A Book Blog by Books do Furnish a Room 2013

[willoyd]

I know you 'only' rated it 6 out of10 and have reservations, but have to say that your review of Beyond Black has piqued my interest, with it sitting on a shelf to be read sometime, so must move it upwards.  (I didn't say, but should have done, that I did enjoy your review of Mrs Dalloway too.  As poppyshake said, it's not an easy book to review, but you made some interesting points that got me thinking about it again.).

Edited August 24, 2013 by willoyd

[poppyshake]

I too want to read Beyond Black after reading your review .. I'm interested to read more from Hilary and it sounds as if the good outweighed the bad I really enjoyed her memoir (and the two Cromwell books of course ) .. she's quite psychic herself and has shared her houses with the ghosts of the dead (and of the unborn) so possibly that's where her inspiration for Beyond Black came from. Also she did go through a traumatic time as a young girl and is still battling with health problems caused by a misdiagnosis when in her twenties so maybe she drew on those experiences too.

[frankie]

Thank you Frankie; but one of the reason's I've read more books is beacuse I'm older!! Wait till you're my age!

 

What I meant was that you seem to remember so much about the books you've read in the past, that I can't help but be in awe. These days I seem to forget most of the plots of the books I read... I like it how you make connections with this book and that, it makes reviews more interesting in my opinion

 

 

Time Regained (volume 7 of Proust)

I've been reading Proust for just over a year, just a little a day. I'm going to miss dipping into it, it's become part of my life. Still so beautifully written that it's almost impossible to review. Some of the old favourites return again; Gilberte, Charlus, Morel, Mme Verdurin amongst others. The time period spans the First World War and takes us into the narrators' middle age and towards his own death. Memory and the weight of the past recur as themes and it is as though the narrator is making the sheer weight of the manuscript into the weight of the memories he carries. The flow of time and the sense that our presence in that flow is a temporary one and we will be washed away like those before us, was, for me a central part of this volume. We see old friends aged and passing on; nothing lasts forever.Proust plays with the nature of time and memory in ways that are subtle and often involuntary; memories triggered by chance meetings and sensations.

On a lighter note, the BDSM came as a bit of a surprise and I thought I'd wandered into Edmund White's memoirs or a Parisian shirt ripper! The war, although clearly having a significant impact on France, on the narrator's beloved Combray, and on his circle of friends; is not central. It's effects are seen by the waves it makes rather than by direct description.

Proust understood the importance of narrative and story in our lives; reminiscence becomes increasingly important as we grow older and we embellish and interpret as we go along weaving in new meanings amongst the old stories. Proust's genius is, for me, the way he grasped this tendency and expressed it so exactly. He seemed to understand the nature of time and memory in human consciousness in ways we are still now only beginning to grasp.

10 out of 10

 

I cannot believe you've already come to the end of it. What a wonderful trip it must have been for you! It was a pleasure reading your thoughts on these books, and they have encouraged me to read them myself some day. Thank you!

[Books do furnish a room]

Thank you Frankie, Poppy and Willoyd. I think if I'd read Proust 20 years ago, I would not have appreciated it as much. Once you really start to feel the passage of time and you see the sands of your life running down I think you appreciate much more what Proust is getting at.

Guernica by Dave Boling

Some reviews almost write themselves, not this one. I wasn't sure what I was going to make of the book. In the first place, what is an American journalist doing written a novel set around the awful atrocity that took place at Guernica? Do we need any more Spanish Civil War novels? Is this just a "lets pick an atrocity and write a novel"?
To address some of these; Boling is a sports journalist, but he married a Basque woman and he has clearly absorbed the culture (and the food; I always like an author who takes the time to describe the food!!) and spent time there. Having married into Basque culture Guernica was always going to be there. Boling feels people know Guernica because of Picasso's painting, rather than because of the event itself. So he is writing about what his family knows.

The novel itself is a typical generational family tale of life, love and loss in the tradition of novels such as Captain Corelli's Mandolin. There is a certain predictability to it. It is not difficult to spot who is going to die and who is going to live. Picasso's little cameo pop ups seemed to be to be unnecessary and probably there to make historical points. The same  goes for Manfred von Richtofen's appearances with the Condor squadron. The descriptive passages relating to the countryside, the sea and the food (don't forget the food) are lovely. The bombing and aftermath are suitably grim, as is the loss of characters who have been present since the beginning of the book. There are also a few excellent comic turns, and the book is not without humour.

On the whole, I think the novel just about works. It is written with warmth and compassion; Boling cares about his subject and his characters and this comes through. That is what lifts it above the mundane.

6 and a half out of 10

Starting Angels and Insects by A S Byatt

[Books do furnish a room]

The Professor by Charlotte Bronte

Very early effort which reads like a practice run for later novels like Villette and Jane Eyre (which reminds me, I must read Villette again). It is an engaging first person narrative in which William Crimsworth describes his young adulthood and his attempts to earn his living.

We learn about his grim family and Bronte uses her experience teaching in Brussels when Crimsworth moves there to teach. Most of the novel revolves around Brussels and the world of the small teaching establishments. The novel doesn’t move at any great pace and we see Crimsworth through romance, dense pupils, and difficult employers to eventual independence, marriage and his own school. The last chapter packs a great deal into a short space of time and it feels like a sketch for extending the novel by another couple of hundred pages.

There are some interesting themes in the novel. Bronte clearly has issues with Catholics and Belgian youth. However, her view of an ideal marriage is noteworthy. When Crimsworth asks Frances Evans Henri to marry him, she is very clear that she will only marry him if she can be independent of him, earning her own money. Crimsworth readily agrees and keeps to the agreement (unlike many men of the time I suspect). This was quite radical for the time.

The ideas are roughly sketched and developed in later novels. It is also a bit reminiscent of the Victorian self help books; hard work and self-reliance win out over the bonds of family and community. It is an easy, pleasant enough read which I enjoyed for what it was; an early effort.

7 out of 10

Starting Time must have a stop by Aldous Huxley

[Athena]

Great review ! This is on my TBR, I should get around to reading it sometime. I loved Jane Eyre.

[pontalba]

Some marvelous reviews here!  I don't know why I haven't been in here before /gnashing of teeth/  

 

I started Proust, once, years ago.  Unfortunately I gave up, but like your idea of going slowly through the books.  Great idea!

 

My wishlist on Amazon just grew by leaps and bounds!  

[Books do furnish a room]

Thanks Athena and Pontalba

Kafka on the Shore by Murakami

Rather magical, sometimes confusing, but easy to read with lots of themes and byways to get lost in. There are also some serious points to ponder and questions to ask. I enjoyed the read and finished it yesterday; however reflection since has produced a few interesting thoughts.
There are effectively two plots which intertwine and gradually move towards each other. Kafka Tamura is a 15 year old boy who lives with his distant and rather cruel father, his mother and sister having left when he was small; there is a strong oedipal theme in the book. He leaves home to find his own way in life. Nakata is a man in his 60s living on welfare. When he was a child he was part of an incident where a group of children on an outing all lost consciousness. He was the only one seriously affected; he cannot read or write and his abilities seem quite limited. He is able to talk to cats and they talk back to him. He feels he has a mission to accomplish, but is not sure what it is. Surreal forces lead Nakata; he finds a lost cat, is lead to kill a cat-killer (who may or may not have significance for Kafka), is able to predict/make things fall from the sky (try mackerel and leeches). Nakata knows he has to travel over a large bridge. He meets a lorry driver called Hoshino who latches onto him and helps him in his quest and they follow Nakata’s instincts up to the end. Hoshino’s journey is interesting in itself as he discovers the joy of classical music and meets a Hegel quoting prostitute. He also meets a concept who takes the shape of Colonel Sanders.
Meanwhile Kafka finds his way to the same city Nakata is headed for. He meets a girl who looks after him briefly (is he his sister? Possibly, possibly not) and finds his way to a library where he meets the rather distant Miss Saeki and the friendly Oshima. Kafka spends some time at Oshima’s cabin in the woods and begins to live and work in the library. Here he becomes obsessed with a late 1960s song called Kafka on the Shore and Miss Saeki as she was in her younger days (to explain would take over long). The whole thing comes together in a satisfactory and suitably magic way as the two stories converge.
There is an awful lot going on; there are links with Japanese religious (particularly Shinto) traditions all wound together with the oedipal myth. The potency and power of music as a transformative medium; reality and dreams interrelate in interesting ways. There are, of course, lots of cats; though the torture scenes with the cats are a little stomach churning, but thankfully brief. The shadow of the war is present. There is, I think a tension between self-suffiency and interdependence; particularly in the relationships between Nakata and Hoshino and between Kafka and Oshima. I think the philosophy of Hegel is also important, especially the idea of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. I wonder whether the two strands of the story are thesis and antithesis with the synthesis at the end. Incidents and moments in the book also mirror the same type of movement and I suspect a second reading would illuminate this more: Murakami has said there are riddles in the book which become clearer when the book is read again.
There are some questions I want to pose though. Hoshino and Kafka have remarkably good/mind-blowing/fulfilling sexual experiences; doesn’t anyone ever have bad sex in Murakami novels? More seriously Kafka has sex with Miss Saeki who is in her early 50s (and who may or may not be his mother). He is 15 and this left me with an uncomfortable question. If we reversed the roles and Kafka was female and had sex with a man in his 50s, what sort of reaction would we have? That is a particularly pertinent point at the moment in Britain given the Saville and others investigations (It is worth noting that Rolf Harris has been charged with having a sexual relationship with a 15 year old girl when he was in his early 50s). Writers have to write about these things and in the context of the book nothing felt out of place given the magic realism going on. However, the question occurred to me, so I’m posing it.
The novel is beautifully written, inventive, funny and magical and I enjoyed it as I’ve enjoyed all the other Murakami novels I’ve read.
7 and a half out of 10

Starting Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

[Athena]

Kafka on the Shore is on my TBR. I have to admit, I didn't fully read your review, because I don't want to spoil too much of the story for myself and rather leave it a bit more as a mystery of what's going to happen . But, from the sentences I did read, I have to say your review is very well written. I'm glad you enjoyed the book .

[Books do furnish a room]

Thanks Athena; it's worth reading

A Laodicean by Thomas Hardy

This is typical Hardy, but not one of his better known novels. I found this one very variable; in parts as good as Hardy gets, in other places too rushed, too formulaic and predictable.
The title is based on the Laodicean Church in the Book of Revelation; who were neither hot nor cold. They were described as being tepid, possibly passionless; neither one thing nor another. However hardy's use hear relates more to one who is unable to make their mind up; torn between two possibilities.
The plot is straightforward enough. The De Stancy family are have fallen on hard times and have had to sell the ancestral home to a local indistrialist; a Mr Power. He dies and the castle passes to his daughter Paula. She becomes very wealthy, single and the owner of a large if somewhat delapidated castle. George Somerset, a young and rather impecunious architect is wandering round the countryside and drawing bits of buildings and churches. He comes across the castle and falls in love with Paula (so far very Hardy). Hardy uses his training as an architect here to go on at some length throughout the book about various architectural features and periods. Somerset manages to get himself taken on as architect to rebuild the castle. Meanwhile military man William De Stancy would quite like the ancestral home back and Paula is clearly very attractive (money and a castle!). Somerset and De Stancy are rivals and Paula struggles to make up her mind. There is a good cast of minor characters. Mr Dare is the villain of the piece and De Stancy's illegitimate son (unknown to everyone but De Stancy). Dare briefly works for Somerset and works for his father to win Paula by fair means some of the time, but mostly foul. There follows various architectural shenanigans, several perambulations around Europe, engagements made and broken, deception, treachery and most of all Paula Power's complete inability to fix on one course of action or one suitor.
Hardy sets up the action well in the first part of the book and as always builds the scene and characters in an assured way. The second half of the book is not as strong and the wanderings round Europe feel rushed. However the very last sentence of the book is brilliant and breathtaking; Hardy at his very best; it almost rescues the book, but not quite.
Hardy composed this novel whilst on his sick bed; dictated it to his wife. On the whole I enjoyed it, despite its variability. It has been described as a comic novel; although there are comedic touches, it is as much tragedy as comedy. Hardy's "happy" endings (when he does them) always have an edge; this one is no different. It's a shame about the variability of the middle part of the novel; it could have been great.

6 and a half out of 10

Starting The Autumn of the Patriarch by Marquez

[Books do furnish a room]

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

This was a bed time read; the time when I will read things I otherwise may not. In this case historical fiction in the guise of yet another (yawn) grail quest. All these medieval storytellers (Chretien de Troyes; yes I do mean you!) have a lot to answer for. This is split between early 13th century France at the time of the Cathars and France in 2005; the main protagonists being Alais in 1205 and Alice in 2005 (Of course there isn't a link of any sort; familial, psychic or anything!!!!) . The background of the 13th century is the persecution of the Cathars in Languedoc; in the 20th century it is an archealogical dig in the same area.
The whole grail thing is dressed up in slightly different robes; three old egyptian books, a ring with a labyrinth on it, a similar bit of stone, a special cave, seversl dudes who live for centuries, a small amount of blood from people of different religions: liberally mix them up and chuck them around France and there you have it. Add some splendid villains, a few manic Catholics (a la Opus Dei in Dan Brown) and you have a mystery; spice with a few romances, some infidelity, some hopeless yearning and a spot of medieval siege warfare and serve to the readers.
I think any archaelogist reading this would be horrified as I'm pretty sure that digs don't fundtion in the way this one did. The historical part is full of holes, the switching centuries can be irritating and the whole plot requires a significant suspension of disbelief.
However, it is well written, better than Dan Brown and reads easily. It also had the merit of sending me to sleep on a number of occasions. This may sound like I didn't really like it, but I've read many worse books in my time (anyone remember The Late Great Planet Earth; yes I really read that in my teens!) and it rattled along at a decent pace. It didn't seem 700 pages long; assuming of course I haven't dreamt reading half of it!

6 out of 10

Starting A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz

[frankie]

Some marvelous reviews here!  I don't know why I haven't been in here before /gnashing of teeth/

 

Indeed, where have you been

 

I started Proust, once, years ago.  Unfortunately I gave up, but like your idea of going slowly through the books.  Great idea!

 

I think you should re-try. I think it might be a magnificient experience! I have a copy of one of the books, but it's not the first one in the series... I was browsing through the editions on a few online bookshops this week, wondering if I should go ahead and order the other ones... But now I'm not sure whether to read them in English or in Finnish.

[Athena]

Nice review of Labyrinth , it's on my wishlist. My parents own a Dutch copy but I'd want to read it in English.

[Books do furnish a room]

Thanks Frankie and Athena; Labyrinth is worth a read if you like historical fiction.

Time Must Have a Stop by Aldous Huxley

This is a difficult one to review. One of Huxley’s lesser known works; before Doors of Perception and after Brave New World and written as the Second World War finished. Difficult because it covers so much ground. It is a philosophical treatise, a critique of capitalism, fascism, socialism, especially of imperialism. It has a go at post-modernism and at Joyce, Woolf et al. It is a critique of religion in its traditional form; an exploration of Huxley’s attraction to Buddhism. It predates much existential thought and 60s radicalism and accurately predicts it. It talks about the trashing of the planet in a way that feels that it might have been written in the last ten years. It irritated and delighted me in equal measure. In the midst of that is a coming of age novel. It predicts the growing power of Russia and China; the collapse of Empire and at the same time preserves a lightness of touch and a sense of humour.
Sebastian Barnack is 17, with blond curly hair and is rather beautiful. His father John is a lawyer, anti-fascist and humanitarian. Unfortunately he does not understand Sebastian’s need for evening clothes and a social life because these are mere fripperies and totally unnecessary. Sebastian is an innocent (virgin) and a poet and does not understand his father’s asceticism. He is to spend the summer in Italy with his uncle Eustace. Eustace is a hedonist and sensualist, promising to teach Sebastian about life and love and buy him evening clothes! Bruno Rontini, a friend of Eustace will teach Sebastian about the spiritual side of life. The novel takes place over one summer, apart from an epilogue some 15 years later. Sebastian learns about life, loses his virginity, writes poetry, makes some mistakes; one of which (though simple and not too heinous) echoes through the years.
There are some startling moments. There is a death from a heart attack which Huxley describes with exceptional vividness and it feels all too real. I am not sure how Huxley does it, but he kills off a significant character (and I’m thinking No! You can’t do that) and at the same time the whole scene is hilarious; this is writing of a high order. The hilarity goes on as the character, who is an atheist discovers that death is not the end and the attempts to contact loved ones through a medium are very funny. The descriptions of life after death are irritating and unconvincing and a bit nirvanaish, but the point is made.
This novel for me is better than any of Huxley’s other work I have read. Sebastian is a typical 17 year old boy; hung up about girls, selfish, innocent and fancies himself as a poet. Sebastian grows up as he encounters goodness in the shape of Bruno Rontini and wickedness in the shape of fascism. There is even a type of reconciliation with his father by the end of the book. Embedded in the tale are the ideas; plenty to react to!
Suffering is not always ennobling. “Democracy is being able to say no to the boss, and you can’t say no unless you have enough property to enable you to eat when you have lost the bosses’ patronage.”
“For four and a half centuries white Europeans have been busily engaging in attacking, oppressing and exploiting the coloured people’s inhabiting the rest of the world. The catholic Spaniards and Portuguese began it; then came Protestant Dutch and Englishmen, Catholic French, Greek Orthodox, Russians, Lutheran Germans, Catholic Belgians. Trade and the Flag, exploitation and oppression, have always and everywhere followed or accompanied the proselytizing cross.
Victims have long memories – a fact which oppressors can never understand.”
It is powerful stuff and Huxley comprehensively dismantles western liberal ideas in a ruthless and pitiless way. The answers he gives are not convincing, but the demolition is spot on. There is much to argue with and Huxley is a little smug sometimes; but this is a thought provoking book. It foreshadows Fritz Fanon, Rachel Carson and the 60s radicals and it looks back on the post-modern movement. I like books that you can react to; I disagreed with a good deal, but it was a great ride!!

9 out of 10

Starting Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
 

[pontalba]

Indeed, where have you been

 

 

I think you should re-try. I think it might be a magnificient experience! I have a copy of one of the books, but it's not the first one in the series... I was browsing through the editions on a few online bookshops this week, wondering if I should go ahead and order the other ones... But now I'm not sure whether to read them in English or in Finnish.

 

    

 

I will, one day.  BTW, from what I've read the Lydia Davis translation (to English) is the best.  I don't believe she has translated all of them yet though.  At least when I was buying she hadn't.

[Devi]

I've added Time Must Have a Stop to my wish list, sounds fascinating!

[Books do furnish a room]

It is worth reading Devi!

Reversing the Gaze; Amar Singh's Diary

Fascinating selections from the diary of Amar Singh, a minor Rajput nobleman and Indian Army Officer. He kept a diary for 44 years from 1898 when he was 20, until 1942 when he died. The actual diary is vast, 89 volumes (800 pages each): even Pepys only managed a dozen or so. This is a selction from the years 1898 to 1905. This is a shame as I would liked to have seen Amar Singh's development over the years and also his service in the First World War in Turkey and on the western front in Belgium.
There are copious footnotes (a necessary evil) and glossaries and sometimes it is difficult to hear Amar Singh's voice between the authors' explanations and reflections 9intersting as these are. He began the diary as an exercise set by his tutor to improve his education. Amar Singh was also a great reader and keeps a record annually of what he has read. His range is wide, from popular long forgotten novels, to Conan Doyle, Rider Haggard and the like, to histories of his local area, to spiritual tomes (Hindu and Christian), self help books and even sex education (in preparation for his marraige.
The extracts cover Amar Singh's time with his Pratap Singh (he was sent from the age of 10 with several other young men for training), his time in the Imperial Cadet Corps, family life and marraige, ceremonial occasions, relationships with the British. There is a great deal of detail and family relationships are complex, but it is all fascinating.
Amar Singh is no saint and we see his struggles and attempts to do the right thing. He talks in detail about the relationships with those around him, including his wife, but especially his contemporaries at the Cadet Corps, the British Officers, his mentors and servants.
Amar Singh is very influenced by his tutor and friend Ram Nathji who was a scholar and widely read; and Amar Singh's style of writing picks up Ram Nathji's post Rankian positivism laced a sense of moral drama influenced by Carlyle.
Amar Singh describes his time in China in 1900/1901 fighting for the Empire in the Boxer rebellion. He spaends a good deal of time dealing with his love of horses and polo and occasionally hunting. There are tenderer moments, his marraige, the birth of his daughter and her subsequent death. His wife continues to have daughters and Amar Singh is pressurised by his family to take a second wife to produce a son; a pressure he resists.
Amar Singh is a mix of traditional views and customs and modern ideas. Some customs he feels should be maintained, but he is not afraid to question and challenge as well.
The most interesting parts are his relationships with the British, officers and political representatives. He writes about his conclusions; some of the British he likes and they treat him as an equal; some do not and there are instances of racism and prejudice.This is the point of the title "Reversing the Gaze"; it's him looking at them and analysing their relationships.
Amar Singh's conclusion in 1905 "I wish God would show a day to me when we Indians would be a free nation moving about at our own free will and ranked as a nationality on the same footing as England, France or Russia. i fear I shall never see it ..."
Sadly he did not
My only quibble is I would have liked to have seen how Amar Singh developed over the years; he is still young and inexperienced at this time; but it was a fascinating diary

7 and a half out of 10

Starting  Cyril Connolly; A Life by Jeremy Lewis

[Books do furnish a room]

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

This is a wonderful novel. It is the story of two couples set from the years of the depression until the 1970s; it drifts along at a sedate pace with little violence, little action, but a great deal of human warmth.
It is an analysis of friendship and marraige from the beginnings at a college where Sid and Larry are employed. Their wives Charity and Sally meet  and all four become friends. The friendship lasts a lifetime and the novel takes us right to old age and death. Stegner writes very evocatively and sets a scene rather well. The descriptions of the countryside makes you feel that you are there as well. The characters are entirely believeable; human, with faults and strengths, believeable and loveable. Charity Lang is a remarkable creation. This is a novel about appreciating life, appreciating friendship, love, generosity, ups and downs and the simple things. Most of all it is about love and acceptance. It is intelligently written, beautifully simple and beautifully profound.
I can you hadn't guessed (I think I've hidden it quite well), I loved this book. Given the subject matter and because it encompasses the end of life as well as active youth, it could have been sentimental or maudlin, but it wasn't. This is the novel as therapy.

9 and a half out of 10

Starting The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

[pontalba]

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

This is a wonderful novel. It is the story of two couples set from the years of the depression until the 1970s; it drifts along at a sedate pace with little violence, little action, but a great deal of human warmth.

It is an analysis of friendship and marraige from the beginnings at a college where Sid and Larry are employed. Their wives Charity and Sally meet  and all four become friends. The friendship lasts a lifetime and the novel takes us right to old age and death. Stegner writes very evocatively and sets a scene rather well. The descriptions of the countryside makes you feel that you are there as well. The characters are entirely believeable; human, with faults and strengths, believeable and loveable. Charity Lang is a remarkable creation. This is a novel about appreciating life, appreciating friendship, love, generosity, ups and downs and the simple things. Most of all it is about love and acceptance. It is intelligently written, beautifully simple and beautifully profound.

I can you hadn't guessed (I think I've hidden it quite well), I loved this book. Given the subject matter and because it encompasses the end of life as well as active youth, it could have been sentimental or maudlin, but it wasn't. This is the novel as therapy.

9 and a half out of 10

Starting The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

 

Excellent review, sounds great.  Def going on the list.

 

Ahh, Cat's Table is on the shelf here, look forward to your review.

[julie]

Books

 

Great review on Stegner . He is a wonderful storyteller . If you get the chance and have yet to read them, try Angle of Repose  and Big Rock Candy Mountain .

[Books do furnish a room]

Thank you Julie and Pontalba; I know I have to read more Stegner!

Angels and Insects by A S Byatt

A S Byatt goes back again to the Victorian era she writes about so well and has put two novellas together. “Morpho Eugenia” and “The Conjugial Angel”. Both are well written and as always Byatt makes excellent use of poetry; especially Tennyson’s In Memoriam in the second novella.
Morpho Eugenia (the Latin name for a South American moth) is about William Adamson and Amazonian explorer who has returned and is consulting with Lord Alabaster, a cleric who is also obsessed with moths, butterflies, insects and is a generally obsessive collector. Adamson agrees to catalogue his collection and becomes entangled with his family and marries one of the daughters. This is a suitably gothic tale and is layered with symbolism. Adamson himself becomes one of the specimens. There is intrigue and secrecy and Byatt plays with the surname alabaster, using the whiteness of the skin of Adamson’s wife to symbolize purity. She then plays with the idea of the “purity” and decay and degeneracy underneath. This is also set around the time that Darwinian ideas and the debate about evolution are taking place and the tensions around these ideas also underlay the novella. There are fairly lengthy descriptions of the social life of ants which are gruesome and fascinating at the same time. Matty Crompton is an interesting character and she plays the part of the intellectual foil to Adamson very well. It is a satisfying and intellectually stimulating gothic tale.
The Conjugial Angel takes a look at the Victorian obsession with séances and the next world. There is a tenuous link between the two stories in the form of the sea captain. The main focus of the tale is Emily Jesse (formerly Emily Tennyson), Alfred Tennyson’s sister. The séances revolve around (amongst others) Arthur Hallam, the subject of Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam. Hallam was a close friend of Tennyson’s who died at the age of 22; he was also engaged to Emily Tennyson. The novella takes place many years after Hallam’s death and after the writing of In Memoriam. Byatt examines the persistence of love, memory and the way the living hold onto and re-interpret the dead. It is also about the guilt of those who carry on living. There is a bleakness about the séances and Byatt throws in some Swedenborgian theology just to spice things up. There are some masterly touches which provide symbolism and humour; the pet raven and the farting dog! The use of the poem is excellent and Byatt provides a master class in the meanings behind the poem.
Two very good novellas providing a snapshot of the Victorian period and some of its eccentricities and hidden depths. The strong characters in these tales are the women; the men are mostly weak, led (though amiable), absent, opinionated or villainous. The women have the inner strength and usually see the way forward.  Byatt writes beautifully and if you like Victorian tales this is for you.
8 and a half out of 10

Starting Brick Lane by Monica Ali

[Books do furnish a room]

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

Bradbury’s famous allegorical novel still packs a punch today. It is a follow up to Dandelion Wine and contains many of the same characters and is based on Bradbury’s own childhood. It tells the story of Jim and Will two boys who live next door to each other and who are almost 14. The Carnival comes to town; only this is no ordinary carnival and there is something sinister about it. It contains a wonderful collection of characters: Mr Dark, who co-runs the carnival who is tattooed all over, Mr Cooger (his partner), the dust witch, the skeleton, Mr Electrico and so on. However the real hero of the story is Will’s father Charles Halloway, who is in his 50s. There are suitably nasty sideshows and rides and the danger that one might become a permanent part of the carnival as it rolls on around the country.
The themes are age old (the struggle between good and evil) and coming of age, but also the importance of being young at heart. The power that things and people have over you is dependent on how much power you invest them with. Not wholly convincing, but the real message is to live life with enthusiasm and zest and an open heart. Evil is defeated by laughter and a smile (if only it were thus). It’s a good read, suitably atmospheric and chilling.
So what am I doing reading it at my age, rather than in my teens? I wouldn’t have been allowed to read it when I was younger. By the time I left home for university and I could read what I liked I was reading Camus, Sartre and Kafka, so this one missed out. However it was rather gratifying that there was a character of my age at the centre of things; there’s hope yet!! Not only that the hero was a librarian and loved books.
A simple heart-warming tale that, on the whole has stood the test of time.

7 and a half out of 10

Starting Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser
 

[Athena]

Nice review !

[Devi]

I have this book on my shelf, i might have to read it sooner rather than later now.

[Books do furnish a room]

Thanks Athena; it's certainly worth a try Devi

The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

It is a long while since I read The English Patient and I had forgotten how well Ondaatje writes. This is the tale of a journey. Michael is 11 and travelling unaccompanied on an ocean liner (the Oronsay) from Colombo to London (via Aden, the Suez Canal, the Med), where he is to meet his mother. There is a relative aboard who will keep a distant eye on him, but Michael is pretty much left to his own devices. Michael teams up with two other boys in a similar situation; Cassius and Ramadhin. They sit on the lowest table in the dining room, known as the Cat’s table; hence the name. The boys are suitably mischievous and have adventures, get into trouble, annoy the adults and generally behave like boys should.
There is an interesting and eclectic cast of supporting characters, including an acrobatic troupe, a mysterious prisoner and his daughter, Michael’s cousin Emily and a fair selection of decidedly eccentric misfits. The whole thing is told from the point of view of Michael in later life. The whole thing has an unreal feel as though the ship is in suspended animation for the duration of the voyage. Routines are set up, romances and flirtations considered. There are a few scandals and disasters and a decently worked through mystery. I felt the present in which Michael was writing and the past didn’t quite gel, but the whole was very satisfying and it drifted by very easily. I’m also reading Mulligan Stew at the moment and that doesn’t drift; it assaults the senses. The contrast was an interesting one. Both books are playing with the nature of memory and the links between the past and present. In the same way, I think as The Go-Between; for ship read country house. Each of the characters filters the past differently.
There is also an element of coming of age about it; I’ve been reading a few of these recently hmmmm; here comes dotage!!
Anyway I enjoyed it and reading it was a little like drifting along on a cruise

8 out of 10

Starting The Age of Innocence byEdith Wharton