Alex's 2015 Reading Log

[frankie]

This might sound odd, but I always enjoy reading bad reviews... Well not always, but when it's done well. I'm talking about your Claire Messud encounter. I hope it was cathartic to write the review! Sounds like a rather pointless novel to have been written... 

[~Andrea~]

I enjoyed your review of Just One Damned Thing After Another. I've added it to my wish list. I love the title actually. It's intriguing for that alone

[Alexi]

Thanks all for your comments. I must admit I have rather neglected this thread in recent weeks due to my trip to the States. Would love to move there one day, I love the place. 

 

Straight back into the drama of real life and my head is swimming with it all. I hate coming back off holiday, it feels just as you're nicely relaxed people want you to go immediately full speed again. I need some time to get the engines revving again. Ho hum. 

 

I've also got quite a few reviews to catch up on....! (When do I ever not is the question)

[Janet]

I've also got quite a few reviews to catch up on....! (When do I ever not is the question)

I think that's a common problem! 

 

Wishing you a belated welcome home. 

[Athena]

Welcome home !

 

I hope you will feel back into the swing of things soon. Where did you go in the US and what did you do?

[Anna Begins]

I saw your comment to me, but now I can't find it  I am always doing that.  The US would love to have you!  If you picked NY, would you want to be in Manhattan?  And if it were California, would it be SF?

[Alexi]

I think that's a common problem! 

 

Wishing you a belated welcome home. 

 

Thanks J 

 

Welcome home !

 

I hope you will feel back into the swing of things soon. Where did you go in the US and what did you do?

 

I went to New York, California and Las Vegas! I also went to a wedding, which was joyful, and ended up giving out two more invites to my own wedding. Our guest list is getting slowly but surely totally out of control. 

 

But I will be made up if those two invites are used, so swings and roundabouts. I adore Vegas. Four days there is my limit before it starts to get to me, but a long weekend is perfect, amazing fun. San Francisco though, that is a city I could happily never leave. 

 

I saw your comment to me, but now I can't find it  I am always doing that.  The US would love to have you!  If you picked NY, would you want to be in Manhattan?  And if it were California, would it be SF?

 

I don't think I could afford Manhattan!   Would be more likely Brooklyn/Queens I suspect, unless I win the lottery anytime soon. I'll keep you posted  

 

I love and adore SF, so ideally yes, but I like most of California apart from LA to be honest. It's a gorgeous state and it really does have everything, except for confusing sporting kick off times I do love most of the US, so I wouldn't be toooooo picky on location if someone was willing to employ me. Boston is wonderful too. So much variety in one country!

[Alexi]

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

 

Synopsis: When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days—as he has done before—and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine's disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives—meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced. (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: This is the follow up to The Cuckoo's Calling, which I enjoyed as an easy, light read. Wanting the same thing again, I picked up the sequel. 

 

I do like the character of Cormoron Strike, our leading man and detective, but I much prefer the character of Robin, his sidekick and yet we are only finding out about her in dribs and drabs. This is extending the intrigue, but it doesn't seem particularly by design - Rowling Galbraith has shown and told us so much about Strike that revealing the secrets to Robin's character seems like an afterthought she keeps forgetting to get around to. It was rather the same with Hermione in the Potter series really, but Potter is difficult to find too many faults with. 

 

The mystery is a little more formulaic in this sequel than the original, although we still have plenty of twists. I enjoyed this and I like the interaction between Strike and Robin, but if there is a third I'm not sure I shall be rushing out to get it - I think my interest in the series has run its course now. 

 

3.5/5 (I liked it)

Edited October 2, 2015 by Alexi

[Alexi]

New York by Edward Rutherfurd 

 

Synopsis: Named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post and “Required Reading” by the New York Post

Edward Rutherfurd celebrates America’s greatest city in a rich, engrossing saga, weaving together tales of families rich and poor, native-born and immigrant—a cast of fictional and true characters whose fates rise and fall and rise again with the city’s fortunes.

 

From this intimate perspective we see New York’s humble beginnings as a tiny Indian fishing village, the arrival of Dutch and British merchants, the Revolutionary War, the emergence of the city as a great trading and financial center, the convulsions of the Civil War, the excesses of the Gilded Age, the explosion of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the trials of World War II, the near demise of New York in the 1970s and its roaring rebirth in the 1990s, and the attack on the World Trade Center. A stirring mix of battle, romance, family struggles, and personal triumphs,New York: The Novel gloriously captures the search for freedom and opportunity at the heart of our nation’s history. (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: Wow. What an ambitious, involving read that was hard to put down and impossible to forget. In 1000 pages Rutherfurd weaves the history of a magical, diverse, sprawling, rich city through the lives of one family and their descendants. 

 

Let's get one or two little niggles out of the way first - the characters at the end seem less well-developed and more vacuous than those at the beginning and we could have had more diversity, particularly at the end to include more from the Hispanic and Puerto Rican communities. 

 

However, what Rutherfurd accomplishes is brilliant. It helps I love history and love New York, but his ability to trace the city's birth as a tiny settlement of New Amsterdam through to the present day is great - it's a riproaring dash though the past and the reader is hanging onto the author's coattails throughout. Our main focus is the Master family, who do appear at times to be the Forrest Gumps of the new world - there at the start, knowing George Washington, Winston Churchill et al at various points through the saga! 

 

I now really want to read more of his writing, and I think Sarum shall be next on the list. 

 

Absorbing, wonderful and one of my favourites of 2015 so far. 

 

5/5 (It was excellent)

Edited October 2, 2015 by Alexi

[Alexi]

Mr Penumbra's 24 hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

 

Synopsis: The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The bookstore’s secrets extend far beyond its walls. (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: Bit of a half-arsed review this one, but that is how I felt about the book so it seems appropriate. 

 

This book promised lots, a mystery set in the present, but having its roots in centuries past and now being solved by ultra-modern tech geeks. Sounds good to me! But I found it quite a let down. As the story wore on, I became less interested and the characters weren't people I could buy into or particularly root for. The plot got more and more ridiculous as the story went on and the author seemed to lose their way a bit. The 'solution' also seemed a bit of a cop out and not worth waiting for. 

 

However, the pace kept me reading, even if I did look back and wonder what on earth had happened and it was a decent way to pass a few hours. 

 

3/5 (I liked it)

[Anna Begins]

 

I don't think I could afford Manhattan!   Would be more likely Brooklyn/Queens I suspect, unless I win the lottery anytime soon. I'll keep you posted

 

I love and adore SF, so ideally yes, but I like most of California apart from LA to be honest. It's a gorgeous state and it really does have everything, except for confusing sporting kick off times I do love most of the US, so I wouldn't be toooooo picky on location if someone was willing to employ me. Boston is wonderful too. So much variety in one country!

ha ha yes, Manhattan is crazy expensive.  We stayed there when I was in NY once (right in Times Square) and it just took your breath away!  SF is great, its so open minded and easy going, so is the area, like the better neighborhoods in Oakland or in Berkeley.  I'd love to move, but only to a few other states  Boston accents crack me up! 

 

New York by Edward Rutherfurd  

 

5/5 (It was excellent)

Now that I've read both Peter the Great and Nicholas and Alexandra, I want to read Russka even more!   to the reviewers

[bobblybear]

Mr Penumbra's 24 hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

 

Synopsis: The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon away from life as a San Francisco web-design drone and into the aisles of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after a few days on the job, Clay discovers that the store is more curious than either its name or its gnomic owner might suggest. The bookstore’s secrets extend far beyond its walls. (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: Bit of a half-arsed review this one, but that is how I felt about the book so it seems appropriate. 

 

This book promised lots, a mystery set in the present, but having its roots in centuries past and now being solved by ultra-modern tech geeks. Sounds good to me! But I found it quite a let down. As the story wore on, I became less interested and the characters weren't people I could buy into or particularly root for. The plot got more and more ridiculous as the story went on and the author seemed to lose their way a bit. The 'solution' also seemed a bit of a cop out and not worth waiting for. 

 

However, the pace kept me reading, even if I did look back and wonder what on earth had happened and it was a decent way to pass a few hours. 

 

3/5 (I liked it)

 

That's how I felt about it, but I think I rated it a bit lower. The premise sounded so interesting, but the plot just got stupider and stupider. I think I skimmed through the last few chapters as I can't really remember how it ended.

[Alexi]

ha ha yes, Manhattan is crazy expensive.  We stayed there when I was in NY once (right in Times Square) and it just took your breath away!  SF is great, its so open minded and easy going, so is the area, like the better neighborhoods in Oakland or in Berkeley.  I'd love to move, but only to a few other states  Boston accents crack me up! 

 

Now that I've read both Peter the Great and Nicholas and Alexandra, I want to read Russka even more!   to the reviewers

 

I definitely want to read Russka as well - but I think Sarum might be first on my list. Bleugh, I hardly ever read reviews on Amazon etc until I've read them myself. I find with the reviews here they are a) more balanced, b) give fuller explanations and c) you start to learn which users like what styles and what you agree and disagree with. It's all very useful. Except in decreasing the TBR! 

 

That's how I felt about it, but I think I rated it a bit lower. The premise sounded so interesting, but the plot just got stupider and stupider. I think I skimmed through the last few chapters as I can't really remember how it ended.

 

I can barely remember it and I only finished it about a month ago   I rated it a 3 at the time, but given it is proving not so memorable at all, maybe worth a downgrade. 

[Alexi]

The Curse of the House of Foskett by MRC Kasasian 

 

Synopsis: 125 Gower Street, 1882: Sidney Grice once had a reputation as London's most perspicacious personal detective. But since his last case led an innocent men to the gallows, business has been light. Listless and depressed, Grice has taken to lying in the bath for hours, emerging in the evenings for a little dry toast and a lot of tea. Usually a voracious reader, he will pick up neither book nor newspaper. He has not even gathered the strength to re-insert his glass eye. His ward, March Middleton, has been left to dine alone. Then an eccentric member of a Final Death Society has the temerity to die on his study floor. Finally Sidney and March have an investigation to mount - an investigation that will draw them to an eerie house in Kew, and the mysterious Baroness Foskett... (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: I was eagerly anticipating this, the next installment of the Gower Street Detective series by MRC Kasasian. I saved it for my holiday, which took quite some willpower! I loved the first book in this series, I love the interaction between Sidney and March, and I adore the character of March - so far ahead of her time, even if the author is writing these in the present. 

 

So, I came to this with very high expectations. Did it meet them? Well, mostly. 

 

This was a tougher read than the first one, due to the excessive animal cruelty that forms a large part of the investigation - that's not really a spoiler, and I think it only fair to warn people of it before starting. It's tough to read. Some people might raise their eyebrows - what about the killing of people in many other detective stories and thrillers you read? Well, there's something about going for animals who can't fight back, and it's described in reasonably graphic detail. So that was a tough read. 

 

The plot got a little confusing at times, but the interaction is wonderful and it's a great continuation of the series. How March isn't at the gallows herself for strangling Sidney god only knows, but it makes for some very funny, sharp and quick dialogue. That is what lifts these stories from your average detective fare. The mystery is a good'un, even if it does take a little time to get going properly, and although I guessed half the solution I was quite wide of the mark when it came to fitting it all together!

 

But I love March, I love the way she interacts with those around her, and I enjoy wanting to strangle Sidney myself throughout. Great fun, and the third has been set up very nicely at the end there... 

 

I have it on my TBR and must try not to rush straight into that!

 

4/5 (I really enjoyed it)

[Alexi]

Different Seasons by Stephen King 

 

Synopsis: In this classic collection of four novellas, the grand master takes you on irrestistible journeys into the far reaches of horror, heartache and hope.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is the story of two men convicted of murder - one guilty, one innocent - who form the perfect partnership as they dream up a scheme to escape from prison.

In Apt Pupil a golden schoolboy entices an old man with a past to join in a dreadful union.

The Body sees four young boys venture into the woods and find life, death . . . and the end of innocence.

The Breathing Method is the tale of a doctor who goes to his club and discovers a woman determined to give birth - no matter what. (From Amazon)

 

Thoughts: Four, very different, novellas from Stephen King - and three out of four were simply marvellous while the fourth was merely "very good". Not bad, then eh? 

 

What is amazing about Mr King, who I only discovered last year, is how many of his stories are totally iconic and/or have been made into hugely successful movies. Step forward this collection. 

 

The first novella inspired one of my favourite movies of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, so I was a bit wary, but fortunately the movie is extremely true to the book and it was fantastic to revisit it in book form. The emotions this author can inspire is incredible - sympathy for a load of murderers is quite impressive. But he does leave you with a real sense of hope at the end of this story, which is a simply perfect 100 pages that I raced through. 

 

Having been left with a sense of hope I was then confronted by The Apt Pupil. Good lord, what a story. The two lead characters are both dispicable and I wished evil things on both, but it's still a great story and you really don't need to like the characters. It's difficult to say too much about novellas without spoiling the plot but I could not stop thinking about this story and the evil in it even when I wasn't reading it. Should have saved it for Hallowe'en me thinks!

 

The third story inspired Stand By Me, which I haven't seen but will be doing so after reading this simple tale of friendship of four kids who all come from dysfunctional families and are just trying to survive. The narrator is looking back on this summer, and as a writer it is interspersed with his own writings. I reached the end almost unsure of what I made of it, then realised I'd gulped it down in a sitting. Excellent. 

 

The fourth story is the weakest for me, simply because it takes to long to get going for a novella. I was left wondering why we'd gone through so much time in a short space before getting to the meat on the bones, but it's still a great tale of a woman who will do anything to save her child - with a little magic/supernatural thrown in. 

 

I would thoroughly recommend this collection. It's not entirely your usual Stephen King fair, but man this guy can write, tug on my emotions and leave me utterly drained when I come to the end. I deducted a mark for the last story, but the first trio are all perfect.

 

4/5 (I really, really enjoyed this)

[Alexi]

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

 

Synopsis: In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again. (From Goodreads)

 

Thoughts: I'm not sure what to make of this, having just finished it. I am aware that's not really what you want to start a review, but there we go!

 

I will start by saying this is a beautifully written piece of prose, 350 pages of gorgeous writing. However, a love story it is not, it is more musings on love. And I'm aware I'm supposed to find it romantic, but I instead found it a little weird that Florentino has been obsessing about this woman for 50 years when she told him she didn't love him and went on to marry someone else! The synopsis said they were passionately in love - that's really not the impression I got from this book and I definitely felt it was a lot more one-sided than that in their youth. 

 

But there we go.

 

I was also majorly creeped out by...

 

The sex towards the end of the book with a 14-year-old, who has been entrusted to his care by her parents as the person to be her guardian while she is at school. He was 70 at the time, this was beyond creepy and if I had any sympathy for him, it was completely eradicated by this. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

 

 

The last 23/30 pages are for me the best of the book, as this is when the two main characters seem to interact on a more even footing, while the prose remains wonderfully brilliant. You can definitely write, Mr Marquez. 

 

If you want plot, avoid this. It's a more meandering look at the life (and sex, and there is a bloody lot of it) of Florentino Ariza. However, I can see why it's on a lot of 'must read' lists and I am glad I read it, I just didn't 'feel' it as much some other people do. 

 

3/5 (I liked it)

[woolf woolf]

That book is huge where I live, it's one of the first names when classics are mentioned. But I've learned more from your review than from all the small talk I had about it in person.

[Anna Begins]

Different Seasons by Stephen King 

 

Synopsis: In this classic collection of four novellas, the grand master takes you on irrestistible journeys into the far reaches of horror, heartache and hope.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is the story of two men convicted of murder - one guilty, one innocent - who form the perfect partnership as they dream up a scheme to escape from prison.

In Apt Pupil a golden schoolboy entices an old man with a past to join in a dreadful union.

The Body sees four young boys venture into the woods and find life, death . . . and the end of innocence.

The Breathing Method is the tale of a doctor who goes to his club and discovers a woman determined to give birth - no matter what. (From Amazon)

 

Oh I am so glad you liked this, because I am probably the one who recommended it  I love this book, but you are right about Breathing Method, I don't even recollect the story!  I LOVED Apt Pupil, so evil!

 

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 

 

 

If you want plot, avoid this. It's a more meandering look at the life (and sex, and there is a bloody lot of it) of Florentino Ariza. However, I can see why it's on a lot of 'must read' lists and I am glad I read it, I just didn't 'feel' it as much some other people do. 

 

3/5 (I liked it)

I've always wanted to do 100 Years... first, but am put off by the magical realism said to be in the story.  Maybe Cholera should be first.  In any case, great review of an author I have always wanted to explore more of!

 

That book is huge where I live, it's one of the first names when classics are mentioned. But I've learned more from your review than from all the small talk I had about it in person.

Alexi is a very smart lady

[Kylie]

Apt Pupil is one of the most disturbing stories I've ever read.  Great review of the collection, and of Marquez, who I've yet to read.

[Athena]

Great book reviews, you've read a lot !

[Alexi]

Thanks all, I thought my review was a bit rubbish and didn't say much. I do however know what you mean, it's on a lot of lists and talked about as a classic, but no one talks about what it is actually about very much.

 

The complete opposite of A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist or Wuthering Heights, say!

[Alexi]

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey 

 

Synopsis: Maud, an aging grandmother, is slowly losing her memory—and her grip on everyday life. Yet she refuses to forget her best friend Elizabeth, whom she is convinced is missing and in terrible danger.

But no one will listen to Maud—not her frustrated daughter, Helen, not her caretakers, not the police, and especially not Elizabeth's mercurial son, Peter. Armed with handwritten notes she leaves for herself and an overwhelming feeling that Elizabeth needs her help, Maud resolves to discover the truth and save her beloved friend.

This singular obsession forms a cornerstone of Maud's rapidly dissolving present. But the clues she discovers seem only to lead her deeper into her past, to another unsolved disappearance: her sister, Sukey, who vanished shortly after World War II. (From Goodreads) 

 

Thoughts: This is an interesting one.

 

Personally, I really, really enjoyed this novel and yet it was also a painful read. I watched my Grandma suffer with dementia, and it is a horrible, horrible disease - and I saw so much of her in Maud (at least, in her earlier stages, by the end my Grandma could barely hold a conversation with her nearest and dearest). So it's a painful read, and yet it was so well done. I can only imagine that Healey has witnessed dementia/alzheimers at close quarters to come up with the character of Maud and let us into her brain in what felt like such an authentic way. 

 

However. I do feel that this book has been incorrectly marketed. The basic premise is that Maud, not taken seriously by anyone, is searching for her missing friend Elizabeth and her sister Sukey. One has vanished recently, one vanished years ago in the 1940s/50s. It's therefore marketed as a thriller, or in some cases on the cover apparently a 'psychological thriller' according to some reviewers on goodreads. 

 

Here's the thing though, the mystery isn't what makes this book great. I think it becomes fairly obvious early on where Elizabeth is/what happened there, and I also guesed the solution to Sukey about two thirds through, but that didn't feel at all important. For me, being let into Maud's muddled mind was where the true charm of this story lay. They mystery(ies) felt like a byproduct, not the main point of the novel. 

 

If you want a mystery, o a thriller, read something else. If you want to laugh, cry and immerse yourself in the complicated, confusing, muddled and repetitive mind of the wonderful Maud, read this. 

 

4/5 (I really enjoyed it) 

[Alexi]

South Riding by Winifred Holtby

 

Synopsis: Winifred Holtby's masterpiece is a rich evocation of the lives and relationships of the characters of South Riding. Sarah Burton, the fiery young headmistressof the local girls' school; Mrs Beddows, the district's first alderwoman—based on Holtby's own mother; and Robert Carne, the conservative gentleman-farmer locked in a disastrous marriage—with whom the radical Sarah Burton falls in love. Showing how public decisions can mold the individual, this story offers a panoramic and unforgettable view of Yorkshire life.  (From Goodreads) 

 

Thoughts: I had never heard of this novel before it was chosen as part of the English Counties Challenge, but following Willoyd's excellent review I bought it in September and it was finished by mid-October - quite the feat when it comes to my TBR! 

 

Why had I never heard of this novel? It's simply fantastic from first page to last. Set around the premise of local government and its effect on individual lives and decisions, we are catapulted into Yorkshire in the 1930s, a critical time in history in terms of the development of a more socialist outlook. What is interesting is we have a wide range of characters, many of whom aren't socialist, many of which are, yet it isn't as simple as 'good' versus 'evil'. 

 

I felt a degree of sympathy for nearly all of the characters, whichever side of the fence they put their boots on. It was interesting to hear from each character and their motivations for thinking and acting as they did - this cleverly plotted novel makes the reader think as much as the central characters. The plot doesn't feel entirely necessary in many ways, the interactions of the characters are plot enough although we do get resolution to each story arc. Our many figures over two years give us a real sense of the community and the different people in it. 

 

I naturally lean towards the socialist side and Sarah Burton, the new school headmistress, was a wonderful woman to read about as she fought for change against the more conservative governors, yet my favourite character was the conservative farmer - what a backstory. It felt like Holtby could have told me what each character would have eaten for breakfast on any given Thursday she knew them all so well and they were so well formed. 

 

Seriously, why isn't this book better known? It thoroughly deserves to be wider read and an easy five star award. 

 

5/5 (It was amazing)

[Janet]

I've skipped past your review of South Riding, Alex, as I'm going to read it myself some time - but I love your review of Elizabeth is Missing.   I also found it difficult to read about Maud's degeneration into Alzheimer's, having witnessed my Aunt going downhill with this horrible disease so I totally get where you're coming from.

[woolf woolf]

I didn't know South Riding, it seems an interesting book.