My lack of posts make me look really lazy, but I'm really not:
Fiona McFarlane: The
Night Guest had
spectacular reviews but I didn't think it lived up to the hype. After rather a slow start it had some brilliant descriptions of the confusion and fears of a
frail old lady, but the denouement was sadly predictable, but not entirely
believable as the presumably intelligent sons also made no checks on the
mysterious appearance of Frida.
Betty Smith: A Tree
Grows in Brooklyn, is the only successful novel by its American author. It’s over 600 pages
with no adventure or real story, just the growing up of a variably poor second
generation family. Brilliant characterisations and surprisingly un-dated in the
anguishes of a normal family.
Gavin Frances: Empire
Antarctica. I can
never resist true travel stories, add the author being a doctor in a remote
Antarctic base with the Rosey-connection and a very poetic style of writing and
you have a guaranteed winner. Excellent, and evocative of a tempting place I’ll
probably never see.
Rob Manning &
William L Simon: Mars Rover Curiosity. A bit geeky, but an interesting account of the run up to
Curiosity landing on Mars. I’d no idea there was so much in-fighting,
penny-pinching and politics, I thought the science would be hard enough.
Sue Monk Kidd: The
Secret Life of Bees is
the tale of a white girl who escapes her father’s tyranny with her black
servant/nanny by way of prison for involvement in race riots and hospital when
Rosaleen is beaten up by the police. A small picture of a Black Madonna leads
to some truth about Lily’s dead Mother. Heart-warming and beautifully written.
Many lively characters.
S J Watson: Before I go
to Sleep. I was
surprised to find that SJ Watson is a man, a sensitive accout of a lady with
amnesia waking each morning with no idea who she is, or the man in bed with
her. All is not quite as it seems as the twisted plot unfurls.. The end leaves
you wondering, but gripping until then.
Maurice Herzog: Annapurna
is the classic tale of the successful 1951 French expedition to Annapurna,
the first 8,000m peak to be climbed. Nepal was barely opened to foreigners, all
needed special permission and the only way in was by rail to the India-Nepal
border, a short stretch of road then walk with porters from there, including
10s of tons of luggage. The few miles of road in the Kathmandu Valley had a
couple of dozen cars brought in the same way. Maps were primitive, old and
inaccurate with huge valleys and mountains in the wrong place. No Google Earth!
Considerable time was spent even finding the beast. Two of the party made it to
the top, but at a terrible price, the loss of many digits, and barely got
down alive. The treatments for frostbite
were interesting: beat the life back into limbs with rope whips, if that fails
intra-arterial lignocaine or acetyl choline.
A good tale for anyone interested in Nepal, trekking, climbing or people. It
suffered a little from too-literal translation from the French in a few places.
Malala Yousafzai: I
am Malala, inspiring
account of life in the beautiful Swat valley leading up to the Taliban rule,
and after they were apparently ousted. Such normal girls in such a difficult situation.
Ends after her near miraculous recovery and exile with her whole family to the
UK.
