Education, Tara Westover

This is a difficult read in places. Westover talks about her upbringing in a survivalist, mormon family, headed by her father. She and her siblings were brought up off grid in rural USA. The father has a complete and shocking disregard for the safety of his children, putting them in harm's way as a matter of course. That's to say nothing of his religious and conspiracy theories. Westover conveys the fact that she did not see anything wrong with how she was brought up at the time - it was normal for her - but she felt scared when her father asked her to do clearly dangerous tasks. Her brother was also very abusive, and it was this that made her leave for good. 

It is amazing that she managed to leave the family and receive an education. It is also eye opening in that there must be so many children who are experiencing the same thing. Children who are unregistered and cut off completely from society. 

A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler

This is my first Anne Tyler novel and I can't account for why. It's a family drama which follows three generations of the Whitshank family, revolving around the large house they live in. It is a very american novel, the family have a really strong sense of identity which is based on only one generation, nothing is known of the generations before, and there is a pervading sense of the american dream, failed or otherwise. 

Tyler slowly and carefully reveals each member of the family, at first through other's eyes and finally through their own words or at least their own story. There is something uncannily skillful in the way she can fully draw a family and describe all the underlying frustrations, resentments, longings and sadnesses without it feeling forced or overly dramatic. The nuance of their relationships are laid out for us, and explanations are quietly revealed. 

The Wise Man's Fear, Patrick Rothfuss

This is the second in a series, I read the first book, The Name of the Wind, as a teenager and was completely hooked.

That was the story of a young boy whose family was killed and had to survive on the streets before trying to get into The University if he had any chance of getting revenge on his parents' killers. This second book picks up during Kvothe's university years. It is told by Kvoth himself as he looks back over his life while hiding by posing as an innkeeper.

The story is a huge, wide ranging fantasy novel, with stories of adventre, love and heroics mixed together. It is gripping and readable, you don't need to concentrate a lot which made it perfect escapism for days in quarantine. For the most part I like the characterisation of the male characters, the women tend to seem a bit idealised or reductive, all (all) the good ones are described as beautiful. It has some great ideas of social structures and languages which we learn when Kvothe goes travelling. These are really thoroughly thought through and are fascinating, one of which is a culture which uses hand gestures instead of facial expressions. In all thoroughly enjoyable. 

A Walk in the Woods, Lee Blessing

I liked this much more than I thought, for some reason I thought it'd be dry, but it's witty and engaging. It's a play; two diplomats meet in a woodland clearing, away from their official business discussing some sort of arms limitations deal. One is Russian and a seasoned negotiator, the other is an American, serious and new to the job.

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern

Night Circus is based around a competition, whose playing field is a circus. Beautifully atmospheric with really good characterization, and very satisfying. Imaginative except when it comes to the aesthetics, some of which seemed like they'd been directed by Tim Burton in the 90's. The way the story unfolds seems original somehow, there are no huge reveals, it unravels naturally and while it is gripping, it doesn't seem that was the only aim of Morgenstern. I loved the way the novel spans time and weaves in other stories, it is certainly filmic. 

El Principito, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This was lent to me by a friend, who was surprised I hadn't read it as a child. It's a lovely book, one that works with drawings as well as words, I don't mean illustrations, I mean drawings which are used as well as words to tell the story. I wonder why other books don't do that more, and why drawings apparently aren't considered in books for adults.

It's the first book I've read in Spanish, so the tone and the voices of the characters seems foggier than they would in English, nevertheless it is a lovely story and one I'm sure more people will be familiar with than not. It's about relationships and how we treat the world around us, and what is and should be valued. Though, saying that, I wonder if there are many people in the world who really do value ownership, vanity and power, some certainly, but I think there are more who value other things.

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go follows three characters as they grow up in an institution akin to boarding school and enter the real world. Slowly they begin to discover the reason for their existence and the details of their future lives. Above all though they are children and then teenagers and their personalities and behaviour towards each other is the focus of the novel. As is redemption and closure which all the characters are ultimately given, and seems to be a theme for Ishiguro.

Maybe because I knew the story before I read this, it took away from the emotional impact of the novel. Though I think Ishiguro creates intellectual impact through the behaviour of his characters, their 'normal' lives and acceptance of their fate. The chilling backdrop is only a backdrop and whilst it creates drama and intrigue, it and the moral questions are not the focus of the story. I enjoyed it, and it is easy to read, so I finished it within a few days, but it doesn't compare to The Remains of the Day.