Willoyd's Reading Log 2013

[pontalba]

Great review willoyd.  I've started several of McEwan's books, but didn't finish, or even get very far in any of them.  The synopsis would sound as though I'd really enjoy it, but the books just didn't appeal to me at all.  I think that although the premise of his stories are great, the delivery just doesn't........deliver.  For me at any rate.

[willoyd]

vodkafan, Athena, pontalba: one thing about OCB is that it is very short, barely 160-odd fairly large print pages, so you can always give it a go, and not have wasted too much time if it's not to your liking.  But then, you may feel very differently to me!

Edited August 24, 2013 by willoyd

[Devi]

I have OCB on my shelf - it was one of the boxes of books I received. I put it aside thinking it looked like it was a good read, might just give it a skip now.

[willoyd]

The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates ***
A light, enjoyable evening's read. Most Brits will be familiar with the novel through the TV series (even if one hasn't watched it, as I haven't, it's fairly strongly engrained into the historical culture!). In some respects it was almost iconoclastic in its attitude to conventions at the time it was written, now it's nothing special on that front. The book itself is dominated by food and by colour: it seems the Larkins eat big and eat loud every two minutes, reflecting their approach to life, whilst everything, but everything, is described in terms of its colour. It all makes for characters and a simple story that read larger than life.  Great fun! I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series in short, sharp, bursts.

Edited August 26, 2013 by willoyd

[pontalba]

I have OCB on my shelf - it was one of the boxes of books I received. I put it aside thinking it looked like it was a good read, might just give it a skip now.

 

 

LOL  sorry, every time I see OCB, I think of Obsessive Compulsive Behavior...........

[willoyd]

Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham ****

Essentially a semi-fictional account of the author's experiences as a British spy in World War One. This may sound as if we're set for either one of those exciting, intricately plotted thrillers (au Fleming, Ludlum, Clancy et al), or a hard-bitten, even more intricately plotted mystery (au Deighton, le Carre), but it's neither. Written in Somerset Maugham's trademark cool, collected (I think I read the word laconic in one review - perfect) style, it all seems, at least initially, all very ordinary, compounded by by an intense focus on the characters he encounters, brought vividly to life through detailed description and dialogue (monologue in some cases!). It's only as each episode develops that one realises that one's been cleverly and completely sucked into events that are in fact rather extraordinary. Set mostly in Geneva and Russia, I could not get away from the feeling that these were effectively his memoirs - which probably just underlines Somerset Maugham's skill. I'm not surprised Raymond Chandler rated the book highly.

Edited August 28, 2013 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Walk the Lines by Mark Mason ***
 

Another in the growing list of eccentric travelogues, where the traveller decides to pursue a particular theme.  Here, the author walks the routes of all the London Underground lines over a period of six months, from high summer to midwinter. Mostly, he walks them alone, taking between one and three days for each route, although he does have company for some stretches, including an epic trip pubcrawling round the Central Line. Other variants include following the Jubilee line overnight.

So many of this genre strike me as highly contrived - an excuse to write a book rather than a reason. Almost as many are written in an attempt to be funny at the expense of those they encounter, failing miserably in the process (the worst offender I've come across, mainly because of the sheer volume he's produced, is Tim Moore). Whilst the idea is unusual, indeed it might seem very odd to some, this time IMO, there is neither contrivance nor false humour, more an honest attempt to see London, and its Underground network, from a different angle. There is some degree of achievement here too!

An honest attempt it may be, an interesting and very readable account it certainly is: the author sustains a straightforward, engaging style, which keeps one rolling, feeding off a variety of fascinating snippets. Yet, in spite of my fascination with London, and the attractiveness of the theme, it never totally grabbed me.

I think the problem was twofold. Firstly, it was a bit sporadic, with whole sections of some lines (particularly in the second half of the book) skimmed over at a rapid rate, as if the author was more anxious to finish than to tell us the story (maybe reflecting his feelings on the walk?). In particular, it felt somewhat biased towards central London (I suppose that's almost inevitable, it may even not be true, but it did feel a bit unbalanced). Secondly, I was not overly enamoured with some of his assumptions and offers of opinion: not so much the opinions (although some did irk me, we're all entitled to them!), more the cut and dried tenor of them. On several occasions, I found myself wanting to interrupt and point out an alternative. Let's just say that I didn't find myself completely in tune on occasions!

Overall though it was an enjoyable, sometimes enlightening, almost always easy read, which did leave me wanting to explore some sections of his routes for myself, and I liked his writing sufficiently to acquire a copy of his more recent book Move Along Please.

Edited September 15, 2013 by willoyd

[Little Pixie]

Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham ****

Essentially a semi-fictional account of the author's experiences as a British spy in World War One. This may sound as if we're set for either one of those exciting, intricately plotted thrillers (au Fleming, Ludlum, Clancy et al), or a hard-bitten, even more intricately plotted mystery (au Deighton, le Carre), but it's neither. Written in Somerset Maugham's trademark cool, collected (I think I read the word laconic in one review - perfect) style, it all seems, at least initially, all very ordinary, compounded by by an intense focus on the characters he encounters, brought vividly to life through detailed description and dialogue (monologue in some cases!). It's only as each episode develops that one realises that one's been cleverly and completely sucked into events that are in fact rather extraordinary. Set mostly in Geneva and Russia, I could not get away from the feeling that these were effectively his memoirs - which probably just underlines Somerset Maugham's skill. I'm not surprised Raymond Chandler rated the book highly.

 

Ooh, sounds really good. * Adds to wish list *.

[Alexi]

I've also added Ashenden to my wishlist!

[willoyd]

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif ***

 

Nobody quite knows what happened when the plane carrying General Zia-ul-Haq, president of Pakistan for much of the eighties, crashed in rather mysterious circumstances in August 1988, killing both him and several leading figures in the Pakistan government, as well as the American ambassador. Or maybe somebody does?

 

That's the starting point of this novel, in which the author takes a long, hard, and strongly satirical, look at the Pakistan of the time. His focus is very much on machinations at the top of the military-political tree, and on how the crash might have come about, mainly seen through the eyes of his main protagonist, Ali Shigri, an air force recruit planning to assassinate Zia as the man responsible for the mocked up suicide of his father.

 

For most of the book, the plot rattles along at a fair lick, particularly in the build up to the final denouement, and there are plenty of mildly surprising twists on the way. Things do flag a bit somewhat in the third quarter, but overall Hanif tells a good story. Reviews also concentrate greatly on the humour. Well, yes, it was humorous, but not in a conventionally funny way, not least because of the subject material (including torture and a fairly brutal imprisonment), but it was there, if in a rather more savage form. This was probably as about as black as comedy can get.

 

Hanif was also pretty savage about most of the real-life participants. In fact he was savage about pretty much everybody other than Shigri (and even then, one doubts that the author has much faith in Shigri's plan)! Zia is portrayed as a hen-pecked religiously deluded bumbler (yet one who managed to reach the top of the Pakistani greasy pole...?!), not much different to some of his fellow generals (although maybe General Beg has more about him than is visible behind his second set of shades!); the Americans also receive the sharp edge of his literary tongue. There is plenty of wit and bite, even bile, here.

 

So, why 'only' three stars? As I write this it's looking like it should be four or five, but, whilst I enjoyed the book, I was never fully in its thrall. Yes, it was a good read, one I'd recommend trying, but at no stage was it ever anything other than an interesting and mildly enjoyable diversion; certainly it wasn't unputdownable. I think this was probably due to a combination of a series of small irritants (although even that word feels a bit strong), for instance some of the comedic silliness that didn't quite work for dull old me; Catch-22 was something of the same, so this is likely to be a recommendation for some! Equally, the plot didn't always fall together credibly for me, and, as I said, there was that period of longeuse. Finally, I just couldn't believe in the Zia (and others) that Hanif portrayed - could they have been quite such bumblers?

 

Overall, though, an enjoyable read, and one worth trying, not the least if one's tastes veers towards the satirical.

Edited September 30, 2013 by willoyd

[willoyd]

A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor **

 

I was really looking forward to reading this book, one of the great travel classics, telling the first part of the story of they young, 19-year old, Patrick Leigh Fermor's walk across pre-war Europe from Rotterdam to Istanbul, following the Rhine and the Danube, and thus covering much of the ground we (OH and I) had cycled last year when following the Rhine from source to mouth.

 

In the event, it proved perhaps the biggest disappointment of the year so far. There was a very promising start, but subsequently only flashes of the brilliance I had expected, the language largely heavy, turgid and over-complex, the narrative all too often plain dull. None of this was helped by the fact that whilst Fermor was 19 when he undertook the walk, he was in his middle-age when he wrote it, and it shows, the maturer writing obscuring much of any youthful freshness or vigour. It's when that youthfulness breaks through, when the language and narrative becomes more direct, that the we see those flashes of brilliance which saved this from a one-star rating. As it was, I struggled through to Vienna (about two-thirds the way through the book) but then gave up: it had taken me two weeks to get that far.

 

Fermor himself is, however, an interesting character, so I was intrigued by the talk given by his biographer Artemis Cooper at the Ilkley Literature Festival on the publicatio of the third volume, The Broken Bridge. I have to say, though, that it did little (that means nothing!) to change my thoughts about the book, rather to reinforce them, particularly given the degree of fictionalisation and glamourisation that Cooper readily acknowledged. It was quite an experience sitting in a room of almost cultist enthusiasts (very few below retirement age) when I was so rapidly growing into the opposite viewpoint. I found it hard to understand how people could so idolise an indvidual who appears to have applied himself so little. It was a comfort to discover at my book group that I wasn't alone: only one person managed to finish the book, and opinions were at best neutral, at worst scathing. All in all, it's a complete mystery why this book is so highly rated.

Edited October 10, 2013 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Reading notes for week ending October 11th

 

I may not be reading a huge amount, although it does seem to have picked up a wee bit this week, I never do at this time of the academic year, but reading remains at the forefront, as our local Literature Festival (Ilkley) is in full flow, and we've booked into more than ever before this year. Whilst the fiction sessions haven't been particularly striking, the non-fiction are completely the opposite, with so much appealing, that I've had to make a few difficult choices simply because of the tight scheduling.

 

I've been to four sessions so far, with another four coming this weekend. Two have stood out: Rose George on her experiences on a container ship travelling from London to Singapore alongside her investigation into shipping practices (Deep Sea and Foreign Going), and the inspirational Paula Byrne on interpreting Jane Austen's life through objects that featured in it (The Real Jane Austen). In fact, I'd rate Ms Byrne as possibly the best ILF talk I've been to for some time: she not only knew her subject inside, but evinced a complete passion for it that included the whole audience; the buzz at the end was palpable, and the strict time-keeping of the festival proved more irritating than ever before (especially as there was nothing following). Artemis Cooper's talk around the third volume in Patrick Leigh Fermor's trilogy on his pre-war walk across Europe (The Broken Bridge) was made worthwhile by her obvious infatuation with the subject, even if by reading directly from a script she lost much of the spontaneity that helped make the other two so interesting. Roy and Leslie Adkins on the social world of Jane Austen was the only one to disappoint: functional but totally lacking in any passion or life at all; I struggled to stay awake (in fact I didn't for a few minutes).  This was particularly unfortunate given the excellent reviews Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England has cultivated.

 

After Sunday, things ease off for the working week, but next weekend is frenetic: five in barely 24 hours! Woo hoo!!

Edited October 12, 2013 by willoyd

[vodkafan]

Hi Willoyd, Walk The Lines looked like one I might add to my wish list, as I like London.

[Athena]

That sounds like an interesting festival, Willoyd! Thanks for telling us what it's like . Have fun with the rest of the sessions!

[poppyshake]

I read some of Patrick Leigh Fermor's letters .. in conjunction with Deborah Devonshire's .. in their book In Tearing Haste and he was very interesting when being solely chatty and newsy (and very funny too). But when he rambled on to give accounts of his travels .. which he often did .. it got very tedious and I was surprised that he had such a great reputation for being a travel writer because his account of them bored me to tears (again .. I think he was writing about them in later life.)

Despite this I've been tempted by his book The Broken Road but don't know if I have the appetite for it .. especially in the light of what you've said Will concerning A Time of Gifts as I think both books are part of a trilogy.

 

Sounds like most of the talks have been fascinating at the literature festival (every year I mean to go to Cheltenham but haven't managed it yet ) I've read something of Paula Byrne's that was good but .. what was it? .. oh yes .. an account of Evelyn Waugh .. Mad World I think it's called .. very interesting and well written. I will look out for the one about Jane.

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of the festival  

[willoyd]

But when he rambled on to give accounts of his travels .. which he often did .. it got very tedious and I was surprised that he had such a great reputation for being a travel writer because his account of them bored me to tears (again .. I think he was writing about them in later life.)

 

So it's not even unique to my book group! Funnily enough, I bumped into a long standing but long unseen friend at the Artemis Cooper talk, who had recently tried Time of Gifts too.....same feelings!

 

Despite this I've been tempted by his book The Broken Road but don't know if I have the appetite for it .. especially in the light of what you've said Will concerning A Time of Gifts as I think both books are part of a trilogy. [/font]

 

Yes they are. Having said that, Cooper (who co-edited The Broken Road) did say at one point that it was a rather different book "lacking the multiple layers and deeper texture" that Fermor had worked into Time of Gifts. Which might actually mean it's a leaner read - which is exactly what I'd be looking for. But the fictionalisation is still there. You takes your choice....!

 

Sounds like most of the talks have been fascinating at the literature festival (every year I mean to go to Cheltenham but haven't managed it yet )

 

We managed a weekend at Cheltenham some years ago - it was brilliant.

 

Hope you enjoy the rest of the festival

 

Just got in from an afternoon/evening there: went to see Daljit Nagra give a reading from his new interpretation of the Ramayana. Not sure whether I was struck by his reading or not (I know, I know!), but dipping into the book, I definitely want to read it. I bought a copy of his We Have Coming to Dover as an introduction. Jeremey Paxman tonight was good value as he always is (at least in my estimation) although the Q&A at the end was ruined by a couple of elderly ladies rambling on for ever and hogging the mike with their reminiscences (very likely interesting at the right time but incredibly irritating in this context) and another individual wanting to have a rant about the 'cosy discussion' on war (almost screaming for the mike when she thought she might not get her say) - something Paxman definitely wasn't about! So much for the Q part of the session and the selfishness of the individuals concerned.

Edited October 13, 2013 by willoyd

[willoyd]

The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald *****
 

This is what reading groups are for! I doubt if I would ever have come to this book if it hadn't been chosen as my group's book for our November meeting, yet I've come away really wanting to explore the author's other work.
 
The Blue Flower is a fictionalised account of the German poet-philosopher Friedrich von Hardenberg's (Novalis) falling in love with a young girl. It sounded very unpromising, and I can't say I was overly enthused about the prospect, but in the end I was bowled over by the whole experience.  Fitzgerald's prose is fairly lean, but thoroughly elegant. Initially, her style feels fairly simple, but gradually you begin to appreciate that, whilst the language is fairly straightforward, her ability to strip away excess and home in on the defining moments means that she is able to say more with the briefest mention of a gesture than some writers can in a whole page of description. Settings, characters, time period, plot (even if the latter feels almost trivial at times), all come vividly to life, yet Fitzgerald barely seems to raise an eyebrow in making it happen.  This is particularly impressive given the subect material which, at least for a modern reader, skirts very close to some uncomfortable concepts that make for difficult reading today, and certainly put off some reviewers on Amazon. For me, however, Fitzgerald manages to deal with the issue without seeming to break or change her stride so that the expression of feelings seems quite unexceptional.  It's not Sophie's age, but her character which stands out as being the exception.
 
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and am already looking forward to others by a lady who didn't come to public attention until she was in her sixties. Fitzgerald's biography, written by Hermione Lee, is also due out in the near future, and I'm off to see her presentation to the Ilkley Literature Festival later this weekend. Given Lee's brilliant efforts with Virginia Woolf's life, I think some exploration of Fitzgerald's life as well as her writing is also on the cards in the not too distant future!

Edited October 18, 2013 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Reading notes for week ending October 19th
 
Not as many events at the Ilkley Literature Festival this week as last, but several still to savour.

Lara Feigel and Juliette Gardiner proved an interesting combination last Sunday. Gardiner's books take a broad view of the social history of the inter-war and war years (she's perhaps best known for The Blitz and The Thirties, and that's very much the line she took in her talk. Feigel, quite a physical contrast to her more diminutive elder as well, focused her efforts down on to the lives of five wartime authors and their experiences in civil defence during the bombing of London in her section, based on her recent book The Love Charms of Bombs. The two of them proved thoroughly complementary, making one of my more speculative bookings a worthwhile gamble! Jenni Murray later on in the evening was as entertaining as expected, but I'm more and more finding that it's the smaller events which are the most rewarding.

This proved even more so during the rest of the week. OH had decided to go to see Allan Ahlberg (brilliant, she said), so I tagged along on the off chance there would be tickets available to see the parallel event in the same building, Wolverhampton based author Sathnam Sanghera on his first fictional work, Marriage Material. Great choice! Entertaining, outspoken, enabled by an excellent interviewer, James Nash (to my mind the festival's best session leader), the hour in his company passed in a flash; the book was a must!

Sanghera may have been brilliant, but perhaps the highlight of the festival for me so far (2 days to go!) was Wednesday's event with Sarah Dunant. No speculation here, me being both a fan of her work and having really enjoyed a previous visit, but I'd forgotten quite how good she is in person. James Nash, Sanghera's interviewer, was on the stage again but, in all honesty, Dunant needed little help in captivating the audience in her passionate and highly knowledgeable look at the subject of her new book, the Borgias. The buzz at the end was palpable.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is a big day: four events booked (!) with one more on Sunday, the last day. For me it's been the best festival to date, placing the ILF at worst close behind the big 'three' (Cheltenham, Hay, Edinburgh), and maybe even joining them??  It's certainly left me with a chunky reading plle for the next few months!

Edited October 18, 2013 by willoyd

[poppyshake]

Great review of The Blue Flower Willoyd  .. it's an outstanding book. Like you I didn't have great expectations (well of course I did .. it's on the shelf ) but it was just so beautifully written and emotive.

I too am very interested in Hermione Lee's account of Penelope's life .. one for the wishlist I think

 

Enjoy your weekend at the festival

[Athena]

Nice review Willoyd ! The book's on my wishlist, I read about it in Susan Hill's book (Howards End is on the Landing). Hope you enjoy your time at the festival, I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far!

Edited October 19, 2013 by Athena

[chesilbeach]

Great to see that you've found a book to love from your reading group, willoyd!  I know you've found it a struggle at times, but it's worth sticking with it for the occasional gem that comes through.  

 

My reading group read my choice of book last month - one of our favourites, Findings by Kathleen Jamie.  It was a bit of a mixed reaction, although I think that they're not very big non-fiction readers, and read it like a novel rather than taking each essay as an individual piece of writing, but on the whole most people did enjoy the writing style, and found at least one of the essays stood out for them.

[Little Pixie]

 

I too am very interested in Hermione Lee's account of Penelope's life .. one for the wishlist I think

 

And ditto. I haven`t read any of PF`s work, but have one of her books in my TBR list ; I have read Hermione Lee`s bio of Virginia Woolf and that was superb, so I`d be interested in reading about someone who warrants that sort of attention.

[willoyd]

Further Reading notes!

 

Four more visits today, leaving just one for the last day tomorrow, Sunday.  It was quite an afternoon/evening!

 

First up was Alistair Moffat on The Highland Clans.  Right from the word go, with his verbal painting of Culloden, he had the audience in the palm of his hand, bringing the history vividly to life.  It was obvious both through this and the Q&A session at the end that he knew his material inside out too - a great start to the day.

 

Mark Cocker is the author of one of my favourite non-fiction books, possibly my favourite natural history book, Crow Country.  This time he was speaking about his huge volume, on the relationship of birds to humans, Birds and People, covering all ten and a half thousand species.  Enjoyable and interesting, even if not quite as involving as the Moffat session.  Different material though!  At £40, this is one for the Christmas present list!

 

Leo Hollis on Cities Are Good For You was a bit of a last minute choice, and possibly the lowest attended session I've been to.  The interviewer was the weakest to date, but, again, Hollis knew his material intimately and, along with some complex and challenging questions, this was a fascinating session.  Bought the book.

 

For me though, narrowly pipping Alistair Moffat (not that this was any sort of competition!!), was the session by Hermione Lee on her new biography of Penelope Fitzgerald.  She hadn't quite got the same charisma; indeed, she was rather more coolly academic, but her affinity with her subject shone through, and there was something particularly enthralling about her and her presentation, with some lovely touches of humour.  She also included an extract from a Radio Four interview she had made with Fitzgerald in the late 1990s - it was almost unnerving hearing her voice, whilst it proved quite revealing.  The official publication date is in November, but books were available (somewhat to Ms Lee's surprise I got the impression), and I found myself buying the first one - maybe the first sold of all??  Must read it before November now!

 

So, now for my final session tomorrow, Steve Jones on The Serpent's Promise: The Bible Retold as Science.  Another that I'm particularly looking forward to.

Edited October 20, 2013 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Great to see that you've found a book to love from your reading group, willoyd!  I know you've found it a struggle at times, but it's worth sticking with it for the occasional gem that comes through.  

 

This one was with the book group (of the two I belong to) that tends to find more enjoyable books to read. Having said that, last month's read for the other group proved the best yet (A Case of Exploding Mangoes), and I'm optmistic about this month's too, as it's Isabelle Allende's A Portrait in Sepia, and I really enjoyed the prequel to it, Daughter of Fortune.  On Fitzgerald, I've already bought The Book Shop, and intend to start tucking into the rest of Fitzgerald's writing soon if it proves anything like this first read.

 

My reading group read my choice of book last month - one of our favourites, Findings by Kathleen Jamie.  It was a bit of a mixed reaction, although I think that they're not very big non-fiction readers, and read it like a novel rather than taking each essay as an individual piece of writing, but on the whole most people did enjoy the writing style, and found at least one of the essays stood out for them.

 

I find that too - I'm always surprised how few fellow book group members seem to enjoy non-fiction. In fact most months I'm the only one who has read anything non-fiction. It's a different style of reading completely.  As you say, I loved Findings, and must read her other one soon.

 

Edited October 20, 2013 by willoyd

[willoyd]

So, now for my final session tomorrow, Steve Jones on The Serpent's Promise: The Bible Retold as Science.  Another that I'm particularly looking forward to.

Brilliant it was too - one of the best, with lashings of interesting science and wry humour. One of those that made me really want to read the book.

 

So that was the last, of fifteen! I think the best had to be a toss-up between Paula Byrne and Sarah Dunant, with Alistair Moffat and Hermione Lee close behind. Steve Jones and Jeremy Paxman were excellent, slightly handicapped by the greater formality of the large venue. Rose George was another standout. However, there were very few, if any, real disappointments, although there were a couple where the writing is definitely better than the presentation - but then these are almost all writers not performers! A great festival, and can't wait until next year. In the meantime, I have a veritable mountain of books piled up ready to read!