I've been losing whole days to books recently, and I do not regret a thing. It started with Film 4 airing My Sister's Keeper, a film I try not to watch too much (for obvious reasons) but this time I found myself wanting to know the story behind the screenplay. I couldn't imagine how it was written and my curiosity needed satisfying. Sitting next door to the book I was after, stood a title that immediately pulled me in. The Storyteller is a title I have long been using as a way of describing myself and I was already intrigued by the idea of fiction within fiction.

 

In this case, there's certainly fiction within the framework of fiction, but there are hard to swallow facts embedded in there too. Picoult straddles a number of words and a multitude of characters in this novel. It is unusual to be reading about the Holocaust and the Second World War in a book that is not primary concerned with belligerent countries and the bloodiest of battles. As a graduate of a degree in both English and History, the books plays up to my interests on almost every level. I was reminded about a seminar I - somewhat unwillingly - sat through, on the purposes of the curriculum and whether too much attention is given to Hitler and the Third Reich. It was an atrocity of unspeakable terms; events occurred that I cannot even begin to imagine because my stomach simply could not cope with them. But although the Holocaust was, in some ways, an isolated event, the genocide of humans has been performed throughout history, all over the world. The Storyteller addresses one side of this argument. It argues that we must never forget the Holocaust but that we should not harbour it either. Essentially, it's a complex background that this book feeds into and where your opinion lies is up to you and no one else.

 

Picoult uses words to great effect, a trait she shares with Minka, the young Jewish girl who speaks fluent German and somehow survives the horrors of the war. She is a storyteller in her own right, not speaking of the sufferering she endured until her final years but rather vocalising the story she started as a teenager, about a young girl called Ania and her love affair with an upir; a monster within a man. Men are often seen as monsters in this novel, of varying degree, but none more so than Reiner Hartmann.

I had picked up, near the close of the novel, the variance of blood type. I knew therefore that the ending would be as I had imagined; Josef was in fact Franz, not Reiner. There was too strong a focus on siblings, on brothers, for it not to be the case. Knowing this did not diminish the ending because as the book so often attested to, something ending often meant something new would begin in its place. Franz had carried on the fictional tale Minka had begun. He too had weaved his own, a dizzying blend of the truth - horrors performed by his brother - which he marred into falsities. He wanted forgiveness for not saving his brother and sought it by becoming him. Not in reality, not in his image, but in memory. It was a clever plot twist which made for enjoyable reading.

Outside of the past we are invited into the present, mostly through Sage, a grieving, scarred baker. I  loved her relationship with Leo (almost as much as I loved Leo's relationship with his mother) and Rocco, Sage's haiku-speaking colleague, was a breath of clean, fresh air in a book full of loss and loneliness. There were a number of passages that I could have picked for my quote collection but I have opted not to list any of them. Partially because I simply couldn't pick one, but mostly because I implore you to read the book and select one yourself.

I read Child 44 a while ago, after picking it up from The Works on the off chance it would be a good read. Which it really was. But then I shelved it on my bookcase and thought little more of it, until this week just gone. I was browsing the shelves of my local library for something new to read on my commutes, after exhausting both Glamour Magazine and November's Vanity Fair (which was well worth a read and made me admire Jennifer Lawrence all the more.)

The Farm - a book by Tom Rob Smith who also penned Child 44 - promised thrilling drama and a whole host of crimes, all of which hinged around a family full of secrets. Set between London and Sweden, the book is enriching and very visually engaging thanks to Smith's use of language. There are of course, as is often expected with crime-inclusive narratives, some scenes which are hard to real. The troll motif that seems to underpin much of the story is certainly unsightly but the illusions to declining mental health and events of the summer of '63 which finally become uncovered, are the hardest to stomach.

I love stories that delve in the darkest parts of the human anatomy. The brain is such a fascinating organ to me; how it can be so powerful and yet so easily rendered into confusion. Smith tackles this well, never really letting on who we are supposed to believe and invest in. Stories sound true until proven otherwise and characters that appear one way are sometimes viewed so very differently through the eyes of another. Daniel, our driving point into the heart of the story, is moving through life shrouded in secrets. He is keeping one from his parents - the fact that he loves and lives with a man - but it never occurs to him that they could be keeping secrets from him too.The Farm is a book that travels forwards and backwards, in both time and place. Sweden and London are interchanged less than the past and the present but the novel seems to tirelessly promote a feeling of movement, of unease.

So much of the text correlates with other chapters that it became hard for me to separate a passage to add to my quote collection. In the end, I went for a small section early on in the book that would go on to have ramifications for the close of the novel, not that I knew it at the time of reading.

"There were glossier books about trolls, sanitised child-friendly stories, but this tatty old anthology, long out of print, found in a secondhand bookstore, was filled with gruesome stories. By far it was my mum's favourite book to read at bedtime, and I'd heard each of the stories many times."

I popped into Sainsbury's on Monday for no other reason than to kill time before meeting my dad after work, yet ended up coming out the shop with a new Jo Nesbo book and a three for a pound bags of kids sweets. Peter Pan syndrome at its sweetest. As you can see, I've gathered quite a collection of Nesbo's translated work, yet I have still managed to read half of them in the wrong order. I also quickly became aware when I starting reading Police that I'd missed out another book in the process. A quick scan of the internet tells me that The Phantom is what, ideally, should have preceeded Police but what can I say? I'm off the chains, reading serial books out of sequence. Rock and bloody roll.

 

 Police was still a brilliant read though. Despite that fact I had missed some major Oleg-based drama, there were enough other recurring characters such as Stale Aune and Beate Lonne that kept me feeling integrated in the series. As with all of Nesbo's books, Police is very plot heavy and we are woven into the lives of what feels like hundreds of different characters. There are also, as is often the case with Nesbo, a lot of red herrings involved. Every time I thought I had the outcome pegged, it was quickly established that my intellect was not serving me well in the slightest.

 

For me, the book could have been a few chapters shorter. By the close of the book, I wanted resolution more than I wanted to carry on reading; I had reached past the point of finding mirth in being misled. That's not to say I didn't like the ending - it was actually very fitting and I do, weirdly, look forward to a second reading knowing how the book now ends. In fear of ruining the plot, I have little comment on the content, other than some of the deceased characters will be surely missed. Another clever creation by Nesbo that I'm happy to add to my bookshelf. Nebso is always able to produce captivating reads and I love that itch that forces you to cram in one more chapter before bed and sneak a few more sentences during dinner. Another great Harry Hole novel, which I would definitely recommend.

 

I had two stand out quotes to add to my ever-growing quotes collection so I'm going to break my own rule and post both of them, because I simply couldn't pick. The first I just found interesting because the workings of the brain both fascinate and make me fearful.

 

 

The second quote has to do with what I guess can most easily be broken down into the way we compartmentalise ourselves: our public and our privates selves.

 

 

So after bandying around those heavy, philosophical quotes on a Sunday morning, I wish you a happy rest of the weekend!

I am ashamed to say it has taken me until the ripe old age of 22 to read a book by Maya Angelou. I'm not entirely sure why I've been waiting, if indeed I have even been doing so consciously. I could have told you quotes by the great lady all without having ever picked up one of her pieces of works, which is demonstrative of just how large an impact she had on our world. But I decided it was time to rectify the fact I could quote her without having read her, and I am extremely glad I did.

Mom & Me & Mom was chosen for no other reason that it was the first book penned by Angelou that I saw in my local library. It was gripping and informative, especially as someone who was relatively unaware of Angelou's early life. I read reviews which claimed that at times, Mom & Me & Mom contradicted earlier stories told in the incredibly acclaimed I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings but to me that is neither here nor there.

 

I love relationships between mothers and daughters, my bias being that I am a daughter to the most amazing mother. Parent-child relationships intrigue me anyway, as a writer especially, but since I cannot comment on mother-son relationships given my gender, I think my bias should be okay. For the first third of the memoir at the very least, Vivian Baxter felt alien to me. Angelou writes well and paints a clear enough picture of her mother, but she remained aloof in my imagination. I simply could not peg her down, perhaps because she differs on such a large scale to any type of mothering I have known. By the end of the memoir, I believed in her entirely.

 

What I found most interesting during this read, was Maya's ability to carry on moving forward. We all have set backs and difficult times in life, though I am thankful mine pale in comparison to what lies between the front and back cover of this book. It had me questioning what I would do in this situation or that situation, and though I know I would not have made some of the same decisions as Angelou, I can understand the motives behind them. It also got me thinking: how would I have coped having Vivian Baxter as my mother? I came to the conclusion that I probably wouldn't be the same person I am today, which is neither a positive or a negative thing. In no way is this a reflection on Baxter or Angelou, but there is nothing in this world that would make me swap my mother (or my father or brother) for anything.

 

Mom & Me & Mom is certainly a book worth reading. As is customary with Angelou, much of it is quotable and much of it is worth retaining to memory. It is an educational read and Chapter 22 will hold great significance for me from now on. It involves an important life lesson that I hope to teach to my own daughter, should I be bestowed with one in the future. Maya turns to a male friend in her time of need, who calmly tells her to write down her blessings. It becomes, for me anyway, a slightly religious activity but I think it would work just as well for anyone. He tells her to write down all the things for which we should be grateful; being able to hear, to see, to write. These are the things we lose sight of when we doubt our own abilities and what we must hang onto when the world tries to wreak havoc in our lives. 

 

Since the entire chapter was too large to be quoted, I have instead selected a small phrase that I just really liked the sound of .

 

 

I thought it was beautifully and shows how the relationship between mother and daughter is simultaneously extremely organic but requires immense give and take. I have relied on both my parents for gigantic sources of strength over recent years and though I have no idea where they found it, I'm determined to keep it.

The Childhood of Jesus has to be one of the oddest books I think I have ever read. I picked it up because I've read and studied J. M. Coetzee's work in the past, and found it provoking. I assumed, perhaps naively, that this book would follow on somewhat similar lines.

 

It may be that I have simply not grasped the messages Coetzee sought to send out. Perhaps The Childhood of Jesus goes over my head and I do not possess a philosophical enough brain to understand it. The thing is, there is a lot I do not understand but that I can still gain enjoyment from. I sadly gained little enjoyment from reading this book. That is not to say it is not written well - I doubt Coetzee could produce anything that was written badly - it just did not provide enjoyment in the way I had imagined.

The plot is interesting. It starts with a man and a boy coming over to a seemingly socialist city. They have been assigned names - Simón and David - and ages, too. The society they reach is simple in a sense and Simón seems to be unable to fit in, with his fondness for the past. David, the boy, I found to be largely unlikable as a character, though many other reviewers have suggested that this in part a purposeful decision. For example one review I read suggested our difficulty in sympathising with David could be Coetzee asking us to take check of how easily and cooperatively we as human beings conform. Whatever the reason, it made the process of reading and reaching the end a more tedious process than I am used to.

 

Perhaps I am too easily pleased; a satisfactory, sympathetic main character, an illustrious romance and a few grisly murders are perhaps all I need to enjoy a good book. I like to think that I try and read books from various genres and a range of authors but it would be impossible for me to like every book my eyes wash over. I am not a fan of Wuthering Heights for example, but the book itself remains a classic. At the end of the day, it is a matter of personal taste and The Childhood of Jesus did not complement mine.

 

As is commonplace with my book reviews, I have selected a quote from the novel. I have selected a passage of speech between Eugenio and Simon, in one of their heated philosophical debates.

I studied History and English at university so this challenge to history and its place in society certainly intrigued me. These types of loaded questions are what I have come to associate with Coetzee and the debates about philosophy were without a doubt my favourite parts of the book.

 

If you have read this book, or indeed anything else by Coetzee, let me know your thoughts. I'd love to know if anyone has had a similar experience!

I first came across Kate Atkinson way back when I was in Year 13 and studying my English Lit A-Level. One of the texts we were assigned was Behind the Scenes at the Museum which I liked but never raved about. In comparison to The Color Purple it was an easy read, put it that way. Then I left for uni and never really thought much more about Atkinson until I stumbled across her book Started Early, Took my Dog which, I'll be honest, mostly appealed to me because I was writing my dissertation at the time and needed dog-related fiction.

So when I picked up Case Studies and found out it contained the same central character - Jackson Brodie - as Started Early, I knew two things. One, I'd probably enjoy it and two, I had most definitely read these books in the wrong order. Not that it mattered, really, and when have I ever been one to conform?

Atkinson is a stealthy writer, she drops plot bombs that knock you side wards but leaves just enough clues in her wake. Not that I usually pick up on them until my second reading of any of her books, but I like that. Nothing is worth doing if it comes so terribly easy. Or at least nothing worth talking about it. Case Studies, like much of Atkinson's work, has a historical feel to it. History and literature are two of my favourite things so I am never surprised when people suggest her work to me. There are so many characters I'd probably struggle to list them all but they all contribute with equal quality, if not quantity, and are so tangible in the surrealist sense.

I like Jackson Brodie and that always helps. Sometimes I love reading a character I dislike because it means the writing is good and having the desired effect. Brodie is, for the most part, a decent man and when the world can sometimes seem bereft of these, it's enjoyable to read one written so well. Brodie is, in a sense, the stone at the centre of the ripple. It is his services that are required by most and he some how knots everyone else together, in the most bizarre way. Case Studies is worth reading just to see how this impossible jigsaw even fits together.

I have started selecting and collecting my favourite lines or passages from everything I read. It was hard to pick just one from Atkinson's rich word count but I settled for a sentence packed of vividly visible description right near the start of the novel.

It is a sentence that could be so easily overlooked but one which evoked great sentiment in me. I have spent many a summer day sprawled out on the grass, a book in one hand and a dog asking for its ears to be tickled occupying the other. I sometimes wonder if I've ever been happier.

Jade x

I've been itching to get my hands on any book by Housseini for the longest time. His work appeals to the history lover in me and satiates my disproportionate fanaticism for fiction, so I grabbed A Thousand Splendid Suns off the shelves at my local library the minute I set my eyes on it. Having been an author recommended to me often over recent years, I probably raced through the book a little too quickly. I am, for all intents and purposes, known to be a little impatient. Endlessly tolerant but a tad impatient. Which makes being a writer one of the worst suited jobs in the world - stories should never be rushed!

 

Nevertheless, revelling in each subsequent chapter was not necessarily a bad thing. I understood all that was contained between the front and back cover but there is no denying that any book given a second, slower reading can generate greater levels of appreciation. For me, Housseini flows from chapter to chapter as seamlessly as he does character to character. I was fortunate to study a History module on India and Pakistan in one of my final year semesters and having that foundation helped indisputably in the reading of this book. Not that such specific knowledge is necessary with the book largely being set in Afghanistan, and I believe my reaction to the novel would have been similar without out it. The main benefit, I feel, was in making these women and the horrors they underwent feel absolutely real to me.

 

Whilst at times the actions of too many different breeds of men caused my stomach to recoil, everything was believable. Which says a lot about the history of gender relations both at home and abroad. I absolutely loved Laila - one of the central characters - and her father whom she calls Babi. An intelligent man and a scholar, I saw (perhaps egotistically) a little of myself in him and his story is one of the most touching of the many moving stories Housseini intertwines into A Thousand Splendid Suns.

 

As something of a collector, I've started collecting - in the loosest sense - my favourite quotes or lines from everything I'm reading or watching. From this comes two sentences that stuck in my mind until the close of the novel.

The simplicity of Housseini's language married with the specificity of the dialect is just pleasing to me and being placed at the end of a chapter absolutely certified my need to rapidly keep on reading. An absolutely fantastic and heartfelt read that I feel will stay with me for years to come.The passage of time is inherently important to the story, at least in my eyes, along with tough transitions from childhood into many precarious states of adulthood. It is a novel that tells many stories and teaches many lessons.

 

Jade x

I've been searching for more of Koomson's work after relishing a book of hers I read a few weeks ago, so naturally I picked the biggest book I could find. The Rose Petal Beach was an interesting read. I'm still not sure if I liked it or not. It kept me gripped and I do really enjoy Koomson's style of writing. I like her tone and I like the fullness of all her characters - both central and supporting.

 

I think the plot was strong and like the previous read, I was itching to discover the discrepancies before they were revealed to me. It is certainly full of suspense and along with many others who have read and reviewed The Rose Petal Beach, it's impossible to ignore the serious messages underpinning its familial feel. I liked that it featured female friendship, as I often feel that the representation of this especially in TV and film can often been a little forced. Koomson writes real women, who have real friendships which aren't always full of fun and frolics.

 

I'm wary of writing too much for fear of spoiling the plot, but if you like realistic representations of life and how secrets and sexuality can cause such a rippling effect in circles of friends, then this is for you. I'll still be looking for more work by Koomson, as I remain incredibly impressed with her ability to construct such concrete plots.

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I have definitely found a new author to add to my list of favourite writers. The Flavours of Love is the first book I have read by Dorothy Koomson but I do not plan on it being my last. I have been waiting to read some of her work for months and now, with university officially being over, I was quick to snap up any book of Koomson's that I could find.

 

On the surface, I should hate this book. I am not your rom-com, chick-lit kind of girl. Usually spotting the word love in a title is enough to turn me away but my interest in Koomson's work acted as an exception, and I am so glad it did. The Flavours of Love was the perfect blend of all of life's little complexities and had me turning the pages so quickly, I'm sure I probably missed some vital parts of the plot.

 

What I liked most was how much Koomson's characters irritated me, and I mean that in the best way possible. I like it when I feel entitled whilst reading a character, when they become someone I could encounter in real life or on the new, and ever so easily pass judgement on. Koomson's writing provoked a reaction - many reactions, actually - and it is one of those books that seeps into your consciousness. Starts the 'what if it happened to me' strands of thought that are sometimes difficult to stop.

 

It is a dark book; it covers some of the darkest parts of humanity but Koomson is careful to balance these out. Not with artificial lightness but with reality. We all suffer from hardships, from anxiety, from stress but we cope because we create our own ways of coping. We balance things out and, to use a cooking analogy since much of the book revolves around kitchens, though the scales will tip from time to time, equilibrium is usually restored. There are a lot of decisions made within the novel, some I agree with, some I don't, but they keep you on your toes and force you - in the gentlest definition of the word - to carry on reading. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of Dorothy Koomson's books in the future.


Jade x
 

Now that I have free time to read for pleasure again, I have decided to start incorporating book reviews into my blog. I love reading other people's opinions on books and though I did read some classics during the English Lit half of my degree, it's nice to be able to write on books I have chosen to read without adhering to some form of marking criteria!

 

I was drawn to You Deserve Nothing largely because of its association with Paris. I have a growing infatuation with France - one of my tattoos is even written in French! It is a language I wish I spoke more fluently and though I have visited Paris once, once is nowhere near enough.

 

As for the book, it was a mildly enjoyable read. The storyline was weaved together well and I liked the way Maksik made use of three perspective narration style. It wasn't difficult to keep up with the shifting chapters and the book itself was quick to digest; I managed to read it cover to cover within 24 hours. I found myself wanting to continue reading out but more from curiosity than anything - it is always interesting to see how different writers approach similar topics. There wasn't a great desire or fervour to finish but Maksik's style is compelling nonetheless.

 

To say I didn't enjoy the book would be an unfair statement. I think my opinion was perhaps influenced by the way You Deserve Nothing somewhat echoed a book I stumbled across during my dissertation. J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace is similar yet altogether different, but my mind kept channelling the comparisons. Although a far more harrowing read out of the two, Coetzee's would be my book of choice. I can't say I empathise with either Coetzee's main protagonist or Maksik's but I found it hard to relate to the adoration Maksik creates for college professor Will. It's not that I don't believe such relationships between students and teachers exist; I have witnessed on a number of occasions the way students hone in on certain members of staff, revering them with adolescent intensity. But it is not something I have really ever experienced and I just found it hard to subscribe to the way so many of Maksik's students were won over by Will's commanding charm.

 

The ending was perhaps a little predictable and I think that's why Coetzee's novel registered with me more. What occurs across a whole book with Maksik, happens much quicker with Coetzee and we get to witness more of the fall out in Disgrace. Of course the plots are not identical and there is no one right way to write about such a topic anyway. It is just my personal preference and I welcome disagreements. That is one thing I love about books, and something that crops up in You Deserve Nothing itself: it is normal, in fact it is welcomed, that different people come away from the same book, the same text, with different interpretations. That is the beauty of the arts and Maksik really does seem to champion culture. He writes Paris extremely well and more than anything, the book increased my longing to return to the city I fast fell in love with.

 

Jade x

 

(Couldn't help but throw in a few of my fave pictures from my trip to Paris last year too!)

 

 

In the advent of my journey to uni (and the onslaught of final year!) this Sunday, I've been trying to cram a bit of last minute reading. I do try and read quite a lot anyway: magazines are usually my literature of choice, followed very closely by novels I can lose myself in and bringing up the rear is poetry by unpublished poets. Sometimes I read proper poets too. The best writers are supposedly those who read as much as they write so I've been trying to read (and write) as much as I can. I've managed to read a couple of books this summer, some to do with my dissertation, some to do with my aspirations to improve my creative writing and some purely for fun. It's interesting to see how often all these can overlap!

1. Hunger Games trilogy - Suzanne Collins

I love the plot of these books as do many others and I got a bit too excited about the upcoming Catching Fire trailer being released earlier this year. I'm also basing some choreography loosely around the Hunger Games (more on that aspect of my life later!) so I wanted to refresh my memory by reading the books again. On the whole I'm not usually a massive fan of first-person writing but the plot is good enough to keep me hooked through all three books.


2. Started Early, Took My Dog - Kate Atkinson.

I first came across Kate Atkinson during my A Level English lessons; her book Behind the Scenes at the Museum was one of our core texts. I don't think I realised back then quite how genius Atkinson is though but reading Started Early has firmly reinforced her brilliance. It was suggested to me that I read more Atkinson by way of improving my creative writing but it actually holds a lot of benefit for my dissertation too - definitely one of my top summer reads.

4. The Nightmare - Lars Kepler

My Mum and I have both read a number of Jo Nesbo books over the last two or so years and from the blurb of Nightmare, it seemed that this book was of a similar standing. I can say I was well and truly gripped by this and I really like the style in which it was written. This book was bought and read purely for fun - no academic attraction at all, except for me lamenting how hard it will be to get a book published (especially when I find it so hard to stick to one idea!) I researched the author and found out that it's actually a couple who wrote the book together - I couldn't even tell, the writing was seamless and sucked me right in.


5. Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie

I starting reading this last summer, forgot about it and started it up again this year mostly out of boredom. It was a good read and ended up being pretty useful for my diss research. I love it when a plan comes together!

Anyone else had any good reads this summer?

Jade :)