Macbeth by Jo Nesbo

Macbeth by Jo Nesbo
Published in English language translation by Don Bartlett by Hogarth Press in April 2018

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


He’s the best cop they’ve got. 

When a drug bust turns into a bloodbath it’s up to Inspector Macbeth and his team to clean up the mess.

He’s also an ex-drug addict with a troubled past. 

He’s rewarded for his success. Power. Money. Respect. They’re all within reach. 

But a man like him won’t get to the top.

Plagued by hallucinations and paranoia, Macbeth starts to unravel. He’s convinced he won’t get what is rightfully his.

Unless he kills for it.

Jo Nesbo's retelling of Shakespeare's Macbeth is one of the Hogarth Shakespeare series. I think I have only previously read Tracy Chevalier's New Boy, an Othello retelling, which I enjoyed so I was keen to try Macbeth. I hadn't been particularly enamoured of my first Jo Nesbo crime novel, Nemesis, but in the same way as I prefered Henning Mankell's historical fiction to his Wallander books, I hoped giving Nesbo another try with a different type of novel might endear me more to his writing. Unfortunately this didn't happen. I did quite like Nesbo's portrayal of the bankrupt, drug-addled and corrupt town, but felt this was let down by flat characterisation and lazy stereotyping such as Chinese women having 'inscrutable' eyes. If I hadn't already had a good knowledge of the characters I think I would have struggled to remember who was who in the supporting cast, and there's a missed opportunity with the trans character, Strega.

Nesbo transposes the narrative from kings to a police headquarters while keeping the main plot points so this Macbeth is very much a crime novel. There is political manoeuvring as well as frequent violent murders, a drug lord and a biker gang. For me the biggest problem was that I was never convinced of Macbeth's motivation. A couple of sentences spoken by way of an apparent prophecy and he's suddenly behaving as a very different person from the one that we are repeatedly told he is. It's all rather strange and with an even less credible ending than Shakespeare's. This Macbeth hasn't put me off trying more of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, but I can't see myself reading Nesbo again.

Etsy Find!
	Lady Macbeth  goat's milk soap by The Mac Bath in Ohio, USA Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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La Perle by John Steinbeck

La Perle by John Steinbeck
First published in English as The Pearl by Viking Press in America in 1947. French language translation by Renee Vavasseur and Marcel Duhamel published by Gallimard in 1950.

My 1940s read for my 2018-19 Decade Challenge. Also a Classics Club Challenge read and a Book In French.

How I got this book:
Swapped for at the Chef Boutonne little library

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In the town they tell the story of the great pearl - how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man's mind.

I didn't realise until I actually came to read The Pearl that Steinbeck's novella is a retelling of a Mexican folk tale he himself had heard told whilst in Mexico. The central tale itself is therefore a relatively simple story, however it is also one with which I believe everybody could relate and I loved the way in which Steinbeck creates the world surrounding Kino and Juana. Their characters are completely believable throughout and I particularly liked the idea of the gathering neighbours all rushing to peer over their hedges at every opportunity.

The Pearl isn't a happy story and is essentially a moral tale illustrating the old maxim of 'be careful what you wish for'. However Steinbeck increases the scope to encompass the racism and derogatory treatment experienced by the native people at the hands of rich white immigrants. Kino and Juana's prayers seem to be answered when Kino surfaces grasping the biggest pearl ever seen. Now they can pay the white doctor, he surely will treat their baby son? I loved how graphically Steinbeck illustrates the lifestyle differences between the two communities, each actually dependent on the other yet almost totally separate. His prose is almost poetry or song in its repetition and the idea of Song is important in guiding Kino's actions.

I read this novella in French having spotted a copy at our local Little Library. It was one of the slimmest books there and I knew from having previously read Steinbeck that his writing style is generally quite clear and direct. This proved the case in translation too so La Perle was a perfect choice from a language-learning point of view. Despite needing to look up several words on each page I was still utterly gripped by the adventure. Plus I have now learned lots of new useful words such as etouffer (to stifle) and paletuvier (mangrove). Whether I will remember them next time I see them remains to be seen!

Etsy Find!
	The Pearl  christmas bauble by Novel Adornment in Pennsylvania, USA Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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In Your Hands by Ines Pedrosa

In Your Hands by Ines Pedrosa
First published in Portuguese as Nas Tuas Maos in Portugal by Dom Quixote in 1997. English language translation by Andrea Rosenberg published by AmazonCrossing on the 16th October 2018.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Swimming and WorldReads: Portugal

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


An internationally acclaimed, award-winning novel spanning three generations of women united in their struggle for independence and fulfillment against oppression.

Told from three different perspectives, this sweeping saga begins in 1935 Portugal, in the grip of Salazar’s authoritarian regime, where upper-class Jenny enters into an uncommon marriage with the beguiling António. Keeping up appearances, they host salons for the political and cultural elite. In private, Jenny, António, and his lover, Pedro, share a guarded triangle, build a profound relationship, and together raise a daughter born under the auspices of rebellion.

Thirty years later, their daughter, Camila, a photojournalist who has captured the revolutionary fervor and tragic loss of her family—and country—reminisces about a long-lost love in Southeast Africa. This memory shapes the future of her daughter, Natália, a successful architect, who begins an impassioned quest of her own. As she navigates Portugal’s complex past, Natália will discover herself in the two women whose mysteries and intimate intrigues have come to define her.

Through revealing journals, snapshots of a turbulent era, and private letters, the lives of three generations of women unfold, embracing all that has separated them and all that binds them—their strength, their secrets, and their search for love through the currents of change.

In Your Hands is the history of a Portuguese family through the second half of the twentieth century narrated in turn by three generations of women: Jenny, her adopted daughter Camila, and Camila's daughter Natalia. Through their words we see how Portuguese society an attitudes change from wartime to Salazar's dictatorship to consumerist freedom. It's an ambitious work yet I didn't feel overwhelmed with History because the relationships between the family members and their friends are always centre stage.

By far my favourite section was the first third where Jenny speaks to us of her unusual domestic life with her husband, Antonio, and his long-term male partner, Pedro. The trio hosts evening salons for creative and artistic friends and I got a strong sense of their vivacious life which, despite setbacks obviously, seemed to be generally happy and satisfying. I could imagine the Lisbon of this period quite well especially after having read Estoril and I liked pragmatic Jenny as a person. Camila was more difficult for me to empathise with as she is quite a closed character. Her narrative centres more on the 1970s which is an era I didn't know much about in Portugal so I was interested to learn more. Glimpses of the war in Mozambique and its independence from Portugal are tantalising and I felt I wanted to read more about Camila's time in Africa. Natalia speaks from the 1990s and this final section is a series of letters ostensibly written to Jenny. Natalia uses dense language which often left me quite baffled and unsure as to what Pedrosa was trying to impart through this character. I didn't get such as strong sense of the woman as I did with Jenny and Camila either.

So unfortunately I found my interest in In Your Hands trailing away the longer I read. Had the novel started with Natalia in fact this probably would have been a DNF for me. However I so enjoyed Jenny's narration that I kept hoping that liveliness would reassert itself so I kept on reading. (Spoiler: it doesn't!) In Your Hands isn't an especially long book, but it did drag considerably by the end which was a shame. I am sure other readers will feel differently about each of the women so I'd be interested to hear different perspectives, however I felt that more from Jenny and then closure at the end of Camila's third would have been preferable.

Etsy Find!
	1940s Portuguese  enamelled fan brooch by Shop Underground Attic in New York, USA Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Zone 23 by C J Hopkins + Excerpt

Zone 23 by C J Hopkins
Published by Snoggsworthy, Swaine and Cormorant in May 2017.

Literary Flits Spotlight Giveaway Winner

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

Add Zone 23 to your Goodreads

ZONE 23 ... a darkly comic dystopian satire about being human, all-too-human, featuring two of the most endearing Anti-Social anti-heroes that ever rebelled against the forces of Normality. Set in the post-catastrophic future, in a peaceful, prosperous, corporate-controlled society where all dissent and non-conformity has been pathologized, and the human race is being genetically corrected in order to establish everlasting peace on Earth, Zone 23 is a hilarious, heartbreaking affirmation of the anarchic human spirit, and a defiant departure from the norms of both the genre sci-fi and literary novel.

Meet The Author

C.J. Hopkins is an award-winning American playwright, novelist and political satirist based in Berlin. His plays have been produced internationally, playing theatres and festivals such as Riverside Studios, 59E59 Theaters, Belvoir St. Theatre, Traverse Theatre, and the Du Maurier World Stage Festival, among others. His writing awards include: the 2002 First of the Fringe Firsts in Edinburgh, Scotsman Fringe Firsts in 2002 and 2005, and the 2004 Best of the Adelaide Fringe award. His debut novel, ZONE 23, was published in 2017 by Snoggsworthy, Swaine & Cormorant. His political satire and commentary appears in CounterPunch, ColdType, The Unz Review, and other political journals, and on the Consent Factory blog

Connect with CJ
Amazon ~ Goodreads ~ Twitter

Excerpt

an excerpt from Chapter 24

Kyle Bentley-Briggs was feeling unwell. He was feeling less than overwhelmingly positive, significantly less than overwhelmingly positive. He was feeling this way about the past, and the present, and the future, and, well, pretty much everything. He'd been feeling this way for about three weeks. Kyle was having breakfast with Cramer on the 110th floor ("the top of the spire") of the Morloch-Malikov Broadcasting Tower, in the retro-trendy Overlook Café, which looked like a giant Christmas-tree ornament and was not quite imperceptibly revolving, widdershins (i.e. right to left), which for some reason felt incredibly weird. Cramer, who was sitting across from Kyle (so facing in the forwardly-traveling direction), and who was dipping into his bowl of Soygurt and assorted genetically-modified berries, was well on his way to completely forgetting those incessant and arguably unnecessary queries, and the constant Fleeps and Tweaks and emails, and calls, and other forms of media, people whose names he had already forgotten had routinely employed to interrupt him (while he was responding to some other idiot's query) and ask him when it really was. Such queries were no longer his responsibility. They were someone else's responsibility ... someone down on the 26th floor.

Cramer, immediately pursuant to his meeting with Kyle at Rosie's back in early March, where he'd promised Kyle he would contact the guy who knew the guy in Domestic Security and attempt to back-channel the Valentina problem, had fleeped a taxi and high tailed it back to District 12 Northeast Regional Headquarters. He'd taken the express to the 70th floor, submitted to a battery of Security procedures, clipped his pre-prepared Visitor's Pass to the breast pocket of his Paul Pratt suit, marched right up to Big Bob Schirkenbeck, and right there, right in the middle of the floor, with everyone peripherally looking at him around the sides and over the tops of their identically personalized workstation cubicles, informed him, Schirkenbeck, that he, Cramer, had a situation that needed his attention. Now this was a seriously ballsy move on Cramer's part, which Schirkenbeck noted, the situation being somewhat sensitive, involving as it did a personal friend, and technically part of his extended family, or in any event his cousin's wife, who Cramer felt he should probably mention he'd slept with once or twice at college, back when they were all in their twenties and no one was technically married to anyone. What Cramer needed to carefully convey, in a natural, unpremeditated way, was how his fervid and complete devotion to the vigilant 24/7 maintenance of Domestic and Interterritorial Security had overcome his natural reticence (being a human being and all) to report the extremely suspicious behavior, and disappearance without explanation, of his cousin's wife, who as it just so happened (and he looked straight into Schirkenbeck's eyes here) was the daughter of Catherine Rosenthal Briggs, who (as Schirkenbeck knew) was the illegitimate daughter of the mystery Terrorist Stanislav Barnicoat, whose story of course was the stuff of legend in Interterritorial Security circles. Schirkenbeck bought it hook, line and sinker, or at least he admired Cramer's acting skills, and his initiative, and his ruthless sense of priorities, and he elevated Cramer from the 26th floor to the 70th floor, where he clearly belonged.

Kyle was seated across from Cramer, so revolving backwards (i.e. right to left) at a pace that was slow, incredibly slow, but not quite slow enough to be imperceptible, which Kyle was finding increasingly unsettling, in both an emotional and physical way. His tie was hanging down into his bowl of gluten-free antioxidant oatmeal, which he hadn't touched and which was hardening into a disgusting, gray cement-like substance. He was staring across the table at Cramer, who was checking in on his All-in-One for the sixteenth time since the pretty young hostess had sat them at this rather prestigious table, after complimenting Cramer several times on the cut of his new designer suit.

"Sorry, buddy, just one second," Cramer mumbled, thumbing the screen.

Their table was one of several such exclusive Executive Dining tables positioned on the narrow spiraling tiers that ringed the upper reaches of the dome so that diners with Executive Dining cards could simultaneously gaze out over the endless sprawl of the megalopolis as the sun rose over the eastern horizon like a dazzling thermonuclear deathstar and look down on the other less-prestigious diners on the floors below. It was nestled right up to the curve of one of the massive ThermaSoak window panels, so that Kyle was forced to lean to his right, and to hunch down over his juice and gruel, whereas Cramer was leaning slightly to his left, keying the screen of his Viewer with one hand and dipping into his Soygurt with the other. All along the tier they were on other presumably Executive diners at other tables in designer suits were similarly slightly leaning and hunching and keying their Viewers as they drank their smoothies through plastic straws with bendable necks and ate their bowls of Soygurt and fruit, or oatmeal, or other gluten-free cereals. Suspended on a set of invisible wires from the stationary apex of the vertical axis of this giant revolving sphere they were supposed to be sitting there eating their breakfasts in, an orbicular array of video screens floated in space at different levels (i.e. the levels of the upper tiers), so that they seemed to be not quite imperceptibly revolving clockwise, so against the almost imperceptible counterclockwise revolution of the table itself ... all of which (i.e. this nearly constant diametrically circular movement, which also included the antipodal rushing back and forth along the tiers of the servers as well as the pretty hostess) was making Kyle increasingly sick. Many of these seemingly revolving screens (which of course, in reality, were not revolving, it was just a matter of Kyle's perspective) were running special Real-Time footage of various members of the mainstream media reporting from the lawn of some Cartwright estate, and they were intercutting other footage of people placing candles and flowers and pictures of Jimbo and hand-written prayers at the gates of his various other estates, and in the elevator bays of corporate offices, and in the entrances of Finkles retail locations. Other screens were running OUTBREAK!, a special edition of KILL CHAIN LIVE! wherein KILL CHAIN! players throughout the U.T. competed live on a regional level, pitting their skill-sets against each other to take down dangerous Terrorist targets (who were threatening to maliciously breach their quarantine) for the chance to advance to the global finals and win an assortment of valuable prizes. Susan Schnupftuch-Boermann Goereszky was jabbering frantically into the camera, and going live to nose-cone footage, and interactive maps, and hologram gizzies, and to handheld or possibly helmet-mounted right-in-the-thick-of-it action shots, and bringing in Dr. Roger P. Greenway to incomprehensibly holler nonsense whenever an operator took out a target. The obviously delirious Anti-Socials, whose end-stage Anti-Social disease had driven them to senseless Terrorist acts, and had filled their brains with rage and hatred, and whose suffering one could not imagine, were darting in and out of burning buildings, which were taking fire from Security forces, and were mounting pathetic and futile attacks on armored vehicles with stones and bottles, some of which they were filling with gas, or some other type of flammable substance, and igniting and lobbing into the ranks of Security Specialists marching toward them like a herd of identical faceless robots. Other Specialists (i.e. snipers or "Marksmen," and the gunners in the bays of Security choppers), were taking aim at the needlessly suffering Terrorists fleeing the advancing infantry, leading them slightly to account for the desperate zigzag patterns they were running away in, and finally mercifully cutting them down as quickly and as painlessly as humanly possible. Against the backdrop of all this chaos, and carnage, and agonized shrieking and so on, regional KILL CHAIN! quarter-finalists were laser-guiding precision missiles down out of the cloudless sky and into the open bedroom windows of high-ranking Terrorist leaders' apartments, and down into their basement bunkers, and through the walls of what looked like either torture chambers or nightclubs, or both, and down through the roofs of random buildings and various other high-value targets.

None of which of course was actually happening.

OUTBREAK!, like the rest of the KILL CHAIN franchise, was just an elaborate video game, a phenomenally expensive, interactive, "multi-player simulation," which aside from being just insanely popular and generating mondo revenue streams (there was spin-off Content, sporting apparel, little action figures for the kids, and so on), helped to relieve the chronic anxiety stemming from the constantly imminent threat of a sudden and devastating Terrorist attack with a nuclear device, or bio-agent, that the Normals were forced to perpetually live with. Basically, it let people blow off steam. Variant-Positives, despite the fact that most of them were medicated up the wazoo, and meditated two to three hours a day, and walked the Path(s) to Prosperity, and so on, were still just Homo sapiens sapiens, who sometimes needed to blow off steam. KILL CHAIN! allowed them to blow off this steam in a healthy compassion-associated fashion, as the virtual end-stage Terrorist targets whose bodies were being ripped to pieces, or vaporized into a pinkish mist, were beyond any sort of palliative care, so really this was the best thing for them.

Kyle was feeling increasingly unwell. Physically unwell. As in nauseated. As in he was going to uncontrollably vomit, in a sudden and shockingly projectile manner, either across the table at Cramer, who was smiling down into the screen of his Viewer, or off the tier and onto the heads of the non-Executive diners below. He turned away from the KILL CHAIN! horror and gazed out at the twinkling sea of lights stretching off into the horizon. He was moving backwards, north to west. He picked out the beacon of a tower in the distance and gave it his undivided attention.

"Sorry, man, what were we talking about?"

Cramer had finished whatever he was doing. He beamed across the table at Kyle like an infomercial appliance salesman.

"Valentina."

"Oh. Yeah." He switched to his deeply concerned expression. "So ... how you doing with all that?"

"Not so good."

"But better, right?"

"Actually no."

"You're taking your meds, though."

Kyle nodded dutifully.

"What'd they give you?"

"Tribenzoline-something. I've got them at home."

Cramer had a piece of berry in his teeth.

"And you're walking your Path."

"Yeah. It's just …"

"Because that's the main thing."

"I know. I am. I …"

"Letting it go. "

"Right. I just …"

"What happened to your tie?"

"It's just a spot."

"Tonic water."

"No, it fell in my bowl."

"No. Tonic water will get it out."

The planet earth was rushing up into a screen in Kyle's peripheral vision.

"Oh."

"Something wrong with your oatmeal?"

"No. It's fine. My stomach's just funny."

"Send it back."

He scanned the tier, spied the server and eyeballed her over.

"No. It's fine. It's just a little ... it's just a little motion sickness."

"Seriously?"

"I'm just not feeling that well."

The server was standing there smiling at them.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine."

"Is there something wrong with your oatmeal, sir?"

The server's name was Hyancinth Wong. It said so on the display she was wearing. Her lips were bright red shapeless blobs and you could see all her bones beneath her skin.

"No. I just …"

"I can warm it up for you."

She was also wearing latex gloves.

"Thanks, but …"

"Let her warm it up for you."

As were all the other servers.

"Fine. Sure."

"I'll just warm this up then."

A woman was sobbing on a screen behind her.

"Thanks. Great."

"Was there anything else?"

"Not just now."

Kyle retched, just slightly. He reached for his glass of mineral water. Cramer quickly checked his Viewer.

"Anyway, great to see you, buddy."

"Yeah, I …"

"I meant to call you sooner, but then ... well, you know how it is. This whole promotion thing happened so fast."

"Congratulations."

"Long time coming. Shame it had to happen this way. Weird how things work out sometimes."

"Yeah."

"The Will of the One and all that. Anyway, I thought we should probably talk. Process what happened. You know what I mean."

"Thanks for your Fleeps."

"Hey, don't even mention it. What can I say? I'm just so sorry."

"You don't have to keep apologizing."

"I know. I didn't mean it like that."

"Oh."

"I just meant ... I know you're hurting. But we did everything we could for her, right? You know this disease. It's like they say …"

Hyancinth was back with Kyle's warmed-up oatmeal.

"Here we go, nice and warm now."

Kyle grimaced and nodded.

"Was there anything else?"

A message tone beeped on Cramer's Viewer.

Kyle hadn't seen or spoken to Cramer since they'd met at Rosie's on 04 March. He'd rushed back home to Pewter Palisades, checked in quickly with Susan Foster to tell her everything was under control and that his cousin Greg, who worked at Hadley, had been advised, and was handling everything, and collapsed onto the living room couch, feeling drained but generally hopeful. A few days later he'd received a Fleep, SORRY ... WE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM. Two days later he'd received another one, REALLY SORRY. DEFINITE PROBLEM HERE. Two days later, INCREDIBLY SORRY. VAL DETAINED & DESIGNATED, followed by an animated sad-face emoticon.

The day after that he'd received a Tweak from someone by the name of Joralamon Gomm who apparently worked in the Records Department of the Family and Loved Ones Services Division of the Hadley Corporation of Menomonie, Wisconsin's District 12 Northeast Regional Headquarters, informing him that he was now divorced. Two hours later he received an invoice from the Family and Loved Ones Services Division for GD 984.50 for "processing fees and related services". Other communications followed. Most of which were also invoices, mostly for various Healthcare services and sundry legal and administrative fees. There was one for GD 16,000, the deductible for "emergency medical services," and another for GD 4,000.20, for "mobile emergency transport services." There were two in the GD 5,000 range for various "aggregated medical services," and one for GD 9,060.00 for "aggregated miscellaneous products of a non-exclusively medical nature related to in-patient care and comfort (including, but not limited to, disposable backless hospital gowns, non-slip footwear, moisturizing tissues, adhesive and non-adhesive dressings, nylon and/or dynaflex tubing, polyglycolide suture, etc)." There were charges for various records amendments, title transfers, releases, waivers, affidavits, statements, and so on. Finally, on or about the morning of Differently Mentally-Abled Persons Day, he'd received official confirmation of Valentina's designation as a Class 3 Anti-Social Person and her transfer to undisclosed Quarantine Zone. Also attached to this official email was a florally-embroidered digital greeting card extending the personal heartfelt condolences of the Board of Directors, Executive Management, Legal Department and Administrative Staff of the Hadley Corporation of Menomonie, Wisconsin on the loss of Kyle's unborn Clarion daughter, and praying that the One would take Kyle's hand and swiftly guide him down his hopefully short-term Path of Unimaginable Grief.

Throughout all this he had repeatedly called and fleeped and tweaked and texted and emailed his cousin Greg, to no avail. His Tweaks and Fleeps all went unanswered. His calls got routed straight to voicemail. Doctor Graell had prescribed a veritable pharmacy to help him through his grief, which he'd warned Kyle not to let himself wallow in, lest it mutate into clinical depression. The pills didn't seem to be doing very much, other than making him nauseated, so he was also taking all these antiemetics, which made him drowsy, so he was also taking several extra doses of Methylphenidril, and Benzehexophaline, and other stimulants, and drinking like three pots of coffee a day. He was quite a mess. His work was suffering. The Dean of Info-Entertainment Content had called him in to extend his condolences and suggest he take a few weeks off (or however many unpaid weeks he had to) to work through his unimaginable grief, which the Dean could only try to imagine, and then come back refreshed and ready to work, and resembling his normal, cooperative self. He assured the Dean he'd be OK and doubled up on his Methylphenidril (which he was already taking way too much of, and walking around the BVCC campus audibly grinding his teeth and smiling). He went back home and sat in the empty sunflower kitchen on Marigold Lane, where he muffled his agonized guttural shrieks, and his stomach-cramping convulsive weeping, with a dish-towel that smelled like Valentina, and that went with the color of the kitchen perfectly, and he prayed like a child alone in the dark for some magical power to turn back time.


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The Consolations Of Philosophy by Alain De Botton

The Consolations Of Philosophy by Alain De Botton
Published by Hamish Hamilton in January 2000.

How I got this book:
Borrowed from a friend

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


From the internationally heralded author of How Proust Can Change Your Life comes this remarkable new book that presents the wisdom of some of the greatest thinkers of the ages as advice for our day to day struggles.

Solace for the broken heart can be found in the words of Schopenhauer. The ancient Greek Epicurus has the wisest, and most affordable, solution to cash flow problems. A remedy for impotence lies in Montaigne. Seneca offers advice upon losing a job. And Nietzsche has shrewd counsel for everything from loneliness to illness. The Consolations of Philosophy is a book as accessibly erudite as it is useful and entertaining. 

The Consolations Of Philosophy is the third of the three Alain De Botton books I borrowed this year. It is more similar in style to The Art Of Travel than Status Anxiety and is the earliest book of the trio which I thought did show in the writing and, sometimes, in the choice of illustrations. Black and white photography is often rendered indistinctly on paperback pages and I felt this was the case here, plus I didn't think we needed quite so many obvious illustrations. When De Botton mentions babies in the text, we are shown a photo of a baby. A mention of people meeting in a cafe is illustrated with a photo of a cafe. Some of the pictures are interesting - two sketches illustrating the drastic improvements in an artist's drawing style for example - but many seemed simply to be filler. De Botton discusses a Nietzschean theory concerning the level of continuous work needed over years in order to significantly improve one's creative output and I appreciated spotting this exactly in De Botton's style from The Consolations Of Philosophy in 2000 to Status Anxiety in 2004!

De Botton quotes from six eminent philosophers, each one chosen to foil a particular issue beginning with Socrates' words consoling us for feeling ourselves disliked. He weaves in details of the philosophers' lives which I liked as this gave me some understanding of how their theories might have been inspired. There was lots I didn't know - such as Epicurus actually promoting a frugal diet in his teachings, not the gourmet dining with which his name has now become synonymous. I did feel that sometimes the quotes were tenuously chosen though and obviously cherry-picked to fit each of De Botton's six themes. I think The Consolations Of Philosophy is a good 'beginner' book and I will be happy if I can remember a quarter of the ideas long-term! De Botton's writing is generally accessible - to this layperson at least - and I am encouraged to delve further into discovering philosophical ideas and thoughts.

Etsy Find!
	Philosophical linocut print by Amy Hiley Art in Newcastle upon Tyne, England Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Books by Alain De Botton / Philosophy / Books from Switzerland

Brown Girl In The Ring by Nalo Hopkinson

Brown Girl In The Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
Published by Warner/Aspect in January 1998.

Featured in WorldReads: Jamaica and my Book Of The Month for October 2018

How I got this book:
Bought the ebook from Amazon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The rich and have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways--farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.

I had thought that Red Birds would easily be my Book of the Month until, just a couple of days later, I started reading Brown Girl In The Ring. Now I will be absolutely amazed if anything else I read during October will manage to top Nalo Hopkinson's writing! I picked this one on a whim because I needed a fifth Jamaican author for that country's WorldReads post (coming on the 5th November) and was attracted to Brown Girl In The Ring by its seriously bizarre cover art. Essentially a dystopian novel set in a ghettoised Toronto, Hopkinson draws in elements of West Indian mythology, Caribbean magical realism and glimpses of oh-did-I-really-just-read-that gruesomeness to create an astoundingly breathtaking tale. This book was actually published twenty years ago, but it feels new and vibrant and very relevant to today. How had I never heard of Nalo Hopkinson before?!

At the heart of Brown Girl In The Ring is a young woman, Ti-Jeanne, who, when her baby was born, felt compelled to return to her grandmother's home leaving the child's drug-dealer father behind. Gros-Jeanne, the grandmother, is a wise woman and healer. She prepares natural remedies from what can be grown or bartered in desolate Toronto, putting her knowledge of traditional Jamaican medicine to good use while also striving to learn about the new (to her) northern plants. The Jeannes are strong Black women although the younger Jeanne does not always believe sufficiently in herself. Learning oneself is a recurrent theme as is choosing between the life we would like as opposed to the life we feel we have been dealt.

Hopkinson builds her Toronto setting in a completely believable way. I could vividly imagine this once-prosperous city abandoned to gangsters and poverty. The people left behind are in desperate straits, alleviating their suffering with drug addiction and violence, but with pocket communities attempting to make a life worth the living. However true power is wielded by one man, ganglord Rudy, who maintains his grip through dark obeah magic. I loved that the magical scenes are every bit as believable as the dystopian city. I never felt myself thinking that something 'couldn't really happen' such is the intense atmosphere and authenticity of this novel. The magical horror aspects make Brown Girl In The Ring a perfect October read and I highly recommend it!


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Books by Nalo Hopkinson / Fantasy fiction / Books from Jamaica

Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif

Red Birds by Mohammed Hanif
Published by Bloomsbury today, the 18th October 2018.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Barbed Wire and one of my WorldReads From Pakistan

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:


An American pilot crash lands in the desert and takes refuge in the very camp he was supposed to bomb. Hallucinating palm trees and worrying about dehydrating to death isn't what Major Ellie expected from this mission. Still, it's an improvement on the constant squabbles with his wife back home.

In the camp, teenager Momo's money-making schemes are failing. His brother left for his first day at work and never returned, his parents are at each other's throats, his dog is having a very bad day, and an aid worker has shown up wanting to research him for her book on the Teenage Muslim Mind. 

Written with his trademark wit, keen eye for absurdity and telling important truths about the world today, Red Birds reveals master storyteller Mohammed Hanif at the height of his powers.

I hadn't read any of Mohammed Hanif's writing before so went into Red Birds with no preconceptions and absolutely loved every page of this novel. The story is told mostly through three points of view (although others join in the later stages): American pilot, Major Ellie; local teenager, Momo; and Momo's dog, Mutt. Don't be put off by the idea of a talking dog. Mutt's humour did remind me a little of Manchee in The Knife Of Never Letting Go however Mutt only 'speaks' to us, not to the other characters, and his chapters are brilliant!

Red Birds is primarily set in a refugee camp, possibly in Pakistan, possibly not. The people there have been living in makeshift accommodation and relying on charitable handouts for years and, as an illustration of the dire straits in which they live, part of the camp sign has disintegrated leaving them technically just 'fugees'. Hanif's writing is dotted with such original notions as this and I love his eye for detail. Momo's mother somehow manages to create adequate meals for her family every day and the appearance of Major Ellie as another mouth to feed hardly fazes her, yet being unable to flavour the food properly because there is never any salt drives her to distraction.

Despite the extreme poverty depicted, there is a lightness to Hanif's writing that makes Red Birds very readable and entertaining. I was easily drawn in to the story and wasn't actually consciously aware of the darker aspects starting to surround me although I did notice myself beginning to feel uneasy as the novel progressed. There are several unanswered questions and we don't know whose version of events is the one we should believe. I won't give any clues because I appreciated not knowing in advance myself, but this story gives powerful insights into the experiences of displaced people and I think some of its imagery will stay with me for a long time. I wouldn't be surprised to see Red Birds as my Book of the Month for October.


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Books by Mohammed Hanif / Contemporary fiction / Books from Pakistan

IA: Invincible Assassin by John Darryl Winston

IA: Invincible Assassin by John Darryl Winston
Published in America by BHC Press on the 9th October 2018.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Stairs

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the author

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

The only thing worse than having nothing to live for is having nothing to lose

When tragedy strikes his best friend, Harvis Young knows there will be a reckoning, especially since Naz Andersen possesses the supernatural powers of a god. Now it’s up to Harvis to save the guilty from Naz’s wrath. Beyond the mean streets of Marshal Park, Harvis will discover a darker path than anything he’s ever seen. His friend may not have the only soul that needs saving.

This new installment in John Winston's IA series slots in between IA: B.O.S.S. and IA: Union and I would advise having read at least the first two books in the series before turning to IA: Invincible Assassin in order to avoid any inadvertent spoilers and to understand the backstory which has led to Naz's intense grief. Winston took the brave decision to narrate IA: Invincible Assassin from the point of view of Harvis Young, a supporting character in the early books. I loved this change of perspective as it allowed me to observe Naz from the outside (so to speak) as well as getting to know Harvis better.

Dubbed the Wordsmith due to his poetic abilities, Harvis is desperate to help his friend, Naz, but doesn't really understand how best to go about this. Winston obviously put a lot of thought into this portrayal which always felt authentic so I could appreciate how a young man would feel and act in such a situation. Despite wise advice from his parents which Harvis does try to heed, he discovers a scarily violent side to himself. I liked the positive relationships between Harvis and each of his parents too. IA: Invincible Assassin incorporates lots of action scenes in a fast-moving story, and also manages to be philosophical without those sections dragging. I think this is a great addition to the series!


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Books by John Darryl Winston / Young adult books / Books from America

Princess Casamassima by Henry James

Princess Casamassima by Henry James
First published in Atlantic Monthly in 1885-86.

How I got this book:
Downloaded from ForgottenBooks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Henry James conceived the character of Hyacinth Robinson—his 'little presumptuous adventurer with his combination of intrinsic fineness and fortuitous adversity'—while walking the streets of London. Brought up in poverty, Hyacinth has nevertheless developed aesthetic tastes that heighten his awareness of the sordid misery around him. He is drawn into the secret world of revolutionary politics and, in a moment of fervour, makes a vow that he will assassinate a major political figure. Soon after this he meets the beautiful Princess Casamassima. Captivated by her world of wealth and nobility, art and beauty, Hyacinth loses faith in radicalism, 'the beastly cause'. But tormented by his belief in honour, he must face an agonizing, and ultimately tragic, dilemma. The Princess Casamassima is one of James's most personal novels and yet one of the most socially engaged.

Princess Casamassima is a six hundred page novel which felt to me more like a thousand page book. It took me well over a week to read it! I loved how James takes his readers into the London of weak-willed bookbinder Hyacinth Robinson. His descriptions of houses and streets, and his wonderfully nuanced characters kept me reading and interested to the end, but he is not a concise author by any stretch - I frequently found myself willing him to 'get on with it'! We must have been told of Hyacinth's dubious parentage two dozen times and word-for-word reported conversations are never to the point.

From a brief synopsis, Princess Casamassima could be classed as a thriller. Our young hero Hyacinth joins a shadowy group dedicated to class revolution in England. He undertakes to perform a shocking act on their behalf, possibly even a murder, however James is so vague about the group, their real aims, the act assigned to Hyacinth, and whether Hyacinth really cares at all, that any tension evaporates as fast as it is created. Instead, we spend our time drinking copious cups of tea with a disparate cast: a dressmaker and a shop girl, a music hall violinist and a bedridden girl, an Italian princess and an exiled French revolutionary, a philanthropic Lady and a chemist's assistant. The minutiae of their interactions is as fascinating as it is infuriating which makes for a very strange novel.

Based on my experience of Princess Casamassima I probably won't rush to read James again any time soon, but wouldn't rule his other novels out completely in the future - providing I can set aside enough time!

Etsy Find!
	Be Kind  Henry James  transparent quote print by New Media Gifts in Varna, Bulgaria Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Books by Henry James / Thrillers / Books from America

Clockwork Dollhouse by Jordan Elizabeth + #Giveaway

Clockwork Dollhouse by Jordan Elizabeth
First published as part of Gears Of Brass in 2014. Republished by CHBB as a single story on the 8th October 2018.

How I got this book:
Borrowed from my partner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository (unavailable)
	Wordery (unavailable)
	Waterstones (unavailable)
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

The clockwork dolls seem to be moving on their own. What are they trying to show?

When Ainsley moves in with her uncle, the governor, it seems like a beautiful situation. An orphan is finding love in an elite household. However, she carries with her the power to reveal her uncle’s darkest secrets.

Jordan Elizabeth's short story Clockwork Dollhouse has been republished as an Amazon single this October and it's a perfect creepy Halloween story - maybe even one to read aloud by the fireside for a really atmospheric scare! I love the idea of the mechanical dolls and their house. We have a friend who makes automata so I could easily envisage how they would move. Clockwork Dollhouse is only a short story of course so there isn't space for deep character development or anything like that, however I appreciated how Jordan captured the essentials of her characters. There's also a great sense of menace as Uncle Robert begins to realise what is happening in the dollhouse.

And now it's time for the Giveaway!

The prize is an ebook copy of Clockwork Dollhouse by Jordan Elizabeth.
Open internationally until midnight (UK time) on the 29th October 2018.

Entry is by way of the Gleam widget below.
(GDPR: Gleam will ask for your email address so that I am able to contact the winner. I will then need to pass the winner's email address on to Jordan Elizabeth so she can send out the ebook.)

Clockwork Dollhouse by Jordan Elizabeth / Literary Flits giveaway



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Books by Jordan Elizabeth / Horror fiction / Books from America

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
Published by Picador in September 2014.

How I got this book:
Borrowed from my partner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is a bold vision of a dystopian future, frighteningly real, perfect for fans of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

What was lost in the collapse: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty.

One snowy night in Toronto famous actor Arthur Leander dies on stage whilst performing the role of a lifetime. That same evening a deadly virus touches down in North America. The world will never be the same again.

Twenty years later Kirsten, an actress in the Travelling Symphony, performs Shakespeare in the settlements that have grown up since the collapse. But then her newly hopeful world is threatened.

If civilization was lost, what would you preserve? And how far would you go to protect it?

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel is a different type of dystopian novel to those I have read previously. We jump around through time beginning on the night where a flu pandemic takes hold in America, moving forward up to twenty years after 99% of the world's human population has been wiped out, and moving back to well before the disaster primarily through the life of a Hollywood actor, Arthur, and his wives.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the chillingly realistic pandemic scenes describing the initial panics, blocked highways and overcrowded hospitals (and that aeroplane). The restarting timeline as civilisation begins to collapse was an effective device with elements such as the internet vanishing after so many days, electric lights going out forever, gasoline becoming unusable after Year Five - did you know that gasoline has a shelf life? The idea of survivors just walking and walking resonated particularly well as we see similar scenes right now of refugees escaping war in exactly the same way.

I was less impressed by pre-pandemic scenes, especially Arthur's pampered life and the time dedicated to describing the dystopian comics created by his first wife, Miranda. I understand their inclusion but didn't feel that they warranted so much attention. There is also excessive repetition in Station Eleven which got irritating in the latter half of the book and I felt that tighter editing could have been beneficial.


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Books by Emily St John Mandel / Science fiction / Books from Canada

Painting Kuwait Violet by Pamela Q. Fernandes

Painting Kuwait Violet by Pamela Q. Fernandes
Published by Solstice Publishing on the 3rd September 2018.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Hands

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones (unavailable)
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

In 1996, a young graduate, Violet Baretto leaves Goa to work in oil-rich Kuwait as a maid for a wealthy Kuwaiti woman. To her horror, she finds herself accused of theft, her colleagues assaulted, thrown from moving cars or performing 'favors.'

Sabah Dashti, the Kuwaiti matriarch can't tell Violet the truth; nine of Sabah's previous maids have absconded, five of them were found pregnant or that the police think she's running a prostitution ring. Sabah has no idea who's responsible.

Kuwait is still patriarchal and women are second-class citizens. Despite their differences, both Sabah and Violet are hungry for success as it will give them a chance to live life on their own terms. Together they build a thriving business. But a woman-hating killer has set eyes on them and will not let them succeed at any cost.

Poignant, chilling and honest, Painting Kuwait Violet underlines the reality of women on either side of the country's class divide.

I chose to read Painting Kuwait Violet because of its Arab setting and because Fernandes is a Kuwaiti-born author - making her novel an addition to my WorldReads project. The cover illustration suggested that the book might not be perfectly suited to my tastes and I did have problems with some aspects, however overall this is quite an enjoyable read. It's a light story without much intensity or depth, but does give some interesting insights into Kuwaiti culture and the day to day lives of both the extremely rich Kuwaiti citizens and their army of foreign workers. We are repeatedly told how badly domestic staff in particular are treated by their employers, but I didn't really see much evidence of this with regards to Violet's situation once she has overcome Aliya's teenage tantrums. The maids work hard for long hours with the darker events glossed over, perhaps hidden because nobody chooses to see. Instead Violet seems to ingratiate herself easily into Sadah's good graces. For me this seemed rather unrealistic. Violet may have had a college education, but if the prejudice we were informed of really is as strong as was maintained, her opinions surely wouldn't have counted for anything?

Painting Kuwait Violet is told from two perspectives. The primary narrative is that of Violet coming to terms with her new life as a maid and making the best of her situation. I liked this storyline and think if the book had concentrated on aspects such as the blossoming friendship between the maids and the mutual business respect between Violet and Sadah, it would have been a stronger work. Instead this frequently felt too rushed. I wanted more detail about how these women were growing their couture business together, especially in such a male-dominated society as Kuwait.

However those chapters are interspersed with odd sections from the point of view of a threatening unknown male character who we know is violently abusive to the domestic staff and murdered Violet's predecessor. I suppose that this narrative was meant to add tension to the story, but I never felt that it satisfactorily coalesced with the main storyline. Occasionally the police put in a brief appearance to tell Sadah that she really should do something about the way her maids are abused, and the unknown male growls his misogynistic speeches, but, for me, this aspect was too far removed to be convincing. The book became neither an inspiring tale of female empowerment in a male world nor a tense serial killer thriller. Instead it fails somewhere between the two stools which is a shame.


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Books by Pamela Q Fernandes / Women's fiction / Books from Kuwait

The Forgotten Slaves Of Tromelin by Sylvain Savoia

The Forgotten Slaves Of Tromelin by Sylvain Savoia
First published in French as Les esclaves oublies de Tromelin in Belgium by Dupuis 2015. English language translation by Tom Imber published in France by Europe Comics in September 2016.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Looking Out To Sea

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Europe Comics

This story takes place on a tiny, far-flung island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, whose nearest neighbor is Madagascar, 500 kilometers away… In 1760, the Utile, a ship carrying black slaves from Africa, was shipwrecked here and abandoned by her crew. The surviving slaves had to struggle to stay alive in this desolate land for fifteen years… When this tale got back to France, it became the cornerstone of the battle of Enlightenment to outlaw slavery. More than two hundred years later, the artist Sylvain Savoia accompanied the first archeological mission in search of understanding how these men and women, who had come from the high mountains of Madagascar, had survived alone in the middle of the ocean. This is the story of that mission, through which we’re exposed to the extraordinary story of the slaves themselves.

My second graphic novel for October and I am rapidly becoming a fan of Europe Comics offerings. The Forgotten Slaves Of Tromelin tells the true story of a ship full of Madagascan slaves who were left abandoned on a tiny deserted island in the 1770s. This book is an obvious choice for an October scary story! Forget any ideas you might have of romantic desert islands - Tromelin is one mile long by a half mile wide and, other than seabirds, turtles and hermit crabs, there was absolutely nothing there.

Alongside the historical tale, we also see Savoia's experience as he accompanies a French archaeological team to Tromelin where they will search for any remaining evidence of the slaves' existence on the island. It's still a pretty bleak place 200 years later. I enjoyed the contrast between the two time periods. Savoia describes his own hopes and reactions to Tromelin as well as vividly recreating what can be pieced together of the original sea voyage and its aftermath. As readers we are introduced to the other members of the modern-day team, several of whom are returning to Tromelin and one, Joel, is making a film about the excavations and the forgotten slaves. Despite scouring navy archives for any remaining documentation, more is unknown than known so there's plenty that can be learned and extrapolated from unearthed artefacts and buried hut walls. I didn't realise I would get this narrative alongside the history so this was a real bonus for me. It also means that the Forgotten Slaves graphic novel is a considerably more in depth work than it could have been if only the remnants of the original story were available.

I can't begin to imagine how terrifying the whole experience of being ripped from their homes, transported, and then abandoned would have been for the Madagascans. This is a story that certainly should not be forgotten so reminders such as Savoia's work are vitally important. He manages to make this graphic novel simultaneously sobering but also entertaining which is quite the feat. I loved the expression and emotions put across in his illustrations too. The differing styles clearly demarcate the timelines. My only criticism would be that the font is very small so I had to keep enlarging and then scrolling the pages, but this is a relatively minor flaw in an otherwise fascinating book.

Etsy Find!
	Quilled Desert Island  greetings card by Quillingdom in Cardiff, Wales Click pic to visit Etsy Shop

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Books by Sylvain Savoia / Graphic novels / Books from France

Gamble's Run by David F Gray

Gamble's Run by David F Gray
Published by Hellbound Books in July 2018.

Where to buy this book:

	The Book Depository
	Wordery
	Waterstones (unavailable)
	Amazon US / Amazon UK

Add Gamble's Run to your Goodreads

Reeling from the tragic loss of his infant daughter Molly and the disappearance of his wife Melody, Garrett Webb begins a journey that will ultimately bring him to Gamble’s Run, a long-abandoned canal hidden deep in central Florida. If he has any hope of finding his wife, he must penetrate the mysteries surrounding the canal and confront the evil that has festered there for untold centuries. Webb will make deadly enemies, but will also gain steadfast friends and allies, and together they will confront a power that exists beyond time and space. Unearthly forces clash in ancient conflict with a single question hanging in the balance: What dwells beneath the forgotten waters of Gamble’s Run?

Meet the author:

David F. Gray is an award winning television producer and director although his first love has always been writing. He wrote his first short story at age 10 based on the television show Lost In Space and featuring his boyhood crush, Penny Robinson. Three years later he abandoned poor Penny in favor of the more worldly Judy.

He is older and heavier than he would like to be and possesses a sense of humor that has gotten him into trouble on more than one occasion. Contrary to the opinions of his friends and his two adult offspring, he is NOT insane. He is currently working on the sequel to his novel, Gamble's Run, tentatively entitled Darksoul Rising as well as a handful of short stories. He and Heidi, his wife of thirty four years, live happily in Sulphur Springs, Florida, an older Tampa neighborhood where rumors of ghosts are common.

Author links: 
Website ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by David F Gray / Horror fiction / Books from America