Category: Publication Date

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1700s Books in Translation Classics

Dangerous Liaisons – Choderlos de Laclos

Translated from the French by Helen Constantine

Dangerous Liaisons was the latest choice for my book-group and I was very pleased to be forced to read it, as there was no way I’d have picked it up myself!

First published in 1782, the book is written entirely in the form of letters between members of the French aristocracy. The two central characters are former lovers who enjoy seducing others; through increasingly deceptive letters they try to win the attention of a married woman and an innocent convent girl.

Unfortunately the book annoyed me from the beginning. I have never been a fan of reading about privileged people who have nothing to worry about other than their own appearance – they are so self absorbed that I just want to slap them! The characters in this book were some of the worst I’ve come across, spending their entire day writing letters to each other and gossiping. This just holds no interest for me. 

You say she is plainly dressed; and so she is: all ornament spoils her; everything that hides her detracts from her beauty; in the abandonment of déshabillé she is truly ravishing.

Their soppy proclamations of love for each other irritated me and I just didn’t care what happened to any of them.

The letter format also meant that there were no descriptions, depriving the book of period atmosphere. It could easily have been set in a different country, or even time period, and little would change. Some would say this was a plus-point, but I would have loved to know what their surroundings looked like and to imagine the sounds and smells of the city.

I waded through 177 pages of increasingly dull conversations before I finally decided that I my time would be better spent reading a book that I enjoy – I gave up and read the plot summary on wikipedia!

I was the only member of the book group to hate it –  the 7 other people present loved the wicked characters and their manipulative ways. I appear to be in the minority on this one, so please don’t avoid the book on my account.

 (DNF)

Have you read Dangerous Liaisons?

Did you enjoy it?

Categories
2010 Crime Recommended books

Rupture – Simon Lelic

Note: This book is released as A Thousand Cuts in the US

Rupture is set in a London comprehensive school, where a teacher walks into an assembly and shoots three pupils and a colleague, before turning the gun on himself. The book follows the young policewoman who is in charge of investigating the case. She quickly realises that the incident is not as simple as it first appears and sets out to find what motivated a quiet teacher to become a murderer.

The book begins with some truanting boys hearing a disturbance at their school; they sneak past the teachers and police they try to discover what has happened. The boys don’t actually see anything, but in many ways I found their observations more disturbing, as my imagination was left to conjure up the horror for myself.

I see what I had for lunch the day before, a pile of pork all glistening with fat like it’s been run over by a herd of slugs, just left on a tray in the sink. And there’s stuff all over the floor, lettuce gone soggy and brown, and peas with their guts splattered and smeared all over the tiles. I almost throw up.

I’d like to say that Rupture is a cross between Notes on a Scandal and We Need To Talk About Kevin but I think that would be unfair, as Rupture has it’s own unique voice. Much of the book is written as half a conversation, leaving you to fill in the police officer’s questions yourself. Some people may struggle with this writing style, but I found it to be very effective.

This book is gripping throughout and I was very impressed that by the end I had a great deal of sympathy for the murderer. I loved the way my initial opinions were slowly changed, leading me to question the way I look at crime and how often the perpetrator is often a victim too.

This book has everything I love to see in a book: fantastic characters, an impressive writing style, a compelling plot and a list of things to think about for weeks to come.

Highly recommended.

 

Have I persuaded you to buy a copy?!

There seem to be a lot of books about school shootings. Which is your favourite?

Categories
2009 Historical Fiction

The Harlot’s Progress: Yorkshire Molly – Peter Mottley

Yorkshire Molly is the first in a trilogy of books that breathe life into Hogarth’s series of etchings, The Harlot’s Progress (Please note that the previous link takes you to pictures of the etchings, which contain plot spoilers).

Set in 18th Century England, the book begins with Molly travelling on a wagon from York to London, excited at the prospect of marrying her wealthy cousin. Unfortunately, the moment she arrives in London Molly is lured into a whore house, where her innocence is brutally taken from her. With her plans in tatters Molly must learn to survive in her dangerous new surroundings.

‘London’s full of dressmakers,’ Mother Wickham said sharply. ‘Every silly child who can thread a needle calls herself a dressmaker. Forget your scissors and thread, girl. The prick of a needle is worth pennies. The prick of a man is measured in guineas.’

This is a fantastic book – it is rich in period detail and the plot is gripping throughout. It had a similar feel to Fingersmith, I’m sure that fans of Sarah Waters will love this book too. There were numerous twists and turns, and although none of them are as shocking as those in Fingersmith it was a fantastic plot, giving a glimpse of life as a notorious whore and in a privileged country home.

If my post hasn’t persuaded you to read it then have a look at the book trailer, as that is what made me want to pick it up!

Isn’t the author’s daughter fantastic? After listening to her I wanted the audio-book version, but unfortunately there isn’t going to be one; there will be a TV adaptation at some point though – I’m looking forward to it!

This book is a must for anyone who loves reading about 18th Century England; I’m hoping they publish the rest of the series soon.

Have you found any books that are similar to Fingersmith?

Has a book trailer ever persuaded you to read a book?

Categories
1920s Classics

To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf

I have been wanting to read some Virginia Woolf for a while, but I had been told that her books are very difficult to read and so had been putting it off. When I saw the Woolf in Winter read-along I decided it was the perfect opportunity to give her a try, as difficult texts are always easier when you have a group of people to read along with. Emily is hosting the discussion for To the Lighthouse today, so please pay her a visit if you’d like to join in!

I was pleasantly surprised when I read the first few pages of To the Lighthouse – it was much easier to read than I had expected it to be. Yes, the sentences were often long and meandering, but I found it easy to follow and some of the descriptions were strangely fascinating.

Disappearing as stealthily as stags from the dinner-table directly the meal was over, the eight sons and daughters of Mr and Mrs Ramsay sought their bedrooms, their fastnesses in a house where there was no privacy to debate anything, everything; Tansley’s tie; the passing of the Reform Bill; seabirds and butterflies; people; while the sun poured into those attics, which a plank alone separated from each other so that every footstep could be plainly heard and the Swiss girl sobbing for her father who was dying of cancer in a valley of the Grisons, and lit up bats, flannels, straw hats, ink-pots, paint-pots, beetles, and the skulls of small birds, while it drew from the long frilled strips of seaweed pinned to the wall a smell of salt and weeds, which was in the towels too, gritty with sand from bathing.

It is odd that in copying the above paragraph down I realised how little of it makes sense. It is a collection of random thoughts, but I didn’t worry too much about understanding why every little word was used – I just enjoyed the images they created.

The book begins with a young boy wanting to visit a lighthouse, but being told that it probably won’t be possible to go. I thought the scene was set beautifully, but I soon discovered that nothing else was going to happen.  In the final part of the book, set many years later, they head out to visit the lighthouse, but that is all that happens. There is no plot, simply observations of small scenes – this lack of any action meant that it turned out to be quite a boring book. It was very short, so I had no trouble finishing it, but in the end I was left with a feeling of disappointment. If the book had been much longer, but with more interesting events occuring, then I’m sure I would have enjoyed it as I had no objection to the writing style.

Overall, I’m afraid I just didn’t connect with this book. It felt more like an introduction to a set of characters than a novel in its own right. I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of Woolf’s work.

 

Have you read To the Lighthouse?

Did you enjoy it?

Categories
2008 Books in Translation

The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery

Translated from the French by Alison Anderson

I had seen nothing but praise for this book in the blogging world, so was keen to find out why everyone raves about it.  Unfortunately the book failed to live up to expectations, so I am going explain why I just didn’t get this book at all.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is set in Paris and focuses on Renée, a concierge with a secret passion for culture. Living in the same apartment building is Paloma, a suicidal twelve-year-old. The outlook of both women is changed when one of their privileged neighbours dies.

The book started off very slowly, but I was prepared for that. I had seen several reviews that described the beginning as being uninspiring, but they assured me that after 100 pages I would be completely hooked. I admit that it did pick up a bit towards the end, but instead of falling in love with the characters I found myself being increasingly wound up by them. Was I the only one who found the characters very annoying? I didn’t understand why Renée needed to keep her passions hidden and found the whole idea of her pretending to watch television ridiculous.

Paloma was equally annoying. I struggle to believe that anyone, let alone a twelve-year-old girl, would come out with phrases like:

The most intelligent among them turn their malaise into a religion: oh, the despicable vacuousness of bourgeois existence!

The book was packed with profound statements, but there were so many that it felt contrived. It was as though a philosophy text book had been regurgitated and disguised as a novel.

The words were also ridiculously long and obscure – all those syllables meant that the flow of the text was continually broken up. I don’t think I have ever read a book in which I have had to use a dictionary so often, and I think I have a pretty good vocabulary – it just came across as pretentious.

The only reason I finished the book was so I could assure myself that it was the same all the way to the end. In previous years I would have given up within 20 pages, so if you find yourself agreeing with me then I recommend you save yourself a few hours and find something else to read.

This is a fantastic choice for book clubs, as it is bound to divide people, but I’m afraid that I’m on the side of those who dislike this book.

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Please can you explain why you love this book?

Did you enjoy every single word?

Categories
2000 - 2007 Non Fiction

Blink – Malcolm Gladwell

Blink explains our instinctive ability to make decisions without thinking about them. Using a series of examples the book analyses the way in which we are able to make critical, often life-saving actions without understanding why we are performing them.

I loved Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book The Tipping Point, but I don’t think Blink was quite as good. It had the same number of well researched examples, a large number of those interesting little facts that you find yourself sharing with friends, and the same light hearted, but scientific tone, but overall I felt this book was less useful.

The premise implies that we are all able to make split-second decisions, but reading the book revealed that most of us are likely to be wrong – the ability to make the right choice takes a lot of training.  One of the sections I found most interesting was about a marriage counsellor called John Gottman. He is able to predict whether a couple will still be together fifteen years from now, just by looking at a short film of them talking. John Gottman has worked out that couples who display the tiniest amount of contempt for each other are unlikely to stay together, so he watches for specific indications of contempt, ignoring how aggressive or friendly they appear to be. Other people fail to spot these signs, but once John Gottman has trained them they will be almost as good as him at predicting the success of a relationship.

The book gave many other examples of people who are able to make important decisions based on an instinct that they may not understand. Often concentrating on police officers or fire-fighters the analysis was fascinating, but not of much use to the average person.

Recommended to anyone who enjoys sociology books, but don’t expect it to change your life in any way.


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Which is your favourite Gladwell book?

Can you recommend any other authors who write similar books?