Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton - book review

 

Sue's Reviews > Birnam Wood

Birnam Wood
by 

Eleanor Catton

Sue's review

Apr 23, 2024  ·  edit

really liked it

bookshelves: just-bought, novels, thrillers

Bit of a slow burner which begins with a lot of character building, then plot building, then massive plot progression until by the rather overwhelming end you're not sure who to empathise with.
Very well written and I finished reading it in the early hours, then couldn't sleep.
Did I enjoy it? Yes probably, I've never read a novel set in New Zealand before which gave it added interest.
Would I read another by Eleanor Catton? Yes, definitely.

Bush Meat by Mandy Sutter

 I really enjoyed this, beautiful storytelling.  FIVE STARS !

Bush Meat
by 

Mandy Sutter (Goodreads Author)

Sue's review

Sarah goes to Nigeria as a young child when her father, who works in petro-chemicals, is posted there. Sarah is intrigued by this different place and its different people, while her mother is afraid of not fitting in with the local ex-pat community. Sarah's father is distant, except when his daughter gets too close to the Nigerian 'servants'.

Later the family return to the UK and while their lives go on, this early experience continues to affect Sarah.

Told in a sequence of short stories, each complete as itself, the beautiful writing show this family's lives moving on in a normal, yet extraordinarily engaging way.

I really like this unusual book and, having lived a partially ex-pat childhood, I can empathise with the feelings of the characters and many of their circumstances.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - book review

 

We Were Liars
by 

E. Lockhart (Goodreads Author)

Sue's reviews

Aug 15, 2023  ·  edit

really liked it

bookshelves: novels

A rather remarkable, engrossing story, almost a five star, it deserves a four and a half but the system is flawed, without nuance.

We Were Liars is a story of privilege and despair, from the mind of a fifteen year old girl named Cadence. Only the privileged can call their daughter Cadence, but her first name is the least of her problems. Her surname is Sinclair which is a much bigger issue.

The author remembers what it's like to be a teenager while too many adults don't, which is understandable. Being fifteen is not fun, you possess the body and urges of an adult yet you still have the self-restraint and understanding of a child. You get things wrong.

No spoilers, read the book.

Reading in the Bath

 Lying in a warm bath, in my right hand my copy of Final Draft by Shelley Burbank - a brand-new novel just imported from the USA - and a glass of sauvignon-blanc in my left, should be sheer luxury. 

Certain facts could diminish these luxurious elements, in some people’s eyes. Starting at the top, the dated Artex ceiling and polystyrene coving are slowly parting company with each other and the plastered walls. The spider plant atop the bathroom cabinet has browning tips, its trailing babies are all brown and mama spider is calling, loudly, for water and light. 

There is the wash basin which doesn’t drain properly no doubt due to something grim lurking down in the U-bend.  The shower cubicle is slowly growing its own dark ecosystem, not helped by the charcoal soap somebody gave us for Christmas. Charcoal soap stains everything grey and is the ultimate gift that nobody needs, ever.  The 1970’s green wall tiles (every random 10-15th of them covered in ambiguous flowers) are detaching themselves from the walls and the corner I’ve painted to pretend it never was tiled doesn’t even convince me. Meanwhile the carpeted chipboard floor is slowly disintegrating just behind the toilet… who puts carpet in a bathroom…?

I'm well aware of all these negatives and I don’t care! I've always loved to read in the bath, whatever the state of the bathroom. Today I have this new book in the genre I’m currently into, detective fiction, written by an author I know, well we chat online.  And the book is immediately engaging, I’ve reached page 56 before I notice that the water is cooling down. I could chose to stay put, deplete the reservoir further and vastly increase the gas bill, but not tonight. 

Washing is in order. I’ve been gardening and don’t fancy sleeping with my pollenated, earthy and leaf mould dusted self.  There is an ingrained order to washing which does seem mostly logical. Around the eyes first, then the rest of the face. Next the hair, then moving down the body ending with cleaning between the toes. My grandmother would not approve of hair washing in the bath. 

In my grandparents household, time was an element to be obeyed. Getting up time, breakfast time, teeth-cleaning time, playtime, elevenses – a time by its very name. Then after lunchtime there was walk time, a march to the creek to feed the swans and ducks with rice, crusts and fly-walk. Teatime was followed by bath-time, with absolutely no reading. All ablutions were timed even more carefully than meals. Hair-washing-time was not the same as bath time. It involved a twice weekly ritual of standing on a stool bent double over the wash-basin while Granny poured enamel-mugfuls of warm water over my head and, inevitably, up my nose.  Grandfather even tried to control his bowel movements to a strict timetable, with pots of senna-pods stewing on the Aga every evening. Luckily he didn’t attempt this regimen on anyone else.

And now I'm clean. I still have 236 pages of this novel still to read. The writing is fresh, easy and engaging, the story intriguing and the protagonist identifiable. I have five more bath times to look forward to, before the pages start to sag in the moist heat. Luxury!

The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday - book review

Sue's Reviews > 

The Girl on the Landing
by 

Paul Torday

Sue's review on Goodreads

did not like it

bookshelves: novels, tried-to-read

I did manage to finish this, it took a bit of doing. I just found it impossible to empathise with either of the main characters. We get both their first person viewpoints, in alternate chapters, but it just didn't work for me.

Sorry Paul Torday, you can write but this one's not for me. I do like the cover though!

Daggerspell - by Katherine Kerr

Clearing a bookshelf and I nearly got rid of eight Katherine Kerr novels. There are a huge number of newer fantasy stories around these days and I wasn't sure I'd want to read them again.

But I re-read this first one in three days, not bad considering it's 528 pages. That's one of my gripes with fantasy novels, many are so damn long, I suppose because writers have to create a world, then inhabit it and create the mythology alongside the rest as well as considering the plot! Just setting a story in a familiar place with familiar attitudes, say London, is considerably easier.

Katherine Kerr does creates her world pretty well in Daggerspell, setting up for the whole stream of her Deverry novels to follow. Her world is Celtic, appears to be based on Welsh places, weather and language.

Nevyn the sorcerer is the foremost character, followed by Cullyn, a wandering swordsman, his daughter Jill and Prince Rhodry. These four are linked through the generations by their Wyrd - fate. The plot is complicated, inevitably. So far so fantastic, literally.

I've begun reading the second book in the series, I may finish it. Will I get through all eight? That's a different kettle of wizards. 

Where Crows Would Die - by Mary Griese

 

Sue Gilbert's Reviews > Where Crows Would Die

Where Crows Would Die
by 

Mary Griese

Sue Gilbert's review

Feb 07, 2022  ·  edit

really liked it

bookshelves: mystery, novels

Described as 'Welsh noir', this novel has similarities to Wuthering Heights, if that was set in the 1950's-60's and in a remote sheep farming community in the Welsh hills. The Heathcliffe alter-ego, named Morgan, is a troubled and dangerous soul, however the story differs. Unlike in the Bronte novel, the woman he obsesses over is Bethan, a strong and independent minded young woman who has no intention of falling for him.
The author is a painter, her love of art spills into the novel and not just because Bethan's father is an artist and her mother's cousin runs a gallery. The wonderful descriptions of the Welsh landscape are bleak, dramatic and painterly. She also knows a lot about sheep and her unsentimental use of her farming knowledge keeps the tale grounded.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, it's very readable and I enjoyed it once I got into it. This is Mary Griese's first novel, I hope she writes another.

Moab is my Washpot. By Stephen Fry. my review

. 

Stephen Fry is funny and rude, clever and incredibly knowledgeable. I know who he is, of course I do.  He’s entertained me on the telly for three decades, but did I want to read his autobiography?  Not especially, I don’t really read biographies except of the artists I’m researching.

However when I saw this salmon pink paperback on a bookseller’s shelf, I bought it for the cover.  I might well have bought it even if I was quite unfamiliar with Stephen Fry and despite the obscure title. Who is Moab, why does he/she/they matter? And what in heaven or hell is a Washpot? Yes I guessed the reference was from the Old Testament, but I had no intention of re-reading that tome to find it.

My main reason for the purchase was because the cover was largely filled with the monstrous, wise, preposterously ugly but somehow charming visage of a bull elephant seal, with a proportionately tiny blackbird staring up his bulbous nose. An elephant seal, Lain name Mirounga angustirostris - there's s my one bit of erudition. As a child I had seen one, in Berlin Zoo, as far as I know from this book Mr Fry never visited Berlin in his childhood. So why an elephant seal? Just why?

The autobiography encompasses the first 20 years of Fry’s life and no elephant seals are involved. It’s an intense, highly personal, self-deprecating book.  He writes an eruditely meandering – or maybe I mean meanderingly erudite – and excruciatingly honest story.

He presents us with his family, who he basically loves but, especially as a teenager, refuses to get on with and who love him but find him often hard to comprehend.  We see him in middle-class boarding schools, and how he coped with school life, not always well or honestly, but mostly he coped, by managing to withdraw from the system and outwit authority. And we see his love life as his sexuality begins to emerge. 

I did enjoy Stephen's book, it’s poignant, funny and engrossing, although I skimmed here and there, mostly through the meanderingly erudite sections, I don’t have the advantage of his classical education, I wonder if it is an advantage? The Washpot he mentions  in the afterword, as a metaphorical container for his dirty linen, and I believe Moab was a sinner. But the vast elephant seal, I still have no idea because it looks nothing like him!

Will I read the book again? I might, but probably only after I’ve read what comes in the next volume.  

 

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan - book review

 On Chesil Beach

by 

Ian McEwan

Sue Gilbert's review

Jan 03, 2021  ·  edit

really liked it

bookshelves: might-read-again, favourite-authors

Nearly a five star. Stories like this are why Ian McEwan is one of my favourite authors, I read it almost at one sitting. On Chesil Beach is not a long book and its 166 pages are full of beautiful characterisation, detailed yet uncluttered description and sparse, telling dialogue.

Edward and Florence are innocent, just married and in love. But it's 1962 and even though they are intelligent, educated young people they are stuck with the almost Victorian codes and mores of previous generations. Sadly for them, the summer of love is still a few years away, although their emotional and, in Florence's case physical reserve seems so deeply ingrained, they may have been unable to take advantage of so much liberation.

Intensely moving and intimate story of how love can go so easily wrong, when people won't/can't talk about sex.

St Leonards Writers Survives Lockdown and Bears Fruit.

Our small writer's group has, after a hiatus in the Spring, sprung up again. Even before lockdown began a few members were becoming anxious and avoiding meetings. Then 26th March and lockdown, for a few weeks none of us knew what to do. Luckily an email conversation began, eventually leading to an agreement that at least some of us wanted to have a go at Zoom meetings, which we began in May. 

A major fruit of lockdown is our new anthology, 'Forty Stories High'. Most members had submitted before our self-imposed deadline in February, and April-May was spent collating and proofreading the stories and poetry.  Editorial rigour may have been a bit lacking, the group not meeting up meant that in the end the production of the book was down to just two members, David and me, we felt we needed to just get on with it, for everybody else's sake. I proofread, he did everything else. Proofreading is not the same as editing.

So the now book exists, it looks great and contains a lot of excellent stuff.  It was published in October and though it's not completely perfect, I'm pretty pleased. It's the first time any of my stories and poetry have appeared in print. £7.99, please contact me or  http://stleonardswriters.com/ for a copy. We're also now on Facebook, please like us and message us.  

Despite a few hiccups, meeting via Zoom seems to be working for most of us. A few members haven't yet been able to join us on Zoom, but nine or ten have managed at least one meeting and most of these have become regulars. We have had up to eight per meeting which is more than we often had when meeting in person at St Ethelburga's Church, especially in the winter!  We did manage one social gathering, socially distanced of course, during the summer; a group picnic was enjoyed by members and partners the in the gardens by West St Leonards beach. 

http://stleonardswriters.com/  

Worst Fears by Fay Weldon - book review

    This cynical saga of Alexandra Ludd's slow awakening to her dead husband's perfidy isn't particularly easy reading. The style of writing in the book is deceptively simple, almost like a folk tale or maybe an Aga saga at the beginning, clipped sentences and characters with vaguely ludicrous names give a distancing effect.  However a lot is going on inside the covers, as well as under them.

      It is a very middle class tale which dates it, 1980's or early 90's in feel, nobody seems obsessed with mobiles and computers. I was determined to finish it, the story line was engaging and the character of Alexandra (nobody calls her Alex) is deeply drawn. I needed to know if she survived the traumas, the tension was gripping . It's riddled with black humour, I just wish I'd been able to enjoy it more.     

   Fay Weldon's genre is bleakly humorous stories of individual women trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society. She does it very well, within a small social spectrum, and Worst Fears fits right in.

   

Standing in Another Man's Grave by Ian Rankin - book review

 Standing in Another Man's Grave

by 

Ian Rankin (Goodreads Author)

Sue Gilbert's review

Oct 08, 2020  ·  edit

it was amazing

bookshelves: favourite-authors, might-read-again, mystery, whodunnit

A brilliantly told story. Tense, engrossing and unputdownable, is that a word? Spellcheck seems to think so. Anyway I finished all 422 pages in 52 hours while still getting on with a lot of other stuff, and having a few hours sleep.
So much I could say about this 18th incarnation of Rebus, but I won't do spoilers.
I will just say Rebus is on the road, not much of the story takes place in Edinburgh. The litany of the roads travelled and the places visited may be music to the ears of anyone who feels that a part of their past is in Scotland. Almost lyrical descriptions in places, plus some very believable, tense and humorous dialogue between Rebus and other investigators.
So yes, I enjoyed this one! Thank you Mr Rankin.

Resurrection Men by Ian Rankin - Rebus #13 - book review

 I really enjoyed this book. I very seldom give a book five stars but it was about time Ian Rankin had five. Resurrection Men fits the bill because I never thought I could describe a Rebus novel as funny, but this one is, at least in places. It's mainly down to awkward situations and excellent dialogue which is concise and full of humour, black and otherwise.

Convoluted plotting is necessary to get to the conclusion and along the way are plenty of dubious characters - most of them policemen - and a lot of agonising for Rebus and Siobhan Clarke. People get killed, most of them are deserving though not all. Not every plotline is filled with humour, after all this is a Rebus novel.

Basically, the High Hedyins are using John Rebus, an awkward and bloody annoying cop, in a sting operation to get some awkward and bloody bent cops. Inevitably it goes pear shaped. Are Big Ger Cafferty and his sidekick, the Weasel, involved? What do you think?

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, read a John Rebus book. I can recommend most of them,  although this may not be the best one for beginners. It's hard to come by well written detective fiction and I wasn't really a fan until I began reading Ian Rankin's work, which is usually extremely well written. This is an author who doesn't just know exactly what each word means, he also knows exactly how to use it for maximum effect.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3515717586?fbclid=IwAR3kgBFz5zQ6oQ6wH9_uc7AI7aM-u4atPu2zKZ1jVUzvzn21vLh7jtPXovI

Black Dogs by Ian McEwan - book review

I've tried to read Black Dogs before and never got into it, this time I did. I even managed to finish it and understand why I've had difficulty before. Ok the plot line goes backwards and forewords in time, that's not the problem. The narrative skips between different characters' versions of the story but that's not the problem either. 

It's a clever book, cleverly and very self-consciously written and the self-consciousness of the author is embodied in the character of Jeremy, the supposed narrator.  This is what irritates me about the story. This character seems superfluous but he forces himself into the narrative as if this is his story, it really isn't.

It's the story of June and Bernard who are Jeremy's in-laws.  We experience their story through the author, via Jeremy and I felt so distanced by this device that I really couldn't enjoy their experiences even though they are very evocative in many places.  I wanted to stay in their minds, not be constantly dragged back to Jeremy's every-day domesticities and anxieties, which I really couldn't care less about.  I suppose for someone who could empathise with Jeremy it could work, I just found him an unsympathetic character. 

I do expect a lot from Ian McEwan's writing because he is so damn good. I know because he often does far better than this. Black Dogs was only his fifth book, but came after the Innocent, which is so much better.

No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub by Virginia Ironside - Book review

 

Sue Gilbert's review on Goodreads 

Sep 03, 2019 

liked it

I picked this up because I've always quite admired Virginia Ironside as a right-on journalist and agony aunt. The story is okay for what it is, but I was hoping for something a bit stronger or at least a little funnier, from this writer.

Plenty of it is good. Marie Sharp is defiant of the stereotypes and expectations of a woman of a certain age, i.e. sixty. She lists them with contempt and vows to definitely grow old disgracefully. She will remain single but will not become a little old lady. She will wear purple, demand attention and express her opinion at every juncture.

She will also dote on her grandson and give up sex.

Her description of the illness and death of a close friend is unflinching and moving, I felt for all of them. This was for me the most powerful part of the story, her friendship slowly bleeding away.

Where the story fell down was the always implied idea that she will not actually remain single and she will not give up sex. So at the end we come back to the ordinary story of a woman who can't be complete without a man, yet again. I was so hoping for a more interesting ending, but it became just another romance. I was afraid it would.

More of Me by Kathryn Evans - Book Review

My goodreads review:-

More of Me
by

Kathryn Evans (Goodreads Author)

Sue Gilbert's review

Oct 21, 2018  ·  edit

really liked it

bookshelves: might-read-again, novels, sci-fi

I would have read this in one session but for needing a night's sleep. It's remarkably well written, I can't fault it. Anyone who's ever been a teenage girl will probably recognise the uncomfortable feeling inside their skin, even if this story is teenage angst and weirdness taken to the max and beyond. 

But am I allowed to like it? I was a teenager a very long time ago. If all so called YA fiction is this good, I will read a lot more of it. But I hate fiction being put into these boxes, YA, SF, mystery, crime, fantasy, etc. Good books are good books! I was reading adult's stories and children's stories when I was eight, I didn't differentiate then. I'm certainly not starting now. 

*****************************************

This is the first of my Hastings Litfest prize books which I've so far read. The others will need to be extremely good to be as immediately engaging as this is.