Willoyd's Reading 2014

[Athena]

I hope you enjoy your new books !

[willoyd]

,A bit of a log jam starting to pile up, so four good reads rattled through in fairly short order:

 

The Potter's Hand by AN Wilson *****

In essence, this is a fictional biography of the Wedgwood family in the 18th century, headed by the most famous of them all, Josiah Wedgwood.

 

In fact the Wedgwoods are riven with famous individuals. A good family friend was Erasmus Darwin,whose son Robert married Josiah's daughter Sukey, the resulting offspring including one Charles Darwin. Other descendants include CV Wedgwood and Ralph Vaughan-Williams. However, it's the first two generations after the establishment of the pottery firm that are the focus here.

 

Wilson, himself the son of an ex-managing director of Wedgwood and Sons doesn't stick to the facts though - various events are re-imagined, new characters introduced and so on, but the essence feels true enough. The result is therefore very much a fictional biography, with the balance of emphasis being on the fictional It's detailed, it's gripping, a book that grew on me as the novel progressed, this is the sort of meaty historical fiction that is amongst my favourite reading.

 

 

A Crime in Holland by Georges Simenon ****

Another in the great sequence of stories about the quintessentially French detective. This one's set in the Netherlands (surprise, surprise!), and Maigret avoids cliche in really bringing the scenery to life. The characters, other than Maigret himself, perhaps don't quite live up to the same high standards initially, but as the story progresses, this is gradually corrected. I love the new Penguin editions, and am both buying and reading through them in chronological order. Only a gossamer wing's width short of five stars.

 

 

The Fears of Henry IV by Ian Mortimer ***

Read as a follow up to seeing King Henry IV parts 1 and 2, this felt competent enough, and certainly answered my questions, but never really took off in the way I had expected from a man with Ian Mortimer's reputation. It was a solid enough read but, all too often, it felt more like I was reading a list of events that was being passed onwards (Henry was here, then he was there) - perhaps the result of such a heavy reliance on one source of data (his accounts), however wide ranging they are.

 

Without anything really giving any insight into Henry's feelings or thoughts, it was always going to be a hard task to bring the subject to life, and in the circumstances, Mortimer didn't do a bad job,although it didn't help that he makes no secret of his affiliations, and one was left wondering if the the resulting opinions expressed are fully justified or simply hagiography.

 

Moonfleet by J Meade Falkner ****

A good, old-fashioned, adventure story, one of those Victorian novels that were originally written for an older audience (The Spectator review of the time specifically stated that it was suitable for a readership of 16 and upwards), but which in more recent years have been regarded (mistakenly IMO) as more children's books. No coincidence then that it is strongly reminiscent of Robert Louis Stevenson, and similarly enjoyable, if not marginally quite in the same league.

Edited November 15, 2014 by willoyd

[Janet]

I read Moonfleet back in January and thought it was a good read.  I downloaded it after seeing a poster for a TV adaptation - only to discover that it was on Sky (which we don't have) and had already been broadcast!  Someone told me it wasn't a good adaptation (and neither was the Stewart Grainger one, which I started watching not long after finishing the book, but soon switched off), so I didn't miss much.  It was a right rollicking read! 

[willoyd]

I read Moonfleet back in January and thought it was a good read.  I downloaded it after seeing a poster for a TV adaptation - only to discover that it was on Sky (which we don't have) and had already been broadcast!  Someone told me it wasn't a good adaptation (and neither was the Stewart Grainger one, which I started watching not long after finishing the book, but soon switched off), so I didn't miss much.  It was a right rollicking read! 

 

Looking at various articles on the adaptations, they do seem to have taken some fairly substantial liberties, particularly over the character of Elzevir Block, who loses his role as John's biggest friend and ally.  He's such an important element of the book, that I don't think I want to bother watching them. "A right rollicking read" is a perfect summary.

Edited November 16, 2014 by willoyd

[willoyd]

The Innocence of Father Brown by GK Chesterton **
I approached this with great expectations, and left it completely bemused. How on earth could this mess of dull, formulaic, unbelievable stories be a classic of detective fiction? Pretty much all of them follow an all too obvious pattern,with some of the chronology occasionally swapped round a bit: crime (usually murder) is committed, solution is apparently initially obvious, but Father Brown demurs and points out the true murderer having instantly spotted what's wrong and solved the crime (no dallying or time for thought here!), which has all too often been committed in a completely unlikely (i.e. not credible) way.

To be honest, I think I was being kind giving these two stars, but some of the writing is very readable. I certainly struggled to get to the end of the book. Technically, this was an omnibus edition, and I didn't complete that, but I had read all the stories from 'The Innocence'; that was more than enough.

 

Edited November 17, 2014 by willoyd

[willoyd]

The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen ***
 
I bought this completely on a whim, as part of a £10 for coffee, cake and book deal in Waterstones, starting it over said coffee and cake! The initial premise was certainly intriguing and the story distinctly quirky, with a strongly fantastic streak woven into the plot, and a couple of promising mysteries set up.

After that, though, it all got rather ordinary. Not bad, just not particuarly great either. The main plot seemed to converge on a series of 'interviews' which, whilst certainly gradually revealing some of the mysteries, did so in a rather repetitive and not terribly interesting way. Yet again (this seems to have been a bit of a trend this year), none of the characters were particularly likeable, not even particularly interesting (that word again).

What I did find interesting though was the author's examination of the nature of memories, particularly childhood memories, and how they can control the direction our lives can take.  Yet, what is their relationship to reality?  Indeed, what is that reality, or does it matter - is it the memory that is important? I also still managed to be surprised by the twist near the end, distracted by what eventually proved to be a complete red herring. 

But, in that end, too much was left unresolved, or to the reader's imagination, for the story to prove sufficiently satisfying, including perhaps the biggest mystery of the whole book. Nor could I see the point of much of the fantasy - it all seemed like literary tricksiness: I can do it so I will. Overall, a read that promised much, but never quite delivered.

Edited November 25, 2014 by willoyd

[Athena]

Great review! It's a shame the book wasn't as good as you'd wanted it to be though I'm glad it had some good parts too.

[willoyd]

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee **
 

(Note: this review has been copied to the English County Challenge thread for Cider with Rosie, and to my own English County Challenge thread).

 

Cider with Rosie is a book that I've long intended to read, not least because it's set very near where my grandmother's family originally came from, and loads of friends remember the book with great affection, but never quite got around to. However, stimulated by its presence on the English County Challenge list as the book for Gloucestershire, and, to a distinctly lesser extent, but its presence also on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list, I finally got around to it this week.

I finish it though with mixed feelings.  Evocative?  It certainly is.  Charming? Sort of.  Involving?  Well, no, not especially.  Indeed, although it's a relatively short work, barely 200 or so pages, I found myself constantly putting it down and then dragging myself back to read a few pages.  It' been quite a long week!  The book picked up a little at one or two points - the highlight for me was Lee's reflections about his mother - but generally I reached the end with a sigh of what can only be described as relief.
 
So, why did it drag so much?  Well, I don't think it got off to a good start with such precise recollections of Lee's experiences at three years old.  Three? Who remembers their life at three years old that clearly?  So, right from the word go, these 'memoirs' simply didn't ring true. I then rapidly found the writing style grating, reminding me of the rather strained efforts of a teenager's developing work, flooded with a surfeit of metaphors, similes and (IMO) unnecessary adjectives and adverbs (I found myself constantly reachig for a green pen, before remembering that this wasn't a piece I was marking!).  It was all too flowery, reminding me of similar irritations when reading Gerald Durrell's My Family and other Animals.  Perhaps this was just a matter of dating?  Or maybe it was a case of age? - Chatting to several friends who remember Cider with Rosie with considerable pleasure, they all read it in their teens - I'm anything but a teenager!

 

Finally, I found the thematic approach, where each chapter tended to focus on different elements of life or relations, a bit disjointed, muddling up any sense of chronology or continuity - there were times when I wasn't sure if Lee was five or fifteen when something happened, an important context when reading memoirs, especially with the astonishing clarity of recollection of his younger years, and the chapters themselves tended to repetition (five profiles of different uncles, one after the other; three visits out of the valley, one after the other...).
 
But, credibility concerns aside, this still covers a fascinating period, that just before universal mechanisation, a fact driven home in the last chapters when Lee describes the decline of the Squire and church-centred community and implies the transition to a mere suburb.  For that alone it's worth reading, and I valued the insight provided.  I just wish it had been written with less apparent effort.

Edited November 30, 2014 by willoyd

[Janet]

Ouch! 

[willoyd]

Ouch! 

 

Succinct! 

[Alexi]

I'm a bit nervous about this now - like you, I never read it in my teens. Hmm.

 

I was surprised at 3 stars after that review!

[willoyd]

I'm a bit nervous about this now - like you, I never read it in my teens. Hmm.

 

I was surprised at 3 stars after that review!

 

Funny you should say that.  I was thinking about it this morning, comparing to other books I've read this year, and decided that it was really a two star book for me, so have changed the review accordingly. 

 

I'd say go for it. I'm one of quite a small minority who feel the way I do (although I was interested to see that chesilbeach had not dissimilar thoughts when she read it - see her review on the book's thread in the English County Challenge section), so you could well be one of the majority.  After all, you may well enjoy richer puddings than me!  And if not....well I find it as much fun finding out for myself as in enjoying what is IMO a 'good' book.  As I said - I'm glad to have read it for myself.  It is, after all, a slim book, with no compulsion to finish.

[Alexi]

Oh I will definitely read it at some point!

 

I find with "richer puddings" it entirely depends on my mood and the plot, so it's impossible to tell until I've read it. I'm enjoying the English Counties Challenge - picking up a lot of books I've always meant to read and failed to get around to!

[willoyd]

Oh I will definitely read it at some point!

 

I find with "richer puddings" it entirely depends on my mood and the plot, so it's impossible to tell until I've read it. I'm enjoying the English Counties Challenge - picking up a lot of books I've always meant to read and failed to get around to!

Same here. I've just ripped through Beryl Bainbridge's An Awfully Big Adventure simply on that basis - a book I've meant to read for ages, but not got around to, prodded by this list. Good read too - one of the better ones of hers that I've read.

Edited November 30, 2014 by willoyd

[willoyd]

An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge *****

 

(Note: this review has been copied to the English County Challenge thread for An Awfully Big Adventure, and to my own English County Challenge thread).

 

At barely 200 pages, there is not a lot of volume involved here, but by the end, I felt as if I'd read a lot, lot more. Bainbridge's writing is characteristically taut and lean, and this is no exception. Initially, that can be a little disconcerting, as she plunges the reader straight in without any real introduction, leaving the reader floundering somewhat in her wake, but as the characters become more clearly defined, and the narrative falls into place, the process feels so much more akin to how one breaks into an already settled group, which is what the lead character, 16-year old Stella has to do as she leaves school in a bare four sentences and takes her first steps in a somewhat seedy world of 1950s repertory theatre.

 

Inevitably, in such a closed environment, relationships are mixed, undercurrents abound, and the story brews up deftly to a genuinely dramatic denouement. Yes, you can see some of it coming, perhaps all of it if you pick up on all the clues (and they are there - Bainbridge is like a top notch crime writer in this regard), but even then, there is something eminently satisfying and rewarding in watching all the pieces fall into place with such precision.

 

What I enjoyed most though was the author's drawing of her characters: so much detail, yet so few words. This is common to all those books of hers that I've read, but here, perhaps because of her ability to draw on her personal experience of rep, she is perhaps even sharper than the norm. She always tells a good story too, but on occasions in the past I've reached the end wondering what it was all meant to be about. There's no doubting that here, and as a result the beautifully constructed plotting and characterisation have combined to create a real gem.

Edited November 30, 2014 by willoyd

[Athena]

Great review ! I'm glad you read a book you really liked .

[willoyd]

Possession by AS Byatt ****

 

I have had Possession sitting on my shelves, unread, for some years now. It's one of those books where, once read, you wonder why it took so long to read, but, before you read it, the time never see quite seems propitious. Finally, finally, I got stuck in, and I do wonder why it took so long to settle down to it.

 

Actually, I don't really, it's fairly obvious. Possession is, to put it mildly, a big book, a somewhat daunting book. It's not the size per se that is daunting, but the anticipation from preliminary browses.

 

At the heart of the novel lies Roland, an impecunious researcher whose lifework is centred on the fictitious Victorian poet, Randolph Ash. He comes across a previously unknown letter written by Ash, which suggests a previously unknown relationship with another slightly less well-known poet, Christabel LaMotte. The main plot is thus his investigation into the relationship, and the relationships he himself develops, some of which strongly echo the Victorian thread.

 

So, what's so daunting about that? After all, this sort of plotline is not unknown! The answer is in the fact that a fair amount of the investigation isn't straightforward detective work. Ash and LaMotte are both poets, and the story involves their poems.  Clues lie in the text, and are dependent on textual analysis (which is, after all, Roland's metier). Equally, central to the investigation is the correspondence between the two, and much of it is 'reproduced' here. The language is not easy, and the poems are somewhat obscure. I certainly found the latter hard to read, whilst other reviewers found the letters similarly difficult.

 

Indeed, they are sufficiently so that several Amazon reviewers have suggested skipping both correspondence and poetry. Hmmmm. I certainly didn't read all the poetry (far from it), and, whilst the story read well, I do feel in hindsight that I might have missed something there. Having said that, I didn't read them because I simply didn't understand them, so maybe I would have missed it anyway! As for the correspondence, for me it was vital for understanding. Again, one can pick up the story from the rest of the novel, but reading through provides a gradual reveal that feels strongly revelatory, and certainly adds to the reader's sense of involvement: Roland (and Maud Bailey, another academic who joins with Roland in his investigations) are not the only detectives! Not reading the letters would leave the reader to rely on being told by the investigating duo, and a degree of removal.

 

I certainly found myself deeply involved in the story. However, there were times when Byatt's own language was somewhat beyond me: it's not often that I need a dictionary alongside me whilst reading a book, but this was one of those occasions. I equally found some of the literary discussion between characters unintelligible, and found myself skimming through that (for instance, LaMotte is meant to be a significant figure in women's studies, and not being familiar with the gender politics this addresses, some of the concepts and language was well outside my sphere of experiece and understanding). As a result of all this, my handle on the detail, detail that provides much of the richness of such a novel, was rather tenuous, and thus I felt at times a mite less engaged that perhaps I would have otherwise been.

 

I also found that, whilst the central characters were painted in very 'real' terms, some of the other characters were perhaps rather too cartoonish to fit comfortably into such a novel: they would perhaps have been much happier in one of David Lodge's campus comedies. The contrast was just sometimes a bit too jarring, exacerbated by a denouement played out during the great storm of 87. Drama, or melodrama? Hard to tell (and maybe deliberately melodramatic?).

 

Having said all that, I really enjoyed Possession. Like the Victorian classics that I'm sure it's designed to mirror, it demanded extended reading, and, having reached around page 200 through rather too many short stints that were starting to induce an element of frustration, I finished the next 300 or so pages in two enthralling evenings (curled up next to the Aga - the weather outside wasn't the sort to encourage departure!), allowing one time to chew contentedly on one of the meatiest novels of the year. It's not difficult to see why this was a Booker winner, why it's been suggested as a potential future classic, and why it remains on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list - incidentally my 130th completion.

Edited December 14, 2014 by willoyd

[willoyd]

Jane Austen's 239th birthday today. Isn't she wearing well??!!

[Kylie]

Wow, and her books are so utterly timeless. Happy birthday, Jane!

[willoyd]

Brighton Belle by Sarah Sheridan ***

A fairly conventional whodunnit featuring a fairly feisty female tyro private detective, set in the early 1950s. Not exactly an awful lot else to add: the plot was fairly standard, the reading fairly enjoyable if you don't want anything to taxing (and I didn't). Fairly forgettable too.


Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte ****

The shortest of the Bronte sister novels, at barely 200 pages, the plot screams out autobiography. It is a deceptively simple story too, told in straightforward, direct prose, covering a multiplicity of themes, including the treatment of servants, parenting skills, love matches versus arranged marriages, the importance of morality etc etc. For me it didn't really take off until after Agnes leaves her first appointment - I saw little point in much of the section leading to this point - but then the characters become vastly more interesting, being much more strongly nuanced, whilst there is a direction to the plot.

Overall, whilst not in the same league as the likes of Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey was a distinctly enjoyable, quietly thought provoking novel.

Edited December 19, 2014 by willoyd

[willoyd]

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey ***

 

More of a 'Howdunnit' than a 'Whodunnit', although even the 'how' was fairly obvious long before the end, this was a mildly interesting if slightly dated read that left me rather flummoxed wondering what all the fuss is about. I can't really think of much else to say about it.....

 

Beyond The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo **

The result of four years research, in some respects this is a massively impressive book, describing, in intimate detail, the lives of a small group of Muslims living in a slum on the perimeter of Mumbai Airport. This is no Slum Dog Millionaire - life in the slums is unremittingly grim and subject to the vagaries of a massively corrupt system. The picture may be grim, but it is also clearly drawn.

 

So why on earth only 2 stars? Because, ultimately, I found this a profoundly disappointing book, one which the author had effectively turned into a piece of fiction, losing the impact that rawer non-fiction would have provided. In particular, the decision to tell us precisely what the characters were thinking, thus making the author omniscient, had the reverse effect of what I think was the desired one: rather than bringing me closer to the characters, I felt distanced from them: these were no longer real people being observed or reported on, but fictional characters, simply existing in the mind of author and reader. I just couldn't get to grips with the fact that this was about real people, and with that, most of the point of the book was lost for me. Given the reviews, I suspect I'm in a small minority and certainly, if you can handle this aspect of the book, there is much to learn and appreciate. It just wasn't for me, which is what the star system is about - how I engage with the books.

[willoyd]

Sixty Up!
Finished A Christmas Carol last night (this could become a regular reread!), which means sixty books this year, only the second time I've hit that figure as an adult. I know it's not a big total compared to some on here, and numbers are nowhere near as important as the quality of reading*, but there's still something very pleasing about setting a new best total, not least because there's been some biggies in that list (and some shorties too!), and there are times of year when reading definitely has to take second place. However, I do seem to have clocked up more consistent reading than usual since the beginning of August especially, in spite of the regular hiatus at the start of the academic year.

 

*In fact, I'm going to aim at reducing the number of books read next year to focus more on those doorstoppers which I still haven't fully got my teeth into yet.

Edited December 26, 2014 by willoyd

[Athena]

Congratulations on reading sixty books !

[willoyd]

The Longest Afternoon by Brendan Simms ****

The forthcoming year sees the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, and the publishers are already hard at work, with several new books on the market this autumn. The battle has long since been an interest, as has the Duke himself and the Wars, including a number of visits to the battlefield itself (largely reasonably well preserved other than the changes to the central landscape created by the monument to William of Orange - why on earth it was allowed even then is beyond me!). This volume is likely to be one of the slimmest and also one of the most tightly focused, concentrating on the forward defence of the Allies' centre at La Haye Sainte by the King's German Legion: 400 men who were reduced to barely one-tenth of that by the end of the battle.

 

Most of the histories I've read have been much more wideranging, and it was therefore a real change to read a book with such a slant. The author was also able to take advantage of previously largely unused archives in Germany, including several personal accounts. Waterloo has been particularly subject to a number of 'personal', or maybe that should be 'political' interpretations (not least by Wellington himself), so getting to the 'truth' (whatever that may be in the confusion of battle) is particularly difficult, but Professor Simms pieces together a very coherent account, which has a realistic ring to it. In doing so, he brings this part of the battle very much alive.

 

The subtitle of the book (The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo) is probably somewhat overegging the role of the KGL, but there is no doubt that their defence was a vital contribution, giving Blucher's Prussians time to come to Wellington's aid, and the battle was never going to be won without them. It has certainly rarely been given sufficient credit, and for that, the new research, and the vivid description and portrayal of characters, this book made a thoroughly worthwhile and involving read. It almost certainly won't be my last Waterloo read over the next few months, but it's likely to be one of the stronger ones.

Edited December 27, 2014 by willoyd

[willoyd]

The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark ****
This is certainly one of Muriel Sparks's more unusual books (so far!), although, with its largely stripped back prose and somewhat satirical perspective on metropolitan life, it has much that is typical of other work. The story is largely told in flashback, the first few pages actually coming chronologically near the end of the book, and recounts the chaos and disruption caused by one Dougal Douglas on the rather parochial blue collar inhabitants of 1950s Peckham Rye (very different to today!), a man who might possibly be the devil himself (reminding me a little of The Witches of Eastwick). Starting out in a very light vein, a blacker atmosphere begins to pervade the second half of the book as Douglas's stirrings start to take effect.

Muriel Spark is one of those authors (Penelope Fitzgerald, Beryl Bainbridge also belong to this group) whose writing I find strangely addictive. Few, if any, books would be classed amongst my individual favourites, but I keep coming back to them for more, and each story stays with me afterwards in a way that others that I might initially prefer don't always manage: the books may be slim but they stick! They are also books that I fully intend to return to in future. The Ballad of Peckham Rye is no exception.