Poppy's Paperbacks 2010

[frankie]

Thanks for the review! This one's already on my wishlist but had it not been, I would've added it after reading your thoughts on it

[poppyshake]

Lovely review, added it to my wishlist. Good luck with your reading in 2010.

 

wow sounds such a good book, will add it to my list of books to read, thank you.

 

Thanks for the review! This one's already on my wishlist but had it not been, I would've added it after reading your thoughts on it

 

Thanks guys , I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did. A book about a book-lover for book-lovers .. perfect!

[poppyshake]

The Shipping News - Annie Proulx

Waterstone's Synopsis: Annie Proulx's highly acclaimed, international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Quoyle is a hapless, hopeless hack journalist living and working in New York. When his no-good wife is killed in a spectacular road accident, Quoyle heads for the land of his forefathers -- the remotest corner of far-flung Newfoundland. With 'the aunt' and his delinquent daughters -- Bunny and Sunshine -- in tow, Quoyle finds himself part of an unfolding, exhilarating Atlantic drama. 'The Shipping News' is an irresistible comedy of human life and possibility.

Review: Oh how I loved this book  I was totally unaware of Annie Proulx's writing though she has won countless awards (and is the author of, among other stories, Brokeback Mountain).
It couldn't have been more perfect than to read this book with thick snow outside, for it is mostly set in freezing Newfoundland .. with the 'icebergs clinking in the bay'. It's a very funny book. tragic too in parts but never overly sentimental. I just loved her character and place names ... 'Capsize Cove', 'Killick Claw', 'Gaze Island' and 'Tickle Motel' to name a few and she is so descriptive .. I felt like I knew the characters and the place well by the end of it.
I eventually grew to love Quoyle (the main character) .. he starts off a bit wet .. married to the serially unfaithful Petal and with two slightly odd daughters .... he even manages to be thrilled when, after showering her with gifts, Petal gives him two hens eggs for Christmas (that he bought the day before at a Supermarket ) .. really, you want to give him a good shake.
But things take a turn for the better (if not odder) when he moves with his daughters and Aunt to his old ancestors birthplace in Newfoundland (after Petal is killed in a road accident) where he takes a job as a journalist for the 'Gammy Bird' local newspaper reporting on the shipping news.
What follows is a drama full of comedy, tragedy, a murder, some drownings, seal flipper stew and a ray of hope for Quoyle and his two daughters in the shape of widowed Wavey Prowse and her son Herry.

Now, after reading other reviews, I've come to the understanding that this book is the literary equivalent of Marmite .. you'll either love the writing style or you'll hate it. There is a distinct lack of pronouns but it only bemused me for about two pages and then it was fine.

I'm still thinking about the story and the characters now, even after starting another book .. I miss them

 10/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Look Back in Hunger - Jo Brand

Waterstone's Synopsis: Jo Brand is one of Britain's funniest and best-loved comedians. With a sharp eye for the absurd and in her own unique voice she tells her story for the first time. What possessed her to become a professional comedian in the cut-throat world of stand-up comedy after ten years as a psychiatric nurse? How did she deal with late night drunken audiences? Raised in middle class comfort, she left home in her teens to live with someone entirely inappropriate. Her parents were aghast at her behaviour and attempted to rein in her excesses, finally giving up when she demonstrated that she was not headed for the life of a nun. From her early years growing up in a small south coast town with two brothers who toughened her up, to emerging on stage as 'The Sea Monster', Jo Brand tells it like it is with wit, candour and a wonderful sense that life can be ridiculous but there's always a funny side.

Review: This was an extremely easy read. It's full of humour as you would expect but there is a lot also about Jo's upbringing, her school days, her work in the mental health service and her early relationships.
There's not much about her comedy career the book leaves off at around the time of her appearances on Friday Night Live in the 80's (which was her first TV performance) ... similarly, there's no mention of her marriage or children (or scant mention anyway) .. perhaps that will be for the sequel, but it did finish rather abruptly and I kept looking for the next chapter.
Enjoyable.

7/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

December - Elizabeth H. Winthrop

Waterstone's Synopsis: Eleven-year-old Isabelle hasn't spoken in nine months, and as December begins the situation is getting desperate. Her mother has stopped work to devote herself to her daughter's care. Four psychiatrists have already given up on her, and her school will not take her back in the New Year. Her parents are frantically trying to understand what has happened so they can help their child, but they cannot escape the thought of darker possibilities. What if Isabelle is damaged beyond their reach? Will she never speak again? Is it their fault? As they spiral around Isabelle's impenetrable silence, she herself emerges as a bright young girl in need of help yet too terrified to ask for it. By the talented young author of FIREWORKS, this is a compelling, ultimately uplifting novel about a family in crisis, showing the delicate web that connects a husband and wife, parents and children, and how easily it can tear.

Review: I found this book very easy to read, the story is set alternatively in New York and New England and centres around Isabelle who stopped speaking nine months ago. Her parents are understandably bewildered and anxious to do anything that will break Isabelle's self imposed silence. It's quite a slow paced book .. nothing much happens and there isn't a lot of humour in it (not surprising given the book's theme) but it is well written and thought provoking. I did care enough about the outcome to keep reading but I didn't care that much about the characters .. the mother irritated me as did Isabelle at times (but I did like the dad and the dog! )
All in all an easy read, good for when you don't want to read anything too challenging (but it's not fluff either) and great for reading when it's cold as there are some fantastic descriptions of snowy days in New England.

7/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

The Ladies of Grace Adieu - Susanna Clarke

Waterstone's Synopsis: Faerie is never as far away as you think. Sometimes you find you have crossed an invisible line and must cope, as best you can, with petulant princesses, vengeful owls, ladies who pass their time embroidering terrible fates or with endless paths in deep, dark woods and houses that never appear the same way twice. The heroines and heroes bedevilled by such problems in these fairy tales include a conceited Regency clergyman, an eighteenth-century Jewish doctor and Mary, Queen of Scots, as well as two characters from "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Strange himself and the Raven King".

Review: I'm a massive fan of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and so was really looking forward to reading this collection of short stories and it didn't disappoint. Written in much the same style (Aesop crossed with Jane Austen) and featuring a couple of the characters from her novel (Jonathan Strange and the Raven King) this is a collection of eight faerie tales. 'On Lickerish Hill' is a take on the famous 'Rumpelstiltskin' tale and 'The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse' and 'Antickes and Frets' are both tales involving mystical embroidery (the former is set in Neil Gaiman's fictional world of Wall), my favourite was 'Mr Simonelli or The Fairy Widower' .. a tale about a clergyman and an unprincipled fairy.

My only criticism is that there weren't enough stories .. I could have done with a couple more.

8/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[BookJumper]

Question: does one need to have read JS&MN to get the most out of The Ladies of Grace Adieu, or will they make sense to the uninitiated?

[poppyshake]

Question: does one need to have read JS&MN to get the most out of The Ladies of Grace Adieu, or will they make sense to the uninitiated?

 

No Giulia, even though two characters from JS&MN are in two of the stories, it doesn't presume that you know them already.

I found it easier to get into her style of writing because I'd read her before but I'm sure the stories will make sense to those that haven't read the novel .. if indeed you can talk about these stories 'making sense' because they are quite odd and fanciful.

 

I've started 'Neverwhere' now .. so far so good

[BookJumper]

Odd and fanciful sounds goods good to me and I've been to Wall and back if that helps!

 

Happy Neverwhere, I'm sure you'll love it as much as I did.

[Kylie]

Thanks for the great review of The Ladies of Grace Adieu

 

I've had this on my TBR pile for a while, and I was a little worried that I'd forgotten too much of JC&MN to be able to read this, so I'm glad that won't be the case.

[poppyshake]

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Waterstone's Synopsis: Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of - a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, and pale girls in black velvet. Richard Mayhew is a young businessman who is about to find out more than he bargained for about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his safe and predictable life and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and yet utterly bizarre. There's a girl named Door, an Angel called Islington, an Earl who holds Court on the carriage of a Tube train, a Beast in a labyrinth, and dangers and delights beyond imagining...And Richard, who only wants to go home, is to find a strange destiny waiting for him below the streets of his native city. This title includes extra material exclusive to Headline Review's edition

Review: Wonderful  This is definitely my favourite Gaiman novel .. so far. Beautifully written, his prose is so rich and descriptive that I was transported into the worlds of London Above/Below immediately and was totally wrapped up with Richard's story .. it's so intriguing because there is a lot you recognize in the London that is described but a lot that's totally alien too. I loved Door and the Marquis ... mysterious and fantastic characters but all the characters were believable and well written.

So, as it says above, this is a story about Richard, whose life is turned upside down when he comes to the aid of a young lady in distress.
There were some delightful twists and turns which I didn't see coming and a great ending which is so important.
If you're a fan of fantasy novels .. do yourself a favour and read it.

10/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Just a thought .. can anyone tell me if the TV series of 'Neverwhere' is any good?

[BookJumper]

I haven't seen it yet, however as the book was based on it rather than the other way around and it was written by Neil it can't be bad... can it?

[poppyshake]

 

Tales of Terror from the Black Ship - Chris Priestley

Waterstone's Synopsis: At the Old Inn, which clings precariously to a cliff top above a storm-lashed ocean, two sick children are left alone while their father fetches the doctor. Then a visitor comes begging for shelter, and so begins a long night of storytelling, in which young Ethan and Cathy, who have an unnatural appetite for stories of a macabre persuasion, sit out the last throes of the storm in the company of a sailor with more than enough grisly tales to satisfy them. But something about this sailor puts Ethan on edge, and he becomes increasingly agitated for his father's return. Only when the storm blows itself out can Ethan relax - but not for long, for the new dawn opens the children's eyes to a truth more shocking, more distressing than anything they heard the night before.

Review: This is the sequel to Chris's wonderful Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror which I read last year. Being a bit of a scaredy cat, this book, which is really a childrens book (age range 9-12 approx), is about as scary as I go without needing to leave the light on at night
It's a collection of short stories told to two children on a dark stormy night by a stranger who needs shelter from the raging storm outside.
As in the previous book, some tales are scarier than others .... 'The Scrimshaw Imp', 'Irezumi' and 'Nature' I found particularly chilling .. and the brilliant 'Wolfsbane' which concluded the tales with an unexpected twist. Some of the stories are more predictable and you can work out what's going to happen pretty easily (but then, it is meant for children) but the whole together make a really chilling and spine tingling collection.
I really love David Robert's illustrations that pepper both books.
I'm looking forward to reading the paperback edition of Tales of Terror from the Tunnel's Mouth as soon as it is published

 8/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Puppet Master - Joanne Owen

Waterstone's Synopsis: From riches to rags, Milena is growing up in the city of Prague at the turn of the twentieth century. Her parents' once prosperous theatre lies in disrepair and her life seems to be in ruins, and has been since that fateful night her father died in a tragic accident and Milena's beautiful, talented Mother went missing. No trace of her has been found. But Milena has never lost hope that she will come back. The day she meets the flamboyant Puppet Master and his menacing proteges, the twins Zdenko and Zdenka, under the shadow of Prague's famous Astronomical Clock in the Old Town square is, coincidentally, the date of her mother's birthday. And it's the day Milena's grandmother chooses to reveal to her the story of her ancestors...and of her legacy. Or perhaps it's not such a coincidence. Joanne Owen's debut novel skilfully mingles the legends of Bohemia in a story rich in the traditions of circus, theatre and magic, all set in a city waiting to lay bare a myriad of secrets. Longlisted for the Branford Boase Award 2009 and the Carnegie Medal.

Review: Again this is a book written for older children so it was an easy read. Set in nineteenth century Prague and woven through with lots of ancient Bohemian myths and fables .. this felt like reading the old fairy stories/fables that I'd read as a child.
When we join the story Milena is living with her Grandmother ... her Father (who runs a puppet theatre) is dead and her Mother missing. A new travelling puppet theatre comes to town .. run by the 'Puppet Master' and his evil twin sidekicks Zdenka and Zdenko. He has evil plans (obviously ) and Milena is the key he needs to put these plans into action.
Thankfully, Milena has Aunts who are mistresses of magic (phew) and an ancestry linking her to some of the most powerful women in Prague including the great Queen Libuse.

Still, the puppet master is evil, his sidekicks are foul and his marionettes are surprisingly lifelike!
I really enjoyed this tale, it's beautifully written and beautifully illustrated .. not in the conventional way but with images on nearly every page .. sometimes drawings and sometimes letters, roomplans .. pages from books .. that kind of thing .. enchanting.

7/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[Kylie]

That sounds like an intriguing book, Poppy, and right up my alley. Thanks for the review.

[BookJumper]

I really enjoyed this tale, it's beautifully written and beautifully illustrated .. not in the conventional way but with images on nearly every page .. sometimes drawings and sometimes letters, roomplans .. pages from books .. that kind of thing .. enchanting.

Good to know; this used to be on my Wishlist and it seems like I've taken it off at some point - sounds like, thanks to you, it'll have to go back on !

[poppyshake]

That sounds like an intriguing book, Poppy, and right up my alley. Thanks for the review.

 

Good to know; this used to be on my Wishlist and it seems like I've taken it off at some point - sounds like, thanks to you, it'll have to go back on !

 

I hope you both enjoy it ... I'm sure you will

[poppyshake]

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

Waterstone's Synopsis: Meet Balram Halwai, the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepreneur and murderer. Balram, the White Tiger, was born in a backwater village on the River Ganges, the son of a rickshaw-puller. He works in a teashop, crushing coal and wiping tables, but nurses a dream of escape. When he learns that a rich village landlord needs a chauffeur, he takes his opportunity, and is soon on his way to Delhi behind the wheel of a Honda. Amid the cockroaches and call-centres, the 36,000,004 gods, the slums, the shopping malls, and the crippling traffic jams, Balram learns of a new morality at the heart of a new India. Driven by desire to better himself, he comes to see how the Tiger might escape his cage...

Review    : I found this book to be very readable and on the whole enjoyable. Darkly humourous and unflinching it's a story about Balram .. the son of a rickshaw puller, born into poverty (or the Darkness as he puts it) in India and his determination to leave the slums behind and make something of himself. It's told in a series of letters (or one long letter written over seven nights) to the Chinese premier who is due to visit India imminently .. Balram want's to set the record straight about what India is really like .. the corruption, inequality and crippling poverty .. and he describes in detail his journey from being a poor boy working in the teashop crushing coal to his present position of 'Bangalore entrepreneur'.

Balram is endearingly honest, likeable and very witty and it's easy to empathise with him so, it's a real test for the reader when, in order to achieve his goals, Balram does something incredibly evil.

This book won the 'Man Booker' prize in 2008 and I'm not sure if it's that extraordinary a read as to warrant it but it is enjoyable, thought provoking, and well written.

7/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

Fine Just the Way It Is - Annie Proulx

Waterstone's Synopsis: The fantastic new collection of stories from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain. Fine Just The Way It Is marks Annie Proulx's return to the Wyoming of Brokeback Mountain and the familiar cast of hardy, unsentimental prairie folk. The stories are cast over centuries, and capture the voices and lives of the settlers this sagebrushed and weatherworn country has known, from the native Indian tribes to the modern day ranch owners and politicians, and their cowboy forebears. In 'A Family Man', an old man nearing the end of his life unburdens himself of the weighty family secrets that were his father's unwelcome legacy. 'Them Old Cowboy Songs' follows Archie and Rosie, a young pioneer couple, and their hardships in their attempt to homestead in the exposed wintry expanses of the prairie, and 'Testimony of the Donkey' finds a young international couple, Marc and Caitlin, struggling with much more modern concerns, and confronting uncertainty as their relationship comes to its end. These are stories of desperation and hard times, often marked by an inescapable sadness, set in a landscape both brutal and magnificent. Enlivened by folk tales, flights of fancy, and details of ranch and rural work, they juxtapose Wyoming's traditional character and attitudes -- confrontation of tough problems, prejudice, persistence in the face of difficulty -- with the more benign values of the new west. These are bold, elegant and memorable pieces, and once more confirm Annie Proulx as one of the most talented, unique short story writers in the language.

Review: I enjoyed The Shipping News so much that I was really eager to read more from Annie. This is a collection of nine short stories set in Wyoming and for me it was a bit hit and miss. There were several that I really enjoyed but some that I found baffling or boring. Despite being a really bleak tale, I really liked 'Them Old Cowboy Songs' .. a story about Archie and Rosie .. poverty stricken newlywed's trying to start married life in their isolated homestead (it has all the ingredients of a really good country and western song .. initial hope and then absolute misery ) and I also really liked 'The Sagebrush Kid' .. a tale about a childless couple who, after trying unsuccessfully to rear a piglet and a chicken as substitute children, take to pampering a sagebrush with disastrous consequences (the moral of the story being ... don't feed your shrubs on gravy and bits of meat .. or they might get a taste for it ) .. bizarre and macabre. Although I wasn't wild about this collection of stories, I still want to read more of Annie's work because when she does get it right, it's extraordinary.

6/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[poppyshake]

The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters

Waterstone's Synopsis: In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, its owners? mother, son and daughter? struggling to keep pace. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.

Review: Given, as I said earlier, that I am a complete scaredy cat when it comes to reading thrillers or horror, I'm impressed that I even considered reading this book  And of all the things that scare me the most 'the supernatural' would come top so it was with a bit of trepidation that I began reading
One thing I loved about it from the outset was how well she sets up the story. Within a couple of chapters I became really familiar with the doctor, the Ayres family and the crumbling old Hundreds Hall .. and though there were hints at dark things to come I sailed merrily on wanting to know more about them.
The author then starts to drip-feed tension .. quite slowly at first (though it wasn't long before I didn't want to be in the house alone when reading it .. but then I am a custard ) but it really ramps up towards the end. There is a huge twist which is so subtlely done that I failed to see it at first even though I had had suspicions regarding it and I had to re-read the last two chapters to fully understand it.
Atmospheric, creepy and quite reminiscent of the old gothic style chillers. It probably won't frighten seasoned horror lovers but for those that like to have their spine tingled a little it was great.

9/10

Edited November 29, 2013 by poppyshake

[tunn300]

Hi Poppy, I also read this book this month and feel the same as you about the build up of the suspense and how involved you feel with the hall and the characters. However I thought the ending was a bit of a disappointment and an anti-climax. I am intrigued to what the big twist you talk about is as I think I may have missed it and thus am doing the ending an injustice. Am intrigued to know your thoughts.

[poppyshake]

Hi Poppy, I also read this book this month and feel the same as you about the build up of the suspense and how involved you feel with the hall and the characters. However I thought the ending was a bit of a disappointment and an anti-climax. I am intrigued to what the big twist you talk about is as I think I may have missed it and thus am doing the ending an injustice. Am intrigued to know your thoughts.

 

Well, I missed it too and only realised the truth of it by reading other people's reviews, the blurb on the back said 'best of all is the ending, quietly revelatory and chilling' .. and I thought well that's odd, I didn't think it revealed anything much more than had already been said and then a few Amazon reviews also mentioned a twist ... such as ...

 

'In a more conventional ghost story, a bundle of old letters or musty deeds discovered in an attic might cast light on the ancient curse afflicting the house, or some old wrong for which they are being punished. Here there is no such revelation. The Ayres family seem relatively innocent (though the two grown up children admit to having played cruel pranks on the servants). No solution to the mystery is spelled out. Even Faraday confesses himself baffled. And yet, the conclusion is chillingly satisfying - and a startling twist'

 

and this ..

 

 

'I was expecting a huge twist at the end and at first I couldn't see one at all. However I would recommend that should you read the book, and I think people should, you might want to re-read the final few chapters as I suddenly saw a huge twist that shocked me a little and actually the very last line alludes to slightly which I then had to re-read. If my second reading and discovery is true then that gave me the chills far more than the ghostly parts of the book did'

 

I did re-read the last two chapters and the penny dropped

Dr Faraday himself was somehow responsible for the terrible events ... he wanted the house all to himself, when Caroline said 'You' before she fell to her death it was him .. we were led to believe that the doctor was asleep in his car at that point. He is happy then in the abandoned house, observing that the ghost doesn't appear to him and the only face he sees reflected in the window panes is his own

 

 

It is so so subtle, and I would doubt the truth of it if the cover itself hadn't talked about the ending being chilling. But there are clues earlier in the book when Caroline

mentions that the troubles more or less started when the doctor appeared .. and remember he had coveted the house ever since that first childhood visit when he cut off the acorn moulding and of course they also talked, with regards to Rod, about the possibility of a subliminal self that could wreak havoc

 

 

Anyway have another look at it and see what you think.

Edited February 24, 2010 by poppyshake

[tunn300]

Interesting.

I had thought about this after Faraday has his out of body experience when sleeping in the car. In fact I thought it was pretty likely until I read some other threads, possibly on another forum that suggested that when Caroline says you, she is referring to her deceased sister, who she has seen pictures of before.

 

 

Your argument is very convincing. I think I was disappointed as I normally read thrillers which have a clear cut ending and this one does not. However in hindsight this possibly makes it a better book as I am still thinking about it nearly a month after finishing, which only happens with a few books.

 

It was a great read and I will have to read more of her books. Glad you enjoyed it too!

[poppyshake]

Yes, I'm going to read more too .. I enjoyed it immensely