I seem to have neglected the blog even longer than I thought I had.
Claire's library lends out puzzles, so we had a nice couple of evenings doing some. I also borrowed the Kate Atkinson (When Will There Be Good News) from her. I read another one while I was there as well, but the title escapes me. Enjoyed them very much, excellent holiday reading.
'The World According to Garp' by John Irving, whose style is becoming familiar, was also excellent. I have seen the film but don't recall it much. Another wonderful cast of quirky characters whose eventful lives are randomly intertwined.
'Spoilt Creatures' by Amy Twigg was the book club book for August. Holiday time reduced the group to just three of us but we still have a lively exchange of views. It takes place in a women's 'commune', a safe place for those escaping various situations. It started out idyllic but very quickly got dark and menacing, shades of Lord of the Flies. I found it unsatisfying because people behaved in unrealistic ways and the motivations of some characters was too vague. The denouement was a little predictable and aspects of it felt lazy and clichéd. (I wanted to write something longer and considered but as usual have drifted away before I found the time) Here, the early atmosphere: "The other women ate like carrion, tearing at the food with their dirty hands, greedy and fast and indiscriminate. I watched as Molly crammed an entire roasted onion into her mouth, the pulpy excess spilling on to the floor. Insatiable, these women. Again and again they filled their plates, squabbling over the last potato, their mouths glistening with oil. It was as if they were trying to plug something inside themselves, satisfy some unknowable need. Blythe was the only one who didn't eat. I suspected she survived in some other way, was able to sustain herself on light and air: the immaterial.
Afterwards, Sarah brought out dessert. Pears stewed in syrup, the size and colour of hearts. Lemon drizzle cake cut into uneven squares, the frosting so sweet it put stones in my cheeks. Hazel and Pearl fought over a slice, their playfulness turning mean as Hazel dug her nails into Pearl's arm and licked her tongue across the top.
I ate everything that was offered to me, eating until my stomach hurt. Ready to gorge myself on this new life I'd found." (p.74)
'Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper' by Harriet Scott Chessman was a random charity shop find and a delight. I was attracted after reading 'The Yellow House' last year; this is a novelisation about the work of Mary Cassatt and her lovely relationship with her sister Lydia. It follows a couple of years when they are living in Paris and closely involved in the Impressionist art scene. The book is actually about Lydia, her experience of watching her sister work and aware of her own impending mortality and how it felt that her only purpose in living is to contribute to her sister's work. I noted this, and wondered if this was the way it used to be to be ill, when there were so few actual treatments, you were just ill, waiting to either get better or die: "I call to Lise, or to May if she's home. My mouth opens and my stomach pitches and heaves. Mother comes too slowly and I can't bear to ask her to clean up my messes. Lise in immature and dislikes illness; she wrinkles her nose and holds her breath, sighing and making a show of taking the basin away. May's better, because she has courage, and backbone, but she cannot disguise her distress at my condition.
Why is it that I must feel at fault for this sickness? Surely I am not at fault. In the midst of my collapse, I feel fury at my family, the way they tiptoe around me and look at me with hushed faces, as if I've already died; and yet, at the same time, they seem impatient with me. Be healthy or go, choose one or the other, I imagine them thinking, we can't bear to accompany you further into this illness." (p.65-66)
Lionel Shriver's book 'Should We Stay Or Should We Go' was a random library find on the wrong shelf. Kay and Cyril decide not to linger in mental and physical decline and agree to kill themselves at age 80. The book is a series of stories following the consequences of this decision where the event in question has different outcomes. It got a little surreal when human being end up discovering a regenerative medicine and live forever, and the story where they both get sectioned and live out a miserable existence in a mental institution is an object lesson in being careful what you plan.
Lastly 'Beautyland' by Marie-Helene Bertino was the book club book for September. It was sold as being about an alien, but at no point did I engage with the character on that level. Adina arrives in strange circumstances and though her childhood communicates with her 'co-aliens' on the home planet via a fax machine. She experiences 'lessons' in her sleep where they teach her about stuff. I assumed the character was on the autistic spectrum and this explained her inability to fit in and understand social rules. In effect the book was very much about what it means to be a human and be accepted by other humans. Her friend Toni persuades her to publish her faxes as a book and she becomes something of a sensation as a mysterious reclusive author. I enjoyed it, it had some thoughtful observations about the human condition.
Can't promise I won't just do another one of these in six weeks time. Who knows.
Stay safe. Be kind.