW1 veteran and his arrival in a quiet village to restore a previously hidden medieval wall painting in the local church. It's elegiac, wistful, but with a quiet strength to it that I absolutely adore. It's also barely more than a novella. It won the Guardian Book Prize, was short listed for the Booker, and has been filmed (starring the young Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh), but is still remarkably unknown - and as for his other books..... (I particuarly recommend The Harpole Report, the book that Frank Muir nominated for his Desert Island as one of the funniest he'd ever read). I also recommend Byron Rogers's biography of Jim Carr, The Last Englishman; Carr was a fascinating man with a very varied life, and I suspect quite a tricky person to know in his own way. Incidentally, all his books are now published by The Quince Tree Press, a one-man publishing house set up by Carr to publish his books and maps when others wouldn't (or, just as likely, because he wanted to retain control), and carried on by his son after his death.

 

So that's the end of my thirty day challenge. I'm amazed I managed to keep it going - I was convinced that I would lose a day along the line. So now, all there is to finish it off is my self-declared Day 31 - My favourite non-fiction books.

Edited December 28, 2011 by willoyd

[chesilbeach]

What a great choice as your favourite book of all time. I read it about 15 years ago, as it's one of my partners favourite books and films, and he said I should read the book after loving the film when he made me watch it. All Carr's books are on our shelves and I keep meaning to read them, so I guess I need to rectify that now!

[poppy]

Westwood by Stella Gibbons

 

 

It's so good to know Stella Gibbons wrote some more books. I loved Cold Comfort Farm and I've read Bassett but didn't realise she'd written any others.

 

 

Day 30: Your favourite book of all time

 

The last of the thirty day challenge, but actually one of the easiest. Many people struggle to nominate a book for this. Personally, whilst there are half a dozen in with a shout, this is relatively straightforward. It's A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr.

I'd completely forgotten I'd read this book and you've reminded me how good it was! I'm going to look out some more of his too. Thank you Willoyd

[willoyd]

Day 31: Your top ten non-fiction books of all time

 

As discussed earlier, an extra day focusing on that rarely reviewed commodity here - the non-fiction book. I've been umming and aaaghing about this list for days. It's certainly a really bad sign when one is busy mulling over what should go in a list like this in the middle of a school inspection, but it was tricky!

I tried to spread the list over a wide range of genres, but inevitably the biases in my non-fiction show through, with a weighting towards biographies, travel and the outdoors, and history. To be honest either one of these three areas could have taken over the list, and I'm amazed I kept it down to only a couple of each.

 

Anway here's my list, in alphabetical order of author

 

Crow Country by Mark Cocker - Natural History

A slim, poetic volume on the author's obsession with crows. A serious contender for my all time favourite non-fiction book.

 

Letter from America by Alistair Cooke - Essays/Journalism

A collection of Cooke's broadcasts. In some ways I even preferred these to the radio versions, as Cooke's delivery was occasionally over-measured for my taste, but the content was simply superb. Having said that, Virginia Woolf's essays could well topple, but I've not read enough yet. In the meantime, I'll just wallow in some wonderful journalism.

 

Chasing the Monsoon by Alexander Frater - Travel

Exactly that, a book about Frater's travels across India in the shadow of the monsoon. It's a while since I read it, and other travel books have reared their heads (notably Jonathan Raban), but this remains at the top of my travel pile as things stand.

 

Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee - Biography

The most recently read of the books listed here, and one of the best. It took me a month to read this weighty tome, and I loved every minute of it. Each chapter covered a different theme in Woolf's life, so it didn't stick rigidly to chronological order, and occasionally repeated itself, but overall it was one of the meatiest, most involving biographies I've eve read.

 

In Search of Robert Millar by Richard Moore - Sport/Biography

There are maybe a few biographies I'd class in front of this, but it's the best sports book I've ever read. Robert Millar is one of sport's most enigmatic characters, a man who achieved a huge amount in one very unlike the British medal-fest of today (and we've only just started to make anything like a similar impact on road as on the track). This biography left me with even greater respect for the man.

 

A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols - Sport/Adventure

The story of the first ever non-stop round the world yacht race, the one with Chay Blyth, Robin Knox-Johnston and Donald Crowhurst. Absolutely gripping - a really exciting read, even when I knew the result; Classic Boys' Own stuff. It was a toss up between this, Touching the Void, and The Cruellest Miles. I obviously enjoy these sorts of books - but then I am a boy!

 

The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker - Science

I remember reading this one family Christmas, and refusing to speak to anyone for a couple of days. Pinker argues that much of our language is hardwired into us. Totally plausible, and fascinating stuff. It's complex, but Pinker explains with great lucidity.

 

The History of the Countryside by Oliver Rackham - Landscape History

Another contender for overall favourite - just so interesting, and really well written. The sort of book where on every page you can hear yourself saying "I never knew that!".

 

The History of the World by JM Roberts - History

I could have ten history books here, and struggled to limit. One of those books you always associate with a holiday or place, this being a trekking trip to the Karakoram, and could only take one book. Kept me going for three weeks, and even survived some rereading when I still couldn't get anything else. A brick of a book, but just as fascinating.

 

Everest by Walt Unsworth - Exploration/Adventure

Another book defined by the place it was read, this one being a cottage in the Scottish Highlands in midwinter in between some great days out on the hills. Definitely went down well with the odd dram (!) which may be why it features so highly! The material is yet again derring do, this time, obviously, focused on the history of the highest mountain in the world. I read an early edition (back in the 1980s), and much has moved on since then, to make it even more interesting and demanding I suspect.

 

So that's my ten. But that means I've got no room for one of the greatest non-fiction books ever, so I'm going to arbitrarily add an eleventh, one that I haven't even finished, but is so rewarding to read in small chunks, even if it might be even better as a whole. And that is The Diaries of Samuel Pepys. A vivid, highly individual portrait of life in the second half of the 17th century. Hope I can get away with it, even if it's 12 volumes long!!

 

And that's the challenge done and dusted. I've had a great time doing it, and will miss the day to day questions. Certainly made me think a lot more about my reading, so am really glad to have given it a go, and thanks to Frankie for a great idea - a cut above the usual lists.

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[chesilbeach]

We have Crow Country on the shelf, but I'm part way through Corvus by Esther Woolfson which is about a family who rescue a fledgling rook and how it became a part of their lives, as well as a more in depth look at the corvids. I want to finish that first, but that family of birds (crows, jackdaws etc.) is fascinating.

[bobblybear]

Day 31: Your top ten non-fiction books of all time

The History of the World by JM Roberts - History

I could have ten history books here, and struggled to limit. One of those books you always associate with a holiday or place, this being a trekking trip to the Karakoram, and could only take one book. Kept me going for three weeks, and even survived some rereading when I still couldn't get anything else. A brick of a book, but just as fascinating.

 

I've had this book on my shelf for quite a number of years, but have always been put off by the size of it. It is, as you say, a brick. I did flick through it a couple of months ago, toying with the idea of reading it, but ending up putting it back. Maybe I should think of it as a book I can read in sections in between other books. That way it won't seem so scary.

[willoyd]

I've had this book on my shelf for quite a number of years, but have always been put off by the size of it. It is, as you say, a brick. I did flick through it a couple of months ago, toying with the idea of reading it, but ending up putting it back. Maybe I should think of it as a book I can read in sections in between other books. That way it won't seem so scary.

 

Yes, I think quite a lot of history books can be treated like that - dipping in bit by bit. Quite a bit of my non-fiction reading has been like that, somewhat different to my fiction reading.

[willoyd]

Henrietta's War by Joyce Dennys ***

Based on a series of articles written for The Sketch during the war, and discovered by the author in her attic and first published as a book in 1985. Now one of 'The Bloomsbury Group' series of books published by the eponymous publisher, even though it doesn't appear that Dennys was anything to do with the original group.

 

The book consists of a series of letters from a doctor's wife to a friend at the front, reporting on life at home in rural Devonshire. I think the best way to describe the book is 'gently light-hearted'. Aspects of the war do break through, but on the whole it could have almost been written of any one of several decades in the firts two-thirds of the century; rationing is probably the only thing that really tells this apart. Overall I enjoyed it, ripping through it in a single morning, but I can't say that it was of more than passing interest, and, writing this review a few days later, I'm already struggling to remember much other than general impressions. It was, though, an enjoyable interlude in the frantic build up to a school inspection, providing much needed relaxation, so for that am very grateful! Good for whiling away a couple of pleasant hours.

 

Incidentally, I bought this after reading a review on poppyshake's thread - her review is somewhat more complete than mine, and certainly worth reading.

Edited December 30, 2011 by willoyd

[poppyshake]

I felt the same as you. I enjoyed it but it wasn't as entertaining as some of the other Bloomsbury books I've read. Have you read any of Nella Last's Mass Observation diaries? Victoria Wood dramatised them for TV a few years back now. 'Nella Last's War' is particularly excellent.

[willoyd]

I felt the same as you. I enjoyed it but it wasn't as entertaining as some of the other Bloomsbury books I've read. Have you read any of Nella Last's Mass Observation diaries? Victoria Wood dramatised them for TV a few years back now. 'Nella Last's War' is particularly excellent.

 

No I haven't - but TBH they are not my style of books. OH was a fan of the Victoria Wood programme, but I wasn't that bothered. On the other hand, I do enjoy some social histories. In particular, I've got Juliet Gardiner's The Blitz ready to run on my TBR shelf.

[Roland Butter]

I read Juliet Gardiner's Wartime: Britain 1939-1945 a while back and thought it was very good. She writes well (for a historian!), so I'm sure you'll enjoy Blitz.

[willoyd]

She writes well (for a historian!).

 

Ouch! I thought there were some pretty decent history writers - more so than in some other areas. Anybody you've got in mind in particular?

[willoyd]

Jane Austen by Claire Tomalin ****

 

Claire Tomalin is one of my favourite biographers. She tends to turn her hand to big ticket literary subjects, and this is one of the biggest, although a relatively slim volume (370 or so pages) in the current world of heavy weight blockbusters. Reliable as ever, it flows well, and is eminently readable. I learned much of interest about one of my favourite writers, even though her own life was relatively unsensational.

 

And yet, I came away slightly underwhelmed. I think this was because, in spite of the readability, Jane Austen remained a remote figure throughout the whole book. This is perhaps not surprising: much material has been lost, not least the piles of letters and personal papers destroyed by her sister Cassandra, and much never generated. The result is that Tomalin has had to rely on contextual evidence, evidence focused mainly on the surrounding people and world to create the picture of Austen, rather than material about or by Jane herself. As a result she is always in the corner of the eye, but never, or at least very rarely, in full view.

 

But this was still a good read, a very good read indeed. I just felt it never quite got under her subject's skin. I'd be interested though to see if anybody actually could.

Edited December 21, 2011 by willoyd

[poppyshake]

I have this book too along with several others and you're right they never reveal enough about Jane, there's a lot of supposition and conjecture (it's even worse for Shakespeare.) I can understand why Cassandra burnt the letters etc but it means we are left with a very sketchy picture (with all the interesting bits taken out.) It's such a difference to nowadays when we know practically everything about famous people. Still any book about her is worth reading just for the little snippets you do pick up. I always hate reading the end though, the account of her illness and death always make for sad reading .. it's especially sad that she ended up being buried in Winchester, a place she didn't particularly like.

Unless those burnt letters and papers turn up miraculously one day (having been buried like Pepys's Parmesan ) I don't think we'll ever really get a true picture of her.