Micro Review 15 (2024)

 

There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak (Penguin Books)

I'm known in family circles for being someone who swallows books whole  - I got through 8 books in an 8 day holiday after all. However  hold on to your hats as this book has taken me three weeks to finish.

This wasn't because I was struggling with it, or because I felt I had to finish it but rather because it was so beautiful, complex and reflective that I just had to read it slowly.

The publisher blurb reads:

There Are Rivers in the Sky is a rich, sweeping novel set between the 19th century and modern times, about love and loss, memory and erasure, hurt and healing, centred around three enchanting characters living on the banks of the River Thames and the River Tigris - their lives all curiously touched by the epic of Gilgamesh.

This doesn't give much away about the book and I think that might be the best way to approach it. This is very much a fable woven around real people and situations and the epic of Gilgamesh and the power of story telling is very important throughout. 

While at first I wasn't sure about the style or why the story focussed on these three people/timelines it was all drawn together so wonderfully as the story unfolded and I think that this is a genuine masterpiece of a book.

I came across Shafak with her The Island of Missing Trees in 2021 and while this book isn't quite the same easy read as that I think that it is possibly better and I am very glad that I took my time and savoured this one. And with some of the news stories coming from the Middle East as I write this review it is shockingly prescient too.

Many thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for my copy of this book.

 

Micro Review 7

Persephone Press

I love the books produced by the Persephone Press, at first glance they may seem to be dull and all the same but once you open the tactile grey covers you are greeted with amazing end papers (often reproduced fabrics relevant to the author or book) and bespoke bookmarks for each volume.

I have a full bookshelf dedicated to books from Persephone, as well as piles of volumes that don't fit on these shelves.

The last book I bought in a physical UK bookshop before lockdown was a Persephone book (Expiation by Elizabeth von Armin) and some idle internet browsing meant that a parcel from Persephone was my treat to myself for July.

The books cover all genres and have introduced me to less well known books by favourite authors or books written for adults by primarily children's authors. Some of my favourite volumes are the short story collections from Mollie Panter-Downes and the novels from R C Sheriff (author of one my favourite plays).

I think the thing I like the most about Persephone is that their catalogue and website tells you so much about a book (without giving the entire story away) that when you pick a book you generally know you are going to love it  - as the books aren't the cheapest this is a great thing!

Before Coronavirus I regularly visited second hand bookshops and stalls and only twice in about 10 years have I come across a Persephone title on a shelf - either no one give them away or they are snatched off the shelves as soon as they appear!

If I've made you curious then do investigate their website (I'm not affiliated to them in anyway I just love the books...) now if you'll excuse me I'm off to read another couple of  short stories from Syliva Townsend Warner which came in my parcel the other day!