Books: January & February 2017

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

My first read of 2017, was one that had been on my "to read" pile for a while. I wanted something snowy and wintery to read for the New Year and this hits the spot. It follows the journeys of Mrs Ross, her son and various members of the village following the mysterious death of Laurent Jammett. It contains both murder and mystery but is not a conventional murder mystery!

Stef is a wonderful story teller, and I am really pleased to have discovered her. I am about to start listening to The Invisible Ones.

Coffin Road by Peter May

This is the kind of book I would never select myself but was recommended it by my Dad, and surprisingly I was hooked from the first page. A man washes up on a Scottish island with no memory of who or what he was before. I loved his quest to find out who he was, particularly when the signs point to the fact that he may have had a sinister past.

The Lower River by Paul Theroux

I loved Mosquito Coast and I was hoping that this would be similar. In a way it is, but took a while to really launch into the story. Ellis Hock is nearing retirement, his wife has divorced him and his daughter has abandoned him. He sets off to return to a better life in Malawi, where he spent a wonderful few years as a young man building a school. However, when he returns, all isn't as his rose tinted spectacles remembers. 

There is real darkness to this book as he becomes trapped in the village and there is an ongoing power struggle between him and Manyenga. I didn't find Ellis a very likeable character and (without revealing too much) you do wonder whether he gets what he deserves. 

Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastian Faulks

I am a fan of Sebastian Faulks, but this one isn't one of his best. An elderly Psychiatrist, Pereira, who fought with his father in the Great War asks Robert Hendricks to be his literary executor. Robert fought in WWII but had refused to unlock his memories of it. However, his visits with Pereira become the catalyst for him to remember his love and battle stories from that time. 

The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes

Unfortunately, this was another dud for me. I wonder whether it was the narrator on my audio version but given the story, it just didn't grip me like it should have. This is the life of Shostakovich who falls out of favour with the Stalin government, is reprieved from execution and subsequently becomes their puppet. 

In other news, I was told by my Physio that reading in bed is really bad for the neck and back, which is a complete shocker for me as that is when the majority of my reading gets done. It is something to do with the angle of the neck and pressure of holding the book.

So, what have you been reading lately?

Love

Mrs Jones X