Bright – Duanwad Pimwana

The book-packing journey visits Thailand, and a working class tenement community.

Kampol Changsamran, five years old, lives with his mother, father, and baby brother in Mrs Tangjan’s collection of rented tenement houses. It is a close-knit, urban, working class community where folk rub along together and support each other. That is just as well as when Kampol’s parents split up and go their separate ways, vacating their house, Kampol gets left behind.

Someone invites him in for tea, someone else beds him down for the night, all expect that he will be picked up soon. But no, and he soon falls into a peripatetic existence as a community responsibility. Through him, we get to know the local characters: Chong, the grocer; Tia, the fisherman; Bangkerd, the mortician; Dong, the bicycle repairman and drunk; and schoolfriends Jua, Oan, and Samdej.

Episode by episode, the everyday lives of the community are revealed through Kampol’s eyes. Sometimes he is centre stage in events, getting up to mischief or into trouble; other times he is observing the adults, often misinterpreting events hard to comprehend through by young mind.

There is no harm in Kampol, so we cheer his little wins and feel his occasional pain. The portrayal of life in working class Thailand is interesting and has an authentic feel. The reading is easy, but it is not lightweight, as Kampol’s insecurity is always a worry.

The name Kampol means Bright, hence the title, and in a potentially dark situation, he shines as best he can.

Ella Minnow Pea – Mark Dunn

The eponymous Miss Minnow Pea lives with her family on Nollop, a self-governing island off the coast of South Carolina (though do not expect to find it in the atlas). It does not need much governing, as the residents are law-abiding and settled in their somewhat conservative ways. Over the years the leadership has fostered a devotion to the arts, particularly the written word, and an aversion to modern technology. There is not even a telephone system, the islanders communicate by the exchange of letters and an efficient postal system.

In the circumstances it is no wonder the nation reveres their only famous son, Nevin Nollop, creator of the celebrated pangram (a phrase utilising all the letters of the alphabet) ‘the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’. As well as re-naming the island after him, they also raised a statue in his likeness on which his famous phrase is proudly spelt out in individual letter tiles.

All well and good, but when a tile falls, the letter Z, the ruling council meets in emergency session and concludes that it is a message from the high and mighty Nollop, and that message is that Z is no longer part of their alphabet. It should no longer be written, read, or spoken. Draconian penalties are put in place for offenders. It is zero tolerance; or would be if only a Z was available!

The community adapts, some better than others. Then the Q falls, followed by the J and K. When more ubiquitous letters follow, things get serious.

The story is told, appropriately, in epistolary form with letters criss-crossing the island, notes to family pinned on fridge doors, and edicts from on high issued by the council. These, of course get progressively harder to compose as the available alphabet shrinks, testing the inventive linguistic skills of the Nollopians to the limit. There is one way out – if a shorter pangram can be found, the god-like status of Nevin Nollop can be refuted, and life can return to normal. It is a challenge Ella, and a few other rebels, are willing to take up.

The simple but devastating premiss provides ample opportunity for absurd comedy, political allegory, and witty use of language. Mark Dunn takes it to the limit, creating a great little masterpiece.

Killing the Shadows – Val McDermid

This is a serial killer novel to end serial killer novels.

Dr Fiona Cameron is an academic psychologist who is consulted from time to time by the Metropolitan Police to profile serial killers. But her last assignment did not end well when her advice was rejected, meaning the wrong man was put on trial and subsequently acquitted, leaving the real serial killer on the loose. Recriminations all round, but Detective Superintendent Steve Preston, a long time friend of Fiona, unjustly bears the brunt of the blame.

Dr Cameron remains in demand, though. There is a serial killer plying his trade in Spain and Fiona is persuaded to fly in to help the Spanish police. Her live-in boyfriend, Kit Martin, goes along for the trip. He is a writer, of crime novels, including one featuring a serial killer.

That occupation is not good news, as the mutilated body of a crime writer has just been found in Edinburgh. Then another is discovered in Ireland, and it begins to look like there is yet another serial killer (that makes three) on the loose, this one targeting authors who write novels featuring serial killers.

Fiona’s offer to help (fuelled by concern that Kit may be next on the list) falls on deaf ears. When a third death is confirmed, and Kit goes missing, she takes matters into her own hands. She has sussed that the killer mirrors the MO used by the murderer in each author’s book, and that sends her off to the Scottish Highlands on a rescue mission.

The book takes a while to get going (the sojourn to Spain seems an irrelevance) but once the Kit hits the fan, the pace picks up and accelerates to a tense climax. However, for me the characters did not convince, the relationship between Fiona and Kit too lovey-dovey, not to mention strange given that Fiona’s motivation for her career is the murder of her sister at the hands of a killer, the like of whom her boyfriend arguably glamourises in his work. A sub-plot involving Superintendent’s Preston’s love life also stretches credibility.

A bit of a pot-boiler, engaging enough if you don’t think too much about it.

The Far Corner – Harry Pearson

If England was a football pitch, then the top right hand corner flag would be firmly placed in the far northeast, and that is where Harry Pearson spent the 1993/94 season criss-crossing the region to watch football. Geographically, the grounds span Middlesbrough to Ashington. In terms of league profile, the spread is much wider, from Newcastle in the recently formed Carling FA Premiership to Willington in the Federation Brewery Northern League Division Two.

The match reports are incidental. It is all about the match day experience – the travel to the towns, impressions of the grounds, interaction with the fans – and the rich history connected with the clubs. That history includes West Auckland’s historic world cup win in the 1900’s, the ‘Crook affair’ that exposed the shamateurism of the 1920’s, and a multitude of characters that graced the game in the region. Some are legends – Raich Carter, Jackie Milburn, Len Shackleton, Don Revie, Brian Clough, to name but a few – others are only legendary as local heroes for the fans of the minnows.

Whatever he is describing, Pearson’s turn of phrase is often laugh out loud funny, puncturing egos and exposing all too familiar stereotypes. But underneath the grade-A northern humour is a deep affection for the traditional culture of the game, nowadays found nearer the bottom of the football pyramid than the money-grabbing top.

Funny, informative, perceptive, and nostalgic, this is a book for the grassroots fan who enjoys the game whatever the level.

Review of 2021 Reading Year

Reading continued to benefit from the lockdown and social distancing effects of the pandemic with 37 books read in the year. An increasing proportion (59%) were by ‘new to me’ authors. The gender balance remained even with male authors edging it this year by 19 to 18. However, men dominate the best reads list by 6 to 3. The lack of a reading group enabled the ‘bookpacking’ reading journey to progress with three books, hopping from Africa via Australia and Hong Kong to Japan (though none of them get a place at the top table).

My nine best books of the year are by authors either new to me or for whom this is only a second read. (Month of full review in brackets.)

 

Into the Silence – Wade Davis: Comprehensive and fascinating account of the first three attempts to climb Everest between 1921 and 1924, covering biographical backgrounds, motivations, and characters of those who took part, and in some cases did not return. (Mar)

 

Elizabeth is Missing – Emma Healey: Sensitively written tragi-comedic tale of dementia-suffering Maud, concerned for a friend she is convinced is missing, and whom she gets confused with someone who similarly disappeared decades earlier. (Apr)

 

The Last Thing to Burn – Will Dean: Increasingly horrific but nuanced story of control, imprisonment, and cruelty imposed on an immigrant woman by a reclusive farmer in deepest Norfolk. (Jun)

 

The Bell in the Lake – Lars Mytting: Atmospheric slow-burner set in late nineteenth century, rural Norway, where Astrid Hekne finds herself in a love triangle with the new young priest and an architectural student; at the centre of the triangle are the church’s iconic bells. (Sep)

 

Heroes – Stephen Fry: Masterly re-telling of the exploits of Heracles, Perseus, Theseus, Jason, and their ilk, treading the fine line between archness and erudition. (Sep)

 

A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini: Harrowing story of two women caught up in the maelstrom of events in Afghanistan between 1960 and 2001 that despite tragedy galore also manages to be uplifting. (Sep)

 

Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout: Retired teacher Olive’s role as wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, friend, hostage, and airline security hazard all feature in this charming, humorous, and perceptive collection of episodes that hang together beautifully. (Dec)

The Girl with All the Gifts – M R Carey: Eerily believable post-apocalyptic science fiction that examines familiar human traits in a new challenging environment where five characters must put their differences aside to work for mutual survival. (Dec)

The Five – Hallie Rubenhold: The five women whose murders are attributed to Jack the Ripper become more than nameless victims in this fine piece of non-fiction writing that reveals them as rounded, if flawed, daughters, wives, and mothers caught in spirals of deprivation common in their social context. (Dec)

 

The Cranes that Build the Cranes – Jeremy Dyson

The nine short stories that make up this collection are notable for their diverse subject matter and style of delivery. Though grounded in everyday life, mainly contemporary, they generally have a supernatural element that raises them out of the ordinary and engages the attention.

In ‘Isle of the Wolf’ a super-rich businessman indulges his obsession with personal security to an extraordinary degree with unforeseen consequences. Similarly, a man who strives for membership of the exclusive ‘Challenge Club’ finds acceptance comes at a price.

Two stories feature superpowers: ‘Yani’s day’ features a man who can kill with a glance; in ‘Come April’ a woman sex worker’s ability to transport punters into raptures attracts an unusual client.

There are spooky stories: in ‘Out of Bounds’ boys in a deserted prep school explore a forbidden cellar; in ‘The Coue’ a collector of macabre artifacts acquire one he wishes he had not; in ‘Michael’ a shy seventeen-year-old boy is lured to a sexual encounter by a strange girl in the woods; and in ‘The Bear’ an up and coming young executive’s determination to make an impression at a corporate fancy dress party succeeds at some cost.

Finally, ‘Bound South’ is set in 1913 when a man on a train journey from Edinburgh to London is told a tale by a fellow passenger that leaves him chilled.

The stories are uniformly good. Well told and interesting enough to lead the reader on to their conclusions, some surprising, and others foreseen but still compelling as an inevitable end-game unfolds.

The Five – Hallie Rubenhold

The Five are the five women murdered in the Whitechapel area of London between August and November 1888. They are known collectively as the victims of Jack the Ripper and are generally dismissed as ‘just prostitutes’ who if not asking for their fate, put themselves in harm’s way through their choice of lifestyle.

Hallie Rubenhold dismantles this misconception, victim by victim, by forensic examination of their lives and times. One by one, she tells their stories, cradle to grave, and it is often the early years that set them on a track to their tragic end in a late-Victorian world where working class women had few options. Employment in service, marriage, childbirth, and household drudgery was as good as it got. To lose a job, or worse a husband, or a husband’s job, invited financial hardship and homelessness. To ease the pain and drudgery with a sip of medicinal gin was often the start of a slippery slope to addiction, disownment, and ruin.

This broad trajectory was followed, in various forms, by Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, and Catherine Eddowes, who all struggled through to their mid-forties before they were killed. None of these were actively involved in the sex trade. They were, however, homeless and formed transitory relationships with men – how else to get protection on the street, a bed for the night and something to eat? Between such times they were on their own and resourceless. But for the Victorian police and press, no distinction was made between women who walked the street at night because they had nowhere to sleep and those who did so to drum up trade. Only the last victim, Mary Jane Kelly, killed aged twenty-five, was an acknowledged sex worker.

The book gives a fascinating and highly readable insight into the social conditions in parts of late nineteenth century London, where poverty, drink, and homelessness characterised most lives. The lives of the Five are placed in this historical context and given a sympathetic airing as human beings, flawed certainly, but no less deserving to be seen and known in life as much as in death.