The Beatles by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom

Review by The Mole

Beatlemania started in 1963 and lasted just 7 short years but the legacy lives on today. At a recent pantomime there was an audio soundtrack running of just Beatle tracks and our 16 year old was surprised that what she was listening to and enjoying was the Beatles. One wonders how many more generations will go on to enjoy music from that short era.

This picture book, because it's difficult to ignore the fact that that is what it is, tells a very complete - if somewhat abbreviated - story of the origins of the Fab Four and their meteoric rise to fame. There are no photographs in this book - it is all original artwork - and the layout and presentation will appeal greatly to younger readers but the content and concise factual presentation will also appeal to fans of the group from their 1963 origins.

The format makes it a book to either 'dip into' for 20 minutes or just to sit down and read  - getting lost in nostalgia and being drawn down memory lane, forgetting the book a while.

A really beautiful book covering the lives of these seemingly 'normal' youngsters - although I never changed my trousers at the bus stop!

Publisher - Frances Lincoln
Genre - Picture Story Book, Non-fiction, biography

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The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Review by The Mole

The story of two sisters, two sisters, family, slavery and abolitionists.

Living in Charleston slavery is a part of everyday life so when Sarah, on her 11th birthday, is given Hetty (also known as Handful) for a present it shocks and abhors people that she tries to refuse the gift. However they build up an unusual relationship for the time of a great friendship that lasts throughout their lives - lives that see Sarah and her sister Nina move to the North and become abolitionists and women's rights activists while Handful and her sister Sky try to run away to the North for freedom.

The author's notes come at the back book and explain a little of the history. Sarah and Nina were, very broadly, not only real historical characters but they did leave the South to become abolitionists - unusual ones though in that they campaigned for equality and not just for freedom - and also they started the campaign in North America for equal rights for women. I feel that while the notes contain spoilers that something should have been at the front of the book explaining the historical context and how heavily the idea of their story is fictionalised.

I did enjoy this book a lot but I failed to feel for any of the characters except perhaps Handful - most of the rest feeling like a report on the happenings rather than a window on their story.

Perhaps the slavery story has been over told in the past, perhaps it can't be over told, but here we get a good insight into how the owner/slave relationship may well have ranged from almost benevolent to downright domineering almost to the point of sadistic - and all within the context of one family. We also get an insight into how the spirits of the slaves could not just be controlled to be compliant but how they would rise up in anger when the slave owners were not in sight.

In addition to the insight into slavery we also get an insight into how shallow the families of the slave owners of the deep south may well have been and how women could do whatever they liked so long as it didn't encroach into the man's world and power.

Coming back to the heavy fictionalisation aspect, I am left wondering (despite the research also mentioned in the notes) how realistically this portrayed the life and times although so much of it rings as feasible and possibly likely.

But it is a work a fiction - let's not lose sight of that - and one that I did enjoy reading.

Publisher -  Tinder Press
Genre - Adult fiction, historical

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The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen

review by Maryom

When she returns to her home town of Rabbit Back as a substitute literature teacher, Ella Milana expects it to be a temporary stay, a few months at most, but then she finds herself getting pulled into the weirdnesses of the town. Firstly, there's the matter of classic books that suddenly seem to have acquired different endings. Talking to the local librarian doesn't make matters clearer - could there be such a thing as a virus that passes from book to book causing this mayhem, or is it just idle printers playing practical jokes? Then she's selected as the tenth and final member of the Rabbit Back Literature Society. This very exclusive group was set up by local famous children's author Laura White to encourage young writers and help them achieve their dreams but, although all the members are highly respected, the inner workings of the Society are shrouded in mystery. Before Ella can properly join the Society, more things go awry and Laura White herself disappears as if by magic in a whirl of snow. Ella decides to take advantage of the Society's 'Game' to find some answers to her multitude of questions - under its rules, members must answer any questions posed as fully and frankly as possible. In this way she hopes to get to the bottom of Laura White's mysterious disappearance and to find out what happened to the boy-genius who was previously the tenth member of the Society. There are plenty of hidden secrets about to be unearthed....

The Rabbit Back Literature Society is a strange book to start to describe; in it the quirky and fantastical rub shoulders with the everyday world and 'serious' themes - so imagine something on the lines of a cross between Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels and Twin Peaks. Rabbit Back is a town populated as much by statues inspired by Laura White's novels as it is by people, a place where dogs congregate outside houses as if waiting for something or someone, and where having a 'mapping' taken to detect mythological creatures in your back garden is commonplace.
  I found it a little slow to start, as the opening chapters were not quite what I'd expected from the blurb, but as Ella investigated further into the mysterious behind-the-scenes world of the Literature Society my curiosity grew. Gradually a picture emerges of how the Society members, and even the founder, have exploited each other, lifting plots and characters for their best-selling novels straight from real life.
If you fancy something a little different, give this a go; it won't disappoint.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Pushkin Press
Genre - adult literary, fantasy

Other reviews; The Worm Hole

What Lies Within by Tom Vowler

 review by Maryom

Anna has always loved her remote Dartmoor home but when a prisoner escapes, for all her outward calm, she begins to feel vulnerable and threatened. Her husband is out working on the Moors at all hours and her son seems to be taking his 'angry teenager' moods to a whole new level - depsite her husband's assurances, Anna can't believe Paul's rages are just part of growing up.
Meanwhile, a young teacher is settling in at her first job, full of idealistic schemes to make a difference, but then the unthinkable happens and she is attacked by one of the pupils. Struggling to deal with what has happened, all she can do is go home, to the one place she feels safe but even there her version of events isn't accepted unquestioningly.
Gradually the two threads twist together into a compelling psychological thriller.

Oddly, this book has been languishing on the TBR pile since last Summer. I don't really know why it's been neglected in favour of other, and in hindsight sometimes duller, books unless maybe the cover and its blurb put me off. What ever reason, once I started it, I couldn't put it down.
What Lies Within explores the aftermath of sexual assault and the concept of nature-versus-nurture within the framework of an intense thriller. It's the sort of book that has me racing through the pages, wanting to know if my plot-guessing theories are right, but left me pondering over some of the issues raised - particularly, faced with the same circumstances, "What would I have done?". As the title says, not all danger lies outside, sometimes it's lurking within us.

Although he's published a collection of short stories previously, this is Tom Vowler's debut novel and I'm hoping there'll be more from him soon.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Headline
Genre - adult crime, psychological thriller

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Layla Queen of Hearts by Glenda Millard

Illustrated by Stephen Michael King
Review by The Mole

When Senior Citizen's Day is announced the children are invited to bring an elderly relative to school. Layla has no one to take and rather than share Griffin's (Layla's best friend) grandma she sets about finding someone to take of her own - and finds Miss Amelie.

Layla is one of those rare children and even rarer adults - she is naive, kind, empathic and strong willed. In fact if the world was peopled by such characters then perhaps we could enjoy world peace. In the meantime though...

As a children's story you expect a happy-ish sort of ending but you don't tend to find what you expect in The Kingdom of Silk. This is the second in the series of books and they take their name from Griffin's family - the Silks. The Silks are an uncommon family and befriend uncommon people.

The book ends on a sad note but none the less a very worthwhile one and anyone reading these books will have cause to stop and reflect on themselves and others around them.

Although the illustrator differs from book 1 in the series, they are similar in nature and once again complement the story adding appeal for the younger reader. Book 3 comes out 1st February 2014.

Publisher - Phoenix Yard Books
Genre - Children's fiction

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The Thing About December by Donal Ryan

review by Maryom

 Johnsey Cunliffe has always been a bit 'slow', never as sharp-witted as the other boys and seen by all as the village idiot; gentle soul who wouldn't harm anything, incapable of fighting back, so an easy target for being mocked and bullied. His parents have always protected and sheltered him but now he's on his own and the world is a more confusing place than he'd ever imagined possible, and the mockery and taunting has turned to violence.
Since Johnsey's father's death, the family farm has been let out to a neighbouring farmer and the sheds and yards stand empty of livestock, but its value is on the increase. It lies in the centre of a potential money-making land-deal with the whole village hoping to benefit from developing it for housing and industry, but Johnsey doesn't want to give up his heritage, the only thing he has to link him to the stronger, cleverer Cunliffe men before him.
 Sorry, but this isn't the most cheerful, upbeat novel to start the year with - in fact, it's the opposite; an absolute heart-breaker of a read. Johnsey's tragedy is played out month by month, a chapter for each, and for each there's a comparison with how things were during his idyllic-seeming childhood, with life revolving around the farm and seasons, and how they are for him now. As Johnsey struggles to cope with being on his own, the reader gets to share his anguish and bewilderment - he knows he isn't as bright and quick as others but doesn't see why people think they can fool him all the time and trample all over his opinions and hopes. At times it's painful to read as the reader is more aware of the mess he's digging himself into than Johnsey is. I hoped against hope that somehow, some-way, everything would work out fine but it would have needed the waving of a magic wand. Even so the end came as a shock.
The Thing About December is a moving and immensely sad read but still compelling and one I think I'll come back to.
It's early days, but I think this will end up on my 2014's Pick of the Year.

Maryom's review - 5 stars

Publisher - Doubleday

Genre - adult contemporary fiction

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Maryom's New Year's Reading Plans

I'm going to be hitting the New Year running with several 2014 publications read and ready to review - The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh, Adele Parks' Spare Brides and Donal Ryan's The Thing About December for starters - all very very good in their differing ways.

This site is primarily about reviewing newly-published books kindly supplied by authors, publishers and publicists.This year though I want to find time for a bit of 'extra-curricular' reading.
Firstly, some of the stash of my own books that's constantly being added to but never read. I've made a good start on this by having already read one of my booky Christmas presents Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick but I have a huge pile of books picked up here and there, books I really want to read but that get ignored in favour of 'review' books.

Secondly, I want to catch up on some highly recommended books/authors that I've never read. No matter how many books you read, there's always some that slip the net. So this is a starting list and if anyone has other suggestions feel free to make them....

Deborah Moggach - because I won a stack of her novels in a Hay Festival-related competition
Steinbeck (though I did read some back in school) and Chekhov's short stories, both favourites of Rob Around Books ,
Donna Tartt, recommended by crime writer Steven Dunne who said I 'must read' The Secret History and books that other bloggers have included in their 'picks of the year' - for example; Proxima by Stephen Baxter and Abominable by Dan Simmons recommended on the For Winter Nights blog 

Thirdly, if there's any time left, to revisit some old favourites. My shelves are stacked with books I love but haven't reread in years. They need to be aired once in a while.