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angelayoung's reviews
336 reviews
A Single Summer with L.B. by Derek Marlowe
4.0
This is the extraordinary story of Byron, the Shelleys, Percy Bysshe and Mary, Clare Clairmont, Mary's half-sister and Byron's doctor Polidori. Apart from Polidori's letters to his sister Florence, which Marlowe invented, all quotations and much of the dialogue are taken from the letters and journals of the people involved, or from contemporary sources (contemporary being 1969, when this book was first published by Jonathan Cape).
Clare falls pregnant by Byron but leaves Italy before the birth of the daughter who, although christened Alba, became known as Allegra; Shelley drowns in the lake and Byron, when not writing poetry, getting to know the Shelleys or impregnating Clare, undermines his doctor horribly. But the point of the story for me is that one night (at the end of Chapter 6, page 100 of my Penguin edition) this happens:
And the book that emerged, of course, was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
Clare falls pregnant by Byron but leaves Italy before the birth of the daughter who, although christened Alba, became known as Allegra; Shelley drowns in the lake and Byron, when not writing poetry, getting to know the Shelleys or impregnating Clare, undermines his doctor horribly. But the point of the story for me is that one night (at the end of Chapter 6, page 100 of my Penguin edition) this happens:
That evening, the thunder returned to Lake Leman. All five members of the circle gathered once again in the darkened drawing-room, but this time the subject of conversation was far different from any other so far discussed. A book had been taken from the shelves and been read merely to pass the time. It was called Fantasmagoriana, ou Recueil d'Histoires d'apparitions, de spectres, revenans etc., translated into French from the original German, and the moment it was read all past quarrels, squabbles, philosophies, polemics were put aside as a new theme took over their thoughts. It was a subject that had fascinated others for centuries and which now, in this ill-lit room battered by rain and storm, was to enthral the occupants for days, even weeks, and was to make one of them instantaneously and surprisingly famous. It was to cause nightmares and hallucinations and much screaming in the night, and yet was to produce one of the most original novels of the century. The subject, of course, was Ghosts.
And the book that emerged, of course, was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
5.0
How very clever this book is (how clever Julian Barnes is) but without seeming to be so (even cleverer). The protagonist's ability to observe and yet to fail to see what really matters, what really happened, how he really is - at least to one other character - is beautifully done and shocked me when I got there ... .
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
5.0
I loved this book ... it's another of those novels with a story within the story (or an alternate reading of the story at the end) and that always hooks me ... and the conversation between the rabbi, the imam and the pandit from whom Pi thinks he can pick and mix his own religion but who all insist that he must choose between them, choose one of their religions, should be read by all the citizens of the world.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
4.0
Such a brave and honest book ... and told from such an unusual point of view. I'm full of admiration.
Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
5.0
What a wonderful imagination Chevalier has. And the details of colour - in a book about a painter - are mesmerising. Beautiful. Especially the scene when the Girl grinds and mixes the colour for her master. And then there's the story with its intrigue and sorrow and hatred for the Girl, Griet: it is, I suppose, the Cinderella story reclothed or, in disguise.
The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
5.0
It's a grim but truthful and thought-provoking read. Annie Proulx is a wonderful writer. If this is too long, I mean if a novel is too long for whatever you're doing at the moment, try Brokeback Mountain http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1627.Brokeback_Mountain.