For Christmas 2023 I asked friends and family for books, something I really enjoy. I have been meaning for some time to write something of a review of these books to make a sort of circular argument. Just to emphasise the books I really want are well used ones! Whatever the subject or format it is books that the person who gives the gift have really enjoyed, read and read again. My plan is to give these away in future Christmas’s.
Vicious Creatures, Sarah Gordon, 2020, Not strictly a Christmas gift. My Niece Sarah wrote and illustrated the book, going on to self publish so more power to her. The illustrations to my mind seem to lead the narrative but I am equally sure the gestation of the accompanying words must come together in the authors mind to create a somewhat disturbing whole. A series of short stories, somewhat of specialist interest but a really different experience for me.
Perfume, Patrick Süskind, 1987. What a great read, the story of a murderer, one with Extraordinary olfactory gifts, of his journey from Paris slum, his first murder driven by a yearning hunger for the primordial essence of a woman’s scent through his growth into a serial killer, a traveller and a hermit. Extraordinary.
One hundred years of solitude. Gabriel García Márquez, 1967. I struggled with this book; I tried in my thirties and could not complete the read despite it being strongly recommended as a classic. I think perhaps my inability to parse the Latin names and reference them to the characters is at the heart of this. None the less completed and some insight into. the convoluted mind of Mr Márquez. Perhaps one for those with some deeper sensitivity, the ability to dive deeply into the characterisations.
All quite on the Western Front. Erich Maria Remarque, 1929. This book has the well deserved title of a classic exploring the reality of life for front line soldiers in the war to end all wars. The descriptions of being shelled, the rotting flesh and shell holes, rats, food, comradeship come together to transport you to the mind of the first ww soldier. Underscores the massive death rate (I was the last of the seven from my class).