What I'm reading ...

I have started Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift. I have a few days before I start my holiday and I wanted something short to fill in the time before I can make a start on my holiday reading. This book was recommended and is short enough to fit the bill. Here’s the blurb:

How will Jane Fairchild, orphan and housemaid, occupy her time when she has no mother to visit? How, shaped by the events of this never to be forgotten day, will her future unfold?
Beginning with an intimate assignation and opening to embrace decades, Mothering Sunday has at its heart both the story of a life and the life that stories can magically contain. Constantly surprising, joyously sensual and deeply moving, it is Graham Swift at his thrilling best.

The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Code-breaking - by Simon Singh

This book was an excellent read. It is written at a very good level. There is plenty of detail, but it is presented so that the general reader does not get bogged down in it, but someone after the nitty gritty will still be satisfied. His descriptions are very lucid, using some very effective analogies. I learned numerous historical details, many of which are interesting well beyond the field of cryptography. For example, the US used members of the Navaho tribe to perform military communications in their somewhat intractable language during WW2.

My only disappointment is that the book is slightly out of date, as it was published in 1999. It would be really interesting to see a similar discussion of the events of the last few years, like the whistle-blowing on the NSA’s behaviour and particularly the very recent controversies about iPhone unlocking. However, there is coverage of the potential role of quantum computers and the like, which is explained very clearly.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Code Book: The Secret History of Codes and Code-breaking by Simon Singh. It was time for non-fiction and this was recommended. Here's the blurb:

Since humans began writing, they have been communicating in code. This obsession with secrecy has had dramatic effects on the outcome of wars, monarchies and individual lives.

With clear mathematical, linguistic and technological demonstrations of many of the codes, as well as illustrations of some of the remarkable personalities behind them – many courageous, some villainous – The Code Book traces the fascinating development of codes and code-breaking from military espionage in Ancient Greece to modern computer ciphers, to reveal how the remarkable science of cryptography has often changed the course of history.

Amongst many extraordinary examples, Simon Singh relates in detail the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, trapped by her own code and put to death by Elizabeth I; the strange history of the Beale Ciphers, describing the hidden location of a fortune in gold, buried somewhere in Virginia in the nineteenth century and still not found; and the monumental efforts in code-making and code-breaking that influenced the outcomes of the First and Second World Wars.

Now, with the Information Age bringing the possibility of a truly unbreakable code ever nearer, and cryptography one of the major debates of our times, Singh investigates the challenge that technology has brought to personal privacy today.

Dramatic, compelling and remarkably far-reaching, The Code Book will forever alter your view of history, what drives it and how private your last e-mail really was.

Elizabeth is Missing - by Emma Healey

Being written in the first person, I really felt that this book gave me some insight into how it must feel to be suffering dementia. I was particularly impressed by the way that her confusion was conveyed with the rather chaotic text - interleaving the two timelines - but I never got lost.

Overall, I felt the book was beautifully written, with the story well paced. Because of the viewpoint, I am not sure I could say the characters in the contemporaneous timeline are well drawn, but a good impression of them is there. Those in the post-war period were, to me, very clear.

Being rather picky, I was disconcerted by this text: "And that does put another spin on things. Him being wanted.", which occurs in the post-war period. The word "spin" was not used in this sense until the 1970s.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey, which was recommended by a friend and is my next book club choice. Here’s the blurb:

Meet Maud.
Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger.
But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it.
Because somewhere in Maud's damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about.
Everyone, except Maud . . .

Nora Webster - by Colm Tóibín

This book was a straightforward, comfortable read. I have read some of the author’s other work, which I found a little gloomy, but this one was more uplifting. Essentially it is an account of the lives of Nora and her family over a few years following her husband’s death. What it is really about is her process of coming to terms with her loss and embracing her new life. The story has no big surprises, no major U-turns and no real drama - it is much like real life.
Initially I was dissatisfied with the ending, but I quickly realized that the message was “life goes on”. It may be a different life. It may be a better life. But it goes on whatever.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín. This is my next book club selection. I have read some of this author’s work before and found it somewhat gloomy. He seems to have become more well known lately, after the release of the film of his book Brooklyn. Here’s the blurb:

It is the late 1960s in Ireland. Nora Webster is living in a small town, looking after her four children, trying to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. She is fiercely intelligent, at times difficult and impatient, at times kind, but she is trapped by her circumstances, and waiting for any chance which will lift her beyond them.
Slowly, through the gift of music and the power of friendship, she finds a glimmer of hope and a way of starting again. As the dynamic of the family changes, she seems both fiercely self-possessed but also a figure of great moral ambiguity, making her one of the most memorable heroines in contemporary fiction.
The portrait that is painted in the years that follow is harrowing, piercingly insightful, always tender and deeply true. Colm Tóibín's Nora is a character as resonant as Anna Karenina or Madame Bovary and Nora Webster is a novel that illuminates our own lives in a way that is rare in literature. Its humanity and compassion forge an unforgettable reading experience.

The Post-Birthday World - by Lionel Shriver

Bottom line: this was among the best books that I have read in a while. The story is not overly complex, but very well crafted. The structure of the book was intriguing. At the end of the first chapter Irina has to make a decision, which can go two different ways. Each subsequent chapter describes the events in two different universes in which each possible decision was enacted. It sounds confusing, but [for me, anyway] is actually quite straightforward to follow. I was fascinated to find out how the two threads might be brought together at the end of the book. The answer is: brilliantly.

The characters in the book are well drawn and the overall quality of the writing is excellent. The author thoroughly succeeds in her intention to make the readers think about the consequences of decisions in their lives. I will certainly be returning to this author’s work and I am rather tempted to pre-order her next book, which will be published in a few days.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. I was ready for more fiction and have read work by this author before and enjoyed it. This book was recommended to me a while ago and it has been sitting on my list. Here’s the blurb:

Irina McGovern’s destiny hinges on a single kiss. Whether she gives into its temptation will determine whether she stays with her reliable partner Lawrence, or runs off with Ramsey, a hard-living snooker player.
Employing a parallel universe structure, Shriver spins Irina’s competing futures with two drastically different men. An intellectual and fellow American, Lawrence is clever and supportive, but rigid and emotionally withdrawn. A British celebrity, Ramsey is passionate and spontaneous, but jealous, undereducated, and prone to pick arguments. Their contrasting characters will colour her other relationships, her career, and the texture of her daily life.
If love is always about trade-offs—if every romantic prospect is flawed—how can we ever know whom to choose?

This Book Will Make You Mindful - by Jessamy Hibberd

I was interested in the idea of Mindfulness, so, when this book was recommended, I was receptive to giving it a try. My initial impression was that it was like many American self-help books [although it is not American - it is written in a very British style] and started out with repetition, repetition, repetition. It constantly told me how wonderful Mindfulness would be and how I would learn to do it. It became irritating, but I stuck with it.

In due course, the book became more informative and quite readable. The recommended way to read it is to work through, pausing to do the exercises from time to time. I decided to ignore this and just read it through. My idea was that I might come back to it later and do the work, once I had an idea of the big picture.

I feel that the book gave a me quite a good idea of what Mindfulness is all about and I enjoyed the ideas. Will I come back and do the exercises? Well, maybe ...

What I'm reading ...

I have started This Book Will Make You Mindful by Jessamy Hibberd. It was time for non-fiction again. This book was recommended and covers a topic that interests me. It is the kind of book that I might dip in and out of instead of reading straight through. At first glance, reading just a few pages, it is very repetitive, which might get on my nerves. Here’s the blurb:

We live increasingly busy lives and can struggle to cope with the pressure we're put under by external factors and, most importantly, by ourselves. It's very common to feel overwhelmed by all the responsibilities you have to juggle and feel that time is running away from you - that days, weeks, months and even years are passing in a blur. However, help is at hand.
This friendly book is a mindfulness starter kit, giving you everything you need to live in the moment and get the most from life. Dr Jessamy Hibberd and Jo Usmar use the latest mindfulness techniques to teach you how to stop worrying about the future and dwelling on the past so life - the life you're actually living rather than the one you wish you were living or are planning to live soon - doesn't pass you by. Learning how your mind works will enable you to cope with the bad things while fully appreciating the good things, making you more confident, content and productive day-to-day.

Three Wishes - by Liane Moriarty

After reading other books by this author, I expected to enjoy this one and was not disappointed. The story has lots of little details and nuances and enough complexity to keep me interested. It is more “chick lit” than her recent work, but a reasonably solid read nevertheless. It is interesting to see the progress the author has made over the years and I look forward to her future work.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty. It was time for fiction again and this book has just come out on Kindle - although it is actually one of the author’s older works. I have read a number of Moriarty’s other books, so I am confident that this one will be a good read. Here’s the blurb:

They say trouble always comes in threes. And for sisters Lyn, Cat and Gemma Kettle, the year they turn thirty-three is no exception.
Sensible Lyn is struggling to balance being a mother, wife and businesswoman without losing her mind. Cat, whose perfect marriage is the envy of all her friends, never suspects that her husband has been hiding a secret that will tear her life apart. And directionless Gemma, who changes jobs and boyfriends every few months, has just met a new man who could be the one to unlock her hidden past.
Through everything, the bonds of the sisters are strong enough to withstand whatever life throws at them. That is until the night of their thirty-fourth birthday dinner, when home truths are revealed and things are said that can't be taken back . . .

The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves - by Stephen Grosz

This was a fascinating book and a very straightforward read. I enjoyed the insights into other people’s lives and the author’s analysis of how their past experiences affected their current lives. Each chapter is a separate “story”, so it is an easy book to pick up and put down, but I rarely found myself reading just one chapter.

What I'm reading ...

Time for some non-fiction, so I have started The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves by Stephen Grosz. Here’s the blurb:

This book is about learning to live.
In simple stories of encounter between a psychoanalyst and his patients, The Examined Life reveals how the art of insight can illuminate the most complicated, confounding and human of experiences.
These are stories about our everyday lives: they are about the people we love and the lies that we tell; the changes we bear, and the grief. Ultimately, they show us not only how we lose ourselves but how we might find ourselves too.

Instances of the Number 3 - by Salley Vickers

I was attracted by the premise for this book and it did, indeed, provide a good vehicle for the story. It has a good pace and I was soon in “just one more chapter” mode. There are some interesting surprises and twists to the story, that kept me interested. I cannot say that I really understood what was going on in the heads of either of the main characters - but maybe I wasn’t supposed to. Both of them seemed to be solid, loyal kinds of people, but this doesn’t stop them going to bed with a man at the slightest opportunity. I found the life after death angle a bit half-hearted and unconvincing - maybe there were hidden depths that I was missing. The ending of the book was slightly abrupt and I felt the story was left hanging slightly.

I am uncertain about my views of the book overall. The quality of the writing is good, which might lead me to read more of the author’s books. I have a feeling that this is not her best work.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Instances of the Number 3 by Salley Vickers. I have read two books set in the past, so I wanted to get back to the 21st Century. A friend recommended this book and I was familiar with the author’s work. Here’s the blurb:

Bridget Hansome and Frances Slater have only one thing in common. And that's Peter Hansome, who has died suddenly. Without their husband or lover, the women find that before they can rebuild their lives they must look to themselves and unravel mysteries that they had never before even suspected. So begins an unlikely alliance between wife and mistress and a voyage of discovery that is as comic as it is profound.

Sword at Sunset - by Rosemary Sutcliffe

This book was selected by my book club and I was interested to read it, as the King Arthur stories and anything about the dark ages attract me. Here is the blurb:

For fourteen centuries the story of Arthur was a legend, misted over by the tradition of romantic hero-tales. But Arthur was real - a man of towering strength, a dreamer and a warrior who actually lived, fought and died for his impossible dream.
In Sutcliffe's now legendary retelling, King Arthur is brought passionately to life.
This brilliant reconception of the Arthurian epic cuts through the familiar myths and tells the story of the real King Arthur: Artos the Bear, the mighty warrior-king who saved the last lights of Western civilization when the barbarian darkness descended in the fifth century. Artos here comes alive: bold and forceful in battle, warm and generous in friendship, tough in politics, shrewd in the strategy of war - and tender and tragically tormented in love. Out of the braiding of ancient legend, fresh research, soaring imagination and hypnotic narrative skill comes a novel that has richly earned its reputation as a classic.

This is quite a large book, which I found daunting, but, in the end, I got through it with little problem.

Overall, the story is not what I expected. I thought that it would be a rehash of the usual tales, with the nice veneer of authenticity that we expect from modern authors. Instead, what we get is a story set in a vividly described post-Roman Britain, where life is balanced between something like the order of the Roman times and the chaos that would have preceded them.

We meet Arthur - or rather Artos - but almost all the other well-known characters and motifs are missing. We encounter Guenhumara - Guinevere - and Bedwyr, who must be the substitute for Lancelot, simply because he is Artos’ close friend and his cuckold. However, Lancelot is normally depicted as a dashing knight, not a rather ugly harper. There’s no mention of Camelot, the Round Table, the Holy Grail or Merlin. I have always felt that the world of Arthur that I have read about always seems a bit too “clean”. They are living in what amounts to a post-apocolyptic world and this book portrays that much more believably. I had visualized Author’s world as being a couple of centuries after the Roman departure, but this book takes place only decades or 100 years after they left. Artos and his people were true Romano-British and he had a clear Roman blood line, which gave him some claim to be King/Emperor.

It took me a little while to get going with the book. Perhaps the first 100 pages got me inside Artos’ head, which is essential, as that is where the story really takes place. From then onwards, it was steady going with enough pace to keep turning the pages and I was engaged to enough to care what would happen next. I have a great ambivalence to size of the book and level of detail in the writing. The author uses words to paint very vivid images of, what to me is, a fascinating world. On the other hand, although it would change the dynamic, I have a feeling that there a very nice 300 page book in there trying to get out.

An Officer and a Spy - by Robert Harris

I did not just have high expectations of this book. Given my experience with the author, I felt that it was inevitable that it would be a good read. I was not disappointed. The story is not, in itself, very complex, but it is made up of many minuscule details and quite a large cast of characters. The author managed the story by telling it solely from the viewpoint of one character, Georges Picquart. Although I am unsure whether I like him, I felt that I knew him quite well by the end of the first 100 pages. This is the point at which the story starts to get going properly. By the time I reached the last 100 pages I was not sure whether I just wanted to read it all in one go, and find out how the story ended, or string out the pleasure a bit longer.

I do not know how much of the story is pure fiction, even though I do know that it is at least broadly based on facts. My confidence in the author’s integrity makes me feel that I know a lot more about the France of 100+ years ago and a bit more about how politics in general operates.

I really enjoyed some of the little details, like the slang French word for prostitute is “horizontale”. A lot of the writing is delightful, for example: "For the first time in my life I carry hatred inside me. It is an almost physical thing, like a concealed knife. Sometimes, when I am alone, I like to take it out and run my thumb along its cold, sharp blade."

I am glad that there are still quite a few Robert Harris books for me to read in the future.

What I'm reading ...

I have started An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris, my next book club book. Harris is a favourite author of mine, so I am looking forward to this. This is the first time my book club has returned to an author, so I guess my view is not isolated. Here’s the blurb:

Paris, 1895: an army officer, Georges Picquart, watches a convicted spy, Alfred Dreyfus, being publicly humiliated in front of a baying crowd.
Dreyfus is exiled for life to Devil's Island; Picquart is promoted to run the intelligence unit that tracked him down.
But when Picquart discovers that secrets are still being handed over to the Germans, he is drawn into a dangerous labyrinth of deceit and corruption that threatens not just his honour but his life...

Inflight Science: A Guide to the World from Your Airplane Window - by Brian Clegg

As expected, this was a pleasant, light-weight read, which air travel as an excuse to discuss various scientific topics. I learned some things here and there and had other matters clarified, which is all I might have expected. However, when I read "When Krakatoa erupted in 1883 around 20 cubic kilometres of ash and rock was spewed out by the explosion – the equivalent of a cube of material around 20 kilometres on each side.”, I was perturbed and somewhat lost faith in the author’s integrity. [A cube 20Km on each side would be 8000 cubic Km; a 20 cubic Km cube would be about 2.7Km on each side. Which did he mean?]

What I'm reading ...

I have started Inflight Science: A Guide to the World from Your Airplane Window by Brian Clegg. It was time for some non-fiction and I wanted something fairly light and entertaining. This looked about right. Here’s the blurb:

There are few times that science is so immediate as when you're in a plane.  Acclaimed science writer Brian Clegg shows how you stay up there – but that’s only the beginning.  Inflight Science explains the ever-changing view, whether it’s crop circles or clouds, mountains or river deltas, and describes easy-to-do experiments, from showing how a wing provides lift to calculating the population of the towns you fly over. You’ll learn why the coastline is infinite in length, the cause of thunderstorms and the true impact of volcanic ash on aircraft engines.  Fascinating facts to discover include:  The jet stream winds are so fast that a plane travelling west to east within them can fly beyond the speed of sound.  The wingspan of a 747 is around twice the distance flown by the Wright Flyer on its maiden flight.  With good visibility and total darkness, the human eye is so sensitive that you could see a single candle from the cruising height of a plane.  Packed full of amazing insights from physics, chemistry, engineering, geography and more, Inflight Science is a voyage of scientific discovery perfect for any journey – even if it’s just in your armchair.

Rivers of London - by Ben Aaronovitch

I would generally describe myself as not being a fan of fantasy, as a genre of fiction writing. However, it occurs to me that there are broadly two types of fantasy. There is the type where one is presented with an alternative Universe, where everything is different; Terry Pratchett’s stuff falls into this category. The other type is where you are presented with an alternative view of the world that we live in, where there is more to it than we normally see; Harry Potter falls into this category. And so does this book, which is a kind of “Harry Potter for grown ups”. I realise that I am OK with this category of fantasy.

The book has a somewhat complex story line with lots of fairly well defined characters. The main protagonist, Peter, is quite clear and essentially likeable. Nightingale has an air of mystery about him, which is appealing and interesting. For the most part, I could accept and enjoy all the magic stuff, which I felt was quite well thought through. The ending of the story, however, was a little more fuzzy and abrupt than I might have liked. Also, there were numerous times when Peter seemed to know what to do next and it was unclear [to me] how he gained this knowledge. Maybe it was just the result of his magic talents.

I might be inclined to read more books in this series.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, my next book club book. I am not a big fan of the fantasy genre, but this book comes well recommended, so I’ll give it a go. here’s the blurb:

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.
Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.
The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.

Gut: the inside story of our body's most under-rated organ - by Giulia Enders

This was an absolutely fascinating book. After reading it, I have a new-found respect for an important part of my anatomy.

The book is written in a very accessible style. There is enough scientific detail to give it credibility, but it does not seem turgid and technical. Although it is a translation from the original German, the text is very well crafted, making it entertaining and readable. The book covers the topic systematically, but not in the “home doctor” style; there is no intention that the reader should self-diagnose anything - just have some understanding of what’s going on in all those pipes ...

What I'm reading ...

I have started Gut: the inside story of our body's most under-rated organ by Giulia Enders. It was time for some more non-fiction and this book was recommended to me. Here’s the blurb:

Our gut is almost as important to us as our brain or our heart, yet we know very little about how it works. In Gut, Giulia Enders shows that rather than the utilitarian and — let’s be honest — somewhat embarrassing body part we imagine it to be, it is one of the most complex, important, and even miraculous parts of our anatomy. And scientists are only just discovering quite how much it has to offer; new research shows that gut bacteria can play a role in everything from obesity and allergies to Alzheimer’s.
Beginning with the personal experience of illness that inspired her research, and going on to explain everything from the basics of nutrient absorption to the latest science linking bowel bacteria with depression, Enders has written an entertaining, informative health handbook. Gut definitely shows that we can all benefit from getting to know the wondrous world of our inner workings.
In this charming book, young scientist Giulia Enders takes us on a fascinating tour of our insides. Her message is simple — if we treat our gut well, it will treat us well in return. But how do we do that? And why do we need to? Find out in this surprising, and surprisingly funny, exploration of the least understood of our organs.

Restless - by William Boyd

Another book that was an enjoyable read. An interestingly complex story, with two timelines that always made sense. I felt that I learned something about history - particularly in the US just prior to their joining in to WW2 - even though the book is purely fiction. If I have any reservation about the book, it is that the two main characters, from whose viewpoint it is written, are female, but the author is male, and I think that shows from time to time. However, this is another author to whom I will return.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Restless by William Boyd. Time for fiction gain and I have not read anything by this author for quite a while. Here’s the blurb:

What happens to your life when everything you thought you knew about your mother turns out to be an elaborate lie? Ruth Gilmartin discovers the strange and haunting truth about her mother, Sally, during the long hot summer of 1976. For Sally Gilmartin is not what she seems at all. Russian by birth, she was recruited into the British Secret Service in Paris in 1939 and spent the war years as a spy. But once a spy, always a spy. Sally Gilmartin has far too many dangerous secrets, and she has no one to trust. Before it is too late, she must confront the demons of her past. This time though she can't do it alone, she needs Ruth's help. "Restless" is yet another tour de force from William Boyd. Exploring the devastating consequences of duplicity and betrayal, it is a thrilling novel that captures the drama of the Second World War and a remarkable portrait of a female spy.

Business for Punks: Break All the Rules - the BrewDog Way - by James Watt

Here's the blurb for this book:

Don't waste your time on bullshit business plans. Forget sales. Ignore advice. Put everything on the line for what you believe in.

These mantras have turned BrewDog into one of the world's fastest-growing drinks brands, famous for beers, bars and crowdfunding.

Founded by a pair of young Scots with a passion for great beer, BrewDog has catalysed the craft beer revolution, rewritten the record books and inadvertently forged a whole new approach to business.

In BUSINESS FOR PUNKS, BrewDog co-founder James Watt bottles the essence of this success. From finances ('chase down every cent, pimp every pound') to marketing ('lead with the crusade, not the product') this is an anarchic, indispensable guide to thriving on your own terms.

---

I got this book because I am a fan of Brewdog's products and I am one of the numerous investors in the company. I have no plans to start and run a business, but I am always interested in views on this topic and people who take radical new approaches are always interesting. 

I read this book very quickly. It has a fast-paced style that keeps the pages turning. The author has very strong opinions and is not afraid to share them. He is very sure that his way is right and that confidence, to the point of arrogance, oozes from the book. He cites his success with Brewdog for the rightness of his ideas and advice. Who am I to say he's wrong?

The book is full of good quotes and one-liners:

"Your brand is the collated gut instinct of the world at large towards your company and everything you do."

"Attitude is the difference between a setback and an adventure."

"Start a revolution, not a business."

And from Estée Lauder:

"I love reading fashion magazines, they show me exactly what I shouldn't be doing."

By then end of the book, I was so caught up in his enthusiasm, that I thought that I should go out and start a business ... 

The Last Anniversary - by Liane Moriarty

Another book by this author has delivered. The story is complex, with multiple threads. Some do not lead anywhere much, but they intertwine to give the whole story breadth as well as depth. At the end, when all the surprises are over and all of the interesting twists and turns are complete, the loose ends are mostly tied up too.

I would not claim that this book is a great work of literature, but it is a darned good read, that could be hard to put down. I will be returning to this author's work.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. I have read and very much enjoyed several other books by this author and suddenly realized that I had this one, still unread. Here’s the blurb:

‘I’ll tell you something, something important. Love is a decision. Not a feeling. That’s what you young people don’t realise. That’s why you’re always off divorcing each other. No offence, dear.’ So decrees the formidable Connie Thrum of Scribbly Gum Island. She is the chief decision-maker of a rather unconventional family and her word is law, especially when it comes to the important things in life, like cinnamon toast and profit margins. It’s been over seventy years since Connie and her sister Rose visited their neighbours and found the kettle boiling and a baby waking for her feed, but no sign of her parents. The ‘Munro Baby Mystery’ still hasn’t been solved and tourists can visit the abandoned home, exactly as it was found in 1932. But now Connie has passed away and the island residents ponder her legacy. Sophie Honeywell is looking down the barrel of her fortieth birthday and still hoping for that fairytale ending. Her beautiful new friend Grace, the Munro Baby’s granddaughter, can’t tell anyone what she hopes for. It would be too shocking. Meanwhile, a frumpy housewife makes a pact with a stranger, an old lady starts making her own decisions and a family secret finally explodes on an extraordinary night of mulled wine, fire-eating and face-painting – the Last Anniversary.

The Road to Little Dribbling - by Bill Bryson

I was slightly nervous about reading this book, asking myself: Does Bryson still have it? The “it” being the undefinable skill that results in fascinating and enjoyable books. The short answer is yes. He still has it in spades.

This was a very enjoyable read. His travels took him to places very familiar to me, where it was interesting to see them through the eyes of another. He also went to many places that I have not visited, many of which sounded very interesting. A lot of the writing made me smile and, more than once, laugh out loud; this is not common. Often the source of amusement is his way of describing things and people, but there is also a lot of conversation that goes on inside his head, which is very amusing. As always with Bryson’s books, I was assailed with numerous random facts, as he goes off on long tangents, which are never distracting, always interesting.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an easy, but rewarding, read. I already look forward to more of the author’s work in the future.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. I have been reading and enjoying Bryson’s books sine the early 1990s and have met the guy a couple of times - he is as charming as he sounds in his writing. He is one of very few authors whose work I simply buy on publication without hesitation. Here’s the blurb:

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his adopted country. The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Island, was taken to the nation’s heart and became the bestselling travel book ever, and was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain.Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a brand-new journey round Britain to see what has changed.
Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn’t altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain’s occasional failings and more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. And not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, and an extra day off at Christmas.
Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest and quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous and the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less - by Barry Schwartz

This book was a fascinating read and opened my eyes to many aspects of modern psychology, apart from the main theme of “choice". The author investigates every facet of the main subject - how choice affects us from a psychologist’s perspective. This brings in discussions about control [or lack thereof] and much information about depression etc.

Apart from the discussion of the “problem” of choice, the author gives some sound advice about how the reader can handle the glut of options that assail our everyday life.

When I started the book, I was concerned that, being 10 years old, the book would be outdated, but that really was not the case. The book is also very American biased, but I did not feel that this detracted from the enjoyment or usefulness of the book to the non-American reader.

What I'm reading ...

Time for non-fiction and I have started The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz. This book is about a topic to which I have given significant thought. It was recommended by a blogger whose ideas I generally find interesting and aligned with my own. Here’s the blurb:

Whether we're buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions—both big and small—have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented.
As Americans, we assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression.
In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice—the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish—becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice—from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs—has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse.
By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counter intuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on those that are important and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.

A Place Called Winter - by Patrick Gale

By excitedly moving straight on to another book by an author, whose work I had just enjoyed, I was leaving myself open to disappointment. In this case, I was not disappointed. The book has a very manageable level of complexity - enough to make it interesting. Multiple timelines are employed, but not over-used, and they do not result in confusion. The characters are well drawn and, even if I do not like them all [the main protagonist is rather weak and stupid IMHO; another character is really unpleasant] I have a clear picture. Even though it is fiction, because it is based on some facts and I have faith in the author’s integrity, I feel I have learned about Canada of a century ago. Overall, this is an excellent book.

There is the temptation to just forge ahead and read all the rest of the author’s work straight away. But I will resist, saving that pleasure for another day.

What I'm reading ...

I have started A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale. After the last book, I have high hopes of this one. It is very unusual for me to read two consecutive books by one author. Here’s the blurb:

In the golden 1900s, Harry Cane, a shy, eligible gentleman of leisure is drawn from a life of quiet routine into marrying Winnie, eldest daughter of the fatherless Wells clan, who are not quite as respectable as they would appear.
Winnie and Harry settle by the sea and have a daughter; conventional marriage does not seem such a tumultuous change after all. When a chance encounter awakens unacknowledged desires, however, Harry is forced to forsake the home and people he loves for a harsh new life as a homesteader on the newly colonized Canadian prairies. There, in a place called Winter, he will come to find a deep love within an alternative family, a love imperilled by war, madness and a man of undeniable magnetism.
In a dramatic departure from anything he has written before, Patrick Gale boldly projects his own fears and loves to tell the dramatic story of an Edwardian innocent's gradual understanding of his own nature. Based on the real life mystery of the author's own great-grandfather, and drawing on the understanding of psychology and relationships which infused Rough Music and Notes from an Exhibition, A PLACE CALLED WINTER charts the gathering of wisdom of a kind suppressed in most family histories.

A Perfectly Good Man - by Patrick Gale

I was recommended this book very highly, so I started it with optimism. This was not unfounded. The story is not too complex, but has little nuances which I found fascinating. The author leads the reader to realisation, instead of spelling everything out and he does this very skilfully. Each chapter is from a different viewpoint and has a title which is a character’s name and their age. The chapters do not appear in consecutive time order, so the effect of an action may be covered before the action itself. This sounds confusing, but it was not. I was quickly drawn in to th ebook and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I often finish a book and vow to investigate other books by the same author. On rare occasions, I finish a book and feel excited that there is a catalogue of many more books, by the same author, awaiting my attention. This book was one of these rarities.

What I'm reading ...

I have started A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale. It was recommended and my initial impressions are very positive. Here's the blurb:

When 20-year-old Lenny Barnes, paralysed in a rugby accident, commits suicide in the presence of Barnaby Johnson, the much-loved priest of a West Cornwall parish, the tragedy's reverberations open up the fault-lines between Barnaby and his nearest and dearest. The personal stories of his wife, children and lover illuminate Barnaby's ostensibly happy life, and the gulfs of unspoken sadness that separate them all. Across this web of relations scuttles Barnaby's repellent nemesis – a man as wicked as his prey is virtuous.

Returning us to the rugged Cornish landscape of Notes from an Exhibition, Patrick Gale lays bare the lives and the thoughts of a whole community and asks us: what does it mean to be good?

A Man Called Ove - by Fredrik Backman

I really enjoyed this book. It started off rather oddly, appearing to be about a rather annoying guy called Ove. Indeed the book is about him and he would probably be annoying to be around. However, ultimately it is a love story - or a couple of intertwined love stories. And probably the most moving one that I have ever read. After the first 50 pages or so I was totally drawn in; I was very surprised by how emotional the ending made me.

My past (limited) experience of Swedish literature has always been rather dark. I assume that this was originally published in Swedish. I will check out other work by the author for sure.

What I'm reading ...

I have started reading A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. This book was recommended and sounded entertaining. Here’s the blurb:

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.
But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?
In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible...

Beautiful Ruins - by Jess Walter

This is a somewhat complex story, with multiple timelines and viewpoints. In at least one place the timelines leapfrog, so that you are aware of the result of an action before you hear about it occurring. However, none of this is confusing and I’d say the book is quite well written. Many aspects of the story are desperately unlikely, but that makes for a good tale. It is ultimately a love story, but succeeds in investigating many other aspects of human behaviour in the process. I am not sure about the technique of including a real person in a fictional story. I guess that’s a matter between the author and the celebrity’s lawyers. The name of the hotel - Adequate View - is genius. And I like th little bits of untranslated Italian, which I think give context without taking away meaning.

I liked the quality of the writing. There are a lot of “one liners”, which I enjoyed:
“What kind of wife would I be if I left your father simply because he is dead?"
“… and a map that looks like it was drawn by a ten-year-old on meth."
“A writer needs four things to achieve greatness: desire, disappointment and the sea.” “That’s only three.” “You have to do disappointment twice."
“But only if you stop wiping your ass on my language."
“Having a baby?” She looked away. “It was like shitting a hen."
He assumed that enough polite post-orgasm conversation had passed, at least it would have in America; he wasn’t sure of the British exchange rate.
“… as if his face had been sculpted in separate pieces and then assembled on-site."

What I'm reading ...

I have started Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter - my next book club book. Here’s the blurb:

The story begins in 1962. Somewhere on a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and views an apparition: a beautiful woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an American starlet, he soon learns, and she is dying.
And the story begins again today, half a world away in Hollywood, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot searching for the woman he last saw at his hotel fifty years before.
Gloriously inventive, funny, tender and constantly surprising, Beautiful Ruins is a novel full of fabulous and yet very flawed people, all of them striving towards another sort of life, a future that is both delightful and yet, tantalizingly, seems just out of reach.

Levels of Life - by Julian Barnes

I was not quite sure what this book was about. It turns out that it is about ballooning, photography, love and grief. This sounds like an odd combination, but the author skilfully uses them to express some ideas in a novel way. Although he tells stories of ballooning and photography, he also uses that part of the book to set up metaphors for use later.
I was particularly impressed by the way he talks about thoughts and emotions that I have experienced, but was never able to express in words:

• The idea of a little voice murmuring “I’m free” after the death of a loved one.
• The fact that someone is dead may mean that they are not alive, but it doesn’t mean that they do not exist.

He also abhors the euphemism “pass” used instead of “die”.
All in all I found this to be a very enriching book, which might serve anyone who wants to understand about bereavement and grief. Somehow, it succeeds in this job without being grim or morbid. It is excellent writing, which came straight from the author’s heart.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Levels of Life by Julian Barnes. It was time for non-fiction, probably biography and this little book looks intriguing. Here's the blurb:

You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed…
In Levels of Life Julian Barnes gives us Nadar, the pioneer balloonist and aerial photographer; he gives us Colonel Fred Burnaby, reluctant adorer of the extravagant Sarah Bernhardt; then, finally, he gives us the story of his own grief, unflinchingly observed.
This is a book of intense honesty and insight; it is at once a celebration of love and a profound examination of sorrow.

To Kill A Mockingbird - by Lee Harper

I always have a slight reluctance when I start out reading a book which is regarded as a "classic". It commonly seems that such books are more to do me good than provide me with enjoyment. In this case, any reluctance was misplaced, as I thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover.  The story is really quite simple, but the details and nuances were very skilfully portrayed by telling the story from the perspective of a young girl. All the characters were very clearly drawn, which brought them alive for me. Add to that a clear ending to the story, and I was well pleased.

The only remaining question is: should I now read Go Set a Watchman?

What I'm reading ...

I have started To Kill A Mockingbird by Lee Harper. I realised, hearing all the discussion about the new book [“Go Set a Watchman”], that I had not read the classic original. So I decided to put that right. Here’s the blurb:

Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped in prejudice and hypocrisy.

Americanah - by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

An excellent, well-written book, IMHO. The story is quite simple - essentially about Ifemelu going from Nigeria to the US and then returning. As a result, one gains a lot of insight into life in Nigeria and about racism issues in the US. There is also coverage of similar topics resulting from Obinze spending time in the UK. Overall, i found the style of writing engaging, as there is a careful blend of facts, descriptions of places etc. and consideration of feelings. It was good to read something, written in excellent English, but with a “voice”, that is different from British and American authors [a similar pleasure can be found in the work of Indian authors]. I will certainly investigate the other work by this author.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I have been sitting on this book for a while - I think I first heard an abstract on the radio. I thought it would be nice to read something with a non-English “voice”. Here’s the blurb:

As teenagers in Lagos, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. Their Nigeria is under military dictatorship, and people are fleeing the country if they can. The self-assured Ifemelu departs for America. There she suffers defeats and triumphs, finds and loses relationships, all the while feeling the weight of something she never thought of back home: race. Obinze had hoped to join her, but post-9/11 America will not let him in, and he plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London.
Thirteen years later, Obinze is a wealthy man in a newly democratic Nigeria, while Ifemelu has achieved success as a blogger. But after so long apart and so many changes, will they find the courage to meet again, face to face?

How It All Began - by Penelope Lively

I am fascinated by the interconnections and complex interactions between people - 6 degrees of separation and all that. This book is primarily about just this subject and addresses it very well.

There are quite a few characters in the book - necessary for such a story - but not too many. And the author handled their presentation quite well - I felt that I had quite a clear picture of all of them. I even found some of the characters quite likeable [Charlotte, Rose, Marion], though not Jeremy, obviously. The story kept me turning the pages and I found it reasonably credible. The wrap-up at the end was slightly artificial, but the only alternative would be to leave matters hanging, which I would find frustrating.

I will certainly be interested in reading more of this author’s work.