the first think you notice is the cover of pocket notebook a wonderful retake on David Pelham beautiful clockwork orange cover from the seventies also combining the same font for the title as the film poster .the other think that struck me when reading the synopsis of the book was a connection to B S Johnson’s Christie Mallory double entry where the main character uses a double entry ledger to get even with the world.
the story concerns Jacob (jake) smith a disgruntled angry armed response officer ,with his many habits and kinks from drugs ,dvds to a huge foot fetish .the story starts with jake and his feel officer frank partners in their job in armed response you soon discover that jake has a huge crush on Jess franks teenage daughter ,a mistake leads to a move back to uniform and a new partner the aptly named lap-dog a new keen young pc ,who jake immediately dislikes now on patrol jake starts to get involved with a teenage hooker called Lowri who’s boots Jakes loves .unable to stay in this position he ends up on suspension ,were he dress as an officer and wants to be an old style officer this leads to a thrilling climax .
Thomas as a serving officer really captures the life of a modern day officer all paperwork and rules ,there are some subtile nods to burgess littered through the book from the use of droogs to use of dvds like burgess use of music in clockwork orange .Thomas brilliant catches the british underclass from doormen to hookers .the notebook entries are great as a barometer of Jakes mind as the story progresses .
lap-dog volunteered us to ops room before i could grab his drawf hand, stop his stumpy fingers transmitting, and now here i am in this hovel, stinking one-bedroom ground-floor council maisonette with its kitchen-stroke-dinner, its full of scummy water and festering dishes
This novella is part of a project from poetry Wales to retell the epic Welsh folk tale Mabinogion ,this is the first of eleven stories due over the next couple of years it was publish late last year .
Owen Sheers was familiar to me from his television appearances on numerous poetry programmes ,he decide to tackle “Brawen,daughter of llyr ” for his novella white ravens .His interpretation moves the story to the second world war and telling the story of Mathew O Connell a Irish man who came over to england at the start of the war to fight and eventually get injured in due course which is where the story really starts as he is hand a secret assignment to fetch some new ravens for the tower of london .He has to go to a farm in deepest Wales ,he arrives a little early for the chicks so stays at the farmer house with a brother and sister and over the course of time falls in love with the sister and heads back to Ireland after delivering the chicks .where they marry and start a new life but not all goes well to find out more you ll have to read the book .
“can I take a look?” Mathew asked,approaching the table.”just a peek,” ben said “They’ve only jus’ settled.Don’t want get ’em all worked up again”
scene where Mathew first meets the ravens at the farm
Sheers writing is poetic and the two main characters are well-rounded and believable .having not read the original its hard to tell if this is a good interpretation of the story .the original is available in a newish edition from Oxford world classics .many thanks to
Thought i d write about the things from the people i follow that have caught my eye .there are so many great people and publishers on twitter its a real wealth of information .
there was a great insight in to the pr’s mind this week by @joethepublicist joe Pickering at penguin discussing an idea about perfume and books .Where perfumes are marketed on the quality of the ingredients and design of the packaging ,this means that the best product as a whole is the one people desire whereas in books this isn’ t always the case ,it would be great if people choose a David Vann or say the new Joshua ferris when it comes out as a opposed to a Dan Brown . a real interesting argument and idea
Bethan Jones @randompr was giving away proofs of the upcoming jo Nebo book the snowman the latest in his Harry Hole
series the fifth book in this series ,she also posted a link to jo’s great website well worth a peek .A must read for fans of nordic crime
Rob from @thefictiondesk has a copy of Roberto Bolano’s new novel in english nazi literature in america to win there is also a review of the book which he read over christmas ,his latest e-mail newsletter is also out a great guide to whats new and current in books you can sign up at the fiction desk for it .
Macmillan told us all about the new paper back of the incendiary’s trail by James McCreet one of the new writing writers a book about a Victorian detective on the trail of a mastermind in london
Vintage books ,Alison told us about the new wallander tv tie in to go along with the new series from the bbc .
Me myself I tweeted about
wonder- Hugo Claus reviewed here
brutal telling Louise Penny review here over weekend
the patience stones -Atiq Rahimi review early next week
I have managed to read 88 books this year finishing with the last book by Sebald ,campo santo .Of them the ratio of male to female writers was a shameful 81 male and 7 female writers .i read 8non fiction books
what were my favourite books of the year ?
well in non fiction the wonderful Notes from walnut tree farm by Roger Deakin ,a book that evokes the memories of sebald and thoreau in equal part a joy to read and thanks to amro for it ,fiction Legend of suicide by David Vann i review earlier a truely breath taking novel ,other books noteworthy grub by Elise Blackwell ,howards end on the landing by Susan Hill ,city of theives by David Benioff ,the running sky by Tim Dee
other highlights of year ?
well for me its been start this blog and twitter were i have meet many friends and learned a lot about books and blogs .discovering new writers Elise Blackwell ,Phillip hoare ,Simon Mawer, Roger Deakin and Roberto Bolano
the year ahead ?
The main thing next year is my around the world in 52 days challenge ,trying to blog more .I hope to break a hundred books next year .Waiting with eager hands for new books from David Mitchell ,Peter Carey ,Elise Blackwell and Yann martell .other books on to read pile the biograpy of ballard ,up in the old hotel by Joseph Mitchell ,Beginners by Raymond Carver ,A week in december by Sebastian Faulk all of which i hope to read in jan /feb ,try to read more non fiction and female writers
A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL SEE YOU IN 2010 STU AND WINSTON
I first saw howards end on the landing in a daily bookshot from my twitter friend and blogger @robaroundbooks .The book tells the story of how Susan Hill decide to take a year away from buying books to work her way through some classics and books she’d never read .
the story starts on an autumn afternoon as Hill cleans tries to find a book and as she is comes across numerous old volumes long forgotten or dead as she puts it .This leads to a year of reading and not buying new books , as a self-confessed bookaholic myself that must have been hard ,but as Hill puts it you buy books move other books down the to be read pile or even sometimes on to a shelf never to be read .We are then taken on a quest as Hill decides to choice books ,along the way tells the story of her own life starting in Scarborough with its public library and boots lending library ,which reminded me of brief encounter where Celia Johnson talks of going to the boots library .Hill’s writing is warm full of antidotes of people she meet ,a touching last encounter with the great Bruce Chatwin before his sad dismiss .the chapters are short i picture it as being sat with hill in a comfy chair in a coffee shop every week as she told you the latest on her quest .This should be on every book lovers shelf it’s a wealth of knowledge and very entertaining along the way
I do not know if Edith Sitwell ever laughed possibly not .somehow that face was always haughty ,disdainful,solemn,watchful of expression,though the eyes might if flickered and glinted with amusement .so i was spared the humiliation of any sort of laughter when i replied to her question
quote from howards end …. when Susan Hill meets Edith Sitwell
the cover is by peter dyer ,features lovely embossed and gilded leather volumes made up with the title of the book ,which is published by profile books
The legend of suicide is the first book by Alaskan born david vann ,the book had been round agents for a number of years before seeing the light of day ,thank goodness it did .the book itself is a novella and 5 short stories .Around the story of Roy and his father a failed dentist and fisherman ,the story is based partly on Vann ‘s own life .
the story of Roy and his father is a one of the wilderness ,despair ,divorce ,failure and not giving too much away the ultimate climax .the way the stories are structured is the novella tells the main story of Roy and his father .The shorter stories are like a deluxe dvd with those great extras that give depth and perspective to the main tale by describing the incidents leading to and during the main tale use different people as the narrates
Vann’s writing is vivid with the words floating of the page engulfing you in roys world .The details are painted well with a light hand as Colm Tobin says one detail is enough to set the scene .
“they went inside and he pulled out the coals with tongs he had brought for the purpose and laid them in the pan ,then set a small grate over them that fitted down into the pan and pour a large handful of alder chips on top “
from sukkwan island ,as roy and his father smoke fish together .
The cover is a clever design by dan funderburgh for penguin ,it has a clever detail which a first glance of the cover isn t obvious .the book came out this week on penguin
This is one of the six books to make the booker shortlist .This is by two timer winner and nobel prize winner J M coetzee going for a hatrick of bookers . The premise of the book is a journalist going round interview former friends of coetzee in the seventies , and that coetzee himself is now dead .This could quite easily turn in to a piece ego massage luckily it dosen t as the person that comes through as coetzee through the interviews isn t always a likeable person ,it’s hard to learn anything new about the famous shy coetzee a man who tends not to talk about his fiction .this is the third of a trilogy of which the first two i ve not read ,so could only judge on this book which i found a little frustarting as the line between fact and fiction is blurred and can make the reader confused .maybe coetzee should have written a book about a fictional writer and a autobiography about himself
the list seems to have a lot of faction books this year and you could ask is coetzee really biography ,so far i ve read the glass room which i loved ,but to be fair am going to read the rest before saying who i want to win this year ,shame to see William Trevor miss the cut love and summer is a sweet book 50s ireland. i ve put a link to each writers wikiepdia page .
tle of the book ,which is published by 
This is one of the six books to make the booker shortlist .This is by two timer winner and 
