Are We Nearly There Yet by Ben Hatch

Ben Hatch has written a wonderful memoir that is by turns both hilarious and deeply moving. His family’s eight thousand mile journey around the UK in a Vauxhall Astra carrying out research for a family-friendly guidebook provides many opportunities for humour. But this is much more than a series of funny set pieces; the quality of the writing draws you into Hatch’s life, and provides an insight into this period of re-evaluation.

By the end of the book I had developed a real affection for Ben’s wife Dinah, which I am convinced is largely down to Ben’s skill as a writer, carefully and gently manipulating your emotions throughout the story. The overall tone gave me a vivid recollection of Gerald Durrell’s “My Family and Other Animals” which I haven’t read for over forty years.

However it is during the book’s darker side, dealing with the terminal illness of Ben’s father Sir David Hatch that Ben’s true core shines through without any hint of sentimentality. Hatch writes with such engagement and self-deprecating humility that I was moved to tears.

However the majority of the book has a rich seam of laughter running though it, particularly the observational humour surrounding Phoebe and Charlie which will strike a chord with all parents. I hope that Ben will now return to his work as a novelist as I believe that he has a great comic novel in him. I would wholeheartedly recommend this wonderful book.

Taming the Beast by Emily Maguire

Emily Maguire has a breathless talent and a fascination with the cloying nausea of intoxication. This is a book which forces you to throw back a full tequila shot then immediately demand another two.

I had equal parts of fascination and revulsion for Sarah Clark. Maguire claims that Sarah is profoundly unsure of herself, yet I was profoundly unsure of Sarah as I was forced to witness her spiral into self-degradation. Maguire’s writing is so powerful, so disturbing that I found myself alternating between almost throwing the book across the room and desperately trying to finish it. I can’t remember when a book affected me so violently.

It is not a comfortable read. It is by turns tender then repellent and ferocious. But it is insistent; it demands to be read. Maguire skilfully manipulates your emotions so that you become as confused about Sarah as she is about herself. The pace is relentless, but for me the book became progressively more difficult to read as it became darker, so much so that I began to question why it was that I was so gripped by it.

It can only be testament to Maguire’s abilities as a writer to elicit this compulsion alongside such uncomfortable voyeurism and raw abhorrence.

This is a book that you need to judge for yourself and decide whether it is gratuitously exploitative or searingly honest. Having finished it I still can’t decide, but I know that it will stay with me for a long while to come.

Itch by Simon Mayo

Simon Mayo. You probably know him as a radio DJ and might remember that he took over the flagship Radio One Breakfast Show from Mike Smith back in the 80’s. You might also know him from his great 5Live afternoon show which included his verbal sparring with Mark Kermode debating the relative merits of the latest movies. Perhaps in recent years you’ve heard him as the Drivetime DJ on Radio 2, including the excellent Radio 2 Book Club. Well now he’s written a novel and quite simply it is a revelation.

“Itch” is primarily aimed at the young teen market. Mayo’s hero Itchingham Lofte is a nerdy fourteen year old science geek obsessed with collecting elements from the Periodic Table. Living in Cornwall he yearns to be a cool surfer boy, but can’t learn how to catch a wave. However he does understand Chemistry and discovers what appears to be a completely new element with dramatic consequences, for himself, his cousin Jack and his sister Chloe.

This initially started life as a short story to amuse Mayo’s youngest son before spiralling into a 94,000 word novel. However you wouldn’t know that this was his first foray into fiction as it’s a truly assured debut.

Mayo writes with skill and dexterity and seems to have an innate understanding of pace and plot development. He balances a broad range of characters and does a strong line in baddies without resorting to clumsy stereotypes.

Whilst the novel stands on its own without the need for comparisons it is an interesting exercise to compare it with The Philosopher’s Stone, and for me it holds up pretty well. Rowling has the edge on inventiveness and pure fantasy, but Mayo has some great material up his sleeve, and some of it is very dark material indeed. He has also left sufficient loose ends and unresolved plot strands to ensure an incendiary sequel, which he is already writing.

Whilst his target audience is undeniably the young teen market the plot is sufficiently dark to provide an equal appeal to older audiences. Ultimately it’s a story about great responsibility (hold on…that sounds like a tag-line for the new Avengers movie!).

I would have no hesitation in recommending this marvellous novel, whatever your age.

Between Each Breath by Adam Thorpe

Adam Thorpe’s contemporary novel of romantic deception is well-written and intricately constructed, which will come as no surprise to readers familiar with his other novels. In Jack Middleton he successfully creates a not entirely sympathetic narrator with a number of irritating character flaws, yet Thorpe’s skill is to make him utterly believable.

The unintended consequences of Jack’s transcultural love affair with Kaja, a young Estonian waitress, create a series of ripples across his ordered married life. Thorpe’s characterisations, particularly of his ensemble cast are well-observed. I particularly enjoyed the characters of Milly Du Crane (Jack’s wife) and Howard (Jack’s friend), both of whom have a real depth and vibrancy.

One minor gripe concerns the somewhat oblique prologue which I felt compelled to re-read more than once throughout the novel, trying to decipher the connection. Perhaps that was Thorpe’s intention, but for me it felt less than satisfying, and I normally enjoy time-shifts.

Overall I would recommend this book, and on the strength of it I have now bought “Still” (which looks to be a fairly mammoth undertaking).

Sin by Josephine Hart

I decided to re-read one of my favourite novels, Josephine Hart’s “Sin”. It is an astonishing achievement and is one of the many novels that I really wish I had written. It is short enough to be devoured in a single sitting but like a wonderful meal leaves you hungry for more.

Hart’s writing is a revelation with her short sentences and tautly controlled plot. The story is magnetic and ruthless and will hold you in its thrall until its tragic conclusion.

In Ruth Garton and Charles Harding she depicts the “ordered deceit” of two obsessives and the trail of devastation that their affair leaves in its wake. Ruth is a chilling piece of characterisation as the malevolent psychotic sister to Elizabeth, determined to wreak revenge on her “perfect” sister.

Hart’s prose is hypnotic and powerful. Her addictive recipe uses simple ingredients and combines them into a lethal cocktail, and I find myself totally intoxicated.

The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore

Dunmore has a fascinating style. She writes quite obliquely and doesn’t over-explain. The reader has to let the story wash over them, confident that the meaning will evolve. It’s an act of faith.

Set in the fifties this is a story of a young woman’s possession by a World War Two airman, although Dunmore doesn’t let her tale take obvious routes or arrive at an expected outcome. Although this is her first published ghost story she has an innate understanding of what the story needs in order to work. She has a poet’s sensibility and her writing has a meticulous structure as the reader begins to question reality and the influence that the past exerts on the present.

Dunmore makes a conscious authorial decision that her protagonist won’t be frightened by the airman, despite his provenance, which doesn’t quite ring true. Her acceptance of him into her life and her bed is the one area that jarred slightly, although this didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book.

Beautifully constructed and elegantly delivered this short novella will resonate with you long after you close the final pages.

Solid Air: The Life of John Martyn by Chris Nickson

Chris Nickson preaches the gospel of John Martyn and in my case he’s preaching to the converted. His love for the big man is evident and he writes from the heart with a simple, direct and conversational approach. I’m dead envious…this is the book I would love to have written about one of my heroes.

Nickson’s analysis of each track on every album is both insightful and unflinchingly honest; he certainly doesn’t pull his punches when it comes to assessing some of John’s shortcomings, musically or otherwise. But overall I think the Guv’nor would probably have agreed with some of the sentiments (assuming that he had been feeling suitably amenable).

John’s forty-two year recording career spanned sixty-nine albums if you include all of the many compilations and live albums, and his career had more trajectory curves than a test-match bowler. However Nickson manages to get beneath the skin of the man and paint a comprehensive portrait that goes far beyond the usual lazy canon of stories and reminiscences.

I have a couple of other biographies of John (Lee Barry and John Neil Monroe) but I feel that this version is better than either of those because it feels more personal, more heart-felt. However the fact that Nickson seems to love the songs that I do (Just Now, Hurt in your Heart, Spencer the Rover and the obvious Solid Air) probably helps the connection.

In his acknowledgements Nickson says that “this is a book I’d always imagined writing, but I never believed anyone would want to publish”. Well from my perspective this is a book I’d always imagined reading but couldn’t believe anyone would ever write. From the bottom of my heart my thanks go out to Chris Nickson.