Reading Round-Up #4

I’m back! After five months of absence, I’m back in the world of Vocal.

I never intended to disappear for five months, but somehow one week stretched into two, a month, and so forth.

And where have I been? Focusing on my paid writing and translation work - I’m a freelance writer and translator. After a way too quiet late spring and early summer, which were not kind on the bank balance, work suddenly got very busy, and I took on more work than I normally would. While that has been good for the bank balance, it has meant long days on the laptop. By the time I finished with the paid work, my brain was knackered, and my eyes needed a rest from the screen.

Now, with the books balanced, I can return to a more normal workload and get back to my own writing projects. It also means I have time to read more here on Vocal, and I’m really looking forward to catching up with lots of fab stories published here during my absence.

Even though I haven’t been reading here on Vocal - blame it on screen fatigue - I have been reading books. I’m never too tired to pick up a proper book. I’m old-fashioned: I prefer printed books instead of e-books. Since I can’t share a Vocal reading roundup with you, here’s what I’ve been reading lately.

Dan Brown - Origin

Who wouldn’t want to know where we come from and where we are going as humans? Those are the questions at the centre of Dan Brown’s Origin. I have read many Dan Brown books and always enjoyed them, including this one. Although, to be perfectly honest, I didn’t enjoy it as much as some of his other books.

In this book, we see Robert Langdon thrown in the middle of yet another murder case - not a person I’d choose to hang around with, since he seems to attract murderers. The person murdered is a billionaire who claims to have found the answer to the questions above. But before he can reveal the answers to the world in a live stream, he is murdered in front of millions of viewers. Cue Robert Langdon and his companion in this book, Ambra Vidal, rushing to uncover the answers while evading the Spanish police.

If you enjoy Dan Brown books or murder mystery books in general, definitely give this one a read. I especially enjoyed Dan Brown’s comments on the state of the modern world, including AI, that he’s included here and there in the book.

Margaret Atwood - The Testaments

There are some books worthy of reading more than once, and this is one of those books. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood is a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, told through the perspectives of three women, including the formidable Aunt Lydia. The book reveals corruption and cracks within the totalitarian regime that eventually lead to its downfall.

The other narrators of the book are Agnes Jemima and Daisy, a.ka. Nicole. Agnes Jemima is a girl growing up in Gilead who experiences the regime’s oppression firsthand. To escape marriage, she becomes an Aunt and plays a key role in the regime’s end. Daisy, a Canadian teenager, becomes involved with the resistance group Mayday after her parents are murdered and she learns her true identity. Together with Aunt Lydia and Jemima, she helps to bring down the oppressive regime of Gilead.

What I enjoyed most about The Testaments was seeing the human side of Aunt Lydia and learning how she became an Aunt and rose to power - it was a matter of survival. It also raises the question: how far would each of us be prepared to go to save ourselves?

Ann Cleeves - The Rising Tide

The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves is one of the last books in the series featuring Vera Stanhope. It is set on an island that gets cut off from the mainland by rising tides. Vera is called to investigate a death, which at first seems to be a suicide, but turns out to be a murder.

The murder happens when a group of friends has gathered for a reunion - they have been doing it every five years for the last 55 years. The modern-day murder is linked to a suspicious death from 50 years ago, when the friends had their first reunion on the island.

Although I have been watching the TV series for a while, this was the first Vera Stanhope book I read. Usually, I create a picture of the characters in my head when reading. This time, having watched the TV series, I kept picturing Vera from the series. I could also hear the actress’s voice in my head, which was kind of distracting. But it didn’t take away any of the enjoyment. A definite recommendation for anyone who enjoys a good detective murder mystery.

Evie Wyld - The Bass Rock

No murder mysteries but plenty of darkness in Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock. It covers the stories of three different women from three different times. The central theme running through the book is violence against women. Now and forever.

First, there is Sarah, a young girl who has to flee for her life when she is accused of being a witch. Then, we have Ruth, navigating life as a newlywed and a stepmother for two young boys. She soon discovers that her new husband is not quite the loving man she thought he was. Finally, we have Viv, six decades later, tasked with clearing out Ruth’s house and carrying her own traumas.

While this book is beautifully written, and I felt for each of the female characters, I felt something was missing. Perhaps it was the lack of retribution for the men. They were able to get on with their lives despite their actions. But I guess that just echoes real life.

Helen Cox - Murder by the Minster

I debated whether to include Murder by the Minster by Helen Cox at all because it was not among the favourites I have read recently. Or ever. Because I like to say good things about books, and there is not so much good that I can say about this one.

For starters, I found the characters annoying. There was something really irritating about the main character, Kitt, in particular, but I didn’t warm to any of the characters. A big turnoff for me. Then there was the dialogue. It felt like it was written by someone who has studied literacy and creative writing. Too much. It just didn’t sound that natural. There was an attempt at humour, but it just didn’t land. At least not for me.

There were times when I nearly stopped reading, but I persevered. And there was a little twist - the best part of the book, but not enough to rescue it. I know I’m not really selling this book, but that doesn’t mean others won’t. It gets decent reviews on Amazon and Good Reads, so if you are a fan of murder mysteries, you might like it more than I did.

Camilla Läckberg - The Stranger

Here comes another murder mystery. Not sure how it happened, but I ended up picking a lot of books with murders from the library over the last few months. This one I enjoyed, like I have enjoyed all of Camilla Läckberg’s books set in the small coastal town of Fjällbacka in Sweden. It’s definitely a place you wouldn’t want to live in; the odds of getting murdered are pretty high.

In this book, detective Patrick Hedstrom, with a little help from his partner Erika Falck, a writer with a knack for solving crimes, has to investigate two separate murders. First, a woman is killed in a car crash with high alcohol levels, even though she never drank. Then, a reality TV show contestant is found murdered. These two cases seem unconnected, but Erika, Patrick, and his team discover a link from the past involving a case of two missing children.

I read this book in Finnish, but it is also available in English as The Stranger (although the title is sometimes translated as The Gallows Bird). Lackberg’s Fjällbacka books are full of gruesome murders, great twists, and are always gripping.

Carissa Orlando - The September House

This one is a book for fans of horror fiction. In The September House by Carissa Orlando, the main character, Margaret, is living in a house with plenty of uninvited guests and violent supernatural events, which always occur in September. She moves into her dream house with her husband, and they soon discover the house is not as idyllic as it looks.

When her husband leaves, her daughter gets suspicious and arrives to investigate her father’s disappearance. In September. Margaret does her best to hide the secrets of the house from her daughter, but things soon unravel.

But The September House is more than just a horror story. It is also about denial, trauma, abuse, and the stories we tell ourselves. As the story unfolds and we learn more about Margaret’s past, the haunted house becomes a metaphor for the things we don’t want to confront.

Luke Allnutt - We Own the Sky

No more murders or horrors for the rest of the list. We Own the Sky, a novel by Luke Allnutt, focuses on Rob Coates, whose life falls apart when his son is diagnosed with a terminal illness. It follows his desperate attempts to save his son, even at the cost of his marriage.

It is a moving story, and I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to learn your child has an incurable illness. I mean, how do you pick up the pieces after losing a child? I’m sure every single parent would explore every avenue and grasp at even the tiniest chance of a cure for their child. The reality behind this story is heartbreaking.

But, and yes, there is a but, I did not like Rob. Not at all. I didn’t care about what happened to him. Of course, I wanted his little boy to get better, but it is pretty clear just from reading the blurb that he doesn’t. So, in theory, my sympathies should have been with Rob from the start. But they weren’t. I can’t really put my finger on why I didn’t like him. Just something about his character that felt off, unreal. That said, don’t let my feelings about the main character put you off the book, because it is a moving story.

Anne Griffin - When All Is Said

To be honest, When All is Said by Anne Griffin should not be on this list at all because I didn’t read it in the last five months, but much earlier. But I had to sneak it in because it is such a beautiful book. It is one of those books that you can read again and again. If I were to crash land on a desert island, I would want to have this book in my bag - along with several others of my all-time favourites.

It had me in tears several times as the main character, 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan, goes to a hotel bar to drink five toasts. Each toast is dedicated to the people who shaped his life: his brother, sister-in-law, his daughter (lost shortly after birth), his son, and his late wife. With each toast, we learn more about his life and the people he has loved.

There are not many books that have made me cry within the first few pages. But it didn’t only make me cry because there is plenty of subtle humour, too, and so much humanity. If you were to pick just one book from this list to read, this would be my number one recommendation. In fact, I might have to pop to the library tomorrow and see if this book is available. Just thinking about it now makes me want to read it again.

- - -

I'd love to hear if you have read some of these books and what you thought of them. I'd also love to hear if you fancy reading some of them and, if so, which ones.

Next time, hopefully in a fortnight, as was the initial plan, I will be back with my favourite Vocal reads.