Firstly, I've been neglecting this blog, sorry but for such a long time, I had no internet access at home, due to lack of machine.
Now to the book.
What to say? This not a book I would recommend to just anyone. It's an acquired taste. It is written in diary form and there are two diarist it is very hard to like, I think more wonder at how they continue in what they are doing without being stopped is what keeps me reading.
The book is based in Venice and Peru. The main diarist, Minguillo Fasan is a warped, sadistic creature who thinks his behaviour is normal. He hates his sister's with normal-ish sibling rivalry until he finds a will specifically dis- inheriting him.
I haven't yet finished it, and wouldn't presume to recommended the book. If what I have put has piqued your interest, look the book up, but borrow from the library, in case you don't like it. I am finding it ,strangely, a compulsive read, but for the first 50 ,or so pages thought that I'd abandon it.
Today we have lost a brilliant poet.
You can read his obituary here
I
studied some of his poetry during my degree, and found it very
accessible.
I would like to offer my condolences to his family.
I've read three books on my Kindle.
Villette by Charlotte Bronte, I'd only give it 3 stars, as I'm now sure I prefer Emily Bronte's writing style. I got to the stage where I really couldn't care less what happened to Lucy Snowe.
One Dead Hen by Charlie Williams is the fourth in a series. I haven't read the other three, again I would give this book three stars. The main character is a badly flawed man whose thoughts we are party to. He doesn't seem to like other people breaking the law, but it doesn't seem to bother him personally. An entertaining read. A good experiment along the lines of "What if my main character was unlawful?"
Locked In by Kerry Wilkinson was a slow start, but then became a page turner. There is a dead body discovered, but how did the murderer leave as all windows and doors are firmly locked and there is no sign of a forced entry. I'd give this four stars. It is only available for Kindle.
Proper books I have read are
The English Eccentric by Henry Hemming, a factual book, following the author's quest to find present day eccentrics. There was one point that made my brain scream, and it thoroughly annoyed me. If you are going to write a factual book, make sure your facts and statements are ALL correct, after all, if you are fact gathering, what harm does it do to check what you are writing is 100% true?
I'll get off my hobby horse now, incorrect facts drive me mad. **
Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamie starts as the A bomb explodes in Nagasaki. It then follows Hiroko Tanaka, a Japanese national, through her life. A very deep book exploring what it is like to be an outsider for one reason or another in life. ****
Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke. An engrossing young adult book exploring the idea "what if characters from books could become alive in our world, and what would it be like for us to travel to their world?" Inkheart starts with a shabby looking man turning up at Mo and Meggie's house wanting Mo to "read" him back into the book he is from. Along the way we meet other characters from Inkheart, (the story Dustfinger is from,) and learn that when these characters appeared in our world Meggie's mother disappeared. In Inkspell Mo, Meggie and several other "real" people, including the author of the book in the story, travel to Inkworld. I really enjoyed these books even though they are not adult books. *****
Our Lady of the Forest by David Gutterson. A down and out teen has the Virgin appear to her in some woods, and the place rapidly becomes a shrine. A good book
The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak. A tangled story that turns out to be a family saga with a twist. ****
The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. This was the first of the books I read, I know it had vampires, wizards, witches, etc. A damned good read. I believe there is a film of the book. *****
Resurrectionist by James McGee. Back with Hawkwood, a pre Bow Street runner type. This time bodies are being dug up at the dead of night from fresh graves. A grave robber is crucified in a churchyard, and a man escapes from Bedlam. At times things look like they will never be solved, but Hawkwood saves the day. *****
I'm very sorry that I haven't blogged about some of the books that I have read since last time I posted....BUT....there is a very good genuine reason for me not doing so.
Earlier this month it was my birthday, and the Saturday beforehand, to cut a long story short. My three managed to convert a spare room into a library for me as a birthday surprise. At one point my daughter suggested that I take the dogs on a long walk, and when I returned the surprise was done.
OK! Yes, I know I haven't posted here for ages.
I have a small mountain of books to blog about, but am currently using a laptop with a dodgy keyboard that makes typing difficult.
Do you know how many times you use the d key? Answer, a lot more than you realise when you have to go to an "on screen keyboard" to put the letter d in whatever you are typing.
I picked up a book last night. I must have read it, as within two pages the story felt all too familiar. I'll have to look back through my "mass" posts to see if I have.
Fingers crossed I should have my own pc back soon, and normal service will be resumed
A very easy book to read. The story is told by Harrison, (Harri,) Opoku an eleven year old boy who has recently arrived from Ghana.
Harri's sheer exuberance at learning his new home's culture is infectious.
The story opens when Harri sees a scene of crime near to his home. He and his friend decide that they will be detectives and help find out what has happened. Their naivety is touching, as they try to collect fingerprints and DNA, not really knowing what they are doing.
The end four months later is a surprise to the reader, and I won't spoil your reading pleasure.
I can honestly say it is a book I will remember for a long time to come.
Please, please, please do not add into the novel a section of the forthcoming novel by the same author.
It took me all afternoon to establish that I haven't yet read "Lasting Damage" by Sophie Hannah...all I had done is read the introductory chapters at the end of the previously published novel of Sophie Hannah's
I nearly put Lasting Damage aside, convinced that I had already read it.
Take note publishers...a preview of "soon to be published" novels are good, but word for word, you might get readers not reading the next one as they think they already have done
I did continue reading and realised that I had only read a "taster" of "Lasting Damage", but beware! Not everyone will do, some might reject as having read before
The monochromatic counterpart to The Woman in White?
Seriously, although this book is an easy and engaging read, I'm afraid I prefer the Wilkie Collins book.
At 200 pages long it seems a little long. I know that seems an odd observation to make, but The Woman in Black is a ghost story, and without the preamble from Arthur Kipps where he is told it is his turn to recall a ghost story, I doubt the story would have warranted a whole book to itself.
I did enjoy it, just have enjoyed other books more.
It would be interesting to see how it is portrayed in film, but will wait for it's eventual showing on TV to make my mind up.
Well, this one hasn't disappointed at all. I love S J Bolton's books she knows just how to build up the tension and keep her readers guessing.
Now you see me is a crime thriller, and very well crafted. The central character is Lacey Flint who finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation when a woman dies in her arms after being murdered in a particularly horrific way. As the story progresses you find yourself mentally shouting at her to "not do that", but let's be honest, a thriller wouldn't be a thriller if everyone did the sensible thing all the time.
It appears that there is a copycat killer loose on the streets of London, and they aren't copying any old murderer, they are copying one of the most notorious, Jack the Ripper.
The book kept me hooked from beginning to end, a brilliant book.
Christine has a very specific type of amnesia. Whilst she is awake she forms memories, and can sometimes remember snatches of her life before the accident, however, every time she goes to sleep she forgets.
Can she trust her husband who she should be able to trust? Is he telling her the truth? How will she know?
A very deep and at time unsettling book, but a very good one.
A brilliant book.
Fevvers is the toast of Europe, but is she a fake? American journalist, Jack Walser, decides to find out, but ends up falling for Fevvers and joining the circus in order to be near her.
This novel has lots of Carter's trademark themes. In order to enjoy the novel completely you must suspend belief in what is true and what isn't, as there are dancing tigers educated apes, the leader of which overthrows their trainer and arranges a new contract.
A thoroughly enjoyable book.
This novel starts off with the mother of Wendy attacking her with a knife at her birthday party. It then winds time forward roughly ten years, Wendy and her brother Matt are living with their Aunty. Wendy is constantly being thrown out of school, so a new one has to be found. Her only true friend is her brother.
Another outcast type kid arrives at the school and soon Wendy and Finn are making tentative friends, until he tells her something about herself she doesn't know, Wendy refuses to believe it, then the situation escalates.
I won't spoil it by revealing any more of the plot apart from saying that it is a very fast paced book, and if you read it and can engage with it, you won't want to put it down until it is finished.
I've started reading a book. I've read the first eleven chapters/sections, but I can't find it in me to care about the characters involved. I'm very sorry but it just doesn't hold my attention.
What is it? That's the odd thing, this author's books are quite popular. It's called The unbearable lightness of scones by Alexander McCall Smith.
I've been reading absolutely HUGE books so far this year, and have kept my promise to myself to read at least one classic in 2013.
Russka by Edward Rutherford took me over three weeks to read. It's HUGE novel in a few ways. Firstly it's about Russia and it's progression from pre-medieval times into the vast country it was, and now the slightly smaller country. It follows two families, or their descendants from AD180 right up to 1990. Huge in another way in that it is over a thousand pages long. The novel is built up of several shorter novellas to form a timeline which takes in some of the most important events in Russian history. Russka is not a mis-spelling of Russia, it refers to two villages, later towns/cities where much of the action takes place. Although it doesn't go into detail about the Russian revolution, it shows a very different perspective on the revolution than is commonly held in the Western Europe. The one that the revolutionaries were all regicidists and had no respect for authority at all. In fact the reasons suggested for the revolution were logically developed. Mainly in that the "people" of Russia were treated with disdain by the ruling classes who had no compunction in doing what they saw necessary to do in order to get what they wanted, regardless of the effect it had on the majority of the population. (Sounds like our present government.)
Anyway, it is a very well written book, and I might eventually tackle another of Edward Rutherford's epic books, but not for a while yet
Magyk by Angie Sage was the book I read between Yule and New Year. It is book one of a series, a young adult novel about magic and underhand dealings by the "baddies" of the piece. The bit that surprised me is revealed at the end of the novel where the "baddy's apprentice" turns out to be one of the main "goody" family, who had been removed from their family at birth by underhand dealings. It was a fairly quick easy read, with pleasant twists and turns.
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
Well, I did promise myself I would read one classic this year. The Woman in White is probably not one of the better known. Collins was a contemporary of Dickens, and for a period of time they worked together, but their books are very different from each other's. I had previously read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins and decided to read The Woman in White as it purported to be one of the earliest mystery novels. Although the title might suggest it, the novel is not a ghost story, but a mystery that develops , and is solved by the main narrator, Walter Hartright. It is told by several narrators, each giving their portion of the story. Indeed if Hartright had not encountered the mystery Woman in White at the start of the novel, there would have been no mystery for him to solve, but as things happen in the novel, this woman becomes part of the fabric of the novel, even though she speaks very little. A good book.
The City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris. Set in Jeddah, this novel explores as one of it's themes the cloistered nature of women in Muslim countries, and how what we in the West take for granted is a rare privilege granted under strict rules. American woman, Miriam Walker joins her husband in Jeddah, but soon afterwards he disappears, leaving Miriam essentially helpless due to the strict laws. Unless with her husband, brother, father, or male family member to vouch for her safety, a woman is risking breaking all kinds of laws just by going onto the street to go shopping. A woman's body is found washed up on a beach, at first she is presumed to be a serving maid or some such, but it is revealed she is from a wealthy family. It might sound like this novel is set in years gone by, but The City of Veils takes place in modern Jeddah where most have access to mobile phones, computers and even "bluetooth" veils. I won't say any more, it was an intriguing mystery, which I won't spoil for you
I've been busy knitting and not had time to up-date here.
I've read a small mountain of books since last I posted.
I think just name them and a brief summary of what I thought about them.
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman. I occasionally pick up pure fantasy novels, this one was great, following Thomas Cale from hisbeginnings in a sudo-monastry, to the outside world. It's the first of a series.
Havisham by Ronald Frame. A review copy from Waterstones. Maps out Miss Havisham's early life. Great read, prompted me to then read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I read this for O level in the dim and distant past, and after around 100 pages the book rang no bells at all, not surprising as I don't think we finished the book. However, I have now, and reading at my own pace, I found it a very entertaining book. Since reading Little Dorrit during my degree, I have found that like Shakespeare, he is not fully appreciated.
Crow Stone by Jenni Mills. A suspense/thriller set around stone mine workings. Very good.
The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison. Anna Sands is evacuated to Yorkshire during the second world war. In the novel we follow the events during her evacuation. A good book.
The Spare Room by Helen Garner. Helen offers her spare room to an ailing friend, not realising just how ill her friend is. A good novel about the strength of a friendship.
The Last Weekend by Blake Morrison. This was dramatised on ITV in 2012, I enjoyed the dramatisation, so decided to read the book. The book was much better than the TV series.
A Darker Domain by Val Mc Dermid. A thriller with a missing miner, missing grandchild, all set in a grim Scottish town A very engrossing read.
Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire. A retelling of the Snow White tale by the author who brought u Wicked. A nice sideways glance at the tale.
Swimming Home by Deborah Levy and The Lighthouse by Alsion Moore. Two of last year''s Man Booker shortlist. Although good stories, after reading I knew that neither would win the Booker prize.
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult. After a miscarriage Zoe and Max split up. They have been undergoing IVF treatment. Zoe wishes to use the remaining embryos to have the child she craves, but Max doesn't want her to. As with all Picoult books, she explores the emotional repercussions of people's actions.
The Little Stanger by Sarah Walters. Dr Faraday becomes entangled with the Ayres family, at the "big house" in the aftermath of WW2. Money is tight, and the stress affects the family, or does it? Brilliant book.
Mr Toppit by Charles Elton. A good book, based around what an author's family find out after he has died. Stuff they didn't know about.
The Secrets of the Noteboook by Eve Haas. A true story of Eve Haas' search for her forebears and the difficulties in searching for them behind the Iron Curtain. Absorbing Book.
Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd. A chance encouter for Adam Kindred has him having to go undercover, as there are people out to kill him. Brilliant Thriller.
The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie. Another book about searching for famuily history, this one fictional, but just as good.
Never Go Back by Robert Goddard. A group of men who did their National Service together are invited to a reunion. Suspenseful events take place, and a few end up dead. Good Thriller.
The NInth Stone by Kylie Fitzpatrick. A rae jewel, and Indian curse, an orphan all make up this thriller, as people end up dea in Victorian London.
Remarkable Creatures by Tracey Chevalier. A novel based around two friends whose hobby becomes an obsession. They find dinosaur fossils on a South coast beach, but their find is claimed by a man, as it was not a "femine pursuit" The two women are eventually recognised.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. Set in a post apocalyptic world, the novel follows Mary outside the safety of their compound and into the dangerous world outside it. Good read. First of a series.
I only got as far as p34 in this slim volume before I lost patience.
I' very sorry Ms Madden, but stream of consciousness novels are hard work, and I'm afraid I couldn't stick with this.
Usually I persevere, but after reading a classic, with all it's attendant verbosity, I still lost patience.
I truly wish there was a place where people posted ads for books they wanted to read and were willing to pay for a copy.
The germ of the tale of Frankenstein was created when Mary Shelly, along with Percy Bysshe Shelly and several others were at a lakeside during a storm. They challenged each other to come up with a suitable story.
Mary Shelly turned her stormy tale into a full length novel.
For loads of information about Frankenstein, click here.
Despite it being almost 200 years since it's publication, the novel is fresh and engaging. When the monster tells his part of the tale the reader feels every sympathy for him.
Above is the bumph from the back of the book, tells you enough to catch your attention, but doesn't give away much of the plot. It's by Jeanette Winterson, what else do you need to know, it's bound to be good.
Jeanette Winterson breathes more magic into this slim volume about the machinations going on behind the arrests of the women accused of witchcraft from Pendle in 1612. Much more magic than I have encountered in any other books based on the Lancashire Witches.
I also love the way she portrays Thomas Potts, as a jumped up jobsworth who sees witchcraft and popery everywhere he looks.
Another well crafted book from the pen of Jeanette Winterson
An engrossing book that starts with someone getting an unexpected promotion, then a woman who has served time in prison, wrongly convicted, for the murder of her children, is murdered. The only link to the reader is that the person who has received the promotion is working on a documentary about wrongly accused women.
It's a fast paced book with plenty to keep the reader's attention.
Sophie Hannah is a favourite of mine.
I only managed to read as far as page 41 in this novel before I gave up on it.
Stream of consciousness novels are not really my kind of read, and this is very disjointed, as the narrator into whose consciousness we are being given an insigth is a drug addict. He leaves of sentences half way through and jumps scenario, topic and time. I realise that this might be how a drug addict thinks, but it just got very frustrating and I gave up.
I have read stream of consciouness novels in the past and found most of them readable, but not the best book I have ever read.
I might in the future give this novel another try, as I have read If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by the same author, and from what I remeber I liked it.
My dislike might also be down to having just read two very different books and the change of pace threw me.