#48. The Word "Secret" In The Title – Open Secret by Stella Rimington (Paperback)

In theory this should have been an easy category for me to find a book to read, but it wasn’t (well at least in terms of the books I hadn’t read on my bookshelves.) The Secret Keeper…read. Celia’s Secret…read. The Secret Garden…read. The Children’s Secret…read. Twelve Secrets…read. Surely to God there must be a book in this house with the word secret in it that I haven’t read yet! And there it was…a book signed by Stella Rimington herself which belonged to my partner. He has never read it, but I think he should. He’d enjoy it. 

“Stella Rimington worked for MI5 between 1969 and 1996, one of the most turbulent and dramatic periods in global history. Working in all the main fields of the Service's responsibilities - counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism - she became successively Director of all three branches, and finally Director-General of MI5 in 1992.

She was the first woman to hold the post and the first Director-General whose name was publicly announced on appointment. In Open Secret, she continues her work of opening up elements of the work of our security services to public scrutiny, revealing the surprising culture of MI5 and shedding light on some of the most fascinating events in 20th century history from the ultimate insider viewpoint.”

I suspect that this could be a ‘marmite’ type of book, which is a bit of a mean thing to say when it is a book about someone’s life. I really enjoyed it. It tells the remarkable story of how a woman managed to climb to the top ranks of the British Secret Service; however, it has been written in a style that is not the most engaging. By this, I mean the sentences are often long and rambling and need rereading several times to understand what point Stella is trying to convey to the reader. A lot of autobiographies are about celebrities; therefore you can ‘hear’ the voice of the writer in your head as you read. This can often help with understanding what point is being made and in what context the writer is mentioning it, as you would instinctively know what inflections they would make. 

As I have never met, or indeed heard much about Stella before, I found it took a while to gel with her informative, but matter of fact telling of her life story. And what a life she has led! Stella Rimington has quite a dry sense of humour, she’s also a bit sarcastic, so I found her character rather endearing! I imagine a lifetime spent exasperated by ‘the men in suits,’ who think women can’t accomplish anything other than raise children and keep the canapés and light-hearted conversation flowing at corporate events, would make you somewhat sardonic.

#43. About Finding Identity – Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami (Paperback)

I first tried to read a passage from Murakami’s novel ‘Norwegian Wood’ in the mid 1990’s. I say tried, it was written in Japanese (his books were yet to be translated into English) and formed part of my attempt to master the language when I was at university. I had largely forgotten about his work until the British actor Tom Burke mentioned his favourite book was Murakami’s ‘The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.’ 

I started trawling the internet and realised that I could now buy an English translation of ‘Norwegian Wood,’ which I could actually read, rather than listening to odd passages painfully translated by myself and fellow students. Whilst it might not be considered “classic Murakami,” I really enjoyed it and moved straight on to some of his other works. When I noticed this book in a local store, I was interested to see how Murakami was able to take the literary world by storm via this personal collection of essays written by the man himself.

 

“In this engaging book, Haruki Murakami shares his experience as an internationally bestselling author; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists and musicians.

 

Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.”

This is an interesting collection of eleven essays written by Haruki Murakami which offer reflections about his life and how he became a writer. Unlike a traditional autobiography, these short essays allow Murakami to drift from memory to memory to give a deeply personal view of his life. The book is filled with pages of thought and reflection on his past memories and give an insight into his writing style, him as a person, and his personal creative process which has given us some of the most unique novels that I have read.

I find Murakami’s work fascinating; it allows the reader to go down the rabbit hole (or in his world it’s down a well) with him and think deeply about the strange events and experiences which he writes about.

#27. By A Neurodivergent Author – Strong Female Character by Fern Brady (Audible)

I saw Fern Brady on the Channel 4 show ‘Taskmaster’, and I loved her refreshing honesty on the program. She saw things differently to the rest of the contestants, and it added an extra dimension to the show observing how she interpreted the tasks.

Before I watched Taskmaster, I had no idea who she was, but she is an award-winning, Scottish comedian, author and podcaster. She reached the finals of ‘So You Think You’re Funny’ at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe and won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year in 2013. Since that success, she has appeared on numerous panel shows on UK television and so I thought her story would be an interesting one to read.

“Fern Brady was told she couldn't be autistic because she's had loads of boyfriends and is good at eye contact. This is a story of how being female can get in the way of being autistic and how being autistic gets in the way of being the 'right kind' of woman. ”

In view of the subject matter, I specifically chose to listen to this book as Fern Brady narrated the book herself. I thought it would be more meaningful if I listened to the person whose story it was to tell. I’d read some reviews prior to listening to this book saying it was just her writing about sex, but I think if you sit and really listen to Fern talk about her past, the book is about so much more than her sexual exploits. The way she tells her story is far more nuanced than just a series of sexual encounters and you can hear the hurt and frustration in her voice as she relives her past, and some of the traumatic events she shares are not easy to listen to.

“Well, they say autism can be inherited from one parent, so I guess that’s answered the question of which one.”

At 34 years old, Fern Brady ‘phoned her father to tell him she had just received the news that she was autistic. His surprising reply was “Oh right”, and then he started complaining about the traffic on his commute home from work. No empathy, no emotion, just “Oh right”. Brady’s deadpan response was, “Well, they say autism can be inherited from one parent, so I guess that’s answered the question of which one.”

#21. Written By A Ghostwriter – There’s a Hole in my Bucket by Royd Tolkien (Kindle)

This is another of my forgotten Amazon First Reads – this time from July 2021. I picked this book because of the Tolkien name, but I knew it wasn’t going to be anything like the Lord of the Ring books due the difficult and sensitive subject matter. I did think it would be a harrowing but interesting read and would be treated with suitable gravitas. I was wrong.

 

“Having grown up on their great-grandfather’s stories, Royd Tolkien and his brother, Mike, have always enjoyed adventures. So when Mike is diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, the brothers decide to use the time they have left to tick off as much as possible from Mike’s bucket list, from remote camping in Norway to travelling through Royd’s beloved New Zealand.

Yet, when Royd loses Mike, he discovers his brother had been writing another kind of bucket list: fifty things he wanted Royd to do after his death. His first task? Mike wants his mild-mannered brother to trip up on his way to the lectern to deliver his eulogy. What follows is a set of emotionally charged tests that will push Royd firmly out of his comfort zone.

This is the story of Royd’s journey to accomplish a challenging, humorous, and often heart-breaking list of unknown tasks that chart the brothers’ lives from childhood to adulthood. But above all, it is a story of the sibling bond, of grief—and of treasuring every moment.”

 

Due to the subject matter, I really wanted to be more positive about this book, but I found it hard to keep engaged reading, so I could only read a couple of the short chapters each evening until I eventually got to the end. The 357 pages seem to go on forever.

I cannot imagine how hard it would be to watch my adventurous brother become ill, health gradually declining, desperate to find an answer from doctors to what is wrong, only to finally be told it was Motor Neurone Disease. It doesn’t bear thinking about, and I wouldn’t wish that sort of suffering on anyone, but this book just feels like a self-indulgent bit of therapy cashing in on the Tolkien name.

It is clear from the book that Royd and Mike loved one another dearly but were very different people. Mike might have been the younger brother, but he would tease Royd mercilessly and always push that little bit further; whether it was how high he could climb a tree or how high he could throw himself out of an airplane, Mike always had to get the better of Royd who didn’t share the same bon homie as his brother, he seemed happier with his feet on the ground with a cuppa.