What Are We Reading? 16 Nov 2020

[Justine]

Winter is closing in, at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, but Ersatz TL&S appears to be moving forward, with an increased number of posts and reviews, and one or two old friends who’ve managed to find their way to our door.

We’ve learned how easy it is for suggestions to get buried among the diverse conversations, so I’ll repeat one that I’ve found especially helpful. When we review or refer for the first time to a book, we can connect it to a link that will take readers to more information. At the top right of the comment box are the words ‘add book/author’. Click on this, and it should take us to our book, or to a list which includes it. Next to the correct entry, click on ‘Add’, and the linked title will appear in the comment box. Give it a try!

Another useful strategy is to edit, or even delete and replace, the often confusing italicized text that appears at the start of comments when we have clicked on ‘reply’. We can in this way zero in on the specific point to which we are replying.

To italicize, type i between < and > (leaving no spaces) before the word or phrase you want to put into italics, then /i between < and > afterwards. To put something into bold, type b and /b instead of i and /i. And to block-quote, type blockquote and /blockquote between the < > brackets.

So now for the books! I’ll start with that ever-popular genre, the crime novel. scarletnoir is ‘pleased to be able to start my reviews on Ersatz TLS with a positive’:

Henning Mankell’s After the Fire is an excellent and well-written story, which follows on from Italian Shoes – which I also liked very much …

He continues with some thoughtful speculation:

On finishing the book, I did wonder to what extent Mankell had weaved autobiographical strands into the story… his afterword is dated March 2015, and he died in October of that year. Did he know death would come so soon? He must have been aware that his life would end sometime - cancer sufferers inevitably are not permitted to ‘forget’ the end-point, unlike younger or healthier individuals. He was married four times, and had one child with four different women (not sure if they are the same four!) - so it looks as if his behaviour towards women was - ahem - less than admirable. Was one strand of this book a sort of ‘confession’, and an apology to women he mistreated? Or did all his relationships end amicably and by mutual consent? I have no idea - but there is a character in the book who attempts to track down everyone he has offended or mistreated during his life, in order to apologise before it is too late [...] I don’t suppose we’ll ever know…

giveusaclue has read The Bookseller's Tale, a medieval crime story by Ann Swinfen:

The book gives lovely descriptions of medieval Oxford, from the navigation around the town and surrounding countryside to the way of life after the devastating plague a few years previously which had robbed the bookseller of his wife. For anyone interested in "history mysteries" I can thoroughly recommend this book.

Black Rain Falling, by Jacob Ross, has its own distinctive setting. Pete reports:

He’s a great writer, which makes up for some daft plotting. Our hero, Digger, has been recruited into the CID of a fictional Caribbean island, which is probably Grenada, by a maverick old cop, who gives criminals with a bit of gumption a choice of jail or joining his unit. Ross writes in a patois that sings off the page, and is very good on wealth, privilege, colonialism, corruption, tradition and all that whatnot. Mostly though, he’s good at telling a cracking story, with engaging if unlikely characters.

In a different category altogether we have the Harlem Renaissance novel Cane, reviewed by Alwynne:

Jean Toomer's landmark 1920s novel's experimental and episodic, sometimes difficult to follow, at times it seems Toomer's more interested in evoking an emotional or aesthetic response or in creating a series of impressions for readers to contemplate than he is in telling any kind of conventional story. […]

Toomer didn't see himself as a 'black' writer, at times he actively resisted it. He was biracial, clearly deeply conflicted about his identity and his literary allegiances, often more explicitly interested in modernism than in exploring America's deep racial rifts and prejudices. Yet Cane with its play on genre boundaries and its fascinating mix of prose and poetic styles, is also a powerful representation of the trauma of living as a black person in a racist America. […]

[And finally:] This isn't a book I can say I liked or even always admired - the portrayal of women here is particularly problematic - yet I was often gripped by this book and at its best it's a haunting, incredibly powerful, impressive depiction of the experiences of black Americans living in a particularly turbulent time and place.

Anna Kavan’s A Scarcity of Love, whose theme is ‘the damage done when love is in short supply’, proved another work difficult to summarize or judge easily. As Machenbach writes:

It's actually so cool and surgical and odd (she never names places so that everything takes place in an almost mythical or universal no-place, or in an institution) that it kinda avoids bleakness, or at least that bleakness that comes with readerly identification. But it's very difficult to read in the sense that emotional cruelty and coldness are analysed with almost unbearable attention and precision. Even moments of joy are shown tumbling, by an almost inevitable internal logic, into their opposite. It's undeniably brilliant, but also really hard to explain why.

For nonfiction, there’s.Elgar, Vicat Cole And The Ghosts Of Brinkwells. Julian reviews here the joint work of Carol Fitzgerald and Brian W. Harvey.

This is a lovingly worked account of the three way relationship between a house and its two distinguished tenants. The artist Rex Vicat Cole rented the isolated cottage of Brinkwells in West Sussex from 1905 onwards. A painter who remained on the fringes of the art world and pursued an intensely personal vision, Vicat Cole sublet Brinkwells to the composer Edward Elgar at an interesting point in his compositional career. The last years of the Great War saw the ageing composer seeking the peace of the West Sussex countryside to reawaken his fading creative faculties. At Brinkwells the closeness and separation of the natural world encouraged a late flowering of works with an otherworldly character. This mysticism is uncannily related to a similar temperament in Vicat Cole and thus a web of connections is established that provides the foundation of Fitzgerald and Harvey's generously illustrated and elegantly structured volume. This poetic tribute by the joint authors is not thankfully too misty eyed or impressionistic for it is grounded in a realistic appreciation of the cottage and its surrounding countryside.

Finally, to cheer us all up, Magrat offers us The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim:

Published in 1909, this is probably one of the funniest books I have ever read. The narrator is Baron Otto von Ottringel, a Prussian nobleman and army officer, and a most extraordinary character he is; conceited, parsimonious, lazy, greedy, misogynistic, snobbish and, worst of all, completely without insight into his effect on other people who he unhesitatingly blames for anything that goes wrong.

The Baron has been inveigled into joining in a group caravanning holiday in England (picturesque Kent and Sussex to be precise), so much cheaper than going to Italy or Switzerland. The reason for the holiday is his 25th wedding anniversary. He has actually been married to his much younger second wife Edelgard for four years, marrying her a year after the death of his first wife of 20 years. But he has been married for a total of 25 years and does not see why he should miss out on the customary silver gifts from his friends and relations, possibly even his servants. [However,] there are also threads of feminism giving The Caravaners more depth than a merely comic novel.

And now I call out to all of you, the multitude: please post reviews or notices of books you are reading or have read – fiction or nonfiction, popular or ‘niche’, prose, poetry or drama – whether you want to recommend something, warn us against it, or simply have something you want to say about it, we want to know what you think. If possible, copy and paste here reviews you have posted in the general forum so that they are best available to members of this group. All are welcome!

[Magrat]

A Cat's Tale: A Journey Through Feline History

Looks like my latest purchase - which originally came to my attention on LitHub - is definitely one for Lisa to have a look at. I mean, a book written by a cat, and the illustrations are delightful!

[Gpfr]

A Small Place in Italy by Eric Newby.
Eric Newby was a prisoner of war in Italy and, like many other prisoners, escaped when the armistice with Italy was signed. He hid out in the Apennines, where one of the people who helped him was his future wife Wanda. He describes this period in Love and War in the Apennines.
He was recaptured and sent to Germany:

While I was a prisoner in Germany I thought constantly of a day when the two of us might be able to return to the mountains and buy a house of the sort I had been hidden in... while I was on the run.

In 1967, they were finally able to do this and A Small Place in Italy is a charming and amusing account of their experiences.

Thanks to giveusaclue for the recommendation of The Bookseller's Tale which I'm now reading and enjoying.
And many thanks to Justine for the weekly round-up!

[AB76]

Flooded water meadows in Surrey, first time in November, which is normally wet and windy down here, a walk with a neighbour aborted at 230pm yesterday....

Still finding goodreads an acquired taste, i loathe the business of the site but admire the work done by the mods here to re-create TLS over the last month or so

So i am reading:

WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT (Beckett)
Superb and well paced account of the 1970s, i'm still in the early 70s and the era of Heath. Its refreshing to read something which isnt Sandbrook (and his daily mail views) about the past, this is certainly "popular" history but with a rigour and an attention to detail. Politically its broadly left leaning, which isnt heavy or too laboured

A WORLD GONE MAD (Lindgren)
More non-fiction, the war time diaries of swedish writer Astrid Lindgren. Most fascinating is the work she did at the swedish post office, intercepting sensitive mail, some of the important diplomatic stuff is included in her diaries, Lindgren had some real access to what was occuring in Finland and Norway

THE TUNNEL (AB Yeshsohua)
Israel's greatest living writer, now 84, deals with the palestine-israeli issues in his latest novel, a tender and well paced study on dementia, statelessness and the Negev

Some i will bother with all the italics, bold caps and other stuff that was easy with the guardian TLS....check my profile if you want book covers and stuff..

[Paul]

I've been reading slowly these days. Mostly because my normal reading time is otherwise occupied these days, discussing at great depth farts and colic with a 2 month old who is very chatty.
But the book I'm reading right now I am just consuming, reading in the odd times, while rocking the bassinet, while preparing lunch, while enjoying the only me-time that currently exists (in the bathroom with the door locked). It's fantastic, as brilliant as anticipated:
Hallie Rubenhold's The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack The Ripper

[Paul]

I've also discovered the joy of getting to know young researchers, all with their polished, very nearly posh accents (Italians have one of the most difficult to hide/lose accents when speaking in English), all returned home from their PhDs at King's College or The Sanger Institute or Oxtailbridge and complementing them on their wonderful Scottish brogue. God, it makes up for all of those rat bastards over the years with their critique of New York tinged Italian

[[deleted user]]

AB76 wrote: "So I am reading ... When The Lights Went Out - Beckett
A few years ago I started a project to read up on postwar British history. So far I've readAusterity Britain, 1945-51 by David Kynaston and When the Lights Went Out: Britain in the Seventies by Andy Beckett. Next on my list is Kynaston's Family Britain, 1951-1957
I loved them all - Beckett's style is so different obviously but Kynaston has a huge range of sources. I didn't enjoy the bits about the economy, which take up chunks of Kynaston, but found the social and political stuff fascinating.
Rereading Beckett this summer I found a number of things about Europe at the time which could have been written today! I've lent my copy out so can't quote unfortunately.

[Justine]

Machenbach wrote: "Now reading Avigdor Hameiri's Voyage Into Savage Europe: A Declining Civilization."

Son, if you don't stop reading all these fluffy fun-filled works, you'll be in danger of losing your masochist-puritan cred.

[Hushpuppy]

Justine wrote: "Son, if you don't stop reading all these fluffy fun-filled works, you'll be in danger of losing your masochist-puritan cred."

😂 Don't change inter (and wonderful recap!).

[AB76]

Pomfretian wrote: "AB76 wrote: "So I am reading ... When The Lights Went Out - Beckett
A few years ago I started a project to read up on postwar British history. So far I've read[book:Austerity Britain, 1945-51|8404..."

yes, the EEC entry stuff in Beckett is eerily familiar to todays issues, i almost conclude that Heath entering the EEC was as radical as the UK voting to leave. (btw i'm a remainer)

[Hushpuppy]

Alwynne wrote: "Gladavor – love Barbara, Gottingen’s one of my favourite songs. An old friend’s mother’s French and was often listening to Barbara when I went round to their house after school."

Ah! That's one I've put on a short list for booklooker (the two versions of it in fact, the French and the German ones). I've discovered her as a teen via the (older) instructors and regulars of my sailing club and never looked back. Such a poignant life too.

Sadly in France her most famous song is probably amongst the ones I like the least (L'aigle noir). My favourite is Pierre (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G45TX...). The warm, quiet contentment of being in love with somebody you know is coming home to you.

Il pleut
Il pleut
Sur les jardins alanguis
Sur les roses de la nuit
Il pleut des larmes de pluie
Il pleut
Et j'entends le clapotis
Du bassin qui se remplit
Oh mon Dieu, que c'est joli
La pluie

Quand Pierre rentrera
Il faut que je lui dise
Que le toit de la remise
A fui
Il faut qu'il rentre du bois
Car il commence à faire froid
Ici

Oh, Pierre
Mon Pierre

Sur la campagne endormie
Le silence et puis un cri
Ce n'est rien, un oiseau de nuit
Qui fuit
Que c'est beau cette pénombre
Le ciel, le feu et l'ombre
Qui se glisse jusqu'à moi
Sans bruit

Une odeur de foin coupé
Monte de la terre mouillée
Une auto descend l'allée
C'est lui

Oh, Pierre
Pierre

And that gorgeous jazz slant to it... sigh. (Clarinet? I always thought it was a saxophone, but this article tells me probably not: http://jazz.blogs.liberation.fr/2017/...)

(Edit) PS: Thanks Tam and CCC for your good wishes.

[AB76]

Machenbach wrote: "Justine wrote: "please post reviews or notices of books you are reading or have read "
Thanks Justine. I'm wading through Ernst Bloch's [book:Atheism in Christianity: The Religion of the Exodus and..."

Yes i loved Rebreanu's novel Mach, shame you didnt so much...

[CCCubbon]

Paul wrote ‘
I've been reading slowly these days. Mostly because my normal reading time is otherwise occupied these days, discussing at great depth farts and colic with a 2 month old who is very chatty.
I thought of you just now while reading Nightblind by Jonasson for it mentions that in Iceland each parent is entitled to four months maternity/paternity leave plus two months each shared, one parent being able to use the whole four months if liked. From January 2021 this goes up to five months each plus the two months.
The fertility rate in Iceland is similar to that in the US and the UK at around 1,7 which is greater than that of Italy at 1.3. A fertility rate (births per woman) of 2.1 is said to be necessary to prevent population decline in the long term and I guess the Icelandic authorities are being encouraging.

It’s such a lovely time with a new baby despite the sleepless nights, the whole wonder of watching them grow, how I envy you. My eldest great granddaughter is sixteen next month, my I feel old.

[Tom]

Hey guys. I have been struggling to interact with this in the same way as TLS. I appreciate all the effort that has been put in and I will take part when I can manage it.

Anyway, I have read a couple of brilliant books this week that I thought I would share.

The Cold Millions by Jess Walter was one - available in the US but not here until February (I had an advance copy). My full review is on my page but safe to say loads of you here would love it - it's a brilliant mash-up of western, political satire, crime, adventure and romance. It put me in mind of Annie Proulx, Steinbeck and Patrick Dewitt.

Also Grimoire by Robin Robertson, a collection of poems that reads as grotesque Scottish folk tales. They are very grim and creepy and contain some simply stunning imagery.

[Lljones]

Tom wrote: "Anyway, I have read a couple of brilliant books this week that I thought I would share...."

Hey Tom, thanks for the heads-up re The Cold Millions. I've been a fan of Jess Walter since Beautiful Ruins. Onto the TBR the new one goes! (Agree with the comparison to deWitt. Walter also reminds me of Jennifer Egan (a bit).

[AB76]

Machenbach wrote: "AB76 wrote: "Yes i loved Rebreanu's novel Mach, shame you didnt so much..."
I'm a bit impatient with my reading at the moment so it's possible that I would have liked it more at another time. The f..."

i think the mood we are in or the time we allocate to a book can influence things too. Also expectations, when you have a golden goose of a book lined up and it rather dissapoints, that can be a foul feeling

[AB76]

In Hazard

[AB76]

Machenbach wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "Machenbach Thanks for the recommendation, also Pater, have heard of his novel but never read it. I was really fascinated by so many aspects of The Hill of Dreams. Ma..."

I have always been impressed with Machen, he seemed to spring from a blind spot of mine when i first discovered him about a decade ago but he has never dissapointed with his intelligent wierd tales or the longer novels like "The Hill of Dreams"

[Justine]

Tom wrote: "Also Grimoire by Robin Robertson.."

I loved Robertson's The Long Take, and this sounds equally good, though entirely different.. Thanks for the recommendation,

[giveusaclue]

Gpfr wrote: "A Small Place in Italy
Thanks to giveusaclue for the recommendation of The Bookseller's Tale which I'm now reading and enjoying.


You are very welcome, I'm delighted to know that you are enjoying it. I will be reading more of her books before long.

[Elizabeth]

Former lurker, but determined to participate more! I'm into a second reading of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. I very muchenjoyed the book the first time around. I thought it was an amazing feat for a young woman of 23 to write a story about such a wide range of characters with such maturity. This time around is for my book club.

[Justine]

Elizabeth wrote: "Former lurker, but determined to participate more! I'm into a second reading of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. I very muchenjoyed the book the first time around. I thought it was..."

Glad you will be participating. I loved The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, too! Has your reaction to it changed at all this time round?

[AB76]

In Hazard by Richard Hughes (1938)
A very interesting start to this slim volume, as the narrator describes the ship SS Archimedes(sailing from Philadelphia to Norfolk,VA at the start)on which the novel is set, the vast engine room like a cathedral, the division of property on board between "deck" and "engine-room" officers who dine and socialise aparty(including the chinese deck hands and firemen). The second mate has a pet lemur which sleeps in the foghorn and is afforded all the respect of the owners rank....a lovely start

[Paul]

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter is one of the most magnificent books I've ever read and it was just as good the second time

[Andy]

The Last Good Man by Thomas McMullan

At some unknown time presumably in the future, and after escaping a burning city and undertaking an arduous journey to his cousin’s family in Devon, Duncan Peck is pleasantly surprised to discover a degree of civilisation in the small Dartmoor village, and decides to settle. The people are friendly, there is a school and a tea-room, and they have some system of law and order. He soon discovers though some more disturbing elements, such as the wall on the edge of town upon which inhabitants can write their disgust at any other villager who has wronged or annoyed them (a more direct form of Facebook perhaps), and the public punishments that are dealt out.
This is certainly one of the most unusual books I have read for some time, a strange place in a strange world; a dystopian one, but it could be a regression to medieval. It’s better appreciated having finished it such is the sense of discomfort while reading. There’s an element of not knowing the full story also, that in retrospect, works really well - what is the Tragedy? what has happened in the recent past? (for example).
To write in such a potentially disturbing manner about family life swept away in bouts of violence and cruelty needs careful handling, and McMullan handles it deftly and with enormous creativity.
It’s misleading and unfair to compare it to The Road - in many ways it defies comparison, but if pushed I’d go for We Have Always Lived In The Castle, or as @Tom Mooney wrote in his review, Jim Crace. Tom’s review is with mine if you click the link at the top..

[Andy]

Also from the weekend... The Alphonse Courrier Affair by Marta Morazzoni

Set in the Auvergne region of France, this short novel traces the life of the titular Alphonse from 1900, when he opens an ironmonger's shop, to 1917, when strictly disciplined life falls apart. The unidentified narrator looks back to these events, but clearly is themselves within the village; the tone is digressive and ironic, but at the same time personal and direct. A large part of the enjoyment are the observations of life in the village itself.
If I had picked up this as a book and not looked at the author, I would have said without doubt that it was Simenon; it has many of the trademarks of his romans durs; love triangles, the rhythms and gossip of the community, and its darker side. It was however originally published in Italy in 1997, perhaps as some sort of tribute to the great man. It won an Italian literary prize, and this translation by Emma Rose won the Independent Foreign Fiction Award.
It's short, quiet, understated and entertaining, and deserves to be better known.

[Reen]

CCCubbon wrote: "Paul wrote ‘
I've been reading slowly these days. Mostly because my normal reading time is otherwise occupied these days, discussing at great depth farts and colic with a 2 month old who is very ch..."

Are you enjoying Jónasson CCC? I heard him interviewed on radio here this morning and am thinking my husband would enjoy his books. I might too; I have a bit of an Iceland obsession. Have you watched Trapped? It's set in Iceland and I loved it. Jónasson started out in writing by translating the works of Agatha Christie at the rate of one a year from the age of 17. He spoke this morning about the Christmas Eve tradition in Iceland of opening gifts after dinner on Christmas Eve (usually everyone gets a book released in the three months up to Christmas by Icelandic authors) and they settle in to read and finish it into the early hours of Christmas Day by the fireside, eating chocolate and drinking. Sounds good to me.... But who then makes the stuffing and the trifle and "orange" potatoes??

[Reen]

Alwynne wrote: "AB76 will interested to hear about the Hughes, I’ve only read A High Wind in Jamaica but keep meaning to try his other novels.

Reen – the costumes in [book:The Queen's Gambit|6339728..."

Yes, it was a good story and I had serious coat envy of the one she wore at the tournament in Russia ... and that last white outfit walking across the square; I'd have gone to the shop in it today had I had something similar to hand!

I agree Nigella doesn't come close to Slater who is my all-time fave, but I do find her entertaining and her latest book is secreted away somewhere I have deduced.

[Lljones]

Magrat wrote: "A Cat's Tale: A Journey Through Feline History

Looks like my latest purchase - which originally came to my attention on LitHub - is definitely one for Lisa to have a look at. ..."

This looks fabs, Magrat, thank you so much!

[Gpfr]

Andy wrote: "Also from the weekend... The Alphonse Courrier Affair by Marta Morazzoni.."

I read this about 3 years ago - I think I may have mentioned it in my first ever post on TLS :) - and I agree it's well worth reading. I then read The Secret Note: set in the 18th century, a young woman in a convent against her will, is discovered to have a beautiful singing voice which brings crowds to the convent church to hear her...

[scarletnoir]

Reen wrote: "Are you enjoying Jónasson CCC? I heard him interviewed on radio here this morning and am thinking my husband would enjoy his books. I might too; I have a bit of an Iceland obsession. Have you watched Trapped? It's set in Iceland and I loved it. Jónasson started out in writing by translating the works of Agatha Christie at the rate of one a year from the age of 17.

Thank you for that interesting information.

I have read around half a dozen of Ragnar Jonasson's Icelandic 'tec books - readable and entertaining - the plots vary a bit in quality, but the characters are usually well drawn and carry the stories. It's also interesting to read stories set in such an unforgiving setting (weather-wise, anyway) - something which we see in the TV series Trapped, which was excellent.

If you (Reen) are especially taken with Icelandic crime fiction, then you probably already know Arnaldur Indridason's Erlendur series (highly recommended). His newer Reykjavic Wartime Mysteries series is good, too - The Shadow District is the first volume.

Otherwise, Yrsa Sigurdardottir has written a number of well-paced mysteries... for example, Ashes to Dust is set on the volcanic island of Heimaey, which had to be temporarily evacuated during a major eruption in 1973. They may be of interest to you.


CCCubbon refers to policies possibly deigned to encourage people to have more children... certainly, many European countries seem to take assistance with childcare etc. more seriously than the UK. These policies seem more useful than the awarding of medals to mothers of many children, as was practised by Hitler's Germany, the USSR, and currently by Kazakhstan for 7 or more kids...

[Gpfr]

scarletnoir wrote: "Reen wrote: "Are you enjoying Jónasson CCC? I have a bit of an Iceland obsession..."

I second all scarletnoir's recommendations.
In addition, I recently read and enjoyed Trahison Betrayal by Lilja Sigurdardottir: a former aid worker takes over as interim minister of the interior and -of course - soon discovers that all is not as it seems.
There are also the books by Quentin Bates, English but lived in Iceland for several years.
Reen, you might enjoy Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland by Sarah Moss. The writer and her family spent some time living in Iceland. Like her, I studied Old Norse at university, but have never yet followed up on my fascination by actually going there...
Have you seen the second series of Trapped?

[CCCubbon]

Reen and scarlet wrote about the Iceland booksq
Yes I do enjoy them partly for some insight into a different culture. I sent one of my sons The Darkness recently for it is such a surprising book and he was on the phone raving about it on Sunday. Now being passed to his brother! Nightblind is set in the far north of Iceland almost near the Arctic Circle and before I was more than a couple of pages in I was searching the web for more information about the area and its tunnels to the outside world.
I endorse all scarlet’s comments. The only Scandi writer that I have yet to relish is Jo Nesbo, read one , never been back.
Yes, I do find the long term fertility rate implications of interest. While populations will go on increasing for a while there will be enormous problems later in the century. It’s all bound up with the emancipation of women. Countries such as Italy, Japan Portugal have very low rates. The African countries still have quite high rates but as women demand more education and choice they will doubtless decline too.
I have no idea what the solution to this is, women cannot go back to being the ‘little woman’ again, need to flex their intellectual capabilities denied for too long.

[AlbyBeliever]

Hi everyone! I'm going to post about this month's reading later in the week or next week, but today I'm going to shamelessly exploit TLS for Christmas present inspiration. What would you recommend for the following people?

Person 1 - loves Elena Ferrante's Neopolitan novels, most things by Italo Calvino, family-centred novels with female protagonists, such as Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginzburg, bildungsromans like The Kites by Romain Gary and The Island by Ana Maria Matute.

Person 2 - loves books centring on WW2 and the experience of this, including The Reader by Bernhard Schlink, Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor. Also loves Henry Marsh's books, Laurie Lee and Somerset Maugham.

Person 3 - loves David Mitchell, Louis de Bernieres, Kent Haruf, Rohinton Mistry, Hilary Mantel, Kamila Shamsie etc.

Thanks for any ideas!

[AB76]

CCCubbon wrote: "Reen and scarlet wrote about the Iceland booksq
Yes I do enjoy them partly for some insight into a different culture. I sent one of my sons The Darkness recently for it is such a surprising book a..."

BBC4 have an icelandic crime series on the way, not sure if its Johansson or maybe Indriason

I enjoyed a few of Indriasons detective novels (one of which i read on the ferry to the Vestman Islands when i was in Iceland a decade ago. Reading about Iceland while there helps with atmopshere as its such an unusual and fascinating place

Laxness is the key great writer of Iceland but his novels are all rather different and it is wise to pick carefully

[AB76]

BBC4 icelandic drama link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000...

By the way for any fans of "Arctic Island drama" dont neglect the Faroe islands, incredibly this tiny archipelago has two great writers William Heinesen and Jorg-Frantz Jacobsen
Heinesen wrote a variety of interesting novels in a long life, Jacobsen died young but left one classic novel "Barbara"

[Justine]

AlbyBeliever wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm going to post about this month's reading later in the week or next week, but today I'm going to shamelessly exploit TLS for Christmas present inspiration. What would you recommend ..."

I'll have to think about the others but I've read two novels recently - reviewed by me on Goodreads forum as well as on previous weeks here - of WW2 interest:

The Oppermanns by Lion Feuchtwanger (1934) about a Jewish family in Germany facing the rise of Hitler, and The House Opposite by Barbara Noble (1943) about two families in the London Blitz. They are of particular interest because, although fiction, they were written at the time by authors who experienced the events first-hand. For a nonfiction account, you could try A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary.

[Georg]

My Bring back Tips, Links and Suggestions and the Reading Group! comment under the Kobo Abe article has been swiftly removed. A disgruntled reader pressing the report button? We'll see...

[Georg]

AlbyBeliever wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm going to post about this month's reading later in the week or next week, but today I'm going to shamelessly exploit TLS for Christmas present inspiration. What would you recommend ..."

Quite an overlap between my tastes and person 3s, it seems. And person 1 likes family stories:

I can recommend Nino Haratischwili's The Eighth Life (for Brilka)
One of the best books I've read this year. Not for somebody who doesn't love doorstoppers though.

[Paul]

AlbyBeliever wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm going to post about this month's reading later in the week or next week, but today I'm going to shamelessly exploit TLS for Christmas present inspiration. What would you recommend ..."

Hey Rick/Alby:

Person 1 is a kindred spirit, for them I'd go with:
History- Elsa Morante
Life: A User's Manual- George Perecs
Call It Sleep- Henry Roth

Person 2 is a bit more difficult, maybe:
From Here To Eternity- James Jones
Everyman Dies Alone- Hans Fallada
No-No Boy- John Okada (this one I haven't read, but I've heard good things)

Person 3:
The End Of Vandalism Tom Drury
Magic For Beginners- Kelly Link
Swamplandia- Karen Russell

[Gpfr]

Alwynne wrote: I recently read Ellen Wilkinson’s Clash..."

Speaking of Ellen Wilkinson, I read a while ago The Division Bell Mystery, 1932. She was herself a Labour politician. It was a fun read.

[FrancesBurgundy]

Georg wrote: "My Bring back Tips, Links and Suggestions and the Reading Group! comment under the Kobo Abe article has been swiftly removed. A disgruntled reader pressing the report button? We'll see..."

My comment under The Betrayals (the piece open for comments) also disappeared before anyone but a mod could see it. I'm not surprised and I did keep a copy:

I can't believe this piece has been up for nine days and only managed six comments. If Tips, Links and Suggestions had not been paused I'm sure you'd have had a lot more. There were at least a hundred or two people devoted to reading and talking about it who appreciated The Guardian Book Pages (and the rest of the Guardian, most of them). Now they've been rejected and are reciprocating. If canning TLS was to save on moderators, you seem to have succeeded.
Support the Guardian? A lot of us did, and have cancelled that support in protest. We'll be back like a shot if you ever change your mind.

[CCCubbon]

Frances
No surprise that it disappeared then, What does surprise me is that TL&S and RG last editions still appear on the books page.

[FrancesBurgundy]

CCCubbon wrote: "Frances
No surprise that it disappeared then, What does surprise me is that TL&S and RG last editions still appear on the books page."

Under 'Take Part' too - the irony of it!

[Georg]

FrancesBurgundy wrote: "My comment under The Betrayals (the piece open for comments) also disappeared before anyone but a mod could see it...

It was a very good comment, MissB.
Yes, I think the mods have been given instructions. I'll persist as it only takes seconds to c+p. See whether they threaten to throw me out at some point.

I've always thought the "pause" was an euphemism.

@CCC:

The last "Book Clinic" appeared in the "Take Part" (haha) section months after they scrapped it.

[AB76]

IN HAZARD(Richaes Hughes)
a mid november hurricane has struck the SS Archimedes, unheard of in the carribean, the captain is astonished and the roaring winds drive the vessel to angles that defy gravity, hatches are lost, the spray drenches everything...

I dont get seasick but i feel giddy in my chair on solid Surrey ground right now...

[Gpfr]

Georg wrote: "FrancesBurgundy wrote: "My comment under The Betrayals (the piece open for comments) also disappeared before anyone but a mod could see it...

It was a very good comment, MissB.
Yes, I think the mo..."

Georg, your own comment under The Betrayals is still there.

[Justine]

I realized, about five pages in, that I’d read Vita Sackville-West’s All Passion Spent (1931) some years ago. Never mind; although I remembered the general gist and various events as I reached them, I’d forgotten the details. There really isn’t much of a plot: Lady Slane, after a very grand life as Prime Minister’s wife, Vicereine of India and the jewel-laden hostess tagging along as her husband serves in other important Imperial posts, is widowed at eighty-eight. What is to be done with Mother? ask her unpleasant children, themselves already in their sixties. Mother, to their horror, has her own ideas, chief among which is seclusion in her own home in a part of London distant from them.

Once installed there, she engages in various meditations on her life, including memories of her youth, when hers were

thoughts of nothing less than escape and disguise, a changed name, a travestied sex, and freedom in some foreign city […] Those ringlets would drop from the scissors […] that fichu would be replaced by a shirt – and here, the fingers felt for the knot of a tie; those skirts would be kicked forever aside …

She had dreamt of becoming an artist but – here we start to see APS as a novelization of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One's Own – despite her wealth and position and happy marriage, the young bride discovers that no space is allowed for a studio or time given for serious artistic endeavour. She comes to understand her own self-betrayal most fully through her conversations with an elderly eccentric, FitzGeorge, the only person to discern her tragedy clearly.

The message appears to be that it’s best to abandon the ‘things of this world’ in order to pursue one’s true calling – although Lady Slane’s chosen frugality is not that of millions of other British people in 1931: a three-bedroomed Georgian house in Hampstead! (Some awareness of this is belatedly acknowledged when the protagonist hears the reminiscences of her elderly French maid, Genoux.) However, despite its being a novel with a Bloomsburyish outlook and not much action, All Passion Spent is enlivened by some lovely writing and a number of effectively comic or semi-comic characters; I found it in many ways a gently agreeable read.

[Lljones]

Georg wrote: "FrancesBurgundy wrote: "My comment under The Betrayals (the piece open for comments) also disappeared before anyone but a mod could see it...

It was a very good comment, MissB.
Yes, I think the mo..."

FYI, Georg & FrancesBurgundy: You can count on posts that discuss moderators and moderation to be removed, whether the subject is TLS/RG or not.

[Lljones]

FTAO: MB, NF, Swelter, and other Franzen fans

Jonathan Franzen is back! With the grandest-sounding novel of 2021