May Wrap Up 2016

May has felt like a month where I haven’t really got a lot read, which is daft now I look back and realise that I read no fewer than six books – five of which are included in this wrap up with one to follow in a review next week. I suppose it is because, whilst I greatly enjoyed many of the books I read this month, I’m in a bit of a book slump at the moment and my meh about some of May’s choices is probably just because of that. I’m going to cut myself some slack for June and maybe take a few days off from reading to see if that helps. In the meantime, onto May’s wrap up!

The Vegetarian by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith)

It is very rare to come across a novel that lives up to the promise of its cover blurb but reading Han Kang’s ‘The Vegetarian, which has recently won the acclaimed Man Booker International Prize, really is ‘an extraordinary experience’.

Explaining what the book is about is difficult because, for such a slim work, it really does pack a lot in however, at its heart, this is the story of a South Korean suburban housewife called Yeong-Hye who decides to give up meat as a result of a terrifying dream. This unusual decision has repercussions throughout her family, as we follow first her frustrated husband, then her brother-in-law and finally Yeong-Hye’s sister as they probe her reasoning, her mental capacity and her very existence.

Originally written as three interconnected novellas, each section reveals a different aspect of Yeong-Hye and the motivations behind her passive rebellion, as well as the impact that her startling decision has had on those around her. From her bland husband’s descent into sexual sadism, which eventually drives Yeong-Hye to self-harm and hospitalisation, we then move to her brother-in-law who makes the unwitting young woman the centre of his erotic fantasies and his increasingly unhinged video artworks. Finally, we are left with Yeong-Hye’s sister, her mirror image, who is struggling to connect her sibling’s fantasies of escaping her bodily prison with the reality in which she is now forced to live.

Filled with provocative imagery, surreal and compelling storytelling and a quiet intensity, this is a powerful novel about mental illness, personal freedom and societal taboo. If you don’t like the surreal and metaphorical, ‘The Vegetarian’ probably isn’t going to be for you but, for readers who don’t mind having to dig a little, this is a quietly intense novel with a great deal to unearth.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (read by Dan Stevens)

Sometimes (as in, when you're in a book hangover from an intense and complex novel like 'The Vegetarian') you just need to take a break and get a bit of Agatha in your life. I’ve generally only read Marple or Poirot before so this, a standalone about ten strangers marooned on an island and gradually being bumped off one by one, was a bit of change. As with all of her works however, this is a fiendishly plotted, twisty romp filled with more red herrings than you'd find in the average fishmongers. Plus the ending is, for me anyway, right up there with ‘Murder on the Orient Express’! 

It was great to listen to this as an audio - excellently narrated by Dan Stevens - as it really bought out the psychological tension of the story and the gradual unraveling of the characters. This is a far more psychological book than Christie's series novels with a real focus on the characters and their various faults and virtues. 

I can see why the novel causes difficulty for adapters and can be fraught with controversy however. Some of the language that Christie uses is extremely distasteful to modern readers/listeners and this can be quite jarring when you come across it. But personally I feel that it's important to remember the era the book was written in and also that these comments, when they appear, are reflective of Christie's characters' views and not necessarily of Christie herself - as with all her work, there is very little by way of authorial voice. So whilst that doesn't stop the comments being distasteful, I don't feel it stopped me enjoying the remainder of the story and it added to my perception of the character who expresses these views.  All in all, this is Christie at her most skilled when it comes to plotting & manipulation of her reader.

Carol by Patricia Highsmith

I had been so looking forward to reading this, which I have heard praised by numerous book bloggers since its rediscovery last year when the critically acclaimed film adaptation, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, was released. Billed as one of the first lesbian love stories to feature a happy ending, ‘Carol’ (originally titled ‘The Price of Salt’) is the story of awkward young sales assistant Therese, bored of her job and her boyfriend, who meets glamorous suburban housewife Carol and promptly falls madly in love with her.

The novel is often praised for being an honest look at the role and expectations of women in 1950s society and the dangers faced by those who dared to step out of line. Unfortunately, whilst I could completely see that this was what the story was trying to do, I just didn’t have any investment in the characters to make me care about their fate. Therese comes across as a whiney teenager with no sense of direction and Carol as a predatory older woman who picks up a young plaything because she’s bored and lonely. As for the men in their lives, Carol’s (soon to be ex) husband barely figures until he’s needed for plot purposes and Therese’s annoyingly optimistic boyfriend Richard was a one-dimensional irritant.

I always try to be somewhat positive about a book on this blog and I really don’t mean to flame ‘Carol’ but I had such high expectations and I was so disappointed. The whole novel felt like a bad Merchant Ivory film where everyone stands around staring at each other and its meant to mean something. I get that a lot of people love this novel but I really couldn’t get on with it and that was entirely down to the characters – Highsmith’s writing is fine and the plot, such as it is, hangs together well. But all of the characters felt like actors playing the worst kind of caricatures rather than people with motivations, whims and desires.

That said, I did subsequently watch the film adaptation to see how that handled the story and I have to say it was absolutely fantastic. Suddenly I could see why this is considered to be a brave and honest love story – I truly felt for Therese and Carol, I wanted to thump Harge and shout at Richard, I felt angry about the position these women were put into simply for being themselves. It’s so beautifully acted and the additional scenes that show Carol’s perspective (which you don’t get in the book) give motive to many of her seemingly cruel and inexplicable actions in the novel. The film is a marvel and I’d highly recommend you go watch it. As for the book? Well for me this was a rare instance of the film massively outclassing its source material but I am in the minority – the book has many admirers and I’d always say to try it for yourself.

The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

I will freely admit that I picked this YA book up entirely because of the cover. As an object this is just gorgeous, from the stunning cover artwork, through the maps on the French flaps, to the compasses and map lines drawn on each page. The story itself is, however, marginally less successful than the production values.

Thirteen-year-old Isabella lives with her cartographer father on the island of Joya, which is ruled by a despotic governor who forbids anyone to leave. When a village girl is killed by an unknown monster and Isabella’s best friend goes missing, Isabella disguises herself as a boy in order to lead the search into the island’s forgotten heart.

It’s a story with a nice blend of old-fashioned adventure, teenage angst and a dash of magical realism but it feels a little flimsy at times. This is a middle-grade novel so I’m not expecting the plotting to be Dickens or anything but I did feel a lot of the characters’ lack motivation, particularly the adults. I wanted to know more about why the governor was so cruel and what had happened that led him to take over the island. Similarly, Isabella’s dead brother is mentioned a lot but never figures in the plot itself so, to me, there was no reason for her to even have a brother, dead or otherwise. There were quite a lot of these little niggles – characters introduced and then tossed aside without any relevance to the plot, ancient myths that seem significant but never crop up again – that spoilt an otherwise very enjoyable blend of myth and adventure. That said, I did really like the focus on two strong and likeable female protagonists and the power of their friendship.

All in all, this was a quick and easy read and there is a lot to like about it but I just felt the story could have been a bit tighter, without quite so many loose ends and irrelevant diversions. It is gorgeous though and would make a great gift for any young readers in the family.

Satellite People by Hans Olav Lahlum

A simply ingenious continuation of the K2 detective series which began with ‘The Human Flies’ (reviewed back in March). This second book sees Norwegian Police Inspector Kolbjørn Kristiansen investigating the death of multimillionaire businessman and former Resistance fighter Magdalon Schelderup at a family dinner. Disliked and despised, even by his nearest and dearest, it soon becomes clear that only one of Schelderup’s ten dinner guest could have committed the crime. But which one was it? It isn’t long before K2 returns to the home of the brilliant and acerbic Patricia to enlist her in untangling the web of deceit that lies around Schelderup Hall.

Lahlum's plotting is up there with Christie's and will keep you guessing until the very end. And his detective duo, with their Holmes & Watson pairing, are engaging and likable - even if you share Patricia's frustration with K2 (especially when it comes his fallibility for attractive young women) at times! The 1960s setting does give the books a golden age feel but they do deal with issues such as homosexuality and single parenthood that Christie and her cohorts would have avoided, making Lahlum’s series perfect for fans of golden age crime looking for something with a modern twist.

And that was May! As I said, June promises to be a little different because I do want to see if I can shrug off this mini-slump. I’m butterflying from one book to another at the moment – a sure sign that I’m struggling – so I think I might take a few days off, chill out with some magazines and maybe enjoy some storytelling in another format such as a film or a game. That said, I do still have a teetering TBR pile with some very interesting looking books on it so I really hope it won’t be long before I’m back reading again. 

As always, I’d love to get your thoughts on any of the books mentioned, or any tips you might have on getting out of my book slump, so please do tweet me @amyinstaffs, say hi on Litsy (ShelfofUnreadBooks) or drop me a comment down below. And, until the next time…

Happy Reading! x

A Little Catch Up

Just a quick post this week with more of a general bookish life/reading update than a specific theme. 

Firstly, I wanted to mention a new book-based iPhone app (alas, no Android version yet) called Litsy. As the always excellent Book Riot site put it, Litsy is what would result if Goodreads and Instagram got together and had a baby - it's a clean-looking and easy to use app that allows you to post pictures of your current reads and write short blurbs, reviews and quotes from them. There is also an organisational element which allows you to create 'stacks' of books (To Read, Reading and Read). 

I've only been on it a couple of weeks but it definitely has a cleanness about its design that Goodreads lacks and it is considerably easier to navigate, allowing you to find fellow book nerds easily and to start creating content and entering into the community quickly. That said, brevity is key on Litsy, with each post limited to 300 characters so you'll still want to head to Goodreads to get a spread of opinion on a book or provide longer commentary. For anyone with an iPhone who likes books however, Litsy is a nice addition to book-based social media and I'd highly recommend giving it a try. You can find me on there at ShelfofUnreadBooks if you want to come say hello and check out my current reads.

I'm also starting the make summer reading plans, thanks in no small part to the annual Books on the Nightstand summer book bingo. If you haven't discovered Books on the Nightstand (BOTNS for short) yet then you've got a treat in store because it's an excellent weekly books podcast from across the pond in the USA. Alas, hosts Anne and Michael have recently announced a hiatus on the podcast from the end of June but there are several years worth of episodes available for download on their website (which they are keeping live for at least the next two years), which should provide plenty of listening joy for the uninitiated. 

For the last few years Ann & Michael have hosted a BOTNS Summer Book Bingo on the show. The idea is to print a randomly generated 5 x 5 square 'bingo' card which lists different categories of books and then attempt to get bingo over the course of the summer by reading a book that will fit each box. So, for example, your bingo card might include 'book set in another country' or 'over 500 pages' or 'by a Latin American author'. The idea is to widen your reading and take you out of your comfort zone whilst, at the same time, having a little fun and turning it into a bit of a game or challenge. The rules are what you make them however Ann & Michael suggest that you:

• Interpret the categories as you see fit
• Don't use one book for more than one square
• Use the Free Square for any book you want to read that won't fit into a category

I tried it last year and did find it a great way to get around to finally reading some books that have been 'bench-warming' on my shelves for a little while but that fitted the categories on my card. As I'm not a fan of a lot of the beach reads and airport fiction that fill shop shelves at this time of the year (I'm not dissing it, it's just I'm not a massive fan of romance novels and thrillers, which often seem to dominate summer reading lists), it's also a great way to keep me reading over the summer months. Last year, I managed to get 'bingo' on two lines before the official end date (the bingo technically runs from Memorial Day weekend in the States (i.e. this weekend) to Labor Day at the beginning of September) but this year I want to aim for full house and complete my card, so 25 books in total between now and September. The link to get a card is, as far as I know, live all year however so you can set whatever end date you want - or even keep printing cards if you enjoy the game and want to continue once you've completed one card. If you want to give it a go, you can print off a bingo card here - let me know in the comments how you get on! 

As a result of the BOTNS Summer Bingo ('translated fiction' is one of my squares), I'm currently reading Han Kang's 'The Vegetarian', which recently won the International Man Booker Prize. I'd heard such amazing things about this novel on a lot of book podcasts and also from some of my favourite people on Twitter so I've had it on my shelf for a couple of months but only now had the impetus to pick it up. I'm about a third of the way through so far (at little over 150 pages, it should be a quick one to read) and it is certainly a very accomplished novella, which appears to have been brilliantly translated into a spare, precise English by Deborah Smith. The content however is, whilst stunningly rendered in prose, quite disturbing and some of the imagery is very visceral. I look forward to reading the rest and being able to give you a review in my wrap up next week.

As always, I'd love to hear what you've been reading so come say hi on Litsy (ShelfofUnreadBooks), Twitter (@amyinstaffs) or post a comment below! And, as always, until next time...

Happy Reading! x

REVIEW: What Belongs To You by Garth Greenwell

When an author whose work I admire provides blurb for a book, I do tend to at least check it out. But when that author is Hanya Yanagihara, who wrote emotional rollercoaster ‘A Little Life’ (a book that had me in bits for most of last summer, see here), I really sit up and take notice. So when Hanya described Garth Greenwell’s debut novel ‘What Belongs To You’ as “a searching and compassionate meditation on the slipperiness of desire, the impossibility of salvation, and the forces of shame, guilt, and yearning that often accompany love”, I knew I wanted to read this book. And when Simon Savidge then raved about the novel on both his blog and in his You Wrote the Book podcast, it went straight to the top of my TBR. And, sure enough, it did not disappoint.

‘What Belongs to You’ begins with an American teacher entering the public bathroom beneath Sofia’s National Palace of Culture looking for sex. There he meets a young hustler called Mitko and so begins a relationship that comes to define his life – and that could also possibly destroy it. As our unnamed narrator tells his story, we are rapidly drawn into the dark dance that these two characters’ conduct around each other – a twisted waltz of desire and eroticism, love and manipulation that examines the ways in which our backgrounds and cultures, private shames and desires can shape the way we are.

It is difficult to believe that this is a debut novel, such is the power of Greenwell’s writing. This is a deeply lyrical book, which manages to render even the basest human actions and feelings with vivid, poetic intensity. Take, for example, the beginning of the narrator’s first encounter with Mitko in the public bathrooms under the National Palace of Culture:

“Even as I descended the stairs I heard his voice, which like the rest of him was too large for those subterranean rooms, spilling out from them as if to climb back into the bright afternoon that, though it was mid-October, had nothing autumnal about it; the grapes that hung ripe from vines throughout the city burst warm still in one’s mouth. I was surprised to hear someone talking so freely in a place where, by unstated code, voices seldom rose above a whisper.”

This is a man on his way into a public bathroom to pay a young man for sex but it is written with such richness and such sensual detail that it lends the encounter an almost poetic air. And the whole novel is like this – from the descriptions of dingy hotel rooms and Soviet era blokove to the narrator’s evocation of his childhood in suburban America and his first, intense friendship with a local boy. It is hauntingly beautiful writing that lingers long after you turn the final page.

And it isn’t just the writing that packs a punch. It is remarkable that the novel is less than 200 pages given the emotional resonance of the story, which examines the nature of love and lust, of desire and its consequences. Throughout his encounters with Mitko, which change from paid-for erotic encounters into a more complicated mixture of yearning, friendship, dependence and guilt, and his recollections of childhood rejection and a longing to be loved and accepted, the narrator remains a complex enigma, hidden from the reader because he remains hidden from himself. Mitko is also elusive, weaving in and out of the story and wearing many faces, both beautiful and terrible and often both at once. For a reader, it is writing that asks a lot of questions and offers little by way of answers. What is love and what is desire? Who is the predator and who the prey? Can we ever really know another unless we know our own selves?

As you can probably imagine, this does not make ‘What Belongs To You’ an ‘easy’ read. Although not a lengthy book, it makes many demands on the reader - rewarding close attention to the subtleties of human interaction via writing that insists on being savoured not sped through. Fans of pacy plots and sharp dialogue should look elsewhere, for this is a Merchant Ivory novel rather than a Hollywood blockbuster. Neither is it ‘light’ in any sense of the word. This is, at times, an unremittingly bleak book, which offers little by way of salvation for its characters. It’s not quite ‘A Little Life’ bleak but, as with Yanagihara’s bestseller, the forces of shame and guilt cast long shadows into the characters’ lives. Take the time to get through this however, and you’ll discover a richly layered novel with an aching, emotional heartbeat that makes ‘What Belongs To You’ a commanding debut from someone who is sure to become a literary writer to watch out for.

My thanks go to NewBooks Magazine and to the publishers, Picador, for providing an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review. An edited version of this review may appear on the Nudge website and in NewBooks Magazine. ‘What Belongs to You’ by Garth Greenwell is available now in hardback and e-book from all good bookshops and retailers. 

April Wrap Up 2016

It almost felt like I didn't read very much during the month of April but I appear to have still managed four books, in addition to 'Eligible' and 'The Midnight Watch', both of which I reviewed earlier in the month. There will also be a review of Garth Greenwell's 'What Belongs to You' going up at some point as I finished that today, just a little too late to be technically included in this wrap up. So apparently I've been more productive that I gave myself credit for! 

Gorsky by Vesna Goldsworthy

I picked this up because it was featured on the 2016 Baileys Prize longlist. Of all the literary prizes, the Bailey’s seems to most mirror my own reading tastes so I decided to give ‘Gorsky’ a go in spite of it apparently being a modern re-telling of ‘The Great Gatsby’, a novel I felt distinctly meh about when I read it at uni.

London dances to the turn of Gorsky’s millions but the Russian billionaire himself is proving elusive. Until that is, he turns up in a down-at-hell bookshop to request that Nicholas ‘Nick’ Kimović builds him the best private library in Europe. Drawn in by Gorsky’s alluring power and enviable lifestyle, Nick is soon attending swanky parties, where the elite of British society rub shoulders with newly arrived emigres from Russia and the Baltics. And, at the centre of it all is Gorsky – his money, his palatial new home and his abiding love for Natalia, the Russian wife of one of his new English neighbours.

As you can probably tell from the synopsis, this is a playful reimagining of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and the characters survive their updating in surprisingly good shape. Certainly I found Gorsky’s Natalia considerably less vapid than Gatsby’s Daisy, and Nick himself is an interestingly dislikeable narrator with a unique outsider’s perspective, both in terms of his class and his status as a Serbian immigrant, neither British nor Russian but a keen observer of both. All of the glitz and glamour of the original is here with a modern sprinkling of casual sex and even more casual drug abuse (both a little too casual and a little too frequent in my opinion).

So this is ‘Gatsby’ firmly re-located to the twenty-first century but with the addition of a knowing layer of contemporary concerns, such as the place of immigrants in modern British society and the increasing unaffordability of the London housing market for anyone who isn’t a Russian oligarch. As such, it works very well – the writing is infused with the heady scent of extreme wealth and the characters’ drift onto and off the page in a waft of affluence and ignorance. And that, unfortunately, is also the problem. If you have issues with ‘Gatsby’, as I do, you will have similar issues with ‘Gorsky’. So whilst I could appreciate the updating, I still found the plot to be thin, the character motivations unconvincing and the majority of the action to be without any real substance. I imagine ‘Gatsby’ fans on the other hand will be delighted with what is, in essence, a charming and accomplished updating of the tale, with some modern twists.

First Class Murder by Robin Stevens

Another accomplished outing for schoolgirl sleuth Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong, this time playing homage to Agatha Christie’s golden age classic ‘Murder on the Orient Express’.

Following the events of the ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ and ‘Arsenic for Tea’, Hazel and Daisy have been taken on the Orient Express by Hazel’s businessman father, who is determined to get them away from such scandalous situations and encourage ladylike (i.e. non-detective) behaviour. But when rumours abound of an international spy aboard the train, followed swiftly by the discovery of the body of one of the passengers, it isn’t long before Daisy and Hazel are conducting a covert investigation once again.

This YA series is proving to be an absolute delight, with each instalment adding a little more depth to the central characters whilst also retaining the series’ charm, humour and originality. Offering witty nods to the golden age of detective fiction, the series also manages to feel fresh and modern – quite a feat given it’s 1930s schoolgirl protagonists and Malory Towers style main setting! Although the series’ timeline is progressing rather slowly (‘First Class Murder’ takes place almost immediately after the events of ‘Arsenic for Tea’), it will be interesting to see how Steven’s grows her characters as the books progress - and with talk of war on the horizon in this book, I’m also curious to see if she takes them from the golden summers of the 1930s into the gritty environs of World War Two. Whatever Stevens chooses to do, I’ll be there for more Wells and Wong adventures!

Under The Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man by Tom Cox

If you’re not a cat fan, you might want to skip onto reading my thoughts on the second volume of Rat Queens because this book is a love letter to all things cat. If you are a cat lover however, read right on because you are among friends here!

Cox, a freelance writer and music critic, has written an entertaining account of the various cats who have been part of his life including his now ‘famous’ cats, The Bear (AKA @mysadcat) and Ralph (AKA @mysmugcat). Via a series of anecdotes, most of which manage to successfully tread the fine line between gentle sentimentality and mawkishness, he discusses his abiding love for his feline friends and how they have impacted on his life.

As a result, this is by no means the deepest of books but neither does it purport to be. In fact, ‘Under the Paw’ is exactly what it says it is – a series of recollections from one man about his cats, which is great for dipping into and out of when you fancy something that is gently amusing and easy to read.

Rat Queens Volume 2: The Far ReachingTentacles of N’rygoth by Kurtis J Wiebe

A great continuation of a fabulous series, with all the wit, charm, sass and expletive-ridden action of the first volume. In Volume 2, the eponymous Queens are drawn further into the nefarious plot to destroy Palisade and the reader gets drawn further into their messy and complicated lives. We get a little more backstory about each of the characters (apart from Betty who is sadly underused for most of this volume), as well as the development of their relationships both with each other and with the more incidental characters around them.

All of which is great, apart from that there is a LOT of plot going on in this second volume, which can get a little confusing at times. I’m still not entirely sure if I understand what happened to Dee at the end for example, or what’s going on with Hannah and her history and I’m hoping the answers to these questions, along with the others raised, will be answered in Volume 3.

This is however a very minor niggle in an otherwise excellent comic and I’m really looking forward to the next volume of this irreverent and anarchic series. If you haven’t read it already then what are you waiting for – go order Volume On already!

So, that was my reading for the month of April. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of the books mentioned - have you read them? Are you adding them to your TBR? And do you have any recommendations for future books for me? You can either drop me a comment down below or find me on Twitter @amyinstaffs. So, until the next time...

Happy Reading! x

REVIEW: Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

For all the apparent simplicity of her work, Jane Austen makes a very hard act for a writer to follow. Charlotte Bronte might have labelled Austen’s work as “a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of bright physiognomy” but, for something apparently so structured, capturing the essence of Austen’s light and playful writing is an extremely difficult task. So it was with some trepidation that I decided to read Curtis Sittenfeld’s ‘Eligible’, her take on arguably Austen’s best known novel ‘Prideand Prejudice’ – a book that happens to be one of my personal favourites. Sittenfeld is an admirable writer – I enjoyed her novel ‘Prep’ immensely and have heard only good things about ‘American Wife’ – but I’ve been burned by Austen rewrites before.

‘Eligible’ is the fourth book in The Austen Project, a HarperCollins published pairing of six bestselling modern writers with six of Austen’s classic works. So far, Joanna Trollope has tackled ‘Sense and Sensibility’ to modest reviews, Val McDermid’s ‘Northanger Abbey’ received a somewhat controversial reception and Alexander McCall Smith’s ‘Emma’ was warmly received but flew a little under the radar. I read Trollope’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’ and, for what it was worth, enjoyed it in spite of the fact that it changed very little of the original – which works absolutely fine in Austen’s nineteenth-century but arguably less so when transposed to the twenty-first. McDermid’s ‘Northanger Abbey’ was, alas, a DNF as soon as I realised I was supposed to buy the idea that a modern teenager with a smartphone would genuinely believe vampires existed. As for McCall Smith’s ‘Emma’? Whilst I like his writing well enough (especially his warm and gently Mma Ramotswe detective series), there is an element of McCall Smith’s writing that leaves everything feeling well…. a bit like another Alexander McCall Smith novel. So I gave his take on Austen a miss.

‘Eligible’ though is the first of the re-imaginings within the Austen project to break with tradition and ditch the original title. Which is great. It’s like Sittenfeld said, “Hey, you know what? This might be Pride and Prejudice but I’m going to do it my way.” Which is also why you’ll find that Meryton has become Cincinnati (which means that, yes, all of the characters are supposed to be American - Austen aficionados, if you need to go away and have a lie down then I’ll still be here when you get back), everyone has had about twenty years added to their ages (meaning Jane, Liz, Darcy and Bingley are all approaching forty) and, as with most adult relationships in the twenty-first century, pre-marital sex is a thing.

And you know what? ‘Eligible’ one of the most refreshing rewritings of Austen I’ve read and one of the few that has captured Austen’s wry sense of humour and her acerbic social wit. I’m keeping this review spoiler-free so I won’t go into particulars with the plot but Sittenfeld has managed to keep the classic events of the original (including a very clever take on Lizzy Bennet’s walk through muddy fields) whilst updating them in a plausible way. Her characters feel very much like twenty-first century women but, at the same time, they still feel like Austen’s characters too. And her social satire is laugh out loud funny – from exercise crazes to the pressure placed on women to have children, via doctor-clichés (Sittenfeld’s Darcy is a neurosurgeon) and fad diets – ‘Eligible’ is as observant and biting as Austen’s original.

Of course, there are a few minor niggles. Whilst it makes for a nice framing device, and a nice opportunity for satire, I enjoyed the sections relating to the TV show ‘Eligible’ (think ‘The Batchelor’ but…worse somehow) the least – but that’s probably because I’m really not a fan of reality TV. I did also find Sittenfeld’s Liz less likeable than Austen’s Lizzy. Austen somehow manages to keep her Lizzy on the witty side of bitchy whereas Sittenfeld’s…well, let’s just say she occasionally dips a toe over the line for a chapter or two! That said though, Sittenfeld’s Liz does have considerably more to put up with – the Bennet family, for all that they have been gloriously reimagined, are a nightmarish collection of the vain and the selfish in ‘Eligible’, with character traits that seemed merely amusing or embarrassing in Austen’s original now shown as being truly dangerous or spiteful in the ‘real life’ of Sittenfeld’s twenty-first century Cincinnati. Again, it’s hard to give examples without spoilers but I’ll just say that never before had I considered what terrible examples of parents Mr & Mrs Bennet truly were.

Overall, I enjoyed ‘Eligible’ immensely. It made me laugh, I sped through it and it updated Austen’s work without insulting the original but also without straining to laboriously re-create every detail. Like ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’, ‘Eligible’ has taken the essence of Austen and worked it in a new way. Now, that might not be for everyone and I daresay some Austen fans won’t welcome many of Sittenfeld’s changes to their beloved Elizabeth and Darcy. But, for me, ‘Eligible’ worked in the same way that P D James’ ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ or the TV series ‘Lost in Austen’ worked – it’s not trying to BE Austen, it’s just borrowing from her for a while and doing its own thing. Plus, it made me want to go back to the original ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and read that for the millionth time. Which can only ever be a good thing.

My thanks go to HarperCollins UK and to NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review. ‘Eligible’ is published by HarperCollins(The Borough Press) and is available in hardback now from all good book retailers. 

REVIEW: The Midnight Watch by David Dyer

So much has been written about the Titanic that it must be difficult for a writer interested in the subject to find a new angle. There are history books a plenty, diaries and letter, transcripts of interviews, novels, poems and plays, in addition to the myriad of TV series and blockbuster films. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that David Dyer has found something new to say about the Titanic disaster in this, his debut novel, ‘The Midnight Watch’.

Instead of focusing on Titanic herself, Dyer turns his focus to the men on board the Californian, the ship that was closest to the Titanic on the night of the disaster and saw her distress rockets but failed to go to her aid. Specifically, he looks at how a series of decisions taken during one cold April night impact the lives of three men: Stanley Lord, Captain of the Californian; Herbert Stone, her second officer and John Steadman, a Boston newspaper reporter who soon senses blood when the Californian docks.

By humanising the story and narrowing the focus to these three men, Dyer cleverly avoids a pitfall of other Titanic novels I have read – that of having too large a canvas. The Titanic disaster remains memorable for so many reasons: the luxurious nature of the ship, the famous people on board who perished, the safety warnings ignored in the pursuit of speed and luxury, the catastrophic loss of life amongst the passengers in third class, the fact that it marked the beginning of the end of an era. All of which is fascinating but is a quagmire for a novelist trying to capture it all. Whilst Dyer touches on many of these key aspects, he keeps his focus firmly on the Californian, bringing in other aspects of the Titanic mythos only as support for the story of Lord, Stone and Steadman. It is skilfully crafted and results in a novel that is tightly plotted and fast paced without losing any sense of the wider picture.

Lord, Stone and Steadman are all rounded, fully-realised characters. The viewpoint switches between Steadman’s first person narrative and a third person narrative, focusing on Stone. Steadman is an excellent character to be inside the head of - passionate, dogged and flawed and his hunt for the truth behind the Californian is the driving force of the novel. In contrast, Stone’s sections are more reflective, showing a man in danger of losing his sense of self and at odds with his place in the world. They are slower than Steadman’s first person narrative but provide an important contrast and help to tease out the finer details of the story. Lord, the most elusive of the three as he never narrates the novel, could be seen as the villain of the piece – the Captain who failed in his duty to aid a fellow vessel in distress – but Dyer treats him with both respect and sympathy. The men of the Californian were not bad men, he is saying, but unfortunate. They misinterpreted the signals given to them and, through a series of human errors and fatal flaws, failed to go to Titanic’s aid.

Without giving away any spoilers, the latter part of the novel is a story within a story and finally takes the reader onto the deck of the sinking liner herself. I rarely cry when reading fiction but this final part bought a tear to my eye. Dyer has such an ability to capture small details - the nervous tapping of fingers against teeth, the flicker of a frown across a face, the delight a small child would have in seeing an orange – and he brings this to the fore when describing Titanic’s sinking. The effect is very moving.

All in all, I was surprised in the extreme by this novel. It is an assured and, as far as I can tell, well-researched book and genuinely adds a new perspective on a tale that has already been very well told. For anyone interested in reading another perspective on the Titanic disaster, this is a suspenseful novel of human flaws and missed chances that I would highly recommend.

My thanks go to Atlantic Books and the Real Readers scheme for providing an advanced copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review. ‘The Midnight Watch’ is published by Atlantic Books and is available in hardback now from all good book retailers. 

March Wrap Up 2016

Another month, another wrap up! March madness at the day job, combined with a mid-month reading slump, did lead to March being a slightly less productive reading month than January and February in terms of physical reading. Truth be told, I was just too tired when I walked in the door at the end of the day to do much more than veg out with some YouTube videos or catch up on some TV, so reading was largely consigned to weekends and days off. I was saved by audiobooks and got a couple of really great listens in this month however, starting with…

One Summer: America,1927 by Bill Bryson (narrated by Bill Bryson)

I’ve been listening to this one on audio for a couple of months – it comes in at just over 17 hours – on my way to and from work and it’s a great book to dip into and out of whilst on the go, as well as being suitable for listening to in larger chunks. The book is an examination of the events of one summer that, Bryson argues, changed the face of America and forged the world power that we know today.

Whilst large in scope, Bryson does an excellent job of narrowing his topic into manageable chunks so that, before you know it, you’ve covered Charles Lindbergh and the birth of the aviation industry, Babe Ruth’s home run record, the seeds of the Great Depression and the growing concerns about the connection between fascism and eugenics and all without breaking a sweat! He does an excellent job of joining the dots between seemingly unconnected events to create a picture of the atmosphere and energy within America at the time in order to give a real sense of this period of great change and progress in the country.

If I had one criticism it is that, on occasion, Bryson can leave the reader (or listener, in this instance) hanging for a few chapters before picking up a particular thread of the ‘story’ again. Whilst this would probably be fine in a print book – you could just flick back a few pages and re-cap – it did leave me foundering on a couple of occasions as I struggled to remember exactly what had been said about the Sacco and Vanzetti case and why it was important. That said, it’s pretty easy to pick up the thread again after a couple of minutes so this is a relatively minor point all things considered.

This is the second audiobook I’ve listened to by Bryson (the first being his ‘Home: A Short History of Private Life’, which I can also highly recommend) and I have to say I would definitely listen to more. Bryson is such an engaging narrator of his own work that even the driest subject matter comes fully alive with his warm and avuncular tones really bringing out the humour, with and cynicism within the writing. And, whilst by no means an exhaustive book, – Bryson is aiming to give an overview for the lay reader rather than a detailed analysis for a history buff - I did feel that the topics covered were done so thoroughly and came away with a greater knowledge of American history at this period and how this impacted on later world events.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

Ah, the book that did a reading slump create. Which is not to say this is a bad book because it most definitely is not. A reflective account of the fate of American-Japanese citizens on a small island off the coast of Seattle after the events of Pearl Harbour, this PEN/Faulkner award winning novel is beautifully written and has clearly been crafted with a great deal of dedication and research. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop me from finding it terminally slow and, I’m afraid to say, somewhat dull.

The most frustrating thing for me throughout was that this book really shouldn’t be dull. It features an unexplained death, a murder trial, a bittersweet teenage love story, a little-known historical event of some importance, a healthy dose of small town intrigue and an examination of the psychological effects of combat packed into its pages. But the pace, oh the pace!

Starting in the courtroom, in which Japanese-American fisherman Kabuo Miyamoto is on trial for the murder of a fellow islander, the book slowly (and I mean, s-l-o-w-l-y) moves between the pre-war era, when tensions between Japanese settlers and islanders simmer below the surface, through the events and repercussions of Pearl Harbour and back to the present day when local reporter Ishmael Chambers is struggling with his unrequited love for Kabuo’s wife, Hatsue, with occasional detours via extended flashback to Ishmel’s time fighting in the Pacific and Hatsue’s life during internment.

The style and tone of the writing throughout is contemplative, with the author keen to ensure that the reader understands just how sweet the strawberries grown on Kabuo’s farm taste and exactly what the cedar tree that the young Ishmael and Hatsue conduct their trysts in smells like. Which, if that kind of writing floats your boat, probably makes this a beautifully written, reflective literary novel about love, death and the echoes of the past. Unfortunately, for me, the pace was just that little bit too slow and the writing just that little bit too meditative. As a result, despite the clear skill involved in the writing, I did find this book all too easy to put down and rather difficult to pick back up.

The blurb on the back, which focuses very much on the court case aspect of the plot (actually more of a framing device for the narrative than a plot strand in itself), did little to help as it meant I went into the novel expecting something very different from the book I read. I’m sure a lot of literary fiction lovers would really enjoy ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’ but I’m afraid that, for me, it was only the fact that this was a book club read that prevented this being a DNF.

Jeremy Hutchinson’s Case Histories by Thomas Grant

This was one of those books picked up completely on a whim in my local library. A bold, attractive cover design drew me in despite the fact that I had no idea who Jeremy Hutchinson was or why I would want to read his Case Histories. Turns out that more people should know who Mr Hutchinson is and that his Case Histories form a major part of recent English legal history and have helped to shape the moral compass of modern society.

During his career at the criminal bar, first as a newly qualified defence barrister and later as a leading QC, Jeremy Hutchinson was involved in some of the biggest trials of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including the defence of Christine Keeler (of the Profumo Affair) and of the publishers of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’. The cases covered in this book are varied, ranging from Cold War spying scandals to discussions about what is art and what is indecency. All of them provide examples of how the social and moral attitudes of the nation shifted dramatically from the 1960s onwards and Grant provides a lively discussion throughout of the ways in which societal changes impacted the verdict of the courts (albeit that leading judges appear to have been a little slow to catch on to the post-War zeitgeist) and vice-versa. Each account is animated and entertaining, as the very best of narrative non-fiction should be, and this makes a dry subject matter both lively and interesting to the lay reader. 

My only criticism would be that Grant does, at times, lean a little too much towards hero-worship of his subject – a fact that he openly acknowledges in his introduction to the paperback edition – but this is a minor one for there is clearly much in Jeremy Hutchinson’s career and character to admire. And besides, Grant does not claim to be writing an independent biography but a social history and, in that, he has done a very good job.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman  

The audiobook that did a reading slump end! A good friend of mine recently read this book and, during an afternoon of enjoyable walking, recommended it very highly to me. I’ve read Gaiman before – ‘Stardust’ is an old favourite (the film is excellent too), I reviewed his graphic novel ‘The Sleeper and the Spindle’ last year and I adore ‘Good Omens’, his collaboration with the late, great Terry Pratchett – but, for some reason, I’ve never got around to his other works, despite owning a couple of them. When I discovered that Gaiman himself read the audiobook version of ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’, I decided to experience it as an audio rather than acquire the paperback and I’m so glad that I did. I am sure that the book would be fantastic in whatever format you ‘read’ it but Gaiman is a wonderful narrator, bringing out all the surreal darkness of this fantastical tale.

The book is a modern fairy story in the very best sense and, like all true fairy stories, that means it gets (as Gaiman says in his introduction) very dark indeed. The unnamed narrator is looking back on his life following the death of his father, returning to a long ago summer when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, thereby stirring up ancient powers that were better left undisturbed. With the help of his enigmatic neighbour Lettie Hempstock and her family, our narrator is pulled into a world of dark creatures and old magic, a world where it will take all his courage to stay alive and to protect his family from the dark forces within that are now trying to destroy it.

The contrast between wistful portrayals of an idyllic country childhood and the growing sense of a dark, unstoppable menace really drives this book, taking the reader into the very heart of every childhood nightmare with no assurances that it will deliver you safely to the other side. Only the reassuring presence of Lettie Hempstock, truly one of the best female characters to have been created in modern literature, allowed me to hope for a ‘happy’ ending to Gaiman’s deliciously twisted tale.

Fans of Gaiman will, of course, adore this book, which plays with ideas of memory and fable, magic and reality and with the power of the stories we carry inside ourselves. For those not yet familiar with Gaiman, the audiobook is probably a better introduction that I imagine the reading experience would be – Gaiman’s narration hooks you from the very first sentence – but you might be surprised how dark the story gets. I’d say ‘Stardust’ would be a better jumping off point for new readers because ‘Ocean’, for all its dark deliciousness, is a little like jumping in at the deep end!

The Human Flies by Hans Olav Lahlum

More book club reading! In contrast to ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’ however, this was a joy to read – an homage to golden age crime fiction of the very best kind. Those who have followed this blog for a while will know that I’m a sucker for a bit of crime fiction but that I do prefer my crime to be on the cosier or classic end of the crime spectrum. I can enjoy a brutal bit of Scandi noir as much as the next person but too much by way of guts, gore and alcoholic detectives with broken family lives doesn’t really do it for me.

‘The Human Flies’ is the first of a series of Norwegian crime novels featuring the Detective Inspector Kolbein Kristiansen (known as ‘K2’) and his precocious Holmes-like teenage compatriot Patricia and takes as its jumping off point that classic staple of the golden-age, the locked room mystery. Set in Oslo during 1968, Resistance hero and former politician Harald Olesen has been found shot in his apartment, the door locked and with no one having gone in or out of the building. Cue a classic investigation of the buildings other tenants, involving red herrings, shadowy goings on and even some international intrigue!

Bestsellers in their native Norway, Lahlum’s ‘K2’ novels (the second of which, ‘Satellite People’ has also been translated into English and has made its way onto my TBR), knowingly pay tribute to the era of Christie and Sayers, as well as to the granddaddy of classic crime, Mr Sherlock Holmes, without ever devolving into pastiche. For fans of classic crime fiction, ‘The Human Flies’ will be delight to read – I got through it in two sittings – and you’ll look forward to adding more K2 mysteries to your reading pile!

So that was March, more of a struggle to read that to wrap up! On reflection, I did enjoy some very good books but I think the reading slump made the month feel like a long one at the time. April has already started well – I’ve been fortunate enough to have been sent a couple of excellent books for review and have some exciting reads on my TBR also. As always, please feel free to leave a comment to let me know what you are reading, or to join in the conversation over on Twitter @amyinstaffs.

Happy Reading x