This was a month of "serious" books as I decided to read as many of the Booker longlisted novels available from my library on Libby. I ended up reading five and I liked two of them - Seascraper and Love Forms. Neither of those were chosen for the shortlist - maybe because they were too "normal".
I also re-read an old favorite and read a few other books.
These are the books I finished in September.
What's Bred in the Bone by Robertson Davies
This was the first Robertson Davies novel that I ever read more than 40 years ago. Technically, it is the second book in a trilogy but Davies' "trilogies" are really three stand alone books that take place in the same universe. This novel traces the life of the recently deceased Francis Cornish, an enigmatic man, patron of the arts and Canadian millionaire. Fortunately our guides through his life are the "Angel of Biography" and Cornish's "daemon". Davies is a Canadian writer and I think of him as a writer of ideas. The novel has a meandering plot, lots of characters and lots of ideas. This particular novel explores the idea of the artist - must an artist create in the style of his own day to be considered "great". One portion of the plot involves Francis learning to be an art restorer and the novel goes into great detail on what that entails. There are also sections on what constitute art forgeries. I haven't read this novel since my first reading and I was pleased that it stood the test of time and that I had forgotten some of the plot details enough to surprise me this second time through.
Universality by Natasha Brown
I reserved this at the library because it was longlisted for the Booker Prize, even though I knew nothing about it. If I had researched it a little bit I probably would have skipped it. This is described by the Financial Times as a "nesting doll of satire". I dislike satire mostly, I think, because I am very literal. I just never "get" satire. I remember HATING Bonfire of the Vanities. I didn't hate this book but I was a bit bored by it- again because I just didn't get what the author was trying to achieve. Maybe that's because I think it is difficult, if not impossible, to satirize our current state of affairs. Fortunately it is a short novel: 160 pages on my E-reader. I can't recommend it but that doesn't mean much. And a warning - one of the characters is very "anti-woke" and goes on and on about it (maybe she was supposed to be satirical, I don't know. I just found her annoying.)
Strangers in Time by David Baldacci
My book group picked this or I would probably have never otherwise picked it up. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed it. It is the height of the London Blitz and two young teens are affected. The first is a young boy whose father died at Dunkirk and whose mother died in the Blitz. He lives with his gran in terrible lodgings because the whole east end of London has been bombed. At night he goes out trying to scavenge what he can. The girl was sent to the countryside at the beginning and is just now returning. She finds her mother has been put into a mental institution and her father is missing, only her old nanny is left at the family's Chelsea home. Then there is the mysterious book shop owner in Covent Garden who both children come across. I've never read another Baldacci book so I don't know his usual style. Whether intentional or not he managed to capture an older style for this book about two young people and it reads a bit like a modern Enid Blyton book. I'm not complaining about that.
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
This was named as one of the best historical novels by some publication so I decided to read it. It is an odd little book about a German poet that I had never heard of. The style is somewhat old fashioned. At first it was slow going but eventually I began to find it appealing. This novel does not move fast. I didn't dislike it but find that I don't have much to say about it.
Love Forms by Claire Adam
Another Booker Prize longlist entry but this time a delightful book about a sad topic. A 58 year old woman is searching for the daughter she gave up for adoption more than 40 years ago. It is written in the form of a memoir in very realistic style. The woman doesn't always remember details from long ago and admits it. There is a lot of detail about life in Trinidad and Tobago and in Venezuala. The voice of the main character is very strong and the sense of place is excellent. There isn't much of a plot other than the search for the daughter, but it gives enough tension that I kept wanting to know if she ever finds her. I very much enjoyed this novel. Unfortunately it was not chosen for the Booker shortlist.
Flesh by David Szalay
Again, a novel on the Booker Prize longlist. The main character is a Hungarian man and the novel takes us from his teenage years to his older age. Through the years he fights in Iraq, moves to England, works security at a strip club, and then works security for a high end security firm and his life takes off from there. Each chapter moves the story along by a number of years. Sometimes I complain about novels where the dialogue doesn't sound the way people actually talk. I have to give Szalay credit, his dialogue is very authentic. And incredibly BORING. If you've ever listened to a teenage girl trying to get a teenage boy to talk, that kind of boring. Except that this character is only a teenager in the first chapter. Someone asks him something, he repeats the question, the first person says yes (or repeats the question again) and then he gives a monosyllabic answer. Through the ENTIRE BOOK. The character has no social skills, is not interesting, is never really interested in the women who throw themselves at him throughout this novel and yet women throw themselves at him. It's like a fantasy for an incel. No, I did not like this novel. It was, however, chosen for the Booker shortlist if you are looking for that.
Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards
Another of the British Library Crime Classics I inherited from my mom, this is a book of short stories where the mystery takes place while the detective is on vacation. It includes one Sherlock Holmes story. Some of them were entertaining even though I really don't get into short stories.
Audition by Katie Kitamura
Another on the Booker longlist, this was not what I expected. The main character is an actress who, at the beginning of the novel, is in rehearsal for a new play. She feels that things aren't going right and there is a transition scene in the middle of the play that she just can't get right. Into the midst of this arrives a young man who claims that he is her child she gave up for adoption. But she never gave up a child for adoption. So far, pretty straightforward. Then in part 2 of the novel reality changes. I won't go into it but it is jarring. It took me a while to figure out that this was an alternate reality and not just hallucination. In each part the novel is concerned with the "act" we put on for other people (people we know, people we interact with and strangers). It was an interesting concept and well written but it felt more like an exercise to me than a real novel. I'm not sorry I read it but would never need to read it again. It was chosen for the Booker shortlist.
In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer Fleming
Needing a break I turned to a new (to me) mystery series. As I was reading I found myself thinking "How old IS this?" No cellphones. It was released in 2010 so that seemed a bit odd. But it turned out that was when the e-book was published, the original was published in 2002. Anyway, I enjoyed it. The main character is Clare Ferguson, an army vet turned Episcopal priest who is new to the town of Millers Kill New York. One night she finds a newborn baby on the doorstep of the church. Then murders start happening. It's quite a start to her new life in Millers Kill. She teams up with Chef of Police Russ Van Alystyne to solve the murders and the identity of the baby. It's an unusual pairing that brings quite different perspectives to the case (and to people). I liked it and am already on the wait list for the next in the series.
Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger
The next in the Cork O'Connor mystery series set in Northern Minnesota, it's always nice to return to the area with Krueger. This sees Cork return to the first murder case he encountered after he was elected sheriff more than 25 years ago. Did he put the wrong person away for murder? The first part is set in the past and part 2 picks up the story in the present. So we go back in time and see his now deceased first wife and his two little girls (and his son on the way). Now his son is grown up, in law school, and volunteering for a local innocence project (which is how Cork gets drawn back into the case). I always enjoy this series as much for the sense of place (it's basically Ely Minnesota under a different name) as the characters.
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood
Another on the long list for the Booker Prize. Set in the 1950's, the main character, Thomas, lives a boring day-to-day existence in the seaside town of Longferry. Thomas is a "shanker" as was his grandfather. Every day he takes his horse and cart out to the beach to scrape for shrimp, which he then sells in town. Thomas lives with his mother and is too afraid to ask out the woman he is attracted to. He is in a rut. What he really wants to do is play a guitar and sing with the local bands in the local pubs. Then, one day, an American shows up looking for the location for a film. Thomas' life is changed. I enjoyed this very short little novel. It didn't have much of a plot (it was VERY character driven) but managed a great deal of tension. I found myself holding my breath a few times and then asking myself why. This was not chosen for the Booker shortlist unfortunately. (At the end of the book there is a link to take the reader to a recording of the song that Thomas eventually writes - which is a nice touch.)
