Holiday reading

The Palace of Strange Girls by Sallie Day

HarperPress 2008, 368 pages

It’s the summer of 1959 and the Singleton family (Jack, Ruth and their two daughters) are on holiday in Blackpool. Seven year old Beth, recently out of hospital, is forced to endure being molly-coddled by her mother when all she wants to do is fill in her I- Spy book. Her sixteen year old sister Helen is also struggling with the constraints placed upon her and yearns for independence. Meanwhile Jack, a foreman at a Lancashire cotton mill, has his own secrets and is faced with making a decision which will affect the future of his entire family.

The Palace of Strange Girls gives us a snap shot of a family on holiday and there is a strong sense of time and place. The chapter headings are linked by an I-Spy at the Seaside theme and are very tongue in cheek. A light and enjoyable read that will kiss you quick and squeeze you slowly!

One man and his dog

Julius Winsome by Gerard Donovan

Faber and Faber 2007, 224 pages

Julius Winsome lives with his dog, Hobbes, in a remote cabin in the forest land of Northern Maine. He is a loner who gets by odd-jobbing during the summer months and in the winter drinks tea as he reads his way through the library of 3,282 books left to him by his father. But when his dog is fatally shot at close range by a hunter, Julius takes up his grandfather’s WW1 Enfield rifle and goes looking for the killer.

I have a vague recollection of reading a review of this book and making a mental note to look out for it. This is a dark and disturbing story that is sparsely written, but what is perhaps most unsettling is how much sympathy I felt for Julius. A book that I could easily have passed over; I’m so glad I remembered reading that review.

Up periscope

Submarine by Joe Dunthorne

Hamish Hamilton 2008, 304 pages

Oliver Tate is a very articulate soon-to-be 15 year old who is preoccupied with saving his parent’s marriage and losing his virginity before it is legal, but not necessarily in that order.

Comparisons are being made between this book, The Catcher in the Rye and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, but for me Oliver Tate with his dry wit and one-liners is unique. The author is a 25 year old poet from Swansea, bet he’s never penned one like this:

I lost my sense of humour it was nowhere to been seen

It wasn’t with the washing up nor in the room so clean

Not lurking in the ironing or on the turned-down bed

To think that I had lost it was messing up my head

And just when I decided there was no place left to look

I found my sense of humour in the pages of a book

So if you’re feeling jaded ‘cos life’s not so serene

Go to your local library and ask for “Submarine”

But just a word of caution, I don’t mean to be a prude

This book is very funny but it’s also rather rude.

All comments in rhyme please!