Three weeks’ holiday? That’s got to mean plenty of good reading time,
hasn’t it? Well yes, but with Christmas preparations, family and friends’
visits, and day-to-day distractions it actually meant less reading than I had
planned, but I did make a good dent in my list…
I started with Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising. First published in 1973, I had been aware of
this children’s classic for many years, but was reminded of it by English
academic, nature writer and Tweeter of lost words, Robert McFarlane (@RobGMacfarlane).
It’s about an ordinary boy who discovers he has links with ancient magic and
the story hovers between the 1970s present and earlier times, set around the
winter solstice (21st December). I especially relished the pleasure of reading
it in mid-winter, when the days didn’t quite get light and it was particularly
easy to believe that dark forces could conjure strange weather, and familiar
people and places might not be what they seem. I would recommend this to anyone
- you don’t have to be a child or a fantasy reader to be captivated by this
classic, and if you enjoy it there are more books in the series.
I then moved on to the short story collection Round the Christmas
Fire. As a book it is a beautiful object and it was a delight to be
re-united with old favourites such as Jeeves and Wooster and Adrian Mole, and
to explore some new seasonal tales by tried-and-tested writers such as Damon Runyon and
Nancy Mitford. When life is hectic I think short stories are the perfect way to
escape - consumed in one sitting they can take you to an English stately home,
New York speakeasy or Cotswold village, and bring you back in time to wrap the
presents and defrost the turkey! What more could you want?
I didn’t get to my second book of short stories I am Heathcliff, a collection of stories inspired by Wuthering
Heights curated by Kate Mosse and published to celebrate Emily Brontë’s
200th anniversary. With writers as varied - and without obvious Brontë
connections - as Juno Dawson, Sophie Hannah and Nikesh Shukla this is a treat
that I’m now saving for later. Instead, I dipped into some Christmas present
books, and then found myself, for New Year, in the strange world of Convenience
Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. To me it is a sort of a love story, told by
someone whose experience and view of the world could not be more different from
my own, but whose odd kind of triumph was surprisingly rewarding. This review from The Guardian captures its tone perfectly.
Then to a book that has been recommended to me many times over, but had
never seemed credible as an enthralling read. How could I be so wrong? My
edition of Oranges by John McPhee was published by the bookshop Daunt
Books, who describe their books as ‘writing that evokes a strong sense of
place’ and with Oranges I was in 1960s Florida learning all there is to
know about - you’ve guessed it - oranges! You might think a book of 141 pages
on one citrus fruit would lose its lustre but McPhee’s writing pulls you
through history, horticulture, economics, science, culture and art at such a
pace your perspective on a simple glass of juice will never be the same again. Most
memorable are the people - the scientist trying to preserve a loyalty to the
fresh fruit over the more tradable concentrate, and the orange baron who
surveys his groves from his helicopter, plus many others. Along the way you
will acquire some of those inconsequential facts that enable books to change
the way you see the world. Did you know for example that an orange has a stem
end and a blossom end? My image of an orange had never included blossom before
but now I see blossom every time I peel one, and feel lucky to do so.
And one final book squeezed in before term started: In the Mouth of the Wolf by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by the renowned
French artist, Barroux. This is a
book written for younger readers, but I was intrigued to try it because I had
read that it was based on the true story of Morpurgo’s own uncle, who became a
British secret agent during World War II in spite of initially being a
conscientious objector. So although written for younger readers it tackles some
mature ideas, events and consequences. It opens at a birthday party in a
village in France where an old man is celebrating his 90th birthday. When the
man goes to bed, listening to a chiming clock and the hoots of an owl, he
declares that this is not a night for sleeping, it ‘is a night for
remembering’. Each chapter that follows is addressed to one of the significant
people in his life and together they tell the story of Francis Cammaerts and
his remarkable adventures and achievements. A very speedy read for an older
reader, but a masterclass in how a life can be captured in a story and how the
story can be magnified by pictures.
So I didn’t get through my Christmas pile, but that’s OK - it’s good to
have choice and picking the right book for the moment and your mood is for me
both a luxury and part of the pleasure of reading. Check out Daniel Pennac (Rights of the Reader) on the subject if you have any doubts next time you want to borrow or buy books you don’t
necessarily have time to read. And I know the right time will come for Heathcliff, The Party and The Sisters Brothers eventually...
With the exception of Round the Christmas Fire all the books
mentioned here can be borrowed from the library. Most of the stories in Round
the Christmas Fire can be found in other books.