What I Read... February 2017

 

Love at Second Sight - Cathy Hopkins

 

A cute romantic read about teenager Jo's search for the boy she fell in love with in a past life. I loved the London setting, especially the rich imagery of Highgate Cemetery.

 

If you enjoy light-hearted YA, this could be one for you.

 

 

 

Unknown Pleasures - Inside Joy Division - Peter Hook

 

This is a difficult one to review, because although I read the whole thing within 24 hours, I didn't find it easy.

The opening sections were probably my favourite, where he's going to punk gigs and first taking a serious interest in music. These sections also capture a sense of Manchester and the north in the late 1970s and make fascinating reading.

There was a lot of the dry humour I'd expected, and Hooky doesn't hold back with his opinions which makes it feel as though he's sharing his secrets directly with the reader. The stories of Joy Division on the road and in the studio were interesting, and the recollections of individual performances were entertaining and evocative, but the way he writes about the dynamic within the band creates the tension that made this a compulsive (and at times draining) read.

This volume of Peter Hook's memoir was always going to be very much about Ian Curtis and I found myself waiting uncomfortably for the section I knew was coming - Ian's death. I liked how Hooky went to great pains to paint the Ian Curtis he knew - someone who was one of the lads, and at times downright crude. Everyone knows about the epilepsy, the affair, the suicide, the artsy Ian... the way he's been frozen in time by the fans and the media. Hearing what he was actually like from bandmate makes him more 3D somehow, less of a caricature.

I'm definitely going to read the New Order book very soon and imagine that'll be equally as gripping (if not moreso to me personally as that's the music I prefer).

 

 

The Unmumsy Mum - Sarah Turner

 



I'm not sure if part of the reason this didn't speak to me as much as it has some of my friends is because I'm well past the baby stage.

There were definitely scenes from their family life I could relate to, and I did find myself giggling along at the comments about the challenges of parenthood, but personally I feel the short, sharp blog posts have more of an impact than a full-length book.          

 

 

This Beats Perfect - Rebecca Denton

 



Amelie doesn't like boybands. She'd rather be listening to her diverse collection of original vinyl. However, because of her dad's job in the music industry, she finds herself surrounded by the biggest pop band of the moment 'The Keep'.

This is a book I'd been really looking forward to, and it was a quick YA read. The plot wasn't complex, but didn't need to be as it was still very readable.

My main issue was that I didn't always like Amelie and her ways. Yes, she is a teenager, but she came across as a bit brattish at times. However, I really liked the character Maxx and his motivations and story were very believable.

I'd have loved this book in my teens and I'm sure many fangirls will be hooked by this story of romance, the music industry and being true to yourself.

Why Pamper Life's Complexities? - Essays on The Smiths - Ed. Sean Campbell and Colin Coulter

Interesting collection of essays relating to The Smiths and their place in society, politics and musical history.

Some essays were more interesting to me than others, with particular praise going to Joseph Brooker's ' Has the World Changed or Have I Changed?- The Smiths and the Challenge of Thatcherism', Cecelia Mello's 'I Don't Owe You Anything - The Smiths and kitchen-sink cinema' and particularly Karl Maton's 'Last Night We Dreamt that Somebody Loved Us - Smiths fans (and me) in the late 1980s'. This is partly due to the content relating to areas that appeal to my own personal interest, but also because I felt they were most accessible and original.

One area which could have been stronger for me was a wider use of sources - many essays referred to the same key interviews and lyrics which made this book repetitive at times when read as a collection.  



Wendy Holden in the Spotlight

 

Born Survivors by Wendy Holden 

Finalist in the 2015 Goodreads Book of the Year

 

 

 

Book description:

Among millions of Holocaust victims sent to Auschwitz II-Birkenau in 1944, Priska, Rachel, and Anka each passed through its infamous gates with a secret. Strangers to each other, they were newly pregnant, and facing an uncertain fate without their husbands. Alone, scared, and with so many loved ones already lost to the Nazis, these young women were privately determined to hold on to all they had left: their lives, and those of their unborn babies.

That the gas chambers ran out of Zyklon-B just after the babies were born, before they and their mothers could be exterminated, is just one of several miracles that allowed them all to survive and rebuild their lives after World War II. Born Survivors follows the mothers' incredible journey - first to Auschwitz, where they each came under the murderous scrutiny of Dr. Josef Mengele; then to a German slave labour camp where, half-starved and almost worked to death, they struggled to conceal their condition; and finally, as the Allies closed in, their hellish 17-day train journey with thousands of other prisoners to the Mauthausen death camp in Austria.

Hundreds died along the way but the courage and kindness of strangers, including guards and civilians, helped save these women and their children. Sixty-five years later, the three 'miracle babies' met for the first time at Mauthausen for the anniversary of the liberation that ultimately saved them. United by their remarkable experiences of survival against all odds, they now consider each other "siblings of the heart."

In Born Survivors, now published in 21 countries and translated into 16 languages, Wendy Holden brings all three stories together for the first time to mark their seventieth birthdays and the seventieth anniversary of the ending of the war. A heart-stopping account of how three mothers and their newborns fought to survive the Holocaust, Born Survivors is also a life-affirming celebration of our capacity to care and to love amid inconceivable cruelty.

“An exceptionally fresh history, a work of prodigious original research, written with zealous empathy.” New York Times

 

"Holden weaves.. written, oral and recorded accounts, plus an array of historical records, into a spellbinding story of perseverance amid systematic abuse." American Jewish World

“One of the most important books of the year.” Last Word Reviews

About the Author:

 

Wendy Holden was a journalist for eighteen years, including a decade at the Daily Telegraph where she worked as a foreign and war correspondent. She is author and the co-author of more than thirty books, including several bestselling wartime biographies, including Tomorrow to be Brave, Till the Sun Grows Cold, and Behind Enemy Lines. She lives in Suffolk, England with her husband and two dogs and divides her time between the U.K. and the U.S.

 

Website and blog: www.wendyholden.com Wendy also invites you to follow her on Facebook at the.real.wendyholden, on Twitter @wendholden, at wendholden on Instagram and on Tumblr, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

The Quality of Silence- Rosamund Lupton

The Blurb

On 24th November Yasmin and her deaf daughter Ruby arrive in Alaska.

Within hours they are driving alone across a frozen wilderness

Where nothing grows

Where no one lives

Where tears freeze

And night will last for another fifty-four days.

They are looking for Ruby's father.

Travelling deeper into a silent land.

They still cannot find him.

And someone is watching them in the dark.

The Review

I, along with what felt like half the country, was blown away by Rosamund Lupton's debut novel Sister back in 2010.  Lupton writes with such a strong, striking voice that when I was approached to review her most recent release The Quality of Silence, I jumped at the chance.

Ruby and her Mum Yasmin are desperately searching for Ruby's father who they've been told is dead, but they believe to be alive.  Leaving the safety of the UK to search the desolate Alaskan landscape, they are suddenly vulnerable in a strange, unfamiliar place.  I definitely found the setting unsettling- the barren land, the lack of people, the unforgiving climate- I was left with chills in every sense.

I loved that protagonist Ruby is a young girl, because even in contemporary fiction there are relatively few authors who choose to take this route.  That in itself was refreshing.  That Ruby is deaf is another brave choice for Lupton- but it opens up a whole new world of sensory descriptions which add to the dream-like quality of this book.  She's a strong-minded individual and so perceptive- I liked her immediately.

The writing is, as I expected, gorgeous.  Every word seems to have been selected with great care, and I'd suggest Lupton might be shifting further towards the literary fiction genre with The Quality of Silence.  There's still the key elements of thriller/mystery, the central issue of trust and well-crafted relationships that were evident in Sister (I haven't read Afterwards so can't comment on that), but this book has a less commercial feel and possibly a more niche readership.

This probably wouldn't be a book I'd have normally chosen to read, especially not in the height of summer- I'm quite surprised this wasn't released closer to Christmas!-but I appreciate the skill and craftsmanship of The Quality of Silence.  It was a slow burning start, but once Ruby and Yasmin reached Alaska I was drawn into this mysterious foreign land and wanted to know the outcome. 

Gut-wrenching, heart-warming, and bone-chilling. 


The Quality of Silence is out now in hardback and ebook formats.

Many thanks to the publisher Little, Brown for providing me with a copy of this book in return for my honest opinion.

The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes- Anna McPartlin

The Blurb

Here is a truth that can’t be escaped: for Mia ‘Rabbit’ Hayes, life is coming to an end . . .

Rabbit Hayes loves her life, ordinary as it is, and the extraordinary people in it.

She loves her spirited daughter, Juliet; her colourful, unruly family; the only man in her big heart, Johnny Faye.

But it turns out the world has other plans for Rabbit, and she’s OK with that. Because she has plans for the world too, and only a handful of days left to make them happen.

Here is a truth that won’t be forgotten: this is a story about laughing through life’s surprises and finding the joy in every moment.  

The Review

I've not read any of Anna McPartlin's previous novels before, but have heard really positive things from other bloggers. However, The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes seems to have really catapulted Anna McPartlin to the next level- the novel has been selected as a Richard and Judy Bookclub choice, which has thrust this book to centre stage.  And I can see why.  It's perfect book group fodder with its delicate subject matter.

I must admit I was a bit worried before reading this one.  A book about a mother dying of cancer didn't sound the most uplifting, and as someone who lost a parent at a young age I wondered if Rabbit's daughter Juliet's story might hit a bit too close to home.  I needn't have worried.  I'm not going to say it wasn't touching, and emotive, and downright painful to read in places.  But Anna McPartlin walks the delicate line between humour and heartfelt like a tightrope walker carefully balancing on a high wire.  Just when it starts to get a bit maudlin there's a one liner which will bring a smile to your face, and as you think you're enjoying the romantic elements of the story or getting to know the characters in more depth- WHAM- you're thrown back into turmoil.  It's a cliché much used, but this is a rollercoaster ride of a tale.

One of the major themes in The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes is motherhood.  Rabbit doesn't want to die leaving her adolescent daughter.  She's angry about all the milestones she'll miss out on seeing.  And she worries about who'll be the best guardian for her only child when she's gone.  On the other hand we're shown motherhood through the eyes of Rabbit's own mother, a feisty, determined, potty-mouthed woman who refuses to believe there is no cure for her daughter.  It is a reminder that motherhood is a lifelong journey, one for which we cannot truly prepare.  This aspect of the book is probably the one which will stay with me the most, especially the out and out desperation and helplessness felt by both the mothers.

The flashbacks to Rabbit's happy youth helping out with sound engineering for her brother's band were welcome relief from the terminal illness story in the present day, and also serve to  give the reader a deeper insight into the characters and their backstory.  The young romance is tender and true, believable and relatable.

It had me hooked from the get-go.  Highly recommended.
With thanks to the publisher for providing me with a galley copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes is out now in paperback, published by Transworld.