Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky

This is the incomplete book written by Ms Nemirovsky. She had left Soviet Russia after the revolution as a 'white Russian' taking refuge in Paris. Before she could finish the book she was interned as a stateless/former Soviet citizen and a Jewess taken to camp then transferred to

Auschwitz where she died shortly after. Her husband suffered a similar fate, but their children as they were born in France and became French citizens survived. This is important background information when reading this novel, as it colours and overshadows the plot.

This book consists of two substantial parts plus the outlines and notes for a further two or three sections. The first part follows several characters, residents of Paris, as they deal with the arrival of the German Army and the fall of Paris. It illustrates how close a supposedly civilised country is to anarchy and disintegration. The second section follows a few of the characters as they live through the early months of the German Occupation of a rural community. It describes how easily people become collaborators to some degree or other once they come to know, and accept individual Germans. Others try to resist with whatever means they have at their disposal.

Certainly this writing would have been more polished before publication had Irene lived, and some things may have been lost in translation, but even in its' present existence this is a worthy volume, though provoking and good on descriptions and characterisations. It still can't be denied though, that Irene's fate overshadows the book, and tinges any reader's feeling towards it. Rating 7/10

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

One of the real problems about all Dickens books is the multiple cinematic depictions of all his stories.

Probably more films of A Christmas Carol exist than any other novel by the prolific Victorian writer. My favourite is the one starring Alastair Sims, with The Muppets (featuring Michael Caine in the lead role) a close second! No film though can really reproduce Dickens ability to prouce the atmosphere of suspense, fear, menace and horror. We probably all know this tale - indeed the very name Scrooge has become a synonym for haters of the spirit of Christmas. Mean minded financier Scrooge begins the story openly hating every aspect of Christmas - he despises those who try to dispense joy and charity at this season. On Christmas Eve night he is haunted first by the ghost of his dead partner Marley who portrays the fate of those who lead a mean life - doomed to wander the worls clad in the chains of their own making. Marley's ghost is follwed by three spirits, Christmases past, present and yet to come - each bearing a message of the fate of Scrooge if he doesn't mend his ways. When Ebenezer Scrooge awakes on Christmas morn he is a reformed character and rewards his downtrodden clerk Bob Cratchett, gives money to the needy, and assists Tiny Tim, saving his life in the process. Excellent writing - but probably only worth reading at this time of the year! Rating 8/10

Rosebery - Statesman in Turmoil - Leo McKinstry

This book is worth reading if only for the following passages - they echo so powerfully from over a century ago and sum up Britain's continuing dilemma in foreign policy. They contrast Gladstone - Liberal leader in the 1880s, described as a Little Englander, but Internationalist, with Rosebery Liberal Prime Minister a decade later, and an Imperialist. Gladstone commenting on Afghanistan said 'there is no duty so sacred and incumbent upon any government in its foreign policy as that careful and strict regard to public law,' and 'remember that the rights of those savages, as we call them, and the sanctity of life among the hill tribes and the happiness of their humble homes amid the winter snows... are sacred in the eyes of Almighty God as are your own'. Rosebery writing to Queen Victoria about French aggression in Siam wrote 'The behaviour of France to Siam has it appears been base, cruel and treacherous. Perhaps nothing so cynically vile is on record. But it is not our affair. We cannot afford to be the Knight Errant of the World, careering about to redress grievances and help the weak. If the French cut the throats of half Siam in cold blood we should not be justified in going to war with her.' Which side would we be on in the twenty first century?
Of course shortly after Gladstone's pious declaration he ordered the bombardment of Alexandria in retaliation for the massacre of Europeans by rebel Egyptians. In yet another parallel with modern life the newspapers believed that both Gladstone and Rosebery were fervently in favour of the action because both had large holdings of Egyptian government bonds - worthless if the rebels had succeeded.
Rosebery also invented the term 'Commonwealth' to describe the successor organisation to the Empire of colonies - but it was only intended for the Dominions (i.e. white Anglo-Saxon settler communities in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada).
Fabulously wealthy (and adding further to his fortune by marrying Hannah, heiress to the Mentmore and the Rothschild millions), he became known as the coronet socialist for his espousal of the causes of the poor and needy. But what a man of paradoxes - seemingly anti-Semitic he married into one of the most orthodox of Jewish families - having two marriage ceremonies to cater for both religions. He was amazingly ambitious, but made a career of refusing office. A voracious and eclectic reader he gave up his degree at Oxford in order to own and run race horses.

The Saint John's Fern - Kate Sedley

Off Minor - John Harvey

Another pretty average detective novel, fine if you like that sort of thing - but this is a routine police drama, ideal for turning into a TV series. I find it difficult to gain empathy with most of

John Havey's characters, but he is competent at police procedures and there is always a nice twist in the tale. Rating: 6/10

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham - MC Beaton

I probably read this book too quickly after my first taste of M C Beaton and Mrs Raisin.

This volume centres on Agatha encountering crimes and misdeeds at a hairdressers' in Evesham. She really is an egotistical heroine and amateur detective - always imagining that every man with a pulse is either in love with her or suitable for ensnaring into her clutches. In fact she comes close to becoming insufferable. However, this is a light tale and an easy read, lots of red herrings, a believable story line (apart from the incredible number and variety of real or imagined romances Agatha encounters) and so deserves a rating of 6/10

The Christmas Mystery - Jostein Gaarder

Well an interesting notion - telling the Christmas story in 25 daily chapters, to co-incide with

the Christian festival of Advent. However, I don't think it really works. I can't imagine that it really can be read to a child on a daily basis - the language seems to be aimed at no age range in particular. Of course I have no religious beliefs,so perhaps it does go down well with that audience. I thought it was over sentimental, and holds no real mysteries or surprises. More of a travelogue than a rattling good yarn, and would this reveal anything new about the nativity?

Rating 5/10

Love Over Scotland - Alexander McCall Smith

The author of 'The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series, also does other books. Some are less successful than others. I rather enjoy the series (of which this is one) set in Scotland Street Edinburgh. This is the third in the series. It is a very episodic book, as you expect as (like Armistead Maupin's 'Tales of the City' books) it originated in articles written as a newspaper serial. This has plenty of advantages, each chapter is short, but full of incident, the writing is spare and uncluttered. Alexander McCall Smith has this genre down to a tee, and you really care about what happens to the central characters, whether it be Bertie and his impossible mother, the fate of Big Lou the cafe owner, the anthropologist with the pirates of Malacca, the artist (who rarely paints) or the gallery owner (who never sells any paintings). Light, enjoyable, rather like having coffe and cake at a genteel tea shop - and that kind of life suits me down to the ground. Rating: 8/10

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet - MC Beaton

I heard the 'Agatha Raisin' series being dramatised on Radio 4 with Penelope Keith as the

eponymous heroine. These are in many ways spoof detective stories, as Ms Raisin is something of a battleaxe - a lady of a certain age who believes herself to be incredibly attrative to men - but in fact she appears both needy & desperate, and they find her 'come ons' to be definit 'turnoffs'! Agatha has taken early retirement from work in PR and has moved to a deadly village in the Cotswolds. Deadly because there seem to be an extrordinary number of suspicious deaths. In this volume a particularly nasty vet (who doesn't like small animals like cats & dogs - but is happy to work on farm animals) dies in a bizarre 'accident'. Agatha sets off to solve the mystery with her neighbour (who scared to death almost that Agatha may have him earmarked as her next husband). The story is suitably complicated, as whodunnits should be, it is light and amusing - funny in places, and an easy read. It deserves 7/10

Atonement - Ian McEwan

Should I have read the book before I saw the film? It probably severely influenced my view of the book. This is a book in three parts - not only in terms of plot, but in terms of the style (and in my view the quality) of the author's writing. Now I have a problem with Ian McEwan - especially in terms of his writing style. In the second part of this book Briony (one of the principal characters) has her first novel returned with some constructive criticisms attached. Probably intentionally (and somewhat ironically) these comments encapsulate the difficulty I often experience with McEwan's books. They are generally over written, too minutely descriptive, as though the author has spent several hours over the choice of each word in a sentence. The concentration of detail muddies my appreciation of the plot - and Ian McEwan can be a wonderful storyteller. So this book's first part is overwritten and over detailed, the second is a magnificent story, pacy, well written, and drawing the reader in to the central character of this part, Robbie. The third part is light and almost superficial. It is almost as though the author cannot make up his mind about what he's supposed to be doing. Is it an experiment? Is every book an experiment?
The plot is fairly straightforward. The first section is set around the events of one day in a country house a few years before World War II. On that day when the youngest daughter of the house, Briony, is attempting to stage a play she has scripted in honour of the return of her brother. Her cousins are to take part (reluctantly). Briony observes an event taking place in the gardens involving her sister Cecilia and Robbie, son of the house's charwoman, and Briony's father's protege (despite the boy's lowly background he has been financed through Cambridge). Briony totally misinterprets the incident, and when she intercepts a letter mistakenly sent by Robbie to Cecilia, and interrupts the couple in the library, a chain of events is unleashed placing Robbie in jeopardy. The second part is the most wonderful description of the lives of Robbie and two other soldiers in the days leading to the Dunkrk evacuation, Cecilia and Briony's work as nurses in London at that time, and the realisation by Briony of the magnitude of the wrong she has done. The third part reveals Briony as a bestselling author trying to right the wrong of her youth by publishing a true account of the lives of Robbie and Cecilia. There is a twist in the tail (or tale) but does this make the book or marr it - is it true atonement?
There are plenty of excellent books about World War I, but comparatively fewer about World War II - and it is for this reason, alone, that I would applaud Ian McEwan for writing this excellent account. Rating 8/10

The Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy

What an incredibly long book! Or at least so it seemed. I remember seeing the film starring Barbra Streisand, and was curious to discover the book that lay behind it. The film was really pretty excellent, but this book is just far too long. The style is too over elaborate, the author seems to be more concerned about words rather than plot. The story is about the lives of two brothers and a sister growing up on an island in a remote part of South Carolina. Theirs is hardly an idyllic childhood. As the story opens the younger brother (whose marriage is on the rocks) is summoned to New York because his sister has made another suicide attempt. As the brother sits down with his sister's psychiatrist (Lowenstein) the true history of their joint horrific youth gradually unfolds. Naturally he also becomes sexually involved with Lowenstein, sorts out her son, breaks up her marriage, re-connects with his own wife and children. It is over long, and the stories, layering one terrible incident upon another become almost too much to bear, a bit like being blugeoned by a cosh, emotionally. In the end the final (and in the author's mind the worst) situation is just one slap round the head too much - and it seems so pale in comparison. The other irritation is the obsession with food and eating that pervades this novel - every restaurant and meal is described in so much detail. Rating 6/10

Wild Mary - A Life of Mary Wesley - Patrick Marnham

The author Mary Wesley achieved fame with her novel 'The Camomile Lawn' - however it wasn't published until she was 70.

This biography describes her totally amazing life. Born into a well off military family (distantly related to the Duke of Wellington) before the First World War she was told by her mother that she was unwanted and if she'd had to have another child she only wanted a boy. Mary wasn't given any education to speak of and saw very little of either of her parents. In the 1920s she did all those things expected of an upper class girl, and to escape her mother she married totally unsuitably, and into the peerage (albeit a recently purchased title). At the outbreak of the war she joined MI5 and led a totally promiscuous life, eventually having three sons by three different men. She ended up falling in love with a married man, and although she was able to divorce her own husband her lover's wife turned into a bitter stalker who waged a bizarre campaign to destroy her husband and prevent him from divorcing and marrying Mary. The history of this divorce alone might have constituted several novels. Eric, the man Mary finally managed to marry was unstable and a failed writer. The pair were poverty stricken and it was only when Eric died that Mary's writing was accepted for publication.

Many of the characters in Mary's own life turned up (amended?) in her books. Patrick Marnham describes this eccentric character with sympathy but manages to reveal her many failings. I don't think she can really be described as a very nice person, but this book is entertaining and explains many of the things about her novels - which I enjoy. Rating 8/10

Case Histories - Kate Atkinson

I was extremely glad that a friend recommended this book to me. It came as a total

(and pleasant) surprise. The opening chapters (or case histories) outline three seemingly unconnected crimes perpetrated over three decades. All are mysteries and reveal apparently violent deaths. Then a private detective (Jackson Brodie) is revealed. He is asked to investigate each crime independently of each other. Gradually the characters - relatives of the three people who have died - begin to interweave into each others lives. Jackson also has a history that also parallels the lives of these characters and the victims lives. There are so many twists and turns, surprises and shocks abound. Kate Atkinson is a good writer, she develops her characters clearly and they become people. She doesn't overload us with unecessary details, and isn't overconcerned with demonstrating how well researched her books are, so although this is set in Cambridge we don't get a tourist guide. Ms Atkinson is also clever enough to make sure that we really want to know what the destinies of the characters might be - but she leaves it to our imaginations to fillin in the blanks. Rating: a worthy 8/10

The Goldsmith's Daughter - Kate Sedley

If you want a light novel set in late medieval times then Kate Sedley produces a regular conveyor belt of books starring Roger the Chapman as a sleuth solving a variety of murders and mysteries. He's usually based in Bristol and its' surroundings, and lives in the

later Lancastrian/Yorkist period of English history. Ms Sedley is obviously a believer in the alternative view of Richard III. Roger Chapman is employed (as in this book) from time to time by Richard (as Duke of Gloucester in Edward IV's reign) who is not the deformed evil demon of Shakespeare. Instead he is a true prince amongst men with great ambitions for his nation, and a happy family man. As a Chapman Roger can wander from place to place selling his wares and coming across those in need of his talents as a solver of crime. On this occasion an encounter with a carter newly returned to Bristol brings news of the marriage of Edward IV's young son and the trial of Richard and Edward's brother the Duke of Clarence for treason. Roger and his wife travel to London to witness these two events and Richard of Gloucester asks the Chapman to solve a murder mystery. Kate Sedley is good at drawing you into the life and times of people at this time, and you can almost smell the London of the C15th. The solution to the mystery is a bit predictable though, but it carries you neatly to the end without too much disappointment. Rating: 7/10

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The Good Husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith

The eighth book in the 'No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' series. I always enjoy this series of Alexander McCall Smith novels - but I probably need a few weeks (or months) between reading each one. I prefer the later series he created about the inhabitants of Scotland Street, but the series (of which this is one) about life in Botswana and the family and friends of Mme Ramotswe is gentle, easy, educational reading. One of the purposes of reading is to take you into an unknown world and reveal the habits and lives of people - and this book does that. As fans of the No1 Ladies' Detective Agency will know each book is a collection of episodes (or cases) which presents a moral dilemma as well as a truth to be revealed, so this isn't really crime fiction. Often the 'solution' is predictable - and one in this volume is really disappointingly familiar - almost an urban myth. However, there really isn't much to criticise here - it is well written, the characters are well drawn, there is nothing to offend, and deserves a rating of 8/10.

Books

My goodness - what a lot of books I'm reading!

David & Winston - Robert Lloyd George

A fairly predictable biography of these two war leaders, both so well known that there is very little more to be said. This takes the angle of linking the two - they were fellow cabinet members in the great reforming Liberal Government of the period leading to the outbreak of the First World War. There is an easy writing style, but this is really not much more than the usual rehearsal of the history of the period. Rating: 5/10

The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld

This certainly isn't your average detective novel! In 1909 Sigmund Freud visited America for the only time. Arriving on 'The George Washington' with Carl Jung he was to give a series of lectures at Clark University. Whilst he was there he did take on a number of consultations to propagate his recently developed 'psychoanalysis'. Jed Rubenfeld develops around these events a murder mystery and touches on the use of Freud's theories to suggest a variety of motivations for murder. Along the way the developing schism between Freud and Jung is explored, and how controversial Freud must have been to academic thought at the start of the twentieth century. As you might expect in this world of ideas, thoughts, the mind, psychology and neuroses there are lots of twists and turns along the way, and plenty of surprises. There are some pretty strong passages, including descriptions of sexual activities. The author makes a pretty good attempt at explaining the two sets of theories expounded by Freud and Jung, although I must admit I'm not sure if I got it entirely clear. There is time for an in depth analysis of 'Hamlet' too and an attempted explanation of his motive, or lack of motivation. It will provoke me to look into the controversy between these two thinkers. Good fun and worth a rating of 8/10.

One of my reading groups

Plaistow Library Reading Group

Do you enjoy reading? Do you like to share the joy of readi ng with others? Well, the Plaistow Over 50s Reading Group meets on the first Thursday of every month between 6.45 pm and 7.45 pm. Those who come along select the books, and we read a wide variety of books, to suit all tastes! Over the past few months we’ve read ‘Rebecca’, ‘The Kite Runner’, ‘Digging to America’ and ‘The Purple Hibiscus’.

For 4th October we are reading:
‘The Inheritance of Loss’ by Kiran Desai.













And on 1st November the group will be talking about
Jed Rubenfeld’s ‘The Interpretation of Murder’




Why not come and join us at our next meeting? Borrow the book from your local library and just come along!





For further details contact Jenny Bowen at Canning Town Library (Telephone: 020 7511 1332 or Email: jenny.bowen@newham.gov.uk )

This is Beckton Globe - another of the Newham Libraries. I'm so impressed by the the libraries in Newham.

The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai

I was surprised how powerful, and shocking this book turned out to be. I'm not surprised that it was the Man Booker prizewinner last year.

It centres on the interlocking lives of a judge, a young female relative and their servant in a time of political turmoil. The characters are not very attractive in many ways, highly flawed and yet oh so human in their sensibilities. The early part of the book has another very significant non-human character - the judge's house. Once beautiful and full of wonderful, expensive things, nature in all forms is taking over the building. Rain, wind, cold, heat, insects, lizards, creatures of all kinds are invading and the structure is crumbling. This symbolises the crumbling of the main characters, the decay of their lives and the civilisation that surrounds them. The girl develops a passion for her tutor (which he returns), but they both regret the way the passion grows. The tutor betrays the judge (and the girl) and then tries to atone for his errors, but fails.

The story is also about being a refugee, all the characters are trying to escape, or trying to maintain a lifestyle or behaviour that is no longer tenable. There are a pleasing array of minor characters - all refugees from something or emotions, or feelings. The political turmoil also reveals the inherent decay within their lives. The cook's son leaves for a bright future in America, and yet finds nothing that satisfies, and his return is not what he expects. No hopes are fulfilled for any of the characters. In many ways a depressing, bleak book about unsuccessful lives, and yet, somehow it is a worthwhile, thought provoking read. Rating: 7/10

The Rotters' Club - Jonathan Coe

This book really wasn't as good as I expected it to be. I had previously read 'What a Carve Up'

by the same author, and was impressed. This was a real mess in comparison. This is a story of several families living in Birmingham in the 1970s, all with sons going to a direct grant school in the city. The fathers of these boys work in or have work connected to the vast British Leyland (as it was then) motor manufacturing plant at Longbridge, on both sides of the management/worker divide . Now I come to the first problem, I never really worked out who was who, which parents belonged to which children. Despite the fact that all boys in this kind of school were always known only by their surnames I didn't really get worked out what these were either. As a description of male adolescence this is competent but hardly revelatory. It could well have been a fascinating study of the industrial relations of the time, or the politics of the 1970s (the IRA Birmingham pub bombing features), but this book does not really add to the sum of human knowledge. It is not a comic novel (although there some funny passages). I'm not sure I can describe it as well written either. Towards the end there is a thirty page ramble 'written' by one of the main characters examining his 'love affair'. It is so appalling that I found it almost unreadable. There are other diatribes on politics, nationalism and the Ireland that just made me wince. The style is pedestrian, tedious and I truly didn't care about the fates of any of these people. A rating of 4/10 - unfortunately.

The Death of Dalziel - Reginald Hill

The latest in the series about the police pairing Dalziel and Pascoe. The book opens with an explosion resulting in the hospitalisation of Dalziel. Indeed he spends much of the book teetering at the brink of death (whether or not he slips over I will leave you to find out - his fate is not revealed until the last chapter or so). So much of the book centres on Pascoe (whose life is saved at the explosion by the vast bulk of his senior colleague), and his dealings with CAT (Counter Terrorist) and a shady group of fanatics seeking to sort out the 'threat' of Islamic Fundamentalists. Now Reginald Hill is on a bit of a theme here, returning to his hobbyhorse of the effects of the Iraq War. I must say this book wasn't as enjoyable as some of his earlier volumes, it is overtly political, and although I might agree with some of his sentiments he is begining to lay it on with a trowel. Therefore, all his Muslim characters are sweetness and light, the right wingers are stuck up and insane, racist and bigoted. Life just isn't that clear cut. The government security forces are riddled with rogue elements with links to vigilantiism. I think I was spoiled by reading the Simon Brett book just before this one - the violent and strong language jarred, the police procedure details didn't impress and there weren't enough surprises or elements of suspense. Rating - a solid 6/10

Death Under the Dryer - Simon Brett

Now I love these books by Simon Brett known cllectively as the Fethering Mysteries. Two friends and neighbours - Jude and Carole (as alike as chalk and cheese) team up to 'solve'

the surprisingly large number of murders that they accidentally stumble across. Fethering is clearly as dangerous a place to live in as Midsummer! If you're looking for blood, gore, police investigations or Agatha Christie like amateur sleuths you won't find it here. What you get is a well written old fashioned whodunit. This time Carole goes to have her hair done locally (something of a first for this very private person, but her usual hair stylist is not an option). At the end of her appointment the body of the hairdresser's junior is found strangled with the flex of a hair dryer.

360 pages later we come to the resolution of the mystery - and like all excellent whodunnits the truth is found in the last chapter. There are plenty of red herrings, dead ends and suspense. We discover more about the two leading characters, but there is very minimal violence, no pornography, no swearing or bad language. What a relief! They are just so addictive - I rattle through them in three or four days. I rate this 9/10

Not Forgotten - Neil Oliver

Another book based on a TV series. When it was on television it was presented by Ian Hislop and centred mainly on the war memorials created after World War I.

The series was captivating and moving and fascinating. The book seemed nothing like the television programmes. Brief chapters without proper linkage or continuity, over sentimental treatment of the stories, which appeared not to be about the heroes (unsung and famous) of the trenches and carnage of the Great War, but more about the author himself. I wanted to find elaboration of the television programmes, depth and breadth, but I found none of that. Rating: 4/10

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

I had this book recommended to me by several friends, and so I was looking forward to reading 'The Kite Runner', a tale of a boy growing up in Afghanistan before the overthrow of the monarchy and how his life develops through the years of the Russian invasion and exile to America. Unfortunately I was to be disappointed. The opening chapters are superb, examining the relationship between father and son, a son who feels he can never be the person his father wants him to be. It is also the tale of his relationship with his father's servant and the servant's son, both of whom are of the 'wrong' ethnicity and Islamic branch. This is handled sensitively and raises all sorts of thoughts about families and their inter-relationship. The central character, Amir, is desperate for his father's approval, and cannot understand the ease with which the servant's son, who is equally determined to serve his beloved Amir, goes through life and is good at everthing. Hassan (the son of the servant) is devoted to Amir, but is often treated with contempt by his 'master'. All this is excellent, but then it all falls apart. The writing and language becomes stilted, the characters wooden and stereotypes. The author seems to contrive to get every possible horror of the Russian invasion and the Taliban regime packed into every page. There is excessive use of cliches, the plot is just too predictable and obvious. The emotions are badly expressed, and tragedy after tragedy is piled on so that I felt as though I was being bludgeoned and ended up by suffering from emotion anaesthetic. I was numbed and frankly uninterested by the fates of all concerned. So to return to the plot, with the fall of the Afghan monarchy all lives are changed, on the day that Amir finally does something to gain, he believes, the approval of his father, something terrible happens to Hassan. It is this event that probably made me think the book wasn't going to live up to expectations - not the event but the way in which the author deals with it. It is just unbelievable, and so as the truth emerges it becomes even more unbelievable and unconvincing, and so through the exile to America (with the expulsion of the servant family before the departure of Amir and father), and the ever less convincing Afghan characters in exile. People die - but in an unconvincing way, the emotions are not well described, a courtship and marriage that has no credibility, and a 'dramatic' return to Afghanistan that is so badly described as to be annoying. A rating of 4/10 I'm sorry to say.

A History of Modern Britain - Andrew Marr

The book of the recent TV series by Andrew Marr - and it's a massive volume to contemplate! This isn't 'traditional' history - it is more a collection of anecdotes, views and opinions. However, despite (or perhaps because of this) it is a fascinating review of British history since 1945. As an aside I'm a history graduate and when I was at University 'Modern' history was from 1485 or at a pinch 1815, certainly not 1945 - more like current affairs to my Professor! Andrew Marr's journalistic style makes this an easy read, and because it is so centred on personalities as much as policies the politics of the period comes to life. This isn't to say that policies are ignored - the themes of the times are examined with tremendous clarity. I found the sections on Korea and Malaya outstanding, and the unfolding of the events of the 1970s outstanding. Worth a read! Rating: 8/10

The Grass is Singing - Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing's first novel, based in the former Southern Rhodesia. It is a story of race, class, and human emotions. The book opens with a death and then gradually builds up the events

leading to that death - in a remarkable detached and almost clinical fashion. The person causing the death of the farmer's wife id announced almost immediately. Things aren't quite what they seem. The Turners (the couple at the centre of this tale) are remarkably unsuccessful in all aspects of their lives. The farm is a disaster - Jonah is the nickname used by their neighbours for Turner's infallible ability to select the wrong crops for each season. Neither the workers' shop, nor the house is well constructed. They make a profit on nothing, and Mary has the worst kind of background to become a farmer's wife. She hates the native workers, can't stand her female neighbours, can't bear the heat, has no household abilities. The book looks (very bluntly) at white attitudes to the native population of South Africa. Equally it shows the white dependency, the sort of people attracted to the life of the farmer in South Africa, and how those newly arrived from England change rapidly their views of 'the native question'. This is really a very strong, powerful, shocking book, and traces the psychological breakdown and disorder of these two inadequate people. The language at times is hard for the modern reader - it is racially offensive in the tone and content. And yet this is a remarkable book. Rating: 7/10

Flashman And The Tiger - George MacDonald Fraser

Now you either enjoy this kind of book - or you don't! Now I do - but with long intervals between volumes. This whole series (and did George MacDonald Fraser ever write any other books than the Flashman series?) is about the ant-hero of 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'. Flashman is a bully, a coward, a bounder and cad, a womaniser and a surprising sexual athlete. He's also remarkably lucky - and sees the easy way out of every situation. This has the result of him turning into the most decorated military hero of the Victorian age - completely mistakenly and by pure luck. Every volume sees him turn up at the worst military disasters of the nineteenth century and he alone survives and emerges smelling of roses - The Little Big Horn with Custer, the Retreat from Kabul, with Gordon at Khartoum, Rourke's Drift, the Charge of the Light Brigade with Cardigan - Sir Harry Flashman VC is there at them all. Everywhere he goes women of all classes fall at his feet, into his arms and into his bed. This is the Boy's Own Paper 'with one bound he was free' school of writing. You have to suspend your disbelief, because the situations are ludicrous, totally fanciful and generally physically impossible. In this book there are three episodes - Flashman becomes embroiled in an assassination plot to kill the Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and acts (unwillingly) as the agent of Bismark in order to foil the plot; he then uncovers the truth about the scandal at Tanby Croft (the Prince of Wales was called as a witness in a libel case involving an allegation of cheating at baccarat); finally he seeks revenge against Capt Jack 'Tiger' Moran - who accuses him of cowardice in the face of the enemy (irony there of course) during the Zulu Wars - and Flashman meets up with the other fictional giant of the late Victorian era - Sherlock Holmes.

All totally ludicrous - but a ripping yarn and I rate this book 7/10.

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

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Digging for America - Anne Tyler

I haven't read an Anne Tyler book for a long time. About twenty years ago I read 'An Accidental Tourist' (probably her best known book) and then went on to read several other of her books.

Then I became irritated with her work - maybe I'd read too much too quickly. Now I've, after all this time, read another. Very soon I remembered what I'd enjoyed about her writing, and what I disliked, and what put me off her books.

First of all her books have an air of gloominess about them. Even if there is a happy ending the lead up to it has a sense of impending doom and gloom. Secondly nothing ever happens in her books. Well, nothing major happens. There is incident and a story, but never a drama or terrible tragedy. People die, of course, but somehow cleanly and without obvious grief or wailing.

In 'Digging For America' there are two families. They have both adopted a Korean child, and meet each other for the first time at Baltimore Airport where they meet their new child. One family is American the other is Iranian. The American family keep the baby's Korean name, the Iranian change the name to Susan. Here is the first of the books themes. The American family want the child to remain in touch with her ethnic roots, the Iranians wish her to be American. There is so much lack of understanding between the two families whose lives become intertwined, and much of the book centres on the perspectives of grandmother Maryam on life in America. She feels the Americans cannot comprehend of a different view of the world. Bitzy (the American mother) spends a great deal of time telling the Iranians how they should bring their child up. Maryam feels that they just want everyone to be assimilated and their customs food and habits must fit into their view of how things are. So the American family will urge them to have 'traditional parties and then criticise when things aren't done how they imagine a genuine Iranian celebration should be.

Although there are some interesting ideas here - nothing really happens and there is no proper plot, and the book just peters out with no real conclusion. Rating? An unsatisfying 6/10

Queen Camilla - Sue Townsend

Sue Townsend gave us one of the best characters of modern times - Adrian Mole a monitor of the twists and turns of Thatcher and Blair's Britain. This book is the second in a series imagining a Republican Britain. The first was 'The Queen and I'. The Royal Family have been coralled into a special compound full of the waifs and strays of society - ASBOs, morbidly obese, alleged paedophiles, professional fraudsters, etc. All supervised by the inevitable private security company. This is typical Sue Townsend satire. Clever enough, but not really as biting and funny as the Adrian Mole. Ms Townsend begins to sound bitter and slightly wayward in her barbs, and although the notion is clever it begins to tire, and as the Republican Prime Minister becomes more desperate to find ways of ensuring his election defeat after 13 years of government the ideas become less satirical than ludicrous. An easy read though, and there are one or two well aimed barbs that deserve a rating of 7/10

Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This the second of Chimamanda's books I've read. The previous one 'The Purple Hibiscus' is reviewed below. I think I should have left a longer break between the two because I was slightly coloured in my views by the previous novel. I have to begin by saying that Chimamanda is a good writer - unusual for many contemporary writers. They are often formulaic in their style, and fail to realise that a few words can conjure a scene or a feeling, when several paragraphs packed with detail can obscure the description and confuse the reader. Ms Adichie can with a phrase get you into the situation and provoke thought and emotion. This book is about the Biafran War - and centres on twin sisters, so unlike each other as to be strangers. Rather like 'Gone With the Wind' and the American Civil War this novel tells the story of female resiliance in the face of adversity, horror and often near dispair. Both sisters (rather like Scarlett O'Hara) discover that they overcome almost any difficulty by using all the skills in their possession. The two, very independent women, find themselves sucked into the tribal conflict, and are surprised by the hatred the Igbo people provoke amongst the Yaruba and Hausa people of the rest of Nigeria. It is also the story of Ugwu, a houseboy who goes to work for the partner of one of the sisters at an extremely young age. It traces his emergence into manhood, and his love of literature as a way of distancing himself from the horrors around him.
A moving, slightly disturbing book, well worth reading. Rating? 9/10

Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

I'm re-reading this book after 30 years. I'd forgotten how excellent it really is. In the meanwhile I've seen the Hitchcock film many times, but the book is even better.

Du Maurier manages to inject such a sense of menace and impending doom from the very start, and this builds to a tremendous level. Her dialogue manages in a very few words to conjure up the banality of most social situations - and yet that banality so often masks hidden agendas, the unspoken emotions that we all encounter in our daily interchanges.

This is not your standard romance - Ms Du Maurier doesn't do anything standard. A young paid companion to a middle aged American in the south of France meets Maxim De Winter, wealthy recently widowed owner of a West Country estate. They quickly marry, but even from the start their relationship is overshadowed by the beautiful Rebecca - Maxim's first, drowned, wife.

Returning to Manderlay - the ancient seat of the De Winters, the new Mrs De Winter quickly realises that things aren't quite as they should be, and there is the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers - obsessed with Rebecca, waiting, waiting, waiting.

The truth about Rebecca's death emerges, and everyone is the loser. This isn't a romance, a murder mystery, a horror, it is a well written all embracing good tale of people and how they behave in the face of the unusual and unexpected.

Brilliant, well written, recommended. Rating: 9/10

Death in a Strange Country - Donna Leon

The second book I've read from this series featuring Venetian Police Commisioner Brunetti.

I think I have a slight problem with these books - perhaps because I don't really know anything about Italy, its politics or society. I also have a problem (never having visited Venice) with geography - this often appears important in Donna Leon's books. The first book I read had a map of Venice in the front - but this didn't really help-I still work out where things were in relation to one another.

I gather Ms Leon is making some sort of judgement on the chaos and corruption of Italian life - but I find the bureaucracy not only frustrating (probably intended) but equally incomprehensible. Brunetti seems to be in rebellion against everyone - his superiors, his aristocratic in-laws, the rest of Italy, Americans, tourists, the world. This isn't your standard detective novel, and like in real life the bad don't always get punished, and there are lots of areas of grey. This time Brunetti has to investigate two crimes - the death of an American Serviceman and the 'theft' of some valuable works of art. The two (of course) end up interlinked - through business corruption and environmental pollution. Trouble is Ms Leon's obsession with irrelevant detail (food and drink - why does this feature so largely in so many crime novels) means that the interesting political and investigation aspects too often take a back seat. I'll probably read more - but I'll need a break. Rating? 6/10

Darkness & Light - John Harvey

This is the second book I've read by John Harvey - this one wasn't one of his Inspector Resnick books. This one 'stars' a retired detective named Frank Elder. Unfortunately this wasn't the first in the series - so some of the references to his past were slightly confusing. However, Mr Harvey obviously writes a very competent above average cop novel. I'm not sure if he's in the same league as your superior 'Whodunnit' novelists, but he seems good on characters, and plots are fine. He's not so good on suspense though and the murderer isn't a great revelation. Rating? A solid 7

Time and Place - Alan Sheridan

There are several words to describe this book - none of them terribly flattering: pretentious, chaotic, self-indulgent, rambling, incoherent, dull, boring, overwritten and substantially flawed. This is (supposedly) based on the genuine journals are reminiscences of a relative of the playwright and politician Richard Brindsley Sheridan. Set at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century it recounts (in an extremely confusing way, with chapters going backwards and forwards in time) the travels and sexual adventures of a young rich man with little to occupy his time. He 'walks' on the stage, he goes to school, he visits realtions, (his father is in the diplomatic service), he goes to University, he meets minor celebrities of the arts, and along the way we are presented with vast amounts of facts, about people, places, books, plays, history geography and social, sexual habits and behaviours of the time. I often felt bludgeoned by the sheer volume of facts. It is almost as though the author is trying to constantly trying to demonstrate his knowledge and the thoroughness of his research. So, we go to Berlin, and in rapid succession we go to several plays (and are 'treated' to the minutiae of producing a play) visit several hotels, bars, explore the streets, examine the politics of the period, huge numbers of names are trotted out (far too many to take in or care about). Meanwhile in London, a welter of concerts, operas, concert halls, public conveniences, turkish baths, books, Dan Lenos life history, lists of actors (and their histories) are spewed forth.
And after 480 pages do I really know anything about the central character? NO - do I care? Double NOOOO!!!!!
Rating: 3/10.

Cutty Sark Appeal

I want as many people as possible to contribute - if only a little. I know the amount shown here seems enormous, but the Cutty Sark is a true monument of Britain's Maritime History,
so please send even a small amount to help restore this magnificent vessel.

Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

I'm reading two books by this author for two different book groups - fortunately a few weeks apart. This is in many ways your typical 'coming of age' story, but perhaps because it is set in Nigeria this alone makes this a better than average book. Ms Adiche has a good style and you certainly want to read more and find out about how the story ends. The teenage girl who is the centre of the story is bright but extremely repressed by her patriarch father who rules the family oppressively. He is a Catholic, rich and certain of his beliefs. He is terrified that his children will become tainted by ungodliness - which includes his own father. So many of his friends and associates retain an element of the mysterious traditions of Africa. The father is generous with his wealth but not with his affection - so many of those around him depend upon him financially and yet with his own family he behaves like a dictator of the Stalinist variety.
Nigeria is going through difficult times politically and ironically the father is on the side of democracy and liberality, putting his own life in danger.
The girl only really discovers her true self when she visits her father's sister a widowed University lecturer, and meets a charismatic Nigerian priest who finally opens up the shell in which she has trapped herself.
My rating: 8/10

Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman

It was interesting to read a good aimed at 'young adults', and if this is the sort of stuff that older teenagers are reading it is probably OK for me! It certainly isn't patronising. The book proposes an interesting political twist, describing a police state where the under class are white and those of other races are in control. The only achievers are black, mixed race, or Asian. Schools are largely prohibited to white children, and there is a terrorist liberation movement waging a campaign of violence to gain advancement. This isn't great literature and some of the plot is trite, the language isn't challenging, but maybe that is important - it means all reading abilities can have access. The central story line of love across the divide isn't developed predictably, but I have to say the author doesn't really represent the motivations of most young men terribly realistically. Overall though it deserves a rating of 7/10

Still water - John Harvey

My first book by this author. Every now and again I like something light and not too challenging, and this is a fairly average to good detective story. I was slightly confused by some of the leading characters - this is several volumes into the Resnick series. Of course most are fairly stereotypical for modern police based novels - a gay/black officer, the moody senior thoughtful inspector, the old-fashioned politically incorrect senior detective, etc. But on balance an entertaining and easy read and I'll probably be reading more of the Resnick novels. Rating: 8/10

Mapp and Lucia - Radio 4

Ned Sherrin has written a new adaptation of the classic E F Benson novel 'Mapp and Lucia' and this is currently being aired on Radio 4. Although Geraldine McEwan and Prunella Scales might have produced the most memorable portrayals of these characters on television, and audio books, this is a superb production. I love the books of E F Benson - they are full of gossip, titanic struggles for supremacy between determined women with the men always also-rans and shadows in comparison. Miss Mapp has always seen herself as the leader of Tilling society but she meets her match with the arrival of Lucia and her close companion the effete Georgie. Mapp is snobbish, offensive, rude, over bearing (but Benson often evokes sympathy for her) while Lucia is shallow, determined and a natural organiser and leader - always looking for an opportunity to assert her natural role (to her at least), but again Benson always just ensures that she her little deceits come close to discovery in order to reing her in. I just love it.

The Human Stain - Philip Roth

Not sure what to make of this book! I suspect it is the kind of 'literary novel' that I can't really relate to. So the author seems more obsessed with displaying how versatile he is in the use of English - long rambling paragraphs full of long words or obscure words that I can't really be bothered to comprehend. Is this what the modern American novel is all about? OK so superficially it is a book about a book being written by an author who has observed a tragedy. This is the tragedy of an elderly accademic driven from his senior post by allegations of racism. Of course there is a twist in the tail or tale. Philip Roth seems to find it essential to introduce a great amount of graphic sexual desriptions and language. I personally find this generally inessential, and does not add to the stature of the writing. I found myself scanning large chunks of this book, because I eventually couldn't care less about the fates of the various participants, whether it was the 'hero - Coleman Silk, or the writer, or the Vietnam veteran, or the youthful mistress of Coleman, or the strange French Professor. It all rather went over my head. My edition had the following extract from a review on the front cover: 'The work of a genius at full throttle' Sunday Telegraph. I don't think they were reading the book I've just finished! Rating 4/10

Restless - William Boyd

I was surprised by this book - it wasn't what I expected. I very much enjoyed this tale of a woman who suddenly discovers that her mother had a totally different previous life - with a

different name, different identity, different nationality and a whole family that she has kept secret for thirty years - since the end of World War II. The book starts with the daughter finding her Mother becoming increasingly concerned that she is being watched and followed. Fearing that senility is the cause, the daughter is given a series of chapters of her mother's life during the War. The daughter is drawn into this story and finds out plenty about herself as well as her mother.

Alternating chapters of the present and the past maintain a rapid pace and the suspense continues to the end. I was thoroughly gripped and drawn in. This is a true page turner - not your typical spy novel either. My rating: 8/10

Duplicate Keys - Jane Smiley

I've previously read 'A Thousand Acres' by Jane Smiley - and was incredibly impressed - she is a very powerful author. What I admire about her writing is the examination of human relationships - what might be described as both internal and external lives of the characters.
In Duplicate Keys relationships are at the heart of the story. We have double murder at the start of the book, and although you might think this is a story of the police case and its' solution it is more about how each of the cast of characters resolve their feelings and emotions about the event, and how it affects their dependence upon or independence from the group of friends that have been 'together' for a decade or more. In reality they discover that their friendships aren't as solid as they imagined.
Ms Smiley is exceptionally good at examining self revelation - and the unintended results of thoughtless impulses. The central character is in many ways totally selfless but is as a result suffocating in her attention to the needs of others. In the aftermath of the murder she embarks on a totally out of character relationship and regrets it, but cannot extricate herself with dignity and without rudeness.
She really does draw you into the story - you really care about the fate of the character, and she can truly write suspense into scenes that require it, and you just want to shout 'Tell the truth!' at times.
I'm going to try and read many other books by Jane Smiley - rating: 9/10

The Unknown Soldier - Neil Hanson

This book is all about the idea of The Unknown Soldier. Padre David Railton, who served in World War I came up with the notion and spent a long time trying to get it adopted (even though the Dean of Westminster claimed the credit). Either way the body of an unknown soldier was selected and buried with the Kings and Princes at Westminster Abbey. Neil Hanson has done his research well, and it is an incredibly moving book, tracing the lives of several men who were never identified at the end of the War. There is a German soldier, and British infantryman and an American Airman.

What am I Doing Here - Bruce Chatwin

This is another book I read for a book group I attend. I had a vague knowledge of the author, Bruce Chatwin as a legendary travel writer. I suspect this was rushed out following his death from AIDS.

It is really a collection of articles, and I don't think they can described as travel writing. There are pieces about art, various people he met on his travels (unfortunately several I'd never heard of), straightforward reportage, and things about ideas and anthropology.

If these had appeared severally and separately in magazines, I probably wouldn't have bothered to finish quite a few of them. They are quirky and pretentious, eccentric and self-indulgent at times. However, they are very readable, and although at times he seems to have no idea where he's going with his argument or point, there are some gems in this collection. There is an interview with Indira Ghandi that is fascinating, and another about a murder in Marseilles that is worth buying the book for. It is too patchy though so I'm only going to rate this 6/10

The Excursion Train - Edward Marston

Edward Marston is a profilic exponent of a particular genre - the historical murder mystery. I have to say I much prefer the books in his Doomsday series - where he evokes the life of post conquest England extremely well. This book is the second in a series about a police inspector fascinated by railways - it is set in the middle of the nineteenth century. I'm sure it is historically extremely accurate and well researched, and the railway information is fascinating. However, Marston's not well developed characters and slightly unimaginative plot lines don't make him in the top rank of murder mystery writers. I like more twists and turns and less romance, more surprise and less over accurate historical 'colour' in my crime novels.

My rating: 7/10

The Last Sunrise - Robert Ryan

This isn't really the kind of book I usually read, but it came as a free gift to the book group I attend at Plaistow Library.

This is an above-average war story told from the perspective of a member of the Flying Tigers - American Volunteers at the start of World War II flying against the Japanese in Thailand, Burma and China.

It is the tale of Lee Crane and jumps around from the start of the War to post war Singapore. Lee has become a bit of a ducker and diver, but has been affected by three women in her life - Kitten, an Anglo Indian Planter's wife, Elsa (another American chancer) and Laura, who is involved in the murky world of espionage.

Robert Ryan describes the technical stuff about planes and flying in a way that a layman can understand. There is suspense, and the story really grips, but the characters are not developed enough. A nice easy read though. So I give it a rating of 7/10.