Trace Memory

If you had asked me a couple of months or even weeks ago if I would ever read a Torchwood book I would have said ‘as if’ I certainly didn’t think I would have enjoyed it. However as part of work, as part of being a fan of the show and of being a fan of the author I decided that I would give a TV Book a go.

David Llewellyn has already written a novel, the great ‘Eleven’ which is a tale of the reactions to 9/11 from some office workers points of view via email. He is something of a new talent I firmly believe and has a new novel ‘Everything is Sinister’ out later this year. So onto ‘Trace Memory’ I have not read any of the other books so cannot compare it to them and am writing as if you don’t know the show.

Captain Jack Harkness is the head of Torchwood Cardiff and his team who deal with all things ‘unusual’ from fairies to aliens, from the living dead to… you get the drift. The book starts in 1950 when a cargo ship arrives in Cardiff bay its contents for the Torchwood Institute; it explodes killing all but one Michael Bellini. Cut to the present day and Michael Bellini appears in the Torchwood Vaults only that’s not all, every member of the Torchwood team has a memory involving Michael Bellini in their pasts from many different periods in time and he always looks almost the same.

If you are going to dip into science fiction then I would say this is a perfect way to start and if you are a fan of Doctor Who or Torchwood then you won’t go wrong with this novel, in fact I am sure you will lap it all up. The same applies to those of you who know nothing about Torchwood as Llewellyn gives some really good insight and backgrounds on every member of the Torchwood team. A must read for fans, a good read for anyone else.

The Surgeon

Now bare in mind that I was bought this book by my best friend Polly, as the perfect read for an operation. Funnily enough its not something you would actually want to read before you go under the knife, fortunately my mind couldn’t concentrate on the book what with pre-op nerves. So instead I thought I would read it when I was recovering from being ill, and I am glad I did because I think I would have cancelled my operation.

The Surgeon is my first dabble with Tess Gerritsen, only in the last year or so have I started to read more and more crime novels (it makes sense in a way as I was addicted to Sherlock Holmes in my youth) and hers are renowned for being some of the fastest paced and most gory and in what is a huge market some of the best.

Detective Thomas Moore and his partner Jane Rizzoli are called the investigators of a bout of killings in Boston, all have the same ritualistic acts of torture all are women who were on their own, all are killed in there own houses. It seems a serial killer is on the loose and with the gruesome way in which he kills his victims (think Boston’s very own Jack the Ripper) he is called The Surgeon. To add another twist or two into the works the killer seems to be linked to an old case of which the only surviving victim, medic Catherine Cordell, is now living in… you guessed it Boston. How are they interlinked and how soon until Cordell becomes The Surgeon’s latest victim?

Yes the book is gory, but it isn’t to the point you feel ill, Gerritsen clearly knows her stuff and in some bizarre way I found it quite educational. She also writes great characters Rizzoli, so focused on her job she has sacrificed a life, is smitten with Moore who is in turn smitten with Cordell so we not only have murders we have a complex love triangle. The story is also extremely fast paced, forget the tags of ‘holiday read’ and ‘page turner’ just apply thrilling and entertaining as this book really does have it all. I read it in two sittings I simply couldn’t get enough. My first Gerritsen will definitely not be my last.

On Writing

Its funny how sometimes you get recommended a book and this is one that I was recommended by Stella Duffy when we met recently. Now I love it when you get authors recommendations in the book sections of all the broadsheets, being given a recommendation by an author in the flesh I would have been stupid not to have read this book as someone who wants to write. I admit I have never yet read a Stephen King novel so it might seem odd reading one of his non fiction books. I have seen all the movies made from his novels though, does that count?

‘On Writing’ is a delightful mix of memoir and hints and tips of how King feels he writes and as a million selling author how could you not want to hear his story? He gives you his rules, and that’s the important bit, this is his story and his rules he at no point preaches to you at all and that is rare in books on ‘how to write’. Its not just his techniques he discusses, what makes this such an original and interesting read is he tells you how the ideas form and where he gets his inspiration. I haven’t read any books where an author will go into that much detail and it makes it so much more insightful to writers and none writers alike.

Amongst all this King gives a personal, honest and detailed insight into the horrific accident where he was nearly killed by a drunk driver. So in the end you are getting three books, a book of ‘how you can write’, a book of funny memoirs, and the writings of a man who has been close to death and wants to live. He deals with this in a factual manner, no high drama, the facts his real feelings and nothing more or less.

It’s not a mammoth book but is fairly long, you will through it. King writes with such humour and with such an honest unpretentious voice that you feel like a friend is having a nice chat with you. Nothing is over done or over dramatised or over exaggerated its sharp and snappy.

The Room of Lost Things

Once every so often you come across a book where you just think ‘what a great idea’ and ‘how the hell did they come up with that idea?’ This is the case of Stella Duffy’s latest novel ‘The Room of Lost Things’. It is a really accomplished and human novel that tells of some of the residents of Loughborough Junction and celebrates the often forgotten ‘south of the river’ part of London. I really loved this book and not just for the real characters but for the idea of the room of lost things.

The story focuses on several characters but in particular Robert Sutton who is the keeper of the room of lost things. He runs a laundry in Loughborough Junction which he is handing over to Akeel and his wife, meaning that he is packing up and dealing with his past and not only the secrets that other people have left in their laundry, but his own demons. There are also tales of a gay commitment phobe, a nanny who is having an affair, a woman with memory loss and many more colourful but most importantly realistic characters.

The other star of the story is London and not the London that everyone knows and loves, not the tourist traps and the hustle and bustle of the West End but the more hidden parts where tubes dare not tread and in some ways you could say this is a love letter (the prose is beautiful) to a part of London that Duffy lives and indeed loves. I haven’t read any of Duffy’s previous works but I know she has written crime and though this is not a crime novel you can see how she weaves a plot dropping hints and herrings to what’s to come at the end of the book.

I was moved, I feel in love with London even more (especially as it was based on my side of the river) and I had read it before I realised it, and it just enveloped me. A wonderful book I whole heartedly recommend.

Midnight Cowboy

I am worried that I am having a serious problem choosing a good book so far this month. Mind you I am only seven days into March and actually this wasnt a bad book it just wasnt a very 'me' book. I need to work out what one of those is. I had decided to go for something different and maybe a 'cult' classic and Midnight Cowboy because it sounded quite different from what I would normally read, I have never seen the film, and I thought it might be a challenge. It was a challenge but one that I am glad I have undertaken. Why has no one on Amazon or Waterstones reviewed this book, a lot of people haven’t even heard of the book. I think it caused quite a lot of controversy and I could see why as some of the language and scenes are quite full on.

Joe Buck has an unhappy childhood and decides he wants to escape, so knowing he has quite a talent with the ladies decides to become a hustler. He moves from the countryside to the city where he feels that rich women will be more than happy to spend their endless cash for time with him. Its not the case and he quite often gets hustled. He falls in the with dodgy Ratso Rizzo who is a double dealing shady scoundrel, and things go from bad to worse.

It’s moving in parts and I think James Leo Herlihy is a great writer, it just wasn’t for me, I am glad I have given it a go though. It has made me want to read more of the modern American classics.

Judging A Book By Its Cover (You Know You Do)

Tonight was book group which as usual was lovely though sadly Kaylord had a bad cold. The book was ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ which we all agreed (bar ME – such a bloke tut) was fantastic, if a little too long and a little too clever for its own good sometimes e.g. when Ann Boleyn says to Jane Seymour ‘I hope you die in child birth’. I mean come on, isn’t that a little contrived? We loved it though; well you know I did as I went Tudor mad for a week or so. The venue was fabulous too, it was the Café in the Crypt at St Martin’s near Trafalgar Square and the food was lovely.


As we always do (bar poorly and her man) Muffintop, Fimmy and I all went to Borders (its open until 11 hallelujah) to get the next book (Cormac McCarthy ‘The Road’) which is where my little rant will begin after I saw this…I cannot stand books with film covers. I don’t know where this small rage has started and built up and built up I just cannot stand them. The thing is I am not alone; we had been discussing ‘Chocolat’ after I was raving about the film to everyone, yet I haven’t read the book. Muffintop said ‘I nearly bought that once but it had the film cover on the front and I didn’t want Johnny Depp feeding whatserface Chocolate like it was his phallus in front of my face on the tube’. And it’s true we do care about what people think of what we are reading even subconsciously, more of that in a minute.


From a marketing perspective I can understand that people might want to be seen reading the latest movie but why with a horrid vile cover, they are always so glossy it’s sickly. But then it cant be working as people aren’t buying them like people would, as you can see from the picture they are half price, and this annoyed me even more, where as the original covered version wasn’t. That’s madness!…Back to the idea of book covers on the tube.


I randomly had this discussion when I was interviewing Brit & Alex, they had read ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ and I made a joke of bet people know I am a puff reading that on the tube with its golden swirly writing and bodices. It’s true though. I always look at what people are reading. I mean if I saw someone reading a Mills & Boon I would automatically start making assumptions about them (not necessarily bad ones – I have read a few, shush don’t tell anyone) or if I saw someone reading a mammoth book on war I would do the same.


The same goes for my bookshelves too. I want fabulous covers that make everyone want to read the books I own, not the latest Hollywood star. I know authors feel the same in fact Stella Duffy did a blog about how important the shape of the key was on her cover and what images of London to use. I have bought books based on covers before, we all have. I have also not bought books for the same reason and quite possibly missed out on some gems.


People say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but sorry in the literary sense… frankly I do! Right, rant over!

Then We Came To The End

When I heard about Joshua Ferris’ debut novel ‘Then We Came To The End’ I really wanted to read it. Having worked in an office environment for the last few years I know how everyone needs to know everyone’s secrets and how everyone loves a good gossip and a good office romance. Also I had heard from other people how good it was and yes, I do fall for the Richard & Judy books, though after this that might have changed.

There is something real about this book; the problem is that there was no one with any redeeming characteristics. I don’t know anyone who would take pleasure in gossiping about someone with cancer and how would you know that about your own boss? Many people have said that Joshua Ferris is a new ‘comedy writer’ I laughed but at completely the wrong bit which concerned a woman having a breakdown after the loss of her daughter in a ball pool in McDonalds. The way it was described was hysterical, whereas it should really have been touching.

The story doesn’t centre on any particular character instead it follows almost everyone in the office, which gets a little confusing, but the inter office emails can be slightly amusing if you don’t know who the person in the story is who it came from where its going to or why they are emailing each other.

I did struggle to keep reading the book in parts particular towards the end of the book where things went into farce territory… why do some authors feel the need to do this. Also the ending is very odd and I was completely confused after that. So I guess the best way to describe this book is that the first half is very good, then sadly it all goes wrong and your very glad you came to the end.

The Palace of Strange Girls

I had the joy of reading this for New Books Magazine which was not a hard ship, last year I had to do a review of The Falling Man by Don DeLillo last year reviewing is something I could definitely get into more, how does one go about it with all the big publishers? I may have to do some research into that, if anyone knows please let me know. Sorry I digress… onto The Palace of Strange Girls by Sallie Day.

Do you remember the old I Spy books you used to get? Well these feature, one in particular, in the novel greatly as in some ways they help to tell the tale and are in fact the title chapters. The Palace of Strange Girls is the story of the summer holiday in Blackpool 1959 for The Singleton family. There is seven year old Beth who is just out of hospital, she is wonderfully written by Day, and who first appears in the book saying ‘bugger, bugger’ which for some reason really made me laugh. Helen is her older sister who has a very healthy (though unhealthy to her parents) interest in independence and boys. Their parents, mother Ruth who is both uptight and strict as well as a bit of a killjoy, and their father Jack who has a big secret all the way in Crete and is depressed.

What should be a nice sea break away from the Mills and Mines back home turns into a family breaking down and rebelling against one another in any way they can. Amongst the cream teas, circus acts, promenades and sandcastles lie’s some deeper darker undertones and actions that show a family falling apart. Sallie Day has been compared to Kate Atkinson with this novel and I think as a storyteller the comparisons are not far off, both have great prose and pace and both are great tellers of how humans are and what makes them who they are. I didn’t like ‘Behind The Scenes at the Museum’ which people seem to be comparing this too, this is a great book, I can see the resemblances however I don’t think its fair to compare Day in that way as this is HER novel and not a copy of anyone else’s. The one negative, the title, though it is in the book its not as exciting or as mysterious as the title suggests. This is a great debut regardless of that.

Reading To Review

So today has been busy. For lots of reasons some of which I cannot divulge (the BIG meeting) but some I can (what will probably be just a dull blog hahaha). I have been reading like a maniac. I am very privileged to be someone who gets paid to do reviews of books, I love books anyway and so it’s not really a hardship. I do this for New Books Magazine, and free ones for Waterstones all good on the CV (fingers crossed another paid job in a very literary mag is coming soon) and as you know I like books.

The current read is Sallie Day’s ‘The Palace of Strange Girls’ which is happily finished and on the bedside table now. It is a really good read and though I can’t give you a copy of my review I will say it’s a very good read and would be a good addition to any bookshelf. Bookshelves… I so need to get some at the moment in my flat there are 4 piles of lots of books and another 6 flat pack boxes. I can’t resist. You know this. Mind you I have been very good on the book buying front of late. They are comparing The Palace of Strange Girls to Kate Atkinson’s ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ I personally didn’t like that book, though I love all the authors others, so I would say its better.But more of that when I actually review the book.

The other thing I have been doing is brainstorming ‘The Bent Book Group’. This hasn’t been given the official ‘go ahead’ green light but I am desperately trying to make my editor see why I want to do it, any good arguments are most welcomed, I need all the help I can get! I am thinking how to do something from a monthly mag. It is proving difficult, my thoughts are a forum on the Bent website and maybe a group on myspace and facebook where people and give their feedback, if any of you can think about this and how else it could work again suggestions welcomed.I think first author would like to feature is the lovely Mr Paul Burston, and then the delightful Stella Duffy, we shall see. The idea is then to also have a running interview or piece on the author and why they write there favourite books etc, what I basically want is to be Mariella Frostrup on The Book Show, which would be my dream job. So a creative, if a little dull to read back I am sure, day!

Service Wash

One of the regulars at Polari is Rupert Smith and I decided that I should give one of his books a go, and Service Wash was the first on the list in Amazon. So I bought the book a few weeks ago and have been waiting for the perfect time to sit back and enjoy it, and after the Holocaust and beheading of Anne Boleyn I thought it was time for a book about celebrity.

I would just like to say I love the cover, though it has nothing to do with the actual story, I just think it’s a brilliant retro cheeky cover. Sorry I digress. This is the story of Eileen Weathers (who would be played fabulously by Ann Mitchell of Widows fame) who is like a younger Vera Duckworth kind of soap legend. She is at the peak of her fame and writing an autobiography that’s going seriously wrong, so Six Books part fo the soap franchise hire Paul Mackrell to ghost write it, Paul isn’t having much luck with literature and so decides to give it a go. What follows is a farce of mayhem, money and murder.

I really enjoyed this novel it made a nice break to have a book on the go that made me laugh and was all about the complexities and materialism of celebrity not some harrowing complex tale of loss love and betrayal – which I love you just need a break sometimes. Some people call this throwaway literature or a ‘good holiday read’ I call it entertainment as it entertained me for a good several hours.

Smith writes this book with a knowing edge, he has indeed ghost written an autobiography, written several TV-tie-in books and other novels you feel there is a lot of him in Paul. I would recommend this when you want some frivolous fun.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Well I have just put this book down and honestly I think it is fantastic, this is another book I will be raving about for absolutely ages. I had never heard of the author John Boyne before but I think for this book he deserves some serious recognition. This is another tale of the Second World War aimed at the cross over market of young and older readers. I didn’t think after The Book Thief, which was one of my favourite books last year and I will undoubtedly read again, that you could get another amazing story based on that era. I was wrong.

Bruno is nine years old, his family have moved from their idyllic home to a place called ‘Out-With’ and Bruno tells the subsequent tale with the innocence and naivety a child that age has. What happens? Well sadly this is going to be a very short review as I simply can’t tell you. There has been no blurb on the back of the book and its all very secretive (I actually wonder whether this has stopped the book selling in its thousands) and there is a reason for that, to give anything away would spoil the story and also spoil what is an amazing ending and one that may leave you shell shocked. Like The Book Thief I think that this is a must have in schools, its just superb. I don’t think I can rave about it anymore than that. Ten out of ten, nothing less would be fair

The Other Boleyn Girl

This has taken me quite a while to read, not because it’s too complicated or too heavy but because I just wanted to savour every last word of this novel. This is my first Philippa Gregory and was the latest book group choice; I had wanted to read it anyway before the movie comes out (as you will note I have not bought the movie cover version as you will all know I loathe them). The story is that of Mary Boleyn, no not Anne Boleyn the famous wife of Henry VIII but Mary her sister and Henry’s lover. Naturally the story also heavily features Anne who for some reason I have always been drawn to and as my favourite periods of history are Victorian and Tudor this was perfect.

We all know the fate of Anne Boleyn, what we don’t know is the story of her sister Mary which Gregory has based on as much fact as she could as she actually came upon the story after seeing the boat the Mary Boleyn in a history book and researching it thinking it was a mistake. Research is something that you can tell Gregory has done endlessly. From Tudor birth control to the ways of court not a single detail of costume or of scenery is missed and not in the over descriptive style I hate either, just very well written. The scene is set wonderfully from what it would be like as a youth in the court of Henry VIII up to being Queen and the ins and outs of Henry’s favour.

I thought that Gregory really brought to life the characters, none of them were depicted thinly they had depth even if nearly every character was selfish and out for themselves. I thought Anne was wonderfully calculating and malicious. I also thought the way Katherine of Aragon was written was very interesting, I have heard one of Gregory’s other novels concentrates on her and will probably give that a go at some point. A few moments made me laugh, the hindsight effect I called it, such as when Jane Seymour passes Anne and she says ‘I curse her I hope she dies in childbirth’ which of course she did it does add to the myth that Anne was a witch. It never mentioned her six fingers and yet dealt with incest and homosexuality interesting that.

I do wish there had been more of the end of the novel rather than so much of the beginning as suddenly it was all over and all too soon. It is a long book and does meander along here and there but never drags and when you’re reading something this good you don’t really care. Yes I am officially a fan of Philippa Gregory and unashamed.

Death of a Murderer

I wasn’t alive when the awful things that happened with Myra Hindley on the moors, it is something that I have always grown up knowing of and not being interested in but wondering what happened exactly. This book deals with the events after Myra Hindley’s death and is based around the night when she is put in the morgue. However don’t expect that this is a novel about what happened on the moors or that you are going to get a gritty dark and disturbing tale even though the ghost of Myra does turn up further along the tale. Oh hang on he never mentions her name, which is odd as she has been put on the cover of the book. I do hate it when book covers and blurbs are misleading, it can actually completely put me off a book.

So the premise of the novel is that PC Billy Tyler is called to look after the dead body of a ‘famous female child killer’ in November 2002 which pretty much says what a name wont, and the female in question has the exact looks of the murderess that cannot be named, what a coincidence. It sounds like I am slagging the book off and I am not as in other ways it is accomplished and well written.

PC Billy is not a hero of the novel, there isn’t one. What you have is a man in a difficult marriage who has secrets from his childhood that haunt him and make him the man he is today, these secrets are also linked to the woman in the morgue and her ghost comes to haunt him during the long night as do his childhood memories he has been trying to hide. There is a very surreal feel to this novel no characters are the lead character and they don’t seem to communicate to one another other than the occasional short sharp five line conversation. There is also the ghost herself not quite the novel you expect it to be but gripping none the less.

Yes I picked up the book because the cover led me to believe it was going to be something else. What I didn’t get was a dark crime novel that I expected, instead I got a novel that looks at how a killer can effect a generation of children, why they might do what they do and what leads them to it and the aftermath it leaves. Fascinating and very well written.

On Chesil Beach

I do not understand how this novel has had such negative reviews? It’s had some good ones but very few and far between. I think after ‘Atonement’ and ‘Saturday’ have both been such successes that anything that Ian McEwan released next would have a lot to live up to. I need to point out here I haven’t read Saturday, I am a McEwan fan. So far I have read ‘Cement Garden’, ‘Atonement’ and now Chesil Beach. Atonement is by far my favourite because of the epic feel of it, however this is firm second and Cement Garden is another one of my favourites. (Oh I should say that this was my book group choice, my second McEwan novel for Book Group in fact.)

Chesil Beach is short, people have berated it for this and said it doesn’t deserve its Man Booker short listing; however people do forget that if you actually look at McEwan’s back catalogue most of his novels are short, in fact Atonement and Saturday are the two longest ones he has done. But this is where McEwan is a master of prose and story telling, after the full 166 pages of Chesil Beach there is nothing more to be said, and wow has he filled those 166 pages with as much as he can.

In 166 pages we have a tale of a newly married couple Florence and Edward which starts on their wedding night in 1962, a time when people weren’t as sexually educated as they are now (on the whole), and the wedding night is indeed becoming more of a wedding nightmare. With both of the couple inexperienced and shy it all goes wrong and changes their relationship and their lives forever. It’s actually quite heartbreaking. You also learn more about their opposing backgrounds and how they got together which only makes it all the more distressing.

This has to be one of my favourite books I wasn’t expecting anything this moving or enjoyable from the title. It may not be the normal length that people expect from a Man Booker nominee (is there a rule) but it certainly is the quality of a Man Booker winner. Without a doubt my favourite read of 2008 so far and I can tell you I will be scouting around for the rest of McEwan’s novels anywhere I can get my mitts on them. This is the closest I have ever been to declaring a read-a-thon of any author. I am mulling the possibility over.

The Instance of the Fingerpost

Sometimes a book comes along and you think ‘wow that ticks all my boxes’. Take Iain Pears ‘Instance of the Fingerpost’, it has a wonderful dark cover with a skull and a tattered worn book – already this is so me, it’s a story of murder set in 1665 (not my favourite period in time but not far off) so we have history, we have a gothic dark undertone and the promise of thrills and spills. So why did this book fall flat with me? Why after reading well over half did I put it to one side with the prospect of an Oxfam run looming?

I got bored. Very bored. This I am sure will outrage many a reader as I have hardly heard a bad review of this novel (oddly another reason I thought I would love it), other than my Gran who has read it for book group and wishes she had done as I did and put it down and not bother.

The tale is set in 1663, in the backdrop we have King Charles II whose thrown is restored though all is not well, in Oxford Dr Robert Grove is found dead in his chambers, the suspected murderer is a servant girl Sarah Blundy. The tale of the murder and the subsequent events which are neither haunting, thrilling nor really that interesting are told by four separate accounts and this is where my first problem lay I think. I didn’t really need to spend over 200 pages a go being told ‘inconclusive biased’ accounts of the same incidents over and over; it didn’t do anything for me. I did like the character of Sarah Blundy; I also like the first narrator of the tale Marco da Cola. But once his version was questioned and I felt I had put so much time and effort into him and his past to be told it was probably all lies I felt angry and cheated.

Maybe that’s what Pears was aiming for, maybe I should have read on and found Marco de Cola had been right all along. What it did instead was infuriate me and leave me reading Jack Prescott’s version of events half heartedly and eventually I just gave up. There ended up being far too many characters and by this point Pears had lost me and so had 1663 Oxford. A shame as from the start I wanted to love this book, maybe its me? Maybe I hype a book up in my own head and then am left disappointed I hope not. This sadly is an author and a book I don’t think I will be giving a second chance, maybe I am just bitter?