Thursday extracts. A vivid picture from Kate Mosse.

The sun climbed ever higher in the sky. The churchmen suffered the most in their black worsted habits. Rivulets of sweat were dripping down the Bishop's forehead and Jehan Congost's spongy face had turned an unpleasant blotchy red, the colour of foxgloves.

*****************
Labyrinth
Kate Mosse
2005
Orion Press

Reading off the rails - updated

You might remember at the start of the year I set myself a reading challenge. I only had to get through 24 books in a year, which isn't too much of a problem for me, except I was derailed by the sad death of Terry Pratchett. He was, of course, no stranger to Death. The skeleton everyone loves to read about is a regular character in (almost) every Pratchett book ever published. HE TALKS IN CAPITALS. You can't miss him. And I've been spending time with him since I heard the news of Pratchett's passing. Not as much as Pratchett has, of course, but enough. I read Mort first, the story of how Death takes on an apprentice. I followed that with Johnny and the Dead, the tale of Johnny Maxwell, an ordinary boy who has extraordinary experiences. In this case he finds he can see dead people who 'live' in a cemetery that's about to be demolished to make way for a new development.

I'll get back on track with the challenge soon, but I'm not promising I'll fulfill all the requirements. But then, who cares if I don't? 

Update:   There is a section in the reading challenge that says: "A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realise that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over) "
So I'm claiming Terry Pratchett as my guilty pleasure. I've loved his books since I first found him and I tend to go back to him when I can't think what else to read.  So I've done another one!

A YA novel

Hate List
Jennifer Brown
2009

Back onto the Reading Challenge..............

I wasn't exactly looking forward to the YA novel because, well, I'm not a YA! However, I managed to get hold of a copy of Hate List by Jennifer Brown and I have to admit I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm not really sure why it's classed as YA, other than the fact that it's set in an American high school and the narrator is a teenager who attends it.

Valerie Leftman is not exactly at the centre of school life. In fact she's a bit of an outsider. She and her boyfriend Nick draw up a hate list of all the people who annoy them and Valerie keeps a notebook of what they did and why they deserve to be on the list. She thinks it's a bit of a joke. He brings a shotgun to school one day and starts killing everyone whose name is in the book, before turning the gun on himself. In the chaos Valerie throws herself in front of one of the intended victims and is badly wounded in the leg. Hate List covers the aftermath of the event and how Valerie comes to terms with her part in the massacre, after she wakes up in hospital recovering from her injuries.

For a YA novel it deals with some pretty adult questions: guilt, blame, social isolation, mental health, family relationships, broken marriage, recovery and even forgiveness. At no point does the novel talk down to the reader. In fact, if it hadn't told me it was a YA novel I really wouldn't have realised.

I expected the language to be simplistic, possibly even steeped in slang and repetitive, like, yeah? But this was no Fifty Shades of Grey. It was well written, a damn good story, and full of sympathetic characters even an old bird like me could relate to.

This has been a very pleasant effect of taking part in a book challenge. I read something I otherwise wouldn't have dreamed of picking up, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A book that takes place in Asia

 It's been a while since I updated you on the Reading Challenge

The Way of the Traitor
Laura Joh Rowland
1998

It's the tale of Sano Ichiro, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People, who is sent to Nagasaki, in theory as an ambassador. But he has been undermined by one of his enemies in the shogun's court and treachery is everywhere. When a Dutch trader's body washes ashore Sano is given the task of investigating the death. The Netherlands and Japan have a valuable trading association but the relationship is strained, and the wrong finding could destroy the fragile peace. Not only could a mistake plunge his country into war, but Sano's own safety is threatened by the very people he is working with.

It's a cracking tale that gives interesting insights into 17th century Japanese politics while offering a tense whodunnit alongside. I worried that the history would drown out the thriller, but I was wrong. There was a delicate balance between education and entertainment and I'd be happy to read more of the series.

And how's the reading challenge going?

See here for an explanation.

I finished the Jeffery Deaver. Pretty typical stuff. The Skin Collector references his arguably most successful title The Bone Collector.

Ironside: Subliminal racism? 

(It was made into a film starring Denzel Washington after all. Nothing intentionally racist - but I never imagined Lincoln Rhyme as black. I could see Thom, his assistant, as black though. I suspect I saw too many episodes of Ironside when I was a kid.  And while we're on the topic of casting book characters for movies.... Angelina Jolie?  Really?")

I digress.

If you've read many Deaver you'll know the formula and you'll be able to work out whodunnit. Or at least it won't come as a big surprise because there's always a twist in the tale isn't there? And this one was a bit predictable really. I guess the real fun in the series is JD's creative ways of killing people, rather than the Holmesian ways he solves the crimes.

(Rhyme is very arrogant in the same way Sherlock was, and I'm not sure which I find most irritating: the gloating, or the conviction that no-one else could do it.)

Anyway, using a tattoo machine to inject poison is a novel way to kill someone and the murder is beautifully described in Deaver's unique and detailed style. A very good start that draws you in, particularly if you are inked yourself.

Currently on  a YA novel that I'll tell you more about another time. I'm still not sure why it's defined as 'YA' (Young Adult fiction) other than it's about a shooting at a US high school and written from the perspective of one of those involved. Of course I'm not a 'YA' and I suspect the author isn't either, so I have no idea how authentic it is, but it's not a bad read so far.

Watch this space. 

Maltese, perhaps? Said X marks the spot. (9) *

Like tea, we say, is a daily treat.
In boxes, although not on shelves.
It's completely clear in black and white.
Optimistic writers use a pen.
Do you need a clue? It's cryptic.
I am left blank.  Too down.


*Crossword

Reading challenges

It looks from blog browsing as if reading challenges are in this year. I probably should have started back in January, but I've picked a relatively easy one that will require only an average of a book a fortnight.  (just web search for reading challenges to find your own) And since I've already done a couple of the challenges by dint of my ordinary reading I guess I'm not too far behind.

The challenges are:

A book written by someone when they were under the age of 25
A book written by someone when they were over the age of 65
A collection of short stories (either by one person or an anthology by many people) *
A book published by an indie press
A book by or about someone that identifies as LGBTQ
A book by a person whose gender is different from your own **
A book that takes place in Asia
A book by an author from Africa
A book that is by or about someone from an indigenous culture (Native Americans, Aboriginals, etc.)
A microhistory
A YA novel
A sci-fi novel
A romance novel
A National Book Award, Man Booker Prize or Pulitzer Prize winner from the last decade
A book that is a retelling of a classic story (fairytale, Shakespearian play, classic novel, etc.)
An audiobook ***
A collection of poetry
A book that someone else has recommended to you
A book that was originally published in another language
A graphic novel, a graphic memoir or a collection of comics of any kind
A book that you would consider a guilty pleasure (Read, and then realize that good entertainment is nothing to feel guilty over)
A book published before 1850
A book published this year
A self-improvement book (can be traditionally or non-traditionally considered “self-improvement”)

*  I got the Ian Rankin Rebus anthology for Christmas and I'm well through it already,
** I'm about to start The Skin Collector by Jeffery Deaver
*** I also got the audio book of Tuesdays with Morrie and I've been listening to it in the car on my way to work.

I'll keep you updated.