Hello
to my regular subscribers and a very warm welcome to any newbies.
Here
in the UK it’s the start of the summer holidays and usually I’m looking forward
to it as much as the students I teach. This year however I find myself feeling
restless, wanting another project to take on. I’ve been trawling through college
courses but am still to settle on the right one. I guess the last 11 weeks
spent on my stained and fused glass course has awoken the dormant artist. But top
of my list of things to do still remains read read read. Both the balcony and
garden are up for the task so it’s down to me to do the rest. That’s if I can
get my local library authority to keep all my reservations headed my way in a
timely fashion.
Some
of you may well be heading into your summer break too and I thought I’d offer
up some suggestions for excellent summer reads. My top 3 so far this year are:
Fledgling –
Octavia Butler
Sister Mine –
Nalo Hopkinson
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine –
Gail Honeyman
My
favourite reread of the year has been The
Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett.
And
here’s why I’m recommending these books most heartily.
Fledgling
If you
think you’ve read all there is to read about all things vampire then you haven’t
read Butler’s version. Written in the first person from the point of view of
the central character, the reader is as uncertain of events as she is. As reader
and character gain awareness and knowledge the disjointed writing style of the
opening chapters slips away and a marvellous fluidity of language takes its
place. Butler weaves her magic and forces me to invest in her character’s
future. I confess that when I learnt there was no series, that this was it, I
was heartily disappointed. In this book Butler takes ideas of communal living
and extended families to a whole other level. It gives a new twist on the
vampire myth and puts feminism and discrimination at the very centre of the
discussion.
Sister Mine
Wow!
Hopkinson’s imagination is off the charts impressive. Not since Pratchett have
I been so blown away. This book takes Urban Fantasy to a whole other level.
Characters sizzle, descriptions are vibrant and jump off the page and the
language is poetic yet current. It doesn’t stop there. Family dynamics are
authentic with a bit of the fantastic thrown in to remind us this is a work of
fantasy. But what a fantasy.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
As
central characters go, this one is brittle yet brilliant. Honeyman’s use of 1st
person narration is the perfect foil for Eleanor. The understated anguish on
the page is outstandingly explored through the character's wit and observational
skill. If I have one criticism it is that while the action occurs in Glasgow, I
got very little sense of that. This is however a very tiny flaw in an otherwise
excellent book.
Finally,
no surprise really that Pratchett once more makes it into one of my lists of
finest reading material. And why you may be wondering am I yet again rereading
this particular Pratchett. Well, here goes…
The Wee Free Men
Fantasy
is my go to read when I’m feeling a bit down in the dumps and I can guarantee
that a Pratchett will usually cure that ail. But nothing is more curative than
the little blue men conjured from Pratchett’s imagination. They are 100%
incorrigible and yet ridiculously adorable. From their outrageous outfits to
their mannerisms and over the top stereotyped speech – it’s all exactly what
any doctor would prescribe.
Add to
this Pratchett’s penchant for writing strong female characters at the heart of
his narratives. What’s not to love? Tiffany Aching’s journey to her true
calling is one every young woman needs to know about. And, to make it even more
enticing – there are 3 more books in the series with characters like Mistress
Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg just waiting to make their dynamic presence felt even
further. And of course, more Wee Free Men. I’m so going there. I hope you do
too.
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