At the moment I am...

Reading...The Testimony by James Smythe for my book club tomorrow. I joined a dystopian book club a month or so ago called the Post Apocalyptic Book Club and this is second book I have read with the group. I've been loving this one and am at that point where I don't want to put it down. It's written from a million different perspectives and the big bad is something that will prompt much discussion (and debate) so I think tomorrow evening may be a good one. I will be reviewing this one too because I have SO MANY THOUGHTS.

Also, I've nearly finished Wilkie!

Writing...I'm collating a list of WW1 fiction at the moment which is actually a bigger job that I thought - there is so much. I'm also trying to whittle down a list of top 10 WW1 books - if any of you can think of a book that just has to be in a top 10, let me know.

Looking forward to...GLASGOW. Yes, it's here. I'm on a half day on Thursday then it's back to Somerset and then to the airport on Friday with my Ma. I've got my bobble hat and woolly socks packed...

Hankering for...a proper Sunday lunch. Bit of an odd one.

Listening to...a random mix of Deaf Havana and classical music. Deaf Havana for those times I need a good old sing and bootie shake and the classical for when I'm really focusing on my writing. Perfect. FYI I've gone for the singing and butt shaking today.

Christmas lights in Sloane Square

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Review: At Least You're in Tuscany by Jennifer Criswell

At Least You're in Tuscany
Jennifer Criswell
2012
Gemelli Press

'Living a dream is very different from having a dream'

I've never been the biggest reading of travel books/memoirs but I could not even try to resist reading this. Tuscany is one of my favourite places in the world and I will never stop revisiting its rolling hills and beautiful hilltop towns and cities. I have some wonderful memories of Tuscany from trips there with my family and with my bestie when we went travelling. Siena, particularly, has a ridiculously special place in the old heart*. 

At Least You're in Tuscany tracks the ups and downs (of which there are a considerable number) of the author, an American who ups sticks and decides to make her home in Montepulciano, Italy. It follows the first months of Criswell's life in Italy and the obstacles that she inevitably faces, as well as a few not so inevitable ones. All the while, Criswell repeats her personal mantra: 'at least you're in Tuscany'.

I love how candidly this book is written. Criswell doesn't romanticise her experiences, instead choosing to tell us the difficulties she faced in regards to jobs, friendship and romance. Her honesty also makes the book funny - not that we are laughing at her, but she is recounting the less glamorous side of becoming an expat in a way that makes us laugh along with her, very fondly. There is an incident in the winter with some washing that definitely made a chuckle or two escape from my lips and a few other incidents involving food and some veggie innuendo.

'I resisted the urge to find the manager and show him, since I was now a grown up of thirty-nine years.'

It was really interesting learning about Italian culture through the eyes of someone who is outside of it but also slightly within it. Criswell has a great perspective and it felt like I was learning the secrets of Italian life as she did. That, and the Italian language. I think I may have even picked up a few extra words to add to my hardly expansive knowledge of the language. entertaining and educational? What could be better than that?

Mostly I just think Criswell is heck of a brave. I mean really, how many 30-somethings would just take themselves half way around the world and move to a new country, with a completely different culture and a new language? Mental. It was so nice to be inspired by her positivity and coraggio (courage) and her ability to just do it, take the plunge and make a change. I think with an attitude to life like that, I will read anything that she comes out with.

My favourite thing about the book is the appearances of Criswell's dog, Cinder, a gorgeous Weimaraner. Cinder is almost a second main character (so to speak) and I was just as interested in how she coped with the move as how Criswell coped (well, it seemed, particularly when there was Italian ham to be had). 

This memoir doesn't finish with a fairytale ending with Criswell happily married to a wealthy Italian, friends all around her and the perfect job. It ends with reality - things are on the up but we still know that she has a way to go to truly 'make it' in Italy. I love that it isn't all hunky dory from the word go and that it isn't all hunky dory at the end. It is real life and reading about real life is far more interesting than anything else.

For an honest, exuberant and unexpectedly moving and inspiring memoir about one of the most beautiful places in the world, I would highly recommend At Least You're in Tuscany. It just made me want to sit back and relax with a glass of red in one hand and a bowl of pasta in the other and a tasty tiramisu calling me from the fridge. Love Italy? Read this. Enough said, really.

'"Chi la dura, la vince." He who endures, wins.'

* I visited Siena as one of my final stops in the tour around Italy I took when I was 20. As a home bird, I grew increasingly tense the longer I stayed away. I loved it, don't get me wrong, but I'm a short term traveller. Anyway, I spent the best couple of days in Siena, sitting in the Piazza del Campo with my book just watching the world go by. Since then I have wanted to go back to that chilled out, beautiful city, which made me feel calm and content even when I was a stressed out mess. 

Thank you to the publisher (via NetGalley) for providing this review copy.

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Review: Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos

Down the Rabbit Hole
Juan Pablo Villalobos
2011
And Other Stories

Translated from Spanish by Rosalind Harvey

'Some people say I'm precocious. They say it mainly because they think I know difficult words for a little boy. Some of the difficult words I know are: sordid, disastrous, immaculate, pathetic and devastating.'
I came across And Other Stories when I signed up to Ellie's Translation Challenge. I was looking for interesting translated fiction previously unknown to me and I became completely enamoured with And Other Stories the minute I began browsing their catalogue. This novel by Juan Pablo Villalobos was the first to really catch my eye so when I stumbled upon a copy in an illicit trip to Foyles I could hardly resist. 

At only 70 pages Down the Rabbit Hole is a short novel and a quick read but it's brevity does not lessen it's impact. I devoured it in one day spread between my tube journey to and from work and my lunch break. It is short but full of detail, particularly when it comes to character.

This novella (or novel? What's the difference?) is narrated by Tochtli, the young son of a Mexican drug lord, from within the depths of their palace. Tochtli is, in his own words, a precocious child. He reads the dictionary every night, has a ridiculously large collection of hats and is fascinated by Samurai culture (he spends part of the novel walking round in a dressing gown). He also really wants a pygmy hippopotamus from Liberia. The action of the book is a snapshot of life from the eyes of someone who lacks understanding. Although many significant events occur, their significance is not recognised by Tochtli which makes it almost an odd reading experience. As a reader we are within and without - we can infer the seriousness of the events from what Tochtli says but it is difficult to ascribe any sense of danger or panic to the situations because of how they are narrated. I think this is a very powerful technique. I found myself worried, uncomfortable and amused in a strange way. It is dark and occasionally quite disturbing, given the subject matter and the age of the narrator. 

Simon over at Savidge Reads talked about confronting vs comforting fiction the other day and I think this novel encapsulates the ideas surrounding confronting fiction. There are themes in this (death, drugs, murder, mutilation and isolation) that are perhaps the epitome of confrontation but I would not have had the book any other way. I felt uncomfortable whilst reading it, yes, but I think that is the point of it. It is life. A sordid, destructive and not particularly delightful life, maybe, but a life nonetheless. I think that's why you can't just set aside fiction that happens to have themes you may not like because, in doing so, you miss out on all the intricacies of reality. The things that happen that just may not (thankfully, usually) happen to you. But knowing is important and that knowledge could help you at some point, somewhere.

For the writing I would highly recommend this novel and for the themes. Prepare to be confronted because if you do, it is worth it. I'm looking forward to what I discover next from And Other Stories.

'Mexico is a disastrous country, too. It's such a disastrous country that you can't get hold of a Liberian Pygmy hippopotamus. Actually, that's what you call being a third-world country.'

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The Classics Club Spin #4

EDIT: Ok, so the number was revealed and that number is...10. Lucky me, I have a book from my 'No. Just no' category - Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I must say, after various twitter conversations yesterday, I am now oddly looking forward to reading it to see which side I come down on. There seems to be quite a divide between those who love it and those who hate it. I wonder which side I will fall on...

Oh Classics Club, you sly temptress. Another Classics Spin! After a hatrick of complete winners chosen by the spin I am raring to go and add a fourth. I was going to go all out and use a random generator (inspiration from Sam and Riv) but I find that slightly stressful so I'm sticking with my categories from the last spin. They worked for me then so fingers crossed they'll work for me again.

The idea of the spin is to pick 20 books from your Classics Club list on your blog by Monday 18th November. A number between 1 and 20 will be announced on Monday and we are to read the corresponding book by 1st January. A risky business...

Please, please, oh pretty please!
1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2. Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
3. No Name by Wilkie Collins (give me the Wilkie!)
4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
5. The Illiad by Homer

No. Just no.
6. The Monk by Matthew Lewis
7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
8. What Maisie Knew by Henry James
9. Parade's End by Ford Maddox Ford
10. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Well, if I must.
11. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
12. Moon and Sixpence by W Somerset Maugham
13. The Women's Room by Marilyn French
14. The Rector's Daughter by FM Mayor
15. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Oh, go on then.
16. Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner
17. The Time Machine by HG Wells
18. Jacobs Room by Virginia Woolf
19. Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
20. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I just can't get enough of the spin! It's a pretty perfect way to choose a winter read to savour.

Are you joining in? Which book are you dreading?

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#readWilkie: The Half-Way Point

This weekend marks the half-way point for The Moonstone read-along. And what a half! I'm loving it. On the first of this month, after a long wait, I finally picked up my copy of Wilkie's The Moonstone and opened that first page. Since then it has been like a non-stop party in my cranium with all the Wilkie loving going on. I decided a long time ago that Wilkie is one of my favourite authors and so far (and don't let me down) The Moonstone is confirming my love and nudging him up the leader board. 

The Moonstone starts in India where the slightly dodgy John Herncastle may or may not have done some really naughty things to get his grubby mitts on the stone. Nothing is clear. Zoom forward a few years and the stone is bequeathed to JH's niece, Rachel Verinder (who is perhaps a tad dodgy herself). BUT disaster strikes when the stone mysteriously goes missing overnight from a locked house and nothing looked to have been messed with. THE PLOT THICKENS. And there we have it, enter a bunch of awesome characters and some suspect ones and The Moonstone is underway.

I'm currently on page 336 out of 527, in the middle of the lawyer, Mr Bruff's narrative. Bruff is very different to the previous two narrators, just as Clack was very different to Betteredge. There are many things I love about Wilkie and his ability to write characters is one of them. Betteredge was just brilliant - someone (sorry, I forget who) described him as like a grandfather, albeit a slightly sexist but ultimately well-meaning grandfather. His love of Robinson Crusoe really is outstanding and even slightly persuaded me to try for a reread of that (ghastly) book. Then we move onto Miss Clack, the 'rampant spinster' who is determined to enlighten all those around her with her various religious tracts. She has some pretty impressive skills for spreading the word.

I must say, considering the title of the book and all, the actual moonstone gets forgotten a fair bit. I question whether they really want to find it or are more interested in the gossip and the excitement of talking about the missing moonstone. And the scandal. Who doesn't love a damn good scandal?! Still, tell me where the shiny is!

I'm actually dying to just sit down and devour the remainder of the novel but I am working hard to resist so that I can savour the experience. Reading a Wilkie biography is helping with that - I'm still getting Wilkie goodness but making it last at the same time. I have noticed one or two of you lovely participants have already finished. Clearly the Wilkster is hard to resist. 

So, hows it going? Is the Wilkie love contagious? I know I have certainly bought myself one (or two) of his other novels...

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At the moment I am...

Reading...too many books at once. It's actually getting out of hand. I am currently making my way through:

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Wilkie Collins by Peter Ackroyd

At Least You're in Tuscany by Jennifer Criswell

Between the Sheets by Lesley McDowell

Fighting on the Home Front by Kate Adie

Definitely getting out of hand...but, four out of five are non-fiction which kind of explains why I'm reading so many (I tend to read non-fiction in small bouts). It is also cause for a mini celebration because I rarely do read non-fiction. I've got a taste for it now clearly.

Writing...about War literature. In an exciting turn of events I have managed to get a voluntary role as Books Editor on a website about the Centenary (perfect job) so I am researching, compiling and basically doing everything I love. Amazing.

Listening to...the sound of phones ringing at work and slowly losing the will to live.

Looking forward to...the end of the month. My Mother and I are going to Glasgow for a couple of days at the end of November which is really exciting. We have already been checking out the art gallery/museum and bookshop situations for plenty of cultural adventures. I'm just dying for a couple of days away from work.

Hankering for...some Wilkie time. I put The Moonstone aside for a couple days to stop me from whizzing through it but now I'm feeling the need to get back to reading it. I'll be back with you this evening, Wilkie, don't fret...

Fireworks on the Southbank

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5 Reasons to Love Wilkie Collins

We are one week in to The Moonstone readalong and, I have to say, I am loving it. I mean, I'm hardly surprised because it is Wilkie after all, but I am really and truly loving it. Sometimes the odd classic takes a minute to get in to (and by a minute, I obviously mean about 100 pages), but The Moonstone had me hooked from the get-go. I'm going to put that down to Gabriel Betteredge's narration. What a guy.

Anyway, to keep the Wilkie enthusiasm flowing I thought I'd share with you '5 Reasons to Love Wilkie'. I'm practising restraint here, there are so many more than five...

1. Marian Halcombe
Hello strong female character who is perhaps my role model (of sorts) in life. Need I say more?

2. Dickens and he were great chums
I own two books that these two delights co-authored: The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices and The Perils of Certain English Prisoners. I've read bits of 'The Tour' and it is witty and detailed and brilliant. I look forward to getting around to the prisoners. Also, these two were actors together. Yes, Wilkie was an actor. This guy just gets more and more exciting.

3. His grasp of the slightly freaky detective mystery story genre is impressive
The Haunted Hotel? Seriously freaked me out for a bit at the end there...And the opening to The Woman in White? Wow *shivers*.

4. He was a little eccentric and a bit of a womaniser
According to Peter Ackroyd's biography, Wilkie starting taking an interest in the ladies at quite a young age. Did someone say hound dog?

5. He was prolific. 
I had absolutely no idea how many novels/novellas/short stories Wilkie had actually produced in his lifetime. I am stunned and slightly worried for the welfare of my bank balance.

And a bonus #6 for good measure: Wilkie was an actual Barrister. Man of many talents much? Though he managed to never step foot in court or actually do any barrister-ing. It may explain, however, the focus on the law in a number of his novels.

Have you come across any interesting Wilkie related facts?

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