Natasha Pulley: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, 9781408854280, hardback (paperback in May 2016), Bloomsbury UK

Usually I am not known to pick novels with fantasy elements, except novels from authors of the school of magic realism such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Which is why I was so very surprised how much I loved Natasha Pulley’s debut novel “The Watchmaker of Filigree Street”.  I felt a little bit like entering a fairy tale.  If you enjoy historical novels, fantasy and Sherlock Holmes type of settings - this is your book!  It is a perfect novel to cuddle up with on the sofa when the weather becomes dismal outside or during the upcoming holiday break.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is set in the very atmospheric, late 19^th century Victorian London; several strands come together in this delicately woven plot.   Thaniel Steepleton, the main character, works as a telegraphist in the Yard and narrowly escapes a bomb attack on the Home Office. A special watch someone had placed in his flat went off to warn him, saving his life.  Steepleton traces the unusual mechanics of the watch to Baron Mori, a watchmaker of Japanese origin working from his shop in Filigree Street.   His visit to Keita Mori’s house changes his life forever; he finds a kindred soul and friend.  Entering Mori’s magical world where a mechanical, playful octopus called Katsu lives with his creator, he soon finds that his friend is also a clairvoyant.  Grace Carrow studying to be a theoretical physicist in Oxford is doomed to be married off by her mother very soon, a fate she is desperately trying to avoid at all costs as she much prefers to proof the existence of ether in her research.  As events speed along, the fate of these three main characters are dramatically entwined with each other, racing towards a climatic ending which finds you longing for more.  It is hard to believe this is Natasha Pulley’s first book, her prose is exquisite.

Rebecca Scherm: Unbecoming, Penguin Books US, 9780143128311, 16,00 $, paperback

“Unbecoming” comes with powerful recommendations by such well-known authors as Kate Atkinson, Tana French, Elizabeth George and Karen Joy Fowler, all with glowing quotes.   And the book does not disappoint, I can barely believe this is a debut novel.  Rebecca Scherm has written an extremely well-plotted story, a great delight to read, a mixture between suspense and coming of age and the publisher’s comparison to Hitchcock or Patricia Highsmith fits perfectly in my opinion.  

Grace or Julie as she calls herself now, lives in Paris, working as a restorer in a shady workshop where she repairs objects of art or bric a brac, probably not all of them legal or belonging to the clients her employer Jacqueline claims.  But Julie’s/Grace’s background is far from what she tells people it is, supposedly from California she claims to be on the run from an abusive boyfriend.  In truth she comes from Garland/Tennessee, where she spent a nearly picture perfect teenage life with her childhood sweetheart Riley, being virtually adopted by his mother Mrs. Graham who sees in her the daughter she never had. Her own flaky parents are too busy with twins to care much about their older child. Slowly cracks in Grace’s life appear and things start to unravel with every page.  Grace heads off to New York to study, getting a job as an assistant to an appraiser.  She becomes fascinated by the world of art, furniture and jewels she learns to appraise for auctions and estates and the people who are so very different from what she is used to in Garland. 

Shifting back and forth between Paris, New York and Garland, the puzzle is slowly put together.  In Paris Grace nervously follows the daily news of the newspaper back home. Finally she hits on what she has been looking for: the release of two young men from prison who served time for robbing the Wynne House, a museum in Grace and Riley’s hometown. They are none  other than Riley and Alls.  Alls also belonged to Grace’s inner circle, a guy very different from Riley and the secret object of her lust.  Grace was the architect of that heist gone bad but she escaped to Prague. A cat and mouse game unfolds after the release of the two and one becomes a helpless bystander as Grace’s old life catches up with her in Paris.

From the very first page Rebecca Scherm has you hooked, I hope this book finds many readers but sadly I don't think the cover treatment quite portraits what an excellent story is between the covers. I really look forward to the next novel Rebecca Schem hopefully has up her sleeves.

Jane Gardam: The Man in the Wooden Hat, Europa Editions 9781933372891

Jane Gardam I have just discovered for myself being tipped off by a friend from the publishing world. German publishing companies have discovered this wonderful author at the same time,   “Old Filth” has just come out in German as “Ein untadeliger Mann” although it was already published several years ago in the UK.

Having read “Old Filth” about a month ago, I had to read the second part of this trilogy which tells the story of mainly 3 people who are very connected with each other throughout their lives,  Sir Edward Feathers, his wife Betty and his old enemy Terry Veneering who plays an important part in Betty’s life.  The third part of this trilogy ,“Old Friends”, is on my reading list for sure.

“The Man in the Wooden Hat”  tells Betty’s version of life with “Old Filth” , Edward Feathers , beginning after WWII in London, Hong Kong and finally their retirement in Dorset.  I had missed more of Betty’s voice in “Old Filth”, her side of the story felt equally important and I was not disappointed– she is an immensely likeable, upbeat character as I imagined her to be.  I will not gallop ahead and reveal much more. Betty’s secrets come out in the open as you read on, be it why her life remained childless or about her relationship with Terry Veneering and his son Harry. Or why she married Edward Feathers to begin with. Other colorful characters appearing in “Old Filth” like aforementioned Terry Veneering, his son Harry, Isobel Ingoldby or Albert Ross - they all play an important part in  Betty's life.

Jane Gardam is a master storyteller, in her stories no one is really who they appear to be to outsiders. She paints the English stiff upper lip and the tragedies hiding behind it like no one else with her short, clipped sentences.   I was very surprised to discover that she is already 87 years old now and am really glad this wonderful writer has been discovered for German readers. I hope she achieves the same success here she had in the UK, she deserves to be high up in the German bestseller list.

Elizabeth Gilbert: Big Magic, Riverhead Books, 9781594634710, hardback

I am a fan of Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing, loved her “Eat, Pray, Love” (but not the soapy film starring Julia Roberts!) and think she outdid herself with “The signature of all things” which read like a classic.  I always look forward to a new book she writes, she is immensely diverse in her writing.

Her latest book, “Big Magic – Creative Living beyond Fear”, out since September, is non-fiction, an inspirational book, trying to give you strength, a kick in the ass to live up to your own potential and to think outside the box when it comes to giving this sparkle of an idea inside you a chance to unfold.

I would not go as far as calling it esoteric; it is not, because Liz is far too down to earth for that. She draws on experiences from her own life or that of friends. I am particularly amused by her thought of ideas visiting you and if you do not pick up on them, they will find someone else to bring them to life.  As happened with the idea for a book , an Amazon jungle novel, she had and did not follow through only to find that Ann Patchett had hatched the idea and wrote a book on the very same subject, definately not knowing about the others plans.  

Liz  divides the book into several chapters:  courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, trust and divinity . The book reads as if a girlfriend is talking to you, I found it uplifting, easy to read and inspirational although some of her thoughts were a little too magical for me.  If you are stuck  whether it is on a personal or professional level,  she has some interesting thoughts to offer.

But I am definitely more of a fan when it comes to her fiction.  The cover is too kitschy for my European taste, the German publisher S. Fischer uses the same cover and the book is also called "Big Magic - Nimm dein Leben in die Hand und es wird dir gelingen." She is currently touring in Germany. 

Paul Theroux:  Deep South, with photographs by Steve McCurry, 9780241146729, Penguin Random House (Hamish Hamilton), hardback, paperback out in April 2016

Just having finished this 441 page doorstopper of a hardback, I can safely say this is literary travel writing at its best. Paul Theroux is a great storyteller and observer of the human race, his language is exquisite and a joy to read, his vocabulary so rich that I came across words I had never encountered before and had to look them up in a dictionary but then I am not a native speaker.

Holding a special fondness for Southern writers myself, especially Carson McCullers, and places like Savannah, Charleston and Cape Hatteras, I was very interested to hear that Paul Theroux had turned his attention to his home country and the Deep South in his latest book.

Never having been to Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, I was really curious about his road trip and encounters, spanning over four seasons.   But I was not prepared for the level of poverty, desperation, racial issues, poor housing, dying communities and unemployment pouring from these pages. I had thought this was a thing of the fifties and sixties maybe.   As Paul was to discover repeatedly, many towns he visited would have qualified easily for financial aid from the US government had they been a Third World country where the US spent millions of US $. Yet nothing was being done at home in the South, it was simply being ignored.  The Clinton Foundation is also turning a blind eye to obvious issues in Arkansas, Bill Clinton’s home state, focusing their attention on more PR worthy activities in the Third World. 

If it were not for the perseverance of black and white farmers and some idealist not to give up on their communities, large proportions of the southern countryside and towns would soon be looking like deserted ghost towns in the Wild West. 

I could not grasp how some people would want to continue to live there under the circumstances he describes. Most towns and villages seem still dominated by big landowners, being at the mercy of banks issuing loans for crops and agricultural machinery and the big farm up the road is still called “The Plantation”.  

He finds many of the people he talks to in the typical Southern meeting places, churches and guns shows. He receives invitations to homes of ministers, mayors, social workers and dirt poor farmers, black or white, writers or laborers and paints a very colorful portrait of his visits. Paul Theroux hears of the still bad quality of many schools and universities, some of the racial stories he reports are very depressing and seem incomprehensible in this day and age.  The Klan appears to be alive and well. 

But there are also the joys of his Southern travels:   the Blues, the friendliness, warmth and culture of being welcome almost everywhere as a stranger, the Southern cuisine and the beautiful countryside.  Some of the funnier episodes are his stories about sleeping in almost derelict, dirty motels in wayward towns, all owned by immigrants from India who miraculously are all called Patel.

The beautiful, atmospheric photographs taken by Steve McCurry who did not travel with Paul Theroux but taking his own road trip, give the people in this book a face.  

Tom Michell: The Penguin Lessons, Penguin/Michael Joseph, 97807181635, hardback, GPB 9, 99

This delightful little book was published yesterday but I had the privilege of reading the proof pre publishing, courtesy of my former colleague Grazyna from Penguin. What a heartwarming, enjoyable true story, I promise you light-hearted reading hours. A perfect christmas gift in my opinion!

Tom Michell takes us on a journey to Argentina of the 70ties where he worked as a 23 year old rookie English teacher in a boarding school for very wealthy South American boys. He makes the most of his stay by taking every opportunity he gets to travel and one of these journeys takes him to Uruguay where fate strikes. On his last day, he decides to take an evening stroll and finds a beach with stranded Magellan penguins covered in oil from an oil spill. All birds appear dead but he discovers one struggling penguin that seems to have survived the ordeal.  Without thinking twice he takes the penguin to his flat, trying to remove the oil with detergents and shampoo. When he tries to take the bird back to the beach after freeing him from his coat of oil, he refuses to leave his side. Not knowing what to do, he makes a fateful decision: to smuggle Juan Salvador as he has named him back to Argentina, without a clue what is to happen once he is at the boarding school. And there the true story begins, Juan Salvador, this penguin extraordinaire,  transforms the life of the boys at school and everyone else he meets during his life at St. George’s, teaching Tom Michel a few valuable penguin life lessons himself.

Rights have been sold to 20 countries and film rights are presently under negotiation, a new Livingston Seagull movie coming our way, I can just see it.

Jane Gardam: Old Filth, Abacus, 9780349139494,

A friend working in publishing recommended “Old Filth” by Jane Gardam to me when talking about books we had read recently.  I had never heard of Gardam before, despite her receiving the Whitbread /Costa Award for Best Novel twice, the only writer ever to achieve this.  So off I went to get a copy and to make a long story short, I loved her style of writing.  The Guardian called this novel “a masterpiece” and I can only confirm, very moving fiction at its best. It reminded me a little of “Any Human Heart” but of course “Old Filth” is set against an entirely different background. 

Old Filth – what the heck does this stand for you might wonder as did I, until it is explained: “Failed in London try Hong Kong”!   Old Filth or Sir Edward Feathers as he is also known amongst his peers was once a highly successful international lawyer with a practice in the Far East accumulating great wealth.  After retiring in a beautiful house with servants in the rural English countryside, his beloved wife Betty dies unexpectedly, leaving him utterly along with memories of his past starting to resurface. 

Eddie was once one of the so called Raj Orphans, children born in Asia to British parents, sent off at a very early age to England, raised in Foster homes never to see their parents again in some cases, turning some of them into emotional cripples for the rest of their lives.  The novel very cleverly shifts between Old Filth current widowed life,  his urge to visit  people he hasn’t seen in years  and memories of  the adventure that is called life.  There is his Malaysian childhood, the abusive foster family he and his cousins have to endure,   boarding school and university with mostly kind teachers shaping his adolesence,  the Ingoldby’s,  the family of his best buddy and soon his true emotional home,  a cold, indifferent father and the equally callous aunts he is forced to live with.  The only criticism I would have is that too little is written about his life with Betty in Asia. But I soon discovered  that  Jane Gardam has written “The Man in the wooden hat” which is Betty’s, Old Filth’ wife, life story !  I have already order my copy and cannot wait to read her side of the story which evidentially reveals more about their time in Asia.

“Old Filth”  was published already in 2004 by Chatto & Windus ,  German publishers have only just discovered and published  the novel with the title “Ein untadeliger Mann” (Hanser Berlin).  

Craig Johnson: Dry Bones, 9780525426936, Viking US (Penguin Random House imprint)

I have a great weakness for Craig Johnson’s novels featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire and his recurring cast of characters, daughter Cady, Undersheriff Vic Moretti, his dog named Dog and best friend Henry Standing Bear.  So every time Craig Johnson completes a new book, I know a few great hours of reading and an armchair trip to Wyoming’s cowboy country are in store. Yippee! 

Apparently I am not the only one who thinks so, Johnson is hugely popular in the US and Warner Bros. “Longmire” TV hit show, also available on Netflix, have no doubt helped spreading the word.

I have no idea why German editors have missed Craig Johnson so far; apparently German publishers think his books are to US focused.  I would bet the TV show and the books would find their fans.

“Dry Bones” delivers with a good plot as all his other novels do,  I especially like the dry sense of humor which reminds me of old Westerns.  The bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton shake up the peace in Absaroka County, with the High Plains Dinosaur Museum and Danny Lone Elk’s family battling over this windfall after he is found dead in a turtle pond. When the FBI descend on the town, the number of groups claiming the skeloton increases which is worth several million dollar. Walt is determined to find out who killed Danny Lone Elk and who is to profit the most from his death. Soon after Walt’s daughter Cady finally arrives home for visit with his grand- daughter Lola, a new tragedy strikes the family.  

If you have not read any of the previous Longmire stories, it is best to start with the first one, The Cold Dish. They can all be read standalone but it is more satisfying to know how all characters find their place in Longmire’s life.  (The first 4 are The Cold Dish, Death without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man's Moccasins).

William Boyd: Sweet Caress, Bloomsbury UK, 9781408867976

Before I start telling you about “Sweet Caress”, William Boyd’s most recent novel, I have to confess that “Any Human Heart” is on the shelf of my all-time favorite books.  He is one of my favorite contemporary authors, a master storyteller  and whenever a new novel by him is published, I race out to get my hands on it. (Apart from his latest James Bond novel)  Lucky me – he was published by Penguin for many years and then moved to Bloomsbury, two publishers I represented in Germany for many years and therefore was privileged to get my hands on early proofs. 

If you are looking for a female version in the footsteps of “Any Human Heart”, you will find it in “Sweet Caress”, seen thru the lens of Amory Clay, a photographer. It is a tour de force through the 20^th Century and such a wonderful book – I feel sad it is finished now , wanted it to go on for a while longer than the 448 pages it already has. 

Amory Clay is a fictional character but I found myself researching her name in Wikipedia, the idea to place  photos of events and people in the book make her novel life sound so very  real.  Very clever idea, some of the characters Amory meets, like in Any Human heart, are real and Boyd lists them in “Acknowledgements”.  From Amory’s birthday in 1908 up to her death, she memorizes her life as an elderly person in 1977 living in Scotland, with her thoughts trailing back in chronological order to times gone by.  You feel like you are sitting in her living room listening to her life story.

There are the damaged souls returning from WWI during  her childhood , her father in particular, her photographer uncle Grenville who is responsible for putting the first camera in her hands  with whom he shares a special emotional bond , her years in London as his apprentice taking photographs of socialites for fashionable magazines,  the Berlin of the late Twenties  and New York in  the Thirties, her run in with Black shirts in London  altering her life forever , and finally  becoming one of the few female WWII  photographers  until life has another major change in store for her .  Amory’s taste for adventure and her curiosity is always greater than her fear as she tries to pursue her life's  dream, her recollections of her love life and relationships are some of the best parts of the book.

English fiction at its very best   - thank you William Boyd for such a great story and a follow up to Any Human Heart!  I cannot wait to see what he is up to next. 

Mary Morris: The Jazz Palace, 9780385539739, Nan Talese, Doubleday

During a visit to Chicago this summer, I came across ‘Mary Morris: The Jazz Palace’ in a book shop, I was immediately attracted to the novel  as it is set in Chicago during the beginning of the Jazz Age starting in 1915.  I have been coming to Chicago on a fairly regular base since 1989; one of my dearest friends lives in the windy city. The city has grown on me with each visit; I love the colorful neighborhoods, bars, restaurants, the amazing architecture, and the music scene, the high rises by Mies van der Rohe, the Art Institute and the Lake in particular. 

I read Morris “Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Travelling Alone” many years ago, loved it and was happy to find this book by an author I admired on a subject that really interested me.  As if by serendipity I had just visited an exhibition on Archibald Motley, a black painter and Jazz Age Modernist who portrayed this era exquisitely in his paintings.

So I started the novel with great curiosity but despite the wonderful quotes by such famous authors as Jodi Picoult and other readers on the back cover, I just never really warmed to the book however much I wanted to.  I cannot really put my finger on the why but I always felt the story was lacking something, perhaps because it is ultimately such a sad tale with only a touch of happiness at the end.  The story is well crafted; Morris is an accomplished author, it took her two decades to finish this novel.  The lives of the main characters and their families, Pearl Chimbrova who runs the Jazz Palace, Napoleon, the black trumpet player and Benny Lehmann, the magical Jewish piano player who has no interest in the family business, are all tragically linked together. The milieu of Chicago in the Twenties is very well portrayed with gangsters like Al Capone ruling the clubs and the police, the impoverished Jewish and Black neighborhoods, the European immigrants forking out a meager existence in factories in the even harsher Chicago winter, Jazz musicians going from gig to gig living hand to mouth being virtually owned by the gangsters, these are the most interesting, vivid and colorful descriptions in the book, Morris does a great job characterizing Chicago during that time drawing from actual facts. 

I love the cover of the book , a painting called "J Mood" by Romare Bearden owned by the Wynton Marsales and Romare Bearden Foundation.

Arturo Perez-Reverte: Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Dame, Insel, 9783458360827. € 9,99

Die Romane von  Arturo Perez-Reverte, einer der erfolgreichsten spanischen Gegenwartsautoren,  verfolge ich schon seit einigen Jahren,  sein Weltbestseller „Der Club Dumas“, wurde sogar von Roman Polanski mit Johnny Depp verfilmt – ein brillantes Meisterwerk, dass einen bis zum Schluss gefangen hält.  Sein letztes Buch  „Dreimal im Leben“ , ein atmosphärischer Roman, der im Tango Milieu zwischen Buenos Aires &  Nizza  spielt, schildert die schicksalhaften, erotischen  Verstrickungen  zwischen Mecha und Max, einem brillanten Eintänzer auf einem Ozeandampfer und einer verheirateten reichen Schönheit, die 1928 beginnen und viel später wieder ihren Lauf nehmen.   Ein Roman, den ich mit großem Vergnügen gelesen habe.

Perez Reverte ist ein Meister der Verstrickungen, all seine Bücher liegen Irrungen und Wirrungen und meisterhaft konstruierte Handlungen zugrunde, literarische Krimis, die bis zum Schluss auf ihre Auflösung warten und meistens erst sehr spät zu erahnen sind.  Seine verschachtelten Satzstrukturen, die bildhafte Sprache erinnern mich an die der Klassiker oder auch an  Gabriel Garcia Marquez .  

„Das Geheimnis der schwarzen Dame“ bildet keine Ausnahme, bis zum Schluss wartet man gespannt wie die Sache ausgeht.  Es ist extrem hilfreich,  wenn man bei der Lektüre dieses Buches etwas von Schach versteht, was bei mir nicht der Fall ist.  Deshalb habe ich mich zeitweise etwas schwer mit diesem Buch getan, ein diabolisches Schachspiel spielt eine Schlüsselrolle in diesem Roman und in sofern waren die langen Beschreibungen von Schachzügen sehr langatmig für mich.  Die Restauratorin Julia arbeitet an einem flämischen Meisterwerk des Malers Pieter Van Huys aus dem 15. Jahrhundert.  Ein in die Schachpartie versunkener Ritter, eine edle  Dame in schwarzem Samtkleid und vermutlich ihr Gemahl sind bei einem Schachspiel auf diesem Bild dargestellt.  Als Julia bei der Restaurierung die verborgene Inschrift „Wer tötet den Ritter?“ freilegt und ihr Exfreund, dem sie sich anvertraut, bald darauf  ermordet aufgefunden wird, macht sie  sich mit Hilfe des Schachmeisters Munoz und Cesar, ihrem väterlichen Freund, daran, das Geheimnis des Gemäldes zu entschlüsseln.  Sehr bald wird klar, dass ein gerissener Schachspieler im Hintergrund die Fäden zieht und es nicht bei einem einzigen Mord bleiben wird.  Julia’s und das Leben aller an diesem Fall Beteiligten scheint bedroht, was durch einen weiteren Anschlag bestärkt wird.

Ich fand das Buch teilweise sehr langatmig, vor allem die Schachpartien haben mich überfordert, wie schon erwähnt.  Die sehr clever aufgebaute Handlung bis zum Ende zu verfolgen, war dennoch spannend. Wie in fast allen Büchern von Perez-Reverte, nimmt das Ganze zum Ende eine überraschende Wende.   

Paula McLain: Circling the Sun, Ballantine US, 9780812999327

I really enjoyed Paula McLain’s previous book “The Paris Wife”  and had been wondering what this great storyteller was up to next.  When I read that her new book “Circling the Sun” was about Beryl Markham’s life in East Africa, I could not wait to get my hands on a copy. This has to be my favorite book of the summer, I read it while on vacation in Italy when it was too hot to do anything and I just could not put it down.

When I had saved enough money to go to Kenya on safari in 1977, I remember stepping of the plane sniffing Kenyan air for the first time and feeling enchanted.  I fell in love with the place, the beautiful countryside, the animals and the amazing stories that had been told about the early European and American settlers living side by side with the East African tribes. 

Since then I have read my fair share of books set in Africa, Beryl Markham’s autobiography “West with the Night” being one of the most interesting ones.  This very extraordinary woman lived a most unusual  life even by East African standards  of the early 20^th century, where everything  seemed possible , the crazy Happy Valley set,  Lord and Lady Delamere, Baron and Tania Blixen’s  setting standards  to name just a few unconventional eccentric  characters .  Beryl became one of the first female horse breeders /horse trainers and the first female air pilot soloing in 1931. She always led a very independent life, often hitting rock bottom having to start all over from scratch. She was  famous for the many lovers she took and a difficult marriage following in a disastrous divorce.  But Beryl found her true love and soulmate in Denys Finch Hatton whom we all know as the famous lover of Tania Blixen in “Out of Africa”, spelling heartbreak and complications from the start. Paula McLain follows Beryl Markham’s real life very closely in this historical fictionalized memoir and she does this brilliantly retelling her incredible life.  

  

Brian Benson: Going somewhere, 9780142180648, Plume, Penguin Random House USA, paperback

Brian Benson’s “Going somewhere” had been sitting on my proof reading pile for over a year. I guess the reason I picked it up originally was that it always amazes me how people survive riding a bike, and I do not mean a motor bike,  for almost 2500 miles in 2 months because this is what Brian did with his girlfriend Rachel, from Wisconsin to Portland/Oregon, USA. 

I myself have been on many bike trips and am about to embark on another one but these were mostly organized with a good meal, a shower and a bed the end of a sometimes hard biking day. My longest ride was 100 miles some time ago, so when Brian describes his many 100 plus miles rides battling crosswinds, hilly climbs with luggage, horrible weather conditions,  broken down bike, I can imagine what this felt like. He and Rachel have my true admiration. Their meager meals and pitching up a tent wherever they happen to be at the end of a day spells freedom.  When they are lucky, they can enjoy the comforts of a free bed provided by the many hosts they encounter during their rides, usually friends of friends.  The kindness of strangers, the hospitality they experience, people offering them a free meal and a bed for one night or sometimes more is one of the very positive experiences of this trip  and reminded me a little of the encounters John Steinbeck describes in “Travels with Charlie", one of my all-time favorite books. Benson is terribly honest in describing his own internal frustrations with his slower riding girlfriend - I could have slapped him a few times when he describes this, grow up kid, I wanted to tell him.  Anyone having been on a week’s bike trip or more with their beloved can easily relate to the squabbling that goes on during bike rides. The battle with the elements, exhaustion, taking wrong turns and different levels of fitness can really provide a perfect ground for getting pissed off at each other. He is candid, reflective and funny at times. Rachel is by far the more mature, self-assured person and the more likable one to me, but towards the end of the trip Brian has matured and is more self- critical. He is no longer as indecisive as he was at the beginning of the ride, the experience has changed him and I actually really started to like him.  

Really enjoyed biking with them across America in spirit and even recognized some stretches I have biked myself in Montana.  A travel book of a special kind. 

Edwidge Danticat: Claire of the Sea Light /   9780307472274, 15, 00 $, Vintage Contemporaries, Penguin Random House US, paperback 

I have been a fan of Edwidge Danticat’s from the very beginning when “Breath, Eyes, Memory” was first published. Danticat is an award winning author and a masterful storyteller, her voice is like no other, her sentences clipped and short but poetic at the same time.  She paints pictures with her sentences.  Capturing the magic and sorrow of her native country Haiti, Danticats calm voice describes human misery and happiness.  As one reviewer said “she has a way of making small lives tell big stories” (Public books).  I couldn’t agree more and would put her writing on the same level as that of Toni Morrison.

“Claire of the Sea Light” is a true masterpiece and resonates with you long after you finished the book.  This heartbreakingly tender story begins on the eve of Claire Limye Lanme Faustin’s seventh birthday  when her fishermen father Nozias reaches a fateful decision, whether to raise her in poverty but with his love or to  give her away to the wealthy, widowed  fabric owner Gaelle who would  offer her a better life.  Soon the whole community of Ville Rose is searching for this beloved little girl whose mother died during her birth.  By giving separate voices to the characters that play a key part in the novel and with Claire’s own voice in the final chapter, Danticat paints a colorful, emotional picture of life in Ville Rose. Unfolding  the bonds that tie everyone together gradually , be it parents and children, lovers and friends, teachers and students,  she tells of their hopes and disappointments, their  sorrows and loves .  

Definitely on my shelf of favorite books and one of the best books I have read this year! 

Martin Davies: Havana Sleeping, Hodder, 9780340980477, paperback 2015

I

I seem to be in the mood for historical thrillers, the perfect combination of capturing entertainment and historical education thrown in for free , this is my second book set in Cuba I read this summer both with very different historical dates.  

Martin Davies: Havana Sleeping, Hodder, 9780340980477, paperback 2015 does just that.  I have always felt very attracted to Cuba as long as I can remember no idea why really, but for me the image of exotic, sensual and vibrant energy was always associated with the island combined with beautiful countryside set in the Caribbean. That was enough to intrigue me for many years.  Hemingway and many others felt similarly & when I visited Cuba some 12 years ago, I fell in love with the people and the island.  The music of Buena Vista Social Club did the rest to cement the feeling. No wonder „Havana Sleeping “stirred my interest when I stumbled across it.

The novel is based on historical facts and takes place between 1853-1855 when the Americans, Spanish and British interests on the island clashed heavily.  Plantation owners relied entirely on slaves for their sugar cane business; the Brits had pressured Spain against the abolition of the slave trade having abolished slave trade themselves in the West Indies.  The American interest in retaining slave trading was obvious and private armies were formed in the US planning to invade Cuba.  England had established a mixed commission which was to control illegal slave trading but proved to be a completely ineffective tool.  Enter George Backhouse, the new judge of the Mixed Commission who is seen as an easy puppet by the officials back in London and Cuba who all have their hands in the tinderbox that is Havana. He and his young wife Grace come ill prepared for the steaming political climate in Cuba. Several other colorful characters complete this tightly woven story:  Leonora, an enigmatic beautiful courtesan, the American Jepson, one of the first spymasters of the US, Thomas Staveley and John Jerusalem both pulling strings behind the scenes from London, fabricating a true spider web and Joseph Crawford the corrupt British Consul in Havana.  James Dalrymple who is supposed to support Backhouse in his duties but with an agenda of his own and Lavender also play a vital role in “Havana Sleeping”  which opens  with the murder of an elderly night watchman and a theft at the British Consulate in Havana. I will leave you to discover the rest as anything more will be spoiling the fun of reading  Havana Sleeping – this is a complex, atmospheric and tightly knit story with many surprises as the story unfolds, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

A perfect, late summer Sunday in Frankfurt, 33 C -

I love spending such days by the pool or a lake, reading and swimming. At the end of August a little melancholy is mixed in, it is almost save to say these days are numbered. During the summer, my reading taste very often drifts towards mysteries or thrillers and if you feel the same way, I maybe have a new recommendation! 

For several summers now, I have been reading the mysteries by M.L. Longworth. When her first book "Death at the Chateau Bremont" came out from Penguin US, I fell in love with the very charming main characters, Judge Antoine Verlaque and his girlfriend Marine Bonnet and their way of life. If you want an inexpensive armchair trip to Aix-en-Provence, the vineyards, customs and food of the Provence - voila, you got it!  After reading her first book, I thought the best way to describe M.L. Longworth to my colleagues and customers was "the Donna Leon of Aix-en-Provence". And this is indeed how most reviewers describe her now. I just finished the fifth novel, "The Mystery of the Lost Cezanne"". What is believed to be a lost painting by Cezanne is discovered by Rene Rouquet, the owner of the flat Cezanne used to rent years ago and pretty soon he is found dead. The canvas is missing and a mysterious New York art professor is standing next to the dead body when the police arrive. The painting is eventually rediscovered but the smiling portrait of the woman painted in more explosive colors then the usual Cezanne palette gives cause for several questions. Who is she? Is it a real Cezanne and who killed Rene Rouquet ? 

You can finish the mystery during a weekend and this is pretty much what I did. They are light-hearted but the plot is always excellent, never dull, you learn a lot about the French judicial system along the way and in this particular case something about Cezanne and his life in the 19th century Aix-en-Provence.  I always get an urge to pour myself a glass of wine as Antoine Verlaque is drinking whiskey, superb wines or champagne throughout the novel. The man and his girlfriend certainly know how to enjoy the finer things in life.  If you enjoy Donna Leon’s work, you will most certainly enjoy M.L.Longworth's characters. 

Irvin Yalom: Creatures of a Day and other tales of psychotherapy , Basic Books

I came across Irvin Yalom by chance and the description of the book struck a chord with me. It felt it might hold some answers to questions I  had been asking myself a lot as of late, death in particular, after two very dear friends had been diagnosed with cancer and being in my 6th decade myself knowing that most of my life had been lived.  So why on earth download such a heavy book on my Kindle when going on vacation one might ask? I never regretted it, quite the opposite. It was anything from heavy, to me uplifting and inspiring.

Irvin Yalom is one of these wise Elders you just hope for when hitting a rough corner in your life. In selecting therapy sessions which left a profound impression with himself as a therapist, these patients sessions provide answer to some of the most profound questions and inspirations for our own lives.  The astonishing approach Yalom shows in choosing an intimate, non-textbook like relationship with his patients, often relying on sheer instinct, show his compassion and unwavering support for the human being in front of him until arriving at a turning point for his patient.  These stories deeply impressed me. As he says himself in his afterword, this is a book for people interested in the human psyche and personal growth, providing encouragement when battling our own personal demons. This gem of a book delivers on all fronts, thank you Irvin! 

Lucky for us,  Yalom has been a very active author, (God knows how he does it!) this will definitely not be my last book by him. 

There is also a fantastic film out which gives one an impression of this great man: http://yalomscure.com/about-the-film/

About me

I have been in the book and publishing industry most of my life and when I stopped working to retire in May of this year from Penguin Random House,  I wanted to continue my passion: to read of course, to talk about books, after all this is how I earned my living , and new: to write about them, ergo this blog -  to purely entertain myself and food for thought for the reading community perhaps, hopefully inspiring other readers to check out my reading choices themselves.

Since I mostly read English originals, my postings will be mainly in English but I will also read German books and share my view in German.  In my opinion, how one feels about a book is a deeply personal affair, all kinds of moods and factors affect our reading choices. A book one tossed into the corner a few weeks ago , feels just right all of a sudden. I have often had my problems with literary reviewers and very often begged to differ.   I will share with you how I personally feel about the very book I just read and hopefully you will enjoy my postings.  Of course you are very welcome to have a completely different view.

Ray Celestin: The Axeman's Jazz, 9781447258889, Pan Macmilian UK

Ray Celestin's  " The Axeman’s Jazz "  is one of these thrillers where one feels slightly cross when you have to get up to do something else. I just could not put this book down! 

“The Axeman’s Jazz”  is based on real events. Between 1918 and 1919 the Axeman killed 6 people in New Orleans. This very unusual debut absolutely deserved to win the New Blood Dagger of the “Crimex Thriller Award” as best first novel of 2014.  Capturing perfectly the mood and times of New Orleans in 1919,   “The Axeman Jazz” is about a serial killer stalking the “Big Easy” and three colorful characters setting out to find the murderer  who always leaves a tarot card by his victim , going as far as announcing his murder beforehand in the local newspaper proclaiming that those playing Jazz will be spared.  Of course a frenzy ensues.

Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot, reminds me a bit of a character out of Chandler novels,  a  melancholic, decent  policemen hiding a secret of this own who heads up the official murder investigation in a city that is ripe with intrigues and a corrupt police force.  Enter former detective Luca d’Andrea whose dealings with the Mafia have earned him some time in the slammer and ruined his career with the police. Having very little options after leaving prison and being told to resolve the crime by the mafia, he sets out on a quest that leads him into jazz bars, Simone, the herbal doctor living in the bayous, backrooms of gambling joints ripe with shady characters and prostitution.  Ida is a secretary at the Pinkerton Detective Agency with high ambitions of her own. When she stumbles across a clue, she sees this as her one chance to improve her life. Helping to resolve the mystery of the murder, she enlists the help of her childhood friend Louis Armstrong.  Colorful engaging characters suck you right in from the beginning  of  this highly atmospheric, finely woven story  and I promise , it takes until the very end before you get an idea about  “who’s done it”.

I hope you will enjoy this riveting read as much as I did and what is even better, the end gives me hope for a possible sequel!!!!

Rachel Kushner: Telex from Cuba, Vintage / Penguin Random House, 978099586999, GBP 8, 99

Rachel Kushner: Telex from Cuba, Vintage / Penguin Random House, 978099586999, GBP 8, 99

A writer who manages to be nominated for the National Book award for first (Telex to Cuba) and second novel (The Flamethrowers), has to be exceptional – no other author has achieved this before. 
My interest in Cuban history stirred me towards “Telex from Cuba” which starts in 1952 with a multilayer of characters and events portraying the last years of US “ownership” of Cuba and Castro’s revolution.  My unintentional but timely choice of reading was spot on, as the US just opened up their first embassy in Cuba since Castro’s revolution  while I was reading this novel.

Rachel Kushner’s language is superb, lush and meticulous in its description of events, characters, nature and politics of Cuba in the Fifties, up to the final days of American “ruler ship”.  "Telex to Cuba" is made up of several colorful characters who tell their story, such as KC, a young boy, whose father is the director of the United Fruit Company or Unifrutico, virtually owning the island.  The American companies had Cuban politicians in their back pocket and dictated who became part of their privileged lifestyle. Unifrutico also controlled the price of food Haitian and Cuban laborers had to pay in the company stores as there was nowhere else to go to buy food turning them virtually into US slaves.   Everly Lederer , a young girl who loves anything Cuban and particularly Willy their Haitian gardener, keenly observes the decadent life style of her parents which is paid for by the back breaking work of  sugar cane cutters.  Del Sites, KC’s brother has run off to join  Castro's rebels in the mountains, a fact which is hidden as long as possible from the expat community.  Rachel K, cabaret dancer in Havana’s Cabaret Tokio and mistress of the current president Batista and also of the former president, persues her own interests and is deeply entangled with a French agitator called Maziere who sells his knowledge and skills to anyone who will pay for it. This colorful cast of characters kept me in thrall throughout reading.  It is a perfect literary summer read, I virtually felt myself part of this vibrant time in modern Cuban history, could literally feel the tropical temperatures and the boredom of the American wives in their alcoholic stupor flowing through the pages. I look forward to reading Kusher's other novel, "The Flamethrowers"