Curious Book Fans

Birthday Letters

James — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:19:09 +0000

Birthday Letters is a collection of poetry by Ted Hughes that, with two exceptions, is addressed to his late wife Sylvia Plath who committed suicide in 1963. The book was first published in 1998 and contains poems that were written over the course of 25 years. Despite the intense enduring interest in Plath and her life, Hughes had always remained completely silent about her and frequently received much scorn from Plath admirers for having an affair when they were married and destroying the last part of her journals after her death, an act Hughes says he did to spare their children. Given the long silence by Hughes on Plath, Birthday Letters (which contains 88 poems) was therefore a very big deal when it was published and eagerly anticipated. 'You are ten years dead,' says Hughes in one of the first poems (Visit). 'It is only a story. Your story. My story.' From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk

The Penelopiad

koshkha — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:54:52 +0000

I did Latin at school, not Greek so I know bits of Virgil’s Aeneid but very little of Homer’s Iliad. I do know however that it’s very long – stretching to 24 books. Thankfully Margaret Atwood is more concise and keeps the Penelopiad to just one book. I knew only the very barest bones of the plot of Penelope and Odysseus. If I am honest, the little I knew wasn’t from Homer but from another modern re-write of the tale of Odysseus which was rather more sympathetic to the big fella and his philandering wife-abandoning ways than the Penelopiad was. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk

Vale of Illusion

Anjana Basu — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:27:17 +0000

Everyone knows a Kashmiri shawl wala or carpet seller – they arrive with the coming of autumn carrying treasures of colour in their autumn leaf brown bundles. And then they disappear with spring for months on end and you occasionally, reading about disturbances in the Valley, you wonder whether they will reappear. At the heart of Urmila Deshpande’s novel is Samaad, a carpet seller who speaks the Queen’s English because he happened to have been educated in England. He is a man with a mission – he has discovered a mineful of priceless Kashimiri sapphires, the Kashmir Blues of the titles and he wants to use the sapphires to ensure peace for the part of the Valley in which he lives.

Tintin in Tibet

James — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 16:02:59 +0000

It's always strangely comforting and a real pleasure to slip between the pages of a Tintin adventure with characters you've come to know so well and the crisp, colourful art of Hergé. Tintin in Tibet is a particularly strong entry in the series because of the attempt to do something slightly new. Tintin books, which Steven Spielberg once said were an influence on the globetrotting Indiana Jones films, are often exotic with far flung locales but Tintin in Tibet takes us deep into the spectacular mountains of Nepal and throws a great deal of mysticism into the mix with Tintin's strange dream, remote monasteries and monks who share spiritual visions. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk

Learning to Live: A User’s Manual

Vladimir — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:24:05 +0000

Learning to Live: A User's Manual By Luc Ferry, book reviewWhen I had Learning to Live in my hands, although I was supposed to offer it to our loyal book reviewers, I couldn’t resist the temptation to read it myself. I had to peek into this book despite the aversion I feel for all kind ‘for dummies’ books, self improvement or fashionable books. Dumbing-down tendencies that surround us make me cringe but I risked by starting reading this ‘manual’. To be fair to Luc Ferry he is not advertising his book as self improvement manual which will by the end of the last page give you a clear answer to all difficult questions about our existence. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk

This is No Sugar Coated Tale

sunmeilan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:48:51 +0000

The Crimson Petal and the White has been described by numerous people as something very akin to a Charles Dickens novel. It is easy to see why this is the case. It describes the back streets of London and the depravity that can be found there in over 800 pages. The characters are colourfully described and there is a strong sense of good and evil. However, there is one very important difference; Charles Dickens didn't even attempt to add anything untoward or sexual into his books. Faber, on the other hand, revels in sex using all orifices and details douching and bowel movements in a way that is not ideal if you are eating. If this is a Dickens novel, it comes complete with warts and all. As to whether it should be compared to the quality of Dickens' work, it is certainly a really excellent attempt. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk

What Lies Beneath

Anjana Basu — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:17:09 +0000

Black light, the other name for ultraviolet light, a searing ray that reveals things hidden to the naked eye with occasionally harsh effects because no one can stand u/v rays for too long. Rimi B Chatterjee’s new book takes this characteristic as its premise. The novel opens quickly enough in the everyday world of Satya, a reporter who’s given up his beat for the staid world of the teletext and the edit desk. His calm is shattered when a call from home tells him that his aunt Medhasri has fallen off her balcony – the implication is suicide but no one wants to utter that word since the repercussions would be scandalous where a traditional Bengali family is concerned.

One Hit Wonder

kingfisher — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:32:08 +0000

I have read a couple of other novels by Lisa Jewell which I very much enjoyed but none have come near the absolute pleasure I have recently derived from reading One Hit Wonder which I think is a wonderful novel! Before I started reading it I did wonder whether it would live up to the praise heaped on it on the back cover – ‘will keep you up all night in a sweaty addicted reading frenzy (The Times) and ‘stands out from the mass of chick-lit like a poppy in a cornfield’ (Nova) - but having read it I have decided that it is certainly worthy of this praise and more! From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk

The Olive Season

eilidhcatriona — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:03:25 +0000

The Olive Season is the second in Carol Drinkwater's series of autobiographical books about life in the South of France, and the trials and tribulations that come with running an olive farm and doing up and old villa. I first read the series years ago when I bought the first three books during one of my crazes for travel writing (escapism in an Aberdonian winter). I enjoyed them but wasn't as in love with them as I was with others. On revisiting them recently however, I felt I appreciated them more. From www.curiousbookfans.co.uk

Stormy Weather

kingfisher — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:29:20 +0000

Stormy Weather by Debi Gliori really is the perfect bedtime book for small children – even though you might not think it from the title. This is an absolutely gorgeous book telling of little ones across the world curling up safely and going to bed even when the weather is not too good. It depicts all sorts of small creatures cuddling up with their mummies and it cannot fail to make you go ‘aaahh!’ as you are reading with a small child.

From the Dawn of Time

Anjana Basu — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:32:21 +0000

The Lepchas are a tribe who we hear about or encounter intermittently – the smiling faced people who inhabit parts of the Dooars, Darjeeling, Nepal, south western Bhutan and Sikkim – glimpsed perhaps on a holiday or seen in their tribal finery in photographs. As with all tribal folk, the Lepchas have their own rich lore of folk tales, stories of how the world they call their own began. ‘In the beginning there was nothing ...Then Itbu-moo, the Mother Creator, shaped the mountains, the rivers, and the lakes. But something was missing. Why did her creation feel empty? So, taking a fresh ball of snow, she created the first man’ whose name was Fudonthing.

The Brightest Star in the Sky

koshkha — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:27:01 +0000

Marian Keyes' latest book is set in and around a multi-occupancy residential building, 66 Star Street, which as you'd expect is in Dublin. It follows the lives, loves, triumphs and disappointments of the residents, a mismatched bunch that I found hard to imagine sharing a roof. On the ground floor we find Maeve and Matt the young married couple who seem to be rather more clingy than might be expected and are harbouring a horrible secret that explains their rapidly revealed reliance on anti-depressants. Heading to the upper floors we meet Jemima, the elderly protestant who lives with her dog and is temporarily putting up her pretty-boy catholic foster-son Fionn whilst he makes a gardening programme for a television channel.

The Poisonwood Bible

eilidhcatriona — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:17:46 +0000

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is one of these books, a “modern classic” if you will, which everyone seemed to have read and raved about...except me. I finally caught up and read it recently; having noted a reference to it in a non-fiction book, I was keen to read a novel set in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

To the Nines

kingfisher — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:30:04 +0000

I had never read any books by Janet Evanovich and so I didn’t really know what to expect when I picked up ‘To the Nines’ to read. Nor had I realised that this book is just one of a whole host featuring the central character, Stephanie Plum. This did not matter in the least though, as To the Nines really works as a standalone story and I was not aware of any references to events in previous novels, although they were probably inadvertently there.

Michele Gorman talks to Curious Book Fans

kingfisher — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:55:12 +0000

Recently reviewed book Single in the City prompted us to ask few questions about the book and meaning of life in general the author Michele Gorman. She is originally from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Michele now lives in London and her experiences provoked her to write about what happens when you take one 26 year old American, add to one 2,000 year old city with a big dose of culture clash and stir...

Paris 2010 (Everyman Mapguides)

frangliz — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:30:35 +0000

I already owned the Rough Guide to Paris but felt that it was too heavy to take with me on a short trip where I would be walking around the city a great deal. I went in search of a guide book that was lighter in weight and was delighted when I found the Everyman Mapguide for Paris 2010. Paris 2010 is a guidebook with fold-out maps – ten of districts of Paris, as well as one for the city of Paris as a whole and one for the Paris Metro. Fold-out pages at the start of the book give very brief information on history, architecture, ethnic Paris and excursions that can be made.

Elliot Allagash

koshkha — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:24:06 +0000

Seymour is the least popular kid at Glendale school, a Manhattan fee-paying school that's "small and getting smaller every year". It's a shame he's not doing better because his parents can't really afford the fees to send him there and he suspects they might have worked out that their investment in his education doesn't look like paying off. Of the 41 children in his year at his Manhattan school, he ranks himself as the 41st in terms of popularity but on the whole he's pretty cool about that.

The Winter Ghosts

eilidhcatriona — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:53:59 +0000

As a huge fan of Kate Mosse's previous novels, Labyrinth and Sepulchre, I couldn't wait to get my hands on The Winter Ghosts. I met her in 2008, and she said she was working on the follow up to Labyrinth and Sepulchre, to feature the recurring character Audric Baillard. I assumed The Winter Ghosts was this follow up.

Single in the City

kingfisher — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:42:50 +0000

Single in the City is Michele Gorman’s first novel and it really is a good one! From the moment I picked it up, I did not want to put it down and just wanted to read more about the exploits of Hannah Cumming, the twenty six year old American heroine in the story.

Last Rituals

Mary Bor — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:40:25 +0000

Last Rituals is Icelandic author Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s first adult novel, having previously published several books for children. I picked up the book mainly because I was looking for new Scandinavian and northern European crime fiction writers and because the Icelandic setting particularly appealed to me. The subject matter appealed to me much less; there’s a great deal of Icelandic history, mostly covering the medieval period and the novel does get bogged down in this detail from time to time without really being essential to the plot.

Danilo Kiš: Mittel Man

Richard Byrne — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:17:45 +0000

Over 20 years ago, on October 15, 1989, Yugoslav writer Danilo Kiš succumbed to lung cancer in Paris, France. He was only 54 when he died. Among the works Kiš left behind included a form-bending prose triptych -- Garden, Ashes (1965), Early Sorrows (1970) and Hourglass (1972) -- two masterworks of short fiction -- A Tomb for Boris Davidovich (1976) and Encyclopedia of the Dead (1983) -- and a string of dazzling polemical essays and interviews about his own work (some of which were translated into English and published in 1995 as Homo Poeticus).

My Penguin Osbert

kingfisher — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:05:01 +0000

My Penguin Osbert is a delightful picture story book written by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel and illustrated by H.B. Lewis. It is a story that is told with much warmth and humour but also delivers a slightly more serious message which is that if you are given something that you ask for you have a responsibility to look after it. In this story, the main character who is a little boy but we don’t know his name has been given a real live penguin by Santa Claus.

Northern Lights

eilidhcatriona — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:52:04 +0000

Northern Lights is the first novel in the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman. First published in 1995, it was several years later that I became aware of it, perhaps when the series became popular. I borrowed Northern Lights from my parents about a year ago, but I'm ashamed to say I've only just got round to reading it, and then with the motivation of it being set for my reading group.

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl

koshkha — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:17:07 +0000

Grayson Perry is the sort of person about whom it's hard not to have an opinion. Mention his name and people fall into three broad camps; those who say 'Grayson WHO?', those who say "Ah yes, the controversial potter who won the 2003 Turner Prize" and everyone else smiles and says "The bloke in the dress". As the wife of a man who's utterly obsessed by ceramics and spends his life researching potters and stalking the older ones in order to 'buy before they die' I was aware of Perry quite a while before he hit the mainstream.

The Rough Guide to Paris

frangliz — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:20:14 +0000

The Rough Guide to Paris begins with a 'Colour Section' on glossy paper consisting of an introduction, information on what to see and when to go, and twenty things not to miss. There are plenty of colour photographs as well as inserts on the Metro, the River Seine, and Paris climate. The names of monuments and sights are in bold so they are easy to spot. The twenty things not to miss include the obvious ones such as the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame cathedral, but also point out several lesser-known attractions, for example the hammam at the Paris mosque and art-house cinemas.