YES FOLK'S I MAY HAVE SOLD THE BOOKSHOP BUT I AM STILL DOING REVIEWS FOR THE BOOKSHOP & WILL STAY IN TOUCH......

"Endurance" by Alfred Lansing.

I grew up with the story of Ernest Shackleton as it was in a Reader’s Digest compendium I was given.  However, I had never read the detail of the famous journey to Antarctica, in 1914, where Shackleton and his crew became trapped by the ice and had a two year journey home.

I have just read “Endurance” by Alfred Lansing. Lansing takes the diaries and first hand accounts of many of the crew and weaves together the story of exploration and human courage.

I learned what the men ate, how they slept, how they coped with the biting cold and ferocious winds and how they passed the endless hours. It is the most amazing story of bravery, fortitude, initiative and survival. Shackleton’s leadership and focus are noteworthy and the teamwork of the men is admirable. Alison L.

“The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry” by Rachel Joyce. One day Harold Fry gets a letter from an old friend who is dying from cancer. He goes out to post a letter to her. He walks past the first post box, then the second and he just keeps walking. He has the idea of walking to her, 627 miles away, with just what he is wearing and carrying when he leaves the house. As he walks Harold reflects on his relationship with his wife and his son and the woman to whom he is walking. He meets people along the way who change the way he views his walk and he in turn changes their lives. This simple story was compelling once Harold got on his way and as he reflected on his life I found myself reflecting on my own life. A book that can have that sort of impact is worth talking about. Alison L.

I have also just bought The Innocents by Francesca Segal which won the Costa best first novel award. Last year it was won by Tiny Sunbirds Far Away which we sold tonnes of (and which we all read). Haven't read this one yet but it looks good.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

As I had really enjoyed Ann Patchett's State of Wonder in 2012 I decided to read Bel Canto. This is about a group of people in a seige situation. One of the prisoners is an opera singer and as she practices every day the story considers how she and her singing change the lives of the people in the house, both the prisoners and the guards. Much of the story also revolves around a translator who is very busy as there are many different nationalities trapped in the house. His role is pivotal to allow them to communicate and he becomes involved in every sort of conversation, even negotiations and romances. I think Ann paints a very vivid picture when she writes and I got thoroughly involved with many characters and did not want to book to end. Plus she has an independent bookshop! Bel Canto won the Orange prize for fiction in 2002.

 

Getting to Happy by Terry MacMillan

 

This sequel to "Waiting to Exhale" sees the ladies 15 years on. The one thing you can be sure of is that their lives will be full of drama. You wouldn't have had to have read Waiting to Exhale to enjoy this, in fact it must be about 15 years or more since I read it so I had forgotten much about the characters anyway. Anyone who has close girl friends will enjoy the relationships between these four and if you share the age group (about 50ish) then you will probably find even more to relate to.

 

I feel bad about my neck by Nora Ephron

 

Nora Ephron was a journalist and screenplay writer, famous for "When Harry met Sally" amongst many others. This is a collection of essays about her life and I found it highly entertaining, interesting and poignant in places.

"Restoration" and "Merivel" by Rose Tremain

Lindsay in the shop recommended Restoration for my holiday and I just loved it. I was transported to the time of King Charles II and the story is told through the eyes of one Robert Merivel a young medical student who becomes part of the court circle. Robert is a man of impulse, not always with the best intentions and the story of his actions, desires and friendships is well written and most enjoyable. I love to get my history in a good novel and with the plague and the great fire of London appearing in this story that need was satisfied. "Merivel" is the new novel by Tremain and jumps forward about 20 years to continue Robert's story. I eked this story out as I did not want it to end.

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Heresy by S J Parris

If you like C J Sansom then you will probably enjoy this series. the "detective" is Giordano Bruno a radical thinker fleeing the Inquisition. The timing is the 1580's and Queen Elizabeth I is on the throne. Bruno gets involved in defending the realm. He is young, intelligent and is not averse to the ladies. The description of the time is detailed and continually makes me give thanks I was born in the twentieth century! Good plot, I will certainly read the other two in the series.

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Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Shaffer and Barrows

I know this book has been around for a couple of years but I have only just read it. What a great book. I have always liked the letter format and in this case a female author starts corresponding with some people in Guernsey after the second world war  and through discussing their favourite books also learns a lot about how they survived the war and occupation by the German Army and many prisoners of war. This was a complete eye opener for me. I had no knowledge of the hardship experienced by the islanders, their children being shipped to mainland Britain, the lack of food, the informers. However it is not a depressing read, the islanders all have distinct personalities and approaches to their stories. I really enjoyed this book.

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

This just won the Orange prize for ficion 2012 and is a great read if you like your Greek mythology. Madeline has taken the story of Achilles and the Trojan War told in the Iliad and has novelised it. Reading it has actually made me flick through The Iliad, which can't be bad! This is a love story between Achilles and Patroclus his companion,  interwoven with the story of a very long battle over the most beautiful woman in the world. I really enjoyed it.

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State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

I read the back of this shortlisted Orange novel and just had to read it. I wasn’t disappointed. The description of life for the scientists in the Amazonian rainforest is fantastic – you definitely have to be a certain type of person to subject yourself to that life. Really good story. A renowned female scientist is developing a drug that could change the life of women. The company funding the research sends someone into the jungle to find out how the research is going and all that comes back is a letter saying he developed a fever and died. His colleague and friend also goes to South America to find out what happened and so the story develops. Gripping!

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Island of Wings by Karen Altenberg

Set on St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides in 1830 this novel transported me to Scotland and the remote life of these islanders who get their living and their food from the seabirds that still inhabit the island today.

You see the island through the eyes of Neil and Lizzie McKenzie, based on the real life minister and his wife who lived on the island in the 19th century.

I was so fascinated about the life of these islanders that I have now got a factual book on St Kilda to read.

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Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden

Lovers of the Hunger Games will enjoy this trilogy. A group of Australian teenagers have gone camping in the bush when their country is invaded by a hostile force. They return to town to find all the people have been rounded up and taken to camps. To maintain their freedom they have to survive in the bush and they decide to fight back. Very believable scenarios and characters, good description, attention to relevant detail. Some sexual content (not explicit). I have read the first two books and loved them. Book 3 is out April and I can't wait. (NB these were written 20 years ago and have been reprinted, they stand the test of time).

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Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville

I really enjoyed The Secret River written by Kate Grenville about convicts, and one particular family, making their way in the early days of Australian colonization. "Sarah Thornhill" takes  a daughter from that family and moves her story on. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, transported back to the heat and wildness of early New South Wales but a couple of the plot twists in the second half of the book felt unbelievable and left me feeling a bit cheated.

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Emperor, Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden

Regular readers of my reviews will know how much I love the novels of Simon Scarrow. So, imagine my delight when I realised that Conn Iggulden’s Emperor series has the same atmosphere and colour. The historical accuracy is loose but I love my history with a really good bit of readable fiction wrapped around it and this works for me. I wolfed the first one up in three nights and I now have book two beckoning to me.

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The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

I flew through this is 3 evenings as this Booker winner is more of a novella. The writer build anticipation brilliantly, and I ended up reading the ending at 4 in the morning when I couldn't sleep and decided I couldn't wait till the next night! I really enjoyed 95% of the book but the ending left me a little disappointed. However, on reflection it was unexpected and that has got to be good - as to realistic? I look forward to discussing this with my customers. The first one of Barnes' novels that I have read and I will be reading more.

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Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

I really enjoyed "Norwegian Wood" and have always meant to read another Muakami novel so was glad when the Soul Stop Cafe (see Cafe Book Group tab) picked this as their January read. We all agreed that it was just a really good story as the description is wonderful and the characters incredibly interesting. However you could also choose to put much more consideration into what is actually being meant by some of the dream sequences and what the different characters represent. I think everyone at the group had enjoyed the book which is quite unusual but there was still much to discuss including the Oedipus complex, the links to the writing of Kafka and the man who could talk to cats!

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Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas

I read this just before Christmas and it was the perfect book to relax with at the end of a busy day when your mind is buzzing. When clearing her mother's house Mair discovers a beautiful shawl that belonged to her Grandmother who was a Welsh Missionary and travelled to India in the 1940's. Mair decides to trace her footsteps and so we get the two stories of Mair and her Nerys, her Grandmother, running in parallel. The descriptions of the places and people really transport you there and the mix of characters in both the past and present day are very appealing. I always enjoy Rosie Thomas's attention to detail and this book is no exception. Plus there's a bit of romance!

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A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jenifer Egan

This won the Pulitzer prize this year. It is a clever, witty, wise novel. It's about a group of people who were in a punk band in the seventies. The novel introduces the people in separate chapters at different times in their lives and as a reader you gradually put the pieces together. Wildly different characters - each very real and compelling in their own way. I was charmed and impressed by the chapter that consists of slideware created by the daughter of one of the characters. I really want to read more of Jennifer Egan's books.

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The Affair by Lee Child

Regular visitors to the shop will know I am a big Lee Child fan though I am still in shock at the idea of Tom Cruise playing Reacher in the first movie of the books to be made. I really like Tom Cruise but he is NOT Jack Reacher. 

Child goes back to when Reacher was still in the army and we travel with him during what turns out to be jack's last case before he left the army. For me it was a classic Reacher novel - more like the early ones than the last 2. Less violence, more suspense, good twists and turns in the plot. 

If you haven't read Lee Child and you like an action packed novel with a lovable hero then give him a go. As they say, men want to be Reacher and women want to be with him!

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The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Those of us who work in the shop all enjoyed "Middlesex" (a Pulitzer winner). I also enjoyed the Marriage Plot but one of the main characters is a manic depressive and inevitably reading about his depressive and manic periods is a little depressing itself, albeit very interesting to understand what goes on in the mind of someone who has this debilitating condition.

I really like Eugenides' use of language and description Middlesex was hard act to follow and this book is completely different. I did feel it stretched me mentally in trying to understand some of the issues the students on campus discussed, the love triangle was unusual in that I had no idea how it would actually turn out and neither did I know how I wanted it to turn out. A good literary read.

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Before I go to Sleep by S J Watson

A woman wakes up in a room she doesn't recognise with a man she doesn't know and then looks in the mirror to discover she is 20 years older than she thinks she is. What an amazing start to this thriller. One of the best books I have read this year.

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Books by Mary Stewart

I decided to re-read a few Mary Stewart books. Mary is 95 and has published about 20 books. I read a few in my teens and then carried on reading them in my 20s and 30s as new titles came out. She was known as the maestro of mystery and romance. As some of the books are written in the 1960's the terminology and the position on women in society can be a little bit old fashioned but the gripping, well thought plots, the wonderful description and the characterisation more that compensate. Having just visited Scotland I re-read "Stormy Petrel" (Set of the coast of Mull) and "Wildfire at Midnight" (Set in Skye). I also re-read "The Ivy Tree" which I have read at least 6 times and is my favourite. I think I get something new from it every time.

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Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

This mystery novel is unlike any I have read. A fire takes place at a school and a Mother and daughter get caught up in the blaze. The cause of the fire is then gradually revealed through overhead conversations inside and outside the hospital. I don't want to give too much away but the story is told is a compelling style and in the end is both a crime novel and a love story. I found it addictive.

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Vespasian, Tribune of Rome by Robert Fabbri

Regular readers of this page will know I love a good Roman setting and Simon's Scarrow's books are some of my favourites. Scarrow's books feature Vespasian so I was interested to see a book by a different author about his early life. I wasn't disappointed, intrigue, politics, romance and plenty of Roman name dropping. Thoroughly good Roman romp, I can't wait for the second one.

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Alison's teen read summer fest

I've read 4 really good teen books over the past 6 weeks. All had a similar survival theme which I always enjoy as I love how creative and resourceful people can be in a crisis. I would recommend Pod and the Zombie books to 14+ teenagers and A Small Free Kiss to 11+.

POD by Stephen Wallenfels is a gripping read. Imagine waking and discovering the Earth covered by black PODs that send bolts of lightening into anyone who ventures outdoors. Life as we know it changes overnight and people are trapped wherever they were when the aliens (if that's what they are!) arrive.

The Enemy and The Dead by Charlie Higson are teen zombie books - zombie's are "in" at the moment what with Brad Pitt being over here making a film of World War Z and Darren Shan's new series being zombie based.

Charlie Higson's world has everyone over the age of 14 getting a disease with zombie like symptoms. Puss, boils and a need to eat other humans. Children have to abandon their homes and survive together in groups and fight off the diseased adults. The setting is London and his descriptions of the kids navigating the streets as they try to find safety were excellent. The desperation the kids experience really comes across and as Charlie has no compunction regarding killing off main characters no-one is safe!

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard

Skip lives on the streets and befriends Billy an older homeless man. War strikes and suddenly everyone is living on the streets. The two of them become a family as they are joined by Max, Tia and the baby. Where should they go, how will they endure. A book of relationships, war, love and survival.

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The Dubious Salvation of Jack V by Jacques Strauss (H/B £12.99)

An interesting novel about the main character, Jack, growing up in South Africa. Jack is the son of an Afrikaans Father and English Mother and much is made of the different ways of life of those two sorts of families, Jack having a mixed upbringing which is neither one nor the other. He is also the middle brother between two sisters and not close to either ends up becomes friends with the house maid Susie. All is well until Susie's son comes to stay.......and a chain of events is triggered with disasterous consequences.

I liked Jack's narrative, it really made me laugh out loud in places. The description of South African life was also very interesting - I had no idea there were so many differences between the Afrikaans and the South African English ways of life. It did remind me how obsessed with ones own life one is at 11 and how much over thinking goes on. An enjoyable read.

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The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell

I've always enjoyed Maggie O'Farrell's writing and this Costa winner was no exception. Fresh out of university in the 1950's and in disgrace Lexie meets Innes, a magazine editor, debonair, educated and good looking and takes off for London where they get together. In the present Ted and Elina are coping with a new baby and the dramtic change to their lifestyle and relationship. The two stories are quite compelling and you will find yourself looking for the links. Both Dilys and I felt it reminded us of the writing of Patrick Gayle who we also love.

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Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson

I really enjoyed about 90% of this book. The book is set in the 1950's and 60's and Grace is a severely disabled child who is put into care at the age of 11. We get to understand what is going on in Grace's mind. As she can only occasionally manage two words at a time those in Grace's presence have no knowledge of her intelligence and at times treat her abominably. It is only those scenes that were very upsetting and make up the 10% of the book I did not enjoy. And that of course, is more my problem than the books problem. I think Emma Henderson has written a clever, fascinating, romantic story of love, friendship and family that needed to be told.

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Trespass by Rose Tremain

I had really enjoyed "The Road Home" by Rose Tremain so picked up her new paperback with fairly high expectations. I was not disappointed. Her characters are so well described I could have picked them out of a crowd. The novel is mainly set in France and gives an interesting view of how the locals view the English who decide to retire there. The novel is all about relationships, an elderly French brother and sister where the relationship could not be described as healthy, an English landscape gardner and her lover who have settled in France and are seemingly very content, and also the uncomfortable tension when her brother comes to stay.

There is a sense of tension building throughout the novel which comes to a head about three quarters of the way through. The description in the novel, as in all of Tremain's works, is exquisite and I felt very satisfied with the conclusion of the story.

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The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman

My cousin lent me this book and I was hooked from about page 20. When the women in the Sparrow family reach the age of thirteen they develop a special ability. We join the book on Stella's thirteenth birthday and follow her journey as she develops and uses her ability while also understanding the journeys her  Mother and Grandmother took as their lives were impacted by their own ability.

It is the first Alice Hoffman I have read and it was with great excitement that I looked inside the cover and so about twenty other titles.

Bring them on!

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When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman

I was sent a proof of this book which comes out in March. Headline is confident it will be their next big title and I think they could be right. It is about the relationship between a brother and sister in a quirky family. It has laugh out loud moments and moments when a box of tissues is required. It has echoes of other book, a nativity scene to challenge that of A Prayer for Owen Meany and the kind of eccentric friends that I have encountered in Anne Tylers work, but at the same time it is very original and incredibly enjoyable. To top it all the first third of the book is set locally. Highly recommended.

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Blood Red Road by Moira Young

I received a proof of this ...it's not published till June 2011. What a great teenage read. Perfect for fans of the Knife of Never Letting Go it follows Saba as she tries to rescue her twin who has been stolen by mysterious black robed riders. Fiesty Saba vows to rescue her brother if it is the last thing she does .......much conspires to thwart her but never seems to defeat her. A resourceful and appealing character, I was gripped by her from start to finish.

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Twelve Days of Christmas by Trisha Ashley

This was the perfect read in the run up to Christmas. Light, good characters, lots of food descriptions and a fairly predictable but fun plot. I then read one of Trisha's earlier books and was disappointed to discover such similar characters that I had to double check I hadn't picked up the wrong book. Don't get me wrong it was still a fun read but it was my mistake to read two of her books in a row. If you fancy a light frothy read though (very like Katie Fforde) she definitely fits the bill.

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Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy

I hadn't read a Maeve Binchy novel in a long time and I am very glad I picked this one up (it's her new release). It's a bit like being hugged by a favourite Irish Aunt. Lots of characters but they are gradually introduced until you feel you know them all personally. Cousin Emily visits one family from America and gradually gets them to open out to each other and becomes the lynch pin of the neighbourhood. Everyone's lifes become intertwined when baby Frankie arrives and they all take turns to "mind" her. The novel managed to surprise me in a couple of places and I was sorry to see it finish.

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Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

This book won the Samuel Johnson prize for non fiction this year and is about the lives of 6 people in North Korea. What a fascinating read. I realised how little I knew about North Korea and found the information compulsive, fascinating , touching and disturbing at the same time. I had no idea of the contrast between North and South Korea and just how extreme the poverty is in North Korea. The 6 people featured are all from very different backgrounds and so it is fascinating to see the same country from the different points of view, but who all gradually come to the same conclusion.

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A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

I haven't written anything for a while as this book has taken me a while to read. I am a John Irving fan but I have resisted this book for many years as I found the whole concept of Owen accidentally killing his best freind's Mother just too horrific to contemplate. Also Owen has a very unusual voice and it is represented in Capital Letters in the book. This has also put me off in the past. One of my regular customers, Jeff, told me that this is his favourite John Irving so I had to give it another go.

It took me a good hundred pages to get into it but then I really enjoyed it. I got used to interpreting Owen's voice with the Upper Case and the matter of the killing of his friend's matter was dealt with so well, I could feel the pain of both boys. There were moments of laugh out loud brilliance in this book. The nativity play comes to mind...........almost Tom Sharpe farcical in places. I enjoyed John Irvings usual style of writing, the repitition for dramatic effect, the jumping in time and the feeling of anticipation as we wait to find out how Owen's dream will come true. I cried......alot...at the end.

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S is for Silence and T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

I started reading this series of books in the 1980's and there is a new one every year as Sue works through the alphabet. It's been 8 years since I picked one up and I've just read 2 in quick succession as I had forgotten how much I like Kinsey Millhone, the PI who is the crime solver in this series. The books are very American in their language and formulaic in the way they re-introduce you to Kinsey and her life but the mystery element in each one is always suitable unique and usually very intriguing. I especially liked T is for Trespass and the issue of identify fraud was described very well and is very topical. What I like best is that Kinsey is an old friend now and I enjoy the reminder every time of her taste in men, her eating and exercise habits and her relationship with her landlord. A comforting, but enjoyable read.

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I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Room by Emma Donoghue

What an amazing book this is. Told through the eyes of 5 year old Jack, who does not know he is imprisoned in a reinforced shed as it is the only world he has ever known and his Ma has not told him there is an outside world. Ma was kidnapped as a teenager and does an amazing job of educating and stimulating Jack's mind as well as keeping herself sane. While reading the novel you cannot help but look around imagining the 12 foot by 12 foot shed.  The 5 year old voice is incredibly believable and likeable and does not grate as I imagined it might. I have just read this in a 24 hour period and I really struggled to put it down. It is a truly brilliant novel and is long listed for the Man Booker Prize.

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Withering Tights by Louise Rennison

What a hoot this book is. It may be aimed at teenagers but I enjoyed all Louise's other books and this one continued the theme of making me laugh out loud. Talullah is very different from Georgia but just as bonkers! Louise gets enormous humour out of the airy fairy performing arts college being set in Yorkshire and some of the comments from the locals are hysterical. I loved the description of Tallulah's first kiss.

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After the Party by Lisa Jewell

Anyone who read Ralph's party ten years ago will be as keen as I was to see what has happened to Ralph and Jem. You realise very early on that this relationship is not going well ten years and two children later. I won't spoil what happens but I am never disappointed with Lisa Jewell. She is a reliable good read but not predictable and it was good to catch up with the characters.

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Lindsay read this first and raved about it so much I just had to read it. Well, I wasn't sorry. It's a book about the relationship between black maids and their white mistresses in the deep south of America in the sixties.  It is shocking how recently segregation was still taking place and people were being robbed of their civil rights. Still this is not a depressing book although it has it's shocking moments. It is actually incredibly uplifting and the characters in it are so likeable you are rooting for them all the way. I think this could be a great book for book groups.

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I just re-read an old favourite and enjoyed it even more the third time. "Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver has some wonderfully complex characters, a hot steamy setting and teaches you about nature in a fascinating and subtle way. I loved Deanna and Lusa and Nannie so much that I didn't want the book to end and it makes me hope that Barbara might revisit them some day. I will also think twice about ever using pesticides in my garden (it's the first time I have read the book since I became interested in gardening and photography and I certainly got things out of it that passed me by the first time).

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I have just read 4 very good teenage books. Each very different but all thoroughly enjoyable. I would recommend them to adults and also older teenagers.

The Knife of Never Letting Go and the Ask and the Answer are by Patrick Ness and are parts 1 and 2 of a Trilogy. The action takes place on a planet where there are no women and the men can all hear each others thoughts and also the thoughts of animals. As far as we know all the women were wiped out by the same virus that caused the telepathy. Then we find out differently........ I don't know when I have been left breathless by a book but the chase in this one is non-stop and I was really blown away by the quality of the writing. The third part of the trilogy is out now and I am saving it as a treat!

The Shell House by Linda Newbury. Linda Newbury is a local writer and has written many very successful children's novels. I recently met her Mother and she encouraged me to read the Shell House. It was inspired by Copped Hall and features a young man called Greg who stumbles upon the beautiful ruins of a grand house and becomes intrigued about it's history and its destruction. We learn about Edmund, a previous inhabitant of the Hall and his experiences in the First World War. It's a delightful and moving read about love and sexuality.

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X Stork. this will be published in June and I was lucky enough to get a proof to read. Pancho is planning the murder of his sister's killer and DQ is on the brink of death. The 2 main characters are brought together one summer in New Mexico (you can feel the heat!) and end up helping each other with their situations in ways they could never have imagined. This is top quality writing, amazing characterisation, very moving in places. I will be recommending this one in June.

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The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

In this novel the unit is where you go when you are 50, if you are childless and don't have a job that the State deems productive. In the unit you will make friends, have an apartment and all your food and clothing paid for. In return you participate in medical experiments and donate your organs to those in the outside world who are leading "productive" lives.

Scary scenario, very well written, good characterisation, interesting plot turns. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

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61 hours by Lee Child

I read this on a plane and then kept reading when I got home....but Lee Child novels do this to you. The description of the cold had me shivering, Jack Reacher lived up to his hero status and there was a suitably scary villian. Classic Reacher, classic Child. Loved it!

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Small Wars by Sadie Jones

I read this at the weekend as I was going to a reading by Sadie and her sister Melissa. The writing is every bit as good as The Outcast (which all of us who work in the bookshop loved in 2008). The book is set mainly in Cyprus in the fifties and we share the lives of Hal, a soldier, and Clara his wife. Hal struggles with some of the actions he has to take against the locals who are fighting for union with Greece. He also feels let down by some of his comrades and struggles with his communications with Clara. I think Sadie has painted a very vivid picture of Cyprus in the fifties and has also captured the relationship issues that can arise between an army man and his wife. For me the subject matter was a little depressing though and whereas The Outcast had some very uplifting moments Small Wars didn't give you that lighter relief.

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Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving

I have now finished this novel having broken off to read the two other novels highlighted above. I greatly enjoyed the style of writing which is so uniquely his but I found the plot a little difficult to follow (not normally the case with his novels). It starts in 1954 when an anxious 12 year old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. The boy and his father become fugitives and we follow them over the next 50 years. John Irving tells a story very well and in this case the main characters change their names, more than once and keep reflecting on their past even when the story has just jumped forward ten years,  making it a little hard to follow at times. Coming back to it after a break was good as I found I had missed the characters and I think I warmed to them more in the last third of the book. I know it is a book I will read again and probably enjoy more the second time. It had a happy ending, which pleased me. I do always enjoy his stories within stories, his repetition and his, at times, exquisite prose.

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Death on the Ice by Robert Ryan

I have always been fascinated by explorers who take great risks and venture where no-one else has ventured. Death on the Ice is the story of Scott and his journey in 1912 to the South Pole. It is a novelisation of the expedition story and the author has obviously kept to the well known facts but has added likely conversations and more personality to the characters involved. The first half of the book alternates chapters between Scott and his earlier expedition in 1902 and Oates (who servec in the Boer War). The second half of the book looks in detail at the preparation for the big push to the Pole in 1912 and is a fascinating account of man against the elements. This was a really great read.

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The Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly

I have been waiting 2 years for this continuation of "The Six Sacred Stones", Matthew's books are an action rollercoaster. Jack West is like James Bond and Bourne rolled into one and then some! If you like your action fast and furious and you are happy to suspend logic and add in a bit of supernatural then you will love this series of books! One thing....Jack West has one real arm and one titanium arm but the guy on the jacket has two real arms even though it is clearly meant to be Jack. Why do they make these mistakes!!!

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Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler

I am a big fan of Anne Tyler's writing and the style and pace of the writing did not disappoint but the subject matter was a little depressing. Noah has retired and is down-sizing his life when he is attacked on the first night in his new apartment. He loses his memory of the attack and becomes obsessed with finding out what happened. There were some very light moments of farce as Noah interacts with his family however his obsession annoyed me a little. Nevertheless there was a twist in this that I did not expect and it did me me more cogniscent of the difficulties faced by someone retiring as their interactions with the outside world become less.

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Brixton Beach by Roma Tearne

This is a fascinating story set in Sri Lanka and London. The author is a painter as well as a wonderful storyteller and the colours and textures of both Sri Lanka and England are described beautifully. Sita and her daughter Alice are the main characters over 2 generations and we experience their highs and their lows of which there are many and they are significant. I look forward to reading more of this authors work.

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Gentleman's Relish by Patrick Gale

Regular visitors to the shop will know that those of us who work there are big Patrick Gale fans. This is a collection of short stories and it doesn't disappoint. Or when it does, it is only because one is enjoying the story so much you would like to have read more!I felt the touch of Roald Dahl at times (thinking back to Kiss Kiss and Switch Bitch). A lovely present for anyone who likes the short story genre.

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