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Nigeyb wrote: "I am currently reading a dog training book and...

Sounds interesting! My TBR pile just keeps getting bigger and bigger!!


The Humans by Matt Haig

I've heard great things about Matt Haig and am looking forward to readin..."

Ooh, I want to read that one, Jan. I'll be interested how you find it. :)

I've just started reading The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. It might not win the poll for our August fiction read however, and whilst only 30 odd pages in, I can confirm it's started very well indeed...




The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned; the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa � a large, silent house now bereft of brothers, husband, and even servants � life is about to be transformed as impoverished widow Mrs. Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers.

With the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the “clerk class,� the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. Little do the Wrays know just how profoundly their new tenants will alter the course of Frances’s life � or, as passions mount and frustration gathers, how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

I downloaded this too, Nigeyb. I am hoping it wins the vote but, if not, I will certainly read it anyway. I've read other books by Sarah Waters and enjoyed them. Perhaps, if you are reading it, you could set up a hot read?

^ Great news Susan. Let's see what happens in the vote. If it misses out I'd be tempted to try for a third nomination for September (third time lucky and all that) but could probably be talked into a hot reads too.

Ok, will wait and see.

^ Onto page 60 now. Loads of great period detail and a slow burn plot that I'm starting to really enjoy.

I loved The Little Stranger by her.

^ This is my first book by Sarah Waters - so far so impressive. She must have done a lot of research, it's very convincing and with that unmistakeable tang of authenticity. A good BYT era read (so far).

^ And very atmospheric too

Into the final third of The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. It's gone from wonderfully researched, informative, atmospheric period piece (with lots for BYTers to appreciate and discuss) into tense crime novel, whilst still maintaining the atmosphere. I can hardly bear to discover if Sarah Waters can sustain it through to the end.

I've just started reading....




Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce by Nigel Farndale

If it's as interesting as I hope it will be then I'll renominate it for our September non-fiction read....

Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize

William and Margaret Joyce � Lord and Lady Haw-Haw � became one of the most ridiculed, feared and mythologized partnerships of the Second World War. His ‘Germany Calling� broadcasts delivered in an upper-class drawl, and her lesser known, though no less insidious, pro-Nazi wireless talks, were part of the very fabric of the Home Front. Yet when they were captured in May 1945, only he was charged with high treason � a fact even more surprising when it became apparent that, unlike Margaret, William was not a British subject�

Authorised by William Joyce’s daughter, Heather, and based on new interviews and previously unpublished archives, including letters, diaries and recently declassified Security Service files, Haw-Haw is the meticulously researched and vividly written biography of this most complex and eccentric couple. Margaret was flirtatious and nonchalant, William was droll and intellectual, both were bloody minded. Fuelled by alcohol, their relationship was tempestuous but also surprisingly tender. Nigel Farndale recreates their lives together for the first time: from the shadows of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in London, to Josef Goebbels� Ministry of Propaganda in war-ravaged Berlin. Hubris, bigotry and sexual intrigue followed them across Europe until the end of the war when they were arrested � immediately creating a political furore. The establishment wanted Joyce executed, but the evidence against him was inconclusive and resulted in a sensational trial that many legal minds felt was ‘a blot on the British justice system�. Furthermore, Margaret was never prosecuted. Was this an act of mercy on behalf of the government, or had William secured her life by agreeing not to reveal his links to MI5? Nigel Farndale has written a compelling and evocative study of two people whose passions overrode everything they did and which eventually led to William becoming the last civilian to be hanged for treason in England, and to Margaret drinking herself to death. This is an extraordinary book about an extraordinary marriage.



Praise for Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce

‘As compelling as Sophocles, a very deep book indeed�
Times

‘A narrative tour de force�
Observer

‘Wit, compassion and insight permeate every chapter�
Daily Telegraph

‘Stylish and compelling�
Literary Review

‘Smoothly written�
Guardian

‘Energetic and complex�
Sunday Times

‘Exciting and endlessly fascinating�
Mail on Sunday

‘Written with pace and compassion�
Evening Standard

‘Vivid and intelligent�
Sunday Telegraph

‘A model of its kind�
The Economist

‘Fascinating and provocative�
Times Literary Supplement

I started The Poisoner's Handbook yesterday (I believe it's come up here before). So far I'm really enjoying it. It's very easy to read too, which I'm appreciating since I've been in a bit of a reading rut.

I'm also reading Behind the Mask, about Vita Sackville-West, which I won through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ. It's not as easy to read but is still interesting.

I had started 1920: The Year That Made the Decade Roar, but that's on pause because one of the kitties spilt water and part of the book got wet.

And I'm technically still reading Decline and Fall. I should really just finish it but it hasn't gripped me this second time around...

I think the is the first time all the books I'm reading are BYT relevant. :)

I'm 140 pages through....




Haw-Haw: The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce by Nigel Farndale

...and I'm really enjoying it. Some interesting information about the BUF and other British fascist movements and life for the Joyces in Berlin at the outbreak of war between Germany and Britain. Joyce is also a very unusual character - incredibly bright, a great orator but flawed in some key ways.

Just started this, Nigeyb. I have been very busy lately and haven't had as much reading time as usual, but I am enjoying it. I remembered that I have read another book by Nigel Farndale (The Blasphemer) which I also enjoyed. I like his style of writing and he really manages to make you sympathise with William Joyce, which is important in order for you to read on.

^ Yes, agree with all of that Susan.

I would definitely consider reading more books by him. It reminds me a bit of Handsome Brute: The Story of a Ladykiller, in terms of the style.

These biographies of notable or interesting people from our era always seems to pull me in if they are done well.

Ben Macintyre is another writer who seems to do a consistently good job.

And of course Selina Hastings who we're reading next month.

What other reliable biographers are there who frequently write about our era?

Not sure I can think of any particular biographers offhand, but I have enjoyed West End Front: The Wartime Secrets of London's Grand Hotels and A Dancer in Wartime: One Girl's Journey from the Blitz to Sadler's Wells set in the byt era and also enjoy Nancy Mitford's biographies - not about our period, but written during them...

I can always think of titles rather than authors for some reason. I love true crime books set in our era and have thought of Crippen as a fictional choice as I like John Boyne.

^ Oooh, Crippen by John Boyne does indeed sound like it would make a good BYT non-fiction read

It's a novel, Nigeyb, so would have to be a fiction choice. I confused you with the 'true crime' label - sorry.

Ah. Thanks again.

I'm currently reading Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty, which is a memoir of the author's time working as a crematorium assistant in California.

Now, like me, you are probably thinking that this book couldn't possibly be directly relevant to BYT, but I've just read a chapter in which the author writes about Jessica Mitford, who was cremated at the crematorium that the book is about. Mitford wrote The American Way of Death, which I hadn't heard of before. That book was hugely critical of the 'business' of funerals. As I'm sure most BYTers know, Mitford was a communist and she thought that the funeral business was a huge capitalist con. Her book topped the bestseller list for weeks and was hugely influential in cremation becoming more popular in the US.

I'm only halfway through this book and I'd highly recommend it. The subject matter is clearly morbid, and there are parts that are definitely not for the squeamish, but Doughty writes in such a frank, but caring way that it's an easy - and even at times quite funny - read.

^ Sounds great Lori - thanks


I'm about a quarter through Cathi Unsworth's Without the Moon. Great on period detail, characterisation and evoking London during WW2 - really enjoying it





Without the Moon by Cathi Unsworth

Synopsis:

Night after night Londoners live against a backdrop of the hum of enemy airplanes in the London night sky and the constant bombs destroying landmarks and people’s homes. Each morning residents of this stoic city awaken thankful they are still alive to see the bleak day, made bleaker by the newly destroyed houses and craters that decorate the London landscape.

One February night a killer takes advantage of the chaos and the blacked out streets. Come the morning there is an even more hideous discovery than finding out a neighbour did not live to see the morning. A woman’s body is found strangled and parts of her body violated inside an air-raid shelter in Marylebone, something she would not have needed as the Luftwaffe were conspicuous by their absence the night before. She doesn’t have the look of a lady of the night, a prostitute but a woman of means who has fallen on hard times.

In rapid succession a number of other women are found butchered � but these were women who lived by illicit means, who gave men company for a good price. As the body count mounts, DCI Greenaway is determined to bring this beast who stalks in the dark to a swift meeting with the hangman.

Then another murder of a prostitute is committed on the newly built Waterloo Bridge, but Greenaway has the man he feels in his bones has committed the murders in custody, so who has committed this new crime?

Review:

‘Without the Moon� is based on two separate true criminal investigations that took place within a two week period in February 1942. Although both cases are based on fact, Unsworth herself says these are to be read as though enacted out in a parallel universe. What brings Unsworth’s portrait of 1942 London to life is the use of real people who were well-known during those turbulent years; Miss Moyes of the Christian Spiritualist Greater World Association, Helen Duncan (aka the Blitz Witch) who would be incarcerated during the remaining war years for witchcraft, Hannen Swaffer the journalist who knew everybody’s business and Olive Bracewell who squandered her fortune in her fight to abolish the death penalty. Along with Margaret McArthur who was the real victim dumped over the side of Waterloo Bridge it all heightens the sense of reality to Unsworth’s work of fiction.

Not only does she do justice to those who are based on real people, but Unsworth is especially compassionate to those working girls that fall victim to this crazed killer. She lifts a veil to show the lengths these desperate women would do to raise a few pennies to keep their heads above water, but which would ultimately lead to their deaths. Another fascinating facet was the rise of Spiritualism as people embraced this practice, desperate to communicate with lost ones to ease their broken hearts and assuage their guilt for being alive.

I was enraptured by Unsworth’s unswerving eye for accuracy. Not only does she display a community that linked arms in defiance of their German enemy, but she unflinchingly holds up a mirror to the ugly side of London, the enemy within that took advantage of the blackouts to slither and ooze along the dark streets like a malevolent, breathing creature to complete its business whether it be prostitution, black market goods or even murder. I was mesmerised by Unsworth’s prose, she transported me back so that each scene felt as though I were present; I could feel the smoke of the houses burning around my nostrils, I could taste the dust from bombed out houses at the back of my throat.

When you crack the spine of this woman’s books, you never know what to expect which makes the unexpected exciting. As with all her books, there is an accompanying soundtrack with the chapter headings Jazz song titles from that time which adds another layer of authenticity.

Unsworth is a chameleon of a writer which allows her to travel wherever or whenever she wishes which brings a freshness to each story. To my mind she is the 21st Century love child of du Maurier and Barbara Vine.

There is no cosy ending to this sad tale as Unsworth allows events to take their natural course. I have heard that Greenaway (a hybrid of Greeno who brought the real Blackout Ripper to justice) will be back in her next novel. I can’t wait to be back in 1940’s London and again feel the fog drifting lazily around my legs as Unsworth plunges me back in time. ‘Without the Moon� is a fascinating and exceptionally well-written novel that will have air-raid sirens ringing in your ears whilst reading it!

More here including questionnaire...


More info here...




Another great review....

Nigeyb wrote: "I'm about a quarter through Cathi Unsworth's Without the Moon. Great on period detail, characterisation and evoking London during WW2..."

Now 37% through Without the Moon by Cathi Unsworth. I think it’s terrific. It’s not a thriller or a whodunnit, more of a character study. Basically Cathi is imagining the personalities dragged into the horrific Gordon Frederick Cummins (aka the Blackout Ripper) murders. Cummins takes advantage of the chaos of the Blitz.

The best aspect of an engrossing read are Cathi’s insights into the working girls who were most likely to encounter Cummins, and the steadfast Greeno (here DI Greenaway) who helped bring him to justice...

^ Cathi posted this link on Facebook.... This story has eerie parallels to the Waterloo Bridge man from WTM. Cathi's heart nearly stopped for a minute reading this:

I'm really enjoying Antony Beevor's book on Crete during WW2. Lots of links to other people we've read about at BYT... Waugh, Leigh Fermor etc

It's got me interested in Cairo during the war.

Anyone read "Cairo in the War" by Artemis Cooper? It looks fascinating.

I'm posting via phone so cannot add links etc.

I nominated a book about Cairo in wartime some time ago, but I don't think it got any votes!

^ Oooh. Which one Susan? Artemis Cooper's? It sounds like a goodie.

Cairo in the War 1939-1945. Yes, I nominated it a few months ago but there was no interest if I recall.

I'd be interested in read this, since I read the fascinating Barr' A Line In The Sand,

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

on the British and French occupation of Syria and British occupation of parts of North Africa and the Middle East, in particular Palestine. It of course covers a time period from WW1, WW2 and a bit after, up to 1948 and the establishment of the state of Israel. So I'd be interested to learn more about what was happening Cairo.

^ Maybe a second nomination might yield a few more votes?

If you renominate it Susan you'll get my vote - and maybe Roisin's too?

^^^^^^ Operation Mincemeat just got a mention in "Crete"

Susan, give it another go and nominate it. I'll support it!

I can't remember why it wasn't popular - it might be expensive in the States or something.

Possibly at the time, however there are cheap copies on Amazon for example.

Maybe it seemed to focused on the social life of the Brits in Cairo, which is kind of how it sounds.

Cairo appears to have been a global melting pot. All nationalities represented - but then again not read the book yet. Either way should be a compelling account of an interesting place during a fascinating era. One way to find out? And, of course, she's a good writer.

Much of Olivia Manning's Levant Trilogy was based in Cairo during wartime. I would certainly like to personally read both the book about Cairo and the one set in Turkey, Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul.

^ That sounds like another good book

Here's some more about the Cairo book by Artemis Cooper....


'As hard to put down as good fiction. The research is wide, detailed and scrupulous. It is hard to think, on finishing, how this demanding book could have been handled better, more lucidly or more entertaining' ( Patrick Leigh Fermor, Times Literary Supplement)

'This informative and enjoyable book puts political history side-by-side with the personal sub-history of the characters who determined it . . . a mine of entertaining anecdotes' ( Rana Kabbani, Observer)

'What lifts it out of the ordinary is the sparkle of the writing and its command of the background' ( P. H. Newby, Sunday Telegraph)

'Much more than a lively and amusing social history. With enormous skill she has shaped it into a gripping account of the progress of the war itself and of the fortunes of its major protagonists. The result is bracing and salutary and very readable indeed' ( Charles Allen, Sunday Times)

Book description...

For troops in the desert, Cairo meant fleshpots or brass hats. For well-connected officers, it meant polo at the Gezira Club and drinks at Shepheard's. For the irregular warriors, Cairo was a city to throw legendary parties before the next mission behind enemy lines. For countless refugees, it was a stopping place in the long struggle home. The political scene was dominated by the British Ambassador Sir Miles Lampson. In February 1942 he surrounded the Abdin Palace with tanks and attempted to depose King Farouk. Five months later it looked as if the British would be thrown out of Egypt for good. Rommel's forces were only sixty miles from Alexandria - but the Germans were pushed back and Cairo life went on. Meanwhile, in the Egyptian Army, a handful of young officers were thinking dangerous thoughts.

Summary....

A history of the glamorous and military critical city of Cairo during the Second World War

About the Author....

Artemis Cooper is the author of Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure, Cairo in the War, 1939- 1945 and Writing at the Kitchen Table, the authorized biography of Elizabeth David. With her husband Antony Beevor she wrote Paris After the Liberation, 1945-1949. She has edited two collections of letters and Words of Mercury, a collection of pieces by Patrick Leigh Fermor.

I can see you nominating this next month, Nigeyb. I would be happy to read it, if it gets chosen (although as it last polled no votes, I have my doubts!).

By the way, I love Anthony Beevor's books - this Berlin: The Downfall, 1945 was a great read, as is Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler's Capital, 1939-45. I am also looking forward to The Secret History of the Blitz and, although not really relevant to the group as such, The Great British Dream Factory: The Strange History of Our National Imagination. Dominic Sandbrook has written many books about our time period, but Nigeyb, I think this is one that will appeal to you.

Never read any of those, but they look very interesting in particular The Secret History. I'd be happy for a nomination of those on our non-fiction list.

The Secret History is out next week, but, again, would be too expensive for a nomination. I have it on pre-order.

I also love everything I have read by Antony Beevor especially Stalingrad and Berlin.

I was a bit put off Dominic Sandbrook after that BBC series on the 70s which I thought was too revisionist and overly Thatcherite. Not read any books by him though so should probably give him a try.

A Group Read of the new Beevor, once it's more affordable, would be most welcome.

^ I was assuming one of them was a new Beevor. Wrongly as it turns out.

Both the Berlin books have been around for ages. I read Never Had It So Good: A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles and White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties and loved them. I have looked, to no avail, for a Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ group based around the Sixties!

^ Perhaps you should start one Susan

^ Perhaps you should start one Susan

I already help run a bookclub, not on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ, and don't have time. Perhaps in the future...

Me too. Run a real world book group that is.

I was just musing that a group that focussed on 1960 to 1980 would provide a rich vein of literature and social history. I love the 70s but feel it needs the 60s to give it meaningful context.

Well, if you feel like starting such a group I would be happy to help moderate, but I don't feel I could take on a group like that on my own. Not with kids, work and life in the way!