The Reading Glass

TITLE: OHMIGOD!

AUTHOR: AARON ASADI

PUBLISHER: LITTLE ORCHARD PUBLISHING LTD

ISBN: 9781399985819

PUBLICATION DATE: 25.4.24

This is not a critique, analysis or essay but a quick overview intended to give you some idea whether or not you might enjoy an author’s work.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

NO SPOILERS

I accepted the offer to read and review Ohmigod! – Aaron Asadi because of the marketing plan “A wing and, ironically, a prayer” and having read the publisher’s blurb, this made me laugh. It was also an interesting premise.

However, this is a rare DNF for me. As a portrayal of a man with social anxiety it is superb, hence my three star rating not being lower. As a story, it is not, and with about 30% to go I found I did not care what happened anymore.

I skipped to the “Q & A” at the end which did make chuckle so there’s that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Orchard Publishing Ltd for the Advanced Review Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

TITLE: THE HEART IN WINTER

AUTHOR: KEVIN BARRY

PUBLISHER: CANONGATE

ISBN: 9781805302117

PUBLICATION DATE: 6.6.23

This is not a critique, analysis or essay but a quick overview intended to give you some idea whether or not you might enjoy an author’s work.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

“October, 1891. Butte, Montana. A hard winter approaches across the Rocky Mountains. The city is rich on copper mines and rampant with vice and debauchery among a hard-living crowd of immigrant Irish workers.

Here we find Tom Rourke, a young poet and balladmaker, but also a doper, a drinker and a fearsome degenerate. Just as he feels his life is heading nowhere fast, Polly Gillespie arrives in town as the new bride of the devout mine captain Long Anthony Harrington.

A thunderbolt love affair takes spark between Tom and Polly and they strike out west on a stolen horse, moving through the badlands of Montana and Idaho. Briefly an idyll of wild romance perfects itself. But a posse of deranged Cornish gunsmen are soon in hot pursuit of the lovers, and closing in fast”

NO SPOILERS

Night Boat to Tangiers was my first Kevin Barry and I loved it so I had high expectations of The Heart in Winter. I was not disappointed.

Firstly, it’s one heck of a story and secondly, Barry is one heck of a storyteller.

The publisher’s description tells you the general plot but it doesn’t tell you how beautiful the prose is, how perfect the dialogue, how exquisite the narration, flawlessly written in the vernacular. The whole thing flows effortlessly, breaks your heart, gives you joy, hope all through Barry’s wonderful skill.

“He filled his own glass a rumour shy of the rim”  Man, I love it!

There are moments of tenderness, brutality, wit (oh, such wit!) and hilarity. I don’t enjoy romance, comedy or thriller genres yet The Heart in Winter has elements of them all and I savoured every word.

Oh and thirdly, read it. Get yourself a copy, pour yourself a modest one, settle down and enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Canongate for the Advanced Review Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

TITLE: OWLISH

AUTHOR: DOROTHY TSE

PUBLISHER: FITZCARRALDO EDITIONS

ISBN: 9781804270349

PUBLICATION DATE: 23.2.23

This is not a critique, analysis or essay but quick, overview intended to give you some idea whether or not you might enjoy an author’s work.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

A professor falls in love with a mechanical ballerina in a mordant and uncanny fable of contemporary Hong Kong

With your face covered, sneaking into a city you thought you knew, are you still yourself? Or have you crossed to another world, where the streets are unpredictable and the people strangers, where you might at any moment run into some unknown dream version of yourself?

In a city called Nevers, there lives a professor of literature called Q. He has a dull marriage and a lackluster career, but also a scrumptious collection of antique dolls locked away in his cupboard. And soon Q lands his crowning acquisition: a music box ballerina named Aliss who has tantalizingly sprung to life. Guided by his mysterious friend Owlish and inspired by an inexplicably familiar painting, Q embarks on an all-consuming love affair with Aliss, oblivious to the protests spreading across the university that have left his classrooms all but empty.

The mountainous city of Nevers is itself a mercurial character with concrete flesh, glimmering new construction, and “colonial flair.” Having fled there as a child refugee, Q thought he knew the faces of the city and its people, but Nevers is alive with secrets and shape-shifting geographies. The winner of a 2021 PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant, Owlish is a fantastically eerie debut novel that is also a bold exploration of life under oppressive regimes.

NO SPOILERS

No spoilers but I think the publisher’s blurb gives away pretty much everything. But don’t let that put you off. This debut novel is so beautifully written by Dorothy Tse and skillfully translated by Natascha Bruce that even though I missed many of the cultural and historical references, I loved this book.

When I first posted online that I was reading Owlish, I said it was wonderfully bonkers. That was rather shallow of me.  It is a little bit bonkers but also an important read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Fitzcarraldo Editions for the Advanced Review Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

TITLE: JUST ONE THING

AUTHOR: DR MICHAEL MOSLEY

PUBLISHER: OCTOPUS PUBLISHING

ISBN: 9781780725512

PUBLICATION DATE:

This is not a critique, analysis or essay but quick, overview intended to give you some idea whether or not you might enjoy an author’s work.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

We all want quick and easy ways to improve our health, but when it comes to diet, fitness and wellbeing it can be hard to separate the facts from the fads. And harder still to find changes that fit easily into our daily lives.

Based on the popular BBC podcast, Just One Thing, this book brings to life Dr Mosley’s mission to find things you can introduce into your daily routine which will have a big impact on your mental and physical health. Did you know that eating chocolate can help your heart, that singing can give you a natural ‘high’ and that having more house plants can improve your mood and boost your productivity?

Dr Michael Mosley unearths a range of Just One Things whose impacts are so surprising and intriguing you will be desperate to try them out. He chats to experts, road tests all his tips and enlists some special guests to help you find that one small thing that could really make a difference to how you feel.

Firstly, I apologise for this very short review but I have  been unwell for some time and am beginning to catch up with books, food, dogs and everything else!

I am aware of Dr Mosley’s media presence so was curious to see how his “Just One Thing” radio program would be presented in book form. Of course, an ebook is never so convenient as a print for this type of book but I can see how good the print edition must be.

Short chapters cover each “thing” with simplicity and humour. No condescension, no patronising, just good, clear advice. I’m not a fan of self help books and usually avoid them and I suppose this is in that genre but I enjoyed it very much.

Below are the links to purchase the book from Hive (which gives a percentage of every sale to independent booksellers and FREE delivery), Blackwell’s (because it’s Blackwell’s and FREE delivery) and Kobo, for those of us with ereaders.

Hive  Blackwell’s  Kobo

Thank you to NetGalley and Octopus Publisihing for the Advanced Review Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

TITLE: BLESSINGS

AUTHOR: CHUKWUEBUKA IBEH

PUBLISHER: VIKING/PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE

ISBN: 9780241618257

PUBLICATION DATE: 22.2.24

This is not a critique, analysis or essay but quick, overview intended to give you some idea whether or not you might enjoy an author’s work.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

When Obiefuna’s father witnesses an intimate moment between his teenage son and the family’s apprentice, newly arrived from the nearby village, he banishes Obiefuna to a Christian boarding school marked by strict hierarchy and routine, devastating violence. Utterly alienated from the people he loves, Obiefuna begins a journey of self-discovery and blossoming desire, while his mother Uzoamaka grapples to hold onto her favourite son, her truest friend.

Interweaving the perspectives of Obiefuna and his mother Uzoamaka, as they reach towards a future that will hold them both, BLESSINGS is an elegant and exquisitely moving story of love and loneliness. Asking how we can live freely when politics reaches into our hearts and lives, as well as deep into our consciousness, it is a stunning, searing debut.

NO SPOILERS

The publisher’s description tells you all you need to know about the plot, story, themes and veracity of Blessings. What it doesn’t tell you is how beautifully it is written. Ibeh’s skill evokes empathy, outrage, and a feeling of hushed tones which had me whispering this book in my head as I read.

The love story is joyous, though unbearably sad, and this quote stood out for me. I think it sums up the entire book and probably the lives of many of us.

“All along Obiefuna had never felt like he was searching, but with Miebi he felt the peculiar relief of having finally been found”

Below are the links to purchase the book from Hive (which gives a percentage of every sale to independent booksellers and FREE delivery), Blackwell’s (because it’s Blackwell’s and FREE delivery) and Kobo, for those of us with ereaders.

Hive   Blackwell’s   Kobo

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for the Advanced Review Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

TITLE: THIS PLAGUE OF SOULS

AUTHOR: MIKE MCCORMACK

PUBLISHER: CANONGATE

ISBN: 9781838859329

PUBLICATION DATE: 26.10.23

This is not a critique, analysis or essay but quick, overview intended to give you some idea whether or not you might enjoy an author’s work.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

Nealon returns to his family home in Ireland after a long time away, only to be greeted by a completely empty house. No heat or light, no furniture, no sign of his wife or child anywhere. It seems the world has forgotten that he even existed.

The one exception is a persistent caller on the telephone, someone who seems to know everything about Nealon’s life, his recent bother with the law and, more importantly, what has happened to his family. All Nealon needs to do is talk with him. But the more he talks the closer Nealon gets to the same trouble he was in years ago, tangled in the very crimes of which he claims to be innocent.

Part roman noir, part metaphysical thriller, This Plague of Souls is a story for these fractured times, dealing with how we might mend the world and the story of a man who would let the world go to hell if he could keep his family together.

NO SPOILERS:

I gave This Plague of Souls 4/5 for the writing and only the writing. The plot, story and characters held little interest for me but McCormack’s skill with words had me re-reading passages in awe. He writes with such understanding of being human, such observation of emotions. The scenes where Nealon stands in his empty house, makes coffee, looks out of the window…all these had me captivated. Tis brilliant stuff.

So if you like a thrillerish book and enjoy skilled, crafted writing, then you are in for a treat.

Thank you to NetGalley and CanonGate for the Advanced Review Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Below are the links to purchase the book from Hive (which gives a percentage of every sale to independent booksellers and FREE delivery), Blackwell’s (because it’s Blackwell’s and FREE delivery) and Kobo, for those of us with ereaders.

Hive   Blackwell’s   Kobo

TITLE: NUTSHELL

AUTHOR: IAN MCEWAN

PUBLISHER: VINTAGE

ISBN: 9781784705114

PUBLICATION DATE: 2016

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION

Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She’s still in the marital home – a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse – but not with John. Instead, she’s with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy’s womb.

NO SPOILERS

This is my third book by Ian McEwan, my prevous two being Lessons and On Chesil Beach, both of which I enjoyed.

Nutshell, though overworked, started well but the unborn child is merely McEwan’s mouthpiece for his xenophobia, transphobia and bigotry. I am disappointed as I had no idea he was like this. Still, art and artist are apparently separate but in this instance, I think not.

TITLE: BAUMGARTNER

AUTHOR: PAUL AUSTER

PUBLISHER: GROVE ATLANTIC

ISBN: 978 0802161444

PUBLICATION DATE: 7.11.23

This is not a critique, analysis or essay but quick, overview intended to give you some idea whether or not you might enjoy an author’s work.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:

“Paul Auster’s brilliant eighteenth novel opens with a scorched pot of water, which Sy Baumgartner — phenomenologist, noted author, and soon-to-be retired philosophy professor – has just forgotten on the stove.

Baumgartner’s life had been defined by his deep, abiding love for his wife, Anna, who was killed in a swimming accident nine years earlier. Now 71, Baumgartner continues to struggle to live in her absence as the novel sinuously unfolds into spirals of memory and reminiscence, delineated in episodes spanning from 1968, when Sy and Anna meet as broke students working and writing in New York, through their passionate relationship over the next forty years, and back to Baumgartner’s youth in Newark and his Polish-born father’s life as a dress-shop owner and failed revolutionary.

Rich with compassion, wit, and Auster’s keen eye for beauty in the smallest, most transient moments of ordinary life, Baumgartner asks: Why do we remember certain moments, and forget others? In one of his most luminous works and his first novel since the Booker-shortlisted tour-de-force 4 3 2 1, Paul Auster captures several lifetimes.”

NO SPOILERS
I have only read one previous Paul Auster book, 4321 and I loved it; so I was pleased when I was sent an eARC of Auster’s latest novel, Baumgartner.

The publisher’s description tells you all you need to know about the plot/story so I will not add to it. What it doesn’t tell you is this is a lovely, lovely book, beautifully and sympathetically written. Reading this feels like sitting down for a long chat with an old friend. It’s not gripping or fast paced but it is very compelling. I need to read more Auster and so should you.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, Faber & Faber for the Advanced Review Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Below are the links to purchase the book from Hive (which gives a percentage of every sale to independent booksellers and FREE delivery), Blackwell’s (because it’s Blackwell’s and FREE delivery) and Kobo, for those of us with ereaders.

Hive   Blackwell’s   Kobo

TITLE: ON CHESIL BEACH

AUTHOR: IAN MCEWAN

PUBLISHER: VINTAGE

ISBN: THIS EDITION 9780099512790

PUBLICATION DATE: 2008

This is not a critique, analysis or essay but quick, overview intended to give you some idea whether or not you might enjoy an author’s work.

PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION:
It is July 1962. Edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their private fears of the wedding night to come and, unbeknownst to them both, the events of the evening will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

NO SPOILERS
Last year I read Ian McEwans’ Lessons, which was my first of McEwan’s. I thought it was excellent (my review is here) and wrote I would read Atonement which I already had. Well, I didn’t. I read On Chesil Beach next which I think is also excellent. My preferred genre is Literary Fictin and I think  McEwan’s style sits well within it.

Every so often I want to read a short book, 200 pages or less and it takes a very particular skill to say so much in so few words and McEwan has that skill. (Claire Keegan also is a master of this with Foster and Small Things Like These (my thoughts are here) On Chesil Beach tells the indiviadual stories of Edward and Florence along side the moment they are at and how they have come to this point of crisis. Such a situation of its time and one which could have been so easily resolved.

Along with Atonement I have Nutshell waiting to be read. Don’t let me down. Mr M!

Below are the links to purchase the book from Hive (which gives a percentage of every sale to independent booksellers and FREE delivery), Blackwell’s (because it’s Blackwell’s and FREE delivery) and Kobo, for those of us with ereaders.

Hive   Blackwell’s   Kobo