Reviews and Comments

A literary art thriller, crammed full of action, art and mystery, but what makes this book really special is the characters. They have been crafted with such care and like one of those renaissance paintings you get drawn in and see much more than what is on the surface. I really liked how everybody has their own agenda but are playing their cards close to their chest giving nothing away and making you guess something new every other page.

Our main character is José, an artist down on his luck, about to lose everything but luck throws one more job his way, a forgery of a sixteenth painting and his client is the suspiciously excitable Horacio, he is up to his neck in dodgy doings, and you can sense an underling threat of violence. My favourite character was Horacio's mother she felt like she was straight out of a painting stuck in a constant pose of beauty, the scenes came alive when she stepped into them.

The book is set in Guadalajara, Mexico and you get a real sense of the place, how hot and dry it was and that midday sleepiness. There is also a ridiculous amount of food included too, I don't think my mouth has watered quite as much.

This was a very interesting read, plenty of knowledge shared about how to forge a painting and the techniques used and a nice tidy plot with no loose ends. I'm now off for tacos and to look for a goats bladder.

I went into this book not knowing what to expect, I wasn’t even sure if it was fiction or non-fiction…having finished the book I’m still not 100% sure of the answer to that question as it all feels so real, maybe it is some kind of Anti-Meta-fiction? There was one constant feeling I had whilst reading this, music, whilst there are some bands and songs are mentioned that is not the theme of the book, the idea of music I got was from the structure, it comes across as some kind of punk/jazz infusion, you would be happy and chill like listening to a piece of Jazz until quite unexpectedly you realise that the mood has changed and that punk rage suddenly kicks off, you really do feel the anger of the characters. Very impressive writing skill here.

The book follows an unknown narrator as he witnesses the life of Paul, a train driver who is desperate to not be like his dad, but a tragic death on the lines changes all that, he leaves his job and goes to university and fully immerses himself…and the reader…in the politics and student union activities of the day. The story continues with his life after that, including when the narrator loses contact with Paul, the writing style changes at this point, it now feels like a research project which is one of the ways that it makes it all feel so real. One favourite part of this book was the strikes that turn into a battle with the police, wonderful build up with the narration mixed with chants, I could almost feel I was there, the mounting tension was palpable, the inclusion of the chants was powerful and right in the middle of the riot there is one surreal beautiful moment in an old lady’s garden, loved it.

This is one of those books where the readers are going to have differing ideas on what it is about, for me it is about Paul trying to live and behave how he thinks a person should live (complete opposite of his dad) and it doesn’t matter how you behave you’ll never live up to your expectations. The book takes things one step further and discusses how those actions affects your children and that you’ll always be wondering if you did things right.

This epic book was good fun, I feel like I have been taken on a journey through 1980’s Britain…quite bizarre that things feel exactly the same now in 2022, that same pressure in our lives is with us today. The book is very poetic and all builds up to a very interesting and carefully constructed ending. You gotta have a read of this book as you’ll be missing out otherwise.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/09/24/our-struggle-by-wayne-holloway/

I can’t believe it was 8 yeas ago that I first read this book and I still haven’t partaken in the art of wolfing…pretty sure I can somehow blame the author for that…just give me a bit of time. This book is still great fun, Dyson is still one of my favourite characters and Celine Dion’s music is still a blight on those with ears. The stand-out thing for me this time was Dyson’s wit, his ability to have the right thing to say, no matter on how tense the situation. The secondary characters are fantastic, they each have plenty of baggage that they bring to the story…mostly to annoy Dyson…what I do want to see is a spin-off with Sunita, I’m sure she is leading a secret life too. This edition has been tidied up a bit and what you are left with as a very slick piece of writing, a great story that finishes up nicely and all under an awesome new cover.

If I was to describe this book in a certain number of words I would say this is a “Psychopath’s Dexter”.

Bloge review felcherman.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/necropolis-by-guy-portman/

This was an interesting book, the structure is twisted, it is like an escaped madman has found the book, ripped it into pieces and stuck it back together in a random manner…somehow it works, this unique flow pulls you in and doesn’t let go until it is done. The characters have had the same work done to them, it’s hard to tell who is who, each character seems to have multiple personalities. The conversation is disjointed, there is a character who doesn’t fit in but still manipulates the story, characters disappear with no explanation and there is one hell of a creepy lighthouse. On their own these things could be considered faults but put them together and you’ve got a poetic masterpiece, there is nothing out there like this and nothing that will mess with your emotions this much. The cover is epic, it informs you the sort of madness you are about to enter.

There is not much point in describing the plot to you, each reader will find themselves focusing on one part and this will alter their perspective, for me this was about the characters finding out who they are and where they fit into the world, it explains the multiple personalities, and whereas a “normal” book would focus on one character, this one has 7 individual journeys that all twist together. I reckon if I was to read this in 10 years’ time, I would discover a different side of this book and still be blown away and that is where it is so very clever.

A stunning book that burns bright and that is sure to split readers into two groups “WTF” and “WTF, I Love It”, incredible story and highly recommended for fans of David Lynch.

You’re gonna see this a lot in the reviews of this book…I am a massive fan of the TV series The Detectorists and that is the reason I decided to give this book a go…well that and the awesome cover. The thing I loved about the series was how easy it was to get lost in the show, the rambling through fields, being at peace in a chaotic world, friendly banter and the way a find can spark your imagination…I got all of that from this wonderful book. There is a real Zen to detecting whether in the field, watching or reading you can find yourself at peace, even if nothing gets found.

The book starts off with Richardson laughing at the weird folk wondering around fields with an electronic stick comparing them with train spotters after a bit of research he decides to give it a go and see what the fuss was all about, what follows is a full blown obsession to experience the rush you get from finding a hoard. Richardson is very honest with the reader, he explains that he isn’t going to take it seriously and he is shocked about how quickly he falls in love, he also shares his insecurities around other people and the fact that he can’t find even the basic items a new detectorist discovers. Each time Richardson finds something his imagination goes crazy and he creates a story about the item and how it came to be buried in the field he was searching, I loved these little stories, his energy is contagious and I could find no fault in his stories. The area he is exploring is in my neck of the woods and I’ve been to a few of the places, including the Curtis Museum two weeks before starting this book, I think I also met the same museum lady who overloaded me with leaflets and gave me half a dozen different locations to visit.

The writing is very good, the subject matter is fun, I’ve learnt loads and maybe once I become a middle-aged man with one of those weird electronic sticks this book will come in handy in helping me follow the rules and become a world famous detectorist. If you’re a fan of The Detectorists then you’re gonna love this book so give it a go. Anyways, I’m now off to Silchester Roman Wall to bury this book in a nice metal box for some lucky nighthawker to find.

This is a very interesting read, two brothers spending time in Morocco before the area became touristy, when there was a mistrust of the French and their modernising ideas. At times it also feels like a love story, the brothers writing (of which it is impossible to tell there are two separate writers) comes across at first as rather imperialist, at one point they say Morocco is lucky the French are there to help instead of somebody else wanting to take advantage, to defending the country and almost becoming one with it’s people.

The brothers immerse themselves in the culture really well, they understood (and followed) the rules, the laws and how the people act with each other, because of this you could see they earned a certain amount of trust, getting invited to places and events that outsiders previously wouldn’t have witnessed. It is these experiences that shape the trilogy, the reader gets to share some incredible scenes, in particular a wedding. Its sheer scale and traditions is mind boggling, I got the feeling that the only way these events were successful was down to the number of people involved.

There were a few moments where the writing gets a bit risque, describing the Jewish quarter had me sucking the air through me teeth and at the beginning the western opinions of the locals really showed but the more time they spent there those opinions soon vanished…at one point when a French fairground turned up they were outraged at how everybody suddenly changed when seeing all these modern toys.

The books are well written and I’m glad I got to read about Morocco in the old days, it seems to have been an intense culture that would have been overwhelming to witness. Another fine book published by the mighty Eland.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/08/28/a-moroccan-trilogy-rabat-marrakesh-and-fez-by-jerome-and-jean-tharaud/

One of the most interesting books I have ever read! I went into this book being like a normal person and taking smell for granted, it’s always been there and done it’s job, recognising food that has gone off, detecting smoke when in danger and getting me in trouble as being the victim of “whoever smelt it, dealt it”. Whilst my hearing is a bit rubbish and my eyesight is awful, I have never really lost my ability to smell, the odd moment during a cold but usually too ill to care about that. This book has really opened my eyes (and nose) to what people are going through when they can no longer smell, they lose part of the world around them and until COVID came along are never taken seriously…and when the smells come back it always isn’t good news, for some they get one smell and often it is a nasty one…imagine everything smelling and tasting of sewage, my brain just cannot process this.

The layout of this book is great, you get the history of olfaction, the present day situation and how COVID changed things and then the future, ways to get the smell-ability back. Mixed in with all this is the scientists, the work they have done and the incredible things they have discovered and throughout the book Totaro shares with us first hand experience as anosmia kicks in, the way it affected her life and mental health and how she worked hard to get it all working again. The science is fascinating and Totaro writes in a way that makes it easy to follow, some words are rather technical but do not take anything away from the reading experience. I also like the fact that Totaro explores further, looking at things like art and language and I have noticed whilst writing this review that I get red squiggly lines under anosmia and olfaction both are words Microsoft refuse to accept.

One sign that shows how good this book is, is that I have had loads of conversations with friends about what I’ve learnt…most conversations were about what I learnt about nipples….and it has also made me thing about my life. I remember as a little kid being forced to eat weetabix because my parents considered it healthy, the stuff is right mank and I hated it, I soon learnt that if I held my nose I was able to eat it, I guess that classes me as a child scientist. One more point of interest that caused a big discussion at work was the chapter about how our wonderful and very very capable government handled the pandemic and that it took them far longer to acknowledge that the lack of smell and taste was a symptom, none of us were aware of this delay…crazy.

This is a cracking book that I can’t recommend enough, I have learnt a huge amount from this and have a new appreciation for my 5th sense.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/08/19/on-the-scent-by-paola-totaro-robert-wainwright/

I don’t read much horror, so of the 20 authors included in this book I had read none and only heard of a few. There are 16 well known authors and 4 that haven’t made it to the big time yet…I was unable to tell the difference, the quality of story telling was high from each author. The range of stories was varied, a well selected mix was picked by Morris, you have sci-fi, gothic, modern take on horror, post-apocalyptic and good old fashioned ghost stories. I got into some more than others, the others weren’t weak, it’s just with a collection like this you are always gonna have your favourites. Here are the ones I liked best.

Starting off at the end BRANCH LINE by Paul Finch, a proper good old fashioned ghost story with a scary lady in a wedding dress. The intensity builds up nicely to a cracking ending, not too many pages long and this story still had time for a nice plot twist at the end.

SWANSKIN by Alison Littlewood. A rather messed up folklore style tale, full of tragic scenes and plenty of beauty, loved it.

SAME TIME NEXT YEAR by Angela Slatter. Story told from the point of view of a ghost in a cemetery and the fun she gets up to once a year, not really scary (well it is for her victims haha) but fun to read.

IT DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT by Michael Marshall Smith. This was the pick of the bunch for me, in the style of Stephen King, taking something you wouldn’t consider to be a scary story and creating something mind boggling…Getting your kid ready for school….nothing scary there right????

All in all this is a fine introduction into 20 authors, each author has a bio at the end so if you want to see what else they have written then this book helps you with that. Highly recommended book.

I do like it when somebody sets out to write a book and they lose all control to the book itself, Farrer is commissioned to write about a small Seaside town that is slowly losing it’s battle with the sea and ends up writing a love story about said town, after baring his soul to the reader. The book starts off quite dark, on the edge of a cliff, battling with his insecurities and looking for a reason to not give up…up steps Withernsea, it’s people and an awesome old dog called Millie.

Farrer shares with us the state of his mental health, he takes us through his life trying to understand how he is like he is and all the events that have shaped the man he is. He also shares with us his family, including his adorable mum, the conversations they have are so funny, I was guffawing like an idiot at her defence of gulls and Farrer trying to provoke her into admitting she was wrong. If you have ever seen Jack Whitehall’s travels with my father then you’ll understand the dynamic between the pair of them, it is the sort of relationship you wish you could have with a parent…in fact I demand a TV show with the pair of them. There is a lot of discussion about death (Withernsea seems to get a rather large share) and how it affects those left behind, and these scenes are written with such care that you also feel the loss…but when Farrer’s sense of humour kicks in it feels like the sun breaking through the dark clouds on a typical summer’s day, very uplifting.

Each chapter is set up like a mini essay, Farrer takes a minor event or comment and rolls with it, where it leads is always interesting….Werewolves from another dimension, evil gulls that rob shops, burlesque shows and an army of windmills. Farrer meets some interesting people during his research, from a guy who takes a photo of a pebble every day to an old chap who once ate a gull. Farrer’s love for Withernsea really shows on these pages and I was left wondering when he started this book did he realise how much the place had got under his skin? I really liked the last chapter, an unique and interesting way to do a conclusion, create a virtual museum and decide what you would include that shows what a place means to you.

I’ve seen somebody compare Farrer’s writing to Alan Bennett and I can 100% see that, the wonderful characters and wit feels very much like the lady in the van. I have enjoyed every page, all the lows, all the highs and the many many laughs. Now get on and make me that TV show!

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/blog-tour-cold-fish-soup-by-adam-farrer/

What an extraordinary book, Griffiths has such a good voice, so easy to read and much to learn within these pages. I found myself shaking my head in disbelief, nodding along whilst chuckling and blown away by my lack of knowledge. Griffiths has split the book into four parts, it feels like it is structured around the seasons, the essay length starts off long and as the year gets to the end and the nights are drawing in the essays start to get shorter, I haven’t actually counted the pages but this is how it felt, I could almost see myself reading the last chapters sat around a fire. Each essay also has it’s focus on a particular theme or word, singing, hearth, hospitality and trickster are a few examples, having this word as a focus gives the writing a poetic feel and makes in much easier to understand what Griffiths is describing to the reader.

Favourite chapters were about the trickster, where Boris Johnston receives a dressing down, I loved at how easily Griffiths destroys him, words are powerful and Griffiths knows how to use them (Tory opposition should read this book for inspiration for the next general election). The laughter in West Papua started off with a smile and concludes with the genocide that has been going on over there for years whilst supported by the western world, I was shocked that this has been going on for so long and I’d never heard about it before, just goes to show how politicians and media spin things and only let you know what they want you to know about. Hospitality was another interesting essay, the origins of the word, how it was used in the Bible and throughout history and how it compares to today in the UK with treatment of the homeless…how to spend that council money, free shelter or bars on benches to keep the place tidy.

The essay I got the most out of was due to a conversation I had the day before reading it with a colleague at work, they love ice skating and I think it is the most boring thing you can do, going round and round in a circle trying to avoid other clumsy skaters. Griffiths has opened my eyes to “wild” ice skating, out on a lake or a frozen field, now this is what I could get into, the wind in me beard, the restrictions mostly lifted, the potential solitude and that it wouldn’t cost me 30 quid to have a go. I think I’ve been converted…just gotta hope that somehow the climate crisis will given me a chance to give this a go.

A fantastic collection that I have thoroughly enjoyed reading, something to learn in each essay. Griffiths has an original voice and one that is a joy to read.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/07/24/nemesis-my-friend-journeys-through-the-turning-times-by-jay-griffiths/

This was a cracking opening book to the Desire Card series, a proper atmospheric Noir thriller that pulls you into the action and which makes you read this at such a pace you have to fight to keep up. Jake Barnum is a petty thief who has a chance meeting at a party, he meets none other than Marilyn Monroe and gets pulled into a sinister underworld catering wishes for the rich and powerful.

The characters are wonderful, I love the dual personalities of the mask and the wearer underneath. Also the setting, 1978 the year I was born, I reckon more books should be based then seeing as the bestest reader arrived on Earth then. The relationship between Jake and Marilyn was well written the passion almost drips of the page, as their bond grows more intense Jake finds himself pulled further and further into the mysteries of The Card…who exactly is Gable, what is the issue with Peck and what the hell is Bette typing on her typewriter.

Goldberg does a good job of keeping the reader tied to the era, references to political events, well known locations like Studio 54 and a cracking selection of disco music, although Jake’s abuse of the poor Beegees was rather uncalled for. The further into the book I got, the more engrossed I became, reading far quicker than I normally do. There are 5 books in this series and they are all being released in 2022, how cool is that? No waiting around for the next book whilst I forget what I read.

This book was good fun, full of violence, intrigue and an amazing retro feel, the sort of series of books that would work well on TV so get on board and start this before all the kids say that it’s sick (or whatever word they use these days, I was born in 1978 so have no idea). Bring on book 2 I say!

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/07/09/immoral-origins-by-lee-matthew-goldberg/

Massive fan of Kathleen Jamie, I’ve loved everything of hers I’ve read so far and you can add this collection to that list. She has this ability to write about the sort of things you might see often, rooks for example, she is able to shine a new light on that thing, seeing it in a way you’ve never considered and it brings it to life on the pages. I especially liked Hawk and Shadow where the poet gets lost trying to focus on the bird and it’s shadow as it glides across the hills.

Favourite was a collection of 5 poems called Five Tay Sonnets a snapshot of 5 brief moments which transport you to the moment. There were a few in Gaelic (I’m guessing the language here) I’ve not much of an idea what they mean but they sound beautiful when read aloud.

A wonderful collection about nature, humanity and hope which will look great on anybody’s shelf.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/07/02/the-overhaul-by-kathleen-jamie/