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.

'Yinka, Where's Your Huzband?' by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

As a book blogger, I'm fortunate enough to get sent both books and sample chapters from time to time.  One of these was 'Yinka, Where's Your Huzband?', and I remembered enjoying it enough to seek it out when it was finally published earlier this year.

The Final Count Down

'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Alexandre Dumas (Translated by Robin Buss)

Like any normal person, there's only so much nagging I can take.  "You must read 'The Count of Monte Cristo'!" my friend kept telling me.  In the end, I cracked.  When it arrived, too big to fit through the letter box, I wondered what on Earth I'd let myself in for.  Turned out to be 1300 pages of intrigue, adventure and revenge.

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'.

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?

Back to the Future

'The Time Machine' by HG Wells (Gollancz reprint, 2001)

So, as Old Father Time used his scythe to harvest 2018, I, rather appropriately, found myself reading the Science Fiction classic 'The Time Machine' by HG Wells.

In a middle class, Edwardian drawing room, a brilliant scientist and engineer demonstrates his latest invention; a Time Machine. His audience of intellectual friends include a Psychologist, a Provincial Mayor and a Doctor, who, despite what they see, remain unconvinced of his achievement.  Determined to prove his theories, the Time Traveller sets out on an adventure in time, intending to bring back future proof of humanity's advances from centuries to come.  But when he lands in 802,701, he's shocked by what he finds.  The docile Eloi and the crumbling structures they inhabit disappoint his ideals of curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge.  But disappointment turns to horror when he encounters a second branch of the Homo Sapien family tree - the sinister, darkness-dwelling Morlocks - and he begins to realise where the ills of his present could ultimately lead.  Is it too late for civilisation or has the Time Traveller arrived just in time to give these descendants a better future?

A Crowning Achievement

Firstly, an apology.  I meant to have published this blog post by now, but unfortunately I caught one of the many bugs going around at the moment, so I've been out of action for a while.  Hope you can forgive me and that this was worth the wait!

Late last year, the lovely people at Bantam Press kindly sent me a copy of 'The Shogun's Queen', the latest novel in the Shogun Quartet by Lesley Downer, a story of women, politics and change in 19th century Japan.

'The Shogun's Queen'
by Lesley Downer
(Bantam Press, 2016)

Growing up in rural Japan, the daughter of a minor Samurai nobleman, Okatsu, learns to be bold, clever and headstrong at a time when girls should be meek, polite and obedient, much to the despair of her mother.  But, unknown to Okatsu, the qualities that make her different from other women will also set her on a unique path that will make her a vital player in a complex game of politics and power.  Her feudal lord, Shimazu Nariakira, Prince of Satsuma and second in power only to the Shogun himself, plans to make her central to a plot to bring about much needed change in a country that is struggling to find its place in the modern world.  As ships arrive from Holland and America, bringing traders who demand more and more from the ancient and very private culture, Okatsu finds she must sacrifice the life she knew in order to ensure the survival of the country she loves...

I have to be honest and say that I didn't take to Okatsu - or Princess Atsu as she's more frequently called in the book - straight away, but it wasn't really her fault.  The trouble is that headstrong, fiery yet beautiful female characters seem a bit of cliche and there's part of me that wants to hear about the ugly people!  But I was determined to stick with her and I'm glad that I did.  This is a story of perspectives (particular of insiders and outsiders) and as Downer takes us with Atsu on her journey to the Women's Palace, we see her vulnerabilities as well as her strengths.  I felt for her as she struggled with the demands of Lord Nariakira, etiquette and her own desires, finding excuses as well as untapped sources of strength as she matures into the queen of the title.  By the end of the novel, she was a person, not a cliche and I was sorry to leave her.

I've said before that I prefer historical stories of political intrigue over romance, and 'The Shogun's Queen' stuck the right chord for me.  There was enough emotion to make Atsu relatable and human and enough plotting and competing motivations to keep it interesting.  It read like the best books by Philippa Gregory and I feel that fans of Gregory would very much enjoy 'The Shogun's Queen'.

While Gregory's work is firmly rooted in her excellent knowledge of English history, Downer's superlative knowledge of Japanese culture gives 'The Shogun's Queen' wonderful depth and texture.  Once again she performs the perfect balancing act, giving us enough information so we can inhabit Atsu's world but without overwhelming the reader and distracting from the story being told.  The beautiful fabrics, ever changing landscapes, labyrinthine buildings, formalised speech, delicate foodstuffs - all combine to give us a three dimensional world that's easy to slip in to.

'The Shogun's Queen' features an interesting cast of characters, but once we're secluded in the Women's Palace, it's the Lady Dowager Honju-in, the Shogun's mother, who dominates.  Talk about the mother-in-law from Hell!  Representing an unsustainable desire to resist change and using every devious trick she's got to keep her power and influence, Lady Honju-in is a fantastic villain, the perfect contrast to the naive and uncertain Atsu.

I'd thoroughly recommend this book to any fans of historical fiction looking for something set outside of the UK.  To be honest, I'm a bit sick of stories about the Tudors, so this was perfect for me - the same high quality, but telling me about a time and a place I knew little about.  Downer skilfully crafts Atsu's story, wearing her knowledge lightly and offering a new perspective on a fascinating culture.  I'm really looking forward to reading other books in the series.

Now, what next...!

Moon, Light, Shadow

It's been a while since I last read a Poldark novel ('Warleggan' back in July 2014).  I knew that I wanted to read them all, preferably before they're all filmed by the BBC, but was so appalled and shocked by Ross' behaviour in book four that I couldn't quite bring myself to do it.  I have now, however, finished 'The Black Moon' by Winston Graham.  It was so good, I've pretty much gone straight on to book five.

'The Black Moon' begins with Elizabeth, lost love of Ross Poldark and now wife of his enemy George Warleggan, giving birth to a baby boy.  While George rejoices at having

'The Black Moon' by
Winston Graham
(Pan Books, 2008)

 a son, the ancient Aunt Agatha quickly points out that the child has been born under an ominous black moon, a very bad omen.  But for the time being the bad luck shadows others in the household.  Elizabeth's cousin, Morwenna, tutor to Elizabeth's son from a previous marriage, falls in love with Drake Carne, brother of Ross' wife Demelza, sparking a new enmity between the Poldarks and Warleggans.  And Ross has much on his mind already, including the fate of the unfortunate Dr Enys imprisoned in revolutionary France...

This, like the other Poldark novels I've read so far, is absolutely absorbing.  Reading Winston Graham's work is like being launched through time and space into rural Cornwall, but without the travel sickness and overcrowding by holiday-makers.

Having said that, there's always a risk with family saga novels that, as they progress, the number of characters becomes a bit overwhelming and you start needing a list in order to keep track.  I did begin to feel a bit like this when reading the first few books, but Graham seems to have recognised the potential problem and there was enough explanation of who's who to jog my memory without over doing it.  To be fair, there were 20 years between 'Warleggan' and 'The Black Moon', so original readers would have needed some help too!

'The Black Moon' had me on the edge of my seat.  I laughed at Demelza's encounter with French exiles at a dinner party, I sighed at Drake and Morwenna's falling in love, I cheered as Ross sought justice once more, I cried and I gasped at... well, I don't want to give all the details away.  Suffice it to say the fact I couldn't stop myself heading straight for the next book says a lot.  I'm just relieved that I don't have to wait as long as fans in the '70s!

Night of the Loving Dead

Until relatively recently, I'd always wanted to write a story from a monster's perspective, like a vampire or a mummy or something like that.  Having read Isaac Marion's 'Warm Bodies', I think that the idea's been done very well already.

'Warm Bodies' is the story of R, a zombie with a difference.  While he can't remember his name, how long he's been dead or how the world ended, he's still has human curiosity.  He longs to be able to know these things and more, although he's not entirely sure why.  Trapped in his own head, he chases the same thoughts every day while instinctively following the same mindless routines.  Then while on a feeding expedition in the nearby city, he meets Julie and everything changes.  Rather than eating her, R brings Julie back to his airport home.  All he wants to do is keep her safe and this sudden and perplexing change marks the beginning of something quite extraordinary.

'Warm Bodies'
by Isaac Marion
(Vintage, 2013)

I saw a review of the film based on this novel and thought it sounded like an interesting story.  Being a bit squeamish, I decided to read the book first rather than plunging right in with the movie and I'm really glad I did.  I was a bit worried that it would be squarely aimed at the teen market and a bit twee, but it isn't that simple.  R is after all a monster, something that hunts and eats humans while bits of him gradually rot and fall off. Not the most obvious of romantic heroes!  But then neither are the manipulative and obsessive Heathcliff and bullying wife-jailer Mr Rochester.

Marion sucks the reader into R's mind from the very first line and from the moment I read it I was hooked.  This is not a book about romantic love per se, rather a story themed around the things the writer loves about humanity, the characteristics that take us beyond our animal instincts and basic desires for shelter, food and flesh. As such, it's themes are more universal and thought provoking and the fragile first love that develops between R and Julie is one of just a number of human-esque features that set you thinking about what it means to be alive.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, particularly because it doesn't answer all the questions it raises.  Although it's hinted at, we never firmly find out how the zombie plague came about or when it happened, for example.  But I think that's what sets it apart from other apocalyptic stories.  This isn't a tale about how the old world ended but how a new one began.  And surely that's far more interesting and optimistic, don't you think?

Back to the Future

Although I like a variety of books and stories, there is one genre that I tend to shy away from; 'chick lit'.  I know I shouldn't be prejudiced to a whole type of literature because of its name, but I find it hard not to be when there's no 'bloke books' category.  As if anyone in the 21st century should choose what to read based on whether they're a boy or a girl!

Anyway, despite this, there are a few chick lit novels on the list and I've just finished reading one of them - 'Remember Me?' by Sophie Kinsella.

'Remember Me?' tells the story of Lexi, an ordinary girl who who wakes up from a coma to find she's

'Remember Me?' by
Sophie Kinsella
(Bantam Press, 2008)

forgotten the last three years of her life.  The last thing she remembers is being a disappointed 25 year old with a low grade job, absentee boyfriend and few prospects, although she does have a fantastic group of friends.  Now in 2007, she discovers she's a company director with a rich and attractive husband and more designer clothes and accessories than she could've imagined three years earlier.  Somehow, things have changed for the better, but as Lexi begins living her new life, it starts looking less than perfect...

This was a cheery, well written book which trundled along quite happily. The characters were easy to visualise and it had the lovely feel of watching the film equivalent of chick lit, a rom com.  It did make me laugh a few times and Lexi is a likeable character who is easy to root for - after all, who hasn't sometimes felt out of touch and as though everyone else knows something they don't?

'Remember Me?' is a breezy, holiday read that would cheer up all but the most hard hearted of readers.

One word of warning: This book contains strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.  Not the best present for your prudish maiden aunt, that's all I'm saying!

Now, what next..?

Previously from The Girl Who Loves Books...

Quite surprisingly, I'm taking longer than expected to finish 'How to be Woman' by Caitlin Moran, so I thought you might like to see a few of my pre-blog reviews, written before I realised I had quite so much to read!  Enjoy and I hope to have something new for you soon!

'My Wicked, Wicked Ways' by Errol Flynn

When I found out about this book, I knew I had to read it. I've loved the films of Errol Flynn ever since I was a child. His movies took me on exciting adventures in exotic lands beyond my innocent imagination and instilled in me a love of adventure stories which I have carried into adulthood. This book, the story of his life, is possibly the greatest adventure story of them all. Beginning with Flynn's youth in Tasmania, Australia, we follow him to gold mines and plantations in New Guinea, casinos and brothels of South East Asia, the highs and lows of the down-and-out life in Sydney and Queensland, his early acting career in England and finally to the glitz of Hollywood and the exoticism of Jamaica. In these pages we encounter angry native tribes, sharks and crocodiles, con tricks and diamond smuggling, high profile court cases and tempestuous relationships. But, surprisingly, we also find reflection and philosophy. According to the introduction by Jeffrey Meyers, this book was written to be scandalous, but the charm of the subject wins through. Although I approached the book determined to take it with a pinch of salt and not be seduced, 438 pages later I was more fascinated by Flynn than ever. However, I did feel that there was something missing. The story felt incomplete without photographs and an epilogue explaining what happened to Flynn and the key characters in his life. But that might just be me being greedy. Overall, this book spans fifty years of adventure, mischief and excitement and is well worth a read by any armchair explorer or devotee of Hollywood.

'Frenchman's Creek' by Daphne Du Maurier

Despite being a work of fiction, this book feels as though it tells a real-life tale of the author's personal feelings of isolation and longing. Set in the reign of Charles II, `Frenchman's Creek' tells the story of the restless and unhappy Lady Dona St Columb, who flees London after playing a practical joke on an unfortunate countess, egged on by the rake Rockingham. Feeling guilty about what she has done and unhappy at what her life has become, she seeks isolation at her husband's Cornish estate and finds joy in the simple pleasures of playing with her children and exploring the coast. On one such walk, she encounters a French pirate, Jean Aubrey, and her life takes an unexpected turn... Du Maurier wrote this book while in Langley End, Hertfordshire, away from the wild Cornish landscape which she loved, perhaps inspiring Dona's sense of longing in the story. Also, according to Sheila Hodges, Du Maurier's editor, Dona carries many of the authors own feelings about wanting to be a boy, the Cornish countryside and her passion for freedom (P. 30, the Daphne Du Maurier Companion, Ed. Helen Taylor). This was certainly the feeling I got while reading the book. Unfortunately, this view of the female experience has become a bit of a cliché in recent years and as a modern feminist, it made me a bit uncomfortable. I stuck with the book, however, and am glad that I did because the pace and adventure quickens as the story progresses, leading to a satisfying ending. Although I don't feel this is Du Maurier's best work and wouldn't recommend it to a first time reader (unless in their mid-teens!), it was enjoyable and should be accepted for what it is - a bit of romantic escapism.

'The Turn of the Screw' by Henry James

This book was one of the most difficult, irritating and intriguing things I have ever read. This novella is usually described as a classic ghost story. It tells the story of a vulnerable young woman who takes the position of governess at an Essex country house called Bly. She is to look after two angelic, orphaned children, a boy, Miles, and a girl, Flora, with the help of the housekeeper, Mrs Grose. After a letter arrives announcing Miles' expulsion from school, the unfortunate governess begins to doubt that all is as it should be with the children and starts to see signs of a supernatural cause.

This story was written in 1898, but, unlike other novels of the period, its language and style have not aged well. At some points I found it almost incomprehensible and had to read and reread some pages three or four times to get any meaning from them whatsoever. I am not entirely sure whether the style reflected the time or whether the writer was trying to imply something with the overly complex and repetitive writing of the governess. What I do know is that you should never judge a book by its thickness and assume you will finish it quickly.

Underneath the leaden prose, the themes of the book were consistent and the story is interesting. It challenged the reader to decide whether the governess was genuinely threatened or whether she was mad and does make you think.

Mad or not, I found it hard to like the governess, though I recognised the stubbornness of someone in their late teens/early twenties who is determined to show that they can do things without help. I found myself wondering why she did not speak to the local priest if the threat was supernatural. And why, after the disturbing end to the book, was she still able to work as a governess? The latter certainly just did not make sense to me.

Overall, I would say this is a challenging read, partly because its language is so complex, partly because it behaves like a puzzle with multiple solutions. Either way, it will certainly haunt the reader long after the last page is finished.

'Interview with the Vampire' by Anne Rice

It's been over a week since I finished this book and I still don't feel like I have a handle on it. Normally a couple of days is all I need to digest a volume and start to make connections that I hadn't noticed straight away. This time, however, despite being trapped in 200-odd pages of firmly printed text, I'm finding this tale as enigmatic and hard to pin down as any vampire.

`Interview with the Vampire' begins with the brilliant conceit of a young man tape-recording an interview with Louis, a two-hundred year old vampire. Louis tells the story of his life and loves, starting in New Orleans with how he met and was transformed by the self-serving Lestat. Tormented by his inherent evil but driven by his hunger for human blood, Louis attacks a young girl, Claudia, in the back streets of the city. In a complex act of cruelty and desperation, Lestat also makes Claudia a vampire, establishing the characters as the strangest of families. The story explores the relationships that these three vampires have with each other and with themselves, visiting some very dark places and sometimes taking the reader to places they never sought to go.

I neither liked nor disliked this book, but I was certainly intrigued by it. Louis philosophical ponderings on what being a vampire means offered a genuinely different perspective on a myth that permeates modern culture. However, I can see why it has retained its cult status in the last 40 years. The more brutal, visceral and sexual aspects of the vampire's existence, along with the subtle hints at what could be construed as paedophilia, could be alienating for some audiences. For me, they just sat awkwardly with what I found newer and more interesting, the more thoughtful start to the book. It's probably important however that we don't forget that vampires are supposed to be human predators rather than the damaged pretty boys so often seen on screen today.

Overall, although I'm not sure I would recommend this novel to anyone, it captured my interest enough to make me want to read the sequel, `The Vampire Lestat'. Hopefully this will be less ambiguous than its predecessor.

'Dear George and Other Stories' by Helen Simpson

I `discovered' Helen Simpson a few weeks ago when one of her short stories appeared in the Guardian magazine. It so completely blew me away that I immediately started to track down her other books and stories.

`Dear George' is a collection of short stories which explore various themes including pregnancy, child rearing and family discord, mainly from the female perspective. There is a petulant teenager who is caught out by an act of kindness, a desperate and overdue pregnant woman, a mother who finds family life to be unlike she expected and a nasty surprise for a authoritarian father on Christmas day.

There is a strange magic to these stories. Simpson deftly waves her pen and creates relationships and situations which are both realistic and recognisable, but without the reams of prose required by many authors. It's refreshing and fascinating, but above all it's a joy to find someone who creates real female characters facing everyday situations and frustrations. None of your neurotic Bridget Joneses or wan Cinderellas here! I would thoroughly recommend this book to any woman reader and probably a few men too. We need more of this sort of insight on our book shelves.