Tribe - Bruce Parry (with Mark McCrum)

An interesting account of the experiences behind the recent TV series where Parry spent a month at a time living with 15 different remote communities around the world. I enjoyed some of the 'behind the scenes' material - such as initial misunderstandings where his hosts did not understand his determination to share their lifestyles and assumed that he was sharing the rich feasts that his crew were having in their tents. I was also fascinated by the reflections on ethical issues such as the impact of the filming & associated gifts on the host communities, and most challengingly, Parry's conclusions about the inappropriateness of passing judgement on traditional practices, even ones as extreme as cannibalism, the ritual whipping of women, or female circumcision.

This book did leave me a little confused, however - if the book could be described as the 'making of...' for the TV series, it left me wanting to go back another level and read a 'writing of...' for the book, because the thing that I found most compelling about the book was Parry's 'voice', his frequent self-examination and reflection on the process and impact of the filming, and so I couldn't help but become extremely curious about what this meant when there was clearly a ghostwriter involved - how much of this voice was authentic? (In Parry's thanks section at the end he thanks the writer for putting up with him being an "insufferable control freak" which seemed promising!)

The Best a Man Can Get - John O'Farrell

One I wouldn't normally have picked up, but I felt like something light & it came recommended, so I gave it a try, and was glad I did as I found myself laughing out loud all the way through it. The story itself, about a young father whose secret double life as an unencumbered bachelor is starting to unravel, plays out fairly predictably for the most part (one section did take me completely by surprise & make me laugh even harder, but this was balanced by the next "twist" being really predictable), but the writing style - full of genuinely funny one-liners - makes this well worth a read.

Winter in Madrid - C J Sansom

A big book with a great mix of intricate but satisfying plot, detailed historical setting and believable characterisation - the social and political realities of Madrid in 1940 are vividly described, as are the complex interactions of a small group of English people whose past relationships lead them to keep powerful secrets from each other in situations that they do not fully understand and cannot really hope to control. The back cover blurb mentions "the profound impact of impossible choices" which seems like a fair assessment...

The Lieutenant - Kate Grenville

The Lieutenant is set during the initial British settlement in New South Wales in 1788, and describes the impact on a young astronomer of a tentative friendship he forms with an Aboriginal child with the intention of learning her language. His character is convincingly drawn and easy to empathise with, starting with his childhood in Portsmouth where he is initially dismissed as stupid "for failing to respond to a question so simple he had not thought to answer it". I enjoyed, and found plausible, the way in which the plot develops as the unsociable outsider, who has always found it hard to relate to his peers and retreats alone into a love of mathematics and order, is paradoxically the only one who is able to recognise and connect with the humanity of the "other" as he discovers a shared enjoyment of language and learning with the Aboriginal girl Tagaran. I was also moved - and challenged! - by the moral strength of his eventual refusal to rationalise and compromise to ensure his own survival, as he concludes that:

"If an action was wrong, it did not matter whether it succeeded or not, or how many clever steps you took to make sure it failed. If you were part of such an act, you were part of its wrong... If you were part of that machine, then you were part of its evil."

In fact, I found his courage and integrity almost unconvincingly impressive - until I reached the author's endnote and was delighted to discover that the book was inspired by true events. I think that this novel captivated me a little less than it deserved to because I'd already read her previous book, The Secret River, which (together with her account of writing it, Searching for the Secret River) covers some of the same territory (geographically as well as thematically), and did make a huge impression on me.