September reading list

 Three of the books that I've read this month have been for the book clubs where, pre Covid, I was a rarely attending member. Now, thanks to zoom, I never need to miss a meeting. Following on from reading Dicken's 'Great Expectations' the Yorkshire group discussed 'Jack Maggs' by the Australian author Peter Carey.  In this book Jack is the convict Magwitch that we met in the Dickens novel now returned to London with a New World attitude and the wit to create a different outcome. This was a re-read for me and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. From the opening sentence there is the pleasurable knowledge that you are in the hands of a capable storyteller. Knowledgable fun is poked at Dickens and Victorian attitudes and beliefs and I love the idea of an Australian writer giving a felon deported from England the whip hand over a variety of dubious home-grown characters!

The Lit Group discussed Tracy Chevalier's 'A Single Thread', a novel set in England in the 1932.

I had great hopes for this novel because it is such an interesting period in history. The first World War gave many women their first experience of independence, working outside the home in jobs that had been previously carried out by men. It was clear from the acknowledgements at the back of the book that the author had carried out diligent research but it did not, for me, translate into a convincing central character. The research also felt at times to be very heavy-handed .

The group were all pretty much of the same opinion, especially of the ending being so sweetly and unrealistically tidied up! There was lots to discuss; attitudes to lesbianism, the expectations of a single woman and what society expected of her.

I bought my copy second-hand online as I'm not going out and about shopping these days. It arrived looking rather battered, I think a previous owner has spilt a pot of coffee over it! It interests me that the line of thread links all across the dust jacket, complete with needle and scissors, echoing a design produced by my friend Janet Haigh for a novel by Howard Jacobson. (Janet's cover is far superior!)

For the FAB group, where a few of us were able to meet in person, we discussed  Cees Nooteboom's 'The Following Story', translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke. It is a novella in two parts and in the first part I didn't have a clue as to what was going on. As soon as I started on the second I said, "of course!"

I'm not going to tell you anything about it in case you are going to read it, except that in the first part there were bits that made me laugh and in the second there were things that made me cry.

Rather a beautiful book.

A friend lent me an Anne Tyler book. When I looked at the first page I realised that I had read it before, but it didn't stop me from enjoying it for a second time. I love her writing and it doesn't trouble me in the slightest that I forget which book is which, after all, some of her favourite characters pop up in more than one book. Unlike the Chevalier characters I can totally believe in the people whom Anne Tyler creates.

On kindle I've just finished reading, 'The Friend' by Sigrid Nunez. I've you've ever owned and loved a dog I think you will love this.

My other reading this month has been poetry and Carol Ann Duffy's, 'Answering Back' is a nice idea. She invited a number of poets to choose a poem and create their own response to it. It is a good way of reading old favourites and discovering new delights.