The Go-Between by L P Hartley

I wasn't sure about this book for about the first two chapters. It seemed to start very slowly and I even wondered if I had made a big mistake in choosing to read it. Like most book-worms, I hate wasting time reading a book I am not enjoying (when there are so many other books out there to be enjoyed) but at the same time I'm not one to give up halfway through and not finish the book. So, much to my delight, The Go-Between by L P Hartley does get into it's stride almost at the exact point you begin to question whether you want to continue reading it.

The edition I read was a Penguin Classic, with notes and a textual appendix. For all the additional information it gave me (there are a lot of classical and Shakespearian references throughout the book) I found this quite distracting - flicking to the relevant note broke the flow of reading and by then I was so caught up in the story that I resented being taken away from it. What I did like about the notes though was the extra dimensions it brought to the story. It reminded me of reading books for my A-Levels, when rather than reading the books for enjoyment you were focusing on the themes and symbolism in the story. I really enjoyed discovering these themes in a more relaxed way, without worrying about how I could discuss them in an essay and it surprised me how much you absorp without realising it - a good writer should make the themes more like an atmosphere, or a feeling, than just flashing beacons and footnotes and I really think that Hartley achieved this in The Go-Between. I utterly felt the heat of the Summer, the oppression of the weather conflicting with the (to begin with) care-free nature of Leo's stay at Brandham Hall.

The story centres around the memories of Leo of the Summer he spent at Brandham Hall - the family home of his school-friend Marcus. With Marcus struck down with measles, Leo is left to fend for himself. Marcus's sister Marian takes him under her wing and he begins to carry messages for her to the local farmer, Ted Burgess. Marian is engaged to Lord Trimingham, the local Viscount who was disfigured in the Boer War. Leo also becomes a go-between for Lord Trimingham and Marian and slowly these errands begin to reveal to him the adult world, with all it's complications and secrets. We live through Leo's triumphs at the village cricket match and after-game dinner when he sings solo, as well as his confusion and bewilderment at being thrust into a world and life he knows nothing about. Leo's worries and embarrassment are all too recognisable and throughout the story there is the feeling that as the heat rises, we are moving faster and faster towards an inevitable tragedy.

In fact, everything was so beautifully and vividly drawn that I wondered why I had never seen a film of it - it seemed absolutely perfect for an adaptation. A quick search on Amazon revealed that it had been made in to a film - starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates. I cannot think of a more perfect casting for this film, and I hope this gives you a sense of the novel itself.

The story is tragic and heart-breaking, but told in such an authentic and believable way. The characters seem real and there are even humorous passages, which of course heighten the sense of foreboding which runs throughout the story. A real gem of a book and one that, I think, should be more widely read.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

Over the past months I have read a number of rave reviews for We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, so when I was lucky enough to stumble across a second-hand copy in my local charity shop I snapped it up! Having just finished Wolf Hall I was looking forward to reading something compact and manageable.

I loved this book - everything about it was just magical. It was funny and sad, sinister and heart-warming. The characters are wonderful and so engaging - even Jonas the cat feels like an old friend. The atmosphere is so well built up with the mystery of the Blackwood family being revealed slowly and never spelt out for the reader until the very end, making the book a real page-turner.

Merricat (Mary Catherine), her sister Constance and Uncle Julian live in the family home, hidden away from the villagers. From the beginning we know a terrible tragedy has befallen the Blackwood family and that it has made the villagers wary of the remaining family members. The villagers fear and resentment eventually boils over in a frightening and destructive attack on the Blackwoods, before calm is restored once again and Constance (true to her name) and Merricat continue to live their reclusive lives.

A chilling but thoroughly enjoyable book, I am sure it will stay with me for many years to come.

The Perfect Summer: Dancing into Shadow in 1911 by Juliet Nicolson

I have quite mixed feelings about this book. I had been really looking forward to reading The Perfect Summer: Dancing into Shadow in 1911 by Juliet Nicolson, particularly as it was written by Vita Sackville-West's great grand-daughter. While there was much of interest, I couldn't help but get the feeling it was more like an anthology. There were plenty of extracts from writing of the time and interesting little anecdotes, passed down through the generations. Unfortunately, I think it just made the book as a whole feel a little incoherent. It jumped from one tit-bit to another and I didn't really feel that it drew any conclusion, or made any comment on the social circumstances of 1911. It did leave me wanting to find out more (particularly about Lady Diana Manners and the life of domestic servants) so from that point of view, it was very successful! I am not giving up on Juliet Nicolson though - I have The Great Silence: 1918-1920 Living in the Shadow of the Great War to read too...

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

I have been wanting to read The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters since it was released, but what with waiting for it to come out in paperback and a heavy reading schedule (or rather, getting distracted by other books) I have only just got around to it. Thankfully, it was very much worth the wait. I don't know what it is about Sarah Waters, but she makes good writing seem incredibly easy. There is nothing particularly startling or unusual about her writing style but she can create atmosphere so well you can almost taste it. Her characters are always engaging and fascinating and within a few pages I felt like I knew the Ayres family and Dr Faraday like old friends. That is not to say that her characters are run-of-the-mill or stereotypical, it is simply that her writing brings them to life; the subtle use of idiosyncratic movements (Mrs Ayres twisting the rings on her fingers, Caroline biting the tips of her fingers) makes them seem so real and ordinary, while also absolutely creating tension and heightening the sense of the unknown. Even Hundreds Hall becomes a living, breathing thing - and it is the house really which is the central character of the plot. I won't discuss the plot as I can't help thinking that, like revenge, this book is best served 'cold'. But rest assured that it builds and twists, gives and takes, just as the very best gothic tales should.

Dr Faraday is an unusual narrator. In some ways he very much reminded me of Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited (a tough read, but a fantastic story with memorable characters). There is something distasteful about his obsession with Hundreds Hall and his attitude towards the Ayres is in turns condescending and arrogant, but for me having this 'unreliable narrator' gave me licence to believe and trust more in the Ayres family's point of view.

Highly recommended...as are all Sarah Waters' novels. They are accessible but a cut above the rest.

Current Reading:

The Perfect Summer: Dancing into Shadow in 1911 by Juliet Nicolson - An examination of the period of May to August in 1911 as Britain danced towards disaster.

Next book club book:

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - This year's Booker prize winner is an obvious choice for a book club. It's a doorstop of a book but I can't wait to get started!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

There has been a great deal of hype around Larsson's Millenium trilogy of novels, the first of which is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. This is, I'm sure, in part to the sad death of the author before any of the books were published. As always when a book has been lauded as 'the next big thing' I felt rather reluctant to read it. I was sure that it would not live up to the hype and would actually be quite average; if it hadn't been chosen for my book club I am not sure I would ever have considered reading it. So, I started from quite a negative frame of mind. As it turned out, I really enjoyed the book - to a certain extent. The plot is wonderful and the denouement was surprising, but not completely unexpected (which I like - if it's totally out of the blue I always feel that the author has been dishonest in telling the story; you should have enough material to feel suspicious of the perpetrator without necessarily considering them as a serious contender). I also thought that the descriptions were vivid and Larsson really creates a believable image of a small Swedish community. So that's the good stuff. There were, however, a few things about the novel that I wasn't so keen on. I haven't read many books in translation, so don't really know if this is a common problem, but there were several occasions when I found the prose rather 'clunky'; it didn't have quite the right ring about it. While I don't think this detracted from the story-telling, I did find it distracting, like finding cornflake in a bowl of coco pops ;) There were also times when it almost felt like an exercise in product placement. During the discussion with the other members of my book club we talked about how the emphasis on the specifications of the computer equipment that Lisbeth used was part of creating and explaining her character. Whilst I agree with and understand that, it was just another thing that broke the rhythm of the prose for me. Finally, I struggled to find any character that I really liked and I actually found some of them quite objectionable. They were all fascinating and well drawn, but there just wasn't any character that I connected with.

In conclusion, I did enjoy this book and while I might not be rushing out to read the next two in the series, I'm interested to know how the characters develop and will certainly get around to reading them at some point. I'm prepared to forgive quite a bit in this novel, given the circumstances of its publication; with some editing and revision and read in the original Swedish I think this could be an excellent book.

Currently reading:

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters - I've read and loved all of Sarah Waters work so far, so have high hopes for this novel which made the Booker short list.

The Fiend in Human by John MacLachlan Gray - Great book so far; atmospheric, sinister, but not taking itself too seriously.

Next Book Club choice:

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Wednesday's Child by Peter Robinson

While waiting for my next book club book to arrive, I decided to grab the next novel in the Inspector Banks series - Wednesday's Child by Peter Robinson I have reviewed Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks stories before, and I'm not sure there's much more to be said about them. They are reliably enjoyable - intriguing plots and strong believable characters. There's humour, pathos, mystery and enough over-arching storyline to make Inspector Banks a familiar and welcome returning character (along with his police cronies). My only real criticism is that it is high time someone picked this up as a new TV series.

Currently Reading:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - the next book club book. I've heard great things about this and while only 50 pages in I am already eager to read more and pretty convinced I will need to complete the trilogy...

The Fiend in Human by John MacLachlan Gray - I read White Stone Day by this author last year and thought it was wonderful. Atmospheric and grimy, but with a sense of humour. Goodness knows why this author is not more widely known, nor why I stuggled for so long to get my hands on a copy of The Fiend in Human.

Becoming Queen by Kate Williams

My first non-fiction read of 2010 is one I have had on the shelf for a while: Becoming Queen by Kate Williams Of course, being an avid fan of all things Victorian, I had seen the film Young Victoria, which used this book as a basis for it's depiction of the early years of Queen Victoria. Having not researched the book anymore than hearing its name in connection to the film, my first reaction on reading it was surprise. There is much more to this work than the early years of Victoria. One thing I love about reading is those times when a whole new area of interest is opened up for you. Strangely I have never been a huge fan of the Regency or Georgian period, much prefering the Victorian and Edwardian era. This book however really piqued my interest. The Prince Regent and his many brothers and sisters are all given distinct personalities and really brought to life. The story focuses on Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent (William IV) and Caroline of Brunswick who was heir to the throne and adored by the British public. Kate Williams suggests that it is partly because of Charlotte's tragic death in childbirth that the British public was so ready and willing to take Victoria to it's heart.

I really enjoyed this book and the easy, familiar style in which it was written. I love a book with a family tree and it is well illustrated with some striking portraits and, my favourite, a photo of Princess Charlotte's memorial in St George's Chapel, Windsor. I was also interested to read that Princess Charlotte had lived at Claremont, near Esher. My husband and I visited their only recently for a cobweb-blasting walk just after Christmas and I can completely see why the young princess (and Victoria after her) fell in love with the beautiful countryside and landscape garden.

So, a great read with a captivating story. My only question is what to read next? Is there a good biography of Princess Charlotte and/or Caroline of Brunswick? Can you recommend any non-fiction books for a new-comer to Regency history? Are there any good historical fictions of the era? I'd love to hear what books about/set in this period you have read and enjoyed.