Cariola's 2012 Books

Sir Walter Raleigh and his son, Watt, 1602 (artist unknown)

With 236 posts on the first 2012 thread, I thought it was time to start a new one. Here is the link to the first thread.

January
Death in Summer by William Trevor
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir
Girl Meets Boy: The Myth of Iphis by Ali Smith
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen

February
The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West
Richard III by William Shakespeare
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
The English American by Alison Larkin
Iago by David Snodin
The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana of Castile by Julia Fox

March
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Five Bells by Gail Jones
The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope
Bossypants by Tina Fey
A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute

April
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
The Solitary House by Lynn Shepherd
My Life in Pieces by Simon Callow
Macbeth by Willliam Shakespeare
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Last Man in Tower by Aravind Adiga

May
Macbeth: A Novel by A. J. Hartley and David Hewson
I, Iago by Nicole Galland
No Tomorrw by Vivany Denon
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Time After Time by Molly Keane

June
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville
Dancing with Mr. Darcy, edited by Sarah Waters
Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Effie: The Passionate Lives of Effie Gray, John Ruskin, and John Everett Millais by Suzanne Fagence Cooper
Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
The Queen's Vow by C. W. Gortner
Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding
Imagined Lives by Julian Barnes, Tracy Chevalier, et al

July
The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes
The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman
Seducers in Ecuador and The Heir by Vita Sackville-West
March by Geraldine Brooks
Good Evening, Mrs. Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes
The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey
The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

August
Last Year's Jesus by Ellen Slezak
Yes, Chef by Marcus Samuelsson
Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro
Venetia by Georgette Heyer
Wild Dogs by Helen Humphreys
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The Giant, O'Brien by Hilary Mantel

September
The Man of Property by John Galsworthy
Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare - reread
In Chancery by John Galsworthy
No Bed for Bacon by Caryl Brahams
NW by Zadie Smith
I Cannot Tell a Lie, Exactly by Mary Ladd Gavell
Richard III by William Shakespeare - reread
To Let by John Galsworthy
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare - reread

October
Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (reread)
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (reread)
Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie

November
The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
The White Monkey by John Galsworthy
Othello by William Shakespeare
The Edge of the Earth by Christina Schwarz
The Finishing School by Muriel Spark
A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks

December
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Why Can't I Change? How to Conquer Your Self-Destructive Patterns by Shirley Impellizzeri
The Secret Life of William Shakespeare by Jude Morgan
Learning to Talk by Hilary Mantel

grabbing a seat to follow along. And I want to see where Galsworthy goes.

Thre will be a slight Galsworthy break as I just got hold of Zadie Smith's NW, but I will be back to the next installment soon--probably in about a week.

Another great picture to start your new thread

I'm very interested to get your take on NW, as I plan to read it this month.

5> So far, I'm very impressed by it. I find Smith's work a bit mixed. Loved White Teeth, not so much her second novel, The Autograph Man. I confess that On Beauty is still on the shelf.

I haven't read Zadie Smith yet, and don't even own any of her books, but I'm starting to think I have to sooner rather than later.

7> Definitely start with White Teeth. At times it is hilarious, at other times rather sad, but Smith gives us a detailed inside view of multicultural Britain. She is going back to that theme in NW, but from a different perspective.

I find Smith's work a bit mixed. Loved White Teeth, not so much her second novel, The Autograph Man. I confess that On Beauty is still on the shelf.

Snap! Maybe we should encourage each other to read it soon...

>6 Cariola: I agree completely. White Teeth was superb, but I didn't like The Autograph Man, and I was lukewarm about On Beauty.

I didn't like On Beauty at all, and it turned me off from reading any more Zadie Smith. But your various comments above make me think I should try White Teeth.

I was lukewarm on White Teeth; I thought it was a bit forced at times, but still impressive for a first novel. Some of the essays in Changing My Mind were very, very good. I'm looking forward to reading what you think of NW. I heard an interview of Smith about the book and it sounds like it could be excellent.

NW goes back to her roots and is closer to White Teeth in that it deals with the multicultural, multiracial community. But it's a more serious, straightforward book, without the quirky dark humor. Very good so far.

I missed my stop on the bus reading White Teeth because I was so absorbed in it, a distinction awarded only to that book and to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Incidentally, the very good Channel 4 adaptation of White Teeth, broadcast in 2002, is finally available on DVD (it wasn't the last time I tried to recommend it to someone)!

Hmm...White Teeth has been sitting on my shelf for some time. Perhaps I should pull it down.

No Bed for Bacon by Caryl Brahms and S. J. Simon

No Bed for Bacon, written in 1941, is believed by some to be the inspiration for the film 'Shakespeare in Love,' but aside from the appearance of a young woman named Viola who disguises as a boy player and falls for Will Shakespeare and the continuing struggle of the company to survive, there's not a lot of similarity. Nevertheless, the novel is a lot of fun. The title character, Elizabeth's taciturn Attorney General, longs to be given a bed in which the queen has slept--apparently a great honor. (Brahms & Simon suggest that he was the model Malvolio.) In between, London is preparing for a celebration marking the sixth anniversary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Henslowe and Burbage are scheming to destroy one another's theatres, Sir Walter Raleigh is about to introduce the potato, and the Earl of Essex has big plans of his own. While Shakespeare strives to fulfill a commission to write a play for the celebration, what he is really absorbed with is a new play entitled 'Love's Labour's Wonne.'

It's all in good fun, and I did indeed get some laughs out of it, but I have to admit that, as a Shakespearean, I found myself gritting my teeth at some of the anachronisms. The story takes place in 1594, but Sir Philip Sidney, who appears in several scenes, was killed at Zutphen in 1586--two years before the Armada. The timing of Love's Labour's Lost is right on, but Twelfth Night wasn't written for another six or seven years. And Bacon was not appointed Attorney General until 1613--ten years after Elizabeth's death. I apologize if all that sounds rather pedantic. But as a teacher, what bothers me is not the anachronisms--this is, after all, fiction--but rather that so many readers, especially students, take historical fiction more as historical fact than fiction. But I guess I should take solace in the fact that few of them will be reading a book written in 1941!

Overall, a fun piece of fluff for those who love the Elizabethan period and who are able to separate fact from fiction.

Very entertaining review.

NW by Zadie Smith

Let me say first that I listened to the audio version of NW, and while it was masterfully read by Karen Bryson, it's the kind of book that probably is better read in print, due to the various stylistic devices that Smith employs. So I will definitely be reading it again.

Smith does an outstanding job of recreating the multicultural community of northwest London in all its grimness and glory. This is a district whose residents reflect African, Caribbean, Irish, Polish, Italian, Indian, Pakistani, Eastern European, you-name-it backgrounds, as well as a large number of mixed race and multi-ethnic persons. For most, life in NW has been hardscrabble, but two longtime friends, Leah and Keisha (who now calls herself Natalie), have somewhat broken out of the neighborhood. Leah, whose narrative opens the novel, has earned a degree in social work, and her decision has been to return to the neighborhood where she grew up. Long on empathy but perhaps a little short on common sense, Leah finds herself in the opening scene giving 30 pounds to Char, a former schoolmate and obvious junkie who knocks on her door with a story about her mother being taken to hospital. Leah's story reflects her confusion about who she is, where she belongs, what she wants out of life--and her marriage to Michel, a Jamaican immigrant. Natalie, on the other hand, has left the neighborhood and seems to have it all: a law degree, handsome husband, beautiful children, big house, trendy wardrobe. Yet she, too, finds that the ties to NW indeed do bind.

Although these two women are the heart of the novel, two young men, Nathan and Felix, also figure prominently and perhaps reflect the darker side of Leah's and Natalie's efforts to change themselves and the neighborhood. Nathan, once the bad boy every girl had a crush on, has gone over to the dark side, dealing drugs and pimping prostitutes. Felix, on the other hand, is cleaning up his act, due mainly to the love of a good woman that he hopes to marry. Their stories intersect with those of Leah and Natalie and with one another's in unexpected ways.

While there are moments of humor in NW, it is a more mature, more serious novel than Smith's first, White Teeth (which I also loved). Here, the consequences of the characters' choices are more severe, and the abiding influence of life in NW more bleakly inescapable. Overall, NW is a brilliant portrayal of life in London's struggling multicultural community. Smith has given us an original and compelling story. I'm happy to see her back on top of her game.

That sounds good. Thanks!

Great review of NW, Deborah; I'll probably read it next week, after glowing reviews by you and Bonnie this week.

Excellent review of NW, Deborah; it sounds interesting, and I haven't read any Zadie Smith yet.

Terrific review!

That's it, NW is officially on my wish list.

Despite the fact that I really didn't like On Beauty, I do feel I'm going to have to try Zadie Smith again sometime, and this sounds like a possibility.

I lived most of my life in SW London and so I would be interested to find out what life was like for folks in NW London. Excellent review

24> On Beauty is still sitting on my shelves somewhere, and I really didn't care for The Autograph Man. But I'm a fan of White Teeth, which is why I was drawn to NW, and it didn't disappoint.

I am now so excited to read NW - thanks for the fab review, Deborah!

I Cannot Tell a Lie, Exactly and Other Stories by Mary Ladd Gavell

If you prefer your short stories to be rip-roarin', sexed up, or fantastic, you probably won't appreciate this collection. Gavell's stories are, for the most part, gentle slice-of-life tales of ordinary people; many of them are set in and around the small Texas town where she lived until her death in 1967. I first discovered Gavell's short story "The Swing" (included here) a few years ago, when looking for themed stories for a course I was teaching, and I liked it so well that I sought out more of her work. While "The Swing" remains my favorite, I also enjoyed all of the stories in this collection. They are small stories: a girl gives a doll to someone less fortunate; a couple makes their son's George Washington costume; a farmer's wife dupes a city couple; a family gathers at an old woman's deathbed; a teacher regrets not having praised a child's beautiful handwriting; a woman comes to appreciate the daughter-in-law she initially rejected. There's an apt quote form the Chicago Sun-Times on the cover: "Everyone should have this book on their shelf . . . for the pleasure of reading a perfect story again and again." The Random House edition includes a fine introduction by Kaye Gibbons and a short essay by Gavell's son, remembering his mother.

Intrigued by your comments on Mary Ladd Gavell. She is so poorly known she doesn't have a wikipedia page. But google found me an excellent article about her from 2001 in the Austin Chronicle, here

29> Thanks for the link. Amazing that Wikipedia doesn't include her!

Amazing that Wikipedia doesn't include her!

Maybe not so amazing. I was going to mention that I listened to an interesting discussion on CBC radio about 6 mo ago about the lack of women writing for, and appearing in, Wikipedia. And then this came up on my FB feed:

http://jezebel.com/5945850/where-are-all-the-women-of-wikipedia?utm_campaign=soc...

Maybe it's because women are still somewhat less tech-oriented? Anyone can publish on Wikipedia, so I don't think there's an anti-female establishment in their administration; it probably reflects more on who chooses to make a page.

Although, in the ideal world we don't live in, one would like to think that men recognize accomplished women as much as women recognize accomplished men. OK, I know I'm dreaming!

Good dreams, though

When I heard the discussion on CBC, they said one of the problems is that someone would submit an article, and then it would get taken off because the people doing the checking hadn't heard of the person or didn't deem the person article-worthy. They were particularly talking about women in science, and how there were women who had made significant achievements, but some higher ranking male got credit for their discovery, and so there was little record. In trying to correct this by adding something to Wikipedia, they were come up against the "no one has heard of her" roadblock.

13% is criminal.

Sad to see that the attitude prevalent when Margaret Cavendish was invited to visit the Royal Academy of Science is alive and thriving. The scientists were more interested in ridiculing what she wore than in her comments or research (which, admittedly, was shaky). But I would have expected better in the literary department, where female writers have been in the process of active resurrection for alm ost 50 years now. And Gavell wrote in only the last century--and had a background as editor of a well-known psychiatric journal.

I've reread three books for the Shakespeare class that I'm teaching: Titus Andronicus, Richard III, and The Merchant of Venice.

To Let by John Galsworthy

In this third installment of The Forsyte Saga, the missteps of the older generation fall back upon the next. The greatest strength of the series is Galsworthy's masterful creation of Soames Forsyte, a man who, while clearly despicable, also manages to evoke the reader's sympathy. In the first two novels, Soames's first concern was always his reputation--doing what was "right" in the eyes of Victorian society and the law, and holding on to his property with tight fists. Only in a few private moments did we see that he was also a man tormented by deep feelings of passion and rejection.

Eighteen years later, in To Let, Soames has poured all the love he can muster into his only child, Fleur, born of a loveless marriage that was made strictly for the purpose of producing an heir. But his relatively happy life is severely disrupted by a chance encounter: while visiting a gallery, he and Fleur come across his first wife, Irene, her son, Jon, and Jon's half-sister, June. (Irene, after being divorced by Soames, had married his cousin, Jolyn; Jon is their only child, and June is Jolyn's daughter from a first marriage.) Attracted to the young man, Fleur drops her handkerchief to force an encounter in what is probably the most devastating handkerchief loss in literature since Othello. She is surprised when her father exchanges a few words with June but coldly moves them on. All she is told is that these are people from another branch of the Forsyte family and that there had been a rift years ago over "property"--which intrigues Fleur all the more. And so it goes . . .

A thoroughly enjoyable addition to the series; I'm looking forward to the next.

Enjoying following you through this series. This was a nice review.

Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie

Joseph Anton is Rushdie's memoir of the years he spent, mostly in hiding, under the Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa. The fatwa, which was announced on Valentine's Day, 1989, has never been officially revoked; in 1998, the Iranian government proclaimed that it would neither support nor hinder attempts to assassinate the author, but there is still a $3 million-plus bounty on his head. The title of the book is the name Rushdie assumed while in Scotland Yard's protection and is taken from two of his favorite writers: "Joseph" from Conrad and "Anton" from Chekhov. In a recent interview, Rushdie claimed that during this time he felt as if he was watching another person's life from a distance, a person separate from himself--hence the book is written in third person.

It's hard to imagine what life would be like if you were forced to move at a moment's notice--dozens of times. To live with a squad of armed policemen (one of whom accidentally blew a hole through a wall). To be unable to visit a dying parent, have dinner with friends, attend a memorial or an activity at your child's school, or, as a writer, give public readings of your work. Rushdie details all of this, as well as his efforts to live as normal a life as possible. For this, he credits a cadre of trusted friends, including Christopher Hitchens, Paul Auster, Bill Buford, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, and Bono, among others. Rushdie also engaged in a constant legal battle to get The Satanic Verses distributed worldwide in paperback format.

Of course, Rushdie's personal life suffered during this time. His greatest regret is the difficulty the fatwa caused for his son Zafar, who was 10 at the time it all began. Although divorced from his first wife, Clarissa Luard, the two remained friendly and strove to maintain as normal a relationship as possible for father and son. Marianne Wiggins, his second wife, to whom he was married when the fatwa was pronounced, does not come off so well; in fact, the American writer is depicted as a selfish, self-promoting wacko. Rushdie met his third wife, Elizabeth West, the mother of his second son, while under protection. Initially, West seems almost saint-like in her patience and devotion, but this image falls apart as the marriage falters due to her depression over not bearing more children and Rushdie's desire to move to the US, where he felt he could live a more open, normal life. Wife Number Four, model, would-be actress, and reality show host Padma Lakshmi,is referred to as "The Illusion," and Rushdie rather shamefacedly admits to falling into a fairly typical mid-life crisis (homely older man, beautiful younger woman), as well as pursuing a somewhat elusive American dream that she came to represent. Lakshmi, like Wiggins, comes off as self-absorbed and ambitious (when he attempts to visit her in LA after a new threat has been announced, she says she is going on a lingerie shoot), and Rushdie makes short shrift of her.

On the whole, Rushdie's memoir is insightful and engaging. If one thing is made clear, it is that he wouldn't have endured, had it not been for the love, help, and encouragement of his close friends, family, and associates. And it is this humanization of Salman Rushdie, more than his literary achievements or politicized position, that allows readers to relate to his plight.

Note: I listened to this book on audio. The reader, Sam Dastoor, was brilliant, with one caveat: his American accent, which never varied. Whether he was impersonating Bill Clinton, Kurt Vonnegut, George Stephanopoulos, or Susan Sontag, they all sounded like sarcastic cowboys.

4 out of 5 stars.

Rereads for courses that I am teaching:

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

And a new photos of Fergus, who is getting along well with the other cats so far. He fell asleep in Suki's bed, and instead of kicking him out, she just curled around him.



Twenty minutes later:



These are clickable photos if you want to see them larger.

Excellent review of Joseph Anton -- and you're the first reviewer!

I think there must be more than one LT page for the book. When I first posted it, the touchstone was to the German edition--so I suspect others have reviewed the book there.

Terrific review of Joseph Anton, and very interesting. I've read other comments on the book, presumably in CR, but your review is the only one posted. (I checked for combination, assuming Anton is spelled the same in German).

The Stranger's Child by Alan Hollinghurst.

It took me awhile to finish this novel, partly because life has gotten busy, but also because it just isn't the sort of book one rushes through. The prose is lush and needs to be appreciated. And there are little clues to the connections between characters in the four parts that take a bit of thinking to put together.

A family saga of sorts, The Stranger's Child is told in five parts, beginning with the 1913 summer visit of blossoming poet Cecil Valance to Two Acres, the family home of his schoolmate, George Sawle. Hollinghurst creates an atmosphere reminiscent of Atonement: the idle rich, the charming country home, the excessive passions of youth--and of course, the looming prospect of war. Sixteen-year old Daphne becomes enthralled with Cecil, and it appears that he, too, is attracted to her; but his real love is her brother.

By 1926, Cecil has died a war hero; like Rupert Brooke, he has become an even more celebrated poet posthumously. Daphne, we find, is unhappily married to his younger brother. She is mother to two children and has fallen for a younger artist, Revel Ralph. Corley Court, the celebrated family estate, is about to be put on the market when the Sawle's--mother, son, and daughter-in law, as well as "Mrs. Cow," Freda's German friend, come for a visit. At the same time, a biographer arrives to interview all who had known Cecil.

The story moves through three more eras: 1967, 1977, and 2008, and Daphne, her descendants, her brother George, and others from the earlier sections appear. New on the scene is Paul Bryant, a semi-educated bank teller with a fascination for Cecil Valance, who dreams of writing a new and more reliable biography.

While The Stranger's Child is indeed a family saga, it's also something of a mystery, as well as a meditation on memory and truth and a commentary on class, celebrity, love, and endurance. A little slow at times, the book was nonetheless an enjoyable read. I do have to agree with other LT readers who were disturbed not by the homosexuality in the novel but by the fact that one comes away thinking that, here, only gay couples truly know how to love; the heterosexual couples are all cruel, self-seeking and/or unfaithful in their relationships. The reverse stereotype is a bit hard to swallow and rather unrealistic.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

-------

Also just finished rereading Twelfth Night for my class.

Wonderful, thoughtful review. I think I'll read that one eventually.

The White Monkey by John Galsworthy

The White Monkey is the fourth novel in Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga. Soames is still with us, but he's getting on, and the story is moving more into the lives of Fleur and her husband, Michael Mont. Their marriage is threatened by a good friend's passion for Fleur, and Soames's financial stability is threatened by a bad decision made by the manager of the brokerage board upon which he sits. Galsworthy has brought in several lower class characters who are potentially more interesting than the extended Forsyte clan. Bickert, a clerk at Michael's publishing firm, is caught stealing books; he is selling them to provide for his young wife, Victorine, who is recovering from a serious bout of pneumonia. Their struggle to get by after his firing is more engaging than the Fleur's whining (although at several points I just wanted to whack Tony, who couldn't seem to get past his own pride to see how much his wife loved him). A second young clerk, Butterfield, is followed less closely; he is the one who broke to Soames evidence of the corruption of Mr. Elderson, the brokerage manager. Like Tony, he, too, is fired, but ironically, it's for his honesty.

While I enjoyed this novel, I don't find the younger set and their 'modern problems' to be as interesting as the old guard. Nevertheless, I will continue with the series.

Nice review of The White Monkey, Deborah.

Great to read your review of the second set of novels in the "The Forsyte Saga", as apparently there are no reviews for any of these volumes so far.

The Edge of the Earth by Christina Schwarz

I remembered liking Schwarz's Drowning Ruth when I read it years ago, so I was looking forward to The Edge of the Earth. Sadly, I was greatly disappointed. Perhaps it's that my reading tastes have changed . . . but I really don't think this is a very good book. The characters are stereotypes and the plot is predictable; the writing itself is rather pedestrian. I had to really push myself to plod through it, since I was writing a review for Book Browse.

The novel begins and ends in the present day. An elderly woman, who apparently lived in the now-famous St. Lucia lighthouse years ago, comes to visit with her grandson. As the tourists travel up the path, she prides herself on how much more she knows than their guide, and she launches into the central story. It's 1898, and young Trudy Swann travels with her new husband, Oskar, from Milwaukee to the California coast, where he has taken a job as assistant to the lighthouse keeper. Trudy is suitably naive and, of course, has a talent for science--particularly marine life identification and drawing--that no one has appreciated. As for Oskar, what is meant to be a rebellious nature comes off rather as petulant and spoiled. The family who lives at the lighthouse is, of course, made up of cranky oddballs, but, of course, their crankiness is only there to cover deep, dark family secrets--secrets that really aren't all that surprising. The Crawleys have a hoard of children who are a bit wild but sweet and eager to learn. But they know things that Trudy does not, and they have a collection of strange 'gifts' left to them by 'the mermaid.'

I won't go into this any further and spoil (if possible) the 'discoveries' for other readers. At this point, I became very irritated with the book--not just because what happens is so irritating (it is), but because it was so predictable and so obviously aimed at tugging at the reader's emotions and making a 'big statement'. (Can you feel the hammer?)

Another reviewer mentioned that those who enjoy Oprah selections would probably like this book. I'm not one to automatically pan anything Oprah recommends, as some do; in fact, I've enjoyed many of her selections, including Drowning Ruth. But The Edge of the Earth certainly wasn't worth the time it took me to plod through it.

One star- ouch! I like your review though!

I read So Long at the Fair by the same author and was also disappointed. It could have gone somewhere interesting, but it was shallowly written and the characters were solidly one dimensional. I have Drowning Ruth around here somewhere and am now curious to read it if you enjoyed it.

53> That description fits her new book exactly. I read Drowning Ruth at least 15 years ago . . . not sure how I'd respond to it today.

The Finishing School by Muriel Spark

The Finishing School, while not earth-shaking literature, was a good bit of fun: I laughed out loud at several points. A young couple, Nina and Rowland, with dubious finances run College Sunrise, a third-rate finishing school that moves to a new location every year. Rowland, who teaches creative writing, becomes obsessed with one of his young students, Chris Wiley, who is writing a novel based on the plot to kill Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots. The more he realizes how good Chris's novel is, the bigger Rowland's own writer's block becomes. While Spark relates other escapades involving other students and Rowland's wife, Nina, his relationship with Chris is this short novel's core.

So--certainly not a "Must Read," and it doesn't compare to Spark's best, but not a bad few hours of entertainment.

79. A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks

When I read "Geoffrey," the first of the five 'parts' of this 'novel,' I fully expected to be awed yet again by Sebastian Faulks. Sadly, this was not the case. I was awed by one part ("Geoffrey"), impressed by another ("Billy"), liked a third ("Jeanne") well enough, but two others ("Elena" and "Anya"), quite frankly, bored me to tears. Two great, one OK, two downright bad out of five--hence the two-and-a-half star rating.

"Geoffrey, 1938" is the story of a cricket-loving young man, somewhat of a loner, who falls into a position teaching French at a boys' school. As much out of boredom as a sense duty, he enlists soon after World War II begins. Faulks brilliantly describes the horrors of his war experience; the story haunted me for days. My only criticism would be that the book jacket implies that this is a love story. While there is a woman to whom Geoffrey is attracted who is the impetus of change in his life, this is no Birdsong.

In "Billy, 1859" an impoverished family is forced to send one of their sons to the work house, where he befriends two sisters. The story follows Billy's hardscrabble life for the next 20 years or so. It's a story that was fairly common at the time, a story of struggle, poverty, better times, more poverty, illness, and secrets. What makes it work is the narrative voice, which is straightforward and never self-pitying.

"Elena, 2029." Well, here's where things start to go terribly wrong. Elena is a tomboy with an extensive imagination, a passion for bike-racing, and a gift for science. Her parents worry about her odd habit of spending time in a treehouse hideaway and about the fact that she has no friends. So one day her father brings home Bruno, his newly-adopted son. At first, Elena hates him; then she loves him. He goes away. She becomes a brilliant scientist who helps design a machine that analyzes human emotions in the brain. (A lot of scientific gobbledygook here). I just never connected with either of these characters, and I got incredibly bored with the science stuff, which read like Faulks showing off his research.

In "Jeanne, 1822," we meet another impoverished person, an orphan who is taken into a wealthy household as a servant/nanny for nothing more than the cost of her bed and board. It's mostly another slice-of-life piece: Jeanne loves her charges, but Clémence becomes aloof as she ventures into society, and Marcel changes due to his war experiences.

"Anya, 1971." What can I say? I hated it. To me, it read like the author's middle-aged fantasy: commune-living hippie back-up band member/music producer Jack meets beautiful, mysterious (and, of course, extremely sexy and free-loving) folk rocker girl destined for stardom. Lots of drugs, sex, gin, and rock and roll, plus infidelity and burnout. These stereotypical characters struck me as insipid, self-centered, and foolish from the beginning, and I didn't care what happened to any of them. I felt like I was reading Faulks's indulgence in what he felt he missed out on in his now-fading youth. The inclusion of sappy lyrics that were supposed to be brilliant was equally irritating.

So . . . how are these five stories linked to make, as the title claims, "a novel"? The connections are pretty slim. Yes, each of these main characters makes choices that change their lives--but is that a theme? Isn't that what life (not to mention novels) is all about? A few references recur: Cheeseman, one of Geoffrey's students, returns as a lawyer in "Anya"; a lunatic asylum goes through various reincarnations; the artist Egon Schiele gets mentions in two stories. There simply aren't enough interconnections between the five parts to call it a novel.

Overall, a big disappointment, salvaged by the first two parts. I hope Faulks gets his game back for his next novel. I've read enough of his good ones that I'll give him another try.

Oh, that's disappointing. I'll still read it because it is, after all, Faulks, but I'll wait until I find a cheap copy and not worry about the wait.

Enjoyed your excellent review of A Possible Life I have several books by Sebastian Faulks on my bookshelves which I haven't read yet I will make sure I don't start with A Possible Life

Deborah, I just finished A Possible Life, and I completely agree with your ranking and assessment of it. The first two stories were marvelous, the third was horrible, the fourth was at best okay (although the ending of it was weird), and the last one was execrable and nauseating. Yep, 2.5 stars seems right.

59> I read a few professional reviews from the British papers yesterday. Helen Dunmore was lukewarm on the book. One actually thought that "Elena" and "Anya" were the best in the book. Most blathered on about "communal memory," although another agreed with me that there wasn't enough connection to consider this a novel.

Hmm, disappointing reviews of A Possible Life; I have been quite disappointed with the last few books by Faulks; I will probably still give this latest a try.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

The Forgotten Garden is a multi-generational mystery that takes place on two continents (three, if we count a brief sojourn in America) over more than 100 years, from Victoria's England to 21st century Australia. The mystery begins when Cassandra's grandmother and antique shop partner, Nell, passes away and leaves her the deed to a cottage in Cornwall. When and why had her grandmother gone to England. and why had she purchased a house there, only to return to Australia? The answer: to find out who she was. And now Cassandra embarks on the same journey.

Morton unpeels the layers of the story through alternating chapters set in alternating times that focus on Nell, Cassandra, young aristocrat Rose Mountrechet, and Eliza Makepeace, known as "The Authoress." It's an interesting structure, and Morton is a very competent writer. As a mystery (which I don't usually read), it kept me engaged, and although I figured out what was going on about halfway through, there were enough missing details to make it worth finishing the book.

Don't let my 3.5 rating deter you: I suspect that I would have rated this book much higher a decade ago, but my taste in books has changed considerably.

>62 Cariola: This reminds me that a friend lent this to me back in the summer and I missed putting it on my list. I am a complete sucker for any kind of hidden, forgotten, walled or otherwise mysterious garden and I loved her descriptions of this one. I read this in the shade in a heat wave and enjoyed it for all the reasons you mention along with the caveats.

The copy I read had a very different cover.

Why Can't I Change? How to Conquer Your Self-Destructive Patterns by Shirley Impellizzeri

This book provided a lot of insights, and yes, I did recognize myself in many of the author's examples. I'm less sure that the strategies for overcoming one's learned reactions are helpful; sixty-plus years of avoidance and shutting down emotions won't easily be overcome. Nonetheless, I would recommend this book to anyone struggling to understand why they have such difficulty forming healthy relationships.

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The Secret Life of William Shakespeare by Jude Morgan

As a Shakespearean by profession, I’ve read many works of fiction centered on the life of William Shakespeare. Most of them are pure drivel. Those by Robert Nye, in fact, so disgusted me that I trashed them rather than passing them on to some poor unsuspecting reader. But Jude Morgan is one of my favorite historical fiction writers, so I had high hopes for his latest book—and it did not disappoint. The title—which suggests something raunchy—is rather inappropriate; but I had experienced the same issue with the first Morgan book I read, Passion, which sounds more like something by Danielle Steele. Who would have guessed that it was a brilliant novel about the Romantic poets?

Instead of focusing solely on Will’s rise to fame, Morgan gives equal attention to his wife Anne. Too many authors take the easy way out, depicting the 26-year old pregnant Anne as the seducer of the much younger glover’s son (he was 18), who later turns into a wife so shrewish that her husband has few qualms about leaving her and his three children in Stratford while he pursues fame and fortune on the London stage. Or a greedy woman content with her husband’s long absences as long as he keeps sending home the gold coins. But Morgan takes a different path. He shows us the couple, each of whom is dissatisfied with life in the parental home, falling in love—and we believe it. And ironically, it is Anne’s love for Will that allows him to leave for London: he has told her that he will stay if she asks him to, but she realizes the strength of his desire for the stage and wants him to be happy. Either way, she will lose a part of him, but she believes it would be better to bear his absence and retain his love than to live day-to-day with his resentment and fading affection. But Will’s brief visits home are nearly as difficult as his long absences as Anne senses that he has become a changed man. At one point, she and the children move to London to live with Will, but almost as soon as they arrive, it becomes apparent that this was a mistake. The noise, the filth, the unhealthy air, the lack of friends, the ever-present violence, Will’s late nights, the company meetings in their house that keep the children awake—all this soon drives Anne and the children back to Stratford. On parting, their division becomes even stronger when Will says, “I have tried, Anne”—his tone clearly implying that she has not. Events follow that all but cement the differences between them, yet a small glimmer of what was ultimately remains.

Morgan’s depiction of Will’s life in London’s theatre world is low-key when compared to other novels, but he brilliantly characterizes Shakespeare’s cohorts: Burbage, Kempe, Tarleton, Kyd, Dekker, Nashe, Middleton, and most especially Marlowe and Jonson. It is the sly Marlowe who questions Will’s self knowledge (“So, who is Will? And what is he for?”) and provokes him to delve for the truth. And it is the stolid Jonson who encourages him to look beyond pleasing the masses to pursue a higher, everlasting truth in his work. But Will must find his own way, even if it leads to a divided self.

This is perhaps the best Shakespeare-based novel that I have read, and I highly recommend it to anyone curious to know more about the holes in his biography, especially his marriage to Anne Hathaway. Although the facts may be questionable, Morgan has done his research, and the emotional lives he portrays are as complex and recognizable as are our own.

Great review, Deb. Have you read Anthony Burgess's Nothing Like the Sun? -- what did you think of it?

I really enjoyed your excellent review of The secret Life of William Shakespeare, which will be a must read for me soon, along with the Antony Burgess book.

66> I read it many years ago, so I don't remember a lot about it, except that I preferred A Dead Man in Deptford (about Marlowe).

I actually thought Burgess's Marlowe book was better too -- more involved with the whole literary process. Though Nothing Like the Sun spurred me on to read Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece which I had somehow missed along the way.

If you're recommending The Secret Life of Shakespeare, I will read it. Great review.

70> Yes, I'm definitely recommending it! If you've been following my reviews, you know that it's a rare book that makes it to a 4.5 or 5 stars for me. If you haven't read anything else by Jude Morgan, his work is really wonderful. He is my favorite historical fiction writer, after Hilary Mantel. I particularly recommend Passion, the one about the Romantic poets; The King's Touch, which is mostly about the Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son; and Charlotte and Emily: A Novel of the Brontes (published in the UK as Taste of Sorrow).

Learning to Talk by Hilary Mantel

This short collection of five stories is, sad to say, somewhat lackluster. In fact, the best past of the book was the last section, a preview of Mantel's memoir, Giving Up the Ghost, which I look forward to reading in full. The stories all depict episodes in the lives of children growing up in dreary villages in the north of England in the 1950s. They struggle with class barriers defined by their vowels, names, broken families, and aspirations. Apparently, Mantel was following the mantra of creative writing instructors everywhere: write what you know. She's much better, I think, as a historical novelist. The stories do have their moments of originality and humor, but I found them fairly bleak for the most part.

I read Learning to Talk after reading Giving Up the Ghost, so I think the stories resonated more for me because I could see aspects of her own life in them. I do like many of her other novels as well as the historical ones, and am looking forward to reading Bring Up the Bodies when I'm on vacation at the end of the month -- I think I'll need concentrated reading time for it.