Bill Lovett

The second of three takes on three people, "Old Filth", his wife Betty + Veneering, the professional and love rival. Well written, elegiac, but in the end - inconsequential? Gardam's last books are more about evoking the passing of an British Colonial era in the Far East than character development of that era's players.

A biography of a niche personality with a big influence. An unsettled youth who became a sailor then captain on slave ships, and a slave himself at one stage. Get's God. Then wants to become a Church of England clergyman much to the snooty disdain of the Bishops. Meets Wesley, George Whitfield, William Cowper,Pitt, and Wilberforce. He was a big influence on Church music, children in church, the English church revival, and of course- on the abolishion of slavery. His is shadowed by his guilt of his violent and sexually abusing slaving years. But he is aware of the forgiveness he receives from Jesus. And he seeks to make practical amends too. This book is easy to read. But the author has done serious research here, and the book has a good devotional side effect for readers that are interested.

Mild compared to his prior books, though still provocative and sometimes acerbic. Houellebecq makes observations on the state of France's political, cultural and social life. The emphasis more on the personal, though the eyes of Paul. But of a hotch potch of threads, extracts from his casual notebooks. The dream narratives could have been cut out. Nevertheless still interesting. still with some relevance to UK. Surprising is the prominence of the religion thread (Catholicism & Wicca), and not in a derisory way.Also the strength of right wing thinking and actions (not lampooned either). An older man reflects on life, is sad, but the partner's love does matter.

Another tough read from Robinson. But full of insightful comment. Her literary eye dissects motive and relationships, including God's, in a way that I had not seen before in formal Bible commentaries. She takes a whole of Genesis overview, not tiny sections, which helps. She makes cross reference to Babylonian creation stories and the Greek myths too. The book is impaired by having no proper chapters and no index at all - pity. Though the book is listed as being 344 pages long, her text is 230, the rest contains the text of Genesis in the old King James Version.

This would have been better titled Galileo & his Daughter. Well written, shows that this was not a bald "Science vs Religion" crisis but it more about an over confident scientist vs a nervous Pope under political pressure from Spain, and anxious about German Protestantism. The angle on the Daughter works well to illustrate the religious and family dynamics, in a background of plague and threatened war. With a few helpful illustrations. The book works if you are interested in the history of science, or the Counter Reformation.

Some say this is Rooney's best - I differ. Ostensibly about bereavement, but it is the father's death that will either dislodge Peter's crisis or precipitate it. Sexual hi-octane, but the tale is really about Peter, not Ivan, Sylvia, Naomi, mother or dog. How is he to deal with close relationships (family & non-family)? A lot of the text is Peter's thinking stream. Legitimate, but repetitive (which of course is how so much of our thinking actually is). Not so much fun to read - and too much of it. Cut 50 pages and get a better book. Faith is a quiet backdrop, in a positive non-dogmatic way. Nice. Rooney wraps up the book in a good way while leaving the key question "hopeful", rather than "resolved".

This is accessible literature that lays out the internal conflicts in a single person, in all their human interaction. Sounds introspective but because of the friendship network, and troubled times nationally, is a very lively story. While all the characters are well crafted, none are kindly, generous, or sympathetic. There is a huge amount of bad temper, and quite a bit of very dangerous impulsiveness. The serious side of the late 1960s to mid 1970s is an interesting background. It is important to note that while I remember that era, those times in Italy were far far more dangerous than in UK. Overall, the book made me angry at the key characters. Well done Ferrante - your creations lived in my head.