REVIEW: The Jungle by Pooja Puri

The Jungle by Pooja Puri was a really interesting read. It felt difficult to read at times but I also felt like it needed to be read.  Because this is a book about the Calais refugee camp.  And as we follow the main character, Mico, through his day-to-day struggles we get a heartbreaking glimpse into the lives and experiences of the refugees.

There wasn't much of a plot to The Jungle.  But I'm not sure it matters so much.  At the heart of the book is 16 year old Mico, who left his family and home in the search of something better, opportunities not available to him in his home country.  And what he finds is The Jungle. He's one of the youngsters of the camp, with no adults to protect him but he does end up sharing a tent with two adult men and the three of them do share food and look out for each other.

You get a good sense whilst reading The Jungle of what life is like in this refugee camp.  There are a lack of resources, the living conditions aren't great, there are too many people. There's almost a sense of hopelessness, a sense of resignation.  But there's also a spark there, a fire.  Mico is dead-set on finding away out of this camp.  And he'll try just about anything to be free.  At the start of the novel he's attempting to steal from the 'Ghost Men' who control more than they should of the movements of people within The Jungle.  Further along in the story, he attempts a deadly jump onto a moving train.  But it's the arrival of Leila and the subsequent friendship between her and Mico that really builds Mico's hope.

This book was definitely a difficult book to read. But I think my favourite aspect of the story is that through Mico's travels he comes across many different people all in the same situation.  With different backgrounds and all with their own stories to tell, with their own terrors and traumas that they're faced with.  And I thought it was important to be present and read such stories. Though the Calais Refugee Camp has since been shut down and the refugees have been resettled elsewhere this is still a very topical issue and concern across many countries.  And more needs to be done.

REVIEW: Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Oh I do adore Meg Cabot.  I was all set with my skepticism over Insatiable, Meg Cabot's adult book which is the first in a series about vampires.  But I don't know why I was doubting, it's Meg Cabot, so I found the story and the characters to be funny and strange and completely unexpected.

There is a lot of people completely tired of vampires.  Those people include Meena Harper, dialogue writer for a very popular and ongoing soap opera.  Meena Harper has a very special gift, one that allows her to know when other people are going to die.  This is a gift she hides from most people because no one ever believes her.  Instead, she goes out of her way to help strangers on the subway and gives subtle advice, hoping that the people she comes into contact with listen and are able to save their own lives.

But something Meena has never been able to do is see into her own future.  Which is why she isn't prepared at all for Lucien Antonescu, the prince of vampires that Meena quickly falls in love with. 

I've always enjoyed Meg Cabot's novels.  It took me awhile to get into Insatiable and I found myself frustrated in the beginning with the multiple perspectives because I couldn't quite see how Alaric, the vampire hunter, fit into the storyline.  I didn't care for the suddeness of both Meena and Lucien declaring love for each other, though I'm sure that was intentional.  I thought the ending went a bit far and I was left open-mouthed in shock.  But still, I couldn't put the book down for anything.  And despite my misgivings about certain aspects of the book, I'm still determined and intrigued to know where this story will go! 

I found Meena's character (as well as several of the other supporting characters) to be really funny, and I loved the inclusion of soap operas into the storyline.  I hope that continues, though it seems unlikely.  There's some brilliant references to other popular vampires in literature and television that made me smile.  I ended up forgiving Alaric for his shaky start into the story and I think Lucien has some hidden depths that I wouldn't mind exploring more in the next book. 

Really, I just think that I'd read and love most anything by Meg Cabot! I loved the mixture in this book of romance, humour and plenty of action.

WWYD? Cheating

What Would You Do? is a semi-regular feature in which a question will be posed based on a character or story line in a book I've recently read.  I'd love if you would take part and share in comments just what YOU would do in a similar situation! 

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I'm a huge fan of Sarra Manning.  So it was with incredible excitement that I picked up her latest adult read, Nine Uses For An Ex-Boyfriend.  I haven't reviewed this one yet, but I did enjoy it after I let the story and the character's decisions sink in a little bit first. 

I've written before that I don't enjoy story lines that involve cheating and I still don't.  I think it's a horrible thing to do to somebody and it would be awful to find out that your partner had cheated on you.  It just brings up horrible feelings of anger and betrayal but also on inadequacy and all of those emotions combined is a story line that I would generally avoid.  But as it is Sarra Manning, I really wanted to give this book a try. 

It's the story of Hope Delafield who finds out at this horrible dinner party that her boyfriend (of 13 years!) is cheating on her with her best friend Susie.  The rest of the story is of Hope dealing with this betrayal and trying to define for herself of how much can she forgive?  Is it okay for her to take her cheating boyfriend back if it's just a drunken kiss? Can she move on with this relationship if it's more than that? If it's love? 

I really felt for Hope being in this impossible situation.  Obviously I wanted Hope to stick up for herself more, to kick this guy out and move on.  But I could also see how hard it was for Hope to walk away from a relationship that has lasted for such a long time.  Walking away means the end of a thirteen year relationship as well as an end to the future that she had planned with him.  It's scary and hard and I don't envy her position and her decision at all. 

I think it can be really easy to sit on the sidelines on this one and say very clearly that personally I wouldn't accept cheating in any of the forms, and I'd hope that I'd have enough willpower and think enough of myself to get out of any relationship that would involve cheating.  But I think that Hope's story is pretty realistic in the way that it shows how much of an effect it does have on different areas of Hope's life.  I finished this book and I found myself questioning my own thoughts on opinions on the topic, and I quite enjoyed that reevaluation! So now I'd like to hear from you...

What would you do?

REVIEW: The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan is completely unique, heartbreakingly honest and felt incredibly real. It isn't a very long read, as the story is told in a dictionary format, with sometimes very short definitions of words that mean something to this couple.

I love this idea that love has its own language - words and phrases and objects take on a completely new meaning in the context of a relationship. I can completely agree, and I had such a great time following the story of this unnamed narrator and the journey of this relationship as we snippets of their lives from the time they were first getting together and dating to become officially a couple and meeting friends and family, moving in together and also of the heartbreak of betrayal.

The story is not told chronologically, so we might have a tender and sweet moment shared on one page and following it something rather sad or angry about the end of this relationship. But with every new definition and every new insight and observation about love or relationships or the sacrifices made to be part of a couple, I found absolutely mesmerised by this book. It really broke my heart to see such sweetness and honesty and pain.

I think David Levithan did an amazing job with this book, giving us something very common as the story of a relationship, and presenting it to us in such a fresh and interesting and different method. I found it to be a very sad but beautiful story of love and I very much look forward to reading more books by David Levithan in the future!

REVIEW: Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (Paranormal Month)

I've been a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris for awhile now. I think I'll always be a little excited for new books about Sookie to be published, even after the mediocre previous book, Dead in the Family. I found Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris, the 11th in the Sookie Stackhouse series, to be a bit more exciting. Yet more vampire drama, fairies and shape-shifters in the latest installment of this fun paranormal series.

Dead Reckoning begins with Sookie being present at Merlotte's when it is attacked by a firebomb. At the heart of the book is solving this mystery of who could be behind the attack. But at the same time as trying to work out the culprits behind the firebombing, Sookie also has to deal with lover, Eric Northman being hugely absent and him being so focused on vampire politics and his second-in-command, Pam, that it really puts a bit of strain on Sookie and Eric's relationship, especially when it emerges as to how much Sookie is involved in the vampore politics than she was made aware of previously.

It must be hard to maintain the same level of awesome throughout such a long series, but I do love that more information and backstory regarding Sookie's personal history is revealed in Dead Reckoning. While I'm not totally enamoured with the fairy aspect of the books, it was quite interesting to learn more about the fairies, their world and their interactions with Sookie's relatives.

The action in Dead Reckoning is really quite good. Lots of blood and gore, but it also has more Bubba, which is always a plus. Lots of characters from previous books who show up at different times and Sookie realises she has more enemies than she'd bargained for. I think Sookie's starting to really question the relationships in her life and how out of control it is gotten with the arrival and her entanglements with so many different paranormal creatures.

I don't know. While I didn't absolutely love this book, I could see some of the elements that I used to love about the series in Dead Reckoning. There's still some problems with repition and mundane details of Sookie's life that I could do without as well as some rather ... TMI moments, but I'm a fan of the series and will continue to hang in there with Charlaine Harris as she hurtles towards the end of the Sookie Stackhouse series.

More mini-reviews

Here are four more mini-reviews of some books that I've read this year. For one reason or another, I've found it hard to find the words for these books. Enjoyed them all immensely, so I'm not sure why I found it hard to write about them?

Invisible by Paul Auster - Sinuously constructed in four interlocking parts, Invisible opens in New York City in the spring of 1967 when twenty-year-old Adam Walker, an aspiring poet and studen at Columbia University meets the enigmatic Frenchman Rudolf Born, and his silent and seductive girlfriend Margot. Before long, Walker finds himself caught in a perverse triangle that leads to a sudden, shocking act of violence that will alter the course of his life. Three different narrators tell the story, as it travels in time from 1967 to 2007 and moves from New York to Paris and to a remote Caribbean island in a story of unbridled sexual hunger and a relentless quest for justice. With uncompromising insight, Auster takes us to the shadowy borderland between truth and memory, authorship and identity to produce a work of unforgettable power that confirms his reputation as one of America's most spectacularly inventive writers.

Have I told you yet how much I adore Paul Auster? Someone I used to work with used to rave about Paul Auster and he slowly wore me down. I've now read 6-8 of his books and I'm almost saving the rest. I don't want to rush in and read them too quickly. He's just that sort of writer for me. But I find it very difficult to review his books. This one in particular. I've started writing it several times, get frustrated and delete everything. I really enjoyed it, though it was a bit weird. The first part is my favourite, maybe because it seems rather straightforward: Columbia student, Adam meets wealthy Born and together they make plans to start a literary magazine before an affair with Born's girlfriend and a random violent act gets in the way of things. Next, there's a bit about a sexual relationship between a brother and sister. The story heads off in an entirely different direction to Paris... and again to a Caribbean island.

I think sometimes Paul Auster likes to play with the structure of his novels and I think a lot more importance is placed on the way in which things are changed and the different perspectives, which I can see some readers not enjoying as much as I did. He brings up quite interesting themes, reoccurring themes in his novels, it seems - including memory and identity. I'm not the greatest at explaining it, please don't be put off by this sad attempt at a review! But I loved Invisible, it reminded me how much pleasure I get out of reading Paul Auster's work!


The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris - He was going to lose the house and everything in it.


The rare pleasure of a bath, the copper pots hanging above the kitchen island, his family-again he would lose his family. He stood inside the house and took stock. Everything in it had been taken for granted. How had that happened again? He had promised himself not to take anything for granted and now he couldn't recall the moment that promise had given way to the everyday. Tim Farnsworth is a handsome, healthy man, aging with the grace of a matinee idol. His wife Jane still loves him, and for all its quiet trials, their marriage is still stronger than most. Despite long hours at the office, he remains passionate about his work, and his partnership at a prestigious Manhattan law firm means that the work he does is important. And, even as his daughter Becka retreats behind her guitar, her dreadlocks and her puppy fat, he offers her every one of a father's honest lies about her being the most beautiful girl in the world. He loves his wife, his family, his work, his home. He loves his kitchen. And then one day he stands up and walks out. And keeps walking. THE UNNAMED is a dazzling novel about a marriage and a family and the unseen forces of nature and desire that seem to threaten them both. It is the heartbreaking story of a life taken for granted and what happens when that life is abruptly and irrevocably taken away.

I've seen some mixed reviews of The Unnamed, some RAVE about it and others just didn't get it. For me, it was somewhere in the middle. It made me feel, I could tell there was a lot of emotion in the book, but I didn't really understand the message behind it all. Is it about taking people and things for granted? Is it about the things that we can and can't do for another person during marriage? Is it a struggle between the physical and the mental? It's probably all of those things, and I really enjoyed reading this despite not really knowing what the author was trying to tell me. I was on a train when I finished it and when I was done, I had to just sit and stare out the window and let it all kind of sink into my brain.

It was pretty painful reading the experiences of Tim and his family while this unnamed compulsion happens. To just get up and start walking. And Tim knows that if he can't control it, he'll lose everything. Again. His wife, his family, the job that he works so hard at. He just keeps walking until he doesn't, sometimes in the freezing cold, sometimes without shoes, with no specific destination in mind. It's pretty heart-breaking stuff.


Dog Boy by Eva Hornung - Four-year-old Romochka is alone, the apartment dark and empty. His mother vanished some time ago, and now his uncle too has not returned. The whole building is empty and cold. Snow begins to fall outside, but after a few days, hunger drives Romochka out into the Moscow cold, his mother's voice ringing in his ears. Don't talk to strangers. Overlooked by passers-by, he stands, shivering and indecisive, on the threshold. Suddenly he sees a large, yellow dog loping past and, on impulse, he follows her to her lair in an abandoned church outside the city. During the long, icy winter and the seasons that follow, Romochka changes from a boy into something far wilder. Under the watchful gaze of his dog-mother, he becomes part of the clan. He learns to see in the dark, eat anything the dogs find, attack enemies with tooth and claw, and understand the strict pack code. When he begins to hunt with his dog siblings in the city, he is drawn inexorably back into the world of human beings. It is only a matter of time before the authorities take an interest Eva Hornung's extraordinary tale of a latter-day Romulus in post-perestroika Russia is a devastating story of childhood, survival, family and life on the harsh edges of society.

Sometimes, I'll ask N to bring home books from the library near to where he works. It's in another county and so it sometimes has books that my local library doesn't carry. And sometimes, N will just pick up a book that he thinks that I might like. And Dog Boy was one of those books he just brought home. I wasn't sure of it at first, I'd never heard of it or the author before. But it came at the perfect time, as I was between books and wasn't crazy in love with any other books on my TBR pile. So I gave Dog Boy a chance .. and really enjoyed myself.

I liked the first half better than the second, as Romochka first goes to live with the dogs. Romochka has been abandoned by his uncle in Russia as the country is going through a lot of political and structural changes. It's easy for him to get lost. And this pack of dogs take him in and slowly Romochka beings thinking and acting more like a dog in order to survive and be useful within his pack. It's only when a younger pack-brother gets in trouble that he's forced back into interacting with humans beyong scavenging for food. A very interesting book and I'm glad I gave it a chance!

The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle - 'My name is Paula Spencer. I am thirty-nine years old. It was my birthday last week. I was married for eighteen years. My husband died last year. He was shot by the Guards. He left me a year before that. I threw him out. His name was Charles Spencer; everyone called him Charlo.' "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" is one of Roddy Doyle's finest achievement to date, the heart-rending story of a woman struggling to reclaim her dignity after a violent, abusive marriage and a worsening drink problem. Paula Spencer recalls her contented childhood, the audacity she learned as a teenager, the exhilaration of her romance with Charlo, and the marriage to him that left her powerless. Capturing both her vulnerability and her strength, Doyle gives Paula a voice that is real and unforgettable. Lean, sexy, funny and poignant, "The Woman Who Walked Into Doors" shows, yet again, that Roddy Doyle has an unparalleled gift for transforming ordinary life into great literature.

I initially picked this book up because it was listed on the Social Justice Reading Challenge website, under Domestic Violence. I really wanted to take part in some way with this specific reading challenge, but my book arrived a bit late and I didn't get around to finishing it until after the month had finished. It isn't an easy book to read, this one. It's very sad and painful and honest. Paula Spencer's been through some rough times, from her own troubling childhood to her marriage to abusive Charlo to the time after she kicks him out and she's attempting to build her life again but struggling with her addiction to alcohol and her children's broken trust for her.

I think Roddy Doyle touches on some interesting things in the book, especially the way in which Paula and other girls and women learn about sex and sexuality in a really negative way and come to think of it as truth. The same probably goes for Paula's acceptance of domestic violence for so long as well. So much of this book is difficult to read, and I didn't find myself liking Paula very much, but I did sympathise with her and the things that she experienced. It was my first time reading Doyle. I don't know where to go from here!

And there we have it. I hope you enjoyed this little reading journey.

Mini-reviews

Things have been a bit rough with The Boy being ill, but the other part of the problem is also my lack of motivation and organisation when it comes to getting my reviews together. I shall work on that. For now, here are some mini-reviews of books that I have read at some point this year!

Heartburn by Nora Ephron - 'If I had to do it over again, I would have made a different kind of pie. The pie I threw at Mark made a terrific mess, but a blueberry pie would have been even better, since it would have permanently ruined his new blazer, the one he bought with Thelma ...I picked up the pie, thanked God for linoleum floor, and threw it' Rachel Samstat is smart, successful, married to a high-flying Washington journalist...and devastated. She has discovered that her husband is having an affair with Thelma Rice, 'a fairly tall person with a neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb and you should see her legs, never mind her feet, which are sort of splayed.' A delectable novel fizzing with wisecracks and recipes, this is a roller coaster of love, betrayal, loss and - most satisfyingly - revenge. Heartburn is Nora Ephron's roman a clef. It is the amusing revenge of a woman scorned: 'I always thought during the pain of the marriage that one day it would make a funny book,' she once said - and it is.

I love Nora Ephron's movies, I think she's brilliant. Earlier in the year I read a collection of her essays, I Feel Bad About My Neck, which were hilarious. I didn't really know that she'd written this novel, OR that there was a movie made of it. But after I Feel Bad About My Neck, I hunted down Heartburn, read it in one sitting and loved it. Sometimes I wanted to shout at her for the choices that Rachel makes over the course of the novel, but it all feels very authentic. I suppose because it's a fictionalised account of her own marriage break-up. Some months later, I watched the movie version, and ... it was a bit of a let-down. To be fair, it was mostly just that I didn't like Jack Nicholson. And I thought a lot of funny bits were left out or not really explained. But I did enjoy the book, there was so much there that I thought was painfully honest. I really felt for her. And honestly, all the little details just made me smile. Loved it.

Property by Valerie Martin - Manon Gaudet is unhappily married to the owner of a Louisiana sugar plantation. She misses her family and longs for the vibrant lifestyle of her native New Orleans, but most of all, she longs to be free of the suffocating domestic situation. The tension revolves around Sarah, a slave girl who may have been given to Manon as a wedding present from her aunt, whose young son Walter is living proof of where Manon's husband's inclinations lie. This private drama is being played out against a brooding atmosphere of slave unrest and bloody uprisings. And if the attacks reach Manon's house, no one can be sure which way Sarah will turn ...Beautifully written, Property is an intricately told tale of both individual stories and of a country in a time of change, where ownership is at once everything and nothing, and where belonging, by contrast, is all.

I didn't think it was possible to enjoy a book while at the same time hating the entire cast of characters. Until I read this book, that is. I didn't sympathise with any of the characters, they were all a little spiteful and hateful and bitter. I liked the symmetry between Manon and Sarah both being 'property' - one as a slave, the other as a wife. The setting was written really beautifully, as was this inner rage of these two women, but when I finished the book it didn't have any lasting impact on me. I know it won the Orange prize, and I can see that Valerie Martin can write well, but without any connection to the characters, I didn't much care.

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby - Nick Hornby returns to his roots - music and messy relationships - in this funny and touching new novel which thoughtfully and sympathetically looks at how lives can be wasted but how they are never beyond redemption. Annie lives in a dull town on England's bleak east coast and is in a relationship with Duncan which mirrors the place; Tucker was once a brilliant songwriter and performer, who's gone into seclusion in rural America - or at least that's what his fans think. Duncan is obsessed with Tucker's work, to the point of derangement, and when Annie dares to go public on her dislike of his latest album, there are quite unexpected, life-changing consequences for all three. Nick Hornby uses this intriguing canvas to explore why it is we so often let the early promise of relationships, ambition and indeed life evaporate. And he comes to some surprisingly optimistic conclusions.

I'm not sure I agree with the 'surprisingly optimistic conclusions' from the product description above. I found Juliet, Naked to be quite a melancholy little book throughout. If my 'optimistic' they meant 'ambigious' than I would agree. Because the ending was quite open-ended and I don't normally care for endings like that :( Overall, I did enjoy the book. Annie and Tucker have both wasted a lot of their lives, either in an unsatisfying relationship or by doing nothing, career-wise. And in Juliet, Naked they are both forced to do something about the lack of direction in either of their lives. And I liked it. I haven't been able to read any of Hornby's latest novels, but in this I did see something of what I used to like about Nick Hornby. I wish the ending were different, and the title makes me a little uneasy, but I was able to laugh at the dialogue and the characters.

Lighthousekeeping by Jeannette Winterson - From one of Britain's best-loved literary novelists comes a magical, lyrical tale of the young orphan Silver, taken in by the ancient lighthousekeeper Mr. Pew, who reveals to her a world of myth and mystery through the art of storytelling. Motherless and anchorless, Silver is taken in by the timeless Mr. Pew, keeper of the Cape Wrath lighthouse. Pew tells Silver ancient tales of longing and rootlessness, of the slippages that occur throughout every life. One life, Babel Dark's, a nineteenth-century clergyman, opens like a map that Silver must follow, and the intertwining of myth and reality, of storytelling and experience, lead her through her own particular darkness. A story of mutability, talking birds and stolen books, of Darwin and Stevenson and of the Jekyll and Hyde in all of us, Lighthousekeeping is a way into the most secret recesses of our own hearts and minds. Jeanette Winterson is one of the most extraordinary and original writers of her generation, and this shows her at her lyrical best.

I'm beginning to really love Jeanette Winterson. I thoughts Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit was a bit strange, but enjoyed it enough to pick up Sexing the Cherry. I had issues with that, but not enough to stop me from reading Lighthousekeeping. And I've realised that with every Winterson novel, there has to involve some kind of oddness. Lighthousekeeping starts with a girl, Silver, and her mother on some weird-shaped house on a cliff with a dog that has different length legs. And then her mom falls off the weird-shaped house and Silver goes off to live with the mysterious Pew in a lighthouse and now his story is entwined with that of Babel Dark and his love affairs. And it's all a little bit confusing and if I wasn't paying attention at any point, I might have lost the plot entirely. What I got from it was the importance of stories and story-telling, and love and that each of us has darkness inside of us as well as light. I don't know how to explain it better than that. It was kind of a strange ride that Winterson took me on, but a good one.


I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley - From getting locked out of her flat twice on the same day and being fired for baking a giant cookie in the shape of her boss' head, to playing bridesmaid for a friend she'd long forgotten, Sloane Crosley can do no right, despite the best of intentions. With sharp, original and irresistible storytelling that confounds expectations at every turn, Crosley recounts her victories and catastrophes, finding uproarious comedy and genuine insights in the most unpredictable places.

I think I mentioned before, the reason I picked this book up was because I'd seen it listed as a book someone else had read and she'd posted it on a forum I visit. No comments about if it was any good or anything, so no clue really as to WHY I ended up buying it in a charity shop. I hadn't heard of Sloane Crosley before I picked it up, and I did think as I was reading it 'how bizarre it is that I'm reading some random woman's essays on things' but I stuck with it, and there were some really good moments amongst the essays. I think if I'd known of Sloane Crosley before I read them, I might have had a bigger interest in what she had to say, but I did laugh at some of her misfortunes, as was her intention, I'm sure. Getting locked out of her house, being a bridesmaid to someone she hadn't seen or spoken to in years. I think her family were great, and I would have loved to have read more about them. We get glimpses of them throughout, they seem fascinating.

And there we have it. A small round-up of some of the books I've been reading this year and not reviewing!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

Mini-reviews

Last month I got a bee in my bonnet about clearing out some space in my TBR shelves. So I ended up picking the slimmest looking books and reading them, not because I really wanted to but because I need some space, damnit. A terrible way to pick the next book, but it worked. It had the added bonus of clearing some of shelves of books that had been there up to a year AND it gave me that wonderful sense of accomplishment when I finished a book. Luckily, I mostly enjoyed the books I read as well. Here are five of the books I read at the same sort of time. I only realised afterwards that three of the books had 'Girl' in the title. I love weird coincidences like that.

Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith - I picked up Girl Meets Boy awhile back, after reading The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. I loved the idea of Canongate's Myth series, this retelling of old myths by popular authors. It's an interesting way to engage readers with myths of the past. And I'd wanted to read Ali Smith for awhile and I thought a slim little book like this might make a good place to start. And oh, it was so good.

I can't say that I'd heard of Iphis and I know almost nothing about Ovid's Metamorphosis, but it really didn't matter once I picked up the book. It is absolutely lovely and romantic and just plain sweet. I really wanted to read passages out to anyone who would listen because the writing is just so beautiful. In Ovid's myth, Iphis is a girl who is transformed into a boy in order to marry Ianthe who she passionately loves. In Smith's novel, the myth is brought to life again as the story of two sisters in Scotland, Midge and Anthea, and they come to terms with Anthea's relationship with another woman, the meaning of love and where their place in the world is. And while the side story of a woman's place in a corporate world is also fascinating, it's the love story that blew me away.


Shopgirl by Steve Martin - I picked up Shopgirl by Steve Martin from a library sale. That happened more than a year ago, possibly. I'd seen the film with Claire Danes and Steve Martin previously, but I kind of wanted to check out Steve Martin's writing style. I was a bit curious about it (but not enough to put it at the top of my TBR pile, obviously). I'm really not sure what I was expecting.

This novella is really similar to the movie in terms of style and pacing. It's a very gentle story about this lonely girl, Mirabelle and the ways in which she changes her own life after meeting two very different men. Her life really isn't going anywhere, she's almost content to let things happen to her, until she meets Ray Porter. I don't know. At some points, it felt like there was something more to Shopgirl, I found some of the observations to be really spot-on, and I felt a little protective of Mirabelle throughout the story but when I finished, I wasn't left with any big emotional impact.


The Graduate by Charles Webb - Yeah, I didn't really connect with The Graduate very well. I have to admit, I've never seen the film. In fact, the only thing I really know about The Graduate, is what I saw in the film Starter For Ten with James McAvoy? Remember, when he walks in on his crush's mother in her underwear? And made a stupid comment about Mrs Robinson? That's a terrible reason for me to have picked up The Graduate, isn't it? At least it was short.

I could see the whole disillusionment of Benjamin's character coming back from university thing. The pressures and expectations of his family and bizarrely what the neighbours think. And the train-wreck romantic relationships at the end. But it all just didn't work me for me.


Girl With Glasses: My Optic History by Marissa Walsh - Here's another one I've had on my stack for awhile. After I commented on Keris' review of it over on Five Minutes Peace, she kindly sent me her copy. It was really quick to read, light and fun. There was a lot I could relate to.

I started wearing glasses from before my third birthday. I went through the trauma of horrible plastic lenses and the 'four-eyes' teasing. I went through the different phases of despising my glasses, hiding behind my glasses and finally embracing my inner-Girl With Glasses. I'd have liked to hear more about some of Marissa Walsh's experiences, it kind of felt like she was glossing over some of the more interesting stories and sticking with the glasses thing a little too much. But that's OK. It was an interesting diversion on a lazy afternoon.


The Unfinished Novel and other Stories by Valerie Martin - Ahhhh, I'm absolutely terrible at reviewing short stories. I picked up The Unfinished Novel in a library sale just after I read Property a few months back. I didn't like the characters in Property, but I enjoyed Martin's style of writing, so I really wanted to give another try. Short stories though, I kind of love them and I kind of don't. The thing with The Unfinished Novel is that I read it just after reading some of Ernest Hemingway's short stories, and I was kind of burnt out on them already.

Valerie Martin's short stories in this book are all about artists. Writers, painters, actors, anything really creative and the relationships that they are involved in. And they don't really go well. All the relationships are either doomed or failed and I'm sure she was trying to say something about the passion of artists. Some of the stories really gripped me and others I found myself losing interest a little bit. A different time, different circumstances I'm sure I'd have felt differently. I still want to read more Valerie Martin someday, but maybe I'll stay away from the short stories for a little while...

And there we have it. A little round-up of the shorter books I've been reading lately. Have you read any of these books?

REVIEW: Plain Jayne by Hillary Manton Lodge

Hillary Manton Lodge is an old friend of mine from high school. And Plain Jayne is her first book published. I've been a little nervous about writing this review, not because I didn't love her book (which, incidentally, I did) but because it's a completely different book from what I would normally read.

It's .. Amish fiction. And I don't really get Christian literature. I wonder the need for it at all. Why seperate out your fiction into something religiously orientated? Can someone explain that to me? What I do understand, though, is the re-emerging interest in the Amish culture. It's just such a lovely idea, isn't it? These back to basics ideals with family values in a time where it's more normal for people to catch up via twitter or facebook and families don't eat dinner at the table together. That's my take on it anyway. And I really did love how Hillary (ack. in most reviews I'd probably seperate myself more from the author by referring to her as 'Lodge' but I just can't this time. Not when I can see her face and hear her voice in my head!) was able to balance this story well with humour and wit alongside the Amish values.

Jayne Tate is a reporter for the Oregonian. She's kind of a workaholic. So when her boss forces her into taking some annual leave, instead of taking a break to grieve the recent loss of her father, Jayne instead hightails it to the nearest Amish community nearby, thinking that there could be a possible story. There, she meets Levi Burkholder and his family, learns quite a bit from the Amish, and in the process Jayne is able to come to terms with her own issues with her family and is able to have a clearer idea of what she wants and where her heart belongs.

This really is quite a fun story. I love the little quirks of the characters, from Jayne riding a motorcyle and making quips about Star Trek, to Sara, Levi's little sister who is fashion-mad, to Jayne's best gal-pals. I loved all of the pie baking and quilting. How I wish I had those talents. The issues involving Jayne with her family seemed quite believable and everything about the Amish was fascinating to read about. The religious bits of the novel, while there, are fairly subtle and not at all overbearing, which was a concern of mine before I started reading. The romance aspect of the book is quite sweet and while it is a little gentle for my tastes, you will definitely be rooting for the two characters to get together! The dialogue is quite snappy and Plain Jayne was just such a wonderful reading experience, it puts a big smile on my face whenever I think of it.

I can't wait to read the next book in the series, called Simply Sara which is out later in the year!

Hillary Manton Lodge's website

REVIEW: Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

If you were to ask me to pick my favourite books of the year so far, I'm almost certain that I'd choose both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card to be on that list. (but please don't ask!) I don't generally read a lot of science-fiction, but I've fallen under the spell after reading these two. There's just something about them both, I can't quite put my figure on what it is. Is it the super-intelligent children saving the world? Is it Ender and Bean's personal struggles while under pressure to save the world? Is it all the wonderful characters, plus the action? Was it the military strategies in Ender's Game? Was it the added details in Ender's Shadow? I don't know, and I guess it doesn't really matter.

So, first there's Ender's Game. And we learn that the earth has been attacked by an alien race, the Buggers, years ago and were defeated by the brilliance of a leading commander. Now the threat from the Bugger is again imminent, and in order to save the planet, the government has set up a special Battle School for super-intelligent kids.

Among them, is Ender Wiggin, the golden child, the one one whose shoulders lay the hopes of his commanders to learn what he can of military history and strategies, to train to be the next leading commander in order to save the world from the threat of this alien race. In order to do this, Ender must leave his family and beloved sister, Valentine, and sent to Battle School. There, he is isolated from his peers, struggles to belong and struggles with his own personal demons, and this pressure to succeed. Throughout Battle School, Ender is sort of fast-tracked through his military training, along the way making strong and loyal friendships, including that of little Bean.

Honestly, it's hard for me to not just interject 'god, how much did I love this book?!' into every paragraph, but I did. I loved the descriptions of the battles between the children, I loved the psychological games that Ender is put through, I loved his relationship with his sister Valentine, and the sub-plot of Valentine and Peter back on Earth, writing their newspaper columns. It was so difficult for me to put this book down and went I finally did, I dreamt about it at night. When I was finished, I kept thinking about it weeks afterwards. So, I tracked down Ender's Shadow.

I was very surprised to hear about Ender's Shadow. I was thinking a rehash of Ender's Game, really? as it covers the same timeline as Ender's Game and a lot of the same events occur. Except it's told from Bean's perspective. I wasn't sure at first, but picked it up anyway. And again, I sped through it and couldn't bear to put it down. There's enough new about it and enough different for Ender's Shadow to stand on its own feet. Card writes such wonderful characters, it's hard not to feel sympathy for them right from the start.

Bean's personal history is so different from Ender's, as we're introduced to him as a starving child on the streets of Rotterdam, manipulating the street children to organise for his own survival. He's a bit cold and emotionless when he arrives at Battle School. He's even younger and more intelligent than anyone else there, including Ender Wiggin. Once there, Bean is able to work out how things are, he understands what's going on, what's at stake. He plays a much more pivotal role in the war against the Buggers than originally given credit for in Ender's Game, and goes through a very different emotional journey.

I think what I like best about these books is the focus on the humanity of these children who are put under pressure to become soldiers and kill without thinking. The morality of war, of sending children off to do the dirty work. What it means to be a leader of an army, to gain a person's respect and loyalty, the limitless possibility of intelligence and where that can lead to. Such beautiful books, both of these. I'd imagine that everytime I read either of these books, I'll find something new that stands out, that I hadn't thought of before. But what will always remain is my absolute love of these characters.

Having said all of that, I'm not sure about the sequels. To either Ender's story or Bean's. It all seems a little more focused on more political matters or on aliens. Should I carry on? Read the rest? I'm still undecided.

Science-fiction - is it for you? Do you have anything to recommend for me now that I've devoured these two?

REVIEW: The Body Artist by Don DeLillo

The Body Artist by Don DeLillo is just strange. I'm not sure I entirely get it. I've never read any of DeLillo before, this was my introduction, and it was a little confusing. I've had the book for more than a year now, I picked it up because it's on the original 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and, if I'm being honest here, it's just over 100 pages. I figured it'd be an easy book to read to cross off the list to fulfill my 1% well-read challenge. But the book seemed to languish on my shelves. Something about it screamed that it wouldn't be an easy book to read.

I loved the first chapter, this breakfast scene between Lauren (the body artist of the title) and her husband Rey. They have this weird dialogue going and you view it from Lauren's perspective and see into her inner mind-workings. It's sort of amusing and a little odd. From there, it skips to an article of Rey's suicide in his first wife's house that happened immediately after this breakfast. And the rest of the novel is with Lauren and her grief and suffering. She returns to a holiday home she shared with Rey and meets a strange man.

And this strange man is really at the centre of everything that I found strange about the book. Is he just a man? Is he a ghost? Is he something out of Lauren's head? I guess it doesn't matter. It's really a little novel about loss and sorrow. At the same time as feeling completely unconnected to this novel and its characters, I always felt like the writing and the scenes sent me into a melancholy state. I don't know how or why. But there's more to this book than just the mystery of this odd ghost-man.

And it was only 100+ pages. *shrugs*

REVIEW: Men Without Women by Ernest Hemingway

There's something about Ernest Hemingway. I keep returning to his books. All the things that I don't like about his writing are all the things that I really like. Everything is so pared down, there's nothing extra. Sometimes, things are very subtle that I almost miss his point entirely. This book of short stories is very short, but I had to re-read several of them just so I understood, and there's still probably more that I missed. Men Without Women covers a lot of the same ground of his novels... there's the bull-fighting, and the boxing. There's the relationships between men and women, there's the effect of war, of being too old. I'm constantly surprised how well Hemingway pulls off heart-wrenching and emotional with so few words. I can't say that I had a favourite out of the short stories, but when I was finished, I almost felt exhausted.

I always felt like Hemingway was an author I 'should' read after reading The Old Man and the Sea and A Moveable Feast in high school, and it was many years ago now that someone gave me a collection of his works as a gift. And they sat on my shelves for years and years, untouched. Then I read A Farewell to Arms. And then Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises. And now Men Without Women. And I can't help myself, I really want to read everything else now.

Any other Hemingway fans out there? What do you suggest I read next?

REVIEW: Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes

I picked up Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes on a whim. I'd gone into the sci-fi section of my library after reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card hoping to find one of sequels. Instead the glaring pink cover of (the copy of the library book I picked up of) Flowers For Algernon called to me. I remember in some class, high school maybe?, we'd looked at some extracts of the short story. Because it was a rather large extract, I'd always thought I'd read the whole story but it turns out that I didn't.

Either way, Flowers For Algernon was worth the time it took to read it. It was so sad and powerful. If you're not familiar with the story, I'll just briefly recap it: Charlie Gordon has an IQ of only 68 and works in a bakery doing menial jobs. He's approached by scientists at the local university who have been doing experiments on mice that increases intelligence. Charlie agrees to be the first human labrat, if you will. The novel is laid out in a series of progress reports written by Charlie leading up to the procedure and the months that follow.

But with the increase in intelligence comes other aspects that Charlie never expected. His eyes are open to the many mistreatments he has borne throughout his life, specifically by his friends and his family. Charlie goes for the idea of this operation in order to fit in with the people most important to him, to feel like he belongs and is able to hold a conversation with other people, as well as in that hopes that his mother will finally be proud of him. Instead, his super-intelligence leads him to be just as lonely and alone as he was before.

Flowers For Algernon really made me think. About the morality of research experiments in the name of science, the way in which the mentally disabled are treated, the relationship between intellectual and emotional development. It also made me feel. I didn't think of the book as being overly manipulative and I think it could have been. Charlie is a wonderful character and throughout he completely pulled at my heartstrings and made me care about him. I thought this book was brilliantly done and had me unable to put the book down. Even now, weeks after reading it, and I can't stop thinking of Charlie and Algernon...

Read for: 100+ challenge, Support Your Local Library

REVIEW: Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

Sorry for the lack of reviews around these parts, I'm in the middle of a writer's block and I'm hoping that writing reviews in a reverse order will help.

So, Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. I didn't love it as much as I loved The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, but that it isn't to say that I didn't love it all. Part of the reason is that I'd seen the film version with Michael Douglas (who I don't generally like) many years ago and was familiar with the storyline. I did start it thinking 'I've seen the film, it's very similar, why carry on?' but I'm glad I did. The characters (the male ones, at least) are more developed, the story is slightly more intricate, and once I got going, the experience was better with the book. What I loved about Wonder Boys is the combination of the very ordinary life occurrences seated right next to the very bizarre.

Grady Tripp is our narrator of Wonder Boys, a middle-aged, constantly stoned author/professor who is struggling to finish his follow-up novel after winning some literary award. It isn't writer's block he's facing, but quite the opposite. His manuscript is well over 2,000 pages and he just can't stop writing the thing. Then his friend and agent, Terry Crabtree comes into town and a series of bizarre events occur taking Tripp on this weird and wonderful weekend journey.

What I love most about Wonder Boys is how Chabon was able to juggle so many storylines and characters. We have Tripp, his friend Crabtree. Tripp's wife, Emily. His mistress, Sara. James Leer, a suicidal young student and writer. All with their own quirks and interesting backstories and habits. And we have this weird plot involving a dead dog, a boa constrictor, Marilyn Monroe's jacket, a Passover dinner involving three Korean Jews, and a tuba, of all things. And I love that the book isn't really about any of those things, but more about the interactions between the characters as well as the pitfalls and pressures of writerly life.

Even though the book really chronicles the many ways in which Grady Tripp's life is spinning out of control, I found it all to be hilarious. I couldn't stop snorting at the absolute weirdness of it all. I'd have loved to be at that Passover dinner with Tripp's wife and in-laws, but I'd also have liked it if some of the female characters had more depth to them that Tripp, Crabtree and Leer had. Still, overall a wonderful experience. I'd recommend Wonder Boys as a good stepping stone into Chabon's work.

Read for: TBR Challenge, 100+ reading challenge

REVIEW: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson

Can I just start by saying how much I absolutely adored Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson? Yes? Yes. Because I did. I adored it. I had a big smile on my face all the way through it. I'd tried to read it a few years ago, but it wasn't the right timing. I wasn't really sure where the characters were coming from. And then I saw the film, which was really cute, and saw them all and the book in a different light.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day is a retelling of Cinderella, and it's absolutely charming. Miss Pettigrew is a middle-aged woman, lonely and alone who keeps being fired as a governess. She doesn't really like children anyway, and she's kind of a stick in the mud about what's proper. At the start of the novel she is homeless, without a job and hungry. A misunderstanding leads her to the door of Delyssia LaFosse, a glamourous cabaret singer, with a string of beaux and the complete opposite of Miss Pettigrew in terms of morals and background. And yet, they get on like a house on fire. And so the transformation of Miss Pettigrew has begun.

This is such a wonderful little fairy tale. And apart from a few minor anti-semitic comments, I loved everything about it. I loved Miss Pettigrew, I loved Delyssia. I loved the interaction between the two and how their friendship grows throughout the novel. Miss Pettigrew is really thrown into the deep end here, with the drinking and the swearing and smoking and the boyfriends, but she has a wonderful common-sense that saves poor Miss LaFosse's day and she is able to lighten up a little bit and have fun on this magical day in a different world. It was also quite a sweet little love story as Delyssia tries to figure out which of the three men she's been seeing is the right one for her.

Seeing the film first did leave me with the permanent image of Amy Adams as Miss LaFosse, but that was OK. I still enjoyed the book better (the ending and one of the side-stories was done much better in the book) especially because of the cute little illustrations in my Persephone edition. Gorgeous little book. And this book comes highly recommended from me, as it is funny and charming and heart-warming all at the same time. You won't be disappointed.


Other Opinions:

Reading Matters
In the Shadow of Mt TBR
another cookie crumbles
Trashionista

Read For: 1% well-read challenge, 100+ reading challenge, Support Your Local library challenge

REVIEW: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

I have to admit it, I don't always GET Ernest Hemingway. The stripped-back writing style he uses often distracts me and I generally have to walk away halfway through one of his novels and come back to it so I can fully appreciate his prose and the characters he creates. And once I do that, I find it easier to continue. While I find the blatant anti-Semitisim throughout the book difficult to read, I did enjoy this book. After a six month break though.

I started The Sun Also Rises last summer. I made the mistake of trying to rush into it too quickly. I don't think Hemingway can be rushed, I actually missed a major detail the first time around and had to re-read for things to make sense. The Sun Also Rises focuses on a group of expatriates living in Paris after the destruction caused by WWI, as they drink and sleep around and lead generally purposeless lives. They then head off to Spain and fish and watch the bull-fighting.

At first glance, I thought, why should I care? These people aren't hugely sympathetic characters, drinking their lives away, saying things like 'swell' and 'darling' too often for my tastes. But once I understood more of the characters and had read further into the book I realised that my emotional investment in these people had crept up on me out of nowhere. I'm still surprised.

The main focus of the novel surrounds the main character, Jake Barnes and the woman he loves, Brett Ashley. Because of a wound sustained during WWI, Jake is impotent and though Jake and Brett love each other, this lack of physical consummation means that they are unable to have a relationship together. Instead, Brett flits between men but these relationships lack an emotional connection and soon end. This trip to Spain sees Brett surrounded by Jake, a fiance, and a former lover and things start to heat up when Brett falls for a teenage bull-fighter, Pedro.

All in all, I enjoyed this book. I'll definitely seek out other Hemingway novels. But not in any great hurry, as the endings of his books always seem just that little bit too sad for me.

Read for: 1% well-read challenge, 100+ book challenge.

Have you read this book? What do you think of Ernest Hemingway - love him? hate him? Do you have a favourite Hemingway novel?

REVIEW: A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

It's taken me awhile to finish reading A Pale View of Hills and it's certainly taken me awhile to mull over what I should write in this review about the book. I like Kazuo Ishiguro, I really do. He has great skill in adding depth to his characters and he sets a scene wonderfully. And while I've enjoyed everything of his that I've read, I have noticed that a lot of the same themes emerging. Unreliable narration, the concept of memory, the calm surface of characters that lies a hidden guilt.

In this, his first novel, we are introduced to Etsuko, a woman living in England who is dwelling on the recent suicide of her eldest daughter, Keiko, whilst spending time with her younger daughter, Niki. A dream prompts Etsuko to reminisce about the events that occurred in Japan 20 years earlier when she still lived in Nagasaki, as she is pregnant with Keiko, when she befriended Sachiko and her daughter, Mariko. Sachiko is at the time preparing to leave Japan for America and asks Etsuko for some help.

Etsuko herself seems quite detached and a little cold as a character. And Sachiko is absolutely cringe-worthy - her complete disregard for her daughter's well-being and the extreme neglect is difficult to read. In fact, I was forced to walk away from this book for many months before I returned to it. Ishiguro's writing style is quite sparse and the whole book has quite a melancholy feel to it. The suicide of Etsuko's daughter, Japan after the bombs had dropped during WWII, the mistreatment of Mariko.

And yet, I couldn't quite abandon this book entirely. It isn't entirely clear, but there is a sense towards the end of the book that the similarities between Sachiko and Etsuko are not just mere coincidence and that in fact Sachiko represents Etsuko and how she behaved with her own daughter Keiko so many years ago. I believe Etsuko's memories and dreams of Sachiko are her own ways of handling her guilt towards how she handled events in her daughter's life and how that may have led to Keiko's suicide.

It's not my favourite Ishiguro novel, it's slightly confusing and more than a little disturbing in parts. But I'm not sorry that I've read it.

Other Opinions:

Jenny's Books
Books, Time and Silence
dovegreyreader
Plays With Needles

Read for: 1% well-read challenge, 100+ reading challenge

January mini-reviews

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - This collection of short stories is the first I've read of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I keep meaning to read her novels, Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun. If I'm honest, the reason I haven't is that they're a little long and books set in the recent past as hers are (I believe the 1960s?) sometimes depress me. I'd been thinking that short stories are becoming a favourite genre lately, especially as my mental capacity for longer novels shortens daily. So I picked this book up, thought I'd give it a try. And I really, really enjoyed the collection. I didn't love every story, but overall I enjoyed the experience of reading it. The stories are all about women and how they interact with men, with their families, with each other and the different cultural aspects of Nigeria and America. Some of the stories, I really desperately wanted to know more and I felt like I'd really connected with the characters despite not having spent much time with any of them. After reading these short stories, I think I will have to read Adichie's novels.


Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx - Here's another collection of short stories, this time by Annie Proulx. I read The Shipping News a few years ago and loved it. I've read a lot of other book bloggers didn't enjoy it as much as I did, but I found it all to be fascinating despite being a little slow and dry. So I was really looking forward to reading more by Proulx. And I did enjoy this collection. Mostly. I thought the first story of an old man returning to Wyoming after being away for decades to be really interesting and engaging. I felt like Wyoming was a character, and I could picture it all in my head. I then read Brokeback Mountain, the last story of this book, and again, I was blown away. It was beautiful and gritty and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I did enjoy some of the other stories, but not as much as that first story, or the last. Some of the stories had very interesting subjects, such as a detailed account of the rodeo circuit, but I was unable to connect to unlikeable characters and one or two stories I did have to skim through.

Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman - This is a fun one. It's a short prequel to the His Dark Materials series and details how the charismatic aeronaut Lee Scoresby meets the armoured bear, Iorek Byrnison many years before they meet Lyra. Lee, his daemon Hester and Iorek are some of my absolute favourite characters from the series, so I loved every minute of this. I sped right through it and when I was finished I was only disappointed that there wasn't more. It has kind of a Western feel to it, as Lee Scoresby engages in this shoot-out with an old enemy as he gets involved in some political tension in the Artic. It's filled with cute little illustrations and some satisfying tension. A quick, enjoyable read. But I'd like something meatier next, Mr. Pullman.


Mort by Terry Pratchett - I finished this book last December but somehow it got missed during my last batch of mini-reviews? Mort is the first Terry Pratchett book I finished, and I enjoyed it immensely. It was such a surprise how funny and readable it is. I truly loved the characters. When I finished Mort, I quickly had to track down other Death novels just so I can have some more, please. In this, Mort, a young, clumsy boy finds himself apprenticed to Death. Soon enough, Death is giving Mort more and more responsibility as he goes off to drink and dance and fulfill his own interests. And Mort, poor boy, left to his own devices is making a right mess of things. What a wonderful book. It's witty and clever and subtly funny. I loved it.


And that's it. Have you read any of these books? Or do you have any suggestions for what else I should read? Let me know, please!

More mini-reviews

I get now why people rush to review the books they read in 2009 IN 2009. It feels a bit of a chore when done the following year. Even though it may only have been a few weeks later. I was hoping to spend more time reviewing some of these books, but I'm falling behind.

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman - Wow, I'm really rubbish at reviewing short story collections. What I find wonderful about Neil Gaiman, is that everything he writes is different but everything is infused with his own brand of awesomeness. Reading each story was a treat, almost everything made me smile. It just made me happy reading Neil Gaiman's words. I also appreciated that the stories were all of varying length. I don't know about you, but I feel weighed down reading short stories where each story is very long. Fragile Things had a nice mix. And best of all, my copy at least, had a fantastic introduction by Neil Gaiman describing the thought processes behind each piece. Wonderful, highly recommended.


Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - Another gem from Neil Gaiman. I wouldn't say this is a sequel as such to American Gods, but the character of Mr Nancy is in both of them. I read American Gods last March or so and really enjoyed it. But Anansi Boys blew me away. There is such weirdness to Neil Gaiman's books. I love that. Fat Charlie doesn't really get on with his dad, as his dad is always embarassing him in one or another - he's the one who nicknamed him 'Fat Charlie' after all. But when his fiancee convinces Fat Charlie to invite his dad to the wedding, Fat Charlie learns not only is his father dead, but he's also the trickster god, Anansi and that Charlie also has a brother, Spider (also a god), whom he's never met. And it only gets weirder and better after that, as Spider enters his life and tries to take it over! Honestly, I just feeling clapping in happiness at Anansi Boys. I love the characters that Neil Gaiman invents, the situations that he puts them in. I love the importance in this book on story-telling and how children are utterly embarassed by their parents. There's funny bits and scary bits and when I was finished with this book I wanted to read it all over again. One not to miss!

What I Was by Meg Rosoff - Oh Meg Rosoff, you write such beautiful books! What I Was is sort of a coming of age story and there's sort of a love story, but not really. Our narrator is a 16 year old school boy in a private school in the 1960s. He's quite unhappy with the whole school situation until he stumbles across another boy, Finn, who's living alone in a hut on a crumbling bit of beach. He really wants what Finn has, complete control and freeom in his life. Together they form a strange little friendship which eventually leads to a heartbreaking end. I do so love Meg Rosoff's writing. She sets the scene brilliantly and I was swept away a bit by the the whole story. I can see how she isn't for everyone, but I'll always be a fan!


Jackdaw Summer by David Almond - David Almond is just brilliant, isn't he? I loved Jackdaw Summer but I'm having a hard time reviewing the book. It's hard to describe how simply David Almond writes, but at the same time he's filling his prose with so much more than words. This story starts as two boys follow as a bird leads them to an abandoned baby during the hot summer. It's a summer in which violence of different varieties seep into these two boys' lives, but mostly about the violence of war. As I was reading this book, I found myself to be quite unsettled by it. I had this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, and that's what I love about David Almond: his ability to invoke such strong feelings with his writing.


An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro - This is the last book that I read in 2009. I think with every Ishiguro novel I've read, I probably missed a lot of the subtleties of the book. I didn't always understand the main conflict of the story, but I do so enjoy Ishiguro's style of writing. An Artist of the Floating World is the story of a man, in his retirement, in post-war Japan. He's spending his days out in the garden, or with his two grown-up daughters. He spends a great deal of time reminiscing about his life as an artist during the war years. The friends he had, the choices he has made throughtout his career. A great glimpse into post-war Japan and of a man struggling with his life choices. A beautiful little book.

This book is on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list and I have read it for the 1% well-read challenge.

And that's it for today! What I love about these books is that the authors are all included on my list of favourite authors. Kazuo Ishiguro and David Almond sneaked onto the list almost without my knowledge, where as Meg Rosoff and Neil Gaiman have held onto their positions there with some fantastic writing. I've now read all of Rosoff's novels, but I love that I still have books to read by the other three.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

Mini-Reviews

I've decided instead of torturing myself to write proper reviews of everything I read, therefore not reviewing anything, I'd go down the mini-review road. Much easier and less stressful for everyone.

Generation A by Douglas Coupland - I really don't know how to review this one. It's been kind of hit or miss with me and Douglas Coupland. I've read a few of his books and liked some, Eleanor Rigby in particular, was absolutely beautiful. Then others, like Microserfs, I couldn't really find my place in it and had to abandon it. I wasn't sure what I would be getting into with Generation A. I hadn't heard anything of it before I saw it in the library. I picked it up thinking that perhaps N would like to read it and instead it was me who finished it. And here we are, weeks later and I still cannot find the words. I ... liked it. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I did like it. The first half of the book is very different from the second half and that just confused me more than anything else. It felt like if Coupland had explored aspects of the storyline in different ways (a romance between two characters was started and then dropped suddenly/it started off sounding like a paranoid conspiracy theory which could have been interesting) I might have liked it better, but it was still a fun, intelligent read. It's set slightly in the future, where bees have become extinct for awhile. Then all of a sudden five people from all over the world are stung and they end up being studied by the government before being shipped to an island together. It's interesting.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton - The first book in the Anita Blake series. As I've mentioned before I feel a little uneasy starting a series with so many books in it. I believe there are 17 books in this series right now. 17. That is too many. How are the books towards the end of that? Still as good? I don't know. I liked Guilty Pleasures, but I didn't love it. I started reading it and it just felt like I'd miss something. I had to put my book down and check the internet to see if Guilty Pleasures really was the first book in the series and not the second. Because nothing seems to be explained. We're just sort of thrown into Anita Blake's life as an animator/vampire hunter and introduced to a bunch of characters and find out very little of her back history. I was confused a great deal. I kept getting the male characters mixed-up. The people Anita works with, the stripper, the men trying to kill her, her colleague. I don't know, I found it to be a lot to take in all at once. I liked Anita as a character, she seems quite feisty. I like the premise of it all. But can I commit myself to another 16 books? I'm still undecided.

The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera - I thought that The Whale Rider would be a light, fun read. And it was fun, and it's not very long, but it's so full of history and it was so interesting that I took a lot more time over it. I love reading all those stories about how the relationship between the Maoris and the whales. It was truly fascinating. The chapters alternate between the legends of the past, and the family of the descendents of The Whale Rider. As much as I loved the myths, I also adored Kahu, the sweet little girl who has such a strong connection to the whales and who loves her grumpy old grandfather Koro Apirana so entirely despite the fact that he denies her existence because she is a girl. The story is a little slow to start, but midway through to the end I was absolutely gripped by this tale. I actually sobbed in several different parts, it's so moving and beautiful. One to look out for.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin - Why has it taken me so long to read this book? It is truly wonderful. I stayed up too late reading this because I had to know what happened and then had crazy dreams about it. Le Guin's writing style feels quite sparse, but I was completely invested in the story and the characters right away. I was astounded by the detail and scale of Earthsea. I loved Sparrowhawk. I truly did. His struggle with his own pride and vanity, the self-doubt after he creates a nasty beast during a difficult spell - his coming of age journey was a magical thing to be part of. The show-down with the dragons had me almost breathless in suspense. I literally couldn't sit still from the anticipation of the final battle. I'm wondering if I will love the other books in the series as much with Sparrowhawk being only a supporting character? It doesn't matter, I have to read the other books.

And that is all! Mini-reviews of the books YOU are reading in comments? Please?