Absent by Katie Williams

‘When you die,’ Lucas Hayes once told me, ‘It’s like every wound your body has ever had-every skinned knee, paper cut, pimple - opens up and says See? I told you so.’ Lucas had held Brooke Lee as she’d jittered and bucked, rolled and foamed, and - yeah - died, so I figured he knew what  he was talking about.

Published by Chronicle Books in May 2013

Pages - 180

Goodreads Summary

When seventeen-year-old Paige dies in a freak fall from the roof during Physics class, her spirit is bound to the grounds of her high school. At least she has company: her fellow ghosts Evan and Brooke, who also died there. But when Paige hears the rumour that her death wasn't an accident--that she supposedly jumped on purpose--she can't bear it. Then Paige discovers something amazing. She can possess living people when they think of her, and she can make them do almost anything. Maybe, just maybe, she can get to the most popular girl in school and stop the rumours once and for all.

*****

The premise for this book had my interest straight away. I am a sucker for a ghost story, especially if there is a bit of body borrowing going on. Right from the start, the story reminded me of A Certain Slant of Light. It had that sadness to it, knowing you can’t change things about your life once you die - sort of a finality about it. As the story progressed it had hints of Dead Rules about it too, especially when Paige has concerns about the way she died. However, the ending of this book definitely made it stand out in it’s own spotlight of uniqueness. I did not see that ending coming. Kudos to the author for originality.

Paige wasn’t my favourite character in this book. I found myself getting  annoyed with her own self importance and need to change everyone’s opinions about her death. However, she did manage to do some good deeds by the end of the book, but  I think the changes that occurred in characters were accidental rather than planned.  My favourite character had to be Evan. So thoughtful and understanding, showing a maturity beyond his spiritual age. I felt his life could have been so different, but I’m glad he felt remembered by the end.

The book is quite a short story but definitely worth reading. There is a natural beauty in the writing that I really loved. The book handles some difficult subjects such as teenage suicide and sexuality acceptance. The innocence and the emotions of each character were at times hard to read but the author edged them with a little humour to ease the pain.The scene with the revealing of the mural had me in tears. It’s significance and meaning was so beautiful and yet raw. I’m putting this author on my radar for all future books published.

The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

Pages - 402
Published by Amulet, an imprint of ABRAMs, in February 2012.

BLOOD.
There is blood everywhere. On his hands, on her hands, on his shirt, on his face, on the tiles, on the small round carpet. The carpet used to be blue; it never will be blue again.
The blood is red. He is kneeling in it. He hadn't realize it was so bright...big, burst droplets, the colour of poppies. They are beautiful, as beautiful as a spring day in a sunny meadow...But the tiles are cold and white as snow, and it is winter. 


Goodreads Summary
Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she? 

**********

Oh this book is full of surprises! And not nice ones at that. This book makes you sit up and think. It rips out your heart strings and ties them in knots. It is just so heartbreaking and poignant, it stays with you long after you finish reading it.

The book began at rather a slow pace, but I really didn't mind that, because it allowed me to get to know Anna and Abel. I felt the characters were so well written, that I could picture them amongst people I know. It is definitely a case of good and bad uniting. Anna is the good girl; she works hard at school, never gets in trouble, still finding it hard to leave the last remnants of childhood alone. Whilst Abel is the bad boy; the drug peddler, who lives under difficult circumstances. Anna can only see the good in him; how he will do anything to keep his sister safe. You cannot help but feel some of Anna's attraction to him, as she paints such a beautiful picture of the Abel she sees at first. 


I loved the story that Abel tells his sister and Anna. Based on the people in his life, he invents a magical, yet dangerous adventure which takes them on a journey very similar to the one they are experiencing in reality. You cannot help but want to protect  Micha too; she is so innocent yet surrounded by evil, which Abel works so hard to protect her from.


The red herrings in this book were remarkably well written. By the time I reached the last fifty pages of this book, I was stunned by the progression of the story. I couldn't believe what I was reading. I wanted to show 'NOOOO!!' and throw the book. It was just such a shocking and unexpected ending. 


This book is a translation and I do think the translator Miriam Debbage needs a little shout out too. On reading this book it didn't feel like a translation at all, I felt that it flowed beautifully. 


This book swept me along in a wave of emotions and left me a little sad at the end, but this book reflects reality and sometimes we don't always get what we want in life. This book shows how the things that don't kill us make us stronger. Anna experiences a rather harsh coming of age, but I felt it definitely made her a stronger person. 

An Interview with Antonia Michaelis

Today as part of the blog tour for The Storyteller, I have an interview with Antonia Michaelis, the author of the book. 

What inspired you to write The Storyteller?
Some people also ask me how long it took me. The answer to that one is: 32 years, for that is how old I am ... the Storyteller contains everything I ever learnt about how cold this world is and how unjust, how much social differences account for and what a lie it is when we say in India they have a caste system and we haven´t.
Where I live the problem of unemployment and poverty is a big one, after Germany reunited in 1990 a lot of people lost their jobs (before that everybody had work even though what they did might not have made much sense) and the region has never been one with much industry to begin with.
I was born in the rich West and grew up in a house that wasn´t exactly full of blue air as Anna´s is in the Storyteller but nice and full of light. When I came to Greifswald to study I lived in the picturesque fisherman´s village of Wieck and cycled to university and to town everyday pass those big ugly concrete tower blocks, left over DDR-architecture-miracles, in which Abel lives. And in which a lot, a lot, a lot of other poor, unemployed people live in tiny flats, a bit like you might keep chicken. You may think just because everybody can study in this country and if you are poor you don’t have to pay for your education that everyone has the same chances in life = they don’t. Humans are cruel and so are the systems. My novel of the Storyteller ends with Anna shouting, on top of her lungs, the core sentence of the book: ‘All humans are equal!’ and Abel asking, much quieter: ‘Do you actually listen to yourself when you talk such nonsense?’

Is the fantasy story that Abel tells alongside the reality narrative based on anything specific?
Well, it´s a mirror of the reality in the story and it actually NOT a fantasy story (I´m not into fantasy, I´m not up to saving the world and writing about battling dwarfs or elves), but a fairy tale.
And, as a fairy tale, it´s based on St Exupery´s Little Prince. Both Abel and Anna refer to that in the beginning. Exupery´s Little Prince visits different planets on his journey, inhabited by different characters. My Little Queen visits different islands instead, and on every island she meets a symbolic character as well, sometimes a group of people. The whole fairy tale is consisting of metaphors.
The German title of the book is not the Storyteller, but, literally translated, the FAIRY TALE TELLER.

How do you think readers will react to sinister side of the novel?
I´m very curious.
But that is a question to the readers, not to me.
In Germany we have 95 percent loving the book and 5 per cent hating it so much they´d like to see it forbidden. Not because of the murders, no one has a problem with murders these days. The keyword is "boathouse" ... that’s all I’m saying.

You have written about various places in your previous novels from India to Nepal - how do you decide where to set your novels? Is there a lot of research involved?
I am one of laziest authors in the world. I hardly ever do research. I wrote about India because I had been living there. I wrote about Nepal because I had been working there. I wrote about Greifswald because I studied there ... so I actually just take places I have been and I know.

Do you have any writing rituals?
Everything on my right side has to vanish from the table, because I seem to tend to make strange movements with my right arm from time to time - talking to myself or someone else on the phone. So a cup of coffee on the right side is too dangerous. Actually I guess I don´t move my arm at all, it´s more that I fear I could move it because I knocked over cups once or twice. So when I am on a "reading-journey", giving readings to kids at schools, I spend my afternoons working in little coffee shops as hotels make me depressed. So you can see me sit down at the tiniest tables and move all the decoration to the left of the table ... that must look real funny.
Apart from that, the ritual is: sit down, forget you surroundings and write. I have two small kids and I spend every free minute writing. Unfortunately there aren´t that many free minutes.

What advice would you give aspiring writers?
None. Advice is something no one wants, especially not writers.

If you could have written any book in the world which one would it be?
Well, sales-numbers-wise ... the bible, that´s a real hit, even though we´re all still waiting for the third part of the successful trilogy ... or, coming to think about it, the phone book is also a major achievement in literature. Everybody uses it ...
Thing is, a writer cannot "have written" a book, they simply write it. The book takes place while you write it, not afterwards. A written book is finished, dead, gone, not interesting anymore, it can live on in the reader´s heads but I have had my adventure with it and move on. So "having written a book" is nothing I wish for, and I cannot imagine "having written" a book that I didn´t write. The question is like "whose child would you rather have had than your own"? Brrrrr.

Who were you favourite writers growing up?
I don´t know any growing-up-writers ... seriously, well, all Germany my age have read a lot of Astrid Lingren and Michael Ende in their time, and Tove Janson of course: the Moomins ... later in school. I never read what I should have I just looked things up in my parent´s literature dictionary and wrote my essays about what I read there. Instead I read about everything of Arno Schmidt, which is a bit like the German James Joyce ... harsh and very enjoyable, too.

What was your best read of the last year?
The word "dog" spelled very wrong but written all by herself by one of the kids with difficult social background I give lessons to. She´s eleven.

What are you planning to write next?
The answer to the next question.
Oh! There isn´t one!
I´ll have to be honest ... I am writing, of course, but at the moment for adults. The next YA novel to be out this August, the German title is As long as the Nightingale Sings and it´s set in a very deep forest in the mountains between Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic where there´s still wolves. It´s a little (no. very) creepy, but not fantasy. I’m still not sure if it will ever be out in the UK or US. I think literature-wise it´s better than the Storyteller though.

Thank you very much for asking the questions - I had fun and I hope you have fun reading my novel. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for such fascinating answers. 

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking is a chance to share the food love with everyone and is organised by Beth Fish Reads. On Saturday mornings, write a post about food, perhaps a cookbook review or maybe just some favourite food-related quotes.

I wouldn't normally review a cookbook, but when I heard about this one I really wanted to try it out. This book is written by Jack who is just 12 years old. 'So what' , I hear you say, well hold one frigging minute. There is something extremely special about Jack. Jack had recently gone into remission a second time from leukaemia! I kid you not. This kid is truly an inspiration to us all. He got into cooking whilst undergoing his treatment, where he would sit and watch the Food Network with his mum. He became obsessed with it and his mum would write down recipes from the shows so that they could make them when they got home. 
A year into Jack's second bout of leukaemia, with the help of his mother and her friend, he organised a fundraiser to raise money for paediatric leukaemia research at the Jonathan Jaques Children's Cancer Centre. The fundraiser was a huge success and Jack got to cook for over 320 people attracting the attention of CNN. This was just the start of his fund raising efforts and when his relapse treatment ended in January 2009, he became the spokesperson for the Beckstrand  Cancer Foundation. 
This child is pure inspiration!


( Since the preface for this book was written, Jack has suffered a third bout of leukaemia and has only just recently began to pull through).


After reading about Jack I knew I wanted to review this book and try out one of his recipes. So I chose Chicken Cacciatore. 

 Now Chicken Cacciatore was one of the first recipes I ever learnt to cook when I was about eighteen, but I honestly haven't cooked it in years. As I followed the American recipe, it was easy to see how it differs from a UK version of it.

 For instance, I became aware of how much salt and sugar was added to the recipe, which is something we have learnt to cut back on in the UK .For me, quite a lot seemed to be added, but I kept to the guidelines of the recipe and it tasted lovely when finished.
The American recipe served it with Parmesan and linguine, where I would normally just serve it with vegetable and new potatoes. It was definitely good to try it a different way and my girls loved the linguine.

 As I cooked the vegetables, the smell of garlic took over the kitchen. It was such a lovely smell.

 Thankfully the book gave a conversion chart at the back, so that I could convert the ingredient measurements to metric. Otherwise I would really have struggled to work it out.

Once the sauce had boiled down quite a bit, it really was tasty and I served it as stated with linguine as well as some ciabatta garlic bread on the side. I had hoped to take a picture before I ate it, but I was just too hungry and it smelt far too good to let it go cold. 


One of the things I loved about this book was the opportunity to 'twist it up'. With each recipe, Jack would provide you with a way of changing the recipe to suit you. With the Chicken Cacciatore recipe, he mentioned adding some cream to the recipe, to make the sauce thicker. Also the recipes are easy enough to do with your children; my kids really enjoyed cutting up the vegetables and preparing the dish with me. 


This recipe was really easy to use and I look forward to making more recipes from the book.  I have my eye on Jack's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.


If you are looking to by a cook book, I would definitely recommend this one. Not only do you feel inspired to cook by a very brave eleven year old, but you also contribute to the Jack Witherspoon Endowment Fund. A portion of every book sold goes to support the research of leukaemia in children. 


Thank you Abrams and Chronicle Books for letting me review this book. Good luck to Jack who I hope makes a full recovery soon. As a mother, my heart goes out to this courageous little boy and his family and I wish them all a hopeful Christmas. 

To find out more about Jack and his progress, please click here. 

Anxious Hearts by Tucker Shaw

Published by Amulet Books, an imprint of Abrams and Chronicle in 2010

'I hate reading. 

All those words. It's painful. Give me biology. Gym. A frog to dissect. Some laps to run. Anything but English. All those words. 

What have words ever done for anyone anyway? Can you catch a fish with words? Can you pick berries with  words? Fix a car? Heal the sick? No. Waste of time. '

Goodreads Summary

Eva and Gabe explore the golden forest of their seaside Maine town, unknowingly tracing the footsteps of two teens, Evangeline and Gabriel, who once lived in the idyllic wooded village of Acadia more than one hundred years ago. On the day that Evangeline and Gabriel were be wed, their village was attacked and the two were separated. And now in the present, Gabe has mysteriously disappeared from Eva. 

A dreamlike, loose retelling of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous love poem “Evangeline,” Anxious Hearts tells an epic tale of unrequited love and the hope that true love can be reunited.

************

This book was inspired by the epic love poem 'Evangeline' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which tells a story of how love can be strong enough to cross the divides that  separate it. 

The thing I loved the most about this book, was the way the parallel stories ran alongside each other.Even though they were nearly two hundred years apart, they were totally in sync with each other, showing how timeless love really is. Whatever ever happened in  the past could easily be reproduced in the present, 

proving that love is timeless. 

This book instantly reminded me of a a poster I used to have on my wall as a teenager which had the old saying 'If you love something, set it free, if it comes back it is yours, if it doesn't it never was.' This book shows the truth in that quote. 

The Eva and Gabe of now, may live in much more modern times, but they feel the same depth of feelings as the Evangeline and Gabriel of the past. Both Gabriel's are tortured souls - one in search of his lost love, the other, in desperate need to escape the loved ones he feels he hurts. You find that you instantly feel for both. Eva and Evangeline are much stronger and resourceful than the men they love and will never give up hope of reuniting with their soul mates. 

This book is beautifully written and is the type of book you get completely lost in as the chapters flow with a poetic style that witnesses dramatic situations. However, even though there are dramatic scenes, this book has a quietness about it, a subtleness that creeps into your mind, slowly engaging you completely. 

The book is split into two parts and I was quite shocked by how the first part ended. I wasn't expecting events to occur as they did and spent the first few pages of the second part searching for the truth. 

The secondary characters stood out just as strongly as the main characters. Ada and Poc both left me in tears with their actions of loyalty and love. 

The settings in the book are quite breathtaking as the author discusses them in a lot of detail. It really is a beautifully written book telling the timeless tale of love conquering all. 

Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron

Pages -  287

Published by Abrams and Chronicle on September 1st 2011
Book sent by publisher for an honest review.

Our band was called Tragedy of Reason. Or Tragedy of Wisdom. We hadn't decided yet. I liked 'Reason' because it said how much it sucked to be the only thoughtful person in a crazy world. But our frontman, Joe, liked 'Wisdom' because he said:
'It just sounds cooler!'

Goodreads Summary

Told in a voice that’s honest, urgent, and hilarious, Struts & Frets will resonate not only with teenage musicians but with anyone who ever sat up all night listening to a favorite album, wondering if they’d ever find their place in the world.

Music is in Sammy’s blood. His grandfather was a jazz musician, and Sammy’s indie rock band could be huge one day—if they don’t self-destruct first. Winning the upcoming Battle of the Bands would justify all the band’s compromises and reassure Sammy that his life’s dream could become a reality. But practices are hard to schedule when Sammy’s grandfather is sick and getting worse, his mother is too busy to help either of them, and his best friend may want to be his girlfriend.

When everything in Sammy’s life seems to be headed for major catastrophe, will his music be enough to keep him together?

***********

Every time I thought about reviewing Struts and Frets, I was reminded of my initial response to the first couple of chapters. I was convinced that this book featured a group of hormonal teenagers who were milder in their tone than the Inbetweeners but still had their attitude. Imagine placing this bunch of teenagers at  a High School Musical party which they are about to gatecrash! Get the picture?

For the first half of the book, this was the way I viewed it. The story line was entertaining as Sammy and the rest of his band, Tragedy of Reason, struggled with school, the band and relationships with girls. Sammy was a nice guy; one you would be happy to take home to meet your mum after a couple of dates. A couple of the other band members, you probably would never introduce to another family member, but Sammy was a safe bet.

As the book moved into the second half of the story, it all became more serious and it began to tug a little on my heart strings. Sammy and his mother struggle to come to terms with the deterioration of his grandad. Although it is never mentioned, it appears that he is suffering from Alzheimer's and becomes a danger not only to himself, but also to his loved ones. That is a big issues for a teenager to deal with and I think Sammy has a sudden maturity growth spurt through out this situation. He finally realises what is important to him and what he wants to achieve in life.

This book tackles homosexuality extremely well. Sammy's best friend, Rick, is just coming to terms with telling people about his sexuality and we watch as all his friends learn to deal with the situation in their own way. The majority of them seemed to know before he did and dealt with it with maturity and grace. Others seem to want to 'out' him in public, which is step he wasn't quite ready to take, however when it happens it makes life a lot easier for him, as he can be himself. With all the issues concerning gay and lesbian characters in YA at the moment, it was lovely to read it handled so beautifully. It is definitely a subject that should be increased with the YA market, as at that age, a lot of teenagers are still coming to terms with their sexuality. 

The book watches the progression of the relationship between Sammy and his mother as she learns to accept his musical abilities and dreams. For many years, she tied her thoughts and emotions with her past experiences with her parents and could not see past their troubles to envisage Sammy as a separate entity. Once she breaks the connection, she is able to see Sammy for whom he really is and believe in his musical abilities.

For me there was a bit of geeky moment in the book, as Sammy's grandmother was named Viv! My name so rarely comes up in a book,that I always get over excited on the rare occasion it does. 

Even though this book is about loud music, it is a quiet story. It develops at a steady pace, as we watch these teenagers deal with the pressures put upon them and learn to cope.  A coming of age story that will remind you of your own school days in one way of another. This book will also prove to you that dreams really do come true, as along as you give them 110% of your time!

A thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable read that left me wanting more from Jon Skovron.