So Many Themes

11:22am Saturday 5th April 2008

Armadillo by William Boyd Penguin 1998 £7.99 9780140279443 Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library Charge 80p While superficially a mystery, this well-written novel operates on various levels, tying together the many strands of the story. Lorimer Black, formerly Milomre Blocj, is an ace loss adjuster at GGH Ltd,working in the cutthroat ruthless world of insurance. The main theme relates to an insurance claim by the builders of a new luxury hotel following an arson attempt by a sub-contractor but it is the many sub-themes and rather eccentric characters who add to the appeal of this book. Lorimer's Transnistrian Gypsy-descended family are highly entertaining as are some of the 'upper-class' people he encounters including the boorish Torquil Helvoir-Jayne and also the rather unhinged pop star, David Watts, who beleives that Satan is hanging onto his left cheek.

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Working for Idi Amin

1:16pm Thursday 3rd April 2008

Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden Faber 9780571232888 2006 £7.99 Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library Charge 80p A fascinating account of the fictional life of Nicholas Garrigan, personal physician to Idi Amin in the 1970s. the book is beaautifully written with evocative descriptions of Africa: the scenery, the animals, the food and above all the incredible heat. Through the weak and rather gullible character of the doctor we witness the tremendous contradictions of the deluded president, fluctuating between his mad assertions that he is among other claims the 'last King of Scotland' and a childlike dependence which arouses temporary sympathy. However the book is also strong on the factual evidence of Idi's reign of terror: the torture, the brutal mass killings, the fear including the Entebbe hostage siege, so we are never far from the brutality of his regime.

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A True Classic

7:23pm Monday 3rd March 2008

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Vintage 9780099496892 2006 £7.99 Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library. Charge 80p A true classic dating from 1960, set in the southern American states of 1935, this is a wonderful book. The reader sees life in the small town of Maycomb through the eyes of Scout, a young tomboy, whose natural justice and open mind contrasts with the irrational ingrained prejudices of the older characters. Atticus Finch, her father, is a lawyer whose lack of racial prejudice is far ahead of his time. He attempts to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, accused of the rape of a young white woman from a highly dysfunctional family. Although the man is found guilty Atticus scores a moral victory challenging the traditional views of the townsfolk. An interesting sub-plot revolves around Boo Radley an eccentric recluse who eventually becomes an unlikely hero.

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Obsessed by sex

3:48pm Monday 11th February 2008

Anatomy School by Bernard MacLaverty Vintage 2002 £6.99 9780099428466 Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library. Charge 80p Martin Brennan is a teenager living in Belfast in the late 60s. Like many teenage boys he is obsessed by sex but also by the mysteries and contradictions of the Catholic Church whose influence is omnipresent in his everyday life. One of the books early themes is the attempt by Martin and his friends Kavanagh and the subversive Blaise Foley to steal the papers for their forthcoming exams. There is also quite a strong undercurrent of humour in the parties given by Martin's mother for her two friends and the local parish priest.

Highly acclaimed novel

3:34pm Monday 11th February 2008

Brick Lane by Monica Ali Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library Charge 80p Nominated for the Booker prize in 2003 this is a landmark book about a Bangladeshi girl, Nazneen, who has come to England after an arranged marriage to a much older man. Isolated in a small flat in a high-rise block in East London, unable to speak English she is totally dependant on her husband. However, as the book progresses Nazneen becomes much more confident slowly asserting her independence and taking responsiblity for herself and her daughters. There is also an interesting contrast for the reader between Nazneen and the letters of her illiterate sister, Hasina, back in Bangladesh, whose life is much more basic and harsh than Nazneen's. The portrayal of other characters in the book is also strong: her husband, Chanu a disppointed man, her resourceful friend Razia and the evil Mrs Islam.

Booker prizewinner

11:52am Tuesday 22nd January 2008

Brick Lane by Monica Ali Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library Charge 80p,/p.

A Large White Lie

2:44pm Friday 4th January 2008

One Hundred Shades of White by Preeethi Nair HarperCollins 2003 £6.99 9780007143467 Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library Charge 80p Maya and her family come to England from India to join their father, a wealthy businessman. Despite the cultural differences the family begin to settle in their new life. However their lives change dramatically when Maya's father 'dies' and they are forced tyo live in a bedsit as Maya's mother struggles to support them. The story is divided between the accounts of Maya herself and of her mother, Nalini, which gives the reader a greater insight into the reality of their situation.

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Life in the Mother Country

2:34pm Friday 4th January 2008

Small Island by Andrea Levy Headline 2004 £7.99 9780755307500 Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library Charge 80p Small Island is an award-winning novel about the lives of four principal characters through the 40s and 50s. Gilbert and Hortense are Jamaican immigrants who are shocked by the prejudice and racism they face when they move to the 'mother country', even though Gilbert fought in the war. We also learn of the struggles of civilians like Queenie trying to cope with the endless shortages, the stress of the bombings and the uncertainties of the future. Her husband, Bernard, who is a rather 'wooden' person is somewhat cleansed by his experiences in the Far East. However he still remains a racial bigot who like his neighbours is appalled that his wife has taken in black lodgers. Andrea Levy writes beautifully in a very powerful and moving style which makes this book both absorbing and entertaining.

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Girl with a Pearl Earring

3:34pm Friday 28th December 2007

Girl witl a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier HarperCollins 2003 £6.99 Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library Charge 80p This is a delightful story anchored in the historical context of 17th century Delft and the life of the painter Vermeer and one of his greates paintings,Girl with a Pearl Earring. Griet becomes a servant girl in the Vermeer household when her father, a tile painter, is blinded in an accident at work. She is a beautiful girl attracting the attention of not only her master but also his patron and the local butcher's son, Pieter. She begins by clearing the artist's studio but when he recognises her own artistic eye she graduates to his assistant and finally his model. There is an interesting contrast between the calm and tranquillity of the artist's studio, which is reflected in Vermeer's paintings and the boisterousness, squabbles and petty jealousy of the rest of his large household.

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Love and War

4:13pm Friday 23rd November 2007

LOVE AND WAR IN THE APENNINES by ERIC NEWBY Picador 1996 £7.99 9780330280242 Reserve at your local Cheshire library or online at www.cheshire.gov.uk/library. Charge 80p Eric Newby was a young officer in the Second World War, captured first by the Italians and later by the Germans after the Italian surrender. This is an account of his time as an Italian prisoner of war and then a period of freedom before being recaptured by the Germans. The early part of the book, relating his disastrous attempt to attack an enemy airfield and subsequent imprisonment are particularly amusing in a very English understated way. His portrayal of the courage and goodwill of the locals is very vivid, particularly as many of them were peasants living a very harsh existence high in the bleak terrain of the Apennines. The story is also lightened by Newby's blossoming love for a local girl, Wanda, who he was later to marry.

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