The End of Your Life Bookclub

I don’t often read non-fiction, but I was tempted by The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. One the face of it, it could be a depressing read. Here’s the blurb from the book:

Mary Anne Schwalbe is waiting for her chemotherapy treatments when Will casually asks her what she's reading. The conversation they have grows into tradition: soon they are reading the same books so they can have something to talk about in the hospital waiting room. Their choices range from classic (Howards End) to popular (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), from fantastic (The Hobbit) to spiritual (Jon Kabat-Zinn), with many in between. We hear their passion for reading and their love for each other in their intimate and searching discussions.

As the blurb suggest, this book chronicles the relationship between a mother and her son (Mary Anne and Will) as they attend Mary Anne’s hospital appointments following her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer. They used that time to discuss books and it developed into a book club - consisting only of the two of them.

It was a touching read and a tribute of sorts to Mary Anne Schwalbe, although I suspect it is down to the individual reader to decide whether she was a saint, a control freak or something in between. I also enjoyed the book recommendations and the insight into the mother-son relationship. This book could have been a rather depressing book, but actually it was rather heart-warming and provided food for thought and book inspiration. You might want to have a pen and paper nearby to note down some book ideas.

Here are the opening words to get you started

We were nuts about the mocha in the waiting room at Memorial Sloan-Kettering's outpatient care center. The coffee isn't so good, and the hot chocolate is worse. But if, as Mom and I discovered, you push the "mocha" button, you see how two not-very-good things can come together to make something quite delicious. The graham crackers aren't bad either.

The outpatient care center is housed on the very pleasant fourth floor of a handsome black steel and glass office building in Manhattan on the corner of 53rd Street and Third Avenue. Its visitors are fortunate that it's so pleasant, because they spend many hours there. This is where people with cancer wait to see their doctors and to be hooked up to a drip for doses of the life-¬prolonging poison that is one of the wonders of the modern medical world. By the late autumn of 2007, my mother and I began meeting there regularly.

Our book club got its formal start with the mocha and one of the most casual questions two people can ask each other: "What are you reading?" It's something of a quaint question these days. More often in lulls of conversation people ask, "What movies have you seen?" or "Where are you going on vacation?" You can no longer assume, the way you could when I was growing up, that anyone is reading anything. But it's a question my mother and I asked each other for as long as I can remember. So one November day, while passing the time between when they took Mom's blood and when she saw the doctor (which preceded the chemo), I threw out that question. Mom answered that she was reading an extraordinary book, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.

Crossing to Safety, which was first published in 1987, is one of those books I'd always so intended to read that I spent years pretending not only that I'd actually read it but also that I knew more about its author than that he'd been born in the early years of the twentieth century and wrote mostly about the American West. I worked in book publishing for twenty-one years and, in various conversation lulls, got into the habit of asking people, especially booksellers, the name of their favorite book and why they loved it so much. One of the most frequently named books was and is always Crossing to Safety.

Raving about books I hadn't read yet was part of my job. But there's a difference between casually fibbing to a bookseller and lying to your seventy-three-year-old mother when you are accompanying her for treatments to slow the growth of a cancer that had already spread from her pancreas to her liver by the time it was diagnosed.

Rebecca

If you have yet to read Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, you are in for a treat. From the famous opening words “Last night I dream I went to Manderley again” you are drawn into the strange world of the soon to be Mrs de Winter. But she isn’t the first Mrs de Winter and it isn’t entirely clear what happened to the previous postholder of that position - or whether she will ever live up to the standard set by her predecessor.



It is a book full of ambiguity, not least because the narrator is the new Mrs de Winter and she definitely falls into the category of “unreliable narrator”. Throughout the book, she is trying to find her identity and yet we never even get to know her first name. Instead we only know her as Mrs de Winter, a name previously held by someone else – who was also the person whose name is given to the book itself.

This book will take you through many twists and turns. Although on the surface it is a glamorous life, the reality is more of a mystery. Ultimately, you as the reader will have to decide for yourself what is the truth.

A great read and one that I hope will also encourage you to read other books by Daphne du Maurier.

Books to mark LGBT History Month

February is LGBT History Month in the UK, and that means it is a good opportunity to mention some really great books that have an LGBT theme or element to them.



Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is a good place to start. It is the somewhat disturbing tale of a young girl, Jeanette, adopted by a couple one of whom, Mrs Winterson, is deeply religious. Mrs Winterson’s religious fervour leads to a somewhat emotionally abusive upbringing, but then Jeanette falls in love with, horror of horrors, a woman. Mrs Winterson is not best pleased.

Jeanette Winterson is often asked if this, her first novel, is autobiographical. This is what she says in response on her website:

Yes and no. All writers draw on their experience but experience isn’t what makes a good book. As the stand-up comics say, ‘It’s the way you tell ‘em’. Oranges is written in the first person, it’s direct and uninhibited, but it isn’t autobiography in the real sense. I have noticed that when women writers put themselves into their fiction, it’s called autobiography. When men do it, such as Paul Auster or Milan Kundera it’s called meta -fiction.

Indeed. If you do want to read a book that IS autobiographical then there is Jeanette Winterson’s Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?.



Another good, although rather tragic, read is James Baldwin’s Giovanni's Room. The book is set in 1950s Paris and American, David, has a passionate relationship with Giovanni. Until David’s girlfriend returns to Paris… This is a really beautiful and moving book and well worth a read. Occasionally, I read books aloud to my partner (actually, I really must get back into that) and this is one of the books I have read.



For something, decidedly more light-hearted then Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City is a rather more humorous novel. It is set in 1970s San Francisco and is focussed around the lives of eight people and their life, loves and friendships. It is actually a really long time since I have read this book and I must give it a re-read. My mum actually gave me a copy of this when I was probably in my early twenties. I think she bought it while on holiday in San Francisco. I suspect that she was not entirely clear on its content. I shall say no more.

Agatha Christie - one book at a time

At the end of last year, decided to embark on the task of reading all of the Agatha Christie books, in order, by detective. I am not sure I will achieve this within a year – so many books and so little time, and that’s comment could apply just to Agatha Christie’s books, let alone the wider world of books out there. Agatha Christie wrote about 80 detective novels and short story collections, the majority of which were Poirot stories. You can find a full list of her detective stories here or by detective here (well, Poirot and Miss Marple anyway).

Agatha Christie’s first novel was The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which is a Poirot novel. Given that for many people, their main knowledge of Poirot will be through the ITV television series, it is interesting to go back to the books themselves and build a fresh picture. For instance, Hastings is about thirty years old in the book (about half the age of Poirot), which is not the case in the TV series. But Poirot’s pernickety ways shine through, as does Captain Hastings’ somewhat inept grasp of what the evidence shows.



The Mysterious Affair at Styles is not only the first Poirot novel, it is actually Agatha Christie’s first published novel. It has everything you would expect from one of her stories (and I mean that in the nicest possible way), lots of suspects, dastardly doings and several potential red herrings. A most enjoyable read.

I actually read this book a couple of weeks ago and have also now read Christie’s second Poirot novel The Murder on the Links and am now most of the way through Poirot Investigates, which are short stories. I am enjoying myself so far, but I am hoping that I won’t end up feeling that I can crack the Agatha Christie ‘formula’ and work out who the criminal is in future novels.

The books are not always about just finding the solution though, but also the dilemmas of whether to ‘bring people to justice’ and are also somewhat surprising in their tone at times. For example, in one of the Poirot Investigates stories, the criminals got away with it, but when Hastings read in the newspaper that they “were amongst those killed in the crashing of the Air Mail to Paris I knew that Justice was satisfied”. Indeed.


Do you have a favourite Agatha Christie book, or have you embarked on a reading challenge? Let me know!


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Last Rituals

Title: Last Rituals

Author: Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Number of pages: 432

Opening words:

The head caretaker, Tryggvi, stood idly by the coffee maker. The sound of boiling water dripping through the machine was the only thing to be heard in the empty building, which housed the university’s History department. Soon the bustling cleaners would arrive, chatting and giggling, dragging their carts and vacuums out of the housekeeping room. The caretaker revelled in the silence and the aroma of brewing coffee. He had been employed by the university for over thirty years and had seen his share of changes, not the least of which was the complete turnaround in the nationality of the cleaners who worked under his supervision. When he started they had all been Icelandic and understood his every word; now his interactions with his subordinates consisted of a series of hand gestures and loudly-spoken basic orders. The women were all immigrants, and all recent arrivals from south-east Asia, except for one woman of African descent.
Until the faculty members and students arrived for the day, he might as well have been working in Bangkok.

What’s it about?

A young man is found brutally murdered, his eyes gouged out. A student of Icelandic history in Reykjavik, he came from a wealthy German family who do not share the police's belief that his drug dealer murdered him. Attorney Thora Gudmundsdottir is commissioned by his family to find out the truth, with the help - and hindrance - of boorish ex-policeman Matthew Reich. Their investigations into his research take them deep into a grisly world of torture and witchcraft both past and present, as they draw ever closer to a killer gripped by a dangerous obsession...

What I thought:

Scandinavian crime novels are somewhat in vogue at the moment, although primarily Swedish (the most well know probably being Stieg Larsson) and some Norwegian books (such as Jo Nesbo). It is debateable whether Iceland is actually a Scandinavian country (the main reason it gets included as one is because Iceland used to be part of Denmark, and Denmark is part of Scandinavia), but regardless of this, the style of Icelandic crime novels bears a strong resemblance to the main Scandinavian genre, so if you like that genre Icelandic books are worth a go.

I got into reading Icelandic books when I went to Iceland a couple of years ago and have read several since. The plot of Last Rituals revolved around a murder that the police believed they had already solved, but the victim’s family, who the victim didn’t get on with, believed otherwise. Throw in a bit of witchcraft, a dash of humour and the (literary) darkness you would expect from this style of novel and that gives a sense of what this book is about. Don’t expect a high body count. The story is based around that one death and the subsequent investigation into the circumstances, but that means more depth and allows some of the groundwork to be laid for the rest of the series of these books.

I thought it was an interesting idea for a novel, although it did not deliver an entirely satisfying novel. I like a book that strays away from the Hollywood blockbuster type read and this was a decent start to a readable series.

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Books on New Beginnings

January is a time for New Year’s resolutions for many people. I am never 100% convinced by making New Year’s resolutions – I think I know myself well enough to realise that I am setting myself up to fail!

That said, there is always the potential for a few ‘tweaks’ around the edges. One of the books that my partner has found really helpful is Getting Things Done. The book is designed to help you organise and take control of our life, be that at work or elsewhere. Interestingly, this book is seen as a bit cult-ish by some people, but my view is that implanting the whole of the system is probably a bit much, but it is worth giving some of the techniques a go.

If you are hoping for a fitter 2015, then there may be some good news for you if you are looking for a way to achieve this with minimal (although intense) effort. Fast Exercise is based on using ultra short bursts of exercise to achieve better health.

The resulting combination of those two books is obviously going to leave you with a lot of time on your hands, which is excellent for fitting in some fiction reading. It can sometimes be more inspiring to immerse yourself in a great story – and new beginnings and changes can be great material for this. So here are some books about new beginnings that might inspire.

You could try The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry - never has going out to post a letter taken quite so long. It is a tale of casting off the mundane and finding a purpose, through a gentle story of what becomes a walk from one end of the country to the other.

If you want something a walk that is bit harder edged, although not a work of fiction, you could read Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found, which is Cheryl Strayed’s account of her journey along the Pacific Crest Trail following the death of her mother and the end of her own marriage. The book is more inspiring than this description suggests!

You could also read Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, which tells the story of a very literal new beginning. Ursula Todd is born several times on 11 February 1910, and as a result gets an infinite number of chances to live her life – and in so doing has the potential to make different choices and not make previous mistakes. An interesting concept, even if not entirely realisable in our own lives.



All of the books are here:

The True Deceiver

Title: The True Deceiver

Author: Tove Jansson

Number of pages: 202

Extract

It was an ordinary dark winter morning, and snow was still falling. No window in the village showed a light. Katri screened the lamp so she wouldn't wake her brother while she made coffee and put the Thermos beside his bed. The room was very cold. The big dog lay by the door and looked at her with his nose between his paws, waiting for her to take him out.

What’s it about?

In the deep winter snows of a Swedish hamlet, a strange young woman fakes a break-in at the house of an elderly artist in order to persuade her that she needs companionship. But what does she hope to gain by doing this? And who ultimately is deceiving whom? In this portrayal of two women encircling each other with truth and lies, nothing can be taken for granted. By the time the snow thaws, both their lives will have changed irrevocably.

What I thought:

If you are looking for a perfect winter’s tale then this is a good bet. This was a marvellous book and I so enjoyed reading it. It has the qualities of a fable in some ways, and the tone seems very light, but there is a dark undertone beneath that. I thought it was a well written story that essentially was about the relationship between an old woman who sees the good in the world and a young woman who sees the bad. The book is set in a very snowy winter and would make a great dark December afternoon read, and I plan to re-read it at a suitable time.

It was a nicely observed story that was very engaging and the pages just flew by. You can probably read this book in less than three hours. When I got to the end, I just had to find someone (anyone!) to tell them how much I had enjoyed the book, and fortunately found a colleague who I often discuss books with. A delightful, and yet dark read.

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