Books do furnish a room

Thanks Andrea The Sea The Sea by Iris Murdoch I struggled with this for a while, mainly because I was so irritated by Charles Arrowby, the main character and unreliable narrator. Arrowby is a retired actor, director and playwright who has moved to a remote cottage by the sea and is tentatively writing his memoirs. Whole successions of characters, many of them former lovers, arrive and depart and Charles encounters his first love Hartley who has also retired to the area with her husband. Like many of Murdoch’s characters Arrowby is not very likeable and seems completely oblivious to the mayhem he creates among his nearest and dearest. I also found myself increasingly irritated by what he did with food (nothing kinky here!); if Murdoch meant him to be annoying, she wrote him very well. There is moral complexity and ambiguity as Arrowby tries to recapture his first love (literally). The cast of secondary characters are strong and are not there for mere ornament. Cousin James is an interesting counterpoint to Arrowby. The Sea is an ever present and the title comes from Xenophon’s Anabasis, an account of the travels of 10,000 Greek mercenary soldiers who end up getting stranded in the middle of the Persian Empire. They have to fight their way through hostile areas to the Black Sea coastline near Greece. The cry of The Sea, The Sea is one of joy and relief; it is symbolic of home; the home Arrowby wants in his twilight years. However there is a French poem which has the line “The Sea, The Sea, forever restarting” and that also has resonance as Arrowby tells his story. It will be no surprise to know Murdoch’s favourite Shakespeare play is The Tempest and there are parallels; Arrowby is an odd Prospero. The sea serpent is a strange addition and the Freudians have had a field day with that one. However, the principal idea here, the key to all Murdoch’s fiction is contingency. Murdoch usually has purpose in her literature; she argued that religion and philosophy had lost their oomph (a technical term) and potency in explaining the human condition and can be described as dry (see her essay called Against Dryness). It is up to literature to provide what religion and philosophy now cannot; an interesting argument. Murdoch stresses the importance of the accidental, unpredictable and life’s sheer messiness; this is what she means by contingency. Contingency invades Charles Arrowby’s life with monotonous regularity and the ending is unresolved, messy and indeed contingent. 9 out of 10 Starting Solar by Ian McEwan

Jerome was by no means perfect, but I liked the way he wrote about himself and he had insight into what was going on around him. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene This is the first Greene I have read in years and it is a powerful novel. It is set in Mexico and Greene has spent some time there in research. The novel is about a priest; a whisky priest in a province of Mexico where the Catholic Church is banned and priests are shot. The unnamed protagonist is a bad priest and a drunkard who has also fathered a child. He is also a coward. The title is taken from the end of The Lord's Prayer and there is religious imagery all over the place. The priest rides a donkey to his inevitable capture (having been given a chance to escape), the peasant who betrays him is Judas. Most of the other characters can be seen to represent someone in the gospel narratives; Maria, padre Jose, Tench etc. The priest is a very imperfect Christ and the Lieutenant a very implacable reperesentative of authority who is ultimately moved by the priest. The Lieutenant plays a much larger role than Pilate does in the gospels, but there is a "What is truth" Moment. The book represents Greene's own struggles with faith and the Church. There are also themes relating to abandonment, desolation, hope and the bleakness of everyday life for the poor. Greene's descriptive powers are very powerful and you can feel the stifling heat. This is a thought provoking piece and managed to offend Catholics and atheists in equal measure; quite a neat trick. I've known a few whisky priests in my time and remember one particular church and rectory which was locally christened St Glenfiddich's because of the drinking habits of the incumbent. He didn't seem to do a great deal apart from drink, but when the alcohol finally got him everyone turned out for the funeral and he was rather fondly remembered. The whisky priest here doesn't do a great deal apart from move around and perform any religious duties he was forced to by the locals. There is something here perhaps about being rather then doing. While I don't share Greene's faith it is an interesting and powerful novel with more hidden layers than I first perhaps realised 9 out of 10 Starting Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolano

My Life and Times by Jerome K Jerome This was a good autobiography and I found myself quite liking Jerome by the end of it. He is quite selective in what he writes about, there is virtually nothing about his wife and children. he choses to focus on his early life and his professional life. His language is of the time, but some of his views feel quite modern. This was more a series of anecdotes and comments. He describes the grinding poverty of his childhood and its intensely religious nature. He describes his feelings as a child dealing with the particular brand of hellfire Christianity he was exposed to. Jerome explains his fear, as a child of commiting the unforgiveable sin; reminding me of times when I experienced exactly the same feelings over the same issue. Jerome writes eloquently about religious fundamentalism and his battles with it. He did find his own way back to a more humane type of religious faith and the last chapter is his case for his faith. Jerome tells anecdotes of his early poverty as a young man in London, when he often slept rough or lived in very basic conditions. Once he started earning from writing he became part of literary society and shamelessly namedrops. His friends included J M Barrie, Conan Doyle, Wells, Shaw, Gilbert, Sarah Bernhardt and so on. He tells some amusing anecdotes about all of them and especially about the rise of the bicycle. Jerome comes across sometimes as a fairly jolly humourist. Two things changed that for me, Firstly, he went to America in the very early 1900s. Amidst the merry anecdotes jerome talks about a reading he gave in Chatanooga. He had become concerned about the lynchings that were taking place in the South at the time. Two days before he arrived in Chatanooga two black men had been lynched for an alleged attack on a white woman (untrue as it happens). jerome felt strongly about this and told the assembled worthies who had come to hear him speak exactly what he thought about the lynchings; he describes the reaction thus "... it seemed to be that I could actually visualise the anger of my audience. It looked like a dull Copper-coloured cloud, hovering just above their heads, and growing in size. I sat down amid silence," It was a brave thing to do. Jerome suggested that that more Americans should speak out about the "foul sin" in their midst. Secondly, Jerome's war record. By the time of the First World War jerome was in his 50s. He still volunteered as an ambulance driver/stretcher bearer, The British refused to have him because of his age. He therefore joined the French Army as an amulance driver as their restrictions only related to fitness. He served as an ambulance driver and stretcher bearer for two years. He went into no mans land and saw some of the worst of the horrors, as a volunteer helping the wounded. I would have liked to have known Jerome, he came across as a decent man. 8 out of 10 Starting Now all Roads lead to France by Matthew Hollis

I've also added An American tragedy to my wishlist too! Arcadia by Jim Crace An interesting novel with a great deal going on beneath the surface. Victor is an aging millionaire, a self made man living in the penthouse of the skyscraper he owns in an unnamed city. His origins lie in the countryside; after his father's early death his mother brings him as a baby to the city where she begs for food in the market area of the city using Victor as a draw. His mother dies, but Victor survives, eventually making his fortune through the market, which he now owns. Victor's right hand man, Rook, is setting up a birthday surprise; he too comes from the market and collects rents for Victor, solves problems and makes life smooth. Victor decides that to commkemorate his 80th birthday he will tear down the old market and build something new, spectacular and glassy. At the same time he decides to dispense with Rook's services. Lots of forces come into play; the ancient customs and rituals of the market, hungry and angry young men like Joseph, Victor's entirely selfish vision, Rook's desire for revenge and much more all fuel the inevitable collision and the inevitability of progress. The narrator is a journalist who also is cut down by progress. The tensions and collisions betwenn ways of life are lain bare. this is not just town versus country, or more accurately city versus rurality. It is modernism opposing tradition, capitalism versus an almost pre-industrial idyll; almost shades of the Norman Yoke ideas that persisted for centuries. It is most tellingly the opposition of individualism to a pre-Thatcher sense of community and belonging. It explains what was lost when the out of town shopping centres like Meadowhall and Blue Water were built or when most city centres were modernised and shopping malls erected. Crace went to Birmingham University in the 60s and there may be shades of what happened when the Bull Ring was built. However there is no glorification of the old ways; the brutalities and difficulties of life are not glossed over, but there is the sense of a way of life lost and sanitised. A close reading identifies the seeds of destruction in the new wonderful shiny Arcadia shopping centre and market. Arcadia has been compared to Ballard's novels and there are similarities. The anonymised setting works well. Crace sets of many current debates going at once, rather like a plate spinning act and he manages to keep them up. The current debates about conservation and development; is growth necessary and inevitable? Who suffers when communities are uprooted? Can those who oppose the big conglomerates ever get justice? Is protest a waste of time? How can small people ever win against the powerful? Lots of questions and ideas woven into a very effective story; Crace just sets the debate going and does it rather well 8 out of 10 Starting Omensetter's Luck by William Gass

A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly This isn't my normal fare and I'm not entirely sure how it ended up on the bookshelf! However for bedtime reading I'm willing to try pretty much anything. This is a coming of age story set in early twentieth century America in New York state in a rural farming community. The author has quite neatly woven the story around an actual historical event; the murder of a young woman called Grace Brown (also the basis of Dreiser's An American Tragedy). The story revolves around Mattie, who is 16, her family and community. Mattie has aspirations to write and be educated and is held back by her responsibilities to her family since the death of her mother. She also has a boyfriend who only has aspirations to farm. She has a friend, Weaver, who also has aspirations to be a lawyer and he experiences the casual racism of society at the time. Mattie works at a local hotel over the summer to earn extra money, which is where she meets Grace Brown. The story is rather sweet, but is also formulaic; the heroic teacher, the older males in the book are a pretty grim lot, Mattie grumbles about happy endings in literature but the author delivers a predictable ending (not entirely ringing true). Many of the minor characters are a little flimsy. Mattie herself is endearing but rather predictable. I think overa analysis of a book like this is pointless because the plot disintegrates under scrutiny, but it read easily and late at night my standards are less demanding and the author can get away with more! A sweet undemanding story which was ok despite my initial scepticism. 6 out of 10 Starting The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

Thanks Kylie; the Jerome is proving very good. Mason and Dixon by Thomas Pynchon This is a magnificent novel, immense in its scope. It is not an easy read being set in the eighteenth century; Pynchon uses the language, idiom and spelling of the day. Hence very careful reading is required; it is more Fielding than Richardson. The story involves Jeremiah Dixon and Charles Mason (of Mason/Dixon line fame and follows them from England to South Africa (Transit of Venus) to St Helena, on to America to map the aforesaid line, back to Britain and so on. Pynchon mixes real historical figures with fantastic creations, oddities, rumour, and myth and in the centre of it all is the portrayal of a friendship in the form of a glorified road movie. The narrator is a Revd Wicks Cherrycoke, an offbeat and slightly disreputable clergyman. The choice of names is truly amazing (anyone met a Mrs Eggslap?). Historical figures slip in and out of the story; Boswell and Johnson towards the end, Washington (our heroes smoke pot with him), Jefferson, Maskelyne (Astronomer Royal and something of a villain), Franklin and Emerson, to name a few. The odd and fantastic populate the pages with some abandon. There is a museum devoted to the War of Jenkins Ear (1739, I remember this from A level history); complete with ear. A talking dog pops up on several occasions, as does a talking mechanical duck! The Lambton worm even makes an appearance. This is a people’s history and Pynchon draws in all levels of society, including slaves and Native Americans, and all have a contribution. America seems full of Jesuits and the Chinese. There is much musing on religion, life after death (Mason sees the ghost of his wife), Feng Shui (I kid you not), lots of Astronomy (as you would imagine), suggestions of alien abduction, myth from a variety of cultures. The part concerning the giant vegetables reminded me of the Biblical story of the promised land flowing with milk and honey, where everything grew prolific(k)ally. Normal human activities also take their place; there is plenty of drinking, carousing, fighting, cooking, eating, sex, seduction and lots and lots of coffee. The language is stunning and the start of the book is beautiful “Snowballs have flown their Arcs, starr’d the Side of Outbuildings” and so on. Some of the phrasing can be surprising and very clever, “imps of apprehension”. Pynchon asks lots of interesting philosophical questions; there is a passage about enlightenment and trees linking Adam and Eve, Buddha and Newton. A mere review cannot do this justice and eventually (probably when I retire) I will have to read it again. At heart it’s a simple tale of two friends and the birth of a nation narrated by Cherrycoke (very American!) and laced with fantastical humour and philosophical musings. 9 out of 10 Starting The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson Reads very easily and is well written in a journalistic sort of way. Ronson meanders through the mental health industry in a rather idiosyncratic way. The basis of the book concerns the psychopath checklist developed by Hare and Ronson manages to get himself invited into various high secuity institutions to talk to various inmates. His wanderings extend to a brief look at diagnosis of bi-polar in childhood and some thoughts on the medication industry. The growth of the DSM system is explained and the rise of labelling almost everything from mild irritation to an offbeat way of looking at the world as a psychiatric disorder. I think Ronson has produced an interesting account of his experiences, with perhaps a little too much of himself in it. However, for me there is a big but. There is nothing here about the social construction of madness, which would question an empirical-behaviourist approach. To reduce psychopathy to a chemical reaction (or not) in the brain is limiting; although I did appreciate the idea that real madness is at the top of large corproations and banking. A dose of Szasz's ideas at this point would be helpful; he questioned the whole basis of psychiatry and the madness industry. Szasz argued that no behaviour or misbehaviour could be classified as a disease and cited the idea that women who did not conform or bend to men's will were labelled as hysterics. Szasz saw psychiatrists as modern day priests and psychiatry as a modern religion. He is not alone in questioning the mental health edifice; Foucault and Goffman did likewise. This more radical type of questioning was not present in Ronson's book; but I enjoyed it for what it was; I would just have liked a deeper analysis. 6 out of 10 Starting My Life and Times by Jerome K Jerome

Gertrude by Hermann Hesse Another novel about unrequited love. The book shows the influence of Nietzsche and the split between Dionysian passion and the intellectual and cerebral virtues of the Apollonian aspect. This duality reminded me a little of Death In Venice by Thomas Mann, which I have also read this month. The main protagonist Kuhn, is a fairly successful composer who is looking back. Kuhn reminded me a little of Philip Carey in Maugham's Of Human Bondage (which I have also read recently), because of his physical disability which he feels comes between him and those who he would potentially love. Kuhn falls in love with Gertrude, but she falls in love with his friend Muoth. We know the marraige is doomed (Hesse pretty much tells the reader the whole plot early in the book), partly because of the way Muoth has treated women in the past and partly because of the characters of the two people involved. The novel is beautifully written and the minor characters play their parts well. There is a mirror of Kuhn's love for Gertrude in Brigitte's love for Kuhn. The whole is a little slight, but rather pleasing. I'm not sure I'm at all convinced by the Dionysius/Apollo split and tend to believe that the distinction has been overplayed. A poetic and rather beautiful novel about the vicissitudes of life. 8 out of 10 Starting The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

Vita by Victoria Glendinning Competent and interesting biography of Vita Sackville-West. her garden at Sissinghurst is one of the treasures of the National Trust. The White Garden is stunning. Sackville-West is a fascinating character, born at Knole, one of the largest country houses in England. The only reason she did not inherit it was because she was a woman. Vita was a poet, novelist, gardener and prolific broadcaster. Her 49 year marraige to Harold Nicholson has been well documented. They had what would now be termed an open marraige; they both had lovers (Harold male and Vita female). Glendinning outlines her many infatuations and two in particular stand out; Violet Trefussis and Virginia Woolf. Vita was very passionate and often moved quickly from one infatuation to another. Throughout all this her marraige survived, even thrived. Vita was a complex character and not always likeable, becoming more conservative as she grew older. Her argument for euthanasia for "mental defectives" left me rather chilled; however, we create institutions like Winterbourne View and call it progress! She always struggled to be a respected author or poet and never quite seemed to get there, she often had too much else to do and never got on with Edith Sitwell (an aristocratic contemporary and also a poet). I had never realised the figure of Orlando in Virginia Woolf's novel was Vita; it was written at the height of their affair. A good biography of a complex and contradictory figure who never quite found peace; but Sissinghurst is a treasure. 7 and a half out of 10 Starting The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

Jack's Return Home by Ted Lewis Classic British noir; properly titled Jack's Return Home. I understand why the film version is Get Carter; much snappier. It was written in 1970 and is actually set in S'would your mother let you use that word?'horpe; my hometown, which is why I read it (the blurb is wrong, it's not Doncaster, Jack just changed trains there). The plot is fairly similar to the film, with a few variations. It is very much a book of its time and some of the dialogue is a little obscure ("she was a bit Harrison Marks"; I had to look that one up). The geography is a little out at times; some of the road names were accurate others not; but it wasn't far out. The descriptions of the steelworkers pubs was accurate and the casual violence of the area is true to life. The arrival of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent is depicted, along with the trensions created in the local community. The language is very strong, the women are there as sexual objects or as victims of casual violence. Now I reflect on it, the treatment of all of the female characters is brutal. Carter is an anti-hero; the only reason he is creating havoc is because it is his neice who has been exploited. If it had been someone else's he would not have been bothered. He is a cog on the wheel and ultimately stands no chance of winning. The faults outweighed the nostalgia, but I had to read it; there aren't many novels set in S'would your mother let you use that word?'horpe!! 5 and a half out of 10 Starting Gertrude by Hermann Hesse

The Shooting Party by Chekhov Chekhov's only novel and a detective novel at that. There is the usual cast of suspects, although the murder is quite late on in the book. It is narrated by the examining magistrate, who is also involved in the events described. Spotting the murderer is not that difficult; although if you don't the twist at the end is a good one. The descriptions of the landscape are good. Describing the plot would give too much away and this is after all a whodunnit. This being a Russian novel most of the characters are profoundly miserable or debauched. There is lots of vodka drunk, plenty of illicit sex, a decent plot, decadent aristocracy, unhappy peasantry, schemimg bureaucrats and inept law enforcers. The novel within the novel idea was a little clumsy, but doesn't detract from the whole. It's a bit more Agatha Christie than Tolstoy but I enjoyed it for what it was. 7 out of 10 Starting The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoich

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann It felt rather odd reading this novella whilst the furore about Jimmy Saville has been going on. This famous/infamous novella is about a writer in his 50s who falls in love with a 14 year old boy who is staying in his hotel whilst he is on holiday in Venice. The story is highly descriptive and internal (Gustav von Aschenbach, the writer, is not a talkative chap, he doesn't even speak to his beloved, Tadzio). Mann himself wrote that he wanted to portray the passion as confusion and degradation and he does this very effectively using the symbolism of Greek philosophy; especially Apollo and Dioysius in opposition; Apollo representing the intellect and repressed emotion and Dionysius representing passion and the opposite of reason. Aschenbach has lived in the realm of intellect and reason; unreason intrudes (the red haired man at the beginning of the book) and Aschenbach travels to Venice to holiday. He appears surprised by the intrusion of passion and struggles to understand and cope with it. As Aschenbach becomes more obsessed his decline is described. Early in the book he sees an older man with a group of younger men; the older man is heavily made up to look younger and revolts Aschenbach. He later becomes what he is revolted by. The symbol of cholera ravaging the heart of Venice, secretly, is mirrored in the destructive passion and in the obsession leading to Aschenbach staying in Venice and dying of cholera (it does feel like Mann really does not like Aschenbach). The influences of Freud and Nietzsche are clear and there are lots of Platonic references. This is a powerful portrayal of doomed and distorted obsession. Mann got the idea when he was in Venice with his family and saw a young Polish boy with his family. He was also a fan of Mahler, who died very suddenly just before Mann conceived the tale. The analysis of passion is stark; Aschenbach gains nothing from it, he becomes ridiculous, diseased and increasingly self-deceiving. Aschenbach does not realise there is a sexual element to his desire until a vivid dream towards the end of the book; that realisation does not lead to direct action on his desires (he still sits on the beach and watches or follows the family at a distance around Venice), but more directly to the onset of the disease and decay. Contrast with the horrific current revelations about Jimmy Saville; he acted out all of his fantasies with no repression. I cannot imagine Aschenbach having an epitaph on his grave saying "It was good while it lasted" like Saville did (Unfortunately we now know what he meant). This novella is well worth reading for Mann's analysis of destructive passion and it is very thought provoking. 8 out of 10 Starting Jack's return home by Ted Lewis (otherwise known as Get Carter).

Wistons by Ellen Cobden An odd period piece; which I came across in an odd way. Ellen Cobden was the daughter of Richard Cobden, the great 19th century liberal thinker. He campaigned against the Corn Laws and was a consistent opponent of war, consistently arguing for a reduction in defence expenditure. I came across her in an indirect way. A few years ago I read Patricia Cornwell's book on Jack the Ripper,where she concludes that the murders were commited by the artist Walter Sickert. I had come across Sickert in various books relating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and seen some of his art. I was not convinced by Cornwell's theories and went on to read the excellent biography of him by Matthew Sturgis Walter Sickert: A Life. Here Sturgis shows Sickert wasn't the Ripper, but also portrays his marraige with Ellen Cobden. Sickert wasn't capable of being faithful and they divorced. Cobden continued to support him and wrote a few novels in her own right. I wondered what they might be like, so here we are. This is a modern printing which is badly edited with many textual errors. The novel is the story of a house and its family over 3/4 generations. Most of the novel is a fairly mundane description of the family and the house over several decades, ending with two sisters Rhoda and Esther. It's all a bit uninspring until the last half dozen pages, where there are two deaths and the writing is intensely powerful. The ending is deserving of a much better novel. It is almost as though the author has poured all her grief, anger and inensity into those few pages. The rage is directed against God (in particular) and the cruelty of life and it is raw and sharp; worth reading the novel for. 7 out of 10 Starting Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre This isn't the Le Carre of the Smiley novels. Here he deals with the war on terror and I think he is missing the cold war because it goesn't really work. The main character Issa, is a Chechen Muslim (supposedly) smuggled into Germany. He is in contact with a lawyer Annabel (young, attractive and left leaning, of course) Issa has business with Tommy Brue, a British, 60 year old banker whose has money put aside for Issa (long story). Floating around theses three are a couple of Turkish muslims, who are clownish caricatures and various members of the German intelligence community, some of whom we see a lot of and they are given variuos political rants periodically. Le Carre throws a lot of characters into the mix and the whole is rather confusing and lacking in nuance. The Germans are a mixed bunch, some well-meaning others unscrupulous, mostly incompetent. The Brits are nasty and rather stupid, the Americans nasty and ruthless. the main character has no real substance and obviously the handsome 60 something banker will most likely get off with the attractive lawyer (a bit of wish fulfilment by the author methinks!!) The ending is obvious, not a great deal happens, there is a bit of political posturing and the whole thing is a rather confusing mess of pottage. 4 out of 10 Starting A Gathering Light by Jennifer Donnelly

A House in Pondicherry by Lee Langley Langley, in her more historical novels writes about empire its past and how it affects the present. She was born in India and has often written about India; doing so again in this novel. Here Langley takes a slightly different approach; this is about Pondicherry; the small part of southern India which remained French. There is a good story spanning the lifetime of the main character into which Langley weaves the past and present, the abuses of empire and the birth of modern India. The main character is Oriane (a name lifted from Proust, whose influence is ever present in the novel).Her parents run the Hotel de France in Pondicherry, where Oriane grows up. She never marries and remains there most of here life, even when her parents return to France. The hotel remains a little piece of France in India, even though Oriane never goes to France. Running a;ongside Oriane's story is that of Auroville and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (these actually exist, whereas the hotel does not) and Oriane's uneasy relationship to it and with Raymond, her nephew, who uses his skills as an architect to assist the community. Oriane's decades long friendship with Guruvappa also runs through the book and Langley weaves in some eighteenth century history and some explorations in the Tamil language as part of the package. The encroachments of the modern, the dying of a way of life, the end of empire (the French left after the British)and the growth of modern India are all described. There is a sense of wistfulness, but no sentimentality. Modernity is looked at neutrally with its gains and its losses. There are also several love stories buried within, sometimes in unexpected places and the death of one particular character, a very minor character, is heartrendingly sad. On the whole the novel holds together well, reads easily and is rather good. I am amazed it seems to be relatively unknown. 8 out of 10 Starting Arcadia by Jim Crace

In Search of Lost Time volume 2 Within a Budding Grove I didn't enjoy this volume quite as much as volume one; but nevertheless it was still excellent moving in time from the early to the late teens of the narrator. In many ways the narrative story is superfluous. Proust's genius lies in his descriptive abilities and his knack of distilling human thoughts and emotions. The stuff of the narrative is the boring and mundane; french upper middle class life in the late nineteenth century. The narrator is sometimes irritating and sometimes not very likeable, but Proust captures the essence of teenage obsessive love and infatuation. The power is in the minute observation and the detail. The narrator's developing sense of consciousness and his forays into art and literature form a backdrop to his discovery of girls. Swann apppears again in this volume, now married to Odette and they have their own "salon". Proust delitacately dissects the pomposity and hypocrisy of the salon system and the lower echelons of the aristocracy. It's all very delicately done, but it works very well. Proust introduces characters who will clearly take a large part in later volumes. The descriptions are sublime, but writing a review feels to me like trying to take apart a painting and analyse its parts. 9 out of 10 Starting volume 3

The man in the picture by Susan Hill An ok ghost/gothic story read in one sitting. Not in the same claas as The Woman in Black but easy to read with a few nice twists. The story basically involves an eighteenth century painting of Venice; a masque taking place by the Grand Canal with lots of figures in the picture, masked and unmasked. The basis of the story is that here in the twentieth century people end up in the picture and can be seen with a look of horror on their faces. It's all good spooky stuff. Oddly this is the second book this year I've read about a person ending up in a picture. Wilson Harris's The Ghost of Memory is a reflection on the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot on the tube in the aftermath of 7/7. That is magic realism rather than gothic horror. A strange coincidence I think. Yes, this is a shameless plug for Wilson Harris who is (in my opinion) very much underrated. This one pretty much does what it says on the tin and Hill writes in a way that draws you in; bit like the picture! 6 and a half out of 10 Starting Wistons by Ellen Cobden

Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai In two minds about this one; it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be. Simran Singh is a social worker asked to look into a mass murder of a family; a 14 year old girl is suspected, but is she being set up. Simran has to work through prejudice and tradition to find a solution. The problem is that the book doesn't really know what it is. Desai clearly has strong views about the subject she is addressing and she is passionate about it. The role of women in a certain part of Indian society is cantral; however the book is also a detective story and Simran is trying to solve a puzzle. The problem is that the book doesn't make its mind up whether it is a crime novel or a social critique. There is a devastating point to make about the place of women in Indian society and the demand for sons rather than daughters. Simran is somewhat slow at times but she is likeable; especially because she has loveable flaws and mostly finds the truth by pure accident. This was Desai's first novel and I think she intends to revive Simran in the next novel. I think I will suspend judgement until the next novekl; but this is worth a try; there are some good passages and strong characters. I would like to see some other opinions on this one. 6 out of 10 starting The man in the picture by Susan Hill

Kylie; I've read Trout Fishing In America (earlier this year I think), which I also enjoyed. Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham This book grew on me; it sort of seeps into you. Maugham is a good story teller and his characters are drawn well. It is a story of obsession, desire and yearning for something beyond the ordinary run of life. The hero, Philip Carey is not a conventional hero; he has a difficult childhood, a club foot which deeply affects him, he's awkward and often uncomfortable with people. We follow Philip from childhood, the death of his parents, living with his very religious aunt and uncle, boarding school, his attempts at jobs, Paris trying to be an artist, studying medicine, poverty and back to medicine. Interspersed are friendships, relationships with women and especially the intense and doomed relationship with Mildred which dominates the second half of the book. The 1934 film had Bette Davis as Mildred; wonderful piece of casting. There is a slightly awlward ending which I found satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. So why did the book strike a chord with me? Mainly because I identified so much with Philip Carey. I wasn't orphaned, but there was the intensely religious upbringing. Then, more importantly, there was Philip's club foot which blighted his school days; children are cruel; I have a disbility which affects the way I walk (I stand out) and made school grim hell. Philip used reading to escape; as I did and many others do. Our career paths were different, apart from a period of unemployment; but there was a realisation that ultimately the negativity could either destroy one, or it could be turned to positivity and empathy for the pain and suffering of others. Philip survives and becomes stronger. Of course, Philip also falls in love with or becomes involved with totally inappropriate women; not, of course that I've ever done that (Ha!). There is a redemptive theme running through, although Philip loses his religious beliefs. This is a powerful novel and is well worth the effort. Nine out of ten Starting The Shooting Party by Chekov

Five Days in London, May 1940 by John Lukacs Very competent historical analysis of a five day period in May 1940 (24th to 28th). This was early in Churchill's premiership, the BEF was in retreat and had reached Dunkirk, France was about to fall and Churchill had opposition within the cabinet from those who wanted to explore whether peace terms were possible. This is history in detail and Lukacs does it rather well. The relationships between Churchill, Chamberlain and Halifax are examined in detail. Churchill was by no means secure at this time; most of the conservatives were supporters of Chamberlain and hated Churchill. Many pundits expected him to be a temporary PM. There was also stong feeling in the war cabinet that if peace negotiations were possible they should be pursued. This was a pivotal time, which Churchill survived, strengthening his position. Lukacs, whilst a Churchill fan, is not blind to his faults and Halifax, always painted as an arch-appeaser, is also given a fair hearing. The point is again made thet whilst Russia and the US won the war, Churchill ensured Britain did not lose it. Lukacs is a historian I often disagree with, but here he does a good job marshalling all the detail and presenting his case. He also does a good line in sideswipes at other historians and commentators when he demolishes their arguments. 7 out of 10 Starting Vita by Victoria Glendinning

Mr Weston's Good Wine by Theodore Powys This is a remarkable book; I wasn’t expecting a great deal from it, but despite my low expectations I was impressed. I must admit I knew little of Theodore Powys, apart from the fact that he was John Cowper Powys’s brother. He was the son of a clergyman, born in 1875. He tried and failed at farming and eventually settled to writing in rural Dorset. He was a voracious reader and was influenced by the Bible, Bunyan, Hardy, Nietzsche and Freud amongst others. The book is allegorical and on the surface seems to be a Christian allegory, but any story that treats Christianity as myth has much more going on. The story is a simple one, set in one evening in the village of Folly Down in Dorset. It is uncomfortable and makes one uneasy. It has been compared to the film “A Wonderful Life”, the rural characters are brilliantly drawn and remind one of Hardy, there is a strong vein running through it which is pure Hammer House of Horror, Nietzsche’s influence stands out a mile. Mr Weston is a wine merchant who drives a Ford van, travelling round to sell his wares with his assistant Michael. Mr Weston is actually the creator of the world, God, and his assistant is an angel. Mr Weston sells two wines; the light, sweet, white wine of love and the dark, rich red wine of death. Mr Weston seems very fond of the villagers of Folly Down, but he envies them mortality; God wishes that he could die and says that he will drink his own wine of death one day. The villagers are a set of very colourful characters; the vicar Revd Nicholas Grobe, does not believe in God since the death of his wife in childbirth, his daughter Tamar is an innocent who wishes nothing more than to be loved by an angel; preferably the one in blue trousers on the sign of the local pub. Mrs Vosper is probably one of the nastier creations in literature. Together with Squire Mumby’s two sons, Martin and John, she plots the downfall of virtuous young women. She befriends young women from the village and lures them to the old oak at night, where Martin and John rape them whilst Mrs Vosper watches on. This has happened to the three Kiddle sisters. The eldest Ada became pregnant and killed herself by throwing herself into the village pond (at Mrs Vosper’s suggestion. Jenny Bunce is the landlord of the pubs daughter, who is young and innocent and next on Mrs Vosper’s list. Luke Bird is a young man who believes he is called to preach the gospel and believing men to have no soul, he preaches to animals. Mr Grunter is the gravedigger and general handyman at the church; Mrs Vosper blames him for deflowering the women, a charge he doesn’t deny as he quite likes the notoriety. There are various other worthies in the local pub. Time stops at 7pm when Mr Weston arrives. There is sensuality in the writing; Powys is very open about sex as he is about the place of women and relations between the sexes; in society and in Christianity. A sort of justice is meted out. Luke Bird discovers love and sex with Jenny Bunce (after she is saved from the Mumby’s and Mrs Vosper) and so stops preaching. Revd Grobe drinks the heavy wine of death and is at peace. Tamar finds her angel (Michael) and consummates her love and in doing so dies. Mrs Vosper’s demise is chilling (I saw a rather bad horror movie called Drag Me to Hell recently and the very last scene of that film was brought to mind when Mrs Vosper is judged. The remaining Kiddle sisters suddenly find the Mumby brothers are entirely at their beck and call and they marry them. As for Ada Kiddle; Mr Grunter is instructed to dig her up. He speaks to her remains; “Ada,” he said, stepping to the coffin again, “’tain’t I that have moulded ‘ee, ‘tain’t I that have rotted thee’s merry ways wi’ wormy clay. I bain’t to be talked of no more.” God is on trial here; and is found guilty, as is much of the panoply of religion and its patriarchalism. The messages here are complex and there is lots of symbolism. At the end of the book Mr Weston sits in his van and asks Michael to put a match into the petrol tank. Does God die; you decide. Clearly Powys does not believe in immortality and here wrestles with myth, spirituality, philosophy and theology and comes up with as many questions as answers. Leavis, the doyen of literary critics approved of Powys and he has been called England’s Tolstoy. On this reading I will look out more of his work. This is an excellent and thought provoking novel. 10 out of 10 Starting Witness the Night by Kishwar Desai

In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan Bizarre and surreal pretty much sums this up and I know many people see this as utopian, a Garden of Eden setting in what seems to be a post-apocalyptic world. Brautigan indicated that Bolinas, the town in California where he lived for a while, provided something of a template. It is notoriously reclusive and the abode of poets, artists and ecologists. The commune is called iDEATH and the narrator has a shack nearby and a room in the commune. There;s his girlfriend Pauline, an ex-girlfriend Margaret, a chef who cooks mainly carrots and various assorted others. The sun is a different colour each day, most thi8ngs are made of watermelon sugar and pine and there is little room for books. Nearby there is a vast rubbish dump full of forgotten things from previous times. Margaret is thought of as odd as she goes and collects these things. There is also a rogue element led by inBOIL and his friends who live in shacks and make whiskey from forgotten things. I haven't even mentioned the watermelontrout oil, the talking tigers (now extinct) and the trout (Brautigan liked trout). There is a very comfortable and comforting communal way of life which is very simple and has inspired lots of positives and was very much appreciated in the 60s and 70s. However there is a moral vacuum at the heart of iDEATH and the message is that you must conform. Margaret's untimely death and the undercurrent of violence is disturbing. There is one classic scene, which is really the centrepoint of the book which is pure Monty Python; remember the scene in Life of Brian where Brian is on the cross and thinks he is about to be rescued, but the rescuers commit mass suicide? I wonder if this is where the writers got the idea. Love and death are central themes here. Paradise is not all it seems and the main characters whilstat peace with nature are narrow and parochial with no sense of wanting to learn or know; no sense of adventure. Lots of hidden messages and warnings for such a short book 7 out of 10 Starting A House in Pondicherry by Lee Langley

Dark Fire by C J Sansom Pretty reasonable Tudor detective thriller; better than the first in the series in my opinion. Sansom is a historian and lawyer who has obviously combined his two passions. This one is set in the summer of 1540 at the time of the fall of Cromwell. Shardlake, the hero/detective is an honest lawyer (there's an oxymoron if ever there was one!)and is a likeable character. There is none of the mean moodiness and complex personal life here; Shardlake is a 40 year old hunchback who is unmarried. He does however, like Morse, fall for completely inappropriate women; an endearing trait. In this book he receives a commission from Cromwell to investigate Greek Fire and find what is effectively a Tudor version of a flamethrower. The plot twists and revolves and there are plenty of suspects; Shardlake gains a new assistant (every decent detective should have one that complements their own gifts) who is streetwise, muscular and gets things done. If you like decent detective novels this one fits the bill with the added bonus of a bit of Tudor history and some excellent descriptive passages. 7 out of 10 Starting A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre

Efforts at Truth by Nicholas Mosley This is a tough one to review. Having read it I'm still not sure about how I feel about Mosley. This is a brutally honest autobiography, but there are so many gaps where I wanted to say; why did you do that? The elephant in the room of course is Mosley's father Sir Oswald Mosley and his effect on Nicholas, his eldest son is clear. His shadow falls on the book as well. This is not a conventional autobiography. Mosley is a novelist and writer and he uses his own novels and writing to analyse his own life and loves. He effectively starts the book just after the Second World War at the time of his marraige. It is worth noting that while his infamous father and stepmother were in detention because they were felt to be a threat to the country, Nicholas was in the army and was awarded the Military Cross for bravery whilst fighting in Italy. Mosley is very honest about his sucesses and failures as a writer; very honest about his marraiges and love affairs. He is honest enough to compare his own attitude to woment with that of his father. Mosley senior was notorious for his affairs and flirtations and Mosley describes his own approach as to take any opportunity which came along. Mosley is also very honest about the damage his actions caused to those he loved, serious damage that harmed the mental health of one or two of those involved. He describes what occured, tries to analyse it through his own fiction and pretty much says; I know my behaviour seems inexcusable; this is why I think I behaved this way. He then leaves it up to the reader to make a judgement. Mosley has a good deal of insight into his own behaviour. Mosley also analyses his struggles with faith, belief and the Church in the 1950s and 60s. Again this is interesting, particularly his links with Mirfield and the Community of the Resurrection; Raymond Raynes and Trevor Huddleston. Both of these men I suspect much better known in South Africa than here because of the Community of the Resurrection's House in South Africa; Huddleston especially because of his bitter opposition to apartheid and support for the ANC. Mosley was at the Community's house in South Africa at the time of the Sharpeville massacre and describes his own recollections of this. However the struggles with faith appear to tail off later in the book and one doesn't really get a sense of how the journey continued. There is lots to interest here, but there are so many gaps and as I said it is at times it is difficult to like Mosley. I didn't get the urge to rush out and buy the novels; apart from Hopeful Monsters, which I've already read and is very good. However I may look out his two volume biography of his father. i still don't quite know how I feel about this. I could easily have scored it three or nine out of ten six out of 10 Starting Five days in London 1940 by John Lukacs

Thanks Kylie; I am on goodreads; where is the list? I keep looking at the Perec; I will get round to it soon! White Noise by Don DeLillo This is supposed to be a postmodern classic; I'm not so sure. It's meant to be a literary classic; one of the great novels of the twentieth century. Again I'm not sure, but I really enjoyed it. It is a very funny novel about very serious subjects. Jack and Babette Gladney, live in a typical american town where Jack is an academic who teaches Hitler Studies (without knowing any German). They have assorted children from previous characters; all of whom are interesting characters in their own right. Jack and Babette are both iin middle age and both terrified of death. They both wonder who will die first; not an uncommon question, I suspect; even if it isn't asked. After the initial scenesetting there is an "airborne toxic event" and the town is evacuated. Jack seems to have been exposed to the chemical and is told he may or may not be in trouble and may or may not die from it at some point in the future, Jack discovers that Babette is so afraid of death that she has contacted a rather dubious scientist who has a drug that may "cure" the fear of death. She sleeps with him to pay for it. There are lots of comedic toings and froings. The german lessons are hilarious. Jack's friend Murray provides the philosophy and is equally funny. The children entertain by being typically obsessive/irritating/lovely. Various ex spouses wander through in a random manner, as does Babette's father. There are some wonderful reflections on modern life. The passage describing bewildered shoppers when the supermarket moves all the goods around is priceless; we all know supermarkets are modern cathedrals and DeLillo illustrates this well. The reflections on death are funny and profound; "Doesn't our knowledge of death make life more precious?' What good is a preciousness based on fear and anxiety? It's an anxious quivering thing” There are some very funny moments; and it's a good way to ponder death and the cessation of being without getting too morbid. The ending is pants (that's a technical term)and I think Delillo got up one day and said; that's enough. Despite that it is a very accomplished analysis of modern fears and alienation. 8 out of 10 Starting In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan