Plumb comprises the reminiscences of one George Plumb, covering the first half of the 20th century. He starts out as a clergyman but his strict, even fanatical, adherence to his own idiosyncratic principles gets him into trouble with his church. Meanwhile he marries and has 12 children.
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This, volume 1 of a new(ish) edition of Proust’s magnum opus In Search of Lost Time, is slow-moving but totally immersive. So slow-moving that even the event that arguably kick-starts the whole extended novel, the famous episode where the narrator’s childhood memories bubble up after tasting a madeleine, doesn’t happen until about 40 pages in. And even then he spends a couple of pages struggling to remember before the memories start appearing.
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Archie and Samad fought together in World War II, and both ended up back home in England. This is their story, or really their kids’ story. Around them are family, friends, school, work and community, packed full of their own stories too. The plot(s) kept things moving and brought in new interest and new characters, but it felt to me as if the plot took over towards the end and made characters do implausible things.
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This is a zombie book. But the zombies in this book are not mindless monsters baying for “braaains”. They are the same ordinary people they were before becoming zombies, with ordinary thoughts and plans, except they also need to kill and eat normal people in order to survive. They don’t like it, but that’s how things are and they group together and try to make the best of it.
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This great whodunnit subverts every expectation. Normally in this genre, subtle clues are scattered throughout the narrative, but in this book the narrator continually breaks the fourth wall to pull the rug out from under me. He lets slip a tiny clue; I get excited and think I can now work out what’s going on; but then I am deflated as the narrator highlights the clue and says it’s not relevant.
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This novel begins as the diary of a gentleman’s adventure on a 19th-century pacific island. It’s all quite eventful until it stops, right in the middle of
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This wise and wistful book narrates many episodes in the life of an old woman living with her young granddaughter Sophia on a remote Finnish island. The relationship between the two is sweet, yet unsentimental. Sophia’s father lives with them too, but he is often away and the two are left to themselves in the isolated and harsh environment.
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Malianov, an astrophysicist, keeps getting distracted as he is working towards a breakthrough in his current project. He receives mysterious visitors, and his scientist friends are behaving very strangely. Slowly, disturbing signs emerge that there is some sort of conspiracy afoot. Malianov tries to figure out what’s really going on while all around him is confusion and paranoia.
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I read this book about 30 years ago and loved it. It may be a pretty easy read, but Suzanne the protagonist is very witty and likeable and the dialogue is packed – packed! – with one-liners and profundities in equal measure.
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This is an entertaining chronicle of a couple’s relationship, starting from the very beginning. There is a lot (a lot) of analysis behind the story, which might sound heavy going but is actually what makes it all so engaging. I am a big fan of Alain de Botton’s “voice” — you can tell that just by looking at my bookshelf.
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