Historical novel based in the 20s and the beginning of the BBC. It is roughly based around the real life Hilda Maheson and made for an interesting story. Feminism, spies, Nazism, society’s expections, broadcasting are all covered. Unfortunately the style of writing did not work for me, which let the story down, but it was great subject matter.
Month: September 2018
Major Pettigrew’s last stand by Helen Simonson
This is just the thing to read when you have been traipsing around English villages. It’s a sweet love story about an older widow, and a woman of Pakistani descent. It’s gently amusing, pleasantly predictable, and twee, in a good way.
The dreams of Bethany Mellmoth by William Boyd
I very much enjoyed Any Human Heart, so was keen to read this, though I don’t usually seek out short stories. The stories are varied, fascinating, frustrating, and satisfyingly unsatisfying! Each story seems to lay bare our foibles as the characters thrash about, trying to make their paths smooth.
David Bowie : a life by Dylan Jones
David Bowie was so many things. That’s obvious from the most basic understanding of his career. He was also, as we all are, different things to different people, and I suppose that is the strength of this book, that it is a collection of stories or recollections about Bowie at different tones in his life, from a huge range of people. It’s a weakness, too, though, in that it can be, as you would expect, contradictory, and sometimes repetitive. Reading about the early years was a slog, because while I loved the music, his lifestyle was pretty repugnant. I am glad I stuck it out, His was certainly a fascinating life with a massive impact on so many, but I didn’t find it an easy, or even greatly enjoyable, read.
The Heartwood Hotel by Kerry McGinnis
An Australian story with the small rural town of Tewinga at its heart. There is a lot to like here – family, community life, mystery and drama. The storyline was a little bit predictable, but it was a great story to pass time with on a long train journey.
You never know what goes on in a small country town!
Goldstone
Another beautiful, sad, complex and moving film about Indigenous policeman, Jay Swan, solving a mystery in an outback town. Jay Swan, burdened with grief, is struggling to keep himself together as he searches for a missing girl, and meaning for his life. The cast is stellar, the scenery is stunning, and the story is about human trafficking, land rights, racism, corruption, and a place to belong.
Scrublands by Chris Hammer
This is a brutal story set in the brutal landscape of a drought Riverina town on the Hay Plains. A journalist comes to town to report on the annivesary of a mass murder and discovers so much more about the town and himself. Murders, lies, drugs and the relentless heat feature. An enjoyable story with not a lot of niceness. Great to read an Australian gritty crime story.
The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Four and a half stars. At a great, crumbling, old country house, a party has gathered, at the end of which Evelyn Hardcastle will die. She will die over and over on this one day until one of the guests can solve the murder. It’s like Agatha Christie with major twists; it’s clever, funny, insightful, and very hard to put down.
The lost dog by Michelle de Kretser
An English lecturer, Tom, is staying in the Victorian bush, trying to finish the book he is writing, when his dog goes missing. From that starting point we go back and forth, to India and Melbourne, to the past and the present, exploring Tom’s life and relationships. There is mystery, but it’s not about what happens, but about place, love, relationships with parents and lovers, art, poetry, and belonging. The language is beautiful, and it’s full of thoughtful insights on things like ageing, and consumerism.
The Shanghai wife by Emma Harcourt
Just as the story went in one direction something dramatic would happen to Annie and send me off in a different direction. This made the storyline a bit choppy, but I enjoyed the setting of Shanghai and the multilayers of life there. The ending is very open, perhaps another story is waiting to be told?
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