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Book Reviews
Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Without books, the development of civilization would have been impossible. They are the engines of change, windows on the world, “lighthouses” (as a poet said) “erected in the sea of time.” They are companions, teachers, magicians, bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print (Barbra W. Tuchman, 1912-1989). If you wish to share your own book reviews please send them to books@intrepid-optimist.com.
Into Suez by Stevie Davies
We are introduced to the main characters Ailsa and Joe Roberts and their young daughter, Nia. Joe is a down-to-earth Welshman who's been posted to Egypt with the RAF. They are making a new and exciting life for themselves amidst the heat and poverty of the Middle East. Ailsa is English, rather headstrong and clever.Her parents said she'd the brain of a boy. There are two strands to the novel which interweave throughout: the 1950s which see the early married life of Joe and Ailsa and then there's the post-invasion of Iraq period when the grown-up Nia returns to Egypt to lay some ghosts, as it were.
The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of VS Naipaul by Patrick French
'I would take poison rather than do this for a living,' said VS Naipaul after teaching a creative-writing course to American students who divided into those who thought him by far the most brilliant teacher on campus and those for whom he was a bigot ('He was simply the worst, most closed-minded, inconsiderate, uninteresting and incompetent professor I have ever met').
Joseph Severn, A Life, The Rewards of Friendship by Sue Brown
This biography of Joseph Severn (1793-1879), the best known but most controversial of Keats's friends, is based on a mass of newly discovered information, much of it still in private hands. Severn accompanied the dying Keats to Italy, nursed him in Rome and reported on his last weeks there in a famous series of moving letters. After Keats's death in relative obscurity, Severn pressed hard for an early biography and a more fitting memorial in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
One afternoon, when Bruno came home from school he was surprised to find Maria, the family maid - who always kept her head bowed and never looked up from the carpet - standing in his bedroom, pulling all his belongings out of the wardrobe and packing them in four large wooden crates, even the things he'd hidden at the back that belonged to him and were nobody's business.
Must You Go?: My Life With Harold Pinter by Antonia Fraser
The subtitle of this wonderful memoir declares its contents: this is 'my life with Harold Pinter', not Lady Antonia Fraser's complete life, and certainly not his. In essence, it is a love story and as with many love stories, the beginning and the end, the first light and the twilight, are dealt with more fully than the high noon in between. The result is a marvellously insightful testimony to modern literature's most celebrated marriage, between the greatest playwright of the age and a beautiful and famous prize-winning biographer.
Lunatrick by Graham Frank
If you are disgusted by the conspiracy theorists who dispute the moon landings - look away now. If your mind is open to some interesting and balanced viewpoints on the hoax versus real-thing theories, then give this book a go. Lunatrick presents a trial-by-jury analysis of the conspiracy theory, and then presents evidence to show that there was no hoax and that Americans did indeed land on the moon. If you, like me, were intrigued by the conspiracy, but had never delved too deeply into the background, you'll find the first part of the book fascinating and will undoubtedly
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard
As a youngster I read of Theodore Roosevelt’s adventurous life prior to him becoming President of the United States America. As a cattle rancher in the Badlands of Dakota Territory, as a big-game hunter, as a lieutenant colonel in Cuba and of his volunteer cavalry, the Rough Riders. But, until reading Candice Millard’s book, I had never heard of what must surely have been his greatest adventure. Four years after his failure to win a third term as president and with his political career apparently over, Roosevelt needed a new challenge.
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Lisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists about to expose the truth about sex trafficking in Sweden are murdered, and Salander's prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society - but no-one can find her.
