February's Top Reads

I haven't really posted many of my reviews, this is because I do them in batches.  Sometimes, I am on the ball and write reviews for all the books I have read, even if it is a short one-liner.  Other times, I get slack, and then, a month later, I can't muster up more than "I enjoyed this" or "a good read".  This year I am trying to do better, I have attempted to write a review for all the books I have read for the 11 in 11 Category Challenge on Librarything.  I don't think I read any real clunkers in February, indeed I could have chosen more books to add to the Top Reads list, but I felt I should limit myself to 4 - one for every week.  Rather than put all my reviews up here, I'd rather add the ones I recommend, so here are February 2011's:

The first is Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country's Hidden Past.  I was lent this by a friend and fellow Hispanophile. 

The subtitle of the book, Travels through a country's past is very apt. Tremlett, a British journalist living in Spain, takes us on a journey around Modern Spain, looking at the effect of the country's past on its present.
Living in Spain, it is easy to forget that Spain suffered for many years of the previous century under the dictatorship of el Caudillo, Franco. There are visual reminders of him, especially in and near my current home town of Avila, a bust in the old town covered in red paint and his mausoleum. Despite living in democracy, the shadow of Franco's legacy looms over everyday life, in the form of some of his ministers who changed shirts as the regime itself was swept aside to a sometimes expressed nostalgia for the boom times at the end his dictatorship, especially in today's economic crisis.
By travelling around Spain, Tremlett probes into the history behind Modern Spain. Each chapter takes a different aspect, from the dictator himself to an economic boom caused by sun and skimpy swimwear, and from the country's Moorish heritage to the modern northern European invaders living on Spain's coast.
I was especially drawn in by the three chapters on the Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia, three regions with their own languages, history and culture, which have very different relationships with Madrid, and differ wildly from the stereotypical image of Spain – bullfighting, sangria, Don Quijote and Flamenco (the latter covered in its own chapter). For me, it was fascinating, not only to find out more about the regions, but also Tremlett's own analysis of how and why these relationships with Madrid do differ.
As the reader, what is most important is that the book was written by a writer, who despite being a foreigner, or even because he is, who manages to ask difficult questions, and get people to open up to him. What is also clear is Tremlett's affinity with Spain, which makes the book even more readable. His personal anecdotes, such as the birth of his 2 children in Spanish hospitals, makes the reader feel a closer connection with the material. While I read this book from beginning to end, it would be possible to dip into the chapters which you are more interested in. Highly recommended for people interested in Spain.

From Librarything's Early Reviewers Programme, The House of the Mosque is my second recommendation.  The book follows the story of an extended family living in a mosque in Iran. Starting in the 1950s, the family's fortunes are intertwined with the changing religious and political scene in Iran, to such an extent that the family itself is driven apart.
The family in the mosque are a mixed bunch. First there is the Iman Alsaberi, a weak man obsessed with hygiene and rather negligent of his family. The household is kept together by Aqa Jaan, who also keeps the records of the mosque, as previous generations have done. Their brother Muezzin, a blindman, calls the people to prayer.
Times are changing, with the death of Alsaberi comes a vaccum, into which a new Iman steps, one that will change the path of the mosque. Aqa Jaan tries to keep everything together, but the political turmoil makes it harder and harder.
As an introduction to Iran, this is a good read, but will keep you turning the pages to find out what happens to the family. The author has taken care to show the reader the conflict and destruction brought upon the family, but at the same time showing, for me, a rather little-known side to life in Iran.

The third is the short, but thought-provoking The Pigeon.  I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, Perfume a few years ago, so was eager to find more by this German author.
The Pigeon is a day in the life of a 50-something-year-old man. His monotonous existance, one of his own choosing and making, is thrown out of kilter by the appearance of a pigeon outside his room. The pigeon disrupts his routine, causing him to consider leaving his sanctuary forever.
The author seems to invite the reader to work why the man has this absurd reaction. How can a loner be so touched by the intrusion of a bird? Perhaps the bird is the straw that breaks the camel's back, forcing him to come to terms with his own past, the difficulties he has overcome are alluded to or briefly described throughout the book.
For me, the pigeon forces him to stop sleepwalking through his life, to actually look at those around him.
A quick read, but one that'll stop and make you think.

And finally, last but not least, Effi Briest .  A book my brother has been telling me to read for years!

Written in 1894, Effi Briest is the story of a girl from a good family who makes a "good match" with an older, well-established man, Instetten.  As with Madame Bovary, the sense of impending doom is that from the start, Effie and Instetten are unable to stray from their preordained path, despite not wanting to follow it.
Effie moves from the nursery into an engagement almost immediately, leaving barely any time to adjust from schoolgirl and daughter to adult and wife.  Perhaps more disturbing for the modern reader is the fact that Instetten was linked with Effie's mother, ndeed it is remarked that they would have been better suited, as both are more serious and rather proper, unlike her often inappropriate husband and lively daughter.  Actually, probably because I only recently read it, Effie reminded me of the heroines of The Mysteries of Udolpho and Northanger Abbey.  She is naive, affected by the possibility of the supernatural, such as the story of the Chinaman and the dancing shoes.  She is, on the other hand, a good person, but easily led.
Not wanting to give anything away, I would say it is clear right from the start that Effie is ill-fated.  In fact, we see her own reactions to similar events earlier on in the action.  Who is to blame for her downfall?  Is it Effie, a mere slip of a girl married off to a much older man, shipped off far from home?  Is it her husband, an upstanding Prussian official, but a man who can be cold and leaves his young wife alone?  Or is it, as they themselves ask, the fault of her parents?  All of these options could be argued for successfully, but I wonder whether it is the unbending moral code of the time which is being critisised?  A marriage arranged as a contract between two families of high-standing was hardly unusual.  The response of the characters to the unfolding drama, although absurd and very sad, also falls within the expected social protocol of the day.
As the blurb on the back cover says, Madame Bovary does indeed come to mind.  As with Madame Bovary, the reader does sympathise with the tragic heroine.  I did, however, feel glad to see the Instetten's own thoughts in the latter section, making the story more rounded and more ambigious.
A well-written novel, and one which gives a good glimpse into 19th Century society.