Chain Reading

If you've never read Jane Austen before, don't start with this one. Northanger Abby is a departure from the Austen style made famous in her other five novels. First, it is self-conciously concerned with books which were popular at the time that Austen was writing, and with the characters in those books. A knowledge of those books would certainly enhance the pleasure which is to be gained from Northanger Abby. A lack of such knowlegde doesn't detract from the narrative, but the very different popular culture of today's age does make Catherine Morland, the heroine, and Austen's writing style in this novel, slightly outmoded and antiquated. In keeping with her commentary on the horridness of gothic romance writing, Austen adopts the habit of constantly drawing the reader out of the narrative by reminding you that you are reading a book which she is writing. This "editorialising" prevents the read from ever becoming properly escapist.

The story concerns the very provincial and naive Catherine Morland's visit to Bath. In Bath she meets the Thorpes and the Tilneys who open her mind to the ways of the world and leave her, at the book's end, a sounder character than when she begin. The plot accelerates almost over-hastily at the end to wrap up in an unsatisfying two chapters devoid of the detail which populates the first three-quarters of the read. Austen's wit is ever-present throughout and her characterisation and dialogue are masterful.

I never read the adventures of Tom Sawyer and so started Huckleberry Finn not knowing how Huck made his fortune. As it turns out, it doesn't matter. Huckleberry Finn runs away from home and leaves that fortune behind him as he goes sailing down the Mississippi on a raft with a runaway slave, Jim.

The plot is a mixture of comedy and tragedy and farce and the book is at turns charming, quaint and funny. Twain creates humour through situations, through speech and through piercing observation of human nature. Mixed in with the adventure story of Huck's travels is a picture of American fronteir life in the south in the 1800s. Twain has been criticised for this book, but underneath the shenanigans and wry laughs is a serious message about stereotyping, morality, the interaction of self and the community and, perhaps most importantly, friendship and racism.

What you won't find is plot development of any sort. Apparently in the first editions of the book Twain himself warned against looking for a plot. The raft on river device enables him to string together a series of humourous situations as the characters reach new towns without the need to develop the plot in any particular direction. When Huck reunites with Tom Sawyer the pace drops as Twain gets a bit carried away in the larkishness of the boys.

Twain has written the book in the first person diction of a southern American waif which may give some continental readers difficulty at times. The characterisation of Huckleberry and Jim and those he meets along the river are all consistent and believable.

Ram Mohammed Thomas is a waiter, and the winner of a billion rupees on a quiz show. He is also accused of cheating. Vikas Swarup unfolds the story of Ram's life in segments that show how his varied life experiences gave him the answers to the questions on the show. The chronology of Ram's life is rearranged to fit the ordering of the questions and is strung together in a way that doesn't confuse the reader and that avoids seeming contrived. Ram's remarkable good luck is also such an extension of his personality and his attitude to life that it no longer seems surprising when things work out well.

Swarup has succeeded in painting a picture of life in India as successfully as Rohintin Mistry in "A Fine Balance". The reader meets prostitutes, princesses, priests, proprietors, policemen, doctors, lawyers, beggar masters, criminals, Bollywood film stars and quiz show hosts. The book is gritty and gloomy, but avoids being depressing through effective use of humour and Ram's indefatigable attitude towards life. It is a light and relaxing read and is recommended for anyone with any interest in life in India or, even if that doesn't grab you, a heartwarming story of a big-hearted street boy who has a way of making life go his way.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the classroom ... along comes School's Out.

This award-winning debut novel from French author Dufossé is both dark and disturbing, and interspersed with black humour. It explores the uneasy relationships between adolescents and children and the childhood urge to conform.

When 9F's teacher, Éric Capadis, plunges to his death from the school-room window, watched by his students, the task of teaching them falls to 32-year-old Pierre Hoffman, an introspective, reclusive bachelor with a rather unhealthy relationship towards his sister. As the class assumes a chilling group mentality and Hoffman's life becomes unsettled by distrubing events, he finds himself asking whether Capadis jumped, or was pushed. The plot culminates in a school outing to Etretat where it reaches its dramatic and chilling close.

Don't start School's Out expecting a thriller. The book's force is primarily psychological and the plot perhaps closer to an existential horror than to a conventional thriller. It doesn't quite resolve and left me feeling marginally unsatisfied, but even if you aren't completely taken by the plot, the book is worth reading just to see the effective manner in which Dufossé manages to make a mood of meance pervade the book.

A ho-hum read. This unbelievable family story expects the reader to disengage their credulity and capacity for reason. The book never absorbed me. The saccharine ending and oh-so-convenient meetings of characters smack of poor plot development. The central character whose voice is used to tell the story is never developed properly and remains one-dimensional until the end. Do yourself a favour and rather go bath the dog or something.

An autobiographical account of the Gopnik's relocation with his wife and infant son from USA to Paris. The writing is excellent and at times will have you laughing out loud with his insightful, barbed observations of Parisian life. The contracts and comparisons Gopnik draws teaches us something about life both in America and in France. You won't learn much about what to see or do or where to stay in Paris or how to understand French menus - this is a book for those who are curious about Paris as a city and how to wish to peek inside what makes Paris tick.

Perhaps I started with the wrong Le Carre, perhaps I don't know enough about the cold war, but beyond some excellent characters and character development, the plot of this book never lifted off for me. It never reached the levels of suspense I had been led to expect from Le Carre and I finished it not quite knowing what it was that I had just read.

This book is a factual account of a hunt for the most notorious, dangerous, most wanted and wealthiest criminal in history and of the efforts of two governments to bring him to justice.

Bowden has a way of making non-fiction compelling. This is a well-researched book which raises all kinds of philosophical issues about whether the means justify the ends. I regretted the fact that Bowden did not spend more time on Escobar's philanthropic contributions to his community and quite how he managed to become as popular as he did. One also never really gets an insight into what his family thought and felt through the process.

Bowden describes the chase almost exclusively through the lens of the Search Bloc and the American teams, and this is understandable given that he would probably not have had access to other sources of information.

A new student, very reminiscent of the main character from Catcher in the Rye, enrols at Hampden College, Vermont, having left his home town in California. He fabricates a history for himself which he feels will live up to people's expectations of Californian life. He joins a small select class of five students studying classical Greek under the fabled Julian Morrow. I thought the book would a morph between Dangerous Minds and Dead Poet's Society where the reclusive, eccentric Morrow would turn out to be like Forrester and rescue his deadbeat Californian student from a life of mediocrity. Tartt will surprise you, though. Morrow is very much a cameo character but is none the less interesting and complex, despite his small role. Tartt has developed all of her characters exceptionally well and she lets you inside the minds of these five young students as she takes you on a journey that led them to kill one of their own peers, one of their fellow classical Greek class mates. Utterly believable, frequently disturbing, this book is worth the read. I found it to be a fairly gripping read although Tartt does drop the pace towards the end of the book and allows things to drag for a bit before a plot twist picks you up and carries you rapidly through to her chilling end. An excellent debut novel.

This book is written in play form about Sir Thomas More's relationship with Henry VIII. Thomas More, the consumate man of conviction, is the Lord Chancellor and is imprisoned by the King for his unwillingness to permit the King to divorce. An excellent dramatic portrayal of history, More strikes an inspirational figure with his unswerving adherence to principle and integrity.