Review of Counselling For Toads by Robert de Board.

This book was recommended to me by my daughter. It is subtitled: A Psychological Adventure and I was more intrigued and excited by the subtitle than the title, as I am not particularly enamoured of the counselling process.

This book is based on Mr. Toad, the main character in The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I have not read The Wind in the Willows, this was one children’s book that passed me by, but I do actually own a copy, so I might read it.

Counselling for Toads is a very readable pastiche, in which the author, an organisational consultant and best –selling author of a textbook on counselling, uses the language and ideas of transactional analysis as his counselling method.

Toad gets in touch with his inner parent, adult and child as Heron, the analyst encourages him to explore his feelings and to develop EQ, his emotional intelligence.

Transactional Analysis is the brain child of Eric Berne who popularised the method in the sixties with books such as Games People Play and I’m OK, You’re OK, which I may have read, but have largely forgotten.

At 152 pages and written in lively language Counselling For Toads is actually a very enjoyable book and is an original approach to counselling. I recommend it.

Review of 12 Books That Changed The World by Melvyn Bragg

Who could resist a title like that? Not me! Before I provide you with the list of 12 books I am going to quote from page 321, as it could easily serve as an introduction to this splendid book.

‘One of the people I spoke to when I was thinking about this book’ Bragg writes, ‘was my friend the novelist Howard Jacobson. He was dismayed that the list held no novelists.’
“I’m a novelist, you’re a novelist, we love novels, novels changed my life and novels changed your life, good novels change lives every day, a list without a novel? Without one, not one, novel?”

‘I defended the list I had drawn up. I said that I wanted books that I could prove had changed, rootedly, the lives of people all over the land – people on trains, people at airports, people in clubs and pubs, women who were still campaigning for equality and enjoying the long-awaited acknowledgement of their right to orgasm, men who week in week out played, watched, celebrated and discussed a game so beautifully and simply constructed it remains a masterpiece of socio-leisure architecture, those who hold religious truths to be self-evident and those whose conscious and unconscious lives have been readjusted by the revelations from the Galapagos Islands, the industrialists and financiers who ride and lubricate international capitalism calling on the market and free trade as its two parents, those whose lives are devoted to seeking freedoms which were given such a lead in the abolition of the slave trade, those who go to the moon, put on the light, send a fax, vote in a democratic country, fight for their rights, those whose daily lives and the reach of whose minds and ambitions have been transformed by books which set off a shot that rang around the world.’

Having read the book and the arguments that Bragg uses for including each of his choices, I wholeheartedly agree and I learnt something about the reach and extent of each of his choices which I didn’t know before.

The twelve books are as follows:
1. Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton, simply the world’s greatest natural philosopher and thinker.
“Nature, and nature’s Laws lay hid in night:
God said: ‘Let Newton be!’ and all was light.”

2. Married Love by Marie Stopes. ‘In my own marriage, I paid such a terrible price for sex-ignorance that I feel that knowledge gained at such a cost should be placed at the service of humanity.’ It was and it is. Sexual and reproductive health information and services is provided to 4.3 million people across the world through the MSI Global Partnership.

3. Magna Carta by Members of the English Ruling Classes. This is the bedrock of British and American democracy which guarantees our freedom from tyranny.

4. The Rule Book of Association Football by a Group of Former English Public School Men. The so-called beautiful game which is now played worldwide, a cultural phenomenon.

5. On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. The book that caused uproar among fundamental Christians. “In great detail, Darwin laid out evidence for evolution as an undeniable process, with natural selection as its driving force. In doing so the book demolished beliefs in the fixity of the species and seriously challenged, and some claim wholly undermined, views and convictions about both the nature of men and the presence of God in the natural world.” It’s a point of view. Darwin may have some credence in his observations of the natural world, but extrapolating it to the human race does not have to follow, in my opinion. How or when God created man is open to interpretation, I am willing to concede, but not God’s Creatorship, which is a matter of faith.

6. On the Abolition of the Slave Trade by William Wilberforce. Cited as ‘one of the turning circumstances in the history of the world.’ William Wilberforce delivered this paper to the British House of Commons in May 1789. He began: “When I consider the magnitude of the subject which I am about to bring before the House a subject in which the interests not just of this country, nor of Europe alone, but of the whole world and of posterity are involved... it is impossible for me not o feel both terrified and concerned at my own inadequacy to such a task... the end of which is the total abolition of the slave trade.” Four hours later he emerged as a man of heroic moral stature, a man whose words would move the world. He died just three days after the Slave Trade was abolished in Britain in 1807.

7. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. The first great feminist thesis. She had a “firm conviction that the neglected education of my fellow creatures (i.e.women) is the grand source of the misery I deplore.” A seminal work that advocated equality for women.

8. Experimental Researches in Electricity by Michael Farraday. We owe everything that runs on electricity to Farraday. The list would be endless.

9. Patent Specification for Arkwright’s Spinning Machine by Richard Arkwright. The entrepreneurial genius behind the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Britain as the wealthiest nation in the world through its manufacture of textiles.

10. The King James Bible by William Tyndale and Fifty-Four Scholars appointed by the King. The influence of Tyndale on the English language is enormous. It is estimated that 80% of the words in the King James Bible came from him. The formative effect on generations of great writers is extensive. The moral power of the King James Version of the Bible in particular is embraced by America and its leaders. This book has been the greatest influence in my life.

11. The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. The advocate of Free Trade which has done more to increase the wealth of the world than any other economic doctrine. It is the basis for capitalism.

12. The First Folio by William Shakespeare. After the Bible, Shakespeare has provided inspiration and enjoyment to millions of English-speaking people around the world. I quote him constantly. Of course, he has been translated into more than fifty languages, also. Literary imagination unsurpassed by any writer, including Dickens, psychological penetration greater even than Freud, his influence on Western culture has been and continues to be far-reaching and comprehensive.

Review of Strange Tales of the Curiously Uncommon by Andrew Biss

Strange Tales of the Curiously Uncommon byAndrew Biss is another batch of brilliantly witty stories in the tradition of Roald Dahl in Tales of the Unexpected.

There is not a dud among these five stories. Andrew Biss has certainly got into his stride and shows that he has mastered his art of surprising us in these expertly crafted stories.

In An Honest Mistake, Madge, the put upon wife of an obnoxious, verbally abusive husband, is a bit forgetful and mixes up a couple of jars while preparing his dinner with the inevitable result. Her blithe acceptance of her mistake makes this story both dark and amusing.

With superb psychological penetration Andrew Biss has created in Madge a living, breathing woman with whom it is easy to empathise, while at the same time being horrified at her cynical, if understandable, attitude.

In A Familiar Face, Eydie’s friend, Dora, has just buried her husband after 42 years of marriage. Eydie envied her friend her long and loving marriage. Or was it? Was Albert a philanderer who kept it secret from his wife all those years? Or was his secret something much more sinister? Or is it all a huge mistake? The jar that Dora finds under the stairs seems to reveal the truth. Or does it?

In a Slip of the Tongue, Miss Perkins is being sexually harassed by her employer. His dexterous use of the English language is open to interpretation until he makes a Slip of the Tongue too far. This is an amusing and disturbing story in which poetic justice is given full play.

An Embarrassing Odour is such a skilfully written story that Andrew Biss had me completely fooled by the outcome. I was convinced I knew the answer to the embarrassing odour halfway through the story but the humorous twist in the tale came as a complete surprise.

Ethel is a smelly old woman of seventy eight, or is she? Andrew Biss will keep you guessing right to the end in this extremely accomplished story from the pen of a master short story writer.

In A Stunning Confession Ron tells his wife Janice that he is not the father of their son, Craig, but how can that be possible? And how does Francesca, another woman, come into the picture? The answer is not what you expect in this skilfully contrived story.

Overall, it is difficult to find anything to criticise in this excellent collection, except the use of a few swear words and the odd blasphemy and the use of English slang, but these are in keeping with the nature of the characters that Andrew Biss has created and is in keeping with his style of narration.

Andrew Biss, in this superb collection of short stories has quite firmly taken on the mantle of Roald Dahl as a master story teller of the unexpected, and he deserves to be as well-known.

Review of The Darling Buds of May by H E Bates

 The Darling Buds of May by H.E. Bates is altogether delightful, irresistible, sensual and irrepressibly uplifting. That is what I wrote when I first read it in August 2001, and I feel the same way on a re-read.

This is the first book in The Pop Larkin Chronicles which is full of joie de vivre!

The story is about the Larkin family lustily romping their way through life in the English countryside. They eat and drink to excess enjoying life to the full, with their six children.

Mariette, their eldest, has been doing the naughty with a couple of local lads and she thinks she is pregnant, but is not sure which one of them it could be. She is an absolute stunner at 17. In the Yorkshire TV series she was played to electrifying effect by a young unknown actress by the name of Catherine Zeta Jones, which set all our pulses racing. She later went on to marry Michael Douglas.

In the story, a young naive tax inspector visits Pop Larkin’s farm and tries to induce him to fill out a tax form, but he is seduced, first by the irrepressible Ma and Pop Larkin, (played brilliantly in the T.V. series by David Jason) and their happy-go-lucky lifestyle and then by the obvious charms and beauty of Mariette, who makes him forget all about his job as a tax inspector.

See blurb and pics here: http://www.itv.com/ClassicTVshows/familydrama/TheDarlingBudsofMay/default.html

Nothing less than five shells would do justice to this book. Read it and enjoy.

Review of The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson

In The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson none of the characters are either appealing or likeable.

The Master is a black-hearted villain. The old Lord is weak and shows partiality to his villainous son. The youngest brother is portrayed as semi insane due to thinking he had killed his brother, whom he hated anyway. I found this madness and its cause unconvincing.

McKellor, the family servant, who narrates the story, is a self-righteous prig and an old mother hen.

The wife of the young Lord is a cipher, who marries him for convenience instead of remaining true to the Master.

The story is often confusing, as it discusses future events before apprising us, the reader, of what led up to them. Several times I had to check back to see if I had lost the plot, but I hadn’t. The information I needed to understand what was happening was narrated after the event. I didn’t like this style of narration.

Although the story is titled The Master of Ballantrae, he is off camera most of the story and it is rather about the effect he has on the younger brother, who, as a character is less interesting and a bit irritating. As is McKellor, his dour servant.

I have satisfied my curiosity, as I did with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Nothing I have read of Stevenson matches the incomparable Treasure Island.

Although, I dread reading it again, in case my memory has played me false and my youthful enthusiasm is betrayed by my mature critical faculties!

Perhaps I should allow the nostalgic glow to remain forever green in my memory.

The story of The Master of Ballantrae was interesting in parts and boring in parts, so three and a half shells.

Review of A Bit of A Do by David Nobbs

A Bit of A Do by David Nobbs is about two middle-aged couples whose long-term marriages break down.

In a series of six hilarious social gatherings they and their relations and friends interact with one another as they try to rebuild their shattered lives.

David Nobbs is a very witty writer and he handles these sensitive and moving issues with assurance.

Although I enjoyed this excellent book, towards the end I found that some of Nobbs’ humorous repetitive devices wore a little thin and thus would not bear rereading. However, it is well worth reading once.

A Masterly Collection by an Excellent Writer

In Andrew Biss’s  superb collection of short stories The Impressionists there are six stories.

The first one is called Big Girl and is about Peggy who weighs in at a colossal 276 pounds. It is uncanny the way Andrew Biss has got so completely into the mind of an overweight woman and so accurately conveys her angst. At the end of the story I felt a sincere empathy with her and her plight, so brilliantly does Andrew Biss portray her. That he can convey such angst both with wit and empathy is remarkable. That she quotes from Nietzsche, Henry David Thoreau, Confucius, William Shakespeare, Andre Gide and Quentin crisp is a reflection of the erudition of the author, I think.  Yet these quotations are woven so seamlessly into the story that they do not seem out of place.

The story contains some swear words, which I wouldn’t normally like, but in this story Peggy is justified in expressing her feelings in this way and if you read this brilliant story and you definitely should, then you will see that they are perfectly justified within the context of the story.

This lead story reminds me of A Ball of Fat by Guy de Maupassant and like that story it is worth the price of the book, a meagre couple of pounds or dollars, all by itself. The other five stories in the collection are a bonus and what a bonus they are.

The second story is called The Replica. It starts off in the first person by speaking about the replica in the mirror. Then she begins describing her husband. Then it describes her life as a writer in the third person. I didn’t like the constant shift between first and third person and ultimately I found this a depressing and dispiriting story. It is a story lacking Andrew’s characteristic wit and charm. He is strongest when writing in the first person.

With the third story A Small Act of Vandalism the wit reasserts itself.  Malcolm has his mother’s ashes in a little porcelain box and he describes them as” a bit like instant coffee, you might say, only without the flavour.” This is another story skilfully told in the author’s authentic voice. He makes you really care and empathise with Malcolm and the dilemma in which he was placed. A really lovely story, lovingly told.

The fourth story, One Night Only is about a serial killer interviewing himself prior to his execution. It is funny in a gruesome way. Again the authentic voice of the author shines through this gritty story.

The fifth story is Organ Failure, which is set in a funeral home. This is a short, dark little story in which it is impossible to empathise with the woman telling the story.

The final story in the collection is WYWH, which is another very accomplished story, very witty and very poignant.

Like all short story collections it is a mixed bag, but a mixed bag ranging all the way from good, through excellent to masterly.

Replica and Organ Failure are good.

A Small Act of Vandalism, One Night Only and WYWH are excellent.

Big Girl is a masterpiece.

I like the way Andrew Biss, writing in the first person is able to express the feelings and emotions of an overweight woman, a young man, a serial killer and a middle-aged woman and to you cause you to empathise with them and to see them as real, individual people. This is a rare talent. I highly recommend this collection.

Review of The Passionate Friends by H.G.Wells

The Passionate Friends by H.G. Wells is told in the first person in the form of an autobiography of a middle-aged man to his son. That a man would write to his son about a passionate involvement with a woman that was not his mother is a strange construct, I thought.

The woman in question, Lady Mary Christian, comes from an aristocratic family. Stephen Stratton is a lifelong family friend. They become lovers but Lady Mary decides to marry a Lord for the social position and wealth it brings with it.

The story is interesting while the two are involved with each other.

Stephen goes away to South Africa for five years and Wells writes a boring chapter about social conditions there. When he returns the lovers take up where they left off, and the story becomes interesting again.

When it is discovered that Mary and Stephen are lovers, as part of the agreement between the parties he must go abroad again for three years. More boring chapters ensue while Wells writes a socialist essay, which has absolutely nothing to do with the story.

Several years go by and after Stephen returns to England he marries. Three years later he receives a letter from Lady Mary, which is absolutely preposterous in its content in that it is the voice of Wells expounding his views on the role of women in society, which is another boring chapter.

Finally, they meet in Switzerland by accident. The old passion is there but they only chat. The husband finds out and begins divorce proceedings. To save him from all the pain and anguish of a divorce case Lady Mary commits suicide.

Wells wraps up with another boring final chapter which kind of fizzles out.

This book was a love story and with socialist essays intertwined. I enjoyed the story but was infinitely bored by the essays.