Sunday 31 March 2013

Don't Spill your Soup.


I've been too focussed on the ‘Etta problem’, aka trying to make the reader love my unassuming, guilt-ridden, loyal, stubborn, big-hearted, unswervingly ethical, joint main character, just as much as I do, and hiding eggs for the Easter egg hunt (what do you mean, aren’t they teenagers? Well, hubbie’s 42 and he’s never let a pesky little thing like age get in the way of a chocolate scramble) to think about posting. Even though, dear blog, I have missed thee over the past two weeks.
However, I am desperate to tell you about two books which really surprised me in how much I enjoyed them. The first, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, would certainly have passed me by had it not been for the furore I stumbled across over at that large internet book and kitchen sink seller. A reviewer had let out an enormous stinking, howler of a spoiler. The cover has far too many silver stars and sprinkles of glitter for my usual higher echelons of cerebral taste - ok, I'm just not drawn to books with stars on - but the review war had my interest piqued.


Before reading Me Before You, I admit I thought the heated discussion was all a little unnecessary. If somebody was going to get so upset by a spoiler then I wondered if they might prefer to stay away from the high-risk strategy of reading reviews. However, after being absolutely engrossed in and emotionally battered by this tale of a quadriplegic contemplating euthanasia, I was bound to admit that the spoiler really did have the potential to ruin reading and wasn’t one which would be easily forgotten.
Have I hidden the spoiler well enough? I truly hope so!
The second book is The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend. Now, I admit to turning my back on Ms Townsend after devouring Adrian Mole’s teenage hood, his Cappuccino Years and even the hard-backed version of The Wilderness Years after happening upon The Queen and I from many years previously. 
The farce, her usual parallels and satire and her wonderful ability to get away with being delightfully un-politically correct whilst being sub-consciously thoughtful all at the same time are all on top form in the Queen and I. However, this novel was my first taste of feeling used and cheated as a reader. I cannot tell you what happens at the end of the book to cause me to throw it across the room and vow never to spend my precious pennies on a Townsend classic again, for fear of issuing a spoiler of Me Before You proportions. (Happily I hadn’t read her books in order and had snuck in all the Adrian Moles to date before my vow so that I wasn’t forced to renege on my principals on sight of a new launch.) Suffice it to say, never have I remembered the ending of a book so precisely and with so much grinding of teeth.
However, something about the title compelled me to pick up The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year and after laughing out loud at the blurb in the middle of a quiet book store, I decided to give a Townsend novel ‘one more go’. Let’s just say, this book isn’t to be taken too seriously but it makes me smile just thinking about the spilled soup which served as the catalyst to one lady’s decision to turn her back on the world.
I’ve reviewed both of these books over in Chase Magazine, the supplement to the Rotherham Advertiser which you can view here Page 36/37.

Next month I’m reviewing Emma Donoghue’s, The Sealed Letter which has propelled me down a path of literary fiction, so absorbed was I in the plight of the fickle Helen and her hard-done-by husband, and The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler of which I’m only half way through, and totally engrossed so no spoilers please!
What are you reading at the moment? Please share!

10 comments:

  1. The reason I haven't yet read Me Before You is because of that spoiler on Amazon, which I read by mistake, but I'm going to because it sounds amazing - and I partly want to see what all the fuss is about :o) I've recently read Sue Townsend's book too, I've been a HUGE fan since Adrian Mole, but for me - though I enjoyed parts of it - it wasn't her strongest.

    I've just finished an intriguing and unusual novel by Susanne Jones, called When Nights were Cold, which I couldn't put down, and am currently reading Instructions for a Heatwave, by Maggie O'Farrell, which is totally brilliant so far.

    Have a lovely Easter egg hunt!

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    1. Thanks Karen! Shame you read the spoiler too :( Ahhh Maggie O'Farrell, have been such a fan since After You'd Gone and was so excited when my beautiful pre-ordered 'Heatwave' arrived. Glad you're enjoying it, might have to move it up my TBR pile now :) I'll check out When Nights Were Cold too - like the title!

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  2. I sympathize with your "Etta problem." Capturing the essence of an authentic character while making her appealing is like walking a tightrope. Good luck on that, and I hope your family had a great Easter! :-)

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    1. I'm doing a wonderful self-editing course, Lexa, absolutely inspirational. It's forced me to dig deep though, really examine whether how I see Etta in my mind is how she jumps off the page - and yes, there's the authenticity versus appeal conundrum, too! Lovely Easter, thank you, how about you?

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  3. I'm having to steal myself not to look up the spoiler furore, wanting to read all the indignant comments without reading the spoiler! I'm reading The Shunning at the moment. It's not the world's greatest book but excommunication and exclusion is a theme I'm looking at for another book and I'm interested to see how different communities deal with it.

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    1. Noooo! Skyblue, I'll feel dreadful if I've directed you to the spoiler, that was not the intention at all! I tell you what, read the book and then read the spoiler and you and I can have a discussion in private about whether the furore was justified - how's that?? Thanks for reading!

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    2. Me Before You is one of Ceri's favourite's so I will have to get it now.
      Read Rook while I was away - thanks for that.

      Also the Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (Jonas Jonasson). This is a title, not a spoiler! Not sure to begin with, but then really got into it. Definite shades of Forrest Gump in there, but great fun.
      Currently on volume 1 of Game of Thrones. Good holiday read, and not too demanding.

      Ate chocolate bunnies on the beach at Easter, then home to the frost, although we had to open the conservatory door today the sun was so hot:)

      Hope the egg hunt went well. Love to all chocolate lovers in the house. XX

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  4. Thanks Pauline :) Sounds like you had a fun, and warm, trip! And with a title like, Hundred-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, you've just got to have a look, haven't you?? Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy Me Before You.

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  5. Even with the spoiler Me before you is worth reading and if you enjoy her writing I would recommend The Girl you Left Behind. Cried all the way through!

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    1. Thanks for that Clarkey, I did go straight out and buy The Girl You Left Behind but have to admit to it being a bit lost in the To Be Read pile. I shall seek it out now you've reminded me. So nice to see you here at my blog, thank you!

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