| 1. | Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family, Fatherland and Vichy France. Carmen Callil. A biography of Louis Darquier, whose career as a sponger and anti-Semite culminated in his appointment as Vichy France's "Commissioner for Jewish Affairs". An extraordinary story, but the unique aspect of this compelling book is the motivation of its (Australian) writer. I won't spoil it. The Guardian's review was revealing. |
| 2. | Young Stalin. Simon Sebag Montefiore. Stalin's later life makes a lot more sense after reading about the truly extraordinary exploits of his earlier years. Reads like an adventure story as much as a biography - history's certainly not dull when told like this. |
| 3. | The Conservationist. Nadine Gordimer. This book started slowly for me, with a mix of ordinary narrative and stream of consciousness that made events hard to follow. Patience was rewarded. By book's end you can appreciate Gordimer's accomplishment, a brilliant and subtle allegorical portrait of apartheid South Africa. I'd never read her work before - will do so now. |
| 4. | Forgotten Wars: The End of Britain's Asian Empire. Christopher Bayley and Tim Harper. Seem to be on a history binge... still reading... (and still reading) .... and finally gave up. No quarrel with the content - some fascinating (e.g. the post-war battle in Surubaya), but uninspired writing. A product, perhaps, of the compromises required by a collaboration of two authors? Whatever the reason, I found it turgid and in the end I lacked the will to finish this book. |
