At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison was an excellent novel. It's a book that is stronger of characterisation than plot and there are some tremendous characters ranging from young to old, male to female, which is quite a feat. Pervading it all is a sadness at the loss of traditional ways and our disconnection with Nature. If you like Hardy's The Woodlanders then you'd like this.
Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman is by far the longest book yet on the library challenge weighing in at 900 pages, and this is only the prequel, lol. I didn't enjoy it that much, I have to admit. It had a massive cast list, I didn't know who I was reading about half the time, although there was a list of characters at the back but a lot of them had very similar Russian names and it was quite strangely ordered. Sections of it were good, if you like War and Peace you'll probably like this. I prefer books with a small cast list. 6/10
The Wild Silence by Raynor WinnBitter Orange by Claire Fuller is quite an original book. It's a historical novel set in the 60s centred upon a group of "lost" people in a country house engaged in various restoration projects. All of them have issues in their pasts and are struggling in different ways to deal with them. They are flung together and strange things start to happen. It's not exactly a page-turner but because it doesn't neatly fit into an established format or genre you really have no idea what's going to happen. 7/10
London Lies Beneath by Stella Duffy is a historical novel based loosely on an actual event in London just before WW1. It centres on a shipping accident which befell a group of scouts. It's written from the perspective of three boys who are friends, and their six parents. The book came to life in the last few chapters, finally justifying the long character list. 7/10.
Three Years by Anton Chekhov is a short novel about human relationships. Basically a rich guy marries a pretty girl, she does not love him, but it gives her an exit route from her parental home so she takes it. He knows she doesn't love him, but they persevere with the marriage and eventually they are a happy couple. Not really my thing. 4/10
The True Herod by Geza Vermes is my last book from the "upstairs" part of Dorking library, the far part of the books area up the steps which is exclusively non-fiction. The more popular lower part near the entrance I am roughly half way through, so a lot of fiction books have to be read over the next few months. The True Herod was my last book from the upper regions, and also Geza Vermes's, as it was published posthumously. I'm sure most would agree it's not his best book, and not on the scholarly level of his works on the bible and Dead Sea Scrolls. This is fairly short and packed with a lot of pictures. I am not sure I really got much out of it other than it's premise that Herod was not the villain portrayed in our nativity plays. 4/10
Mail Obsession: A journey around Britain by postcode was fairly geeky book by Mark Mason. He comes up with a fascinating fact from each postcode area, most of which he travels to. But the truth is most of the places he saw through a car window and might as well stayed at home and used Wikipedia. The visits he did make to places like Shetland and Watford Junction I enjoyed best, where he actually got to talk to real people (as opposed to fellow nerds like himself). 6/10
I enjoy books about long solitary walks (or paddles in this case) but Meander seemed to be about everything but the walk. Some chapters barely contained a sentence about the actual journey. Instead, we are regaled with incessant Turkish history which is not what I signed up for. The book is as meandering as the eponymous river. 3/10
I have seen Bettany Hughes on TV before so decided to read one of her early books Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore that presumably helped make her name. Overall I was not impressed. For starters, I have never read Homer and a lot of the book seemed to be about his works in the absence of much actual evidence on the ground about the actual Helen. I found the book a bit random and speculative, and very few passages grabbed my attention. I like history of an actual period and archaeology books but this was neither being about the history of a fairly ethereal person who has become the foundation of legends and folklore. 4/10. Finding the real Helen from the available sources is beyond anyone.
I'll stick to watching Bettany on TV.
I missed out a bookcase in Society so have gone back and read a book from it, just in time for the reopening of the library after the long lockdown. Woodsman by Ben Law is a very idealistic book, You could say he needs to get out more, but he lives outside anyway so maybe it wouldn't help! Ben basically has devoted his life and career to wood and the countryside, and his vision of the future sees us in some sort of dystopian world where coppicing is king and growing trees for your grandchildren is de rigueur. I doubt his vision will be realised but I appreciate the sentiment and admire his life in the woods. 6/10
In Pursuit of Butterflies: A Fifty-Year Affair by Matthew Oates
