One of those Facebook things – one a day etc.. Here is what I think of the books I posted on Facebook!
- Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Some early reads are definitely memorable and these tales of derring-do in the Lake district by children allowed to camp and sail and cook food over fires while having adventures in holidays were captivating. When you are brought up in cold windy Edinburgh in a tenement with effectively the road as the outdoor play area (thankfully cars were a rarity but grumpy neighbours proliferated), this type of adventure story was wild escapism. I was hugely disappointed when the BBC made a TV series on where every child became a tame public school educated plum accented shadow of themselves. Perhaps they were originally but I clung to my internal characterisations. Later I discovered the story behind the author: who would have thought the man who married Trotsky’s secretary (and crossing front lines between Finland and the young USSR in order to marry her) would write children’s stories of simple innocent days in the Lakes?
2. Emile and the Detectives by Erich Kastner
I think I was drawn by the cover in the first instance, to lift it off the shelf of the local public library. Stylised drawing about a foreign city where boys were as efficient or more so at being detectives than adults. Adventure, mystery, suspense and the allure of a foreign place. I remember devouring this book. I am sure there was another. It certainly gave me a taste for the wider opportunities that books from other countries offered. Much later I discovered that Kastner’s books were burned by the Nazis but not this one – it was too popular! Even if it ran foul of the Naiver ideology.
3. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
I admit I saw the film first – that grand David Lean production. I read the book twice in the space of a year as I was a teenager and did not get all the references, did not fully get the history or the significance. I learnt about Russian history, about Russian naming conventions, about sophistry, about characterisation and literary great works. This is a sweeping splendid portrayal of Russia from Czars to Stalin. At the centre is Lara, a woman who is never described in the book for she represents Russia and all people will draw her in their own imaginings. Zhivago is the the educated intellectual middle class doctor – the conscience of the time. the democrat, the liberal when the forces of autocracy, communism and foreign intervention threaten to destroy the soul of the land. This book was written in the 1950s – was banned by the authorities. It ranks amongst the great historical literary works, alongside Sholokhov and Solzhenitsyn. The film was good, of its time; this book is excellent and timeless.
Text and photo ©DavidDStephen
4. Ariel and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Her brilliance was unbounded. Particularly in poetry but The Bell Jar is a superb novel, almost Autobiography. I read “You’re” from Ariel in 1970 and I immediately wanted to read more of her work. I find it can be read many times over as is true of all her work. Later I came across biographies and more of her poetry and The Bell Jar. I recommend reading all you can about her life and work.
david d stephen 