Wasteland by Keith Crews came free with the first Kindle e-reader that my husband bought me in 2010. This edition was self-published by the author but has since been reissued in paperback and is seemingly the first in a series. It follows hitman Angelo Marchetti as he crosses a place known as the Wasteland armed with two guns he calls Thunder and Lightning.
Continue reading
Another debut novel, this time from Julia Armfield, who I heard speak about Our Wives Under the Sea at a literary event in March 2022. Her reading from the novel and her discussion of the strangeness within its pages captivated me.
Continue reading
Piranesi is Susanna Clarke’s second novel. It is the story of a man of uncertain sanity, lost inside a labyrinthine house, who knows only the bones of the dead and a man he calls the Other. It is a detective story of sorts, with Piranesi simultaneously the mystery to be solved and the person investigating the mystery. It won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2021.
Continue reading
Yei Theodora Ozaki’s translated compendium of Japanese fairy tales is a charming read. Published in 1903 and now out of copyright, I got mine from the Kindle store a while ago for free. It’s also available to download or read for free on Project Gutenberg.
In her introduction, Ozaki explains that she wanted to bring the world of Japanese fairy tales to a western audience and her selection of twenty-two stories is based on Sadanami Sanjin/Sazanami Iwaya’s Meiji era collection for children, with a few tales from other sources. Ozaki rewrote the stories into English with a younger audience in mind. While some are gentle in tone, the fact that they are for children is no guarantee that violence and brutality won’t make an appearance. Some of the stories are quite shocking and upsetting in their cruelty. I suppose an argument can be made that nature and the world are cruel and brutal things, and these stories are reflections of that. I don’t think it’s a collection that I would put in front of a child today, despite knowing what I was like as a child and how much I loved spooky stories.
Continue reading
Summer is on its way out, because here comes August, and I’m a day late for this month’s Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best.
August is holiday month for many, so no surprise that Kate’s book choice to start this month’s chain conjures holidays with its title.
Continue reading
First read 1982/3
Re-read 21/03/2021- 27/03/2021
Rating 3 stars
Alan Garner’s The Owl Service is set in a Welsh valley not far from Aberystwyth. The valley contains an ancient, mysterious power. Teenagers Alison, Gwyn and Roger somehow unlock that power and have to deal with the consequences. Continue reading
Read 04/04/2019-11/04/2019
Rating 4 stars
Angela Carter’s collection of re-imagined folk tales and fables presents tales originally told to the detriment of women as bold stories of female resilience and triumph. Inspired by, among others, Bluebeard, Red Riding Hood, Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty, Carter has her heroines rise up against their male oppressors and find freedom. Continue reading
Read 07/12/2018-22/12/2018
Rating: 2 stars
Touch is the second novel by Claire North, one of the pen names of Catherine Webb. I hadn’t heard of her in any of her guises, but a colleague saw me reading one of the Wayfarer series of books and thought I might like Claire North.
Its 423 pages took longer to read than they deserved. It was a grind at times. The central character has the sort of transient existence that makes it hard for them to have anything they care about, and the things North decided they would care about didn’t grab my attention. Continue reading
Read 24/04/2018-05/05/2018
Rating: 5 stars
Dip lent me Becky Chambers’s debut novel ages ago. It’s been sitting on my pile of books a longish time. I’ve read some pretty heavy books recently and felt in need of a change of pace. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet was just the thing I needed. Continue reading
Read 31/10/2017-01/11/2017
Rating: 3 stars
David Mitchell’s Slade House is an adjunct to his previous six novels, an Easter egg laid on Twitter turned into a book. I enjoyed it as a quick read on Hallowe’en, surrendering myself to its suspense and tension, allowing myself to be played with, as the visitors to Slade House are played with. I indulged myself in Spot-the-Link, appreciating the way plot lines from Mitchell’s previous works made tangents with this story. Continue reading
What I Think About When I Think About Reading 