If You Find Me, Emily Murdoch

If You Find Me  is compelling and original. It was one of the last proofs I got before I stopped working at Waterstones. It is a teen novel, which would usually have me running a mile, but this one has something different.

It is the story of Carey (aged 14/15) and her little sister Janessa (6), who live in a camper van in the woods with their drug-addicted mother. They have lived there almost as long as Carey can remember and since before Janessa was born. Their mother often disappears for weeks at a time, it is during one of these disappearances, when they are running low on supplies, that we meet the sisters. 'Then strangers arrive and everything changes'

 

It is a brilliant, story of surviving, coping, and family. New ways of life being reconciled with old secrets. The characterisation is really subtle and well done. When you read it (because you are going to, aren't you?) you'll notice that Delaney is really well drawn, and not a cliche as she could have been!

Thank you very much Indigo books for the proof. 

I am reading Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw now. I didn't realise until I was a couple of pages in, but its the play 'My Fair Lady' is based on, so I have Audrey Hepburn walking around in my head.

My Family and Other Animals, Gerald Durrell

This was an absolute pleasure! Funny, entertaining and completely bonkers. It had me stifling laughter in public places (unsuccessfully) and wanting to go bug hunting in a warm country.

The book is Durrell chatting and reminiscing about his life living in Corfu with his family when he was a boy. You meet his brilliantly eccentric family, and their friends (a mix of equally intriguing settlers and locals) and an amazing array of wildlife, magpies, terrapins, toads, scorpions, water snakes....
Durrell spends his time out watching (and often catching and keeping) the wildlife. He has an insatiable curiosity and a passion for any creature, no matter how repulsive to the rest of his family.

There is so much life in this book and reading it is like being on holiday. Gorgeous.

No-one to thank this time as its not a proof! Borrowed it off me dad...

The President's Hat, Antoine Laurain

If you read the last post you might remember I started 'Is That a Fish in Your Ear?' by David Bellos. It is a really engaging book and I'm about half way through. I have put that one aside for now though (new job, don't have any thinking/concentration power left over) for something a bit lighter.

The President's Hat was just what I wanted, warm, light hearted and thoughtful. It reads like a succession of short stories. The novel is set in France in the 1980's and follows President Francois Mitterrand's hat as it is picked up by a fellow diner at a restaurant. The hat is no ordinary hat, it is lost and picked up by a succession of people who all have their lives changed in some way. It is well written and the links and crossovers between the different 'owners' of the hat are beautifully crafted.

Thanks for the proof Gallic Books.

Im now reading My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell and so am spending my spare time with a boisterous family and living on the island of Corfu. Sunny! 

The Honey Guide, Richard Crompton

This is a murder mystery, I don't read much crime but this one looked a bit different. It is set in Nairobi and the detective is Maasai. 'It will do for Nairobi what Ian Rankin's novels did for Edinburgh, bringing the city vividly and unforgettably to life' according to the back cover. It does seem like it was written at least partly out of a love for Nairobi and Africa. The actual murder and investigation isn't as riveting as fans of crime might hope and the writing is a little ordinary.

It did get me wondering though why so much crime writing seems to be similar. The Honey Guide describes Mollel (the detective) on the back cover as 'a 42-year-old single father whose wife has been brutally murdered. A former Massai warrior, now working for the police' How come detectives have to be tragic and/or flawed? Aren't there other ways to make policemen-protagonists compelling?

Thank you Weidenfeld and Nicolson for the proof!

I am on Is That a Fish in Your Ear? by David Bellos now which is talking about translation, enjoying it so far.

Dear Lucy, Julie Sarkissian

Dear Lucy is a good story beautifully told. Lucy is the main narrator, 'I don't have right words for things and I have no good behaviour'. She is sent to live on the farm with Mister and Missus when her mum can't cope with her. The story is of Lucy and her mother, Samantha, another girl sent to live on the farm, and her baby and Mister and Missus and their family struggles. It is a heartbreaking and beautiful story about trying to cope and 'the secret of growing'

The only thing I wasn't sure about was the ending, the narrative just stops, there is no conclusion. Usually I would say that that was a good thing, you're left to make up your own mind. Here though there is a little niggle, did she end it like that for a reason, or could she just not think of the right way to finish it?

The main thing which rings out of this novel though is Lucy's personality, she is a striking and compelling character. She often doesn't fully understand what she sees, so having her as the main narrator is a little like watching what is happening through fog. You are constantly questioning what you're being told.

Thanks Hodder and Stoughton for the proof!

Just finishing reading The Honey Guide by Richard Crompton now.

In The Sea There Are Crocodiles, Fabio Geda

This is the true story of Enaiatollah Akbari. It is listed as fiction though, so not sure how embellished or cut down it is. This from the back cover 'One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah's mother tells him three things: don't use drugs, don't use weapons and don't steal. The next day, the ten year old Afghan boy wakes up to find she has gone. He is on the border of Pakistan, and he is all alone.'

Enaiatollah goes from Afghanistan to Pakistan to Iran to Turkey to Greece and to Italy. Always trying to feel safer.

I was reading an English translation of an Italian novel, the story of which was told to the author in Italian by a boy whose first language is either Pashto or Dari. But it doesn't matter, you get the impression that there are so many children like Enaiatollah and so many people in the same situation, that if it didn't happen quite like that to him, it will have happened that way to someone else.

I don't think there is much else I can say about this, it is too real and it is happening everywhere.

Thanks David Fickling Books for the proof. 

I am reading Dear Lucy by Julie Sarkissian now. 

In One Person, John Irving

I was really looking forward to reading this, I have loved his other books. His work is usually very beautiful and very lonely. In One Person begins with a quote: 'Thus play I in one person many people, And none contented.'

The novel is narrated by Billy, we meet him at high school and follow him into his sixties. This from the back cover: 'In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy's friends and lovers - a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. Not least, it is a intimate and unforgettable portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself 'worthwhile''.

I enjoyed this, though more towards the end. At the beginning it is hard to see it as anything more than The World According to Garp rehashed. There's the year in Vienna, the writing, the transexuals, the wrestling... He also introduces around five billion characters in the first 20 pages. HOWEVER after you get past all that it is a really good novel. It is about family, lovers, figuring out who you are and who you think you're allowed to be and high school infatuations lasting lifetimes.

Thank you Doubleday for the proof!

I've just finished In The Sea There are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda, thoughts on that one are coming shortly.