Enthusiasm

   

    In this recent article the novelist Nick Hornby talks about writing reviews for The Believer, an American magazine which concentrates on books its reviewers like "with a nod to the concept of the inherent Good". His column has enabled Hornby to "become an enthusiast, rather than a stern, difficult-to-please gatekeeper", he says, and so I thought I'd ask you all for recommendations of books about which you feel truly enthusiastic, not ones that you've 'just' enjoyed or admired, but those which you feel compelled to press on people (if you're so inclined), ones which have inspired you, perhaps, or simply entertained you to a very high degree.

    To compare and contrast, I've just read Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress: Nine Tales and both are works of high quality, very slick, very sharp. While the former takes a certain situation and charts its repercussions and associated ethical questions to great (if not flawless) effect, the latter - a collection of short stories - shows off its author's talent and imagination and provides laughs and chills along the way. I genuinely admire the art and craft of both books, I can appreciate their finer points and I commend them to you, but in terms of enthusiasm, I don't feel it as I do for books such as Alan Bradley's sparkling Flavia de Luce series (see also), and - as you may guess - History of the Rain by Niall Williams which I adored and which has yet to be beaten in my reading this year.

    I could cite many more examples, but those are a couple of recent reads which stand out, one because it is clever and fun and original, the other because it has so much heart and soul in it, and both make you feel better for reading them.

    Do you have any books - recently discovered or old favourites - about which you are a true enthusiast, or evangelist, even?

Comments

[cath]

That has to be my last years favourite: David Malouf's Fly Away Peter.

[Juxtabook]

At the moment I am an evangelist for Harry Bingham's Fiona Griffiths series. Funny, exciting, and with wonderful characterisation, so good that I managed a re-read within 6 months. Unheard of for me with a crime novel. I have even persuaded Mr Juxtabook to read his first ever crime novel, so much have I been singing its praises.

[Ursula]

Charles Lewinsky is an author whom I discovered only a few years ago. I am enthusiastic about his Gerron, a novel about the life of Jewish actor and director Kurt Gerron, told from Gerron's perspective. Imprisoned in Theresienstadt, Gerron is asked to direct a propaganda film about the ‘paradise ghetto’. After some hesitation, he agrees to make the film hoping to save his wife and the participants in the film from deportation. (As far as I can tell the novel has not been translated into English.)

I am also enthusiastic about Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing. The story is told by a narrator, 82 year old Maud, who is gradually slipping into dementia. Maud wants to help her friend Elizabeth, at the same time she is reliving the disappearance of her older sister Sukey in 1946.

When reading the novel I was absolutely captivated by the accurate and touching portrayal of what it must be like to feel your mind slipping away.

[Cornflower]

All these are new to me. Thank you, ladies!

[Cindy]

I long to be captivated by books, as happens in youth. The ones that spring to mind from the past two years are The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, Alys, Always by Harriet Lane, and Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. The first surprised me by making me fall for a ne'er do well narrator, a mercenary killer in the Wild West. Alys had the All About Eve vibe of the mouse transforming into a minx, and Dark Matter is a ghost story set on a polar expedition.
I have pressed these onto friends, along with Americanah which I loved for its sense of place and exploration of racial identity wrapped around a love story.

At present I'm absolutely adoring My Cousin Rachel, Daphne Du Maurier's assured post-Rebecca novel along similar lines. I will be encouraging all to read or re-read for the foreseeable future - it is like slipping into a warm bath at the end of a long day.

[Cornflower]

Of those you mention, Cindy, I've read Alys, Always, Dark Matter, and My Cousin Rachel, and am very enthusiastic about all of them!

[Jenny In Edinburgh]

I was completely blown away by Karen Joy Fowler's book and it had a huge emotional impact on me in a way that happens only rarely.