Busy doing nothing

 

A week away

After the dodgy summer that we've had Mr Norfolkbookworm and I decided that we needed a week away doing nothing except eating, drinking, reading, and relaxing - our only restriction was that we wanted to fly from Norwich.

We're just back from our first visit to Menorca and I don't think that it will be our last.

Menorca also had the advantage that it is the setting for some of the books Mr Norfolkbookworm really enjoys - the Master and Commander books by Patrick O'Brian  - and we made a point of visiting Mao/Mahon one day just to see these settings, it was nice to do a literary pilgrimage for him as he is so patient when I do these!  I've read the first book and it was really good to see the locations and to work out just how small the ships of that time really were!

Anyhow apart from the day we spent sightseeing the rest of the time we did fulfil out goals of doing very little (although as the pool and sea were both very inviting we did add swimming to our to do list) and I read 9 books while we were away - catching up on my NetGalley back log.

All were good but nothing really stood out for me - they were perfect holiday reads! The exception is Le Fay - I loved My Name is Morgan last summer and was worried that the 2nd book wouldn't be as good but if anything it was better!

• Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller
• The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
• Sandwich by Catherine Newman
• The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
• The Days I Loved You Most by Amy Neff
• The Boy I Love by William Hussey
• Meet Me When My Heart Stops by Becky Hunter
• Le Fay by Sophie Keetch
• Moon Road by Sarah Leipciger

Post holiday reading round up

 

A fortnight doing nothing.

Mr Norfolkbookworm and I have just spent two glorious weeks in Corfu. We did absolutely nothing except a few gentle walks, lie on the beach, swim in the sea and visit lovely restaurants. Oh and I did some reading...in fact I did a lot of reading as I got through 27 books in the fortnight!

A quick list of books and thoughts follow!

An Astronomer in Love - Antoine Laurain (Gallic Books) - a beautiful whimsical tale about love, Paris and the transit of Venus.

Greek Lessons - Han Kan, tr. Deborah Smith & Emily Yae Won (Hamish Hamilton) - an odd little book about a man losing his sight and woman who has become mute, not quite sure I understood all of it.

In Memoriam - Alice Winn (Random House) - a WW1 novel that draws inspiration from public school magazines from the era and also Journey's End. I loved this, a contender for best of the year!

Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir - Daniel Finkelstein (Harper Collins) - a book that tied in with my reading from just before our holiday as well as covering a far less talked about WW2 experience of being Russian prisoners of war. Incredibly moving.

Madame Pommery: Creator of Brut Champagne - Rebecca Rosenberg (Lion Heart Publishing) - a fun historical fiction novel based around real people. Definitely made me want a glass of bubbles while I was reading it!

The Air Raid Book Club - Annie Lyons (Harper Collins) - an enjoyable WW2 novel set around a bookshop/bookclub.

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - T Kingfisher (Argyll Productions) - a fun fantasy novel that owes a lot to Tamora Pierce and Terry Pratchett.

The Half Life of Valery K - Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury) - Wow! What a book! Not an easy read and one that gave me some pretty vivid dreams but was an edge of your seat read - another contender for book of the year!

Yellowface - Rebecca F Kuang (Harper Collins) - This is one of the most talked about books of the year but for me it was all hype and the book was a disappointment.

Hazardous Spirits - Anbara Salam (Hachette) - for an advance project, can't talk about yet!

The Moon Represents My Heart - Pim Wangtechawat (Simon & Schuster) - another much talked about book that left me cold. All things I like in a book - time travel, mystery and strong family ties but I just didn't see the point of this one.

Last House Before the Mountain - Monika Helfer tr. Gillian Davidson (Bloomsbury) - a multi generational novel from Austria which included a strand about WW1 in Austria which isn't a common setting. For me it felt more style than substance but an interesting read.

The Farmer's Wife - Helen Rebanks (Faber and Faber) - I liked the recipes and insights in to farming but to me the rest of the book just felt a bit weird and more like a conversation she should have been having with her husband or a therapist.

Moderate Becoming Good Later: Sea Kayaking the Shipping Forecast - Katie Carr and Toby Carr (Hachette) - a wonderfully moving travel memoir of Toby's journey around the UK in his kayak.

The Shadow Of Perseus - Claire Heywood (Hodder & Stoughton) - I love the way that Heywood retells the Greek legends but seeing how they might have played out with no divine intervention.

House of Odysseus - Claire North (Little Brown) - A sequel to Ithaca which I read last year. Another retelling of some of the classic stories and I read this while overlooking a rock that is supposed to be Odysseus's ship so very apt!

The Fire - Daniela Krien tr. Jamie Bulloch (Hachette) - This was an interesting look at how the fall of the Berlin Wall has impacted through the generations in the former East Germany and how despite the publicity integration isn't as easy as it is said. I didn't like all the strands of the story but it was a book I could absolutely 'see' as I was reading it.

The Rich - Rachel Lynch (Canelo) - for an advance project so can't talk about yet.

Maame - Jessica George (St Martin's) - I thought that this might be too much of a Sally Rooney-esque 'millennial' novel for me but instead it was incredibly moving and had a lot more depth than I expected, another book of the year contender!

Sweet Bean Paste - Durian Sukegawa tr. Alison Watts (Simon & Schuster) I loved this tale about second chances, unexpected friendships and Japanese food, and also an unexpected link to a favourite Greek set novel.

Morgan is My Name - Sophie Keetch (Simon & Schuster) - I've not read many Arthurian legends and this was a great introduction to the new strand of stories and being a feminist retelling I was instantly hooked and I can't wait for the next book!

A Spell of Good Things - Ayobami Adebayo (Canongate) - I loved Adebayo's first book (Stay With Me) and had really been looking forward to this one. While I loved the setting and found the story interesting, the (over)use of Nigerian phrases and words meant I wanted subtitles as I read the book which kept it at a distance.

Safiyyah's War - Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press) - A YA novel about a Muslim family in Paris during WW2 and how the mosque was a centre of resistance and survival. While not a retelling of anyone specific family this is based on research and real life and was a really powerful read.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop - Satoshi Yagisawa tr. Eric Ozawa (Manilla Press) - billed as being perfect for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and I agree with this and for me the book was just a bit too slight and convenient to become one of my favourite Japan set books.

The Girl with the Red Hair - Buzzy Jackson (Random House) - another Dutch set WW2 book, this time fiction but taking true like happenings as the base. The Girl with the Red Hair was an active member of the resistance and as well as helping Jews to hide from the Nazis she also comminted huge acts of sabotage and violence to help defeat the Germans. Definietly a story that needs to be told, and a Hannie Schaft should be as well known as Anne Frank.

Yours from the Tower - Sally Nicholls (Andersen Press) - a fun epistoloary novel about three 18 year olds in the 1890s, it didn't quite conjure the period for me as it was just a bit modern but I loved spotting the books that had inspired Nicholls' writing!

The Heroines - Laura Shepperson (Little Brown) - My last book that I finished on the plane home and another retelling of a Greek myth. Sadly this wasn't a great novel and it needed a much better editor and fact checker.

Ooops!

I had no idea that it was nearly 2 months since my last update - it has been a busy time but I think that I blame the heat/humidity since our return mostly for this big gap.

We had an amazing time on holiday, we were incredibly lazy while there and spent 13 out of the 14 days lounging around catching up on sleep, reading and sampling the wonderful local food & wine.

While by no means reaching pre-haemorrhage book totals I had made the right choice in saving up some of the fiction releases from the past few months and I think that these two in particular will feature highly on my end of the year round ups...


Those Who Were Loved by Victoria Hislop

Hislop has returned to modern Greek history for this book, and it charts the story of one Athenian family through the turbulent twentieth century. I knew that Greece had swung from right to left politically as well as from monarchy to junta but not a lot of the detail.
Hislop has told this tale through the story of four siblings and their grandmother and this allows all sides of the political spectrum to be explored as each character has different ideals.

My one reservation with the book is that I found the ending a little rushed, I wish that it was a two-parter. I wanted to spend more time with all of the characters!

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

This is another Greek book but this one took me back to the end of the Trojan War and was everything that Pat Barker's Silence of the Girls wasn't.  The premise in this retelling is that the poet Homer is trying to compose his epic tales but is a little stuck for inspiration, he has called on a muse to help and she is telling him the tale but from the viewpoint of all the women swept up in the chaos. 

This was a great retelling of the Iliad and Odyssey and I liked the way the stories wove themselves together in a way that was utterly modern (and very funny at times) and yet reminiscent of the classics from Homer onwards. I'm loving this vogue for retelling the classics and hope that there are lots more to come.

Now we're back home a lot of my reservations from the library have come in, and I'm reading for one of my non-bloggable projects, so hopefully I'll have more books to talk about soon.

Holiday Reading

Holiday Reading

As promised here's the (short for me) list of books I read on holiday, and some brief thoughts about them.  Six were great, one was 'meh' and the last one I wish I'd not bothered with...

Love and Ruin by Paula McClain - this is a companion piece to The Paris Wife which I read a couple of years ago. This book is the story of Martha Gellhorn and her relationship with Hemingway and it made me want to read more books by both of these authors and to find a good book on the Spanish Civil War.

Tempest and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce - I've been a fan of Tamora Pierce's books for nearly 30 years but the past few books haven't really been my cup of tea so I was really pleased that this one was set back in Tortall and is the first of a new series.

Warlike by Michael Ondjaate - This book has since been long-listed for the Booker Prize and I am really pleased about this as I thought the book was brilliant. It has two distinct halves but they weave together wonderfully and the just post-war setting was intriguing.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron - This book had been book of the month in several places and I was really excited to read this one. Sadly I found it dated and banal.

Mythos by Stephen Fry - This retelling of the Greek Myths won't be for everyone, it is very 'Fry' but the light hearted turn of phrase was just what I needed.

A Very English Scandal by John Preston - I missed the recent adaptation of this but had heard so much about it I thought I'd try the book. I wasn't disappointed and found the whole story enthralling, and at the same time a little sad because I feel that despite the decriminalization of homosexuality it would still be far too easy to blackmail someone over the topic.

What Kitty Did Next by Carrie Kablean - This is an imagined sequel to Pride and Prejudice and I enjoyed it very much. It doesn't have quite the pizazz of the original but like Longbourn certainly adds to the Bennett sisters' stories.

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde - I always start Fforde's books with enthusiasm and enjoyment but by the end I start to find them, and their humour tedious. The basic ideas are always good but I find them too convoluted and contrived to fully enjoy. I'm pleased he is over his writer's block but this one just didn't quite do it for me - although the cold setting was great at cooling me down in the Greek heat!

Radio Silence

Ooops - a month has passed very quickly, I really didn't intend for that much time to go past without a blog post.

Mr Norfolkbookworm and I just had two wonderful weeks in Greece - yes I know the biggest heatwave in years hit the UK at the same time, but what can I say? I have stunning timing!

We had a lovely time and for the first time since the brain hemorrhage in December I managed to read for longer periods of time and even better than that it was more complicated narrative fiction. While it was a great improvement on the past few months and 8 books in two weeks is a 2018 triumph it was a far call from the last time we had two weeks away when I got through 23...

I'll share my books and thoughts soon but for now I'll leave you with the place I did most of my reading...

A reading holiday

A week doing nothing!

Mr Norfolkbookworm and I have just spent a week in Tenerife where the only thing on the agenda was relaxing. For me this meant a lot of sitting around reading with breaks taken for lovely food and drink.

Once more the week's break allowed me to read 13 books of my own choosing - I have several review projects on the go as usual but I didn't take any of them with me.

So again in no particular order here's what I read:

Call the Midwife - Jennifer Worth. I was intrigued by these books as so many people watch the TV series, and some that I wouldn't necessarily expect to be fans.  It has to be said I skipped some of the medical details but I loved the social history of the East End and I have ordered the next two from the library to see how things change as the years move on. 

The Smell of Other People's Houses - Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock.  I heard the author on the radio last year and thought the book sounded good. It is set in Alaska just as it became an American state and the treatment of the indigenous people is the underlying theme told through the eyes of a group of teenagers. I'd forgotten that this was a book aimed at the young adult audience and in truth I would have liked it to have had more details and been longer but it was a really nice insight into another America. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

Three Martini Lunch - Suzann Rindell.  This could easily be billed as a sort-of-sequel to Catcher in the Rye, none of the characters are particularly nice but the car crash of their lives made the book a real page turner. 

The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden.  Fabulous. Set in a Russia pre the Tsars it blends history and folklore beautifully. It was odd to read a book set in such a cold location while being in the sun but this was the best fiction book I've read for ages. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

The Good People - Hannah Kent.  I didn't find this book quite as good as Burial Rites but the clash of traditional beliefs and religion made a gripping tale as played out in one Irish village. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

Once in a Blue Moon Lodge - Lorna Landvik.  Wonderful family saga from one of my favourite authors. Unashamed chick-lit which did move me to tears at several points. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

The Stars are Fire - Anita Shreve. Another chick-lit family saga. This one set around a real event in New England just post-war. I loved the first two thirds but found the ending a bit rushed and I'd have liked it to have been a bit longer to allow this part to match the bulk of the book. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

A Little in Love - Susan Fletcher. Eponine is one of my favourite characters in the musical Les Miserables and so finding a book all about her story was great. Sadly in this I found her to be a modern woman removed to the era of the book rather than a real character from Hugo's time. Fun but not the best fill in/ sequel to a classic. (This got a brief mention in my end of February review but I did read the majority of this while on holiday.) 

Idaho - Emily Ruskovich.  A nice idea for a book and the use of different characters to tell the story was good but the end left me confused. I had no idea of motives or what had actually happened. Subsequent reading about the book calls it experimental and for me the experiment didn't quiet work. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

Little Deaths - Emma Flint.  Another book set in New York in the mid twentieth century and this is a book with a crime at the heart of it so quite an unusual read for me.  Two children are dead and as the mother isn't behaving as society thinks a grieving mother should it is decided that she is guilty of their murder.  A fascinating study into preconceptions and stereotypes. This has gone on to be nominated for the Bailey's prize and I hope it does well. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

Mussolini's Island - Sarah Day.  A new to me tale set in Italy just before WW2 and all about the treatment of a group of gay men on Sicily under the fascist regime. It is hard to describe this book as again many of the characters are deeply unlikable but it was an interesting read and I want to know more about the trues story behind the novel. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

Greatest Hits - Laura Bennet. This is the life story of a successful musician told in snapshots as she is selecting her 'greatest hits' for a new album. This was a deceptively light weight book, on the surface it seemed like any novels about a person's life but Cass really worked her way under my skin and I was on the edge of my seat at some of the events and did have a huge lump in my throat at several points.  I really hope this does well. (Netgalley electronic proof) 

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson. Simonson's book The Summer Before the War was one of my top books last year so I was looking forward to reading her first book and while I did enjoy it to a certain extend I wasn't as bewitched as I'd hoped. The dry humour was fun and the challenging of long held views great but it did occasionally feel a little didactic.

Interestingly several of the books I read seemed to have connected themes. Two were about the clash of traditional beliefs and organised religion, two were about matricide, two included characters with eating disorders and several were all about challenging stereotypes/long held beliefs/prejudices.  Not all of these themes were clear from the book blurbs and so I found these connections intriguing.

Hopefully after this reading splurge I won't lose my reading mojo this year - however I think switching to reading some non-fiction will help this.

Holiday Reading

Mr Norfolkbookworm and I have just returned from Greece where we've spent two weeks absolutely falling in love with the island of Kefaloni/Cephallonia.  It has been an island we've wanted to visit for a while but we thought we'd let the 'Captain Corelli' effect die down.

While we had lots of time for reading and relaxing the beauty of the island sent us our exploring more than usual and so (for me) I did read less than usual during a two week break.  However this is all relative as I did still read 17 books!

In no particular order:

• A Different Class - Joanne Harris: This was really dark and about how events from the past echo into the future. It is set in a school and felt horribly topical. Not a pleasant read in some ways but very good.
• The House by the Lake - Thomas Harding: A non fiction book about one house built on the edge of a Berlin lake, a lake which saw the Berlin Wall run down the middle of it...This book covered the social history of Germany from 1900 to 2014 and was compelling from page one.
• The After Party - Anton DiSclafani: I loved this author's first book but felt that this one really suffered from second book syndrome as it was decidedly 'meh' and one that is quickly forgotten.
• The Improbability of Love - Hannah Rothschild: This was a recommend from a friend on Facebook and while I liked both strands of the story I wasn't convinced they actually came together and I really hated the narrator.
• The Shepherd's Life - James Rebank: Another recommendation from a friend and this one I loved. An autobiography and philosophical musing on life as a shepherd.  Sounds dull but it was beautiful.
• Leave Me - Gayle Forman: I've really enjoyed her teen books and found this adult novel to be a good holiday read but not one that I'll revisit or remember much about in a few weeks.
• Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler: A reworking of Taming of the Shrew and a book that managed to keep the spirit of the original play while removing some of the nastiest mysoginistic threads with a believable strong female lead.
• Foxlowe - Eleanor Wasserburg:Another recommendation from a friend and another book that I liked the main idea but not the final product.
• Super Sushi Ramen Express - Michael Booth: A book about traveling around Japan in search of the food, a brilliant book but one that made me crave the food which wasn't so good as sushi in Greece isn't often found (or wanted the Greek food was delicious).
• Dust that Falls from Dreams - Louis de Bernieres: I know I should have read Captain Corelli but the new book won, it was beautifully written with some lovely use of language but it didn't have the depth of his earlier novels and I missed this.
• Five Rivers Meeting - Barney Norris: An unexpected gem! Five seemingly unrelated people find their lives meeting just as tributaries of a river do...
• The Museum of You - Carys Bray: Another book with second novel-itis. A good story but I didn't love the characters or ever quite beleive in them.
• The Apprentice Witch - James Nichol: A friend's novel which I approached with trepidation as usual for the pressure to like this book was immense.  I'm pleased to say I loved it, and will try to review it in depth soon.
• This Must be the Place - Maggie O'Farrell: A really good 'chick-lit' read for a holiday, again nothing special but an enjoyable read.
• Chasing Stars - Malorie Blackman: This was another reworking of Shakespeare, this time Othello but with a space setting.  This is published as a young adult novel but it is certainly good enough to be considered an adult book too.  It has some nice twists on the original plot and a Star Trek feel.
• Birds, Beasts and Relatives - Gerald Durrell: Corfu is in the same island chain as Kefalonia and as the resort we were staying in felt so old-world Greece this book was just right for a holiday read - I just wish we'd seen some of the creatures Durrell found!
• The Garden of the Gods - Gerald Durrell: After Birds, Beasts I just had to keep in the Greek moment and so instantly read the final part of the trilogy.

Kefalonia was a beautiful island, we're planning a return visit in a few years - more of my photos can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/norfolkbookworm/albums/72157670924505955

Holiday reading

Spring Break!

Mr Norfolkbookworm and I are just back from a week away in the sun. We both needed a break and the intention was to sit around doing very little whilst soaking up some vitamin D. I was doubly able to relax as the first draft of my dissertation was completed just before we went and so I could indulge in reading for pleasure guilt free!

I certainly made the most of the huge balcony and comfy sunbeds as I read 13 books in the week we were away! All that was distracting me was this view from my lounger:

The books I read (in no particular order)

Persuasion - Jane Austen.  I'm not sure why I've not read this before but my friend the Upstart Wren challenged me to read this on our break.  I wasn't sure at first but pretty soon found myself sucked in and I loved this by the end.

Down and Out in Paris and London - George Orwell.  This book came up as a suggestion on Goodreads and while I am pleased that I read it, I can't say that I enjoyed it. Orwell himself made me cross, especially once he got back to England but his insights into the underclass were interesting.

A Country Road, A Tree - Jo Baker.  I loved Longbourn by this author a couple of years ago and was excited to see this title on Netgalley.  I think my mistake with this one was leaping on the author and not reading more about the book as I found it stilted and the characters unlikable however once I got to the end and read the afterword it all made more sense and in retrospect I like it more. A warning to myself with this one! 

The Summer Before the War - Helen Simonson.  This was a pure delight to read, set in the summer of 1913.  War looms, and comes to pass, as the book unfolds but the book is not about the trenches - it is about how the war affected everyone.  This book isn't literary but is a delight and I was transported to the era perfectly.  This is a book I am going to champion for a long time. 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Schaffer.  After The Summer Before the War this book was the only thing I wanted to re-read as I wanted another book which balanced serious issues and whimsy. GLPPS is one of my 'desert island books' and I loved meeting my book friends again. 

Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabther Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World - Matthew Goodson. I love the original novel by Verne (and the cartoon from my childhood) so I was intrigued by this book.  Bly was an investagative (and undercover) journalist in 1899 who decided that it would be possible to go around the world faster than Verne's Fogg.  She sets out eastwards... Bisland was also a journalist and when her editor heard of Bly's journey sent Bisland off in the opposite direction to both beat Fogg and her rival.  The book is part travelogue, part history and part biography and was all compelling! 

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep - Joanna Canon. This is a much talked about novel set in the long hot summer of 1979, all the action takes place in just one street as two girls investigate a mysterious disappearance.  I'm not certain that I loved this as much as others but it was a good holiday read. 

Consumed - Abbie Rushton.  Abbie is a friend and I've been looking forward to reading her second novel since it was announced.  I really enjoyed this, it had a Norfolk setting and covered 'issues' in an interesting and new way.  It was a little more predictable than Unspeakable and possibly the issues were overcome a little too simply but this is a book for young adults and hopeful endings are always good. 

The Infinite Air - Fiona Kidman.  The early pioneers of flight lived in exciting times and I've long been fascinated with the female pilots such as Amy Johnson and Amelia Earhart.  This follows the story of New Zealand's pioneering aviator - Jean Batten.  I'd not heard of her but found this fictionalised biography utterly compelling and a brilliant read. 

Eliza Rose - Lucy Worsley.  This is a young adult read set in Tudor times and Worsley creates a fictional foil to the ill-fated Katherine Howard. This book annoyed me intensely, it was simultaneously too adult and too childish and at no point did I warm to the Eliza or feel that the Tudor court was real. 

German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie - Monique Laney.  After WW2 many German scientist and rocket engineers were brought to the US.  With the start of the space race many of these scientists were relocated to Huntsville in Alabama right in the heart of the segregated Deep South.  This book is comprised of oral histories from all of the Huntsville community and attempts to be rounded but personally I'd have liked more of the histories and less focus on the Rudolph case.  More probing of the idea of possible Nazis (or Nazi sympathisers) being relocated to a deeply racist area would have been nice too as ultimately I am left with more questions at the end than I had at the start! 

Somewhere Inside of Happy - Anna McPartlin.  This was another book I requested through Netgalley because I'd loved the author's previous book.  At first I thought I was going to be disappointed, it seemed like a typical Irish-set, chick-lit read but the twist towards the end blew me away and while not quite such a tear-jerker as The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes this was still brilliant. 

Freya - Anthony Quinn.  A bit of a cheat here as I didn't quite finish this one on the plane home, but I was more than half way through before we landed.  Another real surprise of a book which follows one woman, her friends and family from VE Day through to the mid-sixties. It is full of unappealing characters but their voices and the plot is so good that I found it hard to put the book down, and I didn't want it to end - always a good sign.

Phew - what a lot of books in a short time!  Now it is back to the grindstone as I have to finish and submit my dissertation in the next three weeks, I bet I wish I was back here very quickly