I read nine books in
December, squeezing the last one in on 31 December between dinner and waiting
for neighbours to arrive to see in the New Year.
Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
Read for book group. A
contemporary epistolary novel – yay! Hope this will start a new trend for them.
Here, a developing relationship is told in letters/emails between a Norfolk farmer’s
wife and a Danish museum curator. Very enjoyable. If I had a quibble it would
be that their voices sounded too similar. Anders’ first language isn’t English
so it makes sense that his writing style would be formal (eg no contractions
like ‘I don’t’ rather than ‘I do not’) but that was the way Tina wrote too – I think
she might have sounded more colloquial.
With all the election hooha
some escapism was called for and I found it in Georgette Heyer, in three comedies of errors read in quick succession which did the required job
admirably: Sylvester, Bath Tangle and Black Sheep.
I can’t understand why
Andrew Davies et al don’t make films/tv adaptations of her books instead of
continually rehashing Jane Austen (marvellous though she is). I reckon
Sylvester, Duke of Salford, could give Mr Darcy (marvellous though he is) a run for his money.
A Clean Sweep by Audrey Davis
A fun cast of characters –
fifty-something widow Emily, her daughter Tabitha and various of their friends
and acquaintances and their romantic mishaps. This is the first and probably
the last romantic novel I’ve read in which the hero is a chimney sweep but as
he is a hunky twenty-something (with clean finger nails) what’s not to like? I
liked Meryl too and her generous, optimistic nature (and penchant for Abba
songs). A warmly written rom-com.
The Librarian by Salley Vickers
I have read two other books
by SV, liked one, didn’t like the other. But this appealed to me: set in 1958,
a young woman, Sylvia Blackwell, takes up a position as children’s librarian in
the market town of East Mole. Her attempts to enthuse the children with a love
of reading are hampered by the antagonism of the bullying (male) librarian but
she has some successes particularly with her landlady’s awkward daughter and
her neighbours’ bright son. However, some of her other relationships events
aren’t so happy and events conspire against her. Loved the period detail; not sure about the ending.
I appreciate the timing for
this book with the scandalous closing of so many libraries and school libraries
all over the country; sadly, Salley Vickers is probably preaching to the
converted here in trying to convey their importance.
Walking Home: Travels with a Troubadour on the Pennine Way by Simon Armitage
Bought at Edinburgh Book
Festival about eight years ago and just got round to. In summer 2010, SA (since
he wrote this he has become the Poet Laureate) walked the 256-mile Pennine Way
the ‘wrong’ way ie north to south. He sang, as it were, for his supper along
the way, giving poetry readings in exchange for accommodation and food. It
doesn’t sound like a walk in the park, crossing lonely fells and climbing
hills, mostly against the prevailing (howling) wind. Just the thing to read
when you’re wrapped up warm at home.
Christmas at the Beach Hut by Veronica
Henry
’Tis the season … to read a
Christmas novel. Not that a beach hut is the obvious place to go at Christmas
time but this was a very superior one with a wood-burning stove, beds and
washing/toilet facilities. Lizzie is feeling overwhelmed, not only with
Christmas stuff but also with her recent redundancy and impending empty nest
plus her tricky relationships with her mother-in-law and her husband’s first
wife, so she runs away to the seaside where she meets others seeking escape for
various reasons. A page-turner, as usual, from this author.
Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell
For children of all
ages. KR has been on my radar for a while; this is the first one I’ve read but
it most definitely will not be the last. Baby Sophie is rescued from a
shipwreck; she has been tucked inside a cello case. As the years go by she is convinced, against all the evidence, that
her mother survived the wreck too. Sophie's search takes her and her wonderful guardian,
Charles, to the rooftops of Paris. Absolutely magical writing – a lovely note
to end my reading year on.
