what I've read this month (March)

Here's my monthly round up, click on the links for my review:

1. Lyndsay Faye, Seven for a Secret
2. Margaret Atwood, Bodily Harm
3. Ian McEwan, Sweet Tooth
4. Nigel Tranter, Robert the Bruce; The Steps to the Empty Throne (only up to page 223)
5. Jo Baker, Longbourn
6. Jeanette Winterson, Weight 
7. A.S Byatt, Ragnarok 
8. Conn Iggulden, The Wolf on the Plains (Conqueror: book 1) 
9. Conn Iggulden, Lords of the Bow (Conqueror: book 2)

I had a slow start to the month, Robert the Bruce completely defeated me. I struggled on for two and half weeks and only got half way through, then I thought why am I doing this? It's really dry, for a story about succession and warfare featuring historic legends Robert the Bruce and William Wallace is was incredibly dull. Although, I have learnt something about the fight for Scottish independence, which I'm grateful for, it wasn't worth me persevering with. 

Best book out of the bunch was undoubtedly A.S Byatt, Ragnarok, if you've read my glowing review you'll know how passionate about this novel. Seven for a Secret was also a solidly good read, although not without flaws. 

Slightly ashamed that there are two Conn Iggulden books on this list (and I'm halfway through a third), they're a bit trashy really, but they're harmless fun and an easy read. The Conqueror series charts the life of Genghis Khan and I've been galloping through them like a Mongol horde sweeping through China. 

Keeping up with my news years challenge, I've started two non-fiction books, hopefully which I'll have finished by the end of next month. 

A.S Byatt, Ragnarok

I'm not sure this review of Ragnarok can do it justice, it's simply marvellous book and possibly the best novel I've read so far this year. It's slim, at a skimpy 154 pages, but it's made to be savoured, plenty of times I'd read a sentence, paragraph or even a whole chapter, then immediately turnaround and re-read it.

 I'm disappointed that I only have Ragnarok on loan from the library, as I can easily see myself wanting to go back to this periodically.

It's part of the canongate myth series, which I've only newly discovered.

ISBN: 9781847672971

The Plot: Taken from Nordic mythology, Ragnarok is the tale of the predestined apocalypse, an epic battle cumulating in the destruction of the gods.

Rating:««««« (5/5)

Jeanette Winterson, Weight

I picked up Weight for an absolute bargain at Hylands House, confident I would like it, and luckily I wasn't disappointed.

I was even more excited when I read the introduction and realised it was part of a series by the publisher, canongate, to enlist well respected authors to retell classic myths.  Unknowingly, I've already read two in the series, Philip Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, and Margaret Atwood's The Penelopied  and I look forward to reading the others. 

Anyway, back to Weight;

ISBN: 9781841957753

The Plot: Condemned to carry the weight of the weight of the cosmos for eternity, freedom appears unattainable for Atlas, until he receives an unexpected visit from Hercules, the only other person strong enough to shoulder the burden, who offers him a deal.       

Although the story has been around for thousands of years, to avoid spoiling this retelling my thoughts are under the jump.

mother's day book list

It's mother's day this Sunday, and although my family don't celebrate it (not that we don't appreciate our mum) I thought I'd put together a list of books that put parent/child relationships at their core.

So, if you want to gently steer your mum away from Maeve Binchy or Joanna Trollope have a look under the jump for my suggestions:-

reading

"If you only read the book that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking"

- Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood 

5 graphic novels I'd like to read

Graphic novels are not a genre I've ever really explored, I've only read one, Persepolis but after reading various reviews on Amazon and Good Reads, I think I might be missing out.

Here's a list of 5 graphic novels I have my eye on:

1. The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1, Robert Kirkman 

I'm a huge fan of the tv show, so would love to see how the original story deviates. If you're not familiar, basically The Walking Dead is about a zombie apocalypse and the destruction of society. Originally released as comics, this compendium includes numbers 1-48 and is a whopping 1088 pages! It is pricey though at over £30, and there is another compendium after this one. I can see how an interest in comic/graphic novels will be expensive.

2. The Nao of Brown, Glyn Dillon       

This novel is about OCD, and as I have an interest in mental illness I'd like to give it a try.

3. Black Hole, Charles Burns 

This sounds right up my street, a story about a plague effecting teenagers in the suburbs of Seattle.

4. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel 

I first heard of  Alison Bechdel test through watching a youtube vid by Anita Sarkeesian (link), basically the Bechdel analysis the gender equality in a film, to pass the film must have have at least two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man. Most films can't even reach this small requirement, and the figures are even lower when the test is applied to POC. 

Anyway, so my point is Alison Bechdel seems like an awesome woman fighting the patriarchy so I'm really interested in reading Fun Home, her memoir about growing up in her dysfunctional family.   

5. Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea, Guy Delisle 

I used to live in South Korea, and have peered into the North when I visited the DMZ, so this graphic novel travelogue is very appealing.  Guy Delisle has also written other graphic novels about Jerusalem and Shenzen, both of which I've been fortunate enough to travel to, and quite fancy reading as well, though Pyongyang is first on my list 

Hel, daughter of Loki

'Her form was uncompromising, straight-spined, with long legs, strong, capable hands firm feet [...] Half of her was black, and half blue. Half of her, those who saw her also reported, was living flesh, and half was dead. Sometimes the line between black an blue split her cleanly [...] but sometimes the black and blue floated on and in each other. They were beautiful, like the last blue of the sky meeting the dark of the coming night. They were hideous, the colour of bruises on battered or moribund flesh'

-A.S Byatt, Ragnarok, The End of the Gods 

beauty

"Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it"

-Donna Tartt, The Secret History 

Jo Baker, Longbourn

Whenever I visit a National Trust or an English Heritage property I'm always interested to see the kitchens and servants quarters, probably because in another life that would be my job, working as a maid in the big house (just like my Nana), so I was very intrigued by Longbourn - which retells Pride and Prejudice from the servants perceptive.

Pride and Prejudice has been rewritten a couple of times before (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Death Comes to Pemberley) but Jo Baker's novel really brings a fresh perspective to the story, and I think even enhances the original.

The Plot:  As vivacious and forthright as Elizabeth Bennett, but lacking the same opportunities and status, Sarah is a housemaid at Longbourn. With sore hands Sarah toils to make the Bennett family comfortable, but the daily grind is interrupted by two new footmen, both of whom have secrets and an interest in Sarah.

To avoid spoilers my opinion is under the jump:-

the old

"To me, the old were a separate species, like sparrows or foxes [...] The body's largest organ bears the brunt- the old no longer fit their skin. It hangs of them, off us, like a room-for-growth school blazer. Or pyjamas"

- Ian McEwan, Sweet Tooth