Reading etc.

At the start of October we had a reading from the book of the Prophet Habakkuk at mass. Haven’t heard of him? Me neither. I found this reading almost startlingly apposite for current times.

How long, Lord, am I to cry for help while you will not listen; to cry ‘Oppression!’ in your ear and you will not save. Why do you set injustice before me, why do you look on where there is tyranny? Outrage and violence, this is all I see, all is contention, and discord flourishes. Then the Lord answered and said, “Write the vision down, inscribe it on tablets to be easily read, since this vision is for its own time only: eager for its own fulfillment, it does not deceive; if it comes slowly, wait, for come it will, without fail. See how he flags, he whose soul is not at rights, but the upright man will live by his faithfulness.“

I suppose it shows there is nothing new under the sun. I thought it might be the source for what Charlie Brown says to Lucy but apparently that’s Isaiah.

Well, this is a bit gloomy, I fear, but this is what you get, if you post every day in November of all months. Hold tight for cheerier content next week (we all hope).

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

To say I was disappointed by this is an understatement. I read somewhere that romancetasy (mmm I know not anyone’s favourite portmanteau) books are the biggest sellers in publishing and that Sarah J Maas was the bestselling of the lot. I thought I’d give them a go. As you know, I am not opposed to a certain amount of fantasy writing with maps at the front of the book. This was just poor: the world building was dull and derivative; the heros and heroine (it’s a love triangle) annoying and the plot unimaginative. A page turner it was not. Michael pointed out to me that I had begun on book 2 of the series (who calls their series after the second book in the sequence, who?). I caught up. I realised belatedly that the author’s more famous series is called “A Court of Thorns and Roses”. I’m sorry but I can’t face going back and trying another; I’ve done my bit in the interests of science.

The Racket by Conor Niland

Great sports book by one of Ireland’s greatest modern tennis players. He wasn’t super successful by international standards and he has some, not very flattering, thoughts on the Irish set up. He mentions that his older sister was one of Ireland’s top tennis players. These paragraphs filled me with rage:

Gina remains Ireland’s greatest female tennis player in the modern era, winning more points for Ireland in the international Fed Cup (now the Billie Jean King Cup) than anybody else. She turned professional after finishing secondary school and quickly reached number 470 in the world. […]

In the qualifying tournament for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Gina and Siobhan Nicholson lost in the last round of the doubles competition, but a subsequent withdrawal handed them a place at the Games. The president of the Olympic Council of Ireland, Pat Hickey, refused to send them, saying the girls were not legitimate medal hopes and that Ireland would not be sending ‘tourists’.

No doubt the Slovenia team that got through instead couldn’t believe their luck. That Olympic year, Ireland sent forty-nine men and only nine women to Barcelona.

Is it any wonder that women’s sports in Ireland were in such an appalling state for many years. It says something about tennis too, I suppose.

This book also confirms my belief that every tennis prodigy has at least one crazy parent.

It won the William Hill sports book of the year award and very well deserved. Recommended. Unrelated – did you know that William Hill was a Black and Tan stationed in Cork and liked it so much that he regularly came back to Cork on holidays over the years. Honestly, not something I would have put money on if I were a betting man.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

A children’s book I was interested in reading. I thought it might be fun for an adult to read also but not really. Probably fun for an adult to read to a child.

Death Note Black Edition, Volumes 1 & 2 by Tsugumi Ohba

The twins like these Japanese manga comics so I thought I’d give them a try but ultimately I got too confused by reading the frames backwards. Not bad though, I have to say.

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud

The Notorious Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud

This is another series from the pen of the man who wrote the really excellent Lockwood and Co books for teenagers which I very much enjoyed. I enjoyed these too. I am eagerly awaiting the next installment which I have just ordered from the library. It’s about a pair of very different teenagers who pair up in a post-apocalyptic England. Recommended.

Rivals by Jilly Cooper

This was a book club read to tie in with the TV series about which there was so much fuss. Grand, I suppose. Flew through it but not really for me. I won’t be going back for more Rupert Campbell-Black.

I was reading it at a spot I sometimes go for my lunch and the young, enthusiastic English master’s student who seems to like to see me reading came up to see what I was reading. He was pretty disappointed. It compared unfavourably to “A Place of Greater Safety” an epic Hilary Mantel novel about the French Revolution (did not enjoy) which was what I had been reading last time I was in. Alas, another dream shattered.

A Very Private School by Charles Spencer

This got pretty good reviews and I was curious to read it. I am becoming increasingly convinced that for many, many people in the 70s (and before) schools were very institutionally unpleasant places. Worse, if you went to boarding school. This man had a miserable time at school and at home (his mother left the family home although he does seem to have been v fond of his father, if not his step-mother) despite being enormously rich and privileged (his sister was Princess Diana).

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman

Another Thursday Murder club book. What a lovely treat. Will I go and see the film when it comes out? Yes, I will, I definitely will.

Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 2): 1938-43 edited by Simon Heffer

I am tired of Chips. I have had enough. I lived with him for months. I filled my family in on his doings. I will not be attempting volume 3. During this phase my daughter (who, you will recall has a degree in English from Oxford) said to me “You talk more about books than anyone else I’ve ever met.” Then she added “But you seem to hate them.” There’s always a but.

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam

This is a clever idea well-executed but a bit chilly for my liking. Our narrator works for a philanthropist and increasingly thinks she is entitled to all the riches she sees around her.

The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden

This has been a huge success. It’s a love story/mystery story set just after World War II in the Netherlands. Written in English by a Dutch woman. It’s like Joseph Conrad; making me feel inadequate all over again. Isn’t it enough to write a great novel in your first language? I didn’t hate it at all but I certainly didn’t love it as much as everyone else. Not sure why; I guessed the mystery relatively early so that probably didn’t help.

Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson

Kate Atkinson does cosy crime. I loved this. By Kate Atkinson standards nothing bad happens (she tends to torture her characters a bit) although, obviously, there’s um, some violence. Truly recommended.

What does Jeremy think? by Suzanne Heywood

Oh so worthy book about Jeremy Heywood, British cabinet secretary who died young. It’s written by his wife whose own book about growing up on a boat I had found really interesting (not at all as idyllic as it sounds). Her husband was a very clever man and clearly very dedicated to his job but yet, I found it a strange book. So much of it was about logistics and politics with a small p (inter-civil service wrangling) rather than policy. For all Lord Heywood of Whitehall’s (great title) undeniable brilliance, I was interested to see that he was completely surprised by the problems Brexit threw up on the Irish border although the Irish government was, to be fair, shouting itself hoarse on this point. His wife’s book is probably more frank about the system than he might have been himself; I get the sense that he was more suave and more inclined to smooth over difficulties than she is. Although he was very involved in the writing he was also very sick at the time and probably not much up to doing more than dictating content. Interesting all round but definitely on the worthy side.

A Voyage around the Queen by Craig Brown

God this was enjoyable. I highly recommend. The author has placed the Queen at the centre of the book and described the experience of others around her. It is an entirely novel and wholly successful approach. Funny, page-turning and insightful.

One thing that struck me as I was reading. One of the Queen’s friends when she was a child was a Catholic who lived with, I think, her grandfather. Our author describes the grandfather as exceptionally religious because the family said the Rosary every night. This suggests that the author knows little of the standard religious practice of Catholics at the time. Even in the 70s although my own family did not say the Rosary every night, when I was packed off to my cousins, it was everyone in the house down on their knees at bedtime and a full five decades. One person leads and the others follow. I was occasionally called upon to lead and this was particularly daunting as I could never count the Hail Marys and I would be starting Hail Mary number 12 (only 10 in a decade as you may have guessed) and my Nana would tap me on the elbow to stop (I mean the whole thing was long enough without me adding in unnecessary Hail Marys).

There was a great chapter in the book about the Queen’s use of the words “how interesting” (I mean, they were all great chapters) and one of the items included in this chapter is a letter to the paper (maybe the Times) from one Enda Cullen of Armagh. Honestly, it was like coming across an old friend in an unusual context. He is a retired school principal from Armagh and I know this because he is an inveterate letter writer to the Irish Times. Small world and all that.

Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan

Claire Keegan is just a brilliant writer. Did I enjoy this collection of short stories? Not really. They are beautifully written but they are sad in a peculiarly old-fashioned Irish way which I did not love.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

This is quite the story and very much a roman-à-clef. The author describes her husband leaving her for another woman. All of the characters are very much identifiable and Margaret Jay is apparently still quite annoyed about it. While I did quite enjoy it, it’s a bit sad underneath it all and if I were to reread a Nora Ephron it wouldn’t be this one.

The Unexpected Joy of the Ordinary by Catherine Gray

Self-help is not for me. This was a Christmas present and so I read it but I cannot say I enjoyed it. Perhaps you would like it, if you like self-help?

The Proof of my Innocence by Jonathan Coe

There is a pun in the title and that is not at all the only good thing about this book. I love Jonathan Coe and have read most, if not all, of his books. There are some duds but I am happy to report that this is not one of them. It starts poorly but then really improves. I loved it. Jonathan Coe does cozy crime; also, are English literary authors now having a moment with cozy crime? If so I am, as the middle aged say, here for it. A good part of it is set in Cambridge which I know a bit and knowing the location adds to the fun for me.

Time of the Child by Niall Williams

This is Happiness by Niall Williams

Niall Williams was described in the papers as “the most famous Irish author you’ve never heard of”. Not one but both of my book clubs selected different Niall Williams books for us to read. I have to say that I hated both of them. They’re set in Clare in the 1950s and I found them Oirish and sentimental. That said one of my book clubs loved, loved, loved “This is Happiness”. I hated it and literally every other person in the room adored it. In fact two of them had bought several copies to give as presents (bleurgh). I have never had this before in all my years with this book club where one person hated the book and everyone else didn’t just like it but loved it. My book club is with the majority as these books are hugely popular and one of Mr. Williams’s books was long-listed for the Booker. You’ll just have to read them yourself and see what you think. Or you could go to the film of one of his books which is currently showing. There’s a hilarious review of the film by Donald Clarke in today’s Irish Times and it sums up my feelings on the books beautifully. He is generous to say that “Williams’s novel has a huge following and, in print, I don’t doubt the messages stand out uncompromised.” I mean, that definitely wouldn’t be my view. It sounds like the film is entirely true to his novelistic style and I can’t understand why I am weirdly keen to see it.

James by Percival Everett

This was brilliant; a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the slave Jim’s perspective. It sounds a bit worthy but it’s clever and funny and sad. I would really recommend.

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

On the strength of reading James, I thought I would reread Huckleberry Finn. I had read it as a child and found it so hard that in my head I thought it was really a book for adults; it is not a book for adults. I found it pretty shocking though. It brought home to me what it was like to be a slave in the American South like nothing else I’ve read. It was the careless everyday cruelty that did for me. Surprisingly hard going.

Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing

A series of essays mostly about contemporary art by a woman who looks at the world in a peculiar way. Really interesting but I’m still not sold on contemporary/modern/post-modern art.

We were Young by Niamh Campbell

This is a book set in the contemporary, arty, bohemian Dublin scene. I recognised almost all the locations and several of the arts events it features. The protagonist is a handsome, unlikable photography lecturer. Not a whole lot happens. I did not love it; I thought it was overwritten. However, as a friend of mine said, “If you like adjectives, this is the book for you.”

The Episode by Mary Ann Kenny

This was an interesting book and, notwithstanding the subject matter, very readable. It is written by a woman – about my own age – who had what we used to call a nervous breakdown after the sudden death of her husband. She is really writing the book to criticise the mental health services and she is still very angry about how she was treated in 2015. Certainly the book does make things seem grim but I couldn’t help thinking as I read through it that the system basically worked for her, though that would not be her view. Well worth a read.

Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863-1941): Artist, Social Campaigner and City Councillor by Margarita Cappock

What an odd woman Ms. Harrison was but her heart was in the right place and she was a wonderful painter. I got this out of the library for the pictures really.

Not the End of the World: How we can be the first generation to build a sustainable planet by Hannah Ritchie

Quite worthy but heartening. Lots of information about how we can turn the tide on climate change and how much we have achieved already although, certainly, there is still much to do. If you are feeling gloomy on the climate change front – and given this summer’s weather, it’s hard not to – this will cheer you up.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

This is a short book about astronauts in orbit and it took me forever to read. Very beautifully written and so on but tedious to me. It won the Booker Prize, often a red flag for me. I went to a talk by Paul Murray and he said that he loved to write and sometimes with books, authors find the writing very hard and each word is wrung from them. He said that there was a recent very successful short novel where he thought that this was the case; he didn’t mention the novel but I would bet my bottom dollar that it was this one.

Quickly while they still have horses by Jan Carson

A book of short stories by this brilliant author from Northern Ireland. I loved every one of these even though they contain magical realism which I previously thought I loathed. She has a new book out soon. Rejoice.

The Other Day by Dorothy Whipple

I found this description by the author of her middle-class, happy childhood in the 1890s and early 1900s delightful in every way. Even though it is a long time ago it is so recognisable; the triumphs and disasters of childhood are beautifully evoked. A lovely, lovely read.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I saw an enthusiastic review of this somewhere and thought I would give it a go. It is romantic fiction though, plot twist, the hero is quadriplegic. The writing is grand and I did enjoy reading it but, it was somehow unrewarding, I don’t know that I would try another.

Space on my Hands by Frederic Brown

This was from the box of 50s and 60s science fiction novels that my mother had in the attic when I was growing up. I don’t know why the box was in the attic, possibly a fatal lack of shelf space downstairs. I read them all many times and somehow, I don’t know how – perhaps one of the children brought it up from Cork – this book of short stories ended up in my house and we found it in the great shelf reorganisation. I thought I’d give it a read for old time’s sake. It’s not too bad. It does suffer from the great flaw which puts Mr. Waffle off sci-fi; all plot and no character development. But I enjoy plot. It is, of course, very much of its time. I was amazed to see that it is still in print (first published 1951). Not the worst, if sci-fi is your thing.

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

This got exceptionally good reviews and I was curious to read it. As part of the great shelf reorganisation, we got rid of the Princess’s old bookshelves and replaced them with the better ones from downstairs. In the course of this I found a proof copy of this very book on her shelves. On the one hand, I was glad as I had wanted to read it, on the other hand I was bitter, how come no one ever gives me a proof copy? We move on.

This is a work set in the ancient Greek city of Syracuse (in Sicily). The Syracusans have defeated the Athenians and the remnants of the Athenian army are starving to death in a quarry outside Syracuse. All this is apparently historically accurate. Two friends decide to put on a play with the Athenians. One of them is a big, big Euripides fan. The narrator – one of the two friends – is given a strong Dublin accent and I read an interview with the author where he explains that Syracuse to Athens is like Dublin to London. Anyway, it’s clever and very well done. An Irish legendary figure appears as a deus ex machina. I’m sure there are lots of other clever things I didn’t get as my knowledge of Euripides is limited (that is generous). Overall, a bit hard going in parts but interesting and the author can write. If you’re into the ancient Greeks, I think you would love it.