Life must be filled up

Charles Lamb, photo from The Guardian

I’m very bad at the sort of discursive, rambling writing such a post demands; it’s just not my style. But here goes. My reading lately has been rather sporadic and ‘June Books’ didn’t appear at all. Cricket hasn’t helped. When you don’t want to miss a ball on Test Match Special you need to be doing something compatible with listening and with shouting, ‘Slide, Ben Stokes, slide!’ or ‘Cor blimey, what a shambles!’. I wonder if the neighbours can hear me. These are the books I read in June, four of which did get reviewed.

The Rhyme of the Magpie, Marty Wingate
My Life in Houses, Margaret Forster
Capital Murders, ed. Martin Edwards
A Man of Some Repute, Elizabeth Edmondson
The American Lady (Glassblower Trilogy Book Two), Petra Durst-Benning and Samuel Willcocks.
The Dungeon House, Martin Edwards
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer.

I borrowed Margaret Forster’s book from the library but found I’m more interested in reading about houses than I am in reading about Margaret Forster living in them. Over the years I’ve read many of her novels but, I don’t know why it is, whenever I’ve read anything autobiographical, I’ve found it impossible to warm to her. The American Lady was disappointing after the first Glassblower book; far too much of it was unbelievable. Nevertheless, it ends on such a cliffhanger that I’ll almost certainly read the third book just to find out what happens.

I re-read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society when I was looking for a ‘nice’ comforting sort of book. It fitted the bill and led me on to
( something else )

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer must have the best title and one of the best jackets of the year. It’s written entirely through letters, which would usually put me off, but I was drawn into this straight away. It’s 1946 and writer Juliet is searching for a subject for a new book. A chance letter from a man on Guernsey sparks an interest in the islanders’ lives under the German occupation and she begins a correspondence with various members of the eponymous society. I really liked these letters, which gave such an insight into the characters of the senders. I especially enjoyed the literary criticisms they sent Juliet: Isola Pribby complaining of the uselessness of the male Brontës; Clovis Fossey wanting to woo a woman with love poetry but being shocked by Catullus because ‘you couldn’t say those words to a nice lady’. As well as the island story there’s the tease about Juliet’s love life and the mystery of what happened to much loved Elizabeth, who was everyone’s friend. If the characters do seem more like homespun American folks than Channel Islanders, never mind; they’re still very charming. I think ‘charm’ is a word which will be used a lot about this book. ( Read on )