This month I stepped up my blogging – I’m now working with an editorial calendar after years of thinking one wouldn’t help me; I’m feeling more confident in my theme work, which is something I often used to think would never happen; I’m seeing five ‘pigeon holes’ for posting, because they aren’t quite categories, that are helping me focus on quality – discussion, review, theme, history, general/other reading. Basically, for all the extra description I’ve just used, I’m doing what everyone else already does, it’s just taken me six years to get there. Better late than never. Anyway, I’ve had an enjoyable reading month, diverse in a few of the ways I’m aiming for this year, and here is what I read:

All books are works of fiction.

The Books

Ben Fergusson: The Spring Of Kasper Meier – In Germany, in the years following World War II, a man is approached by a woman he’s never seen who is looking for a pilot and appears to be working for someone dangerous. If the atmosphere of the last 50 pages had been incorporated from the start this would’ve been a good book; there’s not much to it and no thrill.

Elizabeth Chadwick: Shields Of Pride – A mercenary is offered the wife of the man whose death he sort of caused and must work to keep her and her son safe as rebels are after their money. It’s okay but far from her later books.

Elizabeth Gaskell: Cranford – A narrator recounts the relative highs and lows she experiences when visiting Cranford, a Victorian town in which most residents are women and no one is particularly well off. It’s a good enough read as long as you’re okay with the idea of nothing much happening.

Sarah Ladipo Manyika: Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun – When 74-year-old literature professor Morayo falls in her apartment she has to learn to adjust to the changes age has brought with it, including possible memory loss, but whilst she may live alone she finds friends aplenty to help her. I can’t do the book justice in one sentence but suffice to say it’s very good, on a par with Elizabeth Is Missing in approach and the main character talks books a lot.

I would say my favourite was the Manyika. Certainly it’s the one I gave the highest rating to, but I did enjoy the social history and immersion in the Chadwick. The Gaskell was quite fun and I’ve written three posts on it since finishing (I’ll separate them, don’t worry) but it’s true that 178 pages took me two weeks and prior to that I’d attempted to read it late February. At this point I’m not sure Gaskell is for me as far as reading enjoyment is concerned though I am fond of the way she goes about her commentary. I’m glad to have finished the Fergusson; I’d been reading it since November so it’s both a relief because I wasn’t enjoying it and a minor to-do list completed as it was the last of the four books I had to read from the Young Writer Of The Year award.

Quotation Report

Do not tell Deborah of Cranford that women are equal to men because she will not listen – she believes women are superior. And if you join Joseclin and Linnet’s household, from Shields Of Pride, you will find yourself playing medieval football with a pig’s bladder and it will be messy.

Usual statement incoming – I can’t believe it’s April already. Easter was incredibly early this year so I’m kind of still looking forward to it… at least the reading version of looking forward to it will come to fruition.

How was your Easter and/or how was your March?

I decided to view February 29th as a blessing and used it to finish the one and only book I could finish this month. As you know I’ve been attempting to read, have three books on the go in fact, but have had trouble getting anywhere with them. I did wonder if perhaps it was time to give up, that as it was to all intents and purposes 1st March I should consider February my first book-less month since I started blogging, embrace it, write a totally different sort of round-up, but truly I didn’t want to. It may not have been a failure to do so, we all need breaks, but there were only 125 pages left and I’m starting to crave a review writing session; in the last hours of Monday I finished a book and had a ‘yay’ moment.

All books – or this book, I should say – are works of fiction. (I always copy and paste this paragraph from another month’s. Changing it is fun.)

The Book

Chigozie Obioma: The Fishermen – In 1990s Nigeria, four siblings are told by a reputed madman that one of them will kill another; it sets off a chain of tragic events. I liked this but, despite the tragedy, I didn’t find it particularly thrilling – I closed the book happy enough to have finished it. It’s only since then, when I started mulling over what I could write about it that the goodness of it became apparent and whilst I know I may not have paid as much attention as I should have I do think this is a case of the sum being more important than the parts; you have to look at the whole to really appreciate it. I’ll wait a few posting days before reviewing because I’ll naturally be repeating a bit of what I’ve said here.

I can’t really pick a favourite in my usual way so instead I’ll say that I enjoyed the Obioma enough and I’m enjoying Cranford a lot. Now the Obioma’s finished I’m bumping Tender Is The Night back to second book status and still have that Fergusson on the go.

Quotation Report

None this time. If I tried to quote Obioma I’d run afoul of fair use rules because his writing style is too good.

I’m going to repeat what I expect is in most people’s minds – how is it March already? – and wish you all a happy one.

What did you read in February? Was the extra day an advantage?

This has been a bit of a month! It started well enough, continued well enough, and then, as you know, the bots came in and messed about with my bandwidth. Being without a website, or at least being unable to use your website for fear you’ll expend the last bytes available, is a weird thing. You get so used to blogging that if it goes you’re at a loss for what to do with the time you spend on it… at least for a bit – I ended up making the most of the time, reading Philip Pullman and more Philip Pullman.

The Books

Non-Fiction

Cheryl Strayed: Wild – Strayed recounts her journey on the Pacific Crest Trail in the 90s, a time when her mother had died, affairs had overtaken her marriage, and she was in need of putting herself back together. Dubious, fact-wise, but a good quick read.

Fiction

Paula Hawkins: The Girl On The Train – Rachel mixes herself up in the disappearance of a woman she sees from the train window, a woman whose life seemed perfect. Very, very good.

Philip Pullman: Northern Lights – In a parallel world, Lyra goes on a mission to find her friend, a boy taken by child-catchers for reasons unknown, and finds herself embroiled in a theological operation. Impossible to do justice in one sentence, this young-teen fantasy is incredible.

Philip Pullman: The Subtle Knife – Will, from our own Oxford, runs away from men who are trying to get hold of his missing father’s possessions and finds himself helping Lyra. Very different to the first book but just as excellent.

Philip Pullman: The Amber Spyglass – It all comes to a head and the children must make life-changing choices. A very good book and quite moving, really, but I didn’t feel it dealt with the sorts of things the other books promised it would and it left many questions unanswered.

I had a basic idea to read long-awaited reads, following on from the couple of years of the planned Long-Awaited Reads events, and ended up reading 4 books towards it. (I’m including the as-yet-unfinished I Am China in that.) The books I finished were Strayed’s, the Hawkins, and the third Pullman. As I said last week, I’d never read it – the current score stands at 3 reads, 2 reads, 1 read for each book respectively. It’s taken about 17 years but the series is done; my books are all yellowed and the plastic layer of one of the covers is peeling off – they’ve served me well. I’m thinking perhaps I ought to re-read The Sally Lockhart Quartet to read the fourth book. There is something about Pullman’s books that makes them so real, especially the His Dark Materials, and I revelled in the feeling of not wanting to put them down. Can I say books I’ve already read were my favourite this month? I think so.

Quotation Report

I found it hard to write up this quote in my usual style, so here’s the extract from the book, The Subtle Knife, concerning Lyra’s first impressions of Will:

She tiptoed to the window. In the glow from the street lamp she carefully set the hands of the alethiometer, and relaxed her mind into the shape of a question. The needle began to sweep around the dial in a series of pauses and swings almost too fast to watch.

She had asked: What is he? A friend or an enemy?

The alethiometer answered: He is a murderer.

When she saw the answer, she relaxed at once. He could find food, and show her how to reach Oxford, and those were powers that were useful, but he might still have been untrustworthy or cowardly. A murderer was a worthy companion.

Hopefully the changes I’ve made will have fixed the website enough that there won’t be problems this month. Either way I’m going into February with two unfinished books and a long-term unfinished classic so at least there’s plenty to read.

Have you a new favourite yet this year?

So this year I read 56 books, carrying 3 over to 2016. I read a similarly paltry number of non-fiction as last year however I’m surprised and quite pleased to say that I read a fair amount of translated fiction – compared to previous years. It’s down to the publishers I work with, yes, but I’ve been inclined to choose translated fiction anyway. I’ve been reading the back of every Murakami I see, trying to see if I can change my initial and lasting thought that I’d like to start with Norwegian Wood. I’ve been looking longingly at Shan Sa – Chinese fiction written in French – and reminding myself that’s it’s all right to re-read a book.

As always, books that have been reviewed have a line underneath them and the title links to the review. Up until my personal favourites list, all books are rated objectively. If you’d prefer to skip all that, click here to view my personal favourites.

The Best Of The Best

• Adelle Waldman: The Love Affairs Of Nathaniel P – Detailing some of the many short relationships of a writer ensconced in the journalism and publishing industry, with a look at why things go wrong for him. This is a really, really, great book.
• Anna Hope: Wake – In the first few years after the First World War, three women struggle, though they don’t always realise it, with the realities of life as it now is. This book is really superb and the fourth thread in it, that of the (fictionalised) story of the Unknown Soldier’s homecoming is very moving; if this book is ever adapted for film I will be very happy.
• Bernhard Schlink: The Reader – At fifteen, Michael has an affair with an older woman and years later sees her once more, this time in a war trial. Fantastic.
• E Lockhart: We Were Liars – Cadence spends every summer on her family’s private island but the younger relations start questioning the perfection. Phenomenal.
• J K Rowling: The Casual Vacancy – The death of a parish councillor not only creates a rush to take his place, it also creates even more tension between those for and against the already-existing integration of a council estate. Loved it – as I said, a great book about awful people.
• Kate Chopin: The Awakening – A wife and mother in 1800s America pushes against the social traditions that restrict her life. Absolutely excellent.
• Nicola Cornick: House Of Shadows – A woman looking for her missing brother starts to unravel the mysteries her brother was working on at the time and finds out the house she’s always seen beyond the trees was destroyed years before she was born. Utterly superb.

5

• Barbara Comyns: Our Spoons Came From Woolworths
• Claire Watts: How Do You Say Gooseberry In French?
• Irène Némirovsky: The Misunderstanding
• James Rhodes: Instrumental
• Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows: The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society
• Meike Ziervogel: Kauthar
• Sara Taylor: The Shore
• Sarah Howe: Loop Of Jade
• Stephen Hawking: A Brief History Of Time

4.5

• Angela Thirkell: The Brandons
• Elizabeth Baines: Used To Be
• Eloisa James: Duchess By Night
• Emma Healey: Elizabeth Is Missing
• H G Wells: The Time Machine
• Helen Lederer: Losing It
• Laura Barnett: The Versions Of Us
• Raymond Jean: Reader For Hire

4

• Elizabeth Fremantle: Sisters Of Treason
• Gøhril Gabrielsen: The Looking-Glass Sisters
• Guy Ware: The Fat Of Fed Beasts
• Judy Chicurel: If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go
• Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina
• Mikhail Elizarov: The Librarian
• Paula Lichtarowicz: The First Book Of Calamity Leek
• Tracy Rees: Amy Snow

3.5

• Aki Ollikainen: White Hunger
• Annie O’Neil: Doctor… To Duchess?
• Eloisa James: When The Duke Returns
• Intisar Khanani: Sunbolt
• Jo Walton: Among Others
• Lisa Hilton: Elizabeth – Renaissance Prince
• Nancy Bilyeau: The Tapestry
• R J Gould: A Street Café Named Desire
• Robert Merle: The Brethren
• Sarah Govett: The Territory
• Shannon Stacey: Taken With You
• Téa Obreht: The Tiger’s Wife

3

• Amy Stewart: Girl Waits With Gun
• Erica Vetsch: The Cactus Creek Challenge
• Georges Simenon: The Late Monsieur Gallet
• Helen Oyeyemi: Boy, Snow, Bird
• Horace Walpole: The Castle Of Otranto
• Sunjeev Sahota: The Year Of The Runaways

2.5

• Charles Dickens: Nicholas Nickleby
• Jessie Burton: The Miniaturist
• Shannon Stacey: Falling For Max

2

• Melanie Shawn: Let It Snow

My Personal Favourites

I fell into a half-planned, half-accidental rhythm some time within the first few months, starting with Adelle Waldman. I found myself inclined to read literary fiction and suitable review copies were arriving. It’s been a good thing because, as this website probably indicates, I enjoy literary fiction a lot even if I think the category itself odd. But there was still that lingering feeling of fear; where literary fiction involves much thought, I worried I wouldn’t be able to do it justice in my reviews. I know I sometimes miss elements when I get distracted by something that intrigues me a lot. That worry’s still there – it’s almost part and parcel with the genre I think, given the implied elitism – but it’s lessened. I suppose like anything, practise is key.

My reading was skewed towards women at 41 – I’m looking to balance it out a bit this year. Three books were non-fiction, 9 translated fiction. I read 5 bonafide classics, if you will (because I’d include Comyns and Thirkell myself), and the oldest book I read was the Walpole. Unsurprisingly there were a variety of new-to-me authors, 45 to be exact. It’s a fair number and, whilst I’m happy to be broadening my author horizon, it did indicate that I need to get back to the backlists of old favourites. Lastly, and I’m a bit embarrassed about this, it turns out I’ve been giving Mary Ann Shaffer an extra S in her surname ever since I reviewed her book in June…

Quotation Report

Striking somewhat of a chord is Nate from The Love Affairs Of Nathaniel P who comments on the way the numbers that may constitute a popular book would earn a television show the axe.

Aunt Sissie of The Brandons suggests staying in bed as a way to live longer, whilst Delia would likely not suggest anything due to her morbid fascination with death and disease. Being in the car with someone on their way to hospital for appendicitis is so brilliant after all, darling.

Mori of Among Others brings a smile when she says she’s going to keep Dodie Smith’s I Capture The Castle for a day she’s interested in a good siege. There is also this, showing double standards: ‘How interesting that what comes out as doing the best he could in a man looks like neglect in a woman’.

Gat from We Were Liars states that a novel should deliver a series of small astonishments, which is a lovely way to put it and surely what we often look for when we sit down with a book.

In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy makes a good point when he suggests that women lacked rights because of a lack of education and a lack of education led to a lack of rights. On a humorous note, he also points out that a man can sit uncomfortably in a chair but be happy enough as long as he knows he can move – if he knows he can’t move that same position will be impossible.

In the next few days I’ll be posting my goals for 2016 as well as my second film round up.

What were your favourite books of 2015?

Happy New Year! I expect when this is posted we may still be having turkey sandwiches for dinner. It’s strange to say now that I’m 2/3 of the way through the Oyeyemi because unless it’s far, far more busy than we’ve planned, the book should be on the list below. Is that meta? I’m writing from the future. I’ve also had one too many chocolates and it’s the 23rd of December…. Anyway, I hope you’re all having a lovely Christmas and New Year’s Day and I’ll see you in a few days. Here are the books I read in December.

All books are works of fiction.

The Books

Helen Oyeyemi: Boy, Snow, Bird – Boy runs away from her abusive father and marries a jeweller. Her new step-daughter is lovely but Boy has trouble coping and sends her away. Doesn’t know what it wants to be.

Melanie Shawn: Let It Snow – 13 years after leaving Jake without reason, Tessa returns to the town to take care of her grandmother’s estate. Awful on many levels; don’t bother.

Sunjeev Sahota: The Year Of The Runaways – A group of Indian men travel to Britain, mostly illegally, to get money for themselves and their families. There are some good studies in it, but it’s a bit long and the ending comes out from left field.

My favourite this month was… whoops, forgot to finish this part. I didn’t really have a favourite this month, no stands outs. I did have a least favourite, which should be obvious from the above. During the holiday I started Wild and continued The Spring Of Kasper Meier. I’m finding the former to be exactly as the reviews I read said it was.

Quotation Report

None this time.

I guess the only thing to say is, hello 2016!

What was your favourite read this month?