Comets and Cosy Crime

I was waiting for Father Christmas to bring me some new books, when Penguin Random House jumped the gun and sent me an advanced proof of cosy crime novel 'The Murder at World's End', a grown up book by children's author Ross Montgomery.

Much More Complicated Than That

 Yet again, I am proof that modern marketing works. After just the right amount of targeted adverts, I looked up 'The Ministry of Time' by Kaliane Bradley to find out what the fuss was all about.

Work, Life, Balance

Summer is coming to a close and many people are returning to work after holidays, so it seemed an apt time to tell you about 'I Hope This Finds You Well' by Natalie Sue.

This Book will Give you an Ear Worm...

Continuing the story of the dream team tackling supernatural nightmares, 'Relight My Fire' takes the Stranger Times gang to a whole new level of weird. And thanks to its title, makes Take That and Lulu your daily internal soundtrack.

'Lessons in Chemistry' by Bonnie Garmus

Sometimes, I hear about a book and think 'Ooh, that sounds interesting!', but become doubtful as I hear more and more about how wonderful it is. On the one hand, I know marketers can't perform (many) miracles, but I'm also well aware that it's easy to get swept up by a wave of excitement. This is why I hesitated before reading 'Lessons in Chemistry' by Bonnie Garmus.

'The Stranger Times' by CK McDonnell

Do you believe in ghosts?  Monsters?  Things that go bump in the night?  Well, they exist - in the pages of fiction at least!  And many make appearances in the comic novel 'The Stranger Times' by CK McDonnell. 

Three Men on a Mountain

'Peaks and Bandits' by Alf Bonnevie Bryn

One of the best things about being a book blogger is that you never quite know what you'll end up reading next.  Until Vertebrate Publishing put a call out for reviewers, I would never have believed I'd end up reading about three young men going on a mountaineering trip to Corsica, but read one I did.  And I loved it.

Silly but it's Fun

'Come Again' by Robert Webb

Well, what a year!  One thing that many of us have found ourselves doing during lockdown is reflecting, thinking 'What if...' and seeing where it takes us.  What if I'd said 'Yes'?  What if I'd gone back to college?  What if I travelled back in time and relived my teenage years?  Well, maybe not the last one... unless you're the lead character in Robert Webb's debut novel, 'Come Again'.

It's All in the Mind, You Know

'I'm a Joke and So are You: Reflections on Humour and Humanity' by Robin Ince

Stand up comedy has blossomed in recent decades.  There seems to be a stand-up for every sense of humour, be it silly, surreal, relatable or satirical.  But is there a particular psychology that links these performers and makes certain people predestined for this strange, diverse and nomadic profession?  This is the question explored by comedian and presenter Robin Ince in 'I'm a Joke and So are You'.

Billy Connolly's Greatest Hits

'Tall Tales and Wee Stories' by Billy Connolly (Two Roads, 2019)

Billy Connolly is one of Scotland's greatest exports.  Now well into his 70s, the musician, actor, artist and stand up no longer performs live, but you can relive some of his best bits through 'Tall Tales and Wee Stories'. 

'Tall Tales and Wee Stories' is a collection of Connolly's classic monologues, drawn from sixty years of sell out performances across the globe.  The ex-welder first found fame as a folk singer, but discovered a talent for public storytelling when he forgot a song's lyrics while on stage.  He filled the gap with a story and it was so well received that it became part of the act.  Eventually, storytelling routines took over from the music altogether.  This book includes favourites such as a Cardinal's school visit, a children's countryside outing, a working class Scottish house party, the workings of airplane toilets, how a cat caused trouble for a film armourer, the infamous Crucifixion sketch and many, many more.  These 'Tall Tales and Wee Stories' are silly, sweary and surreal, in short everything you'd expect from the Big Yin.

Love Fools (Nearly)

'The Love Delusion' by Nicola Mostyn

Last year, I thoroughly enjoyed Nicola Mostyn's chick-lit-adventure-comedy-fantasy mash up 'The Gods of Love', so you can imagine how excited I was when a follow up was announced.  So, did 'The Love Delusion' leave me smitten all over again?

Frida McKenzie is the most cynical of all divorce lawyers, independent, self-assured and, above all, really great at her job.  So great in fact that she's rapidly rising through the ranks of 'The Love Delusion', a movement determined to rid the world of it's illogical obsession with love.  Frida's even become the lawyer of choice for new converts and been given the chance to meet the movement's founder, the elusive R. A. Stone. Everything looks rosy, until a chance meeting with a strange yet familiar protestor plants a seed of doubt in her mind. Where did the Love Delusion come from, and why can't she remember her life before it?  Who is this strange man and why is there a photo of them together hidden in her home?  Could it be there's something important that she's somehow forgotten?

Mama, We're All Sweary Now

'Why Mummy Swears' by Gill Sims (HarperCollins, 2019)

I haven't read 'Why Mummy Drinks', but I did recently finish 'Why Mummy Swears', Gill Sims' potty-mouthed sequel, continuing Ellen's story of contemporary motherhood and family life.

'Why Mummy Swears' follows mother-of-two Ellen through another 12 months of ups, downs, wobbles and squabbles.  While her son Peter ignores her in favour of his tablet, her daughter Jane only speaks to her to demand an Instagram account.  Outside the house, Ellen's been suckered into chairing their school's PTA (because no one else will) and her father's Big News has got her pretentious sister Jessica tied up in knots. On top of this, her well of ideas has dried up and it's becoming clear that working from home on a new money-making scheme is not going to pan out.  Fortunately, Ellen's dream job comes up just in time.  But can she rely on her husband Simon to step up and do his fair share of the parenting so she can go back to work full-time?

Sex and the Spelling

'How to be Famous' by Caitlin Moran

As you may have noticed, I've been stuck in a bit of a reading rut lately.  I've started countless books but just couldn't find the energy to finish any of them.  Fortunately, feminist, writer and journalist Caitlin Moran has energy to spare and I picked some up via her latest book, 'How to be Famous'.

'How to be Famous'
by Caitlin Moran
(Ebury Press, 2018)

Set in the mid-1990s and the sequel to 'How to Build a Girl' (which I haven't read), 'How to be Famous' is the next chapter in the life of young music journalist Johanna Morrigan.  Writing as 'Dolly Wilde' for a top magazine means she mingles with many musicians and performers and sees how they're all getting fame wrong.  Even her unrequited love, John Kite, has developed a drinking problem after his album went to number one.  Her new best friend, Suzanne Banks, lead singer of 'next big thing' The Branks, has added an enthusiasm for drugs to her already chaotic life, which in combination threaten the band's future.  Jo remains an observer of the pitfalls of fame until a two-night stand with edgy comedian Jerry Sharp goes badly wrong and she finds herself the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons.  Sharp is building his reputation by destroying others.  But can Jo stop him before he destroys hers?

Mild, Mild West

At this time of year, and especially with the rotten weather we've been having, it's very easy to suffer a bit of the winter blues.  In the hope of a pick me up, I started reading 'Once Upon a Time in the West... Country' by fridge-towing funny man Tony Hawks.

'Once Upon a Time in the
West... Country'
by Tony Hawks
(Hodder & Stoughton, 2015)

In his early 50s and on holiday with the love of his life Fran, Tony has an epiphany: He doesn't have to live in London any more!  As a writer, radio show panelist and frivolous bet accepter, he can live anywhere, not just the Big Smoke.  In search of something more than the anonymity of the city, Tony and Fran make the move to Devon to start a new life.  But how will Tony cope with the sudden friendliness, expansive scenery and unexpected demands of country living?

Let's all be Champion

After the intensity of 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine', I felt I needed a bit of light relief.  I'd enjoyed some extracts of Sarah Millican's new book 'How to Be Champion' on the radio, so I decided to give it a go.

Comedian Sarah Millican's 'How to Be Champion' is part memoir, part self-help and part amusing musings on life.  Covering subjects as diverse as school, proper jobs, bullying, relationships, getting into stand up and the weirdness of fame, she shares stories, tips and even a recipe, all the while reminding us that life can be both sad and funny and sometimes both.  Above all, this book is about how to deal with it in a way that makes you feel 'champion', even when things don't go how you anticipate and society's expectations just want to get in your way.

OK, I'll start with the negative.  Like many celebrity books, the structure for this one goes a bit wobbly a bit towards the end.  It's almost like there was a set word count and once the timeline from school to the present had been more or less exhausted, there was a sort of 'what do I say now?' moment.  Fortunately, it doesn't last too long and Millican regains momentum to get us to the end of the book.

On the whole, this was exactly what I expected and wanted it to be.  Millican's joie de vivre shines from every page, meaning that this was a book I was happy to return to and could trust to raise a smile, from humour, recognition and understanding.  Hopefully she really is that champion and it's not just all that sugar in her tea!

As I'm sure the publisher's hoped, 'How to be Champion' would make a lovely stocking filler, something that can be enjoyed in short bursts during the morning commute or the five minutes you get to yourself after the kids have gone to bed.  While it's definitely one for the girls and a bit on the disposable side, it did it's job well and it certainly has a place on my bookshelves.  Like Millican herself, it's brave, brassy and yet compassionate, akin to a supportive hug and a 'It'll be alright, pet.'.  We all need one of those from time to time.

Now, what next...

Normal for Scarfolk

In retrospect, the 1970s and early '80s look a bit weird.  A time of fantastic pop music, scratchy man-made fibres and cold war - talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.  Those who lived through it may have noticed a sense of the sinister and supernatural that permeated popular culture.  But while the rest of us moved on - perhaps with a sigh of relief - the people of the enigmatic northern town of Scarfolk appear to have chosen a very different path...

'Discovering Scarfolk' by Richard Littler is a work of fiction (we hope), based on 'evidence' compiled by Dr Ben Motte as he pieced together the story of his missing university friend, Daniel Bush.  Bush and his two sons, Joe and Oliver, were travelling north to start a new life when a stop in Scarfolk changed everything.  Joe and Oliver vanished, leaving behind nothing but a mysterious cloud of stationery.  A panicked Daniel seeks help from the locals, who are at first unresponsive, then evasive and finally downright weird...

Very dark but also laugh out loud funny, 'Discovering Scarfolk' is a quintessentially British satire of a time long gone and a place that might still exist in some remote corner of our island.  Graphic artist Littler includes some eye catching parodies of public information posters and other ephemera that are so realistic I had to remind myself that they weren't real.  Not even the book about practical witchcraft.  The skilled blurring of fact and fiction just adds to the simultaneous unease and feeling of familiarity that pervades the book.  'Discovering Scarfolk' is an uncanny valley for the UK in the 1970s.

The only weakness here is the plot, but it hardly matters.  It's the idea of the time and place which is the star and the villain of the piece, and how Littler uses all the media at his disposal to teach us a thing or two about growing up before social media posts and digital photography allowed us to record every moment, making remembering anything almost unnecessary.  On every level, this is a book about memory and the tricks it can play.

'Discovering Scarfolk' is a book for people with a 'League of Gentlemen' sense of humour (unsurprisingly, Mark Gatiss is a fan), especially those who grew up in the '70s.  I'm sure there are many references this generation will get that I missed.

In Scarfolk, the past is a foreign county.  They do things very differently there.

For more information, please reread this post.

Related Links

The Scarfolk Blog

Vote Moran!

I had a lovely surprise recently - I won a competition I'd forgotten I'd entered!  This is how, thanks to Ebury Publishing, I ended up with a signed copy of Caitlin Moran's latest book, 'Moranifesto'.  And because it was something I really wanted to read, I'm afraid I went off list again...

'Moranifesto' by Caitlin Moran
(Ebury Press, 2016)

In 'Moranifesto', Ms Moran eases to the fore the more political aspects of her writing.  This is a woman who manages to cover both 'parties' (Noun: Social gatherings or celebrations, often involving food, music and copious amounts of gin) and 'parties' (Noun: Collections of people with shared political ideologies and aims, usually to get elected and/or bring down the PM/tease Jeremy Corbyn).  As a result, this book covers everything from hipsters, the uncooperative nature of printers, fame, TV, the Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee to feminism, tax, social mobility, FGM, the ruling elite, equality, wind turbines and more.  It is indeed as wide, varied and potentially powerful as a manifesto, full of energy and ideas.  If only manifestos were this grounded and readable.

There are three things I want to get out of the way first:

1. This book is too expensive.  I thoroughly enjoyed Ms Moran's previous collections and was thrilled when I found that another was out, but going into the bookshop and seeing a price tag of £20 made me baulk.  If I hadn't been given a copy, this review wouldn't have appeared until after the paperback was published or I'd got a copy from the library.
2. This book is too long.  While I enjoyed so much of this book and respect that there was a delicate balance going on, where the editors were trying to ease fans of the funny, everyday, social observation pieces into the tougher, witty, political and polemical parts, I do feel some sections didn't really work.  And. weirdly, although they only happened four years ago, the Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics already feel like ancient history, unlike the contemporary commentary offered by most of the articles.
3. The typos were distracting.  Publishers: If you can't afford proofreaders, there are plenty of people like me out there who would quite happily read your forthcoming books and point out any errors.  And I bet a lot would do it in exchange for free books.  It's the barter economy.  (Honest.  I'm not really just looking for a new way to get free books.)

So, now I've got that off my chest, I can go back to waving a banner in support of Moran.  I really liked 'Moranifesto'.  It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me cheer.  It drew a link between the ordinary and the powerful that needs to be reasserted so that ordinary people can re-engage with politics in a meaningful way.  At its best, this is a book of thoughts and ideas representative of a wider discourse that is happening in homes, pubs, staff rooms, cars, streets all over the UK.  It's echos are even being heard on radio and TV.

The news can often make it seem like we're small and insignificant, swept up on a tsunami of decision making designed to fuel a better future for other people, while drowning out all opportunity and hope for us and the people we love.  It's books like this one that make you realise that you're not alone or imagining it, that other people, with voices in the media, are also going "WTF?"

So, while I would've liked this book to be a bit braver and unembarrassed by being political, I do feel it's another step in a march towards a greater debate.  It's books like 'Moranifesto' which will inspire and motivate the politically alienated and apathetic in a way carefully rehearsed, PR-approved speeches and dense, complicated manifestos never will.  Whether you agree with it or not, it will get you thinking and, hopefully, talking.

Look!  It really is a signed copy!

What would I like Moran to do next?  I'm tempted to say "Deeds not words", but that's easier said than done, isn't it?  It's one thing to stick your head above the parapet and say things aren't right, but quite another to come up with practical ways to change things.  But getting people talking is a start.  And giving me a copy of the book definitely got me talking.  On top of that, I'll share and debate this book with other people too.  I've heard that's how revolutions happen.

Speaking of which, I wonder how Ross Poldark is getting on in revolutionary France?  Time to get back to 'The Black Moon'...

Related Posts

'Moranthology' by Caitlin Moran - Starts with one of the funniest things I've ever read.
'How to be a Woman' by Caitlin Moran - Common sense feminism for the everyday.

You Couldn't Make It Up!

Sometimes, I find genres confusing.  When does something become 'Classic'?  Why isn't PG Wodehouse under 'Humour'? Where on Earth do you put Daphne Writes-Horror-SciFi-Romance-And-More Du Maurier?  And what the fudge is 'Women's Fiction'?  But never before have I questioned whether something should be in fact or fiction!

The cause of the consternation is 'Animal QC: My Preposterous Life' by Gary Bell, published by Monday Books  It says it's an autobiography, but this rip roaring tale of a life less ordinary can't possibly be true.  Can it?

Mr Bell is the most unlikely barrister you're ever going to meet.  Far from the silver-spooned toff of the stereotype, he was born to teenage parents and began life in a condemned Nottingham slum.  Although the family escaped the city for the mining town of Cotgrave, life was far from easy and money was often short.  Despite showing promise, unimaginative careers advisors and an old fashioned working class attitude to education meant that he left school without taking exams.  Everyone expected him to follow his father down the pit, but his fear of the dark meant he lasted just one day.  A decade of short lived employment, strange strokes of luck and homelessness later and the boy was back in town and ready to start again as a mature student.  Living proof that hard work, dogged determination and just enough cheek can get you through, 'Animal QC' is a funny, inspirational and ridiculously preposterous story.  

I absolutely loved this book, but it's so unusual, I really don't know where to start!  Never has the phrase 'you couldn't make it up' seemed more appropriate nor a single paragraph so far from enough to summarise a story. 

Top barristers need to be great (and convincing) storytellers and Mr Bell must be one of the best.  'Animal QC' is engaging, charming and even jaw dropping, a well written page turner that made me want to keep reading.  His 'warts and all' attitude (which means he covers his major embarrassments as well as his greatest successes) keep the narrative on the right side of smug and when he touches on controversial topics, the reader is reminded that it's based on his own, personal experiences.  

The tone changes as he begins to talk about his casework and the pace slows slightly, but 'Animal QC' remains intriguing for a whole new set of reasons.  While I think the book in general could be an inspiration to anyone who thinks that where they start is where they'll stay, the later chapters would be of particular interest to people interested in the criminal law and the legal process.

Overall, I can't recommend 'Animal QC' enough.  The paperback is due out at the beginning of March, so look out for it then.  Hopefully we'll find it in 'Biography'...

Riding Along on the Crest of Fourth Wave

Feminism is cool.  After what seems like decades of confinement to university campuses, niche publications and the WI, it's bursting through to mainstream culture in a tidal wave.  Feminism is surfacing on TV, in cinemas, in popular books, in mainstream magazines... it's even on t-shirts!  It feels like its being talked about and owned by young women in a way not seen for 30 years and people from all walks of life are taking an interest.

'A Book for Her
(And Him if He Can Read)'
by Bridget Christie
(Century, 2015)

One of those people is stand up comedian Bridget Christie.  Prince Charming and I have read Ms. Christie's book, 'A Book for Her (and Him if He can Read)', so in this post you're getting two for the price of one.  You lucky people!

'A Book for Her' is part career-memoir and part personal journey.  In it, Ms Christie talks about how an unfortunate bookseller farting in a shop's Women's Studies section set her off on a journey which leads to her becoming the go-to 'feminist comedian'.  The whole journey seems to have surprised her as much as anything else.  She begins with a feeling that she needs to know more, but the event puts a wind in her sails that leads her to use her comedic writing and performing talents to bring some of the very harrowing key issues in modern feminism to the fore.

Prince Charming was a bit worried about reading 'A Book for Her (And Him if He Can Read)'.  "'Thank goodness for this book's subtitle.  Before I read it, I made sure I went away and dug out my old Peter and Jane books to learn to read.  I worked really hard and made sure I could read before tackling Ms Christie's book, although some of the long words still eluded me and I had to ask Eileen what they meant."

Well, that's what dictionaries are for, isn't it? Fortunately, I'd already learned to read, although I was finding it hard to work out which book I was supposed to read, being a woman and all that.  That's probably why I ended up with so many, I was looking for one which told me it was the one for me, you know, made it REALLY obvious.  If only more of them were pink with pictures of women on, it would make the whole process an awful lot easier and I wouldn't get so swept up in Waterstones.

Once he'd got to grips with all the words and reading malarkey, I found I had to put up with Prince Charming laughing quite a lot at this book.  As he puts it "Overall, I enjoyed the book. It was funny and thought provoking."  Goodness, he's right!  It is both funny and thought provoking, getting steadily more powerful as Christie finds her feet and begins talking about the issues she feels strongest about, in particular Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).  As she learned more, so did I, which made this a worthwhile, if disjointed, read.

I've read a number of books about feminist issues.  They've varied from factual essay-style texts or to passionate and well-informed, well, rants.  'A Book for Her' is different because it's about a relatively ordinary woman working out what feminism means to her and deciding for herself why it's important.  She says that she's not well informed about it at the start, but she has curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, which lead her to a cause and a desire to use the skills she has to change the world.

The book does feel dubiously structured, however, much like a sandcastle as the tide comes in.  It's almost as if Christie just started writing, without any sort of plan, and it's not until about half way through, as she starts talking about her career to date and transformation into a 'feminist comedian', that she seems to find her feet.  From then on, it's very readable and interesting.  Before that, it's funny, but rather meandering and doesn't really push you to keep reading.

Prince Charming agreed. "I would though have preferred two books, one about Ms Christie's stand up shows as they all sounded interesting and one about the serious issues the book covers.  The two themes could have done with a book each as I felt the direction of the book got lost trying to do both."  That's a man speaking.  And I agree with him, so it must be right!

For me, this book had the strange effect of making me want to watch Christie's previous shows on DVD.  But, oddly, they're not available, as far as I can tell anyway.  I blame the patriarchy.

Overall, I felt that this was a good book for the cautious in that it's about a personal relationship with feminism, a thoughtful consideration of why the subject is important rather than an impassioned scream telling us it has to be.  I will always be grateful to it for the information it provides on FGM.  I'd heard the term before, but was shocked by what I read here.  And I bet this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Now that's feminism covered, we're off to read about monster trucks...

Polite, Silly, Pointing

Two weeks and one cold ago, I finished reading 'Moranthology' by Caitlin Moran and it's taken me until now to get posting about it.  It turns out sometimes you just have to take paracetamol, go to bed and stay warm to get over mild winter diseases rather than just keep going.  Who knew?!

'Moranthology' by
Caitlin Moran
(Ebury, 2012)

'Moranthology' is a collection of columns and interviews written by everywoman, journalist, author and reviewer Caitlin Moran.  They are as wild, hilarious and eclectic as I imagine the Times columnist to be, saying "boo!" to the Zeitgeist before scampering off with an informative snapshot taken at an interesting angle.  Moran's subjects are wide ranging and varied, including everything from couple's pet names to hair copyright, 'Sherlock' to Aberystwyth, 'Ghostbusters' to Lady Gaga.  But she also uses her unique life experience to offer readers a new perspective on socio-political issues too, such as drugs, poverty, tax evasion, library closures, benefit cuts and mental illness.  We laugh, but we also learn.

Overall, this is a great 'dip into' sort of book, perfect for a short daily commute (on public transport, obviously) or anyone who 'doesn't have time to read'.  I stopped buying newspapers regularly when a) they started costing £1 a day and b) I realised I didn't really have time to read them anyway, so being able to get a book like this collecting some brilliant opinion pieces offered me a middle way.  Publish one once a year and I'm sorted.

My one criticism, I suppose, would be that this book starts on such a high that it was only ever going to go down.  The opening piece is a (possibly imagined) conversation between Moran and her husband about their pet names for each other.  I won't say any more, but Prince Charming also read this piece and laughed as much as I did.  It's almost unfair on the other columns!

'Moranthology' is a cool, funny, interesting, thought-provoking, sassy, proud book and when I reached the end I felt like I'd just finished the most interesting conversation I'd ever had.  So here's everything crossed for a 'Moranthology II'.

Related Posts

Feminism Goes Funny - 'How to be a Woman' by Caitlin Moran