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    Finished The Vanishing Half last night. One of the best novels I've read this year. It's publicised as the story of twin Black sisters who leave the tiny Louisiana town they grew up in and who lose contact after one of them decides to 'pass over' and live her life as a white woman. But It's far more wide-ranging than I'd expected from what I'd read about it beforehand, and has twice as many main protagonists as that description suggests.

    I've started Nudibranch, a collection of short stories by Irenosen Okojie, a British-Nigerian writer I've not come across before. Very strange so far. I'm enjoying them a lot.

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      I read the Diane Cook novel referenced above (The New Wilderness), and it really did feel like a years-long trek through the fucking wilderness. It was like one of those Netflix series that drags on about 50 episodes too long. She should stick to short stories. Highly lauded in the press and short-listed for the Booker, and I have no idea why except that no one dared pan it because environmentalism is the main theme.

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        It's one that I recommended (I think) at the time, but now I've got some distance from it (I checked my handwritten list and was slightly surprised to find I read it earlier this year, as it feels like longer ago) I have to admit I won't be rushing back to re-read it. Not that I rush to re-read anything, because my head is always turned by a book I've not read yet, but you know what I mean. I still say it's decent but would certainly agree it could have been quite a lot shorter. (It's possible I thought this at the time; I've not gone back to check.)

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          The Girls-Emma Cline. One from the pile that more often end up neglected & ignored the further the distance from release. Think the attraction at the time was an award-Shirley Jackson one maybe. Anyway its a riff on the Charles Manson tale (all names are fictionalised) seen through the eyes of 14 year old Evie during a disaffected period of her life-summer of 1969 awaiting education at private boarding school while parents marriage collapses. The attraction is more for the young girls who are in thrall to the charismatic Manson figure although this doesnt get in the way of her being sexually abused by either him or the Brian Wilson substitute in the tale. Evie never convinces as part of the cult-and appropriately she doesnt merit any kind of mention in the subsequent decades worth of media attention on the events. Nor are many of the characters more than one dimensional-mother getting into New Age hocus pocus in effort to generate new relationships while dad has run off with the younger model nearer to Evie in age. And in the few years since book release Tarantino has produced a screen version of the ranch that makes the one described here just looking tame and lacking depth or resonance.

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            Whisper Down The Lane-Clay McLeod Chapman. Its taken for granted that picking up a horror novel means suspending disbelief in how the real world actually works. The author trick is to convince that this doesnt matter. If I create the supernatural I can make readers believe it is real. This tale didnt fulfill that part of the bargain between author and reader. And yet at end it turns out it is based on actual events in 1980s USA.-Satanic Panic. Sean is a bullied loner but natural story teller who becomes the focus of allegations of occult abuse involving his teachers. Twenty years on hes Richard and a teacher and facing the same allegations that his earlier lies ruined so many lives.

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              Originally posted by Sam View Post
              Something I'll probably never get to experience.
              Anyway: finished The Quiet Fan this afternoon, and I know we're obliged to say this and I know we're obliged to say 'I'm not just saying this because I have to,' but it's dead good and I heartily recommend it for everyone's reading pleasure. Thanks very much for writing it, imp.
              I only just noticed this post. Cheers, Sam, very much appreciated. I don't think that anyone feels obliged to say nice things about my books on here, though maybe some have diplomatically withheld their opinions (not that they need to). A GoodReads member called 'GaSton' left one-star ratings for TQF and For Whom the Ball Rolls on the same day last month - a private account, so impossible to see what else they rate. I did send them a polite private message praising their bravery at tackling a second book by the same author after so disliking the first, but no response as yet...

              Re. the Diane Cook book. It's readable enough, but there was something nagging at me all the time that I was reading it, and three-quarters of the way through I realised what the problem was - I was fucking bored and couldn't wait to finish it. But by that point I'd got so far I thought that I might as well endure to the end.

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                Just had a week's holiday, part of which was spend in Sedbergh, England's official book town, so picked up a few bits and pieces in various shops and smashed through a few in the week. Fiction-wise, I read Liam Williams' Homes and Experiences, which is both a wonderful ode to pre-middle age faffing about and harsh critique of AirBnB style tourism (which was funny as I was in AirBnBs all week), and if you know Williams' TV/comedy work you'll recognise and appreciate the tone. Also picked up a single volume edition of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy, and read the first book, All the Pretty Horses, which was just as good as I'd heard it was.

                In terms of non-fiction, I read dear old Bob Mortimer's autobiography And Away…. It's gloriously silly and funny in places, of course, but also genuinely moving as well.

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                  I don't remember why I began reading it, but I almost put down Extinction by Thomas Bernhard about twenty pages in. I think it was only the unusual structure of the book that made me persist. It's longish, over 400 pages, and written entirely as an internal monologue by the central character, a person whose name we never know until the story's last line. I don't want to give the impression this is a piece of stream of consciousness surreality. Quite the opposite. It's extremely linear and very coherent, though repetitious in the kind of way a song's chorus might be, and indeed our thoughts are especially in times of stress.

                  The narrator is an Austrian living in Rome. He vehemently dislikes Austria, his home there, and his wealthy family, so he rarely visits. The story begins after his return from a visit that has angered and depressed him so much he swears to never return. Waiting for him is a telegram (the book seems to be set in the early 70s) telling him his parents and elder brother have been killed in a road accident. He's must return immediately as he's now the heir to the estate. The first half of the book deals with the dismal prospect of this, the second with the reality.

                  I wouldn't say the story is compelling, compulsive would be more accurate. There was a point about half way through where not only did I realize I had to finish it, but that I wouldn't be able to read anything else until I had. Bernhard is regarded, I understand, as perhaps Austria's leading novelist of the past century. But he genuinely did dislike the place as much as his protagonist, in Extinction, his final work, he describes it as "corrupted by catholicism, pseudo-national socialism, and pseudo-socialism." Naturally this has given him a somewhat ambivalent reputation in his homeland.

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                    Thanks for that, AdeC - sounds right up my street.

                    When we were still living in the US, we spent two weeks on holiday in Sedbergh, and by the time the fortnight was over I'd bought so many books that I had to pack them up and send them home by sea mail. Particularly enjoyed browsing several times in the big shop on a corner, though I can't remember its name.

                    Have just started In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, which I only came across because someone on here started a thread about Fitzcarraldo Editions, a publisher I'd never heard of. The first 50 pages are touching, lyrical and reflective - am going to take my time with this one.

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                      I have bought Extinction, AdeC, so thanks for that recommendation.

                      And you're very welcome to the praise, imp. Also I'd totally forgotten having supported it on Unbound, so it was a nice surprise to see my name in the supporters list at the back!

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                        Originally posted by imp View Post
                        When we were still living in the US, we spent two weeks on holiday in Sedbergh, and by the time the fortnight was over I'd bought so many books that I had to pack them up and send them home by sea mail. Particularly enjoyed browsing several times in the big shop on a corner, though I can't remember its name.
                        Fair play, that is boss-level book buying. The shop you're thinking of is Westwood Books. Our digs were barely a minute's walk from it, yet I somehow restricted myself to one browsing session in the three days we were there.

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                          That's the place. I walk in to a shop like that and immediately need to go to the bog.

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                            56 Days-Catherine Ryan Howard. First lockdown novel have read & captures it well allowing for set in Dublin rather than England. Serves as the backdrop to a twisty turney tale with echoes of James Bulger case. At times the telling of the two protagonists separate stories gets a little repetitive though the irregular introduction of the two detectives leading the case balances this out.

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                              Finished Nudibranch earlier. It is, I think, a slightly uneven collection – perhaps inevitable given it's very experimental – but the good stories are really good. I'll definitely be checking out Okojie's novel, Butterfly Fish, off the back of it.

                              Following ale's recommendation a page or two back, I've now started Cold Water by Gwendoline Riley. Wanted something short and fictional, as following this it's probably time for another non-fiction title.

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                                Just about 20 pages shy of finishing Chimamanda Ngoze-Adichie's Americanah. (So still some twists to come possibly.) Overall, very good indeed, very glad I read it, and it won't be the only one of her novels I read. I've learnt a lot from it I hope, and enjoyed it. Emotionally rich, beautifully written for the most part, great story. Some patches less interesting than others (the bits involving Blaine's sister and her circle were dull and added little imho) and the device of adding long posts in full from the lead character's blog was a bit clumsy in places. The narrative perspective was a slightly unsatisfactory compromise. There's no omniscient narrator, and in general things are reported only through the experience of the lead character Ifemelu. There's an exception to that in that some chunky parts are told through the experience of the love of her life Obinze, yet in all the scenes when they are together, or in the sections of the book dealing with their relationship on her return to Nigeria, we get her perspective only and can only imagine his side of it, even though we've got to know his perspective for whole chapters elsewhere.

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                                  I really enjoyed Americanah too, and her short story volume The Thing Around Your Neck.

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                                    Originally posted by ale View Post
                                    Cold Water-Gwendoline Riley. Been wanting to catch up on this author for a while & have started with her debut novel. Slight at 160 pages the narrative follows a 20 year old Carmel during her 'wilderness years' in Manchester. Working behind bar at a night club its her journey through the underbelly of the city life-as such its about characters rather than plot. The city is changing-the book was written 2002 although not being familiar with Manchester its not clear whether the changes are contemporary to this era-but Carmel isnt despite her dreams of get away. It could be that this story has an autobiographical slant and it does offer the promise of an author who will develop in future novels.
                                    Finished this last night. It is definitely not exactly plot driven, I agree. The one thing that really stood out for me was how well Riley draws Manchester (and I'm always a sucker for writing that evokes a place – any place – so strongly). Ultimately I enjoyed it but I don't think it would have stood up to being much longer than it was. And as someone who was familiar with Manchester as a kid and then lived there for three years from 2003 to 2006, I'd say that yes the changes to the city itself described in the book feel right.

                                    A bit later I'll be starting The New Age of Empire by Kehinde Andrews.

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                                      I finally read The Handmaid's Tale -consciously waited for the memory of S1 of the TV adaptation to recede in memory (not entirely successfully).

                                      I didn't know it was published as early as 85, incredible 'finger on the pulse'/prescience (I'd give an example but spoilers).

                                      But even the familiarity of some of the material was swept away by admiration of some of the writing. I was really impressed and wish I'd read it before.
                                      Got the sequel to look fwd to, which I gather isn't connected to S2 etc. Though 2 students told me it wasn't very good...

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                                        Julian Barnes-Lemon Table. Another close your eyes & pick a book from towards bottom of unread pile. That it published in 2004 made me realise how long since read any Julian Barnes. Though it still shouldnt have been so surprising how much I enjoy his work. A series of short stories and meditations on the subject of human life & bodies heading towards their inexorable end there is no little shortage of humour among the melancholy. It also left an awareness that had I read it at publication date -in mid forties- it wouldnt have resonated as much.

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                                          Originally posted by Sam View Post
                                          A bit later I'll be starting The New Age of Empire by Kehinde Andrews.
                                          Quite near the beginning of this still, and the author has reported as fact the debunked-about-25-years-ago claim that ancient Egyptians taught Mesoamericans everything they know about pyramid building and other markers of civilisation. It doesn't detract from the central thesis (which is that many institutions in the modern west were founded on fundamentally white supremacist and/or Global-North-prioritising grounds), but it's a bit offputting. It's mentioned only in passing, so I'm sticking with the book for now, but it's one of those things where you think, if he's mentioned this one thing that I happen to know is bollocks, how can I be sure about all the other stuff without looking up every fact he mentions for myself?

                                          (To be clear, this book was published much more recently. The edition I'm reading has a foreword about how COVID-19 has brought lots of the issues it discusses to the fore.)

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                                            Stiff Upper Lip-Alex Renton. If like me you never went through the process (industrial according to author)of prep & public boarding education but are aware of the stereotypes & cliches be warned. The author is just going to confirm any prejudices you likely hold. Harrowing if at times a little bit mind numbing-once you have been introduced to the head teacher who flogged every single of the boys at his school in a single day what matter the ones who didnt. But it all documented-the repetitive cycle of abuse whether verbal or physical. The parents who underwent it all and still choose to put their own children through it-Evelyn Waugh gets drawn to attention more for fact that he didnt send his own kids through the same system that abused him. Teachers get recycled from school to school rather than being convicted. And at the end of the day the children who lose day to day contact with their parents at the age from which they most need them and are subject to the lack of emotional displacement along with the subsequent flagellation and sexual depredation are mainly those of the elite who will be making life affirming decisions on most of the rest of us.

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                                              Book Of Accidents-Chuck Wendig. Another go at catching up with contemporary horror fiction by an unfamiliar author. This novel is a heady mix of plots and tropes recognised in particular from Stephen King Dark Tower and Clive Barker Books Of Blood. Maybe even Dr Sleep & Shadowland. Connoisseurs will no doubt identify others as demons and fun fairs are added along with the by now ubiquitous serial killer. The author cant be accused of lacking imagination though after an intriguing start the story suffers from the effort of keeping up with all the demands placed upon it. However once past the middle stages (and it is a book in excess of 500 pages) the pace is picked up again before reaching a satisfactory if conventional ending in keeping with the genre.

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                                                Hot Stew-Fiona Mozley. The subject matter is a fight between old & new Soho as the tarts-with-hearts-of gold campaign to continue occupancy of their centuries old brothel against the rapacious demands of a property developer family seeking to modernise the bloodline ill gotten gains. The communal residents and generic lifestyle of Soho is the backdrop but following a bright introductory reference to the area origins-the hot stews of the title-the overall feeling is that the novel never fully develops. And nor do the characters of which given the stories scale there are quite a few. Potentially the more interesting ones end up with the least parts in the plot while the more conventional ones get the most without engaging the reader interest to any large degree. Ultimately a little insipid & anaemic given the subject matter.

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                                                  Borne by Jeff Vandermeer. I'm trying a little modern SF stuff and this was meant to be good eco-doomsday fiction. Wouldn't recommend... The basic premise is fine, but the book is horribly overwritten and overwrought in its florid descriptions of the new world where biotech has taken over. Except that the florid descriptions just feel like a wall of adjectives which don't create anything you can helpfully visualise, more that they're there to camouflage the fact that the author doesn't know what he's describing either. And a lot of the plot feels like it's a form of that bad way of creating drama "We had run out of options and were sure to die. Suddenly I saw a way out/crack of light/giant bomb/deus ex machina that would get us out of the mess..." There was probably a good book hidden in here, but the writing had me struggling.

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                                                    That was pretty much how I felt when I read VanderMeer's Annihilation a few years ago, SB (before it was made into a film, because I've got my finger on the pulse like that). Enjoyed the world-building and the parts where things were actually happening, but 'overwritten' is a good description. I didn't bother with the other two books in that trilogy.

                                                    I finished The New Age of Empire last night. It's an odd one. On the one hand the central premise – that many of the institutions and nations that run the world today were built on racist foundations – is one I agree with, although in some cases I'd contend they were less openly racist and more about the first world wanting to make itself richer. A difference of (conscious) motivation rather than effect, really. On the other hand the unease I mentioned early on in my reading of it when I got to the ahistorical 'ancient Egyptians taught Central Americans how to build pyramids, and were worshipped there as gods' bit never quite went away, even though the rest of the book stuck, as far as I can see, to facts that did actually happen, even if not everyone would interpret them the way Andrews does. A good number of the arguments, especially regarding developments in the world order in the last couple of decades, aren't advanced very far, and there's a bit of a tendency to put sub-Saharan Africa (or as he calls it, so-called sub-Saharan Africa) on one side of the argument and almost everywhere else apart from India on the other. Sections on the World Bank, IMF and UN are thought provoking, though, and there's good stuff on how China's development programmes in Africa, though later in that chapter he talks about Brazil doing a scaled-down version of the same and at one point rather bizarrely seems to suggest that Brazil's economy isn't enormously larger in scale than the rest of South America's (it is). In short, I don't feel it was a waste of time to have read it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it. I suspect there are better books out there on the topic (indeed, I've got a few that might turn out to be better on my to-read list).

                                                    Later I'll be starting Lands of Lost Borders by Kate Harris, which is a travel book about a cycling trip along the Silk Road. The first of a handful of books I've bought after hearing an interview with their authors on the excellent podcast Time to Eat The Dogs, which is about the history of science and exploration.
                                                    Last edited by Sam; 21-10-2021, 19:37.

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