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.

 

A Little light reading for the kids this one (both big and small), by yours truly.

My first foray into self publishing was seven years ago now and I've learnt a lot since then so I thought a little time spent revising wouldn't go amiss and to top it off (pardon the pun) I've added a little extra.

So Tom's early morning visit to the park in the title piece has had a rewrite and I've added The Drop (which is a piece of flash fiction that was published a couple of years ago in Graffiti magazine). I hope you enjoy them both.

The link below will take you to the book if you wish to make a purchase and have the Kindle app (this can be downloaded onto any tablet or smartphone) or you can click on the image of The Mystery of Emile Rowan to your right, and then on my author name to see all of my available works.

As this one's for kids and Children in Need is nearly upon us, I will gladly add any purchase monies for this to my donation on the night, so even if you've read it before, grab yourselves the revised copy and treat yourselves.

Enjoy.

(Oh, and please leave a review and star rating. Thanks)

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Over-Top-Can-conquer-fears-ebook/dp/B00DLWTBPY/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=michael+j+richardson&qid=1603369720&sr=8-3 

On Beauty, book review. (Zadie Smith)

On Beauty, the second Zadie Smith novel I have read, has a lot going for it: great characters - although, towards the end what two of them do isn't that believable - great settings, I've never been to New England but feel like I have now and I know London well enough that that part of the book was a comfort; great story, interwoven with love, betrayal, naivety, passion, lies, deaths and new beginnings, and great dialogue, I really felt the generation gap, the race gap, the religion and to some degree the nationality gap between the parents and their children, men and women, university professors and students the English and Americans, and all in all it really did feel like I had lived alongside the Belseys and the Kippses for a year, wow.

The diversity of the two families backgrounds' is explored to add context, there's Howard Belsey's affair, which ends up being far more than the small indiscretion he had claimed it to be when one of their oldest friends is exposed as the other adulterer, religion and its confines on being able to see people as people, not just gay or straight, black, white or mixed, American or Haitian, poor or rich, and the bigotry that goes with it is, and you have the naive pursuit of a beautiful young woman by an inexperienced young man, being overweight, having a voice and a platform on which to be heard, and more, and it's not until you get to the end of this book and think back that you realise just how many different facets of normal life the author has managed to almost subliminally include in the narrative.

There is little pace to the book so I did at times find it a bit ploddy, which is a shame because it meant I found it hard to pick up when I only had a few minutes to read, instead I had to plan ahead, read when I knew I had an hour or two, which isn't always the case and so it took a little longer to finish than most but, whenever I did put that time aside I was quickly sucked back in and thoroughly enjoyed it.

So the lack of pace and the fact that a fifty-seven-year-old man seemed to have enough irresistible charm to entice a nineteen-year-old woman into bed, twice - although he walked out on her on the second occasion - are my only gripes.

The writing is beautiful - pure prose - and it felt like I was entrenched in the two families love's, lies and misdemeanours, so much so that I now hankering after a sequel, to find out what Levi is up to, whether Kiki is happy, what Victoria may have made of her life, whether Howard is still around, et-al.

Well, here's hoping.

Four stars for On Beauty then and as I've already done NW, I think I'll try Swing Time next.

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.

Cabal, book review. (Clive Barker)

Things are getting a bit dark and very weird in my house at the moment as I revisit some of the 'horror' reads from my teenage years, and with Clive Barker, James Herbert, Stephen King, and Steve Harris being so influential all those years ago, I thought it about time I tried to feel young again!
Cabal (a group of people with a collective secret or agenda) is the story of Boone, a man with an undiagnosed mental issue - he believes he has murdered eleven people, mutilating them, but can't remember committing the crimes - his relationship with his psychologist, doctor Decker, and the woman he has fallen for but can never love, Lori.
Unable to live with his crimes, Boone decides that he must die, but death seems to shrink from him and his suicide attempt fails. So, where will he go? Heaven has no place for a man like him, nor it seems does Hell, and he is too much of a danger to society to remain free so, Midian then - the place of legend, where the half-dead go, the Nightbreed, where Baphomet rules. (You might have to look Baphomet up like I did to know what I'm talking about there).
Mixing legend with reality, the undead with the living, the sane with the insane, Barker takes us on a journey from Calgary to the wilds of Canada, and it is both intriguing and damned right horrific and should not be approached lightly - this is proper horror folks, none of that dampened down jump-scare stuff you get today, but it's also a love story (aren't they all?) between Boone and Lori, and the lengths that they will go too to find and save each other.
This book is quite short and has so much pace that it's almost impossible to put down - which is good of course - has characters that come across plausible and likeable, events that stretch the imagination and horrors that are both explained and implied so that your mind is constantly flexing, conjuring both the author's and your own images, which I like - some books just info dump too much and leave little to the imagination.

I love the police chief Eigerman, who's deputies hate him as much as he hates them, how the town's people of Midian are so easily convinced that there's foul play at the Cemetery. I love the interaction between Boone and Decker, how the Nightbreed are both frightened and frightening in equal measure, and I will admit, despite it having been a while since I last read a true horror book, I love the no-holds-barred attitude to death this book portrays.
So, Cabal. Not one of Clive Barker's best books from my recollection but a great one to cut your teeth on. Three and a half stars then, but go in with your eyes open. There will be blood, lots of blood.

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!

Carrie, book review. (Stephen King)

So, the return to my roots continues with this, Stephen King's first novel, Carrie.

Carrie White is a loner, she has no friends - and I'd ask you to pause there for a moment and think about that, SHE HAS NO FRIENDS - and ask yourself how life would be for you, if you were in that same situation, with no-one to call when you needed a chat, no one to laugh or cry with. Pretty shitty would be my guess.

Okay, so on top of the lack of friendship, she has a matriarchal mother who is deeply religious and (as most of you may already know) hasn't told her teenage daughter anything about the natural monthly cycle of women, and so, when Carrie starts to bleed, have her first period (she is seventeen) in the communal showers at school, she thinks the worst; she thinks something's wrong, very wrong. Her classmates, however, think it's the ideal time to taunt her and throw sanitary products at her.

The basic premise of the book is that one of her tormentors gains a conscious whilst another does not, in fact, the other goes out of her way to be cruel and nasty, getting herself banned from the up and coming prom, and thinking she did nothing wrong in the first place, seeks revenge.

In a slightly odd way, this book is like a coming of age novel: you have the bully, the loner/geek, the popular beauty and her boyfriend - who are in no doubt who will be crowned prom king and queen - the nasty spiteful girl with the criminal boyfriend, the deeply religious mother and of course, telekinesis, adding yet more layers to our scene.

What I like about this book is threefold. It is written in a way where extracts of books and case studies are inter-spliced with the narrative, giving the reader a sense of reality as if the event depicted actually happened. It builds brilliantly from the very beginning and due to the aforementioned extracts, you get a sense of what's happened before it's revealed in the narrative, which pulls you through the book quickly, and thirdly, the tension between Carrie and her mother.

In spite of her mother's draconian rules, Carrie loves her deeply, but the cracks start to show the minute she gets home from school after the shower incident, with the true extent to which she will go to, to 'protect' her daughter, not felt until Carrie confesses her wish to go to prom later in the book.

There is no doubt that the highlight of the book is the last third, where Carrie literally ripped the town apart. With her peers burning alive in the school - punishment for the years of torment they have rained down on her - she then goes on a rampage, and it is superb. Exploding petrol (gas) stations, pulling down power cables to electrocute the masses, tearing down buildings, all before seeking out her main tormentor, and as a reader, you will her on, you want her to get justice, get her revenge, and it really doesn't stop until the very last few pages.

Four stars for this one then, and an excellent first King novel if you've never read him before.

The Rats, book review. (James Herbert)

Back to my childhood again for this one; James Herbert's The Rats.

Classic British horror with all the gore and lack of plotline you would expect and love from the 1970s and boy does it deliver.

Such is the pace of this novel, the whole thing is over in a flash (I am not a fast reader but read it in about five hours) and it's rather formulaic too, introducing a new character per chapter at the start, before killing most of them off rather gruesomely soon after, and then the school teacher hero (the author was a school teacher himself when he wrote the book) turns up in the right place at the wrong time to save the day - the attack on the school is actually one of the highlights of the book, along with a doomed underground train where most of the people aboard become a meal - but what I couldn't believe (this book was first published in 1974, which isn't an excuse by the way) is how sexist and archaic it felt. I've recently re-read Stephen King's first novel, Carrie, which was also published in '74' and that didn't feel anywhere near as old, but there you are, just a word of warning.
The book is set in London but it's a London I don't recognise. There are derelict areas by the river Thames where we now have luxury apartments and bomb-damaged rubble-strewn swathes of rat-infested land that probably have an Ikea or Costa drive-through today, which again, for me at least, because I know London reasonably well, dates the book even more.

So, the writing is okay - I should point out that when I first cut my teeth on James Herbert's back catalogue (or before I knew any better), all of his books got five stars because, as a teenager, the gorier the book, the more blood that was spilled and the more ingenious the ways in which it was spilled was all that really mattered - and its pace, as I've said, means you'll tear through in no time. The characters do lack depth though, and their backstories mean very little because the character to whom they refer to are in most cases, quickly devoured.

So, the Rats, one of my first love affairs of the literary world, written by one of the first authors that really got me reading for pleasure, is now a mixed bag. I will always have it and its author to thank for leading me down the path I am still on, for helping me fall in love with the world of books, but, and it pains me to write this, overall, now, thirty-odd years later, I can see it for what it is, average.

Brilliant in parts - the scene in the school really is that good - but showing its age in regards to how it portrays women and in the basic way it is written.

Three stars then for James Herbert's The Rats, but I'll never forget where it all started.

The Foundation Pit, book review. (Andrey Platonov)

Okay, well . . . Er!
What do you get if you cross the bourgeoisie, the kulak (small landowners in pre-revolutionary Russia) with a whole heap of the proletariat - those who own nothing but the feeling an honest day's work gives them?

Trouble is what, and this, this very strange book.

There is a pit to be dug, a Foundation Pit, from where a building of such magnitude will eventually rise that it will house everyone, and so the proletariat toil, day in day out, and ask no questions, for their purpose is to just be, so that the great socialist revolution can prosper.

There are many characters in this book, some you get to know early on, like Safronov and Kozlov, who die one day for no other reason it seems than that they decided they were nothing, had no thoughts and so might not exist, and so they didn't exist and therefore die!
Then there's Chiklin, Zhachev (who is disabled and pushes himself around on a cart), Prushevsky (the engineer) and Pashkin, who seems to be in a more authoritative role, enough to make decisions at least, but nothing is really clear so I could be wrong!

Then Nastya appears. A young orphan, who had been raised on the collective ideals of Stalin's Russia and has a very grownup perspective on things - 'Liquidate the kulak class. Long live Stalin,' she says at one point before Chiklin, who once knew her mother, takes her in. Then things get really strange. Chiklin and Nastya go on a kulak hunt around the outlying homesteads. They stop at the local forge and collect the hammerer there - which happens to be a bear - yes, a bear, the furry kind that fish for salmon in rivers and live in the wild or in zoos - before making their rounds, and it is the bear who calls out when he sees fit, and it is those houses that are raided and their inhabitants evicted.

There is a collectivised farm to be organised too, so on the bear's travels, many are brought into the fold and as they no longer have to think for themselves as individuals - the collective will think for them - they slaughter their livestock and eat them all, making themselves sick from overindulgence, but no matter, it's all for the greater good and so it continues!!

There is a quote on the rear cover of the pictured copy I read, and it refers to the book as 'Andrey Plutonov's absurdist parable' which might give you some idea as to what you're getting yourselves in to with this book but, even with that caveat, approach with caution.

This book is very strange and wasn't really for me, so only two stars I'm afraid.

Schindler's Ark, book review. (Thomas Keneally)

It's when fiction is fact that you get books like this.

During World War II, in the city of Krakow, Poland, not more than a few hours from the Concentration Camp, Auschwitz Birkenau, Oscar Schindler set up a ceramics factory - which also made munitions for the war effort - and enslaved hundreds of Jews in the process, but by enslaving them (he was an undeniable capitalist) he offered them a rare means of hope in a period of history that is now viewed by most, as humanity's (and I don't use that word lightly) darkest.

Beginning with a brief history of both Schindler and Goth - the soon to become tyrant who liquidated the Krakow ghetto and was appointed the commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, the man who randomly executed people (Jewish of course) for no other reason than they weren't running fast enough or had somehow been disrespectful - the reader soon finds themselves enveloped in a world they can't, and hopefully never will have to, understand; a world where people aren't people anymore, where they are not only treated worse than animals, they are believed to be worse than animals.

A world where you have six hundred calories a day to survive on, where the roof over your head is shared with rats, the dead and the dying, where the thin scratchy garments you're given to wear wouldn't keep out the cold in Spring, let alone a Polish winter.

Having witnessed the Aktion taken by the SS (Schutzstaffel - meaning protection squadron) to clear the Krakow ghetto, Oscar and a few associates begin to make plans, realising that unless they offered their workers protection, they too would be shipped off to Auschwitz and never be seen again; and so, a list is created.

Schindler was arrested several times during the war (for bribery) but being the player that he was, and having grateful friends in high places, he remained free, which enabled him to continued his work to the end of hostilities.

Written in the early 1980s and after extensive research and interviews with many who lived through the holocaust, this book will leave you emotionally scarred, no question about that, but just like Laurence Rees's book, Nazis, A Warning From History, says, 'One must heed such warnings and never forget what happened the day humanity collapsed so spectacularly,' and we really must.

Last year (20/08/18) I blogged about Max Hastings's rather superb book about World War II, All Hell Let Loose, and summed that up with the staggering statistic that, fifty-six million people perished as a result of World War II, and what we mustn't forget but sometimes do, is that out of those fifty-six million, many millions were civilians, non-combatants – with six million of them being Jewish and killed for no other reason than their bloodline.

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 of them 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.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, book review. (Stuart Turton)

Oh No!

Have I found my book of the year 2020 already?

Well . . . Maybe!

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 . . .!

If you like murder mystery, crime, romance, character lead drama, family sagas, a good old punch up, some serious skulduggery and subterfuge, then you are simply going to love this book.

Set in the eloquent but scratch-beneath-the-surface-and-you'll-see-the-peeling-paint-mansion that is home to the Hardcastle family and has been for generations, we find our main protagonist (Aiden Bishop) trapped in the body of a man he does not recognise, a man who feels utterly alien to him in both body and mind, and it all kicks off like a slap in the face.

Aiden Bishop will have eight hosts throughout the book, each reliving the day of Evelyn Hardcastle's death (which at first appears to be a suicide) from different perspectives and it reads like Agatha Christie does Cluedo.

Aiden Bishop is assisted by Anna, whose name is the only thing he remembers when he first wakes as the cowardly drug peddling Sebastian Bell, deep in the woods, but as the days pass he morphs into a butler, a morbidly obese Lord, a rapist and a cad, an aging solicitor, a gambler, all before becomes a policeman and finally, an artist, who help, but in some cases hinder, in his search for the truth, and it'll be all for nothing if he can't solve the murder before the end of the eighth day, for that's when the cycle will reset, his memory will be wiped and everything will start afresh, taking him back to the very beginning, where it will continue to loop, for however long it takes him to not only find out who the perpetrator of Evelyn's murder is, but the reason why they want her dead in the first place.

I love the way this book is written, how Aiden battles inside each of his hosts: disgusted by the Lord's obesity, the solicitor's contempt, the gambler's cunning, the rapist's despicable mind and more.

With each character helping to reveal more about what may or may not have happened and the delicate intricacies between them as they try to gain favour and information - some becoming incapacitated and popping up randomly through the book, others making their bid for freedom - Aiden is gradually left with fewer and fewer friends and even fewer option. So should he trust the not so trustworthy Anna? The man in the death mask? Should he trust anything he's learnt over the last eight days? And where the hell is their host, Evelyn's mother, Mrs Hardcastle, who no one's seen all day?

Simply put, this book is brilliant. It’s original, has superb characters and just keeps going until the very end. Highly recommended.

Four and a half stars then and don't be surprised if you see this book making an appearance in December when I decide on my book of the year.

The Long Walk, book review. (Stephen King)

Another first time read for me of an old Stephen King/Richard Bachman book, and like The Running Man and Rage - which I reviewed last year - I really quite liked it.

It's a simple affair really, a hundred boys/young men have signed up for, The Long Walk, in the knowledge that they will die if they are not the last one standing. There is little premise here, but the assumption I made was that something bad had happened to the world, not Hunger Games bad, but something bad all the same; bad enough that hundreds of young men would essentially sign their own death warrant for a prize – that prize being: all and everything you could ever want or wish for.

I wasn't sure how a long walk could fill nearly three hundred pages but as is usual with King, you're halfway in before you know it and by the time you're close to finishing, you're so desperate to know who will win, that you just can't stop turning the page.

The walk begins at 9 am one unassuming morning and Garraty - our main character - and those that flank him, soon fall into an uneasy rhythm - drop below four miles per hour and you get a warning, get three warnings and the forth is a bullet in your skull, and yes, they really do kill you, so when your number's up or 'you get your ticket' as they say in the book, there's one less competitor to worry about.

There's not a lot of chit chat to start with but after a few hours, after fifty miles, after a kiss by the roadside that earns Garraty a warning, the strengths and weaknesses of Garraty and those around him start to show through, and it is here, in the characters, that the book really shines. You've got the boy with the limp who's going to be the first out but last longer than most, the loudmouth that goes surprisingly quiet as the days and miles tick by, the silent creepy boy who secretly scares them all, and due to their inadequacies, their jibes and mocking of each other, and in some cases their plain loathing, the book ebbs along like real life.

They talk about home, school, the ones they love, be it a girlfriend or a parent, and as they get ever fewer, as the miles trip past, the crowds grow and the sound of gunshots ricochet off the surrounding hills, they increasingly talk of the prize: Any and everything that they could hope or wish for, but will any of them be alive to claim it?

This is a three and a half star book for me. I thought I would like it but it ended up being better than I had anticipated.
So, one more King book down, several dozen still to go.

Mad Mike's writing blog, book of the year 2019

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, this is about the books that 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 2019, 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, Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights, by Salman Rushdie (10/11/19 post)

'This book is about the few, the powerful, controlling the masses and seeking to divide them, create panic, sow fear, feeding on their desperation, and feels so relevant in today's society, and although this book has many aspects of fantasy and of mythical culture woven within it, it is still firmly rooted in the present day and is very thought-provoking,' I said back in November and stand by that statement today. Very weird but a must-read.

My number four is, The Colour Purple, by Alice Walker

(24/02/19 post)

'Told in a series of letters, written by Celie, firstly to her God and then to her sister, Nettie and eventually, from her sister back to her, The Colour Purple is a fiercely compelling book that has you at times on the edge of your seat. It is a roller-coaster of emotions: there will be tears, you will feel fear, hatred, and anger, but as the book comes to a close you will feel a deep, deep respect for the main character and the author, for this is a journey that feels so real it could be autobiographical.'

In the bronze position then: Daisy Jones & The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Ooooooooh! SMACK! PUNCH! SLAP! Phew . . .
Well, that about sums up this rather superb biopic novel of the rock 'n' roll band that was, Daisy Jones & the Six. This book is a journey, and it's a journey I'd recommend you all take because, if you're not in a rock n roll band, if you're not touring with a number one album to your name, or never will, this'll be about as close as you'll ever get to finding out what you missed. Told by the band members many years later, in an interview style, it is bloody brilliant – it even has the song lyrics at the end for the entire Aurora album – how cool is that?

So, this year’s runner: A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled  Hosseini (22/09/19 post)

'To be able to weave the delicacies of love and passion, for life and one another, for the children they have borne or grown to love, into a story of such depravity and desolation, of loss and grief, is a true testament to this author's writing, and so I don't hesitate to recommend this book to all, and can, with hand on heart say, that it is one of the best I have read so far this year,' I said back in September, and stand 100% behind those comments. A superb but brutal read.

And the winner, my favourite book of 2019: The City of Mirrors, by Justin Cronin

(14/02/19 post)

'We're back in the year 122 A.V (after virus). Zero's army is coming, forged from the people who moved to the outlining townships. Michael (Circuit) has spent the last twenty years rebuilding a ship he hopes to escape on, but will it be ready? The virals are massing, the gates to the Homestead are closed once again, Carter has woken and Amy walks amongst the people once more, and then . . .

The ground rumbles, the virals breakthrough and panic ensues, and it is here, as the narrative flicks from one character's peril to another, that the book takes off, and as the pages pass in a blur, the tension builds, characters we have known since the beginning fall, Carter's army clashes with Zero's, Amy tries to save Alicia, and the rest of the human race fight their way to Michael's ship, you realise that this story really is one of the very best you've ever read.'

N.B: If you like your books spooky & atmospheric, maybe check out a couple of my runners-up, Bird Box, by Josh Malermam and Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.

The Sprout that Ruined Christmas. A festive yarn by yours truly.

The Sprout that Ruined Christmas

T’was a single sprout that sealed her fate,

As she walked down the hall, bird on a plate.

That poor little sprout, it did do its best,

Hiding in the room packed full of guests.

But knocked by the door it rolled in her path,

Stopping before her two feet from the hearth.

 And oh how she yelled, as she took a tumble,

A silence then fell, no murmur, no mumble.

For never a bird had finer been roasted,

No grander a feast ever been hosted.

And the bird it did fly! It arced overhead,

Whilst host and her guests looked on in dread.

For heading for Vicar it seemed to be,

This basted bird this, gigantic Turkey.

And hit him it did with an almighty thwack,

Clean off his chair, flat on his back.

So dinner was ruined the Vicar was hurt,

But all was not lost, there was always dessert.

Herts & Minds anthology is launching on Wednesday 11th December 2019

If you like ghosts, ghouls, and Werewolves, the beauty of the English/Hertfordshire countryside, a wandering cat cast in bronze, that comes alive by night, historical fiction, death by dangerous driving, poetry, or a good old fashioned crime drama, then you're going to love the Hertford Writers' Circle 2019 anthology, Herts & Minds.

From our home town of Hertford to New York, from the slave trade to murder, from Welwyn to the remotest corner of Ireland, this book will take you there and further.

Packed with dramatic stories about snakes, flowers, aliens, bullying, a dystopian Hertford, and finding a corpse in the boot of your car, we've got it all, and you could too if you are in Hertford on the night of the 11th December (Wednesday) and would like to join us at the books official launch (7:30 pm, Courtyard Arts, Port Vale, Hertford, SG14 3AA) but if you are not, if you hail from further afield but would like to purchase a copy - for yourself, a friend or for Christmas - just message me in the comments or via my Amazon author account and I'll make sure a copy wings its way over to you as soon as possible.
For an exclusive extract from this anthology, visit my blog again on Christmas Eve, for I will be posting, The Sprout that Ruined Christmas, which I may also read at the launch if I feel brave enough.
Enjoy.

John Green. (Author focus)

Welcome folks to another, author focus and in this edition we're looking at the Y/A (young adult) author, John Green.

You may know John Green from his book, The Fault in Our Stars, which of course was made into a film and went on to sell ridiculously well, and very good it is too, but, luckily, there are more books to explore and enjoy.

Don't let his target audience put you off either because, for those who don't know me, I can tell you, I am far from a young adult, but reading John Green still puts a smile on my face, and a frown come to think of it.

In England we have just been treated to a new eight-part miniseries based on John Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, which wasn't bad, but whatever you may think of that, please don't let it put you off reading the book because, in my humble opinion, Looking for Alaska is his best.

It deals with death, alcohol, teenagers finding their place in the world and it touched a nerve with me, there seemed to be an honesty about it, it felt raw, which I liked.

Turtles (for short) runs it a close second, dealing with anxiety and mental health issues with aplomb, and has I think, influenced many an author I have read this last few years.

I found, An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Town quite formulaic and so less enjoyable but they are a quick read and all I want sometimes is a little teen angst to get me through the day.

So, The Fault in Our Stars, the big one, the movie one, the book most of you would have heard of. As I said above, The Fault in Our Stars is a good book, the subject matter (children dying of cancer in case you didn't know) is sad but handled in an interesting way and I can see why this book has found fame. I found Augustus and Hazel's relationship believable and you feel the emotion throughout the book, that one of them may die, but their obsession within the story about a fictional book about a girl with cancer did annoy me somewhat.

Overall though, I can recommend John Green to all, regardless of age or gender, just don't stick to The Fault in Our Stars, the world is bigger than that.

Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights, book review. (Salman Rushdie)

Okay, so where does one start with a book like this?

I know, a quote from the cover: '...it is unlike not only anything you may have read by Rushdie but by anyone anywhere'. Which sums up, Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights, completely, so thanks for reading, see you next time . . .

No, not really, but I can't really say it much better.

I have read hundreds of books in my time and this one really is, unlike anything I have ever read before, and for that alone it is brilliant. It is also very strange, disconcerting, horrific, comical and leaves you feeling somewhat confused, but I suppose if you read a book about jinn, fae, demons and alternate worlds, where a century on Earth is but a few weeks in Peristan, (where the jinn live and spend most of their lives having sex but rarely producing offspring) you might expect it to be all of the above and more, and this book is.

It is not an easy read, and with many strange and unusual names throughout (which, if you follow my blog, you will know annoys the hell out of me sometimes) a sense of flow is hard to achieve, but the juxtaposition of worlds and how the individuals within them interact is fascinating and pushes you through.

Starting hundreds of years ago, when Dunia falls in love with and produces many children with the mortal, Ibn Rushd, before slipping back through the slits between our worlds, the majority of the story happens in the here and now, where the slits have reopened and the jinn are causing trouble.

Two Years Eight Months & Twenty-Eight Nights is a story about the few, the powerful, controlling the masses and seeking to divide, create panic, sow fear amongst the less fortunate, feeding off of their desperation for power and wealth, and it feels so relevant for today's society, and although this book has many aspects of fantasy and of mythical culture woven within it, it is still firmly rooted in the present day and is very thought-provoking.

I can best describe the writing style as juddering, as it hopes back and forth from characters that are simple and easy to understand, to others (the jinn mainly) who flitter back and forth between worlds, and are harder to grasp, but for me, and in this instance, having to close the door and isolate myself so I could get fully immersed in the story, was when I realised that it not making sense, seemed to suddenly make sense! Go figure.

So, four stars for this one then but go in with your eyes open as it will require your full attention.

In celebration of my two hundredth blog post and All Hallows' Eve, a dark tale of woe.

He was fifty minutes in, hot, sweaty, but he was fit. He could run for hours but not today – today he had other things on his mind. Her!

The root was a trip hazard, looping from the ground like an old Victorian boot-scraper. I’ll get you one day, it said. I’ll get you when you’re daydreaming.

He’d run the path a hundred times, maybe more, but the caw of a crow distracted him.

He flew for a second, landing gently, free from injury, but sliding, the wet leaves giving little purchase and the barrier (some old wooden posts) did nothing to arrest him.

The impact was brief, the posts giving way, and his cry rang out shrill like the birds. He was flying, free-falling, branches slapping his face, snapping beneath his weight.

The ground was soft but it broke him all the same. He tasted blood. It hurt to breathe. He couldn’t feel his legs. Something other than the branches had snapped on the way down.

He blinked and his vision blurred.

He wept and there was pain.

Darkness came. In and out of consciousness he fell, dreaming, thinking of her. What she’d said, what he’d done! Would he ever see her again? Hold her, comfort her? Would she ever forgive him?

He called, he shouted, screamed until he was hoarse but no one came: no dog walkers, no search parties, just animals. Nervous at first they crawled, hopped and slithered: a crow with a taste for eyes, a badger, sniffing but bolder over time, and then, as the moon rose and his breath clouded, they feasted.

He felt the tug on his arm, shooed a bird from his face, blew bugs from his lips, but it was no use; it was over. The creatures would gorge, they would have their meal, and as steam rose from exposed flesh, as they buried into him, the pain would take him beyond this life until he was nothing but a memory.

As dawn broke and cast mottled shadow across broken bough, a bird – the crow – the one with a taste for eyes, perched on a root that looped from the ground like an old Victorian boot-scrapper, and having supped, it listened and waited patiently.