Big reads

07/05/2010

Doug Johnstone round-up of the latest books

The Woman Who Saved The Children
Clare Mulley (Oneworld)

Give And Take
Stona Fitch (Two Ravens)

With the ubiquity of worldwide charities, it’s easy to forget about some of the remarkable pioneers who changed the face of international society.

One such character was Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the Children in 1919 and a tireless campaigner for children’s rights.

The Woman Who Saved The Children by Clare Mulley is a beautifully constructed and passionately written biography of Jebb, an extraordinary woman who apparently once said: “I don’t care for children… the little wretches.” Nevertheless, Jebb went on to change the way we treat children forever, and this evocative, funny and poignant book acts as a fitting tribute to a truly unique character.

The subject of charity is also on the mind of Stona Fitch. The American author has started up his own ‘generosity-based’ publishing house, called Concord Free Press, which gives away books in return for charity donations.

Their first book was his own novel, Give And Take, which has now been published in the UK by Two Ravens. It’s a brilliant and appropriate tale of a touring jazz pianist who steals diamonds and BMWs on the sly, donating all proceeds to worthy causes. His life becomes complicated by family issues and romance, as well as the police and angry victims closing in, in a gripping plot that manages to blend page-turning thrills with big ideas about the nature of consumerism.

A subtly subversive book, it makes you look at commercialism in a whole new light.

Slightly more conventional thrills next in the shape of Michael Collins’ Midnight In A Perfect Life. Collins is an Irish writer now living in the States, and his latest book is set in Chicago, where Karl, a troubled writer approaching his 40th birthday, finds his marriage, work and sense of self under pressure as his life disintegrates.

Predictable subject matter aside – why do writers always end up writing about writers? – it’s an intelligent trawl through the layers of modern American society; an astute look at the male condition in the 21st first century.

Another 21st century obsession is pathology, certainly if the success of CSI is anything to go by. Blowing the myth of TV forensics away, A Matter Of Life And Death by Sue Armstrong is a collection of illuminating interviews with the world’s leading pathologists.

Dealing more with saving lives than investigating deaths, pathologists diagnose diseases, identify cancers and investigate everything from AIDS to shaken baby syndrome – always eager to get to the bottom of a scientific puzzle. Armstrong ekes out some nice details, and the interviews are genuinely eye opening, but there’s a little too much repetition to keep the reader gripped.

Lastly, the latest comedy offering from John O’Farrell. An Utterly Exasperated History Of Modern Britain does what it says on the cover, delving into the last 60 years to reveal how the dafties in charge have repeatedly ruined things for us punters. O’Farrell’s sardonic wit and sarcastic satire are on the money, as usual.