Sing You Home- Jodi Picoult

Image from Amazon

Synopsis (from Amazon)

Zoe Baxter has spent ten years trying to get pregnant, and just when she’s about to get her heart’s desire, tragedy destroys her world. In the aftermath of loss and divorce, she throws herself into her career as a music therapist. Working with Vanessa, she finds their relationship moving from business, to friendship, and then – to Zoe’s surprise – blossoming into love. When Zoe allows herself to start thinking of children again, she remembers that there are still frozen embryos that she and her husband never used.

But Max, having sought peace at the bottom of a bottle, has found redemption in an evangelical church, and Zoe needs his permission to take his unborn child . . .

SING YOU HOME is accompanied by a soundtrack of original songs created for the novel by Jodi Picoult and Ellen Wilber.

Review.

I have been struggling with my current paper book (1Q84…although apparently a rest was all I needed) so I thought it would be a good idea to try an old favourite, as it were. Sing You Home has just come out in paperback, and I had been waiting for it anyway so when I spotted it half-price at WhSmiths I had to snap it up.

I’ve found Jodi Picoult’s writing a little up-and-down lately. Handle with Care is a relatively recent one and it’s my favourite, and I enjoyed House Rules but I was less than impressed by Second Glance and wasn’t that keen on Picture Perfect. Add to that the publishers recent tendency to re-release obviously old novels and you can see why I was a little anxious when it came to reading this one.

Luckily is seems that Picoult is on form with this one. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it as much as some of her other work but it was certainly up to her usual standard. I found it very clever how Picoult managed to make the reader almost want both sides of the party to ‘win’. I really liked Zoe and Vanessa but I liked Max too. I guess I could say I saw both sides of the story and although I ultimately came down on Zoe and Vanessa’s side I didn’t want Max to loose out and I really could see where he was coming from. Considering Picoult has a gay son (this is mentioned in the notes for the book) it seemed almost professional that she was able to present Max’s side.

There was one little niggle I had though and that was to do with how Max’s legal team handled his case. Now I am no legal expert, but even I could see that there was a better way to fight his corner.

4.5/5

Buy it:

Paperback (£3.86)

Hardback (£11.66)

Kindle (£4.99)

The Waterstone’s 11 2012

Last year was the first year of the Waterstone’s 11, 11 new authors with 11 new books to be released that year. This year they are doing it again, which is rather exciting.

Last year I said I would read the previews of each book which were given on the Waterstone’s website, and I pretty much failed, although I did get round to reading the whole of two of the books, and one was one of my top reads of 2011. I am hoping to do a bit better with that plan this year.

This year’s list is:

The Art of Fielding- Chad Harback

Shelter- Frances Greenslade

Care of Wooden Floors- Will Wiles

The Snow Child- Eowyn Ivey

Absolution- Patrick Flanery

The Land of Decoration- Grace McCleen

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry- Rachel Joyce

The Lifeboat- Charlotte Rogan

Signs of Life- Anna Raverat

The Age of Miracles- Karen Thompson Walker

The Panopticon- Jenni Fagan

 

Related Posts:

Waterstone’s 11 2012 (on the Waterstone’s website)

When God was a Rabbbit (here)

Pigeon English (here)

You can also find my reviews of extracts from last year’s Waterstone’s 11 picks by searching Waterstone’s 11 or clicking the tag for Waterstone’s 11

Protect the Internet

You may or may not have noticed that my blog was blacked out yesterday. This was part of WordPress’ campaign again SOPA and the PROTECT IP acts.

I am not going to go into some long spiel because I think you can probably get the information better elsewhere but I will give a quick outline.

SOPA is designed to stop illegal sharing of copyright materials. Whether or not you think this should be illegal or not there are already acts which protect copyright online. The problem with SOPA is how far it goes, and a lot of what it could effect are innocent sites. Places like blogs, fansites, social sites, and even search engines. Basically anything which displays copyright material would be blocked or sued. Ever taken a video while a piece of music is playing? With SOPA you could be sued for putting it on facebook. Used a picture from a book cover on your blog…not with SOPA. When it comes down to it it’s just censorship.

To sign a petition against SOPA you can click the banner on the right hand corner of this page, where you can also find more information.

Still don’t get it, this video explains better than I can.

The Unit- Ninni Holmqvist

Image from Amazon

Synopsis (from Amazon)

One day in early spring, Dorrit Weger is checked into the Second Reserve Bank Unit for biological material. She is promised a nicely furnished apartment inside the Unit, where she will make new friends, enjoy the state of the art recreation facilities, and live the few remaining days of her life in comfort with people who are just like her. Here, women over the age of fifty and men over sixty–single, childless, and without jobs in progressive industries–are sequestered for their final few years; they are considered outsiders. In the Unit they are expected to contribute themselves for drug and psychological testing, and ultimately donate their organs, little by little, until the final donation. Despite the ruthless nature of this practice, the ethos of this near-future society and the Unit is to take care of others, and Dorrit finds herself living under very pleasant conditions: well-housed, well-fed, and well-attended. She is resigned to her fate and discovers her days there to be rather consoling and peaceful. But when she meets a man inside the Unit and falls in love, the extraordinary becomes a reality and life suddenly turns unbearable. Dorrit is faced with compliance or escape, and…well, then what?

THE UNIT is a gripping exploration of a society in the throes of an experiment, in which the “dispensable” ones are convinced under gentle coercion of the importance of sacrificing for the “necessary” ones. Ninni Holmqvist has created a debut novel of humor, sorrow, and rage about love, the close bonds of friendship, and about a cynical, utilitarian way of thinking disguised as care.

Review

I think I’m going to find it difficult to say much about this book without spoilers, but I shall try my best.

The premise of this book was pretty great but it was somewhat let down by the characters. I just didn’t feel attached to the at all. I felt sympathy for them but in the same sort of way as you may feel sorry for someone who is on the news. You can imagine what it could be like if it happened to you but you have no real attachment to the person it is happening to which lessens your reaction.

There was only one point when I really felt an emotional attachment, when they tried to tale something away from Dorrit (I won’t say more to save from spoilers). I don’t think this was because I felt I knew Dorrit though so much as because it seemed like a more plausible situation.

3/5

Buy it:

Paperback (£6.26)

Kindle (£5.95)

The Fry Chronicles- Stephen Fry

Image from Amazon

Synopsis (from Amazon)

Thirteen years ago, Moab is my Washpot, Stephen Fry’s autobiography of his early years, was published to rave reviews and was a huge bestseller. In those thirteen years since, Stephen Fry has moved into a completely new stratosphere, both as a public figure, and a private man. Now he is not just a multi-award-winning comedian and actor, but also an author, director and presenter. In January 2010, he was awarded the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards. Much loved by the public and his peers, Stephen Fry is one of the most influential cultural forces in the country. This dazzling memoir promises to be a courageously frank, honest and poignant read. It will detail some of the most turbulent and least well known years of his life with writing that will excite you, make you laugh uproariously, move you, inform you and, above all, surprise you.

Review

As far as an autobiography of Stephen Fry is concerned Moab is My Washpot (which is about his life before he became famous) had really quite surprised me, I don’t pretend to know a lot about Stephen Fry. Just that I love watching him on television and think he is generally pretty awesome. Having read the first autobiography I had less expectations of this one in a way, I didn’t expect it to be at all predictable because in the first book his life seemed to differ so much from what was suggested by his television persona.

In terms of what I would expect from Fry this was a little more what I had expected than the first book. You could certainly see parts of who he seems to be now coming out. In some ways it seemed a little self-obsessed (but can one really write an autobiography without it being a little self-obsessed?). I never really got the idea that he was elevating himself, if anything he was quite humble and even at times would tell himself off for being a little self-obsessed (which never seemed like he was pretending, more like he couldn’t understand why people would be interested). All the way through there was a certain level of disbelief that he had become famous. It was obvious he didn’t feel he deserved it, and from what he said in his more present voice he seemed still not to quite believe how lucky he has been. In a way this was the element of the book which most surprised me.

On adding this book to goodreads I had a quick flick through the (spoiler free) reviews (it’s something I often do, just reading the first few lines of each review to get a general picture of how people found the book). I happened to catch sight of a review which suggested that the book was a bit to name-droppy (and no that isn’t a real word, I don’t care). This did cause me a bit of worry. I’m not one of those people who is really into celebrity culture (I think I am right in saying that this is the one celebrity biography I have read). However I don’t think I needed to be worried. There were maybe a few name-drops that were unnecessary but most of the time he mentioned people who were friends or who he had worked with, I don’t think you can really write a whole autobiography without mentioning any friends or colleges.

The descriptions of Fry’s time at Cambridge were more interesting than I had expected too although not as interesting as wen the ‘fame thing’ started.

At time it had me laughing out loud but in general I wouldn’t describe it as a comic book- still it was almost worth reading just for Hugh Laurie’s reaction to Fry buying his first Apple Mac.

Only real problem I had with it is that the way it ended made it very obvious that Fry intended to write another autobiography. Which almost forces you to read it. I mean his life isn’t over so I suppose another biography would be expected but I would like to feel I have more choice.

Oh and one more thing, there were a few points where I thought the Kindle edition might be different to the paperback. Just things which seemed to suggest you were on an e-reader. Does anyone know if there are any differences?

4/5

Buy it:

Paperback (£3.86)

Hardback (£18.99)

Kindle (£6.99)

I’d Know You Anywhere- Laura Lippman

Image from Amazon

Note: This book is also known as Don’t Look Back. For some reason when I put the IBSN number into goodreads it came up as I’d Know You Anywhere (which was the name I had known the book by before I bought it) even though in my Kindle it’s called Don’t Look Back.

Synopsis (from Amazon)

Eliza Benedict’s past returns to haunt her when the serial killer she escaped from as a young girl walks back into her life. The new nail-shredding novel from New York Times bestseller, Laura Lippman.25 years ago, he stole her innocence. Now he wants to get in touch.Eliza Benedict cherishes her quiet existence with her successful husband and children in the leafy suburbs of suburban Washington. But her tranquillity is shattered when she receives a letter from the last person she ever expects – or wants – to hear from: Walter Bowman.In the summer of 1985 when she was fifteen-years-old, Eliza was kidnapped by serial killer Walter Bowman, who targeted young girls like Eliza in a sexually motivated killing spree. Now facing lethal injection on death row, Walter is keen to make contact with Eliza, seemingly motivated by a desire to atone for his sins before he finally meets his maker.Carefully, with some reluctance, she lets Walter enter her life, first by letter, then in person. Walter is keen to convince Eliza that he has changed but it becomes clear that Walter has more of an agenda than he first revealed. Cunning and manipulative, Walter is never more dangerous than when he can’t get what he wants, and he wants something very badly. Disturbingly, he seems to have an ally working in the outside, one who seems to know everything about Eliza’s life – including where she lives.As Walter once again manages to exert his malign influence, Eliza must draw on all of her reserves of wisdom and strength as the battle of predator and prey once more plays out and she must face the past head on if she is to survive.A taut and mesmerizing novel by the highly-acclaimed author of Life Sentences and Every Secret Thing.

Review

Note on review: For clarity I will refer to grown up Elizabeth as Eliza and young Elizabeth as Elizabeth.

Ok so my vision of this book may be a little skewed by the fact that novels having their names changed is one of my pet peeves, I really don’t understand why thy do it, it just confuses everyone. I think I am at risk of going on a rant but I shall hold back and maybe do a musings post on it at some point in the not to distant future.

As for the book itself. It was ok. As a crime novel it didn’t do great. There was no real mystery, especially as we saw the criminal committing most of his crimes. As a thriller I can’t say it was that great either. I was intrigued as to what Walter was trying to get from Eliza, but didn’t really expect anything very dramatic. The only real mystery I found in it was [highlight for spoiler]not knowing if Walter had actually raped his victims or not, and to be perfectly honest I didn’t really care, or at least I didn’t care enough to give it any real thought.

When it came to the characters I didn’t like Eliza. She just seemed a bit pathetic to be honest. She talked about being worried for her kids but a lot of her actions don’t reflect that and seem to have been put in just for the author’s convenience. I preferred Elizabeth I think, she seemed more genuine, but maybe I only think that because that was the part of the story which most interested me. Walter interested me more, possibly that’s just the psychologist in me talking but I felt in a way we got to know him best, and in a way could understand him more.

3/5

Buy it:

Paperback

Kindle

A Lifetime Burning re-release

The lovely new cover (from Amazon)

Linda Gillard is one of my favourite authors. I’ve read and enjoyed a lot of books by her, only yesterday I reviewed House of Silence.

My favourite book by her is A Lifetime Burning. Unfortunately it wasn’t supported very well by the publisher (my only real problem with it was the awful cover which you can see further down the page), and was eventually dropped. Now Linda has decided to re-release the book herself as an e-book, with a beautiful new cover which much better reflects what the novel is about.

It has been re-released today and will only cost you 88p from Amazon. I thoroughly recommend it, and for 88p how can you say no?!

Need more convincing? Here’s my original review

The original cover (from Amazon)

Synopsis (from Amazon)

Greedy for experience but determined to be good, Flora Dunbar spends a lifetime seeking love, trying to build a future out of the wreckage of her past – an eccentric childhood spent in the shadow of her musical twin, Rory; early marriage to Hugh, a clergyman twice her age; motherhood, which brings her Theo, the son she cannot love; middle-age, when she finds brief happiness in a scandalous affair with her nephew, Colin.

“If you asked my sister-in-law why she hated me, she’d say it was because I seduced her precious firstborn then tossed him onto the sizeable scrap-heap marked Flora’s ex-lovers. But she’d be lying. That isn’t why Grace hated me. Ask my brother Rory…”

Review

First off I suppose I should warn you that A Lifetime Burning is very different from Linda Gillard’s other books, Emotional Geology and Star Gazing. Although if speaking in loose terms you could say they are all about love. Although I really enjoyed the other two books they aren’t my usual style (as far as love stories go they are far superior to chick-lit books, and the writing is thoughtful and rather beautiful). A Lifetime Burning is more like something I would pick up. Actually having said that if I hadn’t previously known Gillard’s work I probably wouldn’t have looked at it in a book shop because of that front cover. The cover is actually the worst part of the book! It’s so unrepresentative, makes the book look like sci-fi rather than a story about ‘real’ life.

Character wise I didn’t really like Flora, who was the narrator. I found her selfish, and self centred. She didn’t really seem to care about anyone [highlight for spoiler]not even Rory really, she just wanted him for herself, no matter what. Rory was a little better, he at least seemed to show some care for others. My favourite character was Grace though, she stuck with her husband, and his family no matter what- I guess that could be seen as being a pushover but I saw her as more resilient, and forgiving. I did find it a little unbelievable after a point [spoiler]the idea of there being a whole two generations of children being involved in incest, plus 2 people from 2 generations previously. but then I changed my mind [spoiler]and decided that maybe it was meant to be genetic, Theo himself says as much. In a way that makes the subject less disturbing, like it was always going to be that way.

Such a shame this is no longer being published (my copy came from Linda Gillard herself). I think it could do well given the right marketing.

4/5

House of Silence- Linda Gillard

Image from Amazon

Synopsis (from Amazon)

“My friends describe me as frighteningly sensible, not at all the sort of woman who would fall for an actor. And his home. And his family.”

Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n’ roll, Gwen Rowland is invited to spend Christmas at her boyfriend Alfie’s family home, Creake Hall – a ramshackle Tudor manor in Norfolk. She’s excited about the prospect of a proper holiday with a proper family, but soon after she arrives, Gwen senses something isn’t quite right. Alfie acts strangely toward his family and is reluctant to talk about the past. His mother, a celebrated children’s author, keeps to her room, living in a twilight world, unable to distinguish between past and present, fact and fiction. And then there’s the enigma of an old family photograph…

When Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters sewn into an old patchwork quilt, she starts to piece together the jigsaw of the past and realises there’s more to the family history than she’s been told. It seems there are things people don’t want her to know.

And one of those people is Alfie…

Review

When I found out that Linda Gillard’s new book was only coming out in digital format I was disappointed. I didn’t have a Kindle and I wanted to read it (and honestly reading on my ipod really ruins the reading experience). So when I got my Kindle it was one of the first books I bought. Having really liked Emotional Geology and Star Gazing, and loving A Lifetime Burning, I had pretty high hopes for this one.

Were my hopes met? Well I enjoyed it certainly, and although it took a little getting in to I didn’t want it to stop by the end. The old manor house and family intrigue put me in mind of Kate Morton’s The Distant Hours, and for some reason parts of plots began to blend in my head after I had read this one. It’s strange because apart from an old house and family secrets there is very little similarity. You don’t expect the same sort of secrets (even if at certain points it seems to be going that way you are shocked by it and expect even at the time for it not to be as it seems). There is the love element which The Distant Hours doesn’t have.

The one love interest in the book is pretty classic Gillard. Not the strong handsome type of chick-lit but sensitive, and flawed with a past that makes him more that just ‘the love interest’. The other, at least initially, seems much more your standard ‘hero’ type, handsome, charming, witty, but somewhat fake. I liked them both though [highlight for spoiler]In fact for once I didn’t like the woman so much. Well maybe that’s not true, I did like Gwen. Maybe really I mean I wouldn’t have made the choice she did. I preferred Alfie most of the way through, and by the end it was quite a close call.

I wouldn’t say it is Gillard’s best work of what I have read but still certainly worth the read.

4/5

Buy it:

For Kindle

How to Be Woman- Caitlin Moran

Image from Amazon

Synopsis (from Amazon)

1913: Suffragette throws herself under the King’s horse

 1970: Feminists storm Miss World

 Now: Caitlin Moran rewrites The Female Eunach from a bar stool and demands to know why pants are getting smaller

There’s never been a better time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain…

Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should you get Botox? Do men secretly hate us? What should you call your vagina? Why does your bra hurt? And why does everyone ask you when you’re going to have a baby?

Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin Moran answers these questions and more in How To Be A Woman - following her from her terrible 13th birthday (‘I am 13 stone, have no friends, and boys throw gravel at me when they see me’) through adolescence, the workplace, strip-clubs, love, fat, abortion, Topshop, motherhood and beyond.

Review.

Those who follow my Twitter feed will know that I had a bit of a girl crush on Caitlin Moran during this book. Honestly I just would love to be her friend! It’s almost difficult to see this as a feminist book simply because you feel more like you are reading something designed to entertain. I was pretty much constantly giggling and the tone of her writing is just so natural you feel as if you are having a conversation with her rather than reading something she has written. Indeed in some parts she even writes out what she imagines the reader might be thinking and answers it. You can just imagine her sitting there talking to herself as she writes. Yet it is a feminist book. It talks about what you may call ‘little’ feminist issues- high heels, waxing, and the occasional bigger issue, but it makes it much easier to relate to things you encounter on a day to day basis, and are so easy to accept that they don’t even seem to be issues. But she’s right, who decided heels are a good idea? They’re stupid, they just kill your feet! Why is it attractive to have no hair?

Honestly you have to read this.

5/5

 

Buy it:

Paperback
Kindle

Review of the Year 2011- Non-Fiction

Seeing as I only read 4 non-fiction books in 2011 it seems a bit silly to choose a favourite and least favourite, even if they do exist. Two of them really deserve a re-mention though so I shall list all my non-fiction (as before) and then highlight the two which I want to highlight.

That Day in September- Artie Van Why

Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism- Natasha Walter

The Hare With the Amber Eyes- Edmund de Waal

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius- Dave Eggers

The two I wanted to mention again are Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism and That Day In September (click for Amazon links)

That Day in September is a 9/11 survivor’s story. It beautifully written an incredibly moving. Certainly worth a read.

Living Dolls I think is a must read for women. IT makes you see things in a different perspective and certainly brought out a bit more feminism in me.