5 short book reviews

     Fred Archer The Village of my Childhood (1989) Just what it says. Pleasant low-key style. Archer doesn’t gloss over the bad bits, but he doesn’t emphasise them either. As he says, childhood is a time when he felt secure and nothing seemed to change. Much of the narrative consists of character portraits and anecdotes about particular events. Not as witty as Keillor, but has much of the same affection for small town or village life. Interesting words - a glossary at the end would be a bonus. The photos are not very well reproduced, a fault of much UK printing, even today. I liked this book. ***

     Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon Days (1985) The first in a series, though GK didn’t know that at the time. A semi-fictional memoir of GK’s years in his hometown, represented by Lake Wobegon. By turn sentimental, wry, cynical, furious, ironic, loving, jaundiced, satirical, etc. Keillor has the knack of making you believe you’ve lived there. The Prairie Home Companion stories preceded and underlie this book, as they do the subsequent ones. ****

     Garrison Keillor Happy to Be Here (1981) Sketches, some of them relating to Prairie Home Companion, and some not. Not as consistently good as Lake Wobegon Days, but pretty good anyhow. My, there I go sounding like a Lutheran! Some of the pieces have real bite; others are merely absurd. Keillor has a good ear for hypocrisy, stupidity, illogic, and especially for fashionable cant. Varies from ** to ****

     Paul Fussell, BAD, or, the Dumbing of America (1991) An attack on stuff that it is not merely bad (on account of ignorance, for example), but that pretends to a superior quality. Splenetic, opinionated, and of course dated in its references, but the principle is still valid. If anything, BAD has gotten worse. However, Fussell’s book on class in America is much superior to this one. **

     Geoffrey Trease Bent is the Bow (1967) Ill. By Charles Keeping, which is the reason we bought this book. The eight short chapters read more like the introductory section of a novel. It is set in the Welsh border wars under Owen Glendower. Hugh and Meg are taken as hostages by the wicked Lord Whitney at the beginning of these hostilities, and eventually escape and return to their own home. Whitney’s son Stephen becomes the master of the neighbouring castle when Whitney is killed. So there are possible complications to come, lots of them. Pity we don’t get the rest of the story. Did Trease lose interest? Did Nelson decide to publish these few first chapters as a teaser? We will never know. **