Reading Roundup - April 2022

 

Another month has flown by and Easter, Passover and Ramadan are now behind us. Whichever, if any, of these festivals are special to you, I hope you had a memorable time.

It has been a good month of reading for me. For the first time in years I listened to an audio book. When I tried them in the past I never really got on well with it. I missed the opportunity to flick back a few pages if I lost my way. However, having given it a try again this month I enjoyed it very much. 

I have always preferred my books to be in printed form and it is still my favourite. I do read e-books but I much prefer to read a physical book. I like the feel, smell and look of an actual book but other formats do have their place, and I have discovered that it is good for me to be open to other formats. How about you? Do you listen to books? Prefer an e-reader? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Did you read anything that you really enjoyed this month, in whatever format? 

Here are the books that I have read this month:

Books I Have Read This Month

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison -  I'm aware that this is a classic but I found it to be a very depressing read.

More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman - I am already a fan of the author and I enjoyed this very much. If you would like to read my review you can do so by clicking here.

The Last Reunion by Kayte Nunn - This is a delightful dual timeline novel. You can read my review by clicking here.

The Witches by Brenda Lozano - This highly original novel was an interesting read. You can find my review by clicking here.

The Midnight House by Amanda Geard - Being published on 12th May, I was fortunate enough to be given an early readers copy. It was my favourite read this month and my review will be on the blog on publication day.  Watch this space!

A Train to Moscow by Elena Gorokhova - I enjoyed this very much. You can find my review by clicking here.

The Village Feasts by Izzy Abrahmson - A collection of short stories based around the Passover festival. You can read my review by clicking here.

The Lost and Found Bookshop by Susan Wiggs - This was a most enjoyable read and my review will be up next week.

How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie - I listened to this on audio and it is a great story.

What Eden Did Next by Sheila O'Flanagan - I literally finished reading this in bed last night so have not written the review yet. However, I enjoyed it very much and the review will appear in due course.

Books I Did Not Finish

The Lost Boy of Bologna by Francesca Scanacapra

Books I am Partway Through

Women Writers of the Seventeenth Century by Ramona Wray

The Tearoom on the Bay by Rachel Burton

The Last Reunion by Kayte Nunn - #BookReview

It was the work of a moment; a tiny revenge for a much graver crime. She had never stolen so much as a packet of sweets before. She did not, as a rule, lie, cheat or steal. But this was different.

She wiped a film of sweat from the back of her neck, lifting the damp strands of hair in an effort to cool herself. Her cotton sundress - madras, designed for an Indian climate - clung to her legs, and a blister had formed on her heel from the strap of her sandals. She'd experienced this kind of heat, before, had almost forgotten how it sapped the spirits, how it became an act of will to carry on regardless.

***

War would bring them together.

But would it ultimately tear them apart?

Burma, 1945 - Bea, Plum, Bubbles, Joy and Lucy are five young women looking for adventure, fighting a forgotten war in the jungle attached to the Fourteenth Army. Running a mobile canteen, navigating treacherous roads and dodging hostile gunfire, they soon become embroiled in life-threatening battles of their own - battles that will haunt the women for the rest of their lives.

Oxford, 1976 - At the height of an impossibly hot English summer, a woman slips into a museum and steals several rare Japanese netsuke, including the famed fox-girl. Despite the offer of a considerable reward, these tiny, exquisitely detailed carvings are never seen again.

London and Galway, 1999 - On the eve of the new millennium, Olivia, assistant to an art dealer, meets Beatrix, an elderly widow who wishes to sell her late husband's collection of Japanese art. Concealing her own motives, Olivia travels with Beatrix to a New Year's Eve party, deep in the Irish countryside, where friendships will be tested and secrets kept for more than fifty years are spilled... 

***

Not only is this a well written novel but I learnt a lot regarding a point in history that I knew extremely little about. I have previously read novels which were set in Burma during WWII, but this book was different in that it was centred around five women who, in this story made up the WASBIE attachment.

The book is written as a dual narrative, covering their time during the war, and then again at the titular reunion when the women are, somewhat more mature in years. In fact, the book begins with a different time entirely, taking place in 1976, but it is only a brief glimpse we get and is vital to understanding the plot.

The main character, Bea, is delightful, and she was an excellent character throughout both timelines. The author has done a great job of fleshing out all of her characters. The dynamic between them, which differ at both time points in the narrative is excellent.

Also, the character of Olivia, who plays a part in the latter time line is excellent, and she served as a great vehicle in moving the story along. Furthermore, she was a vital and engaging character who I was rooting for all the way.

Atmospherically, the writer descriptions of the settings are tangible. The book is set in the jungles of Burma, and I could feel the heat and humidity that she described. Equally, the modern part of the book is set in a dilapidated old house with its leaking roof and myriad of other faults due to neglect.

Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely, and was reluctant to put it down. I will definitely be including other books by Ms. Nunn to my constantly increasing pile of books I want to read. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. 

ISBN: 978 1398701144

Publisher: Orion

Formats: Paperback, e-book and audio

No. of Pages: 384 (paperback)

About the Author:

Katye Nunn has written six works of fiction including, The Botanist’s Daughter, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant, The Silk House and The Last Reunion, which came out in March 2020 in Australia, and later in the UK.

She grew up in England and the US, and then lived in Sydney, Australia for more than 20 years, working as a book, magazine and web editor and writer. She has more than two decades of publishing experience and is the former editor of Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine.

(author photo and bio information from the author's website.)

The Collector's Daughter by Gill Paul - #TuesdayTeaser

Hello and welcome to this week's Tuesday Teaser. The place where we take a sneaky peek at a book that has caught my eye.

This week we are looking at The Collector's Daughter by Gill Paul.

Gill has published historical fiction titles including The Lost Daughter, Another Woman's Husband and The Secret Wife. She also writes historical non-fiction, including A History of Medicine in 50 Objects and a series of Love Stories. Published around the world, this series includes Royal Love Stories, World War I Love Stories and Titanic Love Stories.

She grew up in Scotland and studied Medicine at Glasgow University, then English Literature and History before moving to London to work in publishing. Her first novel was written at weekends, but she has now given up the ‘day job’ to write fiction full-time. She also writes short stories for magazines and speaks at libraries and literary festivals about subjects ranging from the British royal family to the Romanovs, and about writing itself.

The Blurb

An unforgettable discovery

In 1922, Lady Evelyn Herbert’s dreams are realised when she is the first to set foot inside the lost tomb of Tutankhamun for over 3,000 years.

A cursed life

But the months after the discovery are marred by tragedy, when Eve’s father dies suddenly and her family is torn in two. Desperate to put the past behind her, Eve retreats into a private life with her new husband.

A deadly choice

But she is harbouring a dark secret about what really happened in Egypt. And when a young woman comes asking questions years later, the happiness Eve has finally found is threatened once more…

In the Beginning...

Chapter 1 - London, July 1972

Eve opened her eyes a fraction and saw an old man sitting a couple of feet away. He had silver hair that receded on either side of his brow, leaving a widow's peak in the centre. She shut her eyes again and watched the fuzzy shapes that glimmered and danced in her visual field.

The next time she opened her eyelids the man was still there. Behind him she could make out a white room and the rectangular shape of a window.

"You're back," he said with a choking sound, as if he was overcome.

She tried to focus on him, blinking against the light. His eyes were red-rimmed behind wire spectacles. He was wearing a suit and tie. She looked down and realized he was holding her hand. At least, the hand was attached to an arm that led up to her body so it must be hers, but she couldn't feel it, couldn't make the fingers respond. That wasn't good.

"You've had one of your funny turns, Pipsqueak," he said. "You're in the hospital. You've been here before and you've always come bouncing back so I'm sure you will this time." His voice was wobbly. He had been crying.

She looked around. There was a tube in her other arm, attached to a bag with clear liquid in it. She remembered she'd had one of those before.

Who was this man? Was he her father? She frowned. That didn't feel like the right answer. He couldn't be a doctor because he wasn't wearing a white coat. Maybe he was her husband...

***

Well, I wonder who he is? I suppose the only way to find out will be to read on. This book looks like it is just my cup of tea and I am very keen to find out.

My Beautiful Dangerous by Laila Amlani - #BookBlitz

When I was invited to take part in the book blitz for this book, I knew straight away that I wanted to participate.  I know that they say that we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but this cover is so beautiful that I couldn't resist posting the details about this dark romance on the blog.

Every sin comes with a price. 

I ran away when I was a kid. 

Before my family could break me. 

Back when I thought I could still be saved.

Now I lie to everyone about who I am. 

I lie to myself about the things I’ve done. 

My new identity protects me. 

But my secrets demand a lonely life. 

No man is worth the risk. 

Until Chase Hale… 

He makes me forget that I'm unwanted. 

He makes me forget what I deserve. 

He makes me vulnerable. 

He makes me weak. 

And that’s what makes him dangerous. 

But when he starts making me believe I might be worth saving, that could be the most dangerous of all. 

Because every sin comes with a price, and when my family comes to collect, there will be nothing in this world left to save me. 

About the Author:

Software analyst by day and author by night. 

After reaching my fill of logic and data throughout my work life, I desperately needed a creative outlet to express my emotional and whimsical (and possibly a little bit crazy) side. And so… an author was born. I enjoy writing romance novels filled with heart, wit, and a plot twist or two. My heroines are intelligent, strong, sarcastic, and perhaps a bit quirky. Of course, the men are hot as hell and worthy of a steamy sex scene or two (or three, or four...) to showcase their talents. 

What can I say about my real life? I live in the desert where it's almost as hot as the men I like to write about. I love my dogs, movies, watching hockey, and someday, I aspire to kick my Cheetos addiction. 

More Than I Love My Life by David Grossman - Translated by Jessica Cohen - #BookReview

 Rafael was fifteen years old when his mother died and put him out of her misery. Rain poured down on the mourners huddled under umbrellas in the small kibbutz cemetery. Tuvia, Rafael's father, sobbed bitterly. He had cared for his wife devotedly for years and now looked lost and bereft. Rafael, wearing shorts, stood apart from the others and pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his eyes so that no one would know he wasn't crying. He thought: Now that she's dead, she can see all the things I thought of her.

***

On a kibbutz in Israel in 2008, Gili is celebrating the ninetieth birthday of her grandmother Vera, the adored matriarch of a sprawling and tight-knit family. But festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Nina: the iron-willed daughter who rejected Vera's care; and the absent mother who abandoned Gili when she was still a baby.

Nina's return to the family after years of silence precipitates an epic journey from Israel to the desolate island of Goli Otok, formerly part of Yugoslavia. It was here, five decades earlier, that Vera was held and tortured as a political prisoner. And it is here that the three women will finally come to terms with the terrible moral dilemma that Vera faced, and that permanently altered the course of their lives.

More Than I Love My Life is a sweeping story about the power of love and loving with courage. A novel driven by faith in humanity even in our darkest moments, it asks us to confront our deepest held beliefs about a woman's duty to herself and to her children.

***

When I read David Grossman's book, Man Walks Into Bar, in 2017, I thought it was one of the best books I had ever read, and I maintain that opinion. You can read my review of it by clicking here. Whilst I would not claim the same for this book, it really isn't far behind.

Essentially, this book is the story of three generations of women, Vera, Nina and Gili. Three women who were all loved by Rafael;  three women who's lives were affected by grandmother Vera's, experience of the second world war. 

When they come together on a kibbutz in Israel for Vera's nintieth birthday, this hugely dysfunctional family find an opportunity to face the past and to consider the impact that the past, with all of it's secrets, has had upon their relationship with one another. They travel together, along with Raphael, who is Vera's stepson, Nina's husband and Gili's mother, to make a film about Vera's time in the Goli Otok camp.

Whilst there, we witness the intensity of Vera's experience and come to understand how it shaped the lives of all three women. Her recollections do not make for easy reading but the author brings them vividly to life in a non gratuitous way. He handles the telling of her experiences with sensitivity and empathy.

In fact, it is based upon a true story of a woman who was imprisoned and tortured at the barren Goli Otok camp for the purpose of re-education in the 1950's.  The author's description of the island is both detailed and atmospheric.

This is an intense book that is well worth reading. I very much want to read more of Mr. Grossman's work and I highly recommend this one.

ISBN: 978 1787332935

Publisher: Jonathan Cape

Formats: Hardcover, e-book and audio.

No. of Pages: 288 (hardback)

About the Author: 

David Grossman was born in Jerusalem. He is the author of numerous works of fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. His work has appeared in The New Yorker and has been translated into thirty languages around the world. He is the recipient of many prizes, including the French Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Buxtehuder Bulle in Germany, Rome’s Premio per la Pace e l’Azione Umitaria, the Premio Ischia— International Award for Journalism, Israel’s Emet Prize, and the Albatross Prize given by the Günter Grass Foundation.

(author photo and bio info courtesy of Amazon)

New Releases in May 2022

There are some wonderful new books being released next month. For me, May feels like the beginning of summer and an opportunity to be outdoors, with or without a good book. 

Here are my favourite ten books being published during May.

Dreaming of Flight by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Never knowing his parents, eleven-year-old Stewie Little and his brother have been raised on a farm by their older sister. Stewie steadfastly tends the chickens left by his beloved late grandmother. And every day Stewie goes door to door selling fresh eggs from his wagon―a routine with a surprise just around the corner. It’s his new customer, Marilyn. She’s prickly and guarded, yet comfortably familiar―she reminds the grieving Stewie so much of the grandmother he misses more than he can express.

Marilyn has a reason for keeping her distance: a secret no one knows about. Her survival tactic is to draw a line between herself and other people―one that Stewie is determined to cross. As their visits become more frequent, a complicated but deeply rooted relationship grows. That’s when Stewie discovers how much more there is to Marilyn, to her past, and to challenges that become more pressing each day. But whatever difficult times lie ahead, Stewie learns that although he can’t fix everything for Marilyn or himself, at least he’s no longer alone.

Happy Happy Happy by Nicola Masters

It’s been more than a decade since Charlie Trewin left her sleepy Cornish fishing village for the dazzling lights of London, vowing never to return. But when shocking news of her father’s death forces her back to Carncarrow, she’s confronted with everything she thought she’d left behind: the tragic loss of her mother, her father’s obsessive hoarding—and her own unresolved emotions about them both.

At first Carncarrow seems like the same stuck-in-the-past, dead-end village Charlie escaped years ago. Nothing like London, where she’s built a wonderful new life: solid job, loving fiancé, and endless, boundless happiness. But as she sorts through her father’s stockpiled mementoes, she begins to rediscover the place she once called home—and realises that her life in London may not be as happy, happy, happy as she keeps telling herself.

When her fiancé unexpectedly shows up in Carncarrow, her two complicated worlds collide. With the past and the present competing for her attention, can Charlie finally make her peace with her memories? And can she find a way to be truly happy on her own terms?

A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin

The season is about to begin – and there’s not a minute to lose…

Kitty Talbot needs a fortune.Or rather, she needs a husband who has a fortune. This is 1818 after all, and only men have the privilege of seeking their own riches.

With just twelve weeks until Kitty and her sisters are made homeless, launching herself into London society is the only avenue open to her. And Kitty must use every ounce of cunning and ingenuity she possesses to climb the ranks.

The only one to see through her plans is the worldly Lord Radcliffe and he is determined to thwart her at any cost. Can Kitty secure a fortune and save her sisters from poverty? There is not a day to lose and no one – not even a lord – will stand in her way…

Elizabeth I's Final Years by Robert Stedall

Elizabeth I's Final Years outlines the interwoven relationships and rivalries between politicians and courtiers surrounding England’s omnipotent queen in the years following the death in 1588 of the Earl of Leicester. Elizabeth now surrounded herself with magnetically attractive younger men with the courtly graces to provide her with what Alison Weir has called ‘an eroticised political relationship’. With these ‘favourites’ holding sway at court, they saw personal bravery in the tiltyard or on military exploits as their means to political authority. They failed to appreciate that the parsimonious queen would always resist military aggression and resolutely backed her meticulously cautious advisors, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and later his son Robert. With its access to New World treasure, it was Spain who threatened the fragile balance of power in Continental Europe. With English military intervention becoming inevitable, the Cecils diverted the likes of Walter Raleigh and the Earl of Essex, despite their lack of military experience, away from the limelight at court into colonial and military expeditions, leaving them just short of the resources needed for success. The favourites’ promotions caused friction when seasoned soldiers, like Sir Francis Vere with his unparalleled military record in the Low Countries, were left in subordinate roles. When Spanish support for rebellion in Ireland threatened English security, Robert Cecil encouraged Elizabeth to send Essex, knowing that high command was beyond his capabilities. Essex retorted by rebelling against Cecil’s government, for which he lost his head. Both Elizabeth and Cecil realised that only the bookish Lord Mountjoy, another favourite, had the military acumen to resolve the Irish crisis, but his mistress, Essex’s sister, the incomparable Penelope Rich, was mired by involvement in her brother’s conspiracy. Despite this, Cecil gave Mountjoy unstinting support, biding his time to tarnish his name with James I, as he did against Raleigh and his other political foes.

The Island of Forgetting by Jasmine Sealy

In this compelling debut, an unknowable legacy passes through generations of one family living on the beautiful island of Barbados.

There is Iapetus, a lonely soul haunted by the memory of his father; his son Atlas, dreaming of a life far removed from his reality; Atlas’s daughter Calypso, struggling to find her place in an unforgiving society; and her son Nautilus, grappling with various parts of a complex identity.

Each of them longs to escape – to go beyond the borders and circumstances that have contained them for so long – but each finds that they are trapped by a history found only in whispers and half-remembered fragments; and that it is dictating a future over which they have little control.

With every passing decade another generation must contend with the same doubts about their identity, about their place in the small world they have carved out for themselves and the same question: how can the things we don’t know define our futures?

Perfect for fans of Girl, Woman, Other and Homegoing, The Island of Forgetting is a powerful story of family and hope, and marks the arrival of a stunning new voice in literary fiction.

A Stitch in Time in Applewell by Lilac Mills

Gracie rescues old clothes and cast offs from Applewell's charity shop, making them into cute and fresh outfits, which she then sells in her little shop. Turning a profit is hard at the best of times, let alone when new arrival Lucas appears...

After running away from the village in his teens, Lucas has finally returned to an uncomfortable amount of fanfare and gossip. His job requires him to streamline homeless charity, UnderCover, and his plans to do so risk putting Gracie out of business.

The pair of them exchange harsh words but when Lucas' niece cuts up his sister's wedding dress, there's only one person he can think to turn to. Along with repairing the dress, will Gracie patch up her relationship with Lucas? Or is that a stitch too far?

One Moonlit Night by Rachel Hore

Forced to leave their family home in London after it is bombed, Maddie and her two young daughters take refuge at Knyghton, the beautiful country house in Norfolk where Maddie’s husband Philip spent the summers of his childhood.

But Philip is gone, believed to have been killed in action in northern France. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Maddie refuses to give up hope that she and Philip will some day be reunited.

 

Arriving at Knyghton, Maddie feels closer to her missing husband, but she soon realises that there’s a reason Philip has never spoken to her about his past. Something happened at Knyghton one summer years before. Something that involved Philip, his cousin Lyle and a mysterious young woman named Flora.

 

Maddie’s curiosity turns to desperation as she tries to discover the truth, but no one will speak about what happened all those years ago, and no one will reassure her that Philip will ever return to Knyghton.

The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani

Domenica Cabrelli had two great loves of her life.The first, her childhood sweetheart: a boy from the same small, sun-drenched Italian town of Viareggio. A romance born out of yearning and shared history; over before it really had a chance to begin.

Then, on an idyllic French coastline in the shadow of war, Domenica's second great love affair, which would go on to define her - a mysterious captain, with a future on the front line.

Many decades later, only her daughter, Matelda, knows the true story of these two men's lives, and the secret that connects them. And, as the end of her life nears, Matelda realises that some truths are too great to be lost.

But as she works against the clock with her own daughter to unpack their family's legacy, more questions arise than answers.

What was the real story of her mother's wartime years? What kept her away from Italy for so long, after the fighting had ended? And what, ultimately, brought her home again? . . .

London, with Love by Sarra Manning

London. Nine million people. Two hundred and seventy tube stations. Every day, thousands of chance encounters, first dates, goodbyes and happy ever afters.

And for twenty years it's been where one man and one woman can never get their timing right.

Jennifer and Nick meet as teenagers and over the next two decades, they fall in and out of love with each other. Sometimes they start kissing. Sometimes they're just friends. Sometimes they stop speaking, but they always find their way back to each other.

But after all this time, are they destined to be together or have they finally reached the end of the line?

I read Sara's novel, After the Last Dance, a while ago and you can read my review of it by clicking here.

When We Let Go by Rochelle B. Weinstein

When Avery Beckett is proposed to by Jude Masters, a widowed father and the man she loves, it should be a time of great joy. Instead, Avery is on edge. She’s wary of the idea of family, doubtful of happy endings, and too afraid to take the leap. It’s the kind of fear that comes from having secrets.

Before Avery commits to a new life, she must reconcile with the one she left behind.

When Avery returns to her childhood farm in the North Carolina mountains, she’s surprised to be saddled with a companion: Jude’s teenage daughter, Elle, who’s grappling with the loss of her mother and the complicated emotions of first love. On a path of mending wounds and breaking down walls, Avery and Elle form an unexpected alliance. It’s giving them the courage to move forward. And for Avery, everything she needs to confront the past.

An emotional tale of mothers and daughters, loss and acceptance, When We Let Go is about the lessons that come from heartbreak and the healing it takes to embrace the joy of a second chance.

Desert Island Books with Author, Genevieve Jenner

 

Hello and welcome back to Desert Island Books on the blog. It is my absolute pleasure to have Genevieve Jenner joining us this month.

You may remember that I reviewed Genevieve's book of short stories last month. If you would like to read my review of this lovely anthology, Chocolate Cake for Imaginary Lives, you can do so by clicking here. It's a fabulously quirky collection which foodies will enjoy. This is her debut publication, and she is one to watch.

Q   How do you think you would cope on a desert island, Genevieve?

If I am to be on an island through extraordinary circumstances, I would try and make the best of things. But I am sure of a few things. I would be able to eat and I would have a tantrum or breakdown at least once a week about the whole situation. It would be made easier by having some friends about. Even if they reside on the pages of these books. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I was given this book by my Grandma when I was 12 and it was the first book I had read that captured so many things that felt familiar to my own place in the world. Francie may have existed a century prior to me, but we were both the oldest girl in Catholic families with a charming but disappointing father, and a hard-working mother. To see before me the familiar constant battle to hold tight to one’s dignity amid poverty was revolutionary. The rituals in a poor house-hold to find pleasure, and how books and literacy are a significant path to interior freedom made me feel more at ease in a world that often felt lonely. The vivid descriptions of ordinary life remain something I aspire to in my own writing. 

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

Not only does it have one of the best opening lines for a novel, even the last few lines of the book are beautiful. It is such a love letter to England (as the author was in America during the war at the time she wrote it) that Smith so dearly missed. England is my adopted home, and I understand so well the visceral love one can have for the countryside. It is a magical romantic book where people don’t always get what they want, nor do they understand what they desire. It is a book that shows how denial of our feelings can only go so far before the truth will light everything on fire. 

Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis

Provocative, mischievous, sophisticated, sharp in its view around bigots and snobs, and so terribly funny. It was written in the very conservative 1950s, and proved to be a hit, because I suspect we all desire chaos and reinvention. Dennis doesn’t allow anyone to be perfect or pure, for everyone has their prejudices but the important thing is Mame is interested in other people and taking up new and fascinating things. American curiosity is a gift, even if it can get a person into trouble now and then. This has been one of my favourites since I was eight years old (our bookshelves were very free growing up) and it taught me how to get up every single day, and make every moment yours. One needs that on a desert island. 

Mariana by Monica Dickens

I fell in love with this book immediately. The most English book with the most ordinary main character. She isn’t perfect. She isn’t beautiful. She isn’t terribly talented at anything. At times she is truly bad at things she tries her hands at, but she is still interesting and has opinions. You watch as she grows up and begins to know pieces of herself better and better. This is a book many girls should read because it provides the perfect example of someone realising that someone isn’t right for them and being brave enough to say, “No thank you.” Just because someone is dazzling, charismatic, or available, doesn’t mean they are the one to love. 

Anybody Can Do Anything by Betty MacDonald

When I miss the Pacific Northwest, where I grew up, I read this book. It reminds me of places that stay deep within my heart, and of my family. This series of essays about life in Seattle during the Great Depression, shows so much heart. A million different jobs, no money, questionable dates, a lot of creativity, and the constant worry could be subdued a bit by having such an entertaining extended family. This book taught me a lot about telling stories. 

The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker

Can a book help to raise you? This certainly did. Parker’s poems were acuminous regarding fragile hearts that broke so easily but making sure no one saw how much it hurt. Always be clever because love is painful. Her short stories are filled with tension of the most domestic nature and disenchantment that appears and disappears like a rabbit in a hat with people’s magical thinking. Everyone remembers how clever and witty she was (especially in her reviews), but there was so much tenderness and vulnerability in her work. 

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

If one is going to be on a desert island for a while, one should have someone who knows what it is to be somewhere for a very long time and have unusual adventures. Orlando sees many ages, and finds themselves with different identities across the centuries, but some things remain constant:  poetry, an instinctive tie to home, and an awareness of oneself. This book allows for the impossible to do more than exist. It flourishes.

The Oxford Book of English Verse - Ed. by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Crouch

I suppose I must let the men say a few things (there are a few women poets in this collection but they are like comets). I love poetry. My heart has been awakened and turned upside down by poets. When I need a bit of different scenery I will turn to this great gift of many voices across the centuries. I will let a few romance me when I feel lonely, and maybe let them go to bed with me. The rest must amuse me, or inspire meditation. When I feel low, I can find a few lines to make me find hope once again. 

Thank you so much, Genevieve, for telling us about the eight books that you would take to a desert island. There are some very interesting titles there.

If you are an author and would be interested in taking part, then please get in touch by emailing me at leftontheshelf1@gmail.com.

The Witches by Brenda Lozano - #BookReview

 

It was six at night when Guadalupe came to tell me they had killed Paloma. I don't remember times or dates, I don't know when I was born because I was born like the mountain was, go ask the mountain when it was born, but I know it was six at night when Guadalupe came to say they killed Paloma as she was getting ready to go out, it was six at night when I saw her there in her room, when I saw her body on the floor and the shine for her eyes on her fingers and I saw her hands they were two in the mirror and the shine was on both like she had just put it on her eyes, like she could get up to put some on mine.

***

This is the story of who Feliciana is, and of who Paloma was.

I had wanted to get to know them, but I realised right away that the people I needed to know better were my sister Leandra and my mother. Myself. I came to understand that you can't really know another woman until you know yourself...

Weaving together two parallel narratives, Witches tells the story of Feliciana, an indigenous curandera or healer, and Zoe, a journalist: two women who meet through the murder of Feliciana's cousin Paloma.

In the tiny village of San Felipe in Jalisco province, where traditional ways and traditional beliefs are a present reality, Feliciana tells the story of her life, her community's acceptance of her as a genuine curandera and the difficult choices faced by her joyful and spirited cousin Paloma who is both a healer and a Muxe - a trans woman.

Growing up in Mexico City, Zoe attempts to find her way in a society straitjacketed by its hostile macho culture. But it is Feliciana's and Paloma's stories that draw her own story out of her, taking her on a journey to understanding her place in the world and the power of her voice.

This captivating novel of two Mexicos envisions the writer as a healer and offers a generous and distinctly female way of understanding the complex world we all inhabit.

***

This is a very special book. It was a captivating novel to read, illustrating the complexity of the world in which women live.

It is a dual narrative, alternating between the voices of Feliciana and Zoe. The voices are distinct and the narrative moves seamlessly between the two characters.

Set in a small Mexican village, where being a healer is passed down through the male line, Feliciana learns her art from her cousin, Paloma, who was born a male but becomes a female. The author skilfully tackles the blurring of the genders, presenting the male character of Gasper, who later becomes the female Paloma.

It is not a spoiler to tell you that Paloma is murdered, and this is what brings Zoe, a journalist, to Feliciana's door, to investigate and report on the murder. However, meeting Feliciana leads Zoe to consider her own life and her relationship with her sister.

Overall, the book is about the relationships that women have with one another; Feliciana and Paloma, and also Zoe and her sister, Leandra.

Translated from Spanish by Heather Cleary, the book is original and like no other that I can recall reading. I adored the lyricism of the prose and recommend this unusual novel.

ISBN: 978 1529412277

Publisher: MacLehose Press

Format: Hardback and e-book

No. of pages: 272 (hardback)

About the Author:

Brenda Lozano is a fiction writer, essayist and editor. Born in Mexico City, she studied literature in Mexico and the United States. She has participated in literary residencies in the US, Europe and Latin America, and her work has appeared in several anthologies, including Mexico20 and Bogotá39. She edits the literary journal Make in Chicago and is part of Ugly Duckling Presse in New York. She is the author of two earlier novels, Todo nada (2009), which is currently being adapted for the screen, and Cuaderno Ideal (2015), recently published by Charco Press in an English translation by Annie McDermott as Loop, and a book of short stories, Cómo piensan las piedras (2017). In 2015, she was recognised by Conaculta, the Hay Festival and the British Council as one of the most important authors under forty years of age from Mexico, and in 2017 she was selected by the Hay Festival for Bogotá 39, a list of the most outstanding new authors from Latin America. She currently lives in Mexico City.

(author bio & photo courtesy of Hachette Publishing)

(ARC courtesy of the publisher)

The Village Feasts by Izzy Abrahmson - #BookReview

 

Welcome to Chelm! Welcome to the village of fools. Eighty households and farms, a few dirt roads, more chickens than people, and a wealth of love, lore, misadventures and often silliness.

You may wonder, where exactly is Chelm? It's not that no one knows, it's just hard to explain. On the edge of the Black Forest, somewhere between Russia and Poland, and occasionally Germany. If you travel through Smyrna chances are good you'll get lost, and maybe end up in the village of Chelm.

There, you will rub elbows with Reb Stein the baker, the Gold family, Doodle the orphan, Rabbi Kibbitz and Mrs. Chaipul, and of course, the Schlemiels...

***

Ten tasty Passover tales adults and children of all ages will enjoy again and again. Delightful and amusing. Who’s knocking at the door? What is cabbage matzah? Where was Rabbi Kibbitz? Why are they always arguing? When will we eat? And how will Mrs. Chaipul save The Village?

***

In this lighthearted and humorous selection of stories lies some real gems of Jewish folklore. They are all based around the Passover festival and would be wonderful and timely to share during the week of pesach.

My favourite story of the ten was Chiri Bim / Chiri Bom. I laughed all the way through this particular story, and I think both adults and children alike would enjoy it. 

The remaining nine stories are similarly laced with cultural humour with multiple references to food, language and tradition. There is a useful glossary at the back of the book for readers who are unfamiliar with some of the terminology surrounding the festival.

Although the stories are based around the Jewish festival of Passover, these stories would appeal to everyone for their funny fairy tale quality.

ISBN: 978 1940060453

Publisher: Light Publications

Format: paperback and e-book

No. of pages: 104 (paperback)

(book courtesy of NetGalley)

About the Author:

Izzy Abrahmson is an old soul with modern sensibilities. His stories of The Village Life have been published in books, newspapers and magazines around the world.

Although shy by nature, Izzy loves to tell stories and play improvised klezmer harmonica.

His performances of tales  have been enjoyed by adults, children and families of all ages at festivals and celebrations in the United States, Ireland, England, The Netherlands, Austria and France. 

Izzy Abrahmson is also a pen name for author and storyteller Mark Binder, who  lives in Providence and tours the world… virtually and in-person.

(photo and bio info from the author's website?)

Research by Philip Kerr - #TuesdayTeaser

Hello and welcome to this week's Tuesday Teaser. The place where we take a sneaky peek at a book that has caught my eye.

This week we are looking at Research by Philip Kerr.

Philip is a renowned author, having published 14 books in his Bernie Gunther series, and three titles in his Scot Manson series. Research is a stand alone novel which I am looking forward to reading.

He has also published a series of children's novels, The Children of the Lamp, under the name P.B. Kerr.

Sadly, Philip passed away in 2018 at the age of 62, leaving a considerable body of work. He is a real loss to literature.

The Blurb

If you want to write a murder mystery, you have to do some research... or pay someone else to do it for you.

In a luxury flat in Monaco, John Houston's supermodel wife lies in bed, a bullet in her skull.

Houston is the world's most successful thriller writer, the playboy head of a literary empire that produces far more books than he could ever actually write. Now the man who has invented hundreds of bestselling killings is wanted for a real murder and on the run from the police, his life transformed into something out of one of his books.

And in London, the ghostwriter who is really behind those books has some questions for him too...

In the Beginning...

Part One - Don Irvine's Story

It was the American novelist William Faulkner who once said that in writing you must kill all your darlings; it was Mike Munns - another writer but, like me, not half as good as Faulkner - who made a joke out of this quote when he telephoned my flat in Putney early that Tuesday morning.

"It's me, Mike. I've heard of kill your darlings but this is ridiculous."

"Mike. What the hell? It's not even eight o'clock."

"Don, listen, switch on Sky News and then call me at home. John's only gone and killed Orla. Not to mention both of her pet dogs."

I don't watch much television any more than I read much Faulkner but I got out of bed and went into the kitchen, made a pot of tea, switched on the telly, and after a few seconds was reading a rolling strip of news across the bottom of the screen: 

BESTSELLING NOVELIST JOHN HOUSTON'S WIFE FOUND MURDERED AT THEIR LUXURY APARTMENT IN MONACO. 

About ten minutes later the twinkly-eyed Irish news anchor was announcing the bare facts of the story before asking a local reporter positioned outside the distinctive glass fan entrance way to the Tour Odeon, "What more can you tell us about this, Riva?"

Riva, a fit-looking blonde wearing a black pencil skirt and a beige pussy-cat-bow blouse, explained what was known...

Well, that was an exciting beginning. Has it made you want to read on?

A Train to Moscow by Elena Gorokhova - #BookReview

 

She immediately knows something is wrong. The door to Marik's house is ajar, and there is a black car blocking the street just a few meters away. Not really a car - there aren't many cars in Ivanovo. It looks more like a wagon that plucks drunks off the sidewalks on holidays and deposits them at the sobering station in the towns centre.

Who is this wagon waiting for? Not for her friend Marik, for sure. Marik is seven, like Sasha, and no driver would waste time plowing through snow all the way to the edge of Ivanovo to stand by while a first grader pulls on his itchy uniform and tosses his books into a schoolbag.

***

In post–World War II Russia, a girl must reconcile a tragic past with her hope for the future in this powerful and poignant novel about family secrets, passion and loss, perseverance and ambition.

In a small, provincial town behind the Iron Curtain, Sasha lives in a house full of secrets, one of which is her own dream of becoming an actress. When she leaves for Moscow to audition for drama school, she defies her mother and grandparents and abandons her first love, Andrei.

Before she leaves, Sasha discovers the hidden war journal of her uncle Kolya, an artist still missing in action years after the war has ended. His pages expose the official lies and the forbidden truth of Stalin’s brutality. Kolya’s revelations and his tragic love story guide Sasha through drama school and cement her determination to live a thousand lives onstage. After graduation, she begins acting in Leningrad, where Andrei, now a Communist Party apparatchik, becomes a censor of her work. As a past secret comes to light, Sasha’s ambitions converge with Andrei’s duties, and Sasha must decide if her dreams are truly worth the necessary sacrifice and if, as her grandmother likes to say, all will indeed be well.

***

This is Ms Korokhova's first foray into fiction and she has made a excellent job of it. She has previously written two non-fiction books, A Mountain of Crumbs and Russian Tattoo, about her own life in Russia.

The main character, Sasha, leaves her village which is still reeling from it's past, to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. This is in opposition to the opinion of her mother and grandfather, who expect her to pursue a more useful role in Soviet society. 

However, what the author skilfully does, through Sasha's rebellion, is to use theatre as a metaphor for that which was happening in post war Russia. It was an interesting book to read during the current situation involving Russia and Ukraine. I am not making any political point here as I do not think this is the place for it, but it was interesting to see how Russia was reacting during it's post war period.

What the reader quickly realises is that Sasha is not only leaving behind her family and village, but family secrets that neither she, nor the reader can fathom at this point. She takes with her diaries which were written by her uncle who went missing during the war. The diaries were subsequently hidden away until being discovered by Sasha. We can read the diary entries alongside Sasha, and understand what life was like during Stalin's regime. 

This book has been intelligently created by an author who is insightful and astute. I think it will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction. I would love to hear you thoughts on this book.

ISBN: 978 1542033879

Publisher: Lake Union

Formats: Hardback, audio and e-book

No. of Pages: 316 (hardback)

About the Author:

Elena Gorokhova grew up in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, in a courtyard that became a more accurate emblem for the Soviet life than the ubiquitous hammer and sickle: a crumbling façade with locked doors and stinking garbage bins behind them.  Like everyone else, when she was nine, Elena joined the Young Pioneers and had a red kerchief tied around her neck.  A tiny cell in the body of a Leningrad school collective, she promised to live, study, and work as the great Lenin bequeathed every citizen to do.

But she harboured a passion that grew into an un-Soviet failing: at age ten she was seduced by the beauty of the English language and spent the next eight years deciphering its secrets at Leningrad English school # 238, to her mother’s bewilderment.  Her mother – born three years before the Soviet state – became a mirror image of her Motherland: overbearing, protective, difficult to leave.  A front-line surgeon during WWII, she wanted her daughter to be a doctor and a builder of communism, but Elena, in her mother’s words, was “stubborn as a goat.”  What followed was the English Department of Leningrad University, a marriage to a visiting American student, and a scandal, both public and private.  After six months of official hurdles and family turmoil, Elena left for America, a ravaged suitcase on the KGB inspector’s table with twenty kilograms of what used to be her life.  What followed was unknown, and frightening, and filled with mystery.

In the United States, Elena received  a Doctorate in Language Education and has taught English as a Second Language, Linguistics and Russian at various colleges and universities. She has also written three books. She is married and has a daughter, who is beautiful, talented and smart. And stubborn as a goat.

(photo courtesy of Goodreads/bio info courtesy of the authors website/ARC courtesy of NetGalley)

Faithful by Alice Hoffman - #BookReview

 

In February when the snow comes down hard, little globes of light are left along route 110, on the side of the road that slopes off when a driver least expects it. The lights are candles set inside paper bags, surrounded by sand, and they burn past midnight. They shouldn't last for that amount of time, but that's part of the miracle. On the second anniversary of the accident, a gang of boys creep out their windows and gather at two in the morning to see if Helen's mother, Diana Boyd, drives along the road replacing each melting pool of wax with a fresh candle. They're hoping to reveal a con in process and dispel the myth of a miracle, but after keeping watch for a while the boys all flee. In the early morning hours, safe in their beds, they wonder how much of the world can never be understood or explained.

***

Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl growing up on Long Island until one night a terrible road accident brings her life to a halt. While her best friend Helene suffers life-changing injuries, Shelby becomes overwhelmed with guilt and is suddenly unable to see the possibility of a future she’d once taken for granted.

But as time passes, and Helene becomes an almost otherworldly figure within the town, seen by its inhabitants as a source of healing, Shelby finds herself attended to by her own guardian angel. A mysterious figure she half-glimpsed the night of the car crash, he now sends Shelby brief but beautiful messages imploring her to take charge of her life once more . . .

What happens when a life is turned inside out? When you lose all hope and sense of worth? Shelby, a fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookshops, and men she should stay away from, captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding oneself at last. From the bestselling author of The Dovekeepers comes this spellbinding, poignant and life-affirming story of one woman’s journey towards happiness – and the power of love, family and fate.

***

It is not often I award a book with a five star review on my Good Reads page, and this is the first time I have done so this year. It wholeheartedly deserved it and is the best book that I have read in quite a while, and it earned it's five bright and shiny stars.

The main character, Shelby, is a multi-faceted and complex figure. We glimpse her life through flashbacks to a time when she had her whole life ahead of her before the car accident. Survival came at a huge cost for her and she sets out on a journey of self destruction and punishment. Never have I so empathised with a character and felt her pain. I rooted her on from the very beginning and it was sometimes difficult to witness her pain.

My heart went out not only to Shelby but to her mother also. I can only imagine what it must have been like to watch your child on the journey of self-destruction that Shelby was on. It demonstrates the authors skill in that she is able to elicit such a response from her reader regarding a minor character.

I sincerely hope that I have not made this sound a dark and depressing book because it is so much more. Whilst it does deal with the topics of grief and self-loathing, it is ultimately a story of hope, love and self-acceptance.

I borrowed this book from the library but I think I will be purchasing a copy. I am certain that I will want to re-read this at some point. Not only to re-visit Shelby's story but to be enveloped within the great storytelling skill that Ms Hoffman has in abundance.

About the Author:

Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic, The World That We Knew, The Rules of Magic, The Marriage of Opposites, Practical Magic, The Book of Magic, The Red Garden, the Oprah’s Book Club selection Here on Earth, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, and The Dovekeepers. 

She was born in New York City on March 16, 1952, and grew up on Long Island. She now lives near Boston.

(author photo and bio info from the author's own website:  https://alicehoffman.com/about/)

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay - #BookReview

 

In 2010, after six years of training and a further six years on the wards, I resigned from my job as a junior doctor. My parents still haven't forgiven me.

Last year, the General Medical Council wrote to me to say they were taking my name off the medical register. It wasn't exactly a huge shock, as I hadn't practised medicine in half a decade, but I found it a big deal on an emotional level to permanently close this chapter of my life.

It was, however, excellent news for my spare room, as I cleared out box after box of old paperwork, shredding files faster than Jimmy Carr's accountant.

***

Welcome to the life of a junior doctor: 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids, and the hospital parking meter earns more than you.

Scribbled in secret after endless days, sleepless nights and missed weekends, Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt provides a no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line. Hilarious, horrifying and heartbreaking, this diary is everything you wanted to know – and more than a few things you didn't – about life on and off the hospital ward.

***

I am a bit late to the party with this book as it was published in 2017. However, whilst recently watching the television adaptation with my husband, he mentioned that he did not remember the book being as depressing as it was being depicted. So, having rummaged through his book shelves (he has no alphabetical or other organisational system to his shelves tut, tut) I successfully retrieved his copy and set about reading it.

He was correct. The book is written with more humour, whilst at the same time portraying difficult situations, attributing many of the problems with the NHS to management and senior levels. It is clear that the author understood that the shortcomings do not lie with the nurses and doctors, who work extremely hard, but with the management who are focused on targets and statistics.

In contrast to the television series, the book portrays Kay's years of practising medicine across several different hospitals. Consequently, he met a number of medical staff during this time. The series placed him in one hospital, and I suspect the cast members were a composite of different medical practitioners he encountered across his years in medicine.

I am glad that I read the book which was published prior to the covid pandemic when, as a nation, we witnessed how dedicated NHS staff really are. Kay is a considerable loss to medicine.

ISBN: 978 1509858637

Publisher: Picador

Formats: paperback, e-book and audio

No. of Pages: 304

About the Author:

Adam Kay is an award-winning comedian and writer. He previously worked for many years as a junior doctor. His first book, This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, was a Sunday Times number one bestseller for over a year and has sold over two million copies. It has been translated into 37 languages and is winner of four National Book Awards, including Book of the Year, and is now a major new comedy drama for the BBC.

His second book, Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas, was an instant Sunday Times number one bestseller and sold over 500,000 copies in its first few weeks.

Dear NHS, edited by Adam Kay, was an instant Sunday Times number one with all profits donated to charity. His first children's book, Kay's Anatomy, was released in October 2020. 

(author photo & bio info courtesy of Good Reads)