First up, my friend Fiona has published her first novel....
It's called The Letters and it is published by Snowbooks, who - for a small publishing company - have done a fantastic job of getting it into every bookshop I go in. It's also a very good book. I hesitate to use those potentially damning words chick lit, but as they seem to typically encompass books that are about relationships/women/family matters, they could apply here - but only in the sense that they could also be applied to Carol Shields or Anita Shreve. It's very smart chick lit, if it's chick lit at all, with an extremely engaging central character, Violet, and a brilliant twist I did not see coming. And it made me cry.
It can be a bit awkward when people you know publish books because you often feel obliged to praise them - but I can quite happily praise this one, because Fiona's a very talented writer and I enjoyed it very much. Go buy it, love it and feel good about yourselves for supporting a small and feisty publisher. It's actually the first of three novels that Fiona will be having published by Snowbooks (how impressive is that!) so if you get started on this one, you can be in at the beginning and that's where we all want to be, right?
What else? Well, I went to the Laugharne Weekend Festival, which was tremendous. Laugharne is one of my very favourite places in the world, so to have three days of stalking authors and drinking lager and general fun based right there in starless and bible black Laugharne was terrific.
Unfortunately, all of my best stories from the weekend are potentially libellous, but what I can say, without fear of legal action, is that Dan Rhodes and DBC Pierre were extremely funny; Patrick McCabe has the best voice for reading ever; that Niall Griffiths is a very nice man with very good stories about lions; that Denis Kehoe and Trevor Byrne are complete sweethearts, and The Green Room does the best burgers in town. And if you do go to The Green Room, have the Scilian white wine. It's a Lascari Grillo 2006, according to the cafe website. Bloody lush, it is.
I think what I liked most about the festival was that, because Laugharne is so small, you kept bumping into people and recognising faces, so by the end of the weekend you felt you knew everyone there. It also meant that you could be at the bar in The Three Mariners and some Booker Prize winning author or popular radio DJ or former member of The Clash would be right next to you. And because it's Laugharne, nobody really paid them undue attention. It's how festivals ought to be, really.
One more thing - after I got DBC Pierre to sign my book, he said goodbye to me by saying: "I'll see you in the streets." This has now become my sign-off line du jour. Also - interesting fact - DBC signs books with his real name, Peter Finlay. At least, I hope that's what it says because it's either that or he's written 'Little Lady'. It's quite hard to make out.
What else? Books I have read and enjoyed this month would include Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters, which was so heart-breakingly good everyone should read it, and Immortality by Milan Kundera, which was quite magical actually. I felt like I became fractionally wiser simply by reading it, and I suspect I have only understood a very tiny percentage of it. That's not to say it's difficult or overly complicated. In fact, like most very clever things, it seems extremely simple. It's just beautiful. I don't know how he does it.
A book I read this month that was faintly disappointing would be The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. Aside from the clunky title, this book badly needed an editor. I think Shriver is a absolutely fantastic writer and We Need To Talk About Kevin is a thing of magnificent genius, but the follow-up just didn't work for me (and not only me). It was mainly due to the character of Ramsey and his wayward accent, I think, but also because of the strange interludes where I was told about London as if it was a foreign country - strange factual titbits like how much it costs to use a phone box there and the difficulties of travelling via the Tube. Maybe this is because it was meant for an American audience, I don't know, but there were a few too many times when I thought 'Why are you telling me this?'. I wasn't entirely convinced by the real life snooker players who popped up in the novel either - that was slightly peculiar.
On the plus side, the 'Sliding Doors' concept (the main character Irina's life is told twice: once, as if she stays with her long-term boyfriend, the popcorn loving Lawrence, and then again, as if she left him for the roguish snooker pro Ramsey) was an interesting idea - although, looking back, I'm not really sure what it added to the novel - and I was hooked enough to read it to the end. So not all bad. Worth a go I think.
Actually, another thing that irked me was the cover. It's like they were trying to girly up Lionel Shriver. Lionel! The most un-girly of authors. Compare and contrast:
The Post-Birthday World.
Here we see a mirrored image of a pleasant little lady, musing in the light from a spring garden, caught between catching up on her correspondence and waiting for a gentleman caller. It's wistful, romantic, a bit fey, a bit quivering, a bit Rosamund Pilcher. This cover says: Are you looking for love? Are you? Can any one of us find the man of their dreams? Really and truly? Oh sigh.
We Need To Talk About Kevin.
This cover says: This book will scare the living bejaysus out of you. And you'll like it.
What happened publishers? Why'd you girly up Lionel? I liked the old one better. Bring back Lionel Shriver, that's what I say. No more little ladies. Let's start a campaign.
One more thing: I am sure that at some point I have read a book where the narrative splits, Post-Birthday World style. I think it was about a competitive swimmer and in one story we hear what happens to her after she wins an important race and in the other we hear what happens when she comes second. I remember thinking it was amazing, but I have no idea what that book was, what it was called or who it was by. Anyone?
To finish, a quote from Charlotte Perkins Gilman, just because I like it:
“The first duty of a human being is to assume the right functional relationship to society - more briefly, to find your real job, and do it.”
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