Strange Magic - Syd Moore

Since December our town has had an indepedent book shop. The previous one closed down a few months before the pandemic and as a book lover I have keenly felt the loss and absence of a book based emporium! What's delighting me even more about this new one is that they hold regular events in the evenings. Since I am old and not as steady on my pins as I once was I decline to tramp the streets in the dark but now the lighter evenings are upon us I am going to attend as many of these events as possible. The first one I've booked for is a reading by a local author -  Syd Moore. I hadn't read any of her books and in fact I knew very little about her. But when I started to research her I found that she has written several books many of which (pun) are about - witches! I didn't want to go 'cold' to her reading so I purchased a copy of her first Essex Witches novel. I didn't know what to expect but I absolutely loved it! It is the first in a series of four featuring Rosie Strange who inherits a Witch museum (as you do!). It was funny, exciting, evenly paced. The dynamic between the two main characters was well sustained and it's made me hungry to read the rest of the series. Sam and Rosie travel the length and breadth of the British Isles -  well maybe that's an exaggeration but they do get about - trying to track down the bones of a witch executed in the 1500's! It's escapist and touches on the magical and supernatural giving plenty of material for discussion. Comfort zones are breached and opinions are reviewed. Historical facts abound and will have you indignant at the way women were treated. There is an attempt too to dispel the Essex girl myth. 

I expect I will buy a copy of her current book when I go to the reading and I'm hoping she might sign it for me. Watch this space!!

Romantic Comedy - Curtis Sittenfeld

This book seemed to garner quite a bit of attention on social media. And I'm never sure whether such books are worthy of the attention or whether they are the beneficiaries of a well oiled publicity machine. I know it was a Reese Witherspoon book club pick which can sometimes propel a book into a wider consciousness.  I was awarded a copy of this book for an activity on an online forum that I participated in. and I realise that I am a) late to the party and b) I haven't read any of the author's previous works. 

At the beginning I was wondering what the fuss was about. That's not to say I wasn't enjoying it, far from it, I was, but it didn't strike me as being exceptional in any way. That was until I got to a third of the way through and the epistolary section started with the emails between Noah and Sally. And then I kind of "got it". And I could begin to see why the book was garnering a lot of praise. Structurally it's very clever. 

I enjoyed the way the writer dealt with notions of celebrity particularly with the email exchange during lockdown, a situation that put people on a level playing field in some respects. Also it's a story about love and work.

I liked the character of Sally who seemed real in a world that could encourage delusion and falseness. I don't know much about the world of TV scripts and skits but I think I am better informed having read this story.  I also think the perception of celebrity is a fascinating one. I always remember being, envious, no, downright jealous, when I found out that Gary Numan had married a fan! It seemed a paradox that a famous person could even entertain then idea of consorting with a 'commoner' let alone pursue nuptials! So that aspect of the book was compelling. And for those of us who aren't celebrities we are pushed to imagine how it is for the paparazzi pursued superstars. 

I also liked Noah, although at times he came across as too damn nice! But we only ever get to see the real him through the emails because the story is told from Sally's perspective. But it is told with humour and compassion and the narrative style is easy and almost deceptive because there are some deep truths being discussed here concerning romance and fame. 

Ultimately I enjoyed the book and I'm pleased I read it but I am not motivated to seek out the writer's previous works with any urgency. Perhaps I was expecting more because of the social media buzz? 

I think Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling would be great in a movie of this book!

My thanks to Bookmarks for my copy. 

The Household -Stacey Halls

 

I read Stacey Hall’s first book, The Familiars, and loved it. I made a mental note to keep an eye open for her future work. I'm ashamed to say that I still haven't read The Foundling or Mrs. England but I will. And if I needed any extra motivation reading The Household was the best thing I could have done! 

The book is what I like to call 'faction' - it's an historical novel based on true facts. The titular household refers to Urania Cottage, the property that Charles Dickens founded with the aim of helping 'fallen' women. He did this with the help and financial assistance of Angela Burnett-Coutts.

The residents of that cottage, selected from inmates of prisons and workhouses, provide the substance of the novel and their stories unfold alongside that of Angela Burdett-Coutts which offers a neat balance between two different social groups. 

Although Dickens is referenced many times in the story centre stage is given to the female characters. What I enjoyeded very much was that the supposed 'fallen' women were portrayed, not as victims to be pitied, but as resourceful, and determined people trying to make the best of the lives they were leading. Their stories nestle alongside that of Ms. Burdett-Coutts as equals.

In some ways I had the feeling that it was what I like to call a 'big house' story but that may have been because of the moneyed Ms.Burnett-Coutts!

All the women have their stories and they interlink very cleverly with some tight plotting. But you can’t have an historical novel without some serious research; not just the facts of the period but the essence of the period. Dialogue, locations, attention to the smallest detail bring the narrative to life and transport the reader back to Victorian England. 

There are mysteries to ponder, obstacles to overcome and the notion of freedom explored between the rich and the not so rich. There’s compassion and drama, in fact there’s a little of everything! A most absorbing and captivating story. I’m off to procure copies of Mrs.England and The Foundling. 

My thanks to Readers First for my prize copy.

Mystic Orchards - Jonathan Koven - Blog Tour

A Mystic Orchard whose word trees bear the most exquisite and ripe fruits. A crop that explores the berries of family, the hips of trauma, the drupes of love and relationships, dripping with juice and sweetness.

 

And so Jonathan Koven’s collection of poems has the poetry hungry salivating until the last page when the willing reader will sit back, utter a sigh, completely satiated. 

 

The poems are lyrical, pastoral, ethereal. The language and ideas are elaborate and reading aloud is, in my opinion, essential. (But then I think ALL poetry should be read aloud!)

 

The collection is cohesive as themes and images recur. There are some prose pieces alongside the poetry which just seem to fit perfectly amongst the verse. There is a complexity to the expression of ideas which set the reader contemplating the fabric of life.

 

You get a sense  of someone entrusting you with their deepest, innermost thoughts and feelings which gives the collection an intimacy that is immersive. I also had the sense that each piece is so very carefully and lovingly crafted and I was reminded of Sylvia Plath.

 

As I read I compiled a collection of my favourite lines and expressions ;

 

‘……….silence will take

The shape of an old slow morning….’

 

‘Spread me wide 

With this brand of summer.’

 

‘….unfurl as a poem

No one reads….’

 

‘We wear November….’

 

 

‘having waited to understand charm in the sorrow

Of waiting…..’

 

‘millennium of moments…’

 

‘….sonnets of patience….’

 

‘Childhood a jewel.’

 

‘…….hideous blanket of ineloquence.’

 

If I had to state my favourite poems I think I would choose Insomnia Wish, Our Talisman and I Read a Name in the Sun but that’s always a tricky business, narrowing them down! I think I would like to take this book to a secluded area of natural beauty and read the poems aloud to the birds and the butterflies, perhaps the flowers and trees, maybe an orchard even!

 

Thank you to Isabelle Kenyon of Fly on the Wall Press and to the poet himself for a signed copy. 

  

March Round Up

 

Sarah Pearse – The RetreatI read The Sanatorium and thoroughly enjoyed it so I was interested to read the follow up. I enjoyed that, too, but I thought it had many similarities with the first story. I suppose it’s not necessarily a bad thing – if the formula works use it? But I think it could only work for so long before it became tedious and as a reader you knew exactly what was coming.

 

Andrew Hyde – To Muddy Death

Andrew is a local author, and I had the pleasure of attending his book launch at our local library. He signed a copy of the book for me. I didn’t know anything about him before the event. This is his debut novel, and I was impressed for the most part. It’s a crime story and its pretty gripping. 

 

Richard Osman – The Last Devil to Die

I’ve been borrowing these from my library. Reserving them as it happens, because they are so popular I don’t think they even see the shelves!! But you can’t control when they are going to become available, so I read this last in the series before The Bullet That Missed. I don’t think it matters. They’re easy reading and very entertaining.

 

Brian Chaucer – Seventy-Seven and Counting

This was a delightful autobiography by a gay man who, in his seventies, upped sticks and relocated to Lithuania – as you do! It’s a delightfully honest and entertaining account of a life lived to the full. Brian tells of the challenges he faced when moving to another country as well as his past life in this country. He has turned his hand to any number of jobs and ventures which he recounts in the most readable detail. 

 

Alex Michaelides – The Fury

I have a prized signed copy of The Silent Patient, but I’ve not read his second book yet. This, third, was another loan from my brilliant library. Full of twists and turns but I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Silent Patient.  I fear my expectations were too high, I found myself underwhelmed. That’s niot to say I didn’t enjoy it for I did but I wasn’t wowed.

 

Christina Maraziotis – Ghost

I’ve had a copy of this for a while but at over 700 pages I needed to know I had plenty of time to read it! It’s the third in the series and they are all hefty tomes. They are historical novels set in the US. There are many more books planned for the series and I am always astounded by the author’s passion and commitment for her stories and characters. 

 

Lionel Shriver – Mania

This is a fascinating dystopian tales of an alternate 2011 where there is ‘Mental Parity’ No such thing as intelligent and no such thing as stupid, all are equal. So anyone can be a brain surgeon! Chaos ensues and woe betide anyone who might oppose the regime. Shriver’s main character does and how. Thought provoking read. 

 

William Shaw – The Wild Swimmers

I’ve read all of William Shaw’s books from Breen and Tozer to Alex Cupidi. As well as being darn good crime yarns, they are set in a part of the country that I’m familiar with which I always think adds something to the story! Or is that just me?

Jonathan Koven - Mystic Orchards

Won't say too much about this as it is for a future blog tour! It's a beautiful collection of poetry.

The Dark Within Them - Isabelle Kenyon - Blog Tour

 

I can't remember exactly when my association with Isabelle Kenyon and Fly on the Wall Press began but it's been a few years now and I have found her to be such a generous and supportive tour organiser. Some wonderful books have come my way, poets and writers who I might not have come across otherwise. I remember buying a copy of Isabelle's short story Andy and the Octopuses a while ago and being impressed by her quirky and original concept. So I had no hesitation in preordering a copy of her first novel, The Dark Within Them.

I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting from the book but it certainly wasn't this at all! A thriller set in a Mormon community in Utah! Oh my word! What a tale! It had me on the edge of my seat wondering what the hell was going to happen next! 

From the opening chapter the story is a thrill ride with dips and turns that will have you open mouthed in disbelief. Using a dual narrative between Amber and Chad the story of their ill-fated marriage unfolds cleverly with a beautifully constructed narrative that drips feeds its readers with a smattering of clues here and there. And yet all the way through there is a chilling undercurrent of iniquity. 

The characters are hard to like!! But I think that's intentional. You begin by starting to like both Amber and Chad but that doesn't last long, not for me anyway! I could smell trouble! The kids are more likeable but their teenage, hormonal attitudes irked me at times. However I'll let them off! Because they were catapulted into an untenable situation. I thought that if Amber could extricate herself from the toxic environment there was some hope and redemption for her.

The plotting is perfect and the way the tension is built up throughout the book creates such a state of unease and jeopardy. But much is achieved through the careful placing of clues and signs that aren't direct but more subtle, demanding the reader pay attention and interpret what is right under their noses. 

If it's 'just' a story you want then you have one in abundance but if you want a little more from your fiction then you have that too for there is much to think about regarding organised religion and its attitudes, family life and relationships, friendships and spirituality, motivation and justification.

This is a cracking debut and I can't wait for the next book from Isabelle!

My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon and Fly on the Wall Press for sending me my pre-ordered copy early so I could have a place on the blog tour. 

Mania - Lionel Shriver

 

Oh my, this is delicious! Shriver at her outspoken best! A dystopian alternate timeline novel, from 2011 to 2027, that could be a parable for our times. Astute, perceptive the story demonstrates what can happen when one point of view is taken to its limits by a minority and spirals out of controlled control! 

Here, it is intelligence that is for the chopping board!! Mental Parity is the new buzzword, the correct PC term for a whole nation. It basically means that everyone’s brains are equal, there is no such thing as a clever person or a stupid one.  Anyone can do any job they fancy. All references to anyone being dumb or stupid together with a whole lexicon of forbidden terms carry sanctions.

 

The central character is Pearson Converse and what a delightful play on words than name is! I also thought that the character may have much in common with Lionel Shriver herself!  Forgive me if I’m wrong! ’d prefer not to give too much away. But Pearson, having been raised by Jehovah’s Witnesses and subject to that extreme dogma, manages to escape it but then finds herself in the middle of a different regime that still threatens her freedom. 

 

Her best friend Emory Ruth is one of those ubiquitous folks who runs with the herd, to fit in maybe, to have an easier life perhaps, in Emory’s case much is to further her career, but will happily change opinion when the tide turns, an archetypal hypocrite.

 

Pearson Converse is no sheep, but she pays a heavy price for refusing to embrace the Mental Parity ideology. 

 

Shriver is an erudite author, and I got the feeling that much of this book was an eloquent expression of her own disquiet with the world as it is today. It is set in the US so some of the politics may be elusive for readers across the pond but the points being made are not elusive in the least. 

 

It's a tour de force with some humour but much latent anger. Shriver’s vocabulary is to be envied, it’s expansive and intelligent. But the book may be divisive. I imagine some book groups will enjoy some heated discussions!

It is thought provoking too and I hope it is not prophetic.

 

My thanks to Readers First where I was lucky enough to win a copy in one of their draws. 

3 Shades of Blue Miles David John Coltrane Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool - James Kaplan

 

It took me longer than usual to read this book. Why? Was it difficult to read? Poorly written? No, no and no! Quite the reverse. It was so well written it had me plundering my CD collection to listen to Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme more than once not to mention some Thelonious Monk. For me this book gave the music an added nuance if that were even possible. 

This is a niche book for jazz lovers, particularly bebop fans and fear not if Davis, Coltrane and Evans aren't necessarily your bag because the whole book reads like a Who's Who of jazz. So you get an insight that goes beyond our titular trio. Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderly, Max Roach, Chet Baker - I could go on. But I guess it's a volume that might also appeal to music historians keen to see how jazz reached a kind of peak in the fifties and sixties. I suppose, too, sociology buffs might also be interested in the drug culture that seems almost endemic amongst the jazz fraternity. 

Coltrane, Davis and Evans all played on the seminal Davis album Kind of Blue often considered to be the best jazz album ever. This book looks at how those three guys arrived at that place and where they went afterwards. 

Kaplan digs deep and gives us the musicians warts and all. He seems to reach the heart and depth of all three men teasing out what made them all tick. He shows their place amongst their peers and critics. But most importantly he shows their commitment to music and their own creative development. And I defy anyone reading NOT to go scuttling off to listen! 

Books like these can often be quite dry, the passion and enthusiasm for the subject matter paradoxically rendering the narrative narrow and over detailed. But Kaplan doesn't fall into that trap. This book is very readable and the flowing style encourages you to read on. Yes, there's some musical technical language but it isn't hard to understand especially if you have an interest in music form. 

You come away from the book feeling like you've got to know the three players a little better and more significantly you can understand their music a little better. 

I absolutely loved this book and am so grateful to Olivia-Savannah Roach of Canongate Books for sending me a gifted copy. 

February Round Up

 

I’m not one of these readers who set themselves reading goals. I read what I read when I read it. Some choices are dictated by proofs, arcs and blog tours but they’re fewer now than ever so I can indulge in my own selections. 

 

Speaking in Tongues – Jeffery Deaver 

I was sent this book as part of a book bundle at Christmas from my sister. I’d read a couple of Jeffery's novels before so thought I knew what to expect but whilst I found this gripping it wasn’t a pleasant read. 

 

The Fox Wife – Yangsze Choo

I was so thrilled to receive an advance copy of this book from a publisher who I thought had dropped me off their lists years ago. I read The Night Tiger as part of a buddy read initiated on social media and it was a lot of fun. The book will stay with me forever particularly the character of Ren. This latest offering from this author is a shapeshifting homage to the fox, full of intrigue and mystery and no less haunting than The Night Tiger.

 

Poor Things – Alasdair Gray

I borrowed this from the library as I was intrigued by the film buzz. I haven’t seen the film yet, but Emma Stone is one of my favourite actresses and I see that she won a BAFTA for her performance.  I expect I’ll wait for it to be shown on TV. I thought the book was a vehicle for the author’s political and sociological opinions, but it was certainly a phantasmagoria of a book!

 

The Dark Within Them – Isabelle Kenyon

Isabelle Kenyon is an independent publisher at Fly on the Wall Press. She often invites me to participate in blog tours and is understanding of my need for physical books. As a blog tour organiser, she is one of the most supportive and encouraging I’ve worked with. So, I preordered a copy of her book because I was interested, and I wanted to support her back. I didn’t know what to expect with this book, but I could never have imagined this. – a thriller set in a Mormon community in Utah! It’s quite a dark tale with plenty of twists and turns, plenty to keep me guessing.

 

The Sanatorium – Sarah Pearse

I had seen this book on social media, and I chose it as a prize from a publisher following my participation in a bookish community. I found it to be gripping and tense and heading towards the ‘unputdownable’ genre although I felt it fell away a little towards the end. That didn’t stop me borrowing the next in the series The Retreat, which I’m reading currently. 

 

Umbilical – Teika Marija Smits

This was a collection of short stories sent by the author herself after soliciting for my attention on social media. Always a gamble when a writer does this, but I go with my instincts and my gut told me this was sound. I wasn’t wrong. It’s a highly readable collection of sci fi, fantasy type stories with many allusions from mythology and folk lore.

 

3 Shades of Blue – James Kaplan

This was brilliant. I was offered a copy form the publisher on the strength of a previous request I made for a music genre book. The book looks at the development of jazz from the bebop era using the lives and careers of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Bill Evans as the focus of the book. It is a feast for jazz fans and ever since reading I’ve been playing nothing but the music of these giants of the genre. 

New Gillion Street - Elliot J Harper - Blog Tour

 Okay, listen up. Don't read this book. I FORBID you to read this book. Unless.......unless.....you have an imagination as wide as the ocean and as deep as a bottomless pit. The author has so it seems only fair that the reader should too, and trust me, you will need it and it will stand you in good stead.

In politically-neutral Neo-Yuthea, Albert Smith's orderly life is disrupted when Mr Zand campaigns for Mayor.

Shocking deaths caused by strange forest creatures, enforced arranged marriages, and the impending suppression of Albert's secret garden meetings bring the community to the brink of chaos.

Albert and his neighbours must rally together, resisting the encroaching darkness, and fighting for their freedom before their world crumbles.'

Elliot J Harper has  created an immersive landscape, possibly in a galaxy far, far away, but this doesn't hit you as a stereotypical science fiction novel in terms of planet hopping in spaceships and hurtling through hyperspace. There's elements of speculative and fantasy fiction too. One of the things I enjoyed was the paradox of describing fairly normal and straightforward pursuits, like drinking tea, familiar to us in our present day earth alongside some weird and otherworldly happenings, not to mention hanging out with some weird and wonderful otherworldly beings!

New Gillion Street is a settlement created and populated by survivors of a space ship crash after they left Yuthea (which I think we can interpret as earth) to seek a new life elsewhere. The planet upon which they landed was already populated and those 'indigenous' inhabitants aided the survivors to create a new society on the understanding that they remain separate. Neither strays into the domain of the other. And it works. For a while. 

The Odds and Evens reminded me of Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses, so the seeds of a division are sewn early on. I also thought of Animal Farm, 'all animals are equal but some are more equal than others' when Mr. Zand decides to assert himself as a leader. But if all that sounds like stuff you've read before you won't have been bargaining on the expansive imagination of Mr. Harper. The world created is like none you've ever visited with overwhelming beauty and characters that range from a talking, swearing garden gnome to the Narda, a peaceful and wise race who I wish would populate earth, right here, right now. 

I wouldn't want to plot spoil because exploring that is one of the joys of the book but also words are inadequate to truly describe how the initial narrative explodes into a landscape so far removed from all that we know. It had me thinking of the author, whatever he's on, I want some! 

But it isn't just an intergalactic fun romp there's some serious intent behind the story. I mentioned Animal Farm? The character of Mr. Zand prompted that with his aspirations, his devious contriving, to bend the inhabitants of New Gillion Street to his will. These sequences illustrate the frailty of life's infrastructures and how in the wrong hands the changes can become devastating. There's a political undercurrent to the book but fear not if politics isn't your bag because it doesn't dominate and the book also has plenty to say about love on many levels. 

The writing sparkles along with pace and clarity reaching a conclusion that should satisfy us all. Even the facking gnome.😉

My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon of Fly on the Wall Press for a gifted copy and a place upon the blog tour.

Umbilical - Teika Marija Smits

 

I look at the best seller lists sometimes and I find myself thinking, why? I receive a book like Umbilical and I find myself asking the same question. But for a different reason. Why hadn't I heard of this book before I was sent a copy? Why isn't it all over social media? I've seen and read books that have been splashed about all over the place and they aren't half as good as this. I know that short stories don't always get the accolades they deserve. I long for that to change. It would be fantastic if this were the book to do that. 

As a book blogger I am sometimes asked directly by authors if I would care to read and review their books. My decision rests on my own gut instinct, and whether there's a physical copy because I can't bear e-reading. Often that's the end of the story and I get it because economically and environmentally ebooks make sense. But every once in a while an author is willing to send me a paper copy and I am always very grateful that they are willing to invest in my humble opinions. When this writer approached me via social media my instinct radar started buzzing even though the genres listed weren't amongst my favourites, I don't do horror! (As a young teen the Pan Book of Horror Stories Volumes 1 and 2 did the rounds in the playground and I think they scarred me for life! ) But instinct rules, and a sample story which I did e-read convinced me that I would find something in this debut collection of short stories.

However I wasn't prepared for just how good this collection is. This is writing of quality, compassion and intelligence. Each story is different and original but there is a cohesion that binds them all together. I particularly liked how the opening poem is referenced again in the concluding story, such a subtle move but so effective.  

There is an almost futuristic fairy tale quality to many of the stories and although they may appear benignly different initially there are threads and themes running though the entire collection which offers the reader a pleasing cohesion. The Greek myths provide a wealth of inspiration for some tales, Theseus, Icarus, Daedalus, characters from global folk lore, Baba Yaga, Bluebeard and The Green Man, some literary heroes, Sherlock Holmes and they all nestle alongside some deliciously futuristic scenarios -  instead of an engineer coming to service your boiler, in the opening story he comes to service the AI ! For some reason I thought of Hal and 2001:A Space Odyssey as I read of Marvin, so called because he hears things through the grapevine! If you don't get that allusion then you're not as old as me! Little touches like those were a delight to encounter as I wove my way through the narratives, enchanted by the creativity and the unfettered imagination of this author. 

Thematically the stories are diverse and in the hands of a lesser writer it might not work as a collection but it does here because there are subtle strands that knit the stories together.  They are not overtly feminist stories yet the female as an archetype populates many of the stories whether they are set in some dystopian future or a 19th century past. The bind between mothers and daughters is wonderfully explored in the titular Umbilical. Parenting, marriage, miscarriage are all compassionately explored in other stories. 

As a metaphor the labyrinth appears in a couple of stories, most effectively in the concluding story The  November Room, one of my favourites, and you come away from the book feeling that you have in some way navigated the labyrinth of life in so many of its aspects. 

There's nothing superficial about these tales, they are at times deep and challenging but redemption is never far away. It is a considerable skill to explore intense themes without descending into bleakness and negativity and to offer hope to the reader. 

My thanks to the author Teika Marija Smits who offered and gifted me a copy, and my thanks to my instinct that urged me to accept. 

You could treat yourself and buy a copy - http://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.asp?id=229&referer=Catalogue

The Fox Wife - Yangtze Choo

 

I will confess that I struggled to start reading this book. Why, I hear you ask? Because I knew that once started I would read on and on until I had finished and once read it couldn't be unread. And I knew it would be one of those books where I would feel sad that I'd finished it because I would want it to go on forever and there may be quite a wait before the author's next book! Yangtze Choo is one of those authors who you could never call prolific but the old adage 'quality not quantity' applies here. I fell in love with this author's work when I read The Night Tiger. I was lucky enough to snaffle a proof before its 2019 publication date and I was also lucky enough to participate in a social media buddy read organised by the publisher Quercus Books. The book and that experience will stay with me for ever. 

The Fox Wife is a very different book in terms of content but the themes are still there, an element of fantasy, the nature of creatures and their place in our world, the convergence of humans, animals and spirits.

Foxes sometimes get a bad rap. Certainly in the UK urban foxes have become a familiar part of the landscape. I have one who visits regularly and gave birth to four cubs last season to the frustration of some neighbours around me and to the delight of myself! There is a certain mystique that they carry with them, in part through their physical appearance in that sense sometimes that they are laughing at you and something more, something undefined yet present in an other wordily sense.

That sense is captured here in the novel. 

'Manchuria, 1908.
In the last years of the dying Qing Empire, a courtesan is found frozen in a doorway. Her death is clouded by rumors of foxes, which are believed to lure people by transforming themselves into beautiful women and handsome men. Bao, a detective with an uncanny ability to sniff out the truth, is hired to uncover the dead woman's identity. Since childhood, Bao has been intrigued by the fox gods, yet they've remained tantalizingly out of reach--until, perhaps, now. 

Meanwhile, a family who owns a famous Chinese medicine shop can cure ailments but can't escape the curse that afflicts them--their eldest sons die before their twenty-fourth birthdays. When a disruptively winsome servant named Snow enters their household, the family's luck seems to change--or does it? 

Snow is a creature of many secrets, but most of all she's a mother seeking vengeance for her lost child. Hunting a murderer, she will follow the trail from northern China to Japan, while Bao follows doggedly behind. Navigating the myths and misconceptions of fox spirits, both Snow and Bao will encounter old friends and new foes, even as more deaths occur.'

Although we are given a year when the novel starts there is a timelessness to the narrative, a fey, almost dreamy sense as we begin our journey with Snow and Bao. It's a slow start, measured and controlled, offering us information, thoughts to conjure with, the reader can settle and adjust to an ambience of the Orient and a culture probably very different from the one they are used to. The notion of shapeshifting is fundamental to embracing the story. The mythology of foxes, so important in Chinese lore,  is prevalent and a sense of folk mythos, enigmatic yet tantalising. 

The chapters shift between Snow's perspective and Bao's. Both are on journeys with different intents; Snow to find a murderer and Bao to uncover the identity of a murdered courtesan. I loved the way the story progressed and developed as you feel the convergence of their two paths approaching.

Yangtze Choo's writing is hypnotic, mesmerising almost. Her characterisations are so empathic that even if a character is of dubious integrity there remains a draw, a pull, a desire to find the good in them. And the atmosphere she creates is almost surreal. And yet as well as being full of ethereal mystery it is also a detective tale! 

I feel credit too must be observed for the historical aspects of the novel, some serious research has been undertaken here and it all reads so authentically.  

My thanks to Ana McLaughlin at Quercus Books for a gifted proof.

Poetry Unbound - Padraig O Tuama

 

Poetry Unbound is an engaging anthology of 50 poems with the intention of opening worlds and I think it will do just that. I say I think it will because I will confess straight away that I haven’t read all the poems yet. That’s just not how I read poetry. I like to read a poem and savour it for a while, letting the intent and images wash over me and infuse me with its power. Reading one poem after another just doesn’t work for me. But that can take me quite a while before I ‘finish’ an anthology. It doesn’t bother me to do that but when publisher has been kind enough to send me a copy, I feel the commitment to offer some kind of response as close to the publication date as possible. 

 

What makes this diverse selection a little different from other anthologies is the text that accompanies each poem.  Padraig O Tuama has lovingly crafted a structure for each poem where he offers a brief introduction before the poem itself then he gives us his feelings and responses, a little lit crit maybe, some information on the poet which somehow gives the poems a wider context and the experience of reading them a greater intimacy .

 

There are poets I ‘know’ –  Margaret Atwood and Lemn Sissay for example and some who are new to me. As with any collection I always read each poem aloud  and  I already have my favourites;  Song by Tracy K. Smith – powerful in its observational simplicity, A Blessing by James Wright – a moment captured and analysed  so succinctly and delicately. 

 

It's a quite delightful collection and even when I have read all of the poems in it I shall return again and again. 

 

My thanks to Canongate Books for a gifted copy. 

A Spell of Good Things - Ayobami Adebayo

I read this author's previous novel Stay With Me, an unusual Nigerian tale of love, impotence and deception. I was interested to read her second book where I can see the author developing her style and expanding her themes which never stray far away from her rich Nigerian culture but also issues facing class and society and where the two might overlap. 

Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child of a wealthy family. Now an exhausted, young doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, the volatile son of family friends.

Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man. His father has lost his job, so Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor, and begging, dreaming of a big future.

In this breathtaking novel, Ayobami Adebayo, shines her light on Nigeria, the gaping divides in its society, and the shared humanity that lives in between.'

The story works well with the two perspectives of Eniola and Wuraola. Both are well developed characters and the reader can become invested in their stories feeling their pains and frustrations and willing them both to rise above the challenges that society and life throws at them. I found it fascinating to observe the family dynamics of both protagonists from a culture so very different from my own. I feel better informed and more aware and more outraged, I guess, at some of the issues and events in the novel. I had to reread the concluding sections more than once because I hoped that if I re read the ending, it might change. Of course it doesn't and I found it heartbreaking. 

I doubt there is a single country in the world that is not in possession of some inequitable laws and social conventions and politicians of questionable morals  this book certainly details the situation in Nigeria. 

It's compelling reading but by no means a feel good read, its quite bleak with the occasional upbeat moment. There were times when I struggled to engage fully with the narrative yet others where I couldn't put the book down. It's a masterful piece of writing and would seem to cement Ayobami Adebayo's place as a foremost Nigerian author.

My thanks to Canongate Books for a gifted, readalong copy. 

Speaking in Tongues - Jeffery Deaver

 

I have to say that this book gave me something of a conundrum. On the one hand it gripped me and ensnared me in its web so much so that I simply had to find out what happened. It's not a whodunnit it's a whydunnit and to an extent I figured a potential reason but without the specifics. On the other hand, if I am honest, I found it to be an unpleasant story with a particularly nasty character. So there was no sense of well-being after having read it, no sense of having read a great book, so no sense, really, of enjoyment. It's not that I'm squeamish but it all seemed gratuitous, as if the story had been constructed around the violence and deceit, the narrative was a vehicle to showcase some loathsome behaviour. And I'm probably upsetting Jeffery Deaver fans everywhere! I did read Coffin Dancer and The Sleeping Doll many years ago and  I don't remember feeling like this but Speaking in Tongues left me underwhelmed. 

'Words are the most dangerous weapons on earth – and Tate Collier has a consummate skill with them. He can talk his way into anyone's heart, get them to do whatever he wants. This served him well when he used to defend death penalty cases in Virginia's Supreme Court; it also made him enemies.

Then his teenage daughter goes missing. All the signs are that she's run away. But Tate and his ex-wife, Bett, feel differently. When they set out in search of her, they soon discover that Megan is in the hands of a man, with no morals, and a gift for words, coercion and deceit, as great as Tate's.

And Megan is not the only one in danger…'

The Intern - Michele Campbell

 

Wow, this is a chiller thriller that had me on the edge of my seat, looking over my shoulder and checking all my home security was intact! A story from two perspectives; Madison Rivera, the intern of the title, young, ambitious, and a seemingly respected lawyer Kathryn Conroy. 

Madison reveres Kathryn and is stoked when her intern application is successful and she goes to work in the judge's chambers. But all is not as it seems. With a complex plot that takes Kathryn's past and weaves it into the present day narrative ensnaring Madison in a convoluted web of deception and corruption this story is the proverbial page turner. There are several facets to the plot that have mysteries  requiring solutions before everything dovetails towards a conclusion.

The suspense is so cleverly tuned to tingle the nerve endings of the unsuspecting reader. With a cast of characters, many of whom are of dubious integrity, the readers joins them all in a game of cat and mouse that seems to be hurtling headlong into disaster. It is a legal thriller in part but so much more. 

Sometimes I felt that Madison was a tad too naive, too trusting. Kathryn comes across as a strong character but to admire her seems wrong in the light of her nefarious dealings. There are family dynamics aplenty at play here from both protagonists' points of view, Madison's brother, Danny arrested and later missing, Kathryn's parentage, which offer us insights into their personalities.

I believe Ms. Campbell has a legal background and she puts it to good use here. She is also an experienced author and her ability to further the novel with each chapter, peeling off onion like layers to move the reader forward was quite intoxicating. 

If there were elements of implausibility at times they tended to dissolve into the wider circle of the fiction. There are many twists some of which could be anticipated, others that came as a shock but all orchestrated in such a way that the reader's attention is engaged and you just have to read on and on. 

This is the first of Michele Campbell's book I have read but it has put her firmly on my radar.

My thanks to HQ stories at Harper Collins for my copy that I won in a giveaway.

January Round - Up

 I don't normally do a monthly round up on my blog but why not?  This month saw a couple of library books, a readalong, a novel for a blog tour and the third mystery in a series I've enjoyed very much so far and the third crime novel from a writer I've enjoyed very much so far. 

I read Yellowface by R.F.Kuang and I was keen to explore Babel. Very different thematically but no less enjoyable. I think I preferred Babel because it felt more substantial conceptually. I borrowed it from the library. I'm a keen library user and now that I receive less in the way of proofs and arcs I borrow more books. But my library is under threat because of council spending cuts. I shall be bereft if it closes. I urge any reader, anyone one who truly loves books, to support their local libraries. 

To The Dogs is an immersive thriller. I'd loved The Cutting Room and Second Cut so I was really excited to read this and it didn't disappoint.

I won't say too much about New Gillion Street by Elliott J Harper in this post because its part of a blog tour next month but it's incredibly imaginative and creative.

Lost and Never Found by Simon Mason is the third in the Wilkins Mysteries, so called be case both detectives have the same surname! Yet they couldn't be more different. The story boasts a complex plot with plenty going on with the two cops both individually and collectively.

Paul Murray's The Bee Sting was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. I found it a quite intense but immersive read. This family in chaos shuttle between humour and tragedy. 

Finally this month was a readalong from Canongate Books Ayobami Adebayo's A Spell of Good Things. I read her earlier novel Stay With Me last year and was equally absorbed by both books. I learnt so much about Nigerian culture and attitudes. I found it to be a very moving story. 

I'd like to thank my local library, Canongate Book, riverrun books, and Fly on the Wall Press for my gifted copies.

The Reading Race

 

I had an exchange on social media recently with a fellow blogger who was voicing similar concerns and frustrations to those that I have been experiencing for some time now as my ‘career’ as a blogger and book reviewer declines before my very eyes without my really knowing the reason why. This blogger admitted to increasingly falling off publisher lists and feeling overwhelmed by many of the end of year bookish posts. I also found myself wondering what the motivation is behind folk announcing how many books they had read in the previous year and how many they intend to read in the new year. People were setting themselves reading goals and reading challenges. I also saw somewhere on social media someone bemoaning the fact that a user was posting how they had read 14 books already and it was only January 1^st! (Maybe they were easy to read comic books or graphic novels?) 

 

But when did reading become such a competitive sport? What does it matter how many books you read? Isn’t the point of reading to entertain, to inform, to educate, to provoke thought and discussion, but above all to enjoy?   It isn’t about which books will make a pretty photo or video surely? But it’s becoming that way, and it seems to me that if you don’t do all these things on Twitter (X), Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Blue Sky, Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest, Facebook – have I missed any? – you are not considered as pulling your weight as a reader. 

 

I also wonder whether people actually read blogs or book reviews anymore? It’s almost as if they are not immediate enough to compete with an image. It seems to be more about the visuals than any kind of intelligent response to a book that might be helpful to potential readers. There’s less conversation about the books. My social media posts just seem to be floating about in the ether. The majority of my blog views are comprised of referrer spam from Russia and Singapore! I know the digital/cyber world is ever changing. Perhaps I have grown too old and too cynical to see the picture clearly but I feel immensely saddened by all this. Nothing will ever stop me reading of course but it’s harder to share and discuss in a meaningful way nowadays. I find myself on the periphery. I receive fewer and fewer review copies now and when I do, I’m usually so excited I rip open the package…without filming myself doing so which seems to be another prerequisite of the online book community. It seems you have to make yourself visible in order to be taken seriously. I’m simply not comfortable in front of a camera. I keep posting sporadically; on my blog, the two social media platforms I inhabit, but I wonder for how much longer before I withdraw from the race?

Lost and Never Found - Simon Mason

There's no shortage of crime novels, good crime novels at that. And there's no shortage of crime novels with detective duos. But what sets Simon Mason's series apart is having his duo bear the same surname! And then having them as polar opposites. Ray and Ryan - chalk and cheese, yin and yang, night and day, diamonds and dust, fire and ice - ne'er the twain shall meet, yet they get results. And in Oxford, the city of gleaming spires, a perception of intellect and academia, our dynamic duo explores the polar opposites of society, the rich, the privileged, the homeless and the drug addicts. 

I love how so many  chapters begin with a flowing, protracted description of the current state of things in terms of weather, mood and environment,  you can imagine it in a film or TV presentation before the camera cuts to the nitty gritty of the story or in this case the chapter. 

But oh, Mr. Mason! You rascal! Putting your readers on the red herring diet! The book boasts a complex plot throwing plenty of clues our way but never quite letting us join the dots. It can be infuriating! My prime suspect kept changing as events unfolded. I would love to be the Spoiler Queen of 2024 and divulge the clever twists and turns in the action and offer my comments........ but I won't. Instead I'll offer all things blurbish.

At three o'clock in the morning, Emergency Services receives a call. 'This is Zara Fanshawe. Always lost and never found.' An hour later, the wayward celebrity's Rolls Royce Phantom is found abandoned in dingy Becket Street. The paparazzi go wild. 

For some reason, news of Zara's disappearance prompts homeless woman Lena Wójcik to search the camps, nervously, for the bad-tempered vagrant known as 'Waitrose', a familiar sight in Oxford pushing his trolley of possessions. But he's nowhere to be found either. 

Who will lead the investigation and cope with the media frenzy? Suave, prize-winning, Oxford-educated DI Ray Wilkins is passed over in favour of his partner, gobby, trailer-park educated DI Ryan Wilkins (no relation). You wouldn't think Ray would be happy. He isn't. You wouldn't think Ryan would be any good at national press presentations. He isn't. 

And when legendary cop Chester Lynch takes a shine to Ray - and takes against Ryan - things are only going to get even messier.

The characterisations are clever. I find Ryan exasperating. I've known people like him and I've never understood why they appear to go out of their way to be obnoxious. I think that given past misdemeanours Ryan only remains in the Police Force by the skin of his teeth. But his persistence and determination to solve crimes coupled with his ability to intuit and see what others may miss are his saving graces. The relationship he enjoys with his young son is endearing. Little Ryan is an advanced three year old full of questions and observations with a more defined sense of propriety than his father ! Ray, too can be irritating for the opposite reason - he seems too good! Always immaculately turned out, playing by the rules, seeming to get it right where Ryan gets it wrong. So as much as the reader is invested in the crimes and the solving of them we are also invested in the dynamic between these two cops, their relationship with each other, and their individual relationships in their personal lives. 

This is the third in the series and I think it's the best or maybe it's that I enjoyed it more than the others. That sense of reacquainting oneself with familiar characters that allows you to leap straight into the guts of a story without having to get to know everybody. The narrative moves along demanding the reader's attention and it is easy to become absorbed so much so that any requirement to stop reading and put the book down felt like an insult! I did feel it fell away a little towards the end of the book. I did wonder if that was because I didn't want the perpetrator to be found because if they were the book would end! 

And now, I wait for the next in the series..........

My thanks to Ana McLaughlin and Elizabeth Masters at riverrun for a gifted copy.