Micro Review 52

 

The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan (Harper Collins)

Long term followers of my reviews know that books about the Holocaust feature reasonably regularly in my reading. It has been well over 30 years since I first read the The Diary of Anne Frank and since then I've read quite a few books about her, the helpers and her family but I've never been obsessed with knowing who did betray those in the Secret Annexe.

This book treats the events of August 1944 as a cold crime and a team of researchers, historians, computer programmers and criminologists is formed to work through as many documents and sources as possible to try and work out who was ultimately behind the arrest of the Frank family and the others hiding with them.

Systematically the team work through different theories and show all of their research as they exonerate (or not) those who have been named as possible betrayers over time. In the main each strand is followed from start to finish which I really did like as theories didn't get confused, and with so many names to remember it didn't become overwhelming.

This choice of narrative style did however make me think that the chapters were each written as podcast chapters as at times they did feel a little cliff hanger-ish and overly dramatic.

The book has proved to be controversial with the ultimate reveal of who this team think did betray those in hiding, and publication has been stopped in Holland. 

The team do seem very convinced that they have cracked the case but I think I agree with the critics. For me it felt that they'd decided 'who dunnit' and worked all of their research to show this. I felt that some of the other threads were dismissed as being too flimsy yet the one that they fixed on didn't seem to have any more definitive evidence than the others.

 

The team are also always very clear to say that none of us in 2022 can understand the pressure those in occupied Holland were under, and we can't judge their actions by today's standards. Who knows what any of us would do to survive, or to ensure that our families did?

I'm pleased I read this from a curiosity point of view but I don't think it is the definitive solving of the case that the authors would like it to be. It is also quite telling that they were not given permission to quote from any of the original documents/diary or from any correspondence between Otto Frank and the other helpers.

Micro Review 51

 

I, Mona Lisa by Natasha Solomons (Cornerstone)

I love books with interesting narrators and as this one is told from the point of view of the painted Mona Lisa I was quickly drawn in.

The conceit is that Da Vinci was such a skilled painter that he actually created a sentient being with the Mona Lisa and so this book is actually her autobiography.

This Mona Lisa was firmly in love with Da Vinci and the bulk of the book is her recounting her life with him during Renaissance Italy and France. After his death we hear smaller parts of what happened to her/the painting in pre Revolutionary France, during her theft/kidnap at the start of the twentieth century and then how she was kept hidden from the Nazis during World War Two.

Because this Lisa had few people to talk to (exceptional artists/art lovers can also hear her, as can one other painting by Da Vinci) during these latter historical periods there is less detail in them and I did want to know more about them in a historical sense.

Solomon's Mona Lisa is quite a snob, very scathing and acerbic and also very unimpressed with most of the people who came to see her through history. At the same time she is quite amusing and her view point on history is different from other historical fiction set in similar time frames (such as The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone).

I feel that I would be one of the people that Mona Lisa would disparage as when I did see the painting in Paris she was smaller than I expected and hard to see because of the crowds, I never got close enough to see her in detail and failed to fall under her spell. The room was full of people trying to take selfies with her even before the camera phone became ubiquitous. I was much more impressed with the picture she was looking at...

Many thanks to Cornerstone and Net Galley for my advance copy of the book, it is published later this month.

Micro Review 50 (Holocaust Memorial Day)

 

Maman, What Are We Called Now? by Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar, trans. Francine Yorke (Persephone Books)

This volume from Persephone Press has been sitting on my shelf for a while but it has been worth the wait.

The titles of the book comes from the author's daughter as the family were French Jewish and in hiding during WW2, although unlike so many they were hiding more or less in plain sight and together for a lot of the war. The first part of the book covers the last 5 weeks of the German occupation of France and comes in the form of Mesnil-Amar's diary from these weeks - starting when her husband is arrested and put on the last transport from France to the East, and the Concentration/Death camps.

The excitement (and fear) caused by the approach of the Allied Armies on Paris is heightened by fear for Andre and this is all pored out into the diary entries, along with some reflection on the past decade. It was very interesting to get an eye witness account from inside Paris as the German's left, and also a reminder that whatever the victors would like you to believe not everyone suffered under the occupation and that although there were plenty of brave people not everyone was in the Resistance...

The diary is a breathless read, but for me the book becomes even more interesting in the final part where Mesnil-Amar's reflections on what came next for the displaced Jews of Europe, and the children who had been successfully hidden but now had no surviving family. Her meditations on how deluded French Jews had become before 1940 are also fascinating. 

I've read many books set in WW2, and many books with the Shoah as the main theme, but I think this is an excellent addition to my personal canon. I don't think I've read a book, by a survivor, that covers the before, during, and after in such a clear sighted way.

Micro Review 49

 

Jane's Country Year by Malcolm Saville (Handheld Press)

This book was on my extensive book wish list and seeing a friend talking about it on Facebook nudged me into placing an order straight away. The book isn't officially published until 18th Jan but Kate at Handheld Press dispatched it pretty much as soon as I clicked on the buy button.

Bex said she thought I'd love the book and (spoiler alert) she wasn't wrong.

Jane's Country Year is a little like a novel version of the wonderful What to Look for in... series from Ladybird that I fell in love with last year.

The book is set in 1947 and Jane is sent to live with her aunt and uncle on a farm to recuperate from a serious illness, the book then is split in to 12 chapters - one for each month of her stay.

Unlike many books set in this era with a similar theme Jane settles into country life well, she isn't a snobbish 'town mouse' disparaging everything rural. She is keen to learn, and make friends with everyone but every so often small plots (upset at killing pests, fear of shadows etc.) reminds the reader that she isn't a local. Her homesickness is also sensitively handled which was a nice change from usual tropes.

At times the plot is a little didactic and occasionally Saville does fall foul of the country yokel stereotype but on the whole I loved this book, especially with the fascinating introduction. I wish I'd had the resolve to read along just one chapter a month but it was soooooo good I couldn't help myself and just had to read it all in one go!

Saville was a prolific author but this is only the second of his books I've read and I will be looking for more by him - especially if they are set in locations I know (like Redshanks' Warning) or have a natural history theme like this one.

This is the 3rd book I've read from The Handheld Press and I am already looking at their beautiful catalogue and website working out what to try next...

Micro Review 48

 

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury Publishing)

A very dear friend recommended this book to me and I was more nervous than usual in starting it. While we are old friends and share lots in common our taste in books/plays doesn't always correspond. In general if I love a play she is ambivalent (or really didn't like it) and vice versa so a lot was riding on this read.

I'm pleased to say that I was drawn in from the start and begrudged all the time I had to spend at work and not reading it.

I'm at a loss to explain the book, it starts with a man getting off a train and losing all his memories, a lighthouse, alternative histories and even time travel...

The publisher's blurb also doesn't give too much away: 

Come home, if you remember. The postcard has been held at the sorting office for ninety-one years, waiting to be delivered to Joe Tournier. On the front is a lighthouse - Eilean Mor, in the Outer Hebrides. 

Joe has never left England, never even left London. He is a British slave, one of thousands throughout the French Empire. He has a job, a wife, a baby daughter. But he also has flashes of a life he cannot remember and of a world that never existed - a world where English is spoken in England, and not French. And now he has a postcard of a lighthouse built just six months ago, that was first written nearly one hundred years ago, by a stranger who seems to know him very well. 

Joe's journey to unravel the truth will take him from French-occupied London to a remote Scottish island, and back through time itself as he battles for his life - and for a very different future.

All of this vagueness works in the books favour, and the confusion I experienced while reading the book definitely mirrored Joe's which made for an unexpectedly immersive read. 

I was lucky enough to get another Natasha Pulley book as a 'Secret Santa' present and I am looking forward to diving into her back catalogue. There is some incredible violence in this book, and at times it is shocking but at no point did I want to stop reading. 

Review of the year part 3

 

Top Kidlit & YA books read in 2021

Despite everything that was thrown at us all in 2021 Kentishbookboy and I have continued to share books with each other and there's nothing more I like than getting a message from him (or his mum) saying how much they love a book, and although only a couple of shared reads have made my final top 10 all of the books he suggested were great and I think that we are living in another golden age of children's literature.

The books that made my list in alphabetical order are:

• Medusa by Jessie Burton
• Darwin's Dragons by Lindsay Galvin
• Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargreve & Tom de Freston
• How to Be Brave by Daisy May Johnson
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Melinda Lo
• The Swallows' Flight by Hilary McKay
• Wishyouwas by Alexandra Page
• Arctic Star by Tom Palmer
• Swarm Rising by Tim Peake & Steve Cole
• Amarantha by Elena Traina

Review of the year part 2

 

Top Non-Fiction read in 2021

As the New Year Bank Holiday is three days long this year I feel fully justified in spreading my 'best of the year' lists over three days too!

Today non-fiction books take centre stage, I wasn't always in the mood for fiction during 2021 and thanks to the great non-fiction out there I never quite lost the reading mo-jo. In a year that was so strange, and with so little travel possible, I definitely roamed the world via the written word.

In alphabetical order my top reads were:

• Come Fly the World by Julia Cooke
• One Woman's Year by Stella Martin Currey
• The Stubborn Light of the Things by Melissa Harrison
• Minarets in the Mountains by Tharik Hussain
• Burning the Books by Richard Ovenden
• Light Rain Sometimes Falls by Lev Parikian
• Slow Road to San Francisco by David Reynolds
• The Lost Cafe Schindler by Meriel Schindler
• Hidden Hands by Mary Wellesley
• Freedom by Lea Ypi

Review of the year part 1

 

Top 10 fiction novels read in 2021

Looking back on my reading diary for 2021 I had a better year of books than I first thought, and indeed I couldn't narrow it down to just 10 books so I am creating 3 lists this year - one for fiction, one for non-fiction and one for children's/YA books.

I did completed two of my own challenges, reading all of the 2021 World Book Night titles and then reading all of the books long listed for the 2021 Wainwright Prize. I also got better at abandoning books - actually abandoning them rather than kidding myself that I'd come back to them!

I was also pleased to see that 60% of the books read were by women and that I read more than 2 translated titles a month.

Anyhow, in alphabetical order, here are my top 10 fiction reads from this year:

• Civilisations by Laurent Binet (translated from the French by Sam Taylor)
• Which Way? by Theodora Benson
• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
• The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante (translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein)
• The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield
• The Island of Trees by Elif Shafak
• Kololo Hill by Neema Shah
• O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• Still Life by Sarah Winman

Pre Christmas Blogging Break

Micro Review Goals

I am hoping to get to 50 Micro Reviews by the end of the year but what with Christmas preparations, reading projects and trying to make the most of any good weather on these short December days, I might not get there...

However I am still reading lots, and looking through my reading diaries ready to pick my top books of the year. Thanks to Net Galley I may also have already read one the books that makes next year's top books!

In the meantime I am adding photos to my Flickr stream and the most recent pictures there are from our midweek trip to see the seal colony at Horsey. For wildlife lovers I promise these were all taken from a distance with a long lens (and when we could get a little closer this was all monitored by the amazing Friends of Horsey Seals volunteer wardens).

Micro Review 47

 

The Edelweiss Pirates by Dirk Reinhardt, trans. Rachel Ward (Pushkin Press)

There are lots of books, fiction and non, about WW2 resistance movements but not that many of them are about German resistance. I knew that there were some as we read about Die Weisse Rose group as part of our German A-level course, and there is plenty about the July 1944 plot to kill Hitler.

What about the rest of the population - obviously living in such fear of reprisals from the SS and/or Gestapo made any form of resistance hard but there must have been some...

Reinhardt focuses his novel, around the real 'Edelweiss Pirates' who were concentrated around the Rhineland area, and much of his story is set in Koln/Cologne. The Pirates were not an organised group, nor were they highly political, just groups of people who didn't agree with the Nazis and refused to join the Hitler Youth or work for the Reich. They were often from the poorer areas of the towns and cities and not really benefiting from the so called prosperity of the Reich.

The story is simply told, a man meets an older man at his grandfather's grave and after some cryptic remarks in the cemetery they fall into a friendship and Josef Gerlach shares his diary from WW2 with Daniel and slowly we learn all about the Edelweiss Pirates and their actions during the war.

I loved reading a new history of the War, and the fictionalised story (based on detailed research) was shocking and eye opening, as well as being beautifully translated by Ward but...

I have two issues with the book as a whole.

1) The style of the diary - it repeatedly stressed that Gerlach and the other have had very little good schooling but the style was flowing and felt incredibly literate. I also can't see that in the circumstances he would have had the time and materials to write such a detailed diary. I'd have believed it more if it had been rough notes that had been written up immediately post war. 

2)Who this book is aimed at. The back of the book lists Pushkin's children's books, including some of their books which are definitely for a much younger audience than this book. Retailers list it with other YA books, and Norfolk Libraries (where I borrowed my copy from) also classify it as teen which makes more sense but even then I think that it is for an older audience. Classifying it as YA also means that lots of adults won't come across it too...

On the whole a book I liked but didn't love but am glad to have read.

Micro Review 45 and 46 (non fiction November)

 

Minarets in the Mountains by Tharik Hussain (Bradt Publishing)

I'm always on the lookout for new books to try and this one really stood out for more when the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction was announced earlier in the year.

It took me a while to get around to the book but I'm so pleased that I did as I learned so much from reading it. Hussain takes his family on a long summer holiday around parts of the Balkans looking to find Muslim Europe.

To my shame I had no idea how much history there was in the region, I knew that large parts of Spain had been Muslim but not that this empire went so much further. While I knew that there were  dreadful atrocities committed against Muslims during the Bosnian War I had no idea of the deep history behind this persecuted population.

This book could so easily have become maudlin, but Hussain and his family find lots of light in present to balance the darkness of history and when travel is possible again then there are some new places I'd like to visit.

In that way reading often has this book connected very well with one that I'd read a few weeks before:

  Free by Lea Ypi (Penguin Books)

(coincidentally also on the Baille Gifford longlist & shortlist)

This is an account of life in Albania just as the communist regime fell apart in the 1990s. Ypi was only a child at the time and fully committed to the teachings and propaganda that she was taught at school.

In the west we are so used to the idea that the removal of communism was the best way forward that we don't hear much from the people who experienced a very real sense of loss after their way of life failed. Ypi's parents were very careful to ensure that she had no idea of their past and actual political leanings that you can feel her entire life fracture along with the Albania she knew.

Albania's transition to a democratic nation was not smooth, and again I don't think we in the west ever heard the full story so much of Ypi's story was new to me and incredibly eye-opening.

I do love how sometimes books you read can have unexpected conversations with each other, and the the reader. 

Micro Review 44 (non fiction November)

 

Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and Their Makers by Mary Wellesley (Quercus Publishing)

Our recent trip to Winchester and the chance to see the incredible Bible (and other books) they have in the Cathedral re-sparked my interest in early books and manuscripts. When not working from home I am lucky to work in a library with its own incredible archive and early book collection. It has always felt a privilege to have the chance to see such beautiful works with ease. (You can read more about the wonderful Norfolk literary archives here: Unlocking the Archive and more details about the Norfolk Heritage Centre here.)

Hidden Hands couldn't have been published at a better time for me!

Wellesley takes us through all different types of manuscripts and we learn about the people who wrote, illustrated and commissioned some of the most beautiful books to be found in the UK.

To make this book even more ideal for me there's a lot of focus on works that come from Norfolk!

You don't need to be an academic to read this book, just have an interest in history, books and art - it made me want to dig out my calligraphy books and pens again that's for sure! There are some wonderful little details in many of these manuscripts and I spent nearly as long poring over the colour plates as I did reading the book.

I was so pleased to find a copy of this book from an independent publisher in an independent bookshop on National Bookshop Day - and even more pleased I treated myself to the gorgeous hardback rather than waiting for the paperback.

Non Fiction November

 

Without really meaning to I appear to be bang on trend in 2021 as November has been renamed Non Fiction November by the Federation of Children's Book Groups.

With only a very few exceptions this month I have found myself unable to settle to any novels but I have finished several excellent non fiction titles, as well as having a few more on the go.

I think that the joy of non fiction is that often each chapter can be read as a standalone so on days when I am tired or unable to settle an interesting chapter is just the right length.

Usually when I get like this I turn to short stories as well but I've currently finished all of the anthologies of these I have around the house so I will also have to look out for more of these - any recommendations gratefully received and then perhaps next month I can rebrand December reads as "short fiction for short days" - not as catchy but I'll work on this!

Thoughts will be forthcoming on some of the non fiction I've read and enjoyed but for now I need to go back to the current book Minarets in the Mountains and continue travelling around part of the Balkans without leaving the sofa!

Talented Friends

 

Amarantha by E.R.Traina (trans. Marinella Mezzanotte) published by Kurumuru Books

I am very lucky to have a lot of talented friends who write (or translate) books and while each time I start one of their books there is some trepidation - what if I don't like the book? - I am always excited to read their creations.

I've been a fan of a particular genre of YA fantasy since I was a teenager. I don't quite know how to best describe the genre but authors who I really enjoy are Tamora Pierce and Trudi Canavan - they have strong female leads in worlds that are recognisable as being earth like, often have a strand of magic running through them, and are set in a pre industrial revolution age.

Amarantha by E. R. Traina instantly joins my list of favourites in the genre. The world is well built, believable and incredibly visual. The main characters are well drawn and credible, they never feel like cardboard cut outs. Throughout  the story the book kept me guessing but never confused.

I was a little worried towards the end that the book was going to only be half a story and that I'd be left hanging waiting for a sequel, but without being rushed or sketchy in any way the ending was complete and made total sense within the context of the plot. There are enough 'what ifs' that I'd pounce on a sequel like a shot but if Traina moves on to something new for her next book I'll be just as keen to read it.

As a nice touch the book also has a soundtrack, composed and played by the author, and these tracks definitely add to the reading experience rather than feeling like a gimmick.

The notes at the end explaining the translation process for the book were also fascinating and I am so pleased that I can wholeheartedly champion a book that ticks so many of my personal reading boxes.

I was sent an early copy of this book by Kurumuru but there was no obligation for me to review the book.

Micro Review 43

 

Once There Was a Bear by Jane Riordan (Farshore)

Most people who know me in real life know that I am a real Tigger fan, and that Mr Norfolkbookworm has a lot in common with Eeyore) so I was really nervous about this book - I really disliked the authorised sequel about 10 years ago and sequels/prequels/retellings of classic books have been hit and miss with me.

As ever the lure of a new book drew me in and my copy of Once there was a Bear arrived at the library for me just in time for the weekend. 

This was such a delight to read - it was an origins story explaining how Christopher Robin came to own the stuffed toys that accompanied him on his adventures. Each one was just perfect and so in keeping with their characteristics as described by A A Milne in 95 years ago. Even Pooh's hums made me smile.

I really hope that this books does well, it fits in with the originals and even explains how the gang came to live in Hundred Acre Wood.

This is proof that with love and care books can be added to classics but I wish that all of them were as great at this one - and I loved this one all the more because of Tigger's role in the book.

Micro Review 42

 

Still Life by Sarah Winman (Fourth Estate)

This book has been on my radar for quite some time, the pre-publicity led to me adding it to my wishlist a long while ago. Then it was published and *everybody* was raving about it, so in my perverse way I assumed it was overhyped and not something I needed to read instantly.

More fool me - sometimes the hype is right, and when I finally sat down to read this I lost myself in the story for the three afternoons it took me to read.

This is a book that sprawls several decades, including World War Two, and several locations - you'd never think that the slums of the East End could work so well as a setting when compared to Florence but Winman makes this work.

The fortunes of war resonate through the book, and it was nice to see the Italian theatre, rather than Normandy & France, take centre stage. The post war Florence setting opens up other historical events to the plot and I don't think I've read about them before.

In many ways this is a whimsical fairy tale where luck, coincidence and acceptance win through but it is told with such care that it all feels perfectly realistic. It became a world I really wanted to escape into, with a longing to actually meet some of the characters in real life, and yes I did need tissues on a couple of occasions. 

I'm really pleased that I didn't put reading this one off any longer, and it being so good has lead me to read two more books that have been heavily promoted - sadly the curse of the hype returned and both of them made me think 'emperor's new clothes.' The good news is that I've not read any of Winman's other books so I can cleanse my palate with them!

Micro Review 41

 

The Writer's Cats by Muriel Barbery. Ilus. Maria Guitart & trans. Alison Anderson (Gallic Books)

Gifted copy

Following on from my recent review of Muriel Barbery's A Single Rose the kind people at Gallic Books sent me a copy of her new volume  The Writer's Cats- a book about writing, books and cats how did they know it would appeal to me?

As a bookseller I had a love/hate relationship with little volumes like this, especially at Christmas time. They had to be ordered so far in advance and you could never quite gauge the quantities needed, plus the run away best seller was always one that you'd not predicted.

As a consumer I've become very much more of a fan of this type of book, they do cheer you up and there's always so much detail making rereads a pleasure. It is also  nice to have a picture book for grown ups that isn't just 'adult' in nature.

I know several people who this book would appeal to (and who read this blog) so I am not going to review the book in case it spoils any Christmas surprises but this was a delight to read and so whimsically funny that it left me smiling for a long time after reaching the end.

Should we ever get another cat (or 2, or 4) then I'll definitely refer back to this book for name suggestions.

Many thanks to Isabelle and the team at Gallic Books for the copy - the book is published this month and will make a lovely gift for cat loving authors/readers.

Micro Review 40

 

The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield (Quercus)

Read as a proof but I have also bought a signed copy from the lovely Big Green Bookshop)

I don't know, no novels by astronauts for years and then two in the space of a month - this one is aimed firmly at grown ups however!

I liked the premise of this one - it is an alternative history where the Apollo moon landing programme wasn't stopped at Apollo 17 and instead of calming the Cold War it has in fact become rather hot - especially in orbit.

Hadfield has written a fast paced thriller that is shot through with proper space history and accurate portrayals of life in orbit. It is a sensational read and even with my quite deep knowledge of crewed space history learned a lot of new things - and the stuff I scoffed at as being too farfetched to be real often had happened. 

Mr Norfolkbookworm found a few (tiny) details that he was dubious about and my main niggle was some of the words that were put into real people's mouths - however on reflection as this is an alternate history I suppose this could explain it.

The Apollo Murders really isn't my preferred genre of reading, and if I am honest if it hadn't been written by Hadfield (or another astro/cosmonaut) I wouldn't have picked it up but it is always good to read out of your comfort zone and should another Hadfield penned thriller appear I will probably read it!

For fans of space history this is a fun read and a nice companion piece to the Apple TV series For All Mankind.

Micro Review 39

 

The Long Field by Pamela Petro (Little Toller Books)

Review copy supplied by the publisher

The Long Field of Petro's title isn't a literal field, rather is is the literal translation of the Welsh term hiraeth and the book is a meditation on how a place or country can worm its way into your life and leave you 'homesick' for this location.

Unlike true homesickness hiraeth isn't necessarily about your physical home but is more about the idea of place, and while I've not spent any amount of time in Wales to experience the same feelings as Petro there were definitely parts of her feelings that I understood instantly.

Being in lock down in the spring of 2020 and then the winter of 2021 I realised just how important watery landscapes are to me, and until we found local walks that encompassed river scenes I was definitely pining for water in a way that I'd not really experienced before.

Equally in 2017 (and to a lesser extent in 2014) when I got to spend time in the Rocky Mountains I instantly felt a connection and love of the landscape that I'd not experienced before. Since returning to the flatlands of East Anglia I've felt the pull of the mountains in a way that hiraeth as used by Petro can explain.

I very much enjoyed this exploration of Petro's life and hiraeth and pass on many thanks to Little Toller for supplying me with a reading copy.

Inspired by books

 

Squirrel mania!

As children, my sister and I had a lot of the Beatrix Potter books and two stick out as being my favourites - Mrs Tiggywinkle and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. I definitely think these two stories inspired my love of squirrels and hedgehogs.

As a sixth former studying geography I went on a field trip to the Lake District and on one day we did climb Cat Bells which appears in many of the backgrounds of Potter's books. We sadly didn't go to any  Beatrix Potter specific locations (and yes even at 17 I was pretty upset we didn't do anything kidlit related - no hunting Swallows and Amazons, or playing Picts and Martyrs either!).

Just recently however I did get to go to Brownsea Island in Dorset to see the wild red squirrels there - and it was wonderful. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high in advance of our trip as you can never predict wild animals but within seconds of being in the woodland we were seeing red squirrels foraging, eating, hiding nuts for the winter and just playing. The were so comical and so much more delicate than the grey squirrels we see daily.

Since getting home again I've re-read Squirrel Nutkin and I am slightly bemused as to why it was my favourite Beatrix Potter story as it is decidedly odd and a little bit cruel. I can only assume that it was the pictures that I liked rather than the riddles. Or perhaps it was Nutkin's rebellious streak... After watching the busy squirrels on Brownsea it becomes clear that Potter definitely spent time watching squirrels before writing and illustrating the book as their mannerisms in real life matched the book wonderfully.

None of the squirrels we saw had parts of their tail missing so I can only surmise that subsequent generations have learned from Nutkin and either bring peace offerings to any owls on Brownsea, or as is more likely - avoid them entirely!

Book sharing as a family

 

Swarm Rising by Tim Peake & Steve Cole (Hodder Children's Books)

Advance reading copy

This book is a real family affair (not least because as you might have guess from reading this blog we're all into space travel!)

Kentishbookboy's grandad won an advance copy of this in a BookTokens competition and instantly handed it over to a grateful Kentishbookboy (and his mum!).

On a recent visit to see the family KBB very kindly lent me the book, with the proviso that I had to read it and give it back to him that same weekend as he was still only half way through! I now have to apologies to the rest of the family for basically ignoring them while I kept my promise!

In all honesty it wasn't a hardship to read this all in one go - I found it a compelling, exciting page turner and even if I hadn't been on a deadline I'd have read it just as fast.

Peake has set this just a few years into the future so that the tech isn't too far off what we have now but is just a little more advanced. There are more driverless cars and drones than in 2021 but we're still texting, playing computer games and getting takeaway pizza!

As an adult reading this book I could see where a lot of the plot was going, but that is just because of life/reading experience. There were still surprises and twists that I hadn't expected and there's also a lot of plot ideas that will make great talking points. It also has a couple of really strong messages in the plot but they did (just) seem natural parts of the story rather than preachy.

I'm not always overly keen on 'If you like xxx you'll love this' tags for books but as an adult I think that if you are an Andy Weir or Doctor Who fan you're likely to enjoy this - just don't forget you aren't the target audience.

The thing I like the most about this book is that Peake is quite open that he has co-written this with another (excellent) author - there's no hidden ghost writer or false claims about authorship. Having read books by both Cole and Peake I can 'hear' them both in this one and I think that the book is all the stronger for this.

Thanks to Dad/Grandad for sharing his prize, and to Kentishbookboy for letting me sneak my read in!

Blog Tour - A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery

 

A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery. Trans. Alison Anderson (Gallic Books)

Advance reading copy for Blog Tour

I was delighted to have the opportunity to read a new book from Gallic Books in advance of publication, and to take part in this blog tour. The stars really did seem to align for me with this one...

• Book in translation - check
• Book set in Japan - check
• Book from an independent publisher - check

The book's blurb added to my interest in the book and I was delighted when a copy dropped through the letter box a while ago, especially as the parcel was so pretty!

Anyhow back to A Single Rose I can't think of a better way to explain the book than to use the official blurb, which was written by a professional after all!

The temples and teahouses of Kyoto are the scene of a Frenchwoman’s emotional awakening in the stunning fifth novel by international bestseller Muriel Barbery. 

Rose has turned 40, but has barely begun to live. When the Japanese father she never knew dies and she finds herself an orphan, she leaves France for Kyoto to hear the reading of his will. 

In the days before Haru’s last wishes are revealed, his former assistant, Paul, takes Rose on a tour of the temples, gardens and eating places of this unfamiliar city. Initially a reluctant tourist and awkward guest in her late father’s home, Rose gradually comes to discover Haru’s legacy through the itinerary he set for her, finding gifts greater than she had ever imagined. 

I will now confess that this is a book I had to read twice - the first time I was just so immersed in the narrative that I just had to keep reading to find out why Rose didn't know her father, and also what his legacy was. 

By the time I reached the end of the book I realised that this isn't really the point of this book, it isn't about the destination at all, it is all about the journey and the discoveries that you make en route.

On the second read I found myself revelling in the traditional Japanese tales that preface each chapter, and wandering around Kyoto with Rose as she toured around the shrines, shops and eateries in the area. It is so beautifully written and descriptive that I felt like I was taking a walking tour of the area myself while I was reading and I did have to keep stopping to Google the locations Rose visits just to see them.

As I said at the start there was so much to draw me to this book and I am pleased to say that it didn't disappoint and in a time when travel is practically impossible still a book that is this visual is a treat.

Part of me wishes that I had read the book more slowly the first time around, but when a book grabs you like this then it isn't really a hardship to start from page one all over again!

To my shame I've not read any of Barbery's other books but I'm definitely going to rectify this soon - but possibly not until I've read this one for a third time!

Do look out for what other Bloggers and Bookstagram reviewers thought of A Single Rose I'm hoping they liked it as much as I did!

Micro Review 38

 The Day the World Changed Forever by Baptiste Bouthier (words) Heloise Chochois (art). (Europe Comics)

NetGalley proof

The new(ish) NetGalley Shelf feature has meant that I've tried a lot more graphic novels recently - they didn't render well on my eInk reader but via the Shelf feature on my tablet they've become a delight to discover.

The 11th of September 2001 has become a defining date in many lives, Gen X's JFK moment. I remember very clearly where I was on that date, although I didn't get home from work to see any of the footage on the news until well after the towers had fallen.

This graphic novel conveyed the incomprehensibility of events that day evocatively - told through the eyes of a French teenager you get to relive the feelings of the day and the way we repeatedly watched the TV reports even though we were completely overwhelmed.

The inclusion of some real biographies from the day just added to the feeling of somehow time travelling and being back in 2001 and frantically hoping for good news, and that perhaps somehow it wasn't real. 

As we reach the 20th anniversary of the day that truly did change the world there's been lots of coverage of events, but somehow this has reached and touched me more than all of the documentaries and news articles that I've come across. 

As I was reading it I felt the same anxiety I remember from the time, and including later terror attacks from around the world that all link back to 9/11, really do just emphasise how monumental that one day in September really was. Made all the more poignant by the shocking and shameful events in Afghanistan over the past month.

Being French there is scope for a little more partiality when talking about 9/11 but it also allows a bigger global picture, and shows how actions and events in one country quickly build and ripple right around the world.

Not a comfortable read by any means, but I feel that this is book that should be in every secondary school library.

(Apologies if this is in translation and I've failed to name them, I can't find details of this on the publisher's website.)

New but not improved

 

What to Look for in... Elizabeth Jenner, illus. Natasha Durley. Ladybird Books

Library books

After my utter delight in the 1960s editions of the What to Look for books I was looking forward to comparing them with the 2020 editions and I was delighted when my library reservations came in so quickly.

Sadly that's pretty much my only delight where these books are concerned. Where as I've already used the 60 year old books to identify wildlife I've seen in the past month or so I really can't see myself saying the same for these books.

They are bright and colourful but none of the pictures are in context, they are just illustrations on a page - not part of a scene and this means you' can't actually tell where you'd see the bird/insect/flower and on top of that the scale of the images is often out of kilter. A wren is not the same size as a robin for instance.

Some of the text is really good - I especially liked the part that explains how tides work for instance (and I could have done with this as a child for it was only recently I've been convinced that the tide being out in Kent doesn't mean that it is high tide in France) - the tone really annoyed me, especially the use of quotation marks when describing things:

Once the vegetables in these beds have been picked, the allotment gardeners will break up the soils and remove any weeds, using a metal tool called a "hoe".

 What to look for in Autumn p.12

It is good to see that there are nature books for younger children still be produced but however fond I am of Ladybird books I'd really recommend either I-Spy or Usborne books over these. New definitely isn't improved. 

Double page spread from What to look for in Autumn showing both of my main problems with the books.

 

Micro Review 37

 

Light Rains Sometimes Fall by Lev Parikian (Elliot & Thompson Ltd)

NetGalley eProof

I think that I'll be taking a break from nature writing books soon, you can have too much of a good thing after all.

If this is the last one I do read for a while then I've gone out on a real high. I loved Into the Tangled Bank which was longlisted for the Wainright prize but I think if anything I loved this one more!

Taking inspiration from the Japanese, who split the 4 main seasons in to 72 smaller seasons, Parikian stays very local and looks at his 'patch' as the seasons roll on. It helps that 2020 was the year picked for this scrutiny of the micro seasons as we all had to stay local for so much of the year and charting the small, incremental changes was easier.

I think that this book was such a delight for me as our regular stomping ground over the past year has also been a large, urban cemetery and so many of Parikian's sightings matched our own it was a little like I'd kept a better diary of last year.

The micro seasons also make so much more sense, especially in seasons like spring and autumn which differ so much from the start to the end. These small chapters also made me look back at my Twitter and Instagram feeds to see if our sightings matched those written about. The one thing I am slightly jealous of are Parikian's fox sightings - as yet that is one mammal we've not seen.

I really hope that this makes next year's Wainwright Prize, it is a brilliant addition to the nature writing canon as well as an incredibly good memoir to 2020/2021 when we all discovered our local patch and wildlife.

Micro Review 36

 

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Viking Books)

advance reading copy

My love of Greece, and Greek set books, is probably clear to regular readers of this blog and a little while ago I had the chance to read two novels set in Greece in a row. Both of them had a mid 20th century setting and I enjoyed them both, however it is Shafak's The Island of Missing Trees that has stuck with me the most.

Ruth Padel's Daughters of the Labyrinth was very readable and although set in Crete during WW2 it was as different from Hislop's The Island as can be and gave me a new perspective on the Cretan occupation. It also came bang up to date the end with mentions of the Coronavirus pandemic, but unlike in some books this felt natural and not a way to shoe horn in the way the world changed in 2020.

However The Island of Trees takes up the post war history of Greece, and in particular that of Cyprus. Again this is a topic that Hislop has covered but this book is completely different and again adds a new dimension to the story.

It starts in modern day London with teenager Ada struggling with family secrets and history and slowly we learn how her family was impacted by post war unrest in Cyprus and then the Turkish/Greek conflict later in the century. More interestingly much of the story is narrated by a fig tree, who of course is old enough to have seen all of the history covered in the book.

It sounds trite but the device works completely and while I could see the broad arc of the story - two Cypriots falling in love but then torn apart as one is a Greek Christian and the other a Turkish Muslim - but I found it worked perfectly, and I loved the asides and recipes that the tree allowed us.

In my last volunteering session at the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum before the pandemic I was looking at artefacts donated to the museum donated by soldiers who were on Cyprus during some of the timeframe covered in the book. Shafak's writing mirrored the items I'd handled so accurately I trusted her story telling completely, and even though I've never visited Cyprus I felt I could 'see' all of the action and could accept the fig tree as narrator even more willingly.

The one thing I wasn't so sure of was the target audience for the book - much of the time Ada was the lynchpin of the modern story and being a well drawn teen character I started the book thinking that this was for a YA audience. However as the novel progressed it became a much more adult tale and Ada's voice seemed just a little out of balance with the book for me. I can't quite explain what I mean but I fear that the opening will put off fans of Victoria Hislop, and that the later parts will alienate the YA readers and the book will fall down a hole and be lost - which it doesn't deserve.

Anyhow if you are missing your Greek fix as much as me this summer I recommend both of these books - but be warned they won't help with the longing for Greece!

The nature theme continues

 

"What To Look For in..." text E.L. Grant Watson , Illustrator C. F. Tunnicliffe. Ladybird Nature Books

own books

My interest in nature and nature writing hasn't waned after my Wainwright reading, and nor has my enthusiasm for being outdoors and looking at the world around me. This quartet of books makes the most of these facts.

Unlike spotter's guides or the i-Spy books these books are written as a narrative and are matched with beautiful pictures of the countryside.

I'm not 100% certain which came first, the picture or the text, but it really doesn't matter as both are fabulous and if you can't get out in to the countryside for any reason then these books are a way to take a walk. They are also a form of time travel - they date back to the late 1950s and very early 1960s!

As well as being able to use these as a guide on what to look for while we are out an about in Norfolk (or further afield) I'm also going to find it interesting to see what changes have occurred in the 60 years since they were written. Have the seasons shifted date? What species were common but are now more scarce? The one that instantly leapt out was the lapwing, in these books they feature in every season and in large numbers. Even though we live in an area with lots of nature reserves and birding opportunities we do now only see them in small numbers and people seem very excited to see them.

The biggest changes that I can see from  just looking at the pictures is not to the natural world, but rather to farming, despite there being some machinery in the pictures it is clear that it was a really labour intensive industry just 60 years ago, and that apart from replacing the horse with a tractor not a lot else had changed. Yesterday Mr Norfolkbookworm and I watched one combine harvester and one trailer harvest nearly an entire field during our half hour walk.

These books were republished in 2020 and  I have these new editions on order from the library - I'm intrigued to see the new images and if the text has been rewritten for the 21st Century. 

Right now to look more closely at Autumn so I know what to be looking out for (and also marking all of the things I've already seen whilst still in summer...

Micro Review 35 (Wainwright Prize)

 

Skylarks with Rosie by Stephen Moss (Saraband Books)

Own copy

I feel a bit bad for this book and my response to it, if I hadn't read and loved The Consolation of Nature  so recently I think that this one would have spoken to me more.

Once more I really liked the concept of exploring a local setting more deeply, and also the diary format. It was also interesting to read another personal account of the first lockdown last year but for me it just didn't reach the heights of Consolation - not a fault of the book, just the reader.

 

Micro Review 34 (Wainwright Prize)

 

The Circling Sky by Neil Ansell (Tinder Press)

Library book

Unlike some of the other books this was a book with a set location and charts Ansell's exploration of just one place over the course of a year.

As Ansell explores the New Forest we learn more about why he considers this his 'home turf' and he weaves in his family and personal history in a way that, for me, blended perfectly with the observations of the natural world.

I very much liked the idea of exploring just one location over the course of a year - since the start of the pandemic Mr Norfolkbookworm and I have definitely got to know several local areas far more and are enjoying watching them change through the seasons. However as the area explored was the huge New Forest each visit seemed like a new location and I was a little sad to lose the tight focus.

I have now added the New Forest to my list of places I'd like to visit, and put another of Ansell's books on reserve in the library - signs that I liked this book a lot!

Micro review 33 (Wainwright Prize)

 

Into the Tangled Bank by Lev Parikian (Elliot & Thompson)

Library eBook

This was my out and out favourite book from the long list and I am really sad that it didn't make the short list and thus can't win.

This was a book that resonated the most with me. Parikian explores nature in the same way that I do - when he's in a new place he explores it, and occasionally makes trips to areas for a walk or to learn more but he's just as happy looking at the world closer to home.

The writing made me feel that yI was discovering things along with Parikian rather than him just lecturing me, and I certainly felt like I was sharing his walks and trips as he took them.

This was another book that let me see myself in the writing, another writer who approaches the natural world in the same way as me but is far more talented in communicating what he sees than I ever could!

Parikian has another book coming out soon and I am very excited to have an advance copy of that thanks to NetGalley.

Micro Review 32 (Wainwright Prize)

 

The Stubborn Light of Things by Melissa Harrison (Faber & Faber)

NetGalley

This was another book that I'd read before the Wainwright Prize long list was announced, and was another book I was really pleased to see made the list - and one I was really sad that didn't go further, it is definitely a contender for being on my best books of the year in December.

Another book that was great to dip in and out of as it was written in diary format - a style I really love. Another real plus about this book was that I knew the places Harrison talks about, especially when she is writing about Suffolk.

My favourite thing about this book is the way that Harrison appears to experience nature in the same way that Mr Norfolkbookworm and I do - it feels natural and points out things that non experts can see. The details are there but it is the ordinary that shines, and the details are written so that everyone can feel the wonder and even if you live in a city centre there are still natural wonders to see.

On the back of how much I enjoyed this book I went out and bought Harrison's novel All Among the Barley and I'm sure it won't be that long before it gets to the top of my tbr pile...

Micro Review 31 (Wainwright Prize long list)

 

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald (Jonathan Cape)

NetGalley

I was lucky enough to have the chance to read this back in July 2020 thanks to NetGalley and so I was very pleased to see it on the long list.

Unlike H is for Hawk this wasn't a straight forward narrative, this was a collection of essays, musings, and articles all with nature as a theme.

As is always the case with an essay collection not every one hit the mark for me, but I loved the format - a book to really dip in and out of. Macdonald's writing is very readable and I like her style a lot.

It didn't quite hit the high of H is for Hawk but I am really surprised that it didn't make the Wainwright shortlist. I was amused to see that nature writing is no different to other genres in that books with similar themes come along at the same time - 2021 seems to be the year of the swift!

The Wainwright Prize Shortlist

 

The shortlist for the 2021 Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing was announced on the 4th August and I did manage to read all of the long listed titles before the list revealed - just I finished my last book at 10am on the day!

The official shortlist really doesn't match my personal list, and indeed neither of my favourites made the list at all. I'll review them in separate posts over the next couple of weeks,

The short listed titles are below, with my thoughts on them in blue.

The shortlist for the 2021 Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing is: 

English Pastoral: An Inheritance, James Rebanks, Penguin Press - from this list I think it is my 2nd favourite, I really enjoyed the parts on how the farm was run and the talk of traditional farming as well as the parts on how Rebanks is trying to return to these (or improve on them). It did give a good feel on the pressures felt by farmers.

Featherhood, Charlie Gilmour, Orion Publishing Group - I really wasn't so keen on this one at all, for me there wasn't quite enough nature in it (and the idea of a bird flying freely in a flat along with all its habits freaked me out).

I Belong Here, Anita Sethi, Bloomsbury - This was the last book I read from the longlist and for the most part I really enjoyed it, and it was really eye opening at times but every so often the timeline/continuity felt out and I couldn't mentally follow Sethi's journey which disengaged me from the narrative somewhat.

Seed to Dust, Marc Hamer, Vintage - This was the first book I read from the longlist and while I am not a gardener in any sense of the word at all I did enjoy the gentle pace of this book, it was a restful read that flowed just as the seasons do.

The Screaming Sky, Charles Foster, Little Toller Books - I really wanted to love this book, seeing the first swifts of the year is something I look forward to annually. The chapters were interesting and the illustrations beautiful but my issue with this book was the author. There is lots of talk about what could be changing the swift's patterns and threatening them and climate change is one of the big factors here - yet the author thought nothing of taking multiple flights around the world to see his favourite bird...

The Wild Silence, Raynor Winn, Michael Joseph - I'm going to make myself very unpopular with my thoughts on this one but I really didn't like Winn's first book (The Salt Path) and although I did finish this one I can't say I enjoyed it. I'm not sure why I don't like her writing but it just really leaves me cold and uninterested

Thin Places, Kerri ni Dochartaigh, Canongate Books - This one grew on me slowly but at times moved me to tears. As well as finding the writing beautiful the weaving of the author's history, Ireland's recent history and the way nature is a constant just made for a great read - if depressing at times.

From this list I think I'd like Thin Places or Seed to Dust to win but as I was so out of step with the books I wanted to see on the shortlist I wouldn't use my thoughts as a guideline!

Micro Review 31

 

The Book  Lover's Bucket List by Caroline Taggart (British Library Publishing)

Library book

This book for me is a cautionary tale in reviewing, as at first pass of this one I was a bit disappointed in it. However since those first thoughts the book has stuck with me and new thoughts keep rising to the surface and I think that my first response was too harsh.

A literary tour of Great Britain in just 100 locations is of course going to miss out lots of authors and locations, and as is so often the way in the publishing world the book is going to be quite London centric. 

The information within each entry is quirky, informative and interesting and that I was upset my favourite authors and locations weren't included is a fault with me and not the book! 

I also think that I am spoiled by living in Norfolk, a county that is very proud of its authors and literary locations - there's a whole website dedicated to them after all!

The book has definitely added some interesting places and authors to my own bucket lists and there's certainly some places in London that I now look forward to visiting.

This book has made me think what locations would appear in a Norfolkbookworm's Bucket List, and how I would structure it differently - who knows if we end up in another COVID lockdown this might become my pandemic project...

I'm glad I didn't write this review on finishing the book, and I think that I'd be even more generous with my thoughts if it was called A Book Lover's Bucket List rather than The Book Lover's Bucket List!