Jacob's Room is Full of Books: A Year of Reading

When you read a lot, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the reality and the literary, the worlds sometimes meld into one another, perspectives can be enhanced but you cannot separate the two. Susan Hill is one of those people, not only is she a writer, more importantly, she is a reader too, and this book, Jacob's Room Is Full of Books is a year full of her reading.

Set over a calendar year, Hill charts a month by month reading diary. She tells us what she is reading and when and most importantly why. Her reading is wide-ranging but tends to be focused more on fiction. Even though she gets a lot of proofs from publishers hoping for that front cover quote, she reads what she wants, from classics to favoured authors and new show more authors. She is not afraid to be critical of books that she finds below par and is more than happy to champion books that she has always loved and new discoveries that have come to light.

Hill is excited about reading a new book as she is about gleaning some elements from a favourite book that she has re-read a dozen times before. For her it is just the pleasure of reading, gaining that extra insight into what the author meant by a sentence. This enthusiasm comes across in the books that she talks about, she is opinionated and knows what she wants from a book. She is one of those authors who is very well known, however, I must admit that I have never (yet) read her works of fiction. The only book of hers that I have read is Howard's End is on the Landing, another book about books. This I think has the edge on that one, which was about her reading the books that inhabited her home over the course of a year. This is a more contemplative and thoughtful discourse of the books that made her literary landscape for the year.

One of the things that worked for me in this book, is that she is prepared to talk about the books she liked and loved as well as those that weren't quite what she had hoped for. It would never work if we all liked the same books. My favourites would not be yours and vice versa, but with all books, there should be overlap and more importantly points for discussion too. She donates generously to libraries, a resource under threat in this country at the moment, seeing the good that they do in the communities that she has lived. Almost as an afterthought are glimpses of the natural world around her, the rare sight of a bittern, the geese that race overhead onto places far away. If you like to read books about books, then you cannot beat a writer talking about the books that she reads and the list of books mentioned in the text at the back of the book was really useful. show less

Another joyous book about books, with plenty of enriching asides thrown in.

I particularly enjoyed this book as I bought it in Holt, in Norfolk, whilst on holiday and Susan Hill moved to this area about five years ago, so occasionally makes references to nearby places which we have been visiting.
Personal serendipity apart, it contains sufficient mentions of books that I have read and enjoyed to make me happy to add others to my ever growing list of "to be read" books.
There are also lovely quotes every now and again, with humour and warmth in abundance.

My only complaint would be that there are too many references to the potential evils of book prizes, whilst the author admits that she benefitted greatly from an award she won early in her show more career. show less

Perhaps I should have waited a little while and not read books from authors about their reading consecutively because invariably you compare and one comes off worse than the other. Unfortunately, that is this book although there are many elements to it that I did enjoy.

Set across the course of a year, the writing is anchored by a love of Norfolk, its birds and the landscape, where Hill lives. There are frequent snippets about the herons, about the mist over the river and then when in France the sapping, humid heat making reading almost impossible. Hill is definitely a reader who needs to be in the mood to read a particular book.

There were many books that I have read mentioned and that is always a joy and also many that I haven't. Of show more those that I have I enjoyed the peep into Hairy Maclairy from Donaldson's Dairy by Lynley Dodd and Hill's take on the villains in James Bond novels amongst other things were comforting but I also found many snippets and stories I didn't like.

Chief of these was the defense of the Man Booker Prize, as it was then, in 2011 when mistakes were made. Apparently, the judges became known as the 'zip along' judges for a comment made by one of them in a press conference. It is what we might say about a book when talking together but it isn't sufficient as a criteria for a prestigious book award. Hill blames everyone from the authors/publishers because the selection of books entered that year was not strong, to naming the judge who made the zipping comment. It is exactly this that gets Book Awards a bad name. I have often looked at the criteria for a prize and wondered how you judge a book using them. If a judge can't articulate the criteria we are doomed!

In contrast to Rentzenbrink's book which is warm, inclusive and very enthusiastic, this book can be a little bit mean in places, a little bit snobby about books - beach reads in particular - but comes from the heart of woman who reads seriously. The commonality was that both authors seriously reread and I wonder if it is this that 'makes' an author as opposed to a reader. (Now I'll come across plenty of authors who don't reread!)

There are many things that Hill can't be bothered to do anymore one of which is explain where her ideas come from. I think that is the most interesting part of writers, how they put seemingly random ideas and thoughts together and come up with a book. I can remember being at a conference where Pie Corbett, an author for children and, at one point, very important in how writing was taught to children, spent a whole day explaining where imagination comes from: the experiences children have, games they play, books they read and the talk with others, when a delegate raised her hand at the end and asked 'So where does imagination come from?' If we don't let young people in on this, we may lose some writers. Interestingly, Hill does then go on to start to explore where her writing comes from. Perhaps she is a bit tired of answering the same questions over and over again.

I'll have a break from books about books and read something totally different. show less

The inscription to Lynne Hatwell at the front of the book tickled my soul. For years, I followed Hatwell's blog, Dovegrey Reader which is no longer extant, but I had the pleasure of talking books with her in her Devon home in 2018. She gave up book criticism to our great loss.

Susan Hill has written the kind of book that I reach for first, not unlike my book conversation with Lynne, a discussion of what she's reading over the course of a year. This is the second such treasure from Hill, the first was [b:Howards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home|6657509|Howards End Is on the Landing A Year of Reading from Home|Susan show more Hill|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347764026l/6657509._SY75_.jpg|6852149] where she forsook all purchases and borrowing of books for a year to read what was on her shelves. These books put such fantasies to rest for me. She's listed dozens of titles I've yet to read and had to order at once. Best of all, her opinions are forthright and firm: [a:May Sarton|13166|May Sarton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1413742677p2/13166.jpg]'s best book was[b:The House by the Sea: A Journal|23754453|The House by the Sea A Journal|May Sarton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1418905284l/23754453._SY75_.jpg|285342] ; [a:Alexander McCall Smith|4738|Alexander McCall Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1272995820p2/4738.jpg] has written an illuminating little book on poetry, [b:What W.H. Auden Can Do for You|17847849|What W.H. Auden Can Do for You|Alexander McCall Smith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1372048086l/17847849._SY75_.jpg|24795431]; [a:Martin Amis|11337|Martin Amis|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1433077053p2/11337.jpg]' early books such as [b:London Fields|18830|London Fields|Martin Amis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599283732l/18830._SY75_.jpg|83385] and [b:Money|18825|Money|Martin Amis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1367084993l/18825._SY75_.jpg|85999] are his best; good fiction on gambling at the tables: [b:Casino Royale|3758|Casino Royale (James Bond, #1)|Ian Fleming|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682789243l/3758._SY75_.jpg|2503304] (the only one of the films she likes), [b:Daniel Deronda|304|Daniel Deronda|George Eliot|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1632587921l/304._SY75_.jpg|313957], [b:Can You Forgive Her?|374371|Can You Forgive Her? (Palliser #1)|Anthony Trollope|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1357208740l/374371._SY75_.jpg|141822] and Dostoevsky's [b:The Gambler|12857|The Gambler|Fyodor Dostoevsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630563932l/12857._SY75_.jpg|4356972]. She also writes about the weather and birds in Yorkshire where she lives and the South of France where she summers. She talks about being a controversial judge for the Booker Prize in 2011, writers with whose books she is unable to get along ([a:Patricia Highsmith|7622|Patricia Highsmith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1418715271p2/7622.jpg] or most [a:Iris Murdoch|7287|Iris Murdoch|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1238673382p2/7287.jpg] with the exception of [b:The Bell|11230|The Bell|Iris Murdoch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389237037l/11230._SY75_.jpg|1169601] and her essays), geese, the Reformation, notebooks, [a:Edith Wharton|16|Edith Wharton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1484512230p2/16.jpg], and all titles and authors are indexed. A treat. show less

I absolutely loved Howards End is on the Landing, so when a friend told me about Jacob's Room is Full of Books I expected to feel equally enthralled ... sadly, I wasn't! Although there were sections I did enjoy, and some recommendations which I'm keen to follow up, I too often found myself getting irritated by her constant name-dropping, her frequent reminders about her English degree and her dismissal of people who regard her books as "beach-reads"- I'm sure she's very happy to see her bank balance increasing as a result of these readers buying her book! She's described as "opinionated" and I can live with that, but I found the frequently acerbic and judgmental tone of her observations totally unecessary and this spoiled my reading show more experience. I've enjoyed many of her novels in the past (including those which fit the crime genre she appears to despise!) but this book has certainly affected my opinion of her! I've found it difficult to decide on my rating but, because I did enjoy some of her reflections on the classics, I've opted for 3* rather than my initial inclination to rate it two and a half! show less

I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as Howards End is on the Landing, but it's fun. The structure here division by month, with entries through each month ranging from a sentence or two to several pages long. The general sense is of an overview of Hill's “year in reading,” which is somewhat seasonally directed, and of her thoughts on various books, genres, and authors, but these bookish pieces are interspersed with accounts of birds sighted, thoughts on e-readers, the traffic in Oxford, Cistercian monastics, the challenges of responding to reader mail. An opinionated woman who has read widely and met some interesting people, Hill's musings, bookish and otherwise, make for a light but pleasant read.

Another lovely bookie book from Susan Hill. I like the random jumping from one book to another, anyone who reads a lot does exactly the same. As a book reviewer I'm sure we get an honest no holds barred opinion from Susanl, she's not afraid to say she doesn't like a book, and that's fine, just because she doesn't like it doesn't mean I won't love it. This is a book of musings from the author about the books she loves to reread, new books that make her think, a turn of phrase that catches her eye and the language of writing that appeals to her. It's a book I think I'll dip back into often.