Book-review post!
Catching up on bookish thoughts about ‘everything that is not YA’, so this is a mix of poetry, short stories, commercial fiction, and non-fiction. Quick thoughts!
Marie Howe – What The Living Do
Collection of poems about the author’s brother and his death – some lovely ones in there. (I am useless at reviewing poetry. It is pretty.)
Leanne O’Sullivan – Cailleach
Also poetry! This is a collection based on ideas of and myths about the Hag of Beara, focusing on her as both woman and witch, and has some gorgeous lines and images. The poems can stand alone but are arranged in five sections and do sort of work as a novel-in-verse, which makes for pleasing reading.
Emma Donoghue – Three and a Half Deaths
Four short stories, all linked by death (or almost-death). These are historical tales all based on a kernel of truth, all gorgeously done. (This is available in e-book only at the moment, as far as I know.)
Clodagh Murphy – Girl In A Spin
This is a fun and compelling read about twentysomething Jenny – blonde, gorgeous, and easy to underestimate. She lives with her two best friends, works as a nanny, and is having an affair with a married, ambitious politician. When his marriage breaks up and he decides he wants to commit to Jenny publicly, alongside his attempts to gain more power in his party, his spin doctor (ah, see how that title makes sense now?) steps in – but he’s convinced Jenny’s bad news. There are some fun and naughty elements to this (oh, the men in their costumes…), but there’s also some lovely characterisation, and I particularly liked seeing a character who suffered from panic attacks but wasn’t magically cured by the power of love. Read this on holidays and absolutely devoured it.
Brian Finnegan – The Forced Redundancy Film Club
Never mind book clubs – film clubs are where it’s at. When a group of employees all lose their jobs on the same day, they go for drinks and agree to start a film club, which brings them together even as their lives take on some sharp twists and turns over the next year. I enjoyed reading this, and promptly went and bought…
Brian Finnegan – Knowing Me, Knowing You
… his second book! This time the focus is on a group of friends who haven’t all been together in decades, but promised to reunite if their favourite band ABBA ever reunited for a concert. This (fictional) gig and the lead-up to it serves as the catalyst for these four characters reconnecting and working through some of the challenges their lives have brought – ranging from cancer to domestic violence to failed-pop-star-ness to life-after-gender-reassignment-surgery. Lot of issues, but none of it too heavy-handed; easy reading without being too fluffy.
Robin Hardwick – If You Lived Here, You’d Be Perfect By Now: The Unofficial Guide to Sweet Valley High
This was most enjoyable reading. Based on The Dairi Burger website recaps and new material, it is a snarktastic book-by-book (sometimes trilogy-by-trilogy) guide to the Sweet Valley High series, calling it out on all its ridiculousness. I think it might have benefited from a little more editing to reflect the way these recaps are presented in order, and I wish the Saga books could have been included, but all in all this is a most excellent addition to any 80s/90s-girls-series-fiction-junkie’s bookshelf.
