Four books with a special interest for HPC
By an odd coincidence two books by members of the congregation were advertised in Red magazine this week. The best books to read this May (redonline.co.uk)
Emily Itami (better known to most of us as Emily Paine) has her first novel coming out this week – Fault Lines – described by Sarra Manning, Red magazine’s literary editor, as a “lyrical story about love and a fascinating look at the collision of old and new traditions in modern Tokyo” and by US publisher Francesca Main as “Brief Encounter set in contemporary Tokyo”. Hachette UK calls it “Alluring, compelling, startlingly honest and darkly funny, Fault Lines is a bittersweet love story and a daring exploration of modern relationships from a writer to watch.” From an Amazon review: “The story focusses on Mizuki, a Japanese housewife with a hardworking husband, two adorable children and a beautiful Tokyo apartment. It’s everything a woman could want, yet sometimes she wonders whether it would be more fun to throw herself off the high-rise balcony than spend another evening not talking to her husband or hanging up laundry.” Emily has already been widely published as a journalist and travel writer for a number of papers.
No newcomer to fiction writing and also a successful journalist, Elodie Harper has just published her third novel, The Wolf Den (the first in a trilogy set in Pompeii before the eruption of Vesuvius), described as “A riveting tale of power, love, hate, privilege, female empowerment and friendships found in the most unlikely situations” and by Sarra Manning (Red magazine again) as “a one-off kind of historical novel, this is the story of Amara, a slave in Pompeii’s most notorious brothel. While she may be exploited Amara refuses to be a victim and is determined to escape her brutal existence. It is a mesmerising, richly detailed tale of sisterhood and courage.” Possibly not for the faint-hearted one review notes “Violence, sex and death feature heavily in The Wolf Den. Scenes depict women being beaten, raped and emotionally abused.”
And now for something completely different:
Many of us have already discovered Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life which came out to much acclaim last year – who could resist a book on the life of fungi? His first book, it seems to have been an instant success across continents – the latest translation being into Japanese, so I’m told. As the Guardian review describes it “A book about how life-forms interpenetrate and change each other continuously. He moves smoothly between stories, scientific descriptions and philosophical issues” or to quote Waterstone’s “Entangled Life is a mind-altering journey into this hidden kingdom of life, and shows fungi are the key to understanding the planet on which we live, and the ways we think, feel and behave. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them.” Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures — Merlin Sheldrake
A more recent discovery on my part, but close to my heart as a vegetarian (though I don’t see myself taking the leap into veganism any time soon), is How to Love Animals in a Human-shaped World by Henry Mance. You’ve got to admire someone who works in an abattoir to gain an insight into what he’s writing about. But our attitude to animals is, he claims, inconsistent. We idolise dogs and cats whilst happily slaughtering pigs, cows and sheep; whilst keeping wild animals in zoos – our relationship with animals is fraught with contradictions and governed wholly by tradition and inertia. How to Love Animals was Book of the Day in the Guardian on 1st May – for a full description of the book and Henry’s research do look up their review How to Love Animals by Henry Mance review – the case against modern farming | Science and nature books | The Guardian here