Pearl of China - Anchee Min

With only peripheral knowledge of Pearl S Buck, I came to this book not knowing what to expect. Min’s prose, simple and understated, gives this epic story space to build itself in your mind’s eye, making the unfamiliar terrain and times come to life through her engaging cast of characters.

The story covers the life of Pearl S Buck’s fictional Chinese best friend, Willow, a character created by Min but based on a number of key figures from Buck’s life. Covering 70 years or so means that we dip in and out of Willow’s life, following her through pre-revolutionary China to Mao’s heyday and beyond. These dramatic episodes carry the story forward, but I found myself wanting to know more about everyday life for China’s ordinary people through these interesting times, so now I’m going to read ‘The Good Earth’ by Pearl S Buck herself, Min’s inspiration for writing this remarkable work.

The magic of a 3-day weekend

The last few months have been hectic, with a work trip away, an overnight walking marathon and two 30th birthday parties at opposite ends of the country (plus all the usual knitting, reading, cooking and, oh, working etc...). I can't WAIT until this weekend - 3 days with nothing to do unless I really want to do it. Knitting buddy Kathryn has invited me to potter around with her on her new allotment, and other knitting buddy Charlotte is having a 'first night in a new flat open house with takeaway' on Friday, but other than that, I am free and I have the flat to myself...

I have already stocked up on yummy treats (Waitrose fish-finger sandwich, anyone?), and am planning what I'm going to read. There are several things that I've started over the last month, but haven't finished, so some quality time with a book and a pot of coffee on the balcony will help me polish them off. I am also really excited about the writing I'm going to do. Some of the massive tangly plot disasters from the first draft have resolved themselves in my head over the last few weeks, and it's going to be very interesting going back and seeing how much I need to change. And I may even squeeze in a blog or some tweeting!

Reading habits

I was away with work for most of last week, and realised that when I'm at a conference or something, I HAVE to read crime fiction. It's a weird compulsion, and I don't really understand it. I quite like reading whodunnits, but in general I've got several books on the go, and swap between genres according to my mood (I'm currently reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Scoop, Harry Potter e la camera dei segreti, The Greatest Show on Earth and The Little Book with a few dabblings in Italian history and culture on the side for when I'm feeling virtuous). What is it about being away with colleagues and tackling the constant threat of having to be nice to clients that makes me want to read about solving murders? Hmm.

Read in 2009

1. A Florentine Death - Michele Giuttari (trans Howard Curtis)
2. A Most Wanted Man - John le Carré
3. A Secret Alchemy - Emma Darwin
4. A Wedding in December - Anita Shreve
5. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
6. American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
7. Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman
8. Black Boxes - Caroline Smailes
9. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
10. Daphne - Justine Picardie
11. Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris
12. Devil Bones - Kathy Reichs
13. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
14. Ethel and Ernest - Raymond Briggs
15. Falling Angels - Tracy Chevalier
16. Fast Women - Jennifer Crusie
17. Guernica - Dave Boling
18. Heaven Can Wait - Cally Taylor
19. Hold Tight - Harlan Coben
20. I, Claudius - Robert Graves
21. Key of Knowledge - Nora Roberts
22. Key of Light - Nora Roberts
23. Key of Valor - Nora Roberts
24. Library of the Dead - Glenn Cooper
25. Light of the Moon - Elizabeth Buchan
26. Lords and Ladies - Terry Pratchett
27. Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman
28. Man in the Dark - Paul Auster
29. Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer
30. Mistress of the Art of Death - Ariana Franklin
31. Nation - Terry Pratchett
32. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
33. Northern Lights - Philip Pullman
34. Once Upon a Time in the North - Philip Pullman
35. Past Imperfect - Julian Fellowes
36. Pigeon Pie - Nancy Mitford
37. PopCo - Scarlett Thomas
38. Revelation - CJ Sansom
39. Romanitas - Sophia McDougall
40. Rome Burning - Sophia McDougall
41. Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
42. Small World - Matt Beaumont
43. Stephen Fry in America - Stephen Fry
44. Temptation - Douglas Kennedy
45. Testament - Alis Hawkins
46. Testimony - Anita Shreve
47. The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff
48. The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
49. The Book of Unholy Mischief - Elle Newmark
50. The Chalk Circle Man - Fred Vargas
51. The Crocodile on the Sandbank - Elizabeth Peters
52. The Dogs and the Wolves - Irene Nemirovsky
53. The Fire - Katherine Neville
54. The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
55. The Ghost - Robert Harris
56. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Steig Larsson (trans Reg Keeland)
57. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson (trans Reg Keeland)
58. The Grass is Singing - Doris Lessing
59. The Great Lover - Jill Dawson
60. The Information Officer - Mark Mills
61. The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce - Paul Torday
62. The Island - Victoria Hislop
63. The Last Samurai - Helen De Witt
64. The Library of Shadows - Mikkel Birkegaard (trans Tiina Nunnally)
65. The Lost Book of Salem - Katherine Howe
66. The Magic Scales - Sam Wilding
67. The Maze of Death - Ariana Franklin
68. The Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
69. The Mummy Case - Elizabeth Peters
70. The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster
71. The Other Half Lives - Sophie Hannah
72. The Other Hand - Chris Cleave
73. The Other Queen - Philippa Gregory
74. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
75. The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry
76. The Separation - Christopher Priest
77. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
78. The Sorrows of an American - Siri Hustvedt
79. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
80. The Sunflower Forest - Torey Haydn
81. The Suspicions of Mr Whicher - Kate Summerscale
82. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
83. The Well-Tempered Clavier - William Coles
84. The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davis
85. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
86. Volevo i pantaloni - Lara Cardello
87. We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
88. When Will There Be Good News? - Kate Atkinson

Considering I also managed to finish the first draft of my WIP, do my Italian A level and work considerably more than my contracted hours, I think 88 is a pretty decent total. I'd be surprised if I manage as many this year, but I'm hoping more of them will be in Italian!

Read in 2007
Read in 2008

Heaven Can Wait - Cally Taylor

I don't read a lot of chick lit, but 'Heaven Can Wait' had two major advantages for me. Firstly, I know the author, Cally Taylor, and secondly, I have a bit of a weakness for all things supernatural. I started reading as soon as I got home. Every time I tried to stop and get on with the many jobs I needed to do that evening, I thought, 'Oh, just one more chapter...' and eventually I realised resistance was futile - I finished it in one evening.

Something about the writing reminded me of Neil Gaiman, possibly the mix of the everyday with the supernatural, and the unlikely hero (or rather heroine in this case) overcoming bizarre obstacles to achieve the 'right' thing, not necessarily their heart's desire. The humour was also a wonderful mix of juvenile guffaws with clever observational gems, but the ending achieved something special, as it brought a tear to my eye. This is easier said than done, because I have clinically dry eyes - I have to use eye-drops with the worst name ever (I can't put it here, it could have an interesting effect on my searches profile...). I've also persuaded one of my colleagues to buy her own copy, by cunningly letting her read the back, then refusing to let her borrow it! It's a risky book-selling technique I realise, but it's working so far...

The Dogs and the Wolves - Irene Nemirovsky

While it is set earlier than Suite Française, and not exclusively in France, The Dogs and the Wolves is nevertheless a similar mixture of the epic and the intimate. The divisions in the Sinner family run deep, with one branch privileged and cultured, the other struggling for stability. Ada Sinner glimpses her more fortunate cousin Harry several times throughout their childhood, and feels herself drawn to him, much to her other cousin Ben’s disgust.

As the families move to Paris, the distinctions between them grow, and yet Ada remains convinced Harry is part of her destiny, and is unwilling to let this go despite the obvious barriers between them. The poignant prose leads to a feeling of inevitability, highlighting the barriers constructed by society that were generally insurmountable, especially for Jewish foreigners in Paris between the wars. However, it is clear throughout that the wheel of fortune is always turning, and none of the protagonists know where the next revolution will take them.

Don't tell my Italian teacher...

Three days before my penultimate A level Italian exam I have finally finished reading my set text, 'Volevo i pantaloni', by Lara Cardello! I managed 80-something pages last autumn, when we were actually studying the book in class, but never quite got around to finishing the damn thing. However, as the old adage goes, pressure produces diamonds, and with the thought of having to write an essay (albeit only 250 words) on this book later this week, I had to get going on it. This weekend was mostly spent curled up with my HUGE but wonderful dictionary, my copy of 'Volevo' and a notebook for key vocab, and I just finished off the last 13 pages during my lunch break, helped along by the yummy Covent Garden soup of the month. Just don't tell my teacher I'm 6 months late with this particular assignment...

Photo fun

As a bit of a bookaholic, I think my Book Nook is the coolest part of my flat.

Holiday reading

Trudging

Well, my word count is rising, but nowhere near as fast as I had hoped. My internet broke on Saturday, and after spending about 2 hours on the phone to TalkTalk trying to tell them that I needed a new modem while they insisted on performing many diagnostic tests before telling me that.... (wait for it!) I need a new modem, I didn't really feel like going near my computer again. Then my girly night in with a chum was cancelled due to her menfolk going down with the Tummy Bug of Doom, which also didn't help. So I read (The Welsh Girl and Testament), thoroughly enjoying both books. I then made the mistake of watching The Black Dahlia on my own (the fountain scene still gives my the heeby jeebies). Not very productive. Oh well, I have now crossed over 80,000 words...

Déjà lu

Yesterday, I began 'The Welsh Girl' by Peter Ho Davies. I bought it last week, having been meaning to read it for a while now. When I started reading, I got the strangest feeling I had already read it. While I couldn't remember the plot exactly, the scenes seemed familiar. It came out in 2007, so I checked my 'Read in 2007/8' blog posts, and it wasn't on them. I might have missed it off by mistake, but I remember seeing it in bookshops and thinking 'Oh yes, I want to read that!' for quite a lot of last year. It's possible that I read an extract somewhere (I've only read the first 30ish pages), so it will be less familiar when I've got further in, but it is the strangest feeling.

On writing, I cracked the 75,000 barrier yesterday!

Read in 2008

1. Beneath the Bleeding - Val McDermid
2. Bones to Ashes - Kathy Reichs
3. Borrower of the Night - Elizabeth Peters
4. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
5. Careless in Red - Elizabeth George
6. Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood
7. Crazy for You - Jennifer Crusie
8. Disraeli Avenue - Caroline Smailes
9. East of the Sun - Julia Gregson
10. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
11. Fast Women - Jennifer Crusie
12. Fault Lines - Nancy Huston
13. For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
14. Gifted - Nikita Lalwani
15. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling
16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
17. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling
18. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - JK Rowling
19. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - JK Rowling
20. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - JK Rowling
21. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling
22. Human Traces - Sebastian Faulks
23. In Search of Adam - Caroline Smailes
24. Interesting Times - Terry Pratchett
25. Leviathan - Paul Auster
26. Making Money - Terry Pratchett
27. Mudbound - Hillary Jordan
28. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman (e)
29. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
30. Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
31. Painting Ruby Tuesday - Jane Yardley
32. Petite Anglaise - Catherine Sanderson
33. Read in 2007
34. Rebecca's Tale - Sally Beauman
35. Second Glance - Jodi Picoult
36. Sepulchre - Kate Mosse
37. Shakespeare - Bill Bryson
38. Sihouette in Scarlet - Elizabeth Peters
39. Star Gazing - Linda Gillard
40. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
41. State of the Union - Douglas Kennedy
42. Street of the Five Moons - Elizabeth Peters
43. Swallowdale - Arthur Ransome
44. The 39 Steps - John Buchan
45. The Alchemist's Daughter - Katherine McMahon
46. The Athenian Murders - Jose Carlos Somoza
47. The Cairo Diary - Maxim Chattam
48. The Cleft - Doris Lessing
49. The Confusion - Neal Stephenson
50. The Courage Consort - Michel Faber
51. The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
52. The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl
53. The Dante Trap - Arnaud Delalande
54. The Duchess - Amanda Foreman
55. The End of Mr Y - Scarlett Thomas
56. The Evil Seed - Joanne Harris
57. The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
58. The Gum Thief - Douglas Coupland
59. The Hippopotamus Pool - Elizabeth Peters
60. The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
61. The Light Years - Elizabeth Jane Howard
62. The Lollipop Shoes - Joanne Harris
63. The Magician's Nephew - CS Lewis
64. The Mathematics of Love - Emma Darwin
65. The Murder Book - Guillermo Martinez
66. The Night Climbers - Ivo Stourton
67. The Outcast - Sadie Jones
68. The Point of Rescue - Sophie Hannah
69. The Post-Birthday World - Lionel Shriver
70. The Rose Labyrinth - Titania Hardie
71. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
72. The Secret of Lost Things - Sheridan Hay
73. The Seville Communion - Arturo Perez-Reverte
74. The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
75. The Virgin in the Garden - AS Byatt
76. The Woman in the Fifth - Douglas Kennedy
77. Welcome to Temptation - Jennifer Crusie
78. Winter in Madrid - CJ Sansom

D'oh!

I've just realised that the books I've been looking forward to receiving from Amazon won't actually ever arrive.

I only dreamt that I ordered them.

(Realisation occurred 5 hours after waking up...)

In Search of Adam - Caroline Smailes

'In Search of Adam' by Caroline Smailes, a fellow Novel Racer, is very different from most books. The way she uses text as a visual device, rather than just a way of getting her words into the readers' brains, and her intentionally idiosyncratic use of sentence structure, gives the impression that every word and strand of the story has been teased into the perfect place with surgical precision. This makes Jude's life, which is not comfortable to experience, seem all the more true. The use of language and of information as an emotional rock at times reminded me of 'The History of Love' by Nicole Krauss, another novel about a young girl trying to find her way in a world that seems to have buried all that she needs to find.

The hidden depths beneath the secondary characters enclosing Jude's world give an ominous feel to what might otherwise be considered a 'normal' street. These characters will also get their chance to be heard on Monday, when Caroline releases 'Disraeli Avenue', to raise money for victims of abuse via the charity 'One in Four'.

New Moon - Stephenie Meyer

This is the sequel to 'Twilight', which I read on holiday in Sardinia last year. 'New Moon' moves away from Bella's adventures with the Cullen family of vampires, and looks instead at her growing friendship with a werewolf - not entirely what you might expect from a romance...

I read 'New Moon' while recovering from a bout to stomach-related nastiness, and needed something light-hearted but enticing. I could also particularly relate to Edward's abstemiousness, having eschewed food for 48 hours. The twists and turns took me through my queasiness, and made it more bearable sitting at home for 2 days when watching TV gave me motion sickness. I did sometimes want to give Bella a damn good shake (self-involved, much?) but that's what being a teenager in all-encompassing love is about I suppose. The perfect book for curling up with when feeling a little sorry for oneself.

PS. A - don't worry - I bought 2 copies!

The Athenian Murders - Jose Carlos Somoza

I finished this a while ago but needed to digest it a bit before writing about it. 'The Athenian Murders' centres around a fictional text describing, you've guessed it, murders in Athens! This text is being translated by a man who decides it is an example of 'eidesis', a technique, invented by Somoza but of Greek origin in the book, of portraying images that are unrelated to the actual text in the mind of the reader by emphasizing particular words or phrases. As the translator works on the text he becomes more and more convinced that he is in it. There are bizarre parallels between his life and events within the text, and then things get even more strange when he discovers other similarities between the text and the person who worked on it previously, who just happened to come to a rather sticky end. Or did he?

This is a book to read slowly and savour, otherwise it gets rather confusing. The layers upon layers are intricately woven and over-lapping, and the stories combine in a rather tortuous way, but so cleverly done that it is a very satisfying read, though it's quite difficult to explain without going a bit cross-eyed.

2007 Reading Round-up

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are the main books I read in 2007. My to-be-read pile is expanding rapidly, partly due to a good haul at Christmas, partly due to a big tidy when I discovered a number of books I had slightly forgotten about. This means 2008 needs to include lots of reading. Hurrah!

A Gathering Light - Jennifer Donnelly
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Break No Bones - Kathy Reichs
Children of the Storm - Elizabeth Peters
Dark Fire - CJ Samson
Death at La Fenice - Donna Leon
Gentlemen and Players - Joanne Harris
Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
Holy Fools - Joanne Harris
Jamaica Inn - Daphne du Maurier
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded - Simon Winchester
One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson
Possession - AS Byatt
Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Rosetta - Barbara Ewing
Rubicon - Tom Holland
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday
Second Honeymoon - Joanna Trollope
Sovereign - CJ Samson
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
The Art of Murder - Jose Carlos Somoza
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
The Extremes - Christopher Priest
The Flanders Panel - Arturo Perez-Reverte
The Glamour - Christopher Priest
The History of Love - Nicole Krauss
The Horse and His Boy - CS Lewis
The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl - Belle de Jour
The Keys of Egypt - Lesley and Roy Adkins
The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon - Richard Zimler
The Magician's Nephew - CS Lewis
The Nautical Chart - Arturo Perez-Reverte
The Observations - Jane Harris
The Oxford Murders - Guillermo Martinez
The Penelopiad - Margaret Atwood
The Prestige - Christopher Priest
The Promise of Happiness - Justin Cartwright
The Seventh Gate - Richard Zimler
The Sign of the Cross - Chris Kuzneski
The Single Helix - Steve Jones
The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

Christmas 'holiday'

Anyone who has ever been on a trip with me knows I always pack too many books (I don't know what mood I'll be in, so need to take a variety. Obviously!), and also usually have some kind of project to work on. My projects are often writing or knitting ones, but I'm also studying Italian, so the last few trips I've taken have included books in or about 2 languages, just to make my bags a little bit heavier. Over Christmas S and I are going away, first to his folks, then to mine, and I'm beginning to plan my holiday reading. I find planning which books to take more fun than packing clothes and stuff, so have found myself desperately stuffing pants and socks around the pile of 'essential' books in the middle of my suitcase, but I'm going to try to avoid that this year.

When I get to my parents', I think I'm going to re-read the Chronicles of Narnia, having watched most of the wonderful BBC adaptation in my knitting circle over the last few weeks (we're up to episode 3 in 'The Silver Chair'). Narnia always makes me feel Christmassy, but my childhood copies are still in Sussex so I'll have to wait until next week. In the meantime, I've had some exciting packages from Amazon that have included a book or two for myself in with the Christmas presents for my family. These have included The Athenian Murders by Jose Carlos Somoza, The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl, The Alchemist's Daughter by Katherine McMahon and a book of easy Italian crosswords, which may very well end up in my bag. I'm also planning to take my copy of The Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey in case I have any questions (my brother is a geologist). Obviously, I'll be taking my laptop so that I can do some writing, and if I need any inspiration I'll have Solutions for Writers by Sol Stein and The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker. There will also be a bag of wool somewhere in the car, because I've got to a rather complicated bit in the cardigan I'm making (yes, on top of the two scarves that are in progress for Christmas presents I'm also making a cardigan. And another scarf. But they aren't time-sensitive, so that's OK.) and I need a bit of help from Mum the Expert Knitter. In between all the reading, Italian, writing and knitting, I might spend some time with family and friends, and maybe even work on my sleep deficit.

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson

Having read several other books by Neal Stephenson, I knew what to expect when I picked up 'The Diamond Age'. He creates a world, based on reality but somehow a little different, and every tiny detail has been carefully constructed. His prose is dense, but fascinating, and as a physics novice, even I can generally understand the complex concepts he introduces, due to the strength of his explanations. The central character in this book is Nell, a neglected girl growing up on the outside of accepted society, and it examines how her life is changed by a gift from her older brother. He gives her a book, 'The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer', he stole from John Percival Hackworth without realising it is actually an interactive life-guide. The Primer teaches Nell, and the other girls who receive copies, equipping them for a subversive life in a crumbling society.

The vast array of characters could become confusing, but the intense descriptions and diversity of personality Stephenson creates etch the characters firmly into one's consciousness. Each character has a a very definite aim throughout the story, and as these converge over the last few chapters, elements of the story from earlier in the book that may have seemed rather esoteric come into sharp focus. I particularly enjoyed the fairy-tales woven into the Primer, holding a mirror up to Nell's dysfunctional life while suggesting ways she can improve her lot. Every girl could do with one of these while growing up!

The Art of Murder - Jose Carlos Somoza

When people are painted and displayed as canvases, where is the line drawn between humanity and art? In this novel, the art world sees the hyperdramatic models who are on display in galleries or up for sale to be shown privately as art first, and people second, but not everyone agrees with this rather simplistic view. The brutal murder of a child-canvas at the start of the book instigates an examination of the shady corners of this exploitative yet creative movement through they eyes of various characters, including several canvases, a detective investigating the murder and employees of the Master, Bruno van Tysch.

I did find some of the skips between characters a little distracting, as it took me a while to work out who they were in relation to everyone else (and I got two characters with names starting with the same letter muddled). Once I had sorted that out, the story felt a lot stronger, with more substance than a regular whodunnit. By the end, it seemed that hyperdramatism was less an artform but more of a cult, complete with brain-washing and sacrificial rites, and the choices made by the cast of converts showed how successfully they had been indoctrinated. Good science fiction (as opposed to fantasy) tends to take a simple 'what if' and run with it, and the ramifications of this plausible shift from current reality are chilling.