A couple of books sourced in strange ways and all the more enjoyable as a result:
- I can recommend the first three books in a quartet by a South African author, John van de Ruit, in the vein of the Adrian Mole diaries: Spud; Spud – The Madness Continues; and Spud – Learning to Fly. It’s a coming-of-age diary of ‘Spud’ Milton, a boy with a wonderfully cracked family and a riotous collection of friends and teachers at a private school. Books like this fly or not depending on the author’s page-by-page inventiveness, and van de Ruit continually throws in minute plot surprises. The humour is, to me, a little hit and miss, but the books also contain a serious substream on South African politics that rescues them from triviality. Comedic quality. 3 stars.
- World War II memoirs remain essential reading as our only visceral reminder of the horrors of global warfare. Crossing the Elde Bridge, by Maria Clark and David Lapham, tells the harrowing, remarkable story of Maria, a privileged young Austro-Hungarian caught up in the Nazi times and then the Soviet victory drive, with its looting and raping and terror. Her travails can scarcely be believed. Co-author Lapham has honed a stylish, dramatically structured narrative that compels one to read. Somehow, even at the end, surprises continue to arrive. One of the better examples of this vital genre. 3 stars.