El Principito, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This was lent to me by a friend, who was surprised I hadn't read it as a child. It's a lovely book, one that works with drawings as well as words, I don't mean illustrations, I mean drawings which are used as well as words to tell the story. I wonder why other books don't do that more, and why drawings apparently aren't considered in books for adults.

It's the first book I've read in Spanish, so the tone and the voices of the characters seems foggier than they would in English, nevertheless it is a lovely story and one I'm sure more people will be familiar with than not. It's about relationships and how we treat the world around us, and what is and should be valued. Though, saying that, I wonder if there are many people in the world who really do value ownership, vanity and power, some certainly, but I think there are more who value other things.

Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go follows three characters as they grow up in an institution akin to boarding school and enter the real world. Slowly they begin to discover the reason for their existence and the details of their future lives. Above all though they are children and then teenagers and their personalities and behaviour towards each other is the focus of the novel. As is redemption and closure which all the characters are ultimately given, and seems to be a theme for Ishiguro.

Maybe because I knew the story before I read this, it took away from the emotional impact of the novel. Though I think Ishiguro creates intellectual impact through the behaviour of his characters, their 'normal' lives and acceptance of their fate. The chilling backdrop is only a backdrop and whilst it creates drama and intrigue, it and the moral questions are not the focus of the story. I enjoyed it, and it is easy to read, so I finished it within a few days, but it doesn't compare to The Remains of the Day. 

Woolgathering, Patti Smith

Lovely, but needs to be read with more attention and a clearer mind, I'll be back to it.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Toshikazu Kawaguchi

A lovely little novel which could be read as a collection of short stories. All take place with the same cast of characters, collected together by chance and circumstance, in a cafe where it is possible to visit the past. Kawaguchi explores reasons for visiting the past, all the rules (like, the present will never change) make the novel solely about the emotional journey of the characters, rather than technicalities. It is lovely, and while based on regrets or longings it's uplifting; the take away is that you can always change the present, and most things can be solved by that.

A Month in the Country, J L Carr

A Month in the Country follows Tom Birkin who, just after WW1 is hired to help uncover a medieval painting in a church in rural Yorkshire. The story is told as Birkin is an old man, looking back on an idyllic few weeks. 

It is definitely romantic, written with nostalgia for youth and what might have been, but at the same time feels plausible and relateable. It is a complete tonic for the soul, beautifully written so you feel the healing summer.

Beast, Paul Kingsnorth

A brilliant, unexplained descent, we understand that the narrator had left his old life in the city to live in an abandoned farmhouse on the moor. He is lucid at first but then descends, describing weather and happenings that cannot possibly be. We have glimmers of his story but nothing is fully explained. A marvel. 

The Living Mountain, Nan Shepherd

Beautiful, poetic and deep description of and musing on the Cairngorms, though it applies to all wild and natural places. I feel I need to read it again to absorb all the ideas fully. It's quiet, truly timeless and an incredible product of a life truly well lived. I find Nan Shepherd herself fascinating and the story of her life comforting.