Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag

I loved this, it was fascinating and very applicable to so much we see in art and media. 

Regarding the Pain of Others is centred on the representation of suffering in photography primarily, but also painting and cinema. Sontag questions why these images exist, what they try to achieve, what they do achieve and the act of creating and looking at them. It is really readable and understandable and verbalises a lot of the discomfort and questions I think we have all sensed when presented with images of the pain of others, whatever the cause.

The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks

I bought this because I'd seen the book around so much I was curious as to what it was like, it has a mysterious sort of title and blurb, not horror but certainly not cheerful. 

Frank is a dangerous sixteen year old who lives on a small island off Scotland, linked to the mainland by a bridge, he lives with his father, has one friend in the town and a collection of relatives with strange stories. He is our narrator, showing us his world and describing his history.  

It draws you in and the breadcrumbing and reveal of backstories is really successful. As is the way Banks describes and shows Frank's way of seeing the world and the macarbre rituals and totems he creates to control and predict it. Banks has created a complex inner world and creates atmosphere effortlessly. My only complaint is the ending, which I wasn't a fan of, and even less of the page or so of rationalising from Frank. Well worth reading, but better without the last chapter. 

Brújulas que buscan sonrisas perdidas, Albert Espinosa

I loved this, I bought it at the airport on a whim and I' very glad I did. It's the story of someone trying to come to terms with death and remembering their childhood. It is written in a really distinctive style and feels powerful.

 

If This Is Home, Stuart Evans

This was a great novel, easy reading, intriguing and a great sense of place. Evans writes the feeling of returning to a town you have outgrown but that is full of nostalgia really well, as well as the teenage experience, naively vowing never to ‘end up like that’ with the naive, surface level view of life that adolescents seem to have. 

The protagonist left his hometown at the age of 18 with the intention of never returning, around 15 years later he is compelled to go back and deal with the reasons and people he left. It isn’t either a thriller or a mystery/crime novel but it has touches of both. It manages a slow reveal while still questioning how much home and roots affect who you are.

This was a proof copy from 2012 when I worked in Waterstones

Around the World in Seventy-two Days and Other Writings, Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly was a stunt journalist in the late 1800s / early 1900s, in the days where there were hardly any female journalists, let alone women who were employed/allowed to do the type of investigative journalism she did. A friend told me about her and I was intrigued enough to buy this collection of her writings. It is fascinating and eye-opening.

Bly became famous for her exposé of the treatment of women in New York’s asylums at the time. She managed to write the account by getting herself committed for 10 days to experience the treatment first hand. Her most famous stunt is that of the title - she travelled around the world in 72 days, aiming to beat Phileas Fogg’s fictional 80 day trip. The newspaper she was writing for really milked the publicity, and kept highlighting the fact she was a woman, emphasising her youth and generally conveying that it was extraordinary for a woman to be undertaking such a trip. 

In writing she comes across as very self congratulatory and incredibly racist and judgemental, ‘normal’ for the time I suppose but uncomfortable reading. It is really clear that the more someone was similar to her in background, the more sympathy and understanding she had for them, if not she was prejudiced, unforgiving and in some cases totally unfeeling. 

The Shadow King, Maaza Mengiste

 

This book was a gift, and isn’t one I would have bought myself, mostly because of the suggestion of sexual violence that is in the blurb. It was however a pleasant surprise, yes there is violence, sexual and otherwise, but it doesn’t feel gratuitous and isn’t a cut and paste situation. 

Further to that the framing of the story was really interesting, I knew nothing about Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia before reading this, let alone the role of women in the conflict. In general I didn’t find the writing and story amazing, but it was worth reading.

From the Cradle to the Grave, Short Stories, Various

Every time I read short stories I realise how much I love them. This is a great collection, some of the stories are a little dated, as you would expect, but well worth a read.