Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka

A few weeks ago I was travelling by train through Kent, the Garden of England.  I saw the strawberry fields and through a gap in a hedge I was completely taken aback to see row after row after row of caravans.  A whole field on the side of a hill had been given over to them.

I hadn't realised when I picked up this book how much this would come back, almost to haunt me.  Although the book is described as hilarious, I think there's far more tragedy than comedy in it.  Whether intended or not, it's a social commentary on migrant workers, on battery farming methods, on human trafficking.  It follows the story of a mixed group of workers in Kent, then on to London and finally, briefly, Sheffield.

I was close to giving up early on in the book, partly because I didn't much care for the characters and the story didn't grab me, but I'm glad now that I persisted.  I'll never look at strawberries or chicken portions in the same way again.

Single to Paris by Alexander Fullerton

What I hadn't realise when I started this novel was that it's the last part of a series of four.  However, although it's very obvious, it doesn't really matter.  In outline, it tells of a Special Operations Executive, Rosie Ewing, who is sent to France in August 1945 to try to rescue two agents being held by the Gestapo in Paris.

The book was written in 2001, but I wouldn't have been in the least surprised to hear it was in the 1950s.  In one way that's probably a good point, after all the book is set in Paris just as the Second World War is ending, but there's something about the style that seems to me to be dated.  Added to that, very few sentences are complete.  It reads like someone's thought processes in places, almost a stream of consciousness.

If you're looking for something with the atmosphere of Paris, Single to Paris will give you that, even though at times it sounds like a GPS system telling you, "Now turn right into boulevard St Michel..."

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

...and co-authored by Davis Oliver Relin.

Although my copy of this book has the same cover art, it also has a little medallion stating that the book is a Kiriyama prize winner.  The Kiriyama Prize "was established in 1996 to recognize outstanding books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia that encourage greater mutual understanding of and among the peoples and nations of this vast and culturally diverse region".  It promised a lot but delivered little.

I'm sorry to say I found this one of the most tedious books I've read in a long time.  I struggled to finish it.  The author, no doubt doing good works in Pakistan, is nevertheless completely self-satisfied and self-congratulatory:

As Mortenson turned his brave, wind beaten face towards the dying embers of the fire, he reflected inwardly....

The writing is painfully clunky, and manages to make this reader at least concentrate more on the writing than on the story.  The story itself could have been told in much less space if it had left out all the minutiae that are completely irrelevant.  Who cares about Greg's earlier relationships?

To be perfectly honest, I found even the photos included have nothing to add. They are little more than a series of faces beaming at the camera. One I will never forget - a Christmas card featuring Mortenson with his wife and baby, and two weapons, rifles or something, I don't know. On a Christmas card?!  It is my lasting memory of the book.

However, if you can get over the irritations that bothered me, you will be able to read about the remote parts of a country that most of us will never visit.

Updated to add that apparently the truth was "stretched" in a number of places and there are some discrepancies in the financial management of his organisation.  Some call the issues minor problems and transgressions, others call it lies and fraud.

Buy Three Cups of Tea at Amazon.co.uk or at Amazon.com

Coming Down the Seine by Robert Gibbings

My copy is second hand, published in 1953, and very battered, so I decided against a scan of the cover and settled for the title page with the image by Robert Gibbings himself.  The book is beautifully illustrated throughout with his own wood engravings.

I wasn't at all sure what to expect of this book, I'll freely admit that I was completely swayed by the title.

The title is of course misleading to a large extent.  Never judge judge a book by its cover - or its title.  But it does have some bearing on the subject matter and besides, the book is a total delight once you stop expecting a travelogue.  It is almost like a stream of consciousness, the thoughts meandering through the author's mind as he follows the Seine from its source to the sea (with occasional massive detours).  Added to the captivating narrative, you can enjoy the illustrations created by the author himself.  A book that can be read over and over again.

Coming Down the Seine is still available at Amazon.co.uk and at Amazon.com.

The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez

This is one of the more unusual crime novels I have ever read.  Very briefly, it's about a serial killer who leaves mathematical clues as he proceeds on his killing spree.  I've included it here because it's set in Oxford and the author indulges in a considerable amount of place-name-dropping, and I suppose it does conjure up the rather rarefied air of a university.  It's translated from Spanish but, unlike some translations, you aren't aware of any awkwardness in the English.

It's a fast read by virtue of the fact that it's very short but I don't really think you'd call it a page-turner.  Its main appeal has to be the unusual link with mathematics.  That, however, floats cheerfully somewhere over my head, leaving me thinking, hmmm.

Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

Tracy Chevalier's Burning Bright is the story of a family who moves from rural Dorset to London, where the father works for a circus.  They end up living next door to the poet and artist, William Blake.
If you know any of William Blake's poetry, it's likely to be "The Tiger":

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Because of the title of the novel, you would be excused for thinking you were going to learn something about Blake, but in reality he is one of the minor characters.  The remaining characters lack much depth and are rather stereotypical, and the accents they are given are frankly irritating.  Country bumpkin versus Cockney. 

On the other hand, the book does portray London vividly and historically accurately. There is a real sense of place which may be just the thing to accompany a trip to the city.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Apparently "The Book Thief" is classed as a young adult, even a children's book, in the USA, but it wasn't written as such and certainly I've thoroughly enjoyed it a very long way away from young adult years..

The story is set in wartime Germany and gives an insight into ordinary people's lives.  It is narrated by Death, which may sound morbid, but this Death is afraid of humans and wonders how they can be capable of so many glorious things as well as such ugliness.  And that really is one of the main themes of the book, along with death of course, the Second World War, and the conflict of ordinary people with the society they live in.

It's the story of Liesel, who has to be fostered when her own parents are taken away to a concentration camp for being Communists.  Her brother dies before they reach their foster parents and she steals a book, a grave digger's manual, even though at that time she couldn't read.  It's the story of the books that pass through her hands, and the story of how she survives the events of the war.

There isn't, in truth, a great sense of place, but there most certainly is an all-enveloping feeling of being immersed in the time.  This is such an important part of Germany's history, I would happily recommend the book to anyone planning to visit Germany.