Confinement by Katharine McMahon
I love the cover of this book. So did a complete stranger (a middle-aged man) who commented on it while I was sitting waiting for a train at Southampton station.
It's one of my favourite type of novels - set in two time periods. In Victorian England, Bess Hardomon is teaching at the Priors Heath school for the daughters of clergy. She's determined to improve the welfare and fortunes of the girls. In the 1960s/70s, Sarah Beckett is a student at Priors Heath girls' school. She's studious and hard-working, but befriends wild child Imogen. In the 1990s Sarah returns to Priors Heath, now a comprehensive, as a teacher. Imogen is the new head teacher, trying to update the school in her own way. Throughout, the theme of women being confined by their gender and duties is explored.
The school itself becomes a character in this novel - I love the way it develops over the years, changing with the times but not losing its identity. Thoroughly enjoyable novel - the third of McMahon's I've read and it won't be the last.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Touching the Void
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
I used to read a lot of mountaineering accounts but that was before this one was published, and while I knew the story I had never actually read the book or seen the docu-drama that was later made. Bought this book in the little Waterstones in Aviemore when I was there last week, and decided to read it straight away while the memories of walking up mountains in deep snow were still fresh.
Warning - people of a nervous disposition should not read this book. It's a brilliantly written but harrowing story of survival against all the odds.
The author and fellow climber Simon Yates were descending a remote Andean peak after a difficult ascent, when Joe Simpson fell and badly broke his leg. They had miscalculated how long the climb would take and were already out of fuel for their stove and food, so despite the incoming storm they decided to try to continue descending. Simon lowered Joe, rope length by rope length, much of the way down the steep snow slope, until on the last lower, Joe went over an unseen ice cliff and was left dangling. After some time Simon found himself being pulled over, and realising the choice was between one death and two deaths, decided to cut the rope.
Joe fell, Simon assumed he'd be dead, especially when he saw the crevasse Joe had fallen into and continued the descent back to base camp. Joe amazingly landed on an ice bridge across the crevasse, still alive. With supreme mental strength he managed to get himself out of the crevasse then crawled and hopped his way for the next two days across the glacier, down the valley and back to base camp, arriving there close to death.
It's an incredible story. Both men showed enormous mental strength throughout. If you like real-life adventure then this is almost certainly one of the best ever. Joe is a brilliant writer. He's written several others which I think I will have to search out.
I used to read a lot of mountaineering accounts but that was before this one was published, and while I knew the story I had never actually read the book or seen the docu-drama that was later made. Bought this book in the little Waterstones in Aviemore when I was there last week, and decided to read it straight away while the memories of walking up mountains in deep snow were still fresh.
Warning - people of a nervous disposition should not read this book. It's a brilliantly written but harrowing story of survival against all the odds.
The author and fellow climber Simon Yates were descending a remote Andean peak after a difficult ascent, when Joe Simpson fell and badly broke his leg. They had miscalculated how long the climb would take and were already out of fuel for their stove and food, so despite the incoming storm they decided to try to continue descending. Simon lowered Joe, rope length by rope length, much of the way down the steep snow slope, until on the last lower, Joe went over an unseen ice cliff and was left dangling. After some time Simon found himself being pulled over, and realising the choice was between one death and two deaths, decided to cut the rope.
Joe fell, Simon assumed he'd be dead, especially when he saw the crevasse Joe had fallen into and continued the descent back to base camp. Joe amazingly landed on an ice bridge across the crevasse, still alive. With supreme mental strength he managed to get himself out of the crevasse then crawled and hopped his way for the next two days across the glacier, down the valley and back to base camp, arriving there close to death.
It's an incredible story. Both men showed enormous mental strength throughout. If you like real-life adventure then this is almost certainly one of the best ever. Joe is a brilliant writer. He's written several others which I think I will have to search out.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Fairytale of New York
Fairytale of New York by Miranda Dickinson
My son bought me this for Christmas as he knows the song of the same name is one of my all-time favourites. I was intrigued to read the author was a member of Authonomy and this book came through that process. I've never looked much at Authonomy though I was once a member of YouWriteOn which has a similar set-up. I'm always pleased to read of any author finding success through these less than conventional routes.
The book is narrated by Rosie, an English woman living in New York, running a floristry business. She's emotionally scarred from having been jilted at the altar, and is unable to form any new relationships. She meets handsome and charming Nate, who is himself engaged but clearly keen on Rosie. And then there's serial-dater Ed, her best friend and work colleague. When her ex, David, turns up in New York and asks her to do the flowers for his wedding, Rosie has to confront her feelings and learn to move on.
The book is written in a lively style which I've come to associate with the best of chick-lit. So it carries you along nicely. I found a few aspects of the plot seemed a little unbelievable but maybe things are different in New York... The ending was satisfying if a little predictable.
Overall it was a pleasant read - would be a good one to take on a long plane journey when you need a little escapism.
My son bought me this for Christmas as he knows the song of the same name is one of my all-time favourites. I was intrigued to read the author was a member of Authonomy and this book came through that process. I've never looked much at Authonomy though I was once a member of YouWriteOn which has a similar set-up. I'm always pleased to read of any author finding success through these less than conventional routes.
The book is narrated by Rosie, an English woman living in New York, running a floristry business. She's emotionally scarred from having been jilted at the altar, and is unable to form any new relationships. She meets handsome and charming Nate, who is himself engaged but clearly keen on Rosie. And then there's serial-dater Ed, her best friend and work colleague. When her ex, David, turns up in New York and asks her to do the flowers for his wedding, Rosie has to confront her feelings and learn to move on.
The book is written in a lively style which I've come to associate with the best of chick-lit. So it carries you along nicely. I found a few aspects of the plot seemed a little unbelievable but maybe things are different in New York... The ending was satisfying if a little predictable.
Overall it was a pleasant read - would be a good one to take on a long plane journey when you need a little escapism.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Him indoors raved about this book and its sequels. I'm not really into crime novels or thrillers so this was a departure for me.
There was huge hype surrounding this book, maybe partly because the author died after completing the trilogy but before publication.
Hmm. What can I say about this book?
At the beginning I couldn't get into it, but stuck with it because so many people seem to love it. After 200 pages my main thoughts were that if those 200 pages had been edited down to 100 pages, they might be quite reasonable. The plot picked up later on, and at times was intriguing, but the main whodunnit was guessable from an early point. The other crimes, and the ideas behind the novel, are clever and I suppose that's the other aspect that fuelled the hype.
But overall I found the book flabby, with too many sentences along the lines of 'He took off his clothes and went to bed.' Too much pointless detail which didn't move the story on or provide characterisation. The main characters are interesting in a way, but they all talk the same. The dialogue sounds alike whether its the 40-something journalist, the elderly industrialist or the 20-something female Goth computer hacker talking.
There are two further books in the trilogy. Jury's out re whether or not I'll read them. Possibly as holiday reads, skimming over the flabby prose.
Him indoors raved about this book and its sequels. I'm not really into crime novels or thrillers so this was a departure for me.
There was huge hype surrounding this book, maybe partly because the author died after completing the trilogy but before publication.
Hmm. What can I say about this book?
At the beginning I couldn't get into it, but stuck with it because so many people seem to love it. After 200 pages my main thoughts were that if those 200 pages had been edited down to 100 pages, they might be quite reasonable. The plot picked up later on, and at times was intriguing, but the main whodunnit was guessable from an early point. The other crimes, and the ideas behind the novel, are clever and I suppose that's the other aspect that fuelled the hype.
But overall I found the book flabby, with too many sentences along the lines of 'He took off his clothes and went to bed.' Too much pointless detail which didn't move the story on or provide characterisation. The main characters are interesting in a way, but they all talk the same. The dialogue sounds alike whether its the 40-something journalist, the elderly industrialist or the 20-something female Goth computer hacker talking.
There are two further books in the trilogy. Jury's out re whether or not I'll read them. Possibly as holiday reads, skimming over the flabby prose.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins
It felt like time for a bit of science, so I picked up this one. I'm a fan of Dawkins' books and have read several of his earlier works. This one's subtitle is The Evidence for Evolution. It seems crazy that here in the 21st century we still need to publish books on this subject, amazing that there are people out there who need convincing of it. Dawkins calls them (the creationists) 'history-deniers' and it is an apt name. What frightens me is that history-deniers, especially in the USA, teach in schools and colleges and run for high political office. Evolution is not a theory any longer - it's proven fact and there is an immense weight of evidence behind it. In my opinion (and Dawkins') only the spectacularly uninformed can argue against it.
Anyway, this book. Dawkins doesn't just argue his points, he demolishes any opposition step by step, systematically and comprehensively. He is a very good science writer, with the ability to lead the reader through some difficult concepts. He's entertaining as well. The book covers a wide range of topics from geology - the dating of rocks (which also dates the fossils in them and proves the earth is far older than the 10,000 years Creationists give it); embryology - how an organism grows from a single cell to a complex creature in just a few months; plate tectonics - explains why all marsupials are found in Australia and nowhere else; microbiology - experiments with generations of bacteria showing evolution happening before our very eyes.
It's all fascinating stuff. There were no ideas in this book which I didn't already know about but I loved reading about the evidence, research and experimentation which back them up. Some bits made me say wow, or laugh out loud. In mammals, there are two nerves running from the brain to the larynx. One goes straight there, the other goes down to the heart, loops around the aorta and back up again. In a giraffe, that's a bloody big detour. It's like that because of the way mammals have evolved from fish, and how each part of the body has evolved from some earlier organ. In sharks, the equivalent nerves don't have a detour. Oh you know what, I'm explaining this really badly - best to read the book yourself. But the point Dawkins is making with this chapter is that a so-called 'intelligent designer' would not have designed mammalian bodies like this. A designer would have gone back to the drawing board and routed the nerve sensibly. But evolution can't do that. It has to make do with tiny, step by step changes, and each change has to be an improvement on the last. So the nerve can't evolve a new route because the intermediate steps would be worse than before, not better. Once it finds itself looped around the aorta it just has to keep stretching as the giraffe's neck lengthens.
And why is the koala's pouch upside down with the opening at the bottom? Bit stupid for an animal who spends its time up trees. But when you discover the koala is evolved from a ground-living wombat-type creature who dug burrows with its front feet it makes perfect sense. You don't want to be shovelling dirt into your pouch, do you, much better to have the pouch opening backwards.
Anyway, I guess Dawkins is preaching to the converted here, if that isn't completely the wrong metaphor. In any case I have to agree with him when he says this.
It felt like time for a bit of science, so I picked up this one. I'm a fan of Dawkins' books and have read several of his earlier works. This one's subtitle is The Evidence for Evolution. It seems crazy that here in the 21st century we still need to publish books on this subject, amazing that there are people out there who need convincing of it. Dawkins calls them (the creationists) 'history-deniers' and it is an apt name. What frightens me is that history-deniers, especially in the USA, teach in schools and colleges and run for high political office. Evolution is not a theory any longer - it's proven fact and there is an immense weight of evidence behind it. In my opinion (and Dawkins') only the spectacularly uninformed can argue against it.
Anyway, this book. Dawkins doesn't just argue his points, he demolishes any opposition step by step, systematically and comprehensively. He is a very good science writer, with the ability to lead the reader through some difficult concepts. He's entertaining as well. The book covers a wide range of topics from geology - the dating of rocks (which also dates the fossils in them and proves the earth is far older than the 10,000 years Creationists give it); embryology - how an organism grows from a single cell to a complex creature in just a few months; plate tectonics - explains why all marsupials are found in Australia and nowhere else; microbiology - experiments with generations of bacteria showing evolution happening before our very eyes.
It's all fascinating stuff. There were no ideas in this book which I didn't already know about but I loved reading about the evidence, research and experimentation which back them up. Some bits made me say wow, or laugh out loud. In mammals, there are two nerves running from the brain to the larynx. One goes straight there, the other goes down to the heart, loops around the aorta and back up again. In a giraffe, that's a bloody big detour. It's like that because of the way mammals have evolved from fish, and how each part of the body has evolved from some earlier organ. In sharks, the equivalent nerves don't have a detour. Oh you know what, I'm explaining this really badly - best to read the book yourself. But the point Dawkins is making with this chapter is that a so-called 'intelligent designer' would not have designed mammalian bodies like this. A designer would have gone back to the drawing board and routed the nerve sensibly. But evolution can't do that. It has to make do with tiny, step by step changes, and each change has to be an improvement on the last. So the nerve can't evolve a new route because the intermediate steps would be worse than before, not better. Once it finds itself looped around the aorta it just has to keep stretching as the giraffe's neck lengthens.
And why is the koala's pouch upside down with the opening at the bottom? Bit stupid for an animal who spends its time up trees. But when you discover the koala is evolved from a ground-living wombat-type creature who dug burrows with its front feet it makes perfect sense. You don't want to be shovelling dirt into your pouch, do you, much better to have the pouch opening backwards.
Anyway, I guess Dawkins is preaching to the converted here, if that isn't completely the wrong metaphor. In any case I have to agree with him when he says this.
Friday, 4 February 2011
The Birth Machine
The Birth Machine by Elizabeth Baines
Came across this one via the blogging circles in which I meander aimlessly when I ought to be writing my novel. I sometimes read the author's blog, and I was fascinated by her tale of how this was published - first in a different version years ago, snapped up by earth-mothers as a plea for natural childbirth which isn't quite what she intended to say with it, and now republished in its original form by Salt, that champion of literary short fiction.
It's beautifully written - the kind of style I've come to expect from Salt (and I've read one of the author's books before). Lyrical and introspective - much of the action takes place within the main character's head: flashback or a new take on old events, from the perspective of a woman in labour?
Zelda is in induced labour, before her due date. They're inducing her as an experiment into inducing for convenience, not because there's anything wrong, although she doesn't know this. She's having lots of drugs pumped into her, and they cause her to return to the past, her childhood, and the murder of a playmate.
I must admit, to me the book read as a plea for natural childbirth, and minimum intervention, even though the author's postscript explains her intended themes. Zelda's experiences are horrible and leave her feeling completely unconnected with her baby - I really felt for her. The book was perhaps slightly dated - it was originally published in 1983. The National Childbirth Trust has come along since then and had an influence - they just don't do things like that anymore. Thank goodness.
I enjoyed the book, its language and imagery, and the delving into Zelda's head and memories, but I couldn't help but think I might have enjoyed the 1983 version more -where you start with Zelda rather than starting with the professor and his theories on induction. You never really see the professor after that first chapter, so I found the beginning of the book a little disjointed.
Came across this one via the blogging circles in which I meander aimlessly when I ought to be writing my novel. I sometimes read the author's blog, and I was fascinated by her tale of how this was published - first in a different version years ago, snapped up by earth-mothers as a plea for natural childbirth which isn't quite what she intended to say with it, and now republished in its original form by Salt, that champion of literary short fiction.
It's beautifully written - the kind of style I've come to expect from Salt (and I've read one of the author's books before). Lyrical and introspective - much of the action takes place within the main character's head: flashback or a new take on old events, from the perspective of a woman in labour?
Zelda is in induced labour, before her due date. They're inducing her as an experiment into inducing for convenience, not because there's anything wrong, although she doesn't know this. She's having lots of drugs pumped into her, and they cause her to return to the past, her childhood, and the murder of a playmate.
I must admit, to me the book read as a plea for natural childbirth, and minimum intervention, even though the author's postscript explains her intended themes. Zelda's experiences are horrible and leave her feeling completely unconnected with her baby - I really felt for her. The book was perhaps slightly dated - it was originally published in 1983. The National Childbirth Trust has come along since then and had an influence - they just don't do things like that anymore. Thank goodness.
I enjoyed the book, its language and imagery, and the delving into Zelda's head and memories, but I couldn't help but think I might have enjoyed the 1983 version more -where you start with Zelda rather than starting with the professor and his theories on induction. You never really see the professor after that first chapter, so I found the beginning of the book a little disjointed.
Thursday, 27 January 2011
The Help
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Everyone I know who's read this book is raving about it. And I am going to rave too. It is definitely up there in my top 10 books of all time. What a marvellous example of writing in distinctive voices. Best characterisation I've ever come across - those women really come to life.
It's set in Mississippi in the 1960s when, to quote Bob Dylan as the author does: 'the times they are a-changing'. There are three first person viewpoints - two are black maids working for white families, bringing up the children but not allowed to so much as use the same toilet as the whites. The third viewpoint is one of the white women - a young writer who has rather more forward-looking views than her friends. She gets to know the black women and together they write a book about what life is like for the black servants. They're treading on dangerous ground in those days of racial segregation and KKK lynchings.
The use of dialect and the rhythm of the language had me even thinking in a deep south accent after a while. I could feel the heat of the Mississippi summers radiating off the page. It's a truly wonderful book and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Everyone I know who's read this book is raving about it. And I am going to rave too. It is definitely up there in my top 10 books of all time. What a marvellous example of writing in distinctive voices. Best characterisation I've ever come across - those women really come to life.
It's set in Mississippi in the 1960s when, to quote Bob Dylan as the author does: 'the times they are a-changing'. There are three first person viewpoints - two are black maids working for white families, bringing up the children but not allowed to so much as use the same toilet as the whites. The third viewpoint is one of the white women - a young writer who has rather more forward-looking views than her friends. She gets to know the black women and together they write a book about what life is like for the black servants. They're treading on dangerous ground in those days of racial segregation and KKK lynchings.
The use of dialect and the rhythm of the language had me even thinking in a deep south accent after a while. I could feel the heat of the Mississippi summers radiating off the page. It's a truly wonderful book and I can't recommend it highly enough.
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