Touching the Void - Joe Simpson

53%
31.10.19

The best thing about this book is the title - although the French title (La Mort Suspendue) is even better. Yes, it's a tale of survival against all the odds, but emotionless, repetitive descriptions of experiences and mountains I couldn't visualise meant the hills never came alive for me in the first place.

The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

59%
25.01.18

It will seem as if I've learned nothing from this self-proclaimed 'stunt non-fiction' classic if I criticise it - and I did pick up a few useful tips - but that is exactly my issue. In general, the recommended path to happiness seems so passive - don't complain, don't steer a situation, don't express an opinion... improve by not improving. I was also put off at times by the general 'look at my perfect family!' sentiments. That said, it was engaging and it's always useful to be reminded of one's good fortune.

H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald

Didn't finish

I persisted with this book as the author does with her hawk, hoping I'd get on with it if I just tried harder. But there comes a point when you have to admit you're bored and unengaged and you just need to fly free.

Angry White Pyjamas - Robert Twigger

65%
12.02.15

I really enjoyed this, which is odd considering it's a badly structured, typo-strewn autobiographical account of a masochistic macho martial arts course taken 20 years ago. But it was intriguing because it was different and an insight into the lives others choose to lead.

Orange is the New Black - Piper Kerman

60%
01.08.13

Don't get me wrong, this was entertaining and enlightening. It just makes (admittedly, a low-security) prison seem like a girls' boarding school - limited freedom, arbitrary rules and an assortment of mismatched friends. The biggest insight is that prisoners seem really... nice. Could have done with more in-depth assessment of the US criminal justice system but it's a diverting enough read.

The Third Man - Peter Mandelson

60%
17.09.10

As is pretty clear from the previous 265 posts, I'm not one for political memoirs. But I have an intellectual crush on Peter Mandelson and, as with any good anti-hero, he is a fascinating character. Surprisingly for a man who helped to run the country for 13 years, he is also a character with absolutely no self-awareness, blundering around in his own Westminster theme park, where no pesky constituents or real life issues can divert him from his power games. The novelty did start to flag somewhat halfway through, and I struggled to finish, but I did finish in the end, a little jaded and disillusioned (insert comparison with New Labour here).

Somewhere Towards the End - Diana Athill

62%
29.10.09

Wors of wisdom from a delightfully acute 90 year old. Her self-awareness and joie-de-vivre takes this into another, more pleasurable, category than the equivalent memoirs of fellow author of advanced years, Doris Lessing.

Alfred and Emily - Doris Lessing

56%
19.10.09

You could use her great age as an excuse for her detached and fragmented style, but I found the same with her first novel, "The Grass is Singing". This one made marginally more sense, at least if you can buy into the 'fictional (auto)biography' that comes before the more harshly real memoirs. Perhaps some interesting issues raised on women's roles, family relationships and what could have been, but otherwise unengaging.

An Evil Cradling - Brian Keenan

64%
03.07.09

Keenan is arrogant, resourceful and stubborn, making a difficult hostage but a fascinating story, especially considering it's about having to internalise life, and also considering how the details given are so tightly controlled. Highly accomplished writing, but intellectually rather than emotionally engaging - something is held back.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Jean-Dominque Bauby

53%
01.03.09

The film is moving and memorable. For some reason, the book from which it was adapted is not. In fact, it's cold and disjointed, which can't be explained away by the awkward translation and unusual method of dictation. The pathos isn't enough to touch the heart.

Spilling the Beans - Clarissa Dickson Wright

54%
06.01.09

She's not a person I'd ever want to meet but I'm not likely to, given her eventful life. On the plus side, it's evidently not ghostwritten, as it has a chatty, occasionally incoherent style, and is poorly edited in terms of necessary explanations and contexts. But the sense of the author's personality comes across very strongly.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson

65%
20.06.07




Bryson accomplishes his dissections of given subjects so effortlessly that it's amost as if he isn't trying. Perhaps he doesn't need to try - he just seems to be naturally satirical and genuinely funny.

Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi

56%
18.09.04




Interesting, yet disjointed, so that the descriptions of political and cultural change don't always make sense. Also, the author's attempts to justify the study of English literature during revolutionary times often fall flat. She has led an unusual life by British standards, but her memoirs seem chaotic and self-indulgent.

Once in a House on Fire - Andrea Ashworth

65%
03.08.04




Andrea Ashworth went to my college and taught a friend at hers. Her story of surviving an unrelentingly miserable childhood can't really be described as inspirational, but it's certainly compelling. Too many metaphors, yet again, and an odd, dispassionate style, but an interesting story, carefully told.

Cider With Roadies - Stuart Maconie

58%
30.03.04




Stuart Maconie is a funny, eloquent and interesting guy. He even signed this copy of his book to four of us. Unfortunately, these memoirs are just rather bland - there's no real gossip and no real insights. And the copy editing seems non-existent - typos and repetition everywhere, to a distracting degree. Disappointing, apart from the inspired title.

Tick Bite Fever - David Bennun

62%
22.05.03




More uninvolving non-fiction, this time the promising tale of an ex-patriot British boy growing up in Kenya. He never pretends to be an authority, nor, refreshingly, to have been a particularly interesting or charming little boy, but his amusing anecdotes somehow fail to really catch the imagination. A pity - it would have been better as a novel.