World Book Night 2021: Book Seven

 

Sunshine and Sweet Peas in Nightingale Square by Heidi Swain (Simon & Schuster)

Borrowed from the library eBook catalogue

I wasn't sure that I was in the mood for a light and fluffy read when the notification from the library came in saying it was my turn to download this book, and I almost delayed the delivery date for a few weeks.

I'm really glad that I didn't for although the plot was reasonably light and I did guess a lot of the twists before they happened this book was an unashamed delight from (virtual) cover to cover.

There's nothing new at all in the story but it was just so well written that I felt I lived in Nightingale Square and that these were my neighbours. Being set in Norwich was also nice, and it is obvious that Swain is familiar with the city. Nightingale Square might be fictitious but all of the other local nods were spot on  - another reason to see this book as a warm hug of a read.

I'm not going to read any more of Swain's books immediately but I do now have a go to author when I want something comforting, romantic and easy to read. I'd never have read this without my challenge and once more I am delighted to have found something new.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2021

 

After the War by Tom Palmer (Barrington Stoke)

Borrowed as a physical copy from Norfolk Libraries

The regular reader (hi Upstartwren!) will remember that this book made it in to my top reads of last year, however due to the topic of the book I thought I'd save my review for January, and Holocaust Memorial Day.

This fiction book retells a true story about the Holocaust that until recently wasn't well known in the UK:

Summer 1945. The Second World War is finally over and Yossi, Leo and Mordecai are among three hundred children who arrive in the English Lake District. Having survived the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps, they’ve finally reached a place of safety and peace, where they can hopefully begin to recover.

But Yossi is haunted by thoughts of his missing father and disturbed by terrible nightmares. As he waits desperately for news from home, he fears that Mordecai and Leo – the closest thing to family he has left – will move on without him. Will life by the beautiful Lake Windermere be enough to bring hope back into all their lives?

What is so special about this book (beyond the incredible true story) is the way that Palmer has written it, Barrington Stoke produce books that are designed to be accessible to reluctant or dyslexic readers and to fit into this brief I think Palmer has pulled off an incredible feat.

The story doesn't soft soap the war, the Holocaust or the aftermath of the war in anyway, but the way that it is written means that it isn't overwhelming. The chapters are short and broken up with the incredible illustrations of Violet Tobacco and this had a bigger far impact on me (as neither dyslexic nor reluctant) than many of the other books on the topic I've read.

The story isn't couched in allegory, these are real boys who've experienced one of the worst events of the 20th Century and we learn all about this without euphemism or needing to know the history to understand what has happened to them. For me the starkest illustration of this is when Yossi is describing his family's arrival at Auschwitz. It is not left with Yossi and his father being separated from the rest of the family and never seeing them again. Palmer explains what happens, and how parents made the decisions they had to, there's no way that it can be misread or made 'nicer' by obscuring the events in vague language or with a need for prior knowledge. 

(As an aside the book that really left me confused as a young reader was The Final Journey by Gudrun Pausewang (trans. Crampton) which ended in a communal shower after a train journey across Europe. I know that the first time I read this I didn't understand why they were so happy/surprised when water came out of the shower heads.)

While the book is written in an accessible way, the subject is so well handled that a reluctant high school reader wouldn't feel like they were being given a book for a younger age group, and for the younger readers the length and style makes it a good story to back up other learning.

My first MA dissertation was about the Holocaust as portrayed in children's book and I wish that this book had been around at that time as it would have made a great contrast to some of the books I looked at.

Tom Palmer has a great website full of resources to support this book, including information about the real children who arrived in the Lake District from the concentration camps during the summer of 1945.

(Conversations I've had with Tom Palmer on Twitter have let me know that his next book is going to be set on HMS Belfast during WW2 - a book that I will have a special interest in as my paternal grandfather served on her, sadly not during the period Tom is writing about but I still can't wait to read more about life on the ship)

World Book Night 2021: Book Six

 

Taking Up Space by Chelsea Kwayke & Ore Ogunbiyi (Random House)

eBook

This made a great next read after I Will Not Be Erased even though this came about accidentally.

It is another collection of essays and memories by women and non-binary people of colour but this time all about their experiences at university.

It is more academic than the other books I've read so far for World Book Night but was still highly readable. Again there were aspects of the experiences recounted in the book that I recognised, simply from being female and having gone to university but this was truly eye opening.

After a summer reading and learning more about racism in the UK as the Black Lives Matters campaigns grew I was none the less horrified at just how much institutionalised racism exists, and also just how easy it is to put everyone into the BAME category and assume everyone wants the same things.

Not an easy read in either style or subject but if you've enjoyed novels like Girl, Woman, Other or The Vanishing Half or Why I am no longer talking to white people about race by Reni Eddo-Lodge then I definitely recommend this.

World Book Night 2021: Book Five

 "I will not be erased" Edited by gal-dem (Walker Books)

Borrowed from the library eBook catalogue

A book that I really doesn't see me as the target reader but one that I loved never the less.

This is another essay collection but this time written by women and non binary authors of colour. Most start with the authors writing to their younger selves about an incident from their childhood.

The essays cover all types of topics, some are universal to many of our adolescent memories and others are far more specific to being non-white in our society. Some are funny, some shocking and some incredibly moving but there wasn't one that I wanted to skip over which is pretty incredible.

I really don't think that I've come across a book that I think should be handed to every high school student - regardless of gender or colour - for a long time.

The message of the book really is that it will get better, you are perfect as you are and no, your school days really aren't necessarily the best time of your life.

World Book Night 2021: Book Four

 

Faking Friends by Jane Fallon (Penguin)

Borrowed from the library eBook catologue

The colder weather and lockdown rules are helping me to power through my personal World Book Night challenge and my 4th read was a more traditional novel.

This was a read that would definitely sit quite happily under the chick-lit banner but this is to do it a little bit of a disservice. While the characters are just fit into the end of Gen X age wise much of the plot revolves around problems experienced by Millennials which could mean a wide appeal or a book that falls through the cracks.

For me the plot was fun and definitely a new take on the revenge comedy and for once a book where the peripheral cast was as well written as the main protagonists. That's not to say I liked them all, even the ones I was supposed to, but I did believe in them completely.

The book felt a little overlong, the start was fast paced and a real page turner and then the final third returned to this style so I am glad that I didn't abandon the book. The middle however felt a little too slow and explain-y (for want of a better word), it gave lots of back story but for me I found it dull and not really necessary to the main story.

Unless I am reading for review purposes this is the sort of book I usually treat myself to when I am on holiday and I think that if I'd been on a sun lounger somewhere warm I might feel more warmly towards this one but in the depths of a miserable winter it didn't quite give me the escapism I wanted.

World Book Night 2021: Book Three

 

Common People ed. Kit de Waal (Unbound)

Borrowed from the library's eBook collection

Another genre of books I've been increasingly keen to see in promotions such as World Book Night / Quick Reads is one that includes anthologies of short stories or essays. A book that you can dip in and out of, a genre that leaves you feeling accomplished as you can read a whole story easily or in limited time.

I enjoyed a lot of the pieces in this book, but like most anthologies not every entry was for more but by the end well over three quarters of the entries appealed which is a pretty good hit rate.

I'm still not 100% sure if the entries are autobiographical, observations or short stories but this didn't matter as they are all well written and 'lived' as I read them. I'm not sure I'd have found this book with out WBN21 and my challenge but I am very glad that I did.

World Book Night 2021:Book Two

 

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Penguin)

Borrowed from the library eBook collection

This was a fun teen read that is all about acceptance and coming to terms with who you are. There are some great one liners in the book and without being didactic or pushy Albertalli makes a lot of good points about equality.

It was a quick read but I am wondering how memorable it is (the library catalogue reminded me that I'd borrowed and read the book in 2017 - pre brain haemorrhage) but I couldn't remember a thing about it).

My other minor gripe is that it is American - I know that there are some great British writers out there covering similar topics and I'd love for them to have been highlighted by WBN. It also means that some of the issues and themes of the book have less links to the UK and thus their message can be diluted or dismissed more easily (but incorrectly) as being 'not something that would happen here.'

Oh dear - I'm only two books in to this challenge and both books have been disappointing in one way or another!

World Book Night 2021: Book One

 

The Kindness Method by Shahroo Izadi (Pan Macmillan)

Borrowed from the library

I'm not saying I am a sucker for marketing but it did seem right to start this challenge with a book that would fit into the traditional "New Year, New You' book promotions.

I have to say that this one really wasn't for me, I do occasionally borrow books like this from the library looking for hints or tips on how to make alterations in my life (and usually forget them pretty much instantly) but in this book I didn't find anything that resonated with me at all. Possibly because it is a book you need to work through slowly and annotate as you go and that isn't something you can do in a library book!

As I've long been vocal in saying that schemes like World Book Night and Quick Reads need more non-fiction options I do feel bad in finding this one so disappointing but not every book can be for everyone so on to the next book...

2020 - Best of the Books

 

A year in books

Well what a year 2020 ended up being. It started so well with some great plays (and accompanying days out in London) and then we just managed to have our whole holiday before flights were cancelled and travel banned. Our holiday seems such a distant thing now that I have to pinch myself hard to remember that it was only 10 months ago...

We came back from holiday and instantly started working from home, due to having returned from (at that time) a higher risk area. I'm not sure I'd have believed you if you'd said that this would continue for the rest of the year, and then well into 2021. It has been 44 weeks since I was 'in the office' but as I am lucky enough to still have a job, and one that I can do from home I am not complaining about this.

Not being furloughed (and indeed working my hours over 5 days not 3), plus spending more time outside means that I didn't really increase the amount of time I spent reading. Oh and like a lot of people my concentration span has been as variable as the tiering system!

Not many books stuck out for me this year as being ones I had to shout about to all and sundry (except Leonard and Hungry Paul) and I did have to go through my reading journal a couple of times to get this list, but for what it is worth...

Top Fiction (in no specific order)

• The Cat and The City by Nick Bradley (Atlantic Books)
• The Autumn of the Ace by Louis de Bernieres (Vintage)
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Penguin)
• The Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue by Anna Fargher (Macmillan Children's Books)
• Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hessian (Bluemoose Books)
• The Readers' Room by Anotoine Laurain, trans. Aitkins, Boyce & Mackintosh (Gallic Books)
• A Burning by Megha Majumdar (Scribner Books)
• After the War by Tom Palmer (Barrington Stoke)
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, trans. Philip Gabriel (Transworld)
• The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina, trans. Lucy Rand (Manilla Press)

Fracture by Andres Neuman, trans. Caistor & Garcia (Granta) just missed the cut too.

From this list I can see that fiction set in Japan was a common thread to my reading with 4 of these 11 set wholly or partially there. I'm also pleased to see that translated fiction features so much (4) along with independently published titles (5) and that two children's books made the list.

Non fiction (in no specific order)

• Rewild Yourself by Simon Barnes (Simon and Schuster)
• One More Croissant for the Road by Felicity Cloake (Harper Collins)
• Mudlarking by Lara Maiklem (Bloomsbury)
• Limitless by Tim Peake (Cornerstone)
• Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink (Pan Macmillan)

The Biscuit by Lizzie Collingwood just missed out on the top 5 here.

My best re-read of the year was Victoria Hislop's The Island and the novella One August Night was  in my top 20 fiction reads.

The book that I read that I can't wait to talk about more is Winter in Tabriz by Sheila Llewellyn and I think that the book I am most eagerly awaiting is The Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay.

Overall not a bad year for books, and here's hoping that 2021 is a good reading year - it has started well as I've begun the highly acclaimed The Missing Half  and have Where the Crawdads Sing up after that.

I haven't really set myself any specific reading goals as I so rarely manage to reach them but I will continue to name the translator and the publisher in reviews as well as looking to continue reading more independently published books as these two targets really do expand my reading incredibly.

Book Bingo update number 3

 

What Nanny Read

Poor nanny really lost her reading mojo this year. The pandemic and initial lockdowns all started while she and the Kentishbookboy's grandad were enjoying a holiday in Australia and the very stressful end to that, and the libraries being closed, really impacted on reading.

It didn't help that with visiting from family also limited there were less physical copies of books to share around. 

All of this allowing Nanny J still ticked off the following books from the bingo sheet:

A book set pre 1950: The Habit of Murder

A non-fiction book: The Private Life of the Hare

A book recommended by a friend: Secrets of Santorini

A book with animals as the main characters: The Umbrella Mouse

A Book chosen by Norfolkbookworm: The Night of the Flood*

A book from the school list: Clockwork

A Book set in another country: Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue

Free choice: The Uncommon Reader 

I am sure that Nanny J has read more than this in total but in a year as crazy as 2020 managing one book from each row seems an achievement to me! It also shows how good books written for children can be as all of us really recommend the Umbrella Mouse books.

*The eagle-eyed reader will notice that I (Norfolkbookworm) picked this as the book that nanny recommended to me - this can be explained in that Nanny J heard people talking about this and pointed it out to me, I then bought it, read it and afterwards passed it on as one to definitely bump to the top of the pile!

Book Bingo update 2 (Norfolkbookworm's sheet)

 

House!

Unlike the Kentishbookboy I've not been ticking my sheet off as I've been reading - which was a huge mistake. However as I do keep a full reading diary I have gone through that today and discovered that, pretty much by accident, I can tick off every square too!

This isn't necessarily a reflection of the books that will be in my top reads of the year but I am pleased that I haven't let the side down!

Kentishbookboy's choice: Harry Potter rereads

Non-fiction: Limitless (Tim Peake's autobiography)

Set in another country: The Cat and the City (Japan)

Norfolkbookworm's Choice: Girl, Woman, Other

Set pre 1950 - Hamnet

A book from the school list: Clockwork

A book with magic in: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

A graphic novel or comic: March vols 1-3

Recommended by a friend: Mudlarking

A funny book: Why Mummy's Sloshed

A book from the school list: A Bear Called Paddington

A book with animals in: The Travelling Cat Chronicles

A book recommended by nanny or grandad: The Night of the Flood

Free choice: The Island & the sequel One August Night

A poetry book: White Ink Stains

A book recommended by mum or dad: Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue

Some of these are likely to make lists at the end of the month/start of January but even subconsciously I think I've been picking books that tick the bingo boxes!

What the Kentishbookboy read 2020

 

Book Bingo 2020

I stand in awe of my nephew, with everything that 2020 has thrown at him he's just one square away from completing his bingo chart from the start of the year!

I'm not 100% sure I can say the same about my sheet and Nanny has already said that she's totally lost her reading mojo this year. 

Although he had ticked off some of the squares at the start of the challenge the definitive list of what books he'd like to count for each square are:

Kentishbookboy's choice: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Non-fiction: Sharks and other deadly ocean creatures

Set in another country: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Norfolkbookworm's choice: The Highland Falcon Thief

Set pre 1950 - Carrie's War

A book from the School list - Varjak Paw

A book with magic in: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

A graphic novel: The 13 Storey Treehouse series

A book recommended by a friend: The Train to Impossible Places

A funny book: 117-Storey Treehouse

A book from the school list - The Lion and the Unicorn

A book with animals in - The Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue

A book recommended by Nanny or Grandad - to be confirmed, possibly Wind in the Willows

Free choice: The Umbrella Mouse

A poetry book: A Poem a  Day

A book picked by mum or dad: Wonderscape

As well as this list of books Kentishbookboy has also shared his reading log with us, although none of us are convinced that this is 100% accurate as we suspect that there has been some rereading and sneak reading after lights out that isn't accounted for here! Well if he's anything like the Norfolkbookworm was as a child this is definitely the case!

As things stand, with just over a week of the year to go the Kentishbookboy is calling Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as his top book of the year.

World Book Night 2021

 

World Book Night 2021

I can't believe that World Book Night is 10 years old - time really does speed up as you get older. Back then I set myself the challenge of reading all the books that were to be given out before the big day.

Unlike so many reading challenges I set myself this was one that I actually managed to finish, mostly - I still have to go back to A Fine Balance and actually finish it! It also helped me to find one of the best books I've ever read - Half  of a Yellow Sun.

I've dipped in and out of WBN since the first one, both reading books and running events, but it seems fitting that to celebrate the 10th anniversary I set myself the challenge of reading all the books again. There's 21 titles that are already available and one new anthology being written specially for the date.

As ever there is a wide mix of styles and genres to read through and a lot of books I'd probably never pick up without a challenge like this. A quick look at the list, and cross referencing to my book journals, shows that I've recently (within the past 3 years) read 3 of the titles and there's one I remember reading a long time ago and look forward to revisiting. I have also read some of the authors before, but not the specifically the book on this list...

A Dutiful Boy by Mohsin Zaidi (Vintage)

Common People: An Anthology of Working-Class Writers by various authors, edited by Kit de Waal (Unbound)

Ask a Footballer by James Milner (Quercus)

Elevation by Stephen King (Hodder)

Emma by Jane Austen, narrated by Tanya Reynolds (Penguin Random House Audio)

Faking Friends by Jane Fallon (Michael Joseph)

Good Food for Bad Days by Jack Monroe (Pan Macmillan)

“I Will Not Be Erased”: Our Stories About Growing Up as People of Colour by gal-dem (Walker Books)

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, narrated by David Tennant and Samantha Spiro (BBC Audio)

Pocket Book of Happiness (Trigger Publishing)

Reasons to be Cheerful by Nina Stibbe (Penguin General)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (Penguin Random House Children’s)

Sunshine and Sweet Peas in Nightingale Square by Heidi Swain (Simon & Schuster)

Stories to Make You Smile by various authors, ed. by Fanny Blake (Simon & Schuster)

Taking Up Space: The Black Girl’s Manifesto for Change by Chelsea Kwakye and Ọrẹ Ogunbiyi (Cornerstone)

The Anxiety Survival Guide by Bridie Gallagher, Sue Knowles and Phoebe McEwan (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary (Quercus)

The Kindness Method written and narrated by Shahroo Izadi (Pan Macmillan)

To Sir With Love by E.R. Braithwaite (Vintage)

Up in the Attic by Pam Ayres (Ebury)

We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen (Andersen Press)

Where Are We Now? by Glenn Patterson (Head of Zeus)

To find out more about the books for 2021 then the World Book Night page is great, here's hoping that the pandemic has receded enough that some events manage to happen...

Micro Review 18

 

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

Having read and enjoyed Obama's previous two books I was very keen to read this one, and as it came out just after the "interesting" 2020 American election (but before the results are confirmed) I wanted to read it as a reminder that American politics haven't always been quite so crazy. It has taken me a while to get through this 700+ page memoir - hence the lack of recent blog posts!

The first part was very definitely a retelling some of Dreams From My Father but quickly went on beyond this point and covered the selection and then election process that lead to Obama's 2008 victory.

After this we get a much more detailed look at the major events from Obama's first term - good and bad, wins and losses, many are gone through in quite some detail and for me this was a little beyond my knowledge of American politics. There were so many people mentioned, often by nickname, that I did lose track a little too often. I also got to appreciate the sentiments expressed in the phrase "laws are like sausages, its best not to see them being made."

I'm pleased that I read this, but I confess to skipping some of the political detail while searching for the insights into the bigger feelings of being president. The writing is so good, and the candid thoughts often so amusing that I can over look the bits that didn't capture my interest. 

I do think that for a simpler insight into the broader presidency I'd recommend To Obama: With Love, Joy, Hate, and Despair by Jeanne Marie Laskas

Micro Reviews 16 & 17

 

The Island & One August Night by Victoria Hislop

I read The Island years ago, possibly not that long after it came out and absolutely loved it. Novels in set in Greece are always going to catch my eye and then to discover that this one was set somewhere I'd visited was even better. 

Mr Norfolkbookworm & I visited Spinalonga (and stayed in the village near by) on our very first holiday together back in the late 1990s, although on returning a few years ago we didn't go back to Spinalonga, it was far too windy & rough! As an aside the one thing I don't think that Hislop did capture was just how darned cold it can get in Crete out of tourist season - we had snow!

Although parts of The Island had stuck in my mind since I read it when I heard there was a sequel coming I knew that I had to reread it first - and again I discovered that it was actually the book shadow that had stuck. I remembered the broad sweep of the story but very little of the detail, but as soon as I started reading I felt relaxed and happy to be back with an old friend.

I moved straight on to One August Night and unlike the curse of many sequels I'm pleased to say that I loved this book as much as the first one. It was like the feeling I always get when I step off a plane in Greece and take that first breath of warm air - scented with aviation fuel and herbs - knowing that I am back in my happy place.

The sequel touches very briefly on one of the plot strands from The Island but is definitely a new story, that being said I am glad I reread The Island first as I am not sure that it would work quite so well as a stand alone but it was a great book and just what was needed in the autumn of 2020.

Cat Step - an #IndieBookNetwork review

 

Cat Step by Alison Irvine (Dead Ink Books)

Expanding my reading horizons has always been important to me, whether it is new genres, locations, languages in translation, or new publishers. The IndieBookNetwork initiative is really helping me do the latter as without that I'm not sure I'd ever have come across Cat Step.

The publisher blurb reads:

One mistake can unravel everything…

She only left her daughter in the car for a minute; just a quick minute whilst she ran into the shop. She barely thought twice about making the decision, but it soon began to consume her every thought. And not just her thoughts, but those of every neighbour, police officer and social security worker in a fifteen mile radius. But this is her child. Surely she knows best?

After she’d made the move to a small town in Scotland, the rolling hills and blustery beaches seemed to be the perfect backdrop for her and her four year-old daughter, Emily, to start again. It wasn’t always easy just the two of them, but Liz was sure that she could manage this time. And now this?

Sometimes, one mistake is all it takes to unravel everything. Cat Step is a lyrically sparse novel about judgement, intergenerational relationships, community, class, and the expectations that we place on mothers. With sharp prose Alison Irvine has crafted a compassionate narrative that compels you to read on.

And that is a pretty good precis of the book, but what it leaves out is the feeling of overwhelming dread that the book gave me from the first page.

From the start I couldn't tell which way the book was going to go, there are so many strands that add to the feeling of dread, but in general terms they were all 'real' and on the surface 'nice' so why was I so nervous?

I'm not going to spoil anyone's reading of the book except to say all of the threads are drawn together well, and that at no point did the story tip over into the unbelievable. It really did feel as if this could happen to anyone in the same circumstances. Once one action is taken, or one mistake is made then life can just snowball. Individually they are nothing but like that snowball they just keep getting bigger until you are somthered.

The chapters were nice and short for the most part, so when I really couldn't bear the tension any more it was easy to stop, breathe and then come back to the book. 

I don't think I'd have found this book without the chance from Bex, especially with the new lockdown (and how little I am going into shops this year anyhow) but I am glad that I did, I don't think that it will ultimately make my best of the year lists but it certainly had a really powerful effect on me.

Cat Step was published by Dead Ink Books on 5th November and I was provided with a free copy to review as part of the Indie Book Network.

The Becket List Blog Tour (#IndieBookNetwork)

 

The Becket List by Henry Becket (RedDoor Press)

Let's face it 2020 has been a pretty miserable year and anything that can raise a smile has to be a good thing, and for me The Becket List has really been a tonic over the past few weeks.

When I was offered the chance by Bex at Ninjabookbox to take part in another #IndieBookNetwork project - and one that was going to be based around a humour book - I was very excited, any thing that chases off the onset of the winter blues is to be embraced.

The Becket List seemed to be just what the (book)doctor ordered:

The Becket List is a not entirely serious compendium of 'First World Problems' - the sort of stuff that drives us round the bend on a daily basis. How is it that atonal music, bus stations, cling-film and coat-hangers can bugger us up so comprehensively? Or passport control people, modern poetry, or just about anything you'll find in a typical hotel bedroom? Embracing both the inanimate - from allen keys to rawlplugs - and the animated (well, in some cases) - from your fellow-travellers to every third-rate waiter who ever walked the earth - this book is essential for your sanity. As such, this comprehensive A to Z provides a signal service to humanity.

The list is arranged alphabetically and I've been reading it one (or two) letters a day during my coffee break and it has made me laugh out loud more than one. I think Mr Norfolkbookworm has got a little fed up with me reading extracts to him as he's trying to do the crossword.

With any personal list there's entries that made me nod in agreement with Henry Becket's thoughts and then there of course there were some entries that I thought were a little harsh, even then his reasoning often brought me round to his point of view! 

I think that my two top entries were the ones on cats and the weather forecasts - both were spot on with my feelings and it was nice to see that others share my opinions on the latter! A little of me would have liked to have heard his opinion on bucket lists but that is a minor quibble.

The book is illustrated by Tony Husband, but the book isn't reliant on them which makes the joy of coming across them all the funnier - the illustration below is actually about teapots and not vicars but it captures my experience with every teapot I've ever used...

This book should bring delight to anyone who comes across it - however grumpy or not they are in general!

Huge thanks to Bex at Ninjabookbox for offering the chance to take part in the blog tour, RedDoor Press & Helen at Literallypr for the copy of the book and then of course to Henry Beckett and Tony Husband for writing a book that has raised a smile in the gloom of autumn 2020.

Micro Review 15

 

The Readers' Room by Antoine Laurain (trans. Aitkins, Boyce & Mackintosh) from Gallic Books

I've been a fan of Laurain's books since the very first one appeared in English and he has become one of the authors I look up regularly to see if there is a new book due. The problem with this eagerness is that once I get a copy in my hand I become really nervous that the book won't be as good as I hope and I put off starting it.

This time I had to read the book relatively swiftly as it was a library book with a waiting list of people also looking forward to it!

As with all of Laurain's books it is relatively short and really couldn't be anything other than French, the locations just really wouldn't (or couldn't) translate to anywhere else. This book was always going to appeal to me as it is set firmly in the book world and to be honest my dream job would be in Violaine's Readers' Room.

The mystery of this book is two fold - an anonymous book is taking the French literary world by storm and yet at the same time the events in the book are coming to life away from Paris. Can the two mysteries be solved before people lose their jobs or their lives?

I loved reading this book, I guessed very small details of the mysteries but regardless I loved spending time in the world of these people and like all the best books they lived for me. I could 'see' the book really clearly in my mind as I read which in no small way is down to the trio of translators who catch the whimsy of the writing so well.

Book shadows

 

How Should One Read a Book by Virginia Woolf (and also Windsong Summer by Patricia Cecil Hass)

I wrote recently about how I was rediscovering old favourite books recently and it was a weird feeling when I read Sheila Heti's introduction to Woolf's essay around the same time.

Heti is talking about the 'shadow-shape' of books that we read and the lines that stood out were:

"A book is a watery sculpture that lives on in the mind once the reading is done. When I think back on the books I have loved, I rarely remember the names of characters, the plot, or most of the scenes. It is not even the tone or mood I remember, but some residue remains - and that unlikely word is appropriate here - of unique shape.

Sometimes the shape of an entire book will be compacted into the memory of a single scene: something simple - a room that was conjured in the mind, in which two characters sat, speaking." (p7)

Heti and then Woolf go on to talk about how to read and evaluate books but it was this initial sentiment that struck and then stayed with me.

Windsong Summer was another book I remember buying from the school book sale. Even though 30+ years have gone since I last read the book it definitely left a shadow shape with me. I remembered that it was set in the summer in a tropical location, that boats were involved and that there was a hurricane but very little else. Except that at some point in the book they eat chowder...

I had no idea what chowder was as a child but I know that as soon as I saw it on the menu on a trip to San Francisco a few years ago I had to try it and that it instantly took me back to this book. 

That feeling passed but earlier this year (before lockdowns and travel bans) Mr Norfolkbookworm and I were in the Florida Keys I instantly started thinking about this book again...the seas were the colour I imagined as a child and we even saw some yachts that had been damaged in past hurricanes.

I have now read the book, and I quite enjoyed it. Again it was an experience where I felt like I was reading a new book and at the same time reading a book I knew word for word... as an adult I can see more flaws in the book and I can see why it hasn't made it as a modern classic but I'm not going to focus on them as right now we all need nice things and I am going to take myself back to a world of clear blue seas, warm weather and summer adventures!

Many thanks to Net Galley for the advance copy of How One Should Read a Book.

As the Women Lay Dreaming - a review for the IndieBookNetwork

 As the Women Lay Dreaming by Donald S Murray (Saraband)

After running a 5 year project during the WW1 Centenary commemorations I've not read too many books set in 1913-1919 but the offer from Bex (Ninja Book Box) to expand my reading of independent publishers with a book set at the very end of the war was too good to miss.

In the small hours of January 1st, 1919, the cruellest twist of fate changed at a stroke the lives of an entire community.

Tormod Morrison was there that terrible night. He was on board HMY Iolaire when it smashed into rocks and sank, killing some 200 servicemen on the very last leg of their long journey home from war. For Tormod – a man unlike others, with artistry in his fingertips – the disaster would mark him indelibly.

Two decades later, Alasdair and Rachel are sent to the windswept Isle of Lewis to live with Tormod in his traditional blackhouse home, a world away from theGlasgow of their earliest years. Their grandfather is kind, compassionate, but still deeply affected by the remarkable true story of the Iolaire shipwreck – by the selfless heroism and desperate tragedy he witnessed.

A deeply moving novel about passion constrained, coping with loss and a changing world, As the Women Lay Dreaming explores how a single event can so dramatically impact communities, individuals and, indeed, our very souls.

I learned about the Iolaire disaster during my centenary project, the loss of a ship bringing men home to the Western Isles from the war within sight of the harbour on New Year's Day 1919 hammered home the utter futility of that war to me.

This book is very clever as the Iolaire disaster is central to the plot, but at the same time not. Ostensibly this is the story of Alasdair remembering a short period in his life when he lived with his grandparents long after the ship went down, but every interaction Alasdair has is coloured by how the war and shipwreck impacted the community.

I found myself immersed in the book and found that I was incapable of putting it down once I'd started it. I liked learning about how life in the Western Isles remained untouched in many ways during WW1 but that the people involved were completely altered, however hard they tried to stay firm with their beliefs. It was such a feast for the senses reading this book, I really could see, hear and smell everything which helps to explain how hard it was to stop reading and return to 2020.

Surprisingly for a book that enthralled me so much I am finding it hard to articulate why, and I am now realising just how many gaps the book has left me with. 

I wanted to spend more time in the family's world and I definitely want to know about all of the female characters whose stories are tantalisingly mentioned but never completed.  There is a lot to be said for a short, beautiful book but I'd have loved this to be a big, sweeping saga and to feel like I was a part of the family rather than someone peeking through the window and listening to snippets of the family's story being told around the fire place.

I'm really pleased I've read this book, and huge thanks to Bex at the Indie Book Network and Saraband for the book, I'm now off to look for more books set in the Western Isles and about HMY Iolaire.