tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13825599647085874282024-03-18T14:53:56.237+00:00BOOKPHACE I don't do Facebook, I Do Bookphace (See my daily 'lockdown' blog too - https://bookphacephoenix.blogspot.com)
Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.comBlogger837125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-36736577333471498772024-03-05T09:19:00.002+00:002024-03-05T09:19:19.559+00:003 Shades of Blue Miles David John Coltrane Bill Evans and the Lost Empire of Cool - James Kaplan<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhheEqM2gTRB2t5TjnGNS7mZ0ehpWyqUjGSb5f46hpgsOcY6ID5l8bt856xYAO9tiX3X-WZXpu2eiTQgupKnFoR60eSFLzzBXgnqJ14SY8QkuKvdpNl_-kmk0-evjVl_Z7XKAwUMi3h7g5C5dtUgTvG_TXrit72sFE3sGNbnVYLahyaxriW011Y76GKkg/s4032/IMG_6924.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhheEqM2gTRB2t5TjnGNS7mZ0ehpWyqUjGSb5f46hpgsOcY6ID5l8bt856xYAO9tiX3X-WZXpu2eiTQgupKnFoR60eSFLzzBXgnqJ14SY8QkuKvdpNl_-kmk0-evjVl_Z7XKAwUMi3h7g5C5dtUgTvG_TXrit72sFE3sGNbnVYLahyaxriW011Y76GKkg/w300-h400/IMG_6924.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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 <span style="color: #2b00fe;">Kind of Blue</span> 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. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Coltrane, Davis and Evans all played on the seminal Davis album <span style="color: #2b00fe;">Kind of Blue</span> 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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I absolutely loved this book and am so grateful to Olivia-Savannah Roach of Canongate Books for sending me a gifted copy. </span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-65046283328662677752024-02-29T15:03:00.001+00:002024-02-29T15:03:35.996+00:00February Round Up<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin02bd1kRRBDziSKSKRWD6L7oPunHd2NiaSmpExuIW7tLJFmKyhNunZoedNzJK6vqOzX6kcB0WSu3Eaetix42f8IPYa0czkKOFdg8nmtDppjU1STGx-nO_kcr-Sg2GLd-vmYn1LNMY5YZwi5zmTqw96vf8sf9pKLPO-ayOknllym4BOHgkgR2DRghc8w/s4032/IMG_6921.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin02bd1kRRBDziSKSKRWD6L7oPunHd2NiaSmpExuIW7tLJFmKyhNunZoedNzJK6vqOzX6kcB0WSu3Eaetix42f8IPYa0czkKOFdg8nmtDppjU1STGx-nO_kcr-Sg2GLd-vmYn1LNMY5YZwi5zmTqw96vf8sf9pKLPO-ayOknllym4BOHgkgR2DRghc8w/s320/IMG_6921.jpeg" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">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.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Speaking in Tongues – Jeffery Deaver <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The Fox Wife – Yangsze Choo<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span>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 </span><span>haunting</span><span> than The Night Tiger.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Poor Things – Alasdair Gray<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The Dark Within Them – Isabelle Kenyon<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The Sanatorium – Sarah Pearse<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Umbilical – Teika Marija Smits<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">3 Shades of Blue – James Kaplan<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p style="font-size: 16pt;"></o:p></span></span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-20007966155101213032024-02-26T08:56:00.000+00:002024-02-26T08:56:27.584+00:00New Gillion Street - Elliot J Harper - Blog Tour<p> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i></i></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLT_uNKWufEX-0Oj5JJALWWI9jUYxlVHbSA4B2jHubfYPqkKcxSAaCVf-sIbJqPIvEN4BwkREVlrxAXMusGDUUCjA7gIkX6BcvDV05lu0BdVckuIMdSfSfxpHhlY96Pd0IXQHfFt0HjEH3jCBfEmX8VZAAyd_7SZNDMwafMtRItnb0-VJ93qieUZkASw/s4032/IMG_6853.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLT_uNKWufEX-0Oj5JJALWWI9jUYxlVHbSA4B2jHubfYPqkKcxSAaCVf-sIbJqPIvEN4BwkREVlrxAXMusGDUUCjA7gIkX6BcvDV05lu0BdVckuIMdSfSfxpHhlY96Pd0IXQHfFt0HjEH3jCBfEmX8VZAAyd_7SZNDMwafMtRItnb0-VJ93qieUZkASw/s320/IMG_6853.jpeg" width="240" /></span></a></i></div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />In politically-neutral Neo-Yuthea, Albert Smith's orderly life is disrupted when Mr Zand campaigns for Mayor.</span></i><p></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Albert and his neighbours must rally together, resisting the encroaching darkness, and fighting for their freedom before their world crumbles.'</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The writing sparkles along with pace and clarity reaching a conclusion that should satisfy us all. Even the facking gnome.😉</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">My thanks to Isabelle Kenyon of Fly on the Wall Press for a gifted copy and a place upon the blog tour.</span></p><p><br /></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-83302246328120297262024-02-24T10:43:00.000+00:002024-02-24T10:43:56.856+00:00Umbilical - Teika Marija Smits<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4TyrWo9JDddMs7QUAoh7wDAReG6YxWUzUqdfSCuhgM1X20M9K2rsc1NHcww1fAqQ0wt4DcR5u4vC70W-Tk6pilXdcO_qH6CcjwaZnicXzGV8oQbfn3zq1N75vO_QeyhvB22uJKW19_dyvaNwfXkUcD0GNf_NKTf-LJN-qtHwC8FAyc-m2WFcJcd03-w/s4032/IMG_6925.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4TyrWo9JDddMs7QUAoh7wDAReG6YxWUzUqdfSCuhgM1X20M9K2rsc1NHcww1fAqQ0wt4DcR5u4vC70W-Tk6pilXdcO_qH6CcjwaZnicXzGV8oQbfn3zq1N75vO_QeyhvB22uJKW19_dyvaNwfXkUcD0GNf_NKTf-LJN-qtHwC8FAyc-m2WFcJcd03-w/w300-h400/IMG_6925.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">You could treat yourself and buy a copy - <a href="http://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.asp?id=229&referer=Catalogue">http://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.asp?id=229&referer=Catalogue</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-54480177319641652612024-02-13T09:46:00.001+00:002024-02-13T09:46:47.053+00:00The Fox Wife - Yangtze Choo<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxgnfms80lN32dVLRNFFeNVvwF3d5L6Fr5_TtD2jKnZXkzicE3K7btJ6-bXjxKuaEqyCjTmj10OfQEPKt_ml48eTf8C0-LBLDkJeLbvw12v_wm-rEG81ZL6xtaJ-VFUwA7Bffdv-nWBaF54hvgvR1K3aTHfVjwN6jTijnQ9cXvn8SQrOq-B_R2TVvzQ/s4032/IMG_6872.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxgnfms80lN32dVLRNFFeNVvwF3d5L6Fr5_TtD2jKnZXkzicE3K7btJ6-bXjxKuaEqyCjTmj10OfQEPKt_ml48eTf8C0-LBLDkJeLbvw12v_wm-rEG81ZL6xtaJ-VFUwA7Bffdv-nWBaF54hvgvR1K3aTHfVjwN6jTijnQ9cXvn8SQrOq-B_R2TVvzQ/w300-h400/IMG_6872.jpeg" width="300" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /><span>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! </span><span>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. </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzO2EKa7G3v9llUdD9udIV3J81DP2R-35dVSQe8ZPAKDkJJXxD3gXOYSuBuK8ev5qdEcWRxHEOVPGX02ALaa2qoBHsLbEwbfc8If8nsHpolBXVeoY9RbksX_vQMo-0knCF5NCpC-TTHZUTbn8GC8SeGzd-l8HOeXqvjzUWakihuxR_D8MJ7sJFO8M6wA/s4030/IMG_6214.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4030" data-original-width="2489" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzO2EKa7G3v9llUdD9udIV3J81DP2R-35dVSQe8ZPAKDkJJXxD3gXOYSuBuK8ev5qdEcWRxHEOVPGX02ALaa2qoBHsLbEwbfc8If8nsHpolBXVeoY9RbksX_vQMo-0knCF5NCpC-TTHZUTbn8GC8SeGzd-l8HOeXqvjzUWakihuxR_D8MJ7sJFO8M6wA/s320/IMG_6214.jpeg" width="198" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />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.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">That sense is captured here in the novel. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>'Manchuria, 1908.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />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. </i></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>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? </i></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>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.'</i></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #0f1111;">Although we are given a year when the novel starts there is a timelessness to the narrative, a fey, almost dreamy </span></span></span><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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! </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">My thanks to Ana McLaughlin at Quercus Books for a gifted proof.</span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-8279059993314673952024-02-13T09:41:00.003+00:002024-02-29T12:46:01.880+00:00Poetry Unbound - Padraig O Tuama<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9643Jciu3V49sG3yLOQZVKe-teu5jNqCqyW1XotPd4kAv75uXGML9J2Zl-NcWaSRXKkkZKsqp5awflNbazW4IH1TWRQY6cTJAjxn6HBMgziRt7CuYd41VVESnH2krzN2Vsy9ZDsrFYeEATNrWlE2BUj3llvEbwsyq0J0O1WGNUBbX9ueruhXbVtdcw/s4032/IMG_6891.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9643Jciu3V49sG3yLOQZVKe-teu5jNqCqyW1XotPd4kAv75uXGML9J2Zl-NcWaSRXKkkZKsqp5awflNbazW4IH1TWRQY6cTJAjxn6HBMgziRt7CuYd41VVESnH2krzN2Vsy9ZDsrFYeEATNrWlE2BUj3llvEbwsyq0J0O1WGNUBbX9ueruhXbVtdcw/w300-h400/IMG_6891.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><span face="Aptos, sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt;">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.</span><span face="Aptos, sans-serif" style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">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 .<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">It's a quite delightful collection and even when I have read all of the poems in it I shall return again and again. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Aptos, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">My thanks to Canongate Books for a gifted copy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-22570115120231040672024-02-04T15:15:00.000+00:002024-02-04T15:15:18.513+00:00A Spell of Good Things - Ayobami Adebayo<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcvST-c2qiWNtybKltElCbt8XWug1vevxlOCq7zguq0MWPugHUMExij9rzFzI-bwfsCSvOevE0Fi2f7s08mqjSpmFyDM5fARrI4rU25dOJW4XS0r91o5JMHmmHUw0LHRDSVlJCGoRNTJX5vDnbJ_epX-GJ7u9Zdl9jk30mbNx_mGMgF3TSdeL7fgg9w/s4032/IMG_6860.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcvST-c2qiWNtybKltElCbt8XWug1vevxlOCq7zguq0MWPugHUMExij9rzFzI-bwfsCSvOevE0Fi2f7s08mqjSpmFyDM5fARrI4rU25dOJW4XS0r91o5JMHmmHUw0LHRDSVlJCGoRNTJX5vDnbJ_epX-GJ7u9Zdl9jk30mbNx_mGMgF3TSdeL7fgg9w/w300-h400/IMG_6860.jpeg" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />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. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>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.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>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.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i>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.'</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The story works well with the two perspectives of Eniola and Wuraola<i>. </i>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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">My thanks to Canongate Books for a gifted, readalong copy. </span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-91526483391447498312024-02-04T14:29:00.000+00:002024-02-04T14:29:05.035+00:00Speaking in Tongues - Jeffery Deaver<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3gl3lZNgVLuux-irI2v4Ixda4284LeGKMIhprQXS-bFTVhFe39Iqk2lK6K4_fA4dvraHAUc3-6HxMrAYuKMD5ABOV-fDdXQRpJ-ZaZ9M4Aq7HMeYY7yLZOea8cOwSpcW1gJYypn5hQrw3i3Bl1JVb3cdCOrLNC0NAdB6ocAXmU3AkRRU8oKRSSgjFbQ/s4032/IMG_6841.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3gl3lZNgVLuux-irI2v4Ixda4284LeGKMIhprQXS-bFTVhFe39Iqk2lK6K4_fA4dvraHAUc3-6HxMrAYuKMD5ABOV-fDdXQRpJ-ZaZ9M4Aq7HMeYY7yLZOea8cOwSpcW1gJYypn5hQrw3i3Bl1JVb3cdCOrLNC0NAdB6ocAXmU3AkRRU8oKRSSgjFbQ/s320/IMG_6841.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">'W<i>ords 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.</i></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">And Megan is not the only one in danger…'</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-75076694806203463392024-02-01T09:39:00.001+00:002024-02-01T09:39:41.725+00:00The Intern - Michele Campbell<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIvcKClVxRKE8pzWFxdNNunnJHcfLo5T6z_xj0XZDKx72a35-fvRhdtIW-1nzW8xwyqtR7RYZO-3VDAF_cT8y3zTlLhS1Gc5f5MkBvfdzrNs-VkbxrpABuOjCSl2bMsUdGLTfv2_AFQvkt9xTLyfXXNhEKSR0Wvfx4WbMMGN8taVc4XTS4vSIilACj3Q/s4032/IMG_6881.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIvcKClVxRKE8pzWFxdNNunnJHcfLo5T6z_xj0XZDKx72a35-fvRhdtIW-1nzW8xwyqtR7RYZO-3VDAF_cT8y3zTlLhS1Gc5f5MkBvfdzrNs-VkbxrpABuOjCSl2bMsUdGLTfv2_AFQvkt9xTLyfXXNhEKSR0Wvfx4WbMMGN8taVc4XTS4vSIilACj3Q/w300-h400/IMG_6881.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">This is the first of Michele Campbell's book I have read but it has put her firmly on my radar.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">My thanks to HQ stories at Harper Collins for my copy that I won in a giveaway.</span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-84221113772833658472024-01-30T19:19:00.002+00:002024-01-30T19:19:36.619+00:00January Round - Up<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzyMrZ22X2haxx9zVl8MEAy6katR1B7sUfSmxZVLUr9RdDpubxFdjcOUXoMIczVkqqkHaqZEabddQAtBYgK1w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> 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. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I'd like to thank my local library, Canongate Book, riverrun books, and Fly on the Wall Press for my gifted copies.</span></p><p><br /></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-92085263706780291142024-01-26T16:39:00.001+00:002024-01-26T16:39:27.504+00:00The Reading Race<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJmrIESvZtG7zIH39imH43-AFLkOXRrgmVmsRcvd2-T_KgZOmWnVTwF1C7dVbP5L1RKCt7JXFVa9qfsEXxLKb5zHda7Ku6T6eFWu83oXUkoXWdEhaYyasTTTHYtv99V4jalvMycPH1zmM1HJ7UB1l6CsVEOt9gxgv-FzyelHQ6eZP46jXka88Hxw_BA/s3406/IMG_6669.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3406" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguJmrIESvZtG7zIH39imH43-AFLkOXRrgmVmsRcvd2-T_KgZOmWnVTwF1C7dVbP5L1RKCt7JXFVa9qfsEXxLKb5zHda7Ku6T6eFWu83oXUkoXWdEhaYyasTTTHYtv99V4jalvMycPH1zmM1HJ7UB1l6CsVEOt9gxgv-FzyelHQ6eZP46jXka88Hxw_BA/w400-h355/IMG_6669.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">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</span><sup style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">! (Maybe they were easy to read comic books or graphic novels?)</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">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…<i>without</i> 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?<o:p></o:p></span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-54240876178597565922024-01-19T15:27:00.002+00:002024-01-19T15:27:56.722+00:00Lost and Never Found - Simon Mason<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXInFx1EmBdlcDbGQFnYcf3Ka0dCikFIyL6JbjcJOUGqU6ZB2P0zoJHl0Fu5FUdqMkA8yV15BuH9BV0yGnmGb8pBU4cKQQzRKqrwnZKWWtEwmGbQvgm1ZGx11e4X8-BXlN2Jbjj9YfhGjil435VKYGeOx0kvYwkMTQ55zihT6I23i7ncf2qB7u_yLYA/s4032/IMG_6861.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTXInFx1EmBdlcDbGQFnYcf3Ka0dCikFIyL6JbjcJOUGqU6ZB2P0zoJHl0Fu5FUdqMkA8yV15BuH9BV0yGnmGb8pBU4cKQQzRKqrwnZKWWtEwmGbQvgm1ZGx11e4X8-BXlN2Jbjj9YfhGjil435VKYGeOx0kvYwkMTQ55zihT6I23i7ncf2qB7u_yLYA/w300-h400/IMG_6861.jpeg" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />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. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">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.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17);">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. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />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. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />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. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17);">And when legendary cop Chester Lynch takes a shine to Ray - and takes against Ryan - things are only going to get even messier</span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); font-weight: 700;">.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span>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 ! </span>Ray, too can be irritating for the opposite <span><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17);">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. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17);">This is the third in the series and I </span></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17);">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! </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17);">And now, I wait for the next in the series..........</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17);">My thanks to Ana McLaughlin and Elizabeth Masters at riverrun for a gifted copy. </span></span></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(15, 17, 17); color: #0f1111; font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-46958741953233465962024-01-18T19:45:00.000+00:002024-01-18T19:45:19.872+00:00To the Dogs - Louise Welsh<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1FLvK6VFUp80XJL8bZfgH_StPIOMsiHjrrua9qWdmLgKxSDkRVtMcE193V2XP-5TXY8x6jRWgejyjBr26cj1F7s4At3oeaCl1oFp6Q5ixghk0vKt8WnHpyLsh8-kaIFFzf6PDXnTrftfi1cI2dmKtCcnSUV0gaz_AjSKx38TQNx8v-yL7R9tJ0jLeQ/s4032/IMG_6840.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir1FLvK6VFUp80XJL8bZfgH_StPIOMsiHjrrua9qWdmLgKxSDkRVtMcE193V2XP-5TXY8x6jRWgejyjBr26cj1F7s4At3oeaCl1oFp6Q5ixghk0vKt8WnHpyLsh8-kaIFFzf6PDXnTrftfi1cI2dmKtCcnSUV0gaz_AjSKx38TQNx8v-yL7R9tJ0jLeQ/w300-h400/IMG_6840.jpeg" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /> A new book from Louise Welsh is always a treat. I really enjoyed this immersive thriller. Page turner is a much bandied expression particularly in thriller and crime novels but it was applicable here for much of the book. It’s a fine example of story telling.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I had a fleeting sense of disappointment that I wouldn’t be renewing my acquaintance with Rilke the auctioneer from The Cutting Room and The Second Cut but that regret didn’t last long as I became enmeshed in the life of Jim Brennan.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Professor Jim Brennan is flying high, the son of a Glasgow hard man, he’s risen to the heights of academia, tipped for a promotion to a top job.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But it’s not easy to escape the past, and those Jim’s left behind have been keeping tabs on him. As the threats mount, he discovers he’s not so different from his father, but how far will he go to protect his family, his students and his reputation?</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><b><i>To The Dogs</i></b><i> is a darkly comic, gritty novel from the award-winning author of <b>The Cutting Room</b>, exploring organised crime, institutional corruption, and moral compromise.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It’s a complex plot and you need to stay focused to understand the threads linking events and situations </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">with such sustained coercion, duplicity and bullying almost. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">And the narrative speeds along gaining momentum for the most part with one or two dips here and there. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Jim is an engaging character and at times he seemed to be what I like to call a ‘Highsmith Hero’* where no matter what he does events just seem to overtake him and spiral out of control even if he appears to be acting on the side of the moral and the just. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I found it fascinating to consider that Jim had seemed to throw off the constraints of his past in terms of parents and upbringing to become an almost stereotypical pillar of society until his son goes badly off the rails and you start to contemplate whether the sins of the father skips a generation. If you’re looking for something to think about that is more than just a story then Ms. Welsh allows us the opportunity to ponder the privilege and wealth of academia which nestles neatly alongside the paradox of the criminal underworld.And as ever the underbelly of society is explored which could be a bleak place to inhabit for the reader with its brutality but there is something darkly funny that offers an element of relief. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">A thoroughly enjoyable read and my thanks to Canongate Books for a gifted copy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">*In the manner of some of Patricia Highsmith’s characters.</span></i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-37115194342489441182024-01-15T09:02:00.000+00:002024-01-15T09:02:14.343+00:00Extracting Humanity - Stephen Oram - Blog Tour<div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpuCANPXM-UFuaQzcJOVoZK_hpG2l0f9eaM0QCw0E4cW8BoIA1VzLuj4PI1qBdnsQoF0ZvwMy4p9FInrUPQ3Kc8PnEtaV9vp4xbNhcU__yKHmAtowTt0DxHGPl9vhcCFbQfmBHtRiiWMvDNkOMABxAGcwi6IfLszpAmLjo4oijPsNwpzNYFUf_OHIWPA/s4032/IMG_6759.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpuCANPXM-UFuaQzcJOVoZK_hpG2l0f9eaM0QCw0E4cW8BoIA1VzLuj4PI1qBdnsQoF0ZvwMy4p9FInrUPQ3Kc8PnEtaV9vp4xbNhcU__yKHmAtowTt0DxHGPl9vhcCFbQfmBHtRiiWMvDNkOMABxAGcwi6IfLszpAmLjo4oijPsNwpzNYFUf_OHIWPA/w300-h400/IMG_6759.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">'In the remarkably perceptive collection, Stephen Oram blends cutting-edge science, and tech with everyday emotions and values to create 20 thought experiments with heart.</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Extracting Humanity is a skilful exploration of smart currencies, memorials, medical care, treatment of refugees, social networks, data monitoring, and justice systems. Always without prescription or reprimand, these stories is a simply the beginning of the conversation.</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">From an eerie haptic suit that Tommy must call Father, to a protective, nutritious bubble, that allows Fen Mian to survive on a colonised Moon; from tattoos that will learn their wearers a mini break in a sensory chamber, to Harrie anxiously, awaiting AI feedback on her unborn child… These startling, diverse narratives, map all-to0-real possibilities for our future, and the things that may ultimately divide or united us.'</span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Is this a chilling glimpse into the future of our world? Stephen Oram's compelling collection of short stories pose some fascinating considerations. Are they Science Fiction? Dystopian? Speculative? Maybe all of those and more besides. </span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Many of the issues that absorb us in today's world are taken to a possible future level - healthcare, nutrition, data collection and manipulation, algorithms, AI, the potential social and economic worth of people before they're even born! It certainly makes the reader think about the directions we might be heading towards and to consider the morality of future decades and centuries. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Some of the stories make for uncomfortable reading especially the title and concluding story, Extracting Humanity. I would go so far as to say that some stories are quite bleak and disturbing. It almost makes me glad I'm old and won't be around for too much longer! And I think what underlines the darkness is the plausibility in the science and technology that the author has employed to get his points across. That is not to say that the stories lack the very humanity of the title. You can extract it from every story (pun intended!) There is thankfully some humour too to balance the narratives. The short story is the perfect format for ideas such as these. Short, sharp, direct, they achieve the impact they're supposed to. And perhaps if we read them, respond to them and - act we might prevent some desolate futures. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The characters are relatable even if they are in somewhat surreal situations. The descriptive skill of this author makes it easier to imagine the unimaginable. Mr. Oram's creative power is remarkable and this collection of short stories offers a unique peek into a possible future. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Stephen Oram writes near-future science fiction. He has two published novels and is published in many anthologies, including the Best of British science fiction 2020 and 2022. He also works with scientist and technologists to explore possible futures through short stories, as co-edited three anthologies along these lines, and guest edited the Futures issue of the BSFA critical journal, Vector.</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Stephen is based in the heart of central London and attributes much of the urban grittiness, and the optimism about humanity, and his writing to the noise, the bustle, and the diverse community of where he lives.</span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">My thank to Isabelle Kenyon of Fly on the Wall Press for a gifted copy and a place upon the blog tour.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7xqfdL7BXaDsUVai0XCVEphyvutOKGBJR2NFcZsTOfRUaa0hFnKzMoHCQO3QYqcjQm1dFcjFDMkeO9Q-DhITC6Mow9SKIlU50X8uQzl0fobqlI25Txi3DLy5b2riUf1JYDD2EM6r_wshQSv8hIaLyB5pJ3p0O0PC_yiGO9_3ujG-YMrOpAkim7ExRQ/s1024/Extracting%20Humanity%20Blog%20Tour.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr7xqfdL7BXaDsUVai0XCVEphyvutOKGBJR2NFcZsTOfRUaa0hFnKzMoHCQO3QYqcjQm1dFcjFDMkeO9Q-DhITC6Mow9SKIlU50X8uQzl0fobqlI25Txi3DLy5b2riUf1JYDD2EM6r_wshQSv8hIaLyB5pJ3p0O0PC_yiGO9_3ujG-YMrOpAkim7ExRQ/w640-h320/Extracting%20Humanity%20Blog%20Tour.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-68939743486594682432024-01-08T09:33:00.000+00:002024-01-08T09:33:52.516+00:00Babel - R.F.Kuang<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZ7j73307XNJm7KEQj9cf1Ufqt9zwvW5ojSx0CSx6UtznI4bT7mUlRyIWEm-oH1sUk-mJME9wo-5n0ovMVkr24-hXLF-c4724XSnTkbxszIFfX8TR-jteXt6iesjWEmDOsK76el2EZhr2cO-4Hr8WmdWyFpfI5SQgrnxcczYE0c8-lHZNdzeIiO3_xw/s4032/IMG_6850.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZ7j73307XNJm7KEQj9cf1Ufqt9zwvW5ojSx0CSx6UtznI4bT7mUlRyIWEm-oH1sUk-mJME9wo-5n0ovMVkr24-hXLF-c4724XSnTkbxszIFfX8TR-jteXt6iesjWEmDOsK76el2EZhr2cO-4Hr8WmdWyFpfI5SQgrnxcczYE0c8-lHZNdzeIiO3_xw/w300-h400/IMG_6850.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Babel was all over social media for a while. The excitement seems to have died down. Perhaps because Yellowface came along to take its place. But excitement over that seems to have died down too. I let all the excitement die down before I read either of them! Actually that's not entirely true. I reserved Babel at my library. So I had to wait for a copy to become available. That indicated that it is still being widely read. The reservation lists for library books can be an interesting indicator of books that are in demand whether or not they are the current topic on social media. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Babel. It's not new. It's there in the book of Genesis. It apparently means confusion. Some believe it to be a myth to explain why different languages are spoken globally. Others think it is based an actual structures or that the Biblical story was inspired by one such structure, the ziggurat Etemenaki dedicated to the god, Marduk of Mesopotamia, patron of Babylon, interesting, as he is believed to encompass both good and evil, he can help humanity and he can also destroy people. The inference worked well within the context of Kuang's book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The author herself avers that Babel is 'about infinite worlds of languages, cultures, and histories'. Indeed it is. I found it to be an ambitious work, erudite and scholarly, occasionally dry in places and perhaps overlong, but nonetheless highly impressive. We tend to think of fantasy fiction occupying imaginary worlds and landscapes or being set in a stylised future where we are allowed glimpses and small comparisons with our contemporary lives. Not so here. Kuang has cleverly set her fantasy in a Victorian Oxford deep within the industrial revolution and the advent of train travel. A task that sees the need for extensive historical research that will also fit into the fantasy world she creates where Babel is the pinnacle of Oxford intellect and silver bars and translation are the key to running the country efficiently (I use the term loosely 😉) and...... world domination? If Yellowface was a scathing satire on the publishing industry and social media, is this an equalling scathing satire on how dependent we are on money and connectivity? Maybe. But that's just a part of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Subtitled The Necessity of Violence Babel evokes a plethora of thought and emotions. It presents as a type of campus novel told primarily from the POV of Robin Swift an orphaned Cantonese boy plucked from his lowly origins to England to be moulded into an exemplary scholar destined for Oxford University and .......Babel. Identity is key for Robin and his fellow pupils who form a cohort as language students. To a degree they are all outsiders in this white world which both cements and fragments their relationships with each other. It is a story of paradoxes as Robin, particularly, wrestles with his place in the secure and privileged academic life enhanced by his position as a translator and the empirical, colonial world where the rich care little for anything but gain.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It is perhaps too complex a book to offer a succinct precis, for a great deal happens and I wouldn't want to give too much away. But I will say that I found the majority of characters hard to engage with. As people I could sympathise with their ideologies and understand their motivations but none of them were especially nice people except maybe Professor Craft who I quite liked. They are an intense group but I also think the reader needed to be kept at arms length emotionally in order to remain objective about the events.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It's a clever and intelligent book. The weaving of historical fiction with fantasy is masterful and poses numerous notions for the reader to consider. Like all literary fiction there's room for individual considerations and musings. It's a treasure trove for word lovers and linguists. As I read I found myself thinking of Les Miserables, perhaps it was the barricades, but maybe it's that idealism where people actually believe they can change the world for the better. And I thought of Donna Tartt and The Secret History. I also thought of Genesis 11 and the significance to this book and our current world. I found my thoughts overflowing. But the Tower of Babel fell. The end.</span></p><p><br /></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-35961330302524224092024-01-03T14:24:00.000+00:002024-01-03T14:24:42.856+00:00Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghicQwPvsgCgAAgS2jn2Vh_M6y92gG2KBuSWMzf23x9jlmeSU3tGFp40jnmbPpFeGzaID_5h2i7HreZEo4fkyJjwe41B13fH6e3aNCx7owZcvknHSYj9HESvWsp321osyidSXtX_JJw9TL6c3XN6bANdzdzlY9BfcC2o_LEKruK4J7RznN3tRbm-bS9w/s4032/IMG_6831.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghicQwPvsgCgAAgS2jn2Vh_M6y92gG2KBuSWMzf23x9jlmeSU3tGFp40jnmbPpFeGzaID_5h2i7HreZEo4fkyJjwe41B13fH6e3aNCx7owZcvknHSYj9HESvWsp321osyidSXtX_JJw9TL6c3XN6bANdzdzlY9BfcC2o_LEKruK4J7RznN3tRbm-bS9w/w400-h300/IMG_6831.jpeg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />I'm so old I can remember a time when there was no such thing as the Internet. So I view and use it with a degree of balance, I hope. There are things I still won't use it for, e.g. Internet banking. The less financial information out there online of mine, I think the better and the less likely I am to be compromised by these insidious hackers that seem to enjoy messing up peoples' lives, just because they can. It's not because I'm rich, it's the principle, mind you it irritates the hell out of people who can't understand me! It concerns me how we have placed so much blind faith and trust in a technology that when it fails will cause so much chaos and disaster, it doesn't bear thinking about. The Internet is useful but I refuse to put all my eggs in one basket. Nothing is foolproof. Everything is fallible. The Internet will fail one day by one means or another, which brings me to Leave the World Behind</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">There's been a lot of buzz about this book, some because of the Netflix film I think. I've read the book and I've watched the film. As with most film adaptations devotees of the book will find that, to them, liberties have been taken. To an extent, that's inevitable when you're using a completely different creative medium. What the book accomplishes with words cannot be accomplished visually so the film relies on a great deal of suspenseful music and cutting from one scene to another to create a very atmospheric piece. Details from the book and the film differ and may upset the purists. I did find myself asking why in the film, it's G.H's daughter called Ruth who is with him and not his wife, Maya. In the book, Ruth is his wife and Maya his daughter, but I guess the impact of the wife on the plane was thought to create a greater emotional response. Some of the sequences in the film do not appear in the book at all. And the ending? The film offers us even less closure than the book but does it matter? I guess not in the broadest sense. The film is there to entertain an audience who may not be readers. And the book exists for those who prefer not to watch films. And in some cases there are those who are happy to do both!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But the essence of both film and book remains the same. What happens when you have no Internet, you have no TV, your Satnav can't work and no one seems to know what the hell is going on because news cannot be disseminated without the World Wide Web. So there's mistrust and suspicion. It's a 21st century plague for sure. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I think that Alam has created such a sustained sense of unease though the book punctuated by the symbols from nature telling us all that something is very very wrong - the volume of deer, so often a symbol of peace and gentleness, the flamingos in the wrong place - it's nature yelling at us that there is a huge problem but somehow our characters don't seem to grasp it - the flamingos were probably from a private zoo opines one character. But I felt at the root of it all was the reluctance to accept that they wren in the midst of a disaster. They tried to explain things rationally and yet you knew that deep inside they were all too scared to admit that the world was in flux. The sense of impending disaster is never far from the surface but in actual fact any actual disaster is implicit. We are left to guess whether the US is on the brink of some kind of </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">war, </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">cyber or military, or whether there has been a global technological disaster. However the characters all seem desperate to retain some normality in the face of these inexplicable occurrences and brain piercing noises which they manifest usually in the form of some kind of food or drink! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Earlier in the book it seems that the issues were those of race and class and there is something mildly encouraging about how all that dissipates within the midst of mutual disaster as this disparate group find themselves relying on each other. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I didn't find the characters especially likeable. Amanda seemed so angry and snarky in spite of what might appear to be a privileged lifestyle. But fear is driving them and does this show their true character or merely one facet? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I'm not entirely sure what Alam was hoping to achieve with this book. Was it to show what panic can do to a group of people initially separated by class and race? Or was it to expose the weakness of our society when you strip it of its technological safety blanket? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book immensely. It was absorbing and compelling writing that offers a reader plenty of food for thought. Perhaps I'm simply left with a sense of unease that a situation like this could be just around the corner?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I received a copy of the book and a delicious bag of popcorn from Tandem Collective.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">AD-PR PRODUCT</span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-13188389936776807082023-12-27T15:59:00.000+00:002023-12-27T15:59:02.157+00:00Taste - Stanley Tucci<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKfYQwl-xyRcdl7RZXxiQ5pte46yeKej4lYHyJ2uz6eWqwmC4EzWHTpfI-Jw9Bp1jbJxodt91Jdcryx99hQNV_fXhMcG7k-tqqcTkc1Yk45276TWt6rDARqJ9-6Qu0RtJpUF1VgQdt9-uTGPGWYIXbHWaXJqKGf7NLwSMxeMHGDt_whccbctb47l7dg/s4032/IMG_6737.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSKfYQwl-xyRcdl7RZXxiQ5pte46yeKej4lYHyJ2uz6eWqwmC4EzWHTpfI-Jw9Bp1jbJxodt91Jdcryx99hQNV_fXhMcG7k-tqqcTkc1Yk45276TWt6rDARqJ9-6Qu0RtJpUF1VgQdt9-uTGPGWYIXbHWaXJqKGf7NLwSMxeMHGDt_whccbctb47l7dg/s320/IMG_6737.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> I love Stanley Tucci. Ever since I saw him in The Devil Wears Prada he's been one of those actors whose films I look out for. I enjoy the diversity of his roles and how he brings the required amount of warmth or chill to the parts he plays. I have a good friend who agrees with me and who I can rely on to accompany me to a viewing of his films when they are showing in the cinema. So I bought her a copy of this book when it was published in hardback for her birthday hoping that she would lend it to me when she had finished. She didn't! She went and lent it to somebody else and is still waiting for its return. So I had to buy the paperback!</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But sometimes I cringe inwardly when an actor, musician or other takes to the page to regale us with the story of their life. Even if it's someone whom I admire in their chosen field I've found their attempts to match their career prowess with the written word disappointing. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But not here. Mr. Tucci's story has depth and the inspired use of food to cement it all together is entertaining and informative in spite of the fact that it caused excessive salivation on the part of this reader. (I could murder a bowl of pasta right now. )😉 What shines through is how food can unify us and cement relationships on so many levels. The meals you eat in childhood can stay with you forever. I am vegetarian now ( I will admit some of the meat based recipes and anecdotes in the book didn't thrill me overmuch) but I can still remember my mum's steak and kidney pie, the smell and the taste of that short crust pastry soaked in the gravy. So I related to the tales of the Tucci family's mealtimes. Whilst Italy features strongly in the book cuisines from other countries are there to tantalise our taste buds too especially Iceland. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The autobiographical narrative is interspersed with some detailed and mouth watering recipes which I tell myself I will try but I haven't so far. And as Stanley is an actor one would expect there to be some A-listers popping up from time to time. But there is never the sense that this is name dropping, it's someone telling us about his friends. The meal with Meryl Streep and the <i>andouillette </i>is little short of hilarious. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I found it a very honest and real book in the sense that I could almost hear this actor speaking his words while I was reading them. His passion for food underpins the whole book and key moments of his life are interspersed, his marriages, the pandemic and his overcoming cancer. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It has been a delightful read, warm and witty without shying away from the life's harsher realities. </span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-84199581384479020952023-12-17T16:18:00.005+00:002023-12-18T09:51:27.917+00:00Literature and Longevity<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzpA3GZTsq73xwNnKXSWv_w31Ny5yM0n-cYsARl_pROeIhF9ZiVAqYTnew2zIYmgrizWvrkhxb7sVD32zZU9rPDOBG92WxQuXmwc3MTENIotvfLyR1fC0UcKFZS7Jbf97rp97NtsDLQNSk4IBZ27CT9D_r3SfV38-0Q1fXYAlyiHGawa8dmdht52Khg/s800/4085597756_835aa12dec_c.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="800" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHzpA3GZTsq73xwNnKXSWv_w31Ny5yM0n-cYsARl_pROeIhF9ZiVAqYTnew2zIYmgrizWvrkhxb7sVD32zZU9rPDOBG92WxQuXmwc3MTENIotvfLyR1fC0UcKFZS7Jbf97rp97NtsDLQNSk4IBZ27CT9D_r3SfV38-0Q1fXYAlyiHGawa8dmdht52Khg/w400-h313/4085597756_835aa12dec_c.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /> <span face="Calibri, sans-serif">By the time you get to my age you’ve read a lot of books! Trust me! It turns into hundreds, thousands probably. And if you’re like me you‘ve covered many genres. You have books that you liked, books that you loved and books that maybe even changed your life and, hopefully less so, books y</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">ou didn’t enjoy.</span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I know the books that mean a lot to me. But I often wonder which books will endure. Which books that we’re reading now will still be read in say fifty or even a hundred years’ time? I suppose it’s relevant to point out that I started my reading life in an age where there was no Internet, no social media. I found out about books from newspapers, magazines, word-of-mouth, displays in my library which was a bustling, heaving environment. And there were lots of independent book shops. I could easily go into a book shop with my pocket money. Now it’s a bus ride into the next town with my bus pass and my pension where there is a branch of Waterstone’s or I buy from some of the independent book shops online. And because of council cuts my local library is under threat of closure. So how I’ll end my reading life I’m not sure!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">When you’ve been around for a bit you see fads and crazes in reading and in these days of social media it can become disproportionate particularly in the hands of the so called ‘influencers’. In fact, if I look back even just a couple of years books that were plastered all over Twitter and Instagram have all but been forgotten. No one mentions them even though folk were gushing over them at the time. I can remember a degree of FOMO on occasions, probably because I’ve never been good enough to receive oodles of book mail from publishers. But the mood online is often suggestive of ‘I’m cool because I’m reading this’ and then the sheep syndrome kicks in. But are those lauded books by every TikTokker, Bookstagrammer and Booktuber really worthy of the attention lavished upon them? Is it incumbent upon readers who wish to review and blog their thoughts to be proficient at reels and stories and videos? How many books are in the wider consciousness because of social media rather than the merits of the book itself? It’s a worrying thought because it must offer some writers a disproportionate sense of their own success and conversely damage the self-belief of those writers whose work has not been embraced by the ‘socials’. It doesn’t help determine which books might or might not endure. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Remember the Dan Brown phenomenon? I think that on every bus, every train, in every café or coffee shop, on beaches, in parks you would find at least one person reading a Dan Brown book. And the Fifty Shades craze? It seemed you were considered an outcast if you hadn’t read at least one! Do you see them now? Rarely. Yet they are still considered to be among the best-selling books of all time. But are best-sellers necessarily bound for longevity? Maybe there are simply too many books being written and published in the 21<sup>st</sup> century for any to outshine others dramatically. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> I’ve reached the stage now where if I receive a review copy, I’m lucky. Ecstatic. Yet it’s tinged with a sense of failure and inadequacy that the steady flow I used to receive is no more. It suggests I am a terrible reviewer which is very dispiriting (or I am not adept or conscientious enough about social media?). But it has meant I’ve had the opportunity to attack my TBR shelves and borrow more books from the library. I’ve borrowed some of the books that have been splashed over social media as the best thing since sliced bread and I’ve also borrowed some books shortlisted for awards. (I’m thinking of writing a separate post about Awards!) And I’m still not certain if any of these books will be read by future generations. That isn’t to say I haven’t enjoyed them or that they aren’t well written. But I doubt their longevity. Are people writing classics anymore? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">If you consider the books that are called classics, they were written and published during times when the field was not as competitive as it is now. Many manuscripts were handwritten and then the typewriter came along. But now it’s all on computer. People have laptops with word processing programs on as a matter of routine. I think there are authors out there who prefer to write longhand but is any agent or publisher going to look at them twice? More and more people are writing today. There are numerous writer groups, creative writing courses, writing competitions, writing magazines none of which existed even a few decades ago. It reminds me, too, of the music industry. There are fewer virtuoso musicians in the field of popular music because it can all be done on computers. Anyone can try and they do. The stereotypical, historical concept of a creative person starving in a garret, baring his or her soul to the world is passe. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I witnessed an interesting exchange on social media recently where someone asked whether they should read War and Peace. There were a variety of responses, mine was ‘Only If you want to’. But the fact that the question was posed suggests the existing classics provoke a kind of need in people to read them regardless of there is any intrinsic desire to. I find this a little strange. Do you read a book because you think you should? Because of its reputation and, here, I guess, its longevity?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Writing has never been a rich person’s profession unless you strike lucky. How much does luck have to do with it today? Luck and skilful marketing maybe? But surely if the writing is supreme none of that should matter, should it? The quality should shine through, one might hope. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Reading has always been subjective. So maybe for a book to stand the test of time I guess we need a kind of mutual mass subjectivity? Shakespeare had his critics. It doesn’t seem to have hurt him in the long term, though. Will people still read and revere Shakespeare a hundred years from now? Is it a given? The world is a volatile place and the obsessive need for change could well see a shift in the dynamic of literature. Take Jane Austen, for example, the poor woman would be as rich as JK Rowling if she were alive today but she sure as hell wasn’t a success in her own lifetime. Is that what will happen today? Are there writers out there not being splashed over social media but have work that might set the world alight in years to come? I have no answers just an insatiable curiosity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><span>As society changes and attitudes evolve that must be reflected in the literature written. But is it only literature that endures? And what is literature? I wrote a piece about that several years ago. Here’s the link - </span><a href="https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2019/04/what-is-literature.html" style="color: #954f72;"><span>https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2019/04/what-is-literature.html</span></a><span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I’m curious as to what kind of books will last. I think there is danger today that the adage ‘quality not quantity’ has become reversed. The numbers seem to be more important. Again, one only has to look at social media where the focus is on numbers of followers rather than quality of posts. It’s very much a today attitude. Appearance, too, can sometimes seem to be more dominant, the veneer captures the attention rather than what’s beneath it. People gush over some covers, the end papers, the speckled pages. An online book community I belong to are frequently throwing out surveys about which cover looks the best, which you like the best and why. I struggle with this because I don’t read the covers, I read the books. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Maybe books simply won’t last. Maybe there will only be books of the moment, books of the now. In fashion one moment, dismissed the next to make way for the latest in thing. Pop-up books were a thing of my childhood! But maybe in this digital and transitory age books will be pop ups for other reasons. In vogue for a brief while and then consigned to obscurity to make way for the next wunderkind of words. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I also wonder whether e-reading has an impact on the longevity of books. I’ve never made any secret of my antipathy towards kindles and the like. And in today’s world I know that is impractical in so many ways. Electronic books take up little space and are not dependent on the felling of tress. They must be cheaper to produce than physical books, they are instantly available. Yet I cannot read comfortably without the security of a physical book in my hands. If in the future there are no paper books can an electronic book become a classic?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I hope that reincarnation is a thing. Because I so badly want to return and see what books are about in 2123! I want to be thrilled that a book I love is still being read. I want to be surprised that an author I had dismissed is considered a classic writer. I want to be amazed that a book I didn't think had it is there amongst the modern classics that tomorrow's generations are reading.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-jcEl6OuG-nS7wVzOJqP4tDSmR1m5mewVXNTow9ZGPoj5HerhBEgrqPWfOs25Cj-tQILj22jD0O_186kq_8XNk2gvuAxWrs-r8T2N3eAjNIHvqe37b398gLmFbyJ94JTW_L4aylBeurn-0fDULnr3OcCNpNRKOoIUjU1vwMe1Jak6S11qHaqcBmx8Q/s612/Image.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="612" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-jcEl6OuG-nS7wVzOJqP4tDSmR1m5mewVXNTow9ZGPoj5HerhBEgrqPWfOs25Cj-tQILj22jD0O_186kq_8XNk2gvuAxWrs-r8T2N3eAjNIHvqe37b398gLmFbyJ94JTW_L4aylBeurn-0fDULnr3OcCNpNRKOoIUjU1vwMe1Jak6S11qHaqcBmx8Q/w400-h300/Image.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></span><p></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-67577105542107032462023-12-09T15:10:00.000+00:002023-12-09T15:10:32.637+00:00Went to London, Took the Dog - Nina Stibbe<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUAjhtPbBTmrKJrjC4Hp7BEpuxa3kKXVAZsIMrzOkDddeiGHcV7W5I6O5XFoLQcKT82e7ujqLnD0g3NmrOIJ9q_nfMEW1qHCr_z9IxXrv2ucShmZsH17KNjtmnlnWT7EHm7NqNxVTtMEs6vjRiJHgmN6N5PRAsWx2IQ0WHAIyFr3p47bhNJLG8EjA8w/s4032/IMG_6753.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVUAjhtPbBTmrKJrjC4Hp7BEpuxa3kKXVAZsIMrzOkDddeiGHcV7W5I6O5XFoLQcKT82e7ujqLnD0g3NmrOIJ9q_nfMEW1qHCr_z9IxXrv2ucShmZsH17KNjtmnlnWT7EHm7NqNxVTtMEs6vjRiJHgmN6N5PRAsWx2IQ0WHAIyFr3p47bhNJLG8EjA8w/w300-h400/IMG_6753.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Oh my, what a delight this book has been for me. Living in a perpetual haze of down-spiritedness and winter doldrums every time I picked this up and read just a page or two I found myself chuckling, agreeing vehemently or even laughing out loud. I thought I'd forgotten how to laugh. I borrowed this from the library. Although it wasn't due back I returned it this morning as it has been reserved by several people and I know what it's like when you really want to read a book. While I was there I searched the biography/memoir section and found 'Love Nina'. and I can't wait to read it. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Why did I enjoy this book so much? It's witty. It's clever. It's warm. It's perceptive. It's real. It's honest. There are some sad bits. But it's full of love. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The premise is that Stibbe and her dog, Peggy, takes a year sabbatical from Cornwall and a stuttering marriage to lodge with Deborah Moggach in London. Her children and several friends are in London too and the book, or diary, chronicles that year with such well paced and salient detail. Nina is in her sixties and undergoing the trials of an ageing body, women of a certain age will relate to so much of this. It's all so piercingly true. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">But a writer hangs out with other writers so the cast list is impressive! I mean, can you imagine going to a pub quiz night with Nick Hornby?! When I first started the book and read the 'Cast, in order of appearance' I was puzzled but I ended up being very grateful for it and I referred back to it several times to confirm who is, indeed who. It's very much a writer's diary too with details of literary festivals and book related events that you get to see not from the punter's perspective but an author's. It's fascinating. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I am a diarist and reading this has totally transformed the way I write mine. It's given me a good shake up and whilst I will never live as interesting a life as Nina Stibbe nor will I ever be as funny her book has made me write a more dynamic narrative in my daily scribblings. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span> </p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-88142945817624038212023-12-06T14:27:00.000+00:002023-12-06T14:27:23.894+00:00The Island Child - Molly Aitken<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiljMI4TAn8tm2-SY5Dr839Xq8v_YOO3pDdutBYHjN9N7UCUxur1TAJ0uKmiN2E-geLM3ObUUzQgvr2rLfKD29QQmwzGHrTd3gg8SMv-ZnPd2O7-fDIB6V9mwJEy-MDQ04Xnytuub_-1uBhKYtrkfNj0qH8QjXjMocV65adMDdANOQMCZZqwnmbjFw-0g/s4032/IMG_6727.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiljMI4TAn8tm2-SY5Dr839Xq8v_YOO3pDdutBYHjN9N7UCUxur1TAJ0uKmiN2E-geLM3ObUUzQgvr2rLfKD29QQmwzGHrTd3gg8SMv-ZnPd2O7-fDIB6V9mwJEy-MDQ04Xnytuub_-1uBhKYtrkfNj0qH8QjXjMocV65adMDdANOQMCZZqwnmbjFw-0g/w300-h400/IMG_6727.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It's taken me a while to cement my thoughts about this book. It gave me such a lot to think about. The story was Canongate Book's November read-along. Usually when I take part in a read-along I get frustrated by having to stop reading but I found here that I didn't mind nearly so much as there was a deal to consider after I finished each section. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Firstly I found it hard to believe that this is a debut novel. It felt like the work of a seasoned novelist. Also I thought it joins the impressive oeuvre of exciting fictions to come from Irish writers in recent years. Irish fiction could almost be a genre of its own. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The prose is exquisite with a dual narrative, the story of Oona and an accompanying lyrical tale, part folk lore, part fairy tale, that mirrors the main narrative in intent. Thematically the novel examines identity, motherhood, growing up, perhaps nature and nurture too, none of which are original themes, indeed they've been covered probably throughout the enduring history of the novel! But it's how they are dealt with that makes the impact. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Here we are treated to Oona, the girl and Oona, the woman, wife and mother. Born on the island of Inis, Oona the girl dreams of escaping the island which Oona, the woman, does - or does she? I saw this as a metaphor, wondering if it was herself that Oona was trying to escape from. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The story is complex emotionally and intellectually and so haunting. The characters are three dimensional and this author somehow manages to convey the essence of these people with economic perfection. No laboured or long winded descriptions - but an instinct for the right words for the right person. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Oona is so real, so flawed as we all are. You want to hug her, slap her, shake her, soothe her, shout at her but in her flaws you can see some of your own. A victim of emotional neglect in childhood to a degree she does enjoy a solid relationship with her brother, Enda, another flawed character but I loved him. None of her relationships seem straightforward. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Island life is claustrophobic and there is a sense of darkness and 'not quite rightness' about the place so the reader, too, along with Oona would like to escape. But the sense of relief when she appears to is short lived and it seems she exchanges one restrictive environment for another. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Motherhood is key and the notion that such a state doesn't come with a book of instructions lays bare the mistakes that are made. It's actually quite heartbreaking. It made me think of my own mother who, in her later years, was so critical of her parenting and all but asked me for my forgiveness. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">So, it is isn't a feel-good read by any stretch but it is haunting and pervades your consciousness for a good while after you've finished it. </span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-80778871187354489632023-11-25T15:31:00.000+00:002023-11-25T15:31:50.334+00:00Restless Dolly Maunder - Kate Grenville<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaWBKkw-aOGrRpBdm_V5xVYMq6J63W0CAXZ7PYKcIvcgL4YXr6z-Yny5w5gd2IkpXT3d8WFMDUt6Tl4Px5e-f10PTErD1gbWcodpxPK8eFn7E-WxXNbQ2VIXcdBesWaG2l-4OHPJMe61pHnQF1oBqGn3RuTkN6QHJJ8X5tQYq29fVK76z8MDapv3Vknw/s4032/IMG_6719.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaWBKkw-aOGrRpBdm_V5xVYMq6J63W0CAXZ7PYKcIvcgL4YXr6z-Yny5w5gd2IkpXT3d8WFMDUt6Tl4Px5e-f10PTErD1gbWcodpxPK8eFn7E-WxXNbQ2VIXcdBesWaG2l-4OHPJMe61pHnQF1oBqGn3RuTkN6QHJJ8X5tQYq29fVK76z8MDapv3Vknw/s320/IMG_6719.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">As I began this novel it seemed like a competent piece of historical fiction set in Australia shortly before the end of the nineteenth century. And as I read I marvelled at the research, how thorough and detailed it all was and how much depth it gave to Dolly's story and how it highlighted the lack of equality between men and women at that time in history. As I continued with my reading I was impressed by how Dolly made the best of her situation and tried to overcome gender restraints as far as was possible without distorting society's rules too dramatically. On one level I admired her but it did seem to come at a price and I was often left feeling that her children were victims of a degree of neglect emotionally. But you also feel that there's an element of history repeating itself as Dolly's relationship with her parents was not warm to say the least. It wasn't until I reached the end and read the author's additional notes that I realised this was a fiction that had been constructed around some basic family facts in particular a single incident that happened to the author when she was a child. It's powerful. Dolly Maunder was a real person and she did all of the things described in the book. Somehow that revelation added another dimension to the story. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Ms. Grenville has a proven track record - Commonwealth Writers' Prize, shortlisted for the Man Booker and Miles Franklin Literary Award snd winner of the Orange Prize. The writing is assured and the prose steps just beyond that of linear story telling. But above all Kate Grenville gives a voice to one, ordinary woman unwilling to be defined by the expectations of the age.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">My thanks to Canongate Book for a gifted copy.On oneOneOn oneOn one</span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-38426929638830299142023-11-25T15:05:00.004+00:002023-11-25T15:05:39.308+00:00Crow Dark Dawn - David Greygoose<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLlHM9bCObu5yIuI9_aT_YtuQty-nRVxVUh997A-FertFuG8A-rkYDgmmh8isyk080AgJ405wG6513_OkLZ6tpEenCwLRPlLBYuVvA4KHn3BzV0jORRO3OCv238yo5jVdL5Nja3O7jFVbzyPQW5og-52bVBBpCuiIFI8LbZaBbR0Zxcd267G-Koa1DA/s4032/IMG_6718.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNLlHM9bCObu5yIuI9_aT_YtuQty-nRVxVUh997A-FertFuG8A-rkYDgmmh8isyk080AgJ405wG6513_OkLZ6tpEenCwLRPlLBYuVvA4KHn3BzV0jORRO3OCv238yo5jVdL5Nja3O7jFVbzyPQW5og-52bVBBpCuiIFI8LbZaBbR0Zxcd267G-Koa1DA/s320/IMG_6718.jpeg" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />If you were worrying that we have no legacy of fairy stories to pass on to future generations, then fret not, for David Greygoose seems to have it covered. Although this collection of stories has several recurring characters there is such a sense of the traditional fairy tale about them that it is hard not to conjure Rumpelstiltskin and The Pied Piper. I was also reminded of Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales in some instances.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">There's a whole other worldly feel to this mesmerising collection; tales that aren't quite gothic, not quite magical realism but more rooted in the manner of folk and fairytale. One story kind of meanders into another with similar descriptions of the streets and environments, the rats and the birds. I had to keep reminding myself of the different characters as they wove their way in and out of the various stories, disappearing for a few tales and then popping up again. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I felt the collection had a curious dreamlike quality to it that was unnerving in some ways. The sense of being pushed a little off balance. The writing is confident and assertive with a sense of the poetic and lyrical cadences that seem intrinsic to the fairy and folk tale style of writing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It's unusual fiction which seems consistent with Hawkwood Books mission. I can see it being a Marmite book requiring an expansive imagination with which to plunder its depths. Fortunately I adore Marmite. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I won a copy in Librarything's Early Reviewers Draw.</span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-20713642820798632552023-11-23T10:15:00.004+00:002023-11-23T13:03:01.766+00:00Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumWQyTB1d3HYoKnXk5CJaeMKdm2pzRL8mnMQV2rux9jxSfHzwX5yxpAqxX8K6Jo3RMwZcwCXR3dcuw9vSOCketSeyH7JyGZZxIGQTpfNPkhyphenhyphenPnSafzbM0Vci9EkqmdCOZXIsPlaUJkbRAUe5JTRxE5TZ_ogLRdEueVEZyxQfdDVx8iyYAH5IIuWUU_g/s4032/IMG_6740.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjumWQyTB1d3HYoKnXk5CJaeMKdm2pzRL8mnMQV2rux9jxSfHzwX5yxpAqxX8K6Jo3RMwZcwCXR3dcuw9vSOCketSeyH7JyGZZxIGQTpfNPkhyphenhyphenPnSafzbM0Vci9EkqmdCOZXIsPlaUJkbRAUe5JTRxE5TZ_ogLRdEueVEZyxQfdDVx8iyYAH5IIuWUU_g/s320/IMG_6740.jpeg" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br />Not a lot of people know this about me but I love playing video games! I probably play every day even if it's a just one level of Candy Crush! I can't explain it because in many ways it seems out of character but as long as they've been around I've played them. There, now I've said it and it's out there and my intellectual credibility is probably compromised! 😱 </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I'd seen Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow splayed across social media and wondered if it was another of those books that was all over the place one minute and gone the next. I had a vague idea it was about gamers and gaming but that was all. But I found a copy in my local library and settled down to read. Wow!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The sense of nostalgia was immense. I recognised the names of the older games (I still retain such affection for Mario) and I found the references to The Oregon Trail so funny because......... it's a game I'm currently playing! How weird is that? But as I read my way through the levels of the book it became so much more than a book about gaming. It's deceptively multi layered and erudite with references to Shakespeare, Homer and Emily Dickinson for starters. Life as a game is a much used, and some might say abused metaphor, but when it's used in the right hands it works. It does here. So it broadens the novel beyond a story about gamers and gaming. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Sam and Sadie's friendship begins in more unusual circumstances than many friendships and it's an association that endures throughout the book and throughout their lives. It's not always harmonious and there were times when I could have slapped the pair of them but it's real. It's not really romance but it is love. Thus it becomes very moving.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The book implicitly acknowledges the reason so many of us play games - to escape the real world for a place of infinite possibilities. Where you can have infinite lives and start over when everything goes tits up. But here Sam and Sadie create games commercially. Best selling games at that. That part of the book I felt like I'd read before in similar stories but it didn't jar for long because there's so much more. They also create games to help them understand their lives and their relationships with others.Some things were unexpected and I didn't expect to be heartbroken which I was at one point in the story.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">My favourite character was Marx because he's the kind of person I would love to have in my life, the kind of friend I'd love to have. Sam and Sadie are flawed but real but I was rooting for them even though I got annoyed with them sometimes. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I think the book also gave a palpable depiction of two different US coasts. I am British but I have travelled to both sides of the US in particular Boston and New York so I did enjoy that aspect of the book too. I haven't been to California but just above it if that counts!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Yep, it was an enjoyable read. Now if you'll excuse me I need to get back to the Oregon Trail - before anyone dies of dysentery</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">.</span></p><p><br /></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-45039550349194404902023-11-10T19:39:00.002+00:002023-11-10T19:39:42.775+00:00My Father's House - Joseph O'Connor<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMOnbmb1seEjGakpN4G2DBwjS0dHWJ7vVvNRPhBWGGGKoSPljZOeBxGR556rOArZcgNs8TItWomWWqizz8rx9SBj1mgtPF8STNzKF2tHCJaLAdRwfO84eH62eLLpFeqewXOwiUNXLR_G43njKRzXwZxWgVI1BvKBaBayxQTTtmhmkwrqb0cyWTG0fwA/s4032/IMG_6707.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMOnbmb1seEjGakpN4G2DBwjS0dHWJ7vVvNRPhBWGGGKoSPljZOeBxGR556rOArZcgNs8TItWomWWqizz8rx9SBj1mgtPF8STNzKF2tHCJaLAdRwfO84eH62eLLpFeqewXOwiUNXLR_G43njKRzXwZxWgVI1BvKBaBayxQTTtmhmkwrqb0cyWTG0fwA/s320/IMG_6707.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I read this book because Sinead O'Connor died. I loved Sinead O'Connor. I loved her music. I loved her openness and honesty. I loved how articulate and intelligent she was. I was heartbroken when I learned of her death. I watched her funeral on my tablet. Later when reading accounts of the occasion I came across a poem her brother had written for her funeral - Blackbird in Dun Laoghaire. He didn't mention her by name I guess he didn't need to. It is a beautiful poem and I had never realised that her brother was a novelist. And then I saw someone on social media who had read a novel by Jospeh O'Connor and spoke highly of it. I respect this person's opinion so I reserved a copy of the story at my local library. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It's an historical novel, a war story, about the German occupation of Rome. It's about an Irish priest in Rome who helps numerous people escape the clutches of the Nazi's. It's based on facts and a real life person but it is a fictional imagining of the events. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It's very much a thriller with plenty of action but it is a poetic and literary thriller. The language is very much in the Irish tradition. I found myself reading it with an Irish accent if that makes any sense. There was a sense of flowing cadences and a rhythm to the narrative. Some of it is very quotable even, which isn't something you expect from a WW2 thriller usually!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">'<i>A book rather gets its hands around your throat and shakes you until your fillings fall out. Some writers are skilled with words, but all of us are skilled with procrastination.</i>'</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">The characterisations are adept. Hugh O' Flaherty leaps off the page at you with his strength, wisdom, humour and compassion. But the other characters are all complete people too and the dynamic between them is to be savoured.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Structurally the story offers a third person narrative interspersed with first person transcripts of written or recorded interviews so you are given a balanced view of the events from all those involved. As with any good thriller the novel is not without its twists. But I'm not going to reveal them here!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I really enjoyed this book and I wasn't sure if I would because my reasons for reading it may not have been the purest in a literary sense. But I was mightily impressed and hope to seek out some more of Mr. O'Connor's work.</span></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1382559964708587428.post-8212462567975070182023-11-09T08:28:00.004+00:002023-11-09T08:28:34.298+00:00The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu6cV89yDk5tMibIJheBhYUEv4P2nU6AQoNuF7aklSmLO0WG3suFM33TV7cNFjQKUY_JCBWRVTYMEgK-G28QbIuPn-rbAWvh7beUK8s0io_cnzk48-NxaKdZoL19Btu_y0aP-E1uHtYh6ljiRDbwotGP4gh5CcHqzG-bmgKd69a_X6qHnRdJtyI_MQ_g/s4032/IMG_6708.heic" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu6cV89yDk5tMibIJheBhYUEv4P2nU6AQoNuF7aklSmLO0WG3suFM33TV7cNFjQKUY_JCBWRVTYMEgK-G28QbIuPn-rbAWvh7beUK8s0io_cnzk48-NxaKdZoL19Btu_y0aP-E1uHtYh6ljiRDbwotGP4gh5CcHqzG-bmgKd69a_X6qHnRdJtyI_MQ_g/s320/IMG_6708.heic" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /> Featuring on BBC 2’s Between the Covers, (if you watched this weeks episode, you would have seen a copy on the shelf behind Sarah Cox! )The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou is an historical crime novel based on a true crime from the 1950s. It’s dark reading.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Zina, a Greek Cypriot, has very limited English, so when she is accused of murder she requires an interpreter and translator in the form of Eva Georgiou who works for the Met police. Eva’s job really was to merely interpret and translate, but she becomes deeply involved with the case and forms an attachment with Zina. This offers a compelling story that covers prejudice, immigration, the media, the place of women in different cultures and questions of morality.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> What I found particularly fascinating was the nature of Eva’s attachment with Zina. Knowing that it was almost certain that the older woman had committed murder Eva still felt concern and compassion for her fellow country woman and in the novel we see her becoming increasingly obsessed. To her credit she wants to see Zina get a fair hearing even if she is guilty, and she works tirelessly to try and make sure that no stone is unturned. But it takes its toll on her and her marriage to the ever patient Jimmy, who is one of the most endearing characters in the book. The characterizations are strong, and we get a very clear picture of Zina and Eva. We also get a very clear idea of the legal system and the prison system in the 1950s. I found the courtroom sequences utterly gripping. And I also think it highlights the fact that nothing is ever completely clear cut. On the one hand you can argue that Zina murdered so she must be punished, but the novel seeks to look at the mitigating factors that might have led to Zina’s unspeakable acts and whether, some leniency might be appropriate. And so doing the book also offers the reader much food for thought. I’ve often wondered what it is that drives people to commit acts of unspeakable violence. Up to a point I can see where crimes of passion could occur, but to take the life of another in a premeditated way is beyond my comprehension.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">Historically it creates a very palpable picture of 1950s London, both socially and the penal and legal system of the time. Some thorough and excellent research has been undertaken. There are moments of tension within the well paced narrative and cleanly structured story. We care about the characters including Zina</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">It’s not a feel good read by any means, but it is an extremely absorbing one. My thanks to Tandem Collective for a copy of this book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">AD-PR PRODUCT</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p>Bookphacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05525975177318150723noreply@blogger.com0