Stories about little creatures

Just before Christmas, we went to our lovely friends for a wonderful dinner, and of course, the subject of books came up, and I admitted that I had never read "The Wind in the Willows" (well I had, but in school, where you go round the class with everyone reading one paragraph at a time...tortuous!). Our hosts urged me to give it a try, and I am so delighted that I did. What a wonderful book, written by Kenneth Graham, and illustrated by Arthur Rackham (whose work I adore). I also like EH Shepherd who illustrated Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh. AA Milne wrote the foreword to the The Wind in the Willows, and it was beautiful! The stories in this book are marvellous, such a delight to read, and with such fantastic adventures! The image of Toad in a dress was one of my favourites! I love this book, and it has been added to my treasure list. I loved all the descriptions of each of their homes, and couldn't decide which one I would want to stay in. They all had some magic to them. The characters were wonderful; again, I don't know who is my favourite - kindly Ratty, wise Badger, bold Toad, or curious Mole. But it is a book, I shall keep on going back to, and I am so happy I was encouraged to try again.

It actually prompted me to read another children's book, one which I adored, but sadly lost my first copy, but amazingly found another copy in my adult years! The book is "The Forest of Boland Light Railway", written by BB, also known as Denys Watkins-Pitchford, who was an English naturalist and artist, who not only wrote his books, but also drew the illustrations, which are gorgeous! So, this book is about a clever gnome who invents the steam engine to help the other gnomes get to and from the mines where they work, and have day trips. There is so much detail about the flowers and the lives of these little people. It is magical, and I am so happy that I have come back to it again. (it is now out of print, which is why I don't have a link for it - you can get it, but it is very expensive). Keep an eye out though.

If you can't get that one, you can still get some of BB's other books, so I also read "The Little Grey Men", which was about two gnomes who decide to sail up the river to look for their brother who never came home after sailing away on an adventure. In both of these books, the names of the gnomes are brilliant: Cloudberry, Dodder, Sneezewort....so creative! With the help of their animal and bird friends, they sail off in a paddle boat of their own ingenious creation, and have lots of adventures. It gets a little bit dark in places, but it all ends up right in the end. This book is easily available, and a really wonderful, and creative read. I am just reading an Agatha Christie at the moment, and then I have the sequel to this book lined up to follow! I am loving my evenings reading in front of the fire, with my cat sitting on my lap!

Discovering Japanese crime fiction and other new authors

The Honjin Murders

Happy New Year! We live down a lovely farm track, a mile out of town. We regularly walk up to town and this short walk should only take 10 minutes, but often takes significantly longer because we chat with friends we meet who are making the same walk, or as they say in Italy "fare la passagiata". Recently we made friends with a lovely man and his dog who is a book lover like us, and from him we have learned about new authors. I had mentioned that I had discovered Japanese novels, and he told me about Japanese crime fiction. The next time I went into a bookshop, I discovered the Honjin Murders, written in 1973, by Seishi Yokomizo. It was brilliant, a really great locked-room mystery, with such an good twist at the end, and a Columbo-style detective. I love discovering new authors, and am really delighted with our informal walking book group.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives

Another book I have recently read is The Kamogawa Food Detectives, and again, I loved it. I do not know how they come up with their creative ideas. This one is about a secret restaurant, where people go to eat, but also to discover a recipe that they had previously experienced and want to recreate. It is not all about the food, but also about the experience that person had when they originally tasted it. This is about a father-daughter duo, with the daughter, conducting the original interview with the person looking for the recipe, and the chef taking that knowledge to rediscover the recipe, exactly as the requesting person wants it.

The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells

The last book I am going to post about is The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells. I was conflicted with this one. I really enjoyed it, but the author is from North Cornwall, and I am really proud of my adopted county, so I expected it to be more Cornish. However, it reminded me of books set in America, particularly those of Alice Hoffman. It talked about pancakes, which is not very Cornish. It did mention a couple of places in Cornwall, but it just didn't feel right. I would have preferred more Cornish context. Saying that, the plot was really good, with great descriptions of the location. It is about a woman who returns to the town where she used to live, after inheriting a house from her grandmother. There was conflict between her grandmother and her great aunt, because of a book of spells and the power of the mountains. The woman falls in love with a mysterious man, who her great aunt fears will break her heart by disappearing. It is a very magical story, and I think I am curious to read more.

So, that's it for now. Wishing you all a Happy New Year! Thank you for reading!

Time travel and opium

I am still experimenting with Japanese literature, and I am loving them. My latest discovery is "Tales from the Cafe", by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It was humorous but also really moving. The focus is a coffee shop in Tokyo, which not only sells great coffee, but also allows people to travel in time. Most people travel back in time to resolve something that occurred in the past, that they can't change without going back in time. There are strict rules. If you travel in time, you have to go to the cafe and sit in the right seat - this is problematic, because someone is already sitting in that seat and only leaves her position once a day, to go to the toilet. You have to accept the coffee that is poured for you, and most importantly, you have to return to the cafe before the coffee gets cold, otherwise you cannot return. There are four stories, each with their own purpose and journey. It is such a lovely read, full of warmth, love, and wonderful colourful characters.

I am really enjoying the Japanese books I am reading, but I was a bit disappointed to read a post on another social media site, which said that Japanese books about cats and books are written because they appeal to sentimental overseas readers, and not for a typical Japanese audience. I don't know if that is true, but I hope it isn't, because I think the Japanese would be missing out.

I have just discovered a series of books written by Philip Pullman, author of the Dark Materials series, back in 1985! I hadn't heard of the Sally Lockhart Mysteries before, but I found "The Ruby in the Smoke" in another charity shop, and I was gripped. I was 15 years old when this was written, and it is aimed at young adults. The theme of the book is the opium trade, and I am trying to remember if I would have found that topic interesting at that age. I am not sure I would have been interested then, but I definitely am now. It was fascinating to read the history of opium trading, and there were some wonderful descriptions of London in historical times, particularly the docks. Again, so many great characters, some very dark. I enjoyed this book so much, I have ordered the rest of the series, so I will be busy for a little while now!

More Japanese translations and French cuisine mixed with crime

Sorry. It has been too long again, but at least I have new books to write about...may there be many more!

I have continued my discovery of Japanese translations, and I am still loving that genre. "The Cat Who Saved Books" by Sosuke Natsukawa is so beautiful and magical. It is about a small second-hand bookshop on the edge of a town, jam-packed with wonderful books from floor to ceiling. Rintaro Natsuki is the main character of this story, a young man, whose grandfather owned the bookshop but has recently passed away. Rintaro has no-one else, except for an aunt who lives far away. He wants to stay at the bookshop, and skips school to tend to it, but realises that he will have to close it. Suddenly, a talking cat called Tiger comes up to Rintaro and asks him for help. The cat needs someone who loves books to join him on three adventures to save books from people who have either kept them hidden away or damaged them or betrayed them. This book was so creative and unique, gentle, sympathetic, tender, thought-provoking....just lovely to read.

"The Goodbye Cat" is written by Hiro Arikawa, and it is the follow-up to "The Travelling Cat Chronicles", which I posted about in my last blog. This is a compilation of short stories, filled with love and warmth, about seven cats and the impact they have on the people they live with/visit, exploring the cycle of life from birth to death, and the afterlife, and emphasising the loyalty of a well-loved cat. 

The translations of both these books are brilliant, and I assume they capture the original intentions. I would love to be able to read and understand Japanese, just to see how they are in their mother tongue.

My husband has decided to randomly choose books, but picking a letter, going into a bookshop, and picking an author whose surname begins with that letter. This time, he chose R for James Runcie, who wrote the Grantchester Mysteries. My husband hasn't seen the television series, so this was completely new to him. I had watched it, and now having read some of the books, I think that they were well-cast. I am in the midst of the series, and I am still enjoying them, although the earlier ones are the best, in my opinion. "Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death" is the first in the Grantchester Mysteries, and introduces Sydney as an unconventional clergyman, who has the ability to solve crimes that the police cannot. He works closely with his friend Inspector Geordie Keating, where they discuss cases over a pint and a game of backgammon. In the first book, we are introduced to his best friend Amanda, where you wonder if there will be some romance, and this is teased throughout the earlier books. It covers his love of jazz music and his attendance at a jazz club, where there is an unexplained death. There are several, well-thought out mysteries in each book, and combined with the religious aspects of his work, it provides a good mystery with interesting back stories too. On the whole, it is quite gentle, but there are some shocking moments, particulary the story of the art forgery.

My next book "Let It Snow" is a clever collaboration between John Green, who I have posted about before, and two other authors - Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle, who I haven't read before. I like books like this because you know for sure that you are going to like one of the stories, but you have the prospect of discovering two new (to me) authors. This book is made up of three holiday romances, which feature three different teenagers who's lives are somewhat intertwined. Each story follows their lives as they end up in Gracetown, at Christmas, during a huge snow storm. The first story features a young girl who has been forced to leave her boyfriend on Christmas Eve, because her parents have been arrested in a very comical scene. On the train she meets a young man who is trying to call his girlfriend, but has no phone signal. On the train, there is a group of very excitable cheerleaders, and when the train gets stuck in Gracetown because of a snowstorm, the first girl ventures out to find some food, and gradually the others follow. It is quite complicated, as teenage lives can be, but their stories are carefully intertwined, and there are several comedic scenes, such as the team of cheerleaders demonstrating their winning moves in a waffle house managed by a group of teenage boys. The boys call a range of friends to come down and bring a game of Twister so that they can persuade the cheerleading team to play the game in the hope of becoming closer with them. There are all sorts of shenanigans, but eventually all the stories join up. It isn't complex or deep, but it is fun to read.

As you know, I do love a good detective story, and I was lucky to find two written by the same author, ML Longworth, in a charity shop. They are both set in Aix-en-Provence, and are part of a series starring a magistrate and an inspector, whose wives both provide insights to the cases, and who all love good French food. There are wonderful descriptions of wine and French food, and the detectives seem to spend endless time in their favourite cafe, eating pastries and drinking coffee, or dining in nice restaurants with many-coursed meals, while discussing their cases. Because they are finds rather than organised purchases, I am reading them out of sync, but it doesn't seem to matter. The first is called "The Vanishing Museum on the Rue Mistral" and focuses on a small museum in Aix, the contents of which, mysteriously disappear over a weekend, leaving a bench, a reception desk, and a fern. Coincidentally, a few weeks earlier, there had been a similar mysterious robbery from an elderly lady's apartment. There are some lovely characters, including the suspects, and it is a lovely, leisurely read, with lots of twists and turns.

The second book, "The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche", follows the arrival of a controversial author, who was once very famous, particularly for his first novel, and then all of a sudden changed genre to romantic fiction. He has moved into a grand old house which hasn't been lived in for many, many years, with a plan to retire. However, his nights become disturbed by sinister presences, and although he hires a housekeeper, they both experience strange happenings. He befriends the young daughter of the detective who lives across from him, and soon the magistrate becomes involved. They question whether the author is losing his mind, and find out what happened previously in the house, leading it to become empty. It feels like it is going to be a ghost story, and they make, and there are, comparisons with Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. The unfolding of the story happens while a young editor interviews the author in a restaurant known for its food and wine, and the author tests the young man by seeing which wines he chooses for each course. It is quite different from the first book I read, but just as engaging and entertaining. I loved both books, but they did leave me wanting to head straight over to Provence for some leisurely dining in the beautiful scenery of Aix.

So, I am caught up now, and looking forward to reading more books over the Summer.

Apologies for the 3-year delay in posting - books, books, books!

My only excuse is that I have been busy with work, with life, and with reading. During this time, I have read a lot of books, and I am not going to comment on all of them. Some have been my usual re-reads, Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic), Sarah Addison Allen (Garden Spells), Laurie R King (Beekeeper's Apprentice), Elinor Brent-Dyer (Chalet School), Agatha Christie, etc, but I have also discovered new, fabulous authors! So many talented writers and so little time :-)

So where to start!?! I live in the South West of England, and WJ Burley writes wonderful detective stories set in Devon, Cornwall, and the Scilly Isles. I have read many over the past few years, and they are creative and beautifully written. I haven't read them all, but my favourite so far Wycliffe and the Cycle of Death, which is set in a bookshop, in Penzance, a lovely harbour town, near to where I live. There were so many twists and turns, and yet a gentleness due to Superintendent Wycliffe's quiet and pensive nature.

Another detective series I like is Inspector Morse, created by Colin Dexter. I have to admit, I am not a great fan of the books, as the couple I read were quite seedy. However, I found Morse's Greatest Mystery and Other Stories in a charity shop, and was totally blown away by it. I love short stories, and this collection is brilliant. Only a few stories are about Inspector Morse, and the Greatest Mystery is a lovely surprise. There are other stories, which are still about crime, but more about prisoners and their antics. One of the tales was absolutely brilliant. It was a pastiche of Sherlock Holmes, and it is done so well, that I had to double-check that it had not been written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was my favourite and had a great twist at the end....very unexpected and enjoyable! This has rekindled my interest in the Morse books, so watch this space.

So, if you have read my previous posts, you will know that I don't just read crime fiction; I have quite a varied taste, although I do focus on fiction. Recently, I have discovered Japanese translations, and they are so beautifully told, gentle and creative. The first I read was The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, and translated by Philip Gabriel. I am in awe of translators. The translations of Asterix and Obelix were brilliant because the many jokes translated so well. Obviously, I can't read the original versions, but I am assuming the translations are true to the original. This one is poetic, as I imagine the original version is. I was sceptical at first. I love cats, adore them, but I wasn't sure if I would want to read a book from a cat's perspective, but I truly loved it and happily give copies of this book away as gifts, because it feels like I am spreading the love. This book is described as heart-breaking, but I would say it is heart-warming. There is so much kindness and gentle emotion throughout the book as the cat takes us on a journey through Japan, and introduces us to the beautiful Japanese culture and customs.

The next book I found was What you are looking for is in the library by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts. This one focuses on a very special librarian, and a community which has a special attachment to a particular brand of biscuits, and needs the help of the librarian to solve their life problems, through the choice of books she issues to them, along with a little hand-made, felted gift. Each chapter introduces a member of the community, who is looking for something, but is not sure what, and they are directed to a large, rather intimidating, librarian, who surprises them with the book choices she gives them. This is such a lovely story, so inspiring, and makes me proud to be a librarian. I wish I could be as magic as her! Incidentally, the biscuits they are fans of are the Honeydome Cookies by Kuremiyado - I don't know if they actually exist, but someone has posted this recipe, in case you want to give them a go - in the book, they are described as "half-moon shaped cookie with a soft, honey flavored center".

The last book I am going to talk about today is The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page. My sister bought this for me as a gift and it was so beautiful. I have bookmarked so many wonderful quotes! The book is about a young woman who is taking care of her uncle's stationery shop. I don't know about you but I love stationery, and a shop full of pens, pencils, and paper, would be a fabulous place to work. This book has inspired me to write again, using a fountain pen, because she adds new stock to the shop, and encourages potential customers to try writing with a fountain pen and she collects what they write. She makes friends with a female vicar and an elderly customer, and discovers Highgate Cemetery, which is a place close to my heart - if you ever get the chance to visit, do go; it is full of the most incredible people. Anyway, together with her new friends, the main character moves forward with her life and helps them to find themselves too. It is such a beautiful story. The author created a fountain pen shop, PLOOMS, and I was tempted to buy a pen from them, but then I decided to do some research, and found a lovely company in Wales, and I bought a lovely, chunky fountain pen, which inspires me to write, rather than type, and I chose some gorgeous ink colours - magenta, forest green, and turquoise! I like this book because it encourages you to handwrite - there is one sentence, which describes how she learned to write by using exercise books and practising her letters, as a child - it reminded me of my own schooldays. And best of all, this book encourages you to reach out, make contact, stay in touch - "'Dear' is a good place to start" - absolutely, a small word, straight from the heart..."dear" - full of love and care.

And, on that note, I will sign off for now, but I hope to post again soon, Dear Readers. Stay in touch.

Celebrating reading!

So, yesterday, we were listening to Ireland playing France, in the Six Nations Rugby, on Irish radio station, RTE, and an advert came up about “Ireland reads”, a national day to celebrate reading! “Squeeze in a read” on February 25^th.What a fabulous initiative, although personally I would prefer a national month J But I do love this idea. It reminds me of the Icelandic tradition, where they give books on Christmas Eve, and spend the evening reading with their loved ones, and drinking hot chocolate. Jolabokaflod translates into “Christmas Book Flood”.

I am doing very badly with my blogging, and I do keep on meaning to improve, but so much is going on. We have a lovely home, but it requires a lot of work, both inside and out, and together with working full-time, I tend to use my spare time to read! With that in mind, I have seven books to blog about on this occasion. Three are from the same author and so I shall start with them. Actually, I am shocked to see that I have already blogged about one of them, back in November 2020!!! So I won’t blog about it again, but I have been continuing to work my way through Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. I went on to From Russia With Love. I have been very lucky, as my local post office, in St Just in Penwith, sells books to raise money for Cancer Research, and they always have treasures, and I found this lovely 1961 edition. It is worth just having for the cover.

Anyway, it was entirely gripping, not just the plot, but the characters and the locations were beautifully described. One of the villains was an absolutely grotesque and perverse woman, and it made me wonder why, in the films, the villains tend to be male. Perhaps an ugly female one is just too ghastly to contemplate! The description in the book about her still makes me shiver with disgust as she was horrid inside and out. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this book. I haven’t seen the film, but the book was so exciting, I don’t think I need to. Lots of twists and turns, and heroic acts. After that one, I read Live and Let Die, one of my favourite Bond films, especially for the soundtrack, and all the voodoo traditions.

The film very much followed the book, and I found the detail about the Haitian traditions so interesting, although quite terrifying too, the zombies in particular! Ian Fleming clearly researched his backgrounds in great depth to make them credible. It makes the books much more interesting reading. I do remember A Caribbean Mystery, by Agatha Christie, where she introduced a character who was an author, who was stuck for a name for his lead character, and she introduced another character who was giving a lecture, and his name was James Bond, and the author immediately noted the name down. Anyway, again, this was a super-exciting read, with great characters, wonderful descriptions of the locations, and quite gory endings involving fish….similar to Octopussy. In fact, I am noticing that many of Ian Fleming’s stories include some aspect of natural history in them.

Another book that I picked up at my fabulous post office, was “The Case of The Glamorous Ghost” by Erle Stanley Gardner. I hadn’t heard of the author before, but I was attracted to the book, because it is a Perry Mason mystery, and I used to love watching those on television. Published in 1955, it also had the most wonderful cover, and the book was fantastic. It was actually like a screenplay. You could imagine it all being acted out. The story was about a society girl who was regularly getting into trouble and on this occasion, she was suffering from amnesia, but had been seen looking like a ghost in not very much clothing! The story has a complex plot and some very colourful characters. I hadn’t read anything like it before, but I will definitely keep an eye out for more by this author.

Over Christmas, there is nothing better than reading a sentimental Christmas book. As usual, I came across The Six Tales of Christmas by accident, and it was just perfect. It was about an independent bookshop that had fallen on hard times. The husband had health problems, and so the wife didn’t want him to know the extent of their problems, and is worrying away to herself, while he worries about her, not knowing what is going on. They decided to have a competition. They randomly chose six books and wrapped them up and then asked their customers to nominate people who they felt should get a free book. And this is how the six tales unfold. There is a special story attached to each book, and it is just lovely. So heart-warming, without being to schmaltzy. It was a really lovely book to read, and it really emphasises the importance of supporting independent bookshops J

I really like books by Rosamunde Pilcher. They are very romantic and
quite dramatic, and the females are usually strong and independent, while still wanting to be in love. The plots follow a similar pattern, involving tragedy and hope, but they are comforting, and always set in gorgeous locations, like Scotland and Cornwall. I read The Shell Seekers over Christmas about a woman who grew up in Cornwall and London and went to live in Cornwall during the war with one of her children, before the other two were born. Her father was a famous artist, and she still had some of his works. She is old now and her children, all grown up, are trying to persuade her to sell them as his work has become very popular, and they knew that they would be worth a lot of money. She doesn't want to though, but instead wants to return to Cornwall for a visit with her family. They are all too busy, so she goes with two young friends she has met, and revisits old friends and memories. It is a complex tale, but lovely, full of memories of how Cornwall used to be, and what it was like during the war. She also writes

lovely short stories, and after her passing in 2019, a young assistant at a literary agency searched through old folios of magazines for stories written by Rosamunde Pilcher, but not published in book form, and A Place Like Home, is the culmination of this search. It contains 15 short stories, and I loved them all, with the exception of number 14, which just felt hopeless. The others were full of hope, magical, romantic, set in beautiful locations, with heros and heroines, and many different plots. It was a delight to read, and so wonderful to have found new stories from this lovely author. I wonder how many other authors have short stories originally published in magazines, that have never been published in collections. I quite like the idea of that job. Searching through the archives for magazine articles by some of my favourite authors, just as they are starting out. Imagine what treasures one could find!!!

So that’s it from me for now. Hopefully it won’t be another six months before I write again, because I have a whole pile of books to read, but Spring is coming, and the garden is calling, speaking of which, I am looking into creating a medicine garden, based on the one described in Alice Hoffman’s Nightbird.

Shangri-La, the story behind the name

I love discovering books by accident. Years ago, we were in Capel Curig, in Snowdonia. Such a beautiful place! We were walking past a hotel, when we noticed they were selling books. So, as self-confessed bibliophiles, we ventured in and were not disappointed. I picked up Lost Horizon, by James Hilton. I watched the film in the 70s, and was mesmerised by the magic. I have never watched it again, although I have watched the trailer since reading the book, and am astonished at how it was translated. It is an amazing story of a group of people who are escaping from a revolution in Persia (Iran), on a plane to Pakistan. The plane crashes in the middle of nowhere, but fortunately they are rescued by a group of travellers who take them to a beautiful sanctuary, which has everything they could ever want. Their new home is very cut off, particularly during Winter, and it is a long time before the group might be rescued. 

The visitors are made up of three men and a woman, and they adapt (or not) to their new surroundings in different ways. The youngest male struggles the most as he just wants to get home and find a wife. He has left too much behind to give up, and cannot see a future where they are, despite being treated very well by all the other inhabitants, and having everything he could desire. The woman appears to relish living there, and both of the older men, also settle in very well. There is a magical atmosphere in the remote community, surrounded by mountains. They have found a way to extend life, giving them time to indulge in the pleasures they enjoy. The isolated community is led by one man, and it soon becomes clear that he is training one of the new visitors to take his place. Eventually, some leave, but the book ends with wonder and mystery. It is a very exciting story, and beautifully written, tempting one to go and look for this wonderful place or just wonder if it actually exists. I really hope it does. I love the idea of being able to extend my life so I have time to read all the books that I want, without the distraction of work. Perhaps I am already. Living in Cornwall, feels a bit like Shangri-La. It just feels like there is time, which is the greatest wealth ever. This book is one of my new treasures, and I shall revisit it again and again.