Black Swan, Gillespie & recent reads

I found the film Black Swan too gruelling, and can't think why one newspaper suggested the dvd as an 'ideal Christmas present for mums'. A well acted psycho-drama, almost a horror movie - it's unpleasant and painful to see a perfectionist ballerina falling apart.  Fortunately I watched it alone, definitely a woman's film, imo, though here's an enthusiastic review by a man.

Much enjoyed Gillespie and I by Jane Harris, short-listed for the Galaxy Popular Fiction award etc. Again the author has chosen a Victorian narrator, this time a lively youngish spinster of independent means who befriends the family of a Glasgow painter with disastrous results. Do read it. I don't want to spoil the plot by recounting the story.  Here's a review.  I've now read both books by this Orange-shortlister and will certainly buy the next one. I particularly like the writer's dry sense of humour.

Emily Barr's The First Wife is set in Cornwall. Lily is almost unbelievably naive for a modern girl - it's easy to see why she falls head over heels for Harry.  Here's the blurb.
'Lily is adrift and penniless after the death of the grandparents who brought her up. When she finds a cleaning job, she becomes preoccupied with the glamorous couple she never sees, but whose house she looks after every week.
When tragedy strikes, she suddenly finds herself getting close to dashing widower Harry. Yet she feels that things are not quite as they seem. Lily adores Harry, but cannot plan her future with him until she finds out more about his first wife.'   A good light thriller/holiday read.

Winner of the Galaxy Award for the Best Crime/Thriller novel, the absorbing and original Before I go to Sleep by SJ Watson is scarier. Christine has lost her memory and lives with her patient husband, but doubts begin to worry her, her doctor and you, the reader.  A gripping thriller. Do read it. I understand a film is in the offing and rights have been sold all over the world. SJ Watson, who works in the NHS, turns out to be a man and he writes exceptionally well from the woman's point of view.
'As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I'm still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me ...' Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine's life.'

A Vision of Loveliness by Louise Levene is a snapshot of the 50s-early 60s and does indeed evoke the period so well that the very few anachronisms take one by surprise.  The main protagonist is a beautiful socially ambitious young girl on the make.  All the characters are pretty unpleasant, but amusing with it. No 'nice girls' here. A social satire with witty writing, reminds me of Muriel Spark. I gather the novel was serialised on the radio on Book at Bedtime, and was long-listed for the Desmond Elliot prize.  Here's a Telegraph review and here's the Independent's.

Bonfire of a bamboo chair that Otto ate when he was a puppy.  He's now a relatively senior dog who wouldn't dream of chewing anything, much.

Notes on Books & Films

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.  The professional reviewers of this Booker prizewinning novella all admire it, and consider it a novel about flawed memories of the distant past.  Yet the narrator Tony remembers with clarity all kinds of emotions about his repressed early 1960s youth when life was full of hope, frustrated sex and worries about class.  This is all brilliantly described and I loved the middle part of this novel. But his memory turns out to be selective, and he's half forgotten a horrible letter he wrote.

Many lay readers, myself included, found the ending puzzling and possibly unsatisfactory. We read on in the hope of finding out why Adrian killed himself, but this is never convincingly explained.  Two boys apparently commit suicide for a reason that seems unlikely. Depression is never mentioned. Perhaps many suicides are inexplicable, but surely they cannot be reduced to a mathematical equation?

Perhaps that isn't the point of the book.  Better read it for yourself and see.

Other books worth reading:  Rachel Hore's A Gathering Storm. Here's a review from the Independent.
Donna Tartt's  The Secret History.  It's especially creepy in that the reader can find herself almost complicit in a murder.  Like Barnes's narrator, Richard feels socially out of his depths.
And do read Marian Keyes' Rachel's Holiday, if you missed it. Funny, sad, moving.

Film: absolutely loved Midnight in Paris, directed by Woody Allen. Scenic, funny and a happy way to pass the time.  Here's a Guardian review.

The dvd of 172 Hours was gripping. A hiker falls down an isolated canyon in Utah and his arm is stuck under a boulder. Based on a true story and very well acted, it's a film worth watching.

Hare with Amber Eyes & Tiger Mother

Just read two books on Kindle and found it a pleasant experience. However, I should like to have had a paperback of the non-fiction The Hare with Amber Eyes as I could then check back to the family tree and the photos which were too small in an electronic version.  Using a set of Japanese netsuke as a link, potter Edmund de Waal traces his family history and tells us how Jewish traders, the Ephrussi from Odessa, became rich, grand and cultured bankers in Paris and Vienna, but then Hitler came to power.  Full of memorable characters, it's a must read for anyone interested in art history and indeed European history.
Here's a Guardian review.

Like many Western (and Chinese) readers I was stunned and appalled by Prof Amy Chua's ambitious parenting techniques when I read The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Her daughters were not allowed to play with other children as they had to practise the piano and the violin almost all day long from the age of 5. Only straight As were acceptable in proper subjects and they were removed from school during art classes as Amy considered this a waste of time. Unrelenting and unrepentant, Amy's redeeming features are that she has a good sense of humour and likes dogs (for whom she is not ambitious) and her daughters are highly successful, charming and still love her.  Though none of us would dream of going to Amy's seemingly insane lengths, it makes an interesting read. Allison Pearson reckons some contemporary British mothers might need a bit more tiger in their tank.

Cats, books, museums, libraries and tv

Do tune in to Simon's Cat videos on YouTube. Hilarious - see link at Random Jottings. I love the one where Simon's cat won't let him watch tv.

What did you think of the Churchill film on Monday? We enjoyed it even if some critics called it Churchill-lite. I didn't think the beach and house looked much like Hendaye, but that's nit-picking.

Here's a link to the row about the late Steig Larsson's royalties.

How to find literary tweets. I've joined up to Twitter but can't yet quite see the point of it. I always want to say too much or tweet something so mundane it's embarrassing.

On the spur of the moment, we went to the library and joined up again after a gap of about six years. Here's my small haul (didn't have much time): The Distance between Us by Maggie O'Farrell (hope I haven't read it), December by Elizabeth Winthrop, The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw. Was relieved to see that they had one of my own books and that it had been taken out recently! Yesterday we visited the Winchester Discovery Centre (a funky library with lecture hall or whatever they call it - see pics above) and the Hampshire Records Office, another smart modern building. Also today went to the Willis Museum in Basingstoke and was amused to see a display of domestic appliances from my girlhood, e.g. a twin-tub, a free standing kitchen unit just like one we had, and a mangle too. Mysteriously they also had a roll-top bread bin similar to one I use now - maybe I should rethink. As I said, we were in a rush so didn't have time to study the rest of the refurbished museum so will return. Even the tea room looked most tempting, not always the case in B'stoke.

Paris Imperfect paperback now out

The paperback of Paris Imperfect is now available on Amazon and at the Book Depository, so that's exciting - see links to the right. It's a trade paperback so slightly larger than the normal kind. There won't be a small-size one.

And I've also discovered that the paperback of Tropical Connections will appear at the end of March 2010.

Lovely weather here today, wonderful end to the summer. Have been admiring Michaelmas daisies and my new dahlia has already flowered. Photos to follow. (I never thought I'd be enthusing about dahlias - how things change.)

Paris Imperfect, The Aviary Gate & Rossetti

There seems to be some confusion among on-line booksellers about the publication date of the trade paperback of Paris Imperfect. The publisher has confirmed that it is 30 Sept 09. (The Book Depository is showing 'out of stock' instead of not yet published, so hope they will change this since they usually give a good price.)

The publishers also told me they are placing a banner advert for Tropical Connections as below, so that's exciting.


Just finished reading The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman, set in 1599 in Turkey. Gripping, interesting, well-written and well-researched. I don't usually go for harem novels, but I like Katie Hickman and enjoyed her non-fiction Daughters of Britannia, a history of diplomatic wives. Perhaps enjoyed is not the right word as reading the latter brought back memories of the sense of oppression I felt as a young wife when toeing the line was all. I am sure no one expects dip spouses to toe the line now. Reverting to The Aviary Gate, where female etiquette really was oppressive and strictly regulated, I found the modern heroine faintly irritating and would rather have stayed in 1599 throughout. Do read it and see what you think.


Enjoyed watching The Desperate Romantics on TV despite excessive amount of rumpy pumpy. I was in love with Dante Gabriel Rossetti as a schoolgirl, but I can't even remember which poem touched my heart so. Of course I had not idea he was such a libertine - they didn't tell us that sort of thing at school. It so happened I went to a couple of lectures on Victorian painting last year, so was already interested in the Pre-Raphaelites. Although some may disapprove of history lite, I mostly think it's good entertaining stuff.

June morning and reading

Much enjoyed Mr Toppit, by Charles Elton. Well, maybe enjoyed wasn't the right word - it's a dark book with black humour, original and interesting. Do read it. Here's a Guardian review. Currently am deep in another Kate Atkinson I bought when helping on the book stall at the village fete. Inevitably I came home with about ten books.

Too busy with Wimbledon and other important matters to blog for long today. Might even branch out and buy a new tv. The one we have is at least 12 years old and was donated to us by the last of our tenants. Washing machine 20 years old too - this is an old-machines home.
Trouble is, every time I look on line or go out to buy something new am so confused by all the choices that I buy nothing.

Don't plant that yellow stuff (garden loosestrife) above unless your desperate to fill a space. It is a massive invader, but at least the rabbits don't eat it.

Paris Imperfect cover

I'm very pleased with my new cover just received - both striking and fun. But the book won't be available until December here and about three months later in the US.

See Severn House link on the side for more details.

It's a love story with slices of lemon -

Clio, twice-married and unlucky in love, has become a realist. What she craves above all is stability for her son, Alex. This means she should marry her lover, Philippe, a cultured Frenchman with a large and conventional family. However difficult it is to cope with his perfectionist ways, not to mention his terrifying mother, Clio must not rock the boat.

She's a tour guide and when she takes rugged Canadian Joe around the battlefields of France, her tidy life begins to unravel again.