Year of Fire Dragons: An American Woman's Story of Coming of Age in Hong Kong by Shannon Young

Title: Year of Fire Dragons: An American Woman's Story of Coming of Age in Hong Kong
Author: Shannon Young
Publication: Blacksmith Books (15 Jun. 2015)  
Summary: In 2010, bookish 22-year-old Shannon follows her Eurasian boyfriend to Hong Kong, eager to forge a new love story in his hometown. But when work sends him to London a month later, Shannon embarks on a wide-eyed newcomer's journey through Hong Kong – alone.

She teaches in a local school as the only foreigner, explores Asia with other young expats and discovers family history in Hong Kong, all while trying to hold on to her thwarted romance. The city enchants her, forcing her to question her plans. Soon, she must make a choice between her new life and the love that first brought her to Asia.

What I Think

Living in Hong Kong I have a particular interest in reading books set in this little pocket of Asia and it's an extra special treat to read a book that reminds me what a vibrant and exciting city this is. Hong Kong is multifaceted and each morning Shannon Young leaves "behind one world and enter[s] an entirely different, more Chinese one." 

"The time was right for an international long distance relationship," writes Young about her relationship with Ben, managing to stay in daily contact via Skype, phone, email and instant messaging. This is in stark contrast to the annual letters Young's grandmother sent back to the U.S. She had also moved abroad to teach, met her husband, got married and started a family. In the 1950s they were stationed in Hong Kong. Including fragments of these letters evokes not only the feeling of a different world, but draws comparisons with the physical changes in Hong Kong. 

Living abroad isn't always easy. "Friendship is fast, cheap, and interchangeable in the expat world." Young's writing is full of such insights as she delves further into the Chinese culture, language, her teaching position as the only Native English Teacher and whether she wants to stay in Hong Kong without Ben, or move to yet another foreign place to be with him.  

Shannon Young's writing is as full of life as this city and I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in travel, living abroad, teaching or a good old-fashioned love story. 

About the Author

Shannon Young is an American writer currently living in Hong Kong. She is the author of a coming of age travel memoir called Year of Fire Dragons (Blacksmith Books) and a Kindle Single on student debt. She has edited an anthology of creative non-fiction by expat women in Asia and written e-books including a mini travel memoir, The Olympics Beat, and a novella, The Art of Escalator Jumping.

A graduate of Colgate University in New York, Shannon's writing has appeared in the Hong Kong Women in Publishing Society's anthology, on numerous websites, and on an iPhone travel app. She writes a blog called A Kindle in Hong Kong and likes to spy on other people's books on the train.


You can follow Shannon's work and join her email list at the following sites:

Website: shannonyoungwriter.com
Blog: akindleinhongkong.blogspot.com
Twitter: @ShannonYoungHK

This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Title: This Is Where I Leave You
Author: Jonathan Tropper
Publication: Orion (21 Jan. 2010)
Summary: Poor Judd Foxman returns home early to find his wife in bed with his boss - in the act. He now faces the twin threats of both divorce and unemployment. His misery is compounded further with the sudden death of his father. He is then asked to come and 'sit Shiva' for his newly deceased parent with his angry, screwed-up and somewhat estranged brothers and sisters in his childhood home. It is there he must confront who he really is and - more importantly - who he can become.

What I Think

There's no point writing about an ordinary family with no problems. The Foxman family in Johnathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You is anything but normal. In fact, it's almost farcical. Every issue you can imagine arises; from adultery to death to struggling with fertility to unwanted pregnancy to you-name-it. It's a psychiatrist's dream family. But despite the struggles of this family, the book is extremely funny. It's been a long time since a book has made me laugh this much. A bittersweet novel about a man trying to find his way and I would highly recommend it. 

About the Author

Jonathan Tropper is the internationally bestselling author of six novels: Plan B, The Book of Joe, Everything Changes, How To Talk to a Widower, This Is Where I Leave You, and One Last Thing Before I Go. His books have been translated into over twenty languages. He recently adapted This Is Where I Leave You as a feature film for Warner Bros. Studios, starring Jason Bateman and Tina Fey, and is currently adapting One Last Thing Before I Go for Paramount. Jonathan is also the co-creator and executive producer of the television show Banshee, which premiered on Cinemax in January 2013 and is currently shooting its third season. He lives in Westchester, NY with his three children.

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Books make the world go round. 

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The Truth About Ellen by Sarah Louise Smith

Title: The Truth About Ellen
Author: Sarah Louise Smith
Publication: Crooked Cat Publishing Ltd. (19 May 2015)
Summary: When Ellen starts dating Tom, a member of the band she adored as a teenager, she can’t believe how lucky she is. She neglects to mention that she's a huge fan because that just wouldn’t be cool, would it? Ellen also keeps quiet about how she once spent an evening with Tom’s ex-bandmate/ex-best friend Jasper, her long-term celebrity crush. Tom doesn’t need to know about that, it’s all in the past. That is until Tom and Jasper get back in touch… and the truth threatens to ruin everything Ellen has ever dreamed of... 

What I Think

Most of us have, at some point in our lives, had a celebrity crush. I was not really a boy band fan, but my celebrity crushes were/are Colin Firth and Richard Armitage. Therefore I can, to an extent, relate to how Ellen feels when she meets Tom Green, "who wrote the lyrics and played the bass in Four Ape"; a mixture of awe and feeling lucky, but also wanting to hide how big a fan she was and play it cool. Unfortunately for Ellen, playing it cool isn't really her thing. 

Ellen is an extremely likable character and the thing that I possibly liked the most about her was her sense of independence. In a lot of chick lit novels the main characters can get so caught up in the moment that they lose their sense of self. This is not the case in The Truth About Ellen. 

I've read all of Sarah Louise Smith's previous novels and didn't hesitate when I noticed that a new one was being released. I even started reading it without reading the back cover. I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. I sped through it and was surprised - but in a good way - at the ending. How does it end? You'll just have to read it to find out!

About the Author

Sarah Louise Smith lives in Milton Keynes, UK, with her husband, two cute cats and a loopy golden retriever. She has an extremely lovely step-daughter and spends most of her free time writing, reading, cooking, and taking long walks.


She’s the author of four chick-lit novels: Amy & Zach, Izzy’s Cold Feet, Independent Jenny and The Truth About Ellen, all published by Crooked Cat Publishing Ltd. 

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

Title: The Last Anniversary
Author: Liane Moriarty
Publication: Penguin (23 Oct. 2014)
Summary: One abandoned baby. Two sisters with a secret. One chance to rewrite the past. Over seventy years have passed since sisters Rose and Connie Doughty found an abandoned baby near their home on the island Scribbly Gum. With no one to take care of it, Rose and Connie took the baby in as their own. Since then the 'Munro Baby Mystery' has brought fame and fortune, putting Scribbly Gum on the tourist map, especially for the island's annual celebration. But now, with Connie dead and outsider Sophie Honeywell about to move into her home, Rose begins to wonder if they made the right decision all those years ago. How much longer can they cover up the lie that has sustained their community for generations? And what other secrets are about to be revealed?

What I Think

I think I may have found another great (not merely good) chick lit author. Up until now my favourites are Jojo Moyes and Mhairi McFarlane and, although they remain my favourites, Liane Moriarty might be joining them. I'll have to read another book of hers to make my final decision. Previously by Moriary I read The Husband's Secret and despite thoroughly enjoying The Last Anniversary it wasn't as good. It was a little too 'chick litty'. You see, even though I like chick lit books occasionally, they do have to meet certain criteria. I class this as sophisticated chick lit, i.e. not too obvious, the female characters should not be pathetic, the male characters should not be too 'hot', there should be a 'deeper' story-line than just 'finding The One'. Yes, I'm picky, but it's worth it when you find the right fit! 

And unfortunately The Last Anniversary had some of the criteria I don't like in chick lit. Only fleetingly, but enough to make me say: only read this if you actively want to choose a lighter book to read. Otherwise, read The Husband's Secret because that is a truly excellent book of lies, loyalty and secrets. 

About the Author

Liane Moriarty is the Australian author of six internationally best-selling novels, including Three Wishes, The Last Anniversary, What Alice Forgot, The Hypnotist's Love Story and the number 1 New York Times bestsellers, The Husband's Secret and Big Little Lies.

The Husband's Secret has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and is set to be translated into over 35 languages. CBS Films has acquired the film rights.

With the launch of her most recent novel, Big Little Lies, Liane became the first Australian author to have a novel debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. Film and television rights have already been snapped up by Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon.

Writing as L.M.Moriarty,Liane has also written a series of books for children.

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

Title: The Kitchen House
Author: Kathleen Grissom
Publication: Transworld Digital (14 Mar. 2013)
Summary: When seven-year-old Irish orphan Lavinia is transported to Virginia to work in the kitchen of a wealthy plantation owner, she is absorbed into the life of the kitchen house and becomes part of the family of black slaves whose fates are tied to the plantation.

But Lavinia’s skin will always set her apart, whether she wishes it or not. And as she grows older, she will be torn between the life that awaits her as a white woman and the people she knows as kin…

What I Think

Set between the years of 1791 and 1810 The Kitchen House tells the story of Lavinia, a young white orphan who is intentured to a wealthy landowner in Virginia. It's the story of 'what ifs'. What if her parents hadn't died on the passage from Ireland to America. What if she and her brother Cardigan hadn't been separated. What if she'd known the truth... This novel weaves layers and layers of secrets, some which Lavinia is too young to understand and and some which she makes up her own truth for. This, ultimately, is her downfall. 

Lavinia is but one of a large cast of characters in this novel. She is naive, but likable, however not my favourite. Out of all of them Mama Mae is my favourite character. 'I work for Mrs. Pyke like I don't know what tired mean. Nothing' that I won't do. "Yes, Mrs. Pyke, you right, Mrs. Pyke," that all I say. You girls watch me close. I act like I don't have no mind of my own, except how to make every body in the big house happy. That because I mean to stay up there, and I tryin' hard to keep you girls with me.' 

I found this to be a real page-turner; I really couldn't wait to see how the story would unfold. It was exciting up until the very end. 

About the Author

Over the past ten years, Kathleen Grissom and her husband have been restoring an old plantation tavern in Virginia. While researching the plantation's past, Kathleen found an old map on which, not far from their home, was the notation, 'Negro Hill'. Unable to determine the story of its origin, local historians suggested that it most likely represented a tragedy. This became the inspiration behind The Kitchen House. 

This is Kathleen Grissom's first novel. 

Language in the Blood by Angela Lockwood

About the Book

Title: Language in the Blood
Author: Angela Lockwood
Publication: angela lockwood (16 Aug 2013)
Summary: Until the outbreak of the First World War, young Cameron Blair would have liked nothing better than to stay in Edinburgh and marry his childhood sweetheart. As the call to arms goes out, Cameron and his pals sign up to fight for their country. They are soon delivered into the nightmare of war, and there Cameron more than meets his maker. 
The story follows Cameron as he comes to terms with his new ‘life’, from his first days as a hapless vampire in war-torn France to the glamorous modern day setting of the Côte d’Azur. Along the way, he develops a distinctive taste for the finer things in life: jewels, yachts, small dogs and champagne-infused human... 

What I Think

Until now I have avoided the 'vampire genre' and Language in the Blood is, therefore, the first vampire book that I've ever read. I was more than happy to give it a try thinking that maybe I was missing out on something and you shouldn't knock something until you've tried it (except maybe for Fifty Shades of Grey). 

Cameron, the main character in the book, was born in the early 20th century and spends the better part of it being a vampire after he is turned into one during World War I. He initially struggles to adapt to his new way of living, especially how to find 'food', but within a couple of years starts to feel more comfortable. The main changes in his character take place very early on and after that he remains fairly stable, albeit cold distant and ruthless. I would have preferred to see more of his early development as this is where the biggest changes happen. 

This is an easy to read novel divided into bite-sized chapters which relate to the people Cameron meets during his life. I would recommend this to people who are interested in vampire fiction. 

About the Author

Angela Lockwood-van der Klauw was born in the Netherlands. She learned her trade as a jeweller and gemmologist at the Vakschool Schoonhoven before moving to Edinburgh as an apprentice jeweller. There she met and later married her husband Adam. Angela ran her own jeweller’s shop in Edinburgh for ten years before she and her husband moved to the south of France in 2011. Like Cameron, Angela prefers the climate there, but often thinks about the town she left behind and its people. 

follow language in the blood on: 
http://www.cruftslover.adzl.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/CruftsloverAkaCameronBlair

Everyone Knows this is Nowhere by Alice Furse

About the Book

Title: Everyone Knows this is Nowhere 
Author: Alice Furse
Publication: Amazon (2013)
Summary: It’s an endless winter in suburbia, and a young graduate who dreams of fading into anonymity moves in with a traffic warden and accepts a mind-numbing job in an office. Slowly, she starts to believe that the apocalypse is imminent, but unable to find anyone who understands she hatches a plan to save herself – before it’s too late. 

Everybody Knows this is Nowhere is an honest, comic, heart-breaking novel about how we love each other and the road to discovering that life rarely happens as we expect. Disarmingly frank, the narrator pulls the novel to its inevitable, and painful, conclusion.

What I Think

I read Alice Furse's debut novel, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, twice, and that's saying something because I very rarely read a book twice. I thoroughly enjoyed it both times, and that's really saying something.

Sometimes I decided that there had to be another life out there, waiting for me to step into it like a new shoe. My life felt as if it didn't match me at all, as if I'd picked up the wrong one by accident. 

The main character (whose name we never find out) has just graduated and not knowing how to get the job of her dreams, accepts a mind-numbing job in an office. Personally this is something I can relate to as I found myself in exactly the same position after university. The book is filled with all the little experiences of working in an office and Furse finds a way to make the endless mundane days at the office interesting. 

You love what you love and you believe what you believe. 

Relationships are also explored in the novel, the most important being the one between the main character and her boyfriend, the Traffic Warden. They live in "the noisiest place in the universe" and embark on post-uni life together. Relationships between couples in the twenty-first century are changing; there are no longer any rules and it's not always easy to find your way. Which flaws can you accept as endearing, and which are unbearable? 

I loved the sharpness of the air in my mouth and the skeletal trees spread like veins on the clear sky. 

Alice Furse has a way of looking for the extraordinary in the ordinary, writing about it and making it compelling in a way that I've rarely seen before. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is like a fly on the wall documentary, but in book form, and it's excellently done. She has a beautiful way with language and the book is packed with similes and descriptions, as well as fabulous one-liners. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is about to finish university (although make sure you're in a 'happy place' when you sit down to read it), anyone who has been frustrated after leaving university and anyone who is looking for a new, unique talent in the world of writing. 

About the Author

Alice Furse lives in Brixton, London, and works as a press officer for a national sports radio station. She has an MA in Creative Writing and Everybody Knows this is Nowhere is her first publication. 

Alice Furse - Author Interview

I'm very excited to welcome debut author Alice Furse to my blog today. I read her book, Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, recently and will be publishing a full review on Wednesday 12th February. I hope you enjoy this interview with Alice.  

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself 

I’ve moved around quite a bit but live in London now and absolutely love it. It’s massive and dirty and it took me a good year before I properly got my head around it, partly because when I first moved here I was a dealer in a casino and worked nights. Now I work as the press officer for a national sports radio station, which is a lot more fun and also means I get to see the daylight. I live near Brixton and there’s a great indie cinema, a sprawling food market, and a pub full of funny characters as well as a decent secondhand bookshop. I like the fact you never really know what you’re going to see when you leave your front door – London is a great place for eccentrics and misfits.

2. Can you tell us a little about your debut publication, Everyone Knows this is Nowhere?
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere is about a girl who has just left university and feels that life should now be starting, only to realise that nothing is how she thought it would be (including the man she lives with). She gets a job as an office receptionist and is just itching for something else, but really doesn’t know what.
In common with most first novels it’s heavily autobiographical: when I left uni I moved straight in with a boyfriend and had no solid idea about what I wanted to do with my life (beyond being a writer, a profession that everyone told me was a pipedream), but I wasn’t at all prepared for how utterly lost and useless and bored and alone I would feel. This novel was really my exploration of those feelings.

3. I would describe your writing style as ‘fly on the wall’. Do you think this is accurate and is this a style you have purposefully used? 

I read somewhere that when you write a novel it should be like you’re taking the reader by the hand and showing them around a world, and I really love that idea because firstly you have a license to take a person on a journey and show them whatever you want, which is amazing, but there’s also an onus on you to make it interesting enough that they continue to want to be there with you.
Everybody Knows is not plot-driven by any stretch of the imagination, so I purposefully had to think of ways to draw readers in and keep them, and I tried to do this by creating an ominous atmosphere and pretty weird ensemble of characters, as well as holding it all together by a deadpan narrator.
I was definitely trying to capture something real, as I was pretty sure that other people must also feel as I did and if I could make them feel less alone then great, because I think that’s what a writer’s job really is.

4. Did you make a conscious decision to self-publish, or was this made for you? 
Bit of both, I guess. I wrote the novel a few years ago, and right after it was finished I got an agent interested, who sent it out to his contacts. It got reasonably far at a few publishing houses, but they all said that although they liked it they couldn’t figure out how to market it, so I left it and got on with other things.
About six months ago it occurred to me what an utter waste this was, and that I’d put so much work into something that I’m pretty proud of and no one would ever get to read it. Self-publishing has been made so much easier as technology has advanced and now I have three years experience in PR under my belt, so I just decided to go for it. 

5. And what have been the ups and downs of self-publishing?
The main best thing has been seeing the project come to fruition – it feels complete now in a way it didn’t before. It’s had more downloads than I imagined in my wildest dreams, and I get a real kick out of the thought that people are actually reading something that I wrote. 
Also, the complete independence and control over what you’re doing is brilliant. I know it doesn’t sound all that fantastic when you compare it to a £20,000 advance, but it’s really something to look at your project and know that you made it all happen. I’m extremely lucky to know a great graphic designer who helped me put the cover together, but I came up with the idea for it and took the photo myself, and seeing the finished cover for the first time was one of the best moments of my life. I don’t say that lightly. I suddenly knew it was what I’d always wanted and I couldn’t put a price tag on that.
I don’t want to go on too much of a downer about self-publishing as there’s enough people who’ll do that for you, but it absorbs a lot of hours and the whole time I had this thought in my head, ‘What if this is a complete waste of time?’ 
I said before that I loved using my own photo for the cover, but it took me two evenings and a full Saturday mucking about to get that picture and I’d have much rather been sitting on the sofa eating crisps. Learning the ins and outs of formatting a book for Kindle isn’t a lot of fun either, but it just has to be done. 

6. Moving on from Everyone Knows this is Nowhere, what are you working on at the moment?
To be honest I’m working on a kabillion things, as usual. I’ve started another novel about London and a girl who has an affair with an older man and I’m about 10,000 words in, but I’ve yet to get my teeth into it properly as I’ve been up until the wee hours most nights getting Everybody Knows up and running and being read.
I’m also working on a couple of short stories to send out to magazines – the one I’m focused on at the moment is a story from my time working in a casino, which is something I’ve never been able to write about much. I’m also trying my hand at writing articles for blogs and newspapers, and just for a laugh I sometimes try to write stuff for a comedy radio station that my friend is building.

7. Do you believe “No one can teach you to write” or have you found that completing an MA in Creative Writing has helped propel your writing forward?
Unbelievably the latter. I guess I would say this because I invested a huge amount of time and money in my writing education, but you can get tons out of a good writing teacher – from initial inspiration and encouragement, to ways of approaching the deeper thematic strands of your work, to the nuts and bolts of avoiding clichés and formatting dialogue. 
I had a close relationship to my writing teacher at uni, who was the first (and only) person to tell me that I should try to write a novel, which seemed a laughable notion to me at the time. Post-uni, I’ve found that there’s no substitute for having someone who knows what they’re talking about actually reading what you’ve written and criticising it, not to mention an all important deadline to get you producing something.
A decent teacher should also help you to figure out what makes the writer in you tick – and doing a course gives you the time and space to think about yourself as a writer and establish how you produce your best work. That might mean you write religiously for an hour every morning, or sporadically at night, like me.

8. Not being a full-time writer, how and where do you find the time to write? 
I do a lot of work in the evenings, and recently I decided to treat every Saturday like a work day – it’s been good for me to set that time aside for writing. Last year I massively cut down on drinking because I was wasting way too much time mucking about and getting pissed, and that’s helped. 
My problem is that I’ve always got a million things I want to do – I’m obsessed with sewing as much as writing, and I’m also training for a half-marathon. I’ve literally had to force myself to focus on one thing at a time so I don’t constantly feel guilty that I’m not getting enough done.

9. What or who influences your writing or inspires you to write?
I’ve been influenced by loads of writers over the years – I want to say Cormac McCarthy because I loved The Road so much, but I actually didn’t write anything for a long while after I read it because I felt I would never be able to write anything even approaching meaningful… The spell broke when I read No Country for Old Men, which I think works much better as a film.
I love Magnus Mills, who had written lots of good stuff but the two novels that stick out to me are The Restraint of Beasts and All Quiet on the Orient Express. He writes in this tight, terse prose that seems simple on the surface but builds into a great climax, and his characters are all so rough and deadpan. I’ve always loved the fact that he works as a bus driver and used to be an itinerant fencer, because you can tell that the characters he’s met doing those sorts of jobs have informed his work.
I was pretty young when I read The Bell Jar and that book will have a place in my heart forever. It has this reputation that it’s only for teenage girls but that’s just bollocks. 
For short stories, Raymond Carver and Ali Smith have influenced me quite a lot – Ali Smith has this great device of using second person narration in her stories that I quite like to adopt sometimes. 
Lately I’ve been trying to read more biographies and non-fiction, as I think it helps to expand your worldview and improve your writing if you know more about the world and the worlds that people have come from.

10. Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
There’s so much good advice out there I don’t know if I can add much to it! For me the main job of a writer is to be able to see things that other people miss and connect them in an original and hopefully entertaining way. It’s a writer’s job to put into words what people know and have experienced, but cannot say themselves. That takes guts, and practice. Fine tune your bullshit detector. Read a lot. You can make stuff up, but never lie. Be awake and observant. Read your work aloud to yourself in the bath to hear your mistakes clang. Never give up. It’s tough – but that’s why most people aren’t writers.

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor

About the Book

Title: if nobody speaks of remarkable things
Author: jon mcgregor
Publication: Bloomsbury, 2002
Summary: On a street in a town in the North of England, perfectly ordinary people are doing totally normal things - children play cricket, window-frames are painted, a couple argues, students pack up their belongings and nameless people pass each other like every other day, interweaving yet never connecting. But a terrible event shatters the quiet of the summer evening and no-one who witnesses it will ever be the same again. (Bloomsbury)

What I Think

This book was hard work, but I'm pleased I persevered. The writing style was quite unusual and in the beginning it was hard to determine who the characters were. No one is given a name, they are merely identified by which number house they live at (all the characters live in the same street). One character is written in the first person and this turns out to be the main character. 

Also the dialogue is a little difficult to follow, until you get into the rhythm of it. Here is a short extract: 

When I open the door I say oh hello, and I look at him and we're both embarrassed. 
He's holding a bunch of flowers, thick-stemmed white lilies with bright yellow centres and shiny green leaves. 
I look at them, he looks at them, and water drops from the bottom of the wrapping onto his shoe. 
Oh, I don't know what to say I tell him, and I don't. 
(If nobody speaks of remarkable things, Jon McGregor, pg. 201)

[I]f nobody speaks of remarkable things, how can they be called remarkable? (pg. 239). This book is a collection of seemingly unremarkable things, which turn out to have a stronger significance than initially thought. Also, one big thing happens which shapes the lives of those living on this street. 

A great book. I would recommend it. 

About the Author



Jon McGregor is the author of the critically acclaimed If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things, So Many Ways to Begin and Even the Dogs. He is the winner of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Betty Trask Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and has been twice long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. He was runner-up for the BBC National Short Story Award in both 2010 and 2011, with 'If It Keeps on Raining' and 'Wires' respectively. He was born in Bermuda in 1976. He grew up in Norfolk and now lives in Nottingham.

things you should know by a m homes

About the Book

Title: things you should know
Author: a.m. homes
Publication: Granta, 2002
Summary: A collection of short stories. 

What I Think 

I picked this book up off my bookshelf by mistake (I thought it was if nobody speaks of remarkable things by jon mcgregor) and my friend who had left it in my house by accident said "it was okay." I therefore had very low expectations. However, I really enjoyed it. 

This collection of eleven short stories is extremely varied; in length, subject matter, style and genre. I didn't read them in order, but that's one of the joys of a collection of short stories. The story THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW, about a so-called mysterious and magical list, is only three pages long, but one of my favourites. Another favourite is ROCKETS AROUND THE MOON which is about a boy who stays with his father in the summers but actually spends more time with the family next door. He is equally devastated when disaster strikes for the family. THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS SUNNY AND BRIGHT reminded me a little of Black Swan, the 2010 Oscar winning film starring Natalie Portman.  

If you enjoy reading short stories, some a little on the bizarre side, some more about the mundanities of life, you should try this collection. 

About the Author

A.M.Homes is the author of the novels May We Be Forgiven, This Book Will Save Your Life, Music for Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers and Jack, a previous collection of short stories, The Safety of Objects, and the highly acclaimed memoir The Mistress's Daughter, as well as the travel memoir Los Angeles: People, Places and the Castle on the Hill. She is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and writes frequently on arts and culture for numerous magazines and newspapers. She lives in New York City. 

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

About the Book

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Publication: Bloomsbury (2007)
Summary: Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with startling heroism. (Bloomsbury)

What I Think

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs, 
Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls. 
     - Saeb-e-Tabrizi (translation by Dr. Josephine Davis)

Everyone should read this book. To be honest I could end my review there, but no doubt I should back my bold statement with a few words. This is one of the most powerful books I've ever read. Hosseini, born in Afghanistan in 1965, paints such a vivid picture in this war-torn novel that you cannot help but give thanks to whoever, or whatever, you believe in that this is not your life. For those of you for whom this is your life, my heart goes out to you. 

Hosseini says (at a speech given at Book Expo America), "I saw the unique ability that fiction has to connect people who dress differently or practice different religions, and I saw how universal some human experiences are, like friendship, guilt, forgiveness, loss and atonement." (Khaled Hosseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Bloomsbury 2008)

The friendship that exists between Mariam and Laila is truly unique, heartwarming and ultimately very powerful. It reminds you that in absolutely dire situations a sprig of hope can emerge and grow into something strong and beautiful. For all the goodness that they convey, I'd like to think that they really exist. These characters will stay with me forever. 

About the Author

Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and moved to the United States in 1980. His first novel, The Kite Runner, was an international bestseller, published in thirty-four countries. In 2006 he was named a US goodwill envoy to the United Nations Refugee Agency. He lives in Northern California. 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

About the Book

Title: Gone Girl
Author: Gillian Flynn
Publication: Phoenix (24 May 2012)
Summary: Nick Dunne's wife goes missing on the day of their fifth wedding anniversary. Will he be to blame?

What I Think

Praise for Flynn's magical way with words.  

"Margo, calling from good ole North Carthage, Missouri, from the house where we grew up, and as I listened to her voice, I saw her at age ten, with a dark cap of hair and overall shorts, sitting on our grandparents' back dock, her body slouched over like an old pillow, her skinny legs dangling in the water, watching the river flow over fish-white feet, so intently, utterly self-possessed even as a child."

The example I've used above is, in my opinion, an exquisite sentence. Most people can't write sentences this long without losing the reader. Flynn uses atypical descriptions like a 'cap of hair' and 'fish-white feet'. She also manages to convey dialect 'good ole North Carthage' without it being overbearing, or difficult to follow. 

"[Isn't] ... the point of every relationship to be known by someone else, to be understood? He gets me. She gets me. Isn't that the simple magic phrase?" 

The above quote from Flynn's third publication sums up her psychological thriller, Gone Girl, which tells the story from both Nick and Amy's points of view. After Amy's disappearance we initially we form an opinion about this couple from Nick's perspective and through Amy's diary entries. However, all is not as it seems. Is Nick the culprit? Is this just a classic 'unreliable narrator'? Oh no, it's so much more than that. 

This is a fast-moving, gripping thriller, playing people (both unique and stereotypical at the same time) off against each other throughout. You will simultaneously be racing to the finish line as well as not wanting it to end. And the taste left in your mouth is: are men and women really like that?!  

About the Author

 Gillian Flynn's first novel, Sharp Objects, was the winner of the two CWA Dagger Awards and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award, and for an Edgar. Her second, Dark Places, was published to great critical acclaim. A former writer and critic for Entertainment Weekly, her novels have been published in twenty-eight countries. 

She lives in Chicago with her husband and son and a giant black cat named Roy. (Phoenix)

Website: gillian-flynn
Facebook: Gillian Flynn

Hong Kong Noir by Feng Chi-shun

About the Book

Title: Hong Kong Noir 
Author: Feng Chi-shun
Publication: Blacksmith Books (2012)
Summary: Fifteen true tales from the dark side of the city.

What I Think

Feng Chi-shun is a pathologist and has, therefore, seen a fair amount of deaths, whether they be natural or unnatural. He is also "not unfamiliar with the underbelly of Hong Kong society". He tells us in the prologue "When I was in my forties, I made my worst financial decision ever [...] I invested in part-ownership of a bar in Kowloon City: a part of town where the Sun Yee On triad faction originated." These fifteen true tales are divided into three sections: Losers and Boozers, Beyond Villains and Victims and Sex and the City. 

These stories in Hong Kong Noir don't happen in my Hong Kong. The city that I live in is clean, safe, full of polite and friendly people. I have been morbidly fascinated to read about these tales of sordid Hong Kong: triad members, arranged marriages, street sleepers, riots, tattoos, girlie bars.  

One thing I really like is that each story has a quote at the beginning of it, for example: Story 12. A Hardcore Childhood, "Of all known tortures in the whole wide world, those originating from China are the cruelest" - Anon. Each quote has been chosen very carefully and is very apt for the story. They effectively foreshadow for the reader what the story will be about. 

Extremely varied, each story is intriguing and compelling in its own way. I highly recommend this collection. 

About the Author

Feng Chi-shun is a naturalized US citizen, but considers Hong Kong - where he grew up and attended medical school - his home. His formative years were spent in Diamond Hill, where people were poor but life was rich. 

Trained as a pathologist, he has published close to 100 scientific articles on his medical research. He has also been a columnist for the South China Morning Post, the leading English newspaper in Hong Kong. 

Feeling deprived as a child, he is making up for lost time by living life to its fullest. He is an aficionado of wine and cigars, and a part-time punter attracted to roulette, poker, mahjong and horse racing. In his spare time, he plays golf and tennis, and shoots a mean game of pool. His three US-born children - Angel, Gina, and Stephen - and his Canadian wife Cathy are his best friends. So far, he has two grandchildren, Amirah and Qairo. He intends to live in Hong Kong for the rest of his life. (Blacksmith books)

Painting by Numbers - Tom Gillespie

About the Book

Title: Painting By Numbers
Author: Tom Gillespie
Publication: Crooked Cat Publishing (September 2012)
Summary: A dark, surreal thriller that follows one man’s relentless pursuit into an old truth buried deep within.

What I Think

Jacob Boyce visits a 17th century allegorical painting every single day in a Glaswegian gallery hoping, with meticulous measurements and careful observation, to unlock its secrets. One day he is convinced that an object in the painting has moved. Giving up his career and neglecting his wife, he is determined to get to the bottom of this ancient mystery. 

"You can live in denial as long as you please, Monsieur Boyce, but the truth is that fakery and lies are at the heart of all things." 

Gillespie weaves a complicated plot of lies, deceit, art and intrigue which takes us on a mad pursuit from Glasgow to Spain. We follow Jacob on this hunt for answers: what is the secret behind the painting? where is his wife Ella? who is the mysterious Jude? And all the time never quite knowing if he is sane, starting to lose the plot or a complete idiot. 

Detailed, clever and clearly well-researched, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book. And whatever you do, don't think you know what's coming next, because you'll never guess! 

About the Author

Tom Gillespie grew up in a small town just outside Glasgow. After completing a Masters in English at Glasgow University, he spent the next ten years pursuing a musical career as a singer/songwriter, playing, recording and touring the UK and Europe with his band. He now lives in Bath with his wife, daughter and hyper-neurotic cat, where he works at the University as an academic English lecturer.


Tom writes long and short fiction. A number of his stories are published by www.eastoftheweb.com. He is also a regular contributor to fridayflash.org.

He is currently working on a second novel and a collection of short stories.

His critically acclaimed, debut novel Painting by Numbers, a dark, psychological drama that explores the surreal complexities of the human mind, has been selected as FINALIST for The People’s Book Prize.

Book Spine Poetry

April was National Poetry Month and whilst perusing the internet I stumbled across 'book spine poetry' on Estrella Azul's blog. It's certainly not something I'd ever seen before and despite not being a poet, I thought I'd give it a go. Below are the results. 

Somewhere else, or even here

When red is black

Waiting for sunrise

Crooked little heart

Never let me go

It's great fun and I'd encourage anyone to try it (poet or not). 

Friday Flash Fiction - week 43

Cheap Plonk

Cassandra knew immediately that something was wrong. When she slid the key into the brass lock, the front door swung open and banged into the hall radiator with a loud clunk. She always double-locked the heavy oak door, and double-checked it too. With her brass key still suspended in mid-air, she stood gazing at the mess in the hallway for five whole seconds before she let out an involuntary moan. 

‘Crap.’ She pulled her mobile phone out of her oversized handbag and with slightly trembling hands dialled her husband’s number. 
‘Peter?’ The familiar word caught in her throat. 
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘What is it? I’m pretty busy here.’ 
She bent down to pick up a plant pot. ‘We’ve been burgled.’ 
‘Oh God! Really?’
‘Yes, really. I’m standing here in an almighty tip.’ 
‘You’re sure they’re no longer there?’
She tiptoed further into the house. ‘Pretty sure.’ 
‘Maybe you shouldn’t go in on your own.’ 
‘Hello?’ Cassandra called out. ‘Anyone there?’ 
‘Cassie!’ Peter hissed. ‘Are you mad?’ 
‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘There’s no-one here.’ 
‘What’s missing? TV? Stereo?’
‘Yes, yes,’ she sighed. ‘All that’s gone. Laptop too.’ She walked out of the lounge into the kitchen and burst out laughing.  
‘What? What is it?’
‘You know that wine Audrey bought me from France?’
‘That nasty stuff that cost us a fortune?’ 
‘Yes. Well, they opened a few of bottles, obviously planning to drink a bottle or two each.’ 
‘And?’
‘Well,’ she said between giggles, ‘that wine is so crap even the burglars didn’t want it!’ 

Laura Besley

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Flash Fiction diary

This story of burglary is sadly based on a true story. There obviously is a funny side to it and the woman did get all her things back in the end and the burglars went to prison too. 

Flash Fortnightly #11 is based on a true, yet tragic, story. Click here for My Wedding Day. 

Of Gods and Mobsters is the latest anthology from the Hong Kong Writers Circle, edited by SCC Overton. 
Classical gods and heroes. Men and women of myth, legend and folklore. Characters from the greatest 19th and 20th century novels. All of them relocated, reimagined and retold in this collection of short stories and poetry. 
I have a story in here and wrote a modern day version of Aladdin. 

imprint 12 (the annual anthology of Women in Publishing Society) was launched on Friday 15th March and as mentioned before, I was asked to read my piece of flash fiction, Fractious Heat. I was incredibly nervous, but as I had practised a few times with my lovely husband, I think it went well. I got a good reaction from the crowd, which was a real boost! 
As always, it's an absolute thrill to see my work in print. As well as the piece of flash fiction, I also submitted a piece of non-fiction, Aspects of Home.  





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Flash Fiction is short enough to read whilst you're waiting for the kettle to boil. It's fairly quick to write too, but with it being so short, every word has to count. 

On 4th May 2012 I decided to embark on a project: to write a piece of Flash Fiction every day. I'm hoping this will keep the creative juices flowing and ultimately help me hone my craft. Every Friday I'll be posting 'the best of the week' onto my blog for you to read. If you have anything to say (good or 'constructive'!), I'm open to comments.  

Thanks, as always, for reading.