Orange books

The 2010 winner of the Orange prize for fiction is Barbara Kingsolver with The Lacuna. Daisy Goodwin, Chair of this year's judges, said "we chose The Lacuna because it is a book of breathtaking scale and shattering moments of poignancy". The scale is from Trotsky to McCarthy and the poignancy comes from the narrator's dealings with other people: his mother Salome, his mentor Frida Karlo, his assistant Violet Brown, as his past is explored and the present unfolds alarmingly. The book is about many things: art, politics, history, news and gossip, and the reader must work hard to fit all the pieces together. Kingsolver is exploring how we get to be who we are. In this case there is a gap, a lacuna, that is understood if you read optimistically to the very end.

The winner of the 2010 Orange award for new writers is Irene Sabatini for The boy next door. Set in Zimbabwe, this can be described as a love story with political scenery. From the first page I have found the writing is fresh and engaging and I am looking forward to reading the rest of this book.
The award for new writers always finds emerging talent and brings them to wider attention.

Last year's winner of the Orange award for new writers was Francesca Kay. I found the biographical style and the domestic descriptions in her novel An Equal stillness very real and evocative. She highlights the feelings of a talented artist struggling to mmet the demands of family responsibility. Her relationship with her husband and also with her art is all about balance. As Jennet finds her way, her husband is losing his and the reader learns more about that essential selfishness that drives the creative artist.

There is a wonderful blog devoted to the reading of Orange prizewinning writers that has some very interesting postings from readers all over the world; there are full reviews and comments and other news. It is well worth a look.

Funny books

Not exactly laugh out loud titles but three amusing books that I have read recently:

Major Pettigrew's last stand by Helen Simonson has received rave reviews from all quarters - it is an English village novel with an unusual cast. There are the expected stock characters; the Lord of the Manor, the retired general, the Captain of the golf club and then the more contemporary characters; the Pakistani shopkeeper and the single mother. All are entertainly drawn. The action is somewhat predictable but the humour lies in the asides about class division, modern educational standards, global finance and family dynamics.

Sex and Stravinsky by Barbara Trapido has a very attractive cover and enjoyably twisted content; mismatched couples ultimately get rearranged. Set in England and South Africa this novel is another case of family dynamics producing farcical situations. The book is well structured and the characters are sharply developed. Trapido is a clever and competent writer and creates just the right amount of amusement and implied judgment.

Laura Rider's masterpiece by Jane Hamilton also veers towards farce but handled by such a good writer this becomes satire at its best. In line of attack are radio presenters, creative writing teachers, lawyers and academics but it's a romance writer who wins the day. Another twisted plot with manipulated characters and lots of contemporary preoccupations; gardening, gourmet cooking, email, UFOs but all knitting together very well  - very droll.


For some light reading that will make you smile, try one of these.

Reading by moonlight

Lovely title, especially for the first ebook that I have read on my Kobo, but not a lovely subject. Reading by moonlight by Brenda Walker, subtitled how books saved a life, describes in five sections; surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, reconstruction and survival, the author's thoughts, feelings and fears about breast cancer and, alongside those, her reactions to and her understandings of the books that were important reading for her at the time.
This book is full of metaphor and quotable insights and I found it a mesmerising, lyrical read. Walker is a teacher and writer in Western Australia and has succeeded in explaining cancer diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation in a hopeful, inspiring way.
 She commented that she "likes to read books that show us ways other people deal with problems" and Reading by moonlight is itself a perfect example.

I have read several novels that explore women's reactions to cancer; interestingly two that I would recommend are also by Australian writers and the third is by Stella Duffy who spent her childhood in New Zealand.

In The Spare room Helen Garner writes about the joys and limits of female friendship under the pressure of terminal illness. This book is both angry and funny and shows the resourcefulness of the characters when faced with medical and social difficulties. Books and writing play a part here too and Helen Garner chooses her words carefully to add atmosphere.

Debra Adelaide's novel The Household guide to dying is also funny whilst dealing with the sadness of a younger woman and her terminal cancer. There are links to books here too as Delia, the narrator and cancer sufferer, is the author of a series of Household guides usually containing more than the expected domestic content. That is also the case with The Household guide to dying since she can write chapters on Wills and wishes and Funeral festivities, including paint your own coffin, but she cannot write the chapter on the afterlife as she has not reached there yet!
There is much domestic detail and family consideration that is empathic for the reader. Indeed there is much empathy and sympathy in this novel. I wept.

Cindy, the narrator in the State of happiness by Stella Duffey, is not a writer but a map-maker but there are also revealing metaphors here as she deals with a progressive disease. The writing is cool, almost clinical and not emotional but it still has an impact that stayed with me after I finsished reading. One reviewer wrote "It's perfectly possible (once you've recovered from the reading) to use this remarkable book as a resource and have some coping strategies in the knowledge store because Stella Duffy made me think quite clearly and lucidly around what would I do, what would I feel, how would I deal with it, would I be like Cindy?"

And I think that's what Brenda Walker meant about learning from books.