Sunday 30 April 2017

1984 In The 21st Century edited by Lori Perkins


1984 In The 21st Century edited by Lori Perkins
Published in America by Riverdale Avenue Books on the 25th March 2017.

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy from independent booksellers via Alibris
Buy the ebook from Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

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

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

1984 is a classic novel whose relevance continues to confront us every day. Some people thought it was a book about the future of the past. The future is now. After the election of Donald Trump and his advisor, Kellyanne Conway’s suggestion we get used to using “alternative facts,” the nearly 70 year-old dystopian novel made the # 1 spot on Amazon’s bestseller list. 1984 in the 21st Century offers readers 25 different opinions and viewpoints on this seminal novel from right to left on the political spectrum, with pieces from teachers to journalists and writers, lawyers and politicians, and union activists. The essays range from academic treatises to personal reminiscences to political rants and screeds, and even fiction and theater.

This fairly balanced collection of essays uses often-bandied 1984 concepts as a starting point for twenty-five Americans to express thoughts on the political situation in their country in 2017. The book is a shameless jump onto the dystopian revival bandwagon, but does include ideas that I thought were worth expanding upon further as well as references to other novels in a similar vein that would make for interesting reading in the current climate. My main disappointments with this anthology are two-fold. The majority of the essays pick up on and explain the same points from 1984 which results in a lot of repetition through the volume. I would also have liked perhaps fewer, but certainly deeper essays. All the offerings are short - some just a page or two - which, after the aforementioned repetition, doesn't give the essayist time to fully explore their theme. In several cases, this left me feeling that I only had a superficial view.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Lori Perkins / Politics / Books from America

Wednesday 26 April 2017

Engadine Aerie by Bluette Matthey


Engadine Aerie by Bluette Matthey
First published in America by Blue Shutter Publishing today, the 26th April 2017.

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the ebook from Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk
Buy the ebook from Smashwords
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

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

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In Bluette Matthey’s latest book, Engadine Aerie, protagonist Hardy Durkin heads to St. Moritz and the stunning Engadine Valley in Switzerland’s Alps for the annual Skimarathon. What could possibly go wrong? Lots, if you’re Hardy Durkin. Murder, an illicit arms deal, attempted murder, and running aground of a seasoned professional poisoner.

I was attracted to Engadine Aerie by the positive reviews of earlier books in the series (this is the fifth Hardy Durkin Travel Mystery) which praised Matthey's detailed portrayals of her locations. Engadine is a perhaps lesser known area of Switzerland, certainly somewhere I have not yet visited, so I was interested especially in this aspect of the story. Engadine does sound stunningly beautiful - as long as one can visit away from Skimarathon time when there would be just too many people to see past! Matthey also includes lengthy history digressions I found appealing in their own right, but I could not always understand the necessity of such great detail to our story as these interludes completely arrest the story's pace.

Hardy Durkin, as we are often told, is an amateur at crime detection and resolution yet has a preternatural ability to be just in the right pace at the right time for trouble! I presume his character was more fully established in earlier books as in this one we hit the ground running with limited time to really get to know our protagonists. I won't say too much about the plotlines so you will have the excitement of discovering for yourselves. However Hardy must unravel an obscured web of international terrorism that stretches across many countries.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Bluette Matthey / Thrillers / Books from America

Tuesday 25 April 2017

Hitler Is No Fool by Karl Billinger


Hitler Is No Fool by Karl Billinger
First published in America in 1939. ForgottenBooks publication in the UK in 2015.

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the paperback from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the ebook from ForgottenBooks
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

How I got this book:
Downloaded from ForgottenBooks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Today, after more than six years of feverish activities, Nazi Germany is still a mystery to the man in the streets of America. To him the Third Reich appears as a one-man show. He resents a social order built upon terror and fear and is indignant when he reads about Jewish pogroms, threats of invasion, and conquests of weak countries. But he is at an utter loss to explain the miraculous career of the "Austrian housepainter." He might, perhaps, pity the German people. But the longer he sees them ruled by a "fool" or a "madman," the more will his pity change into contempt, the more will his feeling grow that the Germans, after all, deserve a Government which they apparently are not able or even willing to overthrow.
For this man in the street the present book is written. It wants to acquaint him with the chief exponent of German fascism, with his ideas and plans and, moreover, with the forces he represents. The best way of doing it might still be to go back to the most authoritative source, Hitler's own book. The world would have been spared much guessing about the essence and aims of the National Socialist regime had it taken the trouble to study the Fuehrer's work carefully. History has seldom offered the opportunity of learning from a dictator himself his most guarded designs before he has been able to carry them out. But how are we to know that Hitler who has told so many lies, broken so many promises, and violated so many solemn treaties did not veil and distort the truth in his book?

I was pleasantly surprised by how accessible Hitler Is No Fool is. I have often found vintage books written for 'the man in the street' to be overly dry and scholarly by present-day standards, but this book is certainly an exception to that rule. Billinger takes Hitler's epic two-volume work, Mein Kampf, as his starting point and has essentially read it so that we don't have to! He distills the main ideas into easily comprehensible chapters, also exploring aspects of Hitler's life that are likely to have inspired the policies and explaining in chilling detail how so many thousands of the German people were persuaded to also adopt these ideas.

The similarities between 1930s Germany and the 2010s fascist resurgence have been frequently noted recently, but in reading this book I was shocked at the extent in which history is repeating itself. It's not just a question of substituting the word Muslim for the word Jew although directing public blame and dissatisfaction towards an easily visually identifiable minority group as a distraction tactic is the most obvious example. Having the majority of the country's media controlled by a single tycoon is also a repeat - indispensable for propaganda purposes - as is gaining the support of the big businesses who will benefit from drastically increased profit margins by the stripping back of workers rights and freedoms. Hitler Is No Fool is a scarily familiar portrayal of how simply a nation can be convinced to act totally against their own long-term interests. I would highly recommend it as essential reading, especially in the run-up to June's General Election.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Karl Billinger / Politics / Books from Germany

Monday 24 April 2017

The Shell House by Linda Newbery


The Shell House by Linda Newbery
First published by David Fickling in July 2002.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Barbed Wire
I registered my copy of this book on BookCrossing

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the book from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from Speedyhen
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

How I got this book:
Swapped for in the book exchange at Serro da Bica campsite, Ourique, Portugal

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Shell House is a beautifully-written and sensitive portrayal of love, sexuality and spirituality over two generations. Greg’s casual interest in the history of a ruined mansion becomes more personal as he slowly discovers the tragic events that overwhelmed its last inhabitants. Set against a background of the modern day and the first World War, Greg’s contemporary beliefs become intertwined with those of Edmund, a foot soldier whose confusion about his sexuality and identity mirrors Greg’s own feelings of insecurity. This is a complex and thought-provoking book, written with elegance and subtlety. It will change the way you think.

I thought that The Shell House had a good premise for a novel and the device of modern teenagers coming of age juxtaposed against their First World War contemporaries worked well. The novel mainly discusses themes of homosexuality and Christianity and, while it is to be applauded for doing so openly and seemingly without judgement, I thought that this was also its weakest point because Newbury does go on, and on, and on. I found the discussions that her protagonists have to be generic with no real sense of genuine teenage speech. Mostly however, I disliked the abrupt ending. While I can understand perhaps why Newbury might have wanted to leave so much up to her readers' imaginations, for me after having read all that philosophising, to be left without a strong sense of a conclusion felt like being cheated!


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Linda Newbery / Historical fiction / Books from England

Saturday 22 April 2017

Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward


Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
First published by Bloomsbury USA in America in September 2011.

One of my WorldReads from America

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the book from Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from Speedyhen
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

How I got this book:
Borrowed from my partner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch's father is growing concerned. He's a hard drinker, largely absent, and it isn't often he worries about the family. Esch and her three brothers are stocking up on food, but there isn't much to save. Lately, Esch can't keep down what food she gets; at fifteen, she has just realized that she's pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pit bull's new litter, dying one by one. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child's play and short on parenting.
As the twelve days that make up the novel's framework yield to a dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family - motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce - pulls itself up to face another day.

It's hard to believe, having finished reading this book, that it only spans twelve days. So much of life is packed in that it's an intense read. Ward's writing is poetic and gentle which contrasts powerfully with the harsh lives and violent events she portrays. Her heroine, Esch, is the only daughter of a poverty-stricken family living in the Mississippi bayou. As Katrina is forecasted and even the wildlife departs the area, this family has no choice but to stay and no one to depend upon but themselves and their small community. Gritty, vicious and real, this is not an easy read, but is a rewarding one.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Jesmyn Ward / Contemporary fiction / Books from America

Friday 21 April 2017

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier


Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
First published in the UK by Victor Gollancz in 1938. Chivers audiobook edition, narrated by Anna Massey, published in 2009.

How I got this book:
Bought the audiobook from Audible

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where to buy this book:

The Book Depository : from £4.50 (PB)
Wordery : from £5.66 (PB)
Waterstones : from £5.99 (PB)
Amazon : from £3.70 (used PB)
Prices and availability may have changed since this post was written

A timeless classic that has enthralled generation after generation with its exquisitely crafted prose and its haunting story, Rebecca is a true gothic tale of infatuation and naivety. Daphne du Maurier's young heroine meets the charming Maxim de Winter and despite her youth, they marry and go to Manderley, his home in Cornwall. There, the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers and the mystery she keeps alive of his first wife Rebecca - said to have drowned at sea - threatens to overwhelm the marriage.

I am going to make a bold statement for this review and say that I think Rebecca is my favourite book! I rarely revisit books I have read, but have listened to my beloved audio version three times now, the most recent of which being this week so I could join in with its group read for Proud Readers Of Great Stories over on Goodreads. I am sure other audiobook editions of Rebecca are available but I haven't listened to them because, for me, Anna Massey's narration is sublime. She completely understands each character and portrays that repressed Englishness to perfection.

 I love du Maurier's detailed observations of place, especially her use of nature to enhance scenes. The claustrophobia of politely stilted conversations taking place in rooms with dense fog or pelting rain just outside makes for almost unbearably tense atmosphere. Even though I know what will happen next and how the story is going to turn out, I still find myself enthralled. The second Mrs de Winter, and I love that we never know her first name, undertakes a complete coming of age transformation, her shyness and diffidence beautifully contrasted with the power she allows the stronger women who surround her - Mrs van Hopper, Beatrice and, of course, Mrs Danvers. No one in this book is two-dimensional or a caricature and they all suit their place and time.

Rebecca is very much a period piece and I don't think, even as historical fiction, a writer of today could have created it so intricately. Aspects of behaviour that seem appalling by present-day standards fit the novel and the social morals of the time. The emphasis on the timelessness of Manderley routine is particularly poignant given its 1938 publication and the imminence of the Second World War which would irrevocably change much of such privileged lives forever. I love this book in its entirety and look forward to reading or hearing it again in good time. Perhaps I should get around to trying another Daphne du Maurier book too!


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Daphne du Maurier / Thrillers / Books from England

Wednesday 19 April 2017

Piranha To Scurfy by Ruth Rendell


Piranha To Scurfy by Ruth Rendell
First published in the UK by Hutchinson in September 2000.
I registered my copy of this book at BookCrossing.

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the book from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from Speedyhen
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

How I got this book:

Swapped for at the book exchange at Serro Da Bica campsite, Ourique, Portugal

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The long title story is about a man whose life, in a sense, is a book. There are shelves in every room, packed with titles which Ambrose Ribbon has checked pedantically for mistakes of grammar and fact. Life for Ribbon, without his mother now, is lonely and obsessive, filled with psychoses and neuroses, with the ever-present possibility of a descent into violent madness. He still keeps his mother's dressing table exactly as she had left it, the wardrobe door always open so that her clothes can be seen inside, and her pink silk nightdress on the bed. There is one book too that he associates particularly with her - volume VIII of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Piranha to Scurfy. It marked a very significant moment in their relationship. In the other stories, Ruth Rendell deals with a variety of themes, some macabre, some vengeful, some mysterious, all precisely observed. The second novella, High Mysterious Union, explores a strange, erotic universe in a dream-like corner of rural England, and illustrates very atmospherically what range Ruth Rendell has as a writer, expanding beyond her famous sphere of crime writing.

At the time of reading this book, maybe three years ago now, I wasn't particularly a short story fan. However I enjoyed this collection and have since come to appreciate the genre much more. The eleven tales range from the mysterious to the macabre and I particularly appreciated the two novellas, Piranha To Scurfy and High Mysterious Union. Rendell is an astute observer of a particular type of middle-class Englishness and these two stories certainly showcase her writing. Piranha To Scurfy reminded me of an Alan Bennett Talking Heads sort of person, albeit even darker! The Beach Butler was my favourite of the short stories.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Ruth Rendell / Short stories / Books from England

Tuesday 18 April 2017

The Gin Thief by S C Barrus


The Gin Thief: Episode 1: Becoming Scarlet by S C Barrus
Published in America by Away And Away Publishing in October 2014.

How I got this book:
Received for supporting a Kickstarter campaign

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Yevylin is a foreigner attempting to enter an unforgiving city. Quickly she finds herself thrust into a struggle for survival. After killing a man in self defense and hiding from the law, she must earn her way into the ranks of a notorious gang of women known as Scarlets. THE GIN THIEF is a steampunk, gangland serial following Yevylin as she rises up the ranks of the criminal underworld, a world rife with murder, revenge, grave robbers, serial killers, and gin thieves.

I had not tried reading a serialised book as it is published before so part of my reason to invest in the Kickstarter campaign for S C Barrus' then new creation, The Gin Thief series, was my interest to learn whether I would be able to remember all the storylines over an extended period of time. Generally I read intensively with scarcely a pause until my current novel is finished, immersing myself in it completely. Taking a minor set of characters, The Scarlets, from his steampunk novel Discovering Aberration which I previously enjoyed reading, Barrus tells their story and particularly that of their newest recruit, Miss Yevylin Over.

Barrus' writing style is dense with intricate descriptions of place, costume and character. I appreciate that he takes time to set up scenes without simply rushing to the action and, although this does mean his stories advance at a slower pace than those of other modern authors, I think the approach suits the imaginative steampunk genre and it also mirrors that of Victorian authors so adds to the 'genuine' atmosphere. Becoming Scarlet, as the title suggests, recounts how Yevylin meets and tries to join The Scarlets. A plot device of her storytelling for the leader, The Missus, works well in allowing us to get to know her while still keeping up the pace. My only real disappointment was that the series didn't continue.

Etsy Find!
by Muddy Boots Herbal Teas in
Cleethorpes, England

Click pic to visit Etsy Shop


Search Literary Flits for more:
Books by S C Barrus / Steampunk / Books from America

Friday 14 April 2017

The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes


The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes
First published in the UK by Jonathan Cape in August 2011. Won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

Where to buy this book:
Buy from independent booksellers via Abebooks
Buy the book from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from Speedyhen
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository

How I got this book:
Borrowed from my partner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is in middle age. He's had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He's certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer's letter is about to prove.
The Sense of an Ending is the story of one man coming to terms with the mutable past. Laced with trademark precision, dexterity and insight, it is the work of one of the world's most distinguished writers.

I have reblogged my A Sense Of An Ending review from Stephanie Jane today to celebrate the release of the film version starring Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling.

I thought that this novel was an interesting addition to the man-looking-back-to-his-youth genre. It examines what we think we know about ourselves and our personal history and, in contrast, how others see us in the context of the same events. I liked the story and the character developments, but unfortunately didn't see Veronica's behaviour as particularly outrageous in the first part of the book so consequently had to 'play catch up' later on in order to understand our protagonist's sense of victimisation. Barnes' does come across as self-consciously trying to be profound when he launches into his periodic philosophising. I didn't think that so much of this added value to the novel though, leading these passages to feel more like excessive padding by the end.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Julian Barnes / Contemporary fiction / Books from England

Friday 7 April 2017

The Heart Of A Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov


The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
Written in 1925 in Russian and circulated underground, but official publication prohibited in the Soviet Union. English language translation by Michael Glenny published by Harcourt Brace in 1968.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Dogs

Where to buy this book:
Buy the book from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the paperback from Speedyhen
Buy the paperback from The Book Depository
Buy the paperback from Waterstones

How I got this book:
Borrowed from my partner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A rich, successful Moscow professor befriends a stray dog and attempts a scientific first by transplanting into it the testicles and pituitary gland of a recently deceased man. A distinctly worryingly human animal is now on the loose, and the professor's hitherto respectable life becomes a nightmare beyond endurance. An absurd and superbly comic story, this classic novel can also be read as a fierce parable of the Russian Revolution.

In some ways, the life of Mikhail Bulgakov is as odd as his writing! A Russian satiricist, his work was banned during the Soviet era leading him to appeal directly to Stalin for assistance - and getting a positive response. The Heart Of A Dog was written in 1925 but not published until 1968, after Bulgakov had died. In the sublime novella he imagines the result if, say, a progressive scientist and doctor was to implant the testes and pituitary gland of a man into a stray dog. The resultant chaos may be scientifically impossible (or at least extremely unlikely!), but it makes for a fabulous read.

We first meet stray dog Sharik as he is near death, shivering in a doorway and badly hurt from being scalded by boiling water. We see the heartless city through his eyes and experience his joy when a stranger shows him a tiny kindness. Back at the stranger's luxurious apartment, old Russia is still very much in evidence despite the best efforts of the Soviet management committee who are charged with further subdividing all the flats for communal living. One of the committee is even a Woman! What horror!

As the mad experiment turns Sharik from naughty dog to disruptive human, Bulgakov manages to use his surreal scenario to not only poke fun at the best efforts of the new Soviet regime, but also to deliver moral life lessons - kindness will always succeed over terror. Sharikov's efforts to assert and educate himself are poignant and I love the bureaucratic stubbornness of Shvonder. Fabulous set pieces such as the cat in the bathroom are hilarious and make The Heart Of A Dog one of the best novellas I have read.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Mikhail Bulgakov / Novellas / Books from Russia

Monday 3 April 2017

The Curious Case of William Alexander Redwood by Mark Benjamin


The Curious Case of William Alexander Redwood by Mark Benjamin

Self published in America today, the 3rd April 2017.

Where to buy this book:
Buy the ebook from Amazon.comAmazon.co.uk
Buy the ebook from Smashwords

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

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'Eighteen-year-old Billy wakes up to find himself imprisoned, bound and blindfolded, with no recollection of how he got there. When his captor knocks him out to silence his screams, Billy's memories pursue him into the cruel darkness. With his rise to consciousness, Billy comes to face what has haunted him from childhood, with devastating results.'

For a short story of less than thirty pages, The Curious Case Of William Alexander Redwood packs a hefty punch. We first meet a groggy Billy, securely bound and unable to remember either where he is or how he got there. As readers we are no wiser than Billy. As the story progressed, I liked how Mark Benjamin contrasts Billy's childhood innocence with his teenage predicament. I began to imagine what I thought might be the truth of the matter and was suitably chilled by the ultimate denouement. Benjamin builds a breathtakingly tense atmosphere and I found this was still the case on a second reading, even though I then of course knew where the story would take me. Good horror!


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Mark Benjamin / Short stories / Books from America

Sunday 2 April 2017

That Night In Lagos by Vered Ehsani + Free book


That Night in Lagos by Vered Ehsani
Self published

Where to buy this book:
I believe this story is only available directly from Vered Ehsani's website

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

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

That Night In Lagos is the prequel to Vered Ehsani's Society Of Paranormals series. It is numbered 0.5 and takes place before Ghosts Of Tsavo.

Back to That Night In Lagos: we meet Miss Beatrice Anderson, aged nineteen, when she has been in the Society of Paranormal's employ for just a year. Her anniversary gift was her wonderfully versatile walking cane which is put repeatedly to good use in turn-of-the-century Nigeria as Miss Bee strives to shatter a smuggling ring and meets her nemesis, Koki, a giant preying mantis. Ehsani has the same great talent for evoking place so Victorian Lagos is just as easy to visualise as Nairobi was in Ghosts Of Tsavo and I loved the wealth of detail, colours and scents, describing Lagos harbour. This story is only about fifty pages long so there isn't the space for as much characterisation and Beatrice drinks far fewer cups of tea, but it's still a fun tale and fills in more background information.


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Vered Ehsani / Short stories / Books from South Africa