Two Lives is a memoir written by international best-selling author, Vikram Seth. In this interesting and engaging book, Seth writes about his great uncle Shanti Behari Seth (Shanti Uncle), born in Biswan, and his German Jewish great aunt, Hennerle Caro (Aunty Henny), born in Berlin, describing them as two exiles who found their home in each other. Using interviews with his uncle as well as letters, photographs and official documents, Seth builds up a comprehensive image of the lives of two people he held dear. But as with his travelogue, From Heaven Lake, this also contains commentary on world affairs and much of the author’s own life: Seth states “I felt that a picture of these individual lives would be complemented by glimpses of their century, even if these glimpses were mediated by the opinion, perhaps opinionatedness, of the author. Indeed, the lens has also turned around upon its wielder, for this book is memoir as well as biography.” As such, while a fascinating examination of two very interesting lives, it also gives much insight into the inspiration for and circumstances surrounding the writing of his various works. It is certainly intriguing to see how his interests and life events are linked to his novels. The depiction of World War Two, the Holocaust and other events of the Twentieth Century from two unique perspectives is also quite interesting. And of course, Seth once again exercises his poetic brain cells for the charming dedication. This book has aptly been described as an engaging and moving narrative. Well worth reading.

Sweet Tooth is the 14th book by British author, Ian McEwan. Serena Frome’s story is narrated in detail essentially from the time she first gets involved with the man who will usher her into a position in MI5, in the early 70’s Britain. Serena is a compulsive reader of fiction and her first “secret mission” is to cultivate promising young author, Tom Haley. Their mutual attraction ensures they step beyond the boundaries set by her superiors, and before long, things start to unravel. While a working knowledge of British politics of the seventies plays would enhance the enjoyment of this novel, it is not requisite. McEwan presents the reader with a delicious irony when Serena tells us she distrusts any kind of fictional trick, something of which McEwan is a master. Once again, he fools the reader but, whereas I felt cheated by it in Atonement, this time I revelled in it. The end has the reader wondering: just whose words are we actually reading? The answer is very simple: those of a brilliant novelist.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is the first novel of British-born American author, Helen Simonson. Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired) lives in the charming English village of Edgecombe St Mary. Some six years after the death of his wife Nancy, it takes the events surrounding the sudden death of his younger brother, Bertie, to bring Mrs Jasmina Ali, the owner of the village shop, to his notice. As unlikely as it may seem, he finds he has a lot in common with this gentle woman of Pakistani descent. Simonson creates the feel of the rural English village with consummate ease, from the Lord of the Manor desperately trying to keep up his estate to the Golf Club with its exclusive membership to the well-meaning Ladies led by the vicar’s wife. Simonson’s characters are easily recognisable: the self-indulgent adult offspring with their focus on money; the hopeful spinster trying to be noticed by the last eligible male; the young Asian woman trying to escape the oppressive family; the professional Asian couple ingratiating themselves with the British Upper Class; and, of course, the stiff British Major who turns out to be terribly human, and therefore eminently likeable. Yet the characters have depth and the fact that all of the characters have some redeeming feature makes them all the more realistic: none is totally good or totally bad. Simonson touches on inheritance, the divide between the generations, loneliness, mortality, the fate of Manor houses, the mingling of cultures, housing estate development and stewardship of the land. She manages to include: an annual Golf Club dance; a duck shoot; Kipling; at attack with a knitting needle; a set of matched hunting rifles; a suicide attempt and a dramatic cliff-top climax. Favourite quotes: “This was the dull ache of grief in the real world; more dyspepsia than passion.” “’The world is full of small ignorances,’ said a quiet voice. Mrs Ali appeared at his elbow and gave the young woman a stern look. ‘We must do our best to ignore them and thereby keep then small, don’t you think?’” and “ ‘I think everyone has the right to be shown respect,’ she said. ‘Ah, well, there you go.’ He shook his head. ‘Young people are always demanding respect instead of trying to earn it. In my day, respect was something to strive for. Something to be given, not taken.’ “ This is a brilliant first novel and I look forward to more from Helen Simonson.

The Inn at Rose Harbor is the first book (apart from the prequel eShort, When First They Met) in the Rose Harbor series by popular American author, Debbie Macomber. This is a new series but is set in Cedar Cove, Washington, so fans of the long-running Cedar Cove series will be pleased at occasional glimpses and cameo appearances of characters from that series. Jo Marie Rose is a young widow who has bought a B&B in Cedar Cove, a move she is hoping will help her heal from the loss of her husband, Paul. Her first guests are people who also need healing: Abby Kincaid is a guilt-ridden young woman who fled Cedar Cove fifteen years ago after being the driver in a car accident that killed her best friend; Josh Weaver has returned to Cedar Cove to tend his ailing step-father, the same man who kicked him out of his home after his mother died. Macomber is the queen of feelgood and manages to organise forgiveness, reconciliation and true love for both Abby and Josh over the course of three days. It seems that Jo Marie’s healing is advancing too. Olivia Griffin, Grace Harding, Corrie McAfee and Peggy Beldon make appearances, as do a few spirits, a dubious character looking for a handout, a cranky handyman and a dog named Rover. Macomber sets up the next book in the series, Rose Harbor in Bloom, by having Jo Marie take bookings for the next two guests, and also includes a couple of knitting patterns. Sweet and enjoyable.

Red Mist is the 19th book in the Kay Scarpetta series by American author, Patricia D. Cornwell. Forensic pathologist, Kay Scarpetta visits an inmate at the Georgia Prison For Women, a woman who sexually assaulted Scarpetta’s now-deceased deputy chief, Jack Fielding, in his youth, and bore his daughter, who herself became a brilliant and vicious murderess. As a result of the visit, Kay feels manipulated into meeting with former NY assistant DA, Jaime Berger, and her paranoia is justified as she finds herself re-examining a nine-year-old multiple slaying in Savannah. While the plot in this Scarpetta installment is very good, the execution suffers from excessive trivial detail. It is written as a first person narrative with an abundance of repetition as well as bits of menu, food commentary, and preachy nutritional advice interspersed. The narrator comes across as whiny, arrogant and quite paranoid. The remaining significant characters are flat (the reader has met them in previous books and Cornwell apparently deems no depth is required of these characters now). Astute readers will pick the most important clue in the first tenth of the book, but the exact who, how and why of it make, nonetheless, a good read. If the heroine was less abrasive, the other characters a little less stale and the story condensed from the 500 pages it takes to cover 48 hours, this would be an excellent read.

On Canaan’s Side is the 7th novel by Irish author Sebastian Barry and is, deservedly, winner of the 2012 Walter Scott Prize. It was also long-listed for the 2011 Man Booker Prize. Lilly Bere (whom fans of Barry’s work will recognise as the youngest daughter of Thomas Dunne from The Steward Of Christendom, sister of Willie, Maud and Annie Dunne) writes, over the seventeen days since she has buried her beloved and troubled grandson, Bill, her thoughts about her life of almost ninety years. Through Lilly’s reminiscences, we learn of her childhood in Ireland, her escape to America with her fiancé Tadg, her marriage to, and abandonment by the mysterious Joe, and the raising her son Ed and her grandson Bill. Lilly encounters hardship, fear, great loss and heartbreak, but also incredible generosity, kindness and small victories. Despite intimacies and closeness, Lilly is not allowed to really know the significant men in her life (Thomas, Tadg, Joe, Ed, Bill and Mr Nolan), often until it was far too late, if at all, yet she shows grace, courage, an enormous capacity for forgiveness and rejects opportunities for revenge. With his prose, some of it achingly beautiful, Barry evokes atmosphere, mood and emotion, and comments on the unspoken tragedies of wars and rebellions. Some favourite quotes: “I wonder if I were to have an X-ray at the little hospital, would the machine see my grief? Is it like a rust, a rheum about the heart?” “…. beamed out a smile as good as the Wicklow lighthouse when at last it turns its great arc towards you.” “We may be immune to typhoid, tetanus, chicken pox, diphtheria, but never memory. There is no inoculation against that.” “The gift of life, oftentimes so difficult to accept, the horse whose teeth we are so often inclined to inspect.” “To remember sometimes is a great sorrow, but when the remembering has been done, there comes afterward a very curious peacefulness. Because you have planted your flag on the summit of sorrow. You have climbed it.” A wonderful story, beautifully written.

Gone Girl is the third novel by American author, Gillian Flynn. “She was the girl that every girl wanted to be: beautiful, brilliant, inspiring and very wealthy. He was the guy that all men admired: handsome, funny, bright and charming. But on July fifth, their seemingly perfect world came crashing in when Amy Elliott Dunne disappeared on their fifth wedding anniversary.” Flynn alternates narrations from husband Nick Dunne starting the day of the disappearance with diary entries by Amy Elliott Dunne starting when she first met Nick, and later, narrations by Amy, to gradually lead the reader through a tense, clever plot with some breathtaking twists and turns. Along the way, she touches on the power of TV and social media, the influence of good (and bad) parenting and whether anyone can really know their spouse. With plenty of black humour, Gone Girl is witty, scary, funny and brilliant.

Never Knowing is the second novel by Canadian author, Chevy Stevens. Like her last book, this is a gripping psychological thriller that will have the reader on the edge of the seat until the last chapter. Sara Gallagher, 34 and mother to six-year-old Ally, is engaged to be married to the laid-back Evan. After a childhood with an adoptive family where she never felt wholly wanted, Sara decides to search for her birth mother. With the help of a Private Investigator, she discovers her mother was the only known survivor of a serial killer who was never captured. Worse still, after this information goes public, her birth father starts ringing her. Stevens sets up her narrative as sessions that Sara has with her psychiatrist, thus also delving deeply into Sara’s feelings and emotions. In this page-turner, Stevens touches on serial killing, the debate of nature versus nurture (bad blood), the use of the internet to disseminate information, obsessive compulsive disorder, and the rights of adopted children and birth parents. Stevens gives the reader characters that are all the more realistic for being imperfect and occasionally irritating, a great setting and believable dialogue. The plot is full of suspense with several twists, some humour to relieve the tension and a brilliant climax. Another page-turner.

Murder in Montparnasse is the twelfth book in the popular Phryne Fisher series by Australian author, Kerry Greenwood. A request from the French chef/owner of Café Anatole to locate a missing prospective young bride has Phryne thinking back to her time in Paris in 1918. Shortly after, Bert and Cec ask for Phryne’s help with the suspicious death of two of their mates from the war: they believe others in their group of seven diggers are in danger. Discussion leads Phryne to conclude that they witnessed the murder under a Metro train at Montparnasse of a Parisian artist, Pierre Sarcelle. Coincidentally, Phryne was also in Paris at the time, and had posed for Sarcelle. Memories both good and bad flood in. On top of this, Phryne’s plan to continue seeing the soon-to-be-married Lin Chung has Mr Butler threatening the unthinkable. This instalment has an arsonist, standover merchants, a cranky father, a ransom note, a car theft gang, lots of French food, some cross-dressing, spiked drinks and a tin of Best Seville Orange Marmalade. Phryne enlists the help of Ruth and Jane in some undercover pursuit, meets Jack Robinson’s wife Rosie and Lin Chung’s prospective wife Camillia and foils an eviction. Hugh Collins accidentally solves a crime in Mildura and Jack Robinson makes a daring food choice. Greenwood gives the reader a bit more of Phryne’s backstory with her activities in Paris amongst the famous and infamous, as well as a cracking good mystery with plenty of intrigue, some excellent twists and a bit of irony. Phryne fans will love it!

Disgrace is the eighth stand-alone novel by award-winning author, J.M.Coetzee. After a short-lived, impulsive affair with a student, Romance poetry teacher, David Lurie resigns his position at Cape Town Technical University and retreats to his daughter’s farm in the South African countryside. They live in relative harmony until an attack leaves them feeling violated and fearful. Lurie returns to Cape Town to work on an opera he is composing about the poet Byron and his lover Teresa. As Coetzee narrates the recent events of Lurie’s life if the face of the changing political landscape of South Africa, he examines a range of topics: aging, lesbianism, a male’s contribution in sex, violence and violation, rape, humiliation, the price to be paid to be permitted to remain peacefully in a land reclaimed by its owners, freedom of speech, freedom to remain silent, power relations and sexual relations. Lurie’s refusal to pay lip service to convention’s demands highlights the inflexible and occasionally ridiculous nature of the system. His daughter tells him, “….surely you know by now that the trials are not about principles, they are about how well you put yourself across.” While there is some excellent prose: “The skull, followed by the temperament: the two hardest parts of the body.” and “The language he draws on with such aplomb is, if he only knew it, tired, friable, eaten from inside as if by termites. Only monosyllables can still be relied on, and not even all of them.”, the writing style is not particularly pleasing and the characters are unappealing and often irritating. I read this book after having read The Childhood of Jesus, which has been predicted to win Coetzee another Booker, to see if I liked it any better than that one. A Man Booker prize winner this one may be, but it confirms for me that I need read no more Coetzee.

Smokin’ Seventeen is the seventeenth full-length novel in the Stephanie Plum series by American author, Janet Evanovich. De rigeur for each Stephanie Plum novel is: Lula needing food at every moment; Grandma Mazur attending at least one funeral home viewing; Stephanie wrecking at least two, and usually more, vehicles; visits to Tasty Pastry and Cluck-in-a-Bucket; Stephanie pursuing skips that are never ordinary; Lula enthusing about a career for which she shows absolutely no talent; Lula gets indignant about someone calling her fat and Stephanie examining her guilt about wanting both Ranger and Morelli. This instalment has all of those and more: Grandma Bella makes a long overdue appearance; Stephanie drives a funeral casket down the main street in a Jeep; Lula’s weapon of choice, when not using her stun gun, is a supersoaker filled with holy water; quite a lot of sex, thanks to Morelli’s Grandma Bella; Lula fears she is growing fangs; there are cockfighting, foodfighting, granny pants and a dancing bear. Stephanie is on at least 3 hit lists, spends a lot of time avoiding people trying to kill, maim or cook for her, and ends up with tickets to Thailand. If the reader guesses the villain before getting even halfway through the story, the finding out how and why is still lots of fun. Best quote: “I’d hate to list our specialties. Wreck cars, eat donuts, create mayhem” which pretty much sums up Lula and Stephanie. Plenty of laughs.

Wicked Appetite is the first book in the Lizzy and Diesel series by Janet Evanovich. Lizzy Tucker doesn’t know that she is a human with special abilities, an Unmentionable, until Diesel turns up in her life. (Diesel first appears in each of the Between the Numbers BTN Stephanie Plum novels). Lizzy is a pastry chef with a special talent for cupcakes (Evanovich does love cupcakes!), and, apparently, also for detecting empowered objects. Diesel needs Lizzy to find certain Stones associated with the Seven Deadly Sins, for which his cousin, the evil Gerwulf Grimoire is also searching (Wulf first appears in Plum Spooky). It appears that Lizzy’s bakery colleagues are more than Normal humans as well: Glo is an enthusiastic if incompetent spell-caster; Clara was an Unmentionable in years previous. Soon Lizzy’s normal life in Marblehead MA (just near Salem) is somehow turned upside down: of the people who hold keys to the Gluttony Stone, one is hexed into gibberish, one’s house is blown to smithereens and another’s apartment is trashed; Lizzy has also acquired a one-eyed cat and Carl, that annoying monkey from the Plum BTN books. I was prepared to not like this very much as I was getting rather fed up with Stephanie, Lula and Carl in the BTN’s, but this series has some fresh new characters and starts off well. The humour relies on Glo’s ineptitude with spells, the effects of the Gluttony charms and, unfortunately, Carl’s antics (again, I say, lose the monkey, Janet). There are explosions, abductions, flying booms, ferrets and olive oil, gnomes, padlocks, bunnies, many children and lots of food. Apparently there will be at least six more, covering the other deadly sins, Lust being covered in Wicked Business. Funny if a little slow.

The Storyteller is the twenty-first novel by award-winning American author, Jodi Picoult. In this thought-provoking novel, Picoult follows her usual format of narration by different voices, but adds an allegorical story written by one of her characters. Reclusive baker, Sage Singer is a young woman scarred by her past and the guilt she carries. Josef Weber is a well-respected old man, a favourite teacher with a shocking secret and a unique request for Sage. Leo Stein is a lawyer with the Department of Justice who hunts war criminals. Minka Singer is Sage’s grandmother and a holocaust survivor. With this cast of characters, Picoult crafts a superb tale that will have the reader engrossed to the very last line. She brings her story to a breathtaking climax that leaves the reader wondering what they themselves might be capable of. Minka summarises it well when she says: “…..there is good and evil in all of us. A monster is just someone for whom the evil has tipped the balance.” As always, Picoult’s research is thorough, wide-ranging and apparent in every paragraph and includes holocaust survivors, concentration camps, mustard gas, baking, death marches, Jewish customs, Polish ghettoes, vampire myths, plant poisons, Nazi hunters, war crimes and gas chambers. Her portrayal of the creation of an SS officer is illuminating. Picoult always presents the reader with at least one dilemma and is an expert at sparking consideration of all sides of an issue. This novel will have the reader thinking about war crimes, vengeance, justice, deceit, repentance, what acts can (or cannot) be forgiven and who has the right to forgive. The most common dilemma with a Picoult novel, however, is this: read fast to know what happens next; or read slowly to prolong the enjoyment. While there is plenty of horror and heartbreak in this story, there is also incredible compassion and kindness, a bit of Haiku and some humour. The Storyteller provides undiluted reading pleasure. Picoult is brilliant and inspired, as always.

The Last Dragonslayer is the first book in the Chronicles of Kazam series by Welsh author Jasper Fforde. Aimed at the Young Adult reader, the heroine is an almost-16-year-old foundling raised by the Blessed Ladies of the Lobster, Jennifer Strange. Whilst her boss, Mr. Zambini (formerly The Great) is absent, Jennifer runs the Kazam Mystical Arts Management, an employment agency for magical arts practitioners, the demand for whom is ever-dwindling with the advent of weather satellites, drain cleaner and motorcycle couriers. But when soothsayers at all levels predict the death of the last Dragon, Maltcassion, Jennifer’s job description seems fated to change. Big Magic is the watchword. This series is set in the Kingdom of Hereford in the Ununited Kingdoms of Great Britain, very much like modern day Britain with its bureaucracy, politics, nepotism and corruption. Fforde creates a cast of Wizards of various talents (sorcery, soothsaying, carpeteering, moving, shifting, birdspeaking, weathermongering) with varying degrees of wizidrical power, a King, a Duke, a Dragonslayer with apprentice, an enchanted lift, a Dragon, an order of nuns, a Childcatcher, a Pollyanna stone, a transient moose and the Quarkbeast (Labrador/velociraptor/kitchen blender). Marzipan is a drug of addiction, magic is highly regulated and the King wants to conquer Wales. As always, Fforde includes some hilarious names : Col. Baggsum Gayme, Yogi Baird and the king’s seer, The Inconsistent Sage O’Neons. The military standoff between the Duke of Brecon and King Snodd is decidedly Monty Pythonish. The dialogue is excellent, the plot, as always, very original and appealing not just to the young adult reader. It has been described as inventive and funny. It’s wizards and dragons, Fforde style, it’s brilliant.

Gilead is the second novel by American author Marilynne Robinson. It is 1956, in Gilead, Iowa, and John Ames, a seventy-six year-old preacher with heart failure, is writing a letter to his young son. After losing his first wife and daughter in childbirth, he has spent almost fifty years tending his flock, more than forty of them alone, before falling in love with Lila, thirty-five years his junior, and fathering a son. Knowing he will not see him grow up, he tries to tell his son the things he will need to know in life. He tells of the relationship he had with his father and grandfather, also preachers, and of the parting in anger, never reconciled, of his father and grandfather. As he writes, his anxieties for his wife and son’s future security are voiced. When his godson and namesake John Ames Boughton (Jake), the prodigal son of his closest friend, returns to Gilead, he also worries about what danger his young family may face from this irresponsible man. Robinson skilfully and slowly builds this story that is occasionally more like a diary or stream of consciousness than a letter. The patient reader is rewarded with a beautiful ending that is bound to bring a tear to the eye. It is no surprise that this novel is the Winner of both the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Orange Prize for Fiction. I look forward to “Home” which tells the associated story of the Boughtons. Uplifting.

Life of Pi is the second novel by Canadian author Yann Martel. It tells the story the 227-day ordeal, in a lifeboat with a 450 pound Royal Bengal tiger, of a sixteen-year-old Indian youth, Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi). It is told in three parts: Pi’s youth in Pondicherry at his father’s zoo and the Patel family’s decision to emigrate to Canada; the sinking of the ship and Pi’s sojourn on the lifeboat; and Pi’s interview by officials from the Japanese Ministry of Transport, in an Infirmary in Mexico; the author’s notes about his meetings with Pi, the Japanese official who interviewed Pi and the family friend of the Patel’s who first alerted him to the story, lend an authenticity to the novel. Martel’s story touches on theology, zoology, human behaviour, sanity and the will to survive, and his meticulous research into his subjects is apparent in every chapter. With lyrical prose, Martel describes Pi’s encounters with fish, turtles, birds and whales, as well as the quality of the sky, the sea and the wind. Pi’s experience with the floating algae island proves that anything that seems too good to be true, usually is. My favourite scene was the encounter on the seaside esplanade of Pi’s parents, the pundit, the imam and the priest, especially the effect of Pi’s last words on the holy men. The objections that the incredulous Japanese officials cite to Pi’s fantastic story are quite amusing; the alternate version that Pi offers them, on the other hand, is certainly sobering. Martel’s imagery is evocative: “I believe it was this that saved my life that morning, that I was quite literally dying of thirst. Now that the word had popped into my head I couldn’t think of anything else, as if the word itself were salty and the more I thought of it, the worse the effect.” And he occasionally has Pi very succinctly describing his predicament: “...to be a castaway is to be caught up in grim and exhausting opposites….” , “Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life.” There is horror in this story, but also much humanity and humour is laced throughout. Highly original, funny and thought-provoking.

Plum Spooky is the fourth novel in the Stephanie Plum Between the Numbers books by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie’s main FTA in this instalment is the diminutive Martin Munch, a quantum physics whiz, who has, inconveniently, been targeted by the Unmentionable Gerwulf Grimoire (Wulf) to help with a scheme to control the world’s weather. Enter Diesel, coincidentally cousin to the evil Wulf, and cosmic bounty hunter. Apart from a good deal of murder, kidnapping, and thievery, there are mythical entities (Easter Bunny, Jersey Devil, Sasquatch, Fire Farter), the use of a nail gun on the human body and the destruction of at least one of Stephanie’s vehicles. Stephanie babysits a monkey (or seven), is kidnapped for use as a sex slave, gets lost in the Pine Barrens without bars on her cell phone, gets into a fruit fight, steals a van and some rockets, rides in a helicopter, blows up a fuel depot and a mine and gets stuck in a cranberry bog. Readers don’t come to Plum for depth: “What do you think about death?” I asked Diesel. “I like the buffet. After that it’s not my favourite thing”. Lula is still engaged to Tank but consulting with Miss Gloria and things are looking shaky. Best exchange is probably: “How’s it going?” Morelli wanted to know. “It’s average. Stole a truck. Blew up a house. Brought home seven monkeys. And now there’s a naked man in my shower.” “Yeah, same ol’, same ol’.” Morelli said. Evanovich should lose Carl the very irritating monkey before proceeding. Some laugh-out-loud moments, but this one is average.

Before I Go To Sleep is the first novel by British author S.J.Watson. Christine Lucas has the sort of amnesia that prevents her from storing new memories. This means that she wakes each day in an unfamiliar bedroom, next to a man she doesn’t know. The face she sees in the mirror is that of a woman much older than she knows herself to be. Each morning the man in her bed reassures her that he is Ben, her husband of 22 years, and that he loves her and will take care of her. So everything will be OK, won’t it? Watson has created a novel with an original plot and some delicious twists, a novel full of suspense with a heart-stopping climax and a perfect ending. Watson skilfully conveys Christine’s confusion, her doubts about her own memories, her fear of paranoia and ultimately her mistrust of what she is told. This debut novel is a brilliantly conceived psychological thriller that is hard to put down and will keep the reader guessing to the end. S.J.Watson is an author to watch.

Joseph Anton is the memoir of controversial Indian author, Salman Rushdie and concentrates on the time in his life during which he was under threat of the fatwa imposed by the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini for his novel, The Satanic Verses. From this memoir, the reader gains an understanding of the roots of Rushdie’s atheism, as well as the inspiration for and circumstances surrounding the writing of his novels. It is certainly interesting to see how events in his life are linked to his novels: I was especially gratified to learn about the genesis of my favourite Rushdie novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories. The mechanics of being in hiding, protection by Special Branch, risk and threat are intriguing and occasionally quite amusing. The loyalty and generosity of his true friends (“Friends Without Whom Life Would Have Been Impossible”) was nothing short of remarkable; the lack of support and criticism from certain literary figures, politicians and governments was surprising. Well into his years of hiding, he says “I have been given a lesson, in these years, in the worst of human nature, but also the best of it..” While the details of the many trips, dinners, meetings, press conferences and politicking verged on tedious, it is apparent that Rushdie’s journals must have been extremely detailed. The matter-of-fact manner in which he describes his infidelity is breathtaking. The soup of famous names began to smack of name dropping yet the funniest part, the interlude in Australia, involved no celebrities, just a bunch of ordinary people helping out: I also loved that because it mentioned my home town and lots of familiar places. His “unsent” letters were clever and often very funny. His strong stand on freedom of speech and imagination is well presented and his comments on what he was battling, “popular irrationalism”, succinct: “The unreasoning mind, driven by doubt-free absolutes, could not be convinced by reason.” As with most of his major works, Rushdie never uses two words where three will do, more evidence of those detailed journals. Bizarrely, Rushdie has written this memoir in the third person, perhaps because he was writing about his alias, Joseph Anton: mostly, this works, but occasionally it gives rise to some ambiguity: which “he” said or did that? This is a fascinating insight (even if is it rather one-eyed) into this fine writer.

The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds is the ninth novel in the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith. Isabel is asked to help in the recovery of a very valuable painting (a Poussin) stolen from the collection of old-fashioned philanthropist, Duncan Munrowe. Jamie, Isabel’s husband of one year, and father of their son, Charlie, knows better than to advise against her involvement: he pleads with her to be careful. As a result of her involvement, she encounters a distraught country gentleman, an unpleasant lawyer, a pair of aggressive thugs, a reserved daughter and a disapproving son. Isabel manages to engineer a surprising resolution to the whole affair. Three and three quarter year old Charlie shows an aptitude for mathematics; Isabel gives Eddie some sorely-needed support; and Grace resigns (again!). Along the way, Isabel ponders or discusses: the nature of genius; child prodigies and pushy parents; our responsibility to future generations; the art of judging social cues; insincere compliments and heart-sink friends; dress codes and personal hygiene obligations; arguments about nothing; projectile vomiting; answering the telephone; the criminality of illegal parking; the morals of unearned money; the expiry date of sympathy; when does a reward become a ransom; loyalty to government, country and family; the ownership of leftovers; email expectations; and, of course, clouds. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments (the reincarnation of Professor Lettuce being one of those) and Isabel creates some marvelous expressions like trial by cocktail, and romantic sabbatical. There is plenty of gentle philosophy and quite a lot of wisdom. My favourite quotes: “Children understood that adults could become angry – curiously so, and for no apparent reason, just as the weather could change and a smiling day might suddenly frown.” and “’Gaydar can be misleading, you know,’ said Jamie. ‘It needs to be calibrated’” and “You can only blame people for that which they have chosen to do”. Thought-provoking and funny, always a pleasure to read.