Petrina Binney's Blog, page 8
March 1, 2022
Book Review – The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium II) by Stieg Larsson
Book Review – The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium II) by Stieg Larsson
First published, 2006
“Blomkvist was known for being a ladies’ man. At best she had been an amusing diversion, someone on whom he had taken pity at a moment when he needed her and there was no one better available. But he had swiftly moved on to yet more amusing company. She cursed herself for lowering her guard and letting him into her life.
“When she came to her senses again she had cut off all contact with him. It had not been easy, but she had steeled herself. The last time she saw him she was standing on a platform in the tunnelbana at Gamla Stan and he was sitting in the train on his way downtown. She had stared at him for a whole minute and decided that she did not have a grain of feeling left, because it would have been the same as bleeding to death.”
p69-70, Chapter Four, The Girl Who Played With Fire (Millennium II) by Stieg Larsson
This second instalment in the Millennium series, The Girl Who Played With Fire follows our erstwhile heroes, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist in the immediate aftermath of the Vanger/Wennerström affair.
With Lisbeth suddenly, and secretly, rich, and totally unwilling to communicate with Blomkvist while she sorts out her feelings, there’s not a moment to take a breath for the folks at the Millennium offices.
A new freelancer, Dag Svensson, comes to Blomkvist and Berger with an explosive story about sex trafficking in Sweden. Dag’s partner, Mia, started the idea rolling round his mind in the first place and she is about to receive her doctorate in the subject. Starting with Mia’s research and culminating in Dag’s journalistic instinct and talent, he not only has the basis for an entire issue of the magazine, he also has an almost-completed manuscript for the team to produce from their new book publishing company. His evidence is irrefutable and there are plenty of high profile people about to topple from their pedestals.
But when Dag and Mia are shot in their apartment, and the monster with the stomach tattoo, Advokat Bjurman, shows up dead, the only piece of evidence is a gun with Lisbeth Salander’s fingerprints on it. Will anyone believe that the girl who’s spent the majority of her life in institutions isn’t crazy? And how will they prove it?
An absolute rollercoaster with an international setting and a killer ending. I was hooked from the get-go. The action scenes were high impact and the pace never let up. Amazing stuff. On to book three.
February 23, 2022
Book Review – Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood by Danny Trejo with Donal Logue
Book Review – Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood by Danny Trejo with Donal Logue
First published, 2021
I have loved Danny Trejo for years now. He has the most incredible face. I could just look at him for hours if that wasn’t a really creepy thing to admit/suggest. I swear, I’m safe to be around people. For the most part.
For the uninitiated (where have you been?), Danny Trejo is the Mexican-American actor with the ponytail, awesome moustache and the massive chest tattoo. He’s also the most killed actor in Hollywood history, and he has an incredible life story.
Having first used heroin at the age of twelve, let’s all take a moment for that, Danny Trejo spent much of his adolescence and early adulthood in prison. Having been instructed, from an early age, in the ways of crime and imprisonment by his beloved uncle Gilbert, Mr Trejo survived incarceration but, after one fateful event, he made a promise to God and to himself that he would get out and stay sober.
Out of prison, tee-total and working with addicts in treatment centres across the state, Danny Trejo fell into background acting as a means of making a few extra dollars. But with his extraordinary features and background, it wasn’t long before he came to the fore – playing the tough guy, criminal, general baddie, on screens big and small across the world.
As he states in his book, it wasn’t just the extra money that brought him to acting. It was the desire to reach out to those suffering from addiction, and to highlight the treatment programmes he was involved with.
What I really liked about this autobiography was that the author doesn’t spin history to suit himself. I found this fascinating. Most of us are the heroes of our own stories and tell our tales from our own flawed perspective, where everything that happens is tragic or golden; the bad times are other peoples’ fault, the good times were us and us alone. Danny Trejo doesn’t do that. He admits to his mistakes, states outright that some of the things he says might sound a bit iffy, owns his troubles and, okay, he swears a good amount, but he also talks about God a lot so it balances.
An exceptional life story from a fascinating man.
February 17, 2022
Book Review – The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
Book Review – The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
First published, 2015
“It’s going to be a lovely weekend, that’s what they’re telling us. Beautiful sunshine, cloudless skies. In the old days we might have driven to Corly Wood with a picnic and the papers, spent all afternoon lying on a blanket in dappled sunlight, drinking wine. We might have barbecued out back with friends, or gone to the Rose and sat in the beer garden, faces flushing with sun and alcohol as the afternoon went on, weaving home, arm in arm, falling asleep on the sofa.
“Beautiful sunshine, cloudless skies, no one to play with, nothing to do. Living like this, the way I’m living at the moment, is harder in the summer when there is so much daylight, so little cover of darkness, when everyone is out and about, being flagrantly, aggressively happy.”
p17, Rachel, The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins
An utterly addictive read, The Girl On The Train tells, in journal form, the story of three women.
Rachel: the alcoholic ex-wife of Tom. Rachel has been secretly unemployed, mostly drunk to the point of blacking out and drunk-dialling her former husband, for some time. Yet, she still takes the commuter train into the City every day just for a glimpse of her old house, her old life, the woman who took her place – the new Mrs. Watson, and the golden couple a few doors down. But with the world seen through blurry eyes, can Rachel really trust herself?
Anna: the new Mrs. Watson. Married to Tom and sick to death of Rachel’s whining and late night calls, Anna has everything she ever wanted in the form of the handsome husband she rescued from a miserable marriage, the perfect baby girl and a huge house in a nice area. It’s a mite close to the trains and she’s fed up with the sounds of the rails on the tracks, and she had hoped that Rachel would just shuffle off with the implosion of her marriage but, other than that, everything is as it should be. But having snagged her husband through adultery, can she ever really trust him?
Megan: the golden wife from a few doors down. Her life is far more messy than Rachel can see from a passing train but her husband loves her, other men desire her, and everything on the surface is okay. But when Megan goes missing, who will discover the truth about where, and indeed who, she is?
An incredible story, with incisive dialogue, clever characters and an epic conclusion. I showed the film with Emily Blunt a couple of years ago at Movie Night at the Legion.
Emily Blunt in The Girl On The Train (2016)It was the Monday the film came out on DVD, I hadn’t seen it at the cinema; I’d just seen the trailers and thought it looked awesome. I remember being shocked enough by the ending (when I watched it through in the afternoon to find a suitable interval point) that I warned my Movie Nighters before I pressed ‘play’ for the second half. I thought they might want to look away. They didn’t. They loved it.
I expected squeamishness and small-scale writhing.
One woman clapped.
I was surprised and never looked at her the same way again, but the book is exquisite. The ending of the novel has more of a run-up, I suppose, so it doesn’t seem quite so shocking as it is on screen. A great story, really well-told.
February 16, 2022
Book Review – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Book Review – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Millennium I) by Stieg Larsson
First published, 2005
Ten years ago, my ex gave me a copy of this book. It’s not bitterness that makes me say she wasn’t particularly well-read and certainly hadn’t read this one; it’s simple observation. She told me that she’d got me a copy of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo because I had a tattoo, so she figured I’d like it.
Anyway, that all went to hell and I never read the thing. In fact, I gave it away when I exorcised the relationship from my property. But I’m a grown-up now – I’ve decided pushing-forty is definitely grown-up – and I’ve set myself this challenge of reading as much classical literature as possible before I’m fifty and here we are.
A modern classic, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is the story of disgraced former journalist turned reluctant ghostwriter/memoirist, Michael Blomkvist, who has been hired by an ageing captain of industry to write the biography of said industrialist’s frankly appalling family of backbiting wretches. If, during the course of his research he happens to discover what happened to a young woman who disappeared from the family forty years ago, so much the better.
Meanwhile, investigator, hacker and ward of the state, Lisbeth Salander, finds herself broken, used and trapped by new guardian, pervert and holder of the purse strings, Advokat Bjurman. But as Blomkvist digs deeper into the mystery of missing Harriet Vanger, how long will it be before he needs to lean on the detective skills of Ms Salander? And how will he feel when he realises she knows more about him than most?
An amazing story with memorable characters, a huge cast and lots of history. The author had an incredible eye for detail – this is a masterpiece.
‘Salander was dressed for the day in a black T-shirt with a picture on it of E.T. with fangs, and the words “I am also an alien”. She had on a black skirt that was frayed at the hem, a worn-out black, mid-length leather jacket, rivet belt, heavy Doc Marten boots, and horizontally striped green-and-red knee socks. She had put on make-up in a colour scheme that indicated she might be colour-blind. In other words, she was exceptionally decked out.’
p 50-51, Chapter Two, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Millennium I) by Stieg Larsson
A tricky one to recommend because, although brilliant, it includes a whole heap of violence. Proceed with caution.
February 13, 2022
Book Review – The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club (Book One) by Ann Warner
Book Review – The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club (Book One) by Ann Warner
First published, 2016
When Josephine’s husband died, he passed control of his assets and investments not to her, but to their son. The fact that his best performing investments had been carefully selected by Josephine mattered not one whit, and as his jealousy of her financial gumption increased throughout their marriage, Josephine had no choice but to keep her personal portfolio to herself. Which is a bit of luck because, without her own money to tide her over, she’d be completely at her son’s mercy.
Considered cranky and crotchety, no one in the old folks’ home ventures near Josephine’s door and those who try it are refused admission.
But with someone shortchanging the residents on their grocery bills, and valuable items going missing from their rooms with alarming regularity, Josephine may be right to keep her door locked and her priceless artwork hidden away.
But when Edna, Myrtle and Lill invite Josephine to make up a four for their card games, they can’t know that the version of strip poker they will be playing will involve the stripping away of secrets, rather than clothing, and the people you should be able to trust are often the most dangerous.
A delightful cozy mystery, very well-written, with beautifully observed characters. It’s awful to think of the financial abuse some of our older people face with little to no chance of rescue. It must be remarkably difficult to prove you’re not paranoid when your nearest and dearest want power of attorney in order to control your assets when they’re selfish, broke or headed that way, but always show up with a smile or a concerned frown. We can only hope that those who would use our elders for their own means will get what’s coming to them. However, where I’ve gone all vengeance and anger (it struck a big old chord with me), this book is calm and assured, and the conclusion is very satisfying.
Book Review – The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1) by Richard Osman
Book Review – The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club #1) by Richard Osman
First published, 2020
A clever murder-mystery, The Thursday Murder Club follows the investigative efforts of a small group of pensioners in a retirement community, who meet weekly to crack the cold cases of fellow resident, comatose patient and former detective, Penny.
When the owner of their retirement community decides to buy up land further up the hill and cut his builder out of the deal, tempers flare and quite quickly, there are two dead bodies and an unclaimed skeleton with which to contend (I know. Get the grammar on me). But some secrets can’t remain hidden and it’s down to Joyce, Elizabeth, Ibrahim, and Ron, as well as a couple of actual police officers, to unravel a murder from decades ago in order to get to the truth of the recent killings.
A very British story, with some laugh out loud moments, and one scene (which I’ll not spoil for you) when my mouth fell open. Like everybody else, I’ve known Richard Osman for ages, from TV shows like Pointless and Richard Osman’s House of Games, but I was pleasantly surprised by this, his debut novel. His writing is funny, fluent and approachable, and this book has clearly been written with a lot of heart. The author seems to like the more staccato sentences and the modern style of writing; full stop followed by a continuation of the thought. For example:
“Ian Ventham said he wanted us all out of the way and had the paperwork to back it up. Which seemed fair.”
p 160, Chapter 49, Joyce, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
I loved the character of Bogdan, the Polish builder. He has some awesome lines, including this one when he’s been offered a much larger contract than he’d usually receive. I swear, this should be on a t-shirt:
“Big is the same as small. There’s just more of it.”
p 23, Chapter 5, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.
Plenty of red herrings, a clever plot and a clear author’s voice. Excellent.
February 9, 2022
Book Review – Fleabag: The Scriptures by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Book Review – Fleabag: The Scriptures by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
First published, 2019
I happened upon Fleabag, the series, I suspect like everybody else. I’d become obsessed with the first series of Killing Eve (on which Phoebe Waller-Bridge was show-runner) and when I recognised her name and saw a trailer for Fleabag, I loved her reactions to camera right off the bat.
In Fleabag: The Scriptures, we find the full scripts for both seasons, including opening shots, looks to camera, and those gloriously heartbreaking flashbacks with best friend, Boo. I loved the development of the relationships between Fleabag, her sister, Claire, and stepmother, Godmother.
I highlighted so many scenes in this kindle edition, but the line that stopped my heart when I first heard it, and practically choked me from the page, was this one from series two, episode two, where Fleabag is talking to the counsellor her father has got her a voucher for as a birthday present.
(Fleabag is, of course, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the Counsellor is played by Fiona Shaw. Brace yourselves.)
FLEABAG
Just please – tell me how to not f*** a priest before I get arrested.
COUNSELLOR
I don’t think f***ing a priest will make you feel as powerful as you think it will.
FLEABAG
Can you just tell me what to do?
COUNSELLOR
You know.
(beat)
You already know what you’re going to do. Everybody does.
FLEABAG
What?
COUNSELLOR
You’ve already decided what you’re going to do.
64% in, Fleabag: The Scriptures, Series Two, Episode Two
I nearly died.
Having seen the series, more than once, I could hear the characters and see the cast in my head as I was reading, but there are so many great and witty lines – the line about pine nuts had me in hysterics –
– that I felt the story and the characters really captured something of the world we live in as modern women in a Britain that would still rather not talk about things.
Love, love, love.
January 30, 2022
Book Review – The Lobotomist’s Wife by Samantha Greene Woodruff
Book Review – The Lobotomist’s Wife by Samantha Greene Woodruff
Expected publication date, 1st February 2022
Set in the 1940s and 50s, The Lobotomist’s Wife follows New York heiress and hospital administrator, Ruth Emeraldine, as she finds herself at the forefront of mid-century mental health.
Having lost her brother to suicide, Ruth’s raison d’être is to provide care and compassion to the mentally ill and, although not a doctor herself, she’s very interested in new and innovative treatments as they become available.
Upon hiring neurologist and psychologist, Robert Apter to the hospital staff, Ruth finds in the goateed medical man a kindred spirit, a love interest, and someone with the knowledge and skills to make a real difference to those under her care. But, with his invention of the radical lobotomy, and its evolution into the one-hour “ice pick” lobotomy (which, alarmingly, doesn’t require a surgeon but is the sort of operation Robert can perform in his, or anyone else’s office), will the power go to his head? How long will it take for Ruth to realise that her husband is at risk of becoming untethered? And, should a person disagree with a doctor, how long before he starts thinking of you as a potential patient for his “miracle cure”?
A fascinating read, crisply written, with memorable characters and a real-life historical basis. I love medical talk – my mother was a nurse at Bart’s at a time when they had both Matron and rats, so I know a little of the period if not the location.
I think we all know that lobotomy is a barbaric, grisly, and imprecise treatment which, historically, rendered patients childlike or catatonic, but which certainly took their personalities away, so reading about the time when it was first developed, and how wonderful a surgery it promised to be, was enlightening and frightening in equal measure. It’s strange to think of such an operation being considered a miracle, but indeed, it was. I must admit, with some shock – given my pop-culture, eighties background and our celebrity-saturated society, that I hadn’t known that Rosemary Kennedy (JFK and RFK’s sister) had been lobotomised in 1941, at the age of 23, with heartbreaking results. And without reading this book, I might never have known.
Once again, we have the question for books clubs at the end, which I don’t care for. That said, my old book club in Devon appears to have disbanded so maybe we should have looked at the questions as a means of binding ourselves together?
Anyway, an amazing debut, a fascinating subject, and utterly compelling characters. A triumph.
January 27, 2022
Book Review – A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness
Book Review – A Discovery Of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1) by Deborah Harkness
First published, 2011
I recently bought the first series of A Discovery of Witches on DVD and have been very good in not watching it.
There have been plenty of occasions where I’ve watched the series/film and then gone in search of the book and it always feels like I’ve got that the wrong way round. Frankly, I want to be one of those people who knows the book intimately before it appears on screens of various sizes. I like a good story. I don’t really care where I find it, but it feels like there’s only so much that can be covered on the screen and I’d like to get to know those little details before I can claim to miss them.
Anyway, having stumbled across the DVD of A Discovery of Witches (because I only need to hear the name Alex Kingston before I open my wallet), I scoured the internet for the book. I didn’t need to scour for long because the book is enormous and hard to miss. Not as huge as The Count of Monte Cristo but A Discovery of Witches could also be used as a weapon.
So, the story follows repressed witch and Oxbridge academic, Diana: the daughter of murdered parents, Diana has been raised by her aunt, Sarah, and her partner, Em. Having moved to a bookish life, Diana is alchemical expert. She rarely uses her witchy powers but all that is about to change when she accidentally calls up a book from the bowels of the Bodleian library which hasn’t been seen in an age. And she’s not alone in her fascination. Indeed, all the witches, vampires and daemons in the locality are stunned by her sudden, inexplicable access to the mighty tome and they want in on it.
Having found herself a source of interest, bordering on obsession, with a whole host of beings, Diana finds solace and security in the deep and foreboding presence of Matthew – a centuries old vampire with a murky and extensive past. But as their relationship moves into something more romantic, could they fall foul of a treaty made before Diana was born, and will they be allowed their happily ever after? And what will Sarah have to say about it?
See, and this is my problem: an otherwise smart woman with her own thoughts and opinions, is catapulted into the spotlight and finds herself totally reliant on a man who demands her blind obedience. (Shudder) She spends a good chunk of the novel trying to talk Matthew into bed and he insists they take their time about it – even though time travel is a thing. Whether he’s not that interested or she’s too needy, I couldn’t say, but I (and it might just be me) found their developing touchy-feeliness creepy and a bit cringe. Matthew’s too controlling and I don’t want Diana to be quite so desperate. Also, given that her aunts raised her from the age of seven, Diana is remarkably rude to them and seems to expect them to just deal with whatever she throws at them, and for a character who becomes so dependant on another person, I expect her to show more gratitude.
It’s a very intelligently written book but I didn’t like her, and I failed to see what she saw in him.
January 24, 2022
Book Review – The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
Book Review – The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
First published, 1972
Strange to tell, for a movie maniac, I’ve never seen the films (the 1975 version had, so I’m told, a horror slant and starred Katharine Ross who was awesome in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the 2004 film starred Nicole Kidman and it played more as a comedy, or something headed in that direction).
As previously reported, I’m a child of the eighties and so I know a lot of this and other stories from comedy references in film and television, and from my mother’s friend, Julia.
When we first moved to Devon, Julia came and visited. For a self-described ‘Woodland Village’, Julia found the place to be very clean and overly manicured; a little too hygienic to be the true countryside, as if the leaves wouldn’t dare fall from the trees for fear of cluttering up lawns that were used for putting practice.
She communicated all of this with her eyes. What she actually said was, “It’s a bit like one of those little places in America.” She didn’t pronounce the word ‘Stepford’ (and I should point out that the people weren’t like those you find in the book. At all). But there was something about the village that made it a little too corseted to be real. At least, that seemed to be Julia’s impression, and it made a lot of sense to teenage-me.
So, The Stepford Wives. We know the story. Young family, full of dreams for the future, for women’s liberation, and equality for all, moves to neater than neat little town. Well-meaning husband and women’s ally, Walter, joins the local men’s association, planning to change it from the inside, while wife, Joanna looks to meet new friends to join the cause.
But very few of the women are like her, with interests outside the home. Indeed, very few seem to have interests outside the 1950s. Most of them are cookie-cutter, big-busted, small-bottomed, perfectly perfumed little robots who devote huge chunks of their lives to waxing their floors.
As, one by one, the few kooky and interesting friends Joanna has made morph into these unblinking homemakers, Joanna wonders how long it will be before she loses herself and becomes one of them. But Walter would never let that happen. He loves her for herself, for her beliefs and her opinions. Doesn’t he?
A quick read, the story was mesmeric and the characters beautifully drawn. A fascinating concept. And the idea that a person can only prove she’s real by bleeding hit something deep and profound within me, which I suspect will continue thrumming for some time. The introduction by Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club) was unnecessary for this reader but the novel itself was a wonder.
“Joanna watched her close the dryer and take something white from the pile of clothes on it. She shook it out – a T-shirt. Joanna said, ‘What’s wrong with Bill McCormick? Can’t he run a washer? I thought he was one of our aerospace brains.’
“‘He’s taking care of Marge,’ Kit said, folding the T-shirt. ‘These things came out nice and white, didn’t they?’ She put the folded T-shirt into the laundry basket, smiling.
“Like an actress in a commercial.
“That’s what it was, Joanna felt suddenly. That’s what they all were, all the Stepford wives: actresses in commercials, pleased with detergents and floor wax, with cleansers, shampoos, and deodorants. Pretty actresses, big in the bosom but small in the talent, playing suburban housewives unconvincingly, too nicey-nice to be real.”
p48-49, One, The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
Again, not like the people where I used to live, but very like the place.
