Thirteen in May (2)

I read thirteen books in May; these three and others which you can read about here.

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

I think this rom com did live up to most of the plaudits it’s garnered although I have a gripe about the pointlessly distracting names of some of the characters– Katherin spelt unusually thus without an e at the end, a contemporary young woman called Gertie (Gertrude), men called Mo and Sal. We never even meet Sal, he’s referred to but is offstage so I can’t see the point of calling attention to him in this way. The minute you begin wondering what Sal’s full name is likely to be then you’re out of the story.

I had the same issue, to a much greater degree, with Marian Keyes’ book The Break.

Having got that off my chest, the plot: Tiffy shares a flat, and a bed, with Liam but they have never met – he works nights in a hospice and she’s an editor in a publishing office. She needs somewhere to live and fast and he could do with the extra income, for a reason which becomes clear, so the arrangement suits them both.

They get to know each other at first by leaving notes for each other (phew! Thank goodness for Post-Its – see Adventures in Stationery, below).

A fun escapist read with unexpected depths.

Nelly Dean by Alison Case

This was a present from a friend in 2015 after we had seen the author at the Edinburgh Book Festival. In this case (unlike Before Green Gables, see previous post) I hadn’t delayed reading it because I didn’t want anyone other than Emily Bronte roaming Wuthering Heights – I’d decided that I would need to reacquaint myself with WH first before embarking on this book in which housekeeper Nelly fills in gaps in the original.

And with lockdown came the time to do that. I didn’t actually read the book again but listened to an abridged version on tape (yes, tape, narrated by Hannah Gordon).

I don’t think this new book would make sense if you’d never read Wuthering Heights. It uses the same device as the original in framing Nelly’s narrative as a letter and here she says things like ‘As you’ll recall’ and ‘you will remember’. Or I suppose you could read this first and use WH to ‘fill in the gaps’.

I liked Alison Case’s writing a lot as indeed I like Emily Bronte’s but I’d forgotten quite what a grim and claustrophobic world EB created.

Even after reading this more personal story of Nelly Dean I find it difficult to understand (if you think of her as a real person) why she would love the members of the over-wrought and violent household at Wuthering Heights and wouldn’t leave when she had the chance.

Adventures in Stationery: A Journey Through Your Pencil Case by James Ward

Bought in a charity shop. I have been dipping into this over several months – not just a journey through your pencil case but a history of the whole stationery cupboard, from the revolving desk tidy and staplers by way of highlighters and Post-Its (or Press ’n Peel Notes as they were originally called; invented first and found a use for later).

I found it comforting to be told that despite computers and other gadgets actual stationery isn’t going anywhere.

And – why hadn't I twigged to this before? – traditional symbols are used in digital devices: a ‘pen’ for composing a new text, a magnifying glass meaning ‘search’ and a paperclip for sending an attachment. While they are in the virtual world people are reassured by these physical reminders apparently.

The book is a lovely object in itself and has these gorgeous endpapers (the illustration forms the cover of the paperback edition):

 

There’s a lot of detail (be warned that the author has a blog called I Like Boring Things, although I see it has not been updated for a year or so) and I admit my eyes did glaze over sometimes. But as someone with more notebooks than I’m ever likely to use, with a serious pencil-buying habit, and as the proud owner of a Ranger 55 table-top sharpener which I wrote about here I was very happy to follow James Ward on a journey through my pencil case.

May all your pencils be sharp ones.