January 5, 2016 – Word by Word

If you’ve noticed a lack of reviews recently, please know it’s not from a lack of interest, time or reading, just a temporary technical problem, not yet resolved but should be by mid January.

So, 2015 was a bumper reading year, I surpassed my book a week ambition and actually read 65 books from 26 different countries, a third of what I read was translated from another language, something I seek out in my interest to experience literature and storytelling from within other cultures and not only by those who have access to the English language.

I will create a separate post to talk more about my impressions and attractions of reading outside the main literary cultures and the cultures and landscapes that keep drawing me back for more.

As with previous years, I’ll share my one Outstanding Read and the Top 5 Fiction and Non-Fiction reads, with a few special mentions.

Outstanding Read of 2015

Autobiography Mother The Autobiography of My Mother by Jamaica Kincaid My first read of the long-established author Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua) and it moved me like no other book had since last years outstanding read, Jennifer Clement’s Prayers for the Stolen.

This is a novel about a young woman growing up without a mother, abandoned for a time by her father and looking back at her life and the thoughts, reactions she had back then, using all the senses.

It is a kind of awakening, a visceral account that is insightful and squeamish both. It was for me too, the beginning of a season of Caribbean reads that were one of the major reading highlights of the year, soon after this I read three books by Maryse Condè (Guadeloupe), Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuba, Edwidge Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory (Haiti) all of which were 5 star reads.

Top Fiction

Click on the title below to read the review.

1. The Wall, Marlen Haushofer a riveting story of one womans survival in the aftermath of a catastrophic event, with only a few animals for companions. A lost classic that was revived years after the death of the writer and one that had me spellbound until the end.

2. The Yellow Rain, Julio Llamazares set in an almost abandoned village in the Spanish Pyrenees, this is a haunting, elegiac account of one man who refused to leave and was witness to the degradation of all that man had contributed as nature reclaimed what was left. Captivating in the way it is written, you will want to slow read it, brief yet unforgettable.

3. Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia spanning three generations of women from Cuba, told from their differing perspectives, particularly the grandmother who is rooted in her country and culture, it explores separation, identity, the strong bonds of family and the weight of expectation. How these women survive their circumstances. Just brilliant and part of a great collection of literature from the region.

4. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley well it started with listening to the BBC audio broadcasts for learners of English, followed by watching a relayed broadcast of Benedict Cumberbatch in the London National Theatre adaptation, which was brilliant, to finally reading the work itself. I was a little hesitant, old classics aren’t really my thing, but I loved reading Frankenstein and couldn’t help but admire the tremendous achievement of Mary Shelley in creating it. Made all the more fabulous by having seen how it continues to inspire creative direction in the 21st century.

5. The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt, Tracy Farr I didn’t read a lot of newly published works in 2015, but this one was a standout read for me, I was quickly drawn into the world of Lena Gaunt, an Australian theremin player who was born in Asia and had a few life changing experiences from her encounters there, who lived without much parental guidance or supervision, and developed her musical talents amid an eclectic group of artistic friends, had one true love and faced certain tragedy, all of which is brought to life after a recital she gave in her eighties attracted the attentions of a filmmaker. All the more interesting, for it being inspired by a true legend.

Top Non-Fiction

1. Unbowed: Autobiography of Wangari Maathai the truly inspiring story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, the work she did, the challenges overcome that gave her a top education and the will to make a real difference, particularly for the lives of women in her country. She empowered others and created enduring projects and movements for all.

2. Under the Sea-Wind, Rachel Carson first in a nature inspired trilogy about the sea and her inhabitants, brought to life in a creative narrative, as seen from the perspective of three sea creatures, part one, the edge of the sea shows the habitat from the point of view of a female sanderling bird, she names Silverbar, part two, the Gulls way, is dedicated to the open sea and navigated by Scomber, the mackerel, and finally part three, river and sea, we follow Anguilla the eel as he travels from his coastal river pool downstream towards the sea and that deep instinctual pull towards the abyss.

3. Tales of the Heart: Stories from my Childhood, Maryse Condé essays, vignettes of childhood, recommended as the place to start in reading the work of this talented and enthralling writer from Guadeloupe. Loved it and was quick to follow-up with Victoire, My Mothers Mother, a book she says is true, though sold as a novel by her publishers due to the tendency of her research subjects to rely on oral stories to pass on their history. Brilliantly told, as she delves into the unknown life of her grandmother to better know and her own mother who died when she was 14.

4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot (review to come) the background story to the global presence and utilisation of the immortal HeLa human tissue cells, that were discovered to be unique in that they never died, continued to replicate and could be used to do all manner of tests for disease and drugs and how cells respond, something of a revolution for medical science.

HeLa were the initials of the person from whom the samples were taken, as was the procedure at the time. But who was HeLa and what did she or her family have to say about these extraordinary developments thanks to the cells of one woman? Rebecca Skloot spent 10 years researching the life of Henrietta Lacks and the subject of the HeLa cells to bring this extraordinary narrative.

5. Tiny, Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, Cheryl Strayed these are letters from the columnist Sugar, who it turned out was Cheryl Strayed, author of the book Wild about her solo journey to trek the Pacific West trail in her twenties.

These letters are written when she is in her forties and though still young, has lived multiple lives and had more than her share of extreme and dysfunctional experiences, from which to draw her own brand of wisdom. It’s a pick up at will kind of book, but her confrontational yet compassionate style is refreshing and thought-provoking, her ability to be very clear on her opinion and advice, without being judgmental.