MR COLDRICK

recommends…

In the Library’s continuing series of book selections by members of staff, Mr Coldrick recommends some of the books that have

influenced him over the years.

�

All of Mr Coldrick’s recommendations are available in the Library, except Sinister Street by Compton McKenzie. He will

gladly lend you his copy.

SINISTER STREET by Compton Mackenzie

The English novelist Compton Mackenzie

(1883-1971) wrote over 90 books and

today is best known for TV and film

adaptations of some of his work such as

Monarch of the Glen and Whisky Galore.

His novel Sinister Street published just

before WW1 is a coming of age book

exploring themes of friendship, identity

and religious obsession. Although a long book at 800 plus pages

it is very engaging and highly recommended to the older pupil.

TO SERVE THEM ALL

MY DAYS

by R F Delderfield This very moving novel is about a young

man returning from WW1 to take up a

teaching post in a small English boarding

school.

It is a touching and affectionate portrayal

of life in an English public school

between the two world wars and will appeal especially to

anyone with experience of boarding school.

Another novel by R F Delderfield also recommended is

Horseman Riding By, a long and epic novel set in rural Devon

and following the trials and tribulations of the Craddock family

and their tenants over a 50 year period.

FINNEGAN’S WAKE

by James Joyce

In many people’s opinion Joyce’s last great

work is simply unreadable. So why read it?

Well don’t, at least not initially. This

remarkable though highly obscure work is best

treated like music and repeatedly listened to

before turning to the printed page. Even then

Finnegan’s Wake is more studied than read, with much use made of

the many commentaries and critical analyses available (the library

has an excellent and humorous guide by David Norris). The library

also has a CD recording of selections from Finnegan’s Wake and I

recommend you listen to this. The book comes alive when listened

to and as the work is cyclic there is no need to start at the beginning.

I advise starting with the last ‘Ricorso’ chapter.

So what is Finnegan’s Wake about, this book of the night with

its dream logic and multiple layers, its radical use of language, its

extraordinary range of references and illusions, its humour and

musicality, its wonderful affirmation of humanity? Well for over 60

years people have been arguing about its meaning and purpose so

make up your own mind as you listen to it or read it.

POSSESSION

By A S Byatt

Possession is a wonderful novel by the

English writer A S Byatt and won the 1990

Booker prize. It is a literary detective story

with a romantic theme and deals with two

modern academics who become

romantically involved while researching the

secret love affair between two Victorian

poets. It is a well written and very

enjoyable story and one of A S Byatt’s more accessible books.

Her recent novel, The Childrens Book, was shortlisted for the

2009 Man Booker prize and while a long rambling work, is

recommended especially to those with an interest in art.

BORDER CROSSING

by Pat Barker While Pat Barker is best known for her

trilogy of novels (Regeneration, The Eye

in the Door, The Ghost Road) dealing

with the survival and treatment of shell-

shocked soldiers from World War 1, she

has written many other fine and hard

hitting novels. I recommend Border

Crossing, a novel from 2001, and while

the work has a controversial theme (an elderly woman murdered

by a 10 year old child), it’s portrayal of the relationship between

the child as a young adult released from prison and the

psychologist who treated him makes disturbing reading.

SUITE FRANCAISE

by Irene Nemirovsky While this very moving and semi-

autobiographical novel was written

during the Second World War it has only

recently been published from the author’s

notes which survived the war. Irene

Nemirovsky was a successful French

novelist from a Russian Jewish

background who perished in Auschwitz

concentration camp. The novel deals with a well-off Parisian

Jewish family fleeing Paris during the German occupation and

its accounts of French collaboration with the occupying forces

caused some controversy. An attraction of this novel is the

author’s skill in creating a wide range of very real and

believable characters whether they are the fleeing Jewish family,

the French authorities or the German soldiers. Nemirovsky’s

many novels, published and widely read before WW2, are now

once again readily available and her novella La Bal is

recommended with its tale of the cruel trick played by a

vengeful teenager on her parents.

THE WHITE HOTEL

by D M Thomas

I have always been surprised that the

Cornish novelist and poet D M Thomas

is not more widely read. He has

produced a number of very imaginative

novels and while a fine poet in his own

right has also produced acclaimed

translations and biographies of the

Russian poets Pushkin and Akhmatova.

His best known work, The White Hotel,

is a tragic and haunting novel more suited to the older pupil and

intertwines themes ranging from the Holocaust to Freud’s

theories of the unconscious. This is a work that makes a

profound impact and will stay in the mind of the reader for

many years.

MORNINGS IN JENIN

by Susan Abulhawa

This harrowing and very sad novel

covering four generations of a Palestinian

family highlights the sufferings and

injustices suffered by the Palestinian

people over the past 60 years.

The author Susan Abulhawa is very

involved in promoting Palestinian rights

and has founded the children’s charity

Playgrounds for Palestine. She maintains a very informative

online site called Morningsinjenin.com.

THE SECRET HISTORY

by Donna Tartt

This well-written murder mystery and

psychological thriller about a group of

classics students in a small American

university was an unexpected bestseller in

1992 for novice author Donna Tartt.

Apart from short stories she has written

only one other novel, The Little Friend,

published in 2002 but fans of her work

eagerly await her next book which is rumoured to be due in the

very near future.

A WHISPERED NAME

by William Brodrick

This is the third Father Anselm novel by

the barrister and former monk William

Brodrick. It deals with a mystery

surrounding the court martial and

execution of a young Irish soldier during

WW1. It is harrowing in its descriptions

of the horrors of war and of the trauma of

all involved in the court martial and

subsequent execution. The First World War has generated a vast

literature and many pupils will be familiar with How Many

Miles to Babylon by Jennifer Johnston, with Regeneration by

Pat Barker and with the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred

Owen. Other recommended novels of this genre are Birdsong by

Sebastian Faulks, and A Long Long Way by the Irish writer

Sebastian Barry.