Our Betty – Liz Smith

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The first time I saw Liz Smith, she was dressed as a swashbuckling grandma in the CBBC series, Pirates, about a family of pirates who decide to settle on dry land in a normal family house. The series was fun and the characters were always getting into trouble. The second time I saw her, was when she walked past me at her local shops near Hampstead Heath. As a child I was so excited that I had just seen Grandma Pirate in the flesh, but was much too nervous to speak to her.

Since then, she has been hard to miss. She pops up everywhere with either quite small parts or much larger roles, such as Nana in The Royale Family, who managed to capture the heart of a nation. Continue reading →

The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

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Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be eternally young? But if you keep your youth and beauty, if time and life does not leave its tell-tale traces upon your face with creases and stains, would you live your life differently? We would all like to believe that our personalities wouldn’t change but I don’t think that is very realistic.

Dorian Gray is rich and beautiful. At only only eighteen he is fresh faced, innocent and charming. One day he sees his portrait and realises that he will not always look so beautiful. The idea of his portrait staying young while age slowly creeps up on him is so unbearable to him that he rashly wishes away his soul in exchange for eternal youth. Continue reading →

American Bookstore – Milan

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This English language bookshop is bang in the centre of Milan. Situated only minutes away from the Duomo and opposite Parco Sempione, it is in the perfect location. If you feel like escaping the bustle of the city, why not pop in and choose a book, stroll across the road and enjoy a relaxing read on the grass in the park?

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Gardens of Delight – Erica James

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 I wouldn’t normally go out of my way to read a romance novel, but when I heard that Erica James had won the Romantic Novel of the Year award in 2006, I decided it might be worth a try. It was also the only affordable book I could find set in Lake Como, which is where I went on holiday straight after reading it. I was hoping that reading a book about a group of people visiting Lake Como would be a nice way to get in a holiday mood.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I had hoped. For starters, the characters didn’t actually spend all that much time at the Lake. Most of the book was set in a small, English village full of nosey neighbours and where the social highlight of the week is the local Gardening Club meeting. As you can imagine, the book doesn’t get much more exciting. Continue reading →

The Coma – Alex Garland

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The Coma has been described as ‘chilling’, which is a perfect word as far as this book is concerned. The story is set in the dream-world of a man in a coma and his struggle to adjust to his new state. I found the concept very interesting and the writing style in which Garland tackles the subject especially impressive. This is not because he uses long words, or detailed descriptions. On the contrary, his style is simple and the book is a quick read, taking me only two sittings to read cover to cover.

The protagonist is Carl, who, getting beaten up on the tube on the way home from the work, is knocked into a coma. When he wakes up, everything seems a bit odd. He has hallucinations and finds himself in different places without knowing how he got there. He worries that he might have brain damage, after all he did hit his head. On his way back to the hospital, the story becomes quite unsettling. After realising that he is probably still in a coma, and needs to find a way to wake up, Carl tries to thinks of memories that might snap him out of it. And that’s when the nightmare really begins. Continue reading →

The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood

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Not often do I read a book that takes my breath away. Margaret Atwood has managed to do that twice. First with The Handmaid’s Tale, an absolutely brilliant and imaginative book, and now with The Blind Assassin. Every moment of reading, felt like a luxury, like eating a very rich and creamy dessert. Atwood writes beautifully and has some very inventive descriptions. It’s rare to want to read a sentence for a second time, not because you didn’t understand it, but because you want to savour every word.

The story is of two sisters, Iris and Laura Chase. Iris is now an ‘older woman’ looking back on her life and all the events leading up to her sister’s death at the young age of twenty three. We learn in the very first page that Laura drove a car off a bridge and immediately our interest has been grabbed. Why did she do it? Continue reading →

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson

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So I’ve finally given in and read the very much talked about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And I have to say, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. It’s not particularly well written, it isn’t all that fast paced and the plot doesn’t have many surprising twists.

What I like from a crime thriller is an action packed story full of red herrings, clues that keep you guessing and a huge, shocking twist at the end that makes you utter some sort of surprised ‘oh’ out loud. I got absolutely none of this from Larsson’s very popular thriller. It certainly did not live up to my expectations.

I found it very hard to get into the book. I understand Larsson had to set the scene, but it was very long winded. We are first introduced to Henrik Vanger, the rich ex-head of the Vanger Corporation. Continue reading →

Top 5 Memorable Holiday Reads

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After recently returning from my holiday in Naples and reading Naples ’44, I got to thinking about some of my most memorable holiday reads. Packing is always difficult when going away, but one of the most important things is to pack the correct books. Everybody has a holiday reading list, usually books they haven’t had time to open and want to be able to fully relax with. If there is one thing I have learnt, it’s that the enjoyable books are not always the most memorable books that you might read on holiday.

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Naples ’44 – Norman Lewis

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My Neapolitan grandmother (or ‘nonna’ as the Italians would say) married a British officer posted in Naples in 1944. It is quite likely that Norman Lewis, an Intelligence Officer also there at that time, would have had to interview both of my grandparents to judge the suitability of the match. Marriage with Italian civilians was discouraged and lots of officers who applied for permission were turned down and sent away from Naples. So really, my grandparents were lucky.

I have always been interested in my grandmother’s home country and after her death a couple of years ago, I have only ever become more curious about the city she grew up in. After marrying my grandfather, she moved to England and only returned to Naples for holidays a couple of times a year. So when she told stories about Naples, it was always about the ‘old days’ before and during the Second World War. Continue reading →

The Autograph Man – Zadie Smith

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I haven’t read a book like this for a long time and it was a nice change. Reading Zadie Smith is like a breathe of fresh air with her colloquial and modern style of writing. The dialogue between the characters is believable, even if most of the storyline is a far fetched.

Alex-Li Tandem is an Autograph Man who buys, sells and fakes autographs. He has an unhealthy obsession with a movie star, Kitty Alexander. He is a lazy, self destructive twenty-something, living in a messy apartment, spending his days drinking and smoking too much while watching old films. After waking up one morning with a horrific hangover and no memory of the last couple of days, Alex-Li finds a very special autograph, one that he has been waiting years to receive. But why has it been sent now? And is it really authentic? He travels all the way to New York to find out. Continue reading →