Books of the Week

Today we have several recommendations, kindly suggested by Mr Hager and Theo Katzenellenbogen.

Endeavour by Peter Moore 

Recommended by Mr Hager

This is an amazingly readable non-fiction work centred around the ship Endeavour and Captain Cook’s extraordinary voyage to the Pacific Ocean in 1769, and his role in the exploration of Tahiti and Australia. 

The novel follows the progress of the ship from its construction in Whitby, to its initial function as an anonymous collier, before its transformation into a Royal Naval vessel (and re-naming) and its most famous voyages.  The attention stays with the ship after its Australian voyage was compete, where it was involved in missions to the Falklands, and British naval activity off of New York and Newport (RI) during the American War of Independence (where it has been rechristened The Lord Sandwich). 

Moore uses the various stages of the ship’s life to explore life during 18th Century Britain, Tahiti and America in particular.  He meditates upon themes as diverse as the ship-building industry, the rise of science and the Royal Society, colonialism, international relations and botany.  Moore also explores why the word ‘endeavour’ was so central to the zeitgeist of the 18th Century. 

Recommendations from Theo

The Outsider by Albert Camus

Dr Duits recommended this one to me, and you should read it too. Monsieur Meursault is alienated, much like Camus, who lived his life in many groups but didn’t feel integrated. Meursault doesn’t feel the pressure to conform to societal expectations surrounding grief, aware of ‘ the gentle indifference of the world’. 

His apathy and weariness make the book funny as he acts uniquely and peculiarly, reassuring his girlfriend that ‘if she was keen on it, we’d get married’. Camus believed that we should live our lives with a constant awareness of the absurdity of our search for meaning in a meaningless world, which this book looks at.

As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee

My brother told me about this one. It's the second of an autobiographical trilogy. This is the story of Laurie Lee's trip around Spain, leaving his idyllic Gloucestershire home. Its a coming-of-age with lots of rich descriptions and funny anecdotes.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

I like this book a lot. Toru looks back on his early adult years when his best friend commits suicide and he falls in love with his girlfriend. Again, it's a coming of age book which looks at the powerful stuff: the search for meaning, love and memory, and confronting the trauma of suicide and its lingering effect.

Money by Martin Amis

This is a very funny novel. It looks at overconsumption through an absurdly pleasure-seeking narrator who is perpetually suffering as things keep on going wrong for him.