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...

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 ...

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....

Apologies for not posting on Friday but as I had been unwell over the festive period, I was away gifting presents to people I had not seen. Anyway, I have been doing better and have been enjoying reading Robert Louis Stevenson's wicked adventure tale of mischief, mayhem, terror and treasure. Starting in the Admiral Benbow with young Jim Hawkins, the novel follows what happens when Jim uncovers the belongings of one Billy Bones. This man had been staying at the inn, owned by his parents when he was struck down dead, much to the unsurprise of the local Dr Livesey. Off Jim goes with Dr Livesey and an array of ship crewman to find some hidden treasure. This includes Arrow, Gray and Long John Silver. But once they arrive at treasure island, Jim and the doctor are dealt with double-crossing deceit, struggling to work out what to do and who to trust! I struggled to work out who to trust in the story. It ended up being a novel that I liked because of how it played out with all the death an...

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...

Lately I have been thinking about horror and its subgenres. There is gothic, which I have mentioned here on my blog. There is also the supernatural, which I have not covered yet. That is about to change... For today's blog post I am reviewing the supernatural novella  A Christmas Carol  (1843) by Charles Dickens. I remember first reading this Victorian ghost story back when I was at school. What stands out most to me is how Dickens makes us realise that people can change and that does mean anyone. At the start of the novella we see that Scrooge is a grumpy man who despises Christmas. To him Christmas Day is just another ordinary day. But when the ghosts start to appear, Scrooge is made to rethink some of his attitudes and opinions. As the ghosts continue to offer him the versions of what was, is and could be, Scrooge changes. Sometimes I think now that we showed some people what could be if they continue to make the choices they make, then we could do some good. However, that ...

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, ...

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...

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...

Here I am everyone, to give you a new review of a book you could read. I do firstly want to say that due to being away, I did not get the chance to publish my post on Wednesday. So here I am. Anyway, this time I am reviewing Gwendoline Riley's 7th novel, My Phantoms  (2021) and welcome to fractured familial relationships. With the novel in first person, told from the perspective of Bridget we are greeted with her disconnect from both her parents. Bridget has an uncomfortableness with her father who died years ago and her mother who she sees infrequently. Now as someone who studied creative writing in part at university, one thing we talked about was whether a narrator was a trustworthy one. Here, I cannot say that Bridget is. Why does she have a distanced relationship with her mother, damaged with cuts of harsh truth? Her partner, John seems more connected to her mother then she does. Even with him and her sister actually, the relationships seem loveless as if. I wonder where the e...

Hi everyone. I am here with my first review of the month for Bernardine Evaristo, who as I mentioned is author of the month. This is not my first review of hers as I did review Girl, Woman, Other  (2019) back in 2023. That was an incredible work of fiction which truly captivated me.  The Emperor's Babe  (2001) unlike that novel is a verse novel. This is a novel which shines amongst a lot of other books I have read. What caught my eye was reading the blurb. Now I know they say you should never judge a book by it's cover but when I am informed that a novel ‘sings a song of womanhood and survival’... I get an impression it might well be my kind of book. That and the mention of ‘drag queens’ drew me to it. As for having read the book. It really wasn't what I expected. I gasped, I laughed, I ewed, I tutted, I pondered and then my mind had "NOOO" darting about it. I am not going to spoil anything here but as far as novels go, this quite possibly had the most unexpected ...