A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

Individual stories first published between 1945 and 1982. Published together as a collection by Penguin Classics on the 29th October 2020.

One of my Classics Club Challenge reads, a More Than One challenge read, and a Book with a Vegetarian Character.

How I got this book:

Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon UK / Hive UK

The Book Depository / Waterstones

Tender and bittersweet, these stories by Truman Capote, the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's, are a captivating tribute to the Christmas season

Selected from across Capote's writing life, they range from nostalgic portraits of childhood to more unsettling works that reveal the darkness beneath the festive glitter. In the Deep South of Capote's youth, a young boy, Buddy, and his beloved maiden 'aunt' Sook forage for pecans and whiskey to bake into fruitcakes, make kites - too broke to buy gifts - and rise before dawn to prepare feasts for a ragged assembly of guests; it is Sook who teaches Buddy the true meaning of good will. In other stories, an unlikely festive miracle, of sorts, occurs at a local drugstore; a lonely woman has a troubling encounter in wintry New York. Brimming with feeling, these sparkling tales convey both the wonder and the chill of Christmas time.

I've only previously read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, which very much impressed me, and I wasn't sure if this short story collection, autobiographical though it is, would suit me as well. I need not have been concerned! Capote has such a deft way of capturing the whole sense of a place, a person, and indeed an era with just a few phrases that I was easily transported to 1940s rural Alabama and 1960s New York. Capote's childhood situation was unusual and I loved his portrayal of his small town Alabama life, in particular his relationship with his elderly cousin, Sook, who became his closest friend. Their annual efforts to make Christmas fruitcakes are the subject of the eponymous first story which was so powerful that it almost had me in tears.

Each of the six stories takes place during the holiday season, from Thanksgiving to Christmas so the collection is perfect reading for this time of year. I was pleasantly surprised though that the stories don't ever take advantage of that connection to dissolve into saccharine sweetness. Some are nostalgic, another is creepily disturbing, bullying and racism feature prominently, and their characters are generally either in serious poverty or just clinging to respectability. I hadn't given Capote much attention before, but these stories blew me away. I think I definitely need to make an effort to read more of his classics next year.

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Little Brutes by L N Nino

Little Brutes by L N Nino

Self published in 2015.

How I got this book:

Received a copy from the author

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This review was first published on my Stephanie Jane blog in 2015.

I received a free personalised copy of Little Brutes, a short story by L N Nino, as a thank you for signing up to his email newsletter. I first discovered his work through reading his novella The Brain Within Its Groove. I was pretty impressed then and so was delighted to be emailed a few days later with this offer. 

Little Brutes is a very short story, but contains a haunting vision of callous lives within its few pages. A mother and her son are left in extreme poverty when her husband is killed. The arrival of a baby tips the mother over the edge with heartrending consequences. I can't say too much here without giving away the tale but I think this is a great, sad story. It both shocked and moved me with its sharp depictions of three desperate people. I would highly recommend anyone who likes dark writing to give Nino a try.

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Le Chat Boulanger by Mirella Youssef

Le Chat Boulanger by Mirella Youssef

Self published on the 26th March 2020.

I'm linking this review up with July 2020 Foodies Read at Based On A True Story

How I got this book:

Bought the ebook at Smashwords

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Il était une fois, un chat qui vivait dans la rue, attendant chaque jour, qu'on lui donna de la nourriture près de la boulangerie de Monsieur Barom...

Rediscovering my reading bilingualism mojo, thanks to Four Words For Friend by Marek Kohn, has opened up new horizons for my personal WorldReads challenge. It's getting trickier to find enough English translations for the countries I still need, but adding French language books makes the task easier. To be truthful, I could actually have purchased and read The Cat Baker in English because Mirella Youssef writes in Arabic, French and English. However, as this short story is intended for children, I bravely plumped for the French edition!

Le Chat Boulanger is an adorable tale of a wily street cat who saves the day when it looks like Monsieur Barom, the genuine baker, will be unable to complete a special cake in time for a birthday party. Deprived of his daily chocolate treat due to the chaos, the cat steps in and takes charge. At just 500 words (only 4 of which required dictionary assistance!) this flash fiction story is entertaining and humorous - a fun sweet treat between heavier reads.

Etsy Find!
	Baker Cats  greetings card by Cards By Kate Halifax in Canada Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Lone Shark by Tin Larrick + #FreeBook

Lone Shark by Tin Larrick

Self published in November 2013.

How I got this book:

Downloaded the ebook from Smashwords

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

London, 2017. In the slipstream of economic misery walks Jackson Towne, a disgraced ex-cop in his own personal exile.

A contract hit offers Jackson a way out of his hand-to-mouth existence, but as he pursues the target - a corporate whistleblower at mysterious multinational Medusa Chenaix - he realises that for so many people to want her dead , she must be more important than even she realises...


This review was first blogged on Stephanie Jane
Lone Shark is my third Tin Larrick novel (at the time of writing), although actually the second he wrote. Each, so far, is a stand alone story so I'm not messing up any story arcs for once!

By far the blokiest of the trio, elements of Lone Shark felt like a Guy Ritchie film and there is a fair bit of killing for no other reason than that's what this type of person would do. The plot is interesting and generally keeps up a fast place but I found the characters, other than our anti-hero, Jackson Towne, much more two-dimensional than in, say, Manukau Bluebirds. Larrick's descriptions of place and scene setting are excellent so it was easy to imagine his dystopian London and the furniture shop 'hotel' is a nice touch. Poor Newhaven doesn't fare too well!

I found it difficult to actually place the novel in real time as, although the synopsis states 2017, several of the text references seemed to throw us way past that while some tv namedropping particularly is oddly dated. This was distracting but not enough to ruin the atmosphere, just an occasional pull-up.

As a solid genre thriller, Lone Shark easily holds it own with best-selling authors and is more inventive than many of these. Larrick's real life police experience is well used to enhance without being overdone to make this book an entertaining escapist read.

Etsy Find!
	Crime Scene  Chocolate Bar by Lindy Pop Chocs in Brighton, England Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Head On Backwards, Chest Full Of Sand by Sandy Day

Head On Backwards, Chest Full Of Sand by Sandy Day

Published on the 14th February 2020.

H for my 2020 Alphabet Soup Challenge

How I got this book:

Received a review copy from the author

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A tender story of love-obsession, the second novel from Sandy Day, Head on Backwards, Chest Full of Sand chronicles a young woman’s coming of age during the height of the 1970’s women’s liberation movement. Teetering on the edge of womanhood, clinging to the first love of her life as if her survival depends on it, 17 year-old Livvy is torn between subjugating herself for love or claiming her identity and independence.

When Livvy, lovesick and artistic, spends the summer with the aunt she adores, she crosses paths with a cast of memorable characters in the coastal community of Margaree, Cape Breton Island. While Livvy’s cousins torment her, house renovations disturb her, an annoying young islander tries to befriend and teach Livvy to disco dance, Livvy prepares for the much anticipated arrival of her boyfriend, Kane.

With poetic fluidity and breathtaking revelations Sandy Day draws you into Livvy’s obsession. Such a deep dive into the dire and agonizing crannies of a love-obsessed young woman establishes Head on Backwards, Chest Full of Sand as a memorable coming of age story.

For fans of The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing, Lives of Girls and Women, and The Bell Jar, Head on Backwards, Chest Full of Sand promises to immerse you in the world of a troubled but observant young woman coming slowly to terms with love, life, and all its messy relationships.

Livvy is such a wonderfully exasperating protagonist! I think that Sandy Day has perfectly captured her mix of childish deliciousness and teenage uncertainty in her new coming of age novel, Head On Backwards, Chest Full Of Sand. Livvy (not Libby!) narrates her story in the first person which adds to the sense of this young woman being so wrapped up in her own existence that she seems barely aware of anyone else's needs. I could strongly empathise with her obsession for Kane even while, to us readers at least, it soon becomes quite obvious that he isn't as into Livvy as she would have herself believe. Having built her dreams around his presence though - and, repeatedly, told anyone who would listen - Livvy doesn't find it easy to imagine a more realistic future.

I loved the Cape Breton setting, especially with Day's poetic prose describing the natural landscapes. I felt this place reflected Livvy well. Interactions between the characters are always convincing with Livvy's gradual realisations of how others see her being poignant at times. Concepts of family and community are very much to the fore and, while Head On Backwards, Chest Full Of Sand is firmly rooted in its 1970s historical era, its messages of finding one's own senses of identity and belonging are just as vital for young (and older!) women all these decades later.

Head On Backwards, Chest Full Of Sand lives up Sandy Day's high writing standards. Although it is not a long novel, it covers a lot of emotional ground, giving a authentic portrayal of Livvy's summer on the cusp of childhood and womanhood. It shows that physical maturity and emotional maturity don't occur in tandem and that learning how to honestly be ourselves is far more important for our mental wellbeing than clinging to unrealistic dreams. I described Day's previous book, An Empty Nest, as a coming of age story for older women. I feel the two stories work well as a pairing, exploring the transformational times in women's lives.

Etsy Find!
	Cape Breton  greetings card by Michelle Ryan Art Shop in Canada Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Tomorrow's Ancestors: The Base of Reflections by AE Warren

Tomorrow's Ancestors: The Base of Reflections by AE Warren
Published in the UK by Locutions Press on the 6th July 2019.

The first of my 2020 More Than One Challenge reads.

What happens when the future abandons the past?

Elise and her companions have made it to the safety of Uracil but at a price. Desperate to secure her family’s passage, she makes a deal with Uracil's Tri-Council. She’ll become their spy, jeopardising her own freedom in the process, in exchange for her family’s safe transfer. But first she has to help rescue the next Neanderthal, Twenty-Two. 

Twenty-Two has never left the confines of the steel walls that keep her separated from the other exhibits. She has no contact with the outside world and no way of knowing why she has been abandoned. With diminishing deliveries of food and water, she has to start breaking the museum’s rules if she wants a second chance at living.

One belongs to the future and the other to the past, but both have to adapt—or neither will survive…

This second novel in AE Warren's Tomorrow's Ancestors series, The Base Of Reflections, carries on from the first book, The Museum of Second Chances, and I would suggest that the series does need to be read in its intended order. Warren does drop welcome brief reminders about the first book's events, but I don't think this would be enough for a new reader to really appreciate the detail of her imagined future world. In this story we are given a vision of life for the people at Uracil, a community beyond the structured society existing elsewhere. We also get to see inside a second of the official bases when we meet a fourth Neanderthal, Twenty-Two. I loved how Warren has created Twenty-Two's character very differently from Kit's. It would have been easier to envisage a single Neanderthal mindset, but instead Warren takes into account their disparate early lives. Twenty-Two is so much more guarded and almost expects to be let down and abandoned again.

The little details of Uracil's physical appearance really appealed to me, especially the ingenious ideas to keep this settlement obscured from prying eyes. The contrast between the people's flamboyant dress styles and their paranoia about remaining hidden makes for an interesting dynamic. I'm glad I don't have to traverse those tree house walkways though. Just imagining the ropes swaying brought on my vertigo!

The Base Of Reflections is a great title, in both senses of 'to reflect' because I felt the story contains many of uncomfortable truths about our own ways of living in the present day. Warren doesn't thump an environmental drum however, but seeing her characters dealing with this convincingly plausible aftermath is certainly thought-provoking. That said though, the novel itself is a fast-paced and exciting page-turner which, again, kept me gripped from start to finish. I understand AE Warren is writing a third Tomorrow's Ancestors novel at the moment and it can't be finished soon enough for me!

Meet the author   

AE Warren lives in the UK. A not-so-covert nerd with mildly obsessive tendencies, she has happily wiled away an inordinate amount of time reading and watching sci-fi/ fantasy and gaming. She is interested in the ‘what ifs’.

The Museum of Second Chances is her first novel and she is currently writing the third book in the 'Tomorrow's Ancestors' series.

Author links: 
Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram

Etsy Find!
	Neanderthal Stone Scraper by Jeremys Rock Garden in the USA Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Tomorrow's Ancestors: The Museum of Second Chances by AE Warren.

Tomorrow's Ancestors: The Museum of Second Chances by AE Warren
Published in the UK by Locutions Press in February 2018.

What happens when the future recaptures the past?

In a post-apocalyptic world the human race has evolved beyond us through genetic engineering – and we’ve been left behind to make amends for the damage inflicted on the earth. The reversal of the extinction of long lost animals is key to our reparations and all of these are housed in the Museum of Evolution – along with another species of human that hasn’t existed for 30,000 years. 

Elise belongs to the lowest order of humans, the Sapiens. She lives in an ostracised community of ecological houses, built to blend with an idyllic landscape. Deciding to widen her stagnating life in the manufacturing base, she takes a chance opportunity to become a Companion to a previously extinct species of human. 

But Elise has secrets of her own that threaten to be exposed now that she is away from the safety of her home. And while living in the museum, Elise realises that little separates her from the other exhibits…

I was very intrigued by the premise of AE Warren's Tomorrow's Ancestors series so was delighted to find myself thoroughly enjoying its first book, The Museum Of Second Chances. The novel is set some 250 years in the future after a massive disaster has wiped out most life on Earth, including the majority of its human inhabitants. This isn't a grim, just-scraping-by story though. In Warren's imagined world, superior human species are now in charge of a rebuilt society and they are determined not to allow the destructive Homo Sapiens a chance to wreak total chaos again!

I loved Elise's kind of Hobbit-town home, made entirely from recycled and found materials, and the idea of people doing penance for their ancestors' behaviour by a system of Reparations. What rang particularly true was the caste-like hierarchical society where a higher social standing can only be achieved through genetic modifications - which are expensive so the rich make sure they maintain their positions. Sound familiar?

Elise is an engaging character with whom I liked spending time. She's a believable character in an amazing situation and the whole Museum Of Second Chances sounds an incredible feat of imagination and engineering. Much as I dislike the concept of zoos, the existence of this one made for a perfect story focus. Through Elise and her friends' experiences we come to see how the world fits together and how it can only ever be truly bearable for a select few. The relationships between characters always felt genuine and I appreciated the awkwardness portrayed when expectations and reality were at odds with each other.

Warren writes in a exciting style so I fairly raced through the story, always eager to see what the next pages would bring! I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to read The Museum Of Second Chances through this blog tour and am now keen to get started on its sequel, The Base Of Reflections, later this month.

Meet the author   

AE Warren lives in the UK. A not-so-covert nerd with mildly obsessive tendencies, she has happily wiled away an inordinate amount of time reading and watching sci-fi/ fantasy and gaming. She is interested in the ‘what ifs’.

The Museum of Second Chances is her first novel and she is currently writing the third book in the 'Tomorrow's Ancestors' series.

Author links: 
Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram

Etsy Find!
	Neanderthal Skull Replica by artskulls in London, England Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Books by AE Warren / Science fiction / Books from England