As December continues apace, so does my have to meet up with A Century of Books posts. So here’s a entire bunch of mini-reviews (extra mini than evaluation) of books I’ve learn for ACOB that I don’t have a complete weblog put up price of stuff to say about…
Lolly Willowes (1926) by Sylvia Townsend Warner
I acquired my village e book membership studying Lolly Willowes, and listened to the audiobook. As normal, I used to be shocked by how good Warner’s writing is – concerning the dynamics of an neglected spinster dwelling together with her brother’s household, and the lengths she calmly goes to for some type of autonomy. I’ve learn the novel many instances and I all the time like it. It’s truthful to say my e book group had been extra combined… and customarily confused when she turns into a witch.
The Little Disturbances of Man (1959) by Grace Paley
Huge Adjustments on the Final Minute (1974) by Grace Paley
Each these collections have been on my shelf for a really very long time, and I’ve heard such good issues about Paley’s quick tales… however I ended up feeling fairly lukewarm, and I can’t consider something to say about them?
The Tao of Pooh (1982) by Benjamin Hoff
A enjoyable e book explaining the rules of Tao by the rules of Winnie the Pooh et al – and quoting liberally from the books, so pleasing mainly as a result of it was a bit like re-reading the Pooh books. I’m undecided I bear in mind a lot about Taoism off the again of it, however I definitely loved remembering what a genius A.A. Milne was.
Tentacles of Unreason (1985) by Joan Givner
A slim assortment of quick tales by Joan Givner, whose The Self-Portrait of a Literary Biographer I loved a lot final 12 months. Undoubtedly not in the identical league as her autobiographical writing IMO, however very readable and a few very fascinating character creation. I’d positively learn extra tales by her, however it didn’t have the identical oh-wow-this-is-excellent spark that her different e book had.
Keepers of the Flame (1992) by Ian Hamilton
That is subtitled ‘literary estates and the rise of biography’, and so I’d thought it is likely to be much like Janet Malcolm’s ruthlessly good e book about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath – or, extra precisely, about their literary estates and biographers. Hamilton covers a large, big selection from Donne to Shakespeare to Hardy to Plath however I wanted it had been (frankly) extra gossipy. However maybe I shouldn’t hope for a Malcolmesque e book from somebody who isn’t Malcolm. By itself phrases, that is very effectively researched. It’s not likely about literary estates or biography till the ultimate chapters, however it’s an fascinating sufficient stroll by the historical past of authorial popularity.
Notes from a Small Island (1995) by Invoice Bryson
A number of years in the past, I gave up on Bryson’s much-loved e book about touring the UK. I’ve liked a few of his books, however Notes from a Small Island felt a bit try-hard. It seems I get pleasure from it an terrible lot extra as an audiobook – my second try at it was way more profitable. It’s nonetheless not very refined humour, and his e book on Shakespeare is unquestionably significantly better and funnier in my view, however I’m glad I acquired nearer to seeing what the fuss is about.
Uncle Tungsten (2001) by Oliver Sacks
I am keen on Sacks, and I liked his much-later autobiography. This earlier try of ‘recollections of a chemical boyhood’ was fascinating to me when it was autobiographical, and way more tedious when it was explaining numerous histories of science. I’ve realised why I really like his neuroscience: as a result of it’s unabashedly about individuals. I’m simply not involved in science that isn’t straight, clearly about individuals’s behaviours. That’s a failing in me, not the e book, after all.
The Audacity (2021) by Katherine Ryan
Katherine Ryan’s memoir is precisely what you count on it to be. For me, that was a great factor.