The Forest of Wool and Steel
Natsu Miyashita
Black Swan, £8.99
At his village school in the mountains of Hokkaido, 17-year-old Tomura is transfixed by the sound of a piano being tuned, its sonorous resonance connecting him spiritually with the surrounding forest. The experience changes his life, convincing him that his destiny is to become a piano tuner. After a two-year course, he returns home to become an apprentice to Mr Itadori, and begins to pursue his obsessive personal quest for perfection under the tutelage of three master tuners, while battling his fears that he doesn’t have what it takes to achieve it. Translated by Philip Gabriel, who also does the honours for Murakami, this serene and magical novel sold over a million copies in Japan and has been made into a film, which hopefully captures the slow, meditative pace of the book as Tomura finds his path through life, music and nature with the assistance of some strong supporting characters and the nuanced wisdom of his teachers.
The Lost Decade
Polly Toynbee & David Walker
Guardian/Faber, £10.99
“We should never stop reminding ourselves just what an astonishing decade we have lived through,” said the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Quite so. The bleak aftermath of the global financial crash, 2010-2020 has distinguished itself as a decade of wasted time, missed opportunities, irresponsibility and the crazed pursuit of the unattainable. Since the Conservative Party has been in power all that time, it gets the lion’s share of Toynbee and Walker’s critical survey of the past decade. The authors run through all the symptoms of a country in unambiguous decline, from the stagnation of wages to the delusions and contradictions of Brexit, and however much political commentary you’ve read over the past few years there will almost certainly be fresh angles and insights here that contribute to the bigger picture. It’s an angry book, of course, but only the most dogmatic would argue that their rage and frustration is without foundation.
Swim Until You Can't See Land
Catriona Child
Luath Press, £8.99
A former competitive swimmer in her early twenties, Hannah Wright feels like her life has lost all meaning since her career was cut short by a shoulder injury. Now working in a shop, Hannah is
alarmed when an old lady passes out and cracks her head on the counter, and she goes out of her way to return her purse (and a winning lottery ticket). Unknown to Hannah, the old lady is Marièle Downie, a British undercover agent posted in France during World War II who was tortured by the Gestapo. Hannah’s efforts to somehow get closer to this intriguing pensioner run in parallel with the story of Marièle’s recruitment and training by the SOE after her brother is killed in action, and the doomed campaign with the Resistance which leads to her capture and interrogation. Their two very different lives have only the most tenuous connection, but each strand complements the other to compelling effect, both featuring contrasting and well-defined characters.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here