Down but not out

Unsettled Ground - Claire Fuller: This months book club choice was not a good one. One of those books you stick with till the end desperate to see if there's any point to it, only to discover that there isn't. With a setting similar to that of Strange Sally Diamond it tells the highly unconvincing and improbable story of a brother and sister's descent into poverty and homelessness following their mothers sudden death. There were various contrived plot twists along the way, most of which remained unresolved, and in the end even the writing, which started out okay, couldn't save it as that went the way of everything else in the book. Awful stuff altogether!

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel: This months book club choice - a piece of post-apocalyptic fiction set in the recent past as a deadly flu virus decimates the global populace, leading to the collapse of civilization as we know it - was a good book but at the same time not really my thing. While the writing was generally good, particularly when describing certain of the more dramatic moments post-pandemic, the abrupt switching of time and place to develop the backstory, as well as the similarly abrupt and, at times, rather convenient conclusions of certain plot lines, made it a less satisfying read than it ought to have been.

Just to add, if anyone has any recommendations for books about France I'd love to hear them.

For Richer For Poorer - Victoria Coren: I didn't always like Victoria. When I began watching Only Connect I couldn't connect with her barbed humour but thankfully that changed and now I'm an avid fan of the show and her madcap homilies! And though I don't have much interest in poker, or gambling more particularly, this was a very engaging read. Victoria does a brilliant job of bringing the reader with her on her poker journey from murky beginnings to the top table of the EPT, and along the way discussing her hopes and fears, some of which surprised me a little. A good, fun read.

Open, Heaven - Seán Hewitt: This months book club pick is Hewitt's debut novel though he has previously published several poetry collections. This coming-of-age story is told through the reminiscences of the main character as he casts his mind back twenty years to a summer in his mid-teens when he grappled with his new-found sexuality and a friendship he wishes were more than platonic. The opening and closing of the book were beautifully written but I felt the author dragged things out a bit in the middle and lost me for a while. Nonetheless a great first book.

The Cement Garden - Ian McEwan: A welcome short read after A Little Life, McEwan's first published novel is a strange tale of the disintegration of the lives of four children following the deaths of their parents, but the writing is superb, surprisingly so given McEwan was just getting started.

There Are Little Kingdoms - Kevin Barry: Another quick read, Barry's first published work is a quirky short story collection with more than a hint of McCabe's Bog Gothic about it, though he has a great turn of phrase that's all his own.

The Children Act - Ian McEwan: More beautiful prose from McEwan and, perhaps because of the judicial theme, there's a precision to the language (more so than usual) that was such a pleasure to read. Again there's the theme of age disparity, an older woman and a much younger boy on the verge of adulthood, and I do wonder what's at the root of that theme.

The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton: Another book that I've seen mentioned a number of times on the forum though I previously knew nothing about it. The Outsiders is a work of young adult fiction set in Oklahoma in the 60's and tells the story of two rival gangs - the Greasers and the Socs - through the first person narrative of the main character Ponyboy Curtis. Reminiscent of the carefree high jinks of a latter day Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn the book nonetheless deals with some heavy themes including gang violence, drug use, and dysfunctional families. Most striking of all is that the author was in her mid teens when she wrote it. A good book.

A Short History of Brexit - Kevin O'Rourke: Because this book was originally published in French it began with a concise but extensive history of so much that led up to Brexit which I really appreciated. And having done that it then continued to provide excellent detail on so much that went on during the Brexit wars, though ironically, like it's subject, it ended without a deal!

How They Broke Britain - James O'Brien: Another extensive but concise account, focusing on ten individuals who O'Brien maintains are most culpable for the mess Britain currently finds itself in. A very good book but a very depressing read.

The Queen of Dirt Island - Donal Ryan: Another wonderful tale from Ryan, it overlaps slightly with Strange Flowers, the book that precedes it, and tells the tale of a household of four generations of women struggling against each other and against the unforgiving nature of rural Irish society of the time.

Private Papers - Margaret Forster: I first read this book over thirty years ago during my early forays into the adult section of my local library. Given my reading at the time was dominated by horror and political thrillers this was quite the departure but the title caught my eye and I really liked the book for being so different. Told through the memoirs of a mother and the thoughts of her daughter who stumbles upon them it recounts their lives from the mother's earliest memories in post-WWI England through to her old age. I remember siding with the daughter over her domineering mother first time around but on this second reading I realise that the point of the book is that memory is a fickle thing and that neither party has recalled past events exactly as they happened, their own biases clouding their recollections and colouring their views. It's a nice feeling the glint of recognition when you stumble upon the same edition of a book you read years ago, and while this one now feels a bit dated, it was still interesting to revisit.

Beautiful World, Where Are You? - Sally Rooney: I really didn't like this book which surprised me given how well I got on with the previous two. The stilted language, the long-winded email exchanges, the endless woe-is-me of the main characters all combined to make something I couldn't engage with. In ways it reminded me of Knaussgaard's autofiction, but where in his case I find it strangely compelling, here it just didn't work and felt flat. I stuck with it because I'm generally interested in Rooney's writing but in the end it felt like a wasted effort.

The Dream of a Beast - Neil Jordan: This novella, Jordan's third published work, is a strange, unsettling, dreamlike tale of a man living and working in Dublin whose world is coming apart. It's not clear how or why this is happening nor whether it's only happening to him or to all around him as well. And just as it would be in real life the absence of any clarity about what's going on enhances that dreamlike, or rather, nightmarish quality that runs throughout the book. Not an easy read despite it's short length, and I see it doesn't fair too well on Goodreads, but simply as a work of imagination I thought it was wonderful.

Also, I thought I'd mention I had three DNF's in a row - three short books I thought might boost my book count as the end of another reading year looms and my target of 40 books seems less likely.

Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse: Woolf is a very fine writer but it feels very dated with talk of Empire and other old tosh and I wasn't prepared to stick with it just for the sake of it.

Julian Barnes - Staring at the Sun: Quite different to other books I've read by Barnes and not nearly as good. Similar to Private Papers (above) but again it feels dated and rather boring if I'm honest.

The Little Hammer - John Kelly: I'm a huge fan of John's radio broadcasting - he's the best thing on Irish radio hands down - so he's an author I want to like. However, while the previous book I read by him, From Out of the City, was great - much more like Jordan's Beast (above) - this Pat McCabe-esque tale was a bit silly, too silly for me.