2021 – Arthur Hofn

My reads, not the books that came out this year…

2021 has been a very strange year. I don’t feel like I’ve done much with it, and yet it’s been my most successful year as a writer, I’ve been on podcasts, I’ve had a script for a radio play made and broadcast, my most successful months on this blog and I’ve had over 10,000 downloads of my online novel Beck’s Game. I’m really pleased! Thank you everyone so much for you interest and your support. However in the real world this year has been harder than 2020, not for any specific reason just the weight of the world and feelings of ennui. In one way I’m glad it’s drawing to a close, in other ways who knows that to expect of 2022? Hopefully some good things.

The Power And The Glory – Graham Greene. Like Decline And Fall (mentioned in Part One) I read this due to a love of some of the author’s other works; Brighton Rock I think is an amazingly good novel and I will blog about that sometime I hope. As I read further works I grew comfortable with Greene’s style and began to know what to expect, until I hit The Power And The Glory. Bizarrely only published two years after Brighton Rock (with only one book between them) this is very different. The text is very dense and it takes a lot of concentration to keep focused. Telling a story set in extreme rural Mexico, the hot and humid landscape is conveyed so well that the continued reading of it can be exhausting. I had no idea what the story would be when I picked this up and it takes a while for it to get going, jumping through several sets of characters until you work out what is going on. I therefore don’t want to give too much away as I actually enjoyed working out what the plot would be when reading the early sections of the book. Reading this is a commitment, but it pays off. It’s a very strange story that deserves to be given time, but the journey is as much hard work for the reader as it is for the characters.

“Terror was always just behind her shoulder: she was wasted by the effort of not turning round. She dressed up her fear, so that she could look at it—in the form of fever, rats, unemployment. The real thing was taboo—death coming nearer every year in the strange place: everybody packing up and leaving, while she stayed in a cemetery no one visited, in a big aboveground tomb.”
― Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory

The Vanishing Futurist – Charlotte Hobson. Back on May Bank Holiday, when it was warm, I went to Marlow for the day, (lovely place) and whilst there I decided I needed to buy a book, it was one of those days. After spending too long browsing I decided to go with this. Set in Moscow in 1918. just as everything changes, this tells the story of Gerty a young English woman who, already having moved to Russia, finds herself taking on the Socialist ideals and watching as society grapples with the same struggle. There is a mystery here that is more the backbone of the novel, simply supporting the more interesting points. Gery’s life is far more absorbing than wondering what is going, and I think this is the way it was meant to be. The climax of the book is therefore more character driven, although the answers to the questions do come with the eventual outcome and work nicely. The setting and the immersion within it is the highlight of the book, just because it is so different (and a world I’m glad I’m not in), this is an achievement as it was written so long after the society it describes disappeared.

“Autumn painted Moscow every shade of red, as though for a vast performance. ‘The streets are our brushes, the squares our palate,’ announced the poet Mayakovsky, who planned to revolutionise nature permanently by giving the trees in the Aleksandrovsky Gardens a coat of scarlet paint.”
― Charlotte Hobson, The Vanishing Futurist

Doctor Who: The Myth Makers – Donald Cotton. Target books are a staple for any young Doctor Who fan, at least up until my generation. These were adaptions of episodes from the original series in a book form. (I may blog in depth about them later, but see my blog on Terrance Dicks, a hero to many people.) The Myth Makers is one of the missing stories, it was broadcast in 1965 and the tapes “junked” after so it is thought to no longer exist, however like nearly all the other stories the scripts were adapted and this short novel was released in 1985 (written by Donald Cotton, who had written the scripts). Whilst based around the legend of the Trojan War, this is told as if it it were historically true and The First Doctor and his companions arrive and get involved in the proceedings. This was first written as a “historical” in that no other alien elements are present in the story (which happened a fair bit in 1960s Doctor Who, other examples are The Aztecs and Marco Polo to name a couple), however Donald Cotton had also written this as more of a comedy, just like his earlier script for The Romans, and the novel is told in the first person by an eyewitness, who also has some historical significance. It can be a bit silly at times but knowingly so, and there are some clever puns: “Small Prophet, Quick Return” and “Doctor In The Horse”. I’d read most of the Targets as a child but there’s still a few I hadn’t got round to so I didn’t “know” what happened, it’s good to still be able to read a new old Doctor Who story, like I did in my childhood with so many of the Target books.

“Agamemmnon sighed deeply. The effect was unpleasant, even at a range of several yards. Candle flames trembled, and sank back into their sockets: as did his brother’s blood-shot eyes. ‘There may be some truth in that,’ he admitted, ‘I don’t say there is, but there may be. However, I must remind you these ambitions would have been served just as well if you had killed Paris in single combat, as was expected of you. That’s what betrayed husbands do, damn it! They kill their wife’s lovers. Everybody knows that. And Paris was quite prepared to let the whole issue be decided by such a contest – he told me so. So don’t blame me because you’ve dragged us into a full scale war- because I won’t have it.’”
― Donald Cotton, Doctor Who: The Myth Makers

The Crucible – Arthur Miller. The Crucible is a history, metaphor and play set in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Miller had a point to make with this, it was about the “witch hunts” in the politics at the time – when you know this and understand the context it becomes a lot more powerful. Who are the witches in the town? Who is innocent but forced to admit guilt? How far will it go and is anyone safe? The play itself has a bit of a weird shape, starting by focusing on one group of individuals and then adjusting to a family outside that circle, this in itself raises the question that has been repeated throughout history, can anyone can be safe from accusation and if not, how do the guilty seem to get away with it?

“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”.”
― Arthur Miller, The Crucible

Buy The Power And The Glory by Graham Greene
Buy The Vanishing Futurist by Charlotte Hobson
Buy Doctor Who: The Myth Makers by Donald Cotton
Buy The Crucible by Arthur Miller

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My reads, not the books that came out this year…

Shockingly, alarmingly, it’s once again the time of year where I select some of the books I’ve read over the last twelve months and offer my favourites as suggestions. 2021 has been a bit of a mad year for me, I started the year feeling I hadn’t been reading enough but as time went on and I was looking back I realised just how many books I’d got through, including a couple I’d been meaning to read for years and some nice discoveries. I said it last year and I’ll repeat myself, it’s always exciting to wonder what books I’ll find and love in 2022 that I know nothing about at present.

Lenin On The Train – Catherine Merridale. I’ve be fascinated with the account of Vladimir Lenin’s (which you have to pronounce in the Russian way with the accent Vla-DEE-MEearr) journey from Switzerland to the Finland Station for a long time, so finding this book which gives a full account of the history as well as the effects it had was very satisfying. Spotlighting an event which I feel is a somewhat under appreciated shaper of the 20^th Century, this book is detailed and insightful enough that I didn’t feel like it was for beginners but even for someone new to this part of history I don’t think it would go over their heads. Starting with the author’s own recreation of the journey it then takes us right back to March 1916 and talks us though one of the many world changing events that were happening in that era. It can be a job keeping up with all of the people involved and events are so shaded that it’s hard to fully piece it all together, but this was a very enjoyable read and added to my knowledge of important times (if only I could remember it all that is).

“The sound of tramping feet beat out a requiem for the old world – but no one could be sure where it might lead”
― Catherine Merridale, Lenin on the Train

Decline And Fall – Evelyn Waugh. Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Brideshead Revisited last year it was natural I’d pickup a copy of Decline And Fall – not to be confused with the text by Edward Gibbon. (How much changes in a year! I read Brideshead mostly in an Albanian cafe drinking Raki; I read this in my car on an industrial estate in my work lunch breaks.) It’s interesting to compare the two novels. Whilst Brideshead Revisited was written when he was an established author and so has the confidence and skill of someone with experience, Decline And Fall was Waugh’s first published novel. This isn’t a criticism, I enjoyed it very much, but you can clearly tell the lessons the author has learnt along the way. The two novels are sprawling tales that follow the life of the protagonist through a period of time, the later book is over many years however here it’s just one; regardless a lot happens. As a story this is quite silly, some of the humour really works, other parts of it fails to hit the mark, at least from a twenty first century perspective. Set just under one hundred years ago this is the story of Paul Pennyfeather who in the first few pages loses his place at University and has to find a way to survive and so becomes a teacher. Highly unpredictable and more a stream of ideas of “and then this happened” the sum of the novel is greater than its parts. Brideshead Revisted is a far better novel but that is not to say this isn’t worth reading.

“That’s your little mob in there,’ said Grimes; ‘you let them out at eleven.’ ‘But what am I to teach them?’ said Paul in sudden panic. ‘Oh, I shouldn’t try to teach them anything, not just yet, anyway. Just keep them quiet.”
― Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall

In Cold Blood – Truman Capote. I was always unsure of this book, not a novel but an account of a true multiple-murder in mid America in 1959. From the word go we know who did it and it’s just the historical events, I suppose like a true episode of Columbo in novel form. Very unlike Breakfast At Tiffany’s which I am indifferent to (it’s ok but I won’t be making friends with Deep Blue Something – that’s an out dated… I want to say “joke”?) As such I was never bothered about this book until I saw it for sale in a second hand book shop and I just thought “why not?”. My doubts quickly disappeared. Like an episode of Columbo the interest becomes in finding out how they get the murderers, but there is more. You are asked to follow the guilty party, get to know them and their back story,. After a while I forgot it was real and when the revelation hit me again and again “this actually happened” it’s a bit of a shock, I’m not sure how accurate it really is, how Capote can reveal intimate and intricate details I don’t really know, but he manages to paint the murderers as real people in a way it’s hard to square that they could do what they did. More psychoanalytical than thriller I did really enjoy this, yet it made me feel sad at times – also I learnt there is a lot of interesting things about middle America.

“The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.’ . . .The land is flat, the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them.”
― Truman Capote, In Cold Blood

Born A Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood – Trevor Noah. Straight up I will confess I had never heard of Trevor Noah until I found this book. I was looking for a historic novel set in Africa as I haven’t read that many and did a general search, over and over this book kept on being recommended to me despite the fact it’s not fiction or that historical. After a while the suggestions wore me down and I ordered it. I’m glad I did. As I said I had no idea who the author was as I read this, it was just the story of a young lad growing up to see the end of apartheid South Africa and the changes and things that should have changed but didn’t. However this is no grand epic, it’s mainly a small story of Trevor Noah and his mother (who is both formidable and wonderful and written with such love and clarity) as well the wider family. I’d love to retell some of the incidents here but the best thing is to say “Go and read it yourself”. It’s a cliché to say “I laughed and cried” and although I didn’t actually cry amidst the humour there are statements of which the implications force you stop and think. This is probably one of my favourite books I’ve read this year and I’ll join all those other voices that persuaded me to buy this book in highly recommending it.

“People thought my mom was crazy. Ice rinks and drive-ins and suburbs, these things were izinto zabelungu — the things of white people. So many people had internalized the logic of apartheid and made it their own. Why teach a black child white things? Neighbors and relatives used to pester my mom: ‘Why do this? Why show him the world when he’s never going to leave the ghetto?’
‘Because,’ she would say, ‘even if he never leaves the ghetto, he will know that the ghetto is not the world. If that is all I accomplish, I’ve done enough.”
― Trevor Noah, Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood

Buy Lenin On The Train by Catherine Merridale
Buy Decline And Fall by Evelyn Waugh
Buy In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Buy Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah