Everything I Didn't Review in 2018, Part 2

This is the second installment, which gets me to all but the final book of the year. There's only one book, of these three, that I didn't read in December, and one book that I'm leaving out for separate review.

The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig is just what it sounds like: the story of a pixie who is unable to tell a lie. Unfortunately, this gets the pixie into all sorts of trouble, as you might imagine. Eventually, she's kicked out of her home. There are all sorts of fantastical creatures that she encounters and some bits of wisdom about when it's good to be truthful and when it's not.

I am a big fan of Matt Haig's writing. It's so unencumbered by expectation. You just never know what you're going to find in a Matt Haig book and I adore that. However, the two Christmas titles I've read by him have left me flat. As I was reading The Truth Pixie, I would find myself thinking of ways the pixie could have rephrased her words to make them less hurtful. It was maybe a failure of imagination on my part that I couldn't just allow myself to be swept up in the story.

I don't recall the ending but I do remember I liked how the book ended. Unfortunately, I read The Truth Pixie in November and it just didn't stick with me. It's gotten sparkling reviews so it's a book that I plan to give a second chance, probably during the next Christmas season. If it still doesn't enchant me the second time, I'll pass it on.

Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans is the story of a Welsh woman, Catrin Cole, who is hired to write the women's dialogue in a WWII propaganda film designed to keep hopes high during the war by focusing on the story of twins who joined in the Dunkirk rescue operation after borrowing their drunken father's boat.

The true story, which Catrin finds out when she interviews the Starling sisters, is rather disappointing. But, when she pitches the idea to her fellow writers, they immediately take up the story, romantically fictionalize it, and turn it into something inspiring.

As they're writing the script, improving it, and finally putting it on film, you also get to know the actor who plays the twins' drunken uncle, a washed-up older actor who has difficulty tolerating small roles. The majority of the story is set during the London Blitz and I confess that much as I loved the unfolding story of how a film went from idea to theater, I most loved the visceral sensation of the bombings. But, honestly, I love everything about Lissa Evans' writing. She has become a new favorite author in recent years and I've yet to read anything less than stellar by Evans. Wonderful characterization, obviously well-researched settings, smart writing, and plenty of humor make her writing a stand-out.

I've mentioned Their Finest Hour and a Half, already, because we watched the movie before I read the book. The movie is also excellent, with wonderful actors, lots of funny moments, and that sense that you were there that you get from the book.

Down in Mississippi by Johnette Downing and Katherine Zecca is a children's book that Kiddo bought for our eldest grandchild for Christmas. Naturally, I can't pack up a children's book to mail away without reading it first, so I read it -- and it hasn't made it out the door, yet (but it will, I promise).

Down in Mississippi is apparently based on a song and also is a counting book. The first page confused me because I didn't realize that.

Down in Mississippi in the surf and the sun lived a mother dolphin and her dolphin one. "Splash," said the mother. "We splash," said the one, and they splashed all day in the surf and the sun. 

I don't know how long I looked at "dolphin one" thinking, "What? What does that mean?" before I decided to move on and realized it was a counting rhyme. Duh. At any rate, I liked the book after that. After the counting rhyme, there is a section on various flora and fauna that are officially designated (state bird, state flower, etc.) in the state of Mississippi. I loved that part. And, then the book ends with the music to "Down in Mississippi" (treble part), the song.

While the illustrations are understated (or, maybe you could go so far as to call them "dull" of color), I liked the rhyme, the information about state flora and fauna, and the fact that in the end you can learn the tune if you're able to read music, so I gave the book four stars. I really do dislike the subtlety of the illustrations, though. In a children's book, I'm a fan of bold color.

Next up will be a review of The Huntress by Kate Quinn (probably tomorrow) and then I'll be able to post my full list of 2018 reads with links to every review.

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Before I get into a description of How to Stop Time, I need to warn the Americans that it has not yet been released in the U.S. and it looks like you've got a good, long wait. But, the cover above is so much better than the American cover (if Amazon's image is correct) that you might want to do what I did if you appreciate the cover above. I ordered from Book Depository because I absolutely could not wait for the American release. Had I known about the ugly American cover, that would have just solidified my decision. Why are British covers always so much better looking?

Tom Hazard was born in France in the year 1581 and he's still alive, thanks to a condition known as "anageria", which hits at puberty. Those who have anageria age slowly. So, while Tom has been around for over 450 years - long enough to have hung out with Shakespeare - he appears to be closer to his late thirties. Tom discovered early on that he had to avoid settling down for any length of time and try not to develop any meaningful relationships because his slow aging has always been a danger to him and those around him. He's often depressed and anxious, but he made a promise to stay alive and he has kept his promise.

At the end of the 19th century, a man named Hendrich changed his life. Hendrich is several centuries older than Tom and has created an organization for the protection of their kind: "albatrosses", he calls them. "Mayflies" are people who age normally and they can be dangerous to albatrosses. In the early days, it was superstition and fear that caused the danger. In modern life, it's concern that they'll be kidnapped and become victims of experimentation. Since Tom joined Hendrich's society, he has been obligated to move every 8 years, occasionally bringing new people into the society and killing those who know too much. 

Now, Tom has decided to return to London, where he spent his younger years. He finds a job teaching history and naturally he's able to bring history to life in a unique way. But, no matter how hard he tries, Tom can't avoid the pull of the gentle French teacher who has extended the hand of friendship and he must wrestle with the life-long question that he's had to suppress: Is life even worth living without love? 

First things first: I love this book so much that if I could, I'd reread it right now. I want to go back to the beginning and travel through time with Tom, knowing what's going to happen to him in the end.

As you follow Tom, you leap back and forth in time, slowly learning about the experiences that shaped Tom. I think what amazed me the most was the way the author portrayed Tom's life so naturally - even the occasional friendship or run-in with a famous historical character. I've read many books in which historical characters played a role and most of them didn't quite work in some way or other. They just felt off. None of Matt Haig's portrayals gave me that sensation. And, Tom . . . you can't help but root for him. He's so very, very human. Nobody writes about what it means to be human, to live with anxiety and depression and grief and love and everything else that makes us what we are, quite like Matt Haig.

My absolute favorite sentence is a very short one: Grief tilts you. 

How to Stop Time is a beautiful story. The beginning is a bit on the melancholy side. Tom was recruited by Hendrich in 1891 and he's tired of moving every 8 years, tired of being lonely, sometimes to the point of wishing that he'd never agreed to keep on living (a promise he made early in his life). He's experienced heartbreak and love, discovered that things really don't change all that much because people forget the lessons of the past, and he longs to find the missing daughter who inherited his condition. But, the ending is uplifting in just the way I hoped it would be.

Highly recommended - How to Stop Time is a new favorite that has earned a place of honor on the good shelves. An absolutely perfect gem of a book with a protagonist whose emotions will tug at your heart, prose that will give you much to ponder, and absolutely flawless pacing.

Side note: The movie rights to How to Stop Time were sold months before the release date and Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as Tom Hazard. It's going to be every bit as painful waiting for the movie as it was waiting for the book.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Humans by Matt Haig

The Humans by Matt Haig
Copyright 2013
My edition: Canongate Books
Source: Purchase

Then she raised her eyebrows at me. It meant something, clearly, but I had no idea what. It was frustrating. You see, the Language of Words was only one of the human languages. There were many others, as I have pointed out. The Language of Sighs, the Language of Silent Moments and, most significantly, the Language of Frowns.

~p. 113

Life, especially human life, was an act of defiance.

~p. 172

On Earth, social networking generally involved sitting down at a non-sentient computer and typing words about needing a coffee and reading about other people needing a coffee, while forgetting to actually make a coffee.

~p. 184

Love is scary because it pulls you in with an intense force, a supermassive black hole which looks like nothing from the outside but from the inside challenges every reasonable thing you know. You lose yourself, like I lost myself, in the warmest of annihilations.

~p. 196

I'm going to write the description from the back of the book and then my own.

First the cover description:

After an 'incident' one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confuse him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst a crazy alien species and hates everyone on the planet.  Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he's a dog. 

Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race . . . ?

Synopsis in my words:

Andrew Martin has just recently made a mathematical breakthrough that could change the world when suddenly someone else takes his place. Stuck in a body identical to that of the human he has replaced, an alien must find out who else knows about the professor's brilliant work and kill them all. Then, he can return to his home planet. But, after spending time on Earth, the alien comes to a few brilliant realizations of his own. Humans, in fact, are not all that bad, life is worth living, even if it doesn't last long, and love is a wonderful thing.

My thoughts:

I ordered a copy of The Humans from The Book Depository because I wanted a copy with the British cover shown above.  I like it a lot better than the American cover because it's colorful and eye-catching. And, I also wanted to read the book, of course.  I was prompted to read it just a little bit sooner when Stephen Fry tweeted that the book is "fantasically funny and brilliant".  On the day Fry tweeted, I was packing for my trip to attend Simon Van Booy's fiction writing workshop in New York. The book was on my shelf already and I'd been eyeing it but I had not gotten around to reading it because of all the ARCs demanding my time. The tweet convinced me. I needed to read it now.

Thank you Stephen Fry and Matt Haig. As it turned out, The Humans was the perfect book for that particular set of flights. Because it has a little bit of an other-worldly aspect with an alien figuring out how to be human and I've been in a mood for other-worldly books (time travel, dystopian and sci-fi books are the ones that have been calling to me the loudest, lately), the storyline sucked me right in, thank goodness. I'd have hated to be without a really terrific read on a day when there were storms at both ends of a flight and I spent a solid 8 hours hanging out with other humans at a single gate (terrific humans, I must add -- the kind who were cheerful and chatty when sharing information about their delayed flight but who also didn't bother you when your nose was tucked into your reading material).

The most brilliant part of the book is near the end, when the alien who has become Andrew writes a list entitled "Advice for a human" for his earthly son. I would happily quote the entire list but instead I'll just tell you that you need to read The Humans because it's such a lovely, creative, uplifting story. The Humans is also light enough for vacation reading but deep as the ocean you'll be lying next to while you read . . . or the canyon. Whatever. It's a great read; that's all you need to know.

Highly recommended - A new favorite, a book to read and reread, about what it means to be human and how love makes life worth living.  Light reading, deeply meaningful. Don't let the word "alien" frighten you away  The Humans is not science fiction and not about aliens; the alien taking on human form is simply the author's way of looking at humanity and it works. It works beautifully.

It's notable that one of the characters is suicidal and Matt Haig is known for his advocacy for mental health, having been through a suicidal phase of his own. I love following him on Twitter (he tweets as @matthaig1) because his tweets are wise, witty, smart and deeply felt; and, I adore where he takes the part of The Humans that deals with suicide.

Today is Matt Haig's birthday. I recommend buying a copy of The Humans as a birthday gift to him.  He deserves the gift of a purchase and you, of course, deserve the entertaining and meaningful read.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Radleys by Matt Haig

I read To Be a Cat, a children's book by Matt Haig purchased in England, earlier this year, and wanted to give one of his grown-up books a try.  So, when I was perusing the shelves of my local library, I went in search of books by Haig and found The Radleys.

The Radleys appear outwardly common.  A family of four -- two parents and two teenagers -- they live in an average house with an unnoticeable car on quiet village street.  They're a family of abstaining vampires who are boring and normal and, unfortunately for the kids, just a little bit weird. But, problems develop when the daughter of the family decides to go with her conscience and become a vegan. She becomes quite ill until she is threatened and bites someone to protect herself.  When her new-found "blood lust" gets out of hand, Mr. Radley calls his brother out of desperation. And, brother Will Radley is extremely bad news -- irresponsible, careless, driven by his own unquenchable thirst for blood.  When Will begins to influence his niece and remind Mrs. Radley of a time she'd rather forget, what will happen?

"Well, actually, before you go all Gandhi on me, I should tell you there's no such thing as a true vegan.  I mean, do you know how many living things exist on a single potato? Millions. A vegetable is like a microbe metropolis, so you're wiping a whole city out every time you boil a potato.  Think about it.  Each bowl of soup is like a man-made apocalypse."

~p. 21

As a vampire book, The Radleys is unusual, a pleasant departure from the angst-driven teen vampire novel and, in fact, not merely a vampire story but also an allegory about a family trying to conform outwardly while inwardly suppressing their unsavory urges.  The so-called "blood lust" that Will has given in to and the rest of the family tries to avoid probably serves as a parallel to alcoholism (drug addiction, any other addiction would also probably fit).  Like an alcoholic who doesn't even try to control his overwhelming urge to drink, Will is so casual about murdering innocents and so unwilling to think of killing as bad that he leaves a trail of victims, wherever he goes.  Will is staunchly opposed to self-control and bored by normality.

As he drives into the place, Will absorbs the sights the main street has to offer.  A purple-painted children's shoe shop called Tinkerbell's. A tired-looking pub and a polite little deli.  A sex shop?  No. A fancy-dress place for self-hating unbloods who think a night in an afro wig and glittered flares will alleviate the pain of their existence. And a drugstore, as a plan B. Even with a token hoodie walking his cowering psychodog, everything has a suffocating coziness about it, an air of life lived at the lowest possible volume.  

~p. 106

Matt Haig's writing is intelligent, clever, sometimes quite funny.  Toward the end of the book, I'd grown a bit weary of the story and was just ready for it to end, but I enjoyed The Radleys and still want to read everything Matt Haig has written.  That may take me a while.

Recommended - You don't have to be a fan of vampires to appreciate The Radleys.  Solid storytelling, witty writing, great characterization, believable emotion and surprisingly depth make The Radleys a very good book, overall.  It probably could have stood just a touch more editing down to size.  I did become weary of Will and just wanted the Radley family to find their new normal and get that rotten character out of their lives, toward the end, but while not a perfect book The Radleys is a very good one.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.