Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Set in Seattle, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet tells the story of Henry Lee, an American of Chinese descent. We first meet Henry in 1986 when he is drawn to see why a large crowd has amassed outside the boarded up Panama Hotel in the former Japanese district of Seattle. The new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. The owner unfurls a Japanese parasol, and Harry remembers a time when he was friends with a young Japanese girl, Keiko, who had a parasol just the same. The novel then returns Henry to the America of the 1940’s following the attack on Pearl Harbour, when to be of Asian appearance, either Chinese or Japanese, attracted insults and bullying. Distancing themselves from the Japanese who were their long time enemies, Henry’s father made him wear a button announcing to the world “I am Chinese” so there would be no misunderstanding.

The story tells of the difficult relationship that Henry had with his father who was still nationalistic to China despite living in America. Henry’s father wanted Henry to eventually return to China to complete his schooling, but also wanted Henry to be American and thus Henry was sent to the Reinier Academy when he was 12, an all–white school, on a scholarship and his parents refused to let him speak Chinese at home even though this was the only language of his parents.

It is at the Reinier Academy that Henry meets Keiko, another scholarship student, and a second generation American whose family speaks no Japanese. Despite their different backgrounds a friendship and first love develops, against the background of the jazz scene in Seattle. Unfortunately, their friendship is pulled apart as Kieko and her family are rounded up and sent to internment camps.

But the novel is not just about Henry and Kieko’s story, but also Henry’s relationship with his own son Marty, which is told as they search the basement of the Panama Hotel for something that Henry had thought lost forever.

I really enjoyed this book as this is a period of American history that is not often written about. The story flowed and I got caught up in the characters and colour of the period, and I kept turning the pages to see where their story would end. This would make a great book club book.  You might like to watch Jamie Ford talk about his book in the youtube video above.

Before I Go to Sleep, S. J. Watson

What would it be like to wake up each morning in bed with a man that you don’t remember? And to make matters worse, he appears to be married. To creep down to the bathroom trying not to wake anyone up and find the face in the mirror is not yours? Or at least not the twenty seven year old face that you remember?

This is Christine’s life after an accident has left her unable to remember anything prior to when she wakes up each morning and thus her husband, Ben, has to fill in her life story for her every day.  However, at the suggestion of Dr Nash, a doctor she is seeing without Ben’s knowledge, Christine has been keeping a diary. Dr Nash rings her each day to tell her where to find the diary and as she documents the flashbacks of memory that she experiences, she discovers that Ben is not always telling her the truth. Is Ben doing this to shield her from painful memories as he says or is there another, more sinister reason. Can Ben be trusted?

I finished this recently released psychological thriller last weekend and couldn’t put it down. The novel is told via the diary that Christine writes, and you feel so sorry for her, thankful that her memory problems are not yours. But then, there is the chilling realisation of how vulnerable Christine is as she relies on the people around her for knowledge of every aspect of her life. The setting of a suburban house, with an ordinary couple, makes the novel more compelling as it so closely resembles my own domestic situation (although with memory intact), and the constant question of whether a memory is truth or the result of a damaged brain kept me on edge, and wanting to find out what happens next.

I have to say that I had worked out the conclusion a little before the main character, but I think that this didn’t detract from the entertainment of the story. The other thing I liked about the novel is that it is well written. Often in the crime/thriller genre, the quality of the writing is overlooked with the emphasis on an author getting as many novels produced in a year as possible.  Thankfully, this is not the case with Before I Go to Sleep which made it an enjoyable read.

Past the Shallows - Favel Parrett

This is one of my favourite books so far this year. Very much in the style of Tim Winton or Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones, the story is gorgeous, heartbreaking, engrossing, and you just wanted to take the characters home with you.

The novel is about three brothers, Joe, Miles and Harry, growing up before their time on the wild coast of Tasmania. Their mother died a few years previously in a car crash, and their father has become a bitter, heavy drinking man whose moods are mercurial as the sea on which he spends each day trying to make a living diving for abalone and crayfish.

Most of the book is told through the eyes of Miles and Harry as Joe had left home to live with his grandfather some time ago. For Miles there is no escape. Despite being in his early teens, Miles has to work on his father’s fishing boat working the air pump, cleaning the boat on its return and dealing with the cannery which he hates. Harry suffers from seasickness and so avoids the boat duties but that doesn’t mean he escapes his father’s bad temper. For Joe, this is the last school holidays he will spend with Miles and Harry for a while. His grandfather is dead and his house is being sold. At nineteen, Joe has decided to escape the small town where the family lives and where employment prospects are limited to the local cannery, to sail the boat he has built to adventure, but that doesn't mean it's an easy decision to leave his two brothers to the mercy of their father.

It all sounds very bleak but like many children who don’t have much, simple things give the boys some hope. Miles and Joe spend time surfing together and hanging out as brothers do. Harry receives a warm welcome at his best friend Stuart’s house with Stuart's mum giving him the softness missing from home, and things don’t feel so bad when Harry befriends the local recluse whom the other kids are scared of, but who listens to Harry’s problems with a sympathetic ear, and gives Harry the experiences that you get when you have a special relationship with an honorary uncle.

Life continues in this way, until one day everything changes, tragedy strikes, and a family secret is revealed.

The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and in the case of The Lotus Eaters this is certainly the case. I initially assumed that it was one of those chick lit type romances as the cover had a picture of a women in Western clothing with a red flower in her hair, and the plug “tremendously evocative, a love story set in the hallucinatory atmosphere of war”. It wasn’t until I saw the book listed on the New York Times “100 Notable Books” list that I thought I should give it a go.

At the opening of the book it is 1975 and we meet Helen, a photographer who has made a name for herself covering the Vietnam war over the last 10 years but work is thin on the ground these days as the American public no longer seems to care about the war. The Americans are being evacuated from Saigon but Helen cannot bring herself to leave with her injured Vietnamese husband, Linh, wanting to remain for that last story, the one that will bring the devastation and suffering home to Americans for the last time. The novel then takes us back to the beginning when Helen arrives in Saigon as a green, 22 year old college dropout, who wants to go where her father and brother went and gave their lives – to the battle zone.
 
What follows is her story. Rejecting a desk job, she strives to follow the troops into the field capturing the real war and learning from veteran photographer Darrow who becomes her lover. Darrow is the epitome of a wartime correspondent. A Pulitzer prize winner, he has covered so many conflicts that he is jaded with the war and hankers to cover the beauty in the country he finds himself in, but like an addict, can’t give up the fix of getting “the” photo, and thus keeps pushing himself into more dangerous situations. Ultimately he pays the price, leaving Linh to pick up the pieces of Helen’s life as they find something more normal together. However, as the years pass, Helen finds herself becoming more and more like Darrow, drawn to find the photo that will get people’s attention.

The real story of The Lotus Eaters is that of the Vietnam War. The book explores how the war changes people – the Vietnamese, the American troops and the photojournalists covering the stories amidst the beauty of the countryside that hides the danger lurking underneath. In Australia, travelling to South East Asia has become a popular holiday, so it was interesting to read about what is quite a recent event in this country’s history but one which Australians probably don’t have much appreciation of. I could also see parallels with the current conflict in Afghanistan where Australian troops are fighting and reports of fatalities seem to be more common – appearing more regularly in our newspapers

I really enjoyed this novel, so don’t be like me and make assumptions based on the cover. If you need more convincing, here’s a link to the New York Times review.

Jo Nesbo and Michael Connelly by the Pool this Summer

I’ve been revisiting the crime fiction genre over the summer holidays as a perfect escape from the weather and natural disasters that are affecting both Queensland and country.

My first was Reversal, the new novel from Michael Connelly. I had previously read The Poet and then The Scarecrow both featuring Crime Reporter Jack McEvoy and FBI Agent Rachel Walling in a traditional style whodunnit but well written and with good twists and turns. I was curious to see if the latest offering which stars LAPD Detective Harry Bosh and defence attorney Mickey Haller is similarly enjoyable.

Jason Jessup was convicted 25 years ago in a high profile child murder case, but with the advancement of DNA testing, bodily fluids on the victim’s dress have subsequently been linked to her stepfather, thus putting in doubt Jessup’s conviction. In the interests of neutrality, Mickey Haller has been asked by the District Attorney’s Office to take on the prosecution of the case, effectively changing sides and coming up against one of his colleagues in the defence community. Mickey has to come up with the evidence to put Jesse away once and for all – evidence that is 25 years old.

I still have a soft spot for this more straight forward style of the crime genre having cut my teeth on Patricia Cornwall, James Patterson, Harlan Coben, and Jeffery Deaver but in recent years I found that there was too much of the same old, same old, and the offerings by some of the writers have become a bit formulaic. In recent times, I have yet to find an American crime author that I have wanted to read another of their novels, but Michael Connelly almost fits the spot with me having read three in the last 12 months. While Connelly’s style is much more American police show than Stieg Larsson edgy, he is still well worth a read next to the pool or at the beach this summer.

The second book that I read in this genre over January has been Jo Nesbo’s Nemesis. Now this is a writer that I want to read more of. Nemesis features Detective Harry Hole to whom the English speaking world was first introduced in The Redbreast. Like many of the lead characters in Scandinavian crime fiction, Hole is a “damaged” character - in The Redbreast he is a recovering alcoholic, with little personal life and whose closest friend in the police force ends up dead during the course of the novel. In Nemesis, things are looking up for Hole – he hasn’t had a drink since the last novel, and he is in a relationship with a future with Rakel and her son Oleg. Then, Hole’s life is turned upside down.

While on a murder case that occurred during a bank robbery, Harry has to investigate the apparent suicide of an old girlfriend. Complicating this investigation is that, unknown to his colleagues, he had dinner with her the night before and arrived home with no recollection of it after apparently “falling off the wagon”. Coincidentally, the only person who can identify the robber of the bank happens to be the ex-girlfriend’s uncle, a reknown bank robber himself, currently serving time in prison. What follows is a tale of mystery, revenge, and suspense where the reader is lead first one way and then another in guessing the outcome, but ultimately has to wait until the end before all is revealed.

I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what develops in the third novel available in the series in English, The Devil’s Star.

To the End of the Land - David Grossman

I actually finished this book in December but was so busy with Christmas sales at the shop, I’ve only just managed to sit down and think about my reaction to it. I initially was drawn to the idea of someone believing that they could “will” something into not happening. Then, I became immersed in the story of a country which has been living in a war zone one way or another since 1948, told via the experiences of the book’s three main characters, Ora, Avram, and Ilan.


We first meet Ora, Avarm and Ilan as teenagers in a hospital in Israel during wartime in 1967, forging a friendship that would be tested and found wanting as the three friends undertake their compulsory military service during the conflict between Egypt and Israel in the 1970’s. Next we are taken to present day, this time the war is with Palestine and history is repeating itself with the new generation as Ora’s younger son, Ofer, signs up to extend his military service and Ora is alone with her fears for Ofer's safety, having recently separated from her husband, Ilan and who has taken their older son to South America on holiday.


Ora’s decision to undertake the hike she had planned to do with Ofer but to take the reclusive Avram with her instead, sets the scene for each character’s story to unfold. As they walk along the track with its picturesque scenery and tourist sights, Ora tries to “will” Ofer to stay alive by bringing him to his biological father who has hidden from the world after the torture he experienced as a prisoner of war, including the son who was conceived between friends so many years ago. We get a glimpse of how war changes a person as the gentle boy that Ora describes becomes a man who is anaesthetised to the violence of war. We get to know the strain that Ilan and Avram’s war experiences placed on Ilan and Ora’s relationship as young parents, but for me the hardest part of the novel to read are the scenes of Avram and Ilan as soldiers and friends in the conflict with Egypt, the strength of their friendship, and the horrors inflicted on Avram as a prisoner of war.


I found this a very moving novel, with lots of food for thought, and it did make me think how lucky I am to live in Australia where military service is one of choice rather than government decree and where conflict is many thousands of miles away and not on our doorstep. Sadly, David Grossman writes from first hand experience as he explains in a postscript to the novel that he lost his own son at the end of his son’s service in the Israeli military.


Some other reviews you might like to visit can be found here and here.

Spies and Espionage: Restless, William Boyd

After Black Water Rising, I felt the need to read some more in the crime/thriller genre, and so when a customer and I were talking about William Boyd’s novels – in particular, Restless - I thought that this would be my next choice. I had never heard of Boyd and Restless isn’t a latest release, but one of the great things about talking about books all day is the opportunity to go back and read some of those books that you might have missed the first time around.

Published in 2006, Restless is a spy novel and reminded me a little of one of my favourite TV programmes, Spooks (currently showing on the ABC), although not so violent. From the Bloomsbury Publishing reading guide, the storyline goes like this:

One hot summer afternoon in 1976 Ruth Gilmartin pays her mother a visit. When Sally hands Ruth a buff folder labelled ‘The Story of Eva Delectorskaya’ the certainties of Ruth’s world are overturned. Sally, or Eva, as Ruth must now think of her, was once a spy, recruited into the British Secret Service in 1939 by Lucas Romer as part of AAS, Romer’s somewhat maverick branch of the Service, and this is her story. Eva proves herself adept at her craft, endlessly resourceful, hiding every emotion and trusting no one.

Posted to New York, AAS’s mission is to pull the reluctant US into the war. Caught up in an affair with Romer, Eva needs to be doubly sure to keep her wits about her. When she is sent to New Mexico, what should have been a simple courier mission becomes puzzlingly complex and Eva finds herself in grave danger. As this taut thriller moves towards its dénouement, alternating between Ruth’s narrative and Eva’s story, William Boyd cranks up the tension with bluffs and double bluffs until every loose end is neatly tied into a satisfying resolution.

The book lived up to expectations, and I found it interesting thinking about the way war changes our values, our sense of what is right and wrong and the lengths that someone might go to in the name of the greater good.  It reminded me of the old saying that history is always told from the point of view of the victor, and stories such as this are often kept undercover by the victorious side.  Boyd’s writing style was pacey and while I had worked out who the “baddie” was, I didn’t discover their motive until the end of the book.

I really enjoyed Restless as a well written escape from some of the more serious books that I’ve been reading for the store, and at the end of the day, that’s what I like in a book. Something to entertain as well as wanting to read another book by the same author. Boyd’s other books that come highly recommended to me are Brazzaville Beach, and Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Murder in the Bayou - Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

I have been wanting to read is Black Water Rising by Attica Locke since I saw it had been shortlisted for this year’s Orange Prize for fiction by a women. Like Peter Temple’s “Truth”, which won the 2010 Miles Franklin Award, Black Water Rising is a crime novel, although with more in common with thrillers than the forensic crime that litters our TV screens and discount stores.

Last week, I picked up a copy and started reading it and couldn’t put it down. What a great book. Set in Houston, America in the 1980’s, and with the memory of Martin Luther King and the fight to end segregation still very foremost in people’s minds, the story has as it’s backdrop rising oil prices and the threat of a strike on the Houston docks which could shut down an economy that is highly dependent on the movement of oil.

We meet the main character, Jay, at night on the Bayou. A struggling African American lawyer whose main source of income is from personal injury claims, Jay is taking his wife on a “scenic” boat ride down the Bayou as a birthday present, courtesy of one of his clients. The stage is set for the finale of the evening: the boat is dirty and run down, the Bayou creepy and mysterious in the murky light. Suddenly, they hear a woman’s scream, gunshot, and then a body falling into the Bayou. Should Jay instruct the boat owner to keep on going and not get involved or should he heed his wife’s urging to help the person in trouble? Jay has personal experience of being black and at the mercy of the Southern legal system after nearly going to jail for something he didn’t do as a young, passionate, protester against segregation.  He is reluctant to stop but his natural sense of doing the right thing compels him to help and he dives in to save the woman, starting a series of events that Jay can’t escape.

Black Water Rising is part thriller, part social justice commentary. There is plenty of suspense, the odd standover man, corporate no-goods, and a little mystery about Jay’s relationship with the new mayor – a white woman he used to know very well in college before his life turned upside down. Colour is provided by the proposed dock strike, as Jay is asked by his father-in-law to take on the police department on behalf of a young dock worker who is accusing a senior union official of beating him up and the police doing nothing. The novel is pacey, and the plot cleverly strung together, while also giving insight to some of the history surrounding the fight to end segregation in America.

If you are interested in the other novels shortlisted for the Orange Prize this year, you might want to try:

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (Winner)
The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
A Gate at the Stairs by Morrie Moore
White Woman, Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey

Kindling by Darren Groth

This is a small book at 225 pages, but one that tells an important story. The main characters in the story are ten year old Kieran and his father, Nate. Kieran’s mother, Felicity, died tragically in a house fire five years before while trying to save Kieran and there is a mystery surrounding the circumstances of her death. Nate is a talented musician, and at the time of Felicity’s death, he and his band had just got their big break with one of their songs rising up the music charts. Nate spent his days travelling with his band, giving interviews and generally enjoying the life of an up and coming band, but that is all in the past now as Nate has taken over the parenting role – one with more than the usual challenges as Kieran has autism.

The story starts with Nate and Kieran on a typical weekend afternoon for many families – getting together with their friends for a barbeque. In the distance, a bush fire on a far hillside is threatening houses in the next suburb, and everyone, including Kieran, has been listening to the media for reports on its progress. Then, Nate can’t find Kieran. Where has he gone and why? Did he hear is father talking to his friends about the secret Nate has been shielding Keiran from for the last five years? This is not simply a case of a missing child. Kieran’s autism means that he doesn’t behave like other children would and his view of the world is one which is very different. Will Nate lose Kieran to fire after all?

What makes this book special is that it is told through two voices – that of Nate coming to grips with the challenges of being the father of a child with autism, and Kieran, whose voice gives us wonderful insights into how people with autism are “wired differently” (as the author says in the book). Darren Groth has impeccable credentials for writing about a child with autism – his own son has autism and Kieran is a combination of the children he has been around for many years. I particularly loved how the voice of Kieran puzzles over some of the statements his father makes. For example, when being told he is not allowed out on the deck without an adult, he thinks:

“I don’t know why Dad says this because I don’t want to act like “a bloody stuntman”.

This is a wonderful story, beautifully written and thought provoking, and made me feel that I just had to keep reading to find how Nate and Kieran’s story ended. It sensitively explores the challenges and rewards of parenting a child with autism and helps foster our empathy with people who are different from us, generally giving the reader a greater appreciation for the world of autism. Highly recommended and one for book clubs to consider, the book contains reading group notes at the end.

Enjoyed the Millenium Trilogy then try the books by Jo Nesbo

Checking the bestsellers list in the A2 guide of The Age this week (for period ending July 10 2010), I can’t believe that the Millennium trilogy still makes it into the top ten bestsellers – not only at a national level but also for sales through independent bookstores in Australia. Surely everyone has read them by now. I have moved on and discovered another European crime novelist – Jo Nesbo. I recently read a fairly old novel of his, The Redbreast, which is set in Norway. Released in Australia by Random House, here’s the blurb for the novel from the Random House website:

Harry Hole, drunkard, loner and brilliant detective is reassigned to surveillance after a high profile mistake.


He’s bored by his new job until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest because of its possible links to Neo Nazi activity. Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. Next Harry’s former partner is murdered. Why had she been trying to reach Harry on the night her head was smashed in? The investigation leads Harry to suspect that the crimes have their roots in the battlefields of Eastern Front during WWII. In a quest that takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. He will be both winner and loser by the novel's nail-biting conclusion.

I have to confess that I found the beginning of the book a little confusing as it starts with an attempted assassination of a visiting US President. Oh, no I thought. Another American styled crime novel, but I kept going to see where it was heading. I’m so glad I did. This was a crime thriller with lots of suspense and really challenged me to work out the connections in the story. The novel weaves chapters about events in World War II with the current day murders, and as each connection is revealed I kept oscillating between different scenarios as to who was the killer, especially since we are given brief glimpses of him throughout the book without him being identified. Unlike many of today’s crime novels, it took me quite some time to get to that point where you know who did it and it came only just before Harry Hole did himself. Often, I find the identity of the perpetrator is revealed too quickly in today’s crime novels, and the rest of the story is not strong enough to maintain the engagement of the reader.

Apparently, there are two Harry Hole novels before The Redbreast, but these haven’t been translated into English so you do miss some of the character build up for Hole that you get when you read a series from the start. If you want to read the series in order, the books available in English in the series are Nemesis, The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, and finally, The Snowman.

Spooks, Neil Cross, and the Psychological Thriller

In trawling through publisher's websites for my new bookshop, I came across this video interview of author,  Neil Cross.  You may have read some of his novels, such as Burial released in 2009 or his latest tale of suspense, Captured released in May this year, but if not, then you may have come across his writing without knowing it.  If you are a fan of the BBC TV series Spooks, then you are familiar with Neil Cross's type of story, as he is the lead writer on the series and talks about this in the video.




I've read a couple of his books, and I have to say they are not for the faint hearted - in fact Burial had my heart racing when I woke up in the middle of the night having read a chapter before turning off my light the night before.  It was clever, and for some reason, I just had to read to the end even though I didn't really want to.  If you are a fan of the psychological thriller, then Neil Cross might be an author to try, but don't say I didn't warn you!

What's selling this week and an apology to my blog's readers

You may have noticed that I haven't posted as many posts in the last few weeks, and I have to apologise.  It's not because I haven't got lots to say about the books I've been reading, just that a lot of my time at the moment has been taken up with a little project I am embarking on (or maybe not so little).  I am opening a bookshop!  My expected opening will be in early August but at the moment the shop is still being finished inside, and then there's the bookshelves to be built and books to buy, as well as computers and software and ...  The list is a bit daunting but I've got most of it in hand.  I'm sure there will be some hiccups on the path to opening day.

I thought I would start writing a regular end of the week post about what is happening on the sales charts (as provided by Nielsen Bookscan) and new books that I'm finding out about as I select books for the shop.  So here's the first.

The fastest mover on the charts for the week ending 29 May 2010 was the non fiction book, Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie (University of Queensland Press, $34.95).  Featured in The Age today, the book is the outcome of research by Smith and Lourie to measure how much of the chemicals that are part of the products that we use everyday, are absorbed by our bodies.  Using themselves as lab rats, their conclusions will make us all think twice of the products we buy.

In the fiction department, the vampire books still rein with the latest in the Vampire Academy series, Spirit Bound, by Richelle Mead at number 1 and Dead in the Family (the Sookie Stackhouse books that the True Blood TV series is based on) by Charlaine Harris is at number 6.  I have read the first few of the Sookie Stackhouse books and they are certainly good for a bit of escapism if you like this genre.

In the charts for independent bookshops (that will be me), these two feature in the top 10 as well, but they are joined by Lionel Shriver's new book So Much for That (author of We need to talk about Kevin) and Hitch-22: A memoir by Christopher Hitchen, a well known British born but American resident, political and social commentator.  Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey has also entered the top 10 given it's short list selection for the Miles Franklin Award this year.  You can read my review of this here.

Men don’t read – or do they?

I’ve been reading on the internet a lot about the topic of “men don’t read”. I first listened to an interview on the Radio National’s The Book Show with Jason Pinter, an ex publisher and now author, who wrote an article for the Huffington Post in April on this topic. Jason maintains that one of the reasons that men don’t read is that publishers don’t publish books that are aimed at men. I think there is some validity here, especially in the fiction area. Most of the books I see in the bookshops do have female orientated topics, but there are a number of books and authors directed towards men. I think that the issue is: do men read literary fiction or just what is commonly called popular fiction? Certainly, someone is buying the books by Matthew Reilly, Clive Cussler, and Lee Child to name a few, as their latest books feature in the bestseller lists.

What is it about these books that appeal to men?  Matthew Reilly’s are full of action and adventure, featuring physical men with brains and they appeal enormously to the young adult males (including teenagers). For the more mature reader, there’s the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child and I can attest that the one I bought for my husband recently was consumed in a week. Quite an achievement for someone who usually reads his military non-fiction books before going to sleep. I quizzed my husband and his response was that, when he reads fiction he wants it to be an easy read as the purpose is to distract his mind from all the things that he has to think about at work. It got me thinking about the difference between men and women who are in the 35 to 50 age group. Traditionally, in the older age group, more men work full time than women, so, for them, is the purpose of reading fiction to provide escapism to balance the decision making and concentration required at work?  For women who spend their time looking after the house and the children as well as working part-time, does reading provide them with a more stimulating challenge and the books they choose reflect this?

Also, many older men (over 35) do not have the advantages that their sons have – a focus on reading and books specifically targeted at their age group when they were growing up and so, maybe, they’ve never developed the habit of reading. Our son’s are so lucky that there are so many books written specifically to engage their interest – books such as the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, the young James Bond series by Charlie Higson, and Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines series for the fantasy enthusiast are just a small taste of what is out there. The challenge will be, can our authors produce books that appeal to the adult male reader which these younger readers will eventually become.

It has been posed that that if men don’t read, why is it that men are more often featured in literary prize short lists than women authors? I think it is due to the amount of time that is usually invested by the reader when tackling a novel of literary fiction. Writers of literary fiction (both men and women) write with a certain type of writing style: lots of character development and complex prose, often at the expense of the development and speed of the plot. Men don’t want to invest this much time. When it comes to investing time, men are more likely to pick up a non-fiction book on their favourite hobby, pass time or area of interest as this has immediate application. Women readers, on the other hand, seem happy to invest the time and the attention that is required to appreciate these books.

If you’re interested in the art behind bestsellers, there’s an interesting discussion on the ABC’s Jennifer Byrne Presents which features Matthew Reilly and Lee Child which you can watch here.

What do you think? I would be interested in your comments on what your male friends and family read.

Swedish Crime - The New Flavour of the Month

I came across an article in The Guardian newspaper’s website from last year, entitled “Swedish crime wave sweeps European book charts”. It considers the success of Swedish crime writers in European book markets in 2008 and, as you might expect, Stieg Larsson was number one with his Millenium series. Surprisingly, other Swedish crime writers featured prominently with Henning Mankell at number 10, and Liza Marklund at number 12. In 2009, as reported in The Independent, the trend continued, with Camilla Läckberg joining Larsson and Mankell in the top ten.

What makes Swedish crime the new flavour of the month? Like a lot of people I know, I enjoyed the modern rawness of the Millenium series novels. The use of contemporary gadgets and brands such as Apple and Blackberry give the books an appeal to the younger end of the adult market and when combined with the interesting but far from perfect characters, the exotic setting (to Australians, at least), and the insights into Swedish political history, make these books a compelling read. Henning Mankell’s Faceless Killers also included local issues with its story interwoven with the impact Sweden’s relaxed policies regarding immigrants on the attitudes of the Swedish characters. These novels remind me of the way TV crime shows made by the BBC have so much more depth than their American counterparts. Having just finished Camilla Läckberg’s The Stone-Cutter, I once again found an author whose writing embraces, not only the traditional crime, but also history and the undercurrents of daily life.

Here’s an excerpt from the inside cover for The Stone-Cutter:

The remote resort of Fjällbacka has seen its share of tragedy, though perhaps none worse than that of the little girl found in a fisherman’s net. But the post-mortem reveals that this is no accidental drowning…..

Local detective Patrik Hedström has just become a father. It is his grim task to discover who could be behind the methodical murder of a child both he and his partner, Erica, knew well. He knows the solution lies with finding the reason for such a terrible crime.

What he does not know is how this case will reach into the dark heart of Fjällbacka and tear aside its idyllic façade, perhaps for every.

The Stone-Cutter features two parallel stories – one set in the past, one in the present.  How are they connected? Each suspect that is introduced has the potential to be the murderer and is believable in their depiction. The author manages to keep the reader guessing right until the end, and it is this element of suspense which I believe is missing from many American crime novels that I have read recently. Finally, all is revealed and suddenly the two storylines converge and make sense. Together, this makes a good crime novel.

It is exciting to find something new and with hidden layers in this genre that has so many books that are, frankly, a waste of paper. I will be using the lists of authors I found in the two articles to select my crime reading for the near future. The only problem will be whether the books I want to read are available here in Australia. Given the number of bookshops that I went to in my local area in order to track down Henning Mankell’s Faceless Killers, the first of the Wallender series of books, I might have to order them online.

Do you believe in Ghosts?

Ghost stories. Not really something I’ve ever been a fan of or picked up by choice, but the supernatural is all the rage at the moment with vampires and guardian angels being the new craze in our bookshops and on TV, the way true crime books and forensic science shows have been popular in the past.

Her Fearful Symmetry is Audrey Niffenegger’s follow up novel to The Time Traveller’s Wife, the latter I really enjoyed despite the rather Doctor Who like plot. Her Fearful Symmetry has the same other world type of feel – bloodless looking main characters, a creepy setting in an old mansion next to one of the most famous cemeteries in London, and a ghost. During 19th century London, all things macabre were very fashionable and Highgate Cemetery, which is the cemetery in the book, was a popular place to “take the air” at the time.  Her Fearful Symmetry seems to have absorbed some of this spookiness.

For those not familiar with the story, here’s a little synopsis from the Random House website:

Julia and Valentina Poole are normal American teenagers – normal, at least, for identical ‘mirror’ twins who have no interest in college or jobs or possibly anything outside their cozy suburban home. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn’t know existed has died and left them her flat in an apartment block overlooking Highgate Cemetery in London. They feel that at last their own lives can begin ... but have no idea that they’ve been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the obsessive-compulsive crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt’s mysterious and elusive lover who lives below them, and even to their aunt herself, who never got over her estrangement from the twins’ mother – and who can’t even seem to quite leave her flat....

For me, the most interesting aspect of the novel is the characters. The two main characters, Valentina and Julia, did not appeal to me at the beginning of the book as I didn’t find them particularly believable and not very likeable. They are American from a middle class family but have no ambition for education or employment. Very un-American. They are also twins and initially I thought that Niffenegger portrayed them in a stereotypical way; they dress the same, never do anything without the other, and generally act like one person. As the story progressed I realised that the relationship between the twins wasn’t the symbiotic one that is most often portrayed, but a suffocating one which would have far more sinister implications.  I still didn’t like them, but they became part of a greater theme in the novel - that of obsession. I felt that this theme complimented the spookiness of the other aspects of the novel, and thus, Niffenegger made me believe in the unbelievable, without feeling that it didn’t fit.

The idea of the novel being held together by the characters' obsessions was put into my mind by this review I read in the New York Times, and I think this is what lifted the novel from a plot that we’ve heard before to a more sophisticated product.

I was most drawn to the supporting characters - the twin’s mother and aunt, Elspeth, and her sister Edie (Edwina), Robert, Elspeth’s younger lover, and Martin who lives in the apartment upstairs. With Elspeth and Edie, the idea of history repeating itself is hinted during the novel making me want to read on to see how the story ends. Why was it in Elspeth’s will that the twins had to live in the apartment for 12 months as a condition of their inheritance? What is the big secret between Elspeth and Edie that meant that Edie was explicitly forbidden by Elspeth's will from visiting her children at the apartment during this time?

Robert is devastated by Elspeth’s death by cancer at only 44. He is a frustrating character, in that sometimes he portrayed the grieving lover and obsessed historian convincingly, and then he would do something that seemed at odds with the person I was getting to know. At one point he seems to be getting on with his life, and then he regresss when Elspeth appears as a ghost after the twins move into the apartment.  This fulfils his ultimate wish, doesn’t it? Is Elspeth the type of ghost you want to be around or maybe we should be careful of what we wish for?

Martin’s obsession is the most overt of all the characters, as he is trapped in his apartment by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. His story was beautifully written and I felt I really understood the conflict in his mind between his understanding that he was ill but not being able to do anything about it, and needing an outside catalyst to make himself change. I’m not sure I believed the ending to his story – the time line was a bit short in my opinion - but you can make your own mind up about this if you read the novel.

After finishing the novel, I went searching for other people’s reactions to it which is something I try not to do until I have written my own thoughts down. It didn’t surprise me to find that most readers either loved it or hated it. Similar to The Time Traveller’s Wife, it does require a suspension of your sense of reality, and I got the feeling that many readers found this a little difficult to come to terms with. The broader popularity of The Time Traveller’s Wife is, in my opinion, due to the incorporation of a love story, which enabled those who were uncomfortable with the time travelling premise, to still enjoy the book. Her Fearful Symmetry has to stand on its own two feet without the prop of a handsome man falling in love with a beautiful woman. Personally, I liked the author’s engaging writing, characters, and unique plot which was so different from other things I have been reading lately. It has a bit of mystery (a little clichéd I admit), and the twins are somewhat creepy, but it flowed along.  Don’t expect to have the same reaction to this novel as you did to The Time Traveller’s Wife, but if you enjoyed The Time Traveller’s Wife, then you might like to give it a go.

"Butterfly" by Sonia Hartnett

I finally finished listening to the audio book version of Sonia Hartnett’s book, Butterfly, which has made the shortlist for the 2010 Miles Franklin Award. Reading the blurb on the back, I assumed that the book was aimed at the young adult reader as the main character was 13 years old. However, once I got into the story I found that I didn’t really think that it would appeal to the young adult reader, and there was a quite a few things about it that made me think that I wouldn’t want my young adult reader reading it yet, so maybe the author intended it for an adult readership. I’m confused.

The novel revolves around a typical family – a mother and a father who we don’t learn too much about, and their three children, Justin, Cyder, and Ariella, whom the family calls Plum. The story is mainly told from teenage Plum’s perspective, not usually a main character that appeals to adults. Plum is experiencing all the teenage woes of pimples, feeling fat and unattractive, and being on the fringes of a group of friends to whom she clings even though she doesn’t really like the girls, because having no friends at all is worse. To top it off, Plum’s house is old; its furnishings are old; not at all like the cool houses of her friends, and her parents are embarrassing. Sounds like a young adult novel so far. The only redeeming part of her life is her two older brothers who we eventually discover to be in their early twenties, not teenagers as I originally thought. Justin and Cyder are very cool – dark, handsome, and dressed in black. So far so good, I’m reading a young adult novel.

As I get further in to the novel, I start to change my mind. After a while, I realise that the novel is set during the 1980’s. This seems a bit strange for a young adult novel as this period is not history and not contemporary but somewhere in between. Populated by strange clothing such as knickerbockers, references to bands and movies that the current generation are unlikely to have heard of (Logan’s Run, Planet of the Apes to name two), descriptions of the glass and steel furniture typical of the period, and the black and white, egg shape TV that Plum covets, seem to just add to the sense of not knowing where you are. As someone who was a teenager during the 1980’s, it is not an era that I particularly want to revisit now that I am an adult, and I can just hear my teenage son – “it’s so dated”.

I found Plum’s relationship with her parents difficult to understand.  With one TV per house in those days, I would not have stayed up as late as Plum gets to do at thirteen and even if I had, I would have been watching what my parents watched. The parents are portrayed as subservient to their children, while the other adult in the story encourages Plum to be a friend even though they had little contact in the past. I found this hard to believe as my recollection was that my father was always right, and while children had a lot of physical freedom there was not as much interaction with adults. I think that parents today are more likely to try to be friends and to discuss choices with their children than they were when I was growing up.

The novel mixes the trials of adolescence with the more mature themes of one of the brothers having a love affair with neighbour, and the brother's use of drugs, neither of which sat comfortably with my assumption this was a novel for young adults. I found Plum to be a character that I didn’t believe in, certainly not very likeable. I don’t enjoy reading a novel where the character is written in such a negative way, as Plum is in this book. It’s like a comedy movie where you’re laughing at someone rather than with them. I also found the author’s constant use of metaphors to be very annoying and affected my ability to take in the plot. I hate to say it but I cringed a lot as I listened driving around Melbourne.

All in all, I can’t say I think it is a good example of young adult fiction, and as an adult I’m not sure that I would want to read this for pleasure. If this hadn’t been an audio book version that I listened to in the car, I think I would have given up on it. To me, Butterfly seems to be for readers who like a lot of “literary” in their fiction, and read for the words, not for the story.

What are you getting for Mother's Day?

Do you give gifts for Mother’s Day? My children use to buy something from the Mother’s Day stall at school for me but now my older two like to buy something from the shops. We try to make it small so, for me, a book is my ideal gift as I can’t think of anything I would rather do than while a way a few hours reading a book. Hopefully I might get breakfast in bed as well!

I was thinking – what books would I like this Mother’s Day? I looked at a book store catalogue of a major chain that arrived in my post box this week and I thought the selections were very stereotypical.  In the catalogue were:

• Jodi Picoult. I don’t mind her books but I’m not sure that that’s what I want to read on my special day;

• Family meal type cook books. While I love cookbooks, unless it’s got some kind of story woven in, a book about slow cooking or family meals in a flash is like giving me electric appliances for my birthday which my husband knows is a “no no” if he wants to stay in my good books.

• Chick lit. We might choose these books for ourselves to read, but our better halves and children should beware that they’re not implying we’ve lost all our brain cells raising said children;

• Biographies about inspiring women. I’m not sure Susan Boyle is my idea of a role model, and some of the others just make me feel inadequate as I look at my daily routine of taxi driver for the kids, cook and housekeeper for everyone.

• Travel to far away places – not for me this year. My son is going on a more exotic trip with his school than I will have this year.

• Body and diet. These made me really laugh.  I'm not sure that it's a good idea for a man to give The Feel Good Body by Jennifer Fleming and Anna Louise Bouvier, for example, to his partner on behalf of the children and I not sure how I would feel if my teenage sons gave it to me or how my mother would feel if I gave it to her.

What I’d like to get for Mother’s Day:

For my foodie passions: Sunday’s Kitchen by Lesley Harding and Kendrah Morgan.

Those living in Melbourne may be familiar with Heide, the home of John and Sunday Reed, and sanctuary at various times to many Melbourne artists and writers such as Sidney Nolan, Albert Tucker, Joy Hester and Charles Blackman. This is part history book, part cookbook and sounds fascinating. A review of the book can be found here.

For the fiction reader: The Second-Last Woman in England by Maggie Joel

This book intrigued me after I read about it in a blog called Bookbath which I follow (you can read the review here). Set after World War II, the story starts with a murder. It is not the murder that is focus of the book though, as apparently the perpetrator is know at the outset. It is the relationships between the main characters during the year prior that are important.

A biography to make us think how fortunate we are: Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox.

I, like many of my age group, loved the Back to the Future movies and TV shows that Michael has appeared in during the 1980’s. When he wrote his first book, Lucky Man, on living with Parkinson’s disease after being diagnosed at the young age of 30, I meant to read it but have never got around to it. I now have it beside my bed to tackle soon. I think he is such an inspiring person, and I’m sure his approach to life is very different these days from when he was at the pinnacle of his acting career. It’s good to be reminded sometimes as to how lucky we are.