Reading matters

'Garden Spells' by Sarah Addison Allen

Fiction - paperback; Hodder; 327 pages; 2007. REVIEW COPY.

I know you shouldn't judge books by their covers, but when this one came thudding through the door, courtesy of the publisher, I practically salivated over this soon-to-be published paperback, not so much because I was dying to read the story, but because the artwork was so delicious. The image shown here (see left) doesn't do the real hold-it-in-your-hands cover justice, because it doesn't quite convey the gorgeous embossing that glitters like fairy dust on the dress and curlicues. So you'll just have to take my word for it. It's a magical cover, and if they give prizes to book cover designers, this designer should not only get the top accolade, they should get a lifetime achievement award. Seriously.

But does the cover match the contents, I hear you say. Well, the story is certainly magical -- think English author Joanne Harris transported to North Carolina -- but Garden Spells isn't going to win any top literary awards. This is comfort reading: enjoyable, fluffy and fun. In fact, I read this book in two longish sittings while the rain pounded against the window one miserably wet Saturday and it was perfect fodder for an entertaining weekend read.

'The Kept Man' by Jami Attenberg

Fiction - hardcover; Riverhead; 304 pages; 2007. REVIEW COPY.

The Kept Man by first-time novelist Jami Attenberg is published tomorrow, but I was lucky enough to read it before its release date. I think it was the opening line -- "I have been waiting for my husband to die for six years" -- that intrigued me most, quickly followed by the setting (New York -- Williamsburg and Brooklyn, to be precise).

The story is about a woman, Jarvis Miller, married to a highly successful artist, who, one day, falls off a ladder in his studio, bumps his head and ends up in a coma. Jarvis spends the next six years in limbo, married to a man who is no longer the man she married but is still faithfully devoted to him.

But one day, when her washing machine breaks down, she is forced to use the local laundromat, where she meets -- and befriends -- three attractive men who turn out to be house husbands. For the first time since her husband's accident, Jarvis gets a taste for the real world, where the possibility for new relationships and new experiences makes her feel alive again. It is only when she discovers some of her husband's secrets -- in the form of three mysterious collections of photographs -- that Jarvis feels it is time for her to let go of the past and embrace the future...

'I'm Not Scared' by Niccolo Ammaniti

Fiction - paperback; Canongate; 225 pages; 2003. (Translated from the Italian by Jonathan Hunt.)

Books about childhood that truly get inside the mind of a child are difficult feats to accomplish. How do you recapture the innocence, that naive sense of wonder, that wide-eyed outlook on life untouched by greater human experience without talking down to your reader or coming across as if you're trying too hard?

Whatever the trick, Italian author Niccolo Ammaniti has achieved it. In spades.

The somewhat ludicrously titled I'm Not Scared is a delicious treat, one that transports the reader back to that time when the adult world was incomprehensible and the best thing about life was riding your bicycle throughout the long, hot school holidays that lay ahead every summer.

'The Yacoubian Building' by Alaa As Aswany

Fiction - hardcover; Fourth Estate; 272  pages; 2007. (Translated from the Arabic  by Humphrey Davies.)

The Yacoubian Building has been a best seller in its native Egypt and throughout the Arabic world since publication in 2002. It was translated into English in 2004 but has come to more prominent attention because it was made into a film of the same name last year. This hardcover edition was published in 2007.

Set in downtown Cairo at the time of the 1990 Gulf War, this intriguing novel shows modern Egyptian life through the eyes of a diverse range of characters, all of whom live in an apartment block called the Yacoubian Building.

'The Blood of Flowers' by Anita Amirrezvani

Fiction - hardcover; Headline Review; 384  pages; 2007. REVIEW COPY.

We all struggle to live a life of our choosing, but imagine what it must be like to be a female in a very male world, a world in which women cannot be seen much less heard, a world in which even the most talented must give themselves over to marriage and motherhood -- no questions asked. This is the premise behind this lush, luminous tale by first-time novelist Anita Amirrezvani that is due for publication next month.

Set in Iran in the 1620s, The Blood of Flowers is about one girl's painful journey from naive young peasant to hard-bitten business woman. When her father dies, the unnamed narrator is forced to flee to the city with her mother in tow. Here in the captivating capital of Isfahan, they are taken in as house servants by  an uncle and his demanding wife. Their new life is riddled with broken promises and much hard work, but the saving grace is the narrator's special talent for carpet making, which is strengthened under her uncle's tutelage.

'Candle Life' by Venero Armanno

Fiction - paperback; Vintage; 351  pages; 2006. REVIEW COPY.

This book begins where it ends: with a man lying on "dusty French cobblestones" in a Parisian street coming out of what he feels to be a coma of sorts.

The man is an Australian writer. He is living in an arts commune, where he spends his days mourning his Japanese-Australian girlfriend, Yukiko, who died suddenly before their planned trip to France.

One day he gets harassed by a strange-looking black man with a misshapen head. His name is Sonny, he's American, a beggar and he claims to have known many of the 20th century's greatest writers before his unspecified fall from grace.

Our unnamed narrator is not quite sure what to make of Sonny -- is he being duped, or is his story a legitimate one? -- but the chance meeting acts as a kind of catalyst for all kinds of accidental occurrences, including sexual congress with a mute Russian woman, the death of his dead lover's gay friend and a love affair with a French student. Throw in a rich, possibly corrupt, Russian art dealer and a second beggar with a dodgy past and you get an entire cast of weird characters that only serves to heighten the strangeness of the city's dark underbelly in which the narrator finds himself.

'Alias Grace' by Margaret Atwood

Fiction - paperback; Anchor Books; 480  pages; 1997.

Did she do it or didn't she do it? Is she a bloodthirsty murderess, or was she simply in the wrong place at the wrong time?

These are the questions that form the driving force of this remarkable novel by Margaret Atwood, who takes this captivating true story and truly makes it her own.

Set in Canada in the nineteenth century and based on a real life crime, Alias Grace is about a teenage maid, Grace Marks, who is tried for the  brutal murder of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his mistress, Nancy Montgomery. She is found guilty and sentenced to death but has this commuted to life imprisonment, while her 'accomplice' is hanged.

Grace, a poor immigrant from Northern Ireland who has cut all ties with her family, tells her story to Dr Simon Jordan in a long series of visits he makes to her prison cell. Dr Jordan, who works in the burgeoning field of mental illness, is 'hired' by a group of spiritualists who believe Grace is innocent and want to secure her a pardon.

But the good doctor has problems -- professional, emotional and moral -- of his own, and before long it is difficult to tell who is the supposed crazed criminal and who is not.

'Missing' by Karin Alvtegen

Fiction - paperback; Canongate; 352  pages; 2004. (Translated from Swedish by Anna Paterson.)

I took this book on a long haul flight and read it in one sitting, but I'm sure that if I wasn't stuck on a plane I would probably have done the same. The plot is gripping and the story moves along at a frenetic pace. I know it's an over-used cliche, but the best description I can come up with is this: Missing is a real page turner.

Set in Stockholm, Sweden, it tells the story of a 32-year-old homeless woman, Sybilla Forsenstrom, who is accused of murdering a businessman in a city hotel.

'Oracle Night' by Paul Auster

Fiction - paperback; Faber; 207 pages; 2005

Up until now I have been a Paul Auster virgin. I have seen him interviewed several times on television, and appreciate that he is an interesting and accomplished and much heralded author. Whenever I hear his name I automatically think of New York, because he seems synonymous with that city.

Recently, when browsing a local bookstore, I picked up Oracle Night and was charmed by the coverline on the front of the book: "If you have never read Auster before . . . this is the place to start". I weighed the pros and cons, and then thought, why not?