Picks of 2012 - The Mole

My selection of from 2012 is driven from the books that have made an impression with me and I remember. Rather more in my selection than in Maryom's - perhaps I'm just greedy?


Historical Novels
Empire Of The Moghul : The Tainted Throne by Alex Rutherford
This is the first historical novel I have read and it left me wondering why I hadn't tried them earlier. Definitely I will be reading more in 2013 - particularly if they are as good as this one was.

Fantasy
Shadow Blizzard by Alexey Pehov
Shadow Prowler by Alexey Pehov

This year saw me reading the second and third books in the Chronicles of Sala trilogy and, unusually, found each book better than the last - a series well worth a read.

Liberator's Ruin by P J Johns 
This book came as a bit of a surprise but Maryom described it as "Star Wars as it should have been written". Bear that in mind and you will see that justice is a relative thing.




 

Classics/Nostalgia/Sci-Fi
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
This is a book that disappeared from my own collection many years ago and when given the opportunity I jumped at it. It ages remarkably well.




Children's
Red, White and Black by Matt Cartney
Danny Lansing is a youngster who has caught my imagination and I'm sure he will catch many more. This is his second adventure and it's even better than his first.

Wolfie by Emma Barnes
A story to delight children from 1-101

Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer
The final adventure for Artemis Fowl - a truly memorable last adventure it is too.

Guinea Pigs Online by Jennifer Gray and Amanda Swift 
This is about memorable and enjoyable books and this one certainly is both.

Edwin Spencer: Shadow Magic by J D Irwin
 Edwin is a true reluctant hero - But he loves IT!









YA
Ramshackle by Elizabeth Reeder
Surprisingly, of all the YA I have read this year this is the one that truly stands out. Plenty of award nominations but not enough awards - it deserves far more




 
Thriller/Crime
Uncommon Enemy by Alan Judd
A story of a spy betrayed.



Midwinter Sacrifice by Mons Kallentoft
My first Nordic Noir - and I plan on more.





The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz
A modern Sherlock Holmes - and thoroughly enjoyed.









Humour
Everything's Fine by Socrates Adams
I was warned it was a little eccentric and it was - but it was also great fun and you may never see your Sat Nav in the same light.


The Fart by Cynan Jones
During the year of the short story - here is a VERY short story that I found very amusing!



Non-fiction
Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell 
An era that I knew less of than I thought and told with a cynicism that will amuse
 
Red Bull Racing F1 Car 2010 (RB6) Owner's Workshop Manual 
OK, it's not REALLY aimed at owners but it was a Christmas present and it was hugely informative.


How To Win Friends and Influence People
Something we all aspire to.









Short Stories

Unthology No. 3 edited by Stokes Ashley and Robin Jones 

And 2012 was the year of the short stories - well it would have been but that is actually explained in the forward to this collection that warmed me more to short stories that I have ever been. Perhaps all anthologies should be like this?

Wolfie by Emma Barnes

The Ultimate Pet
Review by The Mole

Lucie loves her Uncle Joe because he always brings presents and one day he brings her a dog. Only Lucie can see it's a wolf not a dog, despite everyone insisting it is a dog. Then one day people start to notice that Wolfie might be a wolf, despite Lucie insisting he's a dog - and there is great danger for Wolfie because of it.

Emma Barnes has created some great characters in this story and I especially like the parents who come over as out of touch and unbothered - but are in fact, very typical modern busy parents seen through the eyes of a child. There is Marcus, a neighbour, bully and sneak who must always be the centre of attention. Alexis is the big brother type - protective and kind. Then of course, there's Wolfie. Wolfie is magical in that she can talk, but she is also a great friend and protector of Lucie - the perfect friend let alone the ultimate pet.

I simply loved Lucie and Wolfie and their magical relationship which sort of just happens from the moment they meet (I have a dog like that!) and I'm sure that children will love them too.

At 132 pages in length, the story is the perfect length to attract the 7+ reader and printed in an inviting format that makes an easily read book for younger readers. Although the main characters are female, because the story is about a 'dog', well a pet I suppose, it will appeal to boys and girls alike. Throughout the story there are delightful black and white illustrations by Emma Chichester Clark which add appeal for the younger reader.

Throughout the reading I found myself imagining this as a screenplay of some sort - everything just sort of fitted. A book I really enjoyed, and one that would be great as a bedtime read - although there are cliff hangers that may keep them awake!

All in all a delightful story of love, loyalty and trust and told with magic and fantasy that will captivate children of all ages.

Publisher - Strident Publishing
Genre - Childrens' fantasy

Buy Wolfie from Amazon

Edinburgh Book Festival 2011

We had planned a Road Trip around Scotland for our holiday and when we realised that with a bit of tweaking to our holiday plans it would be possible to catch a James Mayhew story-telling event live in Edinburgh, we decided we had to!

As this was taking place at the same time as the Edinburgh International Book Festival, we found that several author and publisher friends would be there on the day so put together arrangements to meet up and say "Hi" to as many as possible. It is a frustration that the timetable of events is not publicly announced for the book festival earlier as that would have given us the ability to re-plan more of our holiday to catch some of the events and maybe meet more people.

The first thing on our itinerary was to go to the National Gallery to see James Mayhew and quite a crowd was gathered to watch as James told the story of Baba Yaga and her house on chicken legs followed by the tale of St George and the Dragon. James was every bit as spell-binding in real life as on the web as he told the stories. He not only tells the tale but illustrates it as he goes - and upside down (the illustration that is, not James). I wish we'd been allowed to video him but the gallery's rules forbid photography of any kind.

After this we ambled up to Charlotte Square where the Edinburgh International Book Festival was in full swing, passing street performers for the fringe and collecting flyers for other events as we went. Now, when I first talked about going to Edinburgh International Book Festival as part of our summer road-trip, the teen (14) wasn't too impressed - standing around while I talked to people is NOT her idea of fun - but when one of her friends asked her to collect autographs and writing tips for him, she got a lot more enthusiastic.
We'd arranged to meet with Linda Strachan and Nicola Morgan at the authors' yurt - which proved a little trickier than we'd expected as it's location is kept secret from the general public! Fortunately there were helpful stewards around to send us in the right direction. Both Linda and Nicola are writers of YA fiction (amongst other things) which we've both enjoyed. I've met Linda before, when I was in Edinburgh at Easter, and Nicola was someone I felt I knew from many conversations with her through Twitter - though I would say she wasn't as crabbity in real life as she claims to be! - and she presented me with one of her special 'crabbit old bags' which I will use at future book festivals. (Many thanks, Nicola) Also with them was Emma Barnes (Author of Jessica Haggerthwaite: Witch Dispatcher and How (Not) to Make Bad Children Good).
Nicola, Linda and Emma were the first authors to be cornered by the Teen in her autograph hunt and Teen started to find people who talked to her like she wasn't a child and became rather more involved. We could happily have spent much longer chatting about holiday plans, midges, what reviewers do when they really dislike a book etc but everyone had events to go to.
Leaving the Mole checking out one of the festival's bookshops - where he'd found some of his reviews posted (4) - The Teen and I went on an Author Hunt to see how many autographs we could bag. Now, rather unfairly perhaps, we hadn't had time to go to anyone's event and we hadn't bought their books but just tagged onto the end of the 'author signing' queues but everyone we approached was most welcoming and willing to pass on their writing tips for the Friend. A special mention must go to Simon Puttock who I disrupted full flow when a friend I'd been hoping to meet walked past - sorry, Simon. We also were privileged to catch an impromptu re-run of Jasper Fforde's event, performed along with Philip Ardagh, for some unfortunate New Zealand fans who'd arrived 5 minutes too late for the real thing and not been allowed in - I'm not sure how much resemblance this held to the original but certainly deserved an award for Best Comedy Performed By Children's Authors.

We finished the day by meeting Keith Charters, children's author and, like us, a grow-your-own enthusiast and getting thrown out of Pizza Hut because the staff had homes to go to apparently. While we asked a lot of questions it was also nice to answer questions about our minor contribution in the process. But it was also nice to talk about other things that make people people!

Many thanks to everyone for their time in the day and it's a shame we couldn't have spent more time in Edinburgh!