book review- The Wine-Dark Sea - Leonardo Sciascia

"Is there a local mafia?" asked Bianchi.
"Mafia?" exclaimed Micciche with the same incredulity he would have displayed had he been asked whether the inhabitants of Nisima had webbed feet. "What Mafia? All nonsense!"

In the story that gives the book its title there is a moment when a traveler and a family he has ended up bunking up with en route look at the sea. They argue over the description of the colour of the water much. They disagree over what each other can see much in the way that throughout the book there is a blindness shown by some characters towards organised crime.

The Mafia hangs like a shadow over this collection of stories with tales of corruption and bitter betrayal. In the opening couple of stories the theme is set with a bunch of men duped into thinking they were being taken to America in The Long Crossing finding instead they have been on an elabrorate scam that saw them go round in circles before being dumped back near where they originally started.

The Wine-Dark Sea follows an official going to Sciliy to check up on oil reserves fully aware that he is heading into Mafia territory and is going to find it difficult and dangerous. As he tries to gather intelligence from a family he is traveling with he realises just how much danger he is in when he mentions the M word.

There are some clever tales which have a feeling almost of the detective novels set in LA with The End-Game showing just how far a woman will go to set up someone else for a crime.

The story with a Mafia boss and his underling describing what they think the word 'Mafia' means is illuminating and does have moments of humour.

But after putting the book down and sitting back in reflection what you take from this collection is an insight into a world where it was almost what was not said that was important. The influence of the mafia covers everything and those that try to deny it cannot fight back a tide of fear. But there are other moments here where the depths to which normal people will go to take you by surprise.

The real question is not who is in the mafia perhaps but who is capable of doing the crimes and being filled with the hatred of a Mafia killer? The response to that question of all puts us all under the spotlight.

book review- The Wine-Dark Sea - Leonardo Sciascia

"Is there a local mafia?" asked Bianchi.
"Mafia?" exclaimed Micciche with the same incredulity he would have displayed had he been asked whether the inhabitants of Nisima had webbed feet. "What Mafia? All nonsense!"

In the story that gives the book its title there is a moment when a traveler and a family he has ended up bunking up with en route look at the sea. They argue over the description of the colour of the water much. They disagree over what each other can see much in the way that throughout the book there is a blindness shown by some characters towards organised crime.

The Mafia hangs like a shadow over this collection of stories with tales of corruption and bitter betrayal. In the opening couple of stories the theme is set with a bunch of men duped into thinking they were being taken to America in The Long Crossing finding instead they have been on an elabrorate scam that saw them go round in circles before being dumped back near where they originally started.

The Wine-Dark Sea follows an official going to Sciliy to check up on oil reserves fully aware that he is heading into Mafia territory and is going to find it difficult and dangerous. As he tries to gather intelligence from a family he is traveling with he realises just how much danger he is in when he mentions the M word.

There are some clever tales which have a feeling almost of the detective novels set in LA with The End-Game showing just how far a woman will go to set up someone else for a crime.

The story with a Mafia boss and his underling describing what they think the word 'Mafia' means is illuminating and does have moments of humour.

But after putting the book down and sitting back in reflection what you take from this collection is an insight into a world where it was almost what was not said that was important. The influence of the mafia covers everything and those that try to deny it cannot fight back a tide of fear. But there are other moments here where the depths to which normal people will go to take you by surprise.

The real question is not who is in the mafia perhaps but who is capable of doing the crimes and being filled with the hatred of a Mafia killer? The response to that question of all puts us all under the spotlight.

Monday update

Just as the curtain is coming down on the month managed to get the Wine-Dark Sea by Leonardo Sciascia wrapped up, review tomorrow hopefully, and am trying to get into The Courilof Affair by Irene Nemirovsky.

She writes stories that are easy to engage with but much deeper than they first appear because of her talent in describing the human condition. Her eye for details is something that could be really enjoyed in Fire in the Blood and already 70 odd pages in is here but perhaps more slowly as a former revolutionary describes the story of an assassination he was sent to carry out in Tsarist Russia.

bookmark of the week

the memory of the summer are the three days spent on Studland Beach. Wonderful and this bookmark shows the view as you look out to sea and across the headland towards Swanage.

book review - The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal - Jan Marsh

"The known facts about Elizabeth's Siddal's life are few; knowledge of her personality, opinions and emotions is even scantier. Of her 'true self' only her paintings, drawings and poetry survive, and these do not admit of simple biographical analysis."

Most of the time a biography will tell you who a person was charting their life from cradle to grave, or in the case of Jordan from one year to the next, but what Jan Marsh has done with this book is that and more.

Elizabeth Siddal was a young woman with striking red hair who was spotted by one of the group of artists known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and used as a model by a few of them before settling down to become the love interest and eventually wife of Gabriel Rossetti.

She produced art in her own right and as the years go on is being recognised more for her own pictures, painting and poetry than her role as a bit of romantic interest in the story of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

But with the details of her life still reasonable sparse Siddal has become a figure used and abused by others to make a point about class and the battle of the sexes as well as by some as an almost legendary whimsical Yoko Ono type figure with Rossetti filling the part of John Lennon. That he loved her at some points is not in doubt but Marsh suggests that he had tired of her and moved on before she managed to eventually pin him down to marriage.

"Gabriel had fallen out of love with his dear dove, but did not know how to resolve the relationship to which he was in honour bound."

Their married life was brief as an addiction to opiates and general ill health dragged Siddal down to the point where she eventually over-dosed and died. Was it suicide? That's another mystery for the Siddal addicts to debate and muse over.

What is certainly true is that she has remained a figure that can command time of writers, art historians and gossips long after her death. Part of this is because of the way that after her death Rossetti exhumed her body to get back some poetry he had buried with her and wanted to publish but it is also perhaps because despite the ups and downs of artistic fashion the interest in the Pre-Raphaelites has continued to remain a force.

This book was published 15 years ago and has been reissued and updated following the BBC drama Desperate Romantics which put Siddal back into the public spotlight. Marsh oozes knowledge on her subject and manages to chart the different times and movements of the 40s, 50s and 60s to detail how Siddal was treated and shows how one person can be used for different ends.

There are still parts of Siddal's life that remain a mystery and that makes the chances of the legend being extended and enhanced even more likely in the future. Although that might confuse things the hope is that Marsh will be on hand to guide the reader through in the same way she has done so masterfully here.

Thoughts at the half way point of The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal

A while ago the BBC broadcast a drama about the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood which helpfully provided enough background knowledge to pick this book up with a slight knowledge on the area.

But in that series the model and inspiration for many of the artists in the PRB Lizzie Siddal comes across as a flame haired beauty that at various times seems to have had the artists fighting for her affections with Rossetti winning out in the end.

But he failed to be faithful and the drama left you under the impression Lizzie kills herself with an overdose and then the guilt combined with grief tears her husband apart.

Of course this is probably as much legend as fact and Jan Marsh's book is all about looking at the legends that started during Siddal's life time but went into overdrive after her death.

Unlike most biographies this starts with the death and works back from there which is a refreshing way of avoiding the she born, she lived, she grew up here formula.

Looking forward to discovering a bit more about the woman who was an artist in her own right as well as being a muse and lover.

A review will follow on completion...

The week ahead

A while ago I used to blog on Monday about the plans for the week ahead. Given the slow reading recently this time this is more of a buck up message for me rather than purely of general interest. With only four books read so far this month time is running out to hit my usual seven. So here is what hopefully will be read this week.

I’m half way through Marsh’s fascinating study of Elizabeth Siddal and hoping that a bit of time above and beyond the commute can be carved out to finish this off.

The Wine-Dark Sea is just waiting to have a real read and hopefully that will happen soon and my first impressions of something rather special will be confirmed.

bookmark of the week

Looming above the landscape is the magnificent Corfe Castle. Run by the National trust this is a great castle that also serves as an ideal picnic spot.

Author interview: Anne Peile - Repeat it Today With Tears

Having recently read Repeat it Today with Tears the author Anne Peile kindly agreed to answer some questions about the book. She sent me the answers as a written letter which in the day and age of email and twitter was something rather special.

In a nutshell the book told the story of Susie, a bright girl from a broken home who is destined for Oxford and a life away from her mother, sister and mother's boyfriend. But her obsession with her father tips over into a sexual relationship that destroys them both. The story is set in 1970s Chelsea and is described in such vivid detail you can picture the streets that Susie walks down as if watching back old cine film.


Thanks Anne for answering my questions and good luck with the next book. The way London of the past came to life on the pages of Repeat it Today was quite wonderful.


Q. Where did the idea come from for the story?
"The story came to me more or less fully formed though Susie does, of course, have some pretty august literary ancestors - from Ovid onwards."

Q. The old London you describe is so wonderfully done was it a world you knew personally or did you have to go and do a lot of research to be able to produce such vivid descriptions of 1970s Chelsea?
"I do know South West London fairly well, I also have a working background in 20th century social and cultural history which helps with contextual 'props, including issues relating to the hospital passages."

Q. Some of the scenes, particularly the intimate ones between Susanna and her father make difficult reading were they difficult to write?
"Overall, I did not find any particular scenes more difficult to write than others."

Q. Is Susanna a character you would use in another book? She was left damaged but had a lot of life potentially ahead of her.
"I do not think that I shall write about Susie again although I will certiantly revist Chelsea and that era - indeed the book I am writing at the moment has some SW3 locations."

Thoughts at the half-way point of Wessex Tales

There are moments when Hardy can scare you, tear at your heart strings or make you smile and all of those emotions are roused in this collection of short stories.

So far there has been the story of the criminal singing next to his hangman and then escaping capture, the love struck Hussar who misses out on escaping with his beauty with fatal consequences and a bit of witch craft.

But what you are struck by here is the way that Hardy is able to quickly pen a description of a world that the modern reader can only imagine. Country people and traditions are laid bare by a writer who writes about them with a clear amount of tenderness as well as a degree of scepticism.

Will pull together a more comprehensive review on completion of reading the book...

The week ahead

This week has to be one where if nothing else I get through Wessex Tales. Don’t get me wrong I’m enjoying Hardy immensely it’s just slow going for some reason.

It might be a holiday hangover but the plans for this month are looking dangerously at risk unless things pick up soon.

Here’s hoping it goes smoothly.

bookmark of the week

The Tank Museum in Bovington is a great day out and these two bookmarks show just a couple of the options from the shop. You don't have to be military minded to appreciate both the horrors and the effort that goes into tank warfare.

book review - Sarajevo Marlboro - Miljenko Jergovic

"In this world, as it is, there is one basic rule; Zuko Dzumhur mentioned it when he was thinking about Bosnia, and it relates to the two suitcases that you always have packed in the hall. All your possessions and all your memories have to fit into them. Everything outside is already lost. There is no point looking for reasons or meanings and excuses. They are just a burden, like memories."

This short story collection is in parts harrowing, moving and humorous. In war the extreme's of human behaviour are all there from the man who knew how to tell a good story being imprisoned and talking his way out as some sort of general to the confident carefree Sarajevo resident driven out of his own city and his own life because of the threat of war and intolerance.

Split into three parts once you have got past the setting and the introduction to pre-war Sarajevo the bulk of the stories fit into the Reconstruction of Events section before a short but powerful ending entitled Who will be the Witness?

Like every good recounting of a civil war what is the most terrible weapon is jealously and the desire for revenge. As the differences between Muslims, Croats and Serbs come to become one's of life and death the city becomes a battleground and neighbours fall on each other. The tragedy is that death could not only come from above via a bomb or from a snipers bullet but from an angry neighbour looking to settle scores.

This collection starts pre-war and then goes through the way a city is torn apart and uses stories on a few individuals to highlight the impact of war on people who have seen their lives turned upside down.

But this is also an insight into the culture of Sarajevo and there are lots of stories that include references to folklore and the way things work that will be of great interest to a reader like me coming from London without any real knowledge of Yugoslavia and then the countries post-break-up.

Usually when reviewing a short story collection I might pick out one or two of the stories that have made a striking impression. But because this whole book shares a common theme it's not fair to take that approach. This collection shines a light on a war that few of us in the West really knew that much about and it is not just a testament to that conflict but a reminder of how neighbour can turn on neighbour when encouraged to do so. That danger is alive as much now as it was when the bombs were falling on Sarajevo.

book review - The Luneburg Variation - Paolo Maurensig

"Yet one doubt remains: could I count on your complete desire to win, or would you yield to the temptation to flatter me by playing beneath your level, simply to guarantee yourself a life of comfort? I therefore decided that we required a stake. Whoever puts up a stake, no matter how small, cannot permit himself the luxury of sloppy play."

A chess playing master Frisch is found dead at his home. He leads a life of order and control and his death is a mystery. But as the story of his last journey unfolds a tale of hatred, fear and the holocaust unfolds. The key to the story is chess. After initial misgivings, given my last game of chess was when I was a teenager, the story itself does enough to grab you.

As the narrator tells you of how he wandered through chess clubs trying to get the attention of the mysterious Tabori a relationship is formed that initially helps the young man fulfil his chess ambitions. But as his master lies dying in hospital he is tasked with fulfilling a mission that prevented Tabori from playing the game he loved for forty years.

At that point the young man enters Frisch's train carriage on the man's last journey home and tells the old man a story that finally overlaps with his own. The final pieces of the jigsaw are left unsaid and I'm not going to spoil the plot but needless to say justice is served.

The reason this book leapt out from the shelves was the blurb that described Maurensig as a great writer. He is good but the puff might be slightly over blown. At the start this is sold as some sort of murder mystery and the fact it is much more than that and has a great deal more to say about human cruelty doesn't emerge until some readers might have lost interest which is a shame.

book review - Prater Violet - Christopher Isherwood

"You see, this umbrella of his I find extremely symbolic. It is the British respectability which thinks: 'I have my traditions, and they will protect me. Nothing unpleasant, nothing ungentlemanly, can possibly happen within my private park.' This respectable umbrella is the Englishman's magic wand, with which he will try to wave Hitler out of existence. When Hitler declines rudely to disappear, the Englishman will open his umbrella and say: 'After all, what do I care for a little rain?' But the rain will be a rain of bombs and blood. The umbrella is not bombproof."

Christopher Isherwood knew perhaps more than most just what was coming under Hitler's leadership of Germany. Having been there when the country started to turn to the swastika he has a degree of sympathy and knowledge that makes him a good person to liaise with an Austrian film director on the eve of war.

Isherwood on one level is writing a memoir about his time in the mid thirties when he was recruited to work with larger than life film director Fredrich Bergmann who is ion semi-exile from Vienna and a weak increasing pro-Nazi and anti-semitic government.

The two manage to form a friendship despite the director's susceptibility to wild mood swings and outbursts of self importance. On the flip side he can be funny, charming and loyal to those he views as friends and supporters.

But away from the memoir of the relationship between script writer and director and film studio there is something else being described here, a world that is shortly to change forever.

It reminds you a bit of Patrick Hamilton and his description of the drinking and sing songs happening in the pubs as the war arrives and the world changes. Here the men and women who brush off the Anschluss in Austria and Bergmann's warnings of forthcoming doom are also living in a world that is about to change. They have little idea of what awaits and it is Isherwood with his Goodbye to Berlin days behind him who is all too aware that the worst case scenario might well be the one that emerges.

Written in a manner that is almost diary like with the author sharing his thoughts about this period with the reader in an easy manner the book is one that could be prone to being overlooked because it seems to talk of a specific time. But there are lessons here about how widespread the ostrich like determination to avoid facing reality is that are just as applicable today.

Beware writing off the prophet of doom just because his personality is one that can be criticised.

Thoughts at the half-way point of Sarajevo Marlboro

Collections of short stories seem to broadly come in two cataegories: ones with an overall theme and those that are various works pulled together. This falls firmly into the first category with Jergovic describing a country Bosnia and a city, Sarajevo, that are ravaged by war.

His stories share that common theme but do seem to come in chronological order with the start describing a world on the brink of war and by the middle the shells and bullets and falling and flying pretty heavily.

What draws you in is the way that Jergovic writes about some horrible things but does so in such a way, tempted to say at arm's length but that's not perhaps right, that leaves the reader in a position to make up their own mind about the horror and brutality of war and its impact on innocent people.

A review will come soon...

Getting back in the saddle

Having been away on holiday camping, and still technically off although now back at home, I'm going to try and get back into the blogging saddle. Shouldn't be too long but bear with me for a couple of days.

bookmark of the week

This is the first of two Studland beach bookmarks. Studland Beach, run by the National trust, is a magical beach and nature reserve. Blue skies and clean sand the stuff holiday's are made of.

Bylton a good Dorset choice

Being on holiday in Dorset the idea of taking an Enid Blyton book to read on holiday seemed to be inspired and thanks to twitter friend @linda1966 Five go off to Camp was put in the bag. Tales of mysterious steam trains seemed incredibly apt considering the tent was just a short distance from the Swanage steam train railway line. But the world that Blyton describes, with gorse bushes and heathers can be found within yards of Studland beach.

On holiday I always like to find a local author and although not born in that part of the world Blyton holidayed in Swanage for decades and used many of the local landmarks as inspirations for locations in the world of the Famous Five.

Give me time to read the book, which is being done a couple of chapters a night by torchlight, and I will share my thoughts on the experience later on.

Following in Hardy's footsteps

On holiday in Dorset it's difficult not to stumble across some Hardy references and so as the rain came down we headed to Dorchester (Casterbridge) to take shelter from the bad weather. A walk down the high street included a trip into a bookshop and a chance to browse the Hardy shelf.

Having read the likes of Mayor of Catserbridge, Tess, Two on a Tower and Jude in my late teens and early twenties and with it being a holiday I plumbed for a copy of Wessex Tales. This short story collection was composed when Hardy was at the height iof his powers and it shows. He delivers confident stories of country life and before you know it he has drawn you into a rural life in the nineteenth century.

A perfect companion to a holiday in Hardy country.

Thopughts at the half-way point of The Luneburg Variation

This starts feeling like a murder mystery novel with a top chess player found dead at his home. But it quickly moves into other territory. You fear that you might need to know stuff about chess as the story moves into talk of grand masters and learning moves but the characters that Maurensig describes carry it through. As the end game begins you want to know where it goes.

Although this book comes from an author living in Italy and the action is set in Vienna the location is not perhaps as important or as pronounced as other European literature. That's because the action and the moves largely take place on a chess board which is a plain of action that is of course not fixed to a single location.

Final half of book and overview in a review soon...

Thoughts at the half-way point of Prater Violet

Having read Goodbye Berlin the memoir style that Isherwood delivers with such ease feels familiar and comfortable. This book comes after the author has returned from Berlin and as the war clouds gather over Europe.

Trying to finish a book but also in need of money Isherwood is introduced to the larger than life Austrian film director Fredrich Bergmann and empoloyed as a script writer. He is tasked with delivering the script for the story of mistaken idendity that is the love story of Prater Violet.

But the job of working on the script is secondary to the character of Bergmann that Isherwood describes in great detail. As the Austrian wrestles with the developments at home with the Nazi's he struggles to convince those around him that war is coming and how disatorous it will be for Europe. Sadly few are listening.

A review follows soon...

A Local bookshops could save holiday packing

If there is one major lesson from holidaying in the UK, I've been to France or Switzerland for the past four years, it is that you don't need to take as many books with you as you might have thought.

I packed about 8 or 9 books to last up to ten days on holiday but on the first night after pitching the tent wandered into Swanage, near where I was staying, to discover an Oxfam bookshop. Come Monday morning and you can imagine I was straight in there buying three books which I read over the next few days.

These three could of course have saved on some pre-holiday packing and it made me think that next time I put the tent in the car I will also check locations of new and second hand bookshops near the holiday destination. It might well save some packing.

Month review - July

Still have to review some of these from July but a look back over the month produces a smile. There were some cracking reads in there with the heartbreaking Beside the Sea a great start.

Tintin and the Secret of Literature provided a chance to see my cartoon hero from a different angle and there were some recent reads from Jonathan Lee, Shane Jones and Jess Walter that were all good reads.

List of books read:

Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
The Last Will & Testament of Senhor Da Silva Araujo by Germano Almeida
Tintin and the Secret of Literature by Tom McCarthy
Who is Mr Satoshi? by Jonathan Lee
The Opposite of Falling by Jennie Rooney
Light Boxes by Shane Jones
The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter

bookmark of the week

The theme of this month is holiday and for the first time we chose to go under canvas and heat to Dorset. This is Hardy country as well as the inspiration for a lot of the world of Enid Blyton. The first bookmark is not that imaginative but comes from the tourist information office in Dorchester.