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I did have every intention of confining this list to just five books, as I did last year. However, having finished 'The Bone Clocks' just yesterday, I couldn't leave it out! It was a great way of finishing off the year...
(Click on the titles for links to the Amazon pages for each book. Cover pictures above are those that they had when I read them - some may have changed!)
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
In 'The Bone Clocks' we follow the life of Holly Sykes, from a runaway teenager in England in 1984 to a Grandmother in Ireland in 2043. She has an eventful life! Through her own eyes and through others we see her troubled childhood; her experiences of love, of motherhood and of loss; her career and worldwide travels as a writer.
Written as it is in well paced and vivid prose, with many sharp insights and flashes of wit this would be a pretty good story in itself. But there's much more to Holly's life, for she has become involved in a centuries old war between two groups of 'Atemporals' - potentially immortal people with control of immense powers. Mitchell does an excellent job of weaving together the fantastic and the mundane, and uses the opportunity to give some fascinating insights into history. The treatment of the native people's of Australia by the white invaders, for example, or the life of a peasant girl in 19th century Russia.
But perhaps the most chilling part of this story is not the reminders of past inhumanities, nor the bloody battles between the 'Atemporals', but the all to close and all too possible vision of our own near future, with economy and ecology collapsing and civilisation dieing. One of the most captivating books I've read this year, it cost me sleep I couldn't really spare as it kept me up to the small hours several times!
Depression and the Art of Tightrope Walking by Vivienne Tuffnell.
(I've probably read more of Vivienne Tuffnell's books this year than any other other authors - and anyone one could have made it into this list! I think I've read all her published novels to date, and they all share some of the same characteristics - a captivating style of writing, deep and authentic characters, a perceptive insight into human nature and how we deal with life. I'd certainly recommend them all, but I chose this to feature in my list as it deals so well with something so important. And I really think that it could help people suffering from depression).
Somehow, you’d expect a book about Depression to be - well, depressing.
This isn’t. Though it deals with serious and difficult subject and does so with appropriate sensitivity, I found it to be a pleasure to read, and it left me in a place of hope.
I was already familiar with this author's writing from her excellent novels, but in 'Depression and the Art of Tightrope Walking' she talks about her own experience of depression and how she has learned to deal with it. She does so with the same clarity of writing, the same effective use of words as she shows in her fiction writing. It makes for a book which is both very readable and very moving.
It is also very practical. The lessons she has learned through her own experience are the sort of things that others coping with depression will find valuable. I know that when I was going through my own darkest times (though never as dark as hers) it would have been very helpful to have had this book. Although not everything she says will resonate with everyone who reads, I would expect that anyone who has experienced depression (either in themselves, or in someone close to them) will find that she speaks to their own experience in one way or another. For example; for me as a fellow writer, her chapter on her own call to writing (and the importance of following that call) was especially meaningful – though I imagine that anyone who is seeking to express their own creativity will understand it.
Though the subject matter is difficult, the writing isn't. Arranged in bite-sized chunks (no long, unwieldy chapters) I found it absorbing throughout, thought-provoking, and even enjoyable. She achieves something that many writers fail in: she manages to be profound without being obscure, to be deep but also clear. She explained much about the mechanisms of depression and about the various approaches to it that I hadn't previously understood – but always with the end in view of helping someone to better deal with their situation.
I would certainly recommend this to anyone who is struggling with depression, or who knows someone who is. It is written primarily for you. But beyond that I would recommend it to anyone who values a thoughtful and well-written look at a serious issue.
To finish with a quote: 'Unless you are naturally very empathetic, understanding someone else's pain can only come from place of experience.' Vivienne Tuffnell comes from that place, and speaks with that understanding.
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.
This is a story about two funerals, one at each end of the book, and about how one tragedy initiated the chain of events that led remorselessly to another. Along the way the lives of those involved - their dreams, their fears, their desires and prejudices - are exposed.
It's not a pretty sight. They aren't nice people, on the whole. From complacent middle-class arrogance to squalid, foul-mouthed and criminal lower classes, it's hard to find a character you can like. This is so pervasive, especially in the earlier chapters, that I found myself wondering if these were intended as caricatures, with the unpleasantness deliberately exaggerated for effect. I wondered how I was supposed to care about any of these obnoxious people, about their petty politics and spite filled relationships, about their shallow lives in the picture book village or the run-down estate. The best person in the place seems to be Barry Fairbrother, and its his death at the beginning of the book that sets everything in motion. Almost as if it was only his presence that had kept the worst excesses of the others in check. And even he had his faults; we come to see how his commitment to the community left his family feeling neglected.
What kept me reading about these depressing people was the sheer quality of the writing. Rowling blends descriptions and characters and dialogue together with such smoothness that it required an effort on my part not to keep reading. Even while I was wondering how any group of people could be so consistently unpleasant, I was still involved, drawn in by the flow of words, delighted by some wonderful phrases, amused by the subtle thread of humour, and absorbed by the developing story.
It was well worth it. For one thing, 'The Casual Vacancy' is a master class in how to write character-driven plots. Everything that happens in the story (with the exception of the aneurysm which kills Barry Fairbrother) is a direct result of the characters and of their interactions. This is no easy thing to achieve. Many writers struggle to create one or two fully developed and believable people. Rowling not only creates multiple characters with this depth, she weaves them together so that we see how each person's weaknesses and foibles influence every other person. Her plot is not simply driven by character, or even characters, but by the relationships between the characters. To achieve this, to make it effective and believable, requires not only skilful writing but also a keen observation and a deep understanding of people. Rowling knows how people respond to people, how the insecurity of one can stoke the anger in another, leading to fear, to intolerance, to hatred, to grief. A community of human beings is an immensely complex thing; in 'A Casual Vacancy' Rowling goes a long way to unravelling that complexity and showing how things work between people.
And of course, that means how things work between us. Pagford is a fictional place, (though there is considerable speculation about where it might be based on) and the characters are fictional people, but their lives and situations are all too real. If they are caricatures, it is to bring out and emphasise some of those qualities with which we may be familiar. All too familiar. And the results of these qualities may be familiar as well. Child abuse that leads to wrecked lives. Prejudice that justifies neglect. Hidden agendas, concealed emotions, simmering hatreds. It's all there in Pagford, but it's out there in the real world as well. Our world. The difference is that in Pagford, Rowling shows us the mechanisms that drive such things.
It seems to me that what this book is about, underneath everything else, is failing to really see other people. In Pagford, everyone's view of other people is coloured and distorted by their own hopes, dreams, fears and expectations. Which is exactly as it is in the real world, of course, but here we can see how destructive that is. Very few of the characters even try to see beyond their own prejudices and preconceptions. Most of them don't even consider that there is anything more to see. The result of these colliding misconceptions is tragedy.
At the end, for some of the characters at least, there is a redemption of a sort. The tragedy opens some eyes. Some relationships are healed, some people understand themselves or others better. It gives a measure of hope. But it left me wondering if this was always going to be the price.
This is a book that will stay with me for a while. The characters are unpleasant, but not easy to forget; and as I came to understand them better, I came to sympathise with them more. Which is the point, of course. And as a Christian, it led me to consider that the God I believe in understands us all fully, as no other being can. A thought with considerable implications, though whether or not Rowling had that in mind in her writing I have no idea. Certainly, God gets very little mention in the story; to the residents of Pagford, he is a very distant figure.
J. K. Rowling will be forever most closely associated with Harry Potter – and that's no bad thing. But good though those books were (and I certainly enjoyed them) they don't begin to show the full extent of her abilities as a writer – not in the same way as 'A Casual Vacancy' does. If I read a better book this year, I'll be surprised!
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane
Probably one of the best crime novels I've ever read, this grabbed me in the first sentence and never let go. Fast paced and exciting, poignant and powerful, the story of Joe Coughlin's rise to power in Prohibition USA is not only a thriller, but a in depth look at a great nation in a defining era. Corruption, murder, cruelty and betrayal are there in quantity - but so is compassion, mercy, even love.
There's nothing simplistic about this story, it deals with serious issues and gives you cause to reflect on them. The only question mark I had about this book is to ask how credible it is that a man like that, in a business like that, in a time like that, could still retain a moral code at all, even a flawed one. But that wasn't a criticism I had whilst reading it. The quality of the writing is such that the characters come through as totally authentic, just as is the background and plot. It's only after putting it down that I had to remind myself that this is a work of fiction and to wonder if such a person could really exist. And I find myself hoping they could.
Why Jesus Won't Go Away by Philip J. Skotte.
Some thirty years ago, I worked with the author of this book on the missionary ship MV Logos. Phil Skotte and I were good friends, but lost touch over the years since. Recently, thanks to the internet and social media, we reconnected, and I discovered that he had written a book. That was a bit worrying in a way. Of course, I wanted to read it - but suppose it was a one-star clunker? Would I be able to tell him, or would I be best to just ignore it?
Fortunately, I didn't have to do that. Phil's book is an easy five stars!
His writing is clear and lucid, with a smooth flow of words that help present some deep thinking in a very accessible manner. His central premise is that in Jesus Christ we find someone who appeals to some of the most basic human needs and desires - that we are 'hardwired for Jesus'. Obviously, this is a controversial claim, but he argues for it with both passion and logic.
He has an unusually good platform to argue from as well: in the course of a long career as a diplomat with the U.S. State Department he has traveled widely, often off the normal tourist routes. He has seen for himself how attractive Jesus is to a wide variety of people from all sorts of backgrounds, beliefs and cultures.
I take great pleasure in being able to recommend this book unreservedly - either for the Christian who seeks to strengthen his faith, or for the non-Christian who genuinely seeks to understand why Jesus Christ is still such a central figure in the world today.
Late Fragments by Kate Gross
This is a book written by a women facing an early death. But it is not about death. It's about life, and especially how to live life in the shadow of death. For Kate Gross, death came far to soon. It meant giving up on a fulfilling and very effective career. Even worse, it meant leaving her husband and twin boys.
But the book she wrote for them isn't morbid or angry. Though often very moving, it's not even sad in its tone. It is honest, it doesn't gloss over the pain, but its focus is positive and life-affirming. Kate Gross writes brilliantly. She shares her experience of terminal cancer with depth and humour and a marvellously well crafted flow of words. She also understands how to be profound without being obscure, and almost every page has something on it that is inspiring or thought-provoking. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who is alive, and anyone who expects to die.
There are so many other books that I would love to have included, all of which I've given five star reviews to. So if none of the above floats your boat (or if you're looking for more) let me recommend 'The Jazz Files' (London, crime, 1920's), 'The Prodigal's Psalm' (Egypt, 1st century), 'Twisted' (crime and mystery in Newcastle), 'The Tower and the Eye' (Dungeons and Dragons brought to life), 'Johnny McClintock's War' (love and religion in Ireland at the time of the First World War), 'The Hydrogen Sonata' (Ian M. Banks' last SF novel). And of course, as previously mentioned, any and all of Vivenne Tuffnell's books are worth reading - 'The Bet', 'Square Peg', 'Away with the Fairies', 'Strangers and Pilgrims'. To name just the novels. She also has several short story collections which are on my 'TBR' list.
Happy reading in 2016!
(Click on the titles for links to the Amazon pages for each book. Cover pictures above are those that they had when I read them - some may have changed!)
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
In 'The Bone Clocks' we follow the life of Holly Sykes, from a runaway teenager in England in 1984 to a Grandmother in Ireland in 2043. She has an eventful life! Through her own eyes and through others we see her troubled childhood; her experiences of love, of motherhood and of loss; her career and worldwide travels as a writer.
Written as it is in well paced and vivid prose, with many sharp insights and flashes of wit this would be a pretty good story in itself. But there's much more to Holly's life, for she has become involved in a centuries old war between two groups of 'Atemporals' - potentially immortal people with control of immense powers. Mitchell does an excellent job of weaving together the fantastic and the mundane, and uses the opportunity to give some fascinating insights into history. The treatment of the native people's of Australia by the white invaders, for example, or the life of a peasant girl in 19th century Russia.
But perhaps the most chilling part of this story is not the reminders of past inhumanities, nor the bloody battles between the 'Atemporals', but the all to close and all too possible vision of our own near future, with economy and ecology collapsing and civilisation dieing. One of the most captivating books I've read this year, it cost me sleep I couldn't really spare as it kept me up to the small hours several times!
Depression and the Art of Tightrope Walking by Vivienne Tuffnell.
(I've probably read more of Vivienne Tuffnell's books this year than any other other authors - and anyone one could have made it into this list! I think I've read all her published novels to date, and they all share some of the same characteristics - a captivating style of writing, deep and authentic characters, a perceptive insight into human nature and how we deal with life. I'd certainly recommend them all, but I chose this to feature in my list as it deals so well with something so important. And I really think that it could help people suffering from depression).
Somehow, you’d expect a book about Depression to be - well, depressing.
This isn’t. Though it deals with serious and difficult subject and does so with appropriate sensitivity, I found it to be a pleasure to read, and it left me in a place of hope.
I was already familiar with this author's writing from her excellent novels, but in 'Depression and the Art of Tightrope Walking' she talks about her own experience of depression and how she has learned to deal with it. She does so with the same clarity of writing, the same effective use of words as she shows in her fiction writing. It makes for a book which is both very readable and very moving.
It is also very practical. The lessons she has learned through her own experience are the sort of things that others coping with depression will find valuable. I know that when I was going through my own darkest times (though never as dark as hers) it would have been very helpful to have had this book. Although not everything she says will resonate with everyone who reads, I would expect that anyone who has experienced depression (either in themselves, or in someone close to them) will find that she speaks to their own experience in one way or another. For example; for me as a fellow writer, her chapter on her own call to writing (and the importance of following that call) was especially meaningful – though I imagine that anyone who is seeking to express their own creativity will understand it.
Though the subject matter is difficult, the writing isn't. Arranged in bite-sized chunks (no long, unwieldy chapters) I found it absorbing throughout, thought-provoking, and even enjoyable. She achieves something that many writers fail in: she manages to be profound without being obscure, to be deep but also clear. She explained much about the mechanisms of depression and about the various approaches to it that I hadn't previously understood – but always with the end in view of helping someone to better deal with their situation.
I would certainly recommend this to anyone who is struggling with depression, or who knows someone who is. It is written primarily for you. But beyond that I would recommend it to anyone who values a thoughtful and well-written look at a serious issue.
To finish with a quote: 'Unless you are naturally very empathetic, understanding someone else's pain can only come from place of experience.' Vivienne Tuffnell comes from that place, and speaks with that understanding.
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.
This is a story about two funerals, one at each end of the book, and about how one tragedy initiated the chain of events that led remorselessly to another. Along the way the lives of those involved - their dreams, their fears, their desires and prejudices - are exposed.
It's not a pretty sight. They aren't nice people, on the whole. From complacent middle-class arrogance to squalid, foul-mouthed and criminal lower classes, it's hard to find a character you can like. This is so pervasive, especially in the earlier chapters, that I found myself wondering if these were intended as caricatures, with the unpleasantness deliberately exaggerated for effect. I wondered how I was supposed to care about any of these obnoxious people, about their petty politics and spite filled relationships, about their shallow lives in the picture book village or the run-down estate. The best person in the place seems to be Barry Fairbrother, and its his death at the beginning of the book that sets everything in motion. Almost as if it was only his presence that had kept the worst excesses of the others in check. And even he had his faults; we come to see how his commitment to the community left his family feeling neglected.
What kept me reading about these depressing people was the sheer quality of the writing. Rowling blends descriptions and characters and dialogue together with such smoothness that it required an effort on my part not to keep reading. Even while I was wondering how any group of people could be so consistently unpleasant, I was still involved, drawn in by the flow of words, delighted by some wonderful phrases, amused by the subtle thread of humour, and absorbed by the developing story.
It was well worth it. For one thing, 'The Casual Vacancy' is a master class in how to write character-driven plots. Everything that happens in the story (with the exception of the aneurysm which kills Barry Fairbrother) is a direct result of the characters and of their interactions. This is no easy thing to achieve. Many writers struggle to create one or two fully developed and believable people. Rowling not only creates multiple characters with this depth, she weaves them together so that we see how each person's weaknesses and foibles influence every other person. Her plot is not simply driven by character, or even characters, but by the relationships between the characters. To achieve this, to make it effective and believable, requires not only skilful writing but also a keen observation and a deep understanding of people. Rowling knows how people respond to people, how the insecurity of one can stoke the anger in another, leading to fear, to intolerance, to hatred, to grief. A community of human beings is an immensely complex thing; in 'A Casual Vacancy' Rowling goes a long way to unravelling that complexity and showing how things work between people.
And of course, that means how things work between us. Pagford is a fictional place, (though there is considerable speculation about where it might be based on) and the characters are fictional people, but their lives and situations are all too real. If they are caricatures, it is to bring out and emphasise some of those qualities with which we may be familiar. All too familiar. And the results of these qualities may be familiar as well. Child abuse that leads to wrecked lives. Prejudice that justifies neglect. Hidden agendas, concealed emotions, simmering hatreds. It's all there in Pagford, but it's out there in the real world as well. Our world. The difference is that in Pagford, Rowling shows us the mechanisms that drive such things.
It seems to me that what this book is about, underneath everything else, is failing to really see other people. In Pagford, everyone's view of other people is coloured and distorted by their own hopes, dreams, fears and expectations. Which is exactly as it is in the real world, of course, but here we can see how destructive that is. Very few of the characters even try to see beyond their own prejudices and preconceptions. Most of them don't even consider that there is anything more to see. The result of these colliding misconceptions is tragedy.
At the end, for some of the characters at least, there is a redemption of a sort. The tragedy opens some eyes. Some relationships are healed, some people understand themselves or others better. It gives a measure of hope. But it left me wondering if this was always going to be the price.
This is a book that will stay with me for a while. The characters are unpleasant, but not easy to forget; and as I came to understand them better, I came to sympathise with them more. Which is the point, of course. And as a Christian, it led me to consider that the God I believe in understands us all fully, as no other being can. A thought with considerable implications, though whether or not Rowling had that in mind in her writing I have no idea. Certainly, God gets very little mention in the story; to the residents of Pagford, he is a very distant figure.
J. K. Rowling will be forever most closely associated with Harry Potter – and that's no bad thing. But good though those books were (and I certainly enjoyed them) they don't begin to show the full extent of her abilities as a writer – not in the same way as 'A Casual Vacancy' does. If I read a better book this year, I'll be surprised!
Live by Night by Dennis Lehane
Probably one of the best crime novels I've ever read, this grabbed me in the first sentence and never let go. Fast paced and exciting, poignant and powerful, the story of Joe Coughlin's rise to power in Prohibition USA is not only a thriller, but a in depth look at a great nation in a defining era. Corruption, murder, cruelty and betrayal are there in quantity - but so is compassion, mercy, even love.
There's nothing simplistic about this story, it deals with serious issues and gives you cause to reflect on them. The only question mark I had about this book is to ask how credible it is that a man like that, in a business like that, in a time like that, could still retain a moral code at all, even a flawed one. But that wasn't a criticism I had whilst reading it. The quality of the writing is such that the characters come through as totally authentic, just as is the background and plot. It's only after putting it down that I had to remind myself that this is a work of fiction and to wonder if such a person could really exist. And I find myself hoping they could.
Why Jesus Won't Go Away by Philip J. Skotte.
Some thirty years ago, I worked with the author of this book on the missionary ship MV Logos. Phil Skotte and I were good friends, but lost touch over the years since. Recently, thanks to the internet and social media, we reconnected, and I discovered that he had written a book. That was a bit worrying in a way. Of course, I wanted to read it - but suppose it was a one-star clunker? Would I be able to tell him, or would I be best to just ignore it?
Fortunately, I didn't have to do that. Phil's book is an easy five stars!
His writing is clear and lucid, with a smooth flow of words that help present some deep thinking in a very accessible manner. His central premise is that in Jesus Christ we find someone who appeals to some of the most basic human needs and desires - that we are 'hardwired for Jesus'. Obviously, this is a controversial claim, but he argues for it with both passion and logic.
He has an unusually good platform to argue from as well: in the course of a long career as a diplomat with the U.S. State Department he has traveled widely, often off the normal tourist routes. He has seen for himself how attractive Jesus is to a wide variety of people from all sorts of backgrounds, beliefs and cultures.
I take great pleasure in being able to recommend this book unreservedly - either for the Christian who seeks to strengthen his faith, or for the non-Christian who genuinely seeks to understand why Jesus Christ is still such a central figure in the world today.
Late Fragments by Kate Gross
This is a book written by a women facing an early death. But it is not about death. It's about life, and especially how to live life in the shadow of death. For Kate Gross, death came far to soon. It meant giving up on a fulfilling and very effective career. Even worse, it meant leaving her husband and twin boys.
But the book she wrote for them isn't morbid or angry. Though often very moving, it's not even sad in its tone. It is honest, it doesn't gloss over the pain, but its focus is positive and life-affirming. Kate Gross writes brilliantly. She shares her experience of terminal cancer with depth and humour and a marvellously well crafted flow of words. She also understands how to be profound without being obscure, and almost every page has something on it that is inspiring or thought-provoking. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who is alive, and anyone who expects to die.
There are so many other books that I would love to have included, all of which I've given five star reviews to. So if none of the above floats your boat (or if you're looking for more) let me recommend 'The Jazz Files' (London, crime, 1920's), 'The Prodigal's Psalm' (Egypt, 1st century), 'Twisted' (crime and mystery in Newcastle), 'The Tower and the Eye' (Dungeons and Dragons brought to life), 'Johnny McClintock's War' (love and religion in Ireland at the time of the First World War), 'The Hydrogen Sonata' (Ian M. Banks' last SF novel). And of course, as previously mentioned, any and all of Vivenne Tuffnell's books are worth reading - 'The Bet', 'Square Peg', 'Away with the Fairies', 'Strangers and Pilgrims'. To name just the novels. She also has several short story collections which are on my 'TBR' list.
Happy reading in 2016!