I maybe struggling with writing right now, but I have been reading a lot. The first read of the year comes from Uncertain Stories, an imprint of The Fiction Desk.
This anthology called Broken Ground features seven stories both ghostly and ethereal. They have uncertain endings and the reader is left not quite sure what is real and what isn't. In The Builder by David Frankel, a man returns to a house from his past in the countryside and he begins to demolish it by hand, taking out everything that is left in the house and burning it. Afterwards he takes the house apart stone by stone and timber by timber, joist by joist. Memories edge in of the people who lived here, but on he goes until he has destroyed everything. It would be hard to see what remained. And then he walks away. In another story a young lady lives in a flat. She thinks others live in the building, but she has never seen them. She thinks about her boyfriend, but gradually she is losing herself and eventually joins the other 'ghosts' who live there. If you like something a little different (and I do), this is a nice little anthology.
My second read this month was a classic, which I borrowed from the library. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy couldn't be more different. However, I was expecting tragedy, and yes, it was there. Jude pines to go to university, but he hasn't had the education. He only attended night classes and was fond of the old schoolmaster. Jude reads everything he can get his hands on and writes to the old schoolmaster after he leaves the village, asking for books in Latin and Greek. When they arrive, Jude feels overwhelmed by them. Yet over the years he learns from them. Still he has his heart set on moving to Christminster and being a student. Then he meets Arabella, who is set on Jude and tricks him into marriage. They later part. Finally, in Christminster Jude meets his cousin Sue and falls for her, yet she has agreed to marry someone else, as it turns out, the old schoolmaster! The couple do come together, but Sue feels guilty about having left her, by then, husband. This is a book about prejudice and guilt. The two never marry because they are married to others, but even after the spouses relinquish their interest, Sue cannot bring herself to marry Jude, though she loves him dearly. They have three children together and also end up looking after Jude's son by Arabella. Tragedy strikes in a terrible way and eventually Sue leaves Jude, even though she loves him. I won't give the ending away, but expect sadness. I really enjoyed this book, far more than I expected. Sometimes classics can be a bit dry and waffly. This one had its moments, but the story was so good. Interesting to learn that when this book was first published it was banned for being immoral. The feedback Hardy received put him off writing again and this was his last novel. What a shame. This is the third Hardy novel I have read, and I intend to read more.
The third book, Cold Earth by Sarah Moss, was her first novel. I have read a few books by her, and she has really grown on me. With this book, I felt I might have read it before, but a long time ago. I keep a list of books I read going back a number of years, and I looked through the list but couldn't find it. The list isn't foolproof, as sometimes I do forget to enter things. I thought I might remember bits if I'd read it before, but the feelings were vague and I still can't make up my mind whether I had read it before. I have read similar books, so maybe these were echoes. The book is set in Greenland and a group of archaeologists are assembling traces of a lost Viking settlement. At home there is a virus spreading (this was written before COVID) and soon into their stay they cannot get the laptop to update,. There are also strange happenings which one of the team experiences, but the other dismiss, thinking she is dreaming or imagining. Eventually, they come to believe there is a presence there. This is a spooky story, though it took me a while to get into it. The story is told in the voices of all members of the team. As they wind up their time there and pack up the tent,s they wait for the plane to take them out. It doesn't arrive, and they are left wondering whether this is it. The food is running out, the weather is deteriorating and they all begin to write their last letters home. A good read.
What have you been reading? Do let me know. Have you read any of the above?
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