** spoiler alert ** I read this book quickly over two evenings on a peaceful beach. Quickly, not so much because it's a fairly short book, but because each of its five tales whisks you away into worlds that absorb you completely. Time flies when reading Norturnes. The tales all centre around the themes of music and crepuscular musing on life and the world - but not in a heavy way! I was delighted to find Ishiguro had written one story about the very Malvern Hills I live beneath (and probably visited, given the detail he describes). This story in particular carried the key feelings he tries, and mostly succeeds in capturing - pleasing, poetic narratives with a slightly wistful air. His language throughout the book is fairly simple but it's the intricate and sometimes quirky details he embeds which give the stories superb and memorable depth. Who would have thought that a man getting stuck in a benevolent friend's flat and going to extraordinary lengths to cover up a broken vase would make such entertaining material? Ishiguro manages to find a careful balance between outright humour and introspection. Ideal reading for an enjoyable lazy summer (or winter!) evening.