'Angelmaker' by Nick Harkaway

Intelligent, full of action and the best ensemble of characters I've met in a long time

What a fun book this is.  It is intelligent, full of action and the best ensemble of characters I've met in a long time.  The humor was 'laugh out loud' funny several times.  Did I mention mystery and sex?  In essence it is a familiar story... a thriller with a reluctant hero, Joe Spork, who has to save the world.  What happens to Joe and the nature of the danger is original and at the same time not too far from machines created for our betterment in our society.

Who I want to talk about are the women in this book.  I am impressed and elated.  No women with their mouths slightly open waiting to be rescued in this book.  Women can be beautiful, sexy AND intelligent, which is fair enough  but not good enough in this witty story. In 'Angelmaker' the heroine is almost 90.  Edie Banister is memorable.  She sets the action in motion and keeps it under control.  Yet, she is not evil, she is the complete opposite.  But like evil, goodness without measure can also be dangerous.  It is the art of Nick Harkaway that makes Edie's goals, means and growth so believable and entertaining.  Other women in this book are of different ages and sexual orientations, brave, inventive and cunning.  Women take the initiative and have ideas.  Yes, that's right good ideas...  They are even funny!  It is a joy to read.

Sometimes writers will find The Man a partner who can keep up with him.  So as a reader I encounter one woman who complements The Man.  She is often intelligent, beautiful and fit, maybe exotic for added sexual interest. In 'Angelmaker' the women have no need of men and have often done jobs that men could not do.  If they help men it is out of love or duty.  Refreshing?  Yes!  Joe could only save the world with the women that chose to help him.  There were men as well, good and evil... also interesting, but Nick Harkaway felt no need to pair everyone off to justify the presence of these amazing women.  They were amazing first and women second. Does that make sense?  Go on read it, perfect for the Summer.


@Harkaway
Nick Harkaway 
ISBN: 9780434020942 

'Stonemouth' by Iain Banks

This book is a jewel... the sort of story that I read for the love of reading. Thank you Mr. Banks I am going to miss you

I read different genres.  I like fantasy, I like science fiction, crime not so much but sometimes it is tempting, romance I read rarely.  I like non fiction as well and all the sciences.  Then we come to fiction, just fiction.  Some dude has a story to tell in something resembling our world and our time and so writes it down.  Publishing houses are often tempted to add a bit of help here, humor or action will appear next to fiction.  Sometimes, like this time, fiction will just sit there alone, defiant; a good story does not need a tag.  Mr. Banks has a story to tell and hopes I will enjoy it.  Oh good....

So I met Stewart up a bridge on a damp Friday night.  Stewart has returned home after five years in order to attend a funeral.  The book is divided into the four days this visit is supposed to last.  I could describe the story but that is not the point.  There was excitement, mystery, love, regret, death, redemption... just the kinds of things you hope to read in a good story.  This is my point, Iain Banks can tell a good story.  He captured my imagination and quickly made me care about the protagonist.  A story teller without a gimmick... and how did he get past the gods of publishing?

These days everything is about marketing.  The cover jacket; is it feminine or masculine; are the blurbs placed well? Is the book labeled to attract its target audience? I cannot imagine what goes on between the editor, publishing house, author, etc... to produce a marketable book.  Which takes me back to the simple labels like Humor/Fiction or SciFi... I understand this may make it easier for me to find books similar to say, Isaac Asimov's, but a humor label may discourage me from reading someone just as good, only a lot funnier.  I have no solutions here only questions.

The mechanized book shopping of today with e-readers and book searches that narrow my choices based on what I have purchased or browsed before would never have handed me this book.  And this book is a jewel.  A lot of books are never published because the companies cannot afford to publish them and so we come to self-publishing and coming to a lap top near you, professionally published books that will be printed only after a certain amount of success.  I am sure many of them will be jewels as well.  How sad that I will be pigeon holed into being a certain kind of reader.  Google is already useless for me because the search results it gives me are so predictable and narrow (or trying to sell me something) that I cannot use the information provided.  If I knew the answer I would not be doing a search, so I have moved on to other search engines.  Amazon has already frustrated me as well.  These days I look for books on the Waterstones website...  But when I can walk into Hatchards or Mayersche then I manage to pick up jewels.  Stonemouth is a wonderful story.  It is the sort of story that I read for the love of reading.  Thank you Mr. Banks, I am going to miss you...


Iain Banks 
ISBN: 9780349000206 

'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' by Rachel Joyce

Harold has given me courage

I felt alternately worthless and great while turning pages.  I remembered personal acts of selfishness and especially resentments but I also remembered generous, selfless moments that occurred because that was my nature at that moment.  Like the blurbs on the cover of the book suggested, I did cry and I did laugh. Harold Fry, the protagonist, learnt to be kinder to himself and to have more faith in the world.  This book is about generosity, not material, though that plays a small role, but generosity of spirit; the kind of generosity that makes you take disinterested action, for the complete benefit of someone else.  It is also the sort of generosity that allows you to forgive others and to forgive yourself.

Selflessness, in this case a pilgrimage meant to save a life, will not stop wars and probably will not save the life.  But this intangible generosity has worth because Harold tried.  He decides to believe that he can save a life.  And he decides to believe that he must walk in order to save this life.  This belief coupled with this walk becomes a spiritual exercise, a pilgrimage.  I think Harold thought of it as an act of gratitude to an old friend not an act of giving, but Harold had not been ungrateful, just too ashamed of the need for the favor in the first place.  Nevertheless, he finds his way on the road north and on the road in himself.

Perspective allows me to forgive myself, if only a little, like Harold. I live a life of many regrets...I could have hugged her, I should have called, I should not have trusted, I wish I had not lied...My list goes on.  But, it seems that a life of regrets is also a life of me becoming a better person.  Those regrets discourage me from repeating them.  This is an encouraging perspective and it took a while to get there, after all it is a pilgrimage, but it is important. My sins are not so great and my acts of kindness have lit someone's day, or I hope so.

In the meantime, Harold has given me courage.  This book, this work of fiction, is better than many self help books out there or religious works for that matter, in spite of the language used.  It is a joy to know that others believe that to put one foot in front of another can already be an act of courage, generosity, gratitude and love.  Rachel Joyce's book is in itself a generous gesture to many strangers.  This one will sit next to 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' and 'The Book of Tea'.


Rachel Joyce 
ISBN: 9780552778091 

'Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World' by Shereen El Feki

gave me a sense of perspective and hope for all our futures

I thought this book was about Arab women and politics.  Instead, it is about humans and their most fundamental rights, hopes and of course, desires.  The first time I tried to describe this book I said it was about human sexuality.  The rejoinder was "homosexuality?"  No, it is about all of sexuality.  Humans as sexual beings and the power attached to the control of sex.  It is a vast topic, but the setting (the current Arab world, especially Egypt) narrowed the scope.  The author focused beautifully; Shereen El Feki discusses a taboo topic in the Arab world with grace, curiosity and openness.

Her questions and observations sometimes looked frighteningly familiar.  As a woman in Western Europe, life seems quite free with guarantees and rights that give me control of my own body, regardless of marital status.  But here is the rub... many guarantees are recent.  It is not too long ago that babies were taken away from single mothers and abortion was illegal (often at the same time in the same country).  My daughter does not imagine life without her rights, I do.  The Americas are still struggling with reproductive rights, no thanks to religion for that.

Shereen El Feki made me think about freedoms I take for granted, especially with regards to information and my rights as a married woman.  But she also reminded me of how much social expectations and generational differences affected my teen years and my young adulthood in conservative South America.  I still remember, a female relative in despair over my attitude about school work said, with some force: "If you continue like this you won't even marry a virgin!"  I think she meant me, rather than the groom... It was the worst fate she could think of in that moment... Not so funny once I read 'Sex and the Citadel'.

The Western World, thanks to money and belligerence, considers itself an influential society.  And it is.  But the expectations of change and growth we have are at times unrealistic in other cultures.  This is not to say that "culture" justifies the rape of someone's sister as a punishment to the man and his family for his moral lapse, like I saw on the news some months ago... The rights to the sister's body belong to her family, her husband or a court, if not by law then often by tradition. Laws, culture and attitude do not easily change with only outside pressure; new laws must mean something to those people affected by them.

If any message is obvious after her interviews and research, it is that the Arab youth have some important challenges and often have their own fantastic solutions.  If only their elders would listen; fear holds the Arab world captive in their own beds with repressive sexual rules and expectations... the most repressive of all is the inability to talk about sex at all. El Feki does a wonderful job of asking good, open questions to normal people in all kinds of socio-economic and sexual situations.  Her experiences with a group of house wives is both funny and tragic... But she also talks to homosexuals and prostitutes and anyone who has a sex life or wishes they had a sex life. 'Sex and the Citadel' gave me a sense of perspective and a sense of hope for all our futures in a shrinking planet.


@shereenelfeki
Shereen El Feki 
ISBN: 9780701183165 

'The Chemistry of Tears' by Peter Carey

A world without love becomes a world without trust

The premise is simple and sad.  A woman must grieve the sudden death of her lover in private.  Her boss at The Swinburne Museum, where she works as a horologist, is aware of her awkward situation and gives her a complex assignment to distract her.  With a pile of boxes come the journals of Henry; the man who commissioned an automaton built in the 19th century to please his dying son.  I felt grown up as I read this book.  The topics while simple, assumed complexity rather like the automaton itself.  The writing style itself treats me as intelligent and curious.  Not to say that other books treat me like an idiot but sometimes I detect the hand of an editor who wants a story or a writer to be more accessible.

As we see Catherine unpack, clean, sort and eventually reconstruct a large moving duck (eventual swan... of course) we also see the design and construction of it through the journals of Henry.  Both stories go back and forth across time and space; hope and despair; understanding and confusion; love and loneliness; trust and suspicion.  The sad point is that what you ask for is not always what you receive, no matter how beautiful.  The duck was supposed to move and pretend to eat and swim.  It was turned into a complex, expensive swan; a work of art and not a toy for a child.  Catherine wants peace to mourn her lover publicly, naturally, but her pain and passion is turned into a project for a museum to attract fresh funding.

Trust becomes a deep issue in both stories.  Henry realizes he cannot trust his wife or his brother and those in their social circle.  Catherine cannot trust her colleagues or at times herself.  A world without love becomes a world without trust... not the other way around.  With love, between lovers and between father and son, the inconsistencies of those around them did not matter.  Without love there is no shield or comfort from the shock of death, illness, grief and betrayal.  Tears are chemically different when shed in genuine sadness as opposed to coughing hard or laughing.  There were a lot of tears shed in this book.  


Peter Carey 
ISBN: 9780571280018 

'May We Be Forgiven' by A.M. Homes

Family, Forgiveness, Love... Everything!!! -- with a sense of humor

I tried to explain to my BPR what this book is about... he asked for it... Right... Then I got a look... I guess I made the mistake of telling what is happening in the book (a lot) and not what this book is about.  So now is my chance, but I feel like the two Pan Dimensional beings talking to Deep Thought... "Life, The Universe, Everything!!!!"  So this book is about Family, Forgiveness, Love... Everything!!!
Fortunately, A.M. Homes has a sense of humor.  I laughed and I cringed and then I laughed in disbelief and then I cringed.  But let me talk a bit about Harry, you know, the protagonist.

Harry is the sort of guy that...No, Harry is not the sort of guy that... because Harry does not initiate much.  Stuff happens to Harry.  What he feels about this stuff is relief that it was not worse.  But one moment of weakness, or more weakness than usual, puts Harry on a horrible path, his murderous, bully of a brother in jail, his lover dead and his wife bitter, and quickly gone.  Harry finds out who his friends are and who his friends are not; like the 'friend' who calls him to tell Harry that he will represent his wife in the divorce because since childhood he has waited for an opportunity to get back at him.  Harry also has to become a father, as his niece and nephew become his responsibility.  Okay, so things keep happening to Harry.  What makes this book so exciting is that Harry grows up.  No, he does not take life on with resolve and initiative.  Harry starts feeling different about the things that happen to him.  At first he felt confused, hurt, surprised.  He kept his head low, he waited for the next blow.  At some point Harry takes emotional responsibility for his actions and what initiative he does take is small and for the good.

This is so exciting because as a society we rarely take time to look at ourselves and own our mistakes, worse yet we have regrets but we do not seek forgiveness.  We make excuses like "I was beaten as a child", or "my boss does not like me", etc...  Emotionally, our inability to forgive and be forgiven closes doors on deeper relationships with our children, our friends and ourselves.  Harry takes a look at his own actions and emotions and decides what is his fault and what is not.  This is a huge relief, Harry is free.  So he slowly and in jumps and starts becomes a good father and a good friend.  He lets go of a great deal of his past and embraces the future but only one day at a time, that is, he learns to live in the now.  He wants absolution, forgiveness and is willing to work for that one good deed at a time, for those closest to him and for himself.  I love this book.


@nycnovel
A.M. Homes 
ISBN: 9781847083234 

'Boneland' by Alan Garner

I was sad when I finished reading but I was also sated and satisfied.  

Boneland completes the Weirdstone trilogy.  The first two books were written several decades ago and were written for children.  This book is special because it is written for adults.  The children in the first two books have grown up and so have the readers.  I was curious to see how that would translate into my own memories and expectations.  It was so much better than I hoped.  Boneland is a bitter sweet book.  I was sad when I finished reading but I was also sated and satisfied.  The book took a child's pain and loss into adulthood.  After the events of The Moon of Gomrath, Colin's sister disappears when they were both 12.  She goes to the Pleaiades to join other maidens, or so Colin believes.  Colin becomes a 21st century Renaissance man, master of many sciences, in the search for her;  he wants to bring her back.  

Colin's struggles are woven with a story about a man only called The Watcher.  The Watcher is in another time.  He dances and draws and sings to keep the world in place and full of life.  But he has a problem, he searches for a woman to create a family so that he may pass on his job and so the world will not end.  Colin looks for his twin and The Watcher looks for his mate.  Both searches are full of their own dangers and tears.  The rhythm of the stories creates its own dance and the impression is beautiful, like twilight with a breeze and the first view of the stars.

Funny enough, given the presence of wizards in the previous books, the only time a wizard briefly appears is as a vengeful, angry old man who destroys a life without understanding or forgiving the pain of a desperate child.  The way the wizard treats Colin that brief moment (in this book) sets the tone for the rest of Colin's life.  The wizard may be waiting with his knights for the end of the world, the implication is that they will fight on the side of light and protect people.  But if this wizard cannot see the value in the innocence of a child and empathize with his pain then I despair for the final battle.  Colin was not a real danger to the knights and their king.  One lonely old wizard lost his temper and scarred a child forever.

To think that we, as a society, have become obsessed with tight, narrow goals achieved by specialized arts is scary, no matter how good and beneficial the goal... Worse yet is to think that there is only one way to achieve this goal.  A wizard who's longevity might have given perspective has, instead, narrowed his focus to the extent that he curses a child.  But the magic of this wizard is not old magic, it is magic tamed for men by men, ironic that he has come to be as narrow and fearful as the mortal humans around him who do not believe in magic.

 I hope I do not give a false view of Boneland; it is not heavy handed with obvious lessons or allegory, different topics or details come up the more I think about this slim book.  Time as a theme (amongst many) is interesting and I closed the book feeling that time has no meaning, it is a trick, and not a good one.  The Watchers's magic and the magic that Colin gently inherits is about balance, duty, truth and beauty.  The solutions to their searches are not expected or hoped for, but they bring closure.  The more I think about Colin and The Watcher the sadder I become but there is hope in their struggles.  Perhaps they will bring balance to the world...


Alan Garner 
ISBN: 9780007463244 

'Sweet Tooth' by Ian McEwan

... 

Ages since I read Mc Ewan, now I remember why... Ian McEwan has mastered his art.  Unfortunately, I sense a deep arrogance along with his talent.  Even Nabokov, at his most recherche did not make me so angry.  My anger took away the euphoria I often feel in the presence of art, of a book so well written the story becomes secondary to the telling. I first read Enduring Love, years ago.  McEwan made me feel uncomfortable.  I squirmed with distress at the premise of the book.  I thought that McEwan had that talent that makes the reader feel the discomfort of the people in his books.  I experienced the book rather that witnessed the book.  Then I tried to read Solar. Somehow I enjoyed it too little and was frustrated too much.  It is a sign when one of my German acquaintances, who rarely reads for pleasure and rarely reads frivolous books gushed about this book.  Books are not for pleasure, I think is her motto.  In any case I always felt that Stephen King can give me a stomach ache but I finish his books with a huge smile.  So we come to Sweet  Tooth...  I was angry when I finished this book.  Furious.  It has taken me weeks to calm down and to look at my reaction with some distance.

I think I have to mention that many books have caused me to feel deeply.  Beloved, Kafka on the Shore, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Schindler's List are just a few.  I have cried, I have laughed, I have been afraid, I have been angry but I rarely feel cheated by the author.  Usually I feel like this when the book is bad, like Twilight.  I was angry and in my insecurity I asked Beloved Proof Reader to read it and see if I was over reacting... no the book is badly written and badly thought out.  Just bad... So if McEwan is so good, then why was I so angry?

My problem with this book is two fold...  The treatment of the protagonist by her lovers, typical of the times in which the book takes place, made me catch my breath many times.  On the other hand, chauvinism even today is common enough and often a cause of anger.  I was emotionally engaged and then came that final twist in the story. It took me a while to disentangle my anger. I felt deceived as a reader. The final twist took her voice away.  The whole story became suspicious, deceitful, unreliable... the unreliable narrator is a common enough topic in high school literature but this was the final slap to the face of a woman.  Her voice had never been her own.  It was always the voice of a man who even in love, obviously thought little of her. Second, it turned love into a whip against a woman, and against the reader. Love of writing is no excuse to patronize the reader. Love of reading does not make me a target.  I want to be a part of the story, of the unfolding, of the telling not the butt of its joke.  I want to trust a writer even in manipulation for art's sake like in Catch 22 or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  I cannot trust Ian McEwan.

So my conclusion is that Ian McEwan is a talented writer but I cannot find any joy in his books.  This is the kind of talent that will be studied in literature classes but not loved.


Ian McEwan 
ISBN: 9780224097376 

'The Life of Thomas More' by Peter Ackroyd

If you wish to know the true difference between a medieval mind, however brilliant, and the Renaissance mind, then this is a wonderful book

Sometimes friends hand me a book quite at random.  This time I was handed Sir Thomas More, well, 'The Life of Thomas More'.  I started the book out of curiosity but was hooked early and hard.  Peter Ackroyd can write.  He does not state facts...he unfolds a life.  His subject, Sir Thomas, was a learned man on the edge of Medieval Europe and the Renaissance World.  Ackroyd from the first sentence immersed me into what is essentially a medieval city and a medieval life.  It was a life full of harsh absolutes.  A man's place in society was determined at birth, where God saw fit to place you, rich or poor.  Hierarchy, respect for those above you and The Church kept order in the world.  God was above all.  To help man please God, to help him attain Heaven and to protect him, the Holy Catholic Church stood as a wise intermediary.  Today people often forget that catholic means universal.  One God, one church, one authority.  'One above all' is what Thomas More defended , which is of course, where Thomas in a very real sense lost his head.  He ultimately believed the church and its voice the Pope are above a mortal king.  King Henry VIII disagreed.  But this rigid system is a medieval system. So was Thomas More a man who in spite of his intelligence and humanist connections could not adjust or was he a man who understood the new world but rejected it because he would not give up his scruples on the whim of a king?  Peter Ackroyd leads us to this question but first he lets us become acquainted with Sir Thomas More.

The Renaissance destroyed the Medieval world and its philosophy. It encouraged the rereading of Greek and Latin philosophers. Man became the center of creation.  Martin Luther crystalized the Renaissance way of thinking by insisting there is nothing between a man’s conscience and God; private faith is enough for salvation.  This new way of thinking was an anathema to Thomas More.

Ackroyd does a superb job of letting Sir Thomas speak in his own words and defend the old order he loved.  Ackroyd's research and subtle interpretation of his subject is humbling.  Thomas More, it can be argued, was the last brilliant gasping breath of the Medieval world and a whole Church.  But what a wonderful lawyer, writer, poet, orator he was.  God, order, loyalty and peace of mind were the lights by which he lived his public life.  To him there was no private life or a private man in a private world.  All was under God, King and Church to be judged.  To live an obedient hard working life was to live according to the wishes of God.  I can only wonder at a life lived in such certainty.

Thomas More must have been a formidable man to share a home with.  There is an old saying "It is harder to live with a Saint than to be one".  This is what came to mind when More married and then a month into widowerhood, married again.  His second wife seems to have had the correct character to manage and encourage him.  I like that Ackroyd spends time on her and the children.  The family was fundamental to More and to neglect it for his intellectual accomplishments is to miss the life he lived.

Peter Ackroyd walks me through the crowded streets of London and introduces me to high and low men.  All the important buildings and churches are pointed out like a good guide, he lets me miss nothing of importance... the noise, the pageantry and the dirt are all disclosed.  If you wish to know the true difference between a medieval mind, however brilliant, and the Renaissance mind, then this is a wonderful book.  I finished the book and regretted the obstinacy and blood lust of a King.  I also regretted the obstinacy and unyielding mind of More.  He is a man who could have guided the coming age if he had embraced some of the good that change would bring.  He seems to have seen only bad in change; the end of the world.  This was a complex, satisfying read.  I learnt a great deal, remembered a great deal and reconnected with my love of history.


Peter Ackroyd 
ISBN: 9780749386405 

'Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall' by Anna Funder

This book is about the impermanence of political structures, about the price of a soul, about the innocence of children and the love of parents.  It should not be forgotten.

I have lived in Germany longer than I have lived in any other country, including the one on my passport.  It is ironic given that neither my husband nor I have family or other attachments here.  It is a convenient place to live, is the best I can say about this situation.  It is also a safe, healthy place full of beautiful trees.  In any case, I have been able to observe Germans in their natural habitat for some time now.  As a group they are slow to warm up but loyal once you are indeed a friend, on a first name basis (don't laugh, long story about the use of names).  I am privileged to have several German friends.

It is my habit to be careful about certain topics but (I hope) polite and inquisitive at the same time... What's the point of being here if I can't eventually, you know, ask...  And so the National Socialists turn up in conversation.  No Problem!  My friends are often relieved, yes lets discuss those bygone days...  Then I mention East Germany.

There is usually a moment of embarrassment.  Of course the notorious Wall was awful, almost ridiculous.  If I ask about more details there are often excuses but no real discussion.   Sometimes kids blame the teacher for a bad grade.  And in truth there are bad teachers in this world.  It happens.  A bad teacher does not justify my own disinterest or lack of effort, though.  What I mean is that many could not do much about the political situation called The Cold War.  Many on the West side did their best to help people on the East side.  But as far as I can tell, people have done their best to forget or ignore the German Democratic Republic since 1989, like many would, a bad teacher.  The rest of Germany does not want to know more.  The mentality is that Germany is whole now, therefore healthy.  I hope my friends do not resent this description but it is accurate.

Then another foreigner who has lived here a long, long time handed me this book.  I am grateful.  The book begins with a hung-over journalist.  She wants to investigate and write about the people from East Germany. Not the politics. The people who lived in the shadow of a wall and could not trust anyone, ever.  Anna Funder's interviews are successful because she listens to what is consciously given and willingly shared. Not what is taken and recorded to use and twist.  It was shocking to see the effects of hyper surveillance on the psyche of a whole society.  The lack of privacy was obscene.  It puts me in mind of the arguments for and against privacy in the internet.  Eventually, people are not for sale.  Privacy and intimacy are worth more than quick results on the search page and what you can sell me there.  This book is not about the past it is about our future.  It is about the impermanence of political structures, about the price of a soul, about the innocence of children and the love of parents.  It should not be forgotten.
Suspicion was a sign of guilt and the punishment even to children lasted a lifetime.  These people are now free.  I wish.  Torturers, spies and vicious prison wardens have not been brought to justice.  Many politicians kept their old jobs with new titles.  Many of them are still alive.  Freedom does not happen when you remove the shackles or tear down the wall, but when you free the mind.  If you see the same person that tortured and raped you in jail shopping at your local then maybe free is too abstract a concept.  Anna Funder touches on the concepts of justice, fairness, closure, hope and despair.  She tells stories and uncovers wounds that do not heal.  By the end of the book I feel she deserved a drink now and again.  This book is required reading.


@AnnaFunder
Anna Funder 
ISBN: 9781847083357