books of note

i have been reading rather voraciously recently, and thought i should share some of the best books i've read this month. 

this first book was a christmas/birthday present from my mother and turned out to be my favourite gift.

not only is the book a beautiful object in its own right, but it is full of the fascinating ways that the english language has changed and developed over time. forsyth's choice to link each word somehow to the next, rather than just listing words and their origins, makes for a really interesting read. it is in fact much more like a story than a dictionary, and forsyth's sense of humour comes through just as much as his knowledge of english. (okay, perhaps it's not for everyone but it is surprisingly enjoyable and i heartily recommend it to all). see inky fool (forsyth's blog) for more. 

my next read was rather different - a collection of true stories written by a psychoanalyst.

each chapter focuses on an important aspect of life - beginning, loving, changing, losing - and for each of these broad subjects, grosz focuses on the stories of particular patients that subtly illuminate the human condition. although each account is very personal, the issues behind each patient's problems are ones that we have all experienced - or at least, can all understand. this book made think about my own thoughts and behaviour in a way that i hadn't really considered before and despite the often quite upsetting or moving cases described, i was left with a sense of quiet elation and understanding upon finishing it.

this last book was recommended to me by my friend isabel and is the latest novel by mark haddon, author of 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time'.

i normally hate dust jackets on hardbacks (slippery, pointless things), but this one is so lovely that i often find myself just admiring it for a while before continuing to read the book itself. it is of course a slightly changed version of the willow china pattern, those exquisite blue on white drawings that immediately make me think of my grandma's house, the countryside and strange untold stories. and the last two things are exactly what 'the red house' is about. as i haven't finished it yet, i can't give a final verdict but i can say that it is incredibly enjoyable to read. the story shifts constantly from character to character which can be confusing at first, but then just becomes a part of haddon's wider storytelling technique - he can focus on a person's innermost thoughts at one moment and then skip to a description of a castle's history and on to a snippet of a quotation and so on, while somehow making them all seem related... and the result is something wonderful, intriguing and most of all truthful.

hanna xx