A Partisan's Daughter

I've enjoyed A Partisan's Daughter by Louis de Bernieres. This is an unusual "love" story about the relationship between Chris, a frustrated middle-aged man and Roza, a young woman from Yugoslavia, as they meet in London in the late 1970s. Chris is looking for excitement and becomes fascinated by Roza's stories and frustrated by the nature of their relationship. Roza is pleased to have a "nice" man interested in listening to her tell her stories about her life growing up as a Serb in Yugoslavia. How will their story end? Read the book to find out. This was well written and the two characters interesting and believable. 4/5

In The Country of Men

In The Country of Men by Hisham Matar is an insight into the Libyan dictatorship from a child's perspective. This novel is set in 1979 Libya, where 9 year-old Suleiman struggles to understand his beloved Mama and his aloof Baba. Some "counter-revolutionaries" dare to meet and discuss democracy and the oppression under Gadafi, however, if caught they pay a heavy price. The reader sees how these develpments affect Suleiman and changes his life as the author explores the themes of betrayal, redemption and freedom. This book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2006 and is worth reading. 4/5

THe Spare Room

I've read the touching novel The Spare Room by Helen Garner. A dying friend comes to stay and her hostess does her best to accommodate her and help her. Nicola, has travelled from Sydney to Melbourne to attend a "clinic" promising to eradicate her cancer and her friend Helen is torn between helping her and trying to convince Nicola that the "clinic" is a con and offers her only false hope through its dubious "procedures". The novel explores friendship and what is expected of a friend. Should Helen force Nicola to face the truth about her illness? This is beautifully written and makes the reader happy to see the bond of friendship, sad to see the tragedy of terminal illness and angry to see those that exploit these vulnerable people. It is a small book, easy to read and highly recommended. 4/5

How The Soldier Repairs The Gramophone

How The Soldier Repairs The Gramophone by Saša Stanišić is the fictional story of a boy, Aleksander, growing up in Višegrad in Bosnia as the war begins in 1992. He and his family escape the violence to live in Germany and 10 years later Aleksander returns to see what has changed, find people from his past and capture his childhood memories. The story is told in an unusual way with flashbacks and imagination. As the story begins, Aleksander's beloved Grandpa dies suddenly and through the book there are references to him and to other characters in the town. As a child it is hard for Aleksander to make sense of the changes in his life as the "ethnic cleansing" begins in his town and he learns that your name determines whether you survive or not. Based around real events, the author has written in a beautiful and innovative manner, (sometimes challenging - but stick with it!), whimsical at times, as the reader understands better than Aleksander (as a child) what is happening. When he returns as an adult, he finds change but his love for his town and the River Drina on which it stands, remains constant. 4/5

Somme Mud

Somme Mud by E.F.P. Lynch was originally written by the author when he returned from WWI, in 20 school exercise books, now published in paperback. The first hand experiences of an Australian private on the battlefields of the Western Front in WWI are told well in this excellent book. The tension is high as we see the battles through Ted Lynch's eyes. There are moments of horror, humour and tragedy. The story shows the awful waste of young men's lives, on both sides of this war and the terrible conditions in which they fought. This is not a dry historical account of this conflict, but a personal story in which the reader feels and imagines what it was like to be there. This is a "must read" for anyone interested in WWI or war stories generally. This is one of the "Books Alive 2008" books. The editor, Will Davies, has written a follow up In the Footsteps of Private Lynch, telling of Lynch's life after he returned from the War. 5/5

The Lights of Alborada

I very much enjoyed The Lights of Alborada by Gianni Riotta. An Italian POW, Nino Manes, escapes from an American prison camp intent on returning to his island fishing village to prevent the wedding of his sweetheart. He teams up with a mysterious "American Lieutenant", who has a different reason for travelling. As they cross the USA to New York, they are hunted by American intelligence. They have many adventures along the way before the final showdown in New York. The story is narrated by Nino as he looks back on this episode of his life and we learn about his youth before the war and the circumstances that led to his capture. This is a beautiful story. 4 1/2/5

September Book Club

I had the pleasure of hosting book club this month and part of that fun was buying the new books, which are featured in an earlier blog page. I tried out my new three tiered cake plate and made some pretty cupcakes for it. All the ladies came tonight, except Ulla who unfortunately was unable to. Everyone had read some great books such as Gardens of Water, Life in His Hands and many others. Liz is very excited as she is off travelling to Greece, Spain and Portugal next week and Sandy is off to a wedding in Adelaide. Next meeting is at Kathy's place.