Micro Review 50 (Holocaust Memorial Day)

 

Maman, What Are We Called Now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar, trans. Francine Yorke (Persephone Books)

This volume from Persephone Press has been sitting on my shelf for a while but it has been worth the wait.

The titles of the book comes from the author's daughter as the family were French Jewish and in hiding during WW2, although unlike so many they were hiding more or less in plain sight and together for a lot of the war. The first part of the book covers the last 5 weeks of the German occupation of France and comes in the form of Mesnil-Amar's diary from these weeks - starting when her husband is arrested and put on the last transport from France to the East, and the Concentration/Death camps.

The excitement (and fear) caused by the approach of the Allied Armies on Paris is heightened by fear for Andre and this is all pored out into the diary entries, along with some reflection on the past decade. It was very interesting to get an eye witness account from inside Paris as the German's left, and also a reminder that whatever the victors would like you to believe not everyone suffered under the occupation and that although there were plenty of brave people not everyone was in the Resistance...

The diary is a breathless read, but for me the book becomes even more interesting in the final part where Mesnil-Amar's reflections on what came next for the displaced Jews of Europe, and the children who had been successfully hidden but now had no surviving family. Her meditations on how deluded French Jews had become before 1940 are also fascinating. 

I've read many books set in WW2, and many books with the Shoah as the main theme, but I think this is an excellent addition to my personal canon. I don't think I've read a book, by a survivor, that covers the before, during, and after in such a clear sighted way.

Micro Review 18

 

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

Having read and enjoyed Obama's previous two books I was very keen to read this one, and as it came out just after the "interesting" 2020 American election (but before the results are confirmed) I wanted to read it as a reminder that American politics haven't always been quite so crazy. It has taken me a while to get through this 700+ page memoir - hence the lack of recent blog posts!

The first part was very definitely a retelling some of Dreams From My Father but quickly went on beyond this point and covered the selection and then election process that lead to Obama's 2008 victory.

After this we get a much more detailed look at the major events from Obama's first term - good and bad, wins and losses, many are gone through in quite some detail and for me this was a little beyond my knowledge of American politics. There were so many people mentioned, often by nickname, that I did lose track a little too often. I also got to appreciate the sentiments expressed in the phrase "laws are like sausages, its best not to see them being made."

I'm pleased that I read this, but I confess to skipping some of the political detail while searching for the insights into the bigger feelings of being president. The writing is so good, and the candid thoughts often so amusing that I can over look the bits that didn't capture my interest. 

I do think that for a simpler insight into the broader presidency I'd recommend To Obama: With Love, Joy, Hate, and Despair by Jeanne Marie Laskas

Travelogue or memoir? Or Both?

Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus by Sandi Toksvig

As a fan of both Toksvig's earlier books and her work on the TV I've been very excited about this book since I heard it was coming and my cup nearly ran over when I was granted an early review copy by Net Galley.

While Toksvig has had an interesting and varied life which would have made a straight autobiography an enjoyable read this book moved away from that and we follow Sandi as she takes the Number 12 bus from her home to the BBC building in central London.

Like the bus this lets the book unfold in a slower, more meandering way as Toksvig talks about her life and the sights she sees from the bus, intertwining these with thoughts on modern life and politics.

The talent in the book is to know how much information to give from each area and how to stop it becoming a travelogue or a 'show off' tome. Toksivg is clearly incredibly knowledgeable and curious (which is why she makes such a great host of QI) but she also knows how to stop the book becoming a book of facts with her use of comedy and self deprecation while she never apologises for her intelligence or her views.

There are a lot of celebrity biographies to read but this one is a cut above the rest, the personal is mixed so well with the rest that I really do feel that I got to sit next to Sandi on the bus and hear all about her life and the history of the areas we were passing.

I do also want to take the Number 12 bus now and see these sites for myself - I'm obviously a real sucker for books that are entertaining and can be used as a travel guide, after all my last review was for the same style of book!

(Reviews from Kentishbookboy will resume soon - he, Mr Norfolkbookworm and I are all enjoying Harry Potter although I'm not so sure his mum is!)

Too advanced?

One advantage of working in the book world, libraries or retail, is the chance to read books in advance of publication. Through the generosity of publishers and also Net Galley I've discovered some great books and generally around the time of publication so that there is buzz and discussion about the titles at the same time I'm reading them, which is great - I love talking about books.

Some of the other projects I read advance copies for are less timely and that has come home to me twice in recent weeks.

I had the chance to read Phillipe Sands' East West Street many months ago and it blew me away then.

A book of coincidences, history, family history, law and so much more.  It draws various strands of life together and it is wonderfully personal and technical at the same time.  I've read a lot of books about the division of Europe pre- and post- World War Two and the Holocaust and this is up there among the best. There is even a Norwich link!

I can't say that I'd forgotten this book because it did have such an impact on me but as I read/heard nothing about it I thought I was in the minority in loving it.  However it was just that I read it so early no one was talking about it! Now it is published it is getting great reviews and I am so pleased - this is a readable book that manages to bring home the personal way the Holocaust touched people while never losing sight of the whole.

If you are in Norwich in July Philippe Sands will be talking at Waterstones Norwich - details here

The second book I read months ago and is just now being talked about is Elena Lappin's What Language Do I Dream In?

When I was studying languages we were always told that you'd 'cracked it' when you dreamt in the language you were studying and so I was drawn to this book just by the title alone but again it turned out to be a memoir/family history book that took post war Europe as a backdrop.

Another book that I raced through and then assumed that no one else liked, but again it was just I read it months and months before publication!

I think that the lesson I've learned from this is that when I read a proof copy of a book I need to also note in my reading journal what the actual publication date of a book is!

End of summer break reading

Uni goes back in a matter of days and so I've spent the past few days indulging in a real orgy of reading to finish a few books I know I don't want to put off until we have a break in November.

First up was Nora Webster by Colm Toibin.

Not officially published until October 7th, I read an advance copy thanks to Netgalley.

This held me captivated on a slow train journey to Cambridge and back, it follows a couple of years in the life of one family as they come to terms with the death of a family member.  In many ways this is a gentle book, very much in the vein of Maeve Binchy, but underneath all of this is a darker undercurrent that keeps you off balance and unsure as to where the plot is going to take you.
I became totally involved in the whole Webster family and my sympathies with individual characters changed all the time as we learned more about them.  This isn't a challenging book, but it is quite haunting and certainly a great read.

My next book was Travelling to Work by Michael Palin.

I've said before that I am a sucker for diaries and Palin's are no exception.  I always liked the films Life of Brian & Holy Grail plus the Ripping Yarns series and I can watch and re-watch Palin's epic travel series and enjoy them each time so it goes without saying that I'd like jump on the diaries.

The third volume doesn't disappoint, it is full of tiny details about Palin's life as well as asides about people in the entertainment world - but if you aren't interested in diaries or Palin then the book really won't be for you!

Palin is known as a really nice guy - and I'm afraid that I have to agree after meeting him a few years ago - but he rails against this from a very early stage. His diaries won't do much to dispel the image but I loved the hours I spent reading the tome!

The final book for the weekend was H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

I love birds of prey, and I'm lucky enough to have spent a day learning to handle them and another learning how to photograph them.  I think that if I has the time and money I would consider owning my own.

This is something that is shared by Helen Macdonald and in fact she has gone further and is a qualified falconer and has owned several breeds.

This volume is part autobiography, part falconry manual and part biography of author T H White and it totally blew me away.

After the sudden death of her father Helen decides to buy and train a goshawk, one of the hardest birds of prey to train and fly. The book then mixes memories of her father, insights in to training Mabel and much more.  Several times the book brought tears to my eyes, it is very personal and beautifully written and deserves to become a classic book.

H is for Hawk is published but I read a copy again provided by Netgalley.

Reappraisal of an author

Book review: My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff

Electronic proof from Netgalley.com. UK publication date 5th June 2014.

A few years ago I read A Catcher in the Rye for the first time and didn't like it.  I'd not read it as a teenager or young adult and I think I came to it too late to "get it."

My Salinger Year is the memoir of Rakoff as she works for the New York literary agency that represented Salinger and is a fascinating insight into the behind the scenes work of some areas of publishing just before the Internet changed everything.

The book in part charts Rakoff's life as she adjusts to the working world after leaving university, as well as talking about her job and the intricacies of working for a reclusive genius such as Salinger.  Interestingly as she started the job Rakoff had not read Salinger and it was about 9 months into the year before she did try him - although being closer in age to a teenager than I was she did love the books.

Nothing overly dramatic happens to Rakoff in the book, and it is again a nice gentle book set in New York but like a lot of quiet things it is very good.  The book is just a rounded memoir for an interesting year in the author's life but it is compelling and again vividly and evocatively written - I was walking with her around New York and could 'see' all she was writing about clearly.

Interestingly this is the second book I've read recently that has recommended Salinger's Franny and Zooey and so I think that I might have to give this a go very soon.

Advance copies

The Time by the Sea by Ronald Blythe.

This book is published by Faber and Faber in the UK but this review is based on the electronic proof copy provided by Net Galley

Ronald Blythe came into my reading world late last year from two different directions.  I attended the East Anglian Book Awards and sat with on a table with his publisher and just after this his name was mentioned several times in conjunction with other authors - Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin - who's writing I enjoy greatly.


The Time by the Sea covers just a few years in Blythe's life, when he lived in Aldborough (Suffolk) and came into contact with the influential Aldborough Set.  This group of people was as important in East Anglia as Woolf's Bloomsbury Set had been earlier in the twentieth century.

Blythe comes to this specific area of Suffolk thanks to his connections to John Nash and quickly meets other important figures from the world of art, music and literature such as Britten, Forster and Hambling.

This book could so easily have been a "luvvie-fest" but instead of feeling like Blythe is name dropping I felt that he was really sharing his memories of these people in their Suffolk setting nearly sixty years ago.

The landscape around Aldborough is vital to all of the memories and as I am familiar with the landscape and towns talked about I felt that I was wandering around the area with Blythe and his friends.

Some names I knew but many of these important and influential people I'd not come across before and I read this with the book in one hand and the Dictionary of National Biography open on my computer!

Not knowing all of the characters didn't matter to my enjoyment of the book, and having read works from friends who appear later in Blythe's life, it was nice to travel back in time with him.  My list of books to look out for has grown a lot and in this Britten centenary year it was nice to learn more about him from an informal point of view.

Reading this book in electronic proof form was not without issue however as many of the chapter heading images weren't shown and the formatting didn't make it clear when Blythe was quoting - either poetry or memories from other people - which made it hard to follow at times.  This is why I've reserved the physical book from the library so I can see the bits I've missed.

My other slight criticism of the book is that sometimes Blythe leaves a person's tale before you've really got to know them. I realise that this is because it is a book of his own memories and not a biography of his friends, but tantalising little snippets are given and then not expanded on.  Sometimes I wasn't sure if this is because Blythe is a genuinely nice person who doesn't want to speak ill of anyone or if because he wasn't actually a full member of the 'set' and so doesn't actually know the whole story. I am just a nosey person who wants to know the full story!

Blythe's whimsical style really appeals to me and his love for East Anglia shines through, as does his respect for people, buildings and nature alike.  I can't wait to read more of his books now.