Book Review: The Mysterious Howling

From Goodreads: Found running wild in the forest of Ashton Place, the Incorrigibles are no ordinary children: Alexander, age ten or thereabouts, keeps his siblings in line with gentle nips; Cassiopeia, perhaps four or five, has a bark that is (usually) worse than her bite; and Beowulf, age somewhere-in-the-middle, is alarmingly adept at chasing squirrels.
Luckily, Miss Penelope Lumley is no ordinary governess. Only fifteen years old and a recent graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, Penelope embraces the challenge of her new position. Though she is eager to instruct the children in Latin verbs and the proper use of globes, first she must help them overcome their canine tendencies.
But mysteries abound at Ashton Place: Who are these three wild creatures, and how did they come to live in the vast forests of the estate? Why does Old Timothy, the coachman, lurk around every corner? Will Penelope be able to teach the Incorrigibles table manners and socially useful phrases in time for Lady Constance's holiday ball? And what on earth is a schottische?

Thoughts: One of the things I love about working in a library is coming across children who love reading. They remind me of myself at their age and my daughter now. One young lady came in to the library last week looking for the most recent book in a series called The Incorrigible  Children of Ashton Place. It immediately piqued my interest for my daughter and because I am such a good mum, I had to read it first to make sure it was appropriate. What I found reminded me of A Series of Unfortunate Events, but slightly less absurd. Don't get me wrong, I love the absurdity of ASOUE, but Incorrigible Children is just slightly more reserved. Once again it's a children's book that doesn't condescend to it's audience. Wood uses unfamiliar words and expects the reader to either know or work out what it means. She presents most adults in a not too nice light, with those who are half way decent often the servants and misfits. 

Incorrigibles is a book that insists on it's reader being intelligent. It insists on a reader that is entertained by more than a lot of the pulp fiction available to children today. Wood assumes children are not stupid and are interested in good story lines with unique characters. So much of what I see aimed at children today insults their intelligence and while I do believe any reading is good reading it is nice to know that once they have finished with the mass produced pulp, there are people like Maryrose Wood who are still writing quality children's fiction.

Book Review: The Beast's Garden

From Goodreads: A retelling of The Beauty and The Beast set in Nazi Germany
The Grimm Brothers published a beautiful version of the Beauty & the Beast tale called ‘The Singing, Springing Lark' in 1819. It combines the well-known story of a daughter who marries a beast in order to save her father with another key fairy tale motif, the search for the lost bridegroom. In ‘The Singing, Springing Lark,' the daughter grows to love her beast but unwittingly betrays him and he is turned into a dove. She follows the trail of blood and white feathers he leaves behind him for seven years, and, when she loses the trail, seeks help from the sun, the moon, and the four winds. Eventually she battles an evil enchantress and saves her husband, breaking the enchantment and turning him back into a man.
Kate Forsyth retells this German fairy tale as an historical novel set in Germany during the Nazi regime. A young woman marries a Nazi officer in order to save her father, but hates and fears her new husband. Gradually she comes to realise that he is a good man at heart, and part of an underground resistance movement in Berlin called the Red Orchestra. However, her realisation comes too late. She has unwittingly betrayed him, and must find some way to rescue him and smuggle him out of the country before he is killed.
The Red Orchestra was a real-life organisation in Berlin, made up of artists, writers, diplomats and journalists, who passed on intelligence to the American embassy, distributed leaflets encouraging opposition to Hitler, and helped people in danger from the Nazis to escape the country. They were betrayed in 1942, and many of their number were executed.
The Beast's Garden is a compelling and beautiful love story, filled with drama and intrigue and heartbreak, taking place between 1938 and 1943, in Berlin, Germany. 

Thoughts: Kate Forsyth is definitely becoming one of my favourite authors. I suspect that much like Tim Winton she will not write anywhere near quick enough to sate my appetite, but obviously good books take time to write! In August I was lucky enough the meet Kate Forsyth when she visited the library I work at. Not only was she incredibly interesting to listen to, she was lovely, spending significant time talking to adults and children alike and signing books. She signed my copy of The Beast's Garden which is now so precious to me it will not be lent to anyone!

While this book is being publicised as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, it is actually based on a variation known as The Singing Springing Lark. Regardless, it is a beautifully written with meticulous research into both the fairytale world and the real world. Forsyth weaves her characters into the real life horror of Berlin during World War II. Her characters interact with those who, in real life, actively opposed Hitler and his regime - putting themselves in great danger in an attempt to let Berliners and the international community know what was happening. Ava's involvement with this group while married to a man who is part of the Abwehr - the arm of the Nazi party responsible for providing spies - gives the reader access to the going ons of both the party and the resistance. 

Just like the fairytale, the beast turns out to not be so beastly and it's at that point of the story that Ava and Leo's love story truly begins to blossom.

Forsyth's writing brings to the fore the fear and tension of the time. In a place where one misstep easily lead to death, I found myself on tenterhooks for the characters constantly. In an area of fiction that has been mined for stories since the reality of Nazi Germany became clear, Forsyth manages to come at it with something new and original. I have read reviews where people have an issue with portraying Nazi officers as something other than evil, but the reality is there were Nazi officers who actively worked against Hitler and his regime - who did not believe the party line and risked their lives to save lives and bring about Hilter's downfall. Aren't those tales just as important to tell?

I loved The Beast's Garden. It is beautifully written, engrossing and enchanting. 

Book Review: Fates & Furies

From Goodreads: Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years.
At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but with an electric thrill we understand that things are even more complicated and remarkable than they have seemed.

Thoughts: This was our first book group read for the year and it was an excellent one!  If you belong to a book group I highly recommend this as a book. It provided the best discussion I think we have ever had.

I have seen a few reviews that have compared it to Gone Girl and I can see where the comparison comes from, but it is similar in only the most basic sense. Like Gone Girl, Fates and Furies is told in two parts, from two points of view with the second challenging some of the assumptions you had made in the first part. Unlike Gone Girl which is plot driven, this is very much driven by it's characters and their reactions to the environment. They make things happen, things don't just happen to them.

And the characters are amazing. They are flawed and fragile. They are unpredictable and challenging. They are likeable and detestable. They are human. Groff's characters stare you in the eye and dismiss you easily, truly not caring what you think. 

Particularly in the second half of the book, the plot twists and turns in ways you never imagined. Suddenly the actions of some become clear and, as in Gone Girl, what you thought you knew turns out to be a beautifully crafted facade.

At it's heart, Fates and Furies is a love story. A story of an imperfect marriage, of doing what must be done, of giving your life to another. It's gritty and real, not a fairytale romance at all. But in the end it shows how love makes us do things we never thought were possible.

Book Review: Reckoning

From Goodreads: Heartbreaking, joyous, traumatic, intimate and revelatory, Reckoning is the book where Magda Szubanski, one of Australia’s most beloved performers, tells her story.
In this extraordinary memoir, Magda describes her journey of self-discovery from a suburban childhood, haunted by the demons of her father’s espionage activities in wartime Poland and by her secret awareness of her sexuality, to the complex dramas of adulthood and her need to find out the truth about herself and her family. With courage and compassion she addresses her own frailties and fears, and asks the big questions about life, about the shadows we inherit and the gifts we pass on.
Honest, poignant, utterly captivating, Reckoning announces the arrival of a fearless writer and natural storyteller. It will touch the lives of its readers.

Thoughts: Once again a Richard Fidler Conversation sparked my interest. I mean apart from the fact it's Magda Szubanski, one of Australia's funniest people, it's first line is this:

If you had met my father you would never, not for an instant, have thought he was an assassin. 

Seriously!! Is that not the best first line you have ever read!! Thankfully I have excellent friends who totally get me and my reading style so one of them bought it for me for Christmas - thanks Jodie! Nailed it!!

This is not your typical celebrity memoir. Szubanski takes you into her childhood, viewed from the eyes of a new immigrant to country. She explores complex and life changing feelings, events, experiences and thoughts, relating them back to her growth as a person, a comedian, an immigrant, a daughter. She is brutally honest about her struggle to accept her sexuality and her fear of it's affect on her relationships not only with her family but the public.
You cannot read this book and not admire Magda Szubanski. I don't think it would be easy for those who are valued for being funny to write so seriously. It wouldn't be easy to expose so much of yourself. 
Reckoning was definitely an excellent way to end the year.

Reckoning gets 4 stars.

*        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it
*****   It was amazing

Book Review: Still Alice

From Goodreads: Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life--and her relationship with her family and the world--forever.
At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Judith Guest's Ordinary People.

Thoughts: I can be quite a morbid person. I will run the most horrific scenarios through my head wondering how I would cope. Loss of my husband, loss of one of my kids, going blind, cancer diagnosis. Alzheimer's is one of those most terrifying scenarios. How on earth do you cope with losing yourself, losing everything you believe makes you you, everything you have created, worked for, slipping away from you.

As a neuroscientist Lisa Genova knows her stuff. This makes this even more scary as you know what she is describing is in fact very, very real. As she says at the end, this book does not describe everyone's journey with Alzhiemer's, but it does depict one possible path.

As with her book Inside the O'Briens, Genova takes you through her characters realisation there is something wrong, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and deterioration. She explores the affect on spouses and children, especially given the hereditary nature of the disease. I was concerned momentarily about it become another O'Briens when the subject of testing for Alice's children came up and whether or not they should be tested. However, unlike the O'Briens where it became a significant sub plot, it was very quickly and easily dealt with.

I have no experience with Alzheimer's. It is not something that has appeared in my family tree and for that I am grateful. I do not know how I would react as a spouse of someone with Alzhiemer's, but I will admit some of John's (Alice's husband) reactions annoyed me. They had such limited time left and all he seemed to want to do was ignore it. Having said that, the book is told from Alice's perspective the only insight you get into John is through her.

I listened to this as an audio book, read by the author. It flowed easily and I think would be a fairly easy read, even if it is emotionally charged. There were times when tears welled, but they never spilled. Again, like the O'Briens, Genova finished the book before the ultimate demise - a good thing. As the reader you know where the story will end and it's almost like watching a family go through this, then withdrawing at the appropriate moment to allow them their privacy.

Genova has two other books I haven't read - Left Neglected and Love Anthony. Both sound interesting and I will have a look at them. Love Anthony in particular interests me as it seems to move away from the neurological disorders field. As I said, I feel one of Genova's strengths is her professional knowledge about the conditions she writes about. I hope it's a skill she can carry across to other areas.

Still Alice gets 4 stars

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

Book Review: The Puzzle Ring

From Goodreads: Hannah Rose was not quite 13 years old when she discovered her family was cursed. . . .
The arrival of a mysterious letter changes Hannah’s life forever. One day she is an ordinary teenage girl. The next day she discovers she is heir to a castle in the Scottish highlands—a castle that was cursed more than four hundred and forty years ago.
The curse has haunted her family for generations, culminating in the disappearance of Hannah’s father the day after she was born. A prophecy tells of a Red Rose who will save a Black Rose, solve the puzzle ring, and break the curse. Red-haired Hannah is determined to be the one.
Yet, to break the curse, she must go back in time to the last tumultuous days of Mary, Queen of Scots . . . a time when witches were burnt and queens were betrayed and the dark forces of wild magic still stalked the land. . . .

Thoughts: My love affair with Kate Forsyth began with The Wild Girl. It is still the first book I mention when people ask for a suggestion.  I am slightly embarrassed to admit I did not realise she was such a prolific children's writer. I am not surprised that the beautifully crafted writing I discovered in The Wild Girl is also present in The Puzzle Ring.

The Puzzle Ring is the type of book I would have devoured as a child. It is magical and mysterious, with real danger and evil for our characters to face and defeat. Forsyth takes one child's ordinary life and weaves in faeries, magic and time travel in such a way any young child reading it would instantly believe this could happen to them. I loved the how Hannah and her friends went back in time and were shown the reality of living during the days of Mary, Queen of Scots. It was cold and dirty and the food was not particularly nice. If you travelled you did so on foot and slept rough. You needed to keep your wits about you at all times, especially if you could be accused of being a witch!

If you have a child with a love of Narnia or Spiderwick get them onto Kate Forsyth, I don't think they will be disappointed.

The Puzzle Ring gets 4 stars.

*        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

Book Review: The Silver Donkey

From Goodreads: One bright spring morning in the woods of France, a soldier, blinded by the war, is found by a little girl named Coco, and her older sister Marcelle. In return for their kindness, the soldier tells the sisters marvelous tales, each story connected to the keepsake he carries in his pocket: a perfect, tiny silver donkey.
As the days pass and they struggle in secret to help the soldier reach home, Coco and Marcelle learn the truth behind the silver donkey, and what the precious object means: honesty, loyalty, and courage.

Thoughts:  Sonya Hartnett is quite simply a beautiful writer.  The Silver Donkey was her the first foray out of YA and Adult and into younger reader territory. In my mind that is always a dangerous time for an author, especially one who has so firmly cemented themselves as an outstanding YA author. In reality I think there are very few who do the cross over successfully - Hartnett is without doubt one of them.
The subtly of her writing is still strong - just because her audience is younger she doesn't feel the need to pander to them and explain every single event. A book such as this is ripe for discussion either in a class room or between parent and child. At the same time, Hartnett does not shy away from portraying war as a horrible and nasty business - no glorification here! 
Adults take a back seat in this story, the children are driving it, but adult help is sought when it's needed. By doing this Hartnett doesn't stray into the territory of the children accomplishing something they quite simply wouldn't be able to. Themes are plentiful and it could be used to fit many a theme - war, trust, secret keeping, how the world has changed, story telling, loyalty. In the lead up to Remembrance Day  it would be a good book to share with a child who appreciate a war story which did not focus so much on the fighting, but on the possible emotional issues faced by those caught up in such terrible times.

The Silver Donkey gets 4 stars 

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

 

Book Review: Flesh Wounds

From Goodreads: A mother who invented her past, a father who was often absent, a son who wondered if this could really be his family.
Richard Glover's favourite dinner party game is called 'Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?'. It's a game he always thinks he'll win. There was his mother, a deluded snob, who made up large swathes of her past and who ran away with Richard's English teacher, a Tolkien devotee, nudist and stuffed-toy collector. There was his father, a distant alcoholic, who ran through a gamut of wives, yachts and failed dreams. And there was Richard himself, a confused teenager, vulnerable to strange men, trying to find a family he could belong to. As he eventually accepted, the only way to make sense of the present was to go back to the past - but beware of what you might find there. Truth can leave wounds - even if they are only flesh wounds.
Part poignant family memoir, part rollicking venture into a 1970s Australia, this is a book for anyone who's wondered if their family is the oddest one on the planet. The answer: 'No'. There is always something stranger out there.

Thoughts: I reckon everyone has a story they could tell during a game of "Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?", I know I've got a couple that could be contenders for the top prize. Richard Glover's life is full of them. 

Flesh Wounds is our book group book for November. It was my choice, made after I heard him interviewed by Richard Fidler on the Conversation Hour. It's a great interview - funny and cringe worthy at the same time. You can find it here and I highly recommend a listen. 

The book was the same, you'd be laughing out loud one moment and then cringing the next, feeling slightly ashamed that what you were laughing at was someone's life and delusions. But Glover wants you to laugh, he wants you to acknowledge the absurd and the crazy.

As a book group read it's fantastic. Lots of discussion to be had and pasts to be delved in. I'm sure there will be a round or two of Who's Got the Weirdest Parents and some pondering over what stories our own children might tell when they are older. 

I think it must have taken incredible courage for Richard Glover to write this book. His parents are not portrayed in a good light in any way. In fact as you read, you find yourself wondering how Glover turned out to be a functioning adult at all. He is a shining example of resilience and thriving despite not because of your circumstances. This book could have so easily been a depressing, dark and horrible journey through a not terribly nice childhood. Instead Glover presents his life as it is what it is and you can't change that so you might as well make the best of it. He acknowledges there are aspects of his life he keeps at arms length, developing a kind of detachment from the more bizarre and hurtful parts. His continued devotion to his parents, continuing to visit and include them in his life is not something I think a lot of people would have done. If nothing else this book goes to show a dysfunctional family does not mean the end of a functional life. As Glover himself says: " ...So many people had inadequate childhoods but we're not all insane or self-harming or miserable. We just found the love we needed elsewhere... This is the amazing resilience of humans. We are hungry for love and - mostly - we somehow find it."

Flesh Wounds gets 4 stars

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

Book Review: Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight

From Goodreads: Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight is two weeks in the life of Joel Hedges and Cat Davis. Joel would prefer to get through his final year of high school without Cat Davis or his mother's faux Spanish boyfriend and just hang-out with his best-friend Luke. Cat Davis has an annoying best-friend, and even more annoying little brother, and a deep abiding hatred of Joel Hedges.
Due to an unfortunate incident involving a leaking pen and suspected outbreak of Bird Flu, Joel and Cat are forced to sit next to each other in Extension English. To make matters worse, and to their mutual horror, they are paired together for a tandem story writing assignment. 

Thoughts: A tandem story about a tandem story! I am in awe of anyone who can write a good tandem story. I've read books where it worked really well like Gaiman and Pratchett's Good Omens, Green and Levithan's Will Grayson, Will Grayson and I've seen disasters like Picoult and van Leer's Between the Lines. Earls and Sparrow I am glad to report pulled it off with great aplomb! Joel and Cat Set the Story Straight is what good quality young adult fiction should be. It's fun, interesting, thought provoking, has a little bit of angst and laugh out loud funny.
For me, any good YA does have a bit of a moral/ education to it. Maybe it's the mum in me, maybe it's the teacher, or maybe it's just that I like books that give you that little bit extra than just pure entertainment. The real skill is presenting that information without hitting teens over the head with it, because, lets face it, we can't teach them anything! (Oh to be back in that time when I knew EVERYTHING!) The message in Joel and Cat can be summed up beautifully in this meme

Things are not always what they seem. The person who seems to have it all in reality most probably doesn't. It takes nothing to be kind and non-judgmental. You may find out something you never knew.

Joel and Cat Set the Record Straight gets 4 stars

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

Book Review: Brother of the More Famous Jack

From Goodreads: Ask today's favorite novelists what books influenced their writing and you'll hearBrother of the More Famous Jack again and again. Dog-eared copies of this long out-of-print novel are highly prized and shared enthusiastically in literary circles-its return to print is cause for celebration.
Stylish, suburban Katherine is eighteen when she is propelled into the heart of Professor Jacob Goldman's rambling home and his large eccentric family. As his enchanting yet sharp-tongued wife, Jane, gives birth to her sixth child, Katherine meets beautiful, sulky Roger and his volatile younger brother, Jonathan. Inevitable heartbreak sends her fleeing to Rome, but ten years later, older and wiser, she returns to find the Goldmans again.

Thoughts: This was our book group read for October. After I finished it, I though - meh - interesting, but nothing spectacular. Then I started to think about what I would say about it at book group and suddenly discovered the book had infiltrated me in a way I didn't expect. There was a lot more to it than I first thought. 

Trapido follows Katherine from a young, fairly innocent girl, through young love, heart break, years of discovering what she loves and a rediscovery of love and friendship. Like life itself, this book meanders along and the big events are not realised as big events until they are after. You know what I mean, the times when something happens and later on you look back and realise how momentous it was. Through the book you can hear Katherine's voice mature, her mature and grow. You can feel the effect events have had on her and the way she has had to deal with them build her into the person she is. I love her connection with Goldman's and the way they seem to need her just as much as she needs them. This book is full of surprising characters that speak to you more than you realise. At only 256 pages it's not a long read and one that I feel may be well worth revisiting.

Brother of the more Famous Jack gets 4 stars.

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

Book Review: The Complete Peanuts 1973 - 1974 & The Complete Peanuts 1975 - 1976

From Goodreads: The twelfth volume of Peanuts features a number of tennis strips and several extended sequences involving Peppermint Patty’s friend Marcie (including a riotous, rarely seen sequence in which Marcie’s costume-making and hairstyling skills utterly spoil a skating competition for PP), so it seems only right that this volume’s introduction should be served up by Schulz’s longtime friend, tennis champion Billie Jean King. This volume also picks up on a few loose threads from the previous year, as the mysterious “Poochie” shows up in the flesh; Linus and Lucy’s new kid brother “Rerun” makes his first appearance, is almost immediately drafted onto the baseball team (where, thanks to his tiny strike zone, he wins a game), and embarks on his first terrifying journey on the back of his mom’s bike; and, in one of Peanuts’ oddest recurring storylines, the schoolhouse Sally used to talk to starts talking, or at least thinking, back at her! The Complete Peanuts 1973-1974 also includes one of the all-time classic Peanuts sequences, in which Charlie Brown’s baseball-oriented hallucinations finally manifest themselves in a baseball-shaped rash on his head. Forced to conceal the embarrassing discoloration with a bag worn over his head, Charlie Brown goes to camp as “Mister Sack” and discovers that, shorn of his identity, he’s suddenly well liked and successful.

From Goodreads: That’s right! With this volume, The Complete Peanuts reaches the halfway point of Charles M. Schulz’s astounding half-century run on the greatest comic strip of all time. These years are especially fecund in terms of new canine characters, as Snoopy is joined by his wandering brother Spike (from Needles), his beloved sister Belle (from Kansas City), and... did you know he had a nephew? In other beagle news, Snoopy breaks his foot and spends six weeks in a cast, deals with his friend Woodstock’s case of the “the vapors,” and gets involved in a heated love triangle with Linus over the girl “Truffles.” The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 features several other long stories, including a rare “double track” sequence with two parallel narratives: Peppermint Patty and Snoopy travel to participate in the Powderpuff Derby, while Charlie Brown finally gets to meet his idol Joe Shlabotnik. And Peppermint Patty switches to a private school, but commits the mistake of allowing Snoopy to pick it for her; only after graduation does she realize something’s not quite right!Plus: A burglary at Peppermint Patty’s house is exacerbated by waterbed problems... Marcie acquires an unwanted suitor... Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty become desk partners... The talking school building collapses... Lots of tennis jokes... and gags starring Schroeder, Lucy, Franklin, Rerun, Sally, and that vicious cat next door. It’s another two years of Peanuts at its finest! Featuring an introduction by comedian Robert Smigel .

Thoughts: 1975 - 1976 marks the half way point of this series of books. Sad to think we are on the downhill run. I continue to enjoy this series, especially as viewing it through the eyes of an adult is completely different from seeing as a child. My heart breaks for Peppermint Patty - no child should be made to think they are stupid. I love Linus' continued devotion to his blanket. Lucy's certainty that her and Schroeder are meant to be together and Schroeder's equal certainty that they're not. Best of all, I like the way they all work their way through the year, never getting up, sure that this year will be their year.

The Complete Peanuts 1973 - 1974 and 1975 - 1976 both get 4 stars.

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

Book Review: I'll Fly Away

From Goodreads: In 2003 Wally Lamb—the author of two of the most beloved novels of our time,She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True—published Couldn't Keep It to Myself, a collection of essays by the students in his writing workshop at the maximum-security York Correctional Institution, Connecticut's only prison for women. Writing, Lamb discovered, was a way for these women to confront painful memories, face their fears and their failures, and begin to imagine better lives. The New York Times described the book as "Gut-tearing tales . . . the unvarnished truth." The Los Angeles Times said of it, "Lying next to and rising out of despair, hope permeates this book."
Now Lamb returns with I'll Fly Away, a new volume of intimate, searching pieces from the York workshop. Here, twenty women—eighteen inmates and two of Lamb's cofacilitators—share the experiences that shaped them from childhood and that haunt and inspire them to this day. These portraits, vignettes, and stories depict with soul-baring honesty how and why women land in prison—and what happens once they get there. The stories are as varied as the individuals who wrote them, but each testifies to the same core truth: the universal value of knowing oneself and changing one's life through the power of the written word.

Thoughts: Last year I read the first of the anthologies Wally Lamb helped produced with a collection of inmates from the York Correctional Institution - Couldn't Keep it to Myself. I can remember feeling amazed by the stories. I'll Fly Away is more incredible stories. The thing that really stands out for me is how hard we work to dehumanise these women and then act surprised when they don't rehabilitate. Several of the stories mentioned how degrading the prison experience is and how any attempt to try and better yourself, retain some dignity is stripped away. While none of these women argued that they shouldn't be punished for what they did, I don't believe any of them deserve to be treated the way they are at times.

Their stories are incredible. They pull no punches. Some of the women came from fairly horrific backgrounds, enduring years of abuse and hatred leading to acts of desperation. Others backgrounds were picture perfect, yet somehow they lost their way and ended up incarcerate. Books such as these are essential reading, allowing us to strip back the media hype over how prisoners are treated, what lead them to prison in the first place and how we treat them inside the walls makes a huge difference to how they manage outside of them.

I'll Fly Away gets 4 stars

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing

Book Review: A Game of You - Sandman Volume 5

From Goodreads: Volume Five of New York Times best selling author Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed creation THE SANDMAN collects one of the series’ most beloved storylines.Take an apartment house, add in a drag queen, a lesbian couple, some talking animals, a talking severed head, a confused heroine and the deadly Cuckoo. Stir vigorously with a hurricane and Morpheus himself and you get this fifth installment of the SANDMAN series. This story stars Barbie, who first makes an appearance in THE DOLL’S HOUSE and now finds herself a princess in a vivid dreamworld.

Thoughts: Definitely my favourite Sandman so far. In this volume Gaiman and his band of incredibly talented artists follows Barbie, a character who briefly appeared in The Doll's House. Barbie is now living in an old house divided into apartments with an assortment of people. Wanda, a transgender undergoing treatment to make her body match her feelings, a lesbian couple, a strange, quiet girl and an old man. Each of these people have a role to play in Barbie's dreams, but they may not all make it out alive. Gaiman lifts that very thin veil between Morpheus's Dream Country and the real world. Are our dreams truly our own, or do we simply move into abandoned dreamscapes and make them ours? What happens to the pieces of us that we leave behind in those dreamscapes and who can we rely on to save us when we can't save ourselves?

A Game of You gets 4 stars.

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing 

Book Review: Fox Evil

From Goodreads: When elderly Ailsa Lockyer-Fox is found dead in her garden, dressed only in nightclothes and with bloodstains on the ground near her body, the finger of suspicion points at her wealthy husband, Colonel James Lockyer-Fox. A coroner's investigation deems it death by natural causes, but the gossip surrounding James refuses to go away. 
Friendless and alone, James and his reclusive behavior begins to alarm his attorney, whose concern deepens when he discovers that his client has become the victim of a relentless campaign accusing him of far worse than the death of his wife. James is unwilling to fight the allegations, choosing instead to devote his energies to a desperate search for the illegitimate granddaughter who may prove his savior as he battles for his name-and his life.

Thoughts: It's rare to find a crime writer who doesn't seem to end up repeating themselves. Minette Walters is one of that rare breed. I think the fact she doesn't write a series with reoccuring characters has a lot to do with it. Her books are stand alones which allows focus on the events in that story rather than getting intertwined with history from previous cases. I also like the fact that she tells her tales from third person point of view. In a crime novel it feels more objective, like you are an observer and are not having what you see tainted by only one persons view.

As with many of her books, Minette Walters has a whole raft of characters you need to keep track of. Some are highly important, some not so much. Half the challenge is working out who you need to keep tabs on and who you can let go. I know some readers find this distracting and difficult, but I love the complexity it adds to the story. As a British writer Walters also uses the psychological aspect of the crime to drive the story a lot more than the non stop action you get in American crime novels. For me it makes the story more complex, more compelling and a lot less formulaic. Walters is an author I need to remember the next time I hit a reading rut. The holes her characters dig for themselves only serve to lift me out of mine.

Fox Evil gets 4 stars

*        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing 

Book Review: The Universe Versus Alex Woods

From Goodreads: A rare meteorite struck Alex Woods when he was ten years old, leaving scars and marking him for an extraordinary future. The son of a fortune teller, bookish, and an easy target for bullies, Alex hasn't had the easiest childhood. 
But when he meets curmudgeonly widower Mr. Peterson, he finds an unlikely friend. Someone who teaches him that that you only get one shot at life. That you have to make it count. 
So when, aged seventeen, Alex is stopped at customs with 113 grams of marijuana, an urn full of ashes on the front seat, and an entire nation in uproar, he's fairly sure he's done the right thing ...
Introducing a bright young voice destined to charm the world, The Universe Versus Alex Woods is a celebration of curious incidents, astronomy and astrology, the works of Kurt Vonnegut and the unexpected connections that form our world.

Thoughts: OK, so now I want to read Kurt Vonnegut. This is a bit of an issue because usually when I read a book because I read about it in another book I end up sorely disappointed. I don't get it the way the characters do and really, that's just disappointing. But apart from that, I loved this book. Alex is an extraordinary boy. He is intelligent, puzzled by the way the school world works, (why can't others see the value of knowledge??), wise beyond his years in some ways and incredibly naive in others.

Alex's voice in this book keeps it from becoming a rather depressing, maudlin book. His matter of a fact way of looking at things, at analysising the situation stops you from dwelling on the sadness in the book. That's not to say Alex is emotionless, he isn't, he is just able to reason why he is feeling the way he does and accept it.

Any time you get a friendship between an older character and a younger one in a book I feel you have to tread carefully. Extence manages to make the friendship between Mr Peterson and Alex one of equals, but not straight away. Each character stays true to themselves - Alex has to prove himself before Mr Peterson allows him to be anything other than the kid who comes and helps him. It starts as a student/ teacher, mentor type relationship and grows to one of equals. The best bit is the reader doesn't even realise it's happening, it just suddenly occurs to you the friendship has grown and matured.

The Universe Versus Alex Woods takes you in unexpected directions - but that is good. It challenges you to think outside the box, explore your reactions and those around you. It's another read that is easily labelled quirky and for me falls into the same category as A Man Called Ove and The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared - left of centre, guaranteed to induce an emotional response and force you to re-examine certain aspects of your life and beliefs.

I listened to this as an audio book narrated by Joe Thomas. It took me awhile to get use to his voice, but in the end it truly suited the character of Alex. Not emotionless, but restrained and logical.

The Universe Versus Alex Wood gets 4 stars

*        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing 

Book Review: Season of Mists - Sandman Volume 4

From Goodreads: Volume Four of New York Times best selling author Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed creation, with updated coloring and new trade dress.Ten thousand years ago, Morpheus condemned a woman who loved him to Hell. Now the other members of his immortal family, The Endless, have convinced the Dream King that this was an injustice. To make it right, Morpheus must return to Hell to rescue his banished love — and Hell’s ruler, the fallen angel Lucifer, has already sworn to destroy him. 

Thoughts: So have you ever wondered what would happen if Lucifer decided to abdicate his throne in Hell? Not only abdicate, but evict everyone and close the doors? Welcome to the Season of Mists, where Lucifer has left the building and handed the keys to Morpheus. What follows is the story of the other deities and entities who believe they should be given the keys. They all arrive at the Dream Castle to try and convince (bribe, threaten, cajole)  Morpheus to hand over the keys to, in the words of Morpheus sister, Death, "The most desirable plot of psychic real estate in the whole order of created things." 
One of Gaiman's strengths is he makes it completely believable that Odin, the Trickster , Faeries, Demons, a Japanese deity, Bast and Anubis, and angels would all want the keys and sit down to a banquet together to petition the lord of dreams to hand them over. Can you think of many writers who can gather such a stellar cast of big characters and make it work? Gaiman does, and all in a graphic novel format where he has to trust the artists to flesh out his words. And that in itself is a good point to make about these books - there are so many more people involved than just Gaiman. Yes, he gives it a great framework to build on with an excellent story line, but the illustrators, letterers and colourists all contribute to make it the excellent production it is. Once again, well worth the read.

Season of Mists gets 4 stars

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it

*****   It was amazing