Read and reading - reviews

I am delving further into my unread books. Apart from one book of short stories, I have no other fiction books left to read, including the ones I bought online a few weeks ago. Time for another order!

What I am left with are non-fiction and poetry. The book of poems (Syllable of Stone) by Canadian poet Patrick Lane, is the one I am currently reading. It's been in the drawer under the bed for so long that I can't remember when, why or where I bought it! However, it is quite a surprise. Patrick was born in 1939 and is a self-taught poet. Living in a remote part of Canada he just began to write about his experiences in life - family, work, history, nature (there is a whole sequence of winter poems). He says that all he had to go on were the poets he knew of from school. He sent a few of his poems off to magazines and they were published. He then spent some time studying poets.

The introduction, where Patrick talks about his life and his poetry, is enlightening and sets the scene for reading his poems. There is one poem (Just Living) about a guy who accidently sawed off his arm and Patrick drove the man to hospital as his arm swam in a bucket of ice. The ice melted by the time they got there. The doctor said the arm was of no use - they couldn't re-attach it because it has already died. Patrick then takes the arm with him and described what it might be used for now, but he ends up throwing it 'high off the bridge'. It is a bit of a macabre poem, but there is also humour. It was something that really happened, and Patrick has written about it in such a way that I was gripped as if I was reading a story, which of course it was.

I am still reading this this book, though I'm well over half way through. I've never heard of this poet before, and I still wonder how I came to pick up this book, but I'm glad to have come across him.

I'd always wanted to read a Lawrence Durrell book since watching the TV series about the Durrells, but

I was disappointed. I found Justine contained self indulgent characters, the prose, while descriptively written, rambled, and I just could not get into it. I was confused over the different characters, how time flipped back and forth, who was speaking, and I quickly lost interest. The story, to boil it down, is about the obsessive love of Justine by many men (and one woman). This is part of a quartet of books set in Alexandria. I shan't be reading more. I wondered whether it was me, but when I revieved it for an online Facebook Book Group I'm part of, others said they also struggled with it. Well, you can't win them all!

Ellie and the Harp Maker by Hazel Prior had been on my Christmas list, but sadly wasn't in my Christmas stocking, so I bought it recently once my book pile had dwindled. Oh, this was such a breath of fresh air. Beautifully written with humour and sadness I read this one in a few days. Pure indulgence. Out walking one day Ellie comes across a barn where Dan lives and works making harps. Having admitted that playing the harp was on her 'things to do before 40', Dan gifts a harp to her. Ellie's husband insists it goes back when he finds out, and reluctantly this is what she does. However, Dan says it is hers and he will keep it for her in an upstairs room. She can come and play it anytime. Secretly, she begins harp lessons with Dan's girlfriend, but everything becomes more complicated the more she is drawn into Dan's life while hers with Clive (her husband) deteriorates. When Clive eventually find out the deception all hell breaks loose. This is a touching story, a feel-good story, and by the way, the author is a harpist in real life! I'm now itching to buy Hazel's second book. It's on my list for next orders.

Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak was hard to get into at first. The style of writing was so different from what I'm used to and I wondered when it would really start. However, I did get into it and then I was hooked until closer to the end when I felt it dragged before picking up again. This is from the writer of The Book Thief, a book I adored. This one is full of tragedy - a family torn apart by death, yet the love of the four brothers hold them together.

There are many other books I have read since the world shut down - others to mention are The Yellow House (Van Gogh & Gauguin) by Martin Gayford, about the six weeks the two artists spent together in Van Gogh's house and it's tragic ending - a really good read; The Cloudspotter's Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. I learned a great deal about identifying clouds and then due to the many variites promptly became confused and forgot them, but I have kept the book! The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield was a weird one. I didn't quite believe this, though it was intriguing. I much preferred her book Once Upon a River. The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction was a book belonging to my son. He'd never read it and it was on the charity shop pile. I rescued it. I rarely read science fiction, though I am a huge Star Trek fan (never Star Wars, sorry). The stories in this were varied. Some I adored and they really made you think, others were too technical and took all the enjoyment out of it. It was a toal mixed bag, but was a surprising read. Finally Trespass by Rose Tremain is a powerful book about two rival siblings, murder and incest. A good read set in France.

My new read is Viking Britain - A History by Thomas Williams. I bought this last year because the Vikings fascninate me and I didn't get to see the exhibition at the British Museum, at least I don't remember it! I did see the one on the Celts though.