Give the Devil His Due by Sulari Gentil

Now what am I going to do?

I've just finished the seventh book in Gentil's Rowland Sinclair series, Give the Devil His Due...and book eight is not due until September next year! How can I possible wait that long for my next fix of Rowly, Edna, Milton and Clyde?

Especially since Give the Devil His Due was one of the stand out best books in the series to date.

A darker edge is creeping in as the series gains momentum and complexity. Rowly is coming up against more dangerous and devious characters each time.
This time round, Rowly and his friends experienced lots of action and intrigue centred around the Maroubra speedway and the murder of a journalist.

Threats, romance, political intrigue, art exhibitions, covens, the effects of the Depression and illegal gambling dens kept me second guessing and rather anxious at times.

As usual we had some surprise celebrity visits - with Errol Flynn and speed queen Joan Richmond joining Rowly's team for a charity race, Arthur Stace was spotted chalking his 'eternity' sign on the pavements of Sydney, a catch-up with Norman Lindsay proved disappointing and meeting with Rosaleen Norton at the beginning of her career as artist and witch was intense!

The seedier side of Sydney was also represented when Rowly and friends had a run-in with the notorious Dr Reginald Stuart Jones, the abortionist and good-time dandy who had unsavoury links to Sydney's criminal gangs and bookies.

Politics also got a look in with a visit from Prime Minister Lyons and the usual dust up with Eric Campbell from the right-wing Centre Party.

Given the interesting times we now live in, Gentill's portrayal of the rise of Fascism around the world in the 1930's felt even more pertinent than usual.

Image courtesy of Vintage Speedways.

However what I loved the most was the development of deeper more complex relationships.
Not just with Rowly and his friends (oh Rowly and Ed just go for it!) but also with his brother, mother and nephews. It is these connections that provide the light and shade amongst all the drama.

If you haven't had the pleasure of Rowly's company yet, then I urge you to start at the beginning of this cosy crime series, so that you can enjoy every single captivating step.

P.S. I may be a little in love, and therefore a little biased, when it comes to Rowly!

#1 A Few Right Thinking Men
#2 A Decline in Prophets
#3 Miles Off Course
#4 Paving the New Road
#5 Gentlemen Formerly Dressed
#6 A Murder Unmentioned
#7 Give the Devil His Due
Prequel - The Prodigal Son (e-book only - download your copy here.)
#8 - A Dangerous Language - due Sept 2017 -

The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden

I love it when I discover a new-to-me author.

Margaret Rumer Godden (1907 - 1998) was an English author who wrote over 60 books of fiction and non-fiction.

She had a fascinating childhood.

Her father was a shipping company executive in Narayananj, India (now in Bangladesh). She and her three sisters spent their childhood divided between time in Colonial India and boarding school back in England. Godden trained as a dance teacher and returned to India to run a dance school with one of her sister's for twenty years.

She wrote her first novel during this time, in 1939, The Black Narcissus.

The Greengage Summer was written in 1958.

My 2013 Pan Macmillan edition has a preface from Godden herself explaining that this story is 'partly true'.

When she was 15 (in 1922), her mother, in a fit of despair declared 'we are going to the Battlefields of France.'

What followed was an exquisite coming of age tale about discovery, deceit and international thieves! Godden evoked the long, hot, lazy summer of rural France to perfection. All those awkward young adult urges and desires are remembered in painful detail. She also used foreshadowing and hindsight to great effect via her narrator, Cecil.

I enjoyed reading the story not knowing which bits were real and which bits were made up. The story was deliciously melodramatic at times and I would think, 'that can't possibly be true.' Reading the preface at the end was a wonderful realisation that sometimes life is indeed stranger than fiction.

I loved this so much, that I have now ordered a couple of Godden's Indian based stories - The Peacock Spring and Coromandel Sea Change.

My early thoughts on The Greengage Summer are here.

Highly recommended as an easy, engaging read when you're in the mood for a simple but pleasurable break from your heavier reads.

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald

I haven't read The Great Gatsby for 15 years or more.

Last week I saw a preview for the Baz Luhrman movie with Leonardo Dicaprio as Gatsby. It looked extremely sumptious, extravagant and dramatic. I also felt that liberties were being taken with the story!

When I got home I pulled my copy off the shelf and promptly began rereading it.

I first read The Great Gatsby in my teen years for a school assignment. At the time I was disappointed by how slight the book was. Back then I judged a book by its size!

At 15, the romantic angst and longing of Gatsby seemed rather ridiculous. The book was full of un-nice people; the only person I liked was Nick and I couldn't understand why the book wasn't about him instead.

However, I duly took on board the stuff about the green light, FSF's use of the narrator, the eyes of Dr T J Eckleburg and the whole illusion/reality debate, but I didn't really care - just enough to get a good mark in my assignment!

I can't remember why I chose to reread The Great Gatsby in my twenties.

Perhaps I was in the middle of one of my Paris love affairs? Or feeling nostalgic for ye old New York? Maybe I watched the old Robert Redford and Mia Farrow movie?

Either way I rediscovered Gatsby, Daisy and Nick and saw them with fresh eyes.

I loved the sparse, finely honed use of language. I loved how FSF evoked the time and place and I appreciated the complexities of his characters far more.

And now...fifteen years later...I was once again struck by the ridiculousness of Gatsby's desires and dreams and how little Gatsby based them on reality. He was the type who lived very much for the future...he would be happy when rather than now.

"There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams - not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion."

In January I read The Beautiful and Damned and realised how much it was the forerunner of Gatsby.

FSF saw that making these un-nice people the narrators didn't work; it was too hard to work up any sympathy for them. But seeing them through someone else's sympathetic eyes allowed us to view their complexities and foibles more favourably.

"Gatsby...there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life."

"Daisy took her face in her hands as if feeling its lovely shape."

"Jordan, who had begun to balance an invisible but absorbing object on the tip of her chin."

I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed this reread. Compared to the long-winded The Beautiful and Damned, Gatsby was exquisite in its precision. This reading allowed me to see the writer at work - the effort behind the scenes to make The Great Gatsby flow and connect so effortlessly was a delight in craftmenship.

I'm curious now to see what Baz Luhrman can bring to this story!

The Beautiful and Damned by F Scott Fitzgerald

The Beautiful and Damned was the book I chose for the recent Classics Clubs Readathon - (starting post) and (end post).

I love The Great Gatsby and I thought this would be a similar quick, engaging read, suitable for a readathon. I also recently read a biography on Chanel and Hemingway's A Moveable Feast where the Scott Fitzgerald's were referenced several times. I knew this book was said to be biographical in nature and I was very curious.

The first problem I had is that this is not Scott Fitzgerald at his best. The story is slow to start and there are odd chapters written like a play. The ending is also poorly realised and unconvincing.

The second problem is the length. Too many words that say so little. There is almost none of the succinct, revealing and elegant phrasing that you find in The Great Gatsby.

The third problem for me, was Zelda/Gloria. Scott regularly used Zelda as a model for his female characters. Zelda's mental health issues are well documented - whether it was schizophrenia, manic depression or the more recent suggestion that she had borderline personality disorder.

The stories told by Anthony about Gloria's flippant attitude towards money and work, her angry outbursts that became "the primary duty of Anthony's day" and anecdotes like the tomato sandwich and laundry bag all rang true.  

Gloria's oft quoted maxim of "How I feel is that if I wanted anything I'd take it" sums up her attitude towards people, experiences and things.
Up until a few years ago I would have read about this type of personality with curiosity and perhaps a little bit of disbelief. But having someone in your life who actually acts like Gloria is exhausting, trying and incredibly frustrating. There is nothing charming or lovable about it at all!

But I'm obviously meant to be learning something from all this as I keep reading books and watching movies that feature such personalities!

Scott obviously learnt from this book that making the carefree, decadent aristocrats the protagonists didn't necessarily work as it's hard to make them appear sympathetic, romantic or charming.
I didn't care about their disillusionment, their despair or their decline as I didn't like them very much. Gatsby works because the same disillusionment, despair and decline is told through the eyes of a sympathetic outsider.

Is The Beautiful and Damned a classic? Only just.
The real interest for me was seeing how a writer developed and practiced his craft until he was able to produce a truly great classic like The Great Gatsby.

An International Feast

My previous post was all Aussie.
Now for the adult fiction update from around the world.

I'll begin with one of my favourites - When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. Funny, poignant, heart-warming, up-lifting. A truly human drama full of surprises, quirks & tragedy.

A great holiday read; one you will want to share with others.

Over Christmas I read a modern day classic - The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt.
I was initially attracted to the glorious blue/green art nouveau dragonfly on the cover of my edition.

What followed was a wonderful ramble through the English countryside at the beginning of last century. The book is populated by a group of diverse, contrary and interesting families. They're absorbed in the world of art, history, nature and literature. Their passion rubs off until you feel regret for not living through this period of time with them!

The only thing I found unsettling was the sudden jumps in time, especially as the book ended on one of these sudden and rather unsatisfying (& convenient for the author) jumps.

The Children's Book won the 2009 James Tait Black Memorial Award and was nominated for the Booker.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt was recommended to me by several friends and when I found a lovely old copy in a 2nd hand shop on holidays, it seemed fated.

My uni days are long over, so the romantic 'good ole college days' atmosphere didn't really work on me the way I've heard told by others. But I did love the story. The intensity of the friendships, the sinister, gothic drama that unfolds so gently and politely is completely absorbing.

It was a captivating read - dense and juicy. So much so that I couldn't read anything of substance for weeks afterwards.

As a consequence I turned to Maisie - Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. Light and easy, but with enough going on to keep it a cut above the rest.
Set after WW1 in London, Winspear is obviously concerned about the way war affects people long after the fighting is over. Her characters are all shell-shocked in one way or another and the fall-out continues to impact years later.

Maisie is a detective who uses the new ideas of psychology & intuition to help solve crimes. The first book gives lots of fascinating WW1 back story. It was just what I needed after The Secret History and I will certainly be reading more Maisie Dobbs in the future.

And now for my favourite read so far this year - Rules of Civility by Amor Towles.

It combines some of my favourite themes - the 1930's, New York, jazz, art, martini's, love, the meaning of life...!
Full of decadence, despair & drama - rags to riches and back to rags. The American dream, the quest for happiness...and all the compromises we make along the way.

Pop on your flapper dress, slip an olive into your martini and let this wonderful novel take you on a very New York journey.

I also finally read 2 of last year's Booker shortlist books - just in time to beat this years nominations!

The Finkler Question - hmmmm - where to start. I did find it funny - not laugh out loud stuff, but the word play was fun and it was clever in a very Finkler way.
And maybe that was the problem. I am not Jewish. Throughout the book I felt that there was some great story going on behind the scenes that you could only really get if you were Jewish. Perhaps that was the point?

I finished the book (slowly), waiting for my moment of ah-ha! It didn't come and I was left somewhat disappointed.

But then I picked up Room by Emma Donoghue!
I had been putting off reading this book - the premise - a story of a boy locked in a room with his mother. After all the media coverage of the young woman found in an Austrian shed, the idea seemed a little too real and somewhat grotesque.

And the first quarter of the book is exactly that. The story of captivity told innocently through the child's eyes. Except, of course, the boy does not view it as captivity. He knows nothing else; the Room is his world and he is happy enough.
He struggles when his mother finally tells him about the outside world and her plans for their escape.

I won't reveal any more of the storyline, except to say that this book made me cry - and very few books achieve that status! It was completely satisfying from start to finish.

Another piece of light fiction and a pleasant surprise, was At Sea by Laurie Graham.

A female detective of sorts, full of gentle English humour - from an American poking fun at the English tendency towards snobbishness & intellectual superiority!

It was uncomplicated, amusing and the perfect holiday read.

To finish this ramble, I will rave about Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

The story of Thomas Cromwell during the time of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's rise to wifedom was bound to pique my interest.

I loved the sense of anticipation that sat underneath the story of Cromwell, Anne Bolelyn and her family's rise to power.
The title of the book and the quiet, mousy Jane Seymour who appeared discretely throughout. We know her as Henry's third wife and that his infatuation with her began with a visit to her family seat of Wolf Hall.
The whole time I'm reading about Anne I'm experiencing a delicious sense of future foreboding, waiting for the inevitable downfall...waiting for Henry to notice Jane. So for the book to end with "Early September. Five Days. Wolf Hall." was beautiful and frustrating at once. Is there a sequel??

Full of fabulous characterisations, the sense of time and place feels personal.  If Henry VIII were alive now, would he be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder?
I loved the story, but occasionally found it hard to follow who's talking and when.

I think I could be a little in love with Mantel's Thomas Cromwell.