july 2018 books…

Virginia Woolf (Mary Ann Caws): Caws is a Professor of English, French and Comparative Literature at the City University of New York and this biography examines the career and private life of Virginia Woolf (1882-1941). The book contains numerous photographs and illustrations from Woolf’s life and friendships – in particular her happy marriage to Leonard Woolf, the Bloomsbury Group, the house at Charleston and establishing the Hogarth Press (with Leonard). She was considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors (and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device). I’ve only read three of her books (‘To The Lighthouse’, ‘Mrs Dalloway’ and ‘The Waves’), but came to find that each of them had a haunting, rather beautiful quality. Woolf was an important part of London's literary and artistic society in the inter-war years. She suffered three mental breakdowns (before she was 32) and was dogged by severe depression throughout her life. She committed suicide (by drowning) at the age of 59. Maggie Gee (Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University) describes her thus: “She is my hero for two reasons: because she a genius, and because she was very brave, both in life and in her work”… which seems entirely appropriate.
‘Tiger’ Smith Of Warwickshire And England (EJ Smith): Another second-hand book from Taunton cricket bookshop. ‘Tiger’ Smith (1886-1979) was a notorious wicket-keeper for my ‘home county’ of Warwickshire. Although his playing career ended in 1930, he became an umpire, then Warwickshire cricket coach (until 1951) and continued to supervise the local indoor cricket school right up until the early 1970s (I remember my grandfather Fred talking about ‘Tiger’). Published posthumously in 1981, Smith’s autobiography (“as told to journalist/sports writer Patrick Murphy”) is certainly not a literary masterpiece, but it does provide a fascinating insight into some of the game’s characters (Smith himself was renowned for his ‘gruffness’ – “he was no paper tiger”!). A good read for old cricket fogeys like me!
Redeeming Capitalism (Kenneth J Barnes): Written by my great friend, this is a truly fascinating, well-researched, intelligent book (and it’s very readable too). It deals with a highly complex subject in a way which is both comprehensible and hugely thought-provoking.  The book begins with the spectacular collapse of the New York investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 (28,000 employees and nearly $700billion of managed assets). It outlines the financial mess the bank got itself into and describes the cheating, immoral ways in which it tried to cover its tracks. It also reminds us that, despite the catalogue of errors and deceptions, none of the senior executives of Lehman Brothers went to gaol or even faced criminal charges – because the prosecutors concluded that they hadn’t actually broken the law! As Ken puts it: “the motive for deception was strong, not because the penalty for failure was severe… but because the financial reward for success was extreme”. But, hey, I’ve blogged separately about it, so I’m not going to repeat myself!
Skating To Antarctica (Jenny Diski): Diski has previously published six novels (none of which I’ve read), but this is her only non-fiction book (she died in 2016). It’s a cross between a memoir and a travelogue of a journey. On a whim, she decides she’d like to go to Antarctica (to experience an “boundless, empty white world” that would remind her of the time spent in a psychiatric hospital – white sheets and white walls) and the book recounts her observations on the natural world (including birdlife, elephant seals and penguins), explorers and her travelling companions alongside part-recollections of her difficult childhood (including being taught to ice skate from a very early age!). Her father and mother had a very stormy relationship - her father left when she was 11 and her mother was a dysfunctional parent who suffered mental breakdown and chronic depression. Diski spent much of her own youth in a psychiatric hospital – either as an in- or out-patient. She last saw her mother in 1966 (when Diski was 19). I have to say that, although I thought it was a fascinating (and, sometimes, very depressing) story, I really struggled to ‘get into it’ for the first half of the book.
In Relation (James Russell): This is the book that accompanies the RWA exhibition of the same name. It features nine couples who “transformed modern British art”: Laura Knight+Harold Knight; Ernest Procter+Dod Procter; Vanessa Bell+Duncan Grant; Phyllis Barron+Dorothy Larcher; Ben Nicholson+Barbara Hepworth; Eric Ravilious+Tirzah Garwood; Robert Colquhoun+Robert MacBryde; Mary Fedden+Julian Trevelyan; and Roger Hilton+Rose Hilton… all ‘ artist couples’ and all pivotal in their way. I knew the work of most of the 18 artists but, through seeing the exhibition and reading the book, realised just how LITTLE I knew about the lives (and work, to some extent) of some of the artists (ie. Ernest Procter, Phyllis Barron, Dorothy Larcher, Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde and Rose Hilton). A fascinating book (and exhibition) and it’s certainly made me want to learn more, particularly for example, of Julian Trevelyan’s work.