Author Mal Peet dead at 67 (Carnagie Medal winner for Tamar)

On my shelves sit lots of books, waiting for the "right" time to read them.  By right time I don't mean Christmas, or the summer holiday, or a wartime tale to be read around 11 November each year.  In fact, I am not sure exactly what I do mean by the "right" time.  Some books have been saved for a treat (I kept The Book Thief for 3 years before I read it as I somehow knew it would be a good 'un), some I read because I have a couple of days to go before the end of a month and I take a thinnie off the shelf.  Fatties I save for holidays (great plane reading); or for a weekend when the OH is off somewhere doing his own thing; or the times I succumb to a head cold and I can indulge myself for hours and hours just reading.

And so, having just finished yesterday's newspaper, in it's obituary pages there it was - this Carnagie Medal winner was dead at only 67.  So Tamar has to come off the shelves.  Another one saved for ages because it looked another good 'un, a tale of  "..... a man involved in the terrifying world of resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Holland...".

You can read Mal Peet's obituary here

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

Now how did this one nearly slip under the radar?  I never saw a review, none of my booky friends seem to have read or mentioned this one either, and it's quite new - only published in paperback this year in the UK .  I saw the cover and it drew me in - thank goodness!

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If I say the word dystopian, please don't stop reading.  I do know that many readers don't like books about 'after the end of the world as we know it', but this book may well be my book of the year and was so enjoyable I read it in two chunks and, if I'd opened it earlier, it would have been read all at once.  So I recommend it wholeheartedly to you.

When Arthur Leander dies on stage during a production of King Lear in Toronto, Canada,  he is the first of many deaths that night - in Canada, in America, round the world.  But his death is not the catalyst.  His death is from a heart attack.  As a severe form of flu swoops on millions of others, it is clear that the world will never be the same.   From Arthur, film star and stage actor;  to the would-be paramedic who leaps on stage and attempts CPR;  to a small child who was part of the stage production that night, several lives and several objects are intertwined.  The small child goes on to become part of Travelling Symphony - as the name suggests, a group of travelling musicians who also perform Shakespeare plays;  hauling their entire world with them in old pickup trucks which are now horsedrawn.  They travel, not from town to town, but from settlement to settlement, for towns and cities are abandoned, and those that did escape the pandemic form little groups in useful but out of the way places like motels and petrol stations on back roads.  Some settlements are welcoming, some not.  Some are peopled by those you'd want to get away from yourself.  Some you'd want to stop at.  But the Travelling Symphony have another reason to keep going. Two of their members stopped off at a settlement a while ago - a very pregnant woman and her partner, and the Symphony is on the way back to the settlement to pick them up with their new baby and move on down the road.

Set around Lakes Ontario and Erie, their world seems so big but in fact is very small indeed considering that they are on foot or in a horsedrawn vehicle travelling at walking pace.  Food in supermarkets,  Mom and Pop stores, petrol stations having long gone either by looting or decay in the twenty years since Arthur's death, they are reliant on hunted food (plenty of deer), bartered food (money is no use) and on meals offered as they reach settlements.  Kirsten, the little girl from King Lear all that time ago in Toronto is a hunter, and with August, another Symphony member, a scavanger - the only two in the group willing to enter houses and find things that might be useful, or that they might like to keep.  So then.  This is life twenty years after the end.  Twenty years of a new kind of life alternately described with Arthur's life back when.  What a read!

The Pond - Robert Murphy

The Pond in question is a smallish lake, somewhere between Richmond and Norfolk in the state of Virginia, USA. Joey's father has a small house down there as a hunting lodge, and the Summer he's 14, Joey is allowed to drive his father's Ford pick up truck from Richmond, down to the house with his friend Bud, a couple of shotguns and a couple of fishing rods. The house is looked after by Mr Ben, a single man who fought off the demon drink and found his place out there in the countryside. After shooting a few squirrels, wishing they could catch the biggest fish in the pond, and eating food prepared by Mr Ben, the boys must return to the city, but Joey knows he wants to return to the pond again and again. During the next year, he does just that. Catches some fish, shoots a few more blameless squirrels, finds a real friend in a dog belonging to a poverty-stricken family who live nearby, and comes to understand how life outside a city really works.

 

 I was reminded of A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter although the main character in that book was of course, female. The Pond was published in 1964, although set around 1917. It certainly had more of an early than mid 20th century feel to it which made it more "real".  Republished in the last couple of years and now available as paperback and kindle, this is worth your time if you like a straightforward story of growing up without vampires, magic or other stuff.  For those drawn towards the circle of life of death in the animal world, this wouldn't be a bad start.   Perhaps this book was an early runner in the eco-world? Joey certainly comes to know and understand the way animals live and die, and how the pond and the land surrounding it is so important to them. And during the course of the book he comes to question his own feelings about hunting. Some nicely drawn other characters in here too, all of whom teach the youngster something.
 

At only 224 pages (in the hardback edition) this is not a long book, but very readable and describes the thoughts and deeds of Joey very well, and understandably. I liked it.

Crooked Heart - Lissa Evans

I read Lissa Evans' Their Finest Hour and a Half a couple of years ago, but it didn't really grab me.  And then I read this one and really enjoyed it!  Every major character in this novel is a (very) small time crook, from Vera (Vee for short)  Sedge, who would like to have money but doesn't know how to go about getting it; her son, Donald, who does know how to go about getting it, to Noel, who thinks up a couple of schemes for Vera to get out there and make it.

Set in WW2, this is a book where you can't help but love Vee and Noel, although at first you are not sure why.  Noel's godmother Mattie, with whom he lives on the edge of Hampstead Heath, is that wonderful kind of guardian - loves Noel, loves life and loves being who she is.  So when after her death and a short stay with distant family of Mattie Noel is evacuated to St Albans you'd think it was all for the best.  In St Albans he is lodged with Vera Sedge, and as a child who hardly ever talks, she is confused as to how to deal with him.  Vera has to perform the odd sexual favour for her landlord because her son is working for him (but not really pulling his weight) and the rent is due again.  She makes hat trimmings just to bring in a bit of cash to help feed herself, Donald and her mother, mute after a fall.  They live in a damp, dirty, half empty flat above the scrapyard where Donald works. But Donald has a secret.  He is actually a self made man with a Gladstone bag full of cash on top of his wardrobe - he has a specialist line which he does every once in a while.  And so, as Noel settles in to this odd little family group, he finds his voice, and takes some decisions.  Some for himself, and some for Vee.

We do sometimes disremember wartime in this country.  Perfectly described is the way petty crime was conducted amongst the bombed streets of London, and how those that knew turned a blind eye because that's just how it was. A nicely judged novel, for YAs and adults alike.  Little bits of stuff float into your memory, like the peice of cold potato that Noel had to ask for whilst in a shelter during a bombing raid.  Like the collection box scam that must have been operated all over the place.  I liked the writing style, enjoyed the tale.  Would make a decent TV drama, too, and no surprise there as Evans has worked in both radio and tv production.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz

Sexuality. Teens get this thrust upon them - one day they are a child, the next things start to happen.  Hair sprouts, voices break, breasts burst, and somehow they have to get through to the other side and become fully formed adults.  That's a big ask at the best of times, besides what is going on in their heads.  Aristotle (that's his second name, for what boy would want to be called Angel?) or Ari for short, is growing up in El Paso, with a Mexican heritage, getting through school, talking to his parents and anyone else who crosses his path in one word sentences.  He's definitely a loner, has no friends, hasn't kissed a girl yet, is the family's "baby", and has three older siblings -twin sisters, old enough to be married with children of their own, and a brother who no-one talks about.  At the local swimming pool one day, Ari hears a voice.  "I can teach you to swim if you like?" - and there is Dante.  Dante who doesn't look like someone from a Mexican background;  Dante who speaks using whole sentences and words Ari has never even come across;  Dante who hates wearing shoes....  and the two become friends in the blink of an eye.

Dante likes boys.  Ari can't wait to kiss a girl.  Somehow this doesn't matter at all, and they spend a lot of time together, discovering life. I want to tell you more, but I want you to read this one, so my story-telling stops here.  Suffice to say, on the way to adulthood, these two find out a lot about themselves, others, and sexuality in general.  They fall out with each other, they fall back in,  their friendship something they both want.

Lovely characters in this book.  The boys are well-drawn, one more full of teen angst than the other but both having to face adulthood.  The parents, not perfect but described well, so that you can see that adults have troubling times too.  A couple of girls at school - Ari's friends, although he doesn't realise at first and tries to shake them off.  A couple of family secrets too - when Ari finds out that life can be as difficult for adults as it is for him.

The prize winning author Benjamin Alire Sáenz grew up in New Mexico speaking only Spanish.
He's written several books for children and young adults.  He teaches, so he's in the right place to observe the growing up process and transfer it on to the printed page.  I enjoyed the read - and the reminder of my earlier years.

What to read in March - Mrs Mac suggests.....

For March, how about reading a book with a party or a celebration in the title?

You might find The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter worth a read if you can read plays....
or perhaps  The Wedding by Nicolas Sparks?    Have a look on your shelves!

Remember your teens? Ten memories from mine!

You may remember those years with love, laughter or angst...... but there may be times that will always stick.   For me?  Here are ten in no particular order.l

1.  My first kiss - his name was Roger, it was during a game of Postman's Knock at a party, and I really wanted to be kissed by my "crush", Malcolm McKay.  Not a chance, so Roger I got. 

2.  Rushing home  from youth club every Thursday in case The Beatles were on Top of the Pops, and rushing back again in case I missed anything good!

3.  Being in the local paper as the "mystery woman" who was reading a book instead of dancing at a local dance......and the book was My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier.

4.  Realising that music did things for you - after I first heard "Will you still love me tomorrow?" by the Shirelles on a transister radio in the school playground.

5.  My first real holiday without my parents - to a holiday camp (Hi De Hi!) with several friends.

6.  Being "in love" with Colin for several years.  Unrequited.  And realising later that teenage crushes are usually about wanting what you can't have.  I grew out of it!

7.  Discovering coffee shops, and spending hours following boys from one to the other and back again, drinking coffee and trying not to be seen looking at those boys!

8.  Lovely Lotus shoes which cost £4.19.11 (£5) and which I had to save up for at 2/6 (23ish pence) per week.  Brown leather, little heel, and a bow on the front with cream spots.

9.  Doing the upstairs cleaning every Wednesday afternoon (two bedrooms and a bathroom) because my Mum was not in good health.  A job that I'd do now in an hour took the entire afternoon because I didn't realise then that a job you hated should be done as fast as possible, thus leaving you loads of time for yourself.

10.  School trip to Bad Homburg Germany on an exchange visit,  and (boys again) realising that Pete really didn't fancy me and I'd just have to put up with it.