Or, more accurately, I read three books and finished a fourth in December.
Family Britain 1951-57 by David Kynaston
This has
been one of the non-fiction books I dip into between novels. (I previously read
his Austerity Britain 1945-51.) I
started it a while ago and finished it this month – 776 pages (including notes
and index) encompassing exhaustive research through newspapers, books,
magazines, Mass Observation diaries and other archives.
As the
blurb says this was the era when: ‘Britain was starting to move away from the
hardships of austerity. Great national events jostle alongside everything that
gave 1950s Britain its distinctive flavour from Butlin’s holiday camps, Kenwood
food mixers and Hancock’s Half Hour
to Ekco television sets, skiffle and teddy boys.’
I was
born during this time so one item gave me particular pause for thought. There
was a very popular radio quiz programme called Have a Go! compered by ‘Halifax’s Wilfred Pickles’. His opening
catchphrase – ’Ow do, ’ow are yer? – was followed by ‘amiable chat with the
mainly working-class contestants about their lives’ and there was (my italics)
‘a large round of applause if a contestant turned out to be over 60’.
From
which I conclude that 90 is the new 60.
Gingerbread and Cupcakes by Claire Watts
As hinted above I am an ‘OA’ and not a
Young Adult at which market this book is aimed. I was already aware of the
author’s excellent non-fiction book The Covenanters so was interested to know about her novels. She is one of four
YA authors who have collaborated to publish their books under the banner
Paisley Piranha.
Although this title is the third in a
series about a group of 17/18-year-old girls it can be read as a standalone.
It’s the summer before Lily and Simon go to university. Simon has been one of
their school’s heart-throbs (to use an OA expression) while Lily is quieter,
more in the background. They are thrown together when Simon’s cake-shop-owing
mum has an accident and he and Lily step in to help. Their sweet romance is
told from both their viewpoints – and there is bonus material in the form of
cake recipes at the back. Loved it.
Betty:
The Story of Betty MacDonald, Author of The Egg and I by Anne Wellman
Betty MacDonald is an author I re-read,
most recently in October this year. So I was delighted to find out that there
are a couple of biographies newly out on her. It was great to fill some of the
gaps in my knowledge about her –
her four books for adults (she also wrote very successfully for children) are
‘lightly fictionalised’ accounts of her life. This book is self-published and
my only gripe is that I would like to know what the author’s connection, if
any, was to Betty MacDonald/her family. They sound such fun – even during the
Depression they were able to keep cheery in their overcrowded household and
made a ceremony out of every meal however frugal.
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
This is 514 pages but I read it in just
over a day in the Christmas holidays – not as impressive a feat as it might
appear as the type in my hardback copy is large and many of the chapters are
just one page so there’s a lot of white space.
I’ve loved Curtis
Sittenfeld’s books which are all quite different. The last one was Sisterland which I read in March this year. She’s such a stylish writer.
So I was really looking forward to Eligible,
her modern take on Pride and Prejudice.
Her Fitzwilliam Darcy is a neurosurgeon newly moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where
live the feckless Bennett family. Mr Bennett has had a heart attack and as Mrs
B is more interested in her Ladies’ Luncheon Club than in
looking after him, 40-year-old Jane and 38-year-old Liz come home from New York
to help. It was fun seeing what CS did with the characters (although perhaps
too many ‘issues’ are ascribed to them) but it’s told in a kind of reportage
style which I found distancing (and another reason why it was a quick read);
all in all I confess I was rather disappointed.
What would Jane Austen make of 21st-century
life were she to take this as her guide? I expect she’d be delighted that women
can now live independently, and amused to know that they can make the running
in a relationship … but I’m sure she’d be sad that, in 2016, romance
(dictionary definition: a feeling of
excitement and mystery associated with love) would appear to be well and truly
dead.
Let’s hope that’s just in Cincinnati ...
Wishing you a happy and peaceful 2017. Oh – and, wherever you are, if you are looking for a book that does give a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love, may I recommend ...
