Elevation, book review. (Stephen King)

A novella from one of my favourite authors is the subject of today's post and for what it lacks in length it makes up for in traditional King quirkiness.

The book opens with Scott Carey visiting Bob Ellis, an old doctor friend of his (long since retired) about an unexpected weight loss issue that seems to make no difference to his physical appearance.

The book starts with Carey weighing in at around 225 pounds. It's been a few years since he last weighed himself so he could have been losing weight for ages without realising it but, it's quickening and he's realising it now. (If this reminds you of the book, Thinner, don't worry, the two books are really quite different).

Aside from his continued weight loss and the various theories doctor Ellis comes up with, the main tension in the book is a spat between Carey and his neighbours (they are a married lesbian couple who have a restaurant in town which the conservative town's people frown upon) and it's all because their dogs continually mess on his front lawn, which they deny.

The characters and the setting (yes we're back in Castle Rock folks, which you may remember from previous King books like Cujo and Needful Things) are immediately likable and believable, and there’s just enough backstory and conflict for the reader to be entertained.

Carey confronts the couple over the dog mess after photographing one of the incidents but gets rebuffed, so he devises a wager: If he can win the annual 12K charity run against Deidre, one of the dog's owners - who used to be a runner of almost Olympic standard - she will have to come to his house for dinner with her wife. If she wins, however, he will never mention the dog mess again.

The build-up to the 12k run is minimal but the run itself is truly epic, worthy of the time it takes to read the rest of the book alone and when the finish line comes into view and lightning rents the sky, rain lashing the town, Carey and Deidre are neck and neck, but who will win? Will one of them cheat? Will Deidre and her wife have to dine with Carey? And last but not least, will Carey ever stop losing weight?

Well, they're all fair questions, but to find out you'll have to read the book of course as you won’t get any spoilers from me and as it's only a hundred pages there's really no excuse.

Three and a half stars overall for Elevation then but if the 12k run was a short story on its own, it would get five – it really is that good.

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

Mad Mike's writing blog, book of the year 2018

Welcome friends, bookbloggers, avid readers alike, to my annual book of the year post. This isn't about books written or published this year, this is about the 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 2018, 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 is, No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy. Blog post 29/04/18
With its no nonsense approach to mass murder, a psychopathic hitman and the author's beautiful use of the Texan dialect, this action packed book is both fast and furious whilst quiet and threatening at the same time, and in spite of the sheriffs best efforts, you never stop believing that the hitman will win through in the end.

My number four is, The Twelve, by Justin Cronin. Blog post 25/06/18

Following on from The Passage was never going to be easy, but here, Justin Cronin takes things down a peg or two, goes back to where a dozen death row prisoners became the virals that go on to decimate the world. The world after the virus has moved on too, and the resulting climax, the build up to the gathering of The Twelve, where Amy makes her move, is soooooo good, the book just had to be in my top five.

In bronze position then: Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline. Blog post 24/11/18
In this futuristic look back at the past, Cline takes us to a dystopian world on the brink of destruction. The oil has gone, the crops have failed and the world is hungry and poor, so people choose to live as avatars in the alternate reality of, Oasis, a computer generated world that some never leave. With its heavy nod to the 80's, murder, global corporate corruption and a clear, 'root for the underdog' thread running throughout, Ready Player One is one of the most unique books I have ready this year.

So, this year’s runner up: All Hell let Loose, by Max Hastings. Blog post 20/08/18

To humanise the death of so many under such depraved circumstances and make it actually readable, is a testament to the true genius of this author, and his mix of first hand civilian accounts along with the well documented military events of the Second World War, gives the reader a true sense of the horrors that befell the world during those six long years. A classic must-read five star book.

And my winner, my favourite book of 2018: IT, by Stephen King.
'A coming of age, thriller, horror, murder mystery, sci-fi, history book, all rolled into one,' was what I said at the time, and I stick by that statement. There aren't enough superlatives in the English language to truly express my feelings for this absolute classic and to put that into context, I have read all 1166 pages of IT three times now and dare say I will read it again someday, for it is without compare. As I said in my 15/10/18 blog post: Put simply, one of the greatest books I have ever read.

Dolores Claiborne, book review. (Stephen King)

Dolores has a story to tell, her story, but don't think she's about to admit to killin' that bitch Vera, 'cause she ain't, she din't; she did however kill her husband, but everyone's known that for years, haven't they?

Told in one long continuous monologue, with no chapter breaks, breaks in the text, and with no interruptions from the policemen and woman who are present at her confession, this novel is a masterpiece.
Dolores is a normal, run of the mill, wife, mother, carer and all around nice person, but when Vera Donovan dies and she . . . better not give the story away here . . . the locals start to talk, point the finger at her. After all, Delores was the last person to see Vera alive, the person that spent the last few decades looking after Vera, listening to all her vile diatribe, and the person whose husband mysteriously fell down a well some years earlier.
As Dolores recants her story we fall under her spell, and so sincere is her confession that you don't think to question what might be true or false, whether her husband really was that bad, whether he really did hit on her, do the things she says he did to . . . well, we just have no way of knowing, we just trust the narrator and go with it, believing all that we are told.
It wasn't until later, whilst making notes for this blog post, that I realised this, that not once whilst I was reading the book did I question what Dolores was saying, that it might not be true, and here in is the cleverness of the author, making me question it, think about the story, the characters, days and weeks after I thought I'd finished.

Of course that question is still there, did she or didn’t she do it, and every now and then I will turn it over in my mind and wonder.

Four well deserved stars then and another King favourite.

IT, book review. (Stephen King)

My 1st edition and film tie-in copy along with themed T

O! M! G!

This book is hard for me to review objectively because IT and I have history. (See what I just did there?). I've read it before you see, twice in fact. The first time, when I was young, closer in age to the kids in the book, I saw things from their perspective and then, as I got older, I related to the adults more, and now, on my third visit, well, I just feel for them all.

This epic book runs to one thousand one hundred and sixty-six pages and has such depth, not just in the characters but in the history of the town in which they live, that in spite of its length, it has pace, firing you out from one chapter to the next.

You read the first fifty pages and you're hooked, the next two hundred pass in a blur of excitement, of reunion, of horror, and then, before you know it, you're half way through but still, new things are happening. Like the shootout in front of the pharmacy in broad daylight, where half the town came armed and ready to kill. The explosion of 1906 that killed 88 kids on an Easter egg hunt. The great flood that washed half the town away decades before and of course, the realisation that every twenty-seven years kids go missing, die left, right and centre, but with no one seeming to noticing, seeming to care. And why don't they notice, why don't they care?

IT . . . that's why.

IT has a hold over the town of Derry. People turn a blind eye, forget, dismiss, delude themselves that the missing and the dead left town, were trouble makers, fell out with their families, anything but admit the truth, but in the summer of '58', just as they break for summer vacation, seven kids become friends, become The Losers, and one of them, stuttering Bill, who lost his brother in the fall of '57', has a score to settle, a score that may well take him twenty-seven years to fulfil.

My copy from 1986

To label this book would be an injustice, to label it horror would be plain wrong, because it's a, coming of age, thriller, horror, murder mystery, sci-fi, history book, all rolled into one, and I bet you can’t say that very often, and the other thing, the worst thing about this book, (there always has to be a 'but' it seems), is that once you've raced through the first nine hundred or so pages and the end is nigh, you want it to slow down, because deep down you know, that when you turn that last page, read that last paragraph, you're gonna be left with a massive hole where those Losers where and the biggest book hangover you've ever had.
To give this book a star rating any less than six out of five would be a travesty, but as we're governed by convention I will have to settle for five.
If you haven't yet taken a journey to Derry, never been to the Barrens and met Henry Bowers, been in the thick of an apocalyptic rock fight, smelt the scorched remains of the Black Spot, been chased from 29 Neibolt street by a leper, a werewolf or Pennywise the dancing clown, you’ve never really lived.
Put simply, one of the greatest books I have ever read.

Turtles All the Way Down, book review. (John Green)

Sorry I've been absent for a while, but I've been writing a lot recently and the books I've been reading are like doorsteps, and as I read at a snail’s pace, it takes me a while to get through them. Anyway, with that little update over, let's move on to John Green's, Turtles All the Way Down, (one of the smaller books I've consumed in the last few months).

You'll know John Green from, The Fault in Our Stars, of course, which is a fine book, but, Turtles All the Way Down, is just as good, if not better, (my favourite so far is, Looking for Alaska). Turtles All the Way Down, follows Aza, who, along with her best friend, Daisy, go in search of a one hundred thousand dollar reward, that's being offered in connection with the disappearance of her old classmate's father.

Within a handful of pages, you're sucked in to Aza's world and can't get out (don't want to get out) and it's like we become her friend, the third person in the room, the fly on the wall, and before you know it, you've turned the last page and cursed the author for not having a more extensive back catalogue.

But Aza has issues, (what teenager doesn't? I hear you ask, and this is teen fiction after all), but here, I think John Green handles these issues with conviction, and you find yourself mooching along in the poor girl's head, feeling hot when she's hot, scared when she's scared and just a little freaked out when she goes a bit nuts.

Aza and Daisy have a massive row, there are boys, a possible romance brewing, mental illness, jealously, the fear of success, of moving away when school finishes, doctors, mums and a missing billionaire to find, and John Green just makes it all so believable. He has a knack of making his characters and the world they inhabit so relatable, that the book just runs away with you, and then, when it’s done, (Note to author: your books are too short), you hanker for more. The author is so good in fact, at writing teenagers, that I have to question whether he's still one himself!

A solid four stars then for, Turtles All the Way Down and a good read however old you are. Next up from John Green, Paper Town; yeah!!!

Susan Hill. (Author focus).

Something new for the blog today: a focus on one of my favourite authors, Susan Hill.

It was after reading, Air & Angels and it subsequently becoming my book of the year 2017, (blog post 01/01/18), that I started thinking about what else this author had written; what other books in her extensive back catalogue I had read, and so, I thought maybe I'd start a new series of posts that focus on the author, not just individual books.

Since the delicate and poetic prose of, Air & Angels, I have read the very atmospheric, The Mist in the Mirror, which makes the hairs on your neck tingle and sends shivers down your spine, (even on a warm autumnal afternoon), and I've just finished, I'm the King of the Castle, a tale of childhood drama, set in the quiet gentile English countryside, where still, the author is able to get your heart racing with just a walk in the woods!

I'm the King of the Castle, did feel a bit dated, it was written in 1970 after all, whereas, Strange Meeting, which is set in France during WWI, gives a poignant reminder to the physical and mental suffering of soldiers at the time, and should be added to anyone's, TBR (to be read) list.

One of Susan Hill's boldest ventures was to write the follow up to one of literature's most famous books, Rebecca, with the sequel, Mrs de Winter, which is also rather good, but without doubt, her most famous book is the amazingly brilliant, Woman in Black, and if I had to recommend just one of the few books of hers that I have read, it would be this one.

Written in the early 80's, that's 1980's by the way, The Woman in Black, is a spooky, creepy, violent, scary, Gothic ghost story of epic proportions, which is not to say it is long, for it is not, but it is a book that stays with you, and since I first read it (thank brother) many years ago, I can't help but see its influence in almost every other ghost story I read.

Set in Victorian England, in a weather drenched Eel Marsh house, you feel the draft through the sashes, the creak of the house as it settles of an eve, and the cold finger of death reaching from the pages when she appears.

Just writing this makes me want to freak myself out again and reread it; brrrrrrh!

So, to conclude, buy a Susan Hill book, the Woman in Black if you like a good scare, but if not, Air & Angels for its poetic prose, Strange Meeting for its thought provoking subject, The Mist in the Mirror, if you like a chiller, but with so many others yet to read, I'm sure that whatever Susan Hill book you choose, you’ll go back for more.

Enjoy.

Into the Water, book review. (Paula Hawkins)

I don't suppose I can review this book without mention, The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins' first novel, so I'll get that off my chest first. This book is better. There I've said it, and it's not that I didn't like, The Girl on the Train, I thought it was quite good, it's just that I liked this one more.

Another book worth mentioning is, J. K. Rowling's, The Casual Vacancy, my book of the year back in 2015, and the reason I mention it: because of the familiarity I felt for that book when reading this one. Let me explain.

Both books are set in small town/village communities in the English countryside, there's death, lies and intrigue wherever you turn, but the main difference I suppose, is that, Into the Water, deals with suicide and/or possible murder, as opposed to a heart attack. Both books though, are full of excellent, believable characters, tragedy and regret.

With, Into the Water, Hawkins has her characters narrate their perspective on things individually, which makes for a little confusion at the beginning, but you soon work out who is who and start joining the dots about how they're all connected.
I found the setting, the characters and their emotions quite believable, and as the reader learns, not only how the various men, women and children's lives are intertwined, but about their feelings towards each other, their pasts' and the history of the river at the centre of the story, one finds the pages turning that little bit quicker.
This is not a long book and there is no big reveal at the end, no, oh-my-god-it-was-them! moment, but I didn't feel let down because of it, I rather liked how the pieces started to come together and move toward a coherent and believable ending.
That's not to say this book lacks intrigue, if doesn't, there are a good few twist and turns on the way, and where somethings are explained, (the dead woman and her estranged sister's relationship), some are left to our imagination, (the whereabouts of an ex-teacher at the local school).
So, well worth a read then, and whether you liked, The Girl on the Train, or not, it really doesn't matter, because this book is totally different, and as I said at the beginning, in my opinion better.
Four Stars.

Oranges are not the Only Fruit, book review. (Jeanette Winterson)

This book had passed me by for too long. So long ago in fact, did I watch the BBC dramatisation, that the only thing I remember about it, was the excellent portrayal of Jeanette, by the much missed, Charlotte Coleman, (who most of you will know from her role in Four Weddings & A Funeral).

Set in the north of England, the story charts our heroine's journey through her adolescence, arguing with her mother, beavering away in the church and questioning her sexuality, only to fall in love . . . with a girl!

The shock, the anger, the ostracisation from her community, builds to a point where Jeanette’s mother and fellow members of her church - the church where Jeanette once believed she would become a missionary - perform an exorcism.

She feels alienated, has nowhere to go, no-one to turn to, and suddenly, no lover, no future, nothing.

I like this book a lot, it's short but packs a punch, and has great atmosphere. You get the sense that Jeanette's mother and friends, truly believe that evil has taken her, that her being gay can actually be cured, as if she's caught a cold, or has the flu!

I also agree with one of the author’s quotes I found on the internet, if it be true:

"I've never understood why straight fiction is supposed to be for everyone, but anything with a gay character or that includes gay experience is only for queers”

. . . because this book is a love story, pure and simple, and like hundreds of other love stories, there are hurdles to jump and hills to climb, but gay or not, this is a book for everyone. Enjoy.
Four well deserved stars.

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.

A Spot of Bother, book review. (Mark Haddon)

Like Alice Sebold's, The Lovely Bones, this book has a stand out chapter, (chapter 60), in which our main character, George Hall - 57 and recently retired - decides to remove the lesion on the side of his body, with a pair of scissors. (Hence the cover art) When this fails, he decides to chisel it off instead, before succumbing to blood loss and passing out in his cellar.

The bloody trail he leaves and subsequent fright he causes his family on discovery, is both weirdly humorous and damned right shocking, but this chapter alone, underlines why the author is so revered.

Just to clarify, this book is not from the horror section.

Like Mark Haddon's other books, A Spot of Bother, is a story about normal people, going around doing normal things, but with a twist.

So, George Hall has retired, but life isn't all rosy. His wife is having an affair with his ex- business partner, his daughter is getting married, again, and to a man the family don't really approve of, his son, Jamie, is having commitment issues with his boyfriend, and George, well George is going steadily mad.

I like the way Haddon interjects life into seemingly inanimate material; creating depth and intrigue from the mundane. His writing reminds me of Ian McEwan, but with more humour.

There's a clever mix of human emotion here, from the families' pain and anguish, on discovering George's mutilation, through their love and anger - George finds out about the affair - to happiness and forgiveness, their coming together for the daughter's marriage, it's got the lot, and then some.

I liken this book to a good English movie! You know the sort, something with a few well-known actors in and a good solid story, but where nothing really happens. It would have Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith in it, Keeley Hawes would play the daughter, and you'd love their characters so much you'd watch it all the way to the end and then smile about it.

A good four star book this one; buy it, read it, share it.

The Children Act, book review. (Ian McEwan)

As is the norm with this eminent authors' books, we have a relatively short novel that centres around a single main character; in this instance, a high court judge by the name of Fiona Maye, but as is also the norm, we find ourselves unable to put the book down until we've read to the end.

How a mundane trip in a car, or a relatively boring night, sifting through paperwork, keeps one enticed, is still beyond me, but it does, and before we know it, we’re in a courtroom, we’re by the bedside of a dying teenager, we’re reeling from the absurdity of her husband’s proposal of an open marriage, and we’re biting your nails in anticipation of her ruling.

After several rulings - on whether parents have the rights to decide their children's fate or not - we reach the core of the book, the central plot.

Her ward, a young boy of seventeen, is refusing treatment on religious grounds, and also has the backing of his parents and the elders in the community, but needs urgent medical attention if he is to live.

Will she go against his wishes? Will the law allow it? If he survives, what will become of him? Will he be ostracised, or welcomed home with open arms?

This book doesn't quite have the grit and verve that I found in Sweet Tooth and it doesn't have the explosive ending of Saturday, but it does have superb characters, with a depth of emotion that renders them very believable.

Ian McEwan is fast becoming a firm favourite with me; long may he continue writing genuinely interesting books, about everyday life but with a twist. 

On a personal note, I like a long book as much as I like a short one, so please, please, please Mr McEwan can we have something around the five hundred page mark next time? Go on, you know you want to!

Three and a half star for this one then, and the bonus that it will only take a few days to read.