At home (by Bill Bryson)

(Amazon UK link)

I have mixed feelings about Bill Bryson’s writing. In general, I like the way he thinks and writes; but sometimes I find him too long-winded, and get bored. I like the way he uses humour - mostly - but sometimes it veers into unpleasantness. I love his powers of observation and the way he expresses them - but sometimes it begins to feel judgemental. And I really dislike his extensive, unnecessary use of four-letter ‘strong’ language, which peppers some of his books.

So it was with a sense of uncertainty that I approached this month’s reading group choice, Bryson’s ‘At home’. And some trepidation too - the book is huge, with more than 600 pages, despite its subtitle, ‘A short history of private life’. A byline on the front tells me that it’s ‘extraordinarily entertaining’, and the blurb on the back also sounds encouraging. I couldn’t persuade myself to start reading it until around a week before the monthly meeting, and thought I might manage to read 100 pages per day…

I didn’t succeed. But then about half the group arrived with bookmarks clearly placed around half-way through. It was a daunting read, but most of us had enjoyed it, at least as far as we had read. And it is, on the whole, both educational and entertaining. It doesn’t look at ‘normal’ history topics such as government (except in passing) or wars, but at the domestic aspects of life. 

Dear Paul... am I the only one? (by Bridget Plass)

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Bridget Plass is nowhere near as well known - or as prolific a writer - as her husband Adrian. But I have very much appreciated her books, though they’ve been out of print for a while. I first read ‘Dear Paul, am I the only one?’ in 2017, and while I’d remembered the gist of it, I had forgotten all the details. 

I reread it over the past ten days or so, and thought it very well-written as well as being quite thought-provoking. It’s written in the somewhat unusual format of a series of letters to the apostle Paul, in heaven. There’s a kind of introduction which sets the scene: several people have issues with what Paul wrote, sometimes in relation to problems in their lives. They have permission to write to him, and he has agreed to respond…

Of course it’s fiction, not intended to be taken as a supplement to Paul’s letters as enshrined in the Bible. But as a way of understanding some of what he wrote in cultural context, the style works extremely well. Bridget Plass clearly did a lot of research, and bases quite a bit of the responses on things Paul wrote, as well as taking note of the era and culture in which he was writing.

That girl from nowhere (by Dorothy Koomson)

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I do like Dorothy Koomson’s books. She writes strong characters with interesting problems, covering relevant contemporary issues in the context of an excellent story. However, a few years after I read each of her books, I’ve entirely forgotten both the people and the plot. It’s a decade since I first read ‘That girl from nowhere’, and despite quite a dramatic story-line, I didn’t remember it at all. 

But I love re-reading books which I know I liked the first time round; it means I know it’s going to be a good experience. So I was a tad surprised at the prologue to this book, which involves a conversation between an unknown narrator, and an elderly person who is sick and wants to die. I had no idea what the context was, or what it would lead to.

In the first chapter, we meet Smitty - Clemency Smittson - who narrates the book. She’s a young woman who is buying a flat in Brighton, and talking to the estate agent. Her mother is with her, and we quickly learn that while Smitty is black, her mother (who adopted her) is white. We also learn that her adoptive father - whom she adored - died fairly recently, and that Smitty has just split up from a long-term relationship with Seth.

Head versus heart and our gut reactions (by Michael Hampson)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over fifteen years since I read ‘Head versus heart and our gut reactions’ by Michael Hampson. The author has worked as an Anglican minister, also as a teacher and a writer, and is now retired. This book, I recalled, had a Christian focus but was suitable for anyone interested in the Enneagram theory. 

I like reading different perspectives on personality theories, sometimes to find out more about myself, sometimes to help me understand friends better. Not that one can determine a type from a book, but this kind of thing can confirm ideas or behaviours that I’ve observed.

This book is a bit different from other Enneagram books in that it starts with the three basic ways in which people tend to react initially to new situations. For some, the focus is all on the people concerned and others who might be involved. For some, the focus is on practical questions. And for some, there’s a gut reaction that is more physical than either mental or emotional. 

The accidental tourist (by Anne Tyler)

(Amazon UK link)

When I was rereading my novels by Anne Tyler a year or two back, I discovered that some of them were missing. Occasionally I lend books to people who forget to return them, so I assume that’s what happened. I recalled liking the books, and also that my copies were quite old, so I put new editions on my wishlist. 

One of them, ‘The accidental tourist’, was one I hadn’t read since 2002. I was given the book last Christmas, and read it over the past week or so. Usually I can’t recall much (if anything) about a book when I haven’t read it for ten years; in over twenty years I rarely have any memory at all. But something about this book must have lodged in my subconscious, as Macon, the main character, immediately felt familiar. And while I’d forgotten the storyline, I had a memory of him sitting on aeroplanes…

I like Macon a lot. He’s somewhat of a caricature, as so many of Anne Tyler’s people are, but a very likeable one. We meet him on holiday with his wife Sarah, but neither of them is in the mood for relaxing, so they go home early. We soon learn that they suffered a terrible bereavement a year earlier, and that instead of drawing them together, they now have little in common, and nothing to say to each other.