The Stories of Eva Luna, Isabel Allende

I love Isabel Allende's work, I can really remember reading 'City of the Beasts' as a child; its vividness and mixing of reality and imagination. The Stories of Eva Luna were not a disappointment, they have the same blend of reality and fairytale and are much more passionate and sensual.

The stories I think are based in Allende's native Chile and seem to come from another time. Outlaws, rebels, illegitimate children and mistresses all feature in stories sometimes domestic and sometimes fantastic. 

I love the short story format as it often encourages authors to leave more up to the reader; we get snippets rather than beginnings, middles and endings. Not so with Allende, her stories read more like fables. We get a full life but told simply, pared down to the essential parts but still poetic and beautifully told. I loved reading them and would definitely recommend. 

Graham Greene's 'A Burnt-Out Case' next.

The Execution of Noa P. Singleton, Elizabeth L. Silver

I really enjoyed this. It is a definite page turner; you don't find out the 'truth' until the very end. It is very well written, and you feel that Silver has a lot of respect for the reader; allowing us to make up our own minds rather than spoon-feeding us a moral outcome.

The story follows Noa P. Singleton, when we meet her she is on death row and her execution date is in six months. Silver reveals the story to us in snippets and from Noa's point of view.

The thing I loved the most about this is the story, when we finally find out the whole of it, is not cut and dry. It is complicated and mixed together with bad decisions, mistakes and bad luck. You get the feeling Silver is making a point; in life there aren't goodies and badies, but situations people react to, one way or another. Silver opens the novel with the line 'In this world you are either good or evil' and then shows us how this is not true, how the world puts is into categories which then makes others' react to or think of us in a certain way and creates a sort of self fulfilling prophecy. The novel is complicated and intelligent, as well as being a gripping read.

A Good Parcel of English Soil, Richard Mabey

I was unsure what I would make of this. I bought it partly because it was a beautiful book and reasonably cheap, but also because I thought it might teach me something, it is an interesting idea for a series of books to be written based on Underground Lines. 

Here Mabey discusses the beginnings of the Metropolitan line; why it was built and what it led to. Much of the book is based on a tension between the city and the countryside and hinges on people living in suburbia and commuting into the City. 

It is certainly an interesting read, and has been very well researched. Mabey talks about the early marketing campaigns for the line and how canny the company running it were. The book is also centred on Mabey's personal experience growing up in 'Metro-land' and on the flora, fauna and wildlife found co-habiting with people. The thoughts translate to any suburban area, the tussle and contradiction found in these areas makes it worth a read.

Next is The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver.

Mort, Terry Pratchett

Mort is everything you'd expect from a Terry Pratchett novel. It's witty, irreverent and fast moving. Pratchett's ideas are just so good! Mort is the name of the protagonist here, who is chosen by death to be his apprentice. Mort learns the trade and makes a small mistake that has quite big consequences and leads to a lot of running around with little time to spare. It is hugely entertaining and is deceptively poignant in places.

Next I am reading A Good Parcel of English Soil: The Metropolitan Line, by Richard Mabey, which is one of the Penguin Underground Lines series. It's a very pretty book and am enjoying it so far, though it's not quite as entertaining as Mort.

Sketcher, Roland Watson-Grant

Sketcher is narrated by Skid, a nine year old boy when we meet him. He has a vivid imagination and a distinctive voice, he plays with words and similes and his personality really shines through the book and colours the events. 

Skid and his family live in a swamp, just south of 'New O'lins' and Skid grows up juggling his imagination, the beliefs of his family & the wish to escape poverty and the swamp. That said it doesn't feel like the book is about any of those things. It feels like its about magic and growing up in a big family. It is one of those stories where you are constantly wondering what to believe, what is the truth and what is imagination, or a way of seeing things. It treads this line really well, I think in the end you can decide what to believe, or be left wondering.

Next up is Mort by Terry Pratchett.

Down to the Sea in Ships, Horatio Clare

I adored this. The critic reviews on the back cover describe the book as 'lyrical' 'heartfelt' 'warm and captivating' and it is. Clare strikes a perfect balance between telling the stories of the people he meets, the contemporary shipping business and the seas as he experiences them; the history of wrecks, oceans and ports he is travelling through; and conveying some of the poetry and feeling of all these things.

I can't recommend Down to the Sea in Ships enough, Clare is insightful, chatty and compelling. He gives a sense of the loneliness and romanticism of the sea as well as the dangers, and archaicness of the trade. The men he meets are portrayed beautifully, you get a sense of the personalities and quirks of each of them and it is interspersed with writing that is almost poetry. The cover is spectacular and it is the same inside.

Next I am reading Sketcher by Roland Watson-Grant, it's a proof copy I picked up when I was working at Waterstones, pretty old by now!

Apologies, Madame Bovary (& Mr Flaubert)

I have given up on Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. It is very slow moving and the characters all seemed very 2D, as if they were sketches not filled in properly. By halfway through not a lot had happened, I didn't mind what happened to any of the characters and couldn't face wading through the second half.

I have swapped to Down to the Sea in Ships by Horatio Clare. So far it is brilliant.