Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
by Matthew Quick
Leonard is a troubled soul. His parents are no longer together - his ex-rock star alcoholic father is no longer in the picture, and his fashion designer mother spends most of her time away from home with her French boyfriend. It is his 18th birthday, but nobody remembers. He is bullied at school by Asher Beale, one-time best friend until that dreadful life-changing incident. He is unhappy, and he sees no happiness in the future for himself either, so he makes the decision to take himself out of this world and into another, happier place - and take Asher Beale with him. And that's where his grandfather's P-38 gun that was used to kill a Nazi officer in World War II, comes into the picture. It is up to his 3 friends in the world - Herr Silverman his history and German teacher; Walt his Humphrey Bogart film loving neighbour; Lauren the beautiful Christian - to convince him that life is worth living. But will it be enough?
This is understandably a very sad story. Poor Leonard, even though he is highly intelligent, is seen as a weirdo by his classmates, so when he starts to spiral downwards no-one seems to notice because they think he is strange anyway. The school guidance counsellor remarks on his behaviour but when he laughs it off, so does she. You end up screaming at some of the characters to give him the help he needs, stop the inevitable from happening. Thankfully Herr Silverman is a lot more astute and aware and you hope you can rely on him to pull Leonard out of his suicidal hole.
There were a few annoying things in the story, the first being footnotes. I'm not a big fan of these, they seem to tear you away from the moment and when the story is so emotionally heavy, it takes a while to get back into it. The second is the sudden introduction of letters from the future. You wonder what on earth it is about, until it is explained a little further into the book. The third is the ending - I often seem disappointed by endings, but this one really annoys. See what you think yourselves.
Other than that, a really enjoyable, thoughtful, heartbreaking story about a taboo subject.
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
by Robin Sloan
I didn't quite know what to make of this. In a way, it was a shame that I read it right after The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, because I loved that book so much it was going be hard to beat. I loved the idea of the story of Mr Penumbra - a bookshop that is open all day and all night, but hardly has any customers. The few customers it has act rather strangely and keep quoting what sounds like a Latin phrase to Clay, the young lad whose job it is to man the bookstore through the night. Using the help of a few of his friends, he discovers that many of the non-mainstream books kept in the shop are written in code. Once this code is broken, the secret to eternal life is revealed. But Clay doesn't want to have to read through all the books to solve the puzzle. One of his friends works at Google and she uses her technological wizardry to solve it the modern way. I think this is where the story lost me slightly. I wanted an oldy-worldy magical story of secrets and books, but instead I get thrown back into the real world of Google search, Kindles and e-books, and Amazon. So good concept, but not quite good enough to hold my excitement.
The Goldfinch
by Donna Tartt
I was very excited when I saw that Donna Tartt had written a third novel. Her first, The Secret History, was published to critical acclaim in 1992 and I absolutely loved it. She had us waiting 10 years for her second novel - The Little Friend was published in 2002. So another 11 years have passed and she has produced another tome of a book - the 771-paged The Goldfinch. This book is not only of epic proportions size-wise, but also content-wise. The story may itself be simple - 13-year old Theo is visiting a museum with his mother when there is an explosion and his mother is killed. Theo takes a painting which his mother loved, in order to keep it, and the memory of her, alive. But it is this painting, and the struggle to keep it safe and hidden over the next 14 years, which draws him into a world he could not have foreseen for himself.
You will become addicted to this book. Its size will become invisible, until you near the end and you wish it to continue further. Theo becomes your best friend, you want all the characters to like him, and most of them do. You will fall in love with Theo's best friend, Boris, with his heavily-accented speech and his bad-boy but totally adorable personality. You want Hobie, Theo's 'guardian', to be your father and to live in his eccentric sounding house. But above all you want Theo to survive all the bad stuff that gets thrown at him. Donna Tartt details so much that you wonder whether it is research or real life that she is basing it on - the horror of drug use and abuse; the minutiae of the art world. But wherever it's from, the fact it feels real is what makes a great story, and a brilliant read.
For me the only downside of the whole book is the last few pages of philosophising. I'm a 'black and white' type person, so all questions on the 'meaning of life' make me glaze over. Donna Tartt, through her character Theo, makes a couple of comments during the book about the pointlessness of bringing children into a world of misery and unhappiness - mortgages, divorce, hip-replacements and loneliness in care homes are what they face in life. Her own reflection on life perhaps?
The Bomber Dog
by Megan Rix
This is the third in Megan Rix's animal war story series (after The Great Escape and The Victory Dogs), and her storytelling continues to be exciting, heartwarming and fascinating. In this book, we find out about the adventures of Grey, a German Shepherd dog - or Alsatian as they were known as during the war so as not to use the word 'German'. Grey is rescued as a puppy from the hands of the Germans in France by British soldiers, and taken back to Britain, where he is later discovered and cared for by Nathan, a new British army recruit. Grey's looks and talents are picked up by a Colonel in the paratroop regiment, who employs both Nathan and Grey as paratroopers, their job being dropped into enemy territory and report back on what weapons the Germans are about to use against the British. Nathan and Grey form a very close bond - both would give their lives for each other, so when their first jump into France ends in disaster and they are separated, neither will give up the search for the other.
If you like animal war stories, then also try War Horse or Shadow, both by Michael Morpurgo, and Soldier Dog by Sam Angus.
How I Live Now
by Meg Rosoff
I first read this book when it was published about 8 years ago, and instantly became a Meg Rosoff fan. I then read Just In Case, What I Was, There Is No Dog, and have been lucky to read an advance copy of Picture Me Gone (published 5th September 2013). I loved them all. There is now a film coming out of How I Live Now (release date at the moment October 2013), so I thought it was time to re-read the book.
Well, it was better than I remembered. American teenager Daisy is sent to live with her cousins in England. She is quite happy with this, as her dad has married devil woman Davina (Daisy's mother died giving birth to Daisy), and they are expecting their own baby. Her dad seems to want her out the way so he can start a new life with his new family - at least that is how Daisy tells it. We also learn that Daisy has an eating disorder and has seen many a psychiatrist while growing up in America.
As soon as she arrives in England and is met by her cigarette-smoking young teenage cousin Edmond (well, one of the cousins, there are four of them in the family), she knows that she has found a new home. Her Aunt Penn flies off to Oslo on a mission of world peace, and leaves the cousins alone. The days are fun-filled, relaxing and hugely enjoyable. Even more so as Daisy finds she has a real connection with Edmond, and they fall in love. This is not to last however as war breaks out in England. Airports are closed down so Aunty Penn can't return home and Daisy can't get back to America. Soldiers take over the cousins' farm, and the girls are separated from the boys. So begins a tale of survival and heartache for Daisy as she struggles to look after her younger cousin in a country torn apart by war, and tries to be reunited with the rest of the cousins - especially Edmond.
The story is told from Daisy's viewpoint and is full of emotion, humour, anxiety and fear. There are no direct quotes - all conversations are recorded indirectly. This is how the whole book is and I wonder how this will translate onto the screen. I hope it works. A heartbreakingly wonderful story.
Flora & Ulysses - The Illuminated Adventures
by Kate DiCamillo
This is such a cute book! Everything about it is quirky - the story about a superhero squirrel called Ulysses, the brilliant illustrations (some in graphic novel format), Flora's hairstyle - well, she's not your average 10-yr-old girl in a story with long flowing blond locks. I mean, she's friends with a boy temporarily incapacitated by blindness following a traumatic incident (or so he says. And by the way, don't call him Billy. It's William Spiver.)
Well I can't reveal all of its wonderfulness to you, you must find out for yourself. It all starts off with a hoover...
The Forever Whale
by Sarah Lean
Hannah's granddad has Alzheimer's. Before it got too bad, he had taken Hannah out in his rowing boat, like he regularly did, and promised to tell her a story about meeting her grandma, some deer, and a whale. But then the illness took hold and he was moved into a home, and his eyes became empty - along with his memory. Hannah is determined to find out what granddad wanted to tell her. She decides to visit a local island which he often talked about, and film anything she can see, in the hope that this will jog his memory, and she can have her old granddad back. What she finds stirs up memories - and a few surprises - for everybody.
This is a beautiful story which I finished in one sitting. If you like this, also try Michael Morpurgo's Why the Whales Came.
Sarah Lean has also written two other wonderful stories - A Dog Called Homeless, and A Horse for Angel.
