Amazon!! GRRR!

I may well be in the minority here but there is one thing that annoys me. I buy most of my new books from Amazon because we have prime and because their prices are good. But, I am starting to get fed up with some of my books arriving bashed. I do have a second hand book addiction and will accept all sorts of spots, writing and knocked bits on those books but if I buy a brand new edition, it has to be perfect.

As you can see my new copy of The Mars Room is not perfect. Look at the bottom of the dust jacket!! I could send it back and complain but that’s not going to happen now that I have read the first few pages. So, Dear Amazon, you’re great, but please can you pack my books carefully. Thank you.

Book Haul – July 2018

I really, really don’t need any more books. I currently have 126 books to be read, hidden round the house but that doesn’t stop me buying more. About half of them are second hand so that helps to allay some of the guilt and this little lot were second hand too, from the Cancer Research shop. Therefore, no guilt felt!

From top to bottom:

The Idea of Perfection – Kate Grenville. A book which I have looked at many times over the years, it is the funny and touching tale of two unlikely people falling in love. Kate Grenville won the Orange Prize for Fiction (now called the Women’s Prize for Fiction) in 2005 with this novel.

 

Bilgewater – Jane Gardam. Last year my book group read Old Filth by Jane Gardam and although I did enjoy it, I didn’t feel the desire to read any more by her. So I’m not sure why I bought this. Actually I do know, it was two books for £1 so I thought, how bad can it be? Apparently it is, ‘[o]ne of the funniest, most entertaining, most unusual stories about young love.’ (Courtesy of the Evening Standard) Mmmh still not sure, maybe I should have got The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf which was on the shelf beside it, or maybe you’ve read this and can recommend it.

The Guardian Review – Book of Short Stories. A slim book of only 125 pages but it has short stories from Margaret Atwood, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Rose Tremain, Rachel Cusk, Hisham Matar, Audrey Niffenegger and more. This has the potential to be a great little find.

 

 

Cambridge – Caryl Phillips. The blurb – ‘In Cambridge Caryl Phillips explores the feelings of uncertainty that defined the period of time between the abolition of the slave trade and the emancipation of the slaves. It is the powerful and haunting story of Emily Cartwright, a young Englishwoman sent to visit her father’s plantation in the West Indies, and of Cambridge, the plantation slave struggling to maintain his dignity in a transient world.’

In September, I will return to University for the final year of my Masters degree and the module I will be studying then is US Culture and #Blacklivesmatter. Cambridge sounds like it will be excellent further reading for part of this module and really interesting.

 

 

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? – Horace McCoy

Did you know that during the Great Depression of the 1930’s in the US, when people were desperate for ways to make money, a new craze was born – the dance marathon? I didn’t but I found the concept fascinating. Apparently, couples would dance for sometimes weeks at a time and the last couple standing would win a cash prize.

This classic novel first published in 1935 examines the craze and in particular one couple, and the very dark side of their competition. I loved this book. It’s short at 122 pages but there is so much packed in there. Apart from the fascinating details and rules of the competition, we know from the first few pages that something very bad has happened, as the narrator is on trial for murder. He has admitted to it but claims he was doing his victim a personal favour. His victim is Gloria, his dance partner. I couldn’t help comparing Gloria’s life to the competition and the futility of both.

This book draws you in very quickly to the life of manic depressive Gloria and the seediness of the competition and it’s organisers, and the desperation of many of the contestants. I raced through the pages not only wanting to discover more about the competition but the judge’s sentencing is slowly given between chapters, meaning you can’t put the book down you need to keep going to the end, not unlike the dancers.

It is a short book so I won’t give spoilers, I just want to highly recommend it.

The Pilgrimage – Paulo Coelho

Don’t you love it when you go on holiday and the villa/hotel/ B&B has a selection of books which previous inhabitants have left behind? These are books I would probably not select for myself but they are there winking at me with that once read, soft spine feel. I have a soft spot for these cast off books, which explains why no charity shop is safe when I have it in my sights.

So we went to Cornwall and the house we stayed in had a full shelf of these treasures. Never mind the conch shells and battered Jenga set, I went straight for the books. To be honest, it was a little disappointing. There were the usual beach reads, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (that book must have sold over a billion copies by now – it’s everywhere!!) and a few I have read before, then my eye fell on The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho. Mmmh.

Paulo is walking the road to Santiago in Spain. Something which, I believe, many pilgrims have done before him. He is doing it to attain some higher knowledge and gain his sword (?). I found this difficult to relate to. Others have gained a deeper meaning and insight from his journey but all I saw was a slightly deranged man, walking across Spain whilst upsetting children and woman in their homes because he believes their dogs are devils or they have some higher meaning for him.

I may have been missing something but for me this book fell flat. I didn’t believe in it and  actually felt quite uncomfortable with how Paulo is supposed to have conducted himself whilst on this pilgrimage. I say supposed because I am not completely sure I believe it all happened.

In future, I might just stick with the books I take with me on holiday.

The Salt Path – Raynor Winn

There is something about books involving long walks and getting away from everything which appeal to me. Who hasn’t wished they could pack a bag, walk out the door and just keep walking. A little like Harold in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce. But that is a short lived fantasy only relevant when the kids are creating havoc and the dog has been sick on the living room carpet. For Raynor and her husband Moth it felt as if this walk was the only choice they had left. They have lost everything; their home and financial security, and Moth has been diagnosed with a rare degenerative condition. Rather than spend nights sleeping on friends’ floors and days desperately trying to get a council house, they decided to walk and camp the coastal path in the far South West of the UK – all 630 miles of it.

I read this nearly 6 weeks ago and given that I can still remember chunks of it, it definitely had an effect on me, even though it is yet another story about finding yourself and discovering what is important in your life i.e. not material possessions. I enjoyed it, maybe because we were heading to Cornwall for a summer holiday or maybe because writers and walking grabs my attention, but I do have issues with it.

Winn keeps reminding us that they have lost everything and she is going to lose her husband. We know. We read the first couple of chapters. I sympathise with her but it becomes repetitive and self-indulgent. I also feel that more details and history of the places they walk through would make a book with more substance. Think of Olivia Laing’s To the River, W. G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn, Robert MacFarlane’s The Wild Places or Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. In fact, when we were in Cornwall we walked a little along the coastal path, it is beautiful and passes through so many interesting places full of folklore, wildlife and wonderful scenery. I don’t want to do Winn a disservice as she did show us this, I just wanted more.

Overall, I would recommend it as a light read but if I wasn’t going on holiday to Cornwall and hadn’t just finished a relevant university module, I’m not sure that I would have enjoyed it quite as much as I did.

Man Booker Prize 2018 Longlist

The Man Booker Prize longlist for 2018 was announced the other day. I still have the idea every year that I will read the Longlist (or even the shortlist) and therefore be in the best position to bore others, with who I think should have won and why, but let’s be realistic, it’s not going to happen. If I read one or two of them I will be doing well. So let’s see what I have to chose from.

Snap – Belinda Bauer. Val McDermid is quoted as saying this is, ‘[t]he best crime novel I’ve read in a very long time.’ No surprise then that it is on the longlist as McDermid is one of the judges. I’m not a huge crime reader but I am led to believe that McDermid is one of the best and therefore her opinion should be a valid one.

 

Milkman – Anna Burns. Set in post troubles Northern Ireland, it’s about Middle Sister who suddenly becomes interesting to, what I assume are, the wrong people. Not jumping to the top of the list for me.

 

 

 

Sabrina – Nick Drnaso. A graphic novel. Interesting. I’ve never read a graphic novel and I am curious to see why it made it to the longlist. I know I’m not going to read it, I like words but it certainly does shake things up a bit.

 

Washington Black – Esi Edugyan. Now this one sounds more like me. It is a story of a runaway slave and what appears to be his travels round the world. It has the potential to be fun whilst tackling the serious issues of slavery. I might need to have a look at this one.

 

In Our Mad and Furious City – Guy Gunaratne. Set during the summer London riots this book follows a group of friends. In particular, it looks at one boy who gets involved in radicalism. This also looks interesting and I’m sure I heard someone say it may be a bit experimental.

 

Everything Under – Daisy Johnson. The story of a solitary woman and her childhood on a canal boat with her mother and a mystery boy. This definitely has fairytale and folklore elements. I’m not really a fairytale person.

 

The Mars Room – Rachel Kushner. This is another one of my favourites to read. It is set in a woman’s prison in the US. Apart from making me think of Orange is the New Black, it feels like it could be a bit different.

 

 

The Water Cure – Sophie Mackintosh. There has been quite a lot of discussion about this one on booktube already. The reviews have been good but my gut instinct is not drawing me to it.

 

 

Warlight – Michael Ondaatje. I really like the sound of this one. A story about a brother and sister left by their Mother at the end of WWII. Given Ondaatje won the Golden Booker with The English Patient, I’m not surprised this book is on the longlist. I think it may be a definite one to read.

 

The Overstory – Richard Powers. Now, according to The New York Times Book Review, this is ‘[a] monumental novel about trees and people.’ OK. Trees? But then I read on and this is a book of individuals and their stories in relation to trees and then the different narratives are wound together. The style reminds me of Colum McCann and I really like his books. I can’t believe I am going to say this but I think this book about trees might be my first pick to read!

The Long Take – Robin Robertson. I think this may be Poetry and is therefore, not my thing. I won’t be reading this one. Which also probably means it is the winner!

 

 

Normal People – Sally Rooney. Following on from Conversations with Friends, which was shortlisted for all sorts of prizes is this love story about two girls with very different backgrounds who meet at Trinty College. Doesn’t sound anything new to me, I’ll pass.

 

From a Low and Quiet Sea – Donal Ryan. A tale of immigration and three men searching for their home in Ireland. Another pass for me.

 

 

 

All in all a very varied longlist this year and as always there are a couple that look interesting.

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Books everywhere

I have a secret. On first appearances I have a couple of attractive wooden bookcases, full of well loved favourite books, all read and neatly arranged. However, this is just the surface of a terrible addiction and hoarding situation almost worthy of a TV documentary. There are plastic carrier bags full of books stuffed in the bottom of my wardrobe; there are piles of books on the spare bedroom floor; there are books in the kitchen cupboards instead of pans; and I have surreptitiously secreted piles of no more than six books on most flat surfaces (don’t you dare count the pile in the photo!). I am fooling no one by moving them round the house in a circuit from one surface to another. So… I am coming clean and sharing my books and my views on them, with anyone frankly who will listen because I am NOT clearing them out.