Alphabetical: How every letter tells a story - by Michael Rosen

Wordies will love this gorgeous book written by the author of bestselling children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.  Rosen presents Word of Mouth on BBC Radio 4 and seriously loves language. He’s pretty adept at using it, too. Alphabetical is a charming and engaging journey from A through to Z, with plenty of anecdote and zest to keep you entertained.

Before we got to our nice little tidy alphabetic system of 21 consonants and 5 vowels, there was a whole lot of invention and establishing of conventions to be gone through. In Alphabetical, each letter gets a chapter of its own, starting with a brief little intro outlining its historical origins and correct pronunciation. But that’s not where the fun is and Rosen knows it, so he keeps the technical details short and sweet.

While, the chapter entitled ‘The Story of A – A is for Alphabet’ is a necessary and logical place to start his alphabetical expose, Rosen soon goes exploring the many curving side streets and alleys leading off from other letters: ' D is for Disappeared Letters', while 'E is for e. e. cummings', and 'T is for Txtspk'. From rappers to ciphers and Cockneys to typewriters, Rosen keeps up a lively pace until he finishes up with a bit of discussion on the not so rational organisation of zipcodes.

Not many word nerds pull off a book of this nature with such flair. Rosen keeps things light, concise, and quite personal. If you’ve always wanted to know your P’s from your Q’s but thought this kind of book might have you nodding off before your coffee’s gone cold, reconsider. This is the one for you.

Reviewed by Spot

Catalogue Link – Alphabetical

For more information or to see Michael Rosen read ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’, visit his website.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

There has been much hype about The Bone Season, with several mentions that this very young author is the next J.K. Rowling. It is Samantha Shannon’s debut novel and it is a Fantasy/Science Fiction combo.

The year is 2059. Paige Mahoney is one of London’s unnatural underworld. As a dreamwalker and clairvoyant, she commits treason simply by being alive. She is captured and sent to the Rephaim controlled penal colony of Oxford where she is claimed by Warden and must endeavour to understand the Rephaim to have any hope of gaining her freedom.

This book is fast paced and imaginative. I will definitely read her next book. With a planned seven book series, there’s much to look forward to. Great debut! Great Read! 

Posted by Mrs Brown

 

Catalogue Link:  The Bone Season 

A Treacherous Paradise by Henning Mankell

Better known for his atmospheric mystery novels featuring Detective Inspector Wallander, Henning Mankell has also written several novels about Africa. It was during a sojourn in Mozamibique, that Mankell discovered a curious fact: that during the early 1900s, a Swedish woman was briefly the owner of a prosperous brothel in Maputo, but no one knew where she came from or what happened to her afterwards.

Out of this bit of history grew Mankell’s novel about Hanna Renstrom, a poor girl from a remote part of Sweden, sent to the city to make her own way in life. She becomes a cook on board a steamship and marries the third mate, who unfortunately dies of fever off the coast of Africa. Hanna can’t face the idea of staying on board so escapes one night while the ship is in port.

Grieving and ill, Hanna finds herself cared for at what looks like a hotel, but which turns out to be a brothel owned by the volatile Senor Vas. While she regains her strength and wonders what she will do next, Hanna has the chance to observe the cruel treatment of the local African people in the hands of their white masters. How she becomes a brothel owner and suddenly extremely well-to-do makes for an absorbing story, peopled with fascinating characters.

A Treacherous Paradise gives immense insight into the awkward relationships between the natives and colonisers. The book’s early chilly Nordic setting makes the steamy African heat all the more vivid. This is a beautifully crafted novel with an elegant translation that does the writer justice.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: A treacherous paradise 

Find out more: Author's website

The Opposite of Falling by Jennie Rooney

The Opposite of Falling is an entertaining historical novel which takes its characters on a journey that leads them to discover their true path in life.

Jilted by her fiancé, Ursula Bridgewater has been left on the shelf. It is the early 1860s and Ursula decides to travel - Thomas Cook is conducting tours abroad – and tentatively she begins with a trip to Wales. Ten years later and Ursula still has the travel bug, and without a husband or any meaningful way to occupy her very able brain, she plans a tour to the United States. She hires a new maid, Sally Walker, to be her travel companion.

Sally has been brought up in a convent and seen little of the world. Painfully shy, she is overwhelmed by Ursula’s frankness and generosity, but nervous of the journey ahead. When Ursula books a balloon ride at Niagara Falls, Sally is panic stricken but the handsome young balloonist, Toby O’Hara, equally takes her breath away.

Toby was just a small boy when he witnessed his mother’s death following an attempt to fly a contraption made by his father. The possibilities of being airborne have haunted him since. The three characters’ stories converge towards a thrilling climax as each makes an important discovery.

The Opposite of Falling is a lively read made all the more interesting with its description of a number of  issues of the day, such as the development of new technology, the class system and the place of women in society. Jennie Rooney is the author who gave us the acclaimed novel, Inside the Whale.

Reviewed by JAM

Catalogue link: The Opposite of Falling

Self-Portrait by Marti Friedlander

'The light in New Zealand was so strong, so bright. Such bright strong sunlight against the rather dour national character of the people. A bright sunny land, and yet it wasn’t a sunny life.’ - Marti Friedlander

Born in 1928, Friedlander had a tough start to life. At the age of three, she and her older sister, Anne, were sent to live in an orphanage in London’s East End. After a couple of years, plagued by serious health problems and lack of care, she was moved to a Jewish orphanage in Norwood. Here, she received life-saving surgery, security, a sense of Jewishness, and an education that culminated in a Trade Scholarship. Photography was suggested, and she agreed.

Marti Friedlander immigrated to New Zealand in 1958. It was supposed to be a temporary stay, to meet her new husband’s family and to see the countryside that he so glowingly praised. But, circumstances turned out otherwise and this bright, curious, and spirited young woman with a passion for people and culture found herself marooned in a sparsely populated, bland post-war suburban society without the consolation of motherhood to occupy her. Tragedy had found her again, and the quote above, with its reference to light and sorrow, captures Friedlander both as the outsider struggling with loss, as well as the artist.

The black and white photos throughout the book showcase her outstanding collection and cover the major areas of her work, from portraits of New Zealand’s emerging and celebrated artists to photos of the protest movements in the 70’s and 80’s. Highlights include the photos of kuia with moko for a book with Michael King and snapshots in time of quintessential New Zealand characters and locations. All vividly show why she is regarded as New Zealand’s leading photographer.

While Friedlander shares details of her life and the ups and downs of her marriage, these are not delved into too deeply, nor are they the primary focus of the book. It is very much the artist talking about how her life has infused her art, never separate from one another, and that symbiotic way that art emerges from it. It is a beautiful touching illustration of a full life, well lived, courageous and unconventional – the fruits, of which, have added much to our collective cultural heritage. 

If you're not going to read this book or one of the libraries' other books on Friedlander (which you should!), you can visit Friedlander's website to see examples of her work - the link is below.

Reviewed by Spot

Catalogue Link: Self-Portrait

Marti Friedlander - website

The Gallery of Vanished Husbands by Natasha Solomons

The Gallery of Vanished Husbands is a quirkily feel-good novel about a woman who breaks out of the narrow world of her Jewish community to invent a new role for herself in London’s heady art scene during the 1960s. And it all begins when Juliet Montague steps out on her birthday to buy for her family a much needed refrigerator.

Juliet is an aguna, a Jewish term for a woman whose husband has left her, and by definition that makes her a subject of pity among her neighbours. But Juliet also has a hidden talent – she has a feeling for art and when she sees a good picture she gets ‘that tingle’. Somehow, instead of buying a fridge, she finds herself asking a young artist to paint her picture.

Charlie is one of a new breed of painters, and his middle class background is quite different from Juliet’s, but the two make an effective team when they set up the Wednesday Gallery. Juliet sells pictures by Charlie’s friends, including Max, an older artist who paints figurative pictures featuring birds.

How Juliet comes to meet Max, and their burgeoning relationship drives much of the plot, each chapter written around a new portrait of Juliet. She is a terrific character and in spite of a tendency to break the mould, she is neither daring nor driven by ideology, but just seems to go with her instinct. Her Jewish background gives the novel plenty of colour and the setting of post-war Britain adds perspective and depth.

If you like art and heart-warming novels such as The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, or Mr Pettigrew’s Last Stand, this could be the book for you.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue link: The Gallery of Vanished Husbands

The Virgin & the Whale by Carl Nixon

This book by Carl Nixon starts with a preface entitled “the beginning” and is dated and signed by the author March 2013. I assume it’s factual and taking that into account, the story which follows is all the more remarkable, amazing and hauntingly beautiful.

To say too much would spoil it for any reader, but if the title and cover illustration (of hot air balloon over foreign fantastical, ancient city amid big trees) doesn’t grab you, then perhaps like me, you’ve read Carl Nixon before and that alone is reason enough to pick it up. If not, then let me tell you it is set in New Zealand and for the most part tells the story of a young nurse and mother, living with her parents and initially at least, working at the colonial city’s hospital while awaiting news of her husband’s return from the First World War.

There are enough clues, scientific and historical facts in the account to whet the appetite of readers who are interested in these things and for those of us who like to be carried along with a jolly good story I promise you that is there as well. There is a story within a story, happening concurrently, and this is interwoven with skill and ease for the reader. I found myself stealing time from other areas of my life in order to complete this book, doing so in just three sessions. The fact that it is based on a true story makes it all the more captivating. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Catherine

Catalogue Link: The virgin and the whale

Read More: Author's website