Poppy's Paperbacks 2010

[nicx27]

That sounds like a great read, Poppy.

[poppyshake]

Yes it was Nic .. nothing too taxing but very enjoyable.

[poppyshake]

 

The Undrowned Child - Michelle Lovric

 

Amazon Synopsis: It's the beginning of the 20th century; the age of scientific progress. But for Venice the future looks bleak. A conference of scientists assembles to address the problems, among whose delegates are the parents of twelve-year-old Teodora. Within days of her arrival, she is subsumed into the secret life of Venice: a world in which salty-tongued mermaids run subversive printing presses, ghosts good and bad patrol the streets and librarians turn fluidly into cats. A battle against forces determined to destroy the city once and for all quickly ensues. Only Teo, the undrowned child who survived a tragic accident as a baby, can go 'between the linings' to subvert evil and restore order.

 

Review: This is a great adventure book for young adults and for the most part really enjoyable. It's 1899, Teodora lives in Naples with her adoptive parents, she's always wanted to go to Venice but her parents have been reluctant to take her (I know the feeling, I couldn't get my parents to take me anywhere more exotic than the Isle of Wight!) but then fate intervenes. Venice has been engulfed in a wave of strange and sinister events for months and the 'worlds greatest scientists' have been summoned there in order to try and get to the bottom of it. It's a stroke of luck for Teo that her parent's are amongst the worlds greatest scientists because let's face it, they could have been the worlds greatest estate agents. They try and fob her off with talk of leaving her behind, they mention schoolwork etc but it's to no avail, Teo is determined.

Venice is such a magical city that just to have the place described in all it's glory is entrancing, you can imagine all sorts of adventures happening there. It's everything that Teo has imagined and more, her favourite place is a dusty old bookshop and this is where all the excitement begins. She's rummaging around on the shelves, when a book falls and knocks her senseless. There are a few strange things about this book 1) It has no title 2) It has a pearly, fishy smell 3) It has a picture on the front of a girl, and she appears to wink at Teo 4) When examined in more detail later, the book has the following inscription on it's inside cover ...

 

'Welcome to Venice, Teodora-of-Sad-Memory. We have been waiting for you for a very long time'

Very odd!

The book sets in motion a thrilling chain of events, firstly Teo goes 'in between the linings' which means she is entirely invisible to adults. This of course sounds marvellous but in actuality was terrible, firstly she wasn't sure she was alive (until she found out that children could see her) and secondly her poor parents almost went out of their heads believing her to be missing for days and days. She soon meets her partner in crime Renzo .. or 'the Studious Son' as he is also also called. He dislikes and mistrusts her on sight, he knows (or believes) she is a Napoletana and therefore his deadly enemy. He doesn't think she should have the book, he thinks he should have it. They fight and argue but trials and troubles bring them closer together and by the end they are as thick as thieves.

Also, amongst the 'goodies' are a bunch (I'm sure that's not the collective noun) of mermaids. Fairly conventional in looks, but fairly salty in language (having learnt a lot of it from sailor's). They say stuff like 'What a drivelswagger! Drags on like a sea cow's saliva!' and they eat curries. It's the mermaids that first call Teo the 'Undrowned Child' and this name relates back to an incident that happened in Venice some 11 years before .. something that we read about in the prologue.

 

The main 'baddie' is Bajamonte Tiepolo or 'Il Traditore' as he is also known, a man who actually did live in Venice in the 1300's. He had tried to destroy the Republic of Venice and kill the Doge, but was unsuccessful. He was believed to have died in exile but the fictionalised account here says that he was captured, murdered and thrown into the lagoon. Unfortunately, he's not resting in peace, he want's revenge, and if his disembodied spirit can find his bones .. with a bit of help from some 'baddened magic' he'll be back to full strength. Of course it is Teo and Renzo's job to stop him and mayhem ensues.

Towards the end I found it all a bit hectic and there were too many similarities with other fantasy books for me to entirely believe in the plot. Baddies that made the air chill, maps with tiny moving footprints, an upturned turtle shell where the past could be viewed, Venetian treacle which was a kind of cure-all rather like Lucy's vial in Narnia and a baddie needing bones and a spell to become whole again. There were books in the bookshop that would have been right at home in Flourish and Blotts ...

Smooth as a Weasel and Twice as Slippery by Arnon Rodent

Lagoon Creatures - Nice or Nasty? by Professor Marin

The Best Ways With Wayward Ghosts by 'One Who Consorts with Them'

.... and a cat that transfigured into a lady. But then they may not have been original ideas when I read them in other books and in any case the book is not really aimed at me, perhaps age has made me cynical. It's certainly not a book that is just a re-hash of past stories though, there are lots of new ideas here and placing all the action in Venice makes it extra exciting, sharks swim down the canals, stone statues come to life and as the city falls under the grip of 'Il Traditore' it begins to revert back to the 1300's with the buildings crumbling and the paintwork falling off in great scabs revealing the stone underneath.

 

A story that I'm sure most 9-12 year olds would love, especially girls or anyone that loves reading about Venice.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (Unabridged) read by Simon Slater

 

Audible Synopsis: Tudor England. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is charged with securing his divorce. Into this atmosphere of distrust comes Thomas Cromwell - a man as ruthlessly ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.

 

Review: Absolute bliss. This is a great tome of a book, but it didn't take me long to get through it because listening to it was such a pleasure.

 

This is a fascinating fictionalised account of Thomas Cromwell, from his humble beginnings as a blacksmiths son living in Putney to his much documented position as Henry VIII's most trusted right hand man.

It's absorbing and rivetting. Hilary Mantel manages to turn history on it's head and make Cromwell into a likeable man who we come to understand and, to some degree, respect (though this does become harder as the book progresses)

 

In the main I loved Simon Slater's reading, though his narration for Thomas's More and Cranmer were a little odd. Thomas More in particular sounded like a regular pantomime villain, but then Hilary's depiction of him rather suited that.

 

I was hoping against hope that the story was going to take us all the way to Cromwell's fall from grace and subsequent execution. Alas it didn't, we didn't even get as far as the demise of Anne Boleyn, though she was definitely on shaky ground as we left her. The title is a bit of a mystery also, Wolf Hall .. the ancestral seat of the Seymour's ... is only mentioned fleetingly but what little is written about it is intriguing and it was obviously a place of great interest to Cromwell.

 

Although often criticised as unauthentic (good job, we'd never understand it if it was) I loved the dialogue. For instance, More's remark .. “lock Cromwell in a deep dungeon in the morning and when you come back that night he’ll be sitting on a plush cushion eating larks’ tongues, and all the gaolers will owe him money” and Cromwell's observations of the King when he is called to see him very early one morning in his bedchamber (a frightening, bowel loosening experience for anyone) to explain away a bad dream of Henry's “The sable lining creeps down over his hands, as if he were a monster-king, growing his own fur.” .. fantastic. Also I didn't have any problems with the lack of speech marks or overuse of pronoun's, probably because it was being read to me - perhaps reading it would have been a different experience (though I quake at the thought of 600 odd pages).

 

Loved it, could've listened all day (and sometimes did).

 

10/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

Scottsboro: A Novel - Ellen Feldman

 

Amazon Synopsis: Alabama, 1931. A posse stops a freight train and arrests nine black youths. Their crime: fighting with white boys. Then two white girls emerge from another freight car, and within seconds the cry of rape goes up. One of the girls sticks to her story. The other changes her tune, again and again. A young journalist, whose only connection to the incident is her overheated social conscience, fights to save the nine youths from the electric chair, redeem the girl who repents her lie, and make amends for her own past. Stirring racism, sexism, and anti-Semitism into an explosive brew, "Scottsboro" is a novel of a shocking injustice that reverberated around the world. 'A fine novel ...Anyone who wants to appreciate the scale of the miracle that a black man has been elected president of the United States should sit down with "Scottsboro"' - Lionel Shriver.

 

Review: Though this is a fictionalised account of the Scottsboro trials, it reads very much like a factual one. It's a gripping but uncomfortable read.

Our main narrator is Alice Whittier, a female journalist who becomes involved in the case. Her character was the only one that seemed too obviously fictional to me which was a shame. For one thing I couldn't believe, given the circumstances, that she would be able to gain so much access to the convicted boys. But it did enable the writer to make some valid points about women's rights, or the lack of them, in 1930 and she was a likeable character.

Our other narrator is Ruby Bates, one of the two white women on the freight train, who falsely accused the black youths travelling on it, of rape.

Sometimes the injustice of what happened to the 'Scottsboro boys' is overwhelming. It seems that all along the process they were let down, not only by the corrupt and rascist judicial system but also by the very people who set out to help free them. Lawyers became famous, plays were put on, books were written and money was made but those black youths, one of whom was only thirteen when convicted, lost their freedom, their dignity and their hope of a decent future. Some of the actions of the Communist Party of America and the other organisations, who were supporting the boys and campaigning for their release, seemed, at times, questionable and self motivated.

 

The boys are convicted of rape and sentenced to death and we follow them through the trials and retrials. Ruby seems to regret the lies she told and sets about trying to help clear the boys names. In a way Ruby's life is as blighted as the Scottsboro boys. Although briefly feted, she soon has to return to a life of poverty and rejection. Nearly every decision she makes is motivated by money, it's hard to like her because it seems that she will sell her soul for a few dollars, but then few of us have to live as she did and cope with the daily grind of poverty.

 

The case was said to have inspired Harper Lee to write To Kill a Mockingbird, although I think she has since denied it and mentioned a lesser known case. There are strong similarities though between the cases of the Scottsboro boys and the fictional Tom Robinson, the same sense of futility and racial injustice.

The point made by Lionel Shriver in the synopsis is a relevant one. I can't imagine that any of the Scottsboro boys would have believed that one day, in the not too distant future, a black man would become president of the United States. Living, as they did daily, with the state sanctioned oppression towards black people and with still some years before the birth of the civil rights movement, that would've seemed an impossible dream to them.

 

The book made me feel quite angry, it wasn't a comfortable read. I couldn't quite get my head around how the boys were convicted when so much evidence seemed to contradict the allegations. But then, the objective was to send eight of the nine black youths to the electric chair so truth didn't come into it.

 

I'm glad I read it, I wont easily forget it.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[Roland Butter]

I'll be interested to hear what you make of it. I've had Scottsboro on the TBR pile for ages and haven't got round to it yet, but it sounds like a good read.

[poppyshake]

I'll be interested to hear what you make of it. I've had Scottsboro on the TBR pile for ages and haven't got round to it yet, but it sounds like a good read.

 

It's well worth reading although it's fairly dispiriting. I did a lot of frowning when reading it, it was a frown-out-loud book.

[poppyshake]

 

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire (Unabridged) read by John McDonough

 

Audible Synopsis: Heralded as an instant classic of fantasy literature, Maguire has written a wonderfully imaginative retelling of The Wizard of Oz told from the Wicked Witch's point of view. More than just a fairy tale for adults, Wicked is a meditation on the nature of good and evil.

Elphaba is born with green skin, a precocious mind, and a talent for magic. An outcast throughout her childhood in Munchkinland, she finally begins to feel as though she fits in when she enters the University in the Emerald City. While she hones her skills, she discovers that Oz isn't the Utopia it seems. She sets out to protect its unwanted creatures, becoming known as the Wicked Witch along the way. Narrator John McDonough draws you in to Maguire's magical world of witches and talking animals, making it possible to believe in a land somewhere over the rainbow.

 

Review: Loved it!! I had two concerns at the beginning, one was that it was read by a man and I wasn't sure how well that would work, and two I have never read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or any of it's sequels, my only point of reference was the film and for the first couple of chapters I found it hard to shake the image of Margaret Hamilton's cackling Wicked Witch of the West from my mind. The reading turned out to be a triumph, there's something about John McDonough's voice that suits fantasy novels perfectly, and despite the fact that he had more female voices to do than male, he was marvellous. I got so swept up with the story that it only took a few chapters to rid myself of Margaret's image, she returned again near the end as Elphaba grew into her reputation but that was ok, it seemed fitting.

 

It's such an entertaining story, I absolutely loved all the descriptions of Oz, it's characters, places, politics, religions and social history etc. It is every bit as real as Middle Earth. Elphaba Thropp, or Elphie as we learn to call her (amongst a hundred other names) was unfortunately born green. It may have worked for Kermit and Shrek but, coupled with some rather vicious looking teeth and a bit of a surly disposition, it didn't work for Elphie. Her parents are unnerved by her (and this leads them to summon my favourite character, the glorious Nanny) and the local children are inclined to taunt her.

 

My favourite part of the book was probably Elphaba's time at Shiz University. She has grown into a clever young woman with strong views and beliefs, especially concerning animal welfare. In Oz there are talking thinking animals, as well as the ordinary kind. One such is Doctor Dillamond, a sentient goat who is a professor at Shiz. Elphie learns from Doctor Dillamand that the Wizard of Oz (a despotic usurper now ruling Oz) is trying to discriminate against and oppress the sentient Animals and this makes her angry. Probably because of her early experiences, she is initially quite withdrawn and doesn't make friends easily. Her fellow pupils regard her as a bit of an oddity and you feel she may be destined to always be a loner but gradually she becomes part of a small group of close friends. Amongst this circle of friends is Galinda, or Glinda the Good Witch of the North as we now know her. Galinda is not at first inclined to give Elphie a chance but Elphie's cleverness intrigues her and they form a strong friendship. At Shiz we are also introduced to the headmistress, the sinister Madame Morrible and her odious wind-up servant Grommetik and we learn more about Elphie's sister Nessarose (or the Wicked Witch of the East). Much to their parent's relief Nessarose is not green, she is beautiful, but life has sent her a different trial, she was born without any arms.

 

After University, Elphie continues with her political activities, working underground and becoming somewhat distanced and isolated from her friends and family and it's here that things start to deteriorate. Fighting for the causes she believes in and finding love when she is least expecting it, Elphie becomes happy and contented for a time but tragedy is just around the corner (isn't it always?!) and her happiness is replaced by bitterness and resentment. Angered by all the injustices, jealous of what she see's as her father's preference for Nessa, fearful of the Wizard's growing power and all that that will mean for the Munchkinlanders and Oz, furious at Dorothy for squishing Nessarose and incensed by Glinda's gift to Dorothy of those enchanted shoes (I'm totally with her there, I could forgive anything but to be promised shoes and then see them on the feet of another ... it's more than flesh and blood can stand,) Elphaba starts to lose her reason. She becomes increasing unhinged and starts making rash decisions, one of which involves capturing Dorothy, who she believes intends to kill her. So much time has been spent getting to know Elphaba that even now, as she grows more and more wicked, you always feel that there is a way back for her, a way in which her better judgement will lead her back to the right path.

 

Rather ridiculously I was hoping for a different outcome, although in hindsight that would have been preposterous. I knew that bucket of water was coming but somehow I was still thinking it could be avoided. It was fascinating to see the story played out from Elphaba's perspective rather than Dorothy's though. It's funny also how you no longer see it as a victory over evil when Elphaba dies, instead you feel sad that it's come to this. The book is quite graphic in parts which may shock readers of the original classic but it didn't feel inappropriate or gratuitous. It's very funny in places, Elphie and Nanny in particular have a very dry and sarcastic wit. And quite sad and poignant too, especially the story of Liir, who may or may not be Elphie's son.

 

Totally entertaining, I've just noticed that there's a sequel, so I must read L. Frank Baum's original book and then hopefully move on to it.

 

10/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[Lucybird]

Sounds like you enjoyed this more than me Poppy. I haven't read The Wizard of Oz either, just seen the film, but I did start it once and couldn't get into it.

[AbielleRose]

Very good review Glad you enjoyed Wicked.

[lauraloves]

i'll be moving wicked up my tbr pile now after reading your review

[poppyshake]

Sounds like you enjoyed this more than me Poppy. I haven't read The Wizard of Oz either, just seen the film, but I did start it once and couldn't get into it.

 

It might be because I took the lazy route and listened to it Lucy, I did try and borrow the book from the library but it was constantly reserved. Long or complex books are so much easier to listen to than to read, especially as the narrator already knows the story so he or she never get's lost in the plot. There was a lot of info to take on board at the beginning of Wicked, the narrator made it easy, I'm sure if I'd have been reading it I would have been confused at times.

 

Very good review Glad you enjoyed Wicked.

 

Thanks CaliLily

 

i'll be moving wicked up my tbr pile now after reading your review

 

I really hope you enjoy it when it gets to the top of your pile Laura

[chesilbeach]

I'm still waiting for the library to get a copy of Wicked for me It's been "On its way" since 5th May. This is supposed to mean that a library has put a copy in their internal post to my local library for me to be able to collect. I've been in twice and complained, but still no sign of it yet.

[poppyshake]

We should be moving house mid July and I've been buried under a pile of paperwork and stress for weeks, it's a nightmare.

 

What with that and trying to de-clutter so that the contents of our house can reasonably fit into one large van, I haven't been able to read much

I've listened to a lot of books though because I can do that and clear cupboards at the same time.

[poppyshake]

I'm still waiting for the library to get a copy of Wicked for me It's been "On its way" since 5th May. This is supposed to mean that a library has put a copy in their internal post to my local library for me to be able to collect. I've been in twice and complained, but still no sign of it yet.

 

It's a book very much in demand isn't it

Again, I hope you enjoy it Chesil when you finally get your hands on it.

[Kylie]

Great review as always Poppyshake. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

I hope things go well with your move. When you say 'de-clutter' you're not referring to books as well are you?

[poppyshake]

Thanks Kylie .

 

My books got off lightly, I have parted with a few (just to make it look good) but only those that I could bear to see go.

I have stopped adding to them lately though, hubby is relieved but it's only temporary. Once I've moved, found my feet, found the bookstore (and I already know that there is a local Waterstones there) and unpacked my purse I know where I'll be heading.

[poppyshake]

 

Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel García Márquez

Waterstones Synopsis: 'It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love.' Fifty-one years, nine months and four days have passed since Fermina Daza rebuffed hopeless romantic Florentino Arizo's impassioned advances and married Dr. Juvenal Urbino instead. During that half century, Florentino has fallen into the arms of many delighted women, but has loved none but Fermina. Having sworn his eternal love to her, he lives for the day when he can court her again. When Fermina's husband is killed trying to retrieve his pet parrot from a mango tree, Florentino seizes his chance to declare his enduring love. But can young love find new life in the twilight of their lives?

 

Review: This was my second Gabriel García Márquez book and though I didn't enjoy it quite as much as One Hundred Years of Solitude I still liked it a lot. The story takes place in the Caribbean so it was the perfect sun lounger read.

 

When Florentino Ariza delivers a telegram to the house of Lorenzo Daza and spots his daughter reading in the sewing room, he falls hopelessly and irretrievably in love with her. Fermina Daza is busy teaching her Aunt Escolástica to read and she casually glances up as Florentino passes the window, that casual glance is 'the beginning of a cataclysm of love that still had not ended half a century later.' Florentino set's out to learn all he can about the Daza family, and he turns into somewhat of a stalker. Very early in the morning he sit's in a nearby park, pretending to read a book of verses as he watches Fermina stroll by on her way to school or church or just out for a leisurely walk with her aunt. 'Little by little he idealized her, endowing her with improbable virtues and imaginary sentiments, and after two weeks he thought of nothing else but her.'

 

He decides to send her a note, or at least that's his original intention. But the note turns into a letter which itself turns into a dictionary of compliments, sixty pages written on both sides, inspired by books he has learned by heart because he has read them so often whilst waiting for her to stroll by in the park. Thankfully he has the good sense to ask his mother's advice and she, understanding his heart but realising that the girl will probably run for the hills if she receives this tome of a billet-doux, persuades him not to send it and instead advises that he subtly let Fermina know of his interest and try to gain the approval of her aunt. All this is quite unnecessary though for Fermina would need to be extremely dense not to have noticed Florentino lurking about in the park, and she's not, she's very astute and so is her aunt and they have not only noticed him but are expecting a letter at any moment.

 

Thankfully when Florentino does give Fermina the long looked for missive, he has shortened it quite considerably to half a page. In it he has promised, what he believes to be essential, his perfect fidelity and everlasting love. They soon begin a clandestine exchange of letters, leaving them in secret hidden places and behaving in the most ridiculously besotted way (or hopelessly romantic depending on your viewpoint) with Florentino eating roses until he is sick because they remind him of her, going without sleep and inscribing verses onto camellia petals with the point of a pin and Fermina sending him butterfly wings, bird feathers and a square centimetre of St Peter Claver's habit. After two years of this, Florentino eventually sends perhaps his shortest letter of all, one paragraph asking for Fermina's hand in marriage. They have hardly ever spoken to each other in person, their love affair has all taken place on paper. Fermina needs time to think it over but she eventually, with a bit of encouragement from her aunt who is a hopeless romantic, writes 'very well, I will marry you if you promise not to make me eat eggplant'.

Unfortunately, Fermina's father Lorenzo (Fermina is motherless as Florentino is fatherless) begins to suspect that something is up, he finds packets of love letters spanning three years hidden in the false bottom of Fermina's trunk. He's not happy, he has financial difficulties and has been fostering great plans to marry Fermina off advantageously. He packs off poor Aunt Escolástica, has words with Florentino and takes himself and Fermina off on an 'extended journey of forgetting.' The clandestine correspondence continues but when Fermina returns home and accidentally see's Florentino for the first time in ages, she realises that she's been mistaken, the ferocious and all encompassing love she has felt for him seems to be entirely notional. She feel's nothing for him now but pity. She returns all his letters and love tokens and asks that he return all of hers too. Florentino is heartbroken, he doesn't see her alone again for fifty-one years, nine months and four days when, on her first night as a widow, he returns to her and repeats his vow of eternal fidelity and love.

Now, I don't know what your idea of eternal fidelity is but mine is certainly not the same as Florentino's for although he keeps Fermina on her pedestal he is anything but constant during their fifty odd years of separation. Fermina soon after marries Dr Juvenal Urbino, a doctor committed to ridding the country of cholera, and Florentino begins his journey and exploration of purely physical love. This book could have only been written by a man, because all male fantasy's are played out here. Florentino is not handsome, or particularly prepossessing in any way but for some reason women are mad with lust for him. He spends an inordinate amount of time falling from one bed to another. The women wait in their houses naked or in various stages of undress, deceiving their husbands and lovers, hot blooded and practically attacking him in the manner of women who have been sex starved for a very long time. It's fairly racy stuff but not graphically described, it's almost as if he's bemused that all this love is coming his way (and frankly so was I). One of his conquests is a fourteen year old girl which made me feel more than a bit uncomfortable, especially as he is by now seventy and her guardian.

When Fermina's husband dies (this happens quite early in the novel, the story being told in flashback). Florentina is hoping for another chance, he begins to woo her for a second time with letters and visits. Is it possible that Fermina will accept his love this time.?

It doesn't have all the glorious magical realism of One Hundred Years of Solitude but it still has all the beautiful dreamy prose and wit.

9/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

The Information - Martin Amis (Unabridged) read by Steven Pacey

 

Audible Synopsis: How can one writer hurt another where it really counts? The answer: attack his reputation. This is the problem facing novelist Richard Tull, contemplating the success of his friend and rival Gwyn Barry. Revenger's tragedy, comedy of errors, contemporary satire - The Information skewers high life and low in Martin Amis's brilliant return to the territory of Money and London Fields.

 

Review: This is a really dark satire about life in the literary world, practically everyone is unlikeable. The main character, writer Richard Tull is definitely unlikeable, he's absolutely riddled with envy over his friend (and I use the word 'friend' in it's loosest sense .. you wouldn't want a friend like Richard) Gwyn Barry's recent literary success.

 

Richard's own literary career is somewhat depressing, he is now reduced to vanity publishing and reviewing biographies for 'The Little Magazine', biographies about long dead and largely forgotten people. He has written quite a few novels and early in his career he was moderately successful, but he wasn't able to build on that success and for a few years now his career has been on the downward slide. He lastest book is actually called 'Untitled' (amongst other titles Richard thinks it may just as well be called 'Unread'), indeed as far as he knows he has a readership of one (there is a running gag about his latest book giving anyone who attempts to read it a crushing migraine, no-one can get past the first few pages). The worst part of all is that the novel that has made Gwyn so famous, rich and successful is the biggest pile of politically correct horsesh*t that Richard has ever had the misfortune to read, it's absolute tripe. And it's mystifying because, in Richard's view, he is the more intelligent and creative of the two. They have known each other since university and it was always supposed to be he that went on to greater things.

 

To say that Richard is bitter is an understatement and his greatest desire now, far outweighing his previous desire to write a bestseller, is to screw up Gwyn Barry's life. He hits upon various schemes, he tries to seduce his wife, he tries to discredit him with the judges of a literary prize, he arranges to have him beaten up (and rather helpfully Richard's readership of one turns out to be a screwed up sadistic ex-con), found with a prostitute, found guilty of plagiarism, he will in short stop at nothing, until he has covered Gwyn in dishonour and disgrace and seen him stripped of his prizes.

Now you may think that you'd feel sorry for Gwyn but you don't because he is an obnoxious, jumped up, puffed up little twerp who believes all the hype.

 

It's viciously dark, Richard is going through a bit of a mid-life crisis (to put it mildly), apart from his jealousy regarding Gwyn, he has problems at home ... his wife is exasperated by his lack of motivation (for anything involving work), he's impotent, he's middle aged and feeling it, he smokes, drinks and takes drugs and now he's involved with a gang of extremely ruthless people. But for all the spite and vitriol it's also very funny (in a black humour kind of way), you can't help laughing at some of the scrapes Richard gets himself into or at some of his innermost thoughts which are scathingly cruel but hilarious.

 

For the most part enjoyable but, though it is undoubtedly clever, I though it was too wordy and verbose at times and at 17 hours and 19 mins ... too long.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

The Still Point - Amy Sackville

 

Waterstones Synopsis: At the turn of the twentieth century, Arctic explorer Edward Mackley sets out to reach the North Pole and vanishes into the icy landscape without a trace. He leaves behind a young wife, Emily, who awaits his return for decades, her dreams and devotion gradually freezing into rigid widowhood. A hundred years later, on a sweltering mid-summer's day, Edward's great-grand-niece Julia moves through the old family house, attempting to impose some order on the clutter of inherited belongings and memories from that ill-fated expedition, and taking care to ignore the deepening cracks within her own marriage. But as afternoon turns into evening, Julia makes a discovery that splinters her long-held image of Edward and Emily's romance, and her husband Simon faces a precipitous choice that will decide the future of their relationship. Sharply observed and deeply engaging, "The Still Point" is a powerful literary debut, and a moving meditation on the distances - geographical and emotional - that can exist between two people.

 

Review: The story takes a day in the life of married couple, Julia and Simon, and juxtaposes it with a detailed account of Julia's great-great uncle, Edward Mackley, who was an Arctic explorer. The house that Julia and Simon now live in is the crumbling old ancestral home and it's stuffed full of ancient photographs, taxidermy and memorabilia including the diaries and ships log from Edwards ill fated attempt to reach the North pole. The story is legendary amongst the family, Julia and her sister Miranda loved hearing stories about the expedition when they were little (with the unsuitable bits taken out) and now Julia is attempting to archive the collection and make sense of the last few years, months and weeks of Edwards life.

 

When Edward set off in 1899 he was a new bridegroom, his bride Emily sailed with him as far as she could as part of their honeymoon, and then returned home to wait for his triumphant return. We follow Edward, his crew and the dogs as they make their way towards the North pole on board the Persephone. Along with Julia, we read Edwards diary entries which are at first wide eyed with wonder and full of hope of a triumphant return to Emily but becoming more and more despondent as he and the crew, having abandoned their quest, track through icy inhospitable wastes trying to find their way back to Franz Josef Land where they may be able to overwinter at Cape Flora. His diary entries at the end were incredibly moving as the crew gradually descend into abandoned polar expedition hell. They become lost, starved, ravaged, disabled, desperate and, in some cases, mad. In the end death is almost welcomed. Then there is Emily, unaware of the real situation, waiting, waiting, waiting for her beloved husband's return, haunted by nightmares of his frostbitten blackened features and gripped by fear.

 

Although nothing has been openly discussed, Julia and Simon's marriage is in danger. Julia is a a bit of a dreamer, locked in the past and struggling to be the sort of wife that she perceives Simon wants, and Simon, frustrated and irked by her, is one step away from doing something that will probably kill the marriage stone dead. A visitor also brings some news to Julia that challenges all of her pre-conceived notions about Edward and Emily's relationship and throws her into a state of insecurity.

 

One of the things I liked most about it was the mixture of Julia and Simon's sultry hot day which just builds and builds, stormlike, along with the tension between them, and Edwards icy Arctic conditions. It worked really well. Julia is the sort of free spirited, dreamy, cool, ethereal, beautiful-but-doesn't-know-it, looks-good-in-a-bin-bag, sensitive soul that would normally make you hate her immediately, somehow I didn't, but I did prefer the passages about Edward and Emily. It's skillfully written and beautifully descriptive, I thought at first overly so but soon came to appreciate her use of language.

 

Beautiful cover too, like paper cuttings.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite - Beatrice Colin (Unabridged) read by Jilly Bond

 

Audible Synopsis: The debauched celebration of the cabaret era. The magical ascent of cinema. The deprivations of World War I and the build up to World War II. Set against the rise and fall of Berlin and the innovations in art that accompanied it, The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite brilliantly weaves together the story of orphan girl Lilly Nelly Aphrodite's remarkable journey from poverty to film stardom

 

Review: Overall I quite enjoyed listening to this, though I struggled with it at times. It is relentlessly bleak.

 

I really liked the young orphan Lilly (or Tiny Lill as she is called to begin with), after an ill-fated beginning (her real parents are irresponsible and her adoptive parents find that she cannot, after all, replace their own dead daughter.) Tiny Lil is sent to an orphanage to live amongst the nuns. Despite being eager to please, she finds it hard to settle and is often in trouble with the nuns for bad behaviour. She's a great mix of vulnerability and high spirits, and, at the beginning of her time at the orphanage, spends most days sitting in a chair in silence, or eating meals alone as punishment. She has an overwhelming desire to be loved and to love, she adores and idolises Sister August but is often in trouble with her, Sister August advises her to look to God for guidance and comfort.

 

'Sometimes Tiny Lil looked for God. She explored every inch of the orphanage, from the spaces between the eaves in the attic to a secret cupboard behind the coal bunker in the basement, for evidence of his presence that she could offer to Sister August. And yet she never found anything, nothing but dead spiders and single socks, balls of dust and small locked suitcases that former inhabitants had forgotten'

 

Another person she comes to love is Hanne, who has recently come to the orphanage with her brothers. The friendship between Hanne and Lilly lasts for the entire book which is fairly surprising as Hanne would test the loyalty of a saint. Desperate to earn money in order that she and her brothers can escape to a better life, Hanne is soon encouraging Tiny Lil to climb over the orphange wall and accompany her to sell roses, filched from the nun's garden, to men at the 'tingle-tangle's'. Needless to say this leads to trouble.

The adult Lilly didn't quite live up to my expectations, she just didn't seem to come alive for me. Some of the books minor characters seemed to be more well-drawn. For a book so detailed in many respects, I didn't feel that enough detail was given to this stage of her life, she lost most of her feistiness and became quite downtrodden which was understandable given the circumstances but made for dreary reading (or listening in this case) and I couldn't quite believe in her eventual movie stardom. Her life was one long series of unfortunate events, she often found love, or was on the brink of love, only to have it snatched away. Hanne fared worse, being a 'good time girl' for want of a better phrase (though she hardly ever had a good time) and perennially picking up with what can only be described as the 'wrong sort'. Her character though had more spark and bite. Having said that I did become very fond of Lilly and constantly hoped that she would find the love she craved.

 

The real star of the piece is Berlin itself, gloriously described in detail, evoking all the seediness of the cabaret nightlife, the poverty and hardships of it's people during the period between the two world wars and the fear for some, and passion of others, evoked by the rise of the Third Reich.

 

7/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

 

Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer

 

Waterstones Synopsis: 'An astonishing feat' - "The Times". A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into bizarre new forms; a 'blind' old man haunted by memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis Jr, Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive - a truth hidden behind veils of time, language and the horrors of war. What they find turns all their worlds upside down.

 

Review: You're either going to love this book or hate it, there's no middle ground. It's a book essentially about the holocaust but approached from an unusual angle.

There are lots of main characters but the two that you are mainly focused on are a young American writer called Jonathan Safran Foer (which was odd .. this caught me out straight away, because of course it's the name of the author and I kept trying to get my head around that) and Alex Perchova, a young man from the Ukraine. Jonathan is travelling through the Ukraine on a journey to find out what happened to his Ukranian ancestors during the German occupation. In particular he is looking for a woman called Augustine, who he believes saved his grandfather from the Nazi's.

 

Alex, is to act as Jonathan's guide and translator, along with his crusty old grandfather who, despite claiming to be blind, drives the vehicle across the Ukraine cursing and swearing at the Jew (Jonathan) and refusing to believe that his dog ... Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior .. is named after a Jew. Alex never entirely passes on his grandfather's outrageous comments to Jonathan, he tries to pass them off as something else. Alex has his own problems with the English language, frankly he murders it (think Borat) .. 'I am not first rate with English. In Russian my ideas are asserted abnormally well, but my second tongue is not so premium'. Alex is fantastic, I loved his character, he's like an eager to please, overly enthusiastic, puppy dog, but one who is suffering ill treatment at home despite all his bravura and crassness. Later on in the book, as Alex learns more about life and his own ancestors, we see a different side to him, the side he's been covering up with brashness and boasting but to begin with he has all the enthusiasm of youth and hopeful expectations. He thinks that the world's greatest documentary is 'The making of Thriller' and claims to have had many lovers. He has also 'given abnormally many thoughts to altering residences to America when I am more aged' in order to train as an accountant. He keeps mentioning how his grandfather is 'retarded', only it turns out he means retired. And he absolutely adores his little brother who he calls 'little Igor'.

 

The story takes on many different forms and bounces back and forth between eras. Firstly there is the road trip mentioned above, secondly, and quite separate, Jonathan is narrating a fictional history of his ancestors from Trachimbrod stretching right back to the 1700's. This part has a touch of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez's about it, it's very lyrical and surreal (one of the chapters is called 'The Book of Recurrent Dreams 1791'. The congregation of 'The Slouching Synagogue' or 'slouchers' as they were called, are now on volume IV of the book of recurrent dreams and adding to it all the time .. during this meeting they add the following ...

4: 512 The dream of sex without pain

4: 513 The dream of angels dreaming of men

4: 514 The dream of, as silly as it sounds, flight

4: 515 The dream of the waltz of feast, famine and feast

4: 516 The dream of disembodied birds

4: 517 The dream of falling in love, marriage and death

4: 518 The dream of perpetual motion

4: 519 The dream of low windows

4: 520 The dream of safety and peace

4: 521 The dream of disembodied birds (again)

4: 522 The dream of meeting your younger self

4: 523 The dream of animals two by two

4: 524 The dream of I won't be ashamed

4: 525 The dream that we are our fathers

... some of these dreams, in fact most of them, are elaborated upon.) Thirdly are the letters that pass between Alex and Jonathan which are perhaps amongst the funniest parts of the book, though they become more poignant with time. It's not necessarily written chronologically, you sometimes read letter's referring to events that happened on the road trip before you have actually read about that part of the road trip and also Alex's letters refer to Jonathan's novel, Alex reads the pieces as we do and then comments on them. For bears of very small brain it can be confusing and I did find myself re-reading parts on a regular basis.

 

I enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it to those who like something a little bit different. Not everyone is going to enjoy it, it's hard going in parts and some people may feel that it's a touch pretentious or overly ambitious. Also it contains lots of graphic content, but overall I thought it was well worth the effort.

 

9/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake

[chesilbeach]

I read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer which I thought was a fantastically good book, and I keep meaning to pick up Everything Is Illuminated, so thanks for the reminder, Poppy - another book to bump up the wishlist!

[poppyshake]

I read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer which I thought was a fantastically good book, and I keep meaning to pick up Everything Is Illuminated, so thanks for the reminder, Poppy - another book to bump up the wishlist!

 

Yes, I've got to put Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close on my wishlist now it's never ending isn't it!

[poppyshake]

 

At Home: A Short History of Private Life - Written and read by Bill Bryson

 

Audible Synopsis: Here is Bill Bryson's entertaining and illuminating book about the history of the way we live - complete, unabridged and read by the author.

Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering what history really consists of: centuries of people quietly going about their daily business. This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, considering how the ordinary things in life came to be. Along the way, he researched the history of anything and everything, from architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the spice trade to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets. And he discovered that there is a huge amount of history, interest and excitement - and even a little danger - lurking in the corners of every home.

Where A Short History of Nearly Everything was a sweeping panorama of the world, the universe and everything, At Home peers at private life through a microscope. Bryson applies the same irrepressible curiosity, irresistible wit, stylish prose, and masterful storytelling that made A Short History of Nearly Everything one of the most lauded books of the last decade.

 

Review: I have a great affection for Bill Bryson and have read or listened to nearly all of his books, my absolute favourites being Notes From a Small Island and Notes From a Big Country. I was a bit bamboozled by A Short History of Nearly Everything though as it is far too scientific for me and I got lost amongst the atoms and subatomic particles. It was just way way over my head.

 

I was hoping that this would be a return to some of his earlier books (clearly I didn't read the blurb properly) and thought from the title that he would be talking, in his affable way, about the humdrumness of life in rural England. What it actually is is a book exploring the rooms in the rambling rectory where he lives in Norfolk, looking at the history behind such rooms and their objects. Though the content isn't always that straightforward, the chapter about the study turns out to be a chapter mostly about rats and mice. Similarly in the bedroom we learn all about illnesses and death and bed mites and the like (did you know that 10% of your pillows weight, after six years of use, is dead skin, dead bedbugs, dust mites and their faeces). It's like one big QI episode with facts and figures coming at you from all directions.

 

There are too many facts to recall but some of my favourites were the anecdote about the unimaginable extravagance of some super rich americans during the gilded age whose dinner guests were presented with piles of sand and little shovels at their place settings and invited to dig for the diamonds that were sprinkled in there (which makes my most extravagant place settings of posh christmas crackers from John Lewis look a bit pathetic) and the many anecdotes about the virtues of closing the toilet lid, one of which was that if you don't, when you flush the loo, the microbes fly about for two hours settling on anything within reach .. like your toothbrush! (if that doesn't cure you then the one confirming that most rats enter a house via the toilet will .. though to be honest my loo seat is so flimsy that I'm sure a rat would have no problem with it .. note to self ... buy a heavy wooden loo seat).

 

Though initially I was disappointed, I soon became engrossed and Bill has a lovely laid back way of reading which made it a pleasure to listen.

 

8/10

Edited July 28, 2010 by poppyshake