Reading matters

'Things the Grandchildren Should Know' by Mark Oliver Everett

Non-fiction - hardcover; Little Brown; 256 pages; 2008.

To survive the tragic deaths of your entire family is one thing, to become a critically acclaimed musician is another, and yet  44-year-old Mark Oliver Everett has done both. Now, with the release of this memoir, he can also added talented author to the list.

Everett, better known as 'E' from the Eels, an alternative rock band which is essentially Everett and an ever-changing cast of musicians, seems to be the current flavour of the month here in the UK. He recently starred in a BBC 4 documentary called Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives about his father, the late quantum physicist Hugh Everett III, who was the originator of the many-worlds theory. Then his book was published and just last week he played a special gig at St James's Church in Piccadilly to promote it.

'The Gathering' by Anne Enright

Fiction - hardcover; Jonathan Cape; 261 pages; 2007.

Grim and disturbing are the first words that spring to mind when describing Anne Enright's Booker shortlisted The Gathering. But admid the dark, often depressing, subject matter there are chinks of light that make the novel surprisingly witty and, in a perverse kind of way, uplifting.

The story, which is set in Dublin, revolves around Veronica Hegarty, a 30-something wife and mother, who has escaped the clutches of her huge Irish Catholic family -- she has eight siblings -- only to be dragged right on back when her wayward brother, Liam, kills himself. Closest to him in age, Veronica is the one who must pick up the pieces -- and bring back his body from England, where he drowned himself off Brighton Beach.

'Middlesex' by Jeffrey Eugenides

Fiction - paperback; Bloomsbury; 529 pages; 2003

This book has received rave reviews, been an international bestseller and won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. And no wonder - it is BRILLIANT. Middlesex is wholly original and unlike anything I've ever read before. Just look at the opening line:

"I was  born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974."

How could you not be intrigued?

'The Visit of the Royal Physician' by Per Olov Enquist

Fiction - paperback; Vintage; 309 pages; 2003. (Translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally.)

This historical novel is set in Denmark at the height of the Enlightenment. It tells the story of the half-wit king, Christian VII, whose behaviour swings between outrageous violence one minute and confused innocence the next. His advisors capitalise on the young king's madness to run the country as they see fit, controlling not only the so-called ruler but the nation state as well. This creates many dangerous political battles between rival advisors.

To complicate matters further, the king is unable or unwilling to consummate his relationship with his wife, Caroline Mathilde. She then turns to the arms of another and conducts an adulterous affair with Christian's most trusted advisor, Struensee — the royal physician of the book's title. It does not take long before she falls pregnant to him, risking scandal and expulsion from the kingdom, which, in turn, threatens to undermine the very stability and security of Denmark itself.

All in all this is a dark and somewhat astonishing story reminiscent of Rose Tremain's award-winning Music & Silence but set 140 years apart. The Visit of the Royal Physician is imbued with the same sense of drama, romance, betrayal and political intrigue that characterised Tremain's wonderfully mesmerizing book. But Olov Enquist, a Swedish author, has written it as reportage, which adds an extra layer of authenticity to the story.

If you like your historical novels to resonate with passion and suspense, you won't go far wrong with this one. I thoroughly enjoyed it — though Tremain's foray into Danish history is still the best one I've come across.

'Dead Famous' by Ben Elton

Fiction - paperback; Black Swan; 382 pages; 2002

Put succinctly, this is a superb whodunit. It's also a superb spoof on reality TV — in particular the Big Brother phenomenon — and the way in which the culture of celebrity pervades modern day life.

The 10 contestants on House Arrest are vacuous, self-obsessed 20-somethings who are naively manipulated by the show's producer to boost ratings and advertising revenues. Before long the contestants all have a reason to hate one another, and then the unimaginable happens — "It's Day 27 in the House Arrest house and there's a murder in the toilet". Despite all the hundreds of cameras recording the housemates 24/7, there is no evidence to show who committed the crime. Consequently, ratings soar as viewers try to determine who is the killer.

Elton's story sounds like a straightforward plot, but it's not. He very cleverly withholds the identity of the victim until you are at least half way through the novel. This means that while you know someone's been killed, you begin to analyse every housemate, looking at their potential to kill or be killed. You end up turning the pages at a furious pace and, if you're like me, you may find yourself reading this book in one sitting.

If you're a Big Brother fan, you will love this book. It's clever, wry and funny, but above all it is hugely entertaining. It's just a pity it was written by someone so annoying and full of himself as Ben Elton.