Following in the footsteps of my fellow Shiny New Books editor Annabel, I'm doing a double Books of the Year. This reflects the fact that I've reviewed loads of books in 2014, some for SNB and some for the blog. So today's offering is my SNB reviews. I meant to put them in categories but in the end couldn't decide where they should go, so here they are in the order of their original appearance.
The Good Luck of Right Now. Matthew Quick had a huge success with
The Silver Linings Playbook, and I was sure that this lovely, heartwarming, thought-provoking story of a strange and desperately shy young man's journey to happiness and stability would be equally successful. It seems that the planned movie adaptation has hit 'creative disagreements' -- more than this I do not know. But I loved the book, anyway.
The Temporary Gentleman. It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Sebastian Barry, who has narrowly missed winning the Booker prize twice. This one didn't make this year's shortlist, but I described as the most tragic and the most beautiful novel I had read for a long time, and I stand by that. This is the story of an Irishman, Jack McNulty, ex-British Army engineer, living out his days in Ghana, and looking back on his life. Essentially it had been a life of great joy and terrible sadness, as he is haunted by memories of his marriage to beautiful Mai Kirwin, and by the tragedy of what went wrong, for which he blames himself. Very sad, beautifully written, with a wonderful, fascinating, conclusion.
I really felt that The Love-Charm of Bombs, Laura Feigel's group biography of novelists living through World War Two in London, could have been written specially for me. Impressively researched, it describes the wartime experiences of Elizabeth Bowen, Henry Green, Graham Greene, Rose Macaulay and the Austrian Hilde Spell. Clearly, being in the midst of the blitz, with the knowledge that each day might be your last, had profound effects, not least of which was the lowering of any barriers on rather wild adulterous love affairs. Fascinating.
Two Novels by Celia Fremlin. One of my great pleasures this year has been my discovery of forgotten novelists who have been unearthed and given a new lease of life by Faber Finds. I was thrilled to get a package containing a number of novels by Celia Fremlin, whose many novels of psychological suspense appeared to great acclaim between 1959 and 1994. The novels show great sympathy for and understanding of human beings and their foibles, and for the plight of women in particular, as well as being witty, perceptive, and often satirical.
I was completely bowled over by Elizabeth Gilbert's brilliant historical novel, The Signature of All Things. Set in the nineteenth century, this is the story of a female scientist who, despite her brilliant mind, finds she has bodily needs which she is unable to fulfill. It's a novel that raises large problems about life, about evolution, about the nature of love. And one which ranges widely in every sense, its richly described landscapes moving between Kew Gardens, Philadelphia, Tahiti and Amsterdam. Thoughful, moving, brilliantly researched. Great stuff.
The Paying Guests. Could Sarah Waters' newest novel live up to the high expectations of her many fans? Well, it certainly lived up to mine, though I had to describe it as 'strong stuff' and 'not for the fainthearted'. Set in a brilliantly conceived 1922, the novel takes a hard look at the lives of women who can no longer afford to live as they had before the war, and at those in the 'clerical classes' who are now on the rise. But its also a love story, and a crime story, and a very intense one at that. Gripping.
Mystery in White. It's been an amazing year for the British Library Crime Classics series, and I really could have picked any of the five or so novels I have read and loved this year. This one, as you may have heard, has been a surprise runaway best seller, and deservedly so, being a very mysterious and exciting story that begins with a train stranded in the snow on
Christmas Eve, a manor house with lights and fires blazing but nobody at home, a cast of delightfully ill-assorted characters, and of course a murder.
Peter Mendelsund's Cover is an absolute feast in two ways. First of all, it is wonderfully illustrated with many many reproductions of the stunning book cover designs of the celebrated American graphic designer Peter Mendelsund. Secondly, it contains a series of essays by Mendelsund himself and by numerous people who admire or have commissioned his work. Full of fascinating insights into the process of reading and designing, the book is beautiful, entertaining and informative. What more could you want?
Really, this is just scatching the surface of all the excellent books I've reviewed for Shiny New Books this year. I'm so grateful to the publishers whose generosity has made this happen, and more than anything to my three lovely fellow editors, Annabel, Victoria and Simon. It's been a joy working with them and we are really looking forward to more of the same in 2015.
