The Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor

I tend to forget how much I love historical fiction; especially good historical fiction. And this historical thriller , Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor is just that.

It’s set at Jerusalem college in Cambridge England in 1786. John Holdsworth is a book trader who has lost everything: his young son, who drowned in the Thames and his business. His wife, Maria, who became obsessed and sold all her worldly possessions to try and contact her son, follows a few months later by drowning as well. Holdsworth, a broke and broken man, is soon summoned by Lady Anne Oldershaw, a wealthy upper crust sort, who is concerned about the welfare of her own son who has apparently gone off the deep end at Jerusalem college after claiming to see the ghost of the late Mrs Sylvia Whitcombe. She wants Holdsworth to investigate her son’s nervous collapse and the ghost on the sly while cataloguing her late husband’s library at the college.

Holdsworth doesn’t believe in ghosts but accepts the job for he needs the money. He arrives at Jerusalem college and becomes the guest of the Master, the ailing Dr Carbury and his intriguing wife, Elinor.

While at the college, Holdsworth does some digging and soon discovers the more unsavoury aspects of the place: the behind the scenes wrangling for power, the sinister Holy Ghost club and the unanswered questions of the death of the ghost in question: the young and lovely Sylvia Whitcombe.

It’s one of those books that makes you resent that you have a life and things to do, like work, dinner, etc. when all you’d rather be doing is reading.

The historical detail he provides transports you back in time to life that was really harsh for the poor. There were no conveniences for the people at the time and Taylor vividly captures the sights and sounds of the time from the smells from the sick room to the night soil man who made rounds every morning with his wheelbarrow collecting excrement.

There are so many subplots that all come together nicely in the end. And Holdsworth, the non-believer of ghosts, discovers that sometimes it’s the living that haunt you more than the dead.

I was sorry to see this book end. Great book to curl up with on a rainy day. Or any day.

The Nagging Question

The last few weeks, I’ve been surprised at something unexpected: the nagging question that perhaps it’s time to give up writing and move on with my life.
I’ve wanted to write since I was nine and dabbled with it while I got on with my life: went to college, got a proper job, bought a house, got married, and had babies.
When we decided to move to Ireland five years ago I made a decision that I would be serious about my writing and be more proactive rather than the disconcerted effort that was made while I lived in the US. And I have done a lot more in the last five years than in all the previous 30+. In the beginning, when we first arrived and the boys were babies and needed my undivided attention, I had to wait until my husband came home and every night after dinner, I managed to write and that resulted in a chick lit manuscript which I still love but received 44 rejections none the less. I chalked it up to experience. I became involved in Write Words out of the UK, an online writing group and met some really fabulous people and now am in a private splinter group with them. I published an article in Writer’s Forum. I started two blogs, this one and Chicklite. I also contribute to Book in a Week blog. I completed a first rough draft of another novel, women’s fiction while doing NaNoWriMo. (National November Writing Month- global effort to write 50k, unedited in one month- great novel starter) Unfortunately I had to abandon that as I couldn’t stand the MC (main character).
Two years ago, I started working on my present WIP- about a teenage girl who has supernatural powers but wants nothing to do with it. I have it completed at 100k words, but I’m in the middle of editing it which is time consuming and sometimes I feel like I’m walking through sand. Once that’s done, I’ll make the starter rounds of querying agents.
But all of this takes time. And a big chunk of it. And I’ve yet to be published.
All my life, the dream of writing has always been in the back of mind and sometimes on the back burner while I did other things; mainly lived life. But when I worked as a hospice nurse and took care of a lot of people on their deathbed, I determined for myself that I didn’t want to end up on my own deathbed, regretting that I didn’t pursue my dream of writing. But after five years, can I say that I gave it my best shot, give it up and live with that?
For the very first time, I’m thinking of giving it up. That has never happened before. Granted, I’ve walked away from it, put it down but I always returned. But now there’s a different feeling underfoot. And I have to ask my self: is my dream of writing worth it? Will my boys remember me as someone who had a computer as an appendage? Is it time to stop fooling around and get a proper job?
And that is the question that I’m going to think about and turn over while I’m on vacation in the US in August.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

I saw this book on the library shelf and couldn’t resist for three reasons:
1) Its a classic,
2) I have Treasure Island (also by RLS) on order for Daniel
3) Its only 88 pages long and I thought, surely I could handle that

I read the book in one day- a lazy Sunday to be exact. The first 2-3 pages were a little difficult to get through and I must admit to having had to reread some of the parts to make it all make sense but once I got into the rhythm of the writing- and it was written about 130 years ago- it became easy and I couldn’t put it down.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde explores what happens when one man indulges his dark side through chemical means- more relevant now in our drug addled culture than at the end of the 19th century.
It’s a brilliantly woven tale exploring the dichotomy of good and evil.
I also wanted to study the build up of suspense as I’m writing my own paranormal. RLS drip feeds you info about Mr Hyde- at first it starts out with innuendo about the nefarious Mr Hyde and gradually the tale unfolds through the eyes of Dr. Jekyll’s lawyer, Mr Utterson. The book opens with him learning of Mr Hyde and no one can determine his relationship with Dr Jekyll. Utterson assumes that Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll. By the end, the whole sordid tale has been revealed to the astonishment of Mr Utterson and another friend, Dr Lanyon and the bizarre truth will be the undoing of the latter.
Long after I finished reading it, I found I couldn’t stop thinking about it. In a nutshell, it’s the age old issue of good versus evil. Instead of being repelled by his alter ego Mr Hyde, Dr Jekyll exhibits a mixture of sympathy, fascination and an inability to resist the heady, free side of evil. Mr Hyde, on the other hand, shows only indifference towards Dr Jekyll.
This tale is so part of our culture now that we refer to moody (that’s a polite term) people as being a Jekyll & Hyde and in one of my kids’ DVDs, Alvin & the Chipmunks are putting on a school play of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde.
It’s a great classic; read it if you get the chance.

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

Finger Lickin’ Fifteen is another instalment in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum mystery series. Sizzling Sixteen and Smokin’ Seventeen have since been released. (What can I say, I’m a little behind). I started reading the series way back when it first came out- early nineties, I guess. Stephanie Plum has been in my life longer than my husband or kids. The major appeal is the LOL screwball comedy. It must be hard to keep that pace up and the stories fresh, but this particular instalment had me laughing out loud so hard I started crying and in the process scared my two boys. I read the book in 48 hours. This one was one of the best in the series. I’ve read all of the books in the series and the last few books in the series have been disappointing. I don’t know why I keep buying them- something to do with hope and redemption I guess.
Stephanie Plum is a half Hungarian, half Italian girl from the ‘Burg in Trenton, NJ. She works as a bounty hunter for her cousin Vinnie Plum. She stinks as a bounty hunter. Things always go awry: cars get blown up and her apartment tends to get firebombed. She’s assisted by Lula, an ex hooker who’s 300lbs and likes to wear loud, petite size clothing. Say no more. There’s Grandma Mazur who carries a gun in her purse and whose favorite hobby is going to funerals. There are also two men in Stephanie’s life: Trenton cop, Joe Morelli and the mysterious Ranger.
Finger Lickin’ Fifteen opens with Lula inadvertently witnessing the decapitation of a celebrity chef. What ensues is Lula’s OTT idea to enter a barbecue cook off to catch the killers- when they’re not trying to kill her- which they attempt quite often in the book. At one point, Lula, hanging out the car window shooting at them- and her aim is terrible- ends up getting stuck in the window- that scene alone is hilarious.
If you’re in need of pick-me-upper or a great laugh, pick this book up- it’s absolutely hilarious.

So Many Books....

Once I start a book, I have to finish it, even if I absolutely hate it.
This just happened recently where I looked down and realized that I was only on page 100 and still had to get through about 350 more pages. It was like walking in heavy sand on a summer’s day with the sun beating down on your back and dragging extra weight to boot-you get the picture. The book, which will remain anonymous to protect the innocent, just didn’t do it for me. One of the main characters was totally unsympathetic. From any angle, I just couldn’t warm up to him and he was also the main love interest. On any level he didn’t do it for me.
But enough about that.
It’s my optimistic spirit *tonguedeftlyincheek* that keeps me turning the page on a truly horrific, badly written, put-downable book. It’s called redemption and I’m looking for it somewhere by the last page. There just has to be some redeeming quality by the end that justifies the time I spent reading it (time is precious), the money spent (recession, anyone?) and the emotional involvement. Sometimes, there is none of these.
And there has been redemption in the past.
Trinity by Leon Uris comes to mind. I picked that book up three separate times before I finally finished and loved it. Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen- initially I struggled with it, but soon fell in love with it and everything else written by Jane Austen. Jane Austen books are in that rare category of books that I will read over and over as I never tire of them. I can not tell you how many times I checked The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova out of the library before finally being sucked into it and the only disappointment was that it had ended. And the list goes on and on.
And yet *sigh* there are the clunkers out there that make me want to cry.
A friend of mine recently gave me this advice with my obsession about finishing crappy books: life’s too short, put it down and read something else.

Tomas O'Crohan's The Islandman

Tomas O’Crohan’s book, The Islandman, was first written in Irish in 1926 and translated into English 3 years later. It tells of life on the Blasket islands off the coast of Kerry. An Irish only speaking population, the last of the islanders were evacuated to the mainland in 1953.O’Crohan himself lived from 1856-1937 and he gives a detailed, vivid portrait of life on the island during the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. Despite the fact that it was written so long ago, it is a book that is easy to read.
As I sidebar, I must admit to a love of all things of the Dingle Peninsula and its off shore islands. And therefore, I read anything I can, past or present, regarding the surrounding area. I’ve read Peig Sayers voluntarily and I’m a huge fan of the Antarctic explorer, Tom Crean from Anascaul.
That being said, I found O’Crohan’s book to be much more entertaining than that of Peig Sayers.
The insight into the way of life on the island- which is no more- is priceless. There were no shops on the island and the most startling revelation of all was the fact that all the animals (cow, asses, cats and dogs) were brought into the house at night. His sisters had to climb up onto the roof in the morning to collect the eggs as the hens had roosted in the thatch. Formal education was dodgy at best: he didn’t start school until he was 10 and there was a whole gap year when the teacher returned to the mainland to get married and it took a year to find a replacement. They made a living by fishing and going to the market in Dingle. They also benefited from shipwrecks when cargo washed ashore. It was interesting to read how they salvaged the wheat cargo from the sea by boiling the salt out of it and then drying it in front of the fire. When a cargo a tea landed ashore, they had no idea what it was so they fed it to the pigs and one woman used it to dye her petticoats- at that point tea had not been introduced to the island. The sea by its very nature was unforgiving.
At 22 he married- a marriage arranged by his sister. Together they had 10 children and there was a lot of sorrow: 2 died from measles, 1 fell off a cliff, and another drowned trying to save someone else. All of this appears to have accelerated the path to the grave for his wife but Tomas soldiered on.
At the end, he writes: “I have written minutely of much that we did, for it was my wish that somewhere there should be a memorial of it all, and I have done my best to set down the character of the people about me so that some record of us might live after us, for the like of us will never be again.”
These people are no more and there is an element of sadness for that which is gone.

Queen of the Simile: Ciara Geraghty

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Ciara Geraghty. The last post I wrote on her, I reviewed her second book, Becoming Scarlett and publicly declared that Geraghty was the indisputable Queen of Chick Lit.

There are a handful of writers that I wait with bated breath for their new releases: Janet Evanovich, Elizabeth George and Ciara Geraghty.

Geraghty's third book came, Finding Mr. Flood, came out in January and I was down at my local bookstore before they even loaded it onto the shelves.

Finding Mr. Flood follows the story of a one Dara Flood. A petite brunette, Dara works at the local animal shelter and lives with her mother and her older sister, Angel, who is in dire need of a kidney transplant. Dara lives without expectation; it's simpler that way. That way she can't be disappointed. Days before she was born, her father, Mr. Flood walked out on the family never to be seen again. They say parental abandonment is the one thing a child can not recover from. Well it has certainly shaped the Flood women's resulting lives. Enter into the mix Stanley Flinter a very short man (luckily no short man complex) who is a private detective that Dara enlists in the effort to find Mr. Flood to see if he is a match to donate a kidney for Angel.

As the novel unfolds, Dara begins to test the waters with her toe and steps out of her comfort zone. Dara is not a larger than life character like Grace was in Amazing Grace, but she is straightforward and guileless and a casualty of life in a way that makes you want to reach out and right it.

For those critics of chick lit who dismiss it as shallow and about shopping for shoes, I'd suggest that they pick up a Geraghty book and have a rethink.

One last thing. It's about Geraghty's writing style and her use of similes.

I first fell in love with similes about twenty-five years ago when I read Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and in it he described -a corpse, I think- 'as pallid as a funeral lily.' I have never forgotten that.

Geraghty's books are littered with similes and nobody does it better. They are rich in description and I can't help but drink them up.

For example:

'A possibility- as remote as the Galapogos islands.'

'A cloud closed around her like a curtain.'

'Clouseau....ran the length of Dollymount Strand, straining at his lead and pulling Stanley along behind him, like a kite.'

Regarding some one's nose: 'It rose from his face like a bus coming over a hill.' Brilliant.

''Well,' he said, smiling a smile that revealed teeth like gravestones: long and grey and listing in different directions.'

Luckily for us fans, Geraghty just signed a two book deal with her publisher, Hodder & Stoughton for six figures. Well deserved, I might add.

Becoming Scarlett by Ciara Geraghty

Most people (here in Ireland) feel that Marian Keyes is the Queen of Chick Lit. To them it is an undisputable fact. But I have to disagree and put in my own two cents and say that Ciara Geraghty is the Queen of Chick Lit. Her first book, Saving Grace, was so damn good that I wanted to give up my own writing (what was the point?) and take to my bed. For the rest of my life. Equal parts poignant and equal parts outrageously funny (my stomach hurt from laughing so much).

Becoming Scarlett is in the same vein- both poignant and funny. The story centers around Scarlett O'Hara, a wedding planner and an all around planner for everything else in her life: she even coordinates her wardrobe by color and season. Anal retentive is the word that comes to mind. But things are soon thrown into turmoil when her equally anal retentive boyfriend, John, ups and leaves her to join an archaelogical dig in South America. Hurt and angry, and very drunk one night, she has a one night stand with a barman named Red Butler. Soon she discovers she's pregnant and she's unsure of who the father is.

To further complicate things, Scarlett soon discovers that Red Butler is the fiancee of a one Sofia Marzoni, who is looking for a big, fairytale 'pink' wedding, of which Scarlett is trying to plan. Head meet desk.

We happily follow along for the pregnancy as Scarlett tries to wrestle with coming to some decision about her life and who is best suited to be the baby's father. The stable, ultra dependable John or the infectious, happy Red, who is as opposite of Scarlett as day is to night. He doesn't even own a watch, or apparently a brush, but he is a breath of fresh air.

Add to the mix the outrageous cast of characters- Scarlett's parents, Declan and Maureen, are both actors and outrageous and pure camp in their own right. There's Filly and Elliot, co workers who also are fun to be around. I want an assistant like Filly.

But where Geraghty shines is her ability to weave expertly both humor and gravity. In Saving Grace, it was about grief. Here, Scarlett's baby comes early, at 28 weeks (and not according to plan) and being familiar with this personally, having had a son at 24 weeks, I was anxious as to how it would be handled. But Geraghty nailed it. After she delivers and the baby is immediately taken away from her, she writes: "Hands reach for her but they are not my hands. I feel like I am standing with my face pressed up against the window of my life. There is nothing I can do but watch." That is exactly how it feels. And the waiting. She mentions how all she can do is wait. And that is what you do when your baby is born early and spends a lot of time in the neonatal unit. You sit and wait. And try not to go crazy with worry.

It's lovely to watch Scarlett evolve and 'become' Scarlett.

Then Geraghty comes in with the sucker punch which leaves you dazzled. You're expecting the book to end one way- the inevitable way and in some ways it does, but she goes off in another direction, veering away from plan and gives you the best ending.

All hail, Queen of Chick Lit, Ciara Geraghty.

Bloom by Elizabeth Scott

Ahem- sorry for not being around, I stepped away from my desk for a minute. 'Nuff said.

Bloom by Elizabeth Scott is a young adult, coming of age novel centering on seventeen year old Lauren Smith. Despite being abandoned by her mom as a young girl and raised by an absentee father, she has managed to maintain good grades, make great friends and has nailed the 'perfect' boyfriend, Dave, thus making her the envy of every girl in her high school.

But then Lauren runs into Evan, a dark, quite kid, who is quite literally from her 'past.' Evan had briefly lived with Lauren when they were younger and when his mom had been romantically involved with Lauren's dad.

Inexplicably, she finds herself drawn to Evan and begins to question everything in her life from her choices of friends to her relationship with Dave and even her own future. Her boyfriend is perfect and she feels she should be happy but there's something lacking. He's kind and courteous and includes Lauren on all his family outings which mainly deal with going to church and sitting in the woods with his parents and talking about his feelings.

Then there's Evan- working under the table and at night and living with his single mother in an apartment.

I loved the characters, and Lauren is so well written with her confusion, awkwardness and that feeling of not fitting in. She has some marvelous, wry insights.

I loved this little book so much that I devoured it. Scott explores the very fine line of doing what's expected of us and choosing to do what makes us happy.

A great read.

Writing, Interrupted

Last week, I did not meet my weekly target of 5k words. I wrote only a paltry 600 words and I struggled with that, but managed to limp over the 50k mark.

It wasn't lack of interest or lack of ideas; it was because life interrupted- and in an important way. The little, old lady that I'd been blessed to take care of for the past two and a half years was dying and at the great age of 96. And suddenly, my three days a week turned into everyday and two overnights. I readily volunteered to be there, even though this lady was no relation of mine. Three months after I moved to Ireland in 2006, my own grandmother died in my sister's home and I was unable to get home to be at the bedside or the funeral. That has bothered me ever since. In a way, this was a chance for me to make amends as well as be there for my friend who had always been kind to me at a time when I needed kindness in my life. Dying is a funny, unpredictable business. It conveniences no one and although end of life symptoms tend to be universal, what may take one person twenty fours hours to transition will take another person ten days. And for those at the bedside, dying is a watch and wait type of thing. Keeping your patient comfortable is the most important thing as well as supporting them and reassuring them that they are not alone and that it is ok to leave. It's also an exhausting and draining experience- just ask anyone who has taken care of a dying loved one at home.

But there is a sense of satisfaction in helping someone transition out of this earthly plane to whatever waits on the other side.

In this particular home last week, there was a sense of calm and serenity. At times, it was almost meditative. In an extraordinary moment, as she embraced her daughter, I saw how she looked at her with a love that was bursting, unconditional and pure. It was beautiful to see.

By the end of the week, she died a peaceful death with her family by her side.

And despite being away from my book for a week, I am happy for that rich experience of having the chance to say goodbye to My Darling ( the name we called each other).

Yippeeeee!

My first published article comes out in Writers' Forum on Thursday. On the cover is my fab writer friend, Keris Stainton, who graciously agreed to be interviewed for the article on self promotion for the debut author. Keris recently published Della Says: OMG!

It's taken me 30+ years to get something published and along the way I've certainly been distracted. My journey to publication has been an overland route. The fact that it's taken so long doesn't bother me as I've made peace with the fact that I'm a late bloomer -with everything.

A girl never forgets her first time, and I certainly won't forget this. On the way to work today, I heard the song, Walking on Sunshine, and yes, that's exactly how I felt.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

It was a roundabout way that I came to read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I had followed its meteoric rise in the charts and watched it and its sequels, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest and The Girl Who Played With Fire get planted on just about every bestseller list on the planet. But I tend to hang back and watch and wait with these type of books if only to let the furor die down. I did that with both the Harry Potter and Twilight series, probably being one of the last people on earth to read those ones as well.

Actually it was the back story that intrigued me and hooked me into buying this book and reading it.

The author, Stieg Larsson, was a Swedish journalist who wrote all three books under the umbrella of the Millennium Trilogy. According to rumor, he wrote these books for the sheer pleasure it gave him and did not show it to a publisher until all three were completed. In 2004, he died of a heart attack at the age of 50 and didn't live long enough to see his work published. He died intestate, so all the earnings go to his father and brother and not his long time partner.

'Nuff said.

Now onto our story.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is literary crime fiction at its best, in the same vein as Elizabeth George and PD James.

This gripping page turner centers around two people. First there's Mikhael Blomkvist, a journalist who, when the story opens, is convicted of libel against a businessman involved in a supposed arms deal. While waiting to serve his prison sentence of a few months, he agrees- very reluctantly to delve into the mystery of Harriet Vanger- who disappeared decades earlier- at the request of her uncle, a wealthy businessman, Henrik Vanger.

Mikhael doesn't hold out much hope and it takes him the better part of a year to sort through the muck of the mystery.

Helping him is the mysterious Lisbeth Salander, kind of an adult Pippi Longstocking with tattoos. Lisbeth is an expert computer hacker and works freelance for a security company. Her own background and persona are mired in their own mysteries. She's one of the most complex characters you'll ever meet. No description that I could give could do her justice. You have to read about her and discover her for yourself.

It's set on Hedestat island where the winters are cold and bleak. I loved the feel of the book- it had a crime noir feel the same way that a Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler novel might have.

I only had two small nitpicks with it.

First, Lisbeth being a computer hacker involved some passages that covered a lot of technical jargon which at times caused my eyes to glaze over.

Second, Mikhael an unassuming middle aged man seems to bed every woman he meets and I found that a little annoying. Considering the amount of female characters in the book, his success rate was practically 100%.

But those are small things. And truth be told, I couldn't put the book down and I can't wait to read the two sequels.

4/5