Review: The Secret History of Christmas (2023) by Bill Bryson (audiobook)

 I've always loved Bill Bryson's works. I was introduced to his writing with A Short History of Nearly Everything and can still remember how laugh-out-loud funny Notes from a Big Country was. I say this as context for how excited I was when I stumbled across this free audiobook on Audible (a recent subscription I've been enjoying). I knew immediately The Secret History of Christmas would be perfect fodder for my long drives to and from the office, and I wasn't wrong. 

As the title suggests, this audiobook delves into the history of Christmas - from its origins in pagan times, through to its connection to the birth of Jesus and Christian traditions and then the rise of Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, aka Santa Claus, and the secular Christmas that most (here in Australia at least) enjoy today. My favourite chapter traces the history of Christmas foods through time, including the origins of the plum pudding (spoilter alert: it was plumless). And Bryson doesn't just explore the history of Christmas. He also delves into human psychology with a look at gift giving traditions of Christmas, thoughfullly considering gift giving for the giver and the recipient. 

Adding something special to the experience, Bryson himself narrates the audiobook, the benefit of which is that he knows exactly the perfect tone and inflection to make the listening experience a joyful one. He mades the humour, funnier and the wit, wittier. 

This could be a boring book of facts, but in Bryson's talented hands it's a joy to listen to and learn about the history of an annual holiday that brings so many people together. 

3 / 5 Enjoyable, readable and reliable. 

Review & Author Talk: Hannah Kent on her memoir Always Home, Always Homesick (Sydney Writers' Festival event)

Hannah Kent, where do I begin. After I had my children, I suddenly found it very hard to read and write. Over time, I gave up my blogging (Page Turners) and stopped reading. When I did read, I usually re-read. It was Hannah Kent's Burial Rites that was the first fresh book that I had read for a long time that grabbed and retained my interest. I became lost in it, and I have loved Hannah's Kent's writing every since. 

I was so excited when I saw that Hannah Kent would be speaking at the Sydney Writers Festival, and at a lovely local bowling club that I was very familiar with. I reached out to my girlfriends, and we all agreed that we would have a mid-week night out together to listen to Kent speak about her new memoir Always Home, Always Homesick. 

I feel very fortunate to have been able to see Kent speak about this work which is no doubt special to her. She spoke so articulately and lyrically about her experience of Iceland and of writing. I could hear her written voice coming through and she had the audience engaged with her unique experience of living in Iceland and later writing about a well-known Icelandic story of the final execution in the country. 

The review

Always Home, Always Homesick is a memoir written with the lyrical quality Kent is known for. The memoir delves into her experience as a teenage exchange student to the beautiful Iceland, which has become her home away from home. It has a non-linear structure, moving between her experience as a teenager living with host families, as a creative writing student researching for Burial Rites, and her experience as a new mother reflecting on her experiences in the past and how they have shaped her. The structure means that the memoir is fragmented, but it is very cohesive and, in a way, deeply intimate. 

As the title suggests, the main theme of the memoir is the paradox of feeling at home and homesick at the same time. While in Iceland as a teenager, Kent feels homesick for her family and friends, but eventually comes to feel a sense of belonging. Eventually, she becomes deeply connected to Iceland and feels homesick for it - especially as she struggles through those early weeks and months with a newborn. It evokes in her a sense of longing. What was interesting in the Sydney Writers Festival author talk was that she spoke about discovering that home for her also meant writing. She felt at home in writing, and could feel at home wherever she was, so long as she was writing. I that sense Always Home, Always Homesick shows home as a physical location, but also as an emotional state. 

Much of the memoir provided insight into Kent’s creative writing practice and how it's changed over time. I loved reading about how she would write stories under a special tree at her family home and kept journals as she grew up and as she travelled. During the author talk she spoke about how she felt at home in her writing writing, but I had sense during the memoir that writing was also how she processed her experiences and feelings.  

Always Home, Always Homesick also contains Kent's reflections on motherhood. It begins with Kent awakening from a deep dream, but finding herself still in almost a dreamlike state as she wakes to feed her newborn. She reflects on how motherhood changed her body, her mind and her sense of time - all things that I thoroughly identify with. She explores the tension between her need for solitude and creative space but also her new role as a primary caregiver for young children. It was funny at the author talk to hear her reflect on her writing process pre and post children. Before children Kent had a strict writing routine that she believed was essential to the writing process. Having children taught her that she still tap into her creativity, despite having background noise and mess and interruptions - something all parents need to get used to. 

The memoir contains such evocative descriptions of Iceland, I have become determined to visit one day to see the beauty for myself. In her descriptions of Iceland and Australia, Kent describes the natural world so beautifully and clearly that one can't help but feel she must have a deep connection to the natural world.

In short, Always Home, Always Homesick is a beautiful memoir that combines personal experiences, intimate insights and evocative descriptions of Iceland. If you haven't read anything by Hannah Kent before, I suggest that you start with her debut novel Burial Rites, which is directly linked to this special memoir. For fans of Kent's fiction, you will love this foray into non-fiction. The Good People is the only one of Kent's novels that I have not yet read, and at the author talk I was able to purchase a copy and have Kent sign it. It is definitely a book that I will treasure. 

  

Review: The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale, the real-life inspiration for detective fiction

"Since Whicher was sure that the murderer was an inmate of the house, all his suspects were still at the scene. This was the original country-house murder mystery, a case in which the investigator had to find not a person but a person's hidden self. It was pure whodunnit, a contest of intelligence and nerve between the detective and the killer. Here were the twelve. One was the victim. Which was the traitor?"

~ Quote from The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale

For a non-fiction book, Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher has many different, but equally interesting layers to it.

Firstly, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher provides detailed insight into the development of the profession of police detective. The book centres around one of the first murder investigations in 19th century Victorian England to significantly capture the public's attention - what is known as the murder at Road Hill House. One morning on a day in 1860, the inhabitants of Road Hill House, the Kent family, awake to find that young Saville Kent, aged 3, had been taken from his nursery during the night only to be found in the outdoor bathroom, brutally murdered.

What follows is an account of the investigation and resolution of that crime by Detective Jack Whicher. Detective Whicher was one of the original 8 Scotland Yard detectives. Whicher used his controversial methods to dig deep into the secrets of the Kent family and in doing so threatened many Victorian values and norms that were held dear by the population.

This is another layer of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - the examination of Victorian society through this singular case study of the murder at Road Hill House. Summerscale explores the roles of things such as family, privacy, gender roles and class distinction in the lives of the people of 19th century England, as they were reflected in the media coverage and popular opinion of this singular murder.

Finally, and most interestingly, in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Summerscale goes so far as to claim that this murder and Jack Whicher's investigation of it had a significant influence upon the development of detective fiction as its own unique genre. Summerscale claims that prior to this public murder, detective fiction only took the form of short stories but that after the public attention it received, detective fiction began to evolve into longer pieces of fictions. She argues that the case had a profound effect on authors such as Wilkie Collins, Henry James and Charles Dickens and that the influence of Mr Whicher's personal characteristics and investigation methods can be seen in fiction from the 19th century to the present.

So, in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Summerscale sets out to achieve a lot and I would say that she is largely successful. I certainly found for arguments about the effect the murders at Road Hill House had on detective fiction the most interesting aspect of the book. Sadly, the tension surrounding the actual murder itself wasn't maintained throughout the entire book and I found my attention wavering from about two thirds of the way into the book. It may have been more effective in achieving its aims if it has been a little shorter and more directed.

Although it is essentially a book focused on a single murder in Victorian England, by looking at this murder in such depth Summerscale is able to bring so much more of interest to the attention of her reader, and I admire her for that.

5.5 / 8

Enjoyable, and worth reading if you have the opportunity.

I did a brief post about this around a month or two ago and a lot of people had read the book and enjoyed it. I would love to know how people feel about Summerscale's opinion on the role that this single murder played on the development of detective fiction as a genre. If you have read the book, do you think that she has over-estimated the role it played, or were you convinced by her arguments?

Originally posted 30 October 2011

Review: Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

It's time for the truth: I am not a fan of Shakespeare. I am still traumatised by being made to read his plays in High School when I could have read many cooler and more interesting books (to my teenage mind). The hangover from this is that the thought of reading Shakespeare still sends shudders down my spine.

Bill Bryson, on the other hand, I love. His books usually have me laughing out loud on public transport and at other inappropriate places and times.

So, when I saw a book entitled Shakespeare by Bill Bryson, I thought that it was the perfect opportunity to learn something about one of the greatest known playwrights, while being amused by a funny writer, and without having to read a Shakespearian play. I was right.

What's clever about this book is that Bryson isn't trying to teach us everything there is to know about Shakespeare. Instead, he seems determined to convey how little we know and how little we can know about him. Everything from how he looked to how he really spelled his name is a mystery. I learnt that there are only a few surviving samples of Shakespeare's signature, and not one of them is spelled the same as any of the others and none of them are spelt in the manner that we are accustomed to seeing his name written now.

Bryson points out that as we know so little about the man, academics and scholars have instead largely concentrated on what it is possible to know about Shakespeare's plays:

"Faced with a wealth of text but a poverty of context, scholars have focused obsessively on what they can know. They have counted every word he wrote, logged every dib and jot. They can tell us (and have done so) that Shakespeare's works contain 138,198 commas, 26,794 colons, and 15,785 question marks; that ears are spoken of 401 times in his plays; that dunghill is used 10 times and dullard twice; that his characters refer to love 2,259 times but to hate just 183 times; that he used damned 105 times and bloody 226 times, but bloody-minded only twice; that he wrote hath 2,069 times but has just 409 times; that all together he left us 884,647 words, made up of 31,959 speeches, spread over 118,406 lines".

Essentially what Bryson does in Shakespeare is to concentrate on sharing interesting facts about what we can know about Shakespeare's writing and about what we do know about the times in which he lived. This includes matters such as transport, town planning and dress.

Bryson uses these observations and historical facts in two ways. The first is to attempt to draw possible conclusions about what Shakespeare himself was like and what his life may have been like. He also uses facts that can be gleaned from Shakespeare's work to draw possible conclusions about what life in England must have been like. So, we find interesting facts such as this:

"Pronunciations, too, were often very different from today's. We know from Shakespeare that knees, grease, grass and grace all rhymed (at least more or less), and that he could pun reason with raison and Rome with room. The first hundred or so lines of Venus and Adonis offer such striking rhyme pairs as satiety and variety, fast and haste, bone and gone, entreats and frets, swears and tears, hear and get. Elsewhere plague is rhymed with wage, grapes with mishaps, Calais with chalice (the French town was often spelled 'Callis' or 'Callice')."

Bryson does all of this with his characteristic sense of humour; poking fun at the extent of scholarly attention the minutiae of Shakespeare's writing has received, as well as at some of the conclusions these scholars have reached based on what little primary evidence there is about the man himself.

This includes of course the conjecture around whether Shakespeare was really the author of his own plays. Bryson dedicates an entire chapter to these theories at the end of the book. This chapter, in fact, is really dedicated to making fun of the various theories about who might really have authored the plays and was one of the funniest chapters in the book.

This isn't Bryson's most humorous book but if you, like me, enjoy a good chuckle and aren't so fussed about Shakespeare, this is a great introduction to the life and times (or what we can know of them) of a great playwright.

6 / 8

Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it

I would love to know if you enjoyed this book in the same way that I did? I admit that I can perhaps see that fans of Shakespeare might find Bryson's lighthearted attitude a little irritating at times.

Originally posted 8 February 2012 Page Turners

The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The following review was was written by a close friend mine who has given me permission to post here her review of controversial author Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam. She has previously had her review of Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality ed. Sarah Husain published here on Page Turners.

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As I perused the shelves of my favorite New York feminist bookstore, the sub-title, ‘An Emancipation Proclamation for Women’, jumped out as a prefect candidate for my inspiring holiday reading. Having recently read Voices of Resistance , I was keen to further explore the realm of Muslim feminist writings, and eagerly handed over my $25.

Unable to contain my enthusiasm, I took out my new book on the packed Brooklyn train and started to read, ready to be invigorated by some inspirational writing. However by the time I arrived home, I was far from inspired - I was irritated and confused. A third of the way through the book, I realized that Hirsi Ali has a very particular vision for the so-called ‘emancipation’ of women and Islam; a vision that requires all Muslim women to leave their ‘pre-modern’ existence and embrace the enlightenment of ‘the West’. By the end of the book, one could be forgiven for believing that all Muslim women were terribly oppressed, unhappy and uneducated; never left their homes, were ‘married off’ in their teens and uncritically adopted a religion and life that could not possibly be satisfying or liberatory. Hirsi Ali actually manages to disempower the women her book claims to speak to. This makes me wonder – who then, is this book written for?

In her opening chapter, Hirsi Ali briefly explains her background, and motivation for writing the book. This is expanded on in Chapter 6, which conveys her history as a girl who left her Muslim upbringing, sought refugee status in the Netherlands, attended university and found herself in Parliament. These chapters usefully put her argument into context; however Hirsi Ali also uses this as a means to legitimate herself as an ‘expert’ on Islam everywhere. This is problematic because she offers her opinions in a way that generalise her experience to that of any Muslim woman anywhere in the world. She fails acknowledge the diversity of Muslim communities and experiences, making far-reaching statements such “millions of Muslim women are sentenced to domestic work indoors and hours of endless boredom” and “very few Muslims are capable of looking at their faith critically” . These statements typify the language used throughout the book - factually ambiguous, value laden statements that are damaging to the many Muslim communities who are painted as something they are not.

Her project for liberation, while never clearly stated, can be adduced from discussion throughout the book. She argues that the “world of Islam” needs to embrace individual freedom, “the pursuit of reason”, separate church from State, develop science and technology and allow sexual freedom for women. Throughout the book she speaks of ‘the west’ and ‘Islam’ as counter-posed monoliths; describing Islam as “pre-modern” and “fossilized” , with Muslims “lagging behind the west” . The West is said to be ‘modern’ and ‘developed’; valuing education, employment and individual responsibility, with “several ideologies that exist alongside one another” . In this construction, Hirsi Ali imposes her own world view, and privileges her own experience of ‘liberation’. She assumes that all Muslim women who have not taken her path need emancipation, going as far as to say: “one day their blinkers will drop” .

It is unclear the position Hirsi Ali is writing from in this text. She identifies with her stated audience by saying ‘we Muslims’ throughout, however, also self-identifies as an atheist and a member of ‘the west’. Further, she denounces authoritarianism, while at the same time arguing for state enforced solutions to many of her criticisms of Islam, such as compulsory screening of girls ‘at risk’ of genital mutilation. The most curious contradiction arises in her closing chapter, where she says that most Muslims are “decent and law-abiding people” who “are not fervent believers of every ritual of Islam”, a stark contrast to the pre-modern peoples in the rest of her text.

This begs the question then: Do Muslim women really need saving?

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Great review.

Has anyone ever read any of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's books? What do you think about her controversial views? (and please keep it polite)

Originally posted 2 November 2011 Page Turners

Clandestine in Chile by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Clandestine in Chile: The Adventure of Miguel Littin, is about Chilean film director Miguel Littin and his secret return to his country of birth during the Pinochet dictatorship. 

Littin was arrested during the Allende coup, as were many creative people during the coup. Littin found himself under arrest, facing the possibility of execution. In fact, whilst he was being held against his will his wife was told that he was already dead. Like many stories of escape during this period of time in Chile, Littin's escape was all done to luck - one of the arresting army officers holding him was a fan of his movies and gave him a chance to escape. He managed to escape the country but was exiled by Pinochet forever. Littin was then forced, like many of his countrymen, to watch the damage being done to his country from afar.

In 1985, Littin re-entered the country disguised as a Uruguayan businessman with the secret purpose of filming a documentary about the reality of daily life under the Pinochet dictatorship and to show the world the atrocities that were committed during this military dictatorship.

I had two motivations for reading this book.

The first was personal; my family in law are from Chile. Fortunately, my parents in law left the country before the coup, but they had family that suffered significantly at the hands of Pinochet.

The second was literary; I am a very big fan of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I greatly admire his fiction and was very keen to read his non-fiction.

Marquez writes this book in the first-person perspective, that of Littin. In order to write from Littin's perspective Marques spent over 18 hours with him, discussing Littin's experiences and feelings during this difficult and dangerous period of his life. In the introduction Marques says this about his decision to write the book from Littin's perspective:

"I preferred to keep Littin's story in the first person, to preserve its personal - and sometimes confidential - tone, without any dramatic additions and historical pretentiousness on my part.  The manner of the final text is, of course, my own, since a writer's voice is not interchangeable...Notwithstanding I have tried to keep the Chilean idioms of the original and, in all cases, to respect the narrator's way of thinking, which does not always coincide with mine".

I felt like this decision to write from Littin's perspective was successful. It was fascinating reading about Littin's 'adventure' from his point of view. Marquez's style in this book is very different to that of his fiction which is only to be expected given the difference in genre.

Littin returned to a very different country to the one that he left, and it was a little bit sad to see how he felt about the changes that had taken place since he was exiled. It was also very tense watching him attempted to remain anonymous and unemotional as he directed his documentary from afar. He was even anonymous to the film crews to protect himself and those that were assisting him to remain anonymous in the country and to meet those in the underground movement that acted against Pinochet's military dictatorship. His time in the country came under threat when he was nearly discovered and had to escape the country again.

What I want to do now is to share some quotes from the book with you, that reflect how the Pinochet dictatorship effected various aspects of the Chilean way of life. I know that some of them can be a little long, but I feel like I have learnt a lot about this book, and I want to really share some of the things that Littin risked his life (and others) to share with the world.

What happened to the individuals during the military dictatorship? Here is an example of what happened to the individuals that broke the law - torture and the effect on the family

This is a true anecdote about the experience of individuals under Pinochet's regime. He tells the story behind a cross and bunch of flowers on a cathedral in what is known now as Plaza Sebastian Acevedo:

"Sebastian Acevedo, a coal miner, had set himself on fire on that spot two years before, after fruitless efforts to find somebody to intercede for him at the National Centre for Information to stop the torture of his twenty-two-year-old son and twenty-year-old daughter who had been arrested for illegal possession of arms. Sebastian Acevedo did not plead, but he gave warning. The archbishop was away on trip, so he spoke to officers of the archbishopric, to reporters of the leading newspapers... to anyone who would listen, even to government officials, saying the same thing to everyone: 'If you don't do something to stop the torture of my children, I will soak myself with gasoline and set myself on fire in the atrium of the cathedral'. Some did not believe him. Others did not know what to do. Sebastian Avecado stood in the atrium on the appointed day, emptied a pail full of gasoline over his body, and warned the crowd gathered in the street that if anyone crossed the yellow line he would immediately set himself on fire. A carabinero, in an effort to stop the immolation, stepped over the line, and Sebastian Acevado became a human bonfire."

Chilean culture was destroyed

Littin also shares an anecdote about the cultural damage that Pinochet inflicted upon his country. It revolves around famous poet Pablo Neruda and what happened to his possessions during Pinochet's dictatorship:

"His principal residence was his house on Calle Marques de la Plata in Santiago, where he died a few days after the coup, of chronic leukemia exacerbated by grief. This house was sacked by soldiers who threw his books onto a bonfire in the garden".

The economy was destroyed

Littin describes the false sense of economic growth that Pinochet created and that ultimately landed the country in more debt and economic struggles that it was before his coup:

"Not only was Chile a modest country until the end of Allende's regime but even its conservative bourgeoisie considered austerity a national virtue. To give an immediate and impressive appearance of prosperity, the military junta de-nationalised everything that Allende had nationalised... The result was an explosion of flashy luxury goods and decorative public works... Within a five year period more goods were imported than in the previous two hundred years, using dollar credits guaranteed by the National Bank with money obtained from the denationalisations. The United States, in complicity with international credit agencies, did the rest. But when the time came to pay up, the illusion fell away; the economic fantasies of six years vanished in one. Chile's external indebtedness increased to $23 billion, almost six times the debt of the Allende administration... The economic miracle made a few of the rich much richer and the rest of Chilean society much poorer."

And what was the dictatorship like at the time Littin returned to his country? How did they treat the concerns of their own citizens?

Littin explains why he was late for a meeting during the making of his documentary:

"I arrived late, having been held up by a political demonstration. A new group for nonviolent resistance had formed on the heel of Sebastian Acevado's self-immolation in Concepcion. The police attacked the group with water canons while more than two hundred of them, soaked to the skin, stood impassively against a wall, singing hymns of love."

 This book focussed equally on the personal challenges that Littin faced making his documentary in the country he had been exiled from, as well providing excellent social commentary on this dictatorship that I suspect a lot of people don't know a lot about.

It took such a lot of strength and courage for Littin to do what he did, and I can't admire Littin enough for being willing to put himself at risk to bring the truth about such a dictatorship to the rest of the world.

The content of this book and the talent of Marquez are two wonderful reasons why you should read this book.

Summary

What kind of read is this?
It is a small book, so it is quick to read. It is a good blend of the political and the personal, with a dose of great story and skilled writing.

Do I recommend this book?
Absolutely. I think I learnt a lot from this book and I like the think that other people would as well.

Do I recommend that you buy this book?
No. This is one that you could get from the library and not be disappointed.

Star Rating

6 / 8

Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it.

What do you think? Do you know much about the Pinochet dictatorship and does learning more about it appeal to you? I would also love to know what people's opinion is of Marquez's decision to write the book from Littin's perspective, even though he acknowledges that the voice is more his own than Littin's.

Originally posted 15 August 2010 Page Turners

84, Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff

Both books are autobiographical. 84 Charing Cross Road was first published in 1970 and is a collection of letters between Hanff, a book lover from America and the staff of an antiquarian bookshop Marks & Co at 84 Charing Cross Road, London. In The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene records her journey to London where she finally visits the bookshop and the city that she has become so fond of, meeting old friends along the way. I read both books one after the other, which I think is the best way to do it.
  
84 Charing Cross Road was my favourite of the two books. 

Reading the correspondence just felt so natural. The written relationship between Helene and the book shop lasted for more than twenty years. Helene's main correspondent was Frank Doel, the main buyer from Marks & Co. Over time though, she cultivates a relationship with other employees at the bookshop, as well as Frank's wife, their neighbour and other wonderful people. There were sometimes big gaps in time between the letters in books, were obviously some of the correspondences were missing, but it was also obvious that they had been writing to each other in the meantime.

Although the subject of their correspondence was largely about the books that she orders from their shop, it is clear that the correspondence is about something more. It is about their burgeoning friendship. She sends everyone care packages of food to help them through their tough times and surprises them with gifts of stockings and the like. You really get a sense of who everyone is, even though you only get glimpses of their lives and personalities through the short letters. Helene manages to write simultaneously rude but caring letters and you can feel Frank's soft side hidden under his stiff English manners. Helene is always planning a trip to London but there is always something else that she has to prioritise her time and money on. It is therefore sad when she receives a letter informing her of her friend Frank's death.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street provided a closure the story of Helene and her relationship with the people of Marks & Co. 

It was the success of 84 Charing Cross Road that finally provided her with her opportunity to visit London. She is able to visit on a book tour, and it was wonderful to read her account of the experience of finally meeting some of her correspondents as well as many other interesting and warm-hearted people that show her the city that she has come to love.

I loved that the older and more mature Hanff in The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street was immediately recognisable as the younger one in 84 Charing Road. She has such a wonderfully dry and sarcastic sense of humour that I found hilarious.

And the books!

Her love of books was extraordinary and perhaps a little unique. She describes herself as a chronic re-reader, which until this year perhaps, I could absolutely identify with. I also admired her love of books as objects. Some of her descriptions of the books that she receives from Marks & Co made me want to drool. It was all I could do from running out and spending hundreds of dollars on beautiful antique books.

One of my absolutely favourite moments in both books came towards the end of The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. She has finally made it Oxford and has plans for what she has always wanted to see, but instead she finds herself hijacked by a friend who insists that she visit this particular book shop. She has this to say:

"I despair of ever getting it through everybody's head that I am not interested in bookshops, I am interested in what's written in the books. I don't browse in bookshops, I browse in libraries, where you can take a book home and read it, and if you like it you go to a bookshop and buy it".

My own attitude to bookshops and libraries is very different, but I admire her approach. If I shared it, I would be a richer woman right now I can assure you.

Overall, both books were less about books than I expected. They were about the joy of human companionship. Most importantly, they showed the power of books and language to forge friendships, something I think that is replicated in some way amoungst book bloggers.

Summary

What kind of read is this?
Both books are quick and easy to read, in fact I read both in one sitting. But they are really heart-warming, especially for book lovers.

Do I recommend this book?
Yes, I recommend both.

Do I recommend that you buy these books?
No. Borrowing them would be fine. As much as I enjoyed them, I don't think that they are the kind of books that you would re-read.

Star Rating

6 / 8

Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it.

Have you read these books? What did you think of them? I would love to know what you think of Helene Hanff's view of browsing in libraries rather than book shops. Do libraries play a big role in providing your reading material? Do you only purchase books that you know that you love or will you browse in a book shop and buy anything that grabs your attention?

Originally posted 12 August 2010 Page Turners

Guest Review: Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality by Sarah Husain

The following guest review is written by a wonderful friend of mine who has given me permission to publish her review of Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith and Sexuality ed. by Sarah Husain.  

This is not the usual sort of book that you would find reviewed on Page Turners. It is non-fiction and it is political, and I hope that you enjoy something different.

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I can’t count the number of times that I’ve read a blurb on the back of a book where a reviewer says the book is ‘life changing… a book everyone should read’. More often than not what they mean is, ‘this is a really great book’. However, Sarah Husain’s, Voices of Resistance really is one of those books that everyone should read.

In this collection of short essays, poetry, letters and art works, Muslim women make their voices heard – shouting their stories of resistance from ‘battle fields’ across the globe. These ‘battle fields’ include the home, the body and faith; schools, war zones and oneself; making the book both a exploration of the diversity of Muslim women’s experiences and identities and a powerful statement of defiance.

The Collection is introduced by Sarah Husain and structured into four chapters – (Un)naming Wars, Witnessing Acts, (Un)claiming Faiths/Unclaiming Nations, Reclaiming our Bodies/Reclaiming our Sexualities. While Husain’s introduction is at times a touch polemic, it puts the collection into context a passionate statement about why a collection of this nature is so necessary.

The opening chapter includes pieces from the occupation of Iraq and Palestine to racial profiling and personalised accounts of prejudice, opening up the notion that ‘war zones’ extend far beyond where bombs are dropped. The theme of this chapter was well conveyed in Dhikr, Afghanistan who have “no names and no faces”; the opening borders for capital and their violent protection from the movement of people. The author also raised the difficulties of being critical of her own communities at a time when they are under attack from the outside. which deals with contradictions of war and ‘modernity’ – the individuals who died on September 11 and the dead in

Among the poetry, art and personal stories is a more academic piece on the meanings of violence and terrorism, Violence, Revolution and Terrorism: A Legal and Historical Perspective. This unique piece provides a really useful framework to analyse the rest of the collection, drawing a distinction between violence as a means of terror and violence as a means of resisting oppression.

Chapter Three opens with a lengthy, personal correspondence between three Muslim women discussing faith, identity, culture, family, war and resistance – a piece that really draws the reader into the minds and hearts of the writers – and continues to explore the complexity of what faith means to different Muslim women across communities. The book concludes with powerful statements of women who claim their bodies and the right to define them as they wish, dealing with homosexuality, female circumcision, stereotypes of the ‘erotic’ Arab woman, and the power of sisterly solidarity.

The collection is perhaps most aptly illustrated by the image When Alone by Samira

Abbassy, depicting the many faces, overlapped and interwoven, individual, yet inextricably linked. This was what I gained most out of this book – an understanding of the diversity of Muslim women and their communities, and an incredible feeling of the strength of the voices and resistance.

Many collections are able to be picked up and put down between pieces. While each piece in Voices of Resistance is powerful in itself, they are even stronger as a collection. The reader feels as though the contributors are speaking to you personally. You live their experiences. Feel their emotions. Have an insight into their identities and struggles.

I write this review from the perspective of a white, straight, middle class feminist who has limited experience struggling in solidarity with Muslim women. It is with this background I say that Voices of Resistance should be read by all, or at least anyone who thinks Muslim women need a knight in shining armour to liberate them.

Originally posted 27 July 2010 Page Turners

George Orwell's Collected Essays: Bookshop Memories (1936)

I haven't read the entire of George Orwell's Collected Essays, just this particular essay that caught my attention: Bookshop Memories (1936). It caught my attention because it is a secret dream of mine to open a second-hand bookshop one day. I accept that it is something that is very unlikely to happen, but we all have to have dreams, don't we?

Anyway, back to Bookshop Memories. In this essay, Orwell recounts his experiences working in a local second-hand bookshop. His experiences are largely negative. His chief complaint is "the rarity of really bookish people". He recalls that many of the people who attend second hand bookshops are people looking for companionship and a place to spend time more than anything else. He decries the patrons that order books they never collect, that request books of which they cannot recall the title or author and those that would rather read Ethel Fell than Hemingway or Wodehouse.

Orwell doesn't just focus on the wide variety of people who attend the bookshop, but also the content of what they read. He puzzles over why people are willing to buy Dickens but wouldn't look twice at his works if they are included in the bookshop's lending library. He laments the unpopularity of short stories, although notes that DH Lawrence's short stories always seem popular.  I particularly liked his comment about male readers:

"It is not true that men don't read novels, but it is true that there are whole branches of fiction that they avoid. Roughly speaking, what one might call the average novel - the ordinary, good-bad, Galsworthy-and-water stuff which is the norm of the English novel - seems to exist only for women. Men read either the novels it is possible to respect, or detective stories. But their consumption of detective stories in terrific".

Orwell concludes that ultimately, he couldn't make a career of working in a bookshop. He states that the real reason he wouldn't choose to be in that job for like "is that while I was in it I lost my love of books."

I really enjoyed reading this brief essay. Despite his negativity, it hasn't put me off opening my own bookshop one day. I appreciated Orwell's honesty, and it made me think about selling books from a perspective that I haven't thought about before. It seems foreign to me that you could lose your love of books by spending time with them all day, but then the longer I think about it, the more I understand how that could be the case. Work is work. When your one true interest becomes your work, I can see how it might lose some of its shine. I was particularly disturbed by a comment he made about having to lie about books all day when you sell books. That's very true. If you were selling books and someone approached you for an opinion about a book you hated, you would have to tell them how great it is in order to get the sale. That could become depressing. My only complaint was that Orwell sometimes seemed a little condescending about people's choice of books, disparaging people who preferred Elliot to Boswell for example. But then, I suppose someone like Orwell is allowed to be a little disparaging, he has earned the right.

All in all, a wonderful essay that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Originally posted 30 June 2010 Page Turners

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Book Details

Paperback

Pages: 348

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2007

Language: English

ISBN: 9780747585664

Book Review

It seems like for most, Eat Pray Love is a book that you either love or hate. Personally, I really enjoyed it. I did take a while to warm up to it. The manner in which is it written is very unusual. I am not used to reading books written from so personal a perspective. Although initially I found it a little off putting, I got used to it as the books progressed.

The manner in which it was written suited the story. For those that don’t know, the book is Elizabeth Gilbert’s record of her journey of self-discovery following a heartbreaking divorce and the end of her following relationship. She dedicates a year to travelling around the globe, experiencing pleasure in Italy, living in an ashram in India and dedicating her time to getting closer to God, and finally finding balance and love in Bali.

At times it was perhaps a little bit preachy, and every now and again I began to feel a little bit bored with all the facts that are shared (at least I hope that they are facts). Still, I appreciated reading about someone’s journey to self-discovery, and the time and effort was dedicated to healing and coming to know herself.

There were a few passages in the book that really got me thinking. So rather than focussing solely on a book review this time, I thought that I might actually share some of the passages that really made me reflect upon myself.

Internal peace

“The Yogis, however, say that human discontentment is a simple case of mistaken identity. We’re miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and laws and resentments and mortality. We wrongly believe that our limited little egos constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognise our deeper divine character. We don’t realise that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme Self who is eternally at peace. That supreme Self is our true identity, universal and divine. Before you realise this truth, say the Yogis, you will always be in despair…” pg. 129

I really like the idea of having a supreme Self that is eternally at peace. I actually think that this might be true, that somewhere deep inside me there is a person that might be at peace, and I like the idea that there might be a way of bringing that person closer to the surface.

Destiny and Choice

“Destiny I feel, is also a relationship – a play between divine grace and wilful self effort. Half of it you have no control over; half of it is absolutely in your hands, and your actions will show measurable consequences. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, nor is her entirely the captain of his own destiny; he’s a little bit of both… There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under my jurisdiction… I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life – whether I will see them as curses or opportunities (and on the occasions when I can’t rise to the most optimistic viewpoint, because I’m feeling too damn sorry for myself, I can choose to keep trying to change my outlook). I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.” Pg. 187

She also goes on to say that this concept is a radically new idea for me, and I think that I can say that it is a new idea for me too. I think that sometimes I do have a tendency to fall into negative thoughts. I can brood and worry and think bad things about myself when I know that I shouldn’t. I loved reading this because it was a really acute reminder for me that I can choose not to be like that; by trying hard I can change my own thoughts and patterns. Things might happen to me (whether by fate or by my own actions), but how I deal with these is in my own control.

Barriers to belief

“What I’m seeing in some of my friends, though, as they are ageing, is a longing to have something to believe in. But this longing chafes against any number of obstacles, including their intellect and common sense.” Pg. 217

I really liked reading this because I think that it reflects my feelings to a certain extent. I am not religious, or even spiritual in any way. Sometimes, though, I almost wish that I was. It would be nice to believe in something. My problem though is what is expressed above, my mind just creates this barrier – how can you ever know if there is a god? You can’t. You just have to believe. But it’s not as simple as that, for me anyway. But then… read below.

Something to believe in – karma

“The other objective of religion, of course, is to try and make sense of our chaotic works and explain all the inexplicabilities we see playing out here on earth every day: the innocent suffer, the wicked are regarded – what are we to make of all this?... Over in the East, though, the Upanishads made sense of the world’s chaos. They’re not even so sure that world is chaotic, but suggest that it may only appear so to us because of our limited vision. These texts do not promise justice or revenge for anybody, though they do say that there are consequences for every action – so choose your behaviour accordingly.” Pg. 216 – 217

This is perhaps something that I could believe in, that there are consequences for all of our actions and so we should choose our behaviour accordingly. I think that is almost a reference to karma. Believing the above would be a nice way to live, and a good way of reminding ourselves to think positively and be nice to others.

Happiness

“She thinks that people universally tend to think that happiness if a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you’re fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it… This is a practice I’ve come to call Diligent Joy. As I focus in Diligent Joy, I also keep remembering a simple idea my friend Darcey told me once – that all the sorrow and trouble of this world is caused by unhappy people.. The search for contentment is, therefore, not merely a self-preserving and self-benefiting act, but also a generous gift to the world.” Pg. 273

When you stop and think about it – truly happy moments do seem like strokes of luck often, and this way of thinking about being happy, and the consequences of happiness, are really interesting ideas to me.

I found myself motivated so much by some of the ideas in the book that (being the true I am) I have signed up for a meditation course, which starts tonight. That’s right, this book motivated me to try out meditation. I think that indicates that despite some of the problems I had with it (it was a bit slow at times, a little bit preachy and the manner in which it was written was a little annoying at times), I really enjoyed this book and definitely got something out of it.


Summary


What kind of read is this?
It's not a challenging read, but it can seem a bit dense at times in terms of the facts and theories that are discussed in the book.


Do I recommend it?
Yes, I do. I recognise that it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but even if its just for the thinking that it invokes, I would recommend it to everyone.


Do you recommend that I buy it?
This will seem a bit weird, but for me, I am glad that I own it, even if I will probably not re-read it for a very long time. Having said that, I think for most borrowing it would be sufficient.

Star Rating

Really enjoyable and well written. I would recommend it.

Originally posted 4 March 2010 Page Turners

Virunga: The Passion of Dian Fossey by Farley Mowat

I bought this for $1.00 at a book stall on Church Street Mall in Parramatta one morning before work. I thought that it might be interesting because I had heard of Dian Fossey and remember watching Gorillas in the Mist as a child (although I can't remember the movie itself).

This book is a biography of Dian Fossey, from her childhood until her gruesome murder at Karisoke Research Centre in the Virunga mountains in Rwanda. The author has had access to all of Dian Fossey's papers, including her personal diary, and much of the story of Dian's life is told through extracts from her personal diary and letters that she has both written and received. This was interesting, because it gave me as the reader an insight into what Dian actually felt about the occurrences that the author of the biography was explaining.

It was a good read, and I feel like I have learnt a lot about the mountain gorillas of Rwanda, and on a bigger scale, the lengths some people will go to protect what needs protecting. Dian Fossey was a fierce woman who was not afraid of using violence and other scare tactics to protect her mountain gorillas from poachers and tourism. I am glad that there are people like Dian Fossey out there, people with enough passion and courage to act as the protectors of those that cannot protect themselves.

I'm glad I read the book, although I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to be honest. To truly enjoy the book, I think you would need to have a genuine interest in Dian Fossey or mountain gorillas. It definitely wasn't attention grabbing.

Star Rating

4 / 8

Alright, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Originally posted 11 October 2009 Page Turners

My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

To be honest, when I read this book I didn't know anything about the book or the author. I simply recognised it as a Penguin classic and that was good enough for me. I can say that I am really glad I chose it.

Gerald Durrell is a well-known English conservationist and this book is the story of some of his childhood years which were spent on the island of Corfu in Greece sometime in the early 20th century (the 30's or 40's from memory). It details the funny characters that comprise his family, their relationship with one another, and their dealings with the various animals that Gerald brings home and makes part of the family.

Durrell's writing style is so natural, the book is written as if he was speaking directly to you, telling you his story. I suppose its because its autobiographical, and also because he is a conservationist not a writer. In any event, I loved how it was written, it felt so friendly and open. The language Durrel uses to describe the island and his family's adventures is so vivid that you feel like you are in Corfu, or at least that you would really like to be in Corfu. Corfu comes alive as a beautiful and colourful place, full of excitement. I'm sure that's what it felt like to young Gerry and he conveys that magical feeling well.

There's no plot as such as it is an autobiographical story of what occurred in his life during the years the book spans. He recounts what happens to him and his family and the various people and animals that cross their paths. I recommend this to everyone looking for a good, light hearted and hilarious read.

Star Rating

6.5 / 8

Brilliant, couldn't put it down.

Oringinally posted 25 August 2009 Page Turners