The Earth Hums in B Flat

Author: Mari Strachan



Published: 2010



Publisher: Canongate



What They Say: Gwenni Morgan is an incorrigible free spirit with a penchant for eavesdropping and a stubborn need to understand human behavior, which merely leads to more questions. Her struggle to define the world around her is offset by a fantastic dream world where each night she rises from the bed she shares with her sister and flies high into the sky above her small Welsh village. There, Gwenni becomes tuned into the earth's softest subtleties, and its hidden mysteries.

When a neighborhood family is rocked by the sudden, unexplainable disappearance of their patriarch, Gwenni believes that her unknown talents will allow her to discover the truth. But distinguishing fact from fiction carries more difficulties than she first predicted, and her quest for answers will soon lead her closer to home than she ever imagined.

What Sheli Says: I was really looking forward to reading this book as both a young adult book and being one of the few modern stories set in North Wales.

I really enjoyed reading the story and found the main character, Gwenni, endearing and innocent. I also liked that we learnt a lot about the wider community without it being too wordy. It was also very distinctly Welsh and I could very clearly picture a North Walean community and all of the gossiping that goes on there!

I wasn't really that keen on the more fantastical elements of the book and am unsure that they added a great deal to the story overall. I also found the timing of the book a little confusing as I couldn't place the era. I suppose that this gave it a timeless feel, but as there were some references to what I think was the 1950s, I would have liked a little more clarity for me to know if I was on the right track.

An enjoyable read.

Sheli's Rating: 7/10

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The Night Watch

Author: Sarah Waters


Published: 2006



Publisher: Virago



What They Say: Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked-out streets, illicit partying, and sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch tells the story of four Londoners - three women and a young man with a past - whose lives, and those of their friends and lovers, connect in tragedy, stunning surprise and exquisite turns, only to change irreversibly in the shadow of a grand historical event.

What Sheli Says: Sarah Waters is one of my favourite writers and The Night Watch was a re-read for me as part of a book group that my friend Sian has set up.

I really enjoyed this book first time round and enjoyed rediscovering it this time just as much. The book is set during and just after the War and we follow a number of characters and gradually find out all of their secrets and how their lives intertwine with each other.

The book is written in a really interesting way as it starts at the end and works its way back in time. I really liked this style as it meant we made assumptions about the characters and learnt the truth about them the further into the book we got.

As always, the descriptions were great and were really evocative of the era. I also enjoyed reading about the geographical setting of the story as I have spent a lot of time in some of the locations included so felt more of a connection with it this time around.

Not my favourite Sarah Waters book, but still very enjoyable and a great piece of writing.

Sheli's Rating: 7/10

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Gone Girl

Author: Gillian Flynn


Published: June 2012


What They Say: There are two sides to every story...This is THE US No. 1 bestselling novel that everyone is talking about...

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

What Sheli Says: I have seen ridiculous amounts of hype for this book and was really looking forward to reading it. I was expecting something that would make me hold my breath with anticipation, and although I enjoyed the book, it just didn't hit the mark for me.

The story is well constructed and there is a twist in the book. The initial build up is designed to make you hate the husband, Nick and side with Amy who has gone missing. This didn't really work for me as there was something about her that I didn't like. I did like the fact that although I disliked both of them, I still wanted to continue reading.

The story unfolds in  a very clever way and you are never sure if things are quite as they seem. I thought that some of the book dragged and I thought that some of the language and descriptions were unecessarily crude. This has to be bad for me to comment on it! I also felt that the repeated use of very British swear words didn't quite sit right in the story and felt as they had been included to shock, rather than to add to the story.

Overall, I am glad I read this one, but won't be rushing out to read anything else by the author.



Sheli's Rating: 6/10

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The Things We Never Said

Author: Susan Elliot Wright

Published: 23 May 2013



Publisher: Simon and Schuster


What They Say: In 1964 Maggie wakes to find herself in a psychiatric ward, not knowing who she is or why she has been committed. She slowly begins to have memories of a storm and of a man called Jack and slowly the pieces of the past begin to come together...In 2008 Jonathan is struggling to put his differences with his parents aside to tell them he and his wife are expecting a baby, when a detective arrives to question him about crimes committed long ago...And as these two tales interweave, the secrets of the past, long kept hidden, start to come to light in unexpected and sometimes startling ways. The Things We Never Said is a powerful novel about fatherhood and motherhood; nature and nurture; cruelty and kindness; and mental breakdown. Written in beautiful, compelling prose, it is by turns revealing, witty and moving.

What Sheli Says: I don't think the cover of this book does it justice as I don't think I would have read it if I hadn't carefully read the blurb for it.

The story follows two main characters, Maggie and Jonathan, 40 years apart and we find how their seemingly separate lives are very much intertwined. The book alternates between 2008 and the 60s and we see Jonathan's life start to fall apart as Maggie has to put together the pieces of hers after waking up in a mental hospital with no idea of why she is there.

The book is really well written and I wanted to know more about the characters all the way through. The story was heartbreaking in parts, and I found that I couldn't put it down. The short chapters helped me to stay up a lot later than planned to read it as I kept thinking "just one more"!

I really enjoyed the book, although I found the ending a little anti-climatic. I think this was because there are some unresolved issues in the book that I wanted to know more about.

I was sent an advance copy of this book for review by Lovereading.

Sheli's Rating: 8/10

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The House at Belle Fontaine

Author: Lily Tuck

Published: April 2013

What They Say:  The elegantly conceived, intimate stories of The House at Belle Fontaine span the better part of the twentieth century and almost every continent, revealing apprehensions, passions, secrets, and tragedies among lovers, spouses, landlords and tenants, and lifelong friends. In her crisp and penetrating prose, Tuck delicately probes at the lives of her characters as they navigate exotic locales and their own hearts: an artist learns that her deceased husband had an affair with their young houseguest; a retired couple strains to hold together their forty-year-old marriage on a ship bound for Antarctica; and a French family flees to Lima in the 1940s with devastating consequences for their daughter’s young nanny.

All published or soon to be in prestigious literary quarterlies including the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2011, these tales make up a crowning collection by one of our most revered American authors.

What Elaine Says: Something didn't quick click here and I can't put my finger on it.  I'm a fan of short story collections and in particular interlocking story collections (last year's Booker nominated "Communion Town" is a perfect example) so this sounded like an interesting read for me.

The writing is deft and the stories are engaging but it doesn't gel together.  As a reader I felt no pull to continue yet for some reason, I did. These are subtle, quiet stories without a doubt and Tuck is definitely skilled at this.

Most of the stories revolve around relationships, lack of communication or decisions we face in relationships. This is by no  means a bad book.  It's just not a great book.

The title story "The House at Bell Fontaine" was possibly the standout for me.

Elaine's Rating: (a slightly harsh) 6/10

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Fringe Science

Author: Edited by Kevin R Grazier

Published: August 2011

What They Say: Fringe has always been more than the sum of its parts—but its parts, too, are worth a closer look. The show combines a surfeit of mad science, some old-school sci-fi flair, and a dash of strawberry-milkshake whimsy to create the challenging, fascinating Pattern that keeps us coming back season after season and universe after universe.

Now, in Fringe Science, cutting-edge scientists, science writers, and science fiction authors and historians provide a smart, savvy, and accessible look at the world(s) of Fringe.

What Elaine Says: One thing that's always fascinated me about the series Fringe is the reality behind the the science of the show.  Just what is possible within the parameters of our own scientific laws?  That's what I was expecting from this book.  A look into just what is plausible, albeit at a stretch!

Unfortunately that's not really what I got.  As a series of essays on various areas within the show, this is a very interesting book but just not what I was looking for.

As with all books of this nature, some of the essays where, of course, better than others and some very interesting parallels are drawn between the main characters (especially Walter Bishop) and great literary investigators or science fiction greats.

Obviously one for fans of the show only but definitely an interesting read even if it didn't deliver what I wanted.

*This was a review copy

Elaine's Rating: 7/10

Quotes:

" Fringe may be a cutting-edge series in many ways, but it's grounding in the science-fiction tradition marks it as the most recent voice in a loing and ongoing dialogue about what is possible, what is moral, and what is human."

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Tigers in Red Weather

Author: Liza Klaussman 

Published: August 2012

Publisher: Picador

What They Say: The epitome of East Coast glamour, Tiger House is where the beautiful and the damned have always come to play in summer, scene of martinis and moonlit conspiracies, and newly inherited by the sleek, beguiling Nick. The Second World War is just ending, Nick’s cousin Helena has left her in search of married bliss in Hollywood, and Nick’s husband is coming home. Everything is about to change. Their children will surprise them. A decade later, on the cusp of adolescence, Nick’s daughter and Helena’s son make a sinister discovery that plunges the island’s bright heat into private shadow. Summer seemed to arrive at that moment, with its mysterious mixture of salt, cold flesh and fuel. Magnificently told by each of the five characters in turn, Tigers in Red Weather is a simmering novel of passion, betrayal and secret violence beneath a polished and fragile facade.

What Sheli Says:

Tigers in Red Weather is a well written story that is reminiscent of The Great Gatsby.

It has parties and glamour, love and betrayal and a murder thrown into the mix too. The story is told over about 20 years and is told from a number of characters’ points of view. I like this style of writing, but found some parts of the book a little repetitive as a result.

I enjoyed reading the book although I felt it could have been a little shorter. There are some great twists throughout the story that depicts both America and London during and after the war in a very vivid way. The writing is really great and really brings the story into full colour for the reader.

A good book, that like Gatsby, didn’t quite hit the mark for me, but none the less has a good story and fantastic writing.

I received this book as a review copy from Lovereading.

Sheli's Rating: 6/10 

Quote:

“No, everything was new now, just waiting to be discovered. And she would ... She was hungry for it, she would stuff the whole world into her mouth and bite down.”  

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The Wasp Factory

Author: Iain Banks (or Iain M Banks)

Published: 1984

What They Say: Meet Frank Cauldhame. Just sixteen, and unconventional to say the least:

Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.

That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again.

It was just a stage I was going through.

What Elaine Says: Oh my! Where do I start with this.  Disturbing but riveting is possibly the easiest description of this. This is my first Iain Banks novel but I guarantee you it won't be my last.  The writing is fantastic. Banks has a knack of conjuring the most disturbing images with the simplest of sentences. 

A controversial book when it was released The Wasp Factory takes us into the daily routine of Frank.  Frank is a 16 year old who lives on a remote Scottish island with his father. He also happens to be a murderer. We join Frank when he discovers that his brother has escaped from a mental hospital and is on his way back to the island. The story Frank proceeds to tell us is, in parts, truly horrific*.

You can certainly see why the book caused such controversy when first released but actually as a piece of writing it is rather spectacular.  Banks delivers a narrative that is so simple, so matter of fact and yet so chilling,

This is the first novel by Iain Banks and while much of his future works are science fiction (a genre I haven't paid that much attention to), this has definitely left me wanting  to read more.

*Not the faint hearted, be warned The Wasp Factory contains some rather graphic descriptions of animal torture.

Elaine's Rating: 7/10

Quotes:

“My greatest enemies are Women and the Sea. These things I hate. Women because they are weak and stupid and live in the shadow of men and are nothing compared to them, and the Sea because it has always frustrated me, destroying what I have built, washing away what I have left, wiping clean the marks I have made.”

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A Murder At Rosamund's Gate

Author: Susanna Calkins

Published: April 2023

What They Say:  In Susanna Calkins's atmospheric debut novel, a chambermaid must uncover a murderer in seventeenth-century plague-ridden London.

For Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English chambermaid serving in the household of the local magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing pewter, emptying chamber pots, and dealing with other household chores until a fellow servant is ruthlessly killed, and Lucy’s brother is wrongly arrested for the crime. In a time where the accused are presumed guilty until proven innocent, lawyers aren’t permitted to defend their clients, and—if the plague doesn't kill them first—public executions draw a large crowd of spectators, Lucy knows she may never see her brother alive again. Unless, that is, she can identify the true murderer.

Determined to do just that, Lucy finds herself venturing out of her expected station and into raucous printers’ shops, secretive gypsy camps, the foul streets of London, and even the bowels of Newgate prison on a trail that might lead her straight into the arms of the killer.

In her debut novel, Susanna Calkins seamlessly blends historical detail, romance, and mystery into a moving and highly entertaining tale.

What Elaine Says: The first in a series of historical murder mysteries, Murder at Rosamund's Gate just didn't work for me.  Unengaging and rather (I'm afraid to say) hackneyed, the plot seemed flimsy and while I've read worse, I can't really think of any off hand! 

Calkin is a history scholar and there are some interesting historical tidbits in here but unfortunately her characters and writing style are not remotely accurate historically.  In fact there are moments of modernism that actually made me balk.  Calkin does try to negate this in an authors note which states: ""At times, I took minor liberties for the purposes of creativity and readability, using far more modern phrasing and spelling than people would have used in seventeenth-century England". Unfortunately this approach has resulted in completely inconsistent characters and narrative as well as a continuous questioning of any historical facts presented.

One positive is that while I didn't necessarily enjoy the novel, I did finish it.  This makes me think that possibly there is a market for the novel (and subsequent series) in the 'young adult' genre. 

In short, Calkin has tried to be both historian and author.  At one she succeeds (in part) but at the other I'm far from convinced. 

Elaine's Rating: 2/10

Quotes:

"No one gave Lucy and Adam any mind as they made their way through the streets, but Lucy looked about, always eager to connect with the life that teemed about her.  Servants from large houses and the wives of merchants scurried about with baskets, bargaining for fresh vegetables, meats, breads, and other goods.  All about, traders sang their wares."

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The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

Author: John Boyne

Published: 2006

What They Say: When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

What Elaine Says: The likelihood is you've heard of, if not read this book already.  I'm a little late to the party on this one. While I'd heard numerous good things about it, I felt it may be a little too emotive for me.  A children's book about the Holocaust told from the point of view of a 9 year old has the potential to be so!  However having recently read Viktor E. Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" (reviewed here) it seemed an appropriate time to give it a go.

Being a children's book, a lot is (naturally) left unsaid. Nine year old Bruno is uprooted from Berlin when his father, a Commandant in Hitler's army, is moved to a position running a place Bruno knows only as "Out-With". While what happens is not surprising, it makes it none the less deeply moving. 

Hailed as a must-read, Boyne's book is definitely going to make you think.  However, I do have one quite big issue with it.  I didn't actually find it believable. If Bruno is remotely as intelligent as he seems to be then surely he would have sensed something was going on.  Ultimately though, Bruno's convenient naivety doesn't really impact the narrative.  The ending of this little book was always going to be same. There would be no point to it otherwise.

One thing I do agree with the rest of the world on is this, for the sake of a few hours out of your life, this book is definitely worth a read.

Elaine's Rating: 7/10

Quotes:

“It reminds me of how grandmother always had the right costume for me to wear. You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person you're pretending to be.” 

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