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Saturday 22 April 2017

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

I'm not going to say much about this book apart from this - if there's only one book you read this year, make it this one. I gush over it to everyone at work, I recommend it in our recommends bay, I'm excited for any customer reading it for the first time. It was a Radio 2 book club book and went down very well with the readers there too. The writing is superb, the story is entertaining, the characters are exciting. The 'gentleman' in the title is Count Alexander Rostov who, in 1922 and because of his background and beliefs, is put under house arrest and sent to live out the rest of his days in the hotel Metropol in Moscow. We witness Russian history over the years through his eyes, as he learns about it only through newspapers or for the changing habits and customers of the grand hotel. From being a rich artistocrat living in a large house, he is now living in an attic room of the hotel, but in all ways he is a true gentleman.

A wonderful and unforgettable read.

How To Stop Time by Matt Haig

I've only read 2 of Matt's books before, and they were both children's ones (To be a Cat; Shadow Forest). He is probably best known for his adult novel 'The Humans' and for his non-fiction work on depression 'Reasons to Stay Alive' (Matt has been a sufferer of depression for many years).

This current book has already attracted attention from the press - even though at the time of writing this, the book hasn't even been published yet, film rights were snapped up, and Benedict Cumberbatch is due to play the lead role in the upcoming film! (as well as producing it).

The book is about Tom Hazard, who suffers from a rare medical condition (anageria) which causes him to age much much slower than the average human. He looks and puts his age at 41, but he is actually over 400 years old. There aren't many other sufferers of it in the world, but one of them, Hendrich, has decided to set up The Albatross Society, and aims to recruit all sufferers into the society to protect them from medics and scientists from using them in scientific experiments. Tom has lived through many historical events (for example the plague), met many famous historical figures (for example Shakespeare), but one thing that is the most difficult for him to manage, and one which Hendrich has advised him against, is falling love. He fell in love once, with Rose, and they had a daughter, Marion, who also has anageria. Marion has disappeared, Tom hasn't seen her since she was a child, so he is now trying to find her, but Hendrich seems to be putting obstacles in his way.

I enjoyed the book - I loved the detail of the historical events mentioned. Matt obviously did a lot of research. But I did find my interest waning a bit in the last few chapters - I skim-read them instead. It's a great premise for a story, and I can see it working well as a film, so I'd be interested to see it when it comes out.

Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

I read another of Elizabeth's books called 'Olive Kitteridge' on a recommendation of a colleague a few months ago, and I fell in love with her writing. It wasn't what I expected - it read like a collection of short stories, with one character, the titular Olive, being the thread running through them all. I'm not usually a fan of short stories, and I don't like to describe it as such to customers coming into our bookshop in case it puts them off for that reason, but in this case I just loved them. Elizabeth Strout the author is wonderful at character analyses and descriptions, and day to day life and relationships are described in such a realistic and truthful (and sometimes ruthless) way.

I was eager to read her next book 'Lucy Barton', and I was very disappointed. This followed Lucy being visited in hospital by her estranged mother. Even though other characters are alluded to and memories brought to the fore, it mainly deals with the strained relationship between Lucy and her mother, and I missed the other characters and descriptions from 'Olive'.

I was willing to give her another go, and thus read 'Anything Is Possible'. I loved it. It surpassed my love of 'Olive Kitteridge'. This book follows the other characters that were mentioned in 'Lucy Barton', including her brother and sister, her cousins, her aunt, her school janitor - they're all in there, with Lucy being the thread through it all, and I just adored that return to style of 'Olive'. The last chapter is especially moving. Highly recommended.