Reading Roundup - July 2021

 

So here we are once more, at the tail end of another month. Sitting here and writing this, the sun is streaming through my office window. There has been lots of rain over the past few days and more is forecast. The sunshine never fails to make my spirit sing and today is no exception to that.

I have really enjoyed most of the books that I have read this month. They range in genres and include fiction and non-fiction titles.

I would love to hear about what you have read this month.

Books I have Read during July

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa - This was a very short book but really lovely. You can read my review here.

Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre - This was my book group choice this month and it was enjoyed by all of our members. You can read my review by clicking here.

Do the Birds Still Sing in Hell? by Horace Greasley - On the whole I enjoyed this memoir. My only reservation is that it was a little overly descriptive of his sexual exploits. 

The Aleppo Codex by Matti Friedman - Interesting but not amazing.

The Metal Heart by Caroline Lea - This was a lovely book which I heartily recommend. You can read my review by clicking here.

Mr Mani by A. B. Yehoshua - I really enjoyed this one too. It has a really interesting structure and this author is becoming one of my favourites. You can read my review by clicking here.

The Image of Her by Sonia Velton - This was my favourite book this month. You can read my review by clicking here.

Tell Me Your Secret by Dorothy Koomson - This was a good book but I did find the subject matter a little disturbing.

Books I Did Not Finish

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex - I read about 75 pages of this before I gave up. I can't quite put my finger on why it wasn't working for me.

Books I am Part Way Through

Journey to Munich by Jacqueline Winspear

(photo courtesy of Kimberley Farmer/Unsplash)

Mr Mani by A. B. Yehoshua - #BookReview - Translated from Hebrew by Hillel Halkin

 

" - But even if I disappeared, Mother, I didn't disappear for very long. You needn't have worried ...

_ But I did phone you, Mother, I most certainly did, on Wednesday evening from Jerusalem.

- Of course. I was still in Jerusalem Wednesday evening. Yesterday too.

- Yesterday too, Mother. And this morning too. But I left you a message.

- How could you not have got it?

- Oh, God, Mother, don't tell me that another message of mine got lost!

- How should I know... whoever picked up the phone...

- Some volunteer from Germany.

- But what could I have done, Mother! It's not my fault that no one in his right mind on the whole kibbutz will pick up the telephone in the dining hall after supper, because no one wants wants to have to go out in the cold and run around looking for whoever it's for."

Five conversations, each centring on the fate of a different member of the Sephardi Mani family, make up this profound, far-reaching and passionate Mediterranean novel which tells of six generations of the family, but in reverse chronology. In each conversation the responses of one person are absent, thus drawing in the reader as the story reaches back into the past, creating one of the most extraordinary reading experiences in modern literature.

On a kibbutz in the Negev in 1982, a student tells her mother about her strange meeting in Jerusalem with Judge Gavriel Mani, the father of her boyfriend whose child she is expecting.

On the occupied island of Crete in 1944, a German soldier relates to his adoptive grandmother his experiences there with the Mani family, whom he hunts down.

In Jerusalem, occupied by the British in 1918, a young Jewish lawyer serving with the British army briefs his commanding officer on the forthcoming trial for treason of the political agitator Yosef Mani.

In a village in southern Poland in 1899, a young doctor reports to his father his experiences at the Third Zionist Congress and his subsequent trip to Jerusalem with his sister, who falls in love with Dr Moshe Mani, an obstetrician.

In Athens, in 1848, Abraham Mani reports to his elderly mentor the intricate tale of his trip to Jerusalem and the death there of his young son.

***

Initially, the thought of reading a book full of one sided conversations was a little daunting.  Potentially, it could be akin to reading the script of a play but with only the lines for one of the actors. However, in the hands of the very talented author, it became an exceptionally intelligent and original device, employed to transport the reader right into the very heart of each of the stories. Indeed, the more I read the more I realised that reading the responses to the conversation was completely unnecessary. I felt as though I was a third person, in the room with them, simply listening and observing as the conversations unfolded. I could positively see and hear the responses of the silent partner.

I found the reverse chronology easy enough to keep up with, even though the generations are not consecutive. There are some gaps between the generations of the Mani family, but each section did indicate their geographical movements so that the reader was not left questioning how the various Mr. Mani's got from A to B. The conversations were also constructed in such a way that the reader could understand the political and social background of the times.

I believe this fascinating book will stay with me long after my completion of it. There is so much to think about; from its structure to its themes. In fact, it is the highly unusual format of the book which totally engaged me and leads me to feel I would like to read it again. I suspect this is a book whereby the reader would gain so much more for it's re-reading.

I have previously read and enjoyed, Mr. Yehoshua's novel, The Tunnel. You can read my review by clicking on the link here.. I am looking forward to reading more of his writing.

ISBN: 978 1870015776

Publisher: Halban

***

A. B. Yehoshua

Born in Jerusalem in 1936, A. B. Yehoshua is the author of eight novels and a collection of short stories. He is one of Israel's pre-eminent novelists, is widely translated and has won innumerable international prizes. In 2005, he was shortlisted for the first Man Booker International Prize.

He lives in Haifa where he taught comparative literature for many years.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths - #TuesdayTeaser - 27th July 2021

 Welcome to this week's Tuesday Teaser, where we have a little peek at the beginning of a book which has caught my eye. It won't necessarily be a new release as there are so many books which have already been published, and I have not had chance to read yet.

 This week, we are looking at The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths. Those of you who follow my blog regularly will know that I am a huge fan of Elly's. I have read all of the books in her Ruth Galloway series and am very excited that there is a new one due out next year.

The Stranger Diaries is the first in a series featuring Harbinder Kaur. 

I hope you will enjoy this taster of the book.

 

The Blurb

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to tales of murder. As a literature teacher specialising in the Gothic writer R.M. Holland, she teaches a short course on them every year. Then Clare's life and work collide tragically when one of her colleagues is found dead, a line from an R.M. Holland story by her body. The investigating police detective is convinced the writer's works somehow hold the key to the case.

Not knowing who to trust, and afraid that the killer is someone she knows, Clare confides her darkest suspicions and fears about the case to her journal. Then one day she notices some other writing in the diary. Writing that isn't hers...

Chapter 1 - Clare

'If you'll permit me,' said the stranger, 'I'd like to tell you a story. After all, it's a long journey and, by the look of those skies, we're not going to be leaving this carriage for some time. So, why not pass the hours with some storytelling? The perfect thing for a late October evening.

Are you quite comfortable there? Don't worry about Herbert. He won't hurt you. It's just this weather that makes him nervous. Now, where was I? What about some brandy to keep the chill out? You don't mind a hip flask, do you?

Well, this is a story that actually happened. Those are the best kind, don't you think? Better still, it happened to me when I was a young man. About your age.

I was a student at Cambridge. Studying Divinity, of course. There's no other subject, in my opinion, except possibly English Literature. We are such stuff as dreams are made on. I'd been there for almost a term. I was a shy boy from the country and I suppose I was lonely. I wasn't one of the swells, those young men in white bow ties who sauntered across the court as if they had letters patent from God. I kept myself to myself, went to lectures, wrote my essays and started up a friendship with another scholarship boy in my year, a timid soul called Gudgeon, of all things. I wrote home to my mother every week. I went to chapel. Yes, I believed in those days. I was even rather pious - "pi", we used to say. That was why I was surprised to be invited to join the Hell Club.'

ISBN: 978-1786487414

Publisher: Quercus

***

Has this whetted your appetite for this book? It has mine, and I can't wait to read it. Why don't you join me?

Top Ten New Book Releases - August 2021

There are some exciting new titles being released next month. Here are my Top Ten.

Sisterhood by V.B. Grey

Identical twin sisters Freya and Shona take very different paths, leading to long-buried family secrets that reverberate through the generations in this thrilling novel of psychological suspense by the author of Tell Me How It Ends. There are some choices you can't come back from.

It is 1944 in war-battered London. Freya and Shona are identical twins, close despite their different characters. Freya is a newly qualified doctor treating the injured in an East End hospital, while Shona has been recruited by the SOE. The sisters are so physically alike that they can fool people into thinking that one is the other. It's a game they've played since childhood. But when Shona persuades her twin to swap roles to meet her Polish lover, he is angered at being tricked.

Then Shona proposes a far more dangerous swapping of roles. At first Freya refuses but finally she agrees, with consequences that threaten not only the happiness but the lives of both sisters.

Forty-five years later in November 1989 Freya, now aged 69, is watching television with her daughter Kirsty. Freya is gripped as she witnesses crowds of Berliners attempting to knock down their hated Wall. This sight stirs memories of her own and her sister's war, especially the tragedy of the Warsaw Uprising - memories that she has never shared with anyone. Even if she wanted to reveal them now, she can't. She's suffering from a brain tumour and is unable to speak although her reason is unimpaired. And this is what she's thinking: if they succeed in knocking down the Wall, what secrets will come tumbling through? If her own were revealed, it would be devastating for all those close to her, especially her daughter, Kirsty. 

***

I'll Be Seeing You by Rosie Archer

A World War 2 saga to warm the heart. Three women become friends when working in their local picture house. When life is so tough for everyone, a trip to the pictures is the perfect way to escape, to dream of romance and hope for the good things peace will bring.

It is 1943 on England's war-weary south coast where the conflict seems never-ending. After the heartache of the previous year, Connie Baxter now appears to have everything a girl could want. There is Ace, a man who loves her. She enjoys an enviable lifestyle despite the deprivations of war. She has friends and a job she adores as an usherette at the Criterion cinema. But appearances can be deceptive and Connie is struggling in more ways than one.

Then, to compound Connie's problem, her nemesis, Cousin Marlene, returns home. Secrets come to light, revealing jealousies that could shatter Connie's world once more, and Connie realizes that Ace isn't the man she thought he was.

In the darkest days of war, the glamour of movies and their stars can lift the bleakest of moods, while friends make the good times better and the bad times bearable.

***

The Way Back Almanac 2022 by Melinda Salisbury

The Way Back Almanac is a modern spin on the traditional almanac, aimed at women who are looking for a way back to nature and to reawaken that sense of belonging in order to improve their own physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

The traditional almanac is a month-by-month prompt to the beautiful transformations of nature that offer a magical and poetic way to celebrate the year. The Way Back Almanac is a modern twist on the conventional almanac, an accessible and truly contemporary guide back to natural rhythms, designed for those who feel most removed from the old ways and cycles.

If you are concerned about the planet, climate emergency and sustainability, this interactive journal will help you discover a way of living more harmoniously with the planet, but without the necessity for a garden or to make major changes to your life. Both a practical companion to the year and a stunning piece of nature writing, it will show how even a busy modern life in a city can be infused with meaningful connections with the world we live in.

Beautifully illustrated throughout, each month includes sections on stargazing, gardening tips, seasonal vegan recipes, home organisation or crafting ideas, digital well-being practices, rituals, book club reads, folklore or ancient wisdom as told by modern women from different walks of life, and free space for your own writing, notes or recipes. This interactive and treasured item will gently encourage creativity, fulfilment and ultimately a way back to yourself.

***

History by Miles Jupp

Clive Hapgood is feeling stuck.

The private school he teaches at is consuming his life, no thanks to wretched headteacher Julian Crouch. The gentle country life Clive envisaged has stifled him and left his marriage on the brink. What he needs is a holiday - something to remind him and Helen what life used to be like. But when things don't go to plan, and an incident at school begins to weigh heavy on his head, Clive's life starts to unravel in front of him. Has he got it in him to turn things around, whatever the cost? After all, it's his own time he's wasting...

Wonderfully funny and often moving, this brilliant novel by star of The Durrells and Would I Lie To You? Miles Jupp is set to be the stand-out book of the summer.

***

Missing by Erin Kinsley

A MOTHER WALKS INTO THE SEA . . . AND NEVER COMES BACK. WHY?

One perfect summer day, mother of two Alice walks into the sea . . . and never comes back.

Her daughters - loyal but fragile Lily, and headstrong, long-absent Marietta - are forcibly reunited by her disappearance.

Meanwhile, with retirement looming, DI Fox investigates cold cases long since forgotten. And there's one obsession he won't let go: a tragic death twenty years before.

Can Lily and Marietta uncover what happened to their mother? Will Fox solve a mystery that has haunted him for decades? As their stories unexpectedly collide, long-buried secrets will change their lives in unimaginable ways.

***

The Miller's Daughter by Elizabeth Gill

When Mary's father, the miller, leaves his family and runs away with another woman, Mary and her siblings are left to weather the storm. But when their mother dies soon after, the children, alone and unwanted, are sent to the Foundling School for Girls to start a new life.

When the miller learns of his wife's death and what has happened to his children, he tracks them down and brings them to be a part of his new family, safe at last. But the miller is desperate for a son, and when Mary's newest sibling turns out to be a girl, he begins to court a vulnerable and lonely young woman called Isabel.

After Isabel gives birth to a boy, the miller believes that the son he has been waiting for is finally here. But when rumours abound that the miller may not be the father of Isabel's child, he begins to lose control. The miller will stop at nothing to keep his son.

Will Isabel escape with her child, or will the miller's wrath destroy everyone in his life, including his daughter...?

***

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

What is wrong with you?'

Laura has spent most of her life being judged. She's seen as hot-tempered, troubled, a loner. Some even call her dangerous.

Miriam knows that just because Laura is witnessed leaving the scene of a horrific murder with blood on her clothes, that doesn't mean she's a killer. Bitter experience has taught her how easy it is to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Carla is reeling from the brutal murder of her nephew. She trusts no one: good people are capable of terrible deeds. But how far will she go to find peace?

Innocent or guilty, everyone is damaged. Some are damaged enough to kill.

Look what you started.

***

The Beloved Girls by Harriet Evans

'It's a funny old house. They have this ceremony every summer . . . There's an old chapel, in the grounds of the house. Half-derelict. The Hunters keep bees in there. Every year, on the same day, the family processes to the chapel. They open the combs, taste the honey. Take it back to the house. Half for them -' my father winced, as though he had bitten down on a sore tooth. 'And half for us.'

Catherine, a successful barrister, vanishes from a train station on the eve of her anniversary. Is it because she saw a figure - someone she believed long dead? Or was it a shadow cast by her troubled, fractured mind?

The answer lies buried in the past. It lies in the events of the hot, seismic summer of 1989, at Vanes - a mysterious West Country manor house - where a young girl, Jane Lestrange, arrives to stay with the gilded, grand Hunter family, and where a devastating tragedy will unfold. Over the summer, as an ancient family ritual looms closer, Janey falls for each member of the family in turn. She and Kitty, the eldest daughter of the house, will forge a bond that decades later, is still shaping the present . . .

'We need the bees to survive, and they need us to survive. Once you understand that, you understand the history of Vanes, you understand our family.'

***

The Infernal Riddle of Thomas Peach by Jas Treadwell

WHO IS THOMAS PEACH?

Ah, reader! - if you would have us answer THAT question - What mysteries you shall compel us to expose!

It is the year 1785, and a gentleman of modest means has left London for the countryside, to look after his ailing wife.

Among his new neighbours, tongues begin to wag. Why does he keep a locked chest under the stairs? Is it really full of forbidden books? And what exactly is the matter with his wife?

For the most part, though, the couple live in peace -- until a letter arrives, threatening to cut off their livelihood and expel them from their home.

Faced with the prospect of penury -- and perhaps worse -- the gentleman rides out in search of some means to save himself.

But fate has other plans for Thomas Peach.

A bizarre request brings an encounter with a mysterious young woman, raised from infancy as a rich man's ward, now condemned to the madhouse. As their paths become disturbingly entangled, Mr Peach begins to suspect that in her past lies a dreadful secret . . .

Dreadful indeed! - Yet however fearful the poor child's history - can her secret be darker, than HIS OWN?

***

Cut Out by Michele Roberts

A lyrical tale of family secrets and self-discovery.

Denis knows his mother kept things from him.

His godmother, Clemence, knows the truth.

In rich, sensuous prose, Roberts interweaves Denis's search for answers with Clemence's memories of the time she spent working for Matisse.

The Image of Her by Sonia Velton - #BookReview

 

"Your name is Connie James.

I know this from the letter in front of me. The knowledge of you was folded neatly into a plain white envelope and addressed to me in a measured, precise hand. It looked so ordinary that anything could have been inside. Had I known it was about you, I might not have opened it. It would have been left untouched, propped up on the mantelpiece, like a wartime telegram, while I sat beside it, quietly weighing up the knowing and the not knowing.

Although I didn't know your name, there were three things I did know about you. One, that you are about the same age as me. Two, that you are a woman. Three, that almost exactly a year ago something happened to you that was every bit as devastating as what happened to me."

Stella and Connie are strangers, brought together by two traumatic events - cruel twists of fate that happen thousands of miles apart.

Stella lives with her mother, a smothering narcissist. When she succumbs to dementia, the pressures on Stella's world intensify, culminating in tragedy. As Stella recovers from a near fatal accident, she feels compelled to share her trauma but she finds talking difficult. In her head she confides in Connie because there's no human being in the world that she feels closer to.

Connie is an expat living in Dubai with her partner, Mark, and their two children. On the face of it she wants for nothing and yet ... something about life in this glittering city does not sit well with her. Used to working full time in a career she loves back in England, she struggles to find meaning in the expat life of play-dates and pedicures.

Two women set on a collision course. When they finally link up, it will not be in a way that you, or I, or anyone would ever have expected.

***

We all know the adage concerning the judgement of a book by it's cover. In this case, an exception must be made as the cover design is gorgeous. It instantly caused me want to pick it up and caress it softly in the hope that the words within its pages would be equally enchanting.

I was not to be disappointed. Original, compelling and convincing are the three words that spring instantly to my mind as I sit reviewing this book.

That there is a connection between the two main characters, Stella and Connie is presented right at the beginning. Initially, this bond between two such disparate women appears unfathomable but little by little is illuminated by the author. Approximately two-thirds of the way through I began to suspect the reason but in no way did that lessen the impact of the reveal when it eventually arrived.

Both Stella and Connie are superbly depicted and contained all the required layers to create characters that are easy to relate to. The chapters alternate between the two women, with Stella's being in the first person narrative. It is this that enables the reader to really connect with them. Even though we do not understand the underlying reason for their lives to ultimately collide, their portrayal leads the reader to question this continually throughout the novel.

The descriptions of the heat in Dubai were visceral and all the more significant when accompanied by descriptions of English weather. This also set up the illustration of the difference between the lives of Stella and Connie and was employed to great effect.

This is a sophisticated and compassionate novel which has been written with sensitivity and intelligence. It addresses some complex themes; self-worth, motherhood and identity, and as such is thought-provoking.

I love it when I come across an author that I have never read before and who writes as well as Ms Velton has in this book. She has previously published Blackberry & Wild Rose which has now shot to the top of my reading list.

ISBN: 978 52941 7364

Publisher: Quercus

About the Author:

Sonia Velton grew up between the Bahamas and the UK. After graduating from university with a first class law degree, she qualified as a solicitor at an international law firm, later going on to specialise in discrimination law. Sonia relocated to the Middle East in 2006. Eight years and three children later she returned to the UK and now lives in Kent. 

Blackberry & Wild Rose, inspired by real characters and historical events, was Sonia's first novel. The Image of Her is her second.

Sonia lives near Tunbridge Wells with her three children.

The Image of Her by Sonia Velton - #BookBlitz #MediaBlast

 

I am excited to be part of the media blast for this book. Please drop by the blog tomorrow to read my review of this fantastic book.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa - Translated by Stephen Snyder - #BookReview

 

"We called him the Professor. And he called my son Root, because, he said, the flat top of his head reminded him of the square root sign.

'There's a fine brain in there,' the Professor said, mussing my son's hair. Root, who wore a cap to avoid being teased by his friends, gave a wary shrug. 'With this one little sign we can come to know an infinite range of numbers, even those we can't see.' He traced the symbol in the thick layer of dust on his desk."

He is a brilliant maths professor with a peculiar problem - ever since a traumatic head injury seventeen years ago, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory.

She is a sensitive but astute young housekeeper who is entrusted to take care of him.

Each morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are reintroduced to one another, a strange, beautiful relationship blossoms between them. The Professor may not remember what he had for breakfast, but his mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. He devises clever maths riddles - based on her shoe size or her birthday - and the numbers reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her ten-year-old son. With each new equation, the three lost souls forge an affection more mysterious than imaginary numbers, and a bond that runs deeper than memory. 

***

If someone had told me that I would ever enjoy a book which features both maths and baseball I would have laughed. However, whilst a reasonable portion of this novel is about just that, I was utterly enchanted by it.

This is one of those books that has sat on my shelf for years (come on, we've all got them.) I am not quite sure why I have not taken it down before now. So, having finally blown off the dust and brewed a cup of tea, I settled in to read it. Having now done so, my heart sighs every time I think of it.

It is a short book of less than 200 pages but contains one of the sweetest and endearing relationships I have read in a novel. The closeness that develops between the professor, his housekeeper and her son was an absolute delight to read.

There is a fair amount of maths in this book; the discussion of various types of numbers, and having never been a lover of maths even when I was at school, in fact especially when I was at school, I remain unable to see the beauty in numbers that as described in the book.

Neither am I a baseball fan. It is not a common sport here in the UK but it's use as a device to enable the development of the relationship between the Professor and Root, the housekeeper's son, was perfectly achieved.

However, it is not necessary to be a fan of either of these things to enjoy this book. In no way did it detract from my enjoyment of the burgeoning affection between the three characters, and I was sorely disappointed when the book came to its inevitable conclusion. I felt a little bereft that these people were no longer in my life.

I definitely think that this is a book that I will read again. It has the ability to soothe and is a real balm to the soul. I strongly encourage you to read it, and would love to hear your thoughts.

ISBN:  978 0099521341

Publisher: Vintage

***

About the Author:

Yoko Ogawa has written more than twenty works of fiction and non-fiction and has won every major Japanese literary award. Her fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, A Public Space and Zoetrope.