Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas. My daughter recommended this book, written by an anthropologist. First published in 1966, its publicity blurb on the back cover states, ‘Is cleanliness next to godliness? What does such a concept mean? Why does it recur as a universal theme across all societies? What are the implications for the unclean?’ I’m intrigued by the fact that it appeals to younger readers and was certainly not on my Anthropology reading list in 1973.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Man Booker Prize winner in 2009. Whenever I’m busy, the Man Booker prize shortlist usually delivers books worth reading. If I don’t manage them all, I settle for the winner. According to the judges, this book is a contemporary novel, written in modern style, and set in the 16th century. It deals with political intrigue in the reign of Henry VIII as seen through the eyes of Thomas Cromwell. Mantel’s arresting novel addresses, from a new perspective, the familiar story of Henry’s wish to divorce Anne Boleyn. Jill Lawless in the Huffington Post quotes Mantel as saying the period ‘has everything. It has sex and melodrama, betrayal, seduction and violent death. What more could you hope for?’ Good enough for me.
The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2009. I am a longstanding fan of A.S. Byatt and this book has received favourable reviews in the Dutch media, as well as being recommended by friends. As Alex Clark from the Guardian noted, ‘It will probably never be said of Byatt’s writing that she wears her learning lightly ...’ This is apt for all of her books to date, so The Children’s Book has become a ‘must read’.
Dus ik ben by Rob Wijnberg and Stine Jensen (2010). Rob Wijnberg, essayist and journalist at NRC Next, was a lunchtime speaker during the Broodje Cultuur series in the Vrijhof this year. Not having read Wijnberg’s first book, Nietzsche and Kant Read the Newspaper, but having enjoyed his talk, it’s time I learned more about this eloquent young philosopher’s insights.
The Junior Officers' Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars by Patrick Hennessey (2009). My sister recommended this book as a ‘light read’ in spite of the book’s context. This memoir describes Hennessey’s experiences in the British Army—in Bosnia, guarding Buckingham Palace, and then serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Evidently provocative, the reader follows the account of this thrill-seeking media-saturated officer through the realization that war is not an extreme version of paintballing or gaming. In spite of the lessons of history, war is still little understood by anyone who has not experienced it first hand.
Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood (2008). I was told about this book by the owner of a tiny bookstore on Waiheke Island in New Zealand that eccentrically stocks only art books, philosophy, politics and old Penguin first editions. I value her opinion so am looking forward to what the book cover states as an investigation into, ‘the idea of debt as an ancient and central motif in religion, literature and the structure of human societies.’ The subject is topical with economists warning of worse to come from the banking world. It won’t hurt to explore the subject from another angle.
