Title: Daphne du Maurier by Margaret Forster
Genre: Biography
Rating: 8/10
Comments: Margaret Forster's well-researched biography comprehensively and sensitively attempts to portray the enigma of author Daphne du Maurier. The daughter of a renowned actor and theatre-manager and grand-daughter of a famous illustrator and novelist, Daphne inherits her forebears artistic talents but not their sociable nature. From an early age she prefers living on her own in a remote corner of Cornwell rather than partying with the debutantes of her day. Her first novel was inspired as much by finances as artistic talent - although her parents would always provide her with an allowance, her own income allowed her to live how and where she wanted. Yet she never defined herself a feminist. A passionate, prickly and troubled soul, Daphne spent her life confused by her bisexual feelings and need for solitude. Nonetheless she married and had a family but sadly continued her forebears tradition of favouring her son over her two daughters. Her talent and generosity, however, were renowned and she contributed almost as much to the preservation of her corner of Cornwell as to English literature.
Sunday, 11 October 2009
Friday, 2 October 2009
Daphne du Maurier: A Daughter's Memoir by Flavia Lang - Book 64, 2009
Title: Daphne du Maurier: A Daughter's Memoir by Flavia Lang
Genre: autobiography
Rating: 7/10
Comments: Not quite a "Mummy Dearest" book, Flavia Lang's recollections of growing up as the child of one of the most famous authors in the world still makes for disturbing reading. As I read the book, I wondered what her siblings, particularly her older sister, felt about the revelations. Lang has obviously inherited some of her mother's talent, and it is in some ways an easy and often funny read of a very unusual childhood. The unwanted second daughter of somewhat remote and aloof parents, she is despised by her pretty sister, who suffered greatly from the isolation of their upbringing, but develops a very close and loving bond with her beloved and clearly favoured younger brother. Both her parents are extremely successful in their chosen career - her mother is a great novelist, her father one of the youngest and highest ranking military officers, extremely intelligent and charming, but somewhat self-absorbed and withdrawn from family and friends.
Genre: autobiography
Rating: 7/10
Comments: Not quite a "Mummy Dearest" book, Flavia Lang's recollections of growing up as the child of one of the most famous authors in the world still makes for disturbing reading. As I read the book, I wondered what her siblings, particularly her older sister, felt about the revelations. Lang has obviously inherited some of her mother's talent, and it is in some ways an easy and often funny read of a very unusual childhood. The unwanted second daughter of somewhat remote and aloof parents, she is despised by her pretty sister, who suffered greatly from the isolation of their upbringing, but develops a very close and loving bond with her beloved and clearly favoured younger brother. Both her parents are extremely successful in their chosen career - her mother is a great novelist, her father one of the youngest and highest ranking military officers, extremely intelligent and charming, but somewhat self-absorbed and withdrawn from family and friends.
Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier - Book 63, 2009
Title: Rule Britannia by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: alternative history fiction
Rating: 8/10
Comments: One of Daphne du Maurier's lesser-known books, Rule Britannia envisages an alternate history of England. In this alternate universe, plunged into economic depression and soaring unemployment, England decides not to join the European Economic Community (forerunner to the European Union). Its residents wake up one day to find communications cut, an American warship in the harbour, US marines setting up roadblocks and news that Britain was joining forces with the United States to form the USUK. A group of Cronish villagers becaomes increasingly unhappy with the take-over of their land and start a shadowy rebellion, centreing on an 80-year-old former actress, his brood of adopted troubled boys and her neighbours. The story is told through the eyes of her 20-year-old grand-daughter. A fascinating read.
Genre: alternative history fiction
Rating: 8/10
Comments: One of Daphne du Maurier's lesser-known books, Rule Britannia envisages an alternate history of England. In this alternate universe, plunged into economic depression and soaring unemployment, England decides not to join the European Economic Community (forerunner to the European Union). Its residents wake up one day to find communications cut, an American warship in the harbour, US marines setting up roadblocks and news that Britain was joining forces with the United States to form the USUK. A group of Cronish villagers becaomes increasingly unhappy with the take-over of their land and start a shadowy rebellion, centreing on an 80-year-old former actress, his brood of adopted troubled boys and her neighbours. The story is told through the eyes of her 20-year-old grand-daughter. A fascinating read.
The "Rebecca" Notebook and Other Memories by Daphne du Maurier - Book 62, 2009
Title: The "Rebecca" Notebook and Other Memories by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: autobiography/short-stories
Rating: 7/10
Comments: A somewhat scrappy collection of unpublished writings of Daphne du Maurier including her original plot outline for her most famous novel. One gets the impression it was put together to capitalise on her fans insatiable desire for more writing from a very successful but reclusive author.
Genre: autobiography/short-stories
Rating: 7/10
Comments: A somewhat scrappy collection of unpublished writings of Daphne du Maurier including her original plot outline for her most famous novel. One gets the impression it was put together to capitalise on her fans insatiable desire for more writing from a very successful but reclusive author.
Myself When Young by Daphne du Maurier - Book 61, 2009
Title: Myself When Young by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: autobiography
Rating: 8.5/10
Description: (from Amazon)
Both in her novels and her memoirs, Daphne du Maurier revealed an ardent desire to explore her family's history. In Myself When Young, based on diaries she kept between 1920 and 1932, du Maurier probes her own past, beginning with her earliest memories and encompassing the publication of her first book and her marriage. Often painfully honest, she recounts her difficult relationship with her father, her education in Paris, her early love affairs, her antipathy towards London life, and her desperate ambition to succeed as a writer. The resulting self-portrait is of a complex, utterly captivating young woman.
Genre: autobiography
Rating: 8.5/10
Description: (from Amazon)
Both in her novels and her memoirs, Daphne du Maurier revealed an ardent desire to explore her family's history. In Myself When Young, based on diaries she kept between 1920 and 1932, du Maurier probes her own past, beginning with her earliest memories and encompassing the publication of her first book and her marriage. Often painfully honest, she recounts her difficult relationship with her father, her education in Paris, her early love affairs, her antipathy towards London life, and her desperate ambition to succeed as a writer. The resulting self-portrait is of a complex, utterly captivating young woman.
The du Mauriers by Daphne du Maurier: Book 60, 2009
Title: The du Mauriers by Daphne du Maurie
Genre: Biography
Rating: 8.5/10
Comments: The personal autobiography of her own family, written in the form of a novel, provides a spirited saga of family history. From the histories of relatives she never personally knew to her own life, The Du Mauriers makes for a lively and engaging "first-person" read.
Genre: Biography
Rating: 8.5/10
Comments: The personal autobiography of her own family, written in the form of a novel, provides a spirited saga of family history. From the histories of relatives she never personally knew to her own life, The Du Mauriers makes for a lively and engaging "first-person" read.
Monday, 7 September 2009
Gerald: A Portrait by Daphne du Maurier - Book 59, 2009
Title: Gerald: A Portrait by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Biography
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: Gerald: A Portrait is an amazing biography in its own right, painting a picture of a successful, celebrated and complex actor and theatre manager who rose to the top of his profession in early 20th Century UK. It is hard to believe that such an entertaining and insightful biography, written in the style of a third-person novel, could have been written in four short months after his death - let alone by a 27-year-old and let alone by his own daughter. A charming and entertaining man, Gerald was completely self-obsessed, narcissistic, childlike and in many ways a very difficult man to live with. du Maurier does not shrink from portraying the more difficult aspects of her father's character, but she does so sympathetically and also celebrates his many triumphs.
Genre: Biography
Rating: 9.5/10
Comments: Gerald: A Portrait is an amazing biography in its own right, painting a picture of a successful, celebrated and complex actor and theatre manager who rose to the top of his profession in early 20th Century UK. It is hard to believe that such an entertaining and insightful biography, written in the style of a third-person novel, could have been written in four short months after his death - let alone by a 27-year-old and let alone by his own daughter. A charming and entertaining man, Gerald was completely self-obsessed, narcissistic, childlike and in many ways a very difficult man to live with. du Maurier does not shrink from portraying the more difficult aspects of her father's character, but she does so sympathetically and also celebrates his many triumphs.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - Book 58, 2009
Title: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Genre: Literature
Rating: 9/10
Comments: When collecting the soul of a young boy who has died on a train journey en route to Munich, Death becomes fascinated by his sister Liesel, who he nicknames 'The Book Thief' because she picks up a discarded book left near his grave. With her father already taken away for being a communist and her mother fearing the worst for herself, Liesel is sent to live with a poor, vulgar yet ultimately kind-hearted foster family in Munich. Death traces her life in Munich, her love for her foster father, friendship with neighbour Rudy and her opportune thievery set against the deteriorating political landscape of Nazi Germany. When her foster family hides a Jewish fist fighter in the basement, Liesel discovers the true meaning of friendship and courage.
Genre: Literature
Rating: 9/10
Comments: When collecting the soul of a young boy who has died on a train journey en route to Munich, Death becomes fascinated by his sister Liesel, who he nicknames 'The Book Thief' because she picks up a discarded book left near his grave. With her father already taken away for being a communist and her mother fearing the worst for herself, Liesel is sent to live with a poor, vulgar yet ultimately kind-hearted foster family in Munich. Death traces her life in Munich, her love for her foster father, friendship with neighbour Rudy and her opportune thievery set against the deteriorating political landscape of Nazi Germany. When her foster family hides a Jewish fist fighter in the basement, Liesel discovers the true meaning of friendship and courage.
The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier - Book 57, 2009
Title: The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier
Genre: literature/psychological study
Rating: 8.5/10
Comments: Born into theatre royalty, half-sibling Maria, Niall and Celia have had a far from conventional upbringing, travelling with their singer father and dancer mother from stage to stage around the world. The three - particularly Maria and Niall - have a deep, all consuming relationship with each other. After the death of his wife, their father becomes increasingly dependent upon and demanding of Celia, to the point where her separate identity is almost lost forever. No outsider can ever really penetrate the strange deep closeness and self-absorption of the family, leading to Maria's husband, Charles, calling them in frustration a bunch of parasites. One wet Sunday afternoon they start recalling their past, their influences and relationships that made them who they are today.
Genre: literature/psychological study
Rating: 8.5/10
Comments: Born into theatre royalty, half-sibling Maria, Niall and Celia have had a far from conventional upbringing, travelling with their singer father and dancer mother from stage to stage around the world. The three - particularly Maria and Niall - have a deep, all consuming relationship with each other. After the death of his wife, their father becomes increasingly dependent upon and demanding of Celia, to the point where her separate identity is almost lost forever. No outsider can ever really penetrate the strange deep closeness and self-absorption of the family, leading to Maria's husband, Charles, calling them in frustration a bunch of parasites. One wet Sunday afternoon they start recalling their past, their influences and relationships that made them who they are today.
Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited by Paula Bernstein and Elyse Stein - Book 56,2009
Title: Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited by Paula Bernstein and Elyse Stein
Genre: autobiography
Rating: 8/10
Comments: In proof that truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Stein both grew up knowing that they were adopted but it was only at the age of 35 they discover that they had an identical twin. They meet, get to know each other, discover many similarities - and significant differences, providing a fascinating insight into the whole issue of nature versus nurture and confronting issues of identity - given their identical initial building blocks of DNA, if they had been allocated as babies to each other's family, would Paula have become Elyse and vice versa? The pair decide to try and trace their birth mother and discover the disturbing reason as to why they were separated as babies. A fascinating real-life detective story.
Genre: autobiography
Rating: 8/10
Comments: In proof that truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Stein both grew up knowing that they were adopted but it was only at the age of 35 they discover that they had an identical twin. They meet, get to know each other, discover many similarities - and significant differences, providing a fascinating insight into the whole issue of nature versus nurture and confronting issues of identity - given their identical initial building blocks of DNA, if they had been allocated as babies to each other's family, would Paula have become Elyse and vice versa? The pair decide to try and trace their birth mother and discover the disturbing reason as to why they were separated as babies. A fascinating real-life detective story.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
