Bob Stanley - Yeah Yeah Yeah

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Interesting and enjoyable 

 

I enjoyed Yeah Yeah Yeah a lot. It’s comprehensive, readable and fantastically knowledgeable, although its huge scope did mean that it had its limitations.

Bob Stanley knows whereof he speaks. The breadth and depth of his knowledge is plain, as is his enthusiasm for pop music in all its forms. Of course, he doesn’t like everything he hears, but he’s largely unhampered by prejudice and gives bands like Sweet, for example, the credit they deserve rather than sneerily dismissing them as many Rock Fans (with capital letters, of course) do. It’s a fascinating history, with some good analysis of well-known artists and a fine array of less well known stuff which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed investigating.

Obviously, no-reader will agree with all Stanley’s judgements. I found his rather airy dismissal of much of Joni Mitchell’s work strange, and his failure even to mention the groundbreaking I Can See For Miles by The Who quite shocking – but then he also cites with approval Loudon Wainwright III’s first album which I bought at the time and got him to sign when I saw him live on his first UK tour, so I can forgive the odd lapse elsewhere.

More seriously, although it’s a long book, its sheer scale of ambition means that no-one gets real, in-depth treatment and quite often I felt I wanted a good deal more about styles or artists than was on offer here. It’s probably unfair to criticise the book for this because it’s not really what it sets out to do, but that nagging sense of wanting to know more did haunt me rather often.

That said, it’s a fascinating, enjoyable read which I can recommend to any pop music fan.

Graham Greene - Stamboul Train

 

Rating: 2/5

 

Review:

A good book, badly flawed 

 

I liked many aspects of Stamboul Train, but it had one huge, unpleasant flaw which I found it impossible to ignore.

Greene creates a fine atmosphere of the train itself and the journey across Europe in 1932. He also creates some interesting characters whom he treats largely with insight and intelligence, whose stories make an absorbing and sometimes tense narrative – the scene at a small, almost lawless border post, for example, is atmospheric and very unsettling. It’s a good story (or stories), well told – but…

Myatt, one of the main characters is Jewish, and the anti-Semitism with which he is portrayed really made this a tough read for me in places. I know that one must make allowances for prevailing attitudes when reading fiction from almost a century ago, but this was written in 1932 and given what happened in Central Europe just a few years later, it’s hard to take. It’s not even that Greene is just pointing out the anti-Semitic attitudes of many people – although he does do that – but many of those attitudes are entrenched his own narrative and description. Myatt is often referred to as “the Jew” and scarcely a scene goes by without some reference made to his “race” and its supposed characteristics. It is as if Greene is diligently working through all the offensive stereotypes trotted out by anti-Semites; as an example, Greene has Myatt thinking to himself “I am a Jew, and I have learned nothing except how to make money.” I rest my case.

So, for me this was a good book with a huge, ugly scar. It makes it very hard to rate; I enjoyed many aspects of it, but I can’t give it more than two stars. Approach with caution.

E.R. Punshon - Comes A Stranger

 

 Rating: 4/5

Review:

An enjoyable read

 

This is the first E.R. Punshon I have read; it has an intelligent and knowledgeable background and I enjoyed it overall, but I did find the ending rather overblown and ultimately somewhat silly.

London Detective Sergeant Bobby Owen is the protagonist of this long-running series. Here, he visits his fiancée in a small country village which houses a library of valuable and extremely rare antiquarian books and incunabula. Various sinister characters appear and there is a death which Bobby is called to investigate along with the local constabulary. A tangled and tortuous tale emerges whose twists and obscure roots only become plain after more death and suffering.

It’s a decent mystery, with some interesting bibliographical detail and a very engaging protagonist. My Kindle edition has an interesting afterword explaining that Punshon took the idea for the book from a real-life case. Punshon writes well so it’s all very readable, but I did find the climax both rather predictable and rather overdone. Nonetheless, it’s an enjoyable read and I’ll probably be reading more Punshon at some point.

Georgette Heyer - Behold, Here's Poison

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Witty and enjoyable 

This is the first Georgette Heyer I have read and I enjoyed it very much, after a somewhat stodgy start.

The plot is a fairly standard Golden Age-style mystery set in a country house with family feuds, complex inheritance issues and so on, which is all very decently done. The real pleasure, though, is in the writing and Heyer’s creation of some excellently drawn characters, whom she brings to life with a wonderfully sly wit. She has obviously had a whale of a time writing the deliciously louche, cynical Randall – who, of course, turns out to have a soft heart under it all – and I had an equally good time reading about him.

I have to say that the first few chapters of scene-setting and establishing the rather complex family relationships were a bit of a struggle at times, but with the murder and the arrival of Inspector Hannasyde things perk up very nicely and I found this a very enjoyable read.

 

John le Carré - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

 

Rating: 5/5

Review:

Still an absolute gem

 

I first read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy over 40 years ago and thought it was excellent. It still is. It’s one of those rare books where, having read a chapter or so, I thought “This is just pure class.” It is miles out of the league of the vast majority of spy fiction and stands very well as literary fiction in its own right, with an espionage story as its driver.

I shan’t bother summarising the well-known story, although that does make it a fascinating and often tense page-turner. What really makes this book for me is the quality of the prose, the brilliance of the characterisation and the subtly but beautifully painted background. Le Carré writes in a quite flat, unemotional tone, which is often far more effective than the racy, punchy style often found in spy thrillers; a couple of scenes where a character is stealing documents are absolutely nerve-shredding, for example, even though the prose is quite calm. Characters are beautifully painted, emerging from their own actions and words or those of others, rather than though laboured exposition of their history. And over all this is a picture of a British establishment still dominated by class and the sort of view that it doesn’t matter where you went to university – they are both very old and very distinguished.”

Put simply, this really is the classic it is made out to be. It’s a pleasure to read and a very rewarding, thought-provoking book. Very warmly recommended.

E.C.R. Lorac - Murder In Vienna

 

 Rating: 3/5

Review:

A bit of a slog

There were aspects of Murder In Vienna which I liked, but overall I found it a bit of a slog.

First published in 1956 and a late book in a long-running series, this is a tale of intrigue and detection in a Vienna which is still recovering from the devastating effects of the Second World War and its aftermath. Superintendent Macdonald of the CID, is going there for a holiday to meet an old friend, when he becomes involved in trying to solve strange goings-on including attacks on two Brits who shared a plane with Macdonald on the way out.

As a plot it’s adequate but not brilliant, the characterisation is quite good but somewhat stereotypical and I’m afraid the dialogue is horribly stilted sometimes. Lorac does set a very good background: the description of air travel in 1956 is very interesting and she paints a fine picture of Vienna at that time. This lends the book a good deal more interest – especially for me because much of the action is set in the suburb of Hietzing, to which I have strong family ties. I found that very poignant; without it, I may not have stuck with the book to the end, and even as it is I was quite glad to get to the end and start something else.

So...not terrible, not great. I may give Lorac another try at some point, but I can only give this a very qualified recommendation.

M.C. Beaton - Death Of A Green-Eyed Monster

 

 Rating: 4/5

Review:

Enjoyable escapism

 

 

This was my first Hamish Macbeth, but even coming so far into a long series, it works OK as a stand-alone book.

The story is, frankly, pretty unlikely – but then no-one reads M.C. Beaton for gritty realism. A stunningly lovely new PC turns up as Hamish’s assistant in Lochdubh, there is a murder, various dodgy characters appear – including the egregious DCI Blair – and romance flourishes for Hamish. Meanwhile, is the new PC quite all she seems…?

It’s all pretty cosy, although some real tragedy does occur. There are plenty of atmospheric descriptions of the location some of which I found a bit clumsy and the characters are decently drawn if a little stereotypical. It all makes for an easy, brain-off sort of read which is just what one needs sometimes. I’m not sure I’ll be reading a lot more Hamish Macbeth, but this does what it sets out to do very competently and if you’re in the mood it’s an enjoyable bit of escapism.

(My thanks to Constable for an ARC via NetGalley.)