#48. The Word "Secret" In The Title – Open Secret by Stella Rimington (Paperback)

In theory this should have been an easy category for me to find a book to read, but it wasn’t (well at least in terms of the books I hadn’t read on my bookshelves.) The Secret Keeper…read. Celia’s Secret…read. The Secret Garden…read. The Children’s Secret…read. Twelve Secrets…read. Surely to God there must be a book in this house with the word secret in it that I haven’t read yet! And there it was…a book signed by Stella Rimington herself which belonged to my partner. He has never read it, but I think he should. He’d enjoy it. 

“Stella Rimington worked for MI5 between 1969 and 1996, one of the most turbulent and dramatic periods in global history. Working in all the main fields of the Service's responsibilities - counter-subversion, counter-espionage and counter-terrorism - she became successively Director of all three branches, and finally Director-General of MI5 in 1992.

She was the first woman to hold the post and the first Director-General whose name was publicly announced on appointment. In Open Secret, she continues her work of opening up elements of the work of our security services to public scrutiny, revealing the surprising culture of MI5 and shedding light on some of the most fascinating events in 20th century history from the ultimate insider viewpoint.”

I suspect that this could be a ‘marmite’ type of book, which is a bit of a mean thing to say when it is a book about someone’s life. I really enjoyed it. It tells the remarkable story of how a woman managed to climb to the top ranks of the British Secret Service; however, it has been written in a style that is not the most engaging. By this, I mean the sentences are often long and rambling and need rereading several times to understand what point Stella is trying to convey to the reader. A lot of autobiographies are about celebrities; therefore you can ‘hear’ the voice of the writer in your head as you read. This can often help with understanding what point is being made and in what context the writer is mentioning it, as you would instinctively know what inflections they would make. 

As I have never met, or indeed heard much about Stella before, I found it took a while to gel with her informative, but matter of fact telling of her life story. And what a life she has led! Stella Rimington has quite a dry sense of humour, she’s also a bit sarcastic, so I found her character rather endearing! I imagine a lifetime spent exasperated by ‘the men in suits,’ who think women can’t accomplish anything other than raise children and keep the canapés and light-hearted conversation flowing at corporate events, would make you somewhat sardonic.

#47. Self Insert By An Author – Close To Death by Anthony Horowitz (Audible)

I originally stumbled across this series on Audible, and whilst I really enjoyed listening to the first book, I wasn’t sure if it was the story or Rory Kinnear’s narration that got me hooked. I really enjoy listening to Kinnear bring the two main characters, Daniel Hawthorne & ‘Tony’ Horovitz to life, and as long as he remains the narrator, I will continue to listen to the books on Audible. As I finish each book, I know I will be waiting with anticipation for the next instalment. This is the fifth book in the Hawthorne & Horovitz series, and it didn’t disappoint.

 

“Riverside Close is a picture-perfect community. The six exclusive and attractive houses are tucked far away from the noise and grime of city life, allowing the residents to enjoy beautiful gardens, pleasant birdsong and tranquility from behind the security of a locked gate.

It is the perfect idyll until the Kentworthy family arrives, with their four giant, gas-guzzling cars, a gaggle of shrieking children and plans for a garish swimming pool in the backyard. Obvious outsiders, the Kentworthys do not belong in Riverside Close, and they quickly offend every last one of their neighbours.

When Giles Kentworthy is found dead on his own doorstep, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest, Detective Hawthorne is the only investigator that can be called on to solve the case.

Because how do you solve a murder when everyone is a suspect?”                                                                                       

 

As the series title “Hawthorne & Horowitz” suggests, these books follow the life of the best-selling author of murder mystery fiction Anthony Horowitz. Of course, this is a fictionalised version of himself and in this fifth novel “Close To Death,” he has been told by his literary agent that he needs to have his latest “Hawthorne” novel finished ready for the Christmas market. This puts Horowitz in a dilemma, as there haven’t been any new murders to write about recently, and he hasn’t spoken to Hawthorne for several months.

Horowitz decides he will look at former Detective Inspector Daniel Hawthorne’s cold cases, and finds one in particular strikes a chord with him.  He thinks this case will be a great basis for his new book, and he might be able to uncover a few things about Hawthorne’s private life whilst he’s at it.

#46. Featuring Indigenous Culture – Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius (Audible)

I originally planned to use “There There” by Tommy Orange as my book for the ‘indigenous culture’ prompt, but the ending was so abrupt, I had to use it for #33. Instead I came across this book “Stolen” which has now been made into a film for Netflix, as always, I wanted to read the book before watching the film…and I’m glad I did – the book was much better than the film!

“On a winter day north of the Arctic Circle, nine-year-old Elsa—daughter of Sámi reindeer herders—sees a man brutally kill her beloved reindeer calf and threaten her into silence. When her father takes her to report the crime, local police tell them that there is nothing they can do about these “stolen” animals. Killings like these are classified as theft in the reports that continue to pile up, uninvestigated. But reindeer are not just the Sámi’s livelihood, they also hold spiritual significance; attacking a reindeer is an attack on the culture itself.

Ten years later, hatred and threats against the Sámi keep escalating, and more reindeer are tortured and killed in Elsa’s community. Finally, she’s had enough and decides to push back on the apathetic police force. The hunter comes after her this time, leading to a catastrophic final confrontation.

Based on real events, Ann-Helén Laestadius’s award-winning novel Stolen is part coming-of-age story, part love song to a disappearing natural world, and part electrifying countdown to a dramatic resolution—a searing depiction of a forgotten part of Sweden.”

Despite the content of this book, I found myself enjoying this novel. It was the perfect book to read in the winter months, especially as not much snow falls in December where I live! It was nice to travel from the comfort of my home to the freezing north of Sweden and to the lives of the Sámi and to learn about the lives of a population we hear very little about.

This is not your typical coming of age story. The book evolves around nine-year-old Elsa, who, during the Artic Winter, skis cross-country to the family reindeer corral to see her beloved reindeer Nastegallu. As she arrives, she witnesses the brutal killing of her reindeer calf by a local hunter, Robert. Interrupted by Elsa’s appearance, he leaves behind the body of her reindeer and sets off home on his snowmobile, but not before he threatens to kill Elsa if she ever tells anybody that he slaughtered her reindeer.

The terrified Elsa notices he has dropped Nastegallu’s ear which he has removed so that no-one would know the identity of the reindeer, and she pockets the ear in remembrance of the animal she loved and has now lost. Elsa’s brother thinks he knows it was Robert who killed the reindeer, but he can’t prove it, and he is angry that Elsa will not tell him what she saw when she visited the corral. The family knows their reindeer are being killed by a local poacher who sells the meat illegally, but they also know the police do not take their reports seriously, and this is shown when Elsa is taken to the police station to report the killing of Nastegallu. She is too terrified to tell the truth, and so the poaching is treated as theft and the matter is closed.

#45. Chapter Headings Have Dates – Why Mummy Doesn’t Give A F@**! by Gill Sims (Audible)

There are times when you really need some light relief. I remember seeing the first book in this series ‘Why Mummy Drinks’ and laughing out loud in the bookshop as I flicked through a few of the pages. I felt like I had to buy it for my friend who had two young children at the time and seemed permanently exasperated. I know where I am as a cat “servant”…bottom of the chain and only there to supply food, shelter and a clean litter tray. Other than that I’m pretty much redundant. Actually, it does sound a tiny bit like having children really…only you do expect a certain lack of interest from a cat before it enters your life. 

At some point I thought I’d buy the audio version of that book for myself (I think it may have been a 2-4-1 deal!) I was getting strange looks from passers by as I shrieked with laughter walking through the local woods as I listened to it. 

‘Why Mummy Doesn’t Give A F@**!!’ is the third book in the series, and it is just as funny as the previous books. #45 of this challenge was a perfect excuse to buy book number three and as I love the way Gabrielle Glaister narrates these books, I’ve continued to buy the Audible versions.

 

“Family begins with a capital eff.

 

I’m wondering how many more f*cking ‘phases’ I have to endure before my children become civilised and functioning members of society? It seems like people have been telling me ‘it’s just a phase!’ for the last fifteen bloody years. Not sleeping through the night is ‘just a phase.’ Potty training and the associated accidents ‘is just a phase’. The tantrums of the terrible twos are ‘just a phase’. The picky eating, the back chat, the obsessions. The toddler refusals to nap, the teenage inability to leave their beds before 1pm without a rocket being put up their arse. The endless singing of Frozen songs, the dabbing, the weeks where apparently making them wear pants was akin to child torture. All ‘just phases!’ When do the ‘phases’ end though? WHEN?

Mummy dreams of a quirky rural cottage with roses around the door and chatty chickens in the garden. Life, as ever, is not going quite as she planned. Paxo, Oxo and Bisto turn out to be highly rambunctious, rather than merely chatty, and the roses have jaggy thorns. Her precious moppets are now giant teenagers, and instead of wittering at her about who would win in a fight – a dragon badger or a ninja horse – they are Snapchatting the night away, stropping around the tiny cottage and communicating mainly in grunts – except when they are demanding Ellen provides taxi services in the small hours. And there is never, but never, any milk in the house. At least the one thing they can all agree on is that rescued Barry the Wolfdog may indeed be The Ugliest Dog in the World, but he is also the loveliest.”

Gill Sims created a blog in 2016 chronicling the lives of two children, Peter and Jane, and offering quirky, comical responses to the various issues parents faced with their own little darlings. The blog quickly went viral and so the first “Mummy” book was published. It won the Sunday Times Fiction Bestseller of 2017, and the rest, as they say is history.

The ‘mummy’ of the books is Ellen Russell who has two children, Jane and Peter. You could say that her husband Simon passes for the third child, as he invariably causes additional disarray to her already chaotic life.

Month by month, we follow Ellen and her brood through the year, and just like the two earlier books, Ellen’s hopes and dreams for a perfect year are blown apart by her loved ones. This book is a hysterical mix of funny incidents and poignant moments of reflection as we hope Ellen will not crumble under all the pressure that surrounds her. A word of warning if you’re easily offended, as the title suggests, mummy is prone to a lot of swearing, or certainly alluding to it. FML! We’ve all been there Ellen, we’ve all been there!

#44. Includes A Wedding – Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (Paperback)

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...even if you’ve never read Rebecca, it is likely you will have heard that opening line before, whether it be in a pub quiz, or when watching TV. It seemed only right that I finally read the book and found out what secrets lie hidden behind the walls of that mysterious mansion! 

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...

Working as a lady's companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Her future looks bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Max de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper, Mrs Danvers...

Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young girl consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity.”

There is something so immediately captivating in Du Maurier’s prose. It is charmingly descriptive. From the initial, iconic, opening line, it is easy to imagine the haunting building of Manderley, a property that was once glorious, but now withered away, almost forgotten, but still clinging on in the narrator’s dreams. This dejected building, once the scene of opulent parties, but now with dark secrets hidden behind its crumbling walls, forms a major character in Du Maurier’s novel Rebecca. 

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me…

No smoke came from the chimney, and the little lattice windows gaped forlorn…

…it was only when I bent my head to avoid the low swinging branch of a tree that I realised what had happened. Nature had come into her own again and, little by little, in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive with long, tenacious fingers. The woods, always a menace even in the past, had triumphed…”

When I read these opening lines they gave me goosebumps, I was immediately  transported to a place that raised many questions; and thus the inquisitive mind wanted to read more. Even though I hadn’t left my sofa, I felt like I was out walking and had stumbled across a dilapidated building that wanted to let me in on its secrets. Immediately there is this sense of wonder. Why has the place been left for nature to take over? Why does the narrator dream of this place? What happened here? Transfixed by these images I read on, to find myself in a sunny Monte Carlo where the atmosphere couldn’t be more different!

#43. About Finding Identity – Novelist as a Vocation by Haruki Murakami (Paperback)

I first tried to read a passage from Murakami’s novel ‘Norwegian Wood’ in the mid 1990’s. I say tried, it was written in Japanese (his books were yet to be translated into English) and formed part of my attempt to master the language when I was at university. I had largely forgotten about his work until the British actor Tom Burke mentioned his favourite book was Murakami’s ‘The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.’ 

I started trawling the internet and realised that I could now buy an English translation of ‘Norwegian Wood,’ which I could actually read, rather than listening to odd passages painfully translated by myself and fellow students. Whilst it might not be considered “classic Murakami,” I really enjoyed it and moved straight on to some of his other works. When I noticed this book in a local store, I was interested to see how Murakami was able to take the literary world by storm via this personal collection of essays written by the man himself.

 

“In this engaging book, Haruki Murakami shares his experience as an internationally bestselling author; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists and musicians.

 

Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.”

This is an interesting collection of eleven essays written by Haruki Murakami which offer reflections about his life and how he became a writer. Unlike a traditional autobiography, these short essays allow Murakami to drift from memory to memory to give a deeply personal view of his life. The book is filled with pages of thought and reflection on his past memories and give an insight into his writing style, him as a person, and his personal creative process which has given us some of the most unique novels that I have read.

I find Murakami’s work fascinating; it allows the reader to go down the rabbit hole (or in his world it’s down a well) with him and think deeply about the strange events and experiences which he writes about.

#42. Author Debut In Second Half Of 2024 – Ghost Chilli by Nikkitha Bakshani (Paperback)

I never like reading a book and feeling that I’m going to be telling the world that I didn’t like it; especially when it is the author’s debut novel and you know the amount of time and effort it will have taken for them to write the story.

I received an uncorrected proof of Ghost Chilli to read and my initial excitement turned to dismay as I struggled through the first few chapters. I logged onto NetGalley to read the handful of people’s opinions that had been submitted and they weren’t positive.

I did persevere though and about 100 pages in I had a lightbulb moment, I started to see the novel through fresh eyes. I found I couldn’t put the book down because I had begun to hope that things would get better for the protagonist. So, what is Ghost Chilli about, and why did my aversion at the beginning suddenly change?

“Muskan has a great life: a creative job in the big city, supportive friends, and no trouble finding first dates. So what if her colleagues don't know she exists, or her friends won't stop lecturing her about the three-year 'situationship' she's in? It's not like she's starving.

But something is wrong, and while the people around her seem to have all the right words, nobody can articulate what they want from each other. As obstacles mount and the easy-going persona Muskan has built starts to crumble, she is forced to face a question that's been quietly burning at the back of her mind: Why did her family move to America so abruptly?”

When the book fell through my letterbox, I was instantly intrigued about the storyline; so many unanswered questions fluttered around my head. Once I started the book, I found myself reading and re-reading lines, trying to concentrate on who was saying what, because I couldn’t find a natural rhythm or flow in the dialogue. I actually started wondering if the fault lay with me because I wasn’t Indian-American, but then I thought, I can get into the heads of characters who are men, who are young or old, who are from other parts of the world, so I should be able to get into the head of Muskan and her friends and understand the conversations…but I couldn’t. The problems that Muskan faces are problems we’ve all faced from time to time, they’re universal, so why did I find it so hard to read each page? I came to the conclusion that I found the writing “clunky” and that the conversations were too stilted between friends, not at all life-like and that was why I felt a bit of an outsider.

I also realised that I didn’t like the protagonist, I wanted to slap her, give her a shake, to tell her to stop crying, or to stop being such a bitch, and suddenly at that moment I realised that Nikkitha Bakshani had played a blinder. Muskan is ‘unlucky’ in love because men meet her, don’t like her and dump her. Friends get tired of her attitude, they find her draining, which is how I felt when reading about her. That for me was when I had a change of heart and I wanted to understand why Muskan was so unlikable, why she, like me, felt like an outsider amongst all of these characters.

Muskan’s situation reminds me a little of Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City.) Muskan is a writer living in Brooklyn searching for the right man, and leaning on her closest friends for advice, to vent, or just to have a shoulder to cry on. Muskan feels like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders, but to the outside world she must be having the time of her life. She works on a luxury lifestyle magazine, but in reality, she is just another cog in the corporate wheel. Exploited by her boss and co-workers, the glamour and glitz doesn’t make an appearance in her downtrodden life.

This book follows Muskan’s journey as she tries to understand why her life doesn’t run as smoothly as her friends. They all have boyfriends and successful jobs. They all want to spend time with one another, but, unlike Carrie Bradshaw, they don’t always want to spend time with her.

When her friends encourage Muskan to see a therapist, she starts to confront her childhood fears. The therapist says she probably has complex PTSD, but rather than being shocked or upset, Muskan flippantly agrees. She’s got the app, done the test, it’s not a point worth pursuing. Muskan has an answer for everything, it’s an aggravating trait, but eventually you realise this deflective technique is what helps Muskan to get through the day.

Her friends think that the root of her problems are her issues with her mother. Her self-esteem has been destroyed due to her domineering mother’s attitude; everything Muskan does or says is wrong. She knows her family suddenly moved to America when she was ten but she doesn’t know why they fled. On a trip to visit her dying aunt in India, she realises how much more comfortable and confident she feels there, seeking answers and exploring her family history. There is a dawning comprehension of how unalive she feels in America and that she can’t continue living with the same routines once she returns.

Muskan’s father moved the family from Chennai to New Jersey when she was still a child. Her father was a wealthy businessman and her mother had a successful career until she had children. She had to abandon her home, her job, and her beloved sister, in order to give her children a better life, so what impact had these changes made on her? Was she always lashing out at Muskan because she was full of regret, or anger; did she feel that Muskan wasn’t using the advantages given to her and those sacrifices were therefore wasted? I wanted to know so much more from this mother daughter relationship.

This book is about finding honest relationships in an increasingly dishonest world, where feeling isolated has become the norm. How many people find themselves pretending all is OK because they don’t want to share the burden of their unhappiness with people close to them. Sometimes witty, sometimes poignant, all aspects of modern life are covered in the various relationships housed in this book.

I started to feel some empathy with Muskan – it must be depressing being part of a group of friends and suddenly realising that you’re the odd one out. Finding yourself so unlucky in love that you will waste your time running after a dead-end relationship, because you know that every first date with the “perfect guy” will also be the last. To have such a toxic relationship with your mother who belittles you at every opportunity, sapping every bit of strength and hope from you. It must be exhausting and soul destroying, yet Muskan carries on with her life regardless.

I did enjoy reading Ghost Chilli (eventually) but the book is far from perfect. It felt rushed, especially towards the end. One chapter it’s Christmas Eve, the next it’s suddenly Valentines Day and then it’s the end of the book. Many of the questions at the start remaining unanswered. Relationships were not fully explored and therefore it was hard to engage with the characters or visualise who they really were. I think with a little more editing, this could have been a magical book.

 

Thank you to Fleet (Little, Brown Book Group) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: Modern and Contemporary Fiction

Release Date: 4^th July 2024

Publisher: Fleet (Little, Brown Book Group)

Pages: 288

 

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