Library Corner

I read this book ‘in-between’ other books since it is a short book and one which I finished in a couple of days.  I picked it up with some reservations, having been told that it was about a young man who reconnects with his dead mother. Having lost my own mother, it felt a little ‘too close to home’.  The story is told though Chick who is given ‘one more day’ with his mother who died some years previous.  It is written in very simple language and is therefore extremely easy to follow.  The way in which Chick gets his ‘one more day’ is not as complex as one might first think and the book openly draws the reader to think about what it would be like to be given that ‘one more day’.  The regrets of words said, or perhaps more importantly, the things that were never said all come together in this moving tale.  After reading it, it didn’t leave me feeling as sad as I had expected.  If anything, it gave me a sense of peace that I don’t have many regrets and whilst we all yearn for that ‘one more day’ just to be held close, to smell that warm smell that is a mother, it reminded me that those we lose are never very far away.  A good short read.

As a Criminologist myself, I have subconsciously kept away from thriller and crime books.  Being in a book club however has meant that I have had to read books that I would otherwise side-line.  So it was with reluctance that I read Child 44.  I also studied and later taught world history so this book brought together many of my interests.  It is a book about a serial killer in Stalin’s Soviet Union, a time and a place where the mere idea of crimes existing was taboo and unaccepted, being deemed existing only in Capitalist systems.  The plot weaves from one character to the next and I did warm to the disgraced MGB policeman who tries desperately to get to the truth.  His marriage is a failure, based on his wife’s fear of him and in the end, he is very much an ‘ordinary man’ caught up in a political ideology that was the basis of the Soviet Union at that time.  There is enough suspense in the plot to keep the pages turning although for me, the gruesome murders of young children was disturbing, even though this is a book based on a true serial killer.  In the end, the book took me right back to one of the first essay’s I had to write for my undergraduate course, and one which I have endlessly debated over the years in my different classes since: ‘what makes someone a serial killer?’

We chose this book as a ‘light read’ for a change and I particularly loved the title.  What I also really liked about this book was that if you are familiar with Dawn French, you can see her ‘saying’ everything that she says in the book-it is very real in that respect and very down-to-earth. I found the whole history of becoming a star a little boring although I can see how others would enjoy it-that’s just a matter of personal interest.  I did learn some new things about her marriage which I must’ve missed from the (tabloid) press.  My disappointment came from it not being as funny as I had hoped, coming from such a successful comedienne, but as a memoir, I guess life isn’t as funny as fictional comedy can be. It did however, entertain and I decided that it was a good book for that reason.

This book is set in the 1870′s USA as well as present day-two stories about Latter Day Saints.  The historic is about Ann Eliza Young, who divorces her powerful husband Brigham Young (leader and Prophet of the Saints) and sets herself on the path to end polygamy.  The present day is set around Jordan Scott, a young man who has been thrown out of the modern-day Latter Day Saints and who is trying desperately to find out the truth behind his father’s murder.  This book intrigued me from the onset.  The resilience of Ann Eliza Young in facing the challenges and struggles of women under such testing conditions was inspiring.  The same inspiration came from reading Jordan’s story of his mother and her relationship with his father.  I was interested to read about polygamy in the Western world and this book confirmed for me my personal understanding of how patriarchs in all societies use their positions of power to abuse the rights of women and children for their own personal gains. Murder, power, abuse, control, mystery and survival all come together in this well-written and immensely thought-provoking book.

This is an interesting insight into the class differences of India, for those who remain oblivious to these.  We see India though the eyes of Balram Halwai, a sweet maker by caste, yet a White Tiger looking for his freedom.  As the driver of a rich, corrupt family which constantly bribes officials from politicians to policemen, Balram sees and hears all, which ultimately he uses to escape the shackles of his imprisonment from his master.  Amidst the prostitution, corruption, filth, and deprivation, Balram bides his time until he comes out of the darkness, and crosses over into the light.  I found this novel to be worthy of the Man Booker prize it won; as a first novel it kept me interested and also amused.  I was disappointed by the ending and felt my enthusiasm deflate by the last chapter or so.  It is similar to other books that I have read on India and its class system, especially in terms of the pollution, corruption, prostitution etc.  The consensus in our group was that this was infact a really good read.  We were interested to ask whether it accurately portrayed India and in the end were in agreement that it did reflect the sad realities of many of India’s poor and deprived.  It was particularly significant for us living in Kuwait where many of us have housemaids and hired home help.  I also thought it would be interesting to hear from those who have been brought up with different values and experienced these caste differences first hand,  who might therefore have an appreciation for the differences, more than perhaps we could.  A really interesting book, that is written in a very simplistic style, and manages to balance harsh realities with humour.

This is light, though not an easy read.  It is literally the history of the world through the six beverages, beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and coca cola.  Like the other members of our book club, I found the concept of charting history through these drinks unique and plausible.  I did find it difficult to read in the beginning and must confess, if not for the book club, I would have given up half way through the first chapter on beer.  I persevered, and was glad I did as it did ‘pick up’ although not greatly.  I found the stories of great thinkers such as Plato coming together in Symposiums, which developed all around the world as a result of new beverages, very interesting.  For me, the chapter on Tea was the most captivating.  This is probably because, 1) I am a devoted tea drinker 2) The beginning of Twinnings Tea to fulfil the gap in providing women ‘access’ to the equivalent of coffee houses, was just remarakable.  The different civilisations, the ‘great powers’, the (British) East India Trading Company as well as the Opium Wars, were interesting to read about through this different approach to history.  It is a book that made me feel pleased that I had read it, once I had finished it.

I usually stay away from suspense of murder-mystery books but had to read this for our book club.  And once again, how pleasantly surprised I was at the way I received it.  The story, set in 1867 Canada tells of the murder of a French man called Laurent, after which, a local boy called Francis disappears.  The narrator is Francis’ mother, (Mrs. Ross)who in a quest to prove her son’s innocence, sets out to find him, travelling on foot through the vast forests and landscapes of Canada.  What is interesting is that as a young woman, she breaks all traditional rules by travelling with a Native Indian tracker called Parker, and throughout the book there is a feeling that some romantic relationship will emerge between the two.  The book highlights the racist beliefs of the time that White people were inherently more intelligent than the native Indian’s, something that is presented as an indisputable fact by characters such as Storrock, who at one point in the book states that Kahon’wes, a native Indian was an intelligent writer and journalist, gifted and educated and must therefore have white blood in him.  Such views, along with beliefs about women’s roles and the rules that governed their behaviour, reflect the time in which this novel was set.  The significance of the book’s title emerges when we hear of the disappearance of a couple of local girls and it is widely believed that they must have been eaten by wolves.  It is Parker who tells us that wolves do not attack people, that they are curious of people but do not attack without provocation, hence their tenderness.  He also points out that wolves would not eat an entire corpse so their would be traces of a corpse if this did happen. In the end, we realise that the real tragedy is that in this story, the men are actually more dangerous than the wolves (particularly Stewart, Line’s lover).

The best part of this book is the description given by the author of the landscape and the bitter cold weather, with snow making travel difficult and dangerous.  The first comments at our book club were about how we all could actually ‘feel’ the cold while reading the book.  I  know as I stayed fixated to the book I was every once in a while checking the temperature of the room, convinced that it was getting colder and colder (and I read this book in November in Kuwait when it was still warm). This is perhaps the best asset of the book, especially given that Penney has never travelled to Canada.  Her descriptions are powerful and compelling.  The book also had some very scary moments, one scene in particular when Line and her children are stranded in the middle of nowhere and have no sense of direction.  There is a cold realisation that this could be a reality from which they never survive.  Such images challenged our otherwise romantic notions of the snow (I felt happy reading this nearing Christmas time when I have beautiful images of snow and crispy fires burning to keep us warm).

The book had some interesting sidelines, though the end was incomplete which some book club members were disappointed about.  We were not sure about what had actually happened to the missing girls, though we were given a few inconclusive leads.  Other questions that remained unanswered were ‘Why had Mrs Ross been in an Asylum and what was the link with that and the story?’, ‘What happened in the end to the Tablet, and had it ever been significant?’ and ‘What was Mrs. Ross’ first name?’.  This is a book I would recommend to other readers.

We read this book for our November book club read and had mixed reactions to it. The book is written as two stories, which most of us felt were almost as two unconnected ones. This I found disappointing, as did others in the group as it left a sense of incompleteness. The first part is set around the German invasion of France during the Second World War and details the occupation, and importantly, the responses and reactions by the people of the time, whereas the second novel includes more romance and a much more fictional feel.

I was pleasantly surprised about how I was kept interested in the lives of the people who were packing their worldly possessions to move out of Paris for fear of the Germans coming. The stories of the rich and wealthy and how they manage to survive despite a world war in full progress illustrated the realities of social stratification. I found it interesting and insightful that the German soldiers were presented as ‘ordinary young men’ who simply had a job to do. People they encountered carried on their daily business and the irony of the end of the different characters kept me amused (characters died under normal circumstances rather than the result of war). In our group, some of us felt lost with the different characters and had to stay focused to keep up, perhaps because there was a lack of continuity and many characters that dropped in and out of the story. All in all, I was glad to have read this book although in truth it is not one I would have chosen on my own, so its just as well it was a book club must for us!

This book for our October read was long and drawn out, with no specific goal.  It was simply the life of one woman who after deciding to divorce her husband (we are never actually given details of this relationship/divorce) decides to go on a journey to ‘find herself’ and ends up travelling to Italy, India and Indonesia.  In our discussion, the majority of us seemed to come away with a ‘so what’ feeling and one friend aptly summed up the author as self indulgent.  I found her journey to Italy perhaps the most entertaining-she travels to Italy for the simple reason that she has a desire to learn Italian.  In the land of love, she has vowed to avoid relationships, romance, love.  So her story there is of great food, great people and a great atmosphere that is relaxed and easy going.  I found her to be humourous and energetic in Italy.  However, when she travels to India and later to Indonesia, her spiritual thirst I found irritating.  That could be because it came across as an awakening for her, which to me seemed unreal and even pretentious.  Others found her liberating and inspiring for daring to take on such an adventure.  I felt she was attention seeking and so I became bored half way through her Indian experience.  For me it was a long journey to the end (of the book).

This is very much a romantic novel.  The story is set around Bathsheba who has 3 suitors, Boldwood, Sergeant Troy and of course, Gabriel Oak.  It is set in the imaginary Wessex and the book is rich in description of this beautiful English countryside.  After Gabriel, a farmer, proposes marriage to Bathsheba and she turns him down, she moves away to Weatherfield where she inherits her uncle’s farm and becomes a farmer herself.  Oak on the other hand looses his farm after tragically his sheep are killed and so he ends up working for Bathsheba.  Of the other two suitors, Mr Boldwood is a self-declared bachelor until he encounters Bathsheba and Sergeant Troy is the would-be husband of Fanny Robin, a maid who also worked for Bathsheba. 

Among the characters there is also Caine Ball who becomes an assistant shepherd to Oak on Bathsheba’s farm.  The book is written with some good humours which adds to its appeal.  For example, I particularly liked the story of how Caine got his name.  Apparently his mother was not very religious and got confused with the story of Caine and Abel, thinking it was Abel who had killed Caine, so she named her newborn Caine, as the good son.  I found this rather amusing.  There is also more humour in Fanny Robin going to the wrong church for her wedding.  William Boldwood is the repressed farmer who becomes obsessed with Bathsheba after she sends him a Valentine card in jest.  Our heroine Bathsheba is a strong, unconventional woman, especially for her time.  She is intelligent though poorly educated and beautiful.  Gabriel is very protective over Bathsheba, even though she has marries Troy and he remains her loyal friend.  The twists and turns with Fanny Robin, Troy and Bathsheba keep the story going and the end is satisfying, as a true love story should be.

There are a number of interesting themes that run through this book.  We experience social mobility through the characters.  Gabriel moves downwards after he looses his farm while Bathsheba becomes upwardly mobile through her inheritance of the farm and Troy also moves upwards but through marriage.  Class differences are very apparent throughout and the the novel depicts very real imagery of England in the 1800′s. There are some very descriptive scenes too including the tragic death of the sheep and the big fire.

The readers are left wondering if Bathsheba would be happy in her final choices, given her drive and passion for life.  In our book club discussion we questioned whether or not she would be truly happy or if she had ‘settled’.  I found this to be a truly satisfying read.

I thought this was a very different and therefore interesting approach, telling the story of one man and his immense sense of smell.  The book includes the lives of some interesting people, the perfumer for example. The whole concept of one man having such an incredible sense of smell made the book pretty intriguing and while it started off pretty well, I did find that things became stale as it developed.  I therefore found it difficult at times to carry on reading.  The details of Paris and the descriptions of the smells was interesting because before reading this book, I had never thought of describing places and scenes through smell.  The chilling elements in the book caught me by surprise and towards the middle/end I began to get bored.  The end is far-fetched but all in all, I do admire the author’s originality.

This is a story of a man with addiction problems.  It traces his history from the beginning of his first alcoholic drinking (which started at sipping drinks at parties at the age of 6 or so) to the point of near-death by addiction and then recovery.

James Frey received much criticism for presenting the book as his true journey when in fact he had altered some of the details of what actaully he went through and what actaully happened.  He does begin by explaining this challenge and does well to defend himself.

The story is well written and descriptive, sometimes even too descriptive that I had moments where I skipped paragraphs to avoid being sick myself.  One thing James Frey does very well is provide a deep insight into what addicts actually go through, the things they experience, the feelings that overwhelm them and the suffering that goes with having an addiction.  I thought the characters were quite typical of those you find in Total Institutions; some survivors such as Frey himself and Leonard and some victims such as Lilly.

It was a book I enjoyed reading and one that provided enough scope for discussion in our book club.

was one of those books that I believe would have been more interesting to follow had it been presented as a series of short, seperate essays, rather than a book.  Our group generally agreed that when we read a book we enjoy the flow, the drama and the continuity.  While we thought it provided an alternative way of looking at cheating for example, there was no story as such.  To be fair, this is what the authors intended so to that end, it has satisfied those types of readers.  I on the other hand, came away a little confused and indifferent to the whole book.

This is a blog-turned-book, the writer telling of his trials and tribulations as an ambulance driver in London.  The style of writing is very much typical diary entries and I was hopeful that it would make for interesting reading, revealing the inner secrets of people’s everyday lives. I was sadly disappointed.  The book includes details of his HIV testing because of an incident while ‘on the job’ and though there are some interesting cases he encounters during his work, I had hoped for more from this read.  The detail was missing and most of the book, for me, read like a big moan.  Yes the ambulance crew work hard, but so do many of the other professions.  And they are hardly undervalued.  Most of us appreciate their work and do regard them as vital.  So for me, the complaining aspect of the book, along with the constant reminders of all the filth that his black boots carried during the course of the day, made it a distasteful read I’m afraid.

I finished this book in two days (as a mum of two very young children and someone in full time employment, this is pretty good going).  I found it difficult to put this book down, it was THAT good.  It is a story set in Afghanistan and shows the wars of the country, first against Russian oppression, then the Mujahiddin, then the Taliban.  It is powerfully written and tells of the suffering  of women, because they were women.  Characters such as Mariam who have the ‘harami’ title, Laila who we thought would be the stronger of the two.  It shows women to be very strong despite all the oppression they face and their strength is highlighted in the choices they make to survive-for example, Laila’s marriage to Rasheed is a survival move.  The story has some interesting twists too, Rasheed for example, knowing all along that Aziza is not his.  It has a good ending too although I wished Mariam’s end had been different, to prove her mother and society wrong.  There were many innocent sufferers in this book, though they come across not as victims.  The book reminds us all of the tragedies of war, invasion and terror, whether that comes from external forces, or from those closest and from within.  A truly remarkable book.

The story is told through a series of letters from Eva to her husband about their mass-murdering son Kevein who aged 14 shoots into his school.  Eva comes across as a cold, unloving mother who describes how she felt her son had ’hated’ her from the onset.  She gives quite a lot of details to that affect, her post-birth lack of connection to him and her resentment and disbelief at his love for his father, compared to his behaviour when mother and son were left alone.  As such, Kevin comes across as inherently evil, even as a baby.  Franklin (the father) has no boundaries, fails to discipline Kevin and therefore is the ‘good cop’ to Kevin.  So Kevin seems to get away with murder even before he kills someone.  I felt very sad for his sister Celia and I also felt quite protective over her.

This is a classic nature vs. nurture debate.  Is he inherently evil or a product of his family/environment/upbringing?  We are given the impression that his mother was neglectful of him as a child/baby which suggests that perhaps this had a profound impact on the person he became. Or maybe this was simply a mothers guilt taken too far? Whichever conclusion you draw after reading the book, it does make for interesting discussion.  It generated a good discussion in our book club.  Some loved it, others really didn’t.  It made us question a mothers love.  Is it/should it be unconditional? Do you stick by your children, no matter what they do?

The story is of young, middle class pretty high school teacher Bathsheba who has an affair with one of her under age students, Steven Connelly.  The story is told through Barbara who is a teacher at the same school.  Barbara is a sixty year old bitter and lonely spinster and quickly we realise that her life revolves around Bathsheba.  Barbara is wiked and cunning, a sad woman with evil and nasty traits and her ‘attachment’ to Sheba is obsessive, trying to be her mother, her friend, underlyingly, her lover perhaps?  Sheba is a lost sole living in a fantasy world-married to an older man she is trying to recapture her youth.  She has a pathetic pining for Steven that you would only except from a naive teenager.  Connelly is a typical adolescent boy who is charmed by having an older woman interested in him.

It is set in and around the school environment and the other characters are quite typical of teachers.  There is plenty of idle gossip in the staff room.

I really did not like this book, perhaps because the storyline was predictable, except for Barbara’s sinister attachment to Sheba which became apparent very quickly (there is a certain amount of unhealthy desriptiveness about Sheba by Barbara, her eye lashes etc.) The media-frenzy which followed the affair coming out was not too sensationalised which I was glad for.  The affair with the young student frankly repulsed me but did not come across as abusive whereas the supposed friendship between Sheba and Barbara suggested Sheba was a victim.

We had an interesting discussion about this book, especially given that most of us could relate to it, whether as teachers or as parents.  We were unclear if this was based on a true story? We decided to watch the film after our discussion to see how it compared to the book and as is often the case, we all agreed that the book captivated the story a lot better than the film although Judy Dench’s portrayal of Barbara affirmed the abnormal obsession she showed for Bathsheba.

This is a truly remarkable book.  From the very first famous ‘Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley’, I was hooked.  The story centres around the first wife of Max De Winter, Rebecca who has died in a tragic boating accident, and is told through the innocent or even naive eyes of his second wife, whose name is never revealed to the reader.  she is simply known as the second Mrs De Winter.  The setting is around Manderley, the great estate of Max De Winter, where the presence of Rebecca is very much still felt.  It has been preserved as Rebecca left it, by the creepy Head House Maid, Mrs Danvers.  There is something sinister about Mrs Danvers who preserves the West Wing of the house in exactly the way Rebecca left it, and she does so I think, without the knowledge of Max.  It is eveident throughout the book that Mrs Danvers is not altogether ‘there’ with her obsession with Rebecca.  There were moments when I considered that bisexuality was being hinted at by the author.  What is also interesting is that the ‘hired help’ has more power in the household affair than Max himself.  For example, there is a scene when Max gives clear orders that his arrival back to Manderley with his new bride is not to be met by the entire house staff , and yet Mrs Danvers deliberately defies him (perhaps to embarass the new Mrs De Winter or to make her feel uncomfortable since she has married above her social class).  As for the characters in the book, the second Mrs De Winter becomes obsessed with Rebecca because Manderley is Rebecca.  It is set exactly as Rebecca left it.  The cutoms and traditions of the house remain as she left them; ‘tea time’, ‘menu’s’ all have been preserved.  The second Mrs De Winter is haunted by Rebecca, both in her dreams and in her day to day reality.  She is clearly trying to compete with the memory of a dead woman and comes across as weak and timid.  She has more importance in her imagination and her dreams than in what is actually happening around her.  Max De Winter comes across as a hero at times, victim at times.  His proposal to the second Mrs De Witer came as a surprise to me and I wondered what his motives were for marrying her.  She was very much the opposite to his first wife and later in the book, we begin to discover that perhaps that is why he married this simple, plain young girl.  The descriptions of Manderley are breathtaking and if you close your eyes, you can smell the open air as it is described.  There are many powerful descriptions throughout the book including for example, the great fire.  It made me wish that I could go to Manderley and experience it for myself.

I have heard that the Hitchcock film of this is also very good.  I have not seen it.  Most in our book club did enjoy this one.  For me, it was also a personal journey as it was something linked very much to my late mother (may she rest in peace) who had mentioned Rebecca and Manderley to me when I was very young.  I was not disappointed at what I found.

What can I say about this book, except that it is perhaps one of the best books I have ever read. It reads in some ways as an alternative to the bible with the main focus being the role of women in biblical times. The voice of Dinah is finally heard in this version of events, as are the voices of other women, a first for biblical readings – an alternative version of events.

I found the concept of ‘the red tent’ very appealing indeed-a place of sanctuary for women to recouperate and simply share experiences, gossip and stories. The bond between women of the time is expressed with great emotion and conviction by the author, even though many of these relationships would be ‘unacceptable’ or intolerable in today’s world. Take for example the fact that Jacob takes many wives, (who are sisters). Here we see Patriarchy in its fullest form with Jacob controlling the lives of the women and benefitting from them. What is significant though is that these women are not presented as weak victims of patriarchy, but instead are determined, headstrong and resiliant. The cental character, Dinah (daughter of Jacob and Leah) is apparently raped by a prince of Shechem in the biblical story, but in the Red Tent he is genuinely in love with her and she readily agrees to marry him. However, her brothers in the book, Simon and Levi, insist that the prince be circumcised as a form of punishment for the rape of their sister. While the prince agrees and undergoes the painful circumcision, the brothers still seek revenge and go ahead and kill him. The grief-sticken Dinah then leaves her brothers and father Jacob and goes to Egypt where she gives birth to a son. She later reunites with her brother Joseph. The characters, with their biblical affiliations were interesting and perhaps less romanticised than the biblical images we may have had growing up. The stories of Jacob and Joseph were significant as they told that which is part of history, yet with more reality and ‘heart’ than has been previously been demonstrated.

On a personal level, I found the story intriguing and experienced a real connection, perhaps because I have always been fascinated by biblical stories and ‘stories of old’. Growing up with a mix of stories of Jacob and Yacub, Joseph and Yousef etc. this story was able to overcome cultural and religious boundaries. Having named my son Yousef, this story once more made me think about the meaning behind his name and the strong character of the man he was named after. The book is significant also in terms of women’s position and role in different societies and cultures, over different times, presenting them as active participants in their lives, rather than passive victims, which I found to be truly inspirational.

My overall impression of this book was that it was well written, the language being distinct with an array of interesting words such as ‘Stowes’ and ‘Barmester’ which led to a lively discussion at our book club session. It is based on a true story set in 1666, and one that I found to be historically powerful (given that I am a history teacher that is only to be expected I guess). It is the story of the Plague. One main theme of the book revolves around God/religion vs. nature and science, with questions around herbal remedies offering a cure for this terrible illness vs. repenting to God for sins in order to be cured. There are many different characters in the story, most notably perhaps the Rector Mompellion who is a strong, charismatic man who tries to help those in suffering and is generally the ‘saviour’ of the town. The most vivid scene for me in this book was the disturbing death of the children of the narrator, Anna, who die from the Plague. Any death is terrible, but the death of these young children, deeply touched my heart. The story also discusses the Bradford family who are the aristocrats of the town and who, upon hearing about the illness that is quickly spreading, leave the town with great urgency, much to the disappointment of the Rector. While this was portrayed as somewhat cowardly, I felt that they had the means to run, and so they did. Surely this is human nature? Would we all not run from the Plague, if we could? In the real story, the Rector in fact does send away his own children when the Plague spreads. The voluntary sacrifice by the village in deciding to stay during the plague, rather than try to run away, was pretty unique, demonstrating once again the power of religion. In London, Samuel Pepys writes in his journal of the terrible treatment meted out to plague victims “we are becoming as cruel as dogs one to another”. At the time, houses of plague victims were sealed and guarded, locking in the well with the ill, with none to bring food, water, comfort of any kind. Pepy’s writes that you could hear the cries of the afflicted coming from houses which were marked with large red crosses and the words ‘God have mercy’. Another interesting historical link in the book, is to the Witchcraze of the time, when women were often (and of course mistakenly) branded as witches and drowned or lynched as a consequence. Here, the trial and brutal murders of Gowdie women are all to descriptively included, reminding us of a time that is better left in the past. I did enjoy reading this first book for our book club and would recommend it to others.