Spell the Month in Books – February 2024

Published on by Margaret4 Comments

Spell the Month in Books is a linkup hosted by Jana on Reviews From the Stacks on the first Saturday of each month. The goal is to spell the current month with the first letter of book titles, excluding articles such as ‘the’ and ‘a’ as needed. That’s all there is to it! Some months there are optional theme challenges, such as “books with an orange cover” or books of a particular genre, but for the most part, any book you want to use is fair game!

This month’s theme is Comfort Reads, which Jana describes as returning to reading some of her favourite books rather than exclusively reading something new. I don’t often re-read books, so the books listed below are some of the books I’ve enjoyed and written about in previous years and would happily re-read.

The links go to the descriptions in my reviews.

F is for The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Just like the other books by Lisa Jewell that I’ve read The Family Upstairs is totally absorbing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s full of suspense and drama and is very dark indeed.

It’s a complex novel told alternately from three of the characters’ perspectives, Henry, Lucy and Libby, spanning over 25 years, telling the story of two families, who together combined make one completely dysfunctional family, living in 16 Cheyne Walk, London. The house is dark, mysterious and steeped in a malevolent atmosphere, with panelled walls, locked rooms, a secret staircase and a full-size cannon in the front garden. And within its walls the family lived in fear, locked away from the outside world, dominated by a megalomaniac.

E is for English Pastoral by James Rebanks

This is the story of an inheritance: one that affects us all. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were lost. And yet this elegy from the northern fells is also a song of hope: of how, guided by the past, one farmer began to salvage a tiny corner of England that was now his, doing his best to restore the life that had vanished and to leave a legacy for the future

B is for The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams

This is the story of two sisters, Ginny and Vivi. Vivi, the younger sister left the family mansion 47 years earlier and returns unexpectedly one weekend. Ginny, a reclusive moth expert has rarely left the house in all that time. What happens when they meet again is shocking to both of them. It’s a story full of mystery and suspense as it is revealed that the two have very different memories of their childhood and the events of the past.

R is for Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

This is a magical reading experience, and a fast-paced police procedural of a very different kind. It’s fantastical in the literal meaning of the word; an urban fantasy set in the real world of London. It’s a mix of reality and the supernatural. It’s complex, the characters are great, the London setting is wonderfully detailed, and the writing is humorous and very entertaining. I loved it! 

U is for The Uncertain Midnight by Edmund Cooper

This was first published in 1958 a time before the Space Age. It’s not set in outer space, but firmly on Earth  – but Earth in the 22nd century, a world run by machines, androids, who have taken over the burdens of work and responsibility, a world where the humans are required to spend their lives in leisure pursuits, but are subject to ‘Analysis’ (brain-washing) if the androids think they are maladjusted. It’s low on technology and high on philosophy.

A is for Asta’s Book by Barbara Vine

It’s a book that demanded all my attention and I just didn’t want to put it down. There’s a murder, a missing child, a question of identity and overarching it all are the stories of two families – the Westerbys and the Ropers and all the people connected to them. So many characters, so many red herrings, so many incidents that at first did not appear to be of any or of much importance that turned out to have great relevance.

R is for Rebus’s Scotland by Ian Rankin

If you like the Rebus books, like me, then you’ll also like this book. It is fascinating to read, with insights into Ian Rankin’s own life and that of the character he has invented, along with his thoughts on Scotland and the Scottish character. It’s partly autobiographical, blending his own life with Rebus’s biography. It also describes many of the real life locations of the books, in particular Edinburgh, Rebus’s own territory. I particularly enjoyed Ian Rankin’s views on writing – how writers mine their own experiences, reshaping their memories to create fiction and the similarities between novelists and detectives:

Y is for The Year of Miracle and Grief by Leonid Borodin

A twelve-year-old boy, the son of teachers, finds magic, mystery, romance, and sadness at beautiful Lake Baikal in Siberia. Deep in Siberia lies the second largest and deepest lake on earth, Lake Baikal. When a small boy arrives on its banks, he is amazed by the beauty of the lake and surrounding mountains. As this astonishment yields to inquisitiveness, he begins to explore the fairytale of the area.  

The next link up will be on March 3, 2024 when the theme will be National Caffeine Month – Books with a beverage on the cover or in the title.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Quick Reads/Books to Read When Time is Short (Books under 150 pages)

Published on by Margaret13 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.

The topic this week is Top Ten Quick Reads/Books to Read When Time is Short (Books under 150 pages.)

The first five are fiction.

The Black Mountain by Kate Mosse 136 pages - based on a real historical event, this is historical fiction set in May 1706 on the northern part of the island of Tenerife, where Ana and her family live in the shadow of a volcano, known locally as the Black Mountain.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 71 pages – this is the story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal: a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. 

The Guest Cat by by Takashi Hiraide 146 pages – a story of how a cat made itself at home with a couple in their thirties who lived in a small rented house in a quiet part of Tokyo.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett 124 pages, telling the story of Her Majesty, not named, but she had dogs, took her summer holiday at Balmoral and was married to a duke. She came across the travelling library outside the palace and borrowed a book to save the driver/librarian’s embarrassment. 

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton 128 pages – a tragedy, signalled right from the beginning of the book, when the unnamed narrator first saw Ethan Frome and was told he had been disfigured and crippled in a ‘smash up’, twenty four years earlier. Life had not been good to him.

The second five are all nonfiction.

Ink in the Blood by Hilary Mantel 31 pages – a short memoir about how she had surgery to remove an intestinal obstruction that ended up in a marathon operation, followed by intense pain, nightmares and hallucinations. Writing was Hilary Mantel’s lifeline – it was the ink, as she wrote in her diary, that reassured her she was alive.

Blue Tits in My Nest Box by David Gains 76 pages – I read this because we had a new blue tit box in our garden – one with a camera and waited to see whether it would be occupied. I wanted to find out more about their nesting habits. After checking several bird websites, I found this little book, a mine of information.

Painting as a Pastime by Winston S Churchill 96 pages – Churchill was forty when he first started to paint and art became his passion and an ‘astonishing and enriching experience‘. He talks about the fun of painting, the colours and the pleasure he found in not only in painting a picture, but also the pleasure he discovered in a heightened sense of observation, finding objects in  the landscape, he had never noticed before.

A Short Book about Drawing by Andrew Marr 144 pages – this is also a book about being happy and the importance of drawing and making, for a happy life. It’s not an instruction book, but it’s full of insight into what happens when you draw and it’s dotted throughout with personal information.

A Short History of Scotland by Richard Killeen There are 31 short chapters covering the period from Prehistoric Scotland up to the Twentieth Century – all in 69 pages, including coloured illustrations of people and places.


Reading Indies 2024

Published on by Margaret2 Comments

Karen @ Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Lizzy @ Lizzy’s Literary Life are hosting #ReadIndies for the fourth time. This year’s badge has been populated with the 41 micro publishers (publishers with 5 employees or less) that have, under the aegis of Will Dady of Renard Press, gathered together to form the Indie Press Network.

Here are the two rules that apply to #ReadIndies: 

  • Reading material (whichever format, whichever language) must come from publishers who are currently operating as independents.
  • Self-published titles are not eligible.

This is my first time taking part and I’m concentrating on the Dean Street Press books. I have 11 books to choose from:

  1. Arrest the Bishop? by Winifred Peck
  2. The Draycott Murder Mystery by Molly Thynne
  3. Evenfield by Rachel Ferguson
  4. The Fledgeling by Frances Faviell
  5. A Harp in Lowndes Square by Rachel Ferguson
  6. A House on the Rhine by Francis Faviell
  7. The Other Side of the Moon: David Niven by Sheridon Morley
  8. The Red Lacquer Case by Patricia Wentworth
  9. Thalia by Francis Faviell
  10. There’s a Reason for Everything by E.R. Punshon
  11. Who Pays the Piper? by Patricia Wentworth

I think I’ll read The Fledgeling by Frances Faviell, first because I enjoyed The Dancing Bear recently.

Synopsis:

‘I can’t go back. I’d rather die—I’d rather be dead.’

Neil Collins is going AWOL from his National Service – for the third time. Twice he has served time for previous desertions and been sent back, despite being hopelessly unsuited to military life. This time, terrorized by a bullying fellow soldier determined to escape himself, Neil intends to make his escape a permanent one. He heads to London, to the dreary, claustrophobic rooms where his twin sister, Nonie, and their dying grandmother live, periodically invaded by prying neighbours, a little girl who has befriended Mrs Collins, a curious social worker, and other uninvited visitors.

The Fledgeling (1958) traces the single day following Neil’s desertion, and its impacts on Neil, Nonie, the tough-as-nails Mrs Collins, and others. Each of the characters comes vividly alive in Faviell’s sensitive and observant prose. At times containing all the tension of a thriller, at others a profound drama of familial turmoil, Faviell’s third and final novel is dramatic, compelling, and emotionally wrenching. This new edition features an afterword by Frances Faviell’s son, John Parker, and additional supplementary material.

Indefensible by James Woolf

Published on by Margaret1 Comment

Bloodhound Books| 5 January 2024| 413 pages| E-book review copy| 3*

Synopsis from Amazon UK

A lawyer crosses a dangerous line with a former client and discovers that some decisions are indefensible…

Daniel, a criminal barrister, is working all hours on a sensational trial, defending a client he believes is wrongfully accused of a grisly murder. Determined to keep Rod out of prison, he begins to neglect his wife—and soon suspects she’s having an affair.

After Daniel triumphs in court, the bond with his newly acquitted client grows even stronger. And when Rod offers Daniel a favour that he really shouldn’t accept, things take a catastrophic turn.

Daniel realises the lethal consequence of his actions and now his dream case threatens to become his worst nightmare…

My thoughts

I received a copy of Indefensible from the author, James Woolf for review. It’s his debut novel, although 30 of his short stories have appeared in magazines and books, including four in the longstanding arts magazine Ambit. James also writes stage plays (about 15 have been professionally produced) and has written radio plays for Radio 4 and LBC. He has worked in professional ethics within the law for 20 years, including taking calls from barristers when they have a question about their code of conduct. So his book explores the consequences of not following the code of conduct.

After a dramatic opening it took me a while to settle into this book. I couldn’t warm to Daniel at first, a barrister, recently appointed as a QC. He is a complex character who comes across as very needy, insecure and vulnerable, having left his wife on acrimonious terms. This has knocked his confidence and he finds personal relationships difficult. He is disappointed as his clerk is not getting him the cases he wants. But then he gets his first major case defending Rod, accused of a particularly grisly murder. During the course of the trial he meets Michaela, who is a crime reporter, and the two develop a relationship. I was never sure about the characters, were they telling the truth, and were they really what they seemed.

I enjoyed the setting – London in the 1990s with reference to real court cases, such as the trial of Fred and Rosemary West. For me the strength of this book is the court case, keeping me guessing about the outcome and eager to find out who was telling the truth. But as Daniel says the trial process is about testing the evidence – it’s the test that is important and not the truth. As the trial continued I began to fear the worst, that the truth was being obscured. What happened afterwards was not quite what I expected, as Daniel’s decisions and subsequent choices proved to be indefensible.

After a slow start I found this book compelling reading and I’ll be looking out for more books by James Woolf.

My thanks to James Woolf and Bloodhound Books, the publishers, for sending me the Kindle edition for review.

Six Degrees of Separation from The Hog’s Back Mystery to Maisie Dobbs

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

It’s time again for Six Degrees of Separation, a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. Each month a book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to form a chain. A book doesn’t need to be connected to all the other books on the list, only to the one next to it in the chain.

This month starts with the book that I ended my last Six Degrees chain with, which was The Hog’s Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts. I’ve recently finished reading this British Library Crime Classic, first published in 1933, during the Golden Age of detective fiction between the two world wars. Dr James Earle and his wife live near the Hog’s Back, a ridge in the North Downs in the beautiful Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears from his cottage, Inspector French of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate. At first he suspects a simple domestic intrigue – and begins to uncover a web of romantic entanglements beneath the couple’s peaceful rural life.

I’m starting my chain with High Rising by Angela Thirkell, another book first published in 1933. Set in the 1930s it’s an entertaining and witty social comedy, in the fictional county of Barsetshire, borrowed from Trollope. Laura Morland is a widow with four sons, who supports herself by writing novels, which she knows are not ‘in any sense of the word, literature‘ but which have appeal.

My second link is to Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie, in which one of the characters, Ariadne Oliver, also writes fiction. The victim is Mr Shaitana, a collector of snuff boxes, Egyptian antiquities and murderers.This story has just four suspects and any one of them ‘given the right circumstances‘ might have committed the crime. It’s also a book first published in the 1930s, that is 1936..

My third link is via ‘card’ to A Card from Angela Carter by Susannah Clapp. She and Angela had been friends for a number of years. This book uses the postcards Angela sent to her to form a sort of biography. Sent from various places around the world some have a full message, some only a few words, which Susannah uses to paint a picture of what Angela was like, a ‘great curser’, capable of the sharpest of remarks, clever, unpredictable, quirky, and funny.

My fourth link is to a book written by another author called Susannah, The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective by Susannah Stepleton, subtitled ‘Secrets and Lies in the Golden Age of Crime‘. This is narrative non-fiction. Was Maud West really who she said she was? Susannah Stapleton discovered that she really did exist and was indeed a private investigator with her own detective agency, based in London in the early part of the twentieth century, from 1905 onwards.

My fifth link is to crime fiction featuring a private investigator, The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, first published in 1939. Private Investigator Philip Marlow is hired by the paralysed millionaire General Stallwood, to deal with the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.

And my final link is Maisie Dobbs, a book featuring yet another private investigator. This is the first in Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series. In 1929 Maisie set herself up as a private investigator, having started as a maid to the London aristocracy, studied her way to Cambridge and served as a nurse in the Great War. I’ve read a few more of the series since I read this one.

My chain forms a circle beginning and ending with crime fiction. The other links are books with the word ‘card’ in the titles, books with authors named Susannah and books featuring private investigators. The first five books, like the beginning book, were all published in the 1930s.

Next month (2 March 2024), we will start with Tom Lake by Ann Patchett.

Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023

Published on by Margaret3 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.

The topic this week is New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023. These are all books I read and reviewed in 2023. I enjoyed all of them, some more than others (marked with an asterisk*).