Tom's treasures of fiction, poetry, literature and more...

Welcome blog readers... Recently I reviewed Vikas Swarup's second novel, Six Suspects  (2008). But one thing I wanted to take to the stand was the fact that I have two different versions of this novel.  You are probably thinking that one is a classic paperback and the others is a box-standard hardback. However, you would be mistaken for thinking so... Here I have a hardback copy which I read through and as already stated, reviewed. But before I acquired my hardback copy, I found an uncorrected proof copy. The two books are photographed below for comparison. The reason I have the proof copy is because a while ago when I was hunting down this book in local, second hand or independents bookshops, even charity shops I came across it while at a National Trust bookshop. At first glance I did not even acknowledge that it was just a proof copy. It was when I got back home and investigated the book did I realise something was amiss. On the 'Contents' page, each section has '000...

Hello again. For today's post I am cross-referencing Vikas Swarup's novels that I have read to bring to light my thoughts on having recurring characters. In Six Suspects  (2008), the novel introduces us to a whole variety of characters who crop up more than once and form connections with other characters. For example we have Champi, Munna's sister. When we are first introduced to Champi is earlier on as a minor character in Munna's backstory, him being one of the 'Six Suspects'. Later on however, she meets reappears in Eketi's backstory and the two appear to form a bond which is explored somewhat towards the ending of the novel. We then get the crossover between Shabnam Saxena and Larry Page as their stories start to become entwined. Saxena is mentioned throughout and not just in her sections. Having the characters appearing in other people's backstories provides the opportunity to link them all at the end with ease. I liked this flowing in and out of th...

Welcome to my blog... Now is the time to take a seat as I take through my thoughts of Vikas Swarup's twisted and loaded novel Six Suspects  (2008) by Vikas Swarup. This novel is definitely one to read! Especially as it heads towards the gripping ending, it is shock after shock after shock. Take an evil and corrupt man, who commits crimes again and again yet somehow manages to evade any form of imprisonment or alternative punishment. This is a man who always gets what he wants. However, as the novel explores, some people are not happy with this man. The man Vicky Rai, murders a bartender who refuses to serve him a drink, having just stopped serving in the bar. Rai shoots the bartender dead and flees. When he finally gets off, he decides to celebrate his acquittal with a party. Throughout the novel we are met with six different people such as famous Indian actress Shabnam Saxena and Munna Mobile who is a phone thief from the Sanjay Ghandi Slums. One thing I love about this novel is h...

It is the end of the month so this is where I reveal some stuff I have read throughout the month. Let's get into what I have been reading throughout July... 1: Stuff on social media. Lately I have been seeing a lot on social media which I am finding is repeating. A lot of the stuff is people, politicians, media companies and more doing bad things. Often I am unsurprised. However, I never take things at face value. Someone told me you cannot trust social media yet also told you could trust most UK newspapers, reeling off several. I must admit that I disagree because I have seen lies, misinformation or bias from UK newspapers and news channels. That is just how I see it and my opinion is mine. Other can disagree (or agree) with me just so long as they are willing to accept me having an opinion. Social media can be eye-opening for me. Even if sometimes it's just funny cat videos that brighten up my day. 2: Bus timetables online. I have been reading a lot of bus timetables this mon...

The end of the month approaches and I am gutted that we are finishing pride month. It seems the month has raced past in a flash. Still, I have read some good stuff this month. Here are some of those things... 1: My chess... The chess learning is still going. Some of the terminology I have been getting to grips with lately is actually quite cool. Before I started practising chess on my phone, I had never heard of forks or pins for example, even if I might have used them before. 2:  ‘'A Girton Girl on a Throne': Queen Christina and Versions of Lesbianism, 1906-1933’ by Sarah Waters. With Sarah Waters being author of the month, this journal was what I decided to read and review first. You can check out my review on the blog here to see what I truly thought of it. 3:  Social media . Even social media is owned by rich, selfish and horrible men (in my opinion) it has its uses and helps to keep me updated on important stuff. There is a lot of hope that I get from using social media ...

What can I say about Sarah Waters' debut novel? Lust, desire and deceit... These are three words that conjure up in my mind when I think of Tipping the Velvet . From 1998, Tipping the Velvet  follows the many lives of Nancy Astley. She goes through a variety of different personas and jobs, suffering heartache along the way. When she suffers heartache, it seems to truly damage her. However, she then seems to find something else, even if it is not as good as her previous way of life. What I loved especially about this novel is the ending. Everyone and everything seems to culminate together at the event that happens. Another moment I loved was when Nancy and Florence are in the pub and people recognise her. This was a lovely reminder that of her time in the theatres and highlighted that people thought she was good in the theatres, not just Kitty. This is also where the meaning of 'Tipping the Velvet' is explained. I for one thing had no idea what it meant. Once I reached that ...

Finally the end of June is coming. That means it is time to disclose on some of the things I have been diving into. I thought I had posted this on Friday but it obviously did not post so have it now! I will post again later for the first post of June. 1: My French... The continual French learning never ever ever stops! Reading, typing, listening and speaking tasks all help to improve my understanding of the language. I do not even spend a lot of time doing it; five or ten minutes per day is what I like to accomplish. 2: The Adoption Papers  (1991) by Jackie Kay. As Jackie Kay was author of the month for May, I read her poetry collection The Adoption Papers  (1991). You can check out my review on the blog post to see what my thoughts were on the collection. Searching for tags such as 'BIPOC' or '1990s' can help you find the post easier. 3: Bus websites and timetables. There are some bus routes which I use (when I need to) that have been given updated timetables, with som...

Today I am reviewing Jackie Kay's short story collection Reality, Reality . I absolutely loved reading this collection! It was funny, heartwarming, sad and at times confusing with the stories all offering something different. I read the first story 'Reality, Reality' and immediately I was confused. The writing was not bad but I found the character had an odd personality. I was a little unsure what was going on. However, most of the stories did not confuse me. I did get a little confused over what happened in 'The White Cot'. For me, I was reminded of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper' (1892). I found that Sam and Dionne's relationship was a little worrisome to me. I liked them together but I worried how it would end. I am glad that Jackie Kay took on a story in which I was unsure what to expect next. This short story though had something in common in several of the stories. I found with a lot of the stories there were couples who were often...

For today's blog post, I am returning to a loved novel of mine... This is Jackie Kay's only novel Trumpet  (1998). I recently got to thinking about the novel and how relevant it is to today. I also was reminded of how important things and more importantly people are. Taking the novel as an example, look at the lengths that people will go to for love. This love made a couple, fractured relationships with others and shattered what everyone thought they knew. There is one moment which stands out for me: it is when Joss and Millie, his wife both find their clothes swapped. It resents with me to this day because clothing is something with a rigidity in gender. Society has labelled a lot of clothes for either men or women. Look at shops; they have a 'men's section', a 'women's section' and a 'children's section'. But this does not mean that people have to stick in the section for them of course. Also, note how nothing has adapted for non-binary peo...

Today I am back with another review. This time I am reviewing the short story 'Suggestion' (1895) by Ada Leverson which first appeared in The Yellow Book . This was a quarterly limited-run journal focussing on art and literature. Ada Leverson was one of the women writers of the Fin de Siècle  and a friend to Oscar Wilde. The title of the short story - 'Suggestion' sums up the short story well. To me there is a quadruple meaning as the narrator Cecil Carington suggests things for his sister and his sister-in-law. Then there is the second meaning of suggestion in which Cecil and his sister Marjorie try to come up with suggestions on how to make their father a more pleasing man so that their new mother-in-law, Marjorie's friend can find married life a bit more bearable. The third suggestion is that Cecil is gay. He seems to get on very well with his friend Adrian, of whom his sister Marjorie has her eyes on. Cecil already has someone else planned for her and seems dete...

London. North-west. Caldwell council estate. Four people. This is Zadie Smith's fourth novel, NW  (2012)... Set in a north-west postcode of London, NW  follows the busy lives of four people - Leah, Natalie, Felix and Nathan as they try to make something of themselves outside of the estate from their youth - the Caldwell council estate. Here the novel the explores how in one part of a bustling city can have quite varied people from one another. You have those do well, those who do not, people who have a lot while others have very little, hosts and guests. Then there is also everyone else in between in the novel. For some characters, it has been about change. Natalie for example, was not always called Natalie as she grew up with the name Keisha. Various things happened for her to change her name, originally stemming from her mother's wish to seperate her daughter from her best friend Leah. That does not work because as they grow up across the novel, they do not grow apart fully....

Spring has sprung and I am here with my first review of the month. I decided I would read Zadie Smith's  ‘The Waiter's Wife ’. It was only until I starting reading it did I realise that the characters in this short story are in her debut novel White Teeth  (2000). Then I realised that most of the short story ends up in the novel anyway. It is not completely the same though. Because of that and as I had read it I chose to review it anyway. I liked this short fiction: seizing the button labelled "my funny bone" and firmly pressing down. I loved reading about Alsana clashing with her niece as per, I loved Samad and Archie reconnecting after years apart, I loved the vivid description Zadie Smith adds in just to build up her fictional North-West London world. This short fiction seems real, it well-thought out and convincing. When Samad Iqbal decides to move from Whitechapel to Willesden, his wife Alsana finds she has reservations once they are there. Money is tight, she is...

Apologies for not posting last Friday (31st October). I had no internet connection; I believe something to do with it being Halloween is the reason why... Superstitious, maybe... Moving on! This post here is the one from Friday; there will be another one published for today (Monday 3rd November) so keep a look out for it. I am now going to delve into what I read during October. 1: Zom-B  (2012) by Darren Shan.  Last month, when the theme of the month was horror, I picked Darren Shan as author of the month. When I was a teenager my hands somehow grabbed hold of my book, not sure how exactly but I read it. I decided to read again last month to remind myself what gory details happened. Also I wanted to be able to follow when I read more of the novels in the series, which I did. Read my review if you want to know what I really thought of it. 2: Hotel websites. I am going away and am needing to book somewhere to stay when I travel. Though this is not the easiest thing to do when ot...

Welcome people. After reviewing the first two books in Darren Shan's Zom-B  series, I decided to take to the third book, Zom-B: City  (2013) like narrator and protagonist B took to London. In this novel we see B roaming the streets of London to determine what state the outside world is in since the zombies attacked. Throughout the novel we meet a varied range of characters including Coley, Timothy Jackson and Sister Clare to name a few. A small number of the characters I liked; most of them I did not. One character who I met in the first novel, raised suspicions then and here in this novel, they made me loathe them. I will not give away the spoiler of who, in case anyone wants to read the series... The characters are what made this novel excellent because of how often characters made me react. Depending on the character (no spoilers given), I winced, I shuddered, I cringed, I became discombobulated and even I felt sick. The only character I liked, aside from B was Timothy Jack...

I am here again with more Zom-B scariness from author of the month Darren Shan. This time I am reviewing his second novel in the 12 part Zom-B series -  Zom-B: Underground  (2013). SHHH! Secrecy, cover ups and deception are sprawled throughout this horror novel. As zombies and B's racist dad plagued B's world in the first novel,  Zom-B  (2012), it transpires how actions can have consequences. This novel demonstrates how one person's deception and dishonesty can cost them a lot, sometimes including their life. The novel carries on from the first novel. However where that was in the streets, homes, school and so forth, this second novel was underground. Reading this, I discovered that being underground does not equal safe and out of harms way from the zombies, or anything for that matter. B's previous life was when B was just a normal school kid with no worries. Most of B' previous life has gone. Except the day B met the mutants. These hooded creeps gave me a huge ick...

Welcome to today's blog post readers. Today I am reviewing my first Darren Shan work, Zom-B  (2012) as he is author of the month. His first novel in this twelve part series was a disgusting, creepy action-packed story when zombies start to attack. Not everyone believes the zombies are real. The protagonist known as 'B', is one of them. B's influencing problem is her father. Aside from the zombies, B's father is the other main distraction in the novel. B struggles with what B' father says. B knows he is extremely racist and Darren Shan has highlighted this very well in his novel. I can see in this novel that Shan has emphasised this racist idea of 'us vs them'. While it is clear that B tries to be so different from this racist that we see with B's father, sometimes B almost as if gets trapped. B does not want to be racist though at times is. I dislike B for that and it does disgust me. However, I can see how B's father is far worse. He is racist, ...

Hello all, here I am again. Today I am giving you a review from author of the month, Kazuo Ishiguro. This time, it is his booker prize-winning best selling novel, The Day of the Remains  (1989). Some novels I seem to get through rather quickly. This one was not. Now it was a good book, though personally for me, it was not something I would naturally get drawn to. I thought the novel was good because I liked how the protagonist, Stevens experiences things for the first time. HIs character is different I guess to others around him are. For instance, I find it amusing how he does not quite understand banter. He seems to find it crucial to maintain a correct level of banter. Something else I like is how he moves backwards and forwards to tell his story, even admitting when he gets too carried away with a story. On the other hand, this novel to me, seemed to drag at times. I often wanted to know what would happen next or whether Stevens would accomplish what he had originally set out to...

Hi all. I hope you are well. My next offering on the blog, is a review from  Rosewater  (2023) by Liv Little. This is her debut and currently only novel. Although, it seems another one may be on the way. For now, we can roll around in the joy that is  Rosewater . This novel is complex, sexy, exhilarating and zesty. At times it had me feeling the heat, intensely! There was one moment where I was gasping, then I was gagged (in the best way possible) and then found I had my legs crossed, both tightly gripped to one another. You probably think I'm weird and I do too a little bit. But the novel had me feeling a certain type of way! I'm still trying to ask myself - is it possible for a book to turn you on? Rosewater  tells the story of Elsie trying to keep it together as her life crumbles around her. As she navigates how things in life are going wrong, she finds comfort in having Bea who is more than just her co-worker. I won't even go on about her best friend Juliet, of w...

Today blog readers I am supplying you all with the first author of the month review. I give you my thoughts on Kazuo Ishiguro's short story ‘A Family Supper’ (1983). I read this short story and thoroughly liked it. First of all, the short story was only nine pages long which made easily manageable for anyone to read. Even with it being nine pages though, it nevertheless carried a strong narrative through which I could follow. The short story often moved back to reminisce on past events and thoughts, which helped to bind the short story together. As far as the nameless narrator is concerned, I find him to be unsure as a character. This for me was interesting. He was similar to his sister in this retrospect though had a juxapositional personality to that of his sister. Where his sister came across as bright and fun, he came across as dull and mellow. It is clear that his relationship with his father is somewhat strained so perhaps that has a bearing on how he is as a person. Anyway, ...

How does one navigate the cut-throat world of business when they have no previous business experience? What does one do when faced with the impossible? Is it possible for someone to be handed a dream opportunity out of sheer luck? Here on this nice day in July, t his is where I start with Vikas Swarup's 2013 novel,  The Accidental Apprentice . For Sapna Sinha, her ordinary life is turned upside after she is approached Vinay Mohan Acharya, one of India's richest men. Imagine being offered the job of company C.E.O if you pass the seven life tests. You do not have to imagine what Sapna's first thoughts were... Nevertheless, this novel takes us on a ride of highs and many lows, as we see how challenging life can be to navigate. Sapna's journey does not simply show her do seven tests as it were and then she becomes C.E.O of aging Vinay Mohan Acharya's business. She often found herself in situations where the outcome had that many possibilities, I never knew which way the...