‘The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.’ Alan Bennett
“Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.” ― Franz Kafka
Welcome to a brand new, occasional series on the blog, entitled 'Non-fiction Spotlight', featuring non-fiction books that I have been reading. Although much of my reading time is spent in the company of novels, I do very much enjoy reading a variety of non-fiction books too and I have reviewed one or two in the past here on my blog. I thought that when I do review or want to highlight a non-fiction book in the future it could be part of a sporadic feature, hence this post.
From time to time I read biography, history, travel, health, wildlife, and other non-fiction books. I'm not sure what this feature will incorporate yet, or how often it will appear, but I have a couple of books in mind to get it started: I've recently read Welcome to Biscuit Land by Jessica Thom, so that one will be featuring next, and I hope to read Death in the Baltic by Cathryn J. Prince and The Spy who Loved by Clare Mulley soon. I have lots of other non-fiction books I've bought sitting on my to read pile that I hope to look at going forwards and mention here too.
I'd be interested to know how much non-fiction others who primarily read fiction get through, and whether you think about it differently in terms of whether you would ever feature it on your book blog. I hope you enjoy these occasional reviews.
I am delighted to be taking part in the Fiction Addiction Book Tour for Surfing in Stilettos by Carol E. Wyer today!
I really enjoyed reading Carol Wyer's first novel, Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines - read my review here - and I was pleased to see that she had taken up the same characters again to create Surfing in Stilettoes. Amanda Wilson had provided much entertainment in the first book and so the chance to catch up with her again, along with husband Phil and lively mother, was too good to miss. This novel didn't disappoint me. It's another entertaining read full of escapades and adventure, as this time Amanda and her husband Phil set off to spend a gap-year travelling in Europe in a campervan. Son Tom is back at home, alone, which sounds ominous straight away! Amanda calls in to see her buoyant mother Grace on the way to the ferry and immediately remembers why she is always astounded by her; despite her senior years her mother seems to be able to handle her drink and party lifestyle much better than Amanda can; cue much suffering, a missed ferry and an unimpressed grumpy hubby! A new friend, Bibi, will embroil the unwitting Amanda in her plans regarding her cheating husband, and amongst the laughs there is a more serious note to the story too. Alongside Amanda and Phil's antics on the continent, we have the musings of Todd Bradshaw in Sydney. Readers of Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines will recall that Todd is a face from Amanda's past. This is recapped here so if you are reading this novel without having read the previous book, you will soon be up to speed with the history of their relationship. I liked the way that this time, the novel is structured differently to the first book, in that it has straightforward chapters as well as the entertaining blog posts from Amanda that were so well done in the first novel, recounting her observations on life as a woman now in her fifties. We pick up on more of what Todd and Phil are feeling, and discover new character Bibi, but still enjoy the hilarious blog reports from Amanda and the comments from her loyal followers, who, like us, cannot wait to find out what will occur next in this lady's life!
Carol Wyer has served up another deliciously funny slice of life with this second novel, depicting her main character Amanda Wilson attempting to get the most out of her life before she is too old; indeed a theme of this book and the previous one is certainly that age need be no barrier to enjoyment. This is entertaining modern fiction with a light hearted touch from an author who successfully brings out the funny side of everyday life and employs a very up-to-date angle by using blog posts to tell part of the story. I think readers could enjoy this novel on its own, but I would highly recommend reading the first novel to familiarise yourself with these characters and simply because I found it a genuinely funny book.
About the author
Carol is a humorous writer and blogger whose light hearted novels and articles encourage others to laugh at life and grow old disgracefully. Her best selling novel 'Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines' won five awards for humour including Readers Views Reviewer's Choice 2012 and Silver medal in the Indie Book Awards 2012. The sequel 'Surfing in Stilettos', released July 2012, was a Costa Award nominee. It charts the further adventures of Amanda Wilson, a middle-aged woman seeking fun and adventure, who gets more excitement than she bargained for when an adult 'gap year' goes wrong. Carol recently signed a three book deal with Safkhet Publishing. They will be releasing her first witty non-fiction book, How not to Murder Your Grumpy, June 1st 2013.
The giveaway is for 3 x Handmade Belgium chocolates (stilettos and handbags), 2 x Scotch stiletto tape dispensers in pink, 1 x stiletto key ring and 3 x copies of Surfing in Stilettos. To see photos of these items visit the tour post here.
The giveaway is for the whole tour and is open from 25th March until 6th April 2013.
You can enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter form below.
Hosted by BookBath and Thyme for Tea. Here's some info from them as to the idea behind this, and ideas for what you can do to join in:
Paris in July will run from the 1st - 31st July 2012 and the aim of the month is to celebrate our French experiences through reading, watching, listening to, observing, cooking and eating all things French.
There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of Paris in July - just blog about anything French and you can join in. Some ideas for the month might include:
- Reading a French book - fiction or non-fiction
- Watching a French movie
- Listening to French music
- Cooking French food
- Experiencing French art, architecture or travel (or remembering travel experiences)
- Or anything else French inspired you can think of...
Hopefully I'm not too late joining in with this!
Paris in July 2012 on The Little Reader Library
Blog Tour - Guest Author
So far, I am part of the blog tour for French Lessons by Ellen Sussman, published by Canvas, and on Friday 6th July Ellen with be taking part in a Q & A on my blog, discussing her novel which is set in Paris, her thoughts about Paris, the French language, and more. So this seems an ideal starting point!
Books:
I have The Panda Theory by Pascal Garnier, published by Gallic Books, on my to be read pile, so I will aim to read this book this month.
Travel:
No trip to Paris planned, but I will be remembering past trips there, one of my favourite cities without a doubt, including a memorable 21st birthday spent there.
Films:
Perhaps I will watch Amelie again, which I love. Or ideally I will seek out a new, or new to me, French film to watch.
'Bicycles are rarely seen here, and a woman riding one is simply unimaginable.'
It is 1923, and Evangeline (Eva) English, her sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) and their companion Millicent Frost are trained missionaries who have traveled to Kashgar, East Turkestan, to spread the message of Christianity. Lizzie and Millicent are driven by their religious beliefs, whereas Eva, with her 'glorious, green BSA Lady's Roadster bicycle', has other motives for wanting to be part of the trip, capturing her experiences in writing, and hoping to write A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar and have her guide published...'and I shall sub-title it, 'How I Stole Amongst the Missionaries.' It shall be my own personal observations, filled with insights about the Moslems. I intend to spy upon the women, fascinating in their floating garb; and the landscape: these great, monotonous plains; and I shall sit upon my two wheels and feel the grit of the desert and move about the streets as if flying.' As we meet them, they have just happened upon a young girl in the desert, only 10 or 11, who is giving birth, and they help her. However, the local people are against what they have done, and they take them in whilst deciding the fate of the three women. The women hope that they can gain funds to free themselves.
The story then moves to London in the present day, and we meet Frieda as she returns home after travelling for many months, as part of her work researching the youth of the Islamic world. She discovers a man sleeping outside her door, and shows kindness towards him. The next day she finds beautiful images of birds drawn on the wall outside her home. She is in an unsatisfactory relationship with a married man. We learn that the stranger is called Tayeb, and he used to be a filmmaker in his homeland of Yemen, but is now in a difficult position due an incident that happened to him in London. Frieda inherits the contents of a flat from a lady she doesn't recall ever having known. There she discovers intriguing items from the past, and an unlikely and unexpected friendship grows between Frieda and Tayeb as they both look to their futures. Frieda has had an unusual upbringing and the inheritance she has received will cause her to revisit past times.
The author has transported us to another world, describing its exotic colours, the foods, the people, and conveying the atmosphere the women find themselves in, as two different cultures with different traditions and lifestyles come together. It was intriguing to discover how the relationships between the three women changed and developed as more of their individual personalities are revealed to the reader; Eva experiencing feelings of loneliness, and becoming increasingly distanced from Lizzie and Millicent, whose 'friendship was so thick and tight.' Of course this is all viewed through the eyes of Eva in the passages she has recorded in her journal. She ponders why she writes; 'Perhaps I write it for sense. I write it for cohesion, I suppose, to understand the progression that must occur in the layering of different selves that create a life.' The parts of the novel narrated by Eva are prefaced with wonderful short extracts from a book entitled Bicycling for Ladies, by Maria E. Ward, from 1896.
Overall I liked this fascinating debut novel; I felt that whilst reading I was able to take a step into the past, and experience with Eva some dangerous, unfamiliar places, and felt tension as I read on, wondering what would happen to these courageous, independent women, how would their stories end? Although admittedly it took me a little while to get into the story fully at first, I grew more interested in the story involving Frieda and Tayeb as it gathered momentum, and I enjoyed Eva's journal entries more once the story had progressed a little.
The author moves the story along nicely between the dual strands of narrative, historical and modern day, and links them cleverly together, slowly revealing the connections between Eva and Frieda, and combining to deliver an intriguing and satisfying read as a whole. If you, like me, enjoy novels with this dual time frame structure, and which combining historical and present-day stories to compelling effect, you may well enjoy this book.
Thank you very much to Netgalley and to the publisher for the chance to read and give an honest review of an advance egalley of this novel.
Suzanne Joinson works in the literature department of the British Council, specializing in the Middle East, North Africa, and China, and she is the Arts Council-funded writer-in-residence at Shoreham Airport in the UK. Her personal blog can be found online at http://delicatelittlebirds.wordpress.com, and she tweets at @suzyjoinson. Visit her Web site at www.suzannejoinson.com.
Below is a video featuring the author discussing this novel.
A couple and their two young children under four set out on a five month road trip around Britain, predominantly England, to research and experience hotels and attractions in order to write a guide book packed with family-friendly tips.
Covering 8,000 miles in all in their epic car journey, what follows is an humourous, touching, endearing account of this journey and all their antics, from the laugh-out-loud hilarious to the downright embarrassing. Join them as they hunt for Wadcrags, play ‘I don’t spy with my little eye’, try in vain to find Wallace and Grommit, and whatever you do, be very careful with that toothbrush. The opening pages alone with Ben trying to load up the car for the trip are hilarious.
But more than this, it is interspersed with the author’s own recollections of family times past, and it also includes some incredibly difficult events regarding his father’s health which happen during the course of Ben’s road trip. There is some extremely amusing comic writing here, hilarious incidents and mishaps, and these are juxtaposed with moving passages dealing with the immense sadness of serious illness and a complex relationship between father and son.
This book will make you laugh, smile to yourself knowingly at times, and also you may well shed a tear or two, but Ben, Dinah, Phoebe and Charlie certainly make very lively and extremely entertaining companions to sit back and travel along with.
Published in the UK by Summersdale and available now.
