Single & Single - What just happened?

When the letter L was pulled out for my next read, I was happy to find that John Le Carre was listed under that letter. I have read a few of his books in the past (The Constant Gardener definitely being a highlight) and so was more than happy to pick up one of his titles from my husband's bookshelf. Single & Single opens with a corporate lawyer being shot somewhere in Turkey, then cuts to a children's entertainer in Devon, who is called in to his bank to explain a sudden influx of cash. The latter, Oliver Single, isn't all that he seems - he is the son of a celebrated London financier who has just disappeared, and Oliver is sucked into the world he had previously turned his back on, in an effort to find out what is going on. But he is not the only one and things take a more ominous tone when he comes up against dangerous businessmen and shadowy "official" figures. This is certainly a thriller, which is usually a winner for me, but I found this book incredibly hard to get into. I had to reread the first 50 pages as I realised at that point that I wasn't entirely sure who anyone was or what they were doing. But I'm not sure even that helped. I spent most of the book wondering what was going on, and even though at times I felt I was starting to get a grip on things, the story slipped from my grasp once again. There were a lot of characters, as well as multiple locations and the scenes chopped and changed very quickly. I didn't find any of the characters sympathetic, which didn't help. I have to say that I ploughed through this book, page by page, waiting for some clarity, but it never came. It left me confused and slightly annoyed, particularly as even the ending left matters kind of hanging. Disappointed.

My STAR rating: ONE.

Length: 416 print pages.

Price I paid: free, borrowed from my husband.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Shangai Tango - an unusual memoir

So, hot on the heels of the letter Z came the letter X! This might have presented a bit of a challenge until I came across Shanghai Tango by Jin Xing in the e-library collection. This is an autobiographical account of Jin Xing, who was born a boy, but became a prima ballerina and one of the brightest stars of the Shanghai Ballet. This boy loved to dance from an early age, but never quite felt comfortable in his own body. At age 9, he joined the People's Liberation Army, to receive both dance and military training. He excelled at dance and, aged 19, received a scholarship to study dance in New York. It was here that Jin Xing experienced different forms of dance as well as having his eyes opened up to the possibilities of a different way of living. Always attracted to men, Jin engaged upon numerous relationships - feeling that he was relating to them as a female, rather than as a gay man. Then, when he discovered that it was feasible for someone to change sex, he took the decision to return to China to make his dreams come true and physically undergo surgery to become the woman he'd always felt he was. The surgery was almost a disaster, and almost wrecked her career, but she was determined to continue dancing and finally achieved her goal, being lauded throughout her country and becoming an ambassador for China through her artistic work. Whilst this story is amazing, I found this book quite bitty and unsatisfying. I think it was because it felt quite superficial and more like a list of dates/events - some of which were monumental in her life - but which weren't explored in depth. For instance, I never quite understood her inner feelings or what she was really thinking at key moments in her life. I wanted to feel the emotions that she must have been experiencing, but they didn't come across. I would rather have had more time on this than the descriptions of her numerous sexual exploits, which left me quite cold. Still, this book does give an insight into some elements of communist China which will surprise the reader, so for that, I am thankful. 

My STAR rating: TWO.

Length: 288 print pages.

Price I paid: free, borrowed from the library.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio book, ebook.

How Much of These Hills Is Gold - It lost me!

And so onto the letter "Z" - I was a bit worried about finding a suitable author, but after a quick search, I came up with C Pam Zhang, which is why I found myself reading How Much of These Hills Is Gold. This is the story of Lucy and Sam, who, at age twelve and eleven respectively, find themselves on their own towards the end of the gold rush in the American West. When their Ba dies (Ma already having left them some time earlier), they leave their ramshackle home in search of a new life. Lucy tries to take charge, but it is Sam who dominates and, Lucy discovers, has hidden Ba's body in the trunk their horse is carrying. Sam is determined to find the proper place to bury Ba, deep in the country where buffalo still roam and veins of gold run deep. But the two siblings have different ideas of how they want their lives to go, and while Lucy heads for the security of a town, Sam disappears into the country. Lucy tries to fit in, but is always aware that, as a child of Chinese immigrants, she may never quite fit in, and it isn't until many years later, when Sam reappears, that she realises how much she has missed her sibling and the relationship and shared history that they had. Sam allows her to be truly herself again. Much of the story is told in a series of flashbacks, not necessarily in a linear timeframe. We see how the dreams of, and promises made to, Chinese immigrants who were tempted by the stories of gold, never came to fruition and that the odds were always stacked against them. We also see how the land was stolen from the native American population and how the rich get richer and the poor, poorer. The two main characters are very engaging and there is a real sense of sibling friction, interwoven with an immense amount of love, that felt very real. This is certainly a perspective on history that is new to me. The book is well crafted and the description of the beautiful scenery, juxtaposed with the grim living conditions of those people living on the outskirts of what "civilised" society purported to be, are well told - beauty and ugliness in equal measure. I was totally engaged until the last section of the book, which, for me, suddenly seemed to lose its way and kind of petered out. Maybe it was because what I thought was going to happen didn't, and I didn't get the end I actually wanted. Still worth reading, and for anyone interested in the American West and the Gold Rush, there's a bucketload of things to enjoy!

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 288 print pages.

Price I paid: £3.00.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Neverwhere - for those who fall between the cracks!

I was delighted to pull out a "G" from the alphabet bag for my next read as it provided me with the opportunity to plunge into the catalogue of Neil Gaiman once again, an author I usually enjoy immensely. Neverwhere follows Richard Mayhew, an average man with a dull job and a very demanding fiancee, who comes across an injured girl in the street, and stops to help her. The next morning, the girl has disappeared and, so it appears, has Richard's normal life. His bank card doesn't work, he can't get a taxi and his landlord seems to be renting out his apartment. Even when he gets to work, no one knows who he is, or even seems to see him. Determined to get his life back on track, Richard sets out to find the mysterious girl to get her to put it right ... and so begins his adventure in the dark, brooding underbelly of London. The girl is the Lady Door, a person of power and nobility who is on a quest to find those responsible for the slaughter of her family, and who now appear to be hunting her too. Richard thinks that if he can help her on her quest, he can find his way back to the London he knows. Along the way, he meets strange and mystical people, as well as forces he never believed could exist, including an Angel called Islington and an Earl who holds Court on a tube train. It is hard to know who to trust, let alone make sense of what's happening under the streets of London. But Richard has a destiny to fulfil - he just doesn't realise what it might cost him! Gaiman brings his chaotic world, populated by bizarre characters, to life with ease and aplomb. Full of danger, delights and utter strangeness, you cannot help but get sucked into this story of a fish out of water who has to reach deep into himself to survive and stay sane. For such a dark book, there is, as usual with Gaiman, an immense amount of humour. An absolute tour de force I would recommend this to anyone looking for a thrilling adventure with a dark plot and even darker humour (thank you Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar for the most bloodthirsty comedy double act ever!) Packed with twists and turns, superb dialogue, great set pieces and some unexpected treats - just read it!

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 400 print pages.

Price I paid: £5.84

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.

Capital - a capital read!

At last, I am able to report on the first book to be completed as part of my 2021 challenge ... and the letter I had to use for this first book was L. And so, I chose Capital, by John Lanchester, which is a book focusing on one single street in London, its residents and those who work in it. Pepys Road is populated by an array of diverse characters, from an up and coming African footballer, a British banker, a Hungarian nanny, a Muslim shopkeeper and an elderly lady dying of cancer. Their family members come and go, as does the local Traffic Warden, a refugee from Zimbabwe working illegally and a Polish builder working hard to save enough money to go back home. We see each in detail, their trials, tribulations, hopes and expectations over the course of a few months. Few of them really intermingle, but they suddenly find themselves the focus of unwanted attention when postcards start to drop through their doors with the message: We Want What You Have. Most ignore them until things start to take a turn when the messages become a bit darker and the vandalism begins, which is when the police become involved. This creates a threatening undertone to all of the events that are going on in each character's individual life - the romances, the financial worries, the family tensions and the building up and dashing of dreams. This is a complex book, with many threads and a real ensemble piece reflecting how we can live cheek by jowl with our neighbours but not know them at all. Touching and funny and heartbreaking, it's a very enjoyable read, and it's no wonder this was made into a TV series some years ago.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 577 print pages.

Price I paid: free, borrowed from my husband.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - murderous Groundhog Day!

This is a book I started in 2020, and is my last book to be completed before my new reading challenge begins (a month late, but hey, I seem to be a bit of a slow reader at the moment!). I have a feeling that The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton could be a bit of a "marmite"book - you love it, or hate it. Fortunately, I am fall into the former camp. We start with a man coming to his senses in a forest. He doesn't know who he is, or how he got there, but when he hears a scream and sees a man chasing a woman through the trees, one memory strikes home - the woman is called Anna and she is important to him. He hears a shot and assumes that things have taken a tragic turn, but before he gets a chance to find out, someone creeps up behind him, thrusts a compass into his hand and gives him an instruction - "East!" He flees from the forest and heads towards a country house. As he bursts in to try and get help, the people there seem to know who he is and try to take care of him. As his day of confusion progresses, he comes across a whole gamut of characters, many of whom are deeply unpleasant. The only one who seems to want to help him find out what happened to Anna is Evelyn Hardcastle. So when she dies at the end of the evening, it is an horrific shock. But the next day, Aidan wakes up in a different person, and the day starts all over again. With the guidance of a shady figure he calls The Plague Doctor, he is told that he must solve the murder, and that the day will repeat in different hosts until he does, but he only has a set number of hosts. If, at the end of that time, the murder isn't solved, he goes all the way back to the beginning, with all of his memories removed once more. With me so far? This is most definitely a novel where you have to keep on your toes, with Aidan switching between hosts as each one loses consciousness. As I listened to the audio version, which I do when I can't sleep, I found that when I had nodded off and woke up late, I kept having to rewind as Aidan had switched bodies ... and I knew I couldn't afford to miss one single clue. There are so many threads and switches in action, or the same action but from different perspectives. It's a cracking read for anyone who thinks ... what if Christopher Nolan took on an Agatha Christie novel? The development of the main character, who has to fight with the character of whoever's body he is inhabiting at that moment in time, as well as the relationships he forms, is really clever. We slowly start to unravel the sequence of events, and when Aidan realises he can actually change those events, things get really interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it did surprise me, which you wouldn't have thought it would after reliving the same day so many times. Complex it may be, but still totally accessible. Would definitely recommend.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 528 print pages.

Price I paid: £2.85

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.

The Pillars of the Earth - Cathedral Building Epic

The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett, is the first of a trilogy set in medieval times. This book spans 1123 to 1155. Tom Builder is a master mason struggling to find work. As he and his young family travel the country looking for a job, his wife tragically dies during childbirth. Knowing he cannot look after the baby, he leaves it to die, but very soon regrets his decision and returns to the spot to retrieve it, only to discover it has gone. He finds comfort with a woman who has been living in the forest with her own child, Jack, and she goes with Tom and his two children to Kingsbridge. Unbeknownst to him, his baby had been rescued by a passing monk, and was taken to Philip, the prior at the monastery, who decides to raise the boy himself. When the cathedral at Kingsbridge is destroyed by fire, Philip hires Tom to rebuild it. Meanwhile, brother and sister, Aliena and Richard, suddenly find themselves homeless after supreme baddy William Hamleigh takes over their father's castle (and, in effect, his earldom) and rapes Aliena. Upon their escape, Aliena supports her brother and becomes a canny business woman, only to lose it all at the hands of William. With the passing years, Aliena and Jack grow close and finally fall in love despite many missteps and misunderstandings along the way. Jack inherits his stepfather's love of building and, when Tom is tragically killed, becomes a master builder in his own right. This all happens against the backdrop of political intrigue and unrest as King Stephen and Maud are battling over the kingdom. Plus, the general nastiness of the power-hungry Hamleigh family is a constant threat to Philip and Aliena. There is plenty of action and the plots come thick and fast. It's a mixture of architecture (flying buttresses anyone?), politics, religion and family trials and tribulations. There are way more bad times than good, but it's the little victories that keep you going. There are some grim and violent scenes, and this certainly won't be to everyone's taste. But if you like your historical fiction to be full of intrigue, where the baddies really are baddies and the setting isn't during the well-worn Tudor period, then this could be for you. As if the trilogy weren't enough, he's also just finished a prequel! Many hours of reading to come I fear!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 1076 print pages.

Price I paid: 50p (in a second hand bookshop).

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.