Explorers of the new century – post I

Compared to something like the exhaustive and historical study that I once waded through by Roland Huntford that charted the story of Scott and Amundsen comparing their different approaches to finding the South Pole this book is much more consumable and done with a great deal more humour.

But the issues are the same with Britain with its mission headed by a public figure, the celebrated explorer Johns, in a race with what you assume is the Norwegian team staffed with professionals that are ahead because they landed first.

Put the idea of the pole to one side and this is a study of characters under strain. The British and the Norwegians have their class systems going with stars and tent sleeping systems making sure people know exactly where they are.

But there are also moments of black humour as they both make mistakes and hit the river at roughly the same time causing excitement and errors. The race is finely poised but the real question is whether or not they will kill each other before they get there.

More tomorrow…

Legend of a Suicide – post II

Relating the story would spoil the enjoyment of the book for those that had not been lucky enough to read it.

What you can safely say is that Vann sets out to make sure you think about the consequences of suicide for those that are left behind. Particularly those that simply cannot understand what led someone to take that decision.

What unravels is perhaps not just the selfishness, the constant desperation to fulfil personal needs in the search for an elusive happiness but also a complete lack of empathy and understanding with those around the individual.

Those left look for reasons, trigger points that set off the slide towards the end and could torture themselves doing it because trying to de-pick the brain of someone that is not thinking rationally.

A review will follow soon…

bookmark of the week

Warrenville public library is always a good source of bookmarks and this is one that I have had knocking around for a while. Aimed at those younger readers that need reminding what it is all about it encouraged them to get fired up about reading and get into what is a wonderfully rewarding activity.

Legend of a Suicide – post I

This book comes with a fair weight of expectation. Most of the bloggers I follow that have read it have raved about it and the folks at the publishers have been gushing ever since they opened the box and first laid eyes on the cover art.

So you start with not quite an open mind but one prepared to be wowed and Vann doesn’t disappoint. I have seen some people describe it almost as a collection of short stories and it has that feel it also has a memoir type mood as the author goes back relatively briefly over the life of the father before the moment when he decides to opt for suicide.

The consequences for those he leaves behind in terms of the first wife are covered in detail and some backwards storyline also brings things relatively up to date with the second failed marriage. So you have read the first couple of chapters and learnt that a restless dentist in Alaska ended up going through a couple of marriages, ran from the tax man and loved hunting and fishing before deciding to end his life on a boat out at sea with just his brother for company.

Suicide is such a difficult subject and quite where the story will go next is perhaps the moment when Vann changes direction. You could have expected a delve into a sob story of how the son went looking for a father relationship to try and put some concrete into what are misty memories. But Vann sets up a fictional story of the same father and son being alone in the wilderness in the wilds of Alaska.

In those conditions there is nowhere to hide yet the father continues to wrap himself in his own problems and doesn’t seem to notice the needs or suffering of the son. They say that suicide is selfish and certainly in this section of the book the father is selfish to the extent that you are rooting for the son Roy and wishing he could escape the one on one time with his suicidal father.

More Monday…

Lost Hearts and Other Chilling Tales

The other chiller that finished the week was this collection of stories by M R James. In their own way each are different although they share a tone of voice, a storyteller at the hearth, and are all equally memorable.

Old documents found by the narrator and accounts of strange events picked up in conversation are used to unfold stories that while perhaps in their time were more terrifying still have the power to disturb.

The idea of whistling for the wind and then almost being killed by a figure made up of supernatural energy and clothing goes into your mind along with the perfectly described activities at 1am each night in the haunted dolls house.

Perhaps it is the idea that most of those involved in the stories are creators of their own doom by deliberately setting out to court danger by provoking the magic and legends of the past is the one over arching theme. The traveller to Sweden is warned not to hang around the tomb of the old Count Magnus but can’t resist even if it means terror.

Having now discovered James he is set to become part of the fabric of autumn for this reader as his stories both enthral and provoke thought making their life far longer than the time it takes to read the printed letters off the page.

A review will follow soon…

We Have Always Lived in the Castle – post II

Greed as it usually does smashes the world of the Blackwood sisters as their cousin Charles comes to try and rob them blind and steal as much as he can to restore his own fortunes. Of course he hides that ambition but the reader can clearly see that the naive girls are sitting ducks for their ruthless relative.

Without wanting to give away the ending the point that this book makes very well is that fear is often in the mind of those imagining the crimes and the horror. Collective fear is the danger here not poison most of the time. In some ways it reminds you of To Kill a Mockingbird the way the children demonise what they don’t understand. Here it is an entire village bar a couple of people.

There is also a complex relationship between the sisters that Jackson manages to convey in very few pages. Constance is perhaps the last real Blackwood victim here as she is taken to the moon by her dreamy sister and kept there.

The crowd scenes when it borders on developing into a lynch mob leave you in no doubt that ignorance and anger can be chilling when left in the wrong hands.

A review will follow soon…

We Have Always Lived in the Castle – post I

The Times recently had a week when it gave away a series of ‘chillers’ clearly designed to appeal to readers looking for something a little bit spooky as the darkness draws in. Among the books there are a couple that are going to be read this week.

The first is We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Things start with a creepy girl wandering through a village where she and her family are clearly feared and as a result are taunted. Through the explanations and experiences of Mary Blackwood it is possible to draw out the family history of the Blackwoods and their once proud position in the neighbourhood.

When you do find out why the family is so feared, through the case of a mass poisoning, and the remaining members Mary and her sister Constance and their Uncle Julian live a very isolated existence in their grand old home.

Although acquitted of the crime of killing her family Constance is unable to leave her home through fear of the unknown and Julian has dedicated his last few years to writing and documenting the events in minute detail on the last day of the family. There detachment and isolation from the world is so complete that apart from the occasional interruption you assume they could stay in that state for a long period.

More tomorrow….

Wolf Hall – post VIII

The book enters its final phase with Cromwell trying to reason with the unreasonable and some of the last big figures of that part of Henry’s reign biting the dust after feeling the hangman’s noose.

The way that mantel has weaved the politics of the period providing a gentle history lesson as well as being able to describe the Tudor world of London and beyond is masterly. That as well as the strength of the story comes through as the lasting memory of a book that perhaps is slightly too long but is rarely a chore to read.

A review will follow soon…

Wolf Hall – post VII

Cromwell makes himself invaluable to King Henry by making it possible for him to dump Katherine and make Anne his Queen but as a result the schism with Rome intensifies.

On the one side are those keen to shake off the shackles of the Pope and on the other those loyal to the ideas emanating from Rome and backed by the Emperor. Cromwell manages to identify his enemies wisely and divides and faces them using the law to highlight even further those who would not swear allegiance to the King.

On a personal note he seems to be facing loneliness as his children marry and depart and the damp and the rain that seems to hug the Thames starts to depress the tireless lawyer and fighter.

More tomorrow…

A day to remember