The Mole's Picks of the Year - 2014

My picks are split 2 ways, adult/YA, and children's/teens because I tend to be the one of us reading the younger readers books - out of choice. I haven't included picture books because - like a coward - it's so hard to choose.

So here I go with my choices for the older reader...
Firstly I am a fan of short story anthologies, where the anthology leads you from story to story on some form of journey and my number 1 select this year has to be Unthology 5. These anthologies are some of the best I have found, where the stories balance each other and reward you with an experience. Don't jump about the book, but read them as they come and enjoy every one.

Another very good collection was Stay Up With Me although this collection was all from the same author. Highly enjoyable and impossible to pick a favourite.




That Glimpse of Truth
was a very different collection,one that seemed more to chart the history of the short story. Starting with the story of Jonah  - and it's not really about a whale - moving through to modern stories. This is more a collection to keep on a shelf and cherry pick from as your mood suits - but still a book well worth having there.

Stepping away from short stories my next choice is a combined choice as I find it hard to select one over the other. Leigh Russell is the author of two detective series - Geraldine Steel and Ian Perterson. The DI Peterson series is a spin-off from Geraldine Steel and this year we have seen one book from each launched with more to come from both. Race to Death
 is the second DI Peterson and 

Fatal Act by Leigh Russell
 is the latest Geraldine Steel.

Brick Mother was a book that gave a very different experience and is hard to give a genre to - but the frustrations of management, the need to make a difference and the stresses of life are very well portrayed in this story.

A Bright Moon for Fools  is a story of a man who is out, unknowingly,to ruin his own life as he blunders,lies and cons his way from relationship realising, only too late,what he has done.

Above is a story in two halves of abduction  and dystopia. I preferred the first half but there was much to reflect on throughout the story. 

Shop Front was a story that took me by surprise. The story of a student taking a summer job while trying to get to university and the crowd he falls in with - and the surprises (or not) that he finds within that crowd.

Ghostwritten  is another story of self discovery and facing up to the past. It's done very well and we also learn of the hardships and deprivations suffered by interned citizens on Java during the second world war. An enlightening, if disturbing read.

But that's enough of the really serious stuff... let's lighten the mood with
Takedown Twenty I have to admit to loving the humour that the author can embed into her stories and make thrillers into a true comedic romp. The best way to end my adult selection.

My children's book selection is somewhat shorter and hopefully a little lighter although Seventeen Coffins is hardly a light read. Another time-slip story from this author bringing to life yet more of Scotland's chequered history.
 

The Reluctant Vampire is a very light read and as funny today as the day it was penned. Is a vampire who doesn't like blood "normal"?

The legend of Frog  is a story that will amuse children but keep them reading. I did have one small reservation about this book though - although it is still well worthy of inclusion.



 The Dark Inside A story of great sadness and loss - trust and friendship of the highest order and perhaps reconciliation?


But in thinking about loyalty and friendship, let's repeat those ideals - but with a generous amount of humour in Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends & Football

Ghostwritten by Isabel Wolff

Review by The Mole

Jenni is a ghost writer who does it because she loves writing and the anonymity that ghost writing affords her. She has a secret that she has carried as a burden since she was a child 25 years ago, that has been eating away at her life and now it is starting to take the biggest bite yet. Then she agrees to ghost write a friend's mother's story only to find out she must travel to the source of her burden. There she finds she is not the only one with a dark secret weighing them down.

This book started darkly and continued that way. Friction between Jenni and her boyfriend feels like it escalates and overshadows Jenni's life and then she gets to Polvarth and she starts to hear ghosts from her past and suspects everyone she sees. When we start to hear Klara's tale of her time on Java both on the plantation and in the prison camps the story gets even darker as we hear graphic tales of the brutality and cruelty which was levelled at the prisoners. We also learn that Klara has her own secret, just as dark as Jenni's.

This story has two distinct threads to it: (1) the tale of the two women's secrets; (2) the story of the camps and the many horrors that the prisoners endured. While the thread of their secrets is a dark one it is also easier to read than the horrific story of the camps but either without the other would damage the relevance of the other - they do sort of complement each other and make each other infinitely more readable. Descriptions of life in the camps had a frightening sense of authenticity about them that really came home to me.

You could use the cliché 'emotional roller coaster' but that means there are highs and lows - it would be more accurate to say that we start off going down one side of a dark valley to the dismal floor and then start climbing out the other side but do we end up on the sunnyside of the hill or are we still in shadow? You must read for yourself to find out but I will admit that I did love the non-fairy tale ending.

A really good book even though 'enjoyable' may not be entirely accurate. I am glad I read this one from the TBR pile.

Publisher - Harper Collins (Harper)
Genre - Adult fiction

The Very Picture Of You by Isabel Wolff

Family Affairs
review by Maryom

Ella Graham is a portrait painter. The way to achieve a stunning likeness in which the character of the subject shines through, she believes, is to get to know them. As she paints, she chats with her sitters and they maybe reveal more than they'd expected to. When her younger newly-engaged sister Chloe asks her to paint fiancé Nate, Ella is dismayed. The little she knows of him is not good, will her opinion change as she gets to know him better? How much of her attitude will be revealed in the portrait? Further turmoil is created for Ells when the father she believed to have abandoned her as a child tries to make contact. As the date for Chloe and Nate's wedding rapidly approaches, should Ella reveal the home-truths she's learned or keep them a secret for everyone's good?
The Very Picture Of You is a gentle romantic story of two sisters and the man who might drive them apart. This plot line is to be honest a little on the predictable side and I actually found myself more engrossed in the emerging family history than in Ella and Nate's changing relationship. The star of the novel is surely Ella's mother - her ability to ignore anything she doesn't wish to talk about and manipulate facts to suit her purpose, make her a middle-class Machiavellian monster. For years she's managed to mislead everyone, including her husband and daughters, but the truth is about to be revealed.
A good 'holiday read' for any fans of romantic fiction.

Maryom's review - 3.5 stars
Publisher - HarperCollins
Genre - Adult, romantic fiction

Buy The Very Picture of You from Amazon