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