Review: Hex by Jenni Fagan

In 1591, Geillis Duncan was found guilty of witchcraft and hanged as part of the North Berwick Witch Trials in Scotland. In Hex by Jenni Fagan, the author's protagonist Iris contacts Geillis in her jail cell on the eve of her execution. The year is 2021 for Iris, and she establishes the link between the pair via seance and astral travel.

Even with the stunning cover design, some of you might have dismissed this book immediately given the premise, however I enjoy historical fiction and was interested to learn what Iris had to say to Geillis. Geillis also made an appearance in the first three seasons of Outlander and she really made an impression. (I love that show by the way)! I wondered why Iris would choose to visit Geillis when all hope of salvation was gone. Why not visit earlier and help her to avoid her fate? Was she driven by a desire to provide comfort or satisfy her own curiosity? I didn't really find the answers, but what I did discover was anger and pure rage.

"A woman's voice is a hex. She must learn to exalt men always. If she doesn't do that, then she is a threat. A demon whore, a witch - so says everyone and the law. So say the King and his guards. So say the witch-pricker and his sadistic friends. So say the husbands, the haters, the wives, the daughters, the God-fearing - demons are always trying to kill them, so they know. So says the hangman who sleeps with Bible in hand." Page 8

Those familiar with their history will know that Geillis Duncan worked for David Seaton, who was unhappy about an inheritance that had been given to his in-laws. Seaton accused Geillis of witchcraft and together with a bunch of men, tortured her into naming other women as witches, including his sister-in-law Euphame MacCalzean. The author doesn't shy away from the horror of said torture nor Iris's history of abuse, and the lack of punctuation for dialogue made it even more difficult and uncomfortable to read.

"Euphame MacCalzean. That's who he wanted. That's who he went after. This is my true confession. He could not go after her directly, being of nobility as she is and with money, and he could not risk being accused of trying to hurt her. To kill her, in fact. He could not have his motive - to try to get his hands on her inheritance - as something that linked him to her death. So what other way to put a woman to death? Have her accused of witchcraft, that's what." Page 85

Despite the centuries between them, Iris and Geillis share a hatred for men and this rubbed me up the wrong way from the get go. Not all men in 1591 were evil and the same goes for 2021, although Iris pretty much tells Geillis nothing has changed.

Every page is dripping with rage, and the tender moments between Iris and Geillis weren't nearly enough to counterbalance the helplessness and horror of Duncan's situation, sitting in a dark cell awaiting her execution.

The only reason I didn't put Hex aside and stop reading it was the fact it was only 104 pages long, however I can't recommend this historical reimagining. Some readers might find the ending ethereal and magical, but I just found it a complete waste.

Hex by Jenni Fagan is part of the Darkland Tales series where Scottish authors offer dramatic retellings of stories from the nation's history, myth and legend. For those interested, other offerings in the series include: Rizzio by Denise Mina, Nothing Left to Fear From Hell by Alan Warner, Columba's Bones by David Greig and Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain

I wanted to read a French translation novel during the 2024 Olympics in Paris and The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain was given to me by a friend who loves France so it was the perfect choice.

Published in 2012 and set in 1980s Paris, the author offers us a simple enough premise, a hat is lost and found by a number of characters in succession who find their individual circumstances beginning to change when they start wearing the hat. One character observes:

"Wearing a hat gives you a feeling of authority over someone who isn't, he thought to himself." Page 35

I was so invested in the first character to find the hat that I was annoyed when it left his possession, almost to the point of wanting to put the book down permanently. However, once my irritation subsided I was able to continue the story with renewed interest.

I enjoyed seeing how the individual wearers of the hat began to prosper and make changes to improve their lives, leaving the reader to wonder if there was any power in the hat or if each of the characters brought about their own changes in fortune.

I wasn't familiar with the politics of France in the 1980s - and I'm still not - however the content of this slim volume does include a lot of political commentary from various characters. Thankfully this didn't overpower the narrative and I appreciated the 1980s references. I particularly delighted in this unexpected reference to an awesome song from the '80s:

"In the marble hallway, they handed their coats to some girls with incredible legs and followed the music: rock, or maybe it was pop, the words spoken off-beat in German with a chorus that went 'Rock me Amadeus', as far as Bernard could tell." Page 155

I love that song! Also unexpected was an epilogue at the end that neatly filled in some of the character arcs for the reader, but also raised a question or two that niggled.

The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain is a short, feel good novel that asks the reader to question whether they could transcend the lucky hat idea and make wholesale changes to their own lives themselves. Having just read 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson, I know the answer is a resounding yes, however Laurain leaves it to the reader to arrive at their own conclusion.

As I do with all physical books after I've read them, I produced a Bookmark Monday post for this title over on Instagram and let my inner Francophile run free. The fact that the author noticed and thanked me was a nice memory to accompany the reading of this book.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville

I didn't get on with Moby Dick at University. I was far more interested in reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett at the time and found Herman Melville's writing to be inaccessible and a tiresome bore. Melville is a classic American writer though, and 20 years on I thought I'd give him a second chance by reading Bartleby, the Scrivener.

This is a short story narrated by an elderly lawyer about the office politics where he works. Here's a little about him in his own words:

"I am one of those unambitious lawyers who never addresses a jury, or in any way draws down public applause; but in the cool tranquility of a snug retreat, do a snug business among rich men's bonds and mortgagees and title deeds. All who know me consider me an eminently safe man." Page 6

Our narrator has a legal firm in an office on Wall Street in New York, and the novella begins with an overview of his two employees. These character studies of Turkey and Nippers were insightful and Bartleby of the title is a new hire and addition to the team that doesn't pan out well.

We learn that Bartleby is very good at his job as a Clerk, but when asked to do a specific task or run a particular errand he doesn't want to do, he responds with "I prefer not to".

The modern reader can immediately relate and no doubt knows someone in their own circle of friends, family or work colleagues just like Bartleby. Bartleby's attitude of passive resistance and the fact that he'd 'prefer not to' do as he is instructed wound me up immediately and was instantly relatable.

Published in 1853, it was surprisingly reassuring to know that people haven't changed that much over the intervening decades and century. The staffing problems faced in the workplace 170 years ago resonate immediately with the modern reader today.

Bartleby soon causes our narrator great tribulation, and while the narrator remains unnamed throughout the novella, his plight is compelling. There are chuckle worthy moments of dialogue and inner reflection as our lawyer attempts to navigate his way out of his problem with varying degrees of success. I wanted to shout out suggestions to him which is a sure sign of evocative writing, however I did wish for a different ending.

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville is a timeless novella about office politics and in 2019 it featured on the BBC News list of the 100 Most Inspiring Novels. I'm not sure I'd agree it's inspiring, but it's certainly an accessible entry point for readers of Herman Melville.

You can access the novella for free on Project Gutenberg. 

Of course you might 'prefer not to' and that's okay too.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Insomnia by Marina Benjamin

Insomnia by Marina Benjamin is presented as a memoir, but it could be better described as a collection of vignettes exploring the topic of sleep and the author's insomnia.

A slim read, journalist and author Marina Benjamin takes the reader on a tour through her sleepless nights, as well as the thoughts and writings of famous poets and philosophers on the topic of sleep and insomnia. After a while, these mini-essays, observations, musings and ponderings begin to paint a literary mural about sleep - one of my favourite topics - and what it's like not being able to get it.

As a rule, I generally don't like reading books without chapters. However, the arc of Insomnia is more dreamlike and doesn't lend itself well to a specific structure and the lack of chapters here seemed logical. Each 'idea' is presented in a short/long paragraph with a decent break until the next one which allows the reader to stop - or keep going - without the mental interruption of a chapter break.

Here's one of the vignettes I enjoyed the most, thanks to her suggested collective noun:

"You would think that writing on insomnia has turned me into some kind of expert! Practically everyone I meet now tells me about their sleep troubles. It often turns out to be one of those earplug moments, since there is barely a story I have not heard, a pill I've not tried, or a method I haven't worked before. But it is the mathematics of insomnia that really kills me: the never-ending count of hours lost and gained logged in the ledger of sleep missed and unexpectedly found that every insomniac carries in their head as an account of their own sorry deficiency. Perhaps, after all, the collective noun that fits us best is a calculation of insomniacs." Page 52

As you can see, Benjamin has a personable writing style and her musings are relatable. In this slim book she talks about acquiring a nocturnal literacy and I think it's safe to say she's attained this.

"Besides, intrusive thinking is just one way the insomniac brain stokes itself. Harder to fathom (and to treat) is the freewheeling, seemingly autonomous tripping through utter banality, the night-time regurgitation of daytime crud - of the stuff that doesn't actually merit deliberation - that moves like an arm-linked chain of can-can dancers through a demi-wakefulness that exists beyond any conscious control, but (and this is the source of frustration) is conscious enough - kick, and kick, and kick - that you have to clock it." Page 85

Every reader can relate to bouts of sleeplessness or wakefulness, but Benjamin describes her insomnia so convincingly that I was able to understand her experience on a deeper level:

"Too often my insomniac mind is stuck in crud-chewing mode. It feeds me snippets of song, meshed with advertorial-type sloganising that might, in turn, trigger a memory from childhood before pinging back to a thought-of desire (a want) or to something I saw on the internet, or something someone told me - then on again, unpredictable, inconsequential, threading and worming inside my head. Nothing is more inimical to rest and yet I am powerless to stop it. It is like waterboarding the mind with meaningless overflow, a smothering drip, drip, drip of surplus thought." Page 85-86

I wonder how many writers feel the same way the author does in this passage:

"But then the fear that presses in on me is that my work might be fated never to transcend the neurotic. The very idea that this may be the case is so profoundly disturbing, so unsettling, it is as if the ground I walk on had begun to bubble and liquefy. Writing for me is both compass and anchor." Page 98

The idea that writing can be both a compass and an anchor really made me stop and consider.

Marina Benjamin is obviously well read and I enjoyed the snippets she shares on all manner of topics, including literature, art, history, psychology and philosophy. With an interest in sleep and insomnia, I enjoyed accompanying Benjamin on her self guided tour of famous writings about these topics, but the elements of memoir were far less enjoyable for me.

Insomnia by Marina Benjamin is recommended for insomniac readers who enjoy memoirs and essays and those interested in the topic of sleep and insomnia.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan *

Written by Australian Kathleen Jennings, Flyaway is a novella full of stories within stories, delivered in a shroud of myth, legend, folklore and superstition that kept me guessing.

Our protagonist Bettina has a mysterious past and she's determined to find out what happened to her brothers - and herself - several years ago.

Set in outback Australia, the beautiful writing, evocative descriptions and imagery brought the once familiar landscape to life in a new and eerie light. The rural area was both peaceful and menacing, the town a haven for a close knit community as well as a place seething under the surface with fear and mistrust.

A combination of urban fantasy and magical realism, Flyaway is full of mysterious disappearances, creatures that lurk in the shadows and a slight otherness that you can never quite put your finger on.

The structure, lyrical prose and fairytale elements reminded me a great deal of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. And just like that book, I enjoyed the writing, the world building and stories within stories, but I was never confident of maintaining a full and clear picture of what was actually happening at any given time.

Presented with an exquisite cover design and french flaps, Flyaway is a gothic Australian fairytale that might just penetrate the pages into your subconscious.

After letting this book settle in my mind, I realised I feel the same way about this as I do The Starless Sea. I loved it but there were definitely elements of reader confusion and matters unresolved. For instance, I wanted to learn more about Bettina's mother and her own transformation during the intervening years.

Nevertheless, Flyaway is a smashing literary debut by Kathleen Jennings and I'm sure awards will follow.

Carpe Librum!

 

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Subterranean by B. Michael Radburn

* Copy courtesy of Atlas Productions *

Aussie author and Carpe Librum favourite B. Michael Radburn is back with Subterranean; a story about a woman on the run after leaving an abusive relationship and a homeless Army veteran living in the abandoned train tunnels beneath Sydney's streets. Cassie is being pursued by twins hired by her husband who put me immediately in mind of the twin brothers Leonel and Marco Salamanca from Breaking Bad.

Daniel is trying to recover from the physical and emotional trauma experienced in Afghanistan and when these two flawed characters meet, the reader can't resist hoping they will find a way to help each other.

Subterranean is a novella and a quick read, however the presentation in smaller format paperback, large font and with the inclusion of several illustrations gave me the immediate impression this was a YA novel. This stand alone novella can easily be read by a YA audience, but it's a confusing presentation of an adult novella in my opinion. The shadowy cover design captures the feel of the story perfectly and I could easily have done without the illustrations and large print.

As with his Taylor Bridges series, Radburn does an excellent job of bringing Australian characters to life and describing the Australian landscape. In Subterranean he convincingly captures Sydney's urban and underground environment and the pips of the ABC Radio News broadcasts were a very nice touch.

Highlighting the plight of our own homeless veterans and the lack of services from the Department of Veterans' Affairs in this novella was an added bonus and as a fellow veteran, I hope this helps shine a light on this important and ongoing issue.

However, Subterranean's ending was the real highlight for me. It was an unexpected climax I didn't realise we were working towards and which provided a very satisfying end to the story. A great read!

Carpe Librum!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

P.S. Check out my reviews of the following books by B. Michael Radburn:
- The Crossing
- Blackwater Moon
- The Falls

Review: If It Bleeds by Stephen King

* Copy courtesy of Hachette Australia *

If It Bleeds is the latest release by Stephen King and is a collection of four short stories, which include:

• Mr Harrigan's Phone
• The Life of Chuck
• If It Bleeds
• Rat

My favourite in this collection was the first, Mr Harrigan's Phone. King has a magical way of writing kids that gets me every time. This time our protagonist wasn't in a group of misfit kids riding around on bikes, but a solitary type hired by the rich retiree up the road to read to him. It was such a terrific story, it was easily my favourite of this collection.

Having started so strongly, the others were okay in comparison.

The title story If It Bleeds is actually a novella which is a sequel to The Outsider published by Stephen King last year. Even if you haven't read The Outsider, you should still be able to make sense of the case Holly Gibney of Finders Keepers is pursuing.

Rat was about a writer whose life long ambition was to write a novel and reminded me a little of Jack Torrance in The Shining.

I watched a discussion between Stephen King and fellow bestselling author John Grisham recently where King mentioned that he enjoys writing short stories and when he writes one he puts it away, and then every so often he'll 'gather them together' for another collection like this.

I've enjoyed a number of his collections over the years (see below) and have every reason to hope this won't be his last.

- The Bazaar of Bad Dreams
- Full Dark, No Stars
- Just After Sunset

Carpe Librum!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Review: Elevation by Stephen King

* Copy courtesy of Hachette Australia *

Set in legendary Castle Rock, Elevation is a great little novella about resident Scott Carey. Scott seems to be losing weight on the scales but his body remains unchanged. He weighs the same no matter what he's holding or wearing, but manages to feel lighter and lighter as time goes on and his weight decreases.

Elevation follows Scott's short journey as his weight gradually decreases and he begins to reflect on his life. Will his weight reach zero? What's going to happen?

Scott's relationship with his two neighbours and his friend Dr Bob Ellis are the star of this story and I just loved the dialogue between them. Stephen King has a talent of being able to capture everyday life in an often poignant way, and Elevation has it in spades despite the brevity of the story.

Elevation contains a nice feel good message about tolerance and getting along in a small town, but definitely isn't a horror story.

"Good Discussion!"

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Top 5 Books of 2017

Here are my top 5 books of 2017, in the order I read them.

1. Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession (Six Tudor Queens #2) by Alison Weir

Alison Weir's unique take on the life of Anne Boleyn in Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession took me by surprise and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it in June, courtesy of Hachette Australia. The novel covers Anne's upbringing in French court and the powerful women she served there, right up to her execution at the order of the King. 

The reason this made my top 5 list was largely due to the end of the novel. Weir was able to create an incredibly moving 'end' that was unexpectedly emotional and even a little upsetting. It's unlike me to be moved to tears reading a book, but this was close.

2. The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

I read The Four Tendencies in September (courtesy of Hachette Australia) and I'm still thinking about and applying the theories in my everyday life. It's for this reason The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin easily earned a place on my Top 5 books this year. 

Since reading the book I've been able to recognise the four tendencies in others and have reaffirmed my status as an Obliger. I rarely re-read books, but this is one I can easily see myself returning to for a refresher.

3. A Room Of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

2017 was the first time I tackled anything by the great Virginia Woolf, and I'm so glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed Woolf's provocative and powerful writing in this novel length essay, and unexpectedly found myself laughing in some parts and inspired in others. Reading it in May, I readily imagined A Room of One's Own as a successful TEDTalk and reading it put to rest any fear that Virginia Woolf was too literary for my reading tastes. 

I usually try to include a few classics in my TBR pile but unfortunately this was the only one I read in 2017. I hope to do better in 2018.

4. Need To Know by Karen Cleveland

Penguin Random House UK outdid themselves in their marketing for espionage thriller Need to Know by Karen Cleveland in 2017. It arrived in a classified envelope containing a redacted mission, cool ID pouch, and advanced reading copy with phrases printed on both page edges. It was the most exciting book pitch ever and the book definitely delivered on its promise. 

For someone who doesn't read spy novels, I was lured in by the pitch and rewarded with a highly entertaining read. Cleveland spent 8 years as a CIA Analyst and Need to Know is being released on 25 January 2018.

5. Force of Nature by Jane Harper

I was nervous to read Force of Nature after the roaring success of The Dry by Jane Harper but I needn't have worried. Courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia, Force of Nature is an absolute ripping read and I think I enjoyed it even more than The Dry if that's at all possible. 

Read in November on holiday in Queensland, this was a highlight on my reading calendar and I'm proud to list a book by an Aussie author in my Top 5 List this year. (The last Aussie author to make it on my top 5 was Markus Zuzak with The Messenger in 2015).

Have you read any of the books in my top 5 list? What was your favourite read in 2017?

Carpe Librum!

Review: A Room Of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

I've finally read a book by Virginia Woolf and it was a sheer joy. A Room Of One's Own is a novel length essay that was originally given as a series of lectures to women at Cambridge University in 1928. The theme was 'women and fiction' and Woolf examines women writers in history, their various successes and failures and themes of gender inequality and education. A Room Of One's Own is a feminist text and still very much relevant today.

Woolf concludes that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction," and sets out to prove why. What added to my enjoyment is that I couldn't help but read it in her voice thanks to my frequent listening of the only recording of Virginia Woolf's voice available on YouTube.

I was instantly gripped by her writing style on page 1, but reading the following description of a dinner on page 18 had me laughing and wishing I could be in her presence.

"Prunes and custard followed. And if anyone complains that prunes, even when mitigated by custard, are an uncharitable vegetable (fruit they are not), stringy as a miser's heart and exuding a fluid such as might run in misers' veins who have denied themselves wine and warmth for eighty years and yet not given to the poor, he should reflect that there are people whose charity embraces even the prune. Biscuits and cheese came next, and here the water-jug was liberally passed round, for it is the nature of biscuits to be dry, and these were biscuits to the core. That was all." Page 18

Towards the end of her essay (remember it was a lecture given at a women's college) she calls on members of her audience.

“Therefore I would ask you to write all kinds of books, hesitating at no subject however trivial or however vast. By hook or by crook, I hope that you will possess yourselves of money enough to travel and to idle, to contemplate the future or the past of the world, to dream over books and loiter at street corners and let the line of thought dip deep into the stream.” Page 103

On page 106, she proclaims to give her peroration (don't worry, I had to look it up too): 

"Young women, I would say, and please attend, for the peroration is beginning, you are, in my opinion, disgracefully ignorant. You have never made a discovery of any sort of importance. You have never shaken an empire or led an army into battle. The plays of Shakespeare are not by you, and you have never introduced a barbarous race to the blessings of civilization. What is your excuse?" You can read the rest here.

Woolf's writing is provocative and powerful and I enjoyed the ready access to her meandering thought processes as well as the ups and downs of her discoveries, statements and opinions.

Reading her work almost 90 years after Virginia Woolf penned these words, I had the distinct feeling she was giving me a TED Talk about women and fiction. The TED Talk format is enormously popular - and a favourite of mine, I'll confess - and I'm certain that if A Room Of One's Own was marketed as a TED Talk it would reach and inspire an entirely new audience.

Highly recommended.

My rating = *****

Carpe Librum!

P.S. Thank you to my neighbour for lending me his copy.

Review: Sour Candy by Kealan Patrick Burke

Sour Candy is contemporary horror, and at only 67 pages, this novella is a quick and easy read. Don't be fooled though, author Kealan Patrick Burke manages to pack a punch from the very first page.

How's this for an opening sentence:

Four months to the day he first encountered the boy at Walmart, the last of Phil Pendleton's teeth fell out.

I was hooked from the start, and the concept is brilliant: Phil sees a strange boy in a grocery store who later turns up at his house calling him Daddy. Phil has no idea where the boy came from, but everyone around him believes Adam is his son. The other-worldly child wears odd clothes and will only eat sour candy, hence the title of the book.

If you like the feeling when the hairs on the back of your neck start marching towards the top of your skull, then Sour Candy is definitely for you. Also recommended for fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Winner of The End Of Seeing by Australian author Christy Collins announced

Thanks to everyone who entered last week's giveaway to WIN a copy of The End Of Seeing by Australian author Christy Collins. It was one of the most popular giveaways this year, so thanks to author Christy Collins for providing the copy.

Entries closed at midnight Friday 8th April, and the lucky winner is.......

Rosalie!

Congratulations Rosalie, you'll receive an email shortly and will have 7 days to provide me with your postal address.

For those of you who missed out, feel free to check out my current giveaway. It'll be the last one for about 3 weeks though as I'm going on holidays and won't have regular access to update my site. I'll have lots of time for reading though, and can't wait.

Carpe Librum!

Friday Freebie: WIN a copy of The End Of Seeing by Australian author Christy Collins

Valued at $19.95 AUD

* Copy courtesy of the author *

Blurb

Determined to discover the truth about the disappearance of her partner, Nick, Ana sets out to re-trace the route he took as a photojournalist on the other side of the world - a journey that saw him presumed dead, on a ship wrecked off the coast of Italy.

But Ana doesn’t believe Nick is dead. In his photos, in the messages her memories of him seem to carry, and in her growing suspicion about his own need to disappear, she is increasingly sure he is alive somewhere.

As she tracks his journey, she begins to witness the world that Nick saw through his camera - a world in which disappearance is not unexpected.

Author Bio

Christy Collins' novella The End of Seeing was one of the winners of the Viva La Novella Prize 2015 and is published by Seizure. Her work has been shortlisted for the Writing Australia Unpublished Manuscript Prize and long-listed for the Vogel. 

She is currently a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Tasmania. She lives in Melbourne and tutors in Australian Literature at the Australian Catholic University.

Giveaway

This giveaway has now closed.

Review: The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky

The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky is an easy to read YA novella set in a Sydney girls's school in 1960s. 

Eleven girls and their teacher Miss Renshaw take an unplanned excursion outside the school grounds one sunny day, and their teacher strangely disappears.

With an eerie feeling like that in Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay, The Golden Day is eerie in a subtle way, although Australian author Dubosarsky doesn't attain the giddy heights of Joan Lindsay in her execution.

This novella is well-written with a mystery to excite YA readers and is suitable for middle grade readers too.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

P.S. I won this copy of The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky in the Australia Day blog hop in 2015, thanks to Allen & Unwin.

Review: Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter

* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin *

Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter is many things. It's part fable, part poem and part short story about grief, sorrow, family and brothers.

The novella is a mythical tale about a crow who joins a family in mourning after the mother of two boys passes away, leaving the brothers and their father deep in grief.

The structure is unusual and refreshing and personally reminded me of the feeling I had when I discovered The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon.

Beautifully written, often musical and definitely lyrical, I'll be the first to admit Grief Is The Thing With Feathers won't be for everyone. I'll admit not understanding all of the entries (some from the father, some from the brothers and some from the crow) however I was still moved and laughed out loud at the crow's sense of humour.

Delightfully presented in an A5 size hardback with a stunning dust jacket, Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter will make a thoughtful gift for writers, poets and literary lovers who are still moving through the stages of loss and grief.

My rating = ***1/2

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Forgotten Manuscript and The Unknown Crime by Sarah Rayne

The Forgotten Manuscript and The Unknown Crime are two short stories gathered together in the one publication, forming a novella of sorts.

Having read 11 novels by Sarah Rayne, the writing style in this was like coming home. Some of the plot components in each of the tales was familiar; uncovering mysteries from the past, a love of manuscripts and discovering connections from history to the present.

As standalone short stories, they both had their merits, but weren't long enough for the brilliant plotting of Rayne to be established and shine through.

All in all, The Forgotten Manuscript and The Unknown Crime were quick and easy reads and will tide you over until her next release.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Museum of Literary Souls by John Connolly

The Museum of Literary Souls is an enjoyable novella with an enticing premise: when a book becomes very popular and is read by thousands, this can bring the main characters to life.

Mr. Berger prefers the company of books, and after an uneventful career as a Closed Accounts Registrar, and never marrying, he retires to the English countryside with his books.

However, Mr. Berger sees a person he thinks looks like a famous character from a book, and following her leads him to the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository.

I loved the character of Mr. Berger, and the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository is every booklover's dream! With that aside, I just wished The Museum of Literary Souls was longer. 

I'm confident there's enough content in this story for author John Connolly to make it a novel, and I'm sure many readers would love to join Mr. Berger and explore the Book Depository further.

Great read, great price (less than $2 for the ebook), and brilliant concept, but only three stars because I was disappointed by the brevity.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan

Ajax Penumbra 1969 is the prequel to Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan; a book I instantly fell in love with in 2012 and gave five stars to in my review.

In this novella, we find out how Ajax Penumbra came to discover the 24 hour bookstore in San Francisco and become employed there.

Having such love for Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, I had high hopes for Ajax Penumbra 1969 and was desperately looking forward to reading Mr Penumbra's back story so to speak.

I did get the back story, but admittedly I was left wanting more. Sloan takes us up to the point where Mr Penumbra is working at the book store, but not when he learns about the real purpose of the store.

Instead of leaving me satisfied, I finished this novella desiring more. Mr Penumbra's work as an Apprentice Acquisitions Officer at Galvanic College Library was absolutely fascinating, and I'd happily read an entire novel about his work there and the work done by colleagues before him.  Here's why.

"Armitage explains that Galvanic's library contains more one-of-a-kind, untranslatable, and/or inexplicable volumes than any other collection on earth. In the second session, he sends you down into the stacks. There are books made from silver and bone. There are books with blood on their pages, figuratively and literally. There are books made of feathers; books cloaked in jade; books that ring like bells when you pull them off the shelf; books that glow in the dark." Page 13

What a library! And Ajax Penumbra is an Apprentice Acquisitions Officer here, tasked with tracking down rare books, sometimes taking years to locate a single tome. It was during the pursuit of a rare book that Mr Penumbra discovered the 24 hour bookstore and in many ways, this was an even more interesting premise than that behind Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. 

I have to know more, argh!

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: Odd Interlude by Dean Koontz

Odd Interlude by Dean Koontz is book #4.5 in the Odd Thomas series.  It has been released in two ways, firstly in three volumes (#4.1, #4.2 and #4.3) and secondly collated in one volume or novella, which is what I read.

Odd Interlude follows straight on from Odd Hours, but don't worry if you don't remember the plot line (or haven't read it), the gaps are cleverly filled in for the reader along the way.

In this adventure, Odd travels a short distance to Harmony Corner where he senses evil and stops to help the citizens being held against their will.  
Annamaria is Odd's travel companion and plays a minor role in Odd Interlude.  I was keen to find out more about her, but perhaps that will come in the next book.

I was surprised there were no bodachs in the story (shadowy entities that flock to a person or area prior to death or disaster), but hopefully they'll reappear in Odd Apocalypse, the next in the series.

I've been following Odd Thomas since the very beginning of the series which is concluding this year with Saint Odd, due to be published in December 2014.  Of course, there's also the Odd Thomas movie, which was released in 2013.  Has anyone seen it or read the books?

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Here's the complete series of Odd Thomas books by Dean Koontz (not including graphic novels):
Book #1     Odd Thomas
Book #2     Forever Odd
Book #3     Brother Odd
Book #4     Odd Hours
Book #4.5  Odd Interlude
Book #5     Odd Apocalypse
Book #6     Deeply Odd
Book #7     Saint Odd

Review: Beauty's Sister by James Bradley

Beauty's Sister by James Bradley is a Penguin Special, an e-book developed for commuters to read on a long trip or readers to enjoy in one evening.

Did you know that Penguin have different colours for their front covers depending on the genres?  

Here's a breakdown of the Penguin Livery: 

• Orange - Fiction
• Dark blue - Memoir
• Yellow - History
• Pink - Cookery
• Turquoise - Contemporary nonfiction

There you have it! Now, back to the story.

Beauty's Sister is a re-telling of the well-known fairytale Rapunzel.  Fairytales have been popular for the last couple of years, however this tale is told from the point of view of Rapunzel's lesser known sister, Juniper.  

There is a witch and a tower in this tale of jealousy and relationships, and Beauty's Sister is a very quick and easy read. I'd love to have seen James Bradley write this as a full-length novel, but as a Penguin Special it's tantalisingly compact and entertaining.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

For another fabulous Australian re-telling of Rapunzel, you must check out Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth; one of my absolute favourite reads of 2012.