Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Thomas Cromwell, chancellor of Henry VIII (Photo credit: lisby1)

England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe oppose him. The quest for the petulant king’s freedom destroys his advisor, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey and leaves a power vacuum and a deadlock.

Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell the son of a blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a bully and a charmer. Cromwell has broken all the rules of a rigid society in his rise to power and is prepared to break some more as he picks his way deftly through a court where ‘man is wolf to man’. Pitting himself against parliament, the political establishment and the papacy he is prepared to reshape England to his own and Henry’s desires.

Mantel ‘s approach I found interesting as she delves into the thought processes of Cromwell as he copes with court intrigues, political manoeuvring and also personal disasters. We see through his eyes what life may have been like in Henry’s reign and also his thoughts about the part he played, his plans and schemes and his views on the historical figures of the time. I particularly liked his take on Anne Boleyn, who she was as person/character.

So it’s a large book and easy to read. If you are interested in history, politics and how life was lived in the time of Henry VIII this book is for you.

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The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

Een Goede raad (Photo credit: Djumbo)

I put off reading this for a while as I was nervous about how JK Rowling could make the transition from wizarding to writing ‘adult’ fiction. I’m happy to report that my fears have been allayed.

So, a brief overview of the book - when Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, and teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the Parish Council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen.

Well, in addition to my nervousness, the blurb on the dustjacket put me off for a little while but this is definitely worth the read. Rowling has assembled a large cast of characters, all clearly delineated and all fit in well to the design of the story.

 It's a book of discovery as we find out how each character interacts with others and it has a rising tension that culminates in a final tragedy that I never saw coming. This book shows that Rowling has moved out the shadow of the boy wizard and onto a broader stage befitting of her talent. This is definitely a good read.

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The Fault In Our Stars

Iodine-123 whole body scan for thyroid cancer evaluation. The study above was performed after the total thyroidectomy and TSH stimulation with thyroid hormone medication withdrawal. The study shows a small residual thyroid tissue in the neck and a mediastinum lesion, consistent with the thyroid cancer metastatic disease. The uptakes in the stomach and bowel are normal physiologic findings. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Fault In Our Stars

John Green

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Well, despite the grim topic, this is a celebration of life, warts and all.  It’s funny and yes it’s also sad but I found it uplifting.  It deals with a teenager with cancer just trying to live as normal a life as possible but at a higher level of emotional awareness.  But still just a girl, looking for a boy, wanting to go on dates, but limited in her choices.  I enjoyed this book immensely.

Must read.

Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman

Cover of Seven Types of Ambiguity

This 600+ page story is made up of seven sections which have at their core an impulsive act by which one of the main characters, Simon, attempts to win back the attention of his ex-girlfriend Anna, who has long since left him, moved on to someone else, married and had a child.  

Ten years after their relationship, Simon — an unemployed and directionless ex-teacher — can’t move on. And when he does make a move, his action has consequences for Anna, for her husband, for Simon’s psychiatrist, for Simon’s hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold girlfriend, and of course for Simon himself.  

Each of the seven sections is narrated by a different character and gives us a slightly different angle on the central story, and all these angles explore the ambiguities of human relationships. 

I found the book too long and sometimes pretentious and occasionally preachy.  But I still found a lot of it compelling and the long read was worth it in the end. 

Recommended

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The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce by Paul Torday

Wilberforce is a computer geek who turns his teenage hobby into a multi-million-pound software business, working long days and spending the nights at home alone with a takeaway. By his 30s, he is rich and successful but restless and bored. When he stumbles into a local wine shop and is befriended by the smart, sophisticated owner, he finds everything that he has been missing: a father figure, a new obsession, interesting friends and a woman to love.

Torday tells the story in four sections, each describing a different year, but he has chosen to reverse the chronology. The book begins with Wilberforce as a befuddled drunk, staggering around Mayfair, drinking 250 units of alcohol every week. His wife is dead, his friends have deserted him and he is losing his grip on reality, regularly slithering into weird hallucinations about a kidnap in Colombia.
By the end of the novel, Wilberforce is a hopeful young man, embarking on a new and thrilling phase of his life. He's never drunk much except Diet Coke and the odd beer, but now he's learning how to taste wine. For the first time in his life, he's made some friends and even entered the charmed circle of the ridiculously wealthy. He feels sure that he's on the brink of great things.
This is the complete antithesis of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, its dark take on addiction does not produce many light-hearted moments.  At the end of the book I found myself disliking Wilberforce for wasting his life in such a manner which I guess was a result of being completely drawn in by the story. 

Very readable

The Fire Gospel by Michael Faber

Image via Wikipedia

Theo Griepenkerl is a scholar of ancient languages and is resigned to a life of obscurity.  Then on an artefact-finding mission to Iraq he ‘rescues’ some Aramaic scrolls from a bombed museum and smuggles them home to Canada.  What his translation reveals is the work of a scribe called Malchus: an early Christian and contemporary of Christ himself.  The scrolls give a frank eyewitness account of the Crucifixion which could have incendiary implications for the faith of millions and Theo now has a publishing sensation to promote.

This is a great little book, a combination of theological satire and book-world farce and Faber does not hold back on stirring things up.  It’s funny and thought-provoking as we follow Theo on a rollercoaster ride as a newbie author with a publishing sensation on his hands.  At the same time we are treated to the warts and all writings of Malchus.  It’s a celebration of human fallibility.

Highly recommended.

The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers by Paul Torday

Hector Chetwode-Talbot, Eck to his friends, has left the army and is slightly at a loss as to what to do next, when he is approached by an old army pal, Bilbo Mountwilliam.  Bilbo runs an investment fund company and persuades Eck to join the company as a 'greeter'.  All Eck has to do is supply the contacts with entertainment and large G&Ts and then the fund managers will do the rest. Soon Eck is able to buy himself a luxury sports car and a decadent flat in the city.

It is on a golfing trip to France with his friend Henry Newark that Eck first meets Charlie Summers, a fly-by-night entrepreneur who is hiding out in France after a 'misunderstanding with Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue'. Charlie's latest scheme is to import Japanese dog food into the UK.  Henry casually mentions that Charlie should 'look us up' if he is ever in Gloucestershire. Not only does Charlie Summers look Henry up, he arrives with his suitcase, intent on staying with the Newarks and relaunching his dog food business in their area.

Torday’s novel contrasts dog food and fund management and in the end they both come out smelling rather ‘off’.  Charlie and Eck both have to make decisions about their ethics when it comes to making money and have to suffer the consequences.  The book is a comfortable read but the underlying message is unmistakeable and lives up to its predecessor “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”

Recommended