I read ‘Wolf Hall‘ nearly a year ago and to be honest, I can’t remember a great deal about the actual content of the story and had to force myself to finish it. Although the book was undoubtedly a quality piece of historical fiction, my main gripe about it was that there were too many characters and unless you have studied early sixteenth century British history in considerable depth then it is very hard to keep track of exactly who is who. However, although ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ also has a large cast of characters, this instalment of the trilogy is set over a much narrower time period (one year rather than three decades) and the story of Anne Boleyn’s downfall is likely to be much more familiar to readers than Thomas Cromwell’s early years (at least it was to me anyway). The fact that it’s over 200 pages shorter than ‘Wolf Hall’ also helps a lot. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Fiction
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Filed under Books
NW by Zadie Smith
I gave a slightly mixed review of ‘White Teeth‘ by Zadie Smith last year. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but it did have a few flaws. Over a decade after her first novel was published when she was just twenty-five years old, Smith now offers us ‘NW’, another ambitious and sprawling novel which focuses on four thirty-something characters – Leah, Felix, Natalie and Nathan – who all grew up on the Caldwell council estate in north-west London and find that their lives continue to overlap many years later. Continue reading
Filed under Books
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
I recently read the first of the Jackson Brodie novels, ‘Case Histories‘, by Kate Atkinson which I thought was pretty good but not truly amazing. Several other bloggers left comments suggesting that I might prefer Atkinson’s other stand-alone novels, particularly ‘Behind The Scenes at the Museum’ and her most recent work, ‘Life After Life’, which has been shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. I am pleased to say that they were right! Continue reading
Filed under Books
Levels of Life by Julian Barnes
‘Levels of Life’ by Julian Barnes is (I think) the only book I have reviewed on this blog which I have tagged as both fiction and non-fiction. Part essay, part fiction and part memoir, the book certainly defies simple categorisation despite being less than 120 pages long. Continue reading
Filed under Books
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
‘The Buddha in the Attic’ by Julie Otsuka is a strikingly original book. Written in the first person plural (“we”) , a chorus of voices, told from the point of view of a group of Japanese picture brides who move to the United States shortly after World War One, recount their story through sparse descriptions of the journey to California by boat, their mostly unhappy marriages, their children and their experiences of acclimatising to life in a new country. However, their world is suddenly turned upside down again by the bombing of Pearl Harbour and they find that they have to leave. Continue reading
Filed under Books
May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes
Shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, ‘May We Be Forgiven’ by A. M. Homes tells the story of a Richard Nixon scholar, Harold Silver, and his dysfunctional family life. His brother, George, kills two people in a car accident and then murders his wife after he discovers she is having an affair with Harry and ends up back in a mental hospital. Harry suddenly finds himself in charge of his niece and nephew as well as dealing with various other problems in his life including his divorce and losing his job. Continue reading
Filed under Books
Books I Have Neglected
A little while ago, I wrote a post about the books I will probably never read (unless I break a leg or something, in which case I might give them a try). I also have a list of other books which have been sitting on my shelves for months or years which I really do plan to read. My good excuse is that I have been trying to make the most out university libraries which I will only have access to until the end of September so my official reading list and my Kindle have been neglected for a very long time. My poor excuse is that I am also a pretty terrible procrastinator even when it comes to getting round to things I enjoy like reading.
Books I Have Neglected
Filed under Books
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver
‘Flight Behaviour’ by Barbara Kingsolver tells the story of Dellarobia Turnbow who climbs up a hillside in southern Appalachia on her way to meet her lover and stumbles across what appears to be a lake of orange fire. As we learn later, this is the arrival of millions of monarch butterflies which have been diverted from their usual destination of Mexico by the effects of climate change. A research team arrives to investigate but Dellarobia’s involvement in their work soon comes into conflict with all other aspects of her life, particularly her husband’s family who want to clear the land for logging. Continue reading
Filed under Books
Blindness by Jose Saramago
‘Blindness’ by José Saramago is a fable about an unexplained mass epidemic of blindness which has unsurprisingly chaotic consequences. The story begins with a man suddenly going blind as he is waiting in his car at some traffic lights. Several other characters who come into contact with him also lose their sight. The blind are quarantined in a mental asylum and left to fend for themselves but criminals soon gain control as society rapidly breaks down completely. Only the doctor’s wife is still able to see for unknown reasons but she doesn’t reveal this fact. Can she still help the others? Continue reading
Filed under Books
The Women’s Prize for Fiction Shortlist
The shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013 was announced today at the London Book Fair. The six nominees are…
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
NW by Zadie Smith
Filed under Books
The President’s Hat by Antoine Laurain
Set in France during the mid-1980s, ‘The President’s Hat’ by Antoine Laurain tells the story of, well, François Mitterrand’s black felt hat. After the French president accidentally leaves it behind in a brasserie, Daniel Mercier takes the hat on impulse and finds that wearing it brings him a great amount of luck. However, it soon ends up in the hands of a range of other characters… and so begins the eventful journey of the president’s hat which somehow changes the lives of all those who briefly possess it. Continue reading
Filed under Books
Books I Will Probably Never Read
Here is my list of Books I Will Probably Never Read But Might Try One Day If I Break My Leg Or Something. Mostly these are books which look either too long or too scary or too difficult to tackle (or in some cases all three). I can’t say I feel particularly guilty about not having read any of these books – I’m just painfully aware of their presence…
Filed under Books
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread Book of the Year, ‘Small Island’ by Andrea Levy tells the story of Gilbert Joseph who emigrates to England in 1948 from Jamaica after fighting in the Second World War, shortly followed by his new wife, Hortense. Queenie Bligh has given up waiting for her husband, Bernard, to arrive home after fighting in the war, and takes in Gilbert and Hortense as lodgers to help make ends meet. However, when Bernard suddenly reappears, events become a lot more complicated. Continue reading
Filed under Books
The Folio Prize: Do We Need Another Literary Award?
Another day sees another literary award announced…this time, it’s the launch of the Folio Prize, a new £40,000 literary award sponsored by the Folio Society for the best work of fiction published in the English language. This particular prize was created after several literary bigwigs complained about the supposed dumbing down of the Booker Prize in 2011, a year when books were chosen for their ‘readability’. Heaven forbid that somebody who wasn’t on the judging panel might actually understand or even enjoy something on the shortlist…
Continue reading
Filed under Books
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
I tried. I really did. But I just couldn’t finish ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell. The whole concept/plot was just too damn weird.
I’m quite proud of the fact that there are very few books which I have never finished but this one definitely defeated me. ‘Cloud Atlas’ interweaves six different stories which include the 19th century Pacific journal of Adam Ewing, the letters of Robert Frobisher living in Belgium in the 1930s, a thriller set in the 1970s, a comic story about someone who gets trapped in a nursing home, a futuristic dystopian world… and this is the point where I gave up after nearly 200 pages. Each of the first five stories are interrupted half-way through and are then resolved in reverse chronological order (although I didn’t get far enough to read these conclusions). Continue reading
Filed under Books
The Observations by Jane Harris
Set in Scotland in the 1860s, ‘The Observations’ by Jane Harris tells the story of Bessy Buckley, a feisty Irish girl who is taken on as a maid at Castle Haivers by Arabella Reid. Bessy has a number of secrets and is keen that her shady past doesn’t catch up with her. But it turns out that Arabella herself also has a dark history and her obsession with her former maid, Nora, who died in tragic circumstances, proves to be a catalyst for even more mystery. Continue reading
Filed under Books
The Tragedy of Fidel Castro by Joao Cerqueira
I have finally got round to reading another one of the novels specifically sent to me with a request for a review – I promise I will try and read the other two currently sitting in my inbox in the next couple of months! ‘The Tragedy of Fidel Castro’ by Joao Cerqueira has a very interesting opening scenario: God receives a request from Fátima to help stop a war between Fidel Castro and John F. Kennedy. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Continue reading
Filed under Books
The Devil in the Flesh by Raymond Radiguet
‘The Devil in the Flesh’ by Raymond Radiguet tells the semi-autobiographical story of an unnamed narrator who begins a tumultuous love affair at the age of 16 with Marthe, a 19 year old married woman whose husband is away fighting at the front during the First World War. The affair is soon discovered by their families and friends. Naturally, tragedy ensues. Continue reading
Five Awesome Bookshops in London
In spite of the difficulties facing the publishing industry, there are still a lot of bookshops in London which are managing to survive. Here are five I deem to be among the Most Awesome.
(1) Foyles
The flagship store on Charing Cross Road is a haven for book-lovers everywhere. It is vast yet not at all intimidating. Its specialisms include the Grant & Cutler foreign language department and the sheet music section on the top floor. Ray’s Jazz Cafe is also very cool. Continue reading
Filed under Books
Spies by Michael Frayn
‘Spies’ by Michael Frayn tells the story of Stephen Wheatley, who returns to the quiet street where he lived as a young boy in England during the Second World War and looks back on a particular incident when his friend Keith announces that his mother is a German spy. The boys soon get caught up in solving this mystery only for new discoveries to be made instead. Continue reading
Filed under Books
A Little Blog of Books 
You must be logged in to post a comment.