Still life with bread crumbs

I really enjoyed Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen. Indeed I have enjoyed all her novels and essays.
Here is Carole from The Women's Bookshop introducing and recommending this novel of art, identity and friendship.

Winter reading

A cold day outside, a warm spot inside, a hot chocolate and a good book - something engrossing and heart-warming? Try:

The Art of hearing heartbeats by Jan Phillip Sendker
Set in Burma this novel tells the story of a blind boy and a handicapped girl and their long-lasting love for each other. The story is told by Julia who travels from New York to Burma to find out the truth about her father and U Ba who knows the local history. Hearing heartbeats is a wonderful metaphor for understanding people. A different story in a different setting , it's captivating.

The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan
A mix of gossip and anaysis makes lively reading in this novel about contemporary lives and personal circumstances. It's satirical, funny, ironic and by describing the lives of friends from one class reunion to the next charts the way we live today.

And also the novel I am reading right now that combines the realities family life with cooking and baking, Souffle by Asli Perker is perfect and will encourage you to bake something nice to go with that hot chocolate!

May is Festival month

Auckland Writers and Readers Festival 2013 from Wednesday 15 May to Sunday 19 May promises readings, interviews and discussions to suit every taste. Everyone is invited to "think between the lines" and discover the best writers and thinkers who will be examining:
Faraway lands - Anita Desai (India), Sharad Paul (Tibet), Shehan Karunatilaka (Sri Lanka), John Sinclair (China) and Diego Marani (Finland)
Science and Reason - Dr Helena Popovic, Sir LLoyd Geering, Rebecca Priestley, Sylvia Nasar
Art, Music and Poetry - Jackie Kay, Ian Wedde, Fleur Adcock, Bill Manhire
There's examples of architecture, history, philosophy, ecology and food and plenty of fiction that I'm looking forward to the most - Life after life by Kate Atkinson, The writing class by Stephanie Johnson, The Crane wife by Patrick Ness, exciting new novels that really come to life when you hear the author talk about the ideas and characters they have created.

Join me there!

The country diary of a New Zealand lady

I'm impressed by Back to the land : a year of country gardening by Linda Hallinan, well known for her columns in New Zealand Gardener and The Sunday Times. Divided into the four seasons it is composed of diary entries about her life and her garden, including practical tips on cooking, preserving, keeping chickens, planting trees, raising plants, harvesting vegetables, cracking nuts and selling produce at the farmers' market. Along the way we are treated to insights into family life and rural living. Hallinane's writing is down-to-earth and amusing; she explains mistakes and disappointments but the beautiful photographs illustrate her many successes.
I've already made her "never fails to set" damson jam - it was easy and delicious. And I'm determined to get out to the Clevedon Farmers' Market some time soon.

Looks are deceptive.....

.... for two slight books from small publishers that are so full of intensity that they were shortlisted for the 2012 Booker prize. And deservedly so.

The Lighthouse by Alison Moore follows the journey and thoughts of Futh as he takes a walking tour in Germany. It is what is not stated rather than what is written that is so effective in this short novel. This story leaves a haunting impression of sadness and missed opportunity. The motif of the lighthouse is very significant and adds to the eerie atmosphere.
To find out more watch Carole Beu's review on Triangle TV.

Swimming home by Deborah Levy is a tense description of a summer holiday in a gite in the South of France. There is something unnerving about each of the characters and an underlying tension that surprises when it snaps. Very cleverly written and again there is a significance in the title.

The value of books

Nearing the end of 2012, I realise that I have read the same number of books this year as last year. My post on my reading year 2011 notes that I read 57 or maybe 59 books. This year I have noted each title in the side bar and have reached 58 to date with one more at my bedside currently bookmarked. Coincidentally, I have also recommended a similar number of titles during this year.

Two recently enjoyed titles have been intimately concerned with books and reading. The End of your life bookclub by Will Schwabe describes the last years of his mother's life and discusses the books they read together. I had read several of the titles mentioned and discussed them in my book groups but it was interesting to revisit them in a different context. Will and Mary know these are the last books that they will read together and so their reflections often touch upon illness, loss, death and grief, but their conversations also explore memory, relationships, social structures and world events. They talk often about kindness and gratitude and express their own personal values - and this is what makes the book such worthwhile reading. As an added extra, the 6 page appendix of titles read would make a good starting list for any book group.

The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap by Wendy Welch is also about the importance of good books but this time from a business as well as a personal perspective. The author founded a second-hand bookstore and discovered friendship and community. A good addition to my list of books about books.

Look out for my new list of books read in 2013. Happy new year and happy reading.

Taking flight

This is your summer must-read!

Flight behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver begins with a vision, both beautiful and terrifying, and its implications are explored through the thoughts, feelings and actions of some interesting characters. It also incorporates issues in class, poverty and climate change but these are integrated into the story so that we are able to understand the complexities that create and surround our lives.

Names for the sea

In Iceland in winter the surface of the sea freezes but there are people still swimming in the hot pools. In this book, Sarah Moss, writes about a year in Iceland with her young family. The tone is conversational but the content is so informative: ranging from vulcanology to knitting, from poetry to fruit (or lack of), from the financial crash to historic treasures, from bad driving to the Aurora Borealis; all the ups and downs of life made fascinating.

The title Names for the sea is from W.H. Auden's Letters from Iceland written in 1936 and hints at the isolation felt by Icelanders. Moss also found that they were disenfranchised by distance especially aggravated by the eruption of the volcano and its implications for travel. The most heartfelt moments, though, are the personal stories about being in another country, not understanding the langauage and culture but learning so much about people and places and different ways of doing things. And it's so well written.

Iceland is on my visiting list too!

An alternative alphabet

The ACB with Honora Lee by Kate de Goldi is another charming family story for well-read children and adults. Kate de Goldi understands people; 9 year old Perry and her grandmother Honora are special individuals and when they get together they are amusing and charming. In making her own alphabet book Perry chooses "jolly old" for J - an apt play on words. Kate de Goldi has a way with words; the conversations between Perry and her grandmother and between Perry and her parents give insights into their thoughts, feelings and hopes. The perceptive drawings by Greg O'Brien also add humour to the story. Indeed, it is a beautifully packaged little book and worth reading slowly to enjoy all the nuances.

Praised as heart-warming and endearing, this book shows how we can all get along together with kindness, patience and acceptance.

See this interesting article for Kate's experience of trying to understand and accept dementia.

casual or causal?

J.K.Rowling's first novel for adults A Casual Vacancy is so clever. The vacancy on the Pagford Parish Council, politically classed as casual, that occurs on the death of Barry Fairbrother is the catalyst for all sorts of problems and events in the troubled community.

This is a big book with a large cast of characters and an even longer list of social issues. The deceptions and intrigues that unfold during the narrative are circumscribed with past details and reflective comments and are plausible (well mostly, I did have a bit of a problem with the Epi-pen). What really stands out is Rowling's understanding of teenagers and her ability to create lively interesting young characters. Those chararcters' struggles with authority: their parents, schoolteachers, employers, are universal but in this novel at least two of them reach a reasonable resolution. The rest is social realism, some of it quite dark and some of it very worrying. Pagford is a microcosm of a troubled world and worth reading about.

Where would you go?

Looking for a quirky, amusing, contemporary story with a few issues to think about? Where'd you go, Bernadette is it. A mother and daughter story that comments wryly on career parents, elitist education, neighbourly relationships, church going, the weather in Seattle and the ice in Antarctica. Never a dull moment - a fun read, with some great read aloud moments, that satirises many current preoccupations in American society and has a great ending. Enjoy!

Ladies' Litera-tea

The Women's Bookshop annual event with a line-up of local writers and tea tables of delicious cakes is always a wonderful event. Last Sunday's session connected diverse writers: Joan Druett, Joanne Perry, Hannah McQueen and also highlighted the commonality in female experience: Mary Paul, Gigi Fenster, Emily Perkins.

Gigi Fenster opened with the question about what makes a New Zealand book or a Jewish book? Her analysis of the contents of the story and the sensibilities of the characters made me realise that although I like a location I respond to the universal in a novel. The Intentions book is just that, being subtle and thought-provoking.

Emily Perkins closed the afternoon with an explanation of how she wanted to write a life in fiction through feelings and memory. Her descriptive snapshots of Dorothy Forrest through a long and ordinary life, explored in her latest novel The Forrests, show a depth of observation and understanding and reveal the common experiences of sisterhood, motherhood, loving and longing.

The next Litera-tea is on Sunday 4 November at the Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Epsom Girls' Grammar School with Stephanie Johnson, Paula Green, Fiona Farrell, Lynda Hallinan, Xanthe White, Jacqueline Fahey and Kate de Goldi. Tickets from The Women's Bookshop.

Lighten our darkness

The Light Between Oceans by M.L.Stedman is an emotionally charged read with beautiful descriptions of the seascape and skies. It covers the 10 years that Tom and Isabelle lived on Janus Rock as lighthouse keepers. An isolated life for them until a miracle happens and then a wonderful life until reality catches up with them. What happens, how they cope, what decisions they each make, what effect that has on other people is carefully and suspensefully drawn out.
I listened to this novel as an audio book and was completely involved in the characters and their difficulties, commenting out loud at certain events and crying often. Realistic characters included the kind sea captain, Isabelle's puzzled mother and Lucy Grace who is at the centre of the story.
Each character, episode and decision is credible and agonising because of the uncovering of the background and the reasons relating to them. Although the first novel by this Australian writer, this is accomplished and effective writing that engages your attention from start to finish.

See also the full review by Maggie Rainey-Smith 

Good intentions

Question: How have I come to read, in quick succession, three books with male narrators looking back at their lives? and enjoyed them all?
Answer: They are all very well written by perceptive women writers and they include some authentic character development.

I have already written about The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The beginner's goodbye and recommend them as highly readable.

The third title is by emerging New Zealand writer Gigi Feinster and is firmly located in our environment. The Intentions Book refers to the log book that trampers complete to inform others about their journey through the bush and their expected arrival times. Rachel is overdue and we wait,with her Father, brother and aunt, for news. During the tense waiting time everyone is reminiscing but we come to understand best her father Morris's story as he deciphers his past to consider what is happening in the present.
This is a first novel but the writing is polished and poignant. I'm looking forward to further novels from this Wellington writer.

The gift of food

Charlotte Wood will be at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival in May promoting her new book Love and hunger: thoughts on the gift of food. A prizewinning Australian novelist and short story writer she also writes about food in magazines, newspapers and in her very interesting blog.

Love and hunger describes Charlotte's relationship with food and cooking. It contains recipes but is not a recipe book. It includes handy hints but it is not a kitchen companion. It includes family memories but it is not an autobiography. It is a highly readable feast with lots of courses and I will follow some of her advice. She writes thoughtfully and intelligently and I am looking forward to seeing and hearing her at the Festival.

Look out for further posts from the Festival on more new discoveries.

Just a beginner

In a nod to the Dummies series of books, the publishing firm in Anne Tyler's latest novel has created the Beginner books, introductions to essential skills like wine, the monthly budget, dog training, the spice cabinet, birdwatching and many other amusing titles. The Beginner's goodbye refers to Aaron's grief at the death of his wife and the steps he takes to recover.

I have read several examples of bereavement memoir recently, for example A widow's story by Joyce Carol Oates and The year of magical thinking by Joan Didion but this fictionalised account of loss and questioning I found really enthralling. I zipped through the book in almost one sitting with my thoughts both challenged and reassured.

Anne Tyler is an excellent storyteller with an eye for interesting character traits and an ability to round off a book with a satisfying conclusion. Try also Digging to America and Back when we were grownups.

The importance of others

Recently longlisted for the Orange Prize is American writer Leah Hager Cohen with her fourth novel The Grief of others.

At first I thought that I might not manage to read this book; the prologue describes the death of a new born baby and the first chapter concludes with a ten year old child "slipping into the water". Having respect for the Orange Prize I persevered. This novel dissects the lives of one family in a year that sees the death of two babies. It explores individual feelings and responses and also familial approaches to difficulties. The narrative begins in the present and looks back one year and then also flips back to eight years ago when things were good. The family members, adults and children, have credible voices and reasonable reactions and are described sympathetically.

This novel shows that although we have the ability, through ignorance, despair or fear, to mess up our lives, we also have the power to restore balance and create a better future.

This is definitely worth reading.

Round and round

A book that is character driven and appeals to me for its roundedness. The title refers to Quinn who has made his home on a motorway roundabout. Who is he and why is he there? Clare Morrall's fifth fascinating novel, The Roundabout man, criss-crosses time and space to describe a childhood of privilege and neglect and to suggest an adulthood of lost opportunities. The characters, mostly family members, are well drawn with their own back stories and serve to underline the special nature of Quinn's position. Amanda, the manager of the motorway service station is similarly a complex character; remote at first and then influential. The development of the novel is slow but steady and definitely satisfying.



A perfect book club read; there is so much to discuss. Start with the front cover!

I can also recommend all of Clare Morrall's previous books especially Astonishing splashes of colour, that was shortlisted for the Booker prize, and The language of others.

Unlikely?

Unlikely may be the key word in the title of Rachel Joyce's first book but the events, problems and feelings that unfold are highly probable. The Unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry follows the steps of recently retired Harold as he walks the length of Britain and reveals his hidden character. His wife Maureen is similarly revealed from her reflective spectator's position at home.
Harold, without any necessities or comforts, walks from Devon to Cornwall; 627 miles in 87 days. Why? Well, that's the whole story. Along the way he meets a multitude of needy people but eventually continues his self-assessing journey on his own.
This is a gentle, heart-warming read with substance and surprises - you really want to follow the journey to the end.

Island life

This debut novel by Madeline Tobert is about a remote island surrounded by sea and its inhabitants. The sea is so important to the story that the rythm of the writing has a rise and fall like the flow of the tide and the breaking of the waves. The Sea on our skin is about contrasts: sunshine and rain, traditional island life and the modern world, sadness and happiness, violence and gentleness, the ordinary and the unnnatural, suffering and joy and lots of pain and love.
Following three generations of the Matete family, this is haunting storytelling that left me thinking about the people involved long after I had turned the last page.