Micro Review 7 (2024) - Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

 

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Sceptre)

Other reading projects meant that I didn't get round to reading the shortlist for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize until it was about to be announced and while this does mean I can read at my own pace rather than to a deadline it does take some of the surprise/guessing out of the reading.

The first one I picked up was The Ministry of Time and I found it to be a real roller coaster of a read - in a good way.

The official blurb for the book reads:

In the near future, a disaffected civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering 'expats' from across history to test the limits of time-travel.

Her role is to work as a 'bridge': living with, assisting and monitoring the expat known as '1847' - Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to find himself alive and surrounded by outlandish concepts such as 'washing machine', 'Spotify' and 'the collapse of the British Empire'. With an appetite for discovery and a seven-a-day cigarette habit, he soon adjusts; and during a long, sultry summer he and his bridge move from awkwardness to genuine friendship, to something more.

But as the true shape of the project that brought them together begins to emerge, Gore and the bridge are forced to confront their past choices and imagined futures. Can love triumph over the structures and histories that have shaped them? And how do you defy history when history is living in your house?

I loved the idea of a time travel novel where it wasn't the protagonist moving through time but more about the way you can or can't adapt to a completely new place - whether a date or a country. The simple story of relocation then becomes a beautiful exploration of friendships and finally a romping spy/action thriller.

It sounds mad, and in many ways it really is and I don't think I've ever read anything like it but I loved it - and the characters.

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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Vintage Publishing)

I am so glad that this book is finally out and that I can talk about it. I say this because I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this months ago and have wanted to share my love for it every since.

Zevin wrote one of my favourite books ever with Elsewhere and while I've read all of her other works since they didn't have the same impact on me despite being very enjoyable at the time.

However when reading Tomorrow I was reminded just how brilliant Zevin is.

From the summing up on the Waterstones webpage:

From the author of the beloved The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry comes a heartwarming tale of human connection, creativity and collaboration as two children who meet in a hospital go on to pursue their dreams and identities through the production of video games.

It isn't at all obvious that this is book for me - someone who really doesn't play video games.

While the gaming industry, and the creatives behind it, are the focus of the book it really isn't about this - the characters could be involved in pretty much any field - it is about how complicated and unpredictable life is, and how one action many years ago can resonate through the following years.

I have to confess that I was hooked on this book when one of the characters can't see one of the once popular 'magic eye' optical illusions being used on a subway advert. As someone who never could make these illusions work, despite everyone around me being wowed, I loved this throw back reference and also discovering after all these years I wasn't the only one not to see them!

I think that the biggest complement to this book that I can make is that I was so invested in the characters and plots that I really wanted to try some of the games they create.

It didn't matter that I'm not a gamer - missing some of these references didn't stop me falling in love with Sadie, Sam and the other character.

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Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Transworld Publisher/ Net Galley)

After seeing a lot of chatter about this book on Twitter I was really pleased to be approved for an advance copy on Net Galley and it really didn't disappoint - in fact it is already a contender for being one of my top 2022 reads.

Set in the 1950s and 1960s it follows the story of Elizabeth Zott and her family. Nothing about Elizabeth is conventional and this definitely isn't a nostalgic look back at the 1950s by any stretch of the imagination! 

Elizabeth is a woman ahead of her time in so many ways, and while at first you think that this could tip in to the Eleanor Oliphant genre of books it really doesn't. 

It is about making it as a woman in a man's world, being true to who you are, love, experimentation, family and bravery. Some reviews have said they couldn't find a likeable character in the book but I didn't find that - I loved them all and laughed/cried my way through it. What made me cross is the opposition & discrimination Elizabeth faced in every area of her life and how little this has changed in the 50 years since the book's setting.

Lessons in Chemistry is published on April 5th and I recommend reserving it at your local library (or preordering) as soon as possible

Book hangover, February 2021

 

O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith (British Library publishing)

Own copy

I've enjoyed all of the books from the British Library Women Writers series that have been published so far - some more than others of course but all of them have been engrossing. This one was something else entirely.

In many ways nothing really happens in the book, we follow about 7 years of Ruan's life at the start of the twentieth century and all the ups and downs that this comes with. Her parents are mismatched and their marriage doesn't last, there are bereavements and full life upheavals but nothing too shocking or unbelievable and the book is told from her viewpoint, although from her adult perspective.

I can't explain why this book has wormed its way under my skin in the manner it has managed but since finishing a week ago I have struggled to read any fiction at all as none of it measures up to the beauty of this book. 

I've been very glad for my WBN challenge as that has kept me reading, admittedly mostly the non fiction titles but it does mean that my mojo hasn't completely vanished. Is it too soon to re-read this one?

A companion not a sequel

Auggie and Me by R.J. Palacio

Back in November I read Wonder by R.J. Palacio and loved it, even though it made me cry lots. I still haven't had the emotional energy to watch the film!

I had hoped that Palacio had written lots of books before this and so had a great back list for me to explore. Events stopped this happening for a while but while I was browsing the Norfolk Library ebook catalogue looking for some short stories to read I came across Auggie and Me and I remembered how much I loved the original.

Palacio is clear to stress that this isn't a sequel to Wonder but rather a companion piece, in fact in many ways Auggie barely features in these three stories - he is an incidental character allowing us to learn more about his friends and classmates.

I loved all three stories, and once more I was reduced to tears by the characters and events. Palacio really manages to make her characters alive, and even when you think you know how a story arc is going to flow she manages to surprise. These stories could be terribly moralistic and didactic but the humour and writing lift them above this and any morals are absorbed without realising.

Sadly apart from books connected to Wonder Palacio hasn't written anything else (yet) but I really hope she does soon.

Theatre 2016: Review Thirty-Two

Jess and Joe Forever, The Garage, Norwich. October 2016.

A very brief review on line had me wishing I could see this in London and I got very excited when an Internet search said this would be in Norwich for one night only - tickets were hurriedly booked.

Why the interest? Well the reviews saying it was fabulous but nothing more for fear of giving away the plot plus the fact that it was set in Norfolk. How could the Norfolkbookworm resist? In a busy month the 70 minute run time was also a bonus!

Like everyone else I'm not going to review the plot more than to say it follows two young people from the ages of 9 to 16 in a series of snap shots of their childhood and it alternates between hysterically funny and tear-inducingly sad in a heartbeat.

It is performed by just two actors and they have you utterly believing in them whatever age they are being. Jess is a rich kid in Norfolk on holiday and Joe is a local.  The Norfolk accent is notoriously hard to perform and for the most part Joe is credible throughout, I didn't wince and it only occasionally slipped into generic 'yokel.'

I wish I could say more about this play but I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who may catch this on tour and I urge you to find it and go and see it.  I'm pleased to see that it has also earned an award nomination for the playwright, Zoe Cooper.

In a stupidly busy fortnight it would have been all too easy to skip this after a long, stressful day at work but I am so pleased we braved the unreserved really uncomfortable seats to see such a great play.

Theatre 2016: Review Twenty-Nine

The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare's Globe, London. October 2016.

I saw this last year and reviewed it very favourably here. In fact by the end of the year it was in my Top 10 plays of 2015, this time I was with Rebecca and my mum - the former missed it through illness last year and after I raved about it so much mum decided she wanted to see it after all!

However as I loved it so much I was a little scared that it was a mistake to see such a great production a second time...

I needn't have worried as from the very start I was straight back in the Venetian world and wrapped up in the story.  Once more my sympathies moved from character to character and the antisemitism is still as shocking, especially the ending.

What I did notice this time around was the less overt antisemitism. Portia might accept Jessica into her house as Lorenzo's wife but she is always treated with disdain, scorn and is never an equal of the others.  The little looks and actions felt, in some ways, worse than the ending to me - far scarier that is for certain, at least the treatment of Shylock is visible and easy to call out...

By the end the three of us were moved to tears, and yet at times we'd been helpless with laughter.  If there had been tickets left I'd have gone to see this again. As it is I treated myself to the DVD from the shop and can't wait to watch it again.

I think that this will once more end up in my top 10 of the year!

Theatre 2016: Review Seven

Red Velvet, The Garrick Theatre, London. February 2016.

After the disastrous visit to the Garrick to see The Winter's Tale last November I was feeling rather anxious about having booked Mr Norfolkbookworm and I seats to see Red Velvet in the same venue.  I'd picked different seats and held by breath that it would all be okay on the night - luckily it was and we got to see a wonderful play.

I saw this for the first time just under two years ago with Rebecca and raved about it then, it was in fact my second best play of 2014, and I was so enthusiastic about it that as soon as a West End rerun was announced Mr Norfolkbookworm instantly agreed to go and see what was so special about this play when I suggested it.

I was a little nervous, could such a powerful play have the same impact on second viewing? Was it really that goo? Would himself enjoy it as much as I'd intimated? Again the answer to all of these questions really was yes.

A little of the intimacy of the smaller venue is lost but the piece itself is just as powerful and again has as much to say to the audience of 2016 as it had in the 1800s.  All of the performances were spot on and the final scene is still a devastating reminder of the racism that still pervades our society.  The audience in our performance were particularly engaged with the play for at some of the most outrageous racist lines there were audible hisses throughout the theatre and no inappropriate laughter.

I did find the actor playing Charles Kean to be less terrifying this time around (I'm sorry I don't have his name to hand, £5 for a programme was a step too far for a re-watch), he certainly seemed to be playing up the comic aspect of his character but his casual, throwaway lines and disguised racism was still present.

I'm really happy we got to see this and if anyone reading this can grab a seat before it closed I recommend doing so - Row O had excellent sightlines!

Theatre 2016: Review Three

Pericles, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the Globe Theatre, London. January 2016.

My new semi regular theatre companion and I made the trip to London - it was his first trip to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and my first Shakespeare in the venue.

This is a venue that has grown on me slowly, now I know which are the comfiest seats it is a place I look forward to going to but this has taken time, I was worried that my companion would find it too uncomfortable and also would struggle to hear.

I'm pleased to say that we both had a thoroughly good time at this.  It is one of the lesser know plays and deals with incest, prostitution, piracy and child murder but it came together admirably and was believable where it needed to be which is no mean feat with the story.  The play meanders around the Mediterranean as the titular Pericles is buffeted from pillar to post by fate and throughout the afternoon I didn't lose track of where we were once, impressive when you work out just how many roles some of the cast were playing!

James Garnon was playing Pericles and I've seen him a lot at the Globe in the past few years, usually he is playing a decidedly comic role and it was great to see him in a more serious lead role, at least in the first half.  In the second half both my companion and I found it played just a little too much for laughs than our own reading had allowed and 'mad' Pericles' wide eyed mania was just a little too over the top.  However the revelations at the end do pile on top of each other and the plot is ludicrous and so I can see why this directorial decision had been taken.  He wasn't alone in this interpretation as Gower, the sage/chorus figure also got broader with her interpretations of the lines and laughter at the denouement was with the cast and not in disbelief.

After two seasons it was a delight to see some Shakespeare in the venue and the way that the sea storms were portrayed and acted was incredible - a simple rope net, a sail and then body language had me as convinced as some the most expensive special effects on screen.

I am so glad that I have booked tickets for all four of the winter season's plays - it will be fascinating to see how the further storms and ludicrous plots manifest themselves in this theatre.

Staying with the French theme

Book review: The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain

My top book of the year in 2013 was the wonderful President's Hat and for the past six months or so I have been periodically tweeting with the publishers (@gallicbooks) about if and when the next book by Laurain is due.

Persistence paid off last week when the very nice team at Gallic Books popped an advance copy of The Red Notebook into the post for me.  Luckily I am up to date with my studies as I'm afraid all work instantly stopped and I plunged straight into the book...and pretty much didn't surface until it was finished.

The light whimsical tone of the President's Hat remains but this time the book is more contemporary and features a wonderful protagonist, Laurent, who runs a bookshop in Paris.  One morning he discovers an abandoned handbag in the street and decides to set about finding who it belongs to.

The story is part mystery, part family story and part love story and all the strands work beautifully with each other - you can see the disasters looming but Laurain, and his translators, don't overplay anything and the story feels real as well as very much like a modern fairy tale.  

I loved it, the book is different to The President's Hat - possibly a little more mainstream and conventional - but it is still a fantastic read for anyone, and for those with a little French knowledge some of the wordplay is fantastic but the humour totally works without knowing this extra layer!

Many thanks to Gallic Books for sending me a copy so early - the book isn't published until 14th April - and for letting me talk about it in advance of publication.

End of summer break reading

Uni goes back in a matter of days and so I've spent the past few days indulging in a real orgy of reading to finish a few books I know I don't want to put off until we have a break in November.

First up was Nora Webster by Colm Toibin.

Not officially published until October 7th, I read an advance copy thanks to Netgalley.

This held me captivated on a slow train journey to Cambridge and back, it follows a couple of years in the life of one family as they come to terms with the death of a family member.  In many ways this is a gentle book, very much in the vein of Maeve Binchy, but underneath all of this is a darker undercurrent that keeps you off balance and unsure as to where the plot is going to take you.
I became totally involved in the whole Webster family and my sympathies with individual characters changed all the time as we learned more about them.  This isn't a challenging book, but it is quite haunting and certainly a great read.

My next book was Travelling to Work by Michael Palin.

I've said before that I am a sucker for diaries and Palin's are no exception.  I always liked the films Life of Brian & Holy Grail plus the Ripping Yarns series and I can watch and re-watch Palin's epic travel series and enjoy them each time so it goes without saying that I'd like jump on the diaries.

The third volume doesn't disappoint, it is full of tiny details about Palin's life as well as asides about people in the entertainment world - but if you aren't interested in diaries or Palin then the book really won't be for you!

Palin is known as a really nice guy - and I'm afraid that I have to agree after meeting him a few years ago - but he rails against this from a very early stage. His diaries won't do much to dispel the image but I loved the hours I spent reading the tome!

The final book for the weekend was H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

I love birds of prey, and I'm lucky enough to have spent a day learning to handle them and another learning how to photograph them.  I think that if I has the time and money I would consider owning my own.

This is something that is shared by Helen Macdonald and in fact she has gone further and is a qualified falconer and has owned several breeds.

This volume is part autobiography, part falconry manual and part biography of author T H White and it totally blew me away.

After the sudden death of her father Helen decides to buy and train a goshawk, one of the hardest birds of prey to train and fly. The book then mixes memories of her father, insights in to training Mabel and much more.  Several times the book brought tears to my eyes, it is very personal and beautifully written and deserves to become a classic book.

H is for Hawk is published but I read a copy again provided by Netgalley.