“Free Love and other stories” by Ali Smith

Date finished: 27th March 2011

Ali Smith’s short story collection Free Love and other stories exceeded my expectations. I’ve read some of her novels, including Girl Meets Boy which is my favourite book ever, but Smith has actually been more prolific as a short story writer and I was worried that they wouldn’t captivate me as much. I was completely wrong. Her writing completely embodies what I love about the short format. She captures a moment in time of the subject, expressing the joy, the sorrow, the love, simply the emotion, and all within the few pages of the story. As I read each story, I felt that I knew the characters, was glimpsing their life for a brief instance, and was completely satisfied with the time I spent with them. Some writers write short stories that feel as though they are a cut down novel, or never feel complete, leaving you wanting more of the characters lives or stories, but Ali Smith gets it right for me. A truly wonderful book.

“Tell Me Everything” by Sarah Salway

Date finished: 23rd March 2011

The book starts with a young woman recalling the time she told her story to her biology teacher, and several years later she is still dealing with the repercussions. Molly now finds herself boarding above a stationary shop in return for telling her stories to the owner, Mr Roberts, and as she tells her stories, she gradually comes to realise she can create herself a new life from them.

The wonderful thing about the two novels I’ve read by Salway are that they read like a whole raft of short stories entwined to tell the narrative of the overarching tale. In Tell Me Everything, she develops complex, and sometimes ambiguous, characters who beguile and charm the reader. What appears at face value to be a simple tale, Molly’s story gradually reveals itself to be much more perplexing and even at times, quite unsettling. It makes you think about what you’re reading, unravel the information Molly reveals, and consider what the reality and the intentions of the other characters might be. Despite all that, it’s actually a very readable book. I found it both funny and sad, and because Salway has such affection for her characters, full of warmth and very engaging.

“Everything Is Illuminated” by Jonathan Safran Foer

Goodness me, what an arduous read Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer was! The story of an American author who travels to the Ukraine to try to track down the people who helped save his grandfather during the second world war, it’s told in three formats. Firstly, there is the story of the journey told by Alex, the young Ukranian man who acts as guide and translator for the author, and these sections are written as if Alex had written them himself in his broken English translation. In addition, Alex also writes letters to the author that accompany his chapters as he sends them to America. Finally, we are also told the story of the authors ancestors are told from the eighteen century onwards.

I found the “translated” sections very hard going, and made slow progress as I was constantly trying to unravel the sentences and translate them into proper English myself. Having said that, at times they were in turns charming, funny and heartbreaking, but initially, I did have to force myself to keep reading as I waded through these chapters.

On the other hand, I loved reading the historical chapters. Full of beauty and melancholy, I was able to slow down and savour these chapter, all the time guessing that it was likely to build to some tragedy at the end.

Having said that, the final chapter is possibly my favourite of the book despite being another translated letter, and while sad to read, left me with a feeling of hope for the future of the characters, and felt like a fitting end to the book.

I’m glad I read it, as it’s one I’ve been meaning to read for a while, but I have to say, I read his second book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close a few years ago, and for me, it was a much more satisfying book to read, even though it had a similarly quirkiness to its style and language. Definitely an author I will look to read again in the future.

“Friends Like These” by Danny Wallace

It’s the summer of 2006 and Danny’s mum sends him a box of stuff from her attic. It’s a mix of things from his childhood, including his first ever address book with his twelve best friends addresses in, and he realises that he’s lost contact with all of them. Coupled with the fact that he know owns display cushions and has DIY responsibilities around the home, it quickly dawns on him that he’s becoming a man. He starts on a quest to update his address book and meet up with his twelve friends before he turns 30 and when he will have officially grown up.

This was a brilliant book. It’s written in a very informal style, almost like a journal, but with the feel of a friend writing you a letter to tell you what they’ve been up to. Danny is only a few years younger than me, so the memories and reference points made me nostalgic for my own childhood and adolescence, and written with a genuine warmth that makes it feel very inclusive and I was completely immersed in the quest myself.

There are times when things don’t go according to plan, with some poignant and emotional moments, from revelations to rekindling of friendships, but overall, it’s a very satisfying story to read, great fun and I’m off to find out if any of his other books are available for download.

“Ghost Town” by Rachel Caine

This is the latest in the Morganville Vampire series. Claire Danvers has moved to Morganville to attend college there, but has ended up an unwillingly embroiled in the vampire politics of the local community. As the series has gone on, Claire’s fate has become almost inevitably entwined with the Founder of Morganville. The vampires in this series are for the most part, every bit as menacing and dangerous as their kind should be, making for a spine tingling thriller of a plot.

I’ve loved every one of this series of YA books, they’re funny and exciting, and there is a genuine sense of peril for the characters up against the strained relationships between the humans and vampires. A quick, easy read, I know, but the pages just whizz by as I get caught up in Claire’s story. I wondered how Caine would continue the series as the first six or seven books had a cliffhanger to take you on to the next book each time, and the last couple of books have had an uneasy conclusion but didn’t leave you on the edge of your seat exclaiming, “You can’t leave it there!!!!”, but I have liked how she’s developed what’s happening in Morganville. This one doesn’t leave you on tenterhooks as such, but it does leave you feeling you know what the next book will be about, but not how she’ll deal with it.

“The Fire Gospel” by Michel Faber

Canongate are running a long term project to produce a series of retellings of legendary myths by contemporary authors. The Fire Gospel is the third book in the series I’ve read, and is author Michel Faber’s interpretation of the Greek Myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals.

His protagonist is Theo Griepenkerl, an academic who specialises in Aramaic and is in Iraq trying to find treasures he can “save” from destruction by taking them back to Canada for storage. When the looted museum he is visiting is bombed, he finds nine papyrus scrolls that have been hidden inside a sculpture for two millenia. He translates the scrolls from Aramaic to find they are actually a fifth Gospel written by a man who was present at the crucifixion of Jesus. The story follows the inflammatory tale of what happens when Theo publishes the contents of the scrolls.

This is the third book of the Myths series I’ve read, and I’ve yet to be disappointed. It’s a pacy, quick read, and felt a bit like a shorter, more literary version of the blockbuster type thrillers like the Sam Bourne novels. Before you even read the whole story, as you realise what the scrolls contain, you begin to think about the impact they would have on religious communities around the world, even if Theo’s single-minded approach to what it will do for him is a bit too naïve to be fully convincing, but it doesn’t really detract from the story as you can imagine how he would get caught up in the process of his revealing of the Gospel to the world.

There’s one particularly funny chapter, when after Theo’s translation has been published, he’s at a loose end and decides to have a look at how well his book is doing on Amazon, and reads a selection of the customer reviews. Faber has taken great delight in writing these reviews, with their spelling, grammar and typographical mistakes, and all feel totally authentic and made me chuckle to myself (although maybe I feel a little uncomfortable writing my own thoughts on Faber’s book here now!).

Another Faber book down, and another good read. Also another book in the Myth series read, and another one enjoyed. I’m going to try and keep occasionally dropping another of the books from this series into my reading, as I’ve enjoyed them a lot, but I don’t think Ali Smith’s Girl Meets Boy will ever be surpassed, as surely the most joyous book I’ve ever read.

“Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris

Me Talk Pretty One Day is a collection of autobiographical essays, with the book split into two parts, the first part covering growing up and his life in America, while part deux about his French experiences. Sedaris writes about his childhood and his family, with tales of pets and parents, before going on to some of the various jobs including removals and cleaning, and then after meeting his partner, spending time and moving to France, learning the language and Americans in Paris.

I was nervously worried by how many “Hilarious!” type blurbs were on the cover, as it usually ends up being an omen that the book will not be in the slightest funny, but I actually enjoyed it. It wasn’t laugh out loud funny, but I found a gentle humorous tone running through the pieces, which were easy to read and at times acutely observed. I have to admit, I liked the French essays more than the American ones, but I think that’s because I love reading books about people who move to France to start a new life, and I could identify much more with learning a new language than I could with growing up in the States.

On the whole, an entertaining book and I did enjoy it. I may well look at some of his other books in the future, but I’m not going to be running out to grab them immediately.

“The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps” by Michel Faber

Siân wakes up from the same nightmare of her grisly death every morning. Hoping that manual work can distract her from the terrible dreams, she joins an archaeological dig in Whitby Abbey, but after meeting Magnus, her skills as a paper conservator are invaluable to help solve the mystery of the confessions written on a centuries old scroll that has been imprisoned in a bottle.

In this short but wonderfully written story, a Gothic mixture of romance, murder mystery and the ghosts of both Whitby and Siân’s past, the parallel threads of the unravelling of the delicate manuscript and the unravelling story of Siân’s past converge to a satisfying (although not altogether unpredictable) conclusion.

The acknowledgements tell us the artist in residence at Whitby Abbey requested a short story to be written inspired by the English Heritage dig, and I liked that although the dig is part of Siân’s life and escape, it is more the Abbey and the reason for the dig that prove the inspiration, not the dig itself.

The character of Siân felt very real and genuine, and it’s through her narrative that the story is told. However, my only slight criticism is that due to the brevity of the format and writing, the character of Magnus tends to be slight in comparison and I didn’t always feel I understood his actions or reactions.

The story itself was gripping, exciting and fast paced, unusually so, considering it relates to what would seem to be the detailed, considered work of a paper conservator. A very good read, and I’m looking forward to reading more of the books from this author I have already lined up.

“Hotel World” by Ali Smith

A young chambermaid, Sara, has fallen to her death in a hotel. The five tales in this book follow five people linked by their relationship to the hotel and to Sara.

Another fantastic book from one of my favourite authors, Ali Smith. Every one of her books is full of emotion, and this one looks at five lives intertwined by their links with an hotel. There are so many themes running throughout the five tales, but all revolve around the death of the narrator of the first story, Sara, a chambermaid who has fallen to her death in the hotel.

I must admit, I’m not usually very good at picking up themes and allegory in novels, but I could see how Smith has woven the different stages of grief into the five stories, using both close family members, witnesses and bystanders to explore the effects of death and grief.

There is something very moving about Smith’s writing, and I’ve loved everyone of her books I’ve read so far. I still have to investigate her short stories, and have a collection on my shelf waiting to be read.

“Something Beginning With” by Sarah Salway

Verity has been best friends with Sally since they were children, but since Sally started dating a married man, Verity can’t understand why Sally would allow herself to be his mistress, and they hardly see each other any more. Then Verity meets John, a married man with three children …

I loved the style of this book. The author has chosen to write it as an A-Z style glossary, e.g. B is for Baked Beans, and in a couple of paragraphs, she explains what Baked Beans mean to Verity, and at the end, there is a cross-reference to God, Mystery Tours and Noddy. Now you might be thinking, how can this work as a narrative for a story, but it actually works brilliantly. Each entry reveals a little bit more about Verity and her life, and you gradually learn how she became the woman she is, and where her relationships have lead her.

It’s a deceptively simple story of a young woman, but as the tale unfolds, particularly towards the conclusion, you understand how Verity has arrived at this point in her life. The author places hints and clues about Verity throughout the book, and that last few pages I found heartbreaking to read, but I can’t really say more than that without giving anything away.

Although it may appear and first glance to be a light and fluffy chick-lit book, far from it, this is a cleverly constructed and ultimately fulfilling story that really made me think.