Category: Fiction

Library Loot

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

Here’s a pile of books I’ve recently borrowed:

From top to bottom they are

  • Brat Farrar by Joesphine Tey. Patrick had committed suicide, so who is the mysterious young man claiming to be him and calling himself Brat Farrar? I borrowed this because I enjoyed Tey’s books, The Daughter of Time and The Franchise Affair.
  • The Sea Lady by Margaret Drabble: a story of first and last love and the ebb and flow of time giving shape to our lives. I borrowed this because it’s been a long time since I read anything by Drabble, the last one being The Witch of Exmoor.
  • Naked to the Hangman by Andrew Taylor. Detective Inspector Thornhill is under suspicion of murder and his wife and former lover join forces to try to help him. The only other book by Taylor that I’ve read is The American Boy, historical crime fiction, set in 19th century England, with links to Edgar Allan Poe.
  • The Forgery of Venus by Michael Gruber. This was on display at the library in a section of books called ‘Thrills and Chills’, not normally the sort of book I read, but this looked interesting about an art dealer with a dark past and the discovery of a previously unknown masterpiece by Velazquez. When I got the book home I realised I’ve got another book by Gruber – The Book of Air and Shadows, which I started once and put to one side, so I don’t expect much from this book.
  • Truth to Tell by Claire Lorrimer. I fancied reading something different by an author I’d not heard of before. The title appealed to me. The Library Journal blurb tells me it’s ‘Nicely done pyschological suspense, firmly in the cozy tradition.’ It looks more like a historical romance though.
  • Green for Danger edited by Martin Edwards, a collection of short crime fiction stories on the theme of ‘crime in the countryside.’ I’ve become quite a fan of these short story collections. This one includes stories from Robert Barnard, Reginald Hill, Ruth Rendell, Ann Cleeves and Martin Edwards, himself. I think I’ll start with this book.
  • The Death Ship of Dartmouth by Michael Jecks, a medieval mystery set in 1324. In Dartmouth a man is found lying dead in the road and a ship has been discovered half ravaged and the crew missing. I first came across Jecks when I read King Arthur’s Bones by The Medieval Murderers, in which he wrote one of the short stories. I hope this is just as good.

Have you read any of these books – are they any good?

Library Loot is hosted by is a weekly event co-hosted by Eva and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

Friday Finds

Published on by Margaret4 Comments

Friday Finds is  hosted by Should Be Reading.

I have just one ‘find’ this week. I’ve only recently discovered how good Alexander McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie novels are. There are seven in the series and I’ve read just two of them so far. The latest one in the series is due out in September. It is:

The Charming Quirks of Others

Description from the publishers Little, Brown Book Group:

Isabel Dalhousie, Edinburgh philosopher and curious observer of the behaviour of her fellow man, is approached by a friend at a local boarding school that is planning to appoint a new headmaster; an anonymous letter has arrived suggesting that one of the shortlisted candidates has a compromising past. But which one is it? Isabel is once again drawn into an investigation, and finds herself exploring dilemmas of human weakness and forgiveness. She turns to her fiancé Jamie for advice, but he too appears to have something to hide . . .

That gives me time to catch up reading the others in the series before this one is published (links to Alexander McCall Smith’s website):

  • The Sunday Philosophy Club
  • Friends, Lovers, Chocolate
  • The Right Attitude to Rain – read
  • The Careful Use of Compliments – read
  • The Comfort of Saturdays – waiting to be read
  • The Lost Art of Gratitude

    • The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith

    Published on by Margaret3 Comments

    The Right Attitude to Rain is the third in the series of Isabel Dalhousie novels, set in Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders. It’s a pleasure to read but difficult to write about. Not a lot happens and reading it is like being inside Isabel’s head. She takes a great interest in the affairs of others and likes watching people. Some people might call this nosiness.

    Some things do happen – Isabel is buying a flat for her housekeeper, Grace. Cat, her niece has a new boyfriend, Patrick, but Isabel doubts his possessive mother is happy about that. Meanwhile she is wondering if her love for Jamie, 14 years her junior and Cat’s ex-boyfriend, could ever be reciprocated:

    There is no point in my loving this young man, she told herself, because it can never go anywhere. And yet did it matter if love was not reciprocated? Was it not possible to love somebody hopelessly, from a distance even, and for that love to be satisfying, even if never reciprocated, even if the object of one’s affections never even knew? (page 33)

    A large part of the book is taken up with their developing relationship and the tensions it arouses. Then there is the American couple Isabel watches in the Scottish Gallery who turn out to be friends of her cousin Mimi, who is staying with her for a few weeks. This gives Isabel the opportunity to meet the couple and become involved in their lives. Mimi also has a revelation concerning Isabel’s ‘sainted American mother’, which causes Isabel some distress.

    It’s a study of relationships, communication and misunderstandings as Isabel mulls over philosophical and moral dilemmas, and conducts internal debates instead of simply making a decision and acting upon it. Grace sums her up admirably:

    Isabel’s life was a good one; she was a kind woman, and she felt for people, which was more than one could say about a lot of people in her position, Grace thought. But there were certainly areas of Isabel’s life where what was required was a little less thought and a bit more action. (page 125)

    What about the rain? Well, it all depends on your attitude – any hint of warm weather and you’re optimistic about being outside:

    … but resigned to being driven back in by rain, or mist, or other features of the Scottish summer. (page 10)

    I’d add that it’s not only Scotland where it rains …

    The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono

    Published on by Margaret6 Comments

    I have always liked trees, particularly in spring when you can see the branches through the leaves and in autumn when the leaves change colour and fall to the ground. There are many trees in our garden and when we moved here last December the trees were bare and I couldn’t recognise many of them, having forgotten how to identify them by their shape and structure. As they began to grow leaves and blossom I still couldn’t identify all of  them (except the sycamores, silver birch and weeping willow) and so as usual turned to books and the internet for information. The best book I found is The Reader’s Digest Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain. This has illustrations and photos of different ways to identify trees – by their bark, buds, flowers, leaves, twigs and shape. Some of the trees here are well established, predating the house and others are quite young – the history of the garden is probably more interesting than the history of the house.

    Given my interest in trees Simon’s review of The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono intrigued me. Then I discovered that the local library actually had a copy. It’s very short book (a short story really), just over 50 pages, with illustrations – wood engravings by Michaell McCurdy, about a shepherd who transformed the land by planting trees. Not just a few trees, thousands of them over the years. Where once the earth was dry and barren the trees brought water back into the dry stream beds, seeds germinated, meadows blossomed and new villages appeared. Contrasted against a background of the destruction caused by war, the lonely shepherd, Elzeard Bouffier shows the power of nature to regenerate the land, planting oaks, birches and beech trees:

    Creation seemed to come about in a sort of chain reaction. He did not worry about it; he was determinedly pursuing his task with all simplicity; but as we went back to the village I saw water in brooks that had been dry since the memory of man. This was the most impressive result of chain action that I’d seen. (page 25)

    The wind too scattered seeds. As the water reappeared, so there appeared willows, rushes, meadows, gardens, flowers, and a certain purpose in being alive. (page 26)

    In an Afterword by Norma L Goodrich, she recounts how she met Jean Giono in 1970 shortly before his death. His book was first published in Vogue in 1954 under the title The Man Who Planted Hope and Grew Happiness. His purpose in writing this story was to

    … make people love the tree, or more precisely, to make them love planting trees. (page 45)

    It’s a simple story, simply told of the harmony possible between man and nature.

    The Holly-Tree Inn by Charles Dickens

    Published on by Margaret2 Comments

    The Holly-Tree Inn by Charles Dickens and others is a lovely little book, both to hold and to read. It’s a Hesperus Press publication, smooth paper and a softback cover with flaps you can use as bookmarks. I received my copy via Library Thing Early Reviewers Programme. I enjoyed reading it.

    This was originally published in 1855, being the Christmas number of Dickens’s periodical Household Words. It was so popular that it was then adapted for the stage. It’s a collection of short stories by Dickens, Wilkie Collins, William Howitt, Adelaide Anne Procter and Harriet Parr, around the theme of travellers and  inns. I liked Collins’s and Howlitt’s stories the most.

    It begins with a story by Dickens, The Guest in which a gentleman on his way to Liverpool is snowed in at the Holly-Tree Inn in Yorkshire. To keep himself entertained he reminisces about inns he has visited, giving glimpses into travel and inns in the 19th century. Having exhausted his own memories, this story ends with the idea of asking the inmates of the inn for their own stories.

    So, the next stories are from:

    The Ostler by Wilkie Collins. In this the landlord tell’s the ostler’s tale of his dread of his wife after dreaming that she is about to murder him, a tale of impending doom:

    His eyes opened owards the left hand side of the bed, and there stood – The woman of the dream again? – No! His wife; the living reality, with the dream spectre’s face – in the dream-spectre’s attitude; the fair arm up – the knife clasped in the delicate, white hand. (page 53)

    The Boots by Charles Dickens – according to Melisa Klimaszewski’s Introduction this tale was such a favourite that Dickens included it in his later public readings. It’s not quite to my taste, a sentimental tale about two young children determined to elope, staying at the Holly- Tree inn:

    Boots could assure me that it was better than a picter (sic) and equal to a play, to see them babies with their long bright curling hair, their sparkling eyes, and their beautiful light tread, a rambling in the garden, deep in love.

    The Landlord by William Howitt. An entertaining tale of the landlord’s brother who emigrated to Australia in order to better himself. But when they get there they wished they’d stayed in England. It seems they arrived just at the wrong time. Howitt, himself had travelled to Australia in search of gold and his experience is reflected in his tale. 

    The Barmaid by Adelaide Anne Procter – a sad story told in verse by the landlord’s niece of Maurice and his love for ‘the loveliest little damsel his eyes had ever seen.’  Not the most challenging of tales.

    The Poor Pensioner by Harriet Parr. Hester lives at the inn on ‘broken victuals’, now a poor demented creature refusing to believe that her son was guilty of murder. She waits in vain for his sentence to be reversed. This tale reveals how her wild and wilful ways as a young woman led her to seek for change and excitement with disastrous results. 

    The Bill by Charles Dickens. This story completes the cycle. A week has gone by, the Guest’s route is now clear of snow and he can leave.He then discovers that his enforced stay at the inn has changed his life!

    Reading this book has made a welcome break in reading modern fiction and has made me keen to read more of Dickens’s and Collins’s books.  I knew nothing about the other authors but fortunately there is a short section at the end with biographical notes about the contributors.

    Hector and the Search for Happiness by François Lelord

    Published on by Margaret2 Comments

    This is a very easy book to read and I read it straight through in one go. Hector is a psychiatrist who realises that he can’t help people who are unhappy, so he travels around the world to find out the secret of happiness – what makes people happy or sad. Described on the back cover as a ‘modern fable’ I think that is the best way to think about Hector and the Search for Happiness by François Lelord, translated by Lorenzo Garcia.

    A fable, according to one definition in the dictionary is a tale in literary form, not necessarily probable in its incidents, intended to instruct or amuse and this is most definitely a story intended to instruct, complete with short maxims called Lessons, which Hector jots down in his little notebook. But really I found there was nothing there I didn’t already know, things like ‘Making comparisons can spoil your happiness’. It’s simplistic and ‘nice’ in a sort of sit down and I’ll tell you a story sort of way, beginning:

    Once upon a time there was a young psychiatrist called Hector who was not very satisfied with himself. (page 1)

    But it’s really a self-help book rather than a novel.

    François Lelord is indeed a writer of self-help books and he has also written non fiction psychology guides to daily life, after a career as a psychiatrist in France and the USA. At the end of the book there is a Question and Answer section in which Lelord explains that he feels that emotional subjects such as happiness and love ‘can’t just be carved up into chapters, rules and lessons’ and by writing this as a fable he hopes to make it more personal. Actually I found this part of the book better than the fable. Each to his own.

    My copy was kindly supplied by the publishers, Gallic Books.