Reading is my way of relaxing and it isn't an effort for me to make time for it. I just read faster than I blog apparently, as writing about books takes a little more time and effort! I actually have to get up from a horizontal position and look at a screen. And then, before I know it, my list of books to blog about becomes a little too long- a mammoth task. So above are the books I have read since my last blog post. Since doing these images, I've read three more. But we'll get to those.
1. Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
Two of my year 13s are writing on this book in their coursework so I thought I should probably read it before attempting to mark their work. It's brilliant. Teacher (Sheba) / pupil (Connolly) illicit love affair narrated by a colleague of the teacher (Barbara). Barbara is an unreliable narrator, obsessive, creepy and morally questionable. It will have you gripped. I thought the most unsettling aspect of the text would be the love affair (female teacher and a 15 year old boy- not okay!) but there's so much more to this text than that.
2. The Visitor by Katherine Stansfield
I picked up this book in my local library. I have a tendency to hide in Watersones or the Oxfam book shop when I'm feeling particularly crap about life- and that was getting expensive.
This novel focuses on the memories of Pearl and the relationships she has with two of her childhood friends, Jack and Nicholas. It switches between 1880 and 1936 and is set in a rural fishing village in Cornwall, exploring aspects of love, loss, societal pressures and superstitions. I loved the descriptions of Cornwall and it really immersed you in the lives of the villages in 1880. Pearl is a little frustrating in the 1936 sections but I think that does make her more of an interesting character.
Another library find. I knew it was probably going to be a little bit of an easy read but it did keep me hooked.
Excerpts from the blurb:
A family tragedy... A sister's secret...A web of lies...
I'm a sucker for this kind of plot. And a creepy cottage by a lake? A disappearance? It'd be rude not to read it.
Lent to me by a friend and told I just had to read it, I couldn't say no. I literally could not put it down. And it's a giant book, a huge commitment of a read, but this really was one of those books where you wish reality would just shut up and leave you alone for a while until you've finished it.
This crime thriller is intelligent and complex. There's a murder. A terrorist plot. Then another murder. Then more clues, more travel, more confusion. A dip into another character's story. Then another. Hayes piles more narratives and more clues one on top of the other and it keeps you guessing. It is stylishly written and the plot is a triumph.
Hayes worked as a screenwriter- his work includes the screenplay for Road Warrior/Mad Max 2 and various other films and TV series. This is his first novel and in a way it makes complete sense that he is used to writing for the screen. But I would read any other novel this guy publishes. Up there with my top reads.
My Head of Department (basically, my boss) lent this to me saying something along the lines of 'its full of murder, weird sisters and a creepy castle- just your type of thing'. Now, she's right, that is my type of thing, but it does worry be a little that I've somehow given off this impression at work...
In this case, the blurb is probably the best thing I can give you here:
Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.
It's brilliantly eerie and unsettling. I loved it.
I enjoyed We Have Always Lived in the Castle so much that I have taken it upon myself to read all of Shirley Jackson's work. Hangsaman focuses on Natalie and her journey through her first year of college. Punctuated by voices inside her head, the text is chilling and, as the novel progresses, you are never really sure what is reality or merely Natalie's interpretation of it. The text is also loosely based on the real life disappearance of a sophomore girl at Bennington College in 1946 and from Jackson's own experiences.
I preferred Castle, but this is still worth a read.
Written with the dazzling lucidity of poetry, Dept. of Speculation navigates the jagged edges of a modern marriage to tell a story that is darkly funny, surprising and wise.
Meh. I don't agree. I really wasn't a fan. Moments of the text were beautiful and poignant and I do appreciate what Offill is trying to do with the short fragments of text, like brief diary entries, which explore the protagonist's marriage, but I just didn't like it. For me, Offill was trying too hard. Each fragment was overly philosophical and I laughed out loud when I turned the page to be faced with an entire page of the text 'I'msoscaredI'msoscaredI'msoscared'. Eurgh. Saying all this though, a friend on my MA course loved it, even recommended it to me before I voiced my opinion on it, and my last tutor also recommended I read it. So maybe it's just me.
I read this book because I was writing a short story from the point of view of someone with Alzheimer's. And my Nana had it too so it's kind of a personal interest thing. It follows Jake, who over the course of the text disintegrates because of the disease. It moves between the present and Jake's memories of the past, his wife, his children, his love affair. You never really know what is real as there are lots of deliberate inconsistencies in his memories. At one point he muses over the fact that his mother and her boyfriend drowned. Which you know did not actually happen. It's a touching novel.
(On a side note, if this subject interests you, read Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey. I read it a year or so ago and thought it was brilliant.)
"We all have a secret buried under lock and key in the attic of our soul. This is mine."
You can probably tell by the cover that this is a YA novel. I chose it while waiting for a train at London Victoria- it was a bit of an impulse buy. But I've read The Shadow of the Wind by the same author and it is now one of my favourite books. So I thought I'd give this a shot.
Marina focuses on 15 year old Oscar who lives in a boarding school in Barcelona. He meets a girl, Marina, while exploring the old quarter of the city, and she leads him to a cemetery where they witness a bizarre ritual. This is the start of their detective journey which leads them through a world of aristocrats, jealousy, murder and madness. Although a young adult novel, I enjoyed it. It does read like a novel for much younger children and I have since recommended it to some of my year 10s (14/15 years old). Some parts of it though, are really creepy and haunted me a little bit.
If you're looking for a novel to read by Zafron though, I recommend The Shadow of the Wind, without a doubt.
10. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard FlanaganAgain, I think the blurb serves this novel best:
The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a love story unfolding over half a century between a doctor and his uncle’s wife.Taking its title from one of the most famous books in Japanese literature, written by the great haiku poet Basho, Flanagan’s novel has as its heart one of the most infamous episodes of Japanese history, the construction of the Thailand-Burma Death Railway in World War II. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Death Railway, surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle’s young wife two years earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.
It won the Man Booker Prize in 2014 but I just hadn't got around to reading it. I was listening to the second series of podcast Serial when I decided to give this a read (season 2 of Serial focuses on the story of Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S soldier who walked off from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured and held by the Taliban for nearly five years). I was really interested in how people can survive such torment which lead me to Flanagan's novel. Unsurprisingly, it is brutally shocking and harrowing in many places. But the focus on the love affair too really adds an unexpected element to the text. I was also appalled by how little I know about this part of history so did spend a lot of time looking up pieces of information. Interestingly, Flanagan's father was a survivor of the Burma Death Railway and poignantly died the day Flanagan finished the novel.
11. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
A bit of an odd choice, I know, but apparently the KonMari method of de-cluttering is a huge thing. I saw it on Instagram (I follow a lot of book lovers...) and people seemed to rave about it.
It's basically a guide to completely de-cluttering your home, the main principle of which is only keep things that inspire 'joy' when you hold them. Kondo advises you to go through your possessions , every single one, in categories (starting with clothes). You have to take each item in your hands and feel what emotion it inspires in you. If it is 'joy' it stays, if not, chuck it.
I read it with a bit of an open mind but a very serious intention of actually getting rid a whole lot of my stuff. I have too much in my life and I genuinely find it stressful. And we're moving house again so it seemed like the right time to do it. You have to take the book with a pinch of salt I think. Some parts are very bizarre- Kondo writes about how your possessions have feelings and emotions and that, before you get rid of something, you have to 'thank it' aloud for what it has brought to your life...! But some of her other methods make sense. An easy read.
So, to sum up- my top picks:
- I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
- Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
If you've stayed with me this far, thanks!
Shirley Jackson book ordered and arriving tomorrow. Thanks for the recommendation! Dave
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