Notes of Life

Author: Angharad Price
Translator: Lloyd Jones
Publisher: MacLehose Press
ISBN: 978-0-85705-136-3

As the title may give away, The Life of Rebecca Jones tells the story of Rebecca Jones and her family’s journey through the twentieth century.

In 1905, Rebecca was born into a Welsh family in the rural community of Maesglasau valley, in Dinas Mawddwy, Wales. It has been her family’s ancestral home for a thousand years, but the changes of modern life threaten not only her family’s way of life, but their language too.

Three of Rebecca’s younger brothers are born with a genetic blindness and, while Rebecca and her brother Robert stay at home and help with the farm, it is they who are given the opportunities of education and life beyond the Welsh mountains.

Originally published in Welsh as ‘O! Tyn y Gorchudd’ (‘O! Pull aside the veil’) and now translated into English, The Life of Rebecca Jones is both a work of fiction and biography. The family’s story is told auto-biographically by the character of Rebecca Jones and it is written in such a way that you can so easily imagine the family’s life and the surrounding landscape.

I found the book particularly interesting for a number of reasons. We travelled through the Dinas Mawddwy area every summer on our way up to Criccieth for our summer holiday when I was a child and we still go up there now on odd occasions. The landscape is steep and unforgiving, yet beautiful at the same time. With a family tree full of agricultural labourers, my ancestors on both sides of the family would have lived a similar way of life to that of Rebecca’s family.

The English title is perhaps a little misleading as I found the story to be more about Rebecca’s family’s life than that of her own, but upon reaching the last pages the reader discovers a final and unexpected revelation of why that is.

The Life of Rebecca Jones is a wonderful and interesting read for anyone, especially if interested in rural Welsh life (a way of life that has vanished in all but possibly deepest, darkest, rural Wales) and family history. The story has been beautifully written and translated, and I think it is one that will stay with me for quite some time.

The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price is due for release on 19th April 2012. Pre-order your copy now.

Many thanks to Nicci Praça for recommending this book to me. She was right, I did love it!

This is the 6th book I’ve read for The British Books Challenge 2012.

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Please note: I received this book free of charge from MacLehose Press. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Ian Marchant
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 978-1-84737-634-3

What do you get up to when the night falls?

Something of the Night is a semi-autobiographical book by Ian Marchant, exploring Britain’s night time activities. Each chapter investigates something different, whether it’s bonfires and fireworks, life at motorway service stations, drunken nights out, Soho’s ladies of the night and other goings-on under the cover of darkness.

Just a short step into the book I realised the author lives just over the hills from me, though, admittedly, “just over the hills” is still nearly an hour’s journey away due to our lovely country lanes and roads. Put it this way, when you live in a county where there’s more sheep than people, “local” covers quite an area!

Still, it was great to see names of local places popping up every now and then as this area generally just doesn’t exist (although ex-MP Lemsip, sorry… Opik Lembit put us on the map a few years ago). Even local news has to be quite big to nudge past the North & South Wales news on the local bulletins.

Something of the Night isn’t just about what Mr Marchant gets up to when it gets dark, he also provides us with some history, facts and figures along the way too. His drunken friend Neil also comes along for the journey through Something of the Night, even though he thinks Marchant’s previous book was called ‘The Longest Mile’ (It’s ‘The Longest Crawl’ – a book about a massive pub crawl!). We also get quite an insight into Ian Marchant’s musical tastes (somewhat before my time though, I must admit!).

If you’re after an easy read with some history and some laughs along the way, then I’d recommend giving Something of the Night a go. It’s an enjoyable read.

Buy Something of the Night by Ian Marchant.

This is the 1st book I’ve read for the British Books Challenge 2012.

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Please note: I received this book free from Simon & Schuster in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Tom Rob Smith
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 978-1847375674

Agent 6 is the reason I started to read the Leo Demidov trilogy. Real Readers very generously sent me an autographed, limited edition bound proof of this, the third book in the trilogy, to review, along with a copy of the first book in the trilogy, Child 44 (read my review). I hadn’t even picked up Child 44 when I spotted The Secret Speech (book 2) and had to buy it. I wanted to, had to, read the trilogy in order.

Leo Demidov returns in the final book of this trilogy. Leo (now a civilian) and his family now live in a high-rise, cramped apartment. His wife Raisa and the family are given the chance of a lifetime to visit America, but Leo must stay at home as the government will not allow him to travel. A chance finding of his daughter’s diary before they leave puts Leo on edge.

The trip to America doesn’t go to plan and Leo is determined to get to America by any means, no matter how long it takes. Revenge is sweet, but at what cost?

Agent 6 covers quite a time period. For example, to give the central plot more meaning, we’re first taken back in time to when Leo and Raisa first met. Time then advances throughout the story with at least one jump of 8 years. However, I found the advancing time and story easy enough to follow.

While I enjoyed reading Agent 6, it didn’t have the same intensity as the previous two books and I didn’t find it as gripping. While I raced through the first two books, I found Agent 6 more drawn out. While there certainly was tense moments, I didn’t think it had the same feel… Maybe that was something to do with most of the book being based outside of Russia and it’s regime. But, I think it has more to do with the lack of Leo Demidov within the first half of the book. Leo’s personality and history makes the story intense and where he wasn’t present I found it lacking somewhat.

Unfortunately, Agent 6 was unable to live up to its predecessors, but then it had a lot to live up to. I was gripped by the first two books, but wasn’t so much by this, the third and final book in the trilogy. However, despite it not living up to Child 44 and The Secret Speech, I still very much enjoyed reading Agent 6. It’s just that I was possibly spoiled by the first too!

I’m sad I’ve come to the end of this trilogy. Despite the things Leo had done, I’d become quite attached to the former Soviet agent.

Agent 6 could possibly be read as a stone-alone novel, however I don’t think you’d really understand the man that is Leo Demidov. You probably wouldn’t understand why he acts the way he does and why he does certain things.

I’d definitely recommend this trilogy as a whole and I’ll certainly be on the look out for further books by Tom Rob Smith.

Buy Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith.

Tom Rob Smith is a British author from London.

This is the 24th book I’ve read for the British Books Challenge.

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Please note: I received this book free from Real Readers – Book Dagger. However, this is no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Artie Van Why
Publisher: Van Hughes Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-4116-8315-0

That day in September, the day nobody will ever forget. The day terror came to New York and the US in a way nobody ever imagined it could.

I remember that day of September 11th. I was at work when a colleague walked in after lunch and told us what had happened, what was still happening. I didn’t get much work done after that. How could I? News websites were struggling under the strain of thousands, probably millions of people trying to find out as much as they could, me included. When I got home, I turned on the TV and the images were being replayed again and again, along with any latest footage and news of what was happening. The scale was just unbelievable. The evilness of it was beyond believable. It was emotional just watching it from afar. I couldn’t imagine what it felt like for the people who were there…….

That Day In September is Artie Van Why’s recollection of that day, the attacks and the aftermath, his personal remembrance of 9/11. Everyone has their story of that day, this is his.

Artie not only tells us about his experience of 9/11 and it’s aftermath, but he also tells us a little about his life before the attacks, so we get to know the man who he was and who he became. I think this is important, it helps gives us a little attachment to the author himself before the attacks.

As I’m sure most people do, I find 9/11 an emotive subject. I struggle to watch the documentaries about it without tears in my eyes. So many people died in such an awful way. Artie’s story is also emotional and honest.

Artie worked in a building across from the World Trade Centre and was sat at his desk when the first plane hit the World Trade Centre towers. He said there was a boom and their building shuddered. He had to get out and see what had happened. Passing through the door to the street, he was confronted with what looked like a war zone and a movie set for a disaster movie. But this wasn’t a movie, this was real.

Artie goes on to describe seeing the second plane hit, the debris and bodies falling from the towers. Shouting “NO!” as one person after another plunged from the towers as if each “No!” would stop them from hitting the ground. This is something that always makes me well up… the people who thought it was better to jump to their deaths than to stay in the hell of the upper floors of the towers. What kind of choice is that?!

We’re told of how he found a man lying in the street having been hit by debris, of running from the collapsing South tower and the walk home. He tells us of the days and weeks that followed, of how life has changed and that he will never forget.

It made a change to read a personal experience of 9/11, rather than the media documentaries that have appeared on TV in the months and years since 9/11.The book is honest and moving, and I could almost visualise being there. We see how one person’s life has been changed and gain a better understanding of that day. If you want to read a personal experience of 9/11, then I’d recommend Artie Van Why’s That Day In September.

My heart goes out to those that survived, to those that didn’t make it out and to their families. May terrorism on this scale never happen again.

Buy That Day In September by Artie Van Why.

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With thanks to Artie for sending me his book to read and review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Johnny Kingdom
Publisher: Bantam Press
ISBN: 978-0-59306-652-2

Johnny Kingdom is a wildlife expert and filmmaker who has grown up and lived in Exmoor all his life. His knowledge of wildlife and the area of the West Country is second to none, and he’s a national treasure (at least he should be, if he isn’t already!). It is always a delight to watch Johnny’s wildlife programmes on TV, so when I heard this book was going to be released I jumped at the chance to review it.

Johnny Kingdom’s West Country Tales is a nice leisurely read through West Country myths and legends, as well as anecdotes from Johnny and his family, ancestors, friends and people he’s met along the way. Even something that happened to Johnny and a friend has turned into a local myth!

West Country Tales had me laughing by the end of the first page. Now, how’s that for a cracking start to a book? His love for wildlife and nature is weaved into these tales and the book is written in the same style of how Johnny talks, so its almost as if I can hear him telling me the story as I read it.

In the book Johnny mentions that many years ago a drunk farmer would be heaved onto his horse and his feet tied together under the animal so he wouldn’t fall off. They’d then send the farmer on his way, knowing that the horse knew his way home. Late last year, I was told a very similar story about my own great great great grandfather… He’d like a drink or several down at the pub and would often be put up on his horse & cart and sent on his way home with the reins wrapped around his arm. Unfortunately for him, one night he never made it home. He met his end on one of those journeys home when he fell off the cart and hit his head. Anyway, back to the book…

There’s tales of smugglers and highwaymen, pixies and goblins, witches and ghosts, as well as murder and mystery, times gone by and more recent happenings. We learn about Johnny’s younger days and his life now, and his quest for getting a photo of a cuckoo that had been evading him for so long, almost mocking him.

Johnny Kingdom is a wonderful, knowledgeable character and he’s great at telling tales and the like. Whether you’re interested in British wildlife, the West Country or tales of myth and legend, I’d highly recommend this book. My Dad is already waiting to borrow it!

Buy Johnny Kingdom’s West Country Tales at the Book Depository.

Johnny Kingdom is a British wildlife expert and filmmaker from Exmoor.

This book is the 15th book I’ve read for the British Books Challenge 2011.

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Please note: I received this book from Transworld Publishers for review purposes. However, this in no way influenced my opinion of the book.