The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

A good 6 months ago my Mum handed me this book and told me that I would love it, it duly sat in my tbr pile waiting for me to get to it, and as I was home for Christmas I thoght I'd give it a shot.
The book tells the tale of two Mormon wives both trapped in polygamous marriages but split across a 100 year time divide. The earlier wife's tale is told through a story and extracts from her biography, letters and diary entries of the time and someones Masters thesis. She was the first wife to go public to the rest of America and reveal how the lives of these women were ruled.
The story set in modern times is actually told through looking at her gay son who has been rejected from the faith and by her many years before. She is suddenly arrested for the murder of her husband and he goes back to his old home to try and discover the truth.

My mum loved this, I thought it was okay. The story of the earlier wife was more credible, but because of the various sources I felt it would have woked better on its own as a single novel. While the second story would belong more to the trashy novel type of book - the story was okay, but a little to easy for him to solve, and way too many coincidences.

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon

8 years ago I was meant to do a university module on post-colonial literature focusing on immigration/emigration, this was on the reading list, I got put in a post-colonial literature class but not the one I'd applies for. This book has stayed on my mental tbr list for all that time and today I finally got to it.

The Lonely Londoners focuses on a group of immigrants from Trinidad, who arrive in dank foggy London just after the war (why is London always foggy in books? I've been there loads of times and never recall it being foggy). Mainly young men, this novel looks at the lives that they create for themselves, in a country that once wanted them but quickly turned its back on them.

The writing is vernacular, which I know some people struggle with, but I quickly found a nice voice in my head so it didn't hinder the speed I read in. Focusing on a small group of men the story focused a lot on their white girlfriends and the way that the men all swindle each other and others around them for money. The strangest part featured a 4 page, no punctuation account of these black men being paid to sleep with white prostitues so white men could watch - this seemed very out of place in style, and I just wanted them to get angry, rather than see it as a free 'treat'.
The style of the novel shows a way of life, but never goes beneath the surface and really shows you how the characters felt about their treatment. Having said that I enjoyed it, but thought that 120 odd pages was enough - no story, character stood out to keep the novel moving for much longer.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

I think I've found a new favourite author. After I had read We Have Always Lived at the Castle I knew that I wanted to read more of this author who I previously hadn't heard of. This was the next book that the library had available.

The Haunting of House Hill follows four people brought together to stay in a haunted house. Previous residents have all fled after just a few days declaring business elsewhere that has made them abandon the house, but never declaring that they were scared. The main character Eleanor, a lonely woman who had previously spent all her life nursing her sick mother feels the full force of the haunting.

The book grabbed me from its very beginning, the oddly angled house, the odd way that the characters interact with one another and the mystery of what it is that possesses the house ring out from the pages. It is scary, but I never was scared when reading it. I found it strange rather than scary, perplexing. Apparently this book is the basis for two films both called The Haunting, neither of which I've seen I'd like to know how they portray the characters when much of the book is pschological fear.

Chelmsford Cathedral

As I walked past the cathedral today I snapped a few pictures on my phone - new camera for Christmas, I can't wait! I will go back with a decent camera to photograph some of the detail. My favourite is the tree.

TSS: Green Angel by Alice Hoffman

I've been hibernating and generally wasting the day today - damn my lack of motivation! However I did manage to read this wonderful novella. Way back Darren from Bart's Bookshelf reviewed this book and straight away I reserved it in the library, and it finally came in!

The novella starts:

I once believed that life was a gift. I thought whatever I wanted I would someday possess. Is that greed, or only youth? Is it hope or stupidity?

What a beautiful way to start the story. Green is a timid teenager living with her family at the edge of the wood. She is left one day when they go off to the city and never come back after a big fire - we are told very little of this fire, the few bits we do get sound a little like 9/11 but the setting and time is wrong.
Left along with her grief Green stops caring about her looks, shrouds herself with thorns and nails and black tattoos to cover herself.

I can't tell you much more without ruining the story except you should go read this book. The language and imagery is beautiful with a fairytale feel. The book is marketed as YA, but I would say its for anyone who appreciates beautiful language.
I wanted to buy a copy for my sisters birthday but can only find second hand copies available, although I may buy one anyway and explain why. There is a follow up to this novella which was released this year and its already been added to my wishlit.

More than just a wonderful story the presentation is gorgeous, as well as the gorgeous cover abover, the chapter openings are a gorgeous shade of moss green and illustrated. Page breaks have three teeny delicate leaves.

Even the publishing details are laid out like a stem.

Exodus by Julie Bertagna

Day one of the holidays and book one down! I'm trying to finish all my library books before the TBR Dare starts. England is bitterly cold and once more covered in beautiful white snow which fell very quickly - bot sure my brother would agree though is he is stuck in his car on the way home from shopping, typical England!
Back to the book...

Once upon a time there was a world...
... a world full of miracles. From the whirl of the tiniest particles to its spinning orbit in the unthinkable vastness of space, this world danced with miraculous life. Ur, the first people called their beautiful world, and the sound of that early name would carry down all the years, until aeons of time and tongues ripened Ur into Earth.
The people feasted upon their ripe world. Endlessly they harvested its lands and seas. They grew greedy, ravaging the planets bounty of miracles. Their waste and destruction spread like a plague until a day came when this plague struck at the very heart of the miraculous dance. And the people saw too late, their savage desolation of the world.

As you can see above this novel starts off full of beautiful language and images, well crafted, but also a warning to us all. Exodus is a novel about Mara a young girl who lives on the island of Wing. As the polar ice caps have slowly melted the world has been taken over by the sea. Unsure whether they are the last island on earth the inhabitants of Wing battle for survival against the elements.
Playing a computer game Mara meets an unexpected person amongst the ghosts on the internet and discovers that a New World exists, a city built above the sea, anchored to fend off the elements.
Mara convinces the inhabitants of her island to set off in search of this new land, in search of a new life.

This book started off really well for me, but then 10 pages in I nearly gave up when the computer game suddenly appeared. Luckily it lasted only a few pages and the novel was back on track, although it still took a good 50 pages for it to grab my interest again. I'm glad I continued as I loved some of the characters and the various communities that we meet in this novel.
I thought that the book may be preachy, but the message was far more about fighting for change in the new world, rather than the faults of the past. If you enjoyed The Pretties, The Knife of Never Letting Go (and who couldn't, that was an amazing trilogy) and The Giver this is a novel you should definitely check out.
I saw this novel in an In My Mailbox post over at Fluttering Butterfly, and I'm glad that I noted it down and checked it out of the library.

Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted as I've been busy tackling this book, traffic and work.

“There came Death hurtling along the Boulevard in waning sepia light.
There came Death flying as in a children’s cartoon on a heavy unadorned messenger’s bicycle.
There came Death unerring. Death not to be dissuaded. Death-in-a-hurry. Death furiously peddling. Death carrying a package marked *Special Delivery Handle with Care* in a sturdy wire basket behind his seat.
There came Death expertly threading his graceless bicycle through traffic at the intersection of Wiltshire and La Brea where, because of street repair, two westbound Wiltshire lanes were funnelled into one.
Death so swift!

How can you resist a book with a start like this? Blonde is the fictionalised story of Marilyn Monroe's life, from birth to death. Oates stipulates very clearly at the beginning of the book that several areas haven't been written about whilst others have been moulded to fit her version of events, but its certainly left me wanting to read a biography of the star now.
As a child Marilyn is abandoned by her busy mother and left to be cared for by older relatives, it soon becomes clear that the mother's behaviour shows signs of mental instability. Soon Norma Jeane (her real name) is left to live with her mother in a small apartment. She has to deal with her mothers drinking which several times nearly led to the bed they shared being burnt down. Alongside many other issues, such as men, obsessions, neglect etc until her mother finally tries to burn her in a scolding bath. Her mother is sent to a hospital whilst Norma Jeane enters an orphanage.
We then watch Norma Jeane pass through school, foster parents, an early marriage, modelling, divorce and finally becoming Marilyn. And so continues with the rest of her life, the high profile marriages and relationships, the battle with drugs, stage fright and the need to be loved.
The varied narrative styles all form to create the picture of Marilyn as a lost soul, a shy child desperate to be loved who relies heavily on her body in an attempt to gain the love and affection she so desperately wants. Oates weaves a fantastic but dense tale, never creating a Marilyn who is easy to pigeon hole, feel sorry for or love. Her version is a woman that doesn't know herself, so we are left with the numerous versions that she plays out.