Introduction
Summer and no better time to talk about novels.
Bear with me, even if the next paragraph might seem like a non sequitur.
Writing recently in the "Body and Soul" section of a weekend newspaper (1), an eminent brain expert Dr Mithu Storoni explains the many ways that we can improve our powers of retaining information. This is by understanding how our memory works.
She goes on to say that reading novels is an important way to exercise the mind - a great discipline. In her own words, "you have to remember what happened pages before to fit what's happening now into the plot."
Her article quotes new research from the journal Neurology which demonstrates that regularly reading books, newspapers or magazines can give you the thinking skills of someone 13 years younger.
Titles
That background sets the scene for a modest tribute to my bibliophile wife. On a recent outing to our city centre she stopped for coffee in a book shop, returning home laden with four novels, and all of them published in paperback this year. A thoughtful gift for both of us to sample and hopefully to enjoy. As I went on to discover, each was written by an author whose work I hadn't read before; and all four novels were different from each other in story-line and in writing style. Pure joy.
Only one of them had appeared in the year's best sellers lists, as far as I know. "Lean Fall Stand" by Jon McGregor is a story about dealing with the physical impacts of a scientific expedition to the Antarctic.
Never before have I encountered this unique - and at first exasperating - manner of using words to illustrate the power of a polar storm. Massive blizzard is an understatement. On reflection the prose was reminiscent of how a visual artist would paint a scene of overwhelming catastrophe on a canvass. After the deluge, to coin the French phrase, the novel explores the use of modern rehabilitation techniques and the importance of understanding alternative ways of human communication. Expressed in straight medical terms this might be a difficult message to put across; the novelist, however, manages to play it out in a way that evokes the reader's sympathy for the patients, their families and the medics.
"A town called Solace" by Mary Lawson is a story about a missing girl, set in Northern Ontario Canada. It's one of those books where the poignant tale emerges teasingly chapter by chapter each through the eyes of three main characters. The protoganists are an 8 year old girl, an elderly lady and a man in his 30's. This technique of alternating between them winds up the suspense and adds to the anticipation of different outlooks, providing a page-turning experience. Its portrayal of themes like lonliness, grief, love and belonging explain the emphatic reviews and Booker prize long-listing last year.
"The Lamplighters" novel was written by Emma Stonex. What a compelling story this is, inspired by real life events a century before in the Outer Hebrides. This novel is set at Lands End in the south-west of England and involves a complicated pre-mechanisation days story about the 3-man crew of the local lighthouse. Mystery tales come no more gripping than this epic. Just as this book and "Lean Fall Stand" are resonant with contemporary concerns about the extremes of climate, both novels go further. They are literally and metaphorically almost mind-blowing.
"Listening Still" by Anne Griffin was the last one of the four which I read - in no order of priority. Without giving anything away plot-wise, this marvellous novel recounts events that take place in a family business of undertakers. Set in rural Ireland with a crucial foray to France, this is a classic story embracing love, death and musings about what Graham Norton refers to as "everything in between." There is something poetic about Irish authors' affectionate use of prose which gives novels an entrancing impact.
Postscript
So impressed was I with my wife's book choices based on impulse that I asked her to recommend another novel. For that reason, I was delighted to read another author for the first time. This man won the Booker Prize in 1989 ("Remains of the Day") and the Nobel Prize for litterature in 2017. His latest book is the remarkable and best-selling "Klara and the Sun," the author being Kazuo Ishiguro. It concerns a future world which may be a glimpse into the not so distant future. I can say no more about it other than to watch out for AFs.
Last summer, I put together a list of seven recommended books - 4 fiction and 3 non-fiction (2). A year later the title selected for special mention has appeared recently as a Holywood block-buster - "Where the Crawdads Sing." Perhaps one or more of the five novels above may likewise inspire the movie makers. Anticipation is everything.
©Michael McSorley 2022
References:-
1. The Times Weekend 30 July 2022 "Want to improve your memory? How the neuroscientist does it" Dr Mithu Storoni
2.
https://michaelmcsorleyculture.blogspot.com/2021/06/summer-books.html
