Try something different
Many books are published, few attract reviews.
Here are some titles recently acquired by your library service which you may not have come across, but which offer an interesting and rewarding read.
Portrait of Richmond, with Kew, Petersham, Ham and Teddington Lock
Stuart Saul
Local resident’s photographic celebration of stretches of the borough, following the course of the river. The images, captured over several years, build into an evocative mosaic, prompting the viewer to look afresh at some familiar scenes.
Science As a Contact Sport: inside the battle to save Earth’s climate
Stephen H. Schneider
Not a simple rehearsal of the evidence for climate change but an insider’s account of an odyssey around the scientific and political power structures of the world. Founder of the journal Climate Change and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the author was well place to observe the machinations, deals and arguments surrounding this contentious issue.
Dilly: the Man Who Broke Enigmas
Mavis Batey
Life of the highly eccentric Alfred Dillwyn Knox (Dill), a leading codebreaker during both world wars. In the first, as chief codebreaker in the Admiralty’s Room 40 he was charged with breaking the German navy’s flag code. Between the wars he worked on Bolshevik ciphers, used in the attempt to export the revolution, while in WW2 he worked at Bletchley Park, helping to break the Enigma code while dying of the cancer that killed him, and where the author of this book worked with him.
A Swamp Full of Dollars: Pipelines and Paramilitaries in Nigeria’s Oil Frontier
Michael Peel
Nigeria has the same size population as Russia, and has been largely shaped, for good or ill, by its oil and the wealth it generates. Telling an almost incredible story through the actions of a host of vivid characters and using his own first-hand knowledge, the author shows us a picture of a new Wild West kept at boiling point by the world’s thirst for oil.
Czechoslovakia: the State That Failed
Mary Heimann
Cobbled together in the settlement after the First World war and peacefully sundered in 1993, this state’s span was about one human lifetime. This study examines the forces that brought it into being, shaped its character and brought about its demise. It throws a new light on simplistic assumptions about central European politics and questions the often voiced view that it was the victim of powerful neighbours – Hitler and Stalin – rather than contributing in large part to its own unedifying history.
The Master of Bruges
Terence G. Morgan
The author’s first novel, a stylish and engrossing historical mystery.
In 15th century Bruges, master painter Hans Memling is about to find himself at the heart of a political storm that stretches from his home city to Plantagenet England. When Hans agrees to play host to two exiles on the run from their enemies in London, he has no idea that they are not the modest traders they appear to be.
The Soldier’s Song
Alan Monaghan
This novel casts a human light on events in Ireland’s unhappy early 20th century history.
Dublin, 1914. As Ireland stands on the brink of political crisis, Europe plunges headlong into war. Among the thousands of Irishmen who volunteer to fight for the British Army is Stephen Ryan, a gifted young maths scholar whose working class background has marked him out as a misfit among his wealthy fellow students.
Generosity
Richard Powers
When Russell Stone becomes the teacher of a young Algerian woman with a disturbingly luminous presence, he is both entranced and troubled. How can this refugee from terror radiate such bliss? Thassa's joyful personality comes to the attention of the notorious advocate for genomic enhancement, Thomas Kurton, whose research has enabled him to announce his discovery of the genetic underpinnings of happiness. Thassa's congenital optimism is severely tested by the growing media circus. Devoured by the public as a living prophecy, her genetic secret will transform both Russell and Kurton, as well as the world at large
Into the Frame: the Four Loves of Ford Madox Brown
Angela Thirlwell
A vivid account of the public art and private demons of Ford Madox Brown, arguably one of the finest 19th century artists and the four central women in his life, his two wives, Elisabeth Bromley and Emma Hill, and his secret passions, the artist Marie Spartali and the author Mathilde Blind. All four were remarkable women, from very different backgrounds, striving for self-expression in an age that sought to suppress them. Madox Brown himself was always an outsider and refused to join any group - even the Pre-Raphaelites with whom he was so closely associated, and the women he loved burst out of received stereotypes, telling us much about women's journey towards modern roles.
Tickling the English
Dara O Briain
The stand-up comedian shares his impressions of his adopted home gained during his tours. Swapping anecdotes with his audiences and spending time wandering in their hometowns, this nosy neighbour holds England up to the light while exploring some of the attitudes he brought over here with him too. As he goes in search of England in this part tour diary, part travelogue, the result is an affectionate, hilarious and often eye- opening journey through the Sceptred Isle.