Mad Mike's writing blog, book of the year 2020

Welcome friends, book bloggers and avid readers alike, to my annual book of the year post. As usual, this post is not about books written or published this year, it's about books I have read this year, and with dozens to choose from it's no easy task. I won't bore you with a big long list of all my reads from 2020, for that you can check out my historic posts or look at Amazon/Goodreads for my reviews, so without further ado:-

In at number five are (I know, I know but I just couldn’t separate them): The Exorcist, by William Peter Blattey, Frenchman’s Creek, by Daphne du Maurier and The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig (26/07 + 29/11 + 26/12/2020 posts respectively).
‘The Exorcist is atmospheric throughout, great characters and it leaves you cold and needing the lights on for bed.’
‘Du Maurier's flagrant disregard for propriety is one thing but her depth of characters, her ability to have the reader rooting for the pirate and the adulterer as opposed the law abiding citizenry of Cornwall is simply brilliant.’
The Midnight Library was, ‘An enjoyable but thought provoking book which, especially at this time of year, brings the very important subject of loneliness to the fore . . . it does not disappoint.’

My number four is, An Untamed State by, Roxane Gay (28/06/2020 post)
‘BRUTAL,’ I said once I’d read it, and it was.
‘Brutal is about all you really need to sum up Roxane Gay's superb, An Untamed State, but there are two parts to this book (Happily Ever After and Once Upon a Time) and two sides to the story, so if brutal is one, then love is the other.
. . . the way Roxanne Gay writes just rips at your heart and you just know that if Mireille ever manages to escape, her journey would have only just begun.’

In the bronze position then, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, by Stuart Turton (27/02/2020 post)
‘Oh No! Have I found my book of the year 2020 already? Well . . . Maybe!’ was what I said in February, and it came close.
Confusing, fast-paced, witty, horrific intriguing and I'll-be-damned-if-I'm-putting-this-book-down-it's-only-half-past-one-in-the-morning-and-I-really-really-really-need-to-know-who-the-murderer-is, oh, shit it’s . . .!’ pretty much sums things up.

So, this year’s runner up, The Taxidermist’s Daughter, by Kate Mosse (31/10/2020 post)
‘Atmosphere.
If you like a book with atmosphere, whether you're on the moors with Cathy and Heathcliff, crossing the causeway to Eel Marsh House, running from the ruins of Manderley, or walking the rain soaked alleyways of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Barcelona, if you like your books with atmosphere look no further than The Taxidermist's Daughter.’ I said back in October.
‘Chilling, spooky, rain soaked town on the south coast of England in the midst of a murder spree in the early 1900's with beautifully written characters, great plot, plenty of blood and intrigue; what's not to like?’

And the winner, my favourite book of 2020: Schindler’s Ark, by Thomas Keneally (12/04/2020 post)
‘Read this book I beg you, for although it is horrific beyond imagination and will tear at your heart, it is a must-read if you ever want to understand just a snippet of what it must have been like to live in such conditions, and yes, if you've seen the film, both the girl in the red dress and the boy (albeit he was a teenager at the time) who hid in the cesspit, were both real, but only one survived.
To put a star rating on a book like this seems a bit crass but in the hope that it might get others to pick up a copy and read it, I will give it five.’

N.B: If you like your books spooky & atmospheric then you need to read Carlos Ruiz Zafon, who sadly died this year but left a lasting legacy with his amazing Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, of which the first two (The Shadow of the Wind & The Angel’s Game) I have just reread and are utterly amazing.

 

The Taxidermist's Daughter, book review. (Kate Mosse)

Atmosphere.

If you like a book with atmosphere, whether you're on the moors with Cathy and Heathcliff, crossing the causeway to Eel Marsh House, running from the ruins of Manderley, or walking the rain soaked alleyways of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Barcelona, if you like your books with atmosphere look no further than Kate Mosse's, The Taxidermist's Daughter.

A hundred years ago in the small fishing village of Fishbourne on the south coast of England, there was a terrible storm, a storm that caused the tide to surge and breach the sea defences, a storm that brought death and destruction but also a cleansing, because before that storm there was rot in Fishbourne, unholy activity, secrets that Connie Gifford has long forgotten, and a killing of a different almost animalistic kind, a kind that exposed the depravity of man . . . before the storm.

Having finished the author's Langudock series last year I felt a little deflated (I loved Labyrinth and Sepulchre but really didn't get on with book three, Citadel) so I'd left this one on the shelf collecting dust, which was one hell of a mistake.

From page one, and I'm not embellishing here, from page one I was hooked, and who wouldn't be when it starts with a rain-soaked funeral attended by strangers with a certain familiarity and the murder of a young woman?

For Connie Gifford her past is a blank, her first ten years are missing. She lost her memory when she had a fall, or was it a shock, or was she . . . But why can't she remember? Did she really just trip and fall down the stairs, hit her head like her father told her, or was there more to it than that?

A few days after the funeral a young woman's body is found in a stream by Connie's house and Connie thinks she recognises her, but does she? Could it just be that the coat is familiar? The coat she saw someone wearing at the funeral, and so begins the unravelling of the mystery.

There's the strange disappearance of her alcoholic father - no-one seems to know where he is - the arrival of a stranger, Harry Woolston, who professes to be the son of the local doctor, but is he and can he be trusted? And where is his father? Why did he leave for the specialist hospital so quickly and not come back?

There's the ever present threat of the storm as it builds momentum through the book, the inquisitive local bobby (policeman) making his enquires and casting his aspersions, the sudden occupation of Themis Cottage by an unknown single woman (this is 1912 remember) and the continuous and horrific slaughter of the town's menfolk, all as the storm makes land, the tide rises and the solitary blinking light from that cottage pulls Connie, Harry, the policeman and many more besides likes moths in the dark, and makes for one hell of a climax.

You'll have to read the book to find out what happens of course but believe me, it is very well worth your time.

Chilling, spooky, rain soaked town on the south coast of England in the midst of a murder spree in the early 1900's with beautifully written characters, great plot, plenty of blood and intrigue; what's not to like?

Four and a half stars and one of my favourites so far this year, and with winter approaching, what better time to immerse yourselves in the pages of a book like this.

Don't forget to search my blog for your favourite authors and books to see if I have read them yet and if I have not, why not message me with your recommendations.

Lockdown reads from Mad Mike's writing blog.

Well, a lot of us are at home, furloughed - or worse - but as the restrictions begin to be lifted and life returns to a new normal, it means that some of us - me included - are being drafted back to work.

So what has everyone been reading during the lockdown? More, less, the same? And what genres have you gone for? Uplifting novels to perk you up or dystopian virus novels as a reality check?

I've certainly read more, as well as editing down the 87,000 word manuscript of my third novel to the much more novella (ish) size that is currently just over 70,000 but it's all been fun - I think!

Anyway, on to the book stack photo that is my lockdown reads. All very different I think you'll agree, from the world-famous literary titans that are William Golding and Khaled Hosseini to the gothically atmospheric depth of Barcelona and the small fishing village of Fishbourne, from Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Kate Mosse respectively (I'll be blogging about those two shortly) to the hilarity that is magical policing in London from Ben Aaronovitch, Stephen King's first novel, Carrie and finishing with the depravity of human beings with Gabriel Tallent's, My Absolute Darling and the superbly written but brutal book, An Untamed State, by Roxane Gay.

I liked all of these books in one way or another - some were better than others of course - but by reading such a cross-section of authors - there's both men and women here from a somewhat international spectrum - I think it helps me to not only find new favourites (whilst revisit old ones) but opens my mind to books I didn't even know existed before - An Untamed State being an excellent example.

So, for me, I will continue to search for different authors as well as read and re-read the ones I love and although I have enjoyed the time that being furloughed has afforded me, I would hope that we will never have to go through this and lose so many, ever again.

I know our situation in England is far from over so stay safe all who read this and hopefully I will get to see some of you again soon.

The Thirteenth Tale, book review. (Diane Setterfield)

I thought this book would be good before I turned the first page, it just had that certain something about it; I wasn't wrong.

Diane Setterfield's, The Thirteenth Tale, is a book about redemption, death, and a great deception.

A letter, hand written, by the world renown author, Vida Winter, summonses little known biographer, Margaret Lea, to take her deposition, her thirteenth tale. A tale of incest, madness, and feral children, of a dark family past, and the long kept secrets of her days as a child, growing up at Angelfield house, a house now lost to nature after fire tore through it.

The book is spooky in places - when Margaret takes a sneaky look around the now derelict Angelfield house, she encounters a man living in the squalid remains, and we feel her heart racing, as she attempts her escape.

As her relationship develops with Vida Winter - who is very ill - there is an atmosphere and suspense, that I liken to Kate Mosse's Languedoc series, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon's, Shadow of the Wind trilogy, and is something I actively seek out in books now.

The novel is told in the first person by both Margaret Lea and Vida Winter, and Vida isn't the only one who has something to hide!

As Margaret deposes more and more of her notes, and the interviews with Vida continue, it brings into question things in her past; things that have remained buried for years, and Diane Setterfield's clever prose, drip feed you just enough information to keep you intrigued, guessing, and reading to the end.

Great atmosphere then, well written, absorbing characters and a great twist. Four and a half well deserved stars.

Mad Mike's Writing Blog, Book of the Year 2015

This isn't about books written this year, or even books published this year; this is about the books I have read this year, and there are thirty or so to choose from (a recent record for me). So, where does one start?

I won't bore you with a big long list and go through each book individually, suffice to say that many of the books I've read this year have already been reviewed, right hear on this blog, so you'll probably have a good idea where this is going.

For those of you that are new here, or just flitter in and out from time to time, you can always look back through my historic posts or look at my Amazon reviews; for all the others, I'll skip the chaff, the mediocre, and move straight to the top five.

In at number 5, with its intriguing, dystopian alternative to an England never known, is: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Better than the film and well worth a read. 

In at number 4, with its sense of isolation and quirky French spookiness is: The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse. Left me feeling cold and alone, but warmed through. Go figure! (Blog post 17/02/15)

In at number 3 is another book by Kate Mosse, the second in the Languedoc series, Sepulchre. Just as good as the first, if not better. Can't wait to read the third book in the series. 

In at number 2 is: An Officer and a Spy, by Robert Harris. So, so good, you just need to read it, but not quite my favourite book this year. (Blog post 13/10/15)

My favourite book of the year, the one that works on so many different levels, that keeps popping back into my subconscious; the one whose characters are yet to fade, is: The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling. All that a book should be, intrigue, passion, subterfuge, and a great cast. Enjoy, and see you all next year.

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse. A fantastic, moody and thoroughly entertaining read.

Labyrinth.

Worldwide best seller, the first of the trilogy that takes the reader from the twelfth century right through to the modern day, a TV mini-series and a tough act to follow, right? 

Well don't worry, because Kate Mosse has written another blinder. 

Set in the same southern French region as Labyrinth (I was lucky enough to holiday in Perpignan for a couple of years recently) The Winter Ghosts, charts the journey of a lost-sole as he meanders through life, looking for closure on his brother’s death in the Great War. 

Ten years have passed since he heard the news that his brother was gone and all is not well. We get flashbacks of our main character's mental state over those intervening years, and the book draws on the atmosphere of that sorrow and regret, expertly. I would read this book in my car at lunchtime, or in bed at night and feel the cold fear emanating from the pages, excellent work from Mosse. 

I won't put any spoilers in as I want to encourage you all to read this most excellent book and it's only short, so it won't take you long, but so worth it. 

I have Kate Mosse's Sepulchre and Citadel to dive into now, so I'll do just that and report back in due course with the results.

Inspiration for the day goes to all those who still fight for the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. (If you know or read Kate Mosse's work then you will know the connection, if you don't then grab one of her books and read, read, read. You won't be disappointed.)