NYRB Reading Challenge

Do you like a challenge? Then you absolutely must pop by The Literary Stew at http://theliterarystew.blogspot.com/2010/10/nyrb-reading-week-november-7-13.html who is cohosting a great challenge with Honey from Coffeespoons. The challenge is fairly simple: read a book from the NYBR list and write a review of it. There is a long long list of books so lots to choose from.
I will go for "The Enchanted April" by Elizabeth von Arnim and possibly also Cassandra at the Wedding by Dorothy Baker. Will you be joining? and if yes, what will you be reading?

Review: "Hush, hush" - Kiss kiss, bang bang

I've read so much about this book. As a Twilight-lover I have been on the lookout for some YA to satisfy my craving for teenage romance and I was quite sure that "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick would fit the bill. And it did actually.

The storyline is YA classic. Teenager Nora Grey lives with her mother who is never home and goes to the local high school where she hangs out with her best friend Vee. However, when she ends up sitting next to the next and slightly mysterious guy Patch Cipriano things suddenly begin happening. Patch knows things about her and he makes her feel insecure and unsafe. He stalks her, makes her feel uncomfortable and she is worried that someone (Patch?) is trying to kill her. The chemistry between Nora and Patch is undeniable and as the story moves forward, they come closer and closer.

I liked this story. It delivered what it promised, nothing more nothing less. It had no real depth and it was quite predictable but at the same time it satisfied my desire for a real YA novel. I enjoyed the banter and chemistry between the two main characters and most of all I enjoyed Nora. She has so much more spark and energy than Bella from Twilight. She is actually really cool - the kind of girl that I wouldn't mind hanging out with. She is a good friend, a brave girl who has a sense of humor.

If you liked Twilight, I think there is a 99% chance that you will like "Hush, hush".

All I want for Christmas is... "A Good School"

This is a weekly meme that's hosted by A Tapestry of Words -www.atapestryofwords.blogspot.com - where every week up until Christmas, you choose a book that you would like to see under your tree! You also have to say why of course.

So this week I will be wishing for "A Good School" by Richard Yates. The story is set in a boarding school on the evning of America's entry into WWII and features a range of characters - from a nervous teenager to teacher's daugther with a schoolgirl crush. It has been called a masterpiece and I really really want to read it. So Santa, please put this one under the tree for me. What are you dreaming of finding under your tree?

Teaser Tuesday: "Sect Child"

Today - this morning on the bus to work - I was reading a Swedish book called "Sektbarn", translated to English that would be "Sect Child". It is basically a book of interviews with adults who have grown up in different religious societies. Even though the author is very critical and focusing on the issues, I find it really interesting and I feel like I learn something about the different faith and belief systems. Here is a quote - translated by myself... sorry for any mistakes:

""I understand them", Sandra says, "I think it takes a stable life to handle the mental work it takes to remember all these assaults. Today I have a stable and very good life. Just six years ago I wouldn't have wanted to tell about my childhood.""

From the book "Sect Child - Chosen for Paradise" by Charlotte Essén

So go ahead and share your teasers!!


TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two “teaser” sentences from that page.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

Review: "The 19th Wife" - Tales of the 19th Wives

I read "The 19th Wife" - or at least most of it - while on a flight from Iceland to the USA. Long flight = lots of time to read. And luckily the book was really good, enough to keep me occupied for most of the flight. It is a really good book, David Ebershoff really knows how to tell a story.

I have borrowed a summary of the plot from the author's web site http://www.ebershoff.com/ :

"It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.

Soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds–a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father’s death.

And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’s search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith."

So what we have here is basically a blend of historical fiction about the mormon church and a murder mystery. The historical part is narrated by Ann Eliza Young, a real-life figure, the mystery part is narracted by contruction worker Jordan Scott whose past lies in a church which has broken off from the Mormon church and continued a very oldfashioned religious doctrine. Both parts of the plot had plenty of suspense to keep me reading, it was such a good book. The 19th wife are two persons - Ann Eliza Young is the 19th wife Brigham Young and Jordan's mother is the 19th wife in her household.

Jordan had me fascinated. he was expelled from his church, his family, his life, as a teenager for holding his stepsister's hand and since then he has had to fight his way through life. He is a tough bloke with a soft side and at times I really felt protective of him. However, when his mother is arrested for murder, he heads back to face his past and try to clear his mother's name.

I knew very little about the Mormon church and I did feel like I learnt something about the story of the church. It was really interesting. How the polygamous marriages work are difficult for me to understand but it is fascinating to read about. And to make it even better, the book is well-written, has a great language and really manages to make the characters come to life.

"The Flight from the Enchanter" - a flight of fancy

I have become really quite enchanted with Iris Murdoch and yesterday I finished her slim novel "The Flight from the Enchanter" from 1956. It is a story that revolves around Mischa Fox, the enchanter, a secretive figure who has strange relations to all the other character in the story.

It all starts out with Annette Cockeyne, a young wild-at-heart girl, deciding to leave her finishing school,indulging in a last swing from the chandelier before embarking on a session in the school of life. She stays with her mothers friend Rosa Keepe, a gentlewoman working in a factory who has a complicated relationship to two Polish brothers and a motherly role to her brother Hunter. Other people in the story are the useless John Rainborough, the sneaky Calvin Blick, the seamstress Nina and the eccentric possibly very rich Camilla Wingfield.

The central characters - at least in my interpretation - are Rosa and Anette. They are both women who shrug of the expectations of conventional society. Rosa by working in a factory and having a secretive and difficult relationship to two Polish refugees who have gained a certain power over her. Annette by leaving her finishing school and trying to learning about life on her own - getting into quite an amount of scrapes in the process. Annette made me feel protective of her, she is so unable to cope on her own and her shallow thoughts lead to pretty bad decisions. She is like a child playing grown-up, whereas Rosa has left all of her childhood behind immersing herself in grim reality. And somehow losing herself in the process. It is somehow a disturbing read but also really enchanting. Mischa - the man of impossible power - is enchanting. He seems charismatic and actually nice - however, his right-hand-man Calvin Blick is really creepy, a nasty piece of work.

It is a magical story. The language, the prose, the style of Iris Murdoch is enchanting. I really loved reading the story and found myself really liking Rosa Keepe and her early-feminist ways. A little gem of a book.

Review: "Black Swan Green" - Teenage Blues from Worcestershire

I found "Black Swan Green" in charity shop and was immediately attrached to the beautiful green cover. I love the colours of it and would have bought it just for that - however, I am pleased to say that it comes with a really beautiful story inside written by the author David Mitchell whom some of you may know from "Cloud Atlas".

Black Swan Green is the name of the Worcestershire village where Jason Taylor lives with his mum, dad and older sister - and the hangman, as he calls his stutter to put a persona on this impairing speech issue. We follow Jason through thick and thin as he grows from boy to teenager in a year that really pushes him to the breaking point on several fronts.

The book is like several little stories about Jason and his family - I particularly like the chapter where his aunt, uncle and three posh cousins visit from London. The aunt and Jason's mum are sisters, supporting each other, but the dad and the uncle have a thinly veiled competition going on. They have "friendly" disagreements and one is more ridiculous than the other. And then there is the cool cousin Hugo who nicks cigarettes and singlehandedly group pressures Jason into smoking them.
Jason is one of those kids, who is neither cool nor a nerd, he just is. Normal, really. However, within the year that is portrayed he experiences quite severe bullying but gets back with a vengenance. It is a funny, sweet story of adolescent dramas - dramas that most of us remember.

This book didn't have me spellbound. It was not unputdownable. But it was really, really good and very funny. A bittersweet reminder of adolescence but also a great story about surviving bullying, the first kiss, ridiculous parents, stuttering and being an aspiring poet.

Teaser Tuesday: "The Flight from the Enchanter"

So it's been a while since I have done a Teaser Tuesday but today, I will do one.



TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two “teaser” sentences from that page.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

So here we go, today's teaser is from "The Flight from the Enchanter" by Iris Murdoch.

"Rosa had been very fond of Marcia Cockeyne when they had been at school together in Switzerland, and leter when they shared a flat in London, and she did her best to be fond of Annette, not without some success. This was the easier, since Anette had never yet occupied very much of Rosa's attention."

"The Exception" - an exceptional novel

It was my mum and dad who recommended "The Exception" by Danish author Christian Jungersen. So if you are part if the Scandinavian Reading Challenge, you have to read this review because this book is amazing. It is really really good.
The story line is quite complex and the story is told from the view points of four women, Anne-Lise, Iben, Malene and Camilla. The four women work at Danish Centre for Information about Genocide and one day two of them receive death threats.

As the story unfolds it becomes clear, the much more is happening beneath the surface and that these women are not who they appear to be. Iben is the dedicated academic who has devoted her life to work and her best friend, the man-eater Malene who from a very young age has suffered from crippling arthritis. Camilla is the quiet mother from the suburbs and Anne-Lise is the new woman in the office. As we get further into the story, it becomes very clear that the office atmosphere is rotting from a severe case of adult bullying. Events become more and more disturbing and what starts out as "mere" verbal bullying turns into criminal actions and life-threathening circumstances.

The book also focuses a lot on the nature of evil and the story is spiced with scientific facts and tales from the world of psychology. So not only is this a really disturbing and disturbingly good story about bullying and the evil inside all humans but also a great way to learn more about the way we perceive evil.

It is hard to tell more about the actual story without giving too much away. However, I really recommend this book. It is very very good and very exciting and it also made me think a lot about the way in which we can bully without actually really doing anything. Sometimes doing absolutely nothing - i.e. ignoring someone - is the worst form of bullying. Just like "We Need to Talk about Kevin" by Lionel Shriver, this is a book that is scary on so many levels that it is hard to sum it up - so therefore: just read it!

The Graduate" - tough lessons in the school of life

Mrs. Robinson is a bit of a cultural legend and as I have never managed to see the film "The Graduate", I thought I would give the book a go and get to meet the famous lady. That was how I ended up reading "The Graduate" by Charles Webb.
The book and the drama all start at Mr. and Mrs. Braddock's party to celebrate the graduation of their pride and joy, their only son Benjamin. Only Benjamin does not want to take part in the party and be a good boy and polite to his parents friends. Inside him a psychological drama of epic proportions are taking place and he is fighting to figure out what to do with his life.
Devoid of a solution to this questions, he spends the the following weeks sleeping, drinking and embarking on an affair with his parents' friend Mrs. Robinson.
Needless to say, this is the road to even more mental struggles and Benjamin becomes even more pressured by his own mind, when he is forced into going on a date with Elaine Robinson, the teenager daugther of the Robinsons.

The book is quite short and I would have preferred it more detailed. I never really got to like Benjamin, found him a bit annoying actually and I didn't understand his emotional swings from confusion to quick, spontaneous decision. Also Mrs. Robinson and her daughter remained half-hidden to me, never really coming to life.
The story line is interesting though, it is very much about rebelling against conventional society and refusing to fit in. A great theme that is not explored deeply enough. However, it has a historical authencity. It was written in 1963 and I felt like this historical period of time was very apparent in the book and I really enjoyed that.

All in all a good read - and apparently there is a sequel called "Home School".

Review: "The Book and the Brotherhood" - The effect of a common enemy

What is it about? Somebody asked me when I had just begun reading the 700-something pages long "The Book and the Brotherhood" by Iris Murdoch. I had no answer, really, because the book cannot be summed up in a few words or a sentence - firstly because it is long, secondly because there is a lot of action in this book but it is not the action that matters, rather all the things that take place around the action. The book focuses on a group of people who have been friends since they went to university at Oxford.
Gerard lost his beloved friend Sinclair at a young age and now he is best friends with his sister Rose who is not-so-secretly in love with him. Jenkin is their friend and is secretly in love with Rose but dare not say anything as he knows how she feels about Gerard. Duncan and Jean are a married couple who are in the centre of the circle and on the outskirt of the circle are Gulliver and Lily who stick together since outsiders they are and Pat and Gideon, the pushy brother and sister-in-law of Gerard, and Pat's sister Violet, depressed and financially desolate and her daughter Tamar. They all interact happily until that night of the ball at Oxford where Lily shows up with Crimond. Their common enemy. And Crimond swoops down like a predator and snares away Jean from her marriage and leaves the circle to slow fall into pieces.
Years ago they all regarded Crimond as a genius, someone to be supported and protected so they banded together and decided to fund Crimond writing a book. The book of all time and of all ideas. The book that would be his legacy. However, when they fell out with Crimond they could not stop funding the book and now that he has taken away Jean, the book become the centre of all that is happening to them.
There are many interlinking stories to follow. The story of young Tamar who is regarded as an angel by them all but who has to drop out of Oxford to support her mother. Of Lily and Gulliver who struggle to find their places in life and in society. The story of Rose who has never recovered from the loss of her brother and the story of Gerard who hasn't recovered either. Crimond plays a part in all these stories.
It is a wonderful book. I loved the fact that it was so long because it meant that I got to spend lots of time with it. And every time I pulled it out of my bag on the bus or picked it up to read, it was like meeting an old friend. I really bonded with the characters and got to like them. Especially Rose and Tamar. Rose seems like such a wonderful woman, so much personality and character. I really wish she was real and hated putting the book down when it ended. It is a beautiful book and I have already bought another book by Iris Murdoch that I look forward to reading.

"Diana Mosley" - All for Love

Anne de Courcy has the gift of making history come alive on the pages of a book and she certainly uses this gift in her biography of Diana Mosley née Mitford. Diana was one of the famous Mitford sisters, part of the British acristocracy and part of a family who impacted their time. She was one of six sisters and shared her childhood home with the writer Decca Mitford, her sister Debo, now the Duchess of Devonshire, the writer Nancy Mitford plus Pamela and Unity Mitford.
Diana was acknowledged for being the most beautiful of the Mitford sister and aged just 18 she made a spectacular marriage to Bryan Guinness. However, only four years after - now a mum of two - she left Bryan for Oswals Mosley, the infamous fascist leader. Diana's abandoning the marriage made headlines, not only because left a seemingly great marriage but also because she left to become a mistress of married man with a bit of a reputation. The love affair with Mosley was to define Diana's life. Her love for him overcame everything and shaped her adult life, as she followed him into fascism becoming a close friend of Hitler and spending several years in Holloway prison.
The book tells Diana's story well, not hiding her nazi-sympathies and not defending them either. It is hard to understand how a girl from a good family ends up being more or less an enemy of the country, especially since her sister Decca who she was very close to in childhood became a devoted supporter to the communist case.
De Courcy does not ask any questions about why Diana's life went in the direction it went and she neither critises nor sympathises - mostly she just chronicles the facts. Her focus is very much on the intense love story of Diana and Mosley which is indeed a fascinating tale but I wish that she had dared diving deeper into the difficult and unpleasant questions such as how she could leave her two boys with Guinness to pursue her love of Mosley and whi she never questioned nazi Germany.


After four years, she left him for the fascist leader, Oswald Mosley, and set herself up as Mosley's mistress - a course of action that horrified her family and scandalised society. In 1933 she took her sister Unity to Germany; soon both had met the new German leader, Adolf Hitler. Diana became so close to him that when she and Mosley married in 1936 the ceremony took place in the Goebbels drawing room and Hitler was guest of honour. She continued to visit Hitler until a month before the outbreak of war; and afterwards, for many, years, refused to believe in the reality of the Holocaust. This gripping book is a portrait of both an extraordinary individual and the strange, terrible world of political extremism in the 1930s. But if you don't know the story of Diana Mitford, this biography is a good place to start - or if you want to know about all the Mitford sisters, try "The Mitford Girls" by Mary S. Lovell.

New additions to my library

Lately I have been book shopping more than normally and this has resulted in quite a pile of books to read on the bus every morning/afternoon. Here are my newest additions to my ever-expanding library:



Black Swan Green by David Mitchell



The Imitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse



Fat Is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach



The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver



Rape - A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates

"The Green Beauty Bible" - Beauty without beastly ingredients

So this one, I think, is mainly for the ladies. It is a big, happy hardback book about reforming the wicked ways of your bathroom cupboard and going green on beauty products. It is not a book of recipies for how to make your own products but more of a tool on how to understand what is actually in the products that we use to make ourselves prettier.
It is written by Sarah Stacey and Josephine Fairley who have been concerned with this for years and who have tried and tested many many of the products out on the market and who have a great knowledge of the market and the chemicals that are best avoided if you want to go green.
There are two separate parts of the book - there are the factual knowledge and then there are "Tried and Tested" sections of products where the authors and a panel of testers give their opinions on specific products. I actually really enjoyed these "Tried and Tested" parts but I think what I found most valuable were the practical pieces of advise about for example herbs and plants.
A lot like an extended version of a womens magazine.

Where do you read? Part 1

These days I mostly read while I am on the bus travelling to and from work. However, I do actually have favourite places to read and some books I have loved more, simply because I have read them in the right atmosphere. I have a few favourite reading spots that I want to share with you, here is the first one. On this beach in the Italian town of Levanto - close to the Cinque Terre - I have spent some wonderful hours reading only interrupted by an occasional forray into the turquoise water.

Lying in the sun, listening to the people chatter around me in Italian and smelling the salty water, I got lost in the world of "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas. Every time I read little snippets of this book, I feel myself transported back there and it makes the book even better than it already is! Have you any favourite reading spots?

"We need to talk about Kevin" - Why?

When "We Need to Talk about Kevin" was published few years ago, it stirred up a lot of hype and the author Lionel Shriver became a celebrity in the literary world. I think all that hype scared me a bit, at least I never got around to reading the book. Maybe I was also scared of the epistolary form, something I am normally a bit repelled by. Not sure why. But the other day I felt like I really should read it and my curiousity won over my scepticism about the form. Luckily. Because this book is seriously good! An absolute classic.

The story is one, we know only too well. A boy brings a weapon to school and kills both school children, a teacher and a canteen worker. This leaves his mother, Eva, with the big question. Why?
Eva tells the story from her point of view in a series of letters to her estranged husband. It is a mother's anguished feelings put on display and Eva honestly and openly confesses that actually she never wanted Kevin in the first place and when he came into her life, she never warmed to him. Eva's story about Kevin is that he is inherently evil, a child that does everything to wex or hurt her.
However, Eva is not a reliable narrator. Her story obviously differs from the way her husband sees the family and she is biased in her interpretations of Kevin's actions.
It is a moving, disturbing, beautiful story.

The book raises several questions about parenting. It is the classic nature versus nurture dilemma. Does Keving go on a killing spree because he is inherently evil? Or because life has dealt him a tough hand and he is shaped by being brought up by a cold, loveless mother?
"We Need to Talk about Kevin" does not offer answers, only questions and the reader is left with the ultimate questios: why? Only one questions is actually answered: why did this book win the Booker Prize? Because it is a very very good book, beautifully written with a strong story.

"Love's Shadow" - Love and let love

Do you like the comedic parts of Jane Austen's novels? Do you enjoy romantic entaglements and witty repartee? Then look nu further than "Love's Shadow" by Ada Leverson. It has been reprinted as part of the Bloomsbury Group and it defintely deserves being reprinted as it is a little gem of a book: funny, sweet and well-written with spot-on portraits of a group of people in Edwardian London.
Edith and Bruce Ottley lives in an apartment - a small apartment, that Bruce habitually describes as much grander than it really is and consequently he doesn't want too many visitors. They have less money than Bruce spends and he has less talent and less intelligence than he credits himself with. He is the male version of Mrs. Bennett. Luckily he has kind, understanding, forgiving Edith who is friends with the glamorous Hyancinth Verney who falls in love easily and recovers just as easily until she meets Cecil Reeve. Reeve is in love with a widow much older than himself - how will Hyacinth win him over?
I really enjoyed this little book - my only real complaint is that it is too short. I wanted to know more when I came to the end. The characters are enjoyable, especially the strange relationship between Bruce and Edith fascinated me. How did she end up with a man like him? I would really like to understand that. And how does she cope with his incessant warped self-understanding and his less than truthful truths? I did not find Hyacinth as interesting though the relationship between her and her guardian Sir Charles and his wife Lady Cannon was really interesting, especially towards the end of the book. Again, how did he end up married to her? But the romance between Hyacinth and Cecil Reeve had me less fascinated, I honestly do not understand what she sees in him.
Not understanding why certain people fall in love with each other seem to be a recurrent theme in this book. The characters are all married to people with whom they seem incompatible and at some point there must have been love or at least attraction there. A fascinating subject, especially when you take into consideration that the story is set during a time when divorces were not abundant as they are today. Let me close off the review with a quote that sums up the mechanics of the marriage between Lady Cannon and Sir Charles brilliantly:
"Lady Cannon had a very exalted opinion of her own charms, virtues, brilliant gifts, and, above all, of her sound sense. Fortunately for her, she had married a man of extraordinary amiability, who had always taken every possible precaution to prevent her discovering that in this opinion she was practically alone in the world." (pp. 22)

"Lolita" - The Age of Innocence Lost

Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" had been on my TBR list for years and finally it landed on my doorstep the other day, thanks postman :-) Last week I was traveling with work so had to spend lots of time on a plane and in airports - which means lots of time to read! Lovely. I brought Lolita with me and from the very first sentence I was pulled into the grotesque, distorted world of Humbert Humbert, the infamous key character in "Lolita".
The story is well-know, so well-know that the name Lolita has come to signify girls who have sexual power over men much much older than themselves. At least I thought that I knew the story but really I just had a vague idea about it. So here is a short summary for those of you who know the story as little as I did.
Humbert Humbert grew up in Europe and ends up living with a widower and her teenage daughter. He is attrached to and becomes enthralled by the girl .
o the teenage girl Dolores - whom he nicknames Lolita - and in a desperate attempt to stay near her, he marries her mother. When his wife dies, Lolita has no other adult in the world to trust and so Humbert gets a power over her that she can hardly escape.
Humbert Humbert is attracted to children - girls from the age of nine whom he classifies as nymphets in an unconscious try to glorify his obsession with them. No no he is no villain, he is only interested in girls who encourage it themselves... This is a villain who does his utmost to conceal the hideousness of his mind, the awful crimes he commits towards a orphaned girl. Sometimes he does this so well that as a reader it is easy to identify with him - he reflects so very little on the impact his selfish behaviour has on Lolita. Lolita has grown up wild, going her own way and acting very much like a spoiled teenager who believes herself an adult - and then every now and then her facade breaks and we get a glimpse at a little girl.
It is a heartbreaking book in many ways about a man who forces adulthood on a teenage girl who doesn't know herself and her own boudaries and who are more or less dependent on him. At the same time it is the story of a child who gets an immense power over an adult and who in the ends brings about his downfall.
"Lolita" in some ways reminds me of "The Sopranos" by Alan Warner - both books tell the tale of the difficulty of growing up and of girls being forced to face their own sexuality.
It is a beautiful book and touching and if you haven't read it, please put it on your TBR list.

"The Stars In the Bright Sky" - The adventures of the bright and the dim

During my teenage years my absolute favourite book was "The Sopranos" by Alan Warner. It was an epiphany when I first read it b
because the language, the topics, the girls it described was so incredibly different from the books I normally read. These Catholic girls from Our Lady of Perpetual Succour were the original ladettes, forever in pursuit of mischief and a good time. When I found out that Warner had written a sequel, I had to have it. And this morning I turned the last pages of "The Stars in the Bright Sky" on the bus to work. It was amazing - I am already looking forward to reading it again, as it is such a fascinating tale. The girls are the same Scottish wildcats as in "The Sopranos" - only they have matured and have grown ever so slightly apart. Finn has moved to London to study philosophy, Manda has become a single mother who drinks too many Guiness Extra Colds, Kylah and Chell are still living in the town and Kay is studying architecture. Their lives have taken different turns but now they are meeting up in Gatwick Airport to go on vacation together - a last minute deal, possibly to Magaluf, definitely not to Turkey. With them is posh, English Ava - Finn's friend from uni. Altogether a dangerous cocktail.
However, things do not go according to plan. A disappearing passport, much too much luggage, too many drinks all play a big part in these few days that the girls spend holidaying in the airport. I won't go into details about the plot, as I don't want to give away anything.
One of the aspects of the book that I really like - or am fascinated by - is the "drinks lists" that Warner uses to describe the girls. He lists what the girls drink and the drinks are obvious pointers as to who they are. So Manda is constantly drinking her Guiness Extra Cold - though at one point mixing it with champagne - while Kay mostly drinks red wine. For some reason this appeals to be - possibly because the drinks are so predictable and and in their predictability confirms how well I know these girls.
But if you haven't read "The Sopranos" and met these wonderful Scottish lassises then get both "The Sopranos" and "The Stars in the Bright Sky" and settle down for an amazing ride with a bunch of ladies and ladettes who at times act quite dum but always shine brightly.

"The Fingersmith" - Who's fooling who?

After ready so much praise of "The Fingersmith" by Sarah Waters on blogs, in newspaper reviews etc. I finally decided to give it a go. Not sure why I haven't done so before because it is just the kind of book I enjoy! It reminds me of "Slammerkin" and "The Life Mask" by Emma Donoghue and it is really ejoyable. The plot is full of twists and turns and I really didn't see any of coming. It was such a pageturner and I really had a hard time turning off the light last night before I was done reading it.
Basically it is about two girls whose fates are inextricably linked. Sue Trinder grows up in the poor London streets of Borough, south of the river, among thieves and swindlers. She has questionable morals but a good heart and it is with some worry that she agrees to a plot to snare a young aristocratic woman and steal her fortune. The young woman in question, Maud Lilly, lives in a country estate with her neurotically strict uncle who collects lewd pornographic books. When these two girls meet, their fates change forever.
If you like mysteries, books about women taking control of their own destinies, then read this book. It is so wonderful.

"101 Reykjavik" - 101 girls and 1 lonesome Icelandic guy

Meet Hlynur Bjorn, a strange character invented by Icelandic author Hallgrimur Helgason. Hlynur is an unemployed thirty-something loner/loser who still lives with his mother (who by the way buys his underwear) and whose primary relationships are with the Internet, the satellite TV, and a few friends who resembles him.
"101 Reykjavik" is the tale of Hlynur and the women he spends most of his time thinking about. All women are rated on scale depending on looks - a scale that Hlynur himself would definitly not top.
Hlynur's mother comes out as a lesbian and her girlfriend Lolla moves in, meanwhile Hlynur is still somewhat tangled up in a relationship with his exgirlfriend. This is a comic, dark tale with lots of funny moments as Hlynur describes his difficulties with ladies and his many trials as he accidentally impregnates not one, not two but three women... Quite an achievement when you take into consideration how little masculinity Hlynur actually possesses.

Helgason captures the rough beauty of Iceland (if you haven't been there do go, it is amazing!) and the smallness of its capital Reykjavik. A city where everybody knows everyone and where nothing can be kept a secret. It is also a poignant commentary on modern life, especially the bizarre ways that sex is everywhere - on TV and the internet.
It is a narrative that sometimes repulses but mostly amsuses.

And this is number two in my quest to complete the Scandinavian Reading Challenge!

Dreaming of these books...

Some books are fine to borrow from the library or from friends but there are some books that I simply must own. Books that I need to have on my bookshelves where I can enjoy the sight of them and pick them up whenever I feel like reading them. Smoe of the books that are high on my list of "must buys" are these:

"A Good School" by Richard Yates



"The Leopard" by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa



"The Master and Margarita" by Mikail Bulgakov

"Those Barren Leaves" by Aldous Huxley

"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov

"Nightwood" by Djuna Barnes



"Save Me the Waltz" by Zelda Fitzgeral

"Love in Idleness" - Idling in the sun

Have you ever felt the Tuscan summer sunshine on your skin? If yes, then you will have a bit of an idea about the atmosphere in "Love in Idleness" by Amanda Craig. It takes place in Cortona in the heart of Tuscancy and the pages are soaked with golden sunshine and the smell of Italian herbs. I must say that I enjoyed that part of the book, it enveloped me in a wonderful summer feeling.
The author acknowledges that the plot is heavily inspired by Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Nights Dream", it is not the first book to be inspired by this wonderful tale and it is a great plot. In "Love in Idleness" it has been updated and changed but the main topics remain.
There are several key figures: Polly the banker's wife and stay-at-home mum married to workaholic Theo, the doctor and single mother Hemani, gorgeous designer Ellen, eligible bachelor Daniel, the notorious Ivo Sponge and the meanest mother-in-law that I have encoutered in a long time.
As you can probably imagine, many many things happen and love strikes in the strangest places.
To be honest, the plot is a bit too easy to guess, I think. There really were no surprises at all and though it was great to meet Ivo Sponge again (he played a central role in "A Vicious Circle"), there was not enough excitement to really keep me interested. It is a nice, sweet story and I laughed a few times but it is a little bit too chick lit-ish for me - I preferred "A Vicious Circle".

My sporadic reads

The last few days have beeen very very busy and so I have had precious little time to read. And it looks like the next couple of days will be just as busy so I will have to daydream about my dear books instead of reading.
Currently I am reading a selection of books, I choose which one to read depending on my mood as I can't seem to settle down on just one.

L.M. Montgomery: "Rainbow Valley"
Charles Highham: "Mrs. Simpson - the secret life of the Duchess of Windsor"
Amanda Craig: "Love in Idleness"

"The Diary of a Provincial Lady" - Delightful country pursuits

The provincial lady lives in the English countryside, spending her days trying to negotiate with Cook and Madedemoiselle (daughter's governess/nanny), finding a new parlourmaid, avoiding visits from Lady B. and keeping account of the days in her diary.
On the surface this could seem like a dull account but rest assured that it is by no means so. Actually this book is really really funny. There is the provincial lady's own family: her husband Robert, a man of (very very) few words, her children Robin and Vicky, the sensitive and über-Gallic Mademoiselle and the servants who are the real rulers of the house.
The village where the provincial lady spends her days is also peopled with the most wonderful characters. The incredible condescending Lady B., Our Vicar and Our Vicar's wife, not to mention Mrs. Blenkinsop and her daughter Barbara.
This tale is so sweet, it is pure joy to follow the provincial lady as she ventures into London society - and into financial trouble with London dressmakers - and goes to France on a well-deserved break. She is such a lovely lady, somebody I would really love to share a cup of tea with.
Is this an outdated story, you may ask?
No it is not, actually it reminds me very much of Bridget Jones's diary with the exception that "The Diary of a Provincial Lady" is written better and captures the humour in everyday things much better. The themes are the same though: what to wear, whom to know and how to pay the bills. This is a mature, literary kind of chick lit that puts many of the modern chick lit novels in a bad light. It is a new little favourite of mine!