books to read with Gooru and Babu

BOOK REVIEW JULY 2008 FROM THE PEN OF BABU

MIDNIGHT CACTUS BY BELLA POLLEN

Every now and then I crave a bit of romance. A book with a feisty heroine, a great hero, an unusual setting and a decent, believable back story. Bella Pollen has managed to satisfy my every wish. Alice Coleman is a wonderful creation and Pollen has given her character the sense of humour and courage that makes you want to meet her, to empathise with her and reassure her that, yes, you know just how she feels.

Caught in a failing marriage, Alice has left London and her property developer husband, Robert (and such is her skill that she makes you loathe and despise him in barely a sentence) and taken their 2 young children, Jack and Emmy, to stay in Temerosa, Arizona for a year where, due to a bad business investment, they are now the reluctant owners of a 500 acre ranch.

All does not, of course, go to plan. The story that unfolds, involving illegal Mexican immigrants, murder, intrigue and Duval, the laconic and captivating hero of the piece, allows us to explore the complex psychology that drives us, the importance of family and the choices that are forced upon us, compelling us to make decisions, often unwillingly and often, because we lose perspective, to choose badly. This book is riveting, intelligent, funny and touching. Truth be told I'd run off into the sunset with Duval, but will Alice?

NEW TITLE
THE WELSH GIRL, PETER HO DAVIES
Our fascination with the Second World War and in particular the Nazi regime, seems endless. It also seems that every slant, every fact, every possible point of view must surely have been covered. The Welsh Girl gives us something more to think about. Set in a remote Snowdonian village in 1944, Captain Rotheram, a German born Jew seconded to British Intelligence, arrives to interrogate Rudolf Hess, ultimately to ascertain whether he is fit for trial. The interviews make interesting reading and Hess is chillingly well-drawn.

The isolated village, with its anti-war, anti-English bigotry, gives an insight into the Welsh character which is still relevant today. Esther Evans, 17 years old, living with her widowed father on a sheep farm, finds the sudden influx of English Sappers, drafted in to build a camp for German prisoners, more than a distraction. But when they leave and the prisoners arrive, Esther finds herself drawn towards Karsten, a soldier only a year older than herself. Shunned by the other inmates for choosing to save his men by surrender, he is tormented by what he sees as his own cowardice. There are some good characterisations here and a fine sense of period. Jim, the young English evacuee, whose acceptance by the local children is hard won. Karsten himself and Captain Rotheram, whose circumstances have set him so far apart that he can't find his place in the world. Overall, this is a story about relationships and how the conditions of conflict can test and damage even the most resolute. An interesting subject, well presented.

THE VISIBLE WORLD by MARK SLOUKA
Remarkable and, at times, quite beautiful prose, raise this book to a literary level beyond just another war story. As the only child of Czech immigrants growing up in New York, the boy is fascinated by his father’s tales of their homeland, confused by his mother’s strange moods and curious about a war that he could only read about. As he grows to manhood he decides to go back, to visit the places his father has mentioned and to find the truth about his mother. The Visible World, set against the German occupation of Prague, centres around the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich and his mother’s affair with Tomáš Bém, one of the assassins. The characterisation is faultless and by the end we feel we have come to know the cast of courageous men and women who defied the Nazi regime and paid the price. A good, absorbing read in the tradition of story-telling as it should be.

BEST OF THE OLD
CHOCOLAT by JOANNE HARRIS
The film of the book came out ages ago with Johnny Depp, Juliet Binoche and Judy Dench. It may be that you’ve seen the film and felt the hype didn’t quite match the reality, it didn’t do well at the Box Office – one of those strange flops that have no rhyme or reason, because I thought it was a wonderful film and captured the essence of the book perfectly. But if you have seen the film, don't let it put you off reading the novel because it truly is a wonderful story.

It's set in the small French village of Lansquenet, where Vianne Rocher and her young daughter, Anouk, come to open a chocolate shop. From the very beginning we realise that Vianne is not at all what she seems. Apart from anything else, why has she arrived at the beginning of Lent? And why set up her premises opposite the Church? Doesn't she realise she runs the risk of alienating the priest? Or doesn't she care? He believes chocolate is sinful, she believes it's quite the opposite. But when she announces her plans for an Easter Chocolate Festival, he's outraged, taking it as a deliberate provocation. Vianne teases him and tries to tempt him into trying some of her chocolate, careless, even when she realises she's made a dangerous enemy. She's far more interested in the people of Lansquenet and how she can entice them into her shop. But one by one she overcomes their suspicion and wins their friendship and we see that her arrival in the village does indeed have a purpose.

This is quite the best book Joanne Harris has written. It has all the key elements for an absorbing read – mystery, intrigue, romance and excellent characterisation. Harris has drawn her characters beautifully and somehow she makes you believe that chocolate really can release hidden passions.

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM by KATE ATKINSON
This book made me laugh out loud. Kate Atkinson has been hailed as the female Alan Bennett, a title well-deserved. It's fluent and witty, a fine balance between tragi-comedy and the absolute ridiculous.

Set in the 50's in York, it's written from the perspective of Ruby Lennox. Born to the proprietors of a pet shop in the shadow of York Minster, she starts her tale from the womb. And it works well. Atkinson makes it work. Born while her mother's husband is in a Doncaster pub, telling a woman in an emerald green dress that he isn't married, she arrives into a ready made family of two sisters, both of them terrifying in their own way. From page one you're right there with her.
BABU

GOORU'S BOOKSHELF JULY 2008
So now we are into the 'Que calor!' stage again and 'it's come too suddenly, no time to prepare!' - Prepare for what? This is late June in Valencia, traditionally hot, soaring temperatures and humid. And, as always at this time, in the early day and weeks of the heat, bad tempers on the roads and in the streets. Once everyone is used to it, by the end of summer, it will be cooling down again.

But hey, it's school holiday time, 11 weeks of time off for kids and teachers, and lots of beach time for all of us. Which means it's time for beach reads and more than just music on you iPods and mp3 players.

Let's start with iPods (or similar), there is a wealth of stuff legitimately downloadable from the web - Podcasts from the bbc.co.uk site - Quite a comedy and chat shows are available, and if you have a recording software that will record streaming audio, the possibilities are endless. The BBC alone has enough online live and in listen again to keep even the most jaded listener happy. If you have never listened to the wonderful "I'm sorry I'll read that again" with the late, great Humphrey Littleton in the chair, now is your chance, they are repeating the best episodes throughout the summer. This is classic British comedy at its very best. Our other Radio 4 favourites are Loose Ends (not quite as good in Clive Anderson's hands as before in Ned Sherrin's), a regular and very entertaining round table chat, and Saturday Live with Fi Glover. Fi does a great job with this eclectic mix of interview, documentary and poetry. Radio 2 has the very funny and surprisingly clever Jonathan Ross Saturday show.

Then there are the excellent plays on Radio four, one every afternoon, another every Friday and Saturday night. The BBC site is fantastic, it is probably one of the best sites on the WWW, and if you search you'll find, on a daily basis, a treasure trove of not only Spoken word, from News to Politics to Comment and Opinion to Culture and Comedy and, of course, music, great Jazz, world and Classical Radio Three and the latest on Radio One and Six. Finally there is a great American site http://www.kcrw.com that has a show called Morning Becomes Eclectic, hosted by an Englishman Nic Harcourt, who has been in LA so long he now has a drawl that is more Los Angeles than English. The show regularly features extended live performances from international bands and performers. Its all there just waiting for your MP3 Player.

If none of the above satisfies your taste buds - go on iTunes and check out the thousands of Podcasts there, favourites for us here are the fabulous "The New Yorker" magazine podcasts, and they're free!

If you record half of the stuff I mention above you won't need to take books to the beach, but if you want a couple of recommendations I am happy to oblige! I don't know about you but I am lousy at keeping a diary, I start out with great intentions but by about the third week of the year it start to gather dust. Reading other people's diaries however is a favourite pastime of mine, so when I came across Alec Guinness "My Name Escapes Me" I naturally snapped it up. He freely admits that this is a diary he was commissioned to write (for Penguin Books), though he had kept a diary since 1962, 'a series of daily jottings...the only use I have ever found for them has been to settle arguments when my wife and I have disagreed about when or where or who with on years long past.' This book is a delight, 18 months from January 1995. It is a fascinating insight into the life of this great actor as he begins to slow down. He was 81 when he wrote this and is still so sociable and active. He is surprisingly candid and unselfconscious. A lovely book.

I haven't read more than a few pages of it yet, but The Visible World by Mark Slouka, comes highly recommended to me from my friend B. A good source of reading material is B. This book is set in Nazi occupied Prague and is a literary tour de force, and I am already hooked.

I tried reading Louis de Bernieres, Birds without Wings, yet again this month, but failed, yet again to get past the first chapter. This is the third time I have attempted it, and I will keep trying. I had the same trouble with Captain Corelli, but in the end my perseverance paid off and it is still one of my favourite novels of all time.

Have a wonderful summer - see you next time

GOORU'S BOOKSHELF JUNE 2008
It's amazing how the weather takes up so much of our time in conversation wherever you are in the world. The British have a terrible reputation for it, but I would say the Valencians are as bad, if not worse! Particularly when the weather is slightly unusual like, say, the past 9 years. When we first arrived on these shores all those years ago to live, there was a heatwave on. That is what we were told by everyone we encountered - 'Que Calor! This is hotter than we ever remember!' This was followed by a particularly wet autumn, and this of course, was described by all you met as quite extraordinary and 'not in living memory' etc. Successive seasons and years have proved to just as unusual, so my question is this. Is the weather really changing that much, or does everyone have a really bad memory? I have to say that I don't personally remember a wetter May, when so many events have been washed out, a Valencian friend tells me the last time was 15 years ago. It would be nice to think it goes some way to helping improve the almost disastrous water situation in the Comunidad Valenciana this summer.

I have to say though, that it is surprising how depressing these grey days have been...

From weather to food now, A Late Dinner by Paul Richardson, is subtitled Discovering the food of Spain. It is a journey through the country in search of the Spanish Cuisine - through some of the great restaurants, chefs and growers of the country. We visit most parts of the country, and many of Spain's finest restaurants, including, of course, El Bulli, superstar chef Ferran Adrià's celebrated restaurant. Food has certainly changed in this country over the past few years - just look at Valencia and how many excellent new eateries have opened, but still most food is rooted in the peasant cooking of the past. Much as I liked this book, and the writing is often inspired, I felt that he should have taken the reader to some more of the ordinary places and people's homes.

Back to the weather now, through a crime novel by a writer who is new to me, Stephen Booth's Dying to Sin is a great read. Set in the Peak District in the middle of winter, weather features heavily, rain and cold hamper the police as they try to find out who killed the two bodies found in shallow graves on an isolated farm. I shall be looking out for others in the series, there seem to be nine novels so far, featuring the two main detectives.

If you are a regular reader of this column you will already know that I am a great fan of A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka. So I was really pleased when one of the Goorettes bought me a copy of her latest book Two Caravans. Marina is a seriously funny writer, in this novel she tackles migrant workers, both legal and illegal in Britain today, starting in two caravans on a strawberry farm in Kent and moving on to a road-trip through England to Sheffield. The book is written in several voices including that of a dog and has moments of great satire, slapstick and comedy - it tackles an interesting and difficult subject in a clever and funny way. It gives a very good picture of Britain politically and socially and I thought an even better read than Tractors.

Finally this month a marvellous book, John Berendt's The City of Falling Angels. Early in 1996 The Fenice Opera House in Venice burned to the ground. Berendt, who arrived in the city three days later and intrigued by the rumours flying around Venice as to the cause of the fire (arson?) and its source (Mafia?) decides to stick around to find out more , not just about the fire but about Venice too. This is a who's who of Venice, Berendt seems to get close to anyone who is anyone in the city. It is beautifully written, you feel that you are reading a novel. My only gripe is that he regularly puts words into people's mouths, he writes their dialogue even when he is not witness to what they are saying, but it is a very minor gripe. I couldn't put this book down. Now I can't wait to read his previous, massive best seller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Let's hope that by the time you are reading this Valencia's weather is back to normal.

See you next month

GOORU'S BOOKSHELF APRIL 2008
Whilst the rest of Valencia's population was out enjoying Fallas along with the record number of Tourists from out of town, there was I, having to sit at home reading and watching stuff for this column. I had, after all, had a holiday from it last month as the editor of this tome decided that no one would want to read about books when there was a serious amount of street-partying to do!

Have you tried reading when there is a constant stream of revellers, bands, falleras courtiers and their families passing by your window making noise...and don't get me started about the fireworks. Were they noisier than ever this year? I am not complaining, I love Fallas, I still marvel at how a modern working city can literally give itself over to its people, shutting streets and whole areas for hours and even days, just so people can enjoy themselves. I also never cease to be amazed at the constant clean-up operations following any of the events, armies of street cleaners both human and mechanical, bravely and swiftly clean the city over and over and over again.

Of course I am lying, I was out there all the time, barely missed a Mascletá or a Castillo and even did my favourite walk from mascletá to mascletá around Ruzafa, just can't get enough of that thump in the chest!chest!

I did do some reading though, quite a lot actually, from historical to factual to a little crime. Let's start with the historical - Music and Silence, by Rose Tremain. This book is the last thing I would want to read but a very good friend of mine insisted I try it. I reluctantly started it, thinking I would probably not get past the first few chapters but was enthralled from almost the word go. It is a marvellous book set in 17th century Denmark at the court of King Christian IV. His country and his adulterous wife are slipping away from him. His only comfort is a young Lutenist, newly arrived to play in his orchestra. It is an intricately structured and marvellously atmospheric tale of opposites and I can't recommend it enough. I for one will be reading much more of Rose Tremain.

Faye Kellerman, a name I often see on second-hand bookshelves and have never read, so I picked a rather dog-eared copy of one of her books, Prayers for the Dead, that was lying around in a spare bedroom. It was a fairly well written but ultimately very dissatisfying read, and all a bit distasteful too, so I won't be visiting Faye again in a hurry. Don't you love it when publishers are so desperate for you to understand that a book is in the style of something else that not only is the cover artwork a dead ringer for the original, the title too is similar (and in a similar typeface) if they are really desperate they get the poor author to change his name so it sounds more like the original. Such is the case with The Righteous Men (the end of the world is coming. One body at a time) By Sam Bourne (the biggest challenger to Dan Brown - get it?) Despite everything, I really enjoyed this book and everybody knows I hate Dan Brown. Why Jonathan Freed-land would agree to change his name is beyond me. A lot of the novel centres around the Hassidic community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and makes fascinating reading.

Val McDermott has had her novels made into a UK TV series Wire in the Blood, a friend was saying how good the show was and I had a copy of The Mermaids Singing, so decided to read it, A brutal serial killer is on the loose in the gay community of a northern town - this is seriously stomach churning stuff, I almost gave up, nasty all the way through.

DVD and television now, grab a copy of the BBC's excellent The Last Enemy, Benedict Cumber-batch stars in a thriller about a man whose search for the truth about his brother's death catapults him into an international conspiracy. Also starring Robert Carlyle and Geraldine James, The Last Enemy is an exciting and well made pacey thriller showing how technology could transform Britain into a surveillance society - threatening human relationships and destroying trust. On a par with Spooks, which is still the best thing on TV.

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip - The Complete Series, is about to be released on DVD. If you didn't catch it on TV before it was unceremoniously axed last year watch it now. Aaron Sorkin (West Wing) over estimated the American Audience with this series starring Matthew Perry, based around the writers and performers of a series based on Saturday Night Live. Brilliant.

Finally, get someone to tape ITV's Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach and let me know what you think! Moving Wallpaper is a comedy 'documentary' on the making of a tacky soap, Echo Beach. It is shown on ITV followed immediately by the actual Show Echo Beach, starring Martine McCutcheon and Jason Donovan. Just can't decide whether we love it or hate it!

That's it from me for this month

Have fun

Gooru