The Pearl Thief

Elizabeth Wein has been one of my must-read authors since reading the beautiful punch in the gut that is Code Name Verity a few years ago. I’ve since tracked down the rest of her bibliography and can honestly say there isn’t a book she’s written that I haven’t loved.

This probably doesn’t make sense to you if you’re not a re-reader, but there are certain books that worm their way into your heart and you need to read them again in order to spend more time with your favourite characters. Books that make you grin foolishly or tear up on the bus. Books that make you thrust a copy into your friends’ hands and say: ‘Read this! It made me have feelings and I need you to read it so that we can have feelings together!’

Elizabeth Wein frequently provokes such outbursts from me. (Sorry, friends.) So I was very excited to read her latest novel The Pearl Thief. Technically it’s a prequel to Code Name Verity but it works well as a standalone.

Julie arrives at her recently deceased grandfather’s estate in Scotland in 1938, having come home early from boarding school. No one’s around so she wanders down to the river in her brother’s kilt and an old jersey, enjoying the summer afternoon. She falls asleep tickling the trout… and then wakes up in hospital with a giant bump on her head and no memory of what happened.

This is only one of the mysteries she has to solve, as missing scholars, dead bodies and stolen river pearls start to pile up, along with a lot of unfounded local suspicion toward the Scottish Traveller community. Which is awkward as Julie is getting to be quite good friends with two Traveller siblings, Euan and Ellen. Will they figure out the real culprit before the Travellers are framed for the crime?

So many of my favourite things contained in one book: mystery, archaeology, librarians, and Julie running around the moors dressed as Davie Balfour from Kidnapped!, kissing the local girls. Sound like you? Reserve a copy of The Pearl Thief now and beat the rush! And if you also have feelings about Elizabeth Wein’s books and need to share, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

The Pearl Thief
by Elizabeth Wein
Published by Disney-Hyperion
ISBN: 9781484717165

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

WORD Christchurch – All About Women

Yesterday a car pulled up next to me while we were sitting at the lights, and the gentleman inside (I use the term loosely) rolled down his window. ‘Cheer up!’ he called. ‘Come on! Smile for me!’

If this doesn’t happen to you on a regular basis then perhaps you won’t understand why my immediate response was one of stifled rage. Sure, it’s one of the more innocuous forms of putting women in their place, but it exists on the flipside of the coin marked Nasty Woman. And if you’re looking at the USA thinking That’s so much worse, at least our last prime minister was only grabbing ponytails, don’t be too complacent. Unfortunately kiwi misogynists are looking at global politics for more ideas of how to be horrible to women.

If this depresses you, I have good news! WORD Christchurch is live-streaming a collection of talks by smart, feminist women straight to Christchurch. Geena Davis will be talking about women in Hollywood and the film industry, Jessa Crispin will be discussing her new book (Why I Am Not a Feminist — A Feminist Manifesto), and Yassmin Adbel-Magied, Van Badham and Lindy West will be on the Nasty Women panel. I’m especially excited to listen to Lindy West, as she was one of my favourite staff writers at Jezebel.com a few years ago (and has since published a book, Shrill).

I look forward to hopefully seeing some of you there, but if you can’t make it (or you need something to read in the meantime), check out our staff’s favourite feminist titles here.

• All About Women, Sunday 5th March, 12.00pm for a 12.30pm start

Read Harder Challenge

I realised last week that I signed up for some reading challenges at the start of this year. Cue panic! I’ve completely bombed on the Reading the World Challenge, unless we’re going for continents rather than countries, but with some creativity I’ve managed to fit books I read this year into most of the Read Harder Challenge (previous categories completed are at my original post):

• A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25 – Nimona, Noelle Stevenson
• A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65 – The New Moon with the Old, Dodie Smith
• A book published by an indie press – Redemption in Indigo, Karen Lord
• A book that takes place in Asia – Bearkeeper’s Daughter, Gillian Bradshaw (Turkey counts, right?)
• A book by an author from Africa – Under the Udala Trees, Chinelo Okparanta (the audiobook has a fantastic narrator)
• A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture – Dogside Story, Patricia Grace
• A microhistory – Swindled, Bee Wilson (fascinating and horrifying in equal measure)
• A romance novel – The One Plus One, Jojo Moyes (because my kind of romance story involves single parents and road trips and farting dogs)
• A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade – Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
• A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.) – Bone Gap, Laura Ruby
• An audiobook – Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (highly recommended!)
• A collection of poetry –
• A book that was originally published in another language – The Arab of the Future, Riad Sattouf (so depressing)
• A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure – I’d have to go with Things I Wish I’d Known, because for some reason I like reading horror stories about poop and babies
• A book published before 1850 – The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
• A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”) – Bears in the Backyard, Edward Ricciuti (I’m really reaching here, but the survival techniques might be useful if I ever get attacked by a cougar?)

As you can see I’ve failed to complete four of them. I did start three (still reading Wolf Hall!) but unfortunately they might have to count for next year’s challenge. Yes, that’s right, I’ve optimistically signed up for the Read Harder Challenge 2016 already. Maybe I’ll tick them all off this time!

How did you all get on with your reading challenges this year? Are you planning to sign up for another for 2016?

Reading the World

After complaining about the hardships of attempting Read Harder 2015, I’ve come across an author who has shamed me into taking on another challenge.

In 2012 Ann Morgan decided to read one book from each of the world’s 196 independent countries, documenting her adventures on her blog and in her newly published book, Reading the World. While I don’t have the tenacity or the budget to do the same, it has prompted me to be more active in my search for diverse authors.

I’ve already found a few on the Baileys Women’s Prize longlist for 2015 – Kamila Shamsie (Pakistan), Xiaolu Guo and P. P. Wong (China/Britain), and I’ve been struggling valiantly through The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen (Finland). (Isn’t that a fantastic surname?) Here are a few more I’ve optimistically placed on my holds list, descriptions mostly yoinked from the library catalogue:

The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu (China): Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth.

Kabu-Kabu, Nnedi Okorafor (Nigeria): Kabu kabu – unregistered illegal Nigerian taxis – generally get you where you need to go. Nnedi Okorafor’s Kabu-Kabu, however, takes the reader to exciting, fantastic, magical, occasionally dangerous, and always imaginative locations you didn’t know you needed.

The Guest Cat, Takashi Hiraide (Japan): A bestseller in France and winner of Japan’s Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living.

Hold Tight, Don’t Let Go, Laura Rose Wagner (set in Haiti): In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Nadine goes to live with her father in Miami while her cousin Magdalie, raised as her sister, remains behind in a refugee camp, dreaming of joining Nadine but wondering if she must accept that her life and future are in Port-au-Prince.

Listen, Slowly, Thanhha Lai (Vietnam): Assisting her grandmother’s investigation of her grandfather’s fate during the Vietnam War, Mai struggles to adapt to an unfamiliar culture while redefining her sense of family.

Black Dove, White Raven, Elizabeth Wein (set in Ethiopia): Em, Teo and Em’s mother move to Ethiopia to honour Teo’s dead mother’s wish for them to grow up in a country free of racial conflict. For a while things go well — Em’s mother flies planes for a flying doctor service, and Em and Teo grow up happily on a coffee farm. Unfortunately this is the 1930s, and Mussolini’s army is eyeing up Ethiopia’s fertile land. With ties on both sides of the conflict, Em and Teo are drawn in against their will. Is their ability to pilot planes an asset or a liability? I don’t know yet, because I’m only halfway through!

Anything else I should add to my to-read list? Any fantastic authors who aren’t British or American? Let me know now while my motivation is still high! I’ll follow up on how I’m going in a month.

Young Adult books for kids

Are you a great reader? Have you started to outgrow the kids section in your library? Look no further, because here are some suggestions of great books in the young adult section that won’t upset your parents too much.

Horror
Do you like doll-eating girls and girl-eating cinema screens? If you answered yes, or if you’re just confused, read Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge! Sinister and peculiar but also great friendships and ladies on motorcycles in the 1920s.

If you like clever, weird books then you might also like any of Kelly Link’s short story collections, filled with people-eating couches and handbags with entire towns inside.

For something more traditionally creepy try Rhiannon Lassiter’s Bad Blood, all about messy families and dealing with step-siblings and oh hey, a doll who likes to play with scissors.

Fantasy
For a non-traditional zombie story try Erin Bow’s Sorrow’s Knot, set in a pseudo pre-Columbus America.

The Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale is a retelling of Maid Maleen set in ancient Mongolia (favourite character: ‘My Lord’ the cat), and Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series is full of sensible witches, insensible Feegles and a lot of humour.

Contemporary
Melina Marchetta and Jaclyn Moriarty are both Australian and write great quirky high school stories. I particularly recommend Saving Francesca and The Murder of Bindy MacKenzie, but Moriarty also has a new series that combines contemporary with fantasy beginning with A Corner of White.

I also have to recommend Annabel Pitcher’s My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, which is both hilariously funny and heartbreaking.

Crossover
Lastly there are some series shelved in the kids’ section which cross over into young adult and are too great not to mention: Hilary McKay’s Casson Family series, all about — you guessed it — the Casson family; Megan Whalen Turner’s Attolia series (beginning with The Thief) which features lots of intrigue and spying set in a pseudo ancient Greece; and Elizabeth Wein’s Aksum books which feature even more spying and intrigue but are set in ancient Ethiopia.

Want more? Check out our list for ‘if you like reading young adult books‘ or fantastic picks from fellow librarian AliReads! For the books from this blog post plus a few extras, head over to my list on bibliocommons.

Or if you’re looking for something different, leave a comment and I’ll put together another blog post. Alternatively Kate de Goldi is available on Booknotes Unbound as the Reading Doctor with some great suggestions all inspired by real questions.

 

Anti-Valentine’s Day teen fiction

Living with a florist has its definite perks. A few months ago saw my long-suffering flatmate spending hours in our living room, surrounded by buckets of roses under an arctic flow of air-conditioning, patiently preparing buttonholes and flower arrangements for my wedding. Flatmate of the year award!

On the other hand, the closer it gets to certain holidays, the more stressed she gets. At the moment no one is allowed to mention the words Valentine’s Day for fear it’ll bring on a panic attack. Consumerism has a lot to answer for.

If you, too, feel a stab of panic every time you see a pink cut-out heart or a bunch of roses, maybe you should take my approach and ignore the day altogether. Let’s give Edward Cullen a disdainful eyeroll and have a night in or out with our friends, because, really, it’s time friendship stopped being considered a poor cousin of (or mutually exclusive with) romance.

Do you agree? If so, or even if you don’t, you might enjoy some of these fantastic books featuring strong friendships and family relationships with plots that don’t centre around whether the hottest vampire in school secretly wants to eat you.

Complicit, Stephanie Kuehn

Jamie’s mother was murdered when he was six; about seven years later his sister Cate was incarcerated for burning down a neighbour’s barn; and now Jamie, fifteen, learns that Cate has been released and is coming back for him, blaming him for all the bad things that led to her arrest.

The Raven Boys cycle, Maggie Stiefvater

This series has everything. Set in the small town of Henrietta, the books feature the strong but complicated friendship between Blue (daughter of a local pyschic) and a group of boys from the local private school (plus one ghost).
Their quest to find the tomb of ancient Welsh king Glendower in the foothills of Virginia is exciting but increasingly dangerous, as they aren’t the only ones on the trail. (Guns might be involved.) Plus a death was predicted at the start of the series and one of the main characters has a deadly allergy to insect stings. Such fun!

Sorrow’s Knot, Erin Bow

An interesting take on zombies and friendship. Otter is a girl of the Shadowed People, a tribe of women, and she is born to be a binder, a woman whose power it is to tie the knots that bind the dead but she is also destined to remake her world.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart

When Alabaster Prep sophomore Frankie Landau-Banks starts dating senior Matthew Livingston, Matthew refuses to talk about the Loyal Order of the Bassett Hounds, his all-male secret society, so Frankie infiltrates the society to enliven the mediocre pranks for which the club is known.

Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire, Elizabeth Wein

Spies and lady pilots in World War II, what’s not to love? If you like books that make you chew off your own fingers while reading, these are for you.

Wildlife, Fiona Wood, which Knit1purl1 talked about in a previous blog post.

What are your thoughts on romance in fiction? Love, hate, indifferent? Let me know your favourites (romantic or otherwise) in the comments!

Crooked Heart, Lissa Evans

I’ve read World War II evacuee stories before. The fear of the unknown, sullen confusion, awful foster homes, inevitable loss. Children labelled like lunches, dragged from door to door in search of a temporary home. I can’t think of many novels with positive evacuee experiences.

Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans doesn’t sound like a positive evacuee story, but it is. It begins with Noel, age 10, realising his godmother, Mattie, is succumbing to dementia. A tragedy for anyone to have to deal with, but especially for a boy on his own.

She was losing words. At first it was quite funny. ‘The box of things,’ Mattie would say, waving her mauve-veined hands vaguely around the kitchen. ‘The box of things for making flames. It’s a song, Noel!

The box of things for making flames
I can’t recall their bloody names.’

After a while, it stopped being funny. Some words would resurface after a few days; others would sink for ever. Noel started writing labels: ‘SHAWL’, ‘WIRELESS’, ‘GAS MASK’, ‘CUTLERY DRAWER’.

There are two unusual and meaningful relationships in this book: between Noel and his suffragette godmother Mattie, who is so erudite and funny I could quote pretty much anything—

‘Hobbies are for people who don’t read books,’ said Noel; it was one of Mattie’s sayings.

—and, later, between Noel and his foster mother Vee, whose early descriptions make me think of a hen — head constantly turning, looking for something better.

At first Vee sees Noel as an opportunity, a crippled evacuee who might get her some more money (which she is severely lacking). In a way she was right: Noel quickly catches on to her scams, and becomes the level-headed organiser of their illegal outings. It sounds awful, but I ended up rooting for the pair of them, even while they’re going around pretending to be collecting for the war fund. Despite their seeming differences — Vee is “common” and middle-aged, Noel is educated and a child — they’re both lonely and neglected by their surviving relatives. Their growing affection for each other and funny/heart-breaking mishaps already guarantee Crooked Heart a place on my Best Of 2015 list.

Some more books of love and friendship set before, during or after the World Wars:

What are your favourite sad but funny books?

Sneaky characters, intrigue, love, betrayal, and dressing sheep in helmets to frighten off the English army

I’m always excited to read new books, whether it’s a debut or the latest in a series, but there’s something equally exciting about discovering a new favourite author who already has an extensive back catalogue.

I’m now halfway through Dorothy Dunnett‘s House of Niccolò series with four to go, having finished her six-part Chronicles of Lymond earlier this year. I’m not always a fan of book series, but these work so well both individually and as a unit that I can’t complain. Unfortunately some books are out of print, so the library may not have the full sequence, but each book stands alone — often taking place in different countries, but also building on the characters and relationships in a way that rewards faithful readers.

Both the House of Niccolò series and the Chronicles of Lymond are historical novels, with the House of Niccolò taking place from 1460 onwards and Lymond from 1547. While Niccolò Rising begins in Bruges, Belgium, and Lymond hails from Scotland, both protagonists travel widely over the course of their narratives.

I love being amused, surprised and betrayed by my books so these are definitely my cup of tea, with the bonus that I’m getting an education on various historical events that I’ve failed to learn or retain from school. Plus it will hopefully make me look intelligent and well-read when I go to Europe next year.

Yes, well spotted, my previous post about armchair travel has inspired me to book a ticket to Italy. I’m looking forward to eating my way around the country and pretending I’m in Room With a View or Enchanted April. After reading Disorderly Knights, third in Dunnett’s Lymond series, I have even added a jaunt to Malta. Reading is definitely dangerous to the budget! On the plus side I now know all about the Order of St John, Knights Hospitaller, unreliable protectors of Malta in 1551 and modern-day ambulance service. One mustn’t skimp on a good education.

Other great historical series:

What are your favourite historical series?

Armchair travel

One of my favourite aspects of reading is being able to travel without leaving my chair, but sometimes a book’s setting is so evocative that I find myself idly scanning the local travel agent’s window for flights on the way to the supermarket.

Sometimes I even get a bit obsessive, flicking through guide books at work and investigating the history of whatever country has captured my interest. I’ve always been this way — a tour through the UK as a child was filled with trips in search of Swallows and Amazons, Beatrix Potter‘s cottage, and A. A. Milne‘s Hundred Acre Woods. I’m a total nerd about literary landscapes.

My most recent obsession was sparked by Jo Walton’s My Real Children. Patricia Gowan, slowly succumbing to dementia, can remember two life histories: did she marry Mark, have four children and an unhappy marriage, but live in a more peaceful world than our own? Or did she meet Bee, have three children and a wonderful relationship, but suffer setbacks and a world filled with war?

I’m always a fan of alternate histories, and the experiences and choices Patricia makes are certainly thought-provoking, but the holidays Patricia spends in Florence were what really grabbed me. In her timeline as a travel writer Patricia and Bee spend a lot of time in Italy, and the descriptions of their summers there — eating gelato from Perché No!, drinking vino bianco in the sun — well, it makes me drool. I’ve even started learning Italian with Mango Languages. Un centinaio di gelati, per favore? And the Art Lover’s Guide to Florence has me trawling the Uffizi Gallery online. I have it bad! Luckily my next read, The Borgias, should cure my Italy obsession.

Are there any books you’ve read that get you filled with wanderlust? Let me know in the comments — especially if flights are cheap!

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club

You probably know the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. Twelve sisters disappear at night and come back with worn out shoes — where have they gone? The father offers a reward for anyone who can solve the mystery.

The mystery of The Girls at the Kingfisher Club has already been solved. A father, determined for a male heir, perseveres until he has twelve daughters living on the top floor of his New York apartments. Twelve sisters, aching for freedom, slip out each night to whatever Manhattan speakeasies seem safest. The story mostly follows Jo, the General, but also manages to capture the disparate personalities and hopes of her eleven younger siblings.

While I loved the historical element of this book (1920s New York!), the characters really steal the show. One of my favourite moments was when the father, stern faced and suspicious, confronts all twelve daughters for the first time. Suddenly he’s vulnerable in the face of his own offspring, especially Jo, trained by necessity to guard and look over her sisters and constantly worrying: am I my father? She certainly shares his iron will, his strength and his stubbornness, but while her father uses his power to cage others, Jo uses hers to set her sisters free. The sisters aren’t perfect by any means; they squabble and hate and love each other equally, living together with an invisible line marking each sister’s territory. There’s loneliness on that crowded floor, but there’s also a connection between prisoners that never really fades.

She was still trying to discover how people related to each other, and how you met the world when you weren’t trying to hide something from someone. It was a lesson slow in coming.

If you’re thinking this doesn’t sound like a light read, you’re right, but it’s worth it for the elegance of Genevieve Valentine’s writing, and watching twelve princesses free themselves while carrying their shoes in their hands.

All copies unavailable? Try these similar titles which I also wept over:

• The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (kindness in the face of adversity)
• Rose Under Fire, Elizabeth Wein (friendship in a World War II women’s concentration camp)
• The Diviners, Libba Bray (magic in 1920s New York)