The Dark Is Rising: Over Sea, Under Stone, Susan Cooper
The first in a series of five in a series long recognised as a masterpiece of children’s fiction. I was given all five when the children were in upper primary school but they never read them. Some years ago I read this first one and enjoyed it. Somehow I lost most of them – misguided book culling I suspect. Recently the nature author Robert Macfarlane sponsored a public reading on the BBC which took me back to them. I found a couple of the later ones in Bendigo second hand bookshops but I had to buy this one as an ebook. I remembered most of it. A thrilling adventure story with children as hero’s, a Merlin like figure, nicely wrought baddies. Set in Cornwall so some lovely descriptions of that amazing landscape. It’s all quite believable, the children find an old map and are set upon deciphering its hidden meaning. The success of their quest depends on map reading and pluckiness! All quite satisfying – for both children and adults.
The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper
This is the second in the series. It doesn’t have a sub-title which is a bit confusing. It’s quite separate from the first story but along the same lines. A struggle between good and evil. Although there is much more magic in this one. A boy discovers he’s one of the magical old ones who have to defeat the dark ones when they rise. Another Merlin or Gandalf figure who is more involved in instructing the boy as well as taking him back in time at crucial moments – reminding me of with people going back in the movie Back To The Future. The boy is tasked with collecting a set number of objects. Unlike to earlier book he is on his own with his brothers and sisters kept in the dark about what he’s going through. Other people in his village turn out to be old ones too and emerge in a crisis to help him while others turn out be on the side of the dark which is rising to defeat the good. Rattles along. I read both of these books amidst and post chemotherapy when I needed light entertainment. Two in the series sufficed though I’ll go back to the other three at some stage – here are my four paperbacks; the two little Puffins were the original ones.
Drive Your Plough Over The Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk
I read a great interview with Olga online in the Paris Review. She is terrific, so sensible and straight forward! Then in the TLS there was a review of a play based on this book performed in London. Both of these instances sent me back to read it a third time. I read it first after loving the film based on it that I saw at MIFF. I’ve written about both film and book here. I loved the book when I read it before and I enjoyed it all over again. The film was a great adaptation. And apparently the play was too. On the face of it you wouldn’t expect it to be easily translatable to film. It’s a complex plot and a lot of the action is in the heroine’s head. I’ve now read it three times – something I rarely do. Still I hope the play comes to Melbourne so I can enjoy that version of the story as well.
Burnam Wood, Eleanor Catton
I enjoyed Eleanor Catton’s Booker prize winning novel The Luminaries and was hoping this would be good but wary as second ones (this is actually her third) often aren’t. This had good reviews – something I’m also sceptical about. But I needn’t have worried. Eleanor clearly likes to write plot driven novels – to tell a story! Which is great. And her characters are interesting and believable. She was recently listed in Granta’s list of up and coming British writers which is ridiculous as she’s a New Zealander through and through although she wrote this while living in Cambridge. Like The Luminaries this is set in New Zealand but in the near future rather than the past. The place is recognisably NZ both in terms of landscape but more importantly in cultural terms. It’s too involved to précis the plot without spoilers. It involves a gang of young guerrilla gardeners, a recently knighted businessman and his wife, and a Silicon Valley wunderkind. Encompassing lots of contemporary issues – ecological disaster, globalisation, technological surveillance, conspiracy theories – as well as perennial ones – love, jealousy, loyalty, betrayal – the story races along. The portrayal of a close friendship between two young women is really well done. I was disappointed with the ending and spent a bit of time trying to work out how it could be changed. Which shows how invested I was in the characters. Worth a read.
Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life, Brigitte Olubas
Quite a magnum opus- over 500 pages – but an easy read. I got a bit frustrated with all the different names that came up, especially in the later sections. All part of the New York literati but I hadn’t heard of most of them. Nevertheless by the end of it you get a very full and rounded picture of Shirley. Both the good and the bad. She was clearly a complex person. On the big issues – the United Nations, Australia – she was ahead of her times. I really liked this article which is more than just a review of the biography though he covers that and agrees with me about too many names! Like this writer the biography took me back to the works which is the sign of a very good biography. And reading it enhanced my enjoyment of the novels – so much in all her books is based on her own experiences. But all imaginatively re-purposed.
The Great Fire, Shirley Hazzard
This has been on my shelf for years but I couldn’t remember reading it. Opening it I discovered it belonged to Jenny Macklin. I loved it. Set in the immediate aftermath of WWII. A romance between an English war hero and a very young girl – the age difference out of tune with current morés. Having read the biography you realise how autobiographical it is! Great descriptions of places – Japan, Hong Kong, London, Wellington. And of periods of time – post war, post Hiroshima, China in a state of flux, colonial Hong Kong. And of the characters of the people she is conjuring up. And especially her beautifully restrained evocation of relationships and situations. Nothing is over-written. I loved it.
The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard
I was sure I had this and sure I had read it twice but without much memory of the detail. However no copy of the novel was to be found in the house. A mystery! So I bought this one from Readings. Good to see it still in print as is her other work. I remembered much of it as I read it. Another love story. More wonderfully evocative descriptions of places and characters. The moods she conjures up, the nuances in the relationships between the different couples, the outcomes of decisions taken and not taken are quite beautifully written. I loved how she foreshadowed developments in the lives of the main characters but it’s only at the end that you understand the significance of what she has already told you – this one would commit suicide, a body was found in a flooded river, this one would die in a plane crash. I loved the subtlety. It all comes together at the end. Terrific.
Michelle De Kretser On Shirley Hazzard
Ages ago I went to a talk by Michelle given at the Wheeler Centre. I can’t quite remember whether it was about the body of work or just the single novel, Transit of Venus. I think it was the latter. I liked it so much I immediately read the novel – a re-reading I think. I then thought this publication might be based on that talk but having bought the ebook I don’t think so. Still it is worth reading – but not so compelling as that talk. She draws out themes and technical virtuosity from all the works with different sections devoted to each of the novels. I was interested to discover Transit of Venus required twenty seven drafts! I like Michelle’s writing – like Shirley she is restrained. Here she comments on what I found notable in Transit – the foreshadowing of later developments: Her revelations are built on concealment, withholding; the risk of florid sentiment is dodged. The moment of disclosure arrives, passes swiftly is over. The reader is devastated. That’s all. Indeed. So this is well worth a read if you are a fan of Shirley’s work.
Greene on Capri, Shirley Hazzard
I was sure I’d read this and was sure I had a hardback copy but like Transit it was nowhere to be found. So I bought the ebook. which had this boring cover.
Almost immediately after I wrote that I found my lovely hardback copy with this beautiful cover – I’d placed it in our bookcase full of biographies – not under Hazzard!
I enjoyed the re-read. She captures the man warts and all – and there are a lot of warts! But it’s written in a very non-judgemental way. I’m not sure that’s the right word. She certainly records his worst features but balances those with his good points. You get a good sense of how these literary expatriates spent their time and a great feel for the island which sounds wonderful. But even then it was starting to be overrun by tourists. They saw quite a bit of each other when both were in residence there but were not close friends and I read somewhere that he disliked her. As she points out in this strong-willed, articulate women were not really to his liking!
Cuddy, Benjamin Myers
I was recommended this by Sue at the gym. An extremely well read octogenarian who’s a regular. Hope I am when I’m her age. Se used to volunteer at the Wheeler Centre and has a son a television playwright and screen writer. So, very literary. I’d read reviews that were all complimentary. It tells the story of St Cuthbert – the Cuddy of the title. But not in a linear, chronological way. Instead we get immersed in his life story at different epochs. First as he lived and how he became revered. Then we are with the band of monks who wandered with his body for years to protect it from marauding Vikings before settling in Durham. We’re then plunged into medieval times during the building of the Durham Cathedral – the bit I liked best. After that there’s a story about the exhumation of the body – aimed at debunking the myth that St Cuthbert’s body was preserved. Then we are in contemporary times with a young fellow who gets a job working on renovations to the Cathedral. An interesting format but it’s episodic nature meant you didn’t really get invested in the characters and their stories. In between each episode are extracts from historical documents referencing actual historical aspects of St Cuthbert’s life that Benjamin’s has drawn on in his imaginative re-telling of his story. A very clever re-telling. I enjoyed it.
Meredith says
I’ll have to borrow one or two of these books if you’re willing Jenny. Maybe Transit of Venus or Over the Bones of the Dead (I haven’t heard of that one before)? I can trade you some of the books we’ve got piled up here (mum gets sent one a month on a subscription my sister takes out for her).