Six in September

 I read six books in September.

 

The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting

Lars Mytting had a rather unlikely non-fiction bestseller in 2015 with Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way.

Wood plays a large part in this novel and the descriptions of it, and the art of the master craftsman, are glorious. The (very) intricate plot takes Edvard from a mountain farmstead in Norway to Shetland and the WW2 battlefields of France in his quest to unravel his family’s history; in particular to find out what happened to his parents when he was three and the nature of a very unusual inheritance.

 

The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman

The mixture as before and just as enjoyable.

 

Between Extremes by Brian Keenan and John McCarthy

Charity shop find. Two of my heroes – I’ve read both of their accounts of being kept hostage for years in Beirut and how their friendship there sustained them. One continuing fantasy they had when they were chained to a wall in a small dark space was that they set up a yak farm in Patagonia, the thought of the endless panoramas being the most appealing terrain they could think of.

And several years after their release they made it to South America, their friendship surviving despite their very different personalities (and some very hairy horse riding adventures). The yak farm remained a fantasy inevitably but they let the idea go not without regret, I felt; months of talking about it had helped to keep them sane and forward-looking.

 

Are We Having Fun Yet? by Lucy Mangan

I enjoy Lucy Mangan’s journalism and I loved her Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading, so I looked forward to this, her first novel. It’s a story of family life, told in diary form. All mum Liz wants is some peace and quiet so she can read a book (and I can empathise with that … ); her husband and two small children have (unsurprisingly) different ideas.

I wasn’t as enthusiastic as the celebrity reviewers … I found Liz’s harping on her domestic ineptitude funny at first but ultimately repetitive and tiresome. Her three friends, and their endless pooling of grievances, all sounded the same. I did love Evie, her ‘five-year-old acrobat, gangster, anarchist, daughter’ though I’m not sure I’d want to be her mother.

A bit of a disappointment.

 

Mortification: Writers’ Stories of their Public Shame by Robin Robertson

So you want to be a famous writer? Well, Simon Armitage, Margaret Atwood, Julian Barnes, Louis de Bernieres, Margaret Drabble, Roddy Doyle, AL Kennedy and others are here to tell you it’s not all beer and skittles (or champagne and adoring fans); on the contrary there are moments of deep humiliation and embarrassment. Some bring it on themselves (drink might be involved … ) and some have it brought upon them (dodgy hospitality, being mistaken for someone else, no one turning up to signing sessions … ).

 

The Toll-gate by Georgette Heyer

A thriller with a romance – and a male protagonist. What a comfort read she provides when comfort is needed.