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.

 

An Untamed State, book review. (Roxane Gay)

BRUTAL

It's been about two months since I finished this book but I needed that time to process exactly what I had just read and there you have it:

BRUTAL

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.

Being the daughter of one of the richest men in Haiti, Mireille knows only one side of her native island, the side that money can buy, not that she's completely blind to the plight of her fellow Haitians, far from it, but living the life of luxury when she visits - she lives in Florida with her American husband and their first child - she is chauffeured from the airport straight to the house where high walls and big gates are guarded by men with guns, keeping the poor out and the family in relative safety and so the true desperation of the average Haitian can only really be guessed at.

Then, an innocent trip to the beach and Mireille's life changes forever.

This book doesn't hang about and it doesn't pull any punches either, firing you straight into the kidnapping like a smack around the face and it's all the better for it, and by throwing you straight in, it has you hooked from the first page, has you immediately questioning whether Mireille can escape, be rescued, or when the ransom will be paid, and then, a few chapters in and you're wondering how she can possibly take anymore, how she can possibly carry on (I said this book was brutal and it is, so don't say you haven't been warned) whether she will ever see her son again, and it has your emotions all over the place.

Reading the brutality in part one will make you angry, sick, scared, frightened and then some and you have to remember that this is a work of fiction, and as a work of fiction I feel that this book gets closer to what I can only imagine is a reality for some women then any other I have yet to read.

During her thirteen days in captivity, Mireille endures every depravity imaginable - I won't go into graphic detail here as my audience sometimes includes children - but the way Roxanne Gay writes just rips at your heart and you just know that if Mireille is ever released or ever manages to escape, her journey would have only just begun.

In part two, Gay explores what can only loosely be described as recovery and again she adds so much depth to her characters, not just Mireille but her husband, her sister, her unsuspected advocate, her mother-in-law - who she goes to stay with for many months - and her now estranged father.

Again, the writing here is just sublime and so believable, portraying just the simplest of tasks as being beyond Mireille’s ability but, with help and support, love, and subtle persuasion, a new journey begins.

Where it will take her is for you to find out but I can tell you one thing, it is totally worth spending your time trying.

Due to the subject matter and how graphically it is explored here, I think it would be odd to say that I enjoyed reading this book but it is absolutely superb and so I can highly recommend it to all who are brave enough to try.

Four and a half stars.

BRUTAL!

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.