A girl, a wolf, a boy..... and a time slip.

 "Dara thought about the lines,thin as mist, between possible and impossible, between real and not real, between here and now and there and then."

Couldn`t happen of course: 21st century boy meets Stone Age girl. Or could it? Depends if you can believe in those thin lines and the feasibility of occasionally slipping across them, backwards and forwards from one to the other and back again.

The strength of The Way To The Impossible Island by Sophie Kirtley is that you absolutely come to believe in the plausibility of such a thing - disbelief not so much suspended as discarded altogether for the duration of the book.

Dara is frustrated by a chronic illness that has kept his life "on hold" until he`s had his Big Operation,  Mothgirl by the idea that at twelve-summers-old she will soon be expected to exchange her "wild, fast-hearted hunting days" with her wolf, By-My-Side, for "woman-days only, slow and dull as mud, filled only with making nutcakes and scraping deerskins and smoking meat upon the fire."

For both of them, the somewhat daunting and mysterious Lathrin Island, exerts a pull - Dara imagining rowing out to it when he`s had his operation and is fully fit, Mothgirl wondering if it`s where her long-lost brother is.

When Mothgirl runs from her home to escape being forced into domesticity and marriage to the son of the odious Vulture and Dara breaks away to escape the devastation and anger he feels at having his operation postponed again, their timelines collide and they end up making the perilous journey across to the island together in a leaky boat.

It is on the island that the adventure gathers pace. Having mourned together the apparent loss of Mothgirl`s wolf companion, they find signs which indicate her brother is, or has been, there and come to believe that Vulture is pursuing them. They learn to communicate with each other, to work together to survive, both finding skills and strengths they didn`t know they had. Perhaps most telling of all they come to understand that "normal" - or "norm-ill" as Mothgirl hears it - might not be for either of them, that there is always room for difference.

The interactions between Mothgirl and Dara are often humorous as they try to understand each other. The story gallops along apace with plenty of cliff-hangers at the end of chapters which mean you have to turn the page and find out what happens next. The conclusion is suitably uplifting as both our heroes have not only survived all sorts of challenges but learnt, as Dara muses, that "maybe there was more to real life than he ever could plan for. Good stuff. Bad stuff. Strange, amazing, scary stuff. No -one ever knew. There was no map. there were no answers."

Not a bad "life-lesson" and the thing that stories can teach so well.

       

P.S. Missed that there was a book that came before this - The Wild Way Home - which would normally be a bother as this reader at least prefers reading stories chronologically but am reassured The Way To The Impossible Island stands alone quite comfortably. 

P.P.S. Like all the very best books this one has a map of the island at the front. Perfect.

Splendiferous indeed

 Sometimes there`s no need to do lengthy reviews. Sometimes the books simply speak for themselves and come into that magical category of "un-put-downable" and in the last couple of months there have been two that definitely fell into that category.

First, The Dictionary of Lost Words  by Pip Williams.  It`s based on real events, the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and centres round the fictional character of Esme whose father is one of the people working in the Scriptorium, the "garden shed" in Oxford where the work took place. Some of the characters Esme interacts with are based on real people and what emerges is a fascinating analysis of the significance of language and its power to define class and identity. In particular, at a time when women were having to fight for equality, it asks who decides which words are "acceptable." 

And if this makes it sound a bit dry, nothing could be further from the truth. It is also a novel about family and love, set against the turbulent times of the First world War and the battles of the suffragettes. A quite compulsive read.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-09/history-of-the-oxford-english-dictionary/12010628

The second Splendiferous Story is just that - a cracking tale by Chris Brookmyre. The Cut has been described as "highly original" and that must be partly because one of the main protagonists is a 72 year old woman whose age actually is not  the most remarkable thing about her. Her partner in crime, so to speak, is a young mixed race university student who is trying hard to extricate himself from an environment where he might end up making some foolish decisions. 

Together they set out to right a wrong in this rollicking fast-paced thriller which frequently has the reader tempted to glance at the end of the chapter to see if they manage to extricate themselves from yet another apparently doomed situation.

Perfect escapist reading, sometimes quite dark, occasionally a little gory and with more twists and turns than a twisty-turny thing, to say anymore might give the game away.   Enjoy!

Stirring Up a Hornet`s Nest

 So there I was thinking I`d quickly rattle off a breathless review of Jeanine Cummins American Dirt...."couldn`t put it down", "fast-paced thriller", "intense", "heart-stopping" etc etc when I was stopped in my tracks, for this novel is not only all of those things but also,apparently, controversial.

I might never have picked it up in the first place if I hadn`t heard an interview with the author on Simon Mayo`s Books of the Year podcast (recommended if only to hear Matt Williams laugh.....) Suffice to say I was hooked the moment I started, despite the brutality of the opening sequence. All the above adjectives apply: I had to resist the temptation on several occasions to check the last page to see what happened but at the same time found I didn`t want it to finish (which had a lot to do with the quality of the writing).  I also felt I`d learnt a lot...though it turns out I may not have........

Having finally finished it I went back to the podcast and realised that  I`d only half heard it. For it turns out that some people, authors and reviewers mostly from what I can see, objected to American Dirt on the grounds that Cummins wrote a book about Mexican migrants although she is neither Mexican nor a migrant. The ensuing debate got heated, especially once Oprah Winfrey had picked the novel for her book club. 

There is plenty online so anyone interested can find out more (starting here is probably as good a place as any:  https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/22/21075629/american-dirt-controversy-explained-jeanine-cummins-oprah-flatiron) and I recommend listening to the author  on the podcast, discussing  how she dealt with the storm that blew up around her and the book.

Some folk might take issue with the idea that it`s possible to learn anything from a book written by someone who hasn`t experienced what she`s describing, regardless of how much research was done, but I did find it, as one reviewer put it, "an eye-opener" as well as a page-turner.

 So the recommendation stands but maybe read it before investigating the ensuing furore. 

                                                                

"We`re not separate from nature but part of it."

The title of Dara McAnulty`s book Diary of A Young Naturalist does nothing to prepare the reader for the intensity of the experience of reading it. Once drawn into the world of Dara and his family it is nigh impossible to leave until the book is finished. Whatsmore, when you finally lift your head and look around you may fnd that, for a while at least, you are looking at the world through different lenses.

At one level Diary is just that, the description of a year in a young adolescent`s life as he observes the natural world around him and copes with the ups and downs of growing up. These are only heightened by the fact that not only is Dara autistic, so are his two siblings and his mother. As he says, it`s his Dad who is the "odd one out, and he`s also the one we rely on to deconstruct the mysteries of not just the natural world but the human one too."

Of the various strands that are woven throughout the book, the strength and warmth of, in Dara`s own words, this "eccentric and chaotic bunch" is what holds the whole thing together: "as close as otters, and huddled together, we make our way in the world."

The affinity they share supports Dara as he spends long hours taking in every detail of the  natural environment that surrounds him, as he deals with often overwhelming emotions, from happiness to grief and pretty much everything in between; as he copes with school in a world that tells him he doesn`t "look autistic" and makes him "fair game" for bullying and, perhaps most importantly, as he tries to visualize how his future as a "would-be scientist" and passionate environmentalist can evolve from this maelstrom. 

And if all that sounds a little too angst-ridden to make for a cheerful read, the energy and humour of the book will come as a surprise. This often noisy, rambunctious family, dashing off to immerse themselves in forests, climb mountains or explore rivers will take you along for the ride.  There are stories, there is music, there are moments of exquisite stillness and silence but there is also activism and political debate. Most of all there is kindness, not only within the family but towards a human world that doesn`t always deserve it. expressed through the quite beautiful writing which flies in the face of the assessment of a teacher who once claimed that Dara would "never be able to.....string a paragraph together". 

I do hope he/she reads this dazzling work and reconsiders.  

"You don`t have to understand life. You just have to live it."

Whenever you approach a book you`ve been meaning to read for ages, a book which has been praised to the rafters and sold millions of copies, it`s a nerve-wracking thing........perhaps it`s been over-hyped, perhaps it`s not as good as everyone says.....what if you have to admit to not loving it ........

Well, phew! Matt Haig`s The Midnight Library is a clever, warm, poignant reflection on the way we deal with what life throws at us, how we react, what we regret and how we can find the hope and resilience to keep going.

These are universal themes but addressed here with such kindness and humour it`s hard to put the book down as you follow the many lives of Nora Seed. 

As Mrs. Elm, the librarian, says;
                    "Every life contains many millions of decisions. Some big, some small. But every time one decision is taken over another, the outcomes differ. An irreversible variation occurs, which in turn leads to further variations....."

A little suspension of disbelief is required as Nora tries out potential variations to the life she has decided to abandon because she is "just really crap at it. At life." She is in pain, aching with despair, not in a black hole but the black hole itself , full of regrets, "drowning in herself".

Thankfully the author doesn`t deal in pat answers and happy ever-afters because, guess what, life ain`t like that! And yes, ultimately Nora returns to the life she intended to leave (not really a plot spoiler) but aware that the important thing is simply to be alive:  without that there is no hope, there is no potential, with it there is ""a future of multifarious possibility".

Could have been cheesy, could have been sentimental, could have coloured everything rosy but it doesn`t.  Nora finds a way to embrace the simple fact of her existence, not seeking a nebulous `perfection` or giving up when it becomes clear there is no such thing. 

One of those books that will stay with you: it`s definitely worth a try - the book that is - though the same might be said of life.

Defending the Commons

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

  Recently I came across a small piece in the newspaper highlighting the “50,000 miles of `lost` paths” in England and Wales:

                “thousands of volunteers compared Ordnance Survey maps with historical maps and found 49,138 miles of “missing” paths left off official maps drawn up in the 1950s. They must be claimed for inclusion in OS maps by 2026 or they will vanish from record.”

          Normally I might have shrugged and thought `that`s a shame`, but it so happened that I was reading Guy Standing`s Plunder of the Commons at the time so my reaction was….well …. more robust. Professor Standing`s book  demonstrates how it is possible for footpaths to go “missing”, but it covers much much more than that.

          In essence it describes how our “Common Wealth”, has been chipped away at over centuries and in this case Common Wealth refers to a lot more than footpaths. It includes:

          “…all our shared natural resources – including the land, the forests, the moors and parks, the water, the minerals, the air – and all the social, civic and cultural institutions that our ancestors have bequeathed to us…..(plus)… the knowledge that we possess as society.”

          Standing argues that commodification, privatization, centralization and standardization have weakened and undermined all of these. Often this has been done so stealthily that resisting and restoring these commons once they are lost is extremely difficult if not nigh on impossible. 

          The chapter on the Knowledge Commons comes towards the end of the book, by which time Standing has covered the Natural Commons, the Social Commons, the Civil Commons and the Cultural Commons, analysing in each case what has been lost and the implications for society.

And he starts the book by pointing to a document which was created to defend and protect the Common Wealth but which has since fallen into obscurity, despite being on the British statute books longer than any other piece of legislation.

          The Charter of the Forest was sealed at the same time as the Magna Carter and, Standing says, “at the time of its sealing was regarded as equally fundamental”. In fact so important was it considered to be that “all churches in England were required to read it out in its entirety on four public occasions each year”.

          There were seventeen articles in the original charter which spoke to the “rights of commoners to use and manage common resources”. Professor Standing demonstrates in some detail how these rights have been systematically abused by “monarchs, elites and governments” and perhaps most importantly how any sense of collective responsibility has simultaneously been eroded, for the Charter was as much about taking responsibility for each other and future generations as it was about rights.

          He proposes an updated Charter which would “revive the ethos” of the original, bring it up to date and go some way towards helping “reduce inequality and strengthen citizenship.”

          It is the difference between having permission to use all our common resources as opposed to the right to access them. And alongside the rights comes the responsibility of “stewarding” those resources to ensure they are available in perpetuity.  In other words, it is about the kind of society which nurtures and sustains rather than divides and exploits.

 A vital read. If nothing else it might give pause for thought as you trudge along your favourite footpath.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

               

A new view of humankind

Abandon all cynicism ye who enter here. Also, leave all preconceptions at the door, especially if you`re inclined to blame “human nature” for most of the world`s ills.

Instead whisper this radical thought: “most people, deep down, are pretty decent.”

Rutger Bregman`s latest book, Humankind, looks like a challenging, hefty tome but while it may indeed challenge many deeply held convictions it is an eminently readable, rigorously researched examination of why we`re so willing to believe that humans are basically selfish and self-interested.

Lord of the Flies? Try reading what actually happened when that story was played out in real life. It turns out that it`s a “heart-warming story” of cooperation, initiative and generosity.

Or did you read, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, reports of rapes and murders and looting? In other words, as an article in the Guardian put it, “Remove the elementary staples of organised, civilised life….and we go back within hours to…. a war of all against all”.
Turns out that wasn`t quite true either.
In fact, as subsequent research demonstrated, “the overwhelming majority of the emergent activity was prosocial in nature.” Rather than anarchy and self-interest, overwhelmingly, the city was “inundated with courage and charity”.

But don`t run away with the idea that Humankind is some kind of hippy-dippy-let`s-all-hold-hands-and-sing-It`s-A-Wonderful-World treatise. As Bregman says:
“this book is not a sermon on the fundamental goodness of people. Obviously we`re not angels. We`re complex creatures,with a good
side and a not-so-good side. The question is which side we turn to”.

The book debunks numerous stories and studies which purport to demonstrate the essential “savagery” of the human race but then digs deeper to try and find out why so many are willing to believe in this view of humanity.

And perhaps not surprisingly it turns out to have a lot to do with power and vested interests:
“for the powerful, a hopeful view of human nature is downright threatening. It implies that we`re not selfish beasts that need to be reined in, restrained and regulated…… a democracy with engaged citizens has no need of career politicians.”

Bregman`s thesis is a meticulous historical analysis of how we got to a place where our social structures are predicated on the understanding that humans are intrinsically brutal and self-centred. If, instead, we could base processes and organisations on an understanding that most people are decent and kind, the results could be genuinely revolutionary.

Not convinced? At least read this book before you make up your mind.