Oh, I could just weep for this lost time. I know I wouldn’t really want to go back, but this book, first published in 1930, is almost painfully nostalgic. While their father is away for work, the Walker family spends the summer in the Lake District. The four older children take the little sailing boat called Swallow, camp on an uninhabited island, and sail on the lake, having the most wonderful adventures. As a child I was much more of an indoor person, but this gives me such a hankering for a time of great freedom, innocence, ingenuity, competence and trust. It is a delightful read.
Month: December 2019
Silver by Chris Hammer
The sequel to Scrublands was a great read. Martin finds himself in the middle of murder again, but things are complicated by the memories of his home town and the multiple threads to the story. His journalistic instincts kick in again, but at what cost?
The true queen by Zen Cho
Sisters, Muna and Sakti, wake up on a beach with no memories. They have been put under a curse, and must travel to England to break it. Set on a tropical island, in Regency London, and Fairyland, this is a fun fantasy novel with strong female characters and lots of adventure. I wasn’t quite as attached to the main characters as I was in the first book (Sorcerer to the Crown) but I still enjoyed it very much.
The erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie
Despite the fact that their parents have disinherited them, Vicki Laveau-Harvie and her sister travel to rural Canada to care for their father, when their mother breaks her hip. This is a true story of a complicated family; the far-reaching, and long-lasting havoc wreaked by a woman with an undiagnosed mental illness, the wild Canadian landscape, and two, very different sisters trying to navigate new and rocky territory. The author reads it herself, and while, at first, I wasn’t sure she had the best ‘audiobook voice’, I think she did a brilliant job. For such dark subject matter, the book is very funny, disturbing, tense, and utterly fascinating.
Rather his own man by Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Robertson is clearly a fascinating, and very clever man. I enjoyed the details of his grandparents, parents, and his early life, but wasn’t totally enthralled by all the law cases, impressive though they are. It is full of details of dealings with famous people, plenty about law cases, and a bit light on relationships – parenthood is almost dealt with in a paragraph, for example. His is an amazing life, worth a read, even if some parts are skimmed.
Broken Harbour by Tana French
I do so love a Tana French novel. Each one’s main character, is a minor character from the one before, which gives the added bonus of getting to know a character you are already familiar with, and don’t necessarily love, so much better. Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy is a murder detective taking a new, young partner along to solve the mystery of who murdered a whole family. It’s a psychological mystery, full of flawed characters, complicated relationships, evocative Irish dialogue, and moving character journeys.
Fox 8 by George Saunders
I listened to the audiobook, read by the author, and found it utterly charming, moving, and thoughtful. Fox 8 is a young fox, who listens in every night as a woman reads to her children, and learns to speak “Yuman”. When developers cut down his wood, Fox 8 comes to know the Yumans much better than he would have liked. It’s a really beautiful story, only short, and great for children, but it has a lot of deep truths for all of us. It’s sad, very funny, and will stay with me.
Second sight by Aoife Clifford
Another great Australian atmospheric mystery story. Eliza returns to her hometown and the past collides with the present. Lies and secrets abound. Well paced story that sucks you in. I enjoyed the chapters when the story was told through the various characters, revealing more of the story through their eyes. It enables you to piece the story together along with Eliza’s memories.
The Lebs by Michael Mohammed Ahmad
Bani Adam is a Leb, like most of the other boys at Punchbowl Boys. Being an Arab Muslim in Sydney, around the time of terrorist attacks and gang rapes in the early 2000s, is hard, and Bani is different, because he is bookish, and wants to be a writer. This is a raw, harsh, somewhat bleak coming of age novel, full of the violence, misogyny, and coarseness of teenaged boys with little hope for the future, but it’s also funny, real, and gently heartwarming.
Steel Magnolias
Having read Sally Field’s autobiography earlier this year, I thought it was time to revisit the movie from which I know her best. It was a delightfully nostalgic movie. Set in the American South, in the 1980s, it is full of fabulous actors (Dolly Parton!), and is funny, sweet, heartbreaking, and whimsical.
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