Books do furnish a room

Have read Winter Ghosts over the last two days; This is not a hefty tome like Kate Mosse's previous novels; in reality it is a novella and I read it in two sittings. As I haven't read her previous works I didn't have any preconceptions about this. Past and present are woven together well and the ghost story is redolent of M R James. The themes of love and loss are central and the setting is post WW1. Freddie is mourning his older brother who died in the war; the exploration of male grief is very interesting and poignant. the resolution and working out of the story is satisfying and despite the sadness I was left with a warm feeling. A bit of historical knowledge about the Cathars doesn't go amiss. Lovely book for a winter night. 8 out of 10 I'm starting The Siege of Krishnapur by J G Farrell

The last blog seems to have been locked; possibly a new year thing. So I'll start again. I've just finished a biography of Anthony Burgess by Roger Lewis and here are my thoughts; I struggled with this book; I'm no great fan of Burgess for quite a few of the reasons Lewis rails against him, but this book is difficult to read and Lewis is not ambivalent about Burgess. This was heading for one out of ten until near the end when I realised how much of Lewis's life was bound up with Burgess and how the seemingly obvious hatred is maybe more over-familiarity. I think if I knew as much about Burgess as Lewis does I might feel the same way. The biographical detail is well-scattered and this is not traditional biography. I do wonder what I have gained from reading it. However, as I said there are odd flashes of inspiration from Lewis which hint at a deeper understanding and even empathy with his subject which made me change the score rating I have given it. Burgess himself was clearly rather unpleasant (especially in relation to the women in his life) and a blatant self-publicist. However I wonder if the real problem here is that Burgess is not the person Lewis wanted (or even once believed) him to be. Not an easy read. 5 out of 10 I always like to have one biography on the go and am starting William Pitt the Younger by William Hague

I'm not sure what to make of Murder Most Fab by Julian Clary; a raunchy tale about a gay serial killer and the perils of celebrity lifestyle. There were some very funny moments and it is written with a certain amount of verve. It is not really a morality tale and the sex is somewhat vivid at times. However an easy and undemanding read. 6 out of 10. starting something more seasonal; The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse.

I've recently started The Cider House Rules and I am enjoying it. It is long and not an easy read, but it is compeling and deals with difficult subjects.

You could try anything by Julian Maclaren-Ross; a number of his short stories are set in London. His best known novel, "Of Love and Hunger" is set on the south coast, but captures the period before the war perfectly. Also some of the novels in Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time series are set in the London of this time.

Would have to be "The Old Curiosity Shop" by Dickens,I'm with Oscar Wilde on that one; Don Quixote .... way too long; and Mill on the Floss, too irritated by the main characters.

the Last summer by boris pasternak is short and rather slight. A dream/recollection of the last summer before the first world war; an end to innocence (not so innocent in this case!). I must admit it did not grab me and I was expecting more. However I think it was intended to be a brief account and is partly autobiographical. 6 out 0f 10 I've picked up a book that's been on my to be read list for way too long; The Life of Pi

At the moment....melting snow and slush!

The Mentalist

I've just read a collection by Pauline Melville; The Migration of Ghosts. Some excellent short stories. Anyone else know her work?

I've just finished a wonderful collection of short stories by Pauline Melville. There is a decent ghost story, love in older age, a long lived parrot, a sad story about friendship and death. The stories are geographically wide ranging, fresh and vibrant. One particular story; The Provenance of a Face, is in my humble opinion one of the best short stories I have read. A definite 9 out of 10. I have just picked up a book by Barbara Kingsolver; Pigs in Heaven

Tokyo by Mo Hayder is rather bleak and disturbing; set in modern Tokyo it looks back to the Nanking massacre in WW2. The main characters are obsessive and flawed and some other the minor characters are very damaged and damaging. I felt (maybe wrongly) that there was a definite anti-Japanese bias. It sort of ends on a hopeful note (but that has a double edge), but what went before is so twisted that I wonder what the point is. As you may gues I am in two minds about this one. I don't mind bleak or disturbing and like a challenge, but maybe this went too far. I read some of the American crime stuff with disturbing imagery, but that seems comic book, this doesn't. 6 out of 10 I've started Murder Most Fab by Julian Clary. I worry about myself sometimes; I'm reading War and Peace and Middlemarch, but I also pick up a novel by Julian Clary ... what next Katie Price?!? I hope not.

Just finished The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. I've seen mixed reviews of this but I loved it. The story of a very old woman in a long stay institution about to close and her tragic life. the story is told by her and also the Psychiatrist in the home. The story explores how sane people came to be admitted to these places. I sometimes work with ex-residents of these places and for me the story rang true and I recognised traits in the main character. Not an edge of the seat read and it is rather bleak but good stuff. 8 out of 10 I have just started a collection of stories by Pauline Melville; "The Migration of Ghosts"

I think I would carry on reading as I do now. Even if given a year you could still get run down by a bus tomorrow. I would re-read the Jeeves and Wooster stories by P G Wodehouse.

I think I would leave things as they are; there are books everywhere anyway!

White Teeth by Zadie Smith is a great story exploring the layers of multi-cultural Britain. Ranging from the Second World War to the millenium it follows two friends, their wives, offspring and friends. It is very funny with some laugh out loud moments and also rather poignant at times. It also makes some serious points about how we all rub along with each other and in spite of each other and the danger extremism presents to us all. Eight out of ten Just about to start "The Last Summer", a novella by Boris Pasternak

I lived in a grotty bedsit when at uni and went home for Christmas. I returned to discover that a water pipe had burst above my room and drenched much of it including many of my books. Being an impecunious student I dried them all out and still have some of them today!