The Old Ways – Robert Macfarlane

Robert Macfarlane takes us walking across a variety of landscapes (even seascapes) following some ancient ways, which for him are windows on the past with the personal history of all who use them trodden into the fabric of the route.

He also makes a close connection between walking and thinking, with the rhythm of the steps providing a stimulus for the mind to explore the inner self as the body treads new or familiar pathways.

More food for thought comes from people he shares part of his walks with, who too find meaning in meandering; and though most are living he also walks with the dead, reviewing the works of earlier writers who he feels offer insights into the paths he follows, the places he passes and the truths he seeks. Prime among these is war poet Edward Thomas, and a short poignant sketch of his final months is slipped in.

All these strands are layered on top of, or below, the physical landscapes described with an appreciative and knowing eye, where character, not beauty, is most valued.

The prose is both spare and poetic, in places mystical, in others prosaic, but always sumptuously readable. It may sound a bit of an oddity but it does work, and in it I found reassuringly complex reasons why I find such enjoyment in such a seemingly simple activity as walking.

The Honey Guide – Richard Crompton

Part of the ‘Into and out of Africa’ reading journey.

Mollel is a Nairobi policeman, ex CID but now busted down to Traffic. He’s a Maasai and when a Maasai girl’s mutilated body is found in Uhuru Park his insider knowledge gets him in on the case.

The trail seems to lead to some high profile figures, and as this is December 2007 with a presidential election just days away, politics threatens to interfere with his pursuit of the murderer. And with politics in Kenya a violent sectarian business, his chief of police wants his men keeping order at the polls not stirring up more trouble.

Against the background of mounting tribal tension (mainly Kikuyu against Luo with the Maasai one of several minority players) Mollel ignores orders to desist and doggedly follows the evidence, on the way uncovering lies and corruption that seem endemic in the Kenyan capital. And of course, being a cop, he has his personal problems, struggling to come to terms with the recent death of his wife and taking on sole responsibility for a young son he can’t connect with emotionally.

The story is fast paced, action-packed and full of twists and turns, uncertain to the end. The setting feels authentic and Crompton slips in some insights into post-colonial East Africa and the Kenyan national psyche, where harmonious personal relations can all too easily be swept aside by tribal affiliations and mutual suspicion based on past misdeeds.

An enjoyable read and for crime aficionados a refreshing change from regional British sleuths or Nordic noir.

The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hester Prynne is with child, but has been without visible husband for too long to account for her condition, and in seventeenth century puritan New England this is not just embarrassing, it is a heinous sin.

Worse, she will not disclose the father so has to face the ignominy alone and her penance includes the wearing of bright red A (for adulteress?) on her clothing – the scarlet letter.

At the point of her denouncement her long lost husband turns up but decides to keep stum about their relationship, and swears Hester to secrecy with the threat of revealing the identity of father of her child, which he has cleverly deduced.

Time passes. Hester gains some acceptance in society and daughter Pearl thrives in a wild and woolly way. But the male members of the triangle decline; one into a guilt-induced despair and the other into a self-consuming obsession of revenge served ice cold.

This American classic is a slow burner, so slow at the beginning that it is a wonder it ignites at all, with the ‘Custom House’ introductory irrelevant and not very interesting. Once the story proper starts there is power, created by the ponderous, repetitive, overblown prose, and a growing, not tension, but pressure. This builds like a boil on the back of an adolescent’s neck, and similarly you know the outcome will be messy and painful but bring eventual relief.

I’m glad I can now say I’ve read it, but my recommendation is only embark on it if you seek similar satisfaction - and skip that introductory.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Napoleon – Gideon Defoe

The various adventures of the Pirate Captain and his eccentric crew bring him into contact with an impressive range of historical figures and give some new (not necessarily accurate) perspectives on them. In this book the captain’s path crosses that of Napoleon Bonaparte.

This is the unlikely chain of events that bring it about: The Pirate Captain, humiliated at the Pirate of the Year Awards, decides to give up pirating and keep bees instead. His nemesis, Black Bellamy, takes the opportunity to get another one over on the naive Captain and ‘sells’ him the ‘tropical island’ of St Helena, which he assures, is perfect for beekeeping.

The island, of course, is neither perfect for bees nor available for purchase, being an outpost of the British Empire. However English hospitality ensures the Pirate Captain is made welcome, and he begins to revel in his celebrity status. Then the more famous figure of Napoleon Bonaparte turns up to serve his exile.

The two big egos clash in a range of nonsensical disputes that escalate and culminate in a duel at dawn.

It’s not so much the events as Defoe’s way of telling them that gives the Pirates books their charm and humour. This is my second and I found it amusing and entertaining, if not as laugh out loud as the first (the Adventure with Scientists). I suspect the first encounter with the pirates (and with Defoe) will always be the funniest due to the freshness of the style and the unfolding craziness of the buccaneers’ lifestyle, with subsequent books having declining impact.

So if you haven’t come across one yet, and like a laugh, I recommend you read one (any one) but not in public unless you are comfortable being regarded as a giggling idiot.

Lighthousekeeping – Jeanette Winterson

This is Silver’s story, or stories. Orphaned early and taken in by Pew, the blind keeper of Britain’s northernmost lighthouse at Cape Wrath, she is entranced by his storytelling and embraces it as part of her unofficial apprenticeship.

Pew’s view is that stories have no beginning or end but just connect an older tale to a newer one. Timeless themes recur of love and loss, longing and passion, hope and seeking, sometimes finding.

The key episodes of Silver’s own story are interspersed with those of Babel Dark; he’s a nineteenth century preacher who washed up at Cape Wrath about the time the lighthouse was being constructed, who is tormented by some competing components of his personality.

Real life figures pop in and out of the narrative: Robert Stevenson, engineer and designer of the lighthouse; Robert Louis Stevenson, Jekyll and Hyde author (more light and dark); and Charles Darwin, proponent of the ultimate never-ending story of evolution.

The imagery and echoing connectivity is handled with such delicacy as to be almost subliminal, unobtrusive to the well told tale, but working away in the background like the seasoning in a tasty casserole.

In this edition (Harper Perennial paperback) the accompanying interview and articles give an insight into how Winterson creates her novels – letting the central characters and events emerge unplanned, then piecing them together to produce, in this case, a polished gem.

The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion

Professor of genetics Don Tillman takes a scientific approach to life’s daily problems, eschewing variety and spontaneity in favour of systematic efficiency (epitomised by his seven day Standardised Meal System) and rejecting many social niceties as illogical.

This puts him on the autism spectrum somewhere to the right of Dr Sheldon Cooper (of The Big Bang Theory) whose voice I was unable to avoid attributing to Tillman as he narrates his story, despite the setting being Australia rather than the US.

At 39 years old Tillman deduces it is time to find a life partner so he initiates the Wife Project and pursues it with a scientific rigour that has predictably amusing results. However it does throw Rosie into his path, and though she is eminently unsuitable wife material, failing several key criteria, he does agree to use his professional expertise to help her establish her paternity – initiating the Father Project.

The Father Project leads him into even more scrapes than the Wife Project, but he is surprised to find enjoyment in the new experiences; or is it just the sharing of them with Rosie? There are twists and turns as she has issues of her own, and the outcome is uncertain right to the end.

Don Tillman’s character, though unconventional, is totally believable and quickly gets the reader on side. The humour, misunderstandings, and emotional highs and lows are all there and are handled well to produce a fine romantic comedy.

The Little Man from Archangel – Georges Simenon

“She’s gone to Bourges” is the little white lie Jonas Milk tells when someone comments on his wife’s absence one morning. It’s more comfortable than the truth, which is that he has no idea where she is, having departed the previous evening, ostensibly to babysit for a friend, and not returned by morning; he suspects she’s with another man (again!).

It’s a small community in rural France and as word gets round and questions arise he has to furnish the lie with more and more detail, none of which can be corroborated, and as the weakly explained absence grows into days Jonas finds himself increasingly the subject of suspicious minds.

Eventually the police come knocking, and then even the truth is disbelieved. Worse, he finds out truths he’d rather not believe about his marriage and his standing in the community.

It is a good story of the “if only I hadn’t” variety where one false step begins a doom-destined path so hard to get off. As the plot moves forward, Milk’s background, from child refugee from Russia to unlikely marriage to a girl 16 years his junior is revealed, giving a fuller picture of the little man from Archangel, who is discovering how fragile his apparent acceptance into his adopted home actually is.

Simenon is a great writer, better known for his Maigret stories, but I think his other novels, such as this, give him greater freedom to express his range. Here, as ever, the story is unfolded with skill, the setting is atmospheric, the (translated) prose is succinct and the psychology of the protagonist is convincing and insightful.