Here we are.

Well, here we are folks, a New Year and almost midway through January (how did that happen?).

It’s been a string of rainy and dull January days. The Christmas decorations are put away, the tree is down, the house is back to everyday, the bills are coming in, and wannabe dictators threaten on the horizon.

But, hey lets cheer up and talk about books, always a good place to go when things seem grim.

I only read one (only one!) Christmas book, I picked up and put down several before settling in on a lovely novel set in an English bookshop, (of course). It’s put away with my notes to tell you about next year.

Santa gave me a lovely book…no, no, truth be told, I bought it for myself. While at favorite independent bookstore, buying a book for a friend, I stumbled across this little gem – and how could I resist?

This is a new addition to the Everyman’s Pocket Classics series. These are beautiful smallish books, bound with cloth in Germany. The dust jackets are, without exception, stunning. The books in this series are always nice to hold in the hand. (Funny how some books aren’t great to hold…)

Everyman’s Library was conceived in 1905 by London publisher Joseph Malaby Dent, whose goal was to create a 1,000-volume library of world literature that was affordable for, and that appealed to, every kind of person, from students to the working classes to the cultural elite.

All the Everyman’s editions come with this circa 1905, somewhat stilted, introduction and a sewn-in ribbon bookmark.

From the inside flap:

An enchanting book about books: a beautiful hardcover Pocket Classics anthology of stories that testify to the irresistible power of the written word.
The characters in the delightful stories collected here range all the way from the ink-stained medieval monks in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose to the book-besotted denizens of Ali Smith’s Public Library and Other Stories. In these pages readers are invited to enter the interior lives of librarians in Lorrie Moore’s “Community Life” and Elizabeth McCracken’s “Juliet” and are ushered into a host of unusual libraries, including the infinite rooms of Jorge Luis Borges’s “The Library of Babel” and a secret library in Helen Oyeyemi’s “Books and Roses.”

I’ve been happily skipping around reading a story here, a snippet there. So far, a wonderful collection of stories for book lovers, it even includes excerpts from 84 Charing Cross Road.

So, I’m closing the drapes, making a cup of tea I got for Christmas, and enjoying my new book.

So goodbye old year. Hello new year – bring it on!

An English Murder by Cyril Hare

First published in 1951, this Christmas mystery takes place in the favorite setting of British murder mysteries — the large country home.

Lord Warbeck summons his remaining family to the ancestral home for a holiday gathering. This country home is rather run-down with a greatly reduced staff — the result of high postwar British income taxes. It’s a very mixed group of people who arrive and there are creepy undercurrents from the very first pages. This house party is snowbound on Christmas Eve, and of course a murder ensues.

Thank goodness an eccentric little Sargent from Scotland Yard is present, but the historian saves the day, with the help of William Pitt. If all that sounds a lot like Agatha Christie — well, that’s because it is. The mystery plot turns on — well, I don’t want to give it away, suffice it to say our author, Mr. Hare, was a British barrister.

This a classic English murder mystery in all the right ways — the snowbound setting, odd characters with funny names, the sly British sense of humor, and of course, the Christmas-y feel.

At only 202 pages, it is the perfect quick holiday read with a cup of cocoa after a busy day of your own holiday preparations.

Treat yourself to that beautiful copy of An English Murder shown above – don’t-cha love that cover?

I re-read my old battered copy found used at the now defunct Mystery Bookshop in San Francisco.

It doesn’t look very Christmas-y, but it’s a keepsake.

It’s raining here, the tree is up and decorated, most gifts are wrapped, and I may shall take a break, and read another Christmas book.

Stay warm and safe people. Cheers!

The Eyes & the Impossible by Dave Eggers

My favorite 7 (almost 8) year old friend, let me borrow one of his recently acquired books.

One glance at this stunning book and I had to look further. Luckily, my young friend trusts me and let me bring it home to read by myself.

The photos here don’t do it justice. This is a special edition of The Eyes — and it is a most beautiful book.

Let me try and describe it’s beauty. It has a die-cut wood front cover, with a painting showing through. The back cover is also made of wood. There are gleaming gold embossed edges, and double paged-edge-to-edge painted illustrations from 1600’s – 1800’s into which illustrator, Shawn Harris, has cleverly placed our hero, Johannes (more about him later).

This remarkable edition is only available at independent bookstores (yes!) for an amazing $28 cover price (the price of any other, run-of-the-mill hardback).

Mr. Eggers is a literary force here in San Francisco/Bay Area. Not only is he an award winning author, he is also the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing company, co-founder of 826 Valencia, a non-profit youth writing center, and a major force among our literary community — from supporting independent bookstores, to funding new writers.

So, let me tell you about the story — which is just as beautiful as the book’s production value.

Johannes is a free dog, who lives in an urban park by the sea, thinly disguised as our own Golden Gate Park. His job is to be the Eyes—to see everything that happens within the park and report back to the park’s elders, three ancient Bison. His friends—a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican—work with him as the Assistant Eyes, observing the humans and other animals who share the park and making sure the equilibrium is in balance. 

But changes are afoot. More humans, including Trouble Travelers, arrive in the park. A new building, containing mysterious and hypnotic rectangles, goes up. And then there are the goats—an actual boatload of goats—who appear, along with a shocking revelation that changes Johannes’s view of the world.

It’s a delightful story, with adventure and strong themes of friendship. And I laughed out loud as Johannes directly addresses the reader in a very folksy (and funny) voice throughout the novel. And whether it’s his inability to estimate numbers, or his antipathy towards ducks (don’t trust the ducks!), I was enchanted.

I had a wonderful time with this middle-grade book, and I was happily in the hands of a gifted storyteller. The tale of free dog Johannes is profound, poignant, and very, very clever (what do you have against ducks, Mr. Eggers?). An exhilarating read about friendship, beauty, freedom, and running very, very fast:

“When I run, I pull at the earth and make it turn”

Everyone should read The Eyes & the Impossible – a story that will have readers of all ages seeing the world around them in a wholly new way

My friends copy* was personally autographed by Mr. Eggers at an author event with that same duck warning. You’ll have to read the book to understand the problem with ducks (I’ll never look at ducks again without smiling).

*I’ve blocked his name for obvious reasons

Now I’m on to some Christmas reads — two mine and one from the library – now which one first?

Correspondence An Adventure in Letters by N. John Hall

I recently rediscovered this book, which I bought in cold blood and at full price after its release in 2011 when it was said to appeal to fans of 84, Charing Cross Road and Victorian fiction.

Discovered my book mark in the middle of the third chapter and I have no idea why I put it back on my shelf for all these years. I love me an good epistolary novel so a re-started from the beginning.

The book imagines a correspondence between a retired American banker, Larry Dickerson, who inherited more than 200 letters to and from his great-great-great grandfather, a London bookseller, and his correspondents, who included Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Eliot and spouse, Thomas Hardy, Willkie Collins, Mrs. Gaskell, Samuel Butler and Charles Darwin, together with all of his great-great-great grandfather’s letters to these authors.

Dickerson hopes to sell these letters for the highest price through Christie’s auction house. An so begins the correspondence with Stephen Nicholls, head of Christie’s manuscript department. Of course, Christie’s is delighted at the prospect of handling an invaluable collection of never-before-seen letters from some of the greatest writers of the Victorian era.

Dickerson is portrayed as a bright, eager and not uneducated man who spent his career in banking and has a passion for baseball, a world far removed from antiquarian books and scholarly learning. While he could simply ship this letter trove to London, brush his hands of it, and eventually get a fat check, he has intellectual curiosity about these authors and their work, researching the letters himself. It’s fascinating to watch Nicholls, with a deep knowledge of books and manuscripts, take this new student under his wing. Dickerson takes on the challenge with wit and gentle jabs to Nicholl’s very British viewpoints:

Dickerson writes, “If you ever feel impatient with me and my ignorance of things in this field, remember that my old man was one of the troops who knocked out Hitler for you.”

Dickerson insists on carefully reading and hand transcribing the letters before sending them to the auction house. As he is drawn deeper into the letters, he begins reading their authors’ books. The ever-patient Nicholls, explains concepts and phrases Dickerson is discovering — everything from the meaning of “et al”, to some of the authors backstories, and themes common to the famous Victorian works.

As months go by, Nicholls worries about Dickerson’s insistence on handling the valuable stash himself, failing to insure them, and reluctance to send even photocopies. Are the letters real? Is Dickerson on the up and up? This reader began to worry too.

The letters between Dickerson’s great-great-great grandfather (Dickerson abbreviates it to gggf) and the great novelists are delightful realistic. Mr. Hall, the author, is a scholar of Victorian literature (especially Anthony Trollope) and only such an expert could have conceived them and so skillfully replicated the style and language of the various authors – not to mention making them sound distinctive and authentic to the period. There are lively discussions about choosing illustrators and using illustrations in their novels (Dickens loved them; Trollope hated them) as well as their reactions to good and bad reviews – just as any writer today. I found myself chuckling at Trollope’s irony and Thomas Hardy’s dry wit.

There is a quick and surprising ending which I won’t reveal the details. Just suffice it to say that everyone benefits from the letters and their eventual sale.

Turns out Correspondence was just my cup of geeky, bookish tea. However, this book won’t likely appeal to most of you – it is very much a bookish-bookerly book. Mr. Hall has peppered the novel with many, many literary references, which had me turning to my bookshelves to pull out my own grandfather’s copies to check the illustrations, quotes, and characters.

I have come away re-energized to try Trollope again (I found him unbearable in my first attempt) and I have vowed to finally read Thackeray’s Vanity Fair.

It’s okay, carry on with choosing another read for yourselves — I understand, but very few understand me…

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo is a Newbery Medal award winning author, and one of my favorite authors, Ann Patchett raves about her books for children — especially this one. And I needed a present for for our 7 (almost 8) year old friend.

My justifications all in a row, I went to one of my favorite independent bookshops and bought The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane as his Christmas present

Full disclosure, after looking through this beautiful book, I knew I wanted to read it myself. This little guy has loaned me a few of his books before — so he won’t mind.

This tale tells the life story of a vain and prideful china rabbit – the uppity Edward Tulane. Edward’s story begins in the 1930’s when he is given as a birthday present to Abilene; an adoring ten year old girl who loves Edward unconditionally. He has beautifully made outfits, comes to the dinner table with the family, and has a special bed. In short, Edward is adored, but the rabbit’s arrogant disposition prevents him from appreciating or returning this affection.

Edward’s life soon changes when he is lost overboard on a family trip aboard the Queen Mary. From then on, he is acquired and lost by a variety of owners, some of whom treat him with kindness and some who are cruel.

As Edward travels with the various people who own him, including a fishermen and a group of hoboes, he he slowly loses his pride, coming to realize that “if you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless.”

Still, his journey leads him on a long series of adventures. Some of his adventures are not so bad, and some are downright horrible. Along the way, he begins to understand the meaning of love and hope. He realizes that love can be different things to different people. And sadly, he finds out that sometimes hope is lost. Edward’s journey teaches him how to love and in the end, he finds his way back to the arms of a little girl who squeezes him tight and also calls him Edward.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is beautifully illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, just look at these

As I closed the book, I pondered the magic, yet melancholic tone of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this fairy tale which is written both beautifully and delicately, but it’s also very sad. There’s the death of a young child in the book, another child’s father is an absent drunk and other tragedies unfold during Edward’s journey
I decided this could be difficult for a still-too-young and sensitive reader like my young friend — so, I’ll put it away for next year.

The Secret Place by Tana French

Without intention, I ended up taking a month-long break from this little blog — my favorite place. Turns out it was necessary to clear my head, sweep the decks clean, and get back into reading — my happy place.

I’ve read two (no three) very different, but engrossing, books, and now that I’m back, let me tell you about the first of them.

See how I’m stringing you along for my other reads? All part of my plan, dear readers.

This is the fifth installment of the Ms. French’s Dublin Murder Squad series. I got hooked on this series years ago and I should have hunkered down and read them closer together, but other books distracted me (I’m looking at you Ms. Louise Penny).

Each of these books tells of a murder from the view of a different member (or adjacent member) of the Dublin Police Murder team. While, you can read them in any order, I suggest you try them in order.

THIS is the first in this wonderful series.

But don’t take my word for it,

The New Yorker critic Laura Miller says:

The Dublin Murder Squad series [is] the object of an intense, even cultic fascination. French’s readers like to go online and rank the books (six so far, counting “The Trespasser”) in order of preference, and while there’s no consensus, it’s taken for granted that anybody who’s read one will very shortly have read them all…Most crime fiction is diverting; French’s is consuming.

It only took me a few chapters to get drawn in again to another one of Ms. French’s mysteries and to remember the connections to the previous books. (I know, I know — I can’t remember the name of a person I just met, or the password for my Netflix account, but I’m Rain Man when it comes to plots, characters, and books I’ve read.)

We once again meet Holly Mackey, daughter of Frank Mackey both from the previous books The Likeness and Faithful Place when Detective Stephen Moran briefly worked her father. Anyway, Holly has come to Moran’s office with a photo of Chris Harper who was found murdered at Holly’s boarding school, a year ago – on the photo was pasted letters from a magazine saying “I KNOW WHO KILLED HIM”. This is a case which Detective Moran has been trying to solve from the Cold Cases unit. Moran takes the photo to Murder Squad, hoping he can get in on the action.

I work Cold Cases. When we bring witnesses in, they want to believe this doesn’t count: not really a murder investigation, not a proper one with guns and cuffs, nothing that’ll slam through your life like a tornado. Something old and soft, instead, worn fuzzy round the edges.

He joins forces with the coveted Murder Squad and Antoinette Conway, who had been in charge of the case twelve months previously, and together they tackle interviews of the students at Holly’s all-girls boarding school. This exclusive boarding school has the bulletin board where Holly found the photo – a bulletin board where students can put up anonymous confessions about boys, their bodies, their friends — their secret place.

They focus on two girl cliques, and here is where things get really interesting. Ms. French shows a deep understanding of the teenage girl psyche. She writes with an empathy and understanding of adolescence and the boarding school experience which perhaps comes from her own personal experience. The Secret Place brings back that transitory but intense time, before the real world changes everything. It captures this teenage stage when friendships are everything, future plans are wild yet seem obtainable, and first love entices around every boy.

Things don’t make sense, when you’re that age; you don’t make sense.

Some of Ms. French’s best scenes are as Moran and Conway conduct their interviews with the girls at the school. I soon had a perfect picture of each girl, which left me suspecting almost every one. There are two mysteries here; who pasted up the card, and who committed the murder. The way the two play off each other is as brilliant as well as devastating — and often funny:

After a moment she sighed noisily. “Because out there in the dark was a better place to talk, is why. And because probably you never broke any rules in school, but not everyone always feels like doing everything exactly like they’re supposed to. OK?”
“OK,” I said. “That makes sense. I get that.”
Thumbs-up.

“Wahey. Good for you.”
Almost four years of her teens left.

I didn’t envy her parents.

As in her previous books I became invested in each character — not wanting them to be the killer, and almost hoping that if they are, they get away with it. Ms. French writes the most compelling characters — hands down.

The writing deftly constructed the often romanticized British boarding school — I could smell, feel, and sense the place in every scene.

I agree with another review I read — The Secret Place turns out to be more than just the bulletin board where girls can anonymously post messages and juicy gossip. The secret place also refers to a special place on the grounds of the Academy where the girls sneak out after hours to hang out with some privacy, or, perhaps meet a boy from the nearby boys school. It also refers to the secret place where one student hides the key that lets her and her friends sneak out at night. Finally, and most importantly, Ms. French opens up the secret place within each of the her characters where they keep their deepest and darkest secrets.

I hesitate to give away too much about the culmination of this mystery — the girls, and their motives — this is to discover on your own — and to savor. There is an inclusion of a supernatural element — where the girls discover their powers to conjure spirits, which felt to this reader a bit contrived. But where The Secret Place shines is at contrasting the adolescent and adult worlds. Ms. French writes a beautiful passage of the thoughts dawning on (what could possibly be) the murderer:

Real isn’t what they try to tell you. Time isn’t. Grown-ups hammer down all these markers, bells schedules coffee-breaks, to stake down time so you’ll start believing it’s something small and mean, something that scrapes flake after flake off of everything you love till there’s nothing left; to stake you down so you won’t lift off and fly away, somersaulting through whirlpools of months, skimming through eddies of glittering seconds, pouring handfuls of hours over your upturned face.

My only small (very small) quibble, and maybe it’s definitely my age, but at times, I found it a bit tiring to keep track of eight teenage girls and their beauty habits, cell phone usage, and their day to day interactions that often did little to advance the plot Not to mention a bunch of hormone-charged teenage boys.

The Dublin Murder Squad series takes the run-of-the mill crime suspense thriller/police procedural into the realm of literary fiction.

If you are a mystery reader looking for a complex, well written mystery series, peopled with multi-layered characters, Tana French is for you.

The Trespasser is next to read in the series and, (sob) it’s the final one.

A digital review copy of The Secret Place was kindly provided by ‎Penguin Books via Netgalley.