Non Fiction November

 

A monthly challenge that I can get behind!

I keep setting myself laudable reading goals/challenges and then failing miserably to keep to them but Nonfiction November is right up my reading alley!

It is supposed to be a month where you try something nonfiction if it isn't a genre you often read but for me it is an excuse to think about the non fiction books I've read all year, as well as the ones from November.

Keeping detailed reading journals through various apps (I'm paranoid that one might vanish and I'll lose all the data)* I can see that so far this year 42% of the books I've read have been nonfiction and so I really don't need a dedicated month to appreciate the genre so I looked a bit deeper in to the types of book I go for...

The majority are biographies or autobiographies, and within those nature and travel writing make up a large proportion, and following this come the books about books, but like most of my reading its really hard to pin down what is 'my type' of book as I'll try most things, except true crime!

In November standout non fiction so far has been:

What I Ate in One Year (and related thoughts) by Stanley Tucci - this was a wonderfully gossipy diary from Tucci, heavily focussed on food, drink and travel so just my thing. There were a fair number of recipes dotted through it too and I made note of several of them!

A Cheesemonger's Tour de France by Ned Palmer - I've often said that my 'last supper' would be really good quality French bread, butter and cheese and this book really helped me create the cheese board aspect of the meal. I also liked the pairing suggestions of what to drink with the cheese, and which areas of France I should add to my travel list so I can try the food in the setting it was made for. 

Sapiens: A Graphic History Volume 1 which is adapted from Yuval Noah Harari's book and illustrated by Daniel Casanave and David Vandermeulen. I'd tried Sapiens before and got a bit bogged down in it but this way of story telling really broke the big ideas down. I think Mr Norfolkbookworm got bored of just how often I was bringing up things I'd learned from it - however it did give us lots to talk about while we were our walking... I'm looking forward to reading the next two parts immensely.

There's still a third of the month left so I am sure I'll read more non fiction in November but it is good to stop and thinking about what I'm reading - it will help when it comes to writing those best of the year posts in a few weeks!

*this did happen to one app I really liked and while I have a paper reading journal too I've not always marked books by genre and so looking back at them I'm sometimes not sure what books were about!

Theatre visit

 

Come From Away - Norwich Theatre Royal.

Back before the pandemic I used to go to the theatre an awful lot - which was great from both a cultural point of view and for the train reading time it gave me but not so good on the bank balance.

Post pandemic I think I've been to the cinema far more than I've been to the theatre which is not something I thought I'd say!

In the last month or so however I've been to the Theatre Royal here in Norwich twice - the first time was for an evening with Michael Palin celebrating the publication of his latest volume of diaries. This was a really nice evening - I wish I had half of his energy that's for sure. I've also now read the diaries he was promoting and loved them a lot too.

Then this week I went on a solo outing to see the musical Come From Away - I knew the outline of the plot for this and had heard (and enjoyed two) of the songs but also had a really strong recommendation from a friend that this was a show not to be missed.

(In case you aren't familiar with the show it tells one story from 9/11 - how 7000 passengers from planes caught up in the American airspace closure after the attacks were grounded in a small Canadian town in Newfoundland and how the five days they were there played our, and ultimately affected all involved.)

My friend was absolutely right and from the opening bars of the song I had goose bumps which didn't really vanish throughout the 100 minutes of theatre. It was incredible the way that a cast of just 12 performers managed to tell the story of the people of Gander and the 7000 passengers just by simply putting on (or taking off) hats and coats. I could follow who was who at all times and was emotionally swept away - I'm glad that I took tissues!

I can't remember the last time I was so moved by a piece of theatre, and didn't feel manipulated into the standing ovation at the end (Motive and the Cue I'm looking at you here).

The tour is on for another few months and I am actually in two minds as to whether I want to see it again or not - it was such a perfect afternoon that a repeat viewing might change this.  I can however see the cast recording for this is going to be on hard repeat for a while.

In praise of libraries

 

Budget busting!

I'm guessing that regular readers of the blog will realise that I am a voracious and omnivorous reader with a serious book habit... one that there's no way I could afford to sustain if I had to buy all the books I read. 

While I am lucky that I have access to advance reading copies of some books through various projects and NetGalley there is no way that I could read so much without my local library.

I reserve a lot of books that I see mentioned in reviews, as well as books by authors that I love and I can't think of a visit to my local branch that didn't see me pick up at least one new book.

The library staff often laugh at me and sometimes question how I have the time to read all that I borrow, and I'm not sure that they believe me when I say that I don't read them all.

I should also mention that thanks to the extensive free loans for eMagazines and eNewspapers both Mr Norfolkbookworm and I get to read/skim though a lot of these each month and not buying them saves a lot of money in subscriptions as well as cutting down the amount of paper needed/recycled each week. Neither of us make much use of the free eAudiobooks that are also available but again these are huge money savers.

Back to books...

The reasons I borrow books are varied but I've been thinking about the main ones:

1) Typeface/size - since my brain haemorrhage I have found that some type faces are really hard for me to concentrate on and if the print is too small or dense I just can't get on with it at all. This means that I either abandon a book or look for the eBook version which allows me to fiddle with this.

2) Content - some books sound intriguing from a review but I'm not 100% certain that they are for me, so borrowing the book lets me try it out and really widens my reading at little cost.

3) Space - if I had to find physical bookshelf space for all I read I'd have to live in a mansion (and while I'd love a house with a library reading room that isn't possible where we live now). Even if they were all eBooks I think I'd need two Kindles to keep them all on!

4) Paying authors - each loan of a library book has a financial benefit for nearly all authors illustrators, editors, translators or audiobook narrators. This can be up to £6600 and a real game changer for a lot of people. I know that buying books from charity shops/second hand bookshops does mean the author was paid for the initial purchase but each & every loan counts towards PLR.

5) Timeliness - I'm lucky in that I live in a county with an excellent library service that usually gets new books pretty much on the day of publication, and for popular books usually in good quantities so even if there is a waiting list it isn't too long. They also often by eBooks which doubles the availability. The team also take recommendations and try to fulfil suggestions for new books. With the amount I read I'd have to wait for the paperback to come out to even come close to affording the books so getting them so quickly is brilliant.

And then the big one...

Cost - reservations in my county are just 80p* and as the average hardback price is now £22.00 and £9.99 for paperbacks this is an absolute bargain when you consider how much my current reads/reservations would cost:

• Current loans - £112.96
• Awaiting collection - £98.76
• Reserved and coming soon - £178.97

That's a grand total of £390.89 worth of books (if bought full price from an independent bookshop) for just £16.80 of reservation fees.

And this is just my October loans... this month is slightly different to others because so many new hardbacks come out for the Christmas market but still,  there's usually around 10 books on my reservations list at any one time.

The great thing about using the library and getting the books so cheaply means that my monthly book budget can then be spent with independent publishers who often have beautiful editions of quirky books that I'm keen to own, even if it will take me years to read them all!

These are just my personal reasons for why I love libraries so much - lets not also forget to celebrate all the other things that they can offer to so many people (study support, mobile libraries, free computers, warm spaces, social activities, children's sessions, business support, local history resources...) and to always support them if they become threatened with closure or budget cuts as the cost of living crisis and government black holes deepen.

*full disclosure here - I work for the library service and thus don't pay for reservations but even before this I did reserve about as many books and would continue to do so if this privilege was removed.

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 14 (2024)

 

Edith Holler by Edward Carey (Gallic Books)

I couldn't resist this book when Gallic Books were offering advance copies to reviewers, after all a book about theatre set in Norwich ticks so many of my personal preferences and to cap it all it also focuses on many of the tales/legends about Norwich that I know so well.

Norwich, 1901. Edith Holler spends her days among the eccentric denizens of the Holler Theatre, warned by her domineering father that the playhouse will literally tumble down if she should ever leave.

Fascinated by tales of the city she knows only from afar, young Edith decides to write a play of her own about Mawther Meg, a monstrous figure said to have used the blood of countless children to make the local delicacy, Beetle Spread. But when her father suddenly announces his engagement to a peculiar woman named Margaret Unthank, Edith scrambles to protect her father, the theatre, and her play – the one thing that’s truly hers – from the newcomer’s sinister designs.

Teeming with unforgettable characters and illuminated by Carey’s trademark illustrations, Edith Holler is a surprisingly modern fable of one young woman’s struggle to escape her family’s control and craft her own creative destiny.

I was a little surprised by the horror inflections in this book - it was a little creepier and more bloody than I usually like but as I did pick this up to read whilst poorly with Covid it might just be my fever talking!

The book is wonderfully visual, not just because of Carey's sketches which definitely add to the experience, I really did find myself wandering around Edith's Norwich. I think that there is scope to base a walking tour of the city on the book - just as they have done for Shardlake's Norwich!

I loved all of the local history - it will be interesting to hear from other readers as to what they think are true events, what are local legends and what come from Carey's incredible imagination! 

Like the previous book by Carey that I've read (Little) this book won't be for everyone, he has a style all of his own but however much they drag me out of my comfort zone I will keep reading him!

Many thanks to Claire at Gallic Books for the advance copy of this book which is published on Oct 3rd.

Micro Review 13 (2024)

 

Turtle Moon by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold (HarperCollins)

I think that it was Kentishbookboy who introduced me to Hannah Gold's work (or possibly his mum) but since reading Last Bear I've made a point of looking out for new books from Gold as a matter of urgency.

Turtle Moon is due out in a few days and I was lucky enough to be approved on NetGalley for an advance copy of this - and I think it might be her best yet.

The publisher blurb reads:

Journey to the heart of the adventure!

Silver Trevelon’s parents aren’t happy. They haven’t been happy since the nursery they decorated started gathering cobwebs, waiting for the baby brother or sister that never came. So when Silver’s dad is invited to paint at a turtle rescue centre in Costa Rica, she hopes it’ll be just the  adventure the family needs.

Under the hot tropical sun, Silver settles into life at the animal centre. She even witnesses a rare  sighting of a leatherback turtle nesting on the beach. But when the turtle’s eggs are stolen, events take a dark and dangerous turn. Can Silver and her new friends track them down before it's too late? It’ll mean journeying into the heart of the jungle and uncovering long-buried secrets.

And this both tells you everything, and nothing about the book! While Gold's last books have featured the plight of far more photogenic species (polar bears and whales) the extinction risk faced by turtles is no less acute even if they are harder to see and less easy to anthropomorphize. 

While it is often necessary to remove adults from a children's book to allow the adventure to happen this book also centres the story on the adults which gives it quite a different feel to many books - and one that I liked a lot. The climactic adventure itself was also (just) within the bounds of reality which was also a delight. Levi Pinfold's illustrations capture the spirit of the book, and the locations perfectly and the book wouldn't be the same without them.

I'm not sure if I am so enamoured with this book because I have been lucy enough to see turtles in the wild or because we got to visit a turtle hospital ourselves earlier this year but I really did think the book was fantastic.

I was also impressed with Gold' bravery in her afterword, and while this may go over the heads of many young readers it certainly gives food for thought and support the adults reading the book too - either as parents or just as fans.

 

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

Twenty books in twenty days (part two)

 

Books that have stayed with me.

As previously mentioned on Social Media I took part in a challenge to list a book that had stayed with me or influenced me each day for twenty days - it has been just the sort of icebreaker I can get behind.

However the challenge was just to post the book jacket with no reasons why you picked it and after picking my books I though I actually want a record of why it is these 20 books that feature.

Like online there's no order to these books, and while are some firm favourites and have been for decades some of the books that came to my mind really surprised me.

Invisible Women - while I knew that things weren't really equal for men and women despite laws and loud claims by men, this book really opened my eyes as to just how much of the world is set up for the default male and not most of the population.

Carrying the Fire - I don't think that this was the first biography/autobiography from the early era astronauts that I read but it certainly the best. A great mix of personal story and science and entirely readable, it is one of my great regrets that I never got to meet Collins as he comes across everywhere as such a nice person.

Black Beauty - I think my original copy of this one was once my dad's and despite being not a huge horsey person (and mildly allergic to them or their hay) I loved this book - even though it is quite bleak in places!

Diary of Anne Frank - I think that this was the first book about the Holocaust that I read, and it is one that I return to on an infrequent basis, along with other works - scholarly and biographical - related to Frank. 

Birds Without Wings - while Captain Corelli's Mandolin is the more famous book it was the epic sweep of this one that really blew me away, and I loved the way that de Bernieres mimics Homer in his turn of phrase.

Alanna: The First Adventure - I could have picked any of Pierce's books set in Tortall but this one was the first I read after (somewhat surprisingly) finding it on the shelf in my school library. I still buy Peirce's books as soon as I can and just hope that the one she's been talking about for a few years does see the light of day.

The Shell Seekers - this was another of the first 'grown up' books that I read in my teens, again I think it was a recommendation from my mum. It is a sweeping, multi generational family story with a strong WW2 setting and as well as this I think it also helped develop my appreciation of the Impressionist school of painting.

Rewild Yourself - after my brain haemorrhage we started spending a lot more time out in nature, and then with the pandemic limiting where we could go this book was ideal for focussing the mind on how just some small actions can keep you grounded while still expanding your connections with the natural world. While a lot of books in the nature writing genre are fascinating only this and Lev Pariakian's Light Rain Sometimes Falls have reinforced that you don't need to do big things/ take big trips to make the most of the world around you.

The Flowers of the Field - another sweeping, multi generational family story that I read and reread as a teen/ young adult, this time with a WW1 focus. The sequel, A Flower That's Free, is also good but if I shut my eyes I can still 'see' scenes from this one, and the main character (Thea) is one of my favourites in all the books I've read.

The Cut Out Girl - as I think can be seen from this list I do like to read books about the period in history from about 1900-1950, and when I  look through my full reading diaries for the past 20 years this becomes clearer. This book has stuck with me so much because thanks to The Diary of Anne Frank and other similar accounts from Holland during the Nazi occupation I had formed a fixed idea of this period of time and here Van Es presents a new point of view. I've since found other books and documentaries that add to this  and so it deserves its place on this list because it is always good to learn new things and have your opinions challenged and to remember that the victors/survivors write history.

Twenty books in twenty days (part one)

 

Books that have stayed with me.

As previously mentioned on Social Media I took part in a challenge to list a book that had stayed with me or influenced me each day for twenty days - it has been just the sort of icebreaker I can get behind.

However the challenge was just to post the book jacket with no reasons why you picked it and after picking my books I though I actually want a record of why it is these 20 books that feature.

Like online there's no order to these books, and while are some firm favourites and have been for decades some of the books that came to my mind really surprised me.

Vintage 1954 - It was hard to pick a single Antoine Laurain book as I've loved them all and eagerly await the translation of his new books. I surprised myself by picking this one and not An Astronomer in Love (which I liked so much a colleagues and I nominated it for the Dublin Literary Award), however when I shut my eyes it was this one that popped into mind and so on the list it went!

Testament of Youth - this book was so important to me as a late teenager and in to my early 20s and I think that it is the book that really started my love of autobiographies and also my interest into WW1 in a wider context. This was a case of not returning to a favourite however as when I reread it a few years ago it wasn't quite the profound book I remembered.

The Red Tent - I think that this was the first (feminist) retelling of a classic/Biblical tale that I read and again it is one that sparked my later interest in the genre.

The Song of Achilles - I felt bad picking this over the sublime books by Natalie Haynes but again this was the first book of its genre and the one that rekindled my love of Ancient Greek myths and legends.

To Serve The All My Days - I loved (and if I'm honest do still love) classic school stories and I think that this was the first 'grown up' book I came across that had this setting. It also has a strong WW1 and WW2 theme so event more boxes ticked! I'm not sure how I discovered this one - I know my parents introduced me to Delderfield's Diana & The Avenue books so it may be thanks to them...

Project Hail Mary - I really liked Weir's The Martian and didn't think that his Artemis was quite as bad as some say but this one was just on a different level - apparently it is about to be made into a film but I can't see how that would work as the pictures in my mind are so strong.

Shakespeare On Toast - after a visit as a tourist to Shakespeare's Globe I became more interested in the plays and Shakespeare himself and this book taught me so much - not least how to actually read the plays. It sparked such an interest that I ended up doing an MA in Shakespeare Studies!

Mossflower - it was a toss up between this one and Jacques' Redwall for this but I remember reading this one multiple times and loving the feel of it. Unusually this was a series that my sister also enjoyed and we used to swap books while we were on holiday. I have to confess that as a quick and constant reader I was probably initially drawn to these books because of their length - pre eReaders and with room in the family suitcase these books were ideal!

Little Women - and being in the UK this does mean only Little Women and not Good Wives too! I think the copy of this I had was my mum's and I know that even now it is a comfort read that I must have finished more than 30 times. I also know that some of my friends don't like it and find it out dated and sexist where as I read it as a fable and also as being quite empowering...

The Island - this book has a Greek setting and is historical so already pretty much had my name all over it, but when I did read it I discovered that it was set in a place we'd visited (and on our very first holiday together) it made the book event more appealing. I've enjoyed most of Hislop's books since this one but because it was about somewhere we'd been before it got 'famous' this one tips the scales as my favourite.

Not being entirely honest with myself

 

Twenty Books, Twenty Days

On social media I've recently been taking part in a challenge about books. The idea is that you pick 20 books that have stayed with you, or influenced you, in some way - you post one a day in no particular order and with no reviews or explanations.

I've enjoyed this a lot and it has made me think about books that mean a lot to me and I do want to write (briefly) here about why I picked each one and those posts will be coming very soon.

However I have a big confession - the book that has probably stayed with me the most since I read it doesn't feature on this list. Mainly because it remains the scariest book I've ever read and there's no way on this planet that I will voluntarily read it again.

That book is Neville Shute's On the Beach. 

I am a child of the 1980s and I remember the disaster at Chernobyl very clearly (and a radio play about it not long after), and books like Brother In the Land, Z for Zachariah and Children of the Dust featured on my reading lists as a young teen quite prominently - I guess that rather than the post-apocalyptic books that are popular now it was all about the nuclear apocalypse for me.

However while I remember the books aimed at teenagers pretty well and reread them more than once it is On the Beach that terrified me so badly that I've never read it again, and have knowingly steered clear of books about nuclear holocausts ever since!

I don't know if I read it slightly too young or if it just felt more real than the YA books but something about it got totally under my skin and event now I shudder thinking about it. 

I do feel bad about not putting it on my list of 20 books as it is probably the book that has lingered the most but I decided that I wanted to be a marker of books I want to remember (and maybe return to) rather than a nightmare inducer!

Micro Review 12 (2024) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

 

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Pan Macmillan)

This was my last read from the Waterstones Prize shortlist and sadly it wasn't a case that I'd left the best until last. In fact for quite some time I wasn't sure that I'd even get to the end of the book - and I rarely mark a book DNF (did not finish).

Cyrus Shams is lost.

Ever since his mother’s plane was senselessly shot down over the Persian Gulf when he was just a baby, Cyrus has been grappling with her death. Now, newly sober, he is set to learn the truth of her life.

When an encounter with a dying artist leads Cyrus towards the mysteries of his past - an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as an Angel of Death, a haunting work of art by an exiled painter – he finds himself once again caught up in the story of his mother, who may not have been who or what she seemed. As Cyrus searches for meaning in the scattered clues of his life, a final revelation transforms everything he thought he knew.

The premise of this one was good - how does one respond when a parent has become a martyr? It was made all the more interesting as Cyrus's dad then moved them to the country responsible for his mother's death.

However for much of the book I found the descriptions of drinking and drug taking to be overwhelming and it was impossible for me to connect with the characters at all. 

Once the action moved to New York I did become more enthralled and the preconceived ideas I'd made from the blurb were challenged, and then the next ideas as to where the plot was going were also proved wrong and I found myself breathlessly turning the page to see how the story was going to resolve.

This book isn't going to be for everyone, and in a way made a nice complementary read to one of my Women In Translation books, but I am glad I did stick with it.

Women In Translation 2024

 

I am so pleased that I saw advance warning of this go by online as while I do read a lot of books in translation (40 last year and 36 already this year) I don't really pay attention to the author - it is if the book appeals to me that is important!

However as a break in my Waterstones Prize Reading I have been consciously looking through my TBR pile and pulling out the books that are translated fiction by women. I may get through a couple more by the end of August but a pile of reservations from the library are calling and a lot of these can't be renewed!

Women in Translation books read in August 2024.

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (translated from German by Michael Hofmann)

In the Streets of Tehran by Nila (translated from Iranian by Poupeh Missaghi)

The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem (translated from Arabic by Sinan Antoon)

Background for Love by Helen Wolff & Marion Detjen (translated from German by Tristram Wolff & Jefferson Chase)

The Third Love by Hiromi Kawakami (translated from Japanese by Ted Goossen)

Half Swimmer by Katja Oskamp (translated from German by Jo Heinrich

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki (translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood)

I have managed to read so many books in translation this month because most of them have been novellas rather than full length books, but also because in the main they have been so very good I've found it hard to put them down!

While I try to read widely and from as many different languages as possible this month has been heavily influenced by German and Japanese literature, and I have noticed that as a whole most of the books I've read translated from German in 2024 have been about dealing with life in East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell, and then how the reunification worked out for former Ossies.

Looking at my reading stats for the the year to date I can see that I've read books translated from Japanese, German, Korean, French, Arabic, Iranian, Greek (Cypriot Greek), Greek (Ancient Greek), German (Austrian), and Norwegian.

I am hoping to expand this over the next year and using the brilliant resources provided by The Women in Translation project and Norfolk Libraries!

Micro review 11 (2024) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

 

Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly (Cornerstone)

My shortlist reading continued with this quirky book from New Zealand and it was one that I'd been aware of for a while but kept putting off reading - due to my misconception of the book.

Siblings Greta and Valdin have, perhaps, too much in common. They're flatmates, beholden to the same near-unpronounceable surname, and both make questionable choices when it comes to love.

Valdin is in love with his ex-boyfriend Xabi, who left the country because he thought he was making Valdin sad. Greta is in love with fellow English tutor Holly, who appears to be using her for admin support. But perhaps all is not lost. Valdin is coming to realize that he might not be so unlovable, and Greta, that she might be worth more than the papers she can mark.

Helping the siblings navigate queerness, multiracial identity, and the tendency of their love interests to flee, is the Vladisavljevic family: Maori-Russian-Catalonian, and as passionate as they are eccentric.

Rebecca K. Reilly's exploration of love, family, karaoke, and the generational reverberations of colonialism will make you laugh, cry, and fall for the whole Vladisavljevic bunch.

For some reason I'd become stuck on the first paragraph of this blurb and thought the book was going to be another book in the style of Eleanor Oliphant - a tragic(ish) story with a neurodivergent main character.

The book did have elements of that, but it was more about finding your place in the world when you have mixed heritage, are queer and there are family secrets bubbling under the surface ready to trip you up.

Despite the more unusual New Zealand setting I didn't get a huge sense of place while I was reading the novel, and it didn't grip me - I was interested enough to finish the book, but I wasn't rushing back to find out what happened next, and at times towards the end I got very muddled as to what was going on.

All in all I'm glad I decided to read all of the Waterstones Prize as otherwise this book would have languished on my shelf for years but overall not a favourite.

Micro Review 10 (2024) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

 

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon (Penguin Books)

As I started reading the books for the Debut Fiction Prize so late I was aware that this was the overall winner as I started it, and as I've enjoyed all the books so far (and one is one of my top reads of the year) this one had an awful lot to live up to.

Again on paper the book was right up my street:

An exhilarating, fiercely original story of brotherhood, war and art, and of daring to dream of something bigger than ourselves.

It's 412 BC, and Athens' invasion of Sicily has failed catastrophically. Thousands of Athenian soldiers are held captive in the quarries of Syracuse, starving, dejected, and hanging on by the slimmest of threads.

Lampo and Gelon are local potters, young men with no work and barely two obols to rub together. When they take to visiting the nearby quarry, they discover prisoners who will, in desperation, recite lines from the plays of Euripides for scraps of bread and a scattering of olives.

And so an idea is born: the men will put on Medea in the quarry. A proper performance to be sung of down the ages. Because after all, you can hate the Athenians for invading your territory, but still love their poetry.

But as the audacity of their enterprise dawns on them, it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between enemies and friends. As the performance draws near, the men will find their courage tested in ways they could never have imagined...

The author is also based in Norwich so another tick in its favour...

Sadly the book wasn't quite my cup of tea, I had hoped that it was just the abridged Book at Bedtime version that wasn't for me and that the full book would connect.

I can't quite put my finger on why the book didn't work for me. The story was interesting, I knew both Euripides plays being performed and the characters/setting were strong. I also quite liked the way the characters spoke in a vernacular way, it just left me cold and I didn't find it either a comedy or a tragedy.

I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at the discussions where the winner was chosen to find out why this one won - it was good but just not a winner in my mind.

Micro Review 9 (2024) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

 

The Silence in Between by Josie Ferguson (Transworld)

Next from the Debut Fiction list for me was The Silence in Between and again on paper just the type of book I adore:

The Silence in Between is a historical novel based in Berlin in 1961 and during the Second World War. Lisette lives in East Berlin but brings her new-born baby to a hospital in West Berlin.

Under doctor's orders, she goes home to rest, leaving the baby in the care of the hospital. But overnight the border between East and West closes, slicing the city - and the world - in two. With a city in chaos and armed guards ordered to shoot anyone who tries to cross, her situation is desperate.

Lisette's teenage daughter, Elly, has always struggled to understand the distance between herself and her mother. Both live for music but while Elly hears notes surrounding every person she meets, for her mother - once a talented pianist - the world has gone silent. Perhaps Elly can do something to bridge the gap between them. What begins as the flicker of an idea turns into a daring plan to escape East Berlin, find her baby brother, and bring him home....

This is the 3rd book I've read this year that is set all or partially in East Berlin during the Cold War and all of them have been absolutely brilliant - with this one sneaking ahead by a whisker.

As the author says in the end notes so much of this book seems to be too far fetched to have any historical basis where as the opposite is actually the case - and Ferguson makes the facts from history books and documentaries come to life in an incredibly visceral way. 

Some of the book makes for very hard reading but from page one I was hooked and I can definitely see this one being on my 'best of' lists at the end of the year. 

(The overall winner of the prize was announced as I was reading this one and I was genuinely upset that the prize didn't go to Ferguson.)

Micro Review 8 (2024) Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

 

Mongrel by Hanako Footman (Footnote Press)

This was my second read from the Waterstones Debut list simply because it was the next book that arrived from the library!

This, on paper, was much more the type of book that I pick up naturally: 

Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage but her growing desire for her best friend Fran.

Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher.

Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyo's nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the city's sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light . . .

Shifting between three intertwining narratives, Mongrel reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope.

I did like the book as I was reading it, but I worked out the connections between the three characters quite quickly but it was an enjoyable read to work out how the stories would intertwine and how they would react if and when they met.

Much of the book is quite dark, and very adult in content and while I'm glad I read it you can't really call it enjoyable.

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.

Micro review 6 (2024)

 

Paws & Portals by Ellie Warren (Curiosity Killed the Bookworm)

Sometimes what you need to read is a gentle, fun book that takes you right away from the real world and that is just what Paws & Portals  did for me this past (very) wet weekend.

This is a book set in a world which feels familiar - it is a reasonably technically advanced and (on the surface)  a tolerant society, all be it one where the power is drawn from ambient magic and no one quite understands how...

Then things start going wrong and Daisy, along with intern Lima, are sent out of the city into Ruhann where the Ratatoskr (the squirrel like race pictured on the cover) live and have noticed that the natural world is falling out of balance.

The book is a cosy fantasy (despite the inclusion of werewolves and vampires) with a very well conceived quest forming much of the plot. 

The book can be read as a metaphor for how we are reliant on technology that we don't understand, how we are ruining the environment, and how we have more in common with people who aren't quite like us than we have differences but at its heart it is just a cracking magical adventure story.

There's very gentle hints at romance in the story, but again the messages contained here are also very gentle - this isn't an addition to the new wave of 'spicy romance/fantasy' novels.

Last year I was recommended the T K Kingfisher book The Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking - another fun fantasy book that I didn't expect to love as much a I did, and I think Paws & Portals is this year's surprise summer read. 

I really hope that Ellie does write more in this world as I want to know what happens next to these characters but that is because I loved them so much and not because the book was left on a cliff hanger.

Time Flies

 

I really didn't mean for two months to go by without a blog post, this time my excuse is a travel adventure and then reading books in a very advance stage so that I can't talk about them yet!

Mr Norfolkbookworm and I had a wonderful time in Texas at the beginning of April when we went to see the total eclipse. Sadly the cloud rolled in with seconds to go and while we didn't get those fabulous views of totality we did experience the pitch darkness in the middle of the day *and* we were based on a vineyard in the heart of Texan Hill Country and got to try some of their wines while surrounded by swallowtail butterflies.

Since we got back I've been reading for a couple of projects and as these books aren't published for a while I can't really talk about them, however there are four that I really think every one should add to their readings lists:

• The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable (15th August)
• The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier (12th September)
• Berlin Duet by S W Perry (1st August)
• Broken Threads by Mishal Husain (6th June)

The first three are historical fiction, and the first two are set in Venice, and the final one is a biography of Husain's family and a tale of India pre/post partition.

All of them were brilliant reads and stand a good chance of being on my 'best of the year' lists in December.

Now I'm caught up with these I can concentrate on my library reservations and a few of the books I've bought recently so hopefully there will be some more reviews coming soon. But please don't hold your breath - there's so much to read that I forget to blog!

Micro review 5 (2024) - so far out of my comfort zone I can't even see it!

 

Kammy: My Unbelievable Life by Chris Kamara (Pan Macmillan)

I've written before about how I often read for various projects which introduce me to books I'd never normally reach for, and sometimes this is great and sometimes not so good.

This time I was asked to read Kammy and I had no idea who he is - or was as I didn't even know if he was still alive!

It turns out he was a reasonably famous footballer turned presenter/pundit and while I wasn't expecting to find anything to enjoy in this book I found myself racing through it because it was so engaging!

Kammy has told his story to a very good ghost writer/co author and a fascinating book is the result. Kudos to Kammy for acknowledging Colin Young so openly too.

It mixes autobiographical chapters (in mostly chronological order) with chapters about more recent times and the result for a non football fan was that the book never got too bogged down in details about football matches as you knew there'd be a focus switch in a few pages.

The 'modern' part of the story is about Kammy's struggles with mental and physical health and he does this in such an open and engaging way that I think this book can do a lot to break down stigmas around both.

I'm still not a football fan but as happened back in 2021 (when I challenged myself to read all of the World Book Night titles) I I really enjoyed a book about the sport - I must remember to not dismiss books by footballers!

Micro review 4 (2024)

 

Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan (Andersen Press)

I read this book back last summer and really enjoyed reading it. It is  another book set in WW2 but this one had a different spin as while it was set in Paris during the Occupation it focuses on the resistance work undertaken by the Islamic community of the city and the help they provided to Jews trying to escape.

This is a book for children/young teenagers but it still packs one heck of a punch, and even with all the books I've read about WW2/Resistance/Occupation it brought a completely new dimension to this period of history.

At a time when tensions in the Middle East are once more in the news this book is a good reminder that cooperation between faiths is possible.

I'm really pleased that this book has been Shortlisted for this year's YOTO Carnegie Medal and longlisted for the Jhalak Children's and Young Adults Prize - it really deserves to reach a wide audience (and not just children).

Time Flies again (micro reviews 1, 2, & 3 for 2024)

 

How can it be February already?

The adage about time speeding up as you get older is definitely true and while January did feel like it had about a 1000 days it also rushed past in a flash and I just haven't had time to blog. 

Its not that I've not been reading, January was quite a productive month book wise but many of the books are very advance copies that I can't talk about yet and to be honest after a crazy busy work month the last thing I wanted to do afterwards was open the laptop and spend more time in front of a screen.

Anyhow here's a quick review of 3 books that have stuck in my mind since reading them...

Christ on a Bike by Orla Owen (Bluemoose Books)

I'd seen lots of chat about this one on social media for a while and was really pleased when my library copy came in the day after publication - the blurb was very intriguing too:

Cerys receives an unexpected inheritance but there are rules attached. Three simple rules that must be followed.

As she settles into her new life, she begins to feel trapped: the past is ever-present. She convinces herself that the villagers are watching her and, desperate to control her own future, she tries to break free...

The tension in this grew and grew with every chapter and I found myself snatching every opportunity to read this book available - I'm loathe to say too much about it as I think the blurb tells you as much as you need to know...

Atalanta by Jennifer Saint (Headline Publishing Group)

I'm very pleased that the trend for retelling myths and legends is continuing, and that they are often putting the women back in to the story front a centre. I'd heard of Atalanta but didn't know much about her story, even after reading Mark Knowle's Argo and Rosie Hewlett's Medea in the past couple of years - both novels which cover some of Atalanta's story.

I am also hopeful (thanks to some of my secret advance reading projects) that this trend for retelling myths will branch out into other cultures beyond the Greek/Roman world.

Clara Reads Proust by Stephanie Carlier/Tr. Polly Mackintosh (Gallic Books) & The Iliad - translated by Emily Wilson (W.W. Norton)

Clara isn't  out for another few weeks and my advance copy was provided by Gallic Books, but while I very much enjoyed the story and the writing/translation what struck me about this book was the timing...

The book is about Clara as she starts reading the novels of Proust for the first time and how while she was aware of them the details were all new. At the start of January I joined an online reading group to read The Iliad and very much like Clara I was familiar with a lot of the story but only the highlights. The synchronicity of the novel and my life definitely added to my appreciation of Clara!  

Why I loved those 20 books from 2023 - part two!

 

Why that Top 20?

Following on from my New Year's Day post of top 20 books for 2023 here's the reasoning behind my top fiction books.

It was really hard to pick just 10 (as ever) and I do feel bad that The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley and the Cat + Gamer manga books by Wataru Nadatani (tr. Davisson), and Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin didn't make the cut as all were excellent - in very different ways.

An Astronomer in Love - in a year of such horrible/sad events (on a global and personal level) this book was like a warm hug. It is full of Laurain's charming whimsy and I loved both of the dual timeline stories - even the flights of fantasy. The zebra was also great!

Black Butterflies - I reviewed this one at the time but I've found that it has really stayed with me since I closed the book.

Morgan Is My Name - despite my love of myths and legends I am very ignorant when it comes to the Arthurian tales (I'm guessing that Monty Python doesn't really count...) and I loved this introduction to them from the female perspective. I can't wait for book two and am resisting reading up on the tales until I've finished this trilogy just so as to not have the plot spoiled!

In Memoriam - after working on a big WW1 project from 2013-2019 I've not read a lot of fiction from this era since but this one really drew me in. I could see lots of Winn's influences throughout the story but it still managed to be moving and original.

What You Are Looking For Is In The Library - there's a lot of whimiscal books from Japan on the market at the moment and lots of them have links to books/libraries but this one was especially enjoyable and about the power of books without being didactic.

Sweet Bean Paste - another book from Japan but this one was very different to a lot of the others and in many ways reminded me lots of The Island by Victoria Hislop.

The Figurine - I loved this one from Hislop and it felt like a companion piece to her Those Who Are Loved which I remember saying at the time seemed to end very abruptly. The contemporary storyline in this novel took on a timely quality when the news about thefts from the British Library broke at the time I was reading the novel!

The Kamogawa Food Detectives  - set in Kyoto around a restaurant that is very hard to find but where the chefs can help you recreate that perfect dish from your memory. Don't read this one if you are hungry and don't expect it to be all about delicious sounding Japanese food. I really hope that there are more books from this setting to come.

The Dallergut Dream Department Store - one of several Korean books I read this year but it makes the list for reasons similar to An Astronomer in Love - it is a warm hug of a book! Very much a fantasy novel and in many ways it reminded me of Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree in that there are many worlds and fantastical ideas all within a multi story building!

Four Seasons in Japan - another Japanese book but this time one written by a British author, all be it one who has spent a lot of time in Japan. This one, like The Kamogawa Food Detectives isn't set in Tokyo and the story within a story was just wonderful, I did review this one yearly in the year.

It has to be said that even though 2024 is only a few days old I've already read an absolutely brilliant book - another myth/legend retelling but from a source material that I am unfamiliar with - and I can see that it is a strong contender to be on this list next year!

Happy reading!