NORAH VINCENT – Self-Made Man

Bought 27 Jul 2007 – Bookends in Birmingham

A marvellous book that every woman and man should read. Norah “passes” for a man for eighteen months, in a variety of settings, from the workplace to a bowling league, via a monastery, Iron John weekends and many more. Far from being a sensational or prurient book, even though she visits some pretty seedy places, this is a lucid and careful account of what it might feel like to be close to being a man. She gains respect for the opposite sex and a certain amount of dislike for her own, and ponders the idea of going from being a “masculine” woman to an “effeminate” man. Ultimately, the journey leads her to examine her own psyche and to admit herself to a hospital. One psych doctor comments that he’d be more surprised if she hadn’t had to do this.

A thought-provoking and beautifully written book that really engages the reader. I will look out for a second copy to share via BookCrossing. One of my books of the year!

CINDI KATZ et al. (ed) – Full Circles: Geographies of Women over the Life Course

Bought 11 Jul 2007 – book sale at work

I am really enjoying these academic texts, bought from the discarded books/ unwanted donations charity book sale at work. Although this wasn’t quite so uniformly engaging as the last of these reads, there were many very interesting articles, including those looking at comparisons between the travelling area of Sudanese and American teenagers, and of the powerful older women in West Indian “houseyards”. The threads were pulled together nicely at the end by the editors, and I felt this was a useful and enjoyable introduction to feminist geography.

IAN STEPHEN – Varying States of Grace

Acquired via BookCrossing 25 Oct 2007 – bookring

Excitingly, this is the poet upon whose work Calum’s poetry is based, in Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard. Linda sent two collections of his poetry to PeaMartin after an exchange of emails, and PeaMartin has kindly offered them to all the EG readers as a bookring.

I read this one first because it’s the one without the pictures… if that makes sense, saving the best till last. I very much liked the spare, sparse language, and especially those poems descriptive of landscape, whether rural or industrial. Some of the descriptions read like descriptions of the kinds of photos I love – details of bits of machinery, the edges of a tree, etc.

Two quotations that really summed up the collection for me…

From “Undercurrents”, a hint at the wry humour lurking beneath many of the pieces:

“But you must have seen my first twitches for
the spiral notepad – or the need itself –
to find the phrases which will organise
the signals a bit. Your question is
whether I can sit and be alert
without making something of it.”

I love the duality of that last line – both the idea of having to make something out of every small experience – the frustration of his companion, and the idea of crafting.

From “Circumambulation (Scarp Island)”, an example of the spareness of the writing:

“I dare not walk on this sand.
Tide ruts its own sound
between Scarp and Kearstay”

An excellent collection, and I look forward to the other one – with photos!

J. CALIFORNIA COOPER – A Piece of Mine

July 2007 – gift from a friend, from the Library booksale

A friend of mine at work said I must read this, and got it for me from the library booksale. Fast forward to October, when it reaches the top of the pile… A collection of short stories about Black women in the Southern states of America, these are written in the vernacular, and with the liveliness, irreverance and closeness to women’s experience that this would imply. The preface, by Alice Walker, draws out the fact that most of the stories are written by an observer – a sister, a friend, strengthening bonds between the women and giving alternative and sometimes shifting viewpoints.

I don’t think I’ll be rereading, so I’ll register it on BC and might well include it in the next slew of bookrings, as it’s an unusual book that I don’t think many people will come across.

KATE JACOBS – The Friday Night Knitting Club

Acquired via BookCrossing 30 Jun 2007 – loan from Anglersrest

To be honest, the central idea of this novel, the knitting club, seemed more like a trendy peg to hang the plot off than a compelling idea like the crafts in Knitting – I could see it having been a book group when they were the big thing a few years ago.

That being said, and the slightly over-romancey feel of the book, as far I was concerned, put to one side, the author does make a brave move quite near to the end, which I wasn’t expecting and which put a whole different cast on the work. I’m not going to say more so as not to spoil the plot. A pleasant read with some interesting points, and some unconventional characters. I’m glad to have had a go with it!

BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH – Face

Acquired via BookCrossing 28 Jul 2007 – RABCK from veganbob

The story of a young lad and a bad choice, which leads to hospital and some decisions to be made by both the protagonist, his friends and his family, this is well-written and the engaging characters and storyline balance the didactic purpose. Like Bali Rai, another YA favourite, Zephaniah creates believable characters and shows readers how it might be an idea to behave in various situations, without labouring the point.

I have passed this to Matt to read.

CLARE MORRALL – Natural Flights of the Human Mind (DNF)

Bought 24 May 2007 – at author event

Oh dear. I really wanted to love this. I very much enjoyed the author event at which I bought it and liked the excerpt. But I am just failing to engage with it. Morrall gets into the heads of people who think and behave differently to the norm very well, but I can only appreciate the skill and not enjoy it. Once I realised there are descriptions of people on the train we know (fairly early on so not a spoiler) is going to crash, it all got too much and I have closed it.

I will keep it, as it’s a signed copy, but available for loan.

Only the 5th DNF this year…

LEONE ROSS/YVONNE BRISSETT (eds) – Whispers in the Walls

Bought 11 Jul 2007 – University library book sale

A couple of copies of this had passed through my hands previously, and I’d been told not to miss this. So I picked it up in our charity book sale at work. A Tindal Street Press collection of short stories, many by previously-unpublished authors, this had the usual mix but there was enough to like to be able to skate over the less enjoyable parts. Some of the stories were a little formulaic or writing-schooly, and some, while it being a worthy reason to write, simply told of experience rather than crafting it into literature. But some, like Hijab, the story of a Black Muslim woman’s day out on the Soho Road, were excellent and charming.

I will register this and put it in one of the OBCZs, as I try to do with Tindal St books and Birmingham authors in general.

PREETI SINGH – Circles of Silence

Acquired via BookCrossing 30 Jun 2007 – book table at Uncon

An excellent novel taking two characters, removed from their New Delhi background, linking them tenously but disastrously, surrounding them in secrets, and suspending the denouement till the last quarter, with a rush to try to sort things out in time for both the characters, and the book’s close. This is reminiscent of Sharon Mass in its multi-continental location and the depth in which the characters are explored.

I will share this on a BookRing!

JUDITH OKELY – Own or Other Culture

Bought 11 Jul 2007 – University library sale

An interesting work of cultural studies which takes as its premiss the fact that Western civilisation is just as “exotic”, “other” and worthy of study as the previous anthropological subjects in more distant climes. She therefore looks at British Gypsy culture and girls’ boarding schools in some depths, with an interesting re-reading of Simone de Beauvoir, looking at her undergraduate underlinings in her copy of “The Second Sex” (I could do this too, but I only seem to have read the first 100 pages of my copy!). Worthwhile, subversive and interesting.

This was donated to the library in its previous owner’s memory – the library has a policy of selling off those books that don’t fit our collection’s needs, in aid of the LUCIA (women in Ethiopia) charity – and although I might make this available on BookCrossing, out of respect, I won’t just wild release it, but will pass it along to someone who really wants it.