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France's reading 2021


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50 minutes ago, muggle not said:

I see from your first list that you read "Eve IN Hollywood". Where did you get that book as Amazon doesn't have it. I would love to read it as I assume it is a follow-up to Rules of Civility by Amor Towles.


It is the follow up and available as a free download if you type it into a search engine.

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2 hours ago, lunababymoonchild said:


It is the follow up and available as a free download if you type it into a search engine.

I can't seem to be able to get it. Would it be possible to give this dunce a step-by-step?

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Two really disappointing books recently, frstly Dog Days by Ericka Waller which was highly recommended by a book blog I follow as being feel good and for all lovers of dogs. I love dogs and it was a Kindle cheapie,  feel good it isn't (won't go into details for spoilers) but it left a nasty taste in the mouth. The main charecters are George, an extremely grumpy pensioner who has just lost his wife and is angry about it, a councellor to whom it has never occured that he might never have had a girlfriend because ...(not a spoiler it's obvious) - none of his family seem to have had a clue either, and mother with her child in a refuge who won't say what happened to her. The dogs don't really play much of a role ether. She can write though, I hope the next book has a better plot line.

 

I only bought Kirsten Hannah because I was in our local English bookshop and thought I'd better get something and had heard that her descriptions of Alaska are wonderful. That's true, as a love letter to Alaska it really works, as an enthralling story it doesn't. Overblown, cardboard charecters, uneven plotting. Won't read anything by her again.

 

The Miseducation of Evie Epworth by Matson Taylor is a coming of age story set in 1962 and is great fun. 16 year old Evie has to decide what she wants to do with her life while trying to free her farmer father from the clutches of his busty housekeeper Christine. I loved this, only two small quibbles. Firstly in the opening scene Evie catches sight of a neighbour with a cow. All I'd say is that either it was a minature cow or he was standing on a box. Nuff said. Secondly, Christine gets rid of the old friendly Aga and replaces it with a modern electric cooker and you can see wallpaper where the Aga used to be. The author can't ever have seen an Aga, they're built in and weigh a ton, there simply wouldn't be paper behind it. Never mind, still a thorougly enjoyable read.

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I was given The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley for my birthday which I absolutely loved. It's strange, stranger than her previous books and definitely not for anyone who can't cope with multiple time lines, shifting alternate realities and not having a clue what's really going on (quite a few of the members of my real life book group!) but I was totally gripped.

 

I really don't know what to think about The Summer Book. I'd heard so much about it, that it's an absolute masterpiece etc and I have to say that it didn't grip me. It didn't bore me either and I have a feeling that I need to read it again. It's very short so that won't be a problem.

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23 hours ago, France said:

It's strange, stranger than her previous books and definitely not for anyone who can't cope with multiple time lines, shifting alternate realities and not having a clue what's really going on

I like weird, I like alternate realities, but I'm not sure I'd like not having a clue what's going on! :lol: Unless it's all cleverly resolved by the end? 

 

 

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The Water Clock by Jim Kelly

Published in about 2002 this is the beginning of a series set near Ely featuring a local journalist, Philip Dryden who has a wife in a coma following a car accident two years previously.  It’s the depth of winter and freezing cold.  A car is found dumped in a drainage ditch and there is a body in the boot which appears to be linked to a violent robbery on World Cup day in 1966. Shortly afterwards a corpse that has been there for at least thirty years is found on the roof of Ely cathedral. 

Philip believes the two might be connected and is soon being warned off investigating any further but his real obsession is finding out who caused the accident that immobilized his wife.

The investigative part of the story is competent but not outstanding, what really makes this book stand out is the sense of place, he makes them evocative, beguiling and very cold! I barely know the Fens but I almost feel that I’ve been there. I’m really looking forward to reading more in the series and the only really annoying thing is that I got this at a local twice yearly charity book sale and could have got the first five, I only bought two. Oh well, he’s written another series too so I’ve got loads to look forward to.

I have no idea who suggested that I should look out for Jim Kelly, but whoever they are, thank you.

 

Behind Closed Doors – B A Paris

From the back: "Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace." Given the title you can get the gist of the plot.

Oh goodness this was bad.  It claims to be a gripping, shocking, million copy best seller, ok it was  a best seller but unless you’re gripped by juvenile writing and cardboard characters it’s neither gripping nor shocking. I gather the end made up for quite a bit but I didn’t get that far.

 

Wild Strawberries – Angela Thirkell.

Angela Thirkell wrote pleasant romantic comedies in the 1930s set in big houses among the comfortably well off.  I’ve read a couple and though they are very dated they were nice enough to keep an eye out for any of her other books. Unfortunately Wild Strawberries, one of her early ones, is a bore. It’s populated with single-characteristic characters so lady Emily is vague and constantly losing her glasses while accusing her maid of misplacing them, her daughter is kind and obsessed with her children and keeps on saying fondly ‘Oh wicked ones’. I did finish it but it was an effort.

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The Widows of Malabar Hill - Sujata Massey

It's 1921, Perveen Mistry is Bombay's only female lawyer. Although she isn't officially allowed to practice she assists her father, and works on cases where a woman is needed, such as this one involving the inheritance of three Muslim widows who keep purdah.

 

This book really works on several levels, it's a good mystery, it has an engaging heroine, it paints an evocative picture of Bombay at the time and it gently but persistently shines a light on how difficult life could be for women in those days. And as Perveen comes from a Zoroastrian family there's lots of fascinating information about that too.

 

It's a light breezy read, great fun and I thoroughly recommend it

 

V2 - Robert Harris

Like Munich, Robert Harris has taken real life events, added a dollop of fictional characters, put them into a tight time frame and crafted them all into a thriller. This time it's about the efforts to destroy the launching pads for the V2 rockets which were deadly,  disastrous for morale and  impossible to shoot down in the air, unlike the V1s. Funnily enough though there are books and programmes made about the V1s or doodlebugs and the raids on Pennemunde to bomb the launch pads there isn't much about V2s.

 

I found it absolutely fascinating and read it straight through, it doesn't have a strictly linear plot line which might annoy some people and follows the fictional Dr Rudi Graf near the Hague, chief engineer at the launch site and friend of von Braun who actually developed the V2, from the early 1930s and the beginning of the rocket's developement and Kay Caton-Walsh, a WAAF officer, one of a team of female mathematicians who are trying to plot where the rockets are being launched from so the RAF can launch a raid. The two don't meet though their stories intertwine.

 

Robert Harris wrote this in 14 weeks during lockdown and I feel that the speed of his writing shows in places, this book lacks the richness of detail and character that made Conclave, Munich and especially An Officer and A Spy such exceptional reads but even so it's still very good indeed.

 

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Getting a bit behind with commenting on my books so here's a quick run down on some of them:

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin was a terrific read, wonderfully written and absorbing fantasy. Sadly I ended up abandoning her latest book The City We Became which is so didactic it became really tiresome, boring too.

I've always adored Mary Lawson's writing and I think A Town Called Solace is probably her best to date. Absolutely simple, perfect prose, not a word wrong. it's been longlisted for the Booker which does surprise me as usually Booker nominees aren't this accessible. Highly recommended.

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner. can't even remember what it was about now. Nuff said.

The Perfect Lie by Jo Spain is an excellent page turner, OK you can guess one of the key plot points about half way through and a considerable degree of suspension of disbelief is required but it didn't spoil the book for me.

Mother May I? by Joshilyn Jackson about a woman whose baby is abducted is utterly brilliant until the last two chapters where having almost wound everything up she seems uncertain how to do the last bits and put in a jarring denouement along with a certain amount of preachiness. The point was fair but the reader, certainly this one, didn't need it pointing out so heavily. Very worthwhile reading up to there though.

 

 

 

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The Samaritan by Mason Cross was a good basic thriller about a serial killer in Los Angeles targeting women who have broken down. There was one place where I raised my eyebrows wondering if Carter Blake, the name the hero chooses to use, would really have allowed himself to be trapped so easily but still worthwhile.

However Missing Pieces by Tim Weaver is severely lacking. It has a woman in peril who who so basically lacking in common sense that you are amazed she survived the first evening let alone several months stranded on an island.  It's a standalone and I've heard good things of his other books and gather from reviews that they are in a different class so I might give them a go.

1971, Never A Dull Moment, Rock's Golden Year by music journalist David Hepworth is a paean to what he considers is the greatest year of rock. He is hugely knowledgeable about the music of his youth (he was 21) but even if nostalgia influenced his belief that 1971 produced more records  that have really stood the test of time than any other year it's hard to dispute that there was some great music.

It's a very enjoyable read, full of interesting little facts and written with a refreshingly dry cynicism but he's never spiteful. It's probably of most interest to those who are familiar with at least some of the tracks either through being there at the time or discovering Pink Floyd, the Who, Carole King, Sly and the Family Stone, Roxy Music etc much later on.
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Long time since I updated! Again a brief run through of the best (and sometimes the not so best).

Kindred - Octavia E Butler

One of the reason I took so long in updating everything is that this book about an African American Californian who is repeatedly dragged back in time to a plantation in Maryland is that it affected me so deeply that I couldn't put my thoughts down. Dana the protagonist isn't always likeable and as she tries to survive in a world of slavery makes decisions and offers advice that can seem morally dubious to modern sensibilities  but I'm not sure he had a lot of choice. I found it an incredible read.

 

 Ghosting - Jennie Erdal

Jennie Erdal worked for 20 years for Niamh Atallah the flamboyant owner of Quartet books, writing everything for him - not only his business letters but his novels and his love letters. It's a little slow to get into but after that mesmerising and her writing is absolutely fabulous.

 

Manhattan Beach - Jennifer Egan

This story about a girl trying to become a diver in the navy yards in New York during WWII started off really well but petered out. A real shame.

 

The Art of Dying - Ambrose Parry

I had big hopes for this which is part of a series set in mid 19th cenbtury Edinburgh  written by Christopher Brookmyre and his wife but it just didn't do anything for me.

 

Anything is Possible - Elizabeth Strout

A loose follow on from My Name is Lucy Barton, this is in Elizabeth Strout's trademark style of interlinked short stories which are quite different but as a whole make up a connected narrative. I'm prejudiced, I think she's brilliant and this is no exception.

 

 The Last Thing He Told Me - Laura Dave

This book about a woman whose husband disappears one day leaving her a note to protect her antagonistic 14 year old stepdaughter is billed as a thriller, I'm not really sure that it's the right description but nonetheless it's a surprisingly good pacy read with a slightly unexpected end.

 

Anxious People - Frederik Backman

I have mixed feelings about this story of a farcical attempt to rob a bank and an even more farcical hostage situation with some pretty farcical policemen (father and son) thrown into the mix. On the one hand it is very funny in places and Backman's humour can be quite acid which I really like, on the other it can also be very twee. I galloped through it but I didn't love it in the way I did with A Man Called Ove or My Grandmother Sends Her Apologies...

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Early Morning Riser - Katherine Heiney

This was a cheapie on Kobo with good reviews. It's very readable, very light, very funny in places and I suspect very forgettable.

 

The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym - Paula Byrne

One of the most surprising things about this book was learning how closely Barbara Pym based her books on her own experiences when most of her female characters are sensible women with a properly cynical view of men and Barbara herself was neither sensible or cynical. She racketed from one love affair with no future to another, making friends on the way, always writing, always seeming to enjoy herself. It's an extraordinary story told by a very good biographer - the part about the article in the TImes Lit which propels Barbara back into the literary limelight after so long in the wilderness is wonderful and heart -lifting to read. I'll be rereading her books soon.

 

Ninth House - Leigh Bardugo

 

Galaxy 'Alex' Stern can see ghosts. She has a chequered past to say the least and after being found unconscious at a horrific murder was offered a scholarship to Yale to join a society that polices the magic societies there. Of course nothing is quite as simple as she was promised. I absolutely loved this, it is quite gory in places and it ends on a semi cliff hanger but for me it was a can't-take-my-nose-out of it.

 

I've been doing a major tidy on my daughter's bedroom (she's spent the last 7 years working on short term contracts so has tended to return home, dump her stuff then three months later she's back to dump more. Oh and she doesn't throw things away).  Unpacking several boxes of books to put them in her book case meant discovering and reading some old favourites, in particular;

Getting Rid of Bradley - Jennifer Crusie This was actually written as a genre romance but is stratospherically better than most of them, it's very funny, very smart, well written and not in the least bit soppy.

Sorcery and Cecilia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot - Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevener - this book started off with a letter game where they took turns writing letters to each other adding to the story each time with neither knowing what the other was planning. The result, set in an alternative Regency period where there's a lot of magic, is absolutely charming.

Edited by France
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Love After Love - Ingrid Persaud. This is not a romance despite the title! It come from a marvellous poem by Derek Walcott about loving your life as it happens. Betty is a young Trinidadian widow bring up her son alone, Mr Chetan, a teacher, is her lodger, then her best friend who is hiding his homosexuality from the very homophobic Trinidadian society around him. It's written in a sort of patois (fortunately not phonetically spelt) which can make it a little hard to get into to but once you do this book is absolutely marvelous. It's both joyous and utterly heartrending and totally memorable.I loved it.

 

Darkness Fall - Robert Bryndza. This is no 3 in Robert Bryndza's series about Kate Marshall, an ex police officer turned private detective, and the first of his books I've read. I now understand why he gets such terrific reviews. Well plotted, excellent charecterisation and very well written. I'll definitely be reading more of him, fortunately he's got quite a back list.

 

Devil's Table - Kate Rhodes The fifth in her series about Ben Kitto, a police officer on the isles of Scilly. I enjoy her books because she writes absolutely beautifully (I think, but can't swear to it, that she's also a poet) and Ben has a wolf dog who is very much a player in his own right, but I can't help feeling that there aren't going to be many people left alive in the Scillies if this rate of attrition continues!

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Last  posting of the year!

Small Pleasures - Clare Chambers. It's 1957 and Jean, 39, a journalist on the North Kent Echo who normally covers all the light womanly stories is sent to interview Gretchen, a young Swiss woman, who claims to have had a virgin birth. The more Jean investigates, the closer she becomes to the whole family, Gretchen, Getchen's daughter Margaret and her husband Howard and the more puzzled she is by Gretchen's story. There are many good things about this book and I loved the way some of Jean's other writing is included so we can see how banal her normal work usually is but the first half is really slow moving and the ending reads as if Clare Chambers wasn't sure how to bring it to a close so threw everything in (actually this isn't the case as is made clear in the epilogue but it still feels that way).

 

The Girl in the Ice - Robert Bryndza. Fast moving, well written, wrecked by ridiculous ending with multiple things that just wouldn't happen (ie police officer taking a suspect's keys and letting themself into the suspect's house) and totally nonsensical tying up of loose ends - ie why is A doing business with ? It hasn't been mentioned earlier. Shame I was enjoying it up to that point.

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