Up with the Lark

Old Filth

Old Filth is an exquisitely wrought novel by the English novelist Jane Gardham. It is the story of Teddy Feathers, nicknamed Filth (Failed in London, try Hong Kong).  It's a heartbreaking tale of a "Raj Orphan" so called because they were sent back to England from the East at the age of 4 or 5 for their schooling and many never saw their parents again.  Filth becomes a soliciter and joins the monied and titled of society.  The writing is crisp and conveys the nuances of the upper classes; the schools, the families, their friendships. At the heart of this novel is a secret from Filth's childhood which he has repressed. The book works its way back and forth through time uncovering bits about his childhood, his war years, his marriage and eventually the secret which has been hinted at is revealed. Gardham has a terrific sense of character.  She portrays Filth from his earliest days running barefoot in Malay through his school years, his awkward adolescence, his young adulthood to his end as the stiff Sir Edward Feathers.Buy at Amazon

The Library at Night

The Library at Night is for anyone who has ever said "Yes, actually, I do need all of these books."  Alberto Manguel has written an inspiring book about keeping books.  He explores all aspects of libraries dropping little facts and bits of wisdom that he has gleaned over the years from collecting and living with printed material. He has so many books that when he lived in Toronto he was forced to shelve them on his front porch.  His children complained that they felt the need of a library card in order to enter their home. There is plenty of information here regarding the history of libraries, great collections, famous library buildings, great librarians and certainly Manguel's own library.  A charming and erudite writer, Manguel is no book snob.  Detective fiction, poetry, history, fiction, non-fiction all have a place in his book room.  One of my favourite chapters was about organizing libraries - do you organize them by language (Manguel reads in 5 or 6 languages)?, by country of origin?, alphabetically by author?, by category?, do you separate works by best friends because they don't write in the same category?  These are weighty issues for anyone with more than a handful of books.  I have a library and I have a lot of books, although not nearly as many as Manguel, so I was interested in his response to the ever popular question "Have you actually read all of these books?".  His simple reply is "Well, I've certainly opened them all".Buy at Amazon

Little House on a Small Planet

This review was written by Lloyd Alter for Treehugger.com   

Just as hunger isn’t caused by scarcity of food, homelessness and our “housing crisis” aren’t caused by a lack of houses.

So says Frances Moore Lappe in the foreword to Little House on a Small Planet- a wonderful book by Shay Salomon with photographs by Nigel Valdez. Shay asks the question "How much space does it take to be happy?" and then proceeds to answer the question: not very much. She then proceeds to ask why there are big houses (Keeping up with the joneses, easy financing, "because we can") and instructs us to find new Joneses or forget the Joneses.

It is not just about how you design, but how you live. Chapters with titles like "Choose what you need" and "build a glove, not a warehouse" and "make a room of your own." It is a lovely book that teaches you how to "live in less space and have more room to enjoy it. Dozens of tiny houses are beautifully photographed with what must be a very wide angle lens- one of my favourites was a 180 square foot "cob cottage where a couple lived for ten years, and apparently still talk to each other.

                           

                              

I must point out that with a few exceptions these houses would fall into the crunchy granola school of design built by free spirits who believe that (we quote out of context) "architect designed" is synonymous with "don't ask how much it cost" and that there is a bias towards warm climates where one can always go outside.

Nonetheless it is the spirit and conviction of the people in this book, who not only believe as I do that we should all live with less, but actually make the decision to go out and do it and explain how. It is an informative and inspiring addition to the canon. Buy at Amazon

                              

I must point out that with a few exceptions these houses would fall into the crunchy granola school of design built by free spirits who believe that (we quote out of context) "architect designed" is synonymous with "don't ask how much it cost" and that there is a bias towards warm climates where one can always go outside.

Nonetheless it is the spirit and conviction of the people in this book, who not only believe as I do that we should all live with less, but actually make the decision to go out and do it and explain how. It is an informative and inspiring addition to the canon. Buy at Amazon

A Good Life

This review was written by Lloyd Alter for Treehugger.com

Every week we turn to the Guardian for the latest missive on ethical living, a subject introduced by Leo Hickman and carried on by Lucy Siegle. Many of these have been collected and published in A Good Life. The book attempts to "explain in detail some of the problems and injustices our habits and lifestyles are causing and them presenting practical solutions to reducing their impact, from eating less meat and lowering car emissions to domestic cleaning advice."- it is not just about global warming, it is about the state of the globe and what we can do to make it, and our lives, better.

Graphically, it is more of a magazine format, with lots of sidebars asking questions like "should I eat the New Zealand organic apple, the Kent non-organic apple or the Fairtrade apple from South Africa?" or dotted with windows with tidbits like "driving a 13 MPG SUV instead of the average 22 MPG care for one year wastes more energy than if you left a fridge door open for six years or left a TV on for 28 years"

Strange Piece of Paradise

Strange Piece of Paradise is the true story of Terri Jentz and her girlfriend who undertake a cross country cycling trip at the age of 19.  Only days into the trip while sleeping in their tent they are run over by a pickup truck and then attacked with an axe.  The perpetrator was never caught.  The attack leaves the friend with serious head wounds resulting in blindness and complete amensia regarding the attack.  It leaves Jentz with rib and shoulder injuries where she was run over and axe scars where her arm was almost severed.  But for Jenzt it also left deep psychological scars.  After years of denial, rage and phobias that keep her from accomplishing anything Jentz decides to face her demons straight on and see if she can discover who it was who changed her life so dramatically.  She returns to Oregon and begins a search that reunites her with the teenage couple found them, the nurses who saved them, the police who maybe did, or maybe didn't look very hard for the man who did this to them.  It's a long journey that takes a number of years and Jenzt is incredibly thorough.  The book has many aspects to it - a coming of age story, a travel book, a mystery, a thriller.  Jentz is a wonderful writer and a great story teller. The tale is harrowing and macabre but it is also filled with a sense of purpose and a coming of wisdom.  The book is long and there is a certain amount of repetition within the last 100 pages, but this is a minor quibble.  This is a book that keeps you thinking about it long after you've put it down. Buy at Amazon

Lullabies for Little Criminals

Heather O'Neill's Lullabies for Little Criminals was one of the best books I read from the 2006 season.  It is the story of Baby, a 12 year old girl who lives with her heroin addicted father Jules. They live perilous lives, but Baby doesn't mind because she loves her dad and they are together.  When Jules goes into rehab Baby is placed in foster care and her life spirals away from what little protection and stability it had  The narrative voice of this twelve year old was completely believable.  O'Neill captures the essence of the child teetering on the edge of a very nasty adulthood.  The little girl who sits down and plays with dolls after turning tricks is heartbreaking.  Baby's relationship with the nerdy kid Xavier in her class is one of the joys of the book. With him she can be a child, have a friend, be openly as smart as she is and feel the stirrings of first love (even though she is already a prostitute).  This is a book that you sometimes have to put down and walk away from, but you always come back because the writing is so sharp and clear and the character of Baby is so well drawn that you really care about what happens to her.  Buy at Amazon

Hardboiled & Hard Luck

These two stories by Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto reveal very deep emotions while at the same exercise exquisite restraint.  Both stories centre on the lives of young women touched by the untimely death of other young woman.  Hardboiled is a ghost story where the ghost appears on the first anniversary of her death. Hard Luck has the ghost-like spectre of a woman who is just about to die.  There is serious grief involved in both stories, but with an air of detachment that is completely believable. Yoshimoto's prose is spare and delicate and cuts directly to the heart.  These stories are deceptively simple. There is sadness and grief but there is also the resurgance of hope that fuels the two narrators by the end.  I think this is a book you could keep on your shelf and take down every few years and find a new insight on rereading. Buy at Amazon

The Emperor's Children

I found The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud a bit of a disappointment.  I think part of my problem with the book is the huge amount of hype it has received.  It's not that it's a bad book - it was quite readable, but it's really just another novel about tedious 30ish New Yorkers who haven't achieved the great things they expected.  The characters are predictable - Marina the beautiful, wealthy, vapid daughter of a literary lion Murray, Danielle the quirky smart artistic best friend, and Julius the poverty stricken gay guy who rounds out their trio.  Messud offers up some interesting plot (and character) possibilities, but she doesn't really follow through with them.  Murray's nephew Frederick insinuates himself into their lives, writes a damning article about his uncle and then literally disappears without his character having any of the impact on the others that the reader is led to expect.  Messud also builds a sense of impending doom regarding the upcoming marriage of Marina and Ludo, an Australian journalist. Why the his serious interest in her father?  Why the whirlwind romance?  What is it that he really wants from her? Why do all of the characters other than Marina mistrust and dislike him?  Then the whole situation fizzles out after the nuptuals and nothing happens. The section that really delivers is between Julius and his lover. I was constantly torn between enjoying Messud's writing and wondering why she wasn't delivering more. Buy at Amazon

The Uses of Enchantment

The title of this novel by Heidi Julavits refers to the classic book The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim regarding the telling of fairy tales and their effects on the minds and development of children.  While the story unfolds we begin see the connection.  As a teenager, the character of Mary is abducted and returns one week later.  But was she abducted or is it an elaborate fantasy that she has concocted?  The novel is broken into three interlocking sections.  We see Mary as a teenager with The Man who may or may not have taken her, notes from Mary's psychologist and then Mary as an adult returning to her childhood home after the death of her mother. This is a compelling novel that keeps you wondering about fact and fantasy, about the secret lives of girls and their sexuality and how they come to view themselves in the world. Buy it at Amazon