Reading round-up August 2018

Reading round-up - August 2018 

I thought I'd be able to get back to posting more regularly but it's been ages again unfortunately. As I've not written any full reviews I thought I'd share a taste of what was a very good reading month for me in August. There was a lovely variety in what I read, everything was enjoyable,  and it was great to read such a quantity as well. I wish I could manage this every month but sadly that doesn't happen. I've read little in September so far, although the one novel I've finished thus far - A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne - was absolutely brilliant and I'd highly recommend it. I read some lovely illustrated children's books, a graphic novel, crime fiction, and a selection of other fiction - historical and contemporary, even some poetry. Additionally there was a compelling memoir, and a very welcome and supportive book on surviving the modern world. Some mostly brief thoughts on them.

The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau - Graeme Macrae Burnet has become a new favourite author since, earlier this year, I read his brilliant novel His Bloody Project, whilst  on holiday up in Scotland. I've since read his other two novels and thoroughly enjoyed both. 

Notes on a Nervous Planet - Matt Haig's book Reasons to Stay Alive (my review is here) was a wonderfully supportive and sympathetic read which I found an awful lot of strength from and this is another book which takes an honest look at the pressures of the modern world and the struggles we may have with it and gives support and hope in coping.

The Case of the Missing Hippo (Fabio the World's Greatest Flamingo Detective 1) - This book is fabulous fun and a very enjoyable read, what a clever imagination.

I Am, I Am, I Am I love Maggie O'Farrell's novels, and really enjoyed this series of 'brushes with death', if enjoyed is the right word. I enjoyed her writing once again, though these many close scrapes are at times frightening, she has come through so much. 

You Sad Feminist - I heard about this poet on Jean's - Bookish Thoughts - book tube channel and thought it sounded up my street, and then I watched a video of the author  Megan Beech reading some of her poetry aloud and was very impressed, as I was when I read this collection. 

The Yark - A children's book I found whilst browsing in Foyles, it caught my eye, translated from French and published in New Zealand, it's a story I enjoyed though be warned it certainly has a dark edge to it. 

The Book Case - Lots to love in this and I will look out for more. Some fab characters especially Daphne. I liked the illustrations a lot. A fair bit of action and adventure to the story.

The Poet's Dog - This is a lovely story that says so much about love/friendship and kindness in so few words. And the main character and narrator is a dog. Perfect.

Stay Where You Are and then Leave - I loved this story from beginning to end, it was moving and very well told. I was sad to leave the characters behind and am wondering what happened to them all next.

Rooftoppers - This was a magical read! I had a tear in my eye at the end. Not sure how I missed this before. 

All We Shall Know - 'We merged over time into one person, I think, and it's easy to be cruel to oneself.'

I've previously read one book by this author, The Spinning Heart, which I absolutely loved, so I did go into this new book with high expectations I suppose, and I wasn't disappointed. Whilst I think overall I still would say I loved The Spinning Heart most, I absolutely loved reading Donal Ryan's beautiful, lyrical writing again here in All We Shall Know, with his often acutely painful but so on the nose observations about people and about relationships of love and youth and promise gone so bitter and so wrong. I just feel he has a brilliant grasp on people and on what makes people's hearts soar with joy and what absolutely tears people apart in themselves and from each other. I think his writing is at times a class apart and sometimes I stop and reread a sentence or passage numerous times in awe of it. 

Here he tells the story of a woman named Melody Shee, who we learn straight away is pregnant and the father is not her husband Pat but Martin, a young traveller boy. She is in a very dark place in her mind as the novel begins, and we learn of the darkness that haunts her from her past, from schooldays and from her marriage gone sour. The only brightness on the landscape is a new friendship that blossoms between Melody and Mary, a traveller living on the same site as Martin, and to some extent the time Melody spends with her father. This book gave me an insight into a community that I know very little about. The author depicts the way memories of past transgressions haunt us and can come back to taunt us. The tension and atmosphere grows as the weeks of her pregnancy progress. The whole of the passage about marriage vows that is about a page long is amazing. Superb, writing which is both beautiful and so insightful, and amazing how he does this in 150 or 200 pages, and I've already bought two more by this author to look forward to.

Standard Deviation - I really enjoyed this debut novel. I do like a good story of everyday family life set in the present day, and Katherine Heiny has crafted just such a tale here, a really readable story centred predominantly around just a few characters - Graham, his wife Audra, his first wife Elspeth and Graham and Audra's son Matthew. The author has a pacy writing style, and she writes with great humour at times, and makes some very sharp and true observations on modern life, love, marriage, parenting, there's some lovely characterisation. There's also some real sadness, sometimes coming as quite a surprise. Though in some ways it feels as though Graham is the main character, Audra is such a presence that it does feel like she is the most memorable character in the book, and at times I thought Audra was brilliant, though I do think she would also drive me a little mad at times too if I encountered her in the real world. Sometimes I thought, oh she's not really going to say that is she, and then she does, oh my goodness! The development of young Matthew's character was nicely done, his talent for origami. There's some witty and at times acerbic commentary and judgements, often from Graham, on the personalities and behaviours of those he meets, and sometimes you can't help feeling you might have thought the same thing, however unkind, and other times it makes you stop and think about how we judge others based sometimes on very little. It made me think about how we view our relationships. And although there were very sad moments, it really did make me laugh at times. I'd definitely read more by this author. 

The Pavee and the Buffer Girl - I enjoyed this moving graphic novel about outsiders finding each other. 

An American Marriage - A compelling tale and one that makes you think about whose side, if anyone's, you are on. 

Snap - I really enjoyed this, a compelling page turner, some witty lines and enjoyable characterisation, recommended. One of my favourite reads from a few years ago is Belinda Bauer's novel Rubbernecker (my review is here).

Have you read any of these? What was your favourite read over the summer? 

New releases

I'm hoping this autumn will bring more good reads and there are several I'm really excited about over reading the coming weeks, including Lethal White by Robert Galbraith, Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak, Transcription by Kate Atkinson, Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty, The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton, to name a few. 

Is there a new release you are looking forward to?

The Invisible Man from Salem - Christoffer Carlsson - Extract - Blog Tour

I'm taking part in the blog tour for The Invisible Man from Salem by Christoffer Carlsson today!

This is the first book in the Leo Junker series. 

It's published in the UK by Scribe Books and is translated by Michael Gallagher.

I'm featuring an extract from the book. Do visit the other stops on the tour too - see the picture above!

~~~~~

Extract from The Invisible Man from Salem...

I’m outside, standing under the overcast sky. I take several deep breaths. My head’s spinning, and I feel sick; it’s hard to breathe. It’s been so long since I thought about her. She’s been there sometimes, like a ghost. Some nights.

Julia Grimberg’s necklace was in Rebecca Salomonsson’s hand. They couldn’t have known each other. It must have been put there by whoever killed her.

And, as if I’m being watched, my phone buzzes.

not going to have a guess? writes the anonymous sender.

guess what? I write, looking over my shoulder, looking around for anyone who might be sticking out from the crowd. 

guess who i am, comes the reply.

are you the one who killed her?

no it wasn’t me

do you know who did it? 

maybe

who was it?

I can see you, Leo

~~~~~

About the novel...

When a woman in his building is killed, Leo cannot stay away. Despite being on suspension from the force, he bluffs his way onto the crime scene and examines the body. When he notices that the woman is clasping a cheap necklace in her hand – a necklace he instantly recognises – he knows he must investigate, even though he has been warned to stay away. As a series of frightening connections emerge linking the murder to his own troubled youth in Salem, Leo is forced to finally confront a long-ago incident that changed his life forever. 

Selling over 70,000 in its first year in print in Carlsson's native Sweden and netting the coveted Swedish Crime Academy's Award for Best Crime Novel, The Invisible Man from Salem has earned comparisons to Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo from critics. Still in his 20s, Carlsson – who has a PhD in criminology – has become one of the country's most in-demand authors, acclaimed for his ability to combine page-turning prose and razor-sharp social realism.

About the author...

Christoffer Carlsson was born in 1986. The author of two previous novels, he has a PhD in criminology, and is a university lecturer in the subject. The Invisible Man from Salem has been a bestseller in Sweden, and won the Swedish Crime Academy’s 2013 Best Crime Novel of the Year award. 

It is the first in a series starring a young police officer called Leo Junker, and will shortly be developed into a three-season TV

drama by StellaNova Film. 

My Heart and Other Black Holes - Jasmine Warga

Synopsis

Aysel and Roman are practically strangers, but they've been drawn into an unthinkable partnership. In a month's time, they plan to commit suicide - together.

Aysel knows why she wants to die: being the daughter of a murderer doesn't equal normal, well-adjusted teenager. But she can't figure out why handsome, popular Roman wants to end it all....and why he's even more determined than she is.

With the deadline getting closer, something starts to grow between Aysel and Roman - a feeling she never thought she would experience. It seems there might be something to live for, after all - but is Aysel in so deep she can't turn back? 

~~~~~

'Maybe we all have darkness inside of us and some of us are better at dealing with it than others.'

I was keen to read My Heart and Other Black Holes when I found out about it, as the storyline and themes really interest me personally. I read it quickly and found the story gripping and compelling, and I felt compassion for Aysel and Roman, two young people, total strangers, who plan to take their own lives, together. 

For the most part I thought this was an excellent book; I was so glad to see something written in young adult fiction exploring difficult, complex feelings of guilt, and dealing with deep depression, and in this case focussing on teenagers. This is an impressive, moving and honest debut novel with a frank and well portrayed depiction of depression, sadness and self-blame. 

There are some excellent scenes and a real understanding and compassion of depression is demonstrated in the writing, as well as the difficulty some people can have with interactions with others, retreating into themselves so far that their outlook on the world becomes very bleak indeed, believing they are everything their illness tells them they are. The author convincingly depicts problems within different relationships, whether between siblings, mother-daughter, mother-son - so as well as depression and the individual, the novel looks at different family structures and friendships too and how they are affected. 

My main quibble was that I personally was not a hundred percent sure about the ending and whether it felt right to me, but I would definitely recommend others read this novel and decide for themselves. This story affected me in the way I think I thought the book The Fault in Our Stars would but didn't. 

I read a proof copy a while ago now and I hope when the finished book appears here in the UK that there will be appropriate help and support links at the back for the UK for anyone who might need them (as the novel is set in the USA). I do think it is important that topics like this are covered, sensitively. 

I did find parts of this story upsetting and notice my mood drop, so if you doubt your strength do think about whether it is the right time for you to read this, and whether it will help you. 

Review copy received via amazon vine 

Stranger Child - Rachel Abbott - Guest Post

I'm very pleased to welcome author Rachel Abbott to the blog today! 

Rachel is the author of four novels, her new book is called Stranger Child, and she is here to tell us about the kind of research that goes into her writing. 

I've read and reviewed two of Rachel's novels so far, Only the Innocent and The Back Road, and enjoyed them both very much (click the titles to read my reviews).

A thrilling line of research

by Rachel Abbott

One of the aspects of writing that I have always thoroughly enjoyed is the research. My husband has said frequently that a police raid must be imminent as I scour the Internet to discover methods of killing people, and learn about money laundering, drug distribution and people trafficking. Fortunately I can prove – through my books – that it really has all been in the line of research.

I don’t know how writers managed before the Internet came along. I know there is much you can do in libraries, but when you are researching a thriller it’s hard to know where in any respectable library you might find out how to manufacture liquid nicotine, and where best to inject it to cause death.

When I sit down with an idea for a book, I usually start with a ‘what if?’ question. ‘What if a woman had no choice but to murder a man?’; ‘What if a man is so obsessed with his wife that he has to…’ (I’m not going to finish that sentence – it gives the game away in one of my books.)

From that initial question, I start to develop the plot. What has happened to these people to bring them to where they are now? As the ideas develop, I start to build character profiles and a timeline of events.

Even these first steps, which I believe are crucial to forming a picture in readers’ minds, require research. When I develop a character profile, I have an idea of what a character might look like. But that’s not enough. I want an actual picture so I don’t lose sight of them. I scour web images, looking for anybody – a star, a model or just somebody’s mum – that fits the bill. That image is pasted into the character profile, and I find other items to add to their portfolio – where they live, what clothes they wear, what they like to drink, and so on.

The timeline creates its own research list. In Stranger Child, Tom – the main detective in all my books – is reminiscing about his youth with older brother, Jack. I check the timeline to confirm when they were both born. What music would they have been listening to in their teens? I trawl through the charts for that year, and decide which brother would have liked which tracks.

All of this is valuable research, but for Stranger Child I had to go one step further – although I actually bottled it when it came to one part of the investigation. But I’ll come to that shortly.

In Stranger Child one character has to go into a safe deposit vault buried deep under the streets of Manchester in the middle of the night – with no light other than a head torch. For me, this would be a terrifying experience, but to make it as realistic as possible I needed to know how it might feel. So I phoned up a company (they wish to remain anonymous) and asked if I could have a tour.

Of course, I went during the day when the lights were on and it was full of people. But I stood in the centre of the room and tried to imagine I was there on my own, and it was pitch black. As it’s underground, there would be no ambient light, and the sounds from outside would be muffled.

There’s a viewing room where people take their boxes to add or remove items, and I imagined how it would feel to know that somebody might be hiding in there, waiting for me. I had to make others feel how I knew I would have felt, with an authenticity that couldn’t have been achieved without a site visit.

And now for the bit where I have to admit to being a wimp! Stranger Child references the Dark Web. For those who may not know much about the Dark Web it’s part of the Deep Web (an area of the internet that cannot be found through search engines). There are several reasons why websites and other content might legitimately not want to be accessed via search engines, but the Dark Web is the part of the Deep Web associated with the buying and selling of anything from guns and drugs to credit card details. Some use the terms Deep and Dark interchangeably, but my research suggests that there is a subtle difference. Neither, though, is readily accessible.

This was a vital part of my story, so I researched how to penetrate the Dark Web. It must be possible, or there would be no market for the illegal goods sold there! And I managed it. I actually know how to get into the Dark Web. But the truth is, I didn’t have the guts to try it.

Given the amount of attention being given to cyber crime by Europol and other agencies, for the first time since I started writing I was actually afraid of completing my research by visiting any of the sites. What if I stumbled across some seriously illegal activities? What if, entirely by mistake, I bought a gun, or found I had inadvertently bought a stack of bitcoin?

So unlike my quest for creating the realism of the vault, I relied on the fact that I knew a lot about the dark web without, thankfully, ever having visited it. And I assumed most of my readers would know no more than me.

Research for Stranger Child was fascinating, but with each book, I seem to have to delve deeper into dark worlds. So if you hear I’ve been arrested, it was all in the interests of authentic research.

About 'Stranger Child'

One Dark Secret. One act of revenge. 

When Emma Joseph met her husband David, he was a man shattered by grief. His first wife had been killed outright when her car veered off the road. Just as tragically, their six-year-old daughter mysteriously vanished from the scene of the accident. 

Now, six years later, Emma believes the painful years are behind them. She and David have built a new life together and have a beautiful baby son, Ollie. 

Then a stranger walks into their lives, and their world tilts on its axis. 

Emma’s life no longer feels secure. Does she know what really happened all those years ago? And why does she feel so frightened for herself and for her baby? 

When a desperate Emma reaches out to her old friend DCI Tom Douglas for help, she puts all their lives in jeopardy. Before long, a web of deceit is revealed that shocks both Emma and Tom to the core. 

They say you should never trust a stranger. Maybe they’re right. 

About Rachel

Rachel Abbott was born just outside Manchester, England. She spent most of her working life as the Managing Director of an interactive media company, developing software and websites for the education market. The sale of that business enabled her to take early retirement and fulfil one of her lifelong ambitions - to buy and restore a property in Italy. 

But even in Italy the winters can be cold and wet, and so Rachel decided to fill those dismal days by fulfilling another ambition - writing a psychological thriller! ONLY THE INNOCENT, her first novel, was more successful than she could ever have imagined, and it enabled her to change her life yet again, and become a full time writer. Her third novel, SLEEP TIGHT, was released on 24th February 2014 and was her third number one. Stranger Child, Rachel's latest book, was released on 24th February 2015.

Links

Web :         rachel-abbott.com

Blog:          rachelabbottwriter.com 

Twitter:     @Rachel__Abbott

Facebook: RachelAbbott1Writer

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

Synopsis from goodreads:

To everyone else in this carriage I must look normal; I’m doing exactly what they do: commuting to work, making appointments, ticking things off lists. 

Just goes to show.

Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning and every evening. Every day she passes the same Victorian terraces, stops at the same signal, and sees the same couple, breakfasting on their roof terrace. Jason and Jess seem so happy together. 

Then one day Rachel sees something she shouldn't have seen, and soon after, Jess disappears. Suddenly Rachel is chasing the truth and unable to trust anyone. Not even herself.

Tense, taut, twisty and surprising . . . The Girl on the Train creeps right under your skin and stays there. 

~~~~~

This is my first review on the blog in quite a long time, it feels a bit like starting over again and it's not a very detailed one - I haven't gone over the plot much, I've added the synopsis above instead -  but I did really enjoy the book so thought I would share the brief thoughts I had about it.

The Girl on the Train is Paula Hawkins' debut novel, and it's a cracker of a read. She's delivered one of those stories that you don't want to stop reading until you reach the end, because it becomes so tense and the chain of events and revelations keep you hooked; the fast-paced storytelling reins you in and just doesn't let go. This is a gripping psychological crime thriller, a genuine page-turner of a novel. 

The opening premise is a great idea, and so easy to identify with - how, whilst travelling by train, we might look out of the window and observe the lives of others playing out in those gardens backing on to the tracks, and we imagine what those other lives might be like.

Three young women narrate the story in turn, and each one of them had me questioning what was true, what was really happening, what I could believe; Rachel in particular I thought was very compelling in the way her character was drawn and fleshed out. 

A couple of quibbles with the plot aside, which I can't really mention because they would be spoilers, I found this to be an addictive, twisty read and certainly a cleverly told debut novel which I think will be massively popular with readers when published early in 2015. 

I received an advance review copy of this novel from the amazon vine program and these are my honest thoughts. On there I gave the novel 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Black Chalk - Albert Alla - Guest Book Review

Published by Garnet Publishing

Guest review by Janice Lazell-Wood

This is the unsettling story of how Nate Dillingham’s life changed one afternoon, when his classmate, Eric Knight, walked into their physics class and started shooting. 

Nate is the sole survivor and only witness. While he is recuperating in hospital from a stomach wound he received that day, journalists and police are at him wanting to know the truth. Trying desperately to repress unwanted memories, and dealing with crippling guilt, Nate feels the only way he can cope is to run away, and, on his 18^th birthday, he does just that.

After eight years of travelling and trying to hide from the truth, he finally returns to face his demons to find he’s not the only one who’s been affected by the traumatic events of that day, those that he loves have been through hell as well. 

When he meets Leona, a grounded 19 year old, who fascinates him, Nate is smitten and they begin a passionate relationship. However, when the realisation dawns as to just who she is, all the memories, pain and guilt he has tried to quash are brought to the forefront once more. He finally opens up to her (and the reader), and we get the whole shocking story of that day. 

Told by Nate himself, this is a gripping and affecting story.  I wanted to know the reasons behind the shooting, what Nate saw, and how things were going to work out for him and Lorna.  When the end comes, I was left wanting more.  An excellent debut novel, and one which comes recommended. 

My thanks goes to Lindsay for giving me the chance to review this novel.

Many thanks to Janice for reading and reviewing this novel for The Little Reader Library!