Five Minutes Peace

BOOK REVIEW: Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

This memoir has been recommended to me many times but I'd somehow never got around to reading it.

Well, I'm glad I finally did. Glad and a little bit freaked out... It's the tale of Burroughs's childhood and, as it's a real life story, I'm sure I shouldn't have found it so entertaining and funny. His mother (a psychologically-unhinged poet) left his alcoholic father and proceeded to get Augusten adopted by her therapist. Unfortunately, he turns out to be a nutter who may have 'looked like Santa Claus' but was the bizarre patriarch of an incredibly dysfunctional family.

BOOK REVIEW: Not So Perfect by Nik Perring

I don't really "do" short stories. I'm sorry, I just don't. Whenever I've read short stories in the past, they've always left me feeling rather unsatisfied, but that wasn't the case with Nik Perring's short stories at all. Which is strange, because they are REALLY short - ranging from just 200 words to around 2000 words. 

They're also a bit... odd - one woman starts vomiting small animals, another keeps her partner's heart in a box (yes, literally) - and I didn't think that sounded particularly appealing either, but the stories sucked me in until I found that I was rationing myself because I didn't want the book to end.

BOOK REVIEW: Bryant and May on the Loose by Christopher Fowler

Review by David Stainton

Firstly, a confession: I had lost interest in the Bryant & May series after The Water Room. I don't know why, but that one felt like a bit of a slog. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind, because On The Loose had me gripped from the start. 

Things don't get off to a good start - the Peculiar Crimes Unit has been forced to disband and it looks like the elderly detectives are on the scrap-heap and their team of misfits and oddballs will have to find 'proper' jobs. Thankfully it doesn't take long before (forgive me) a rather contrived way of reforming the team brings them all back together. That contrived way is a headless body in a freezer. Soon another corpse minus head turns up, again in the Kings Cross area. Then something - or someone - sinister emerges on the site of a new business and housing development which threatens the area, and, it soon becomes clear, the whole of London.

GUEST POST: Eve Marie Mont

Noelle Ryan works as a veterinary technician at a New England animal shelter, helping pets find the perfect homes. If only it were as easy to find the same thing for herself. After discovering that she can’t have children—and watching her marriage fall apart after a shocking revelation by her husband—Noelle feels as forlorn and abandoned as the strays she rescues.

She can’t seem to get over her ex, Jay. Unfortunately, all Jay wants from her is a whopper of a favor: serving as a caretaker for his elderly mother, who still blames Noelle for the breakup. While Jay heads off to Atlanta to live the life of a bachelor, Noelle is left with only her Great Dane, Zeke, to comfort her. But when a carefree musician named Jasper gives her a second chance at life—and at love—Noelle comes to realize that home is truly where the heart is.

I loved Free to a Good Home. Gentle and sweet, but totally compelling, it reminded me of Elizabeth Berg and also Alison Pace. I read it in two sittings and felt completely satisfied at the end. (And Jasper was one of the sexiest heroes I've read for a while.) 

So I'm thrilled to have a guest post from Eve. Over the cut!

BOOK COVER: Regeneration

A while ago, I picked up a copy of The Puffin Handbook, a guide to the "70 best books for children." It's great, but one page absolutely infuriated me. It's entitled "5 'Girls' Books It's OK for Boys to Like." 

Obviously just the title made me growl, but then I read on. Number 3 is Regeneration by Pat Barker (one of my all-time favourites). It says: 

"Proof that you should never judge a book by its cover; the soft colours say 'wartime romance' when really this is a gripping and harrowing story of how war affects men - even if it features more male bonding than Top Gun." 

Er. Is it just me? Does that cover really say 'wartime romance'? 

BOOK REVIEW: Like Bees to Honey by Caroline Smailes

Like Bees to Honey is Caroline Smailes' third novel and, like the other two, it's incredibly inventive. 

It's the story of Nina, who left her Maltese home to go to Liverpool University, where she fell in love and fell pregnant. She'd promised to return to Malta after getting her degree, but then broke her parents' hearts by staying in the UK with her husband and baby. Sixteen years later, she returns to Malta and I can't really say anything much more without spoiling the plot. 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Louise Candlish

*fanfare* This is our first ever Five Minutes Peace interview. Welcome, Louise Candlish! 

1. Which three books would you take to a desert island? 

I would take a risk and pick two I’d never read before, one women’s fiction, one scary thriller. Also my tried and trusted favourite, Brideshead Revisited. (I’m coming back, right?)

 

2. What does your writing day look like?

It varies, but a good one starts at about 9.15, breaks repeatedly for coffee and twitter, and finishes at three or four.

 

3. Is there a book you wish you'd written? 

Hundreds! Madame Bovary, for one.

 

4. Have you got any abandoned manuscripts no-one will ever see? 

I destroyed my first, Chopping and Changing, which I wrote aged 12. I wish I’d kept it, it would be a hoot to read it again. It was handwritten and illustrated. 

 

5. What's the best book you've read this year? 

I’ve read a lot of good ones, it’s a bumper year, but I would pick out The Empress of Ice Cream by Anthony Capella (out in August). Food and royal debauchery: bliss.

 

6. What was your favourite childhood read?

I loved fairy tales, especially Snow White and Rose Red. 

 

7. What was the first thing you did when you got your book deal?

Called my boyfriend in excited but hushed tones (I was in the office), and made plans for a drunken dinner.

 

8. What was your proudest writing moment?

Writing ‘The end’ is always the proudest moment. Before that, you are in a state of perpetual restlessness.

 

9. Which three living authors would you most like to have cocktails with?

All at once, or on separate dates? Tom Wolfe, in his white suit; Candace Bushnell for glamour and gossip; and maybe Sophie Hannah for a dark British twist.

 

10. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? 

I would be where I am, in London, but maybe in a more desirable postcode!

 

Other People’s Secrets by Louise Candlish is published by Sphere at £6.99 on 8^th July.

BOOK REVIEW: Paperboy by Christopher Fowler

I've always had a soft spot for Christopher Fowler. I remember seeing his novel Spanky on the shelf in Athena in the Trocadero when I first moved to London (i.e. in olden times). Later, I met my husband and learned that Fowler was one of his favourite authors. We went to see him talk about one of his books (I forget which) and David asked him a question which got a very enthusiastic response and made us all very happy. Having said all that, I haven't read any of his books for years - I've meant to, it's just that he is so prolific and I can't keep up. (Rubbish excuse, I know, but really SO MANY BOOKS!).  

I was about to say that Paperboy represents a change for Fowler, but I can't really since he writes in so many different genres, so I'll say this: it's a memoir. I bought it for my husband, but started reading it and couldn't stop. 

The Transworld Dan Brown Summer Reading Challenge

Publishers Transworld have come up with a rather brilliant idea. They will send bloggers free books in return for reviews, either on blogs or on Amazon. And, er, that's it! Yeah, okay, there's a teensy bit more...

To get involved, simply leave a comment on this Summer Reading Challenge blog post and await further instruction. (They'll email you confirming your involvement and then you'll need to choose which four books you'd like them to send.) 

At the end of the challenge, they'll be inviting the most active bloggers down to London for a bit of a party and a chat about autumn titles. Sounds marvellous, no?  

We're taking part. So get reading and blogging and maybe we'll see you there. 

[Thanks to For Books Sake for the heads-up]