Category Archives: 3

September 11, 2024 · 11:48 am

A Song of Stone – Iain Banks

A Song of Stone – Iain Banks

I found this in Mr H’s audible library and I needed a new audio book.

Here’s the blurb …

The war is ending. perhaps ended For the castle and its occupants the troubles are just beginning Armed gangs roam a lawless land where each farm and house.. supports a column of dark smoke. Taking to the roads with the other refugees. anonymous in their raggedness. seems safer than remaining in the ancient keep. However. the lieutenant of an outlaw band has other ideas and the castle becomes the focus for a dangerous game of desire. deceit and death.Iain Banks masterly novel reveals his unique ability to combine gripping narrative with a relentlessly voyaging imagination. The narrative technique and sheer brio of A SONG OF STONE reveal a great novelist at the height of his powers.

This novel wasn’t for me – it is first person narration, and I disliked the narrator. In fact, I disliked all of the characters and didn’t care what happened to them.

I do think it is well written.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Audio, Fiction

Tagged as , ,

August 27, 2024 · 1:40 pm

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong

I am continuing my epistolary reading. This is a letter from a son to his mother. I listened to it, and it was narrated by the author (I am sure that must add something to the reading).

Here’s the blurb …

his is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born. It tells of Vietnam, of the lasting impact of war, and of his family’s struggle to forge a new future. And it serves as a doorway into parts of Little Dog’s life his mother has never known – episodes of bewilderment, fear and passion – all the while moving closer to an unforgettable revelation.

This was incredibly beautiful, but also challenging. There’s trauma and generational trauma. The difficulties of making a new life in a country where you don’t speak the language. The harshness of poverty and the daily small indignities (trying to act oxtail at the super market counter). But it is also about love (all sorts of love) and family. Damaged people trying to do their best.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Audio, Fiction

Tagged as , ,

July 28, 2024 · 12:15 pm

Long Island – Colm Toibin

Long Island – Colm Toibin

I really enjoyed Brooklyn, so I was keen to read this sequel.

Here’s the blurb …

Long Island is Colm Tóibín’s an exquisite, exhilarating novel that asks whether it is possible to truly return to the past and renew the great love that seemed gone forever. The sequel to Colm Tóibín’s prize-winning, bestselling novel Brooklyn.

A man with an Irish accent knocks on Eilis Fiorello’s door on Long Island and in that moment everything changes. Eilis and Tony have built a secure, happy life here since leaving Brooklyn – perhaps a little stifled by the in-laws so close, but twenty years married and with two children looking towards a good future.

And yet this stranger will reveal something that will make Eilis question the life she has created. For the first time in years she suddenly feels very far from home and the revelation will see her turn towards Ireland once again. Back to her mother. Back to the town and the people she had chosen to leave behind. Did she make the wrong choice marrying Tony all those years ago? Is it too late now to take a different path?

Once again the writing is beautiful, and it covers the anxiety people living far from home feel. Is this the right place for me?, where do I fit?, did I make the right choice? All of the main characters from Brooklyn are here and we see what has happened to them during the 20 years. When I read Brooklyn, I liked Tony, so I was very disappointed to hear what he had done. This has clouded my thoughts about this novel. I don’t like it as much as I probably should.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Digital, Fiction, Historical Fiction

Tagged as , ,

July 21, 2024 · 12:54 pm

Emma of 83rd Street – Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding

Emma of 83rd Street – Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding

This is an updated re-telling of Jane Austen’s Emma.

Here’s the blurb …

In this witty and romantic debut novel, Jane Austen’s Emma meets the misadventures of Manhattan’s modern dating scene as two lifelong friends discover that, in the search for love, you sometimes don’t have to look any further than your own backyard.

Beautiful, clever, and rich, Emma Woodhouse has lived twenty-three years in her tight-knit Upper East Side neighborhood with very little to distress or vex her…that is, until her budding matchmaking hobby results in her sister’s marriage—and subsequent move downtown. Now, with her sister gone and all her friends traveling abroad, Emma must start her final year of grad school grappling with an entirely new emotion: boredom. So when she meets Nadine, a wide-eyed Ohio transplant with a heart of gold and drugstore blonde highlights to match, Emma not only sees a potential new friend but a new project. If only her overbearing neighbor George Knightley would get out of her way.

Handsome, smart, and successful, the only thing that frustrates Knightley more than a corked whiskey is his childhood friend, Emma. Whether it’s her shopping sprees between classes or her revolving door of ill-conceived hobbies, he is only too happy to lecture her on all the finer points of adulthood she’s so hell-bent on ignoring. But despite his gripes—and much to his own chagrin—Knightley can’t help but notice that the girl next door is a woman now…one who he suddenly can’t get out of his head.

As Emma’s best laid plans collide with everyone from hipster baristas to meddling family members to flaky playboy millionaires, these two friends slowly realize their need to always be right has been usurped by a new need entirely, and it’s not long before they discover that even the most familiar stories still have some surprises.

I really like how the original story was updated. Moved to New York, Mr Woodhouse is obsessed by health and wellness, and Mr Knightley runs a venture capital firm. I particularly liked the relationship between Emma and Mr Knightley. If you are a fan of Emma or rom-coms, then I think you will find this novel fun.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Digital, Fiction, Fiction - Light, Romance

Tagged as , , , ,

July 12, 2024 · 12:22 pm

Absolutely and Forever – Rose Tremain

Absolutely and Forever – Rose Tremain

I have read Tremain’s Restoration, which I enjoyed and then a friend recommended this one (very different from Restoration)

Here’s the blurb …

A piercing short novel of thwarted love and true friendship from one of our greatest living writers

Marianne Clifford, 15, only child of a peppery army colonel and his vain wife, Lal, falls helplessly and absolutely for Simon Hurst, 18, whose cleverness and physical beauty suggest that he will go forward into a successful and monied future, helped on by doting parents. But fate intervenes. Simon’s plans are blown off course, and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together.

Narrating her own story, characterising herself as ignorant and unworthy, Marianne’s telling use of irony and smart thinking gradually suggest to us that she has underestimated her own worth. We begin to believe that – in the end, supported by her courageous Scottish friend, Petronella – she will find the life she never stops craving. But what we can’t envisage is that beneath his blithe exterior, Simon Hurst has been nursing a secret which will alter everything.

This is the second novel I have read recently where a character can’t move on – the first being Good Material (It’s not my favourite plot device).

The setting – 50s and 60s England, was fabulous and I loved the relationship between Marianne and Hugo. The writing is exquisite, people are captured in a few deft sentences.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, 4, Digital, Fiction, Historical Fiction

Tagged as , ,

June 1, 2024 · 2:15 pm

My Name is Red – Orhan Pamuk

My Name is Red – Orhan Pamuk

My book club’s theme of the month is red, and I have wanted to red this for a long time, so it was the perfect pairing.

Here’s the blurb …

At once a fiendishly devious mystery, a beguiling love story, and a brilliant symposium on the power of art, My Name Is Red is a transporting tale set amid the splendor and religious intrigue of sixteenth-century Istanbul, from one of the most prominent contemporary Turkish writers.

The Sultan has commissioned a cadre of the most acclaimed artists in the land to create a great book celebrating the glories of his realm. Their task: to illuminate the work in the European style. But because figurative art can be deemed an affront to Islam, this commission is a dangerous proposition indeed. The ruling elite therefore mustn’t know the full scope or nature of the project, and panic erupts when one of the chosen miniaturists disappears. The only clue to the mystery–or crime? –lies in the half-finished illuminations themselves. Part fantasy and part philosophical puzzle, My Name is Red is a kaleidoscopic journey to the intersection of art, religion, love, sex and power.

I enjoyed the Istanbul setting, the cultural and social history, and I found some of the stories told by non-human characters (the colour red, picture of a dog) to be funny and interesting. It has an interesting structure, chapters from different perspectives, a dead man, the murderer, etc. However, I found this to be very long and often very repetitive (I suspect there were subtle details in the retelling which would have revealed more, but they passed my by).

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Crime, Digital, Historical Fiction

Tagged as , ,

May 25, 2024 · 4:10 pm

The Postcard – Anne Berest

The Postcard – Anne Berest

I managed to borrow this from the library using my Kobo – it was very easy. I have known about this book for a while and was keen to read it, but it took some time to get to it.

Here’s the blurb …

Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest’s The Postcard is a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Parisian intellectual and artistic life, an enthralling investigation into family secrets, and poignant tale of a Jewish family devastated by the Holocaust and partly restored through the power of storytelling.

January, 2003. Together with the usual holiday cards, an anonymous postcard is delivered to the Berest family home. On the front, a photo of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. On the back, the names of Anne Berest’s maternal great-grandparents, Ephraïm and Emma, and their children, Noémie and Jacques—all killed at Auschwitz.

Fifteen years after the postcard is delivered, Anne, the heroine of this novel, is moved to discover who sent it and why. Aided by her chain-smoking mother, family members, friends, associates, a private detective, a graphologist, and many others, she embarks on a journey to discover the fate of the Rabinovitch family: their flight from Russia following the revolution, their journey to Latvia, Palestine, and Paris. What emerges is a moving saga that shatters long-held certainties about Anne’s family, her country, and herself.

This was a very interesting story, and I am very impressed at how Anne and her mother found all of the information. It’s a sad story and you have to wonder how much past trauma effects the next generation. Knowing what happens in WW2, I wanted them to stay in Palestine, and then leave France, sadly they just kept trying to do the right thing, assuming everyone would be decent people.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Biography, Digital, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Memoir

Tagged as , ,

May 4, 2024 · 11:53 am

French Braid – Anne Tyler

French Braid – Anne Tyler

I have read a number of Anne Tyler novels. I like the domesticness and ordinariness of them.

The blurb …

When the kids are grown and Mercy Garrett gradually moves herself out of the family home, everyone determines not to notice.

Over at her studio, she wants space and silence. She won’t allow any family clutter. Not even their cat, Desmond.

Yet it is a clutter of untidy moments that forms the Garretts’ family life over the decades, whether that’s a painstaking Easter lunch or giving a child a ride, a fateful train journey or an unexpected homecoming.

And it all begins in 1959, with a family holiday to a cabin by a lake. It’s the only one the Garretts will ever take, but its effects will ripple through the generations.

This is a family saga, but it has an interesting structure. At the start there is a couple and one of them finds it strange that the other one thinks she sees her cousin at the train station but can’t be sure. How is it possible to not recognize your cousin? We then get the life of the Garretts from different time periods and different perspectives.

I find it difficult to separate my thoughts about the novel from my thoughts about the characters. And I didn’t really like Mercy (and when she took the cat, Desmond, to the animal shelter and then threw out all of his belongings I wanted to cry). I wasn’t a fan of Robin either, although, to be fair, I did warm to them both by the end.

This is a novel about an American family – with all of the rivalries and every day pettiness, but also the connections.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Audio, Fiction

Tagged as , ,

April 28, 2024 · 1:46 pm

Ariadne – Jennifer Saint

Ariadne – Jennifer Saint

I bought this because the cover is so beautiful. I have read one other myth re-telling – Circe.

Here’s the blurb …

As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur – Minos’s greatest shame and Ariadne’s brother – demands blood every year.

When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods – drawing their attention can cost you everything.

In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne’s decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover’s ambition?

Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.

In this novel we see the story from the perspective of Ariadne and Phaedra – essentially pawns in the machinations of men and gods. I found it a bit slow at first, but I pushed on and made it to the end. This novel has a very strong sense of place – Naxos, in particular. I only had a vague idea about Theseus and the ball of string, and I knew nothing about Ariadne after that. So it was interesting to learn more about her.

A review.

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Fiction, Historical Fiction

Tagged as , ,

April 19, 2024 · 11:04 am

The Dud Avocado – Elaine Dundy

The Dud Avocado – Elaine Dundy

I had this on my Kindle for a long time. I had a couple of attempts but never got past the first chapter. Then I decided I needed to get it read, so I focused – 30 mins every day.

Here’s the blurb …

The Dud Avocado follows the romantic and comedic adventures of a young American who heads overseas to conquer Paris in the late 1950s. Edith Wharton and Henry James wrote about the American girl abroad, but it was Elaine Dundy’s Sally Jay Gorce who told us what she was really thinking.

Charming, sexy, and hilarious, The Dud Avocado gained instant cult status when it was first published and it remains a timeless portrait of a woman hell-bent on living.

“I had to tell someone how much I enjoyed The Dud Avocado. It made me laugh, scream, and guffaw (which, incidentally, is a great name for a law firm).” —Groucho Marx

“A cheerfully uninhibited…variation on the theme of the Innocents Abroad…Miss Dundy comes up with fresh and spirited comedy….Her novel is enormous fun—sparklingly written, genuinely youthful in spirit.” —The Atlantic

This was at times charming, funny and annoying. The final romance was a bit rushed, but otherwise if was a fun, mostly light-hearted romp (and don’t worry you will eventually learn why it’s called The Dud Avocado)

A review (Rachel Cooke wrote the introduction to the edition that I read – it is similar to this review)

Leave a Comment

Filed under 3, Digital, Fiction

Tagged as , ,