27. “The Cure for Death by Lightning” Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Nominated by Jacqui Owens

One Sentence Review-

A slow starter, with a cast of characters so endearingly, interesting, you’ll be gripped by the second third.

Extended Review-

Slow to start, I stuck with this novel because the characters are so beautifully drawn and nuanced. Narrated by a teenage girl, living in rural America during the Second World War the novel sits- strangely quite comfortably- somewhere between Little House on the Prairie and the X Files with a generous dollop of Southern Gothic freaks, natives and hyper-religiosity thrown in to sweeten the mix. The plot really began to grab me about a third of the way through and from then on I was gripped by the dark, American evil lurking below the text and threatening to spill over into out horror at any point. The story was a little repetitive in places and I found the ending a bit of mumbling into the middle distance rather than the horrific climax I was hoping for. However, this book is beautifully written and well worth a wee read.

Jacqui also nominates-

George Eliot- “Middlemarch”

Jacqui lives in Whitehead, Northern Ireland. She is the glue that holds the Waterfront and Ulster Hall together and a terribly inspiring women to work for. A fellow Queens English graduate, Jacqui is a ferocious reader, a partner in the campaign to make pipe organs cool again and one of the best-dressed women I know. 

26. Corrie ten Boom “The Hiding Place”

Nominated by Solveig Fylling Nygaard

One Sentence Review-

Even after many re-readings this one still reduces me to tears in public places.

Extended Review-

I first read The Hiding Place when I was about 13. Over the last two decades I’ve read many many accounts of the Holocaust and yet this particular book is so humble, so full of grace and beauty it still reduces me to tears on the umpteenth re-read. I think it’s Corrie ten Boom’s unswerving honesty, the flaws and struggles she chronicles in contrast to her almost perfect sister, which make her such an endearing narrator and a very believable saint. Every time I revisit this book I am struck by something new and, it is not the cruel brutality of the Nazi regime which lingers with me, rather ten Boom’s ability to find grace, to pursue hope and to choose forgiveness in the darkest pit of hell. Not a book to read lightly.

Solveig also recommends-

Hannah Hurnard “Hind’s Feet on High Places”

Solveig Fylling Nygaard is one half of everyone’s favourite Norwegian duo. Currently living in Watford, England she is planning an imminent move to Gothenburg, Sweden, (and assures me it is not a fictional city). Solveig is one of the gentlest and most encouraging people I know. Solveig is one of those rare people whose overriding state of consciousness seems to be prayer. I am incredibly grateful for our conversations, which though slight in number, have left undeniable dents in my thinking. She is an incredible musician, a fabulous crafter and a founding member of the Agatha Christie appreciation society and once taught me how to keep sausages warm in a thermos flask.

25. Gunter Grass “The Tin Drum”

Nominated by Sinead Morrissey

One Sentence Review-

Best read of the year so far; why has no one tied me to a chair and forced me to read Gunter Grass before?

Extended Review-

The Tin Drum is the best kind of conundrum. Not dissimilar to Rushdie’s magnificent, Midnight’s Children it narrates the history of Poland during the first half of the Twentieth Century through the experiences of a particularly odd and enigmatic man/child. Oskar, the tin drummer of the title, though blessed with the perceptions of an adult, refuses to develop physically beyond his third birthday. His diminutive appearance and a handful of special abilities allow him to form unlikely friendships, thrust him into odd situations and offer his readers slightly askew perspectives on Polish history. Meandering in nature, the novel employs almost every trick in the magic realist cannon to magnificent effect. Subtle wordery, folklore, unreliable narrators, religious symbolism, high culture, politics, history, sexuality and madness are all muddled together to create a novel which both carries itself across the grand scope of fifty years and almost 600 pages and stands up to scrutiny in the minutiae of each, individual sentence. I should have read this years ago.

Sinead also recommends-

Sara Waters “Fingersmith”

Sinead Morrissey lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is a published poet with an amazing gift for capturing the flawed and the beautiful with warm precision. She teaches creative writing at the Seamus Heaney Creative Writing Centre at Queen’s where the calibre of her students testify to her sound advice and encouragement. Sinead Morrissey is a great person to drink coffee with; if you have the good fortune of sharing a conversation, I recommend you bring a notebook.

24. J.M. Synge “Playboy of the Western World”

Nominated by Kitty Smith

One Sentence Review-

Darkly ridiculous and wonderful from start to finish.

Extended Review-

It’s years, possibly more than ten, since I last read Playboy of the Western World and I found the experience of revisiting this classic piece of Irish theatre both deeply nostalgic and incredibly fresh. Both the Irish literature which I’ve read in the last decade and the enormous mountains of local history and culture which I’ve had to take on board for work, made this read a much richer, resonant experience than my undergrad studies of Synge. I found myself really appreciating the absurd and better understanding the peculiarity of the dark Irish humour. I loved the language which is lyrical and clumsy in places, but always incredibly visceral. My only regret is, as with reading any play, that I haven’t ever had opportunity to see this particular play performed.

Kitty also recommends-

Patrick DeWitt “The Brothers Sisters”

Kitty Smith lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She is a furious reader and a great conversationalist; a first port when in search of a good book recommendation. She is married to Simon and was one of the first people to encourage me in my writing. For this and other kindnesses I am very thankful.

23. Louis MacNiece “Autumn Journal”

  

Nominated by Stephen Connolly

One Sentence Review-

Scorching details, painfully astute perceptions and the sort of masterful wordery which reveals yet-to-be exhausted spaces between each line.

Extended Review-

Having resigned him to my post-graduate bookshelf, I can’t say how much I relished the excuse to revisit Louis MacNiece. I found him exactly where I left him, fresh as the first time my 14 year old self heard, “my father made the walls resound.” MacNiece manages to shape the half-acknowledged realities of life into sentences so incredibly beautiful they feel like brand newborn thoughts. “Life being more, it seems, than merely the bare/Permission to keep alive and receive orders.” I had to get a pencil out while reading. There were too many wonderful lines to remember and so I resorted to underlining and then double starring the truly undeniable sections. MacNiece’s poetry is unpretentious and honest, darkly brutal and warm and always quick to avoid both sentimentality and cliche. It feels lived in and yet by no means tired. Autumn Journal has lulled me into thinking I might one day be an enjoyer of poetry; even reasonably long poems.

Stephen also recommends-

Louis MacNiece and WH Auden “Letters from Iceland”

Stephen Connolly is currently completing his second year of a Phd in creative writing at The Seamus Heaney Centre, QUB. He lives and writes in Belfast, Northern Ireland and enjoys the company of Manuela Moser, the works of very many dead and living poets and small, neatly rolled cigarettes, smoked in his own indefatigable style. He is a magnet for good people and in his spare time runs the Lifeboat Reading Series on the Belfast Barge.

22. John Green “The Fault In Our Stars”

Nominated by KT Stevenson

One Sentence Review-

Dawson’s Creek in novel form; possibly my final attempt at liking Young Adult.

Extended Review-

I tried, I honestly, truly hand on heart tried to like this book but I really didn’t. The characters are unbelievable, (not in a good way), the plot reads like a latter day Douglas Coupland novel, (not a compliment), and the dialogue is so adjective-laden and verbose that I actually started wishing the two protagonists might give up on their Dawson’s Creek, irony-babble, and revert to text speak. The best I can say is that I didn’t mind the parent characters and found them a little easier to stomach but, at the end of the day, I shouldn’t have been expecting much when Jodi Picoult wrote the cover endorsement. Sorry KT, back to the grown up books now.

KT also recommends-

Daniela Sacerdoti “Watch Over Me”

KT Stevenson is an English teacher based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She enjoys a grand obsession with the Olympic Games and is fast-filling our house with London 2012 memorabilia. She is the most all round gifted person I know and is currently fluent in cricket, medievalness, drama and violin with plans to conquer baseball before the year is out. She is a founding member of the South Belfast Holby City and Casualty Fan Club. I like KT very much but am not necessarily as enamoured with her reading choices.

21. Legs McNeill and Gillian McCain “Please Kill Me; The Uncensored Oral History of Punk”

Nominated by Zoe McGrory

One Sentence Review-

Despicable them; deftly recorded exploits of some thoroughly unlikeable individuals.

Extended Review-

I liked this book from the very moment I discovered its author is called Legs McNeill. Several pages in, I soon began to realize that “Legs” came off lucky in a cast of “Cheetahs” and “Iggys” and “Stivs” (I also later found out his real name is Roderick and can now understand why he prefers Legs). The book is a collection of expertly curated testimonies featuring everyone from Andy Warhol to DeeDee Ramone with every wannabe player on the New York punk scene tossing their ten cents into the conversation. It isn’t pleasant in places. Most everyone except one Ramone, Debbie Harry and Bebe Bueller, (who seems to be measuring her comments with long-learnt diplomacy), come across as thoroughly unlikeable, selfish idiots who spend more time getting thrown out of music venues than actually creating any music. Saying that it is well worth the read, if only to understand just how intense, incestuous and fleeting punk actually was. Be warned however, this book had me listening to the same Television record on repeat for three days. If that’s not something you feel comfortable with, might be best to read the Justin Bieber biography instead.

Zoe also recommends-

Pamela Des Barres “I’m With the Band; Confessions of a Groupie

Zoe McGrory hails from the wilds of Scotland and now lives in East Belfast. She shares the bat cave with me at the Ulster Hall and holds, with grim Scotch determination, the keys to the stationary cupboard. She enjoys the life and work of Elvis Presley, diet cola, vegetables and stationary. I would be lost and adrift without her.

20. Klas Ostergren “The Hurricane Party”

Nominated by Martin Cathcart Froden

One Sentence Review-

American Gods meets 1984 in Sweden.

Extended Review-

It’s terribly hard to classify this novel. It’s a strange blend of the kind of dystopian fiction favoured by Orwell, Bradbury et al and what appears to be, (though I have to throw up my hands and confess my ignorance here), Norse legend. Part thriller, part fairy tale, part something entirely more difficult to pin down, Ostergren spins a tale of a post-apocalyptic future where the old gods play Big Brother to their long-suffering human counterparts. At times the joins are far from seamless as the novel attempts to graft traditional, and rather affecting, accounts of the old legends, into a bleak little story of post-apocalyptic loss and vengeance. In some senses I was reminded of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, ( a fabulous read for anyone who wants to pursue this line of thought, and perhaps a more complete novel). The Hurricane Party is a novel which resists definition no matter which way you approach it and yet, with its beautifully translated prose and deeply unsympathetic characters, should keep you hooked to the very last sentence.

Martin also recommends-

Kobo Abe- “Woman in the Dunes”

Martin Cathcart Froden is originally from Sweden. These days he lives and writes in Glasgow, Scotland. He is married to the lovely Lucy and they have two little ones with wonderful names and fantastic imaginations. Martin is an accomplished writer of short stories and is currently working on his first novel.

Nb. Martin has little Swedish dots and flourishes over his name which I have found impossible to recreate on my Anglo-American keyboard and for this I apologise wholeheartedly. Everyone deserves to have their name spelt correctly.

Spotted in Brussels

It’s not even a proper verb but I think the Belgians have captured the bookish spirit here

19. Agatha Christie “A Murder is Announced”

Nominated by Bedford Street Book Club

One Sentence Review-

Gloriously xenophobic.

Extended Review-

This is not quite a proper My Bookish Friends read but part of a special Bedford Street Book Club featuring tea, scones and an in-depth dissection of the Grand Dame of British crime fiction. Recommended by Kate Moore- Belfast’s very own Agatha-expert- A Murder Is Announced features Miss Marple in an incredibly cryptic tale of foretold murders and double identities. Set in a claustrophobic, English village this novel is full of fantastically un-pc comments about “nasty foreigners” and “meddling old pussies.” In one sense terrifically outdated yet still held me right to the last shocking confession.

The Bedford Street Book Club will meet at 2:30pm on Friday 8th March at the Ulster Hall as part of our International Woman’s Day celebrations. Tea, scones and proper bookish chat will be provided for all those in attendance.