Book Review: Come to the Edge, by Christina Haag

Every once in a while, a book casts a spell on me. In 2010, it was The Song Is You, and you know that, because I still talk about it, I still recommend it, I still insist that it deserves to be better known. In 2012  - is it too soon to say? - it will be Come To The Edge. 

The elegance of the writing, the beauty of the story: "haunting" is how I have seen it described, and that was the word I would have used too. I don't remember the last time a book kept me awake and away from even Twitter for two hours at a stretch.

Christina reminds me - perhaps inevitably - of Kate, the heroine in my first novel. "I did not know," she says, "how long it took to get over such a love, and that even when you did, when you loved again, you would always carry a sliver of it in your stitched-together heart". 

I want this quote at the front of my book. I want to show it to people who read a chapter of Inevitable and say, "yeah, see, I just don't buy that after all these years she would still be thinking of him". I knew it! I knew that it happened like that sometimes. Because I am a hopeless romantic too. Maybe that’s why I was tempted (but only tempted) to rush past the background, the childhood, the descriptions, to get to the wooing, to get to the romance. And maybe that's why I felt something like a twinge of pain in my belly on so many pages: yes, my heart broke for Bradley Whitford when they split up. But it broke for Christina then too, and then time and time again afterwards. (And I want to call her by her first name. Although I know it’s an illusion, I feel, after she has shared her soul with me, that we are friends.)

Come To The Edge is a book full of emotion, not in a trite, schmaltzy way, but the way it's supposed to be, the way that people tell you to do it at writing workshops: show, don't tell. Christina takes us by the hand and she shows us what it means to be her, what it means to be John, what it means to be with John, what it means to no longer be with him. She makes me want to travel to places in America that I've never heard of. Her writing is quite simply superb, her vocabulary varied - it sounds like a small thing, but it's one of the small things that makes a book worth staying up until two a.m. to finish: when was the last time you came across the word "epiphyte"? On almost every page there was a turn of phrase I wish I could have written.

So, her writing: study it, aspiring authors. Particularly aspiring memoirists. Study it for colour and depth and how to bring the past back to life and how to convey the magic of childhood and of love. Study it to learn description and how to draw out character. Study it for the poetry of the language.

If you follow this blog, chances are you’ll know what led me to this book: it wasn’t the main story. It was a subplot about a man Christina dated for three years. You know the one. But I’m glad my endless fascination with him led me there. I’m glad that, after telling myself that it was a ridiculous reason to buy an overpriced hardback book and that it was probably really badly written anyway, I travelled to America when Amazon had it on special offer and I read some reviews that praised the prose. I thought, you know what, beautifully written tragic love stories set against a political backdrop are my thing. They’re what I write. I should read it for research.

But the stories I write are made up. This one, this heartbreaking one, is real. It can't have been easy to reach into the past for these memories, to draw them out and have the emotions rush back. But if I ever get to meet Christina Haag, I will thank her, because this is a story that needed to be told, and that it’s told so deftly means that it will reach the kind of people who don’t read celebrity biography. Literary snobs, if you will. People like me.

And then I will ask her to please keep writing. I’ll tell her that I go to a Monday Night Writers’ Group too. I don’t know why I’ll tell her that. Probably because I babble when I meet people I admire.

2011: The year in books

This blog post was originally going to be about how I had failed to be wowed by any books this year in the way that I was in 2010 by, say, Arthur Phillips' The Song Is You or Colum McCann's Let The Great World Spin. But then I looked through my list, and I remembered The Grapes of Wrath, The Audacity to Win, the American Future, The Book Thief.

Still, though, I feel disappointed about this year, perhaps because I've read a fair few books that weren't all I had hoped they would be (the subject of a future post, no doubt) and most likely because I will finish without reaching my goal of fifty books. I'll have got to about 32, which is respectable enough, but that isn't enough to appease the competitive urge in me.

There are a variety of reasons for this, chief among which has to be the iPad: long gone and almost forgotten are the days when it was too much hassle to turn on my computer for one last play on Twitter before bed. And when in combination with other addictions, like Authonomy, the online writers' community, it has eaten away many hours.

And iPad or no iPad, Authonomy must shoulder some of the blame. It may well be that I have, in fact, read fifty books' worth of first chapters: the idea is that you comment on other people's books in the hope that they will read, comment on, and vote for yours, edging you ever closer to the desk of an editor at Harper Collins. So you read many books that you would ordinarily not go anywhere near. Some of the writing wowed me, like Rena Rossner in her first novel Blown to Smithereens; some, it has be to said, did not.

Then there was NaNoWriMo. I usually read most when travelling; this year, I wrote instead. I take the train less these days, too, and when I do I sometimes use the time for emails, or Authonomy, or - ahem - Boggle. (Yes, the iPad again.) There are many excuses I could offer, some slightly more worthy than others. Perhaps the very fact of having a goal made it seem a little too much like a chore.

I wonder if there's another reason for it too, one that renders all the excuses almost irrelevant. Louis de Bernieres said that "love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision..." My love for the English language was a little like that. It came out of nowhere and blew me away, and last year's voracious reading was a symptom of that. The temporary madness might be over now. Maybe that's why I had to look at a list to remember the books that wowed me, when last year I could have named them without thinking twice, or barely even once. But, he went on to say, "... and when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part."

I suppose that's the stage I am at with my reading. There are moments of awe, of course, but they are fewer than they used to be. But it is inconceivable that books and I, words and I, the English language and I, should ever part. Even though I don't yet know what my target for next year will be, or even if if I should have one, I'll never stop reading.

3BT: work, a review, and my favourite actor

1. I have not one but two emails from people enquiring about lessons. I can't remember the last time this happened.

2. A twitter friend of mine whose blog has a large following agrees to review my book, Conquering Babel.

3. I watch Bradley Whitford give an interview about his forthcoming event, fundraising for a cancer charity that sounds like it's doing fantastic work. It makes me smile when celebs I love use their fame for good.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Women's Fiction: an insulting term?

I thought I was going to be irritated by the Women's Hour piece on women's fiction. I thought it was going to be one of those tired and tiresome discussions about how we don't use the term "men's fiction", and how women's fiction is what we would call literary fiction if it were written by men.

But I found myself agreeing.

For context: some customers complained to WHSmith about their shelving only fluffly, light, pink novels under "women's fiction", which seemed to imply that women only like that kind of writing. WHSmith responded by removing the label. Great customer service?

Maybe.

There is no doubt that a market for those novels exists, and those people, shopping in a hurry, want to be pointed to the kind of books they like. So removing the signpost is not particularly good customer service.

The thing is, though, that we have a label for the kind of book that the customers were referring t0: "chick lit". Some women like those books, some women don't.

"Women's fiction", however, is much broader than that. I think it's a useful term. Where would you put The Time Traveler's Wife if not there? I am a woman, and I like to read books like that. I have no problem with grouping them together so that I can find them.

But The Time Traveler's Wife doesn't belong in "chick lit". Nor, for that matter, does Inevitable, but since Authonomy don't have a "women's fiction" section, I had to use the "chick lit" label and couple it, slightly oddly, with "literary fiction". If it were marketed to be pink and fluffy and placed alongside Sophie Kinsella's novels, I would be mortified. Or at least as mortified as I could be if my book were actually being published.

My plea is this: call chick lit "chick lit", or "light romantic reads" if "chick lit" is going to offend some people, but please use "women's fiction" for something broader than that. The label is useful, but only if applied correctly.

A survey on books and personality types...

I would like to conduct my own little non-scientific survey.

Well, actually, if we're talking wishes, I'd like to spend three years being funded to study this scientifically, but since that is -sigh - unlikely, I'm going to need you to help me out by answering the following questions:

1. Do you know your Myers Briggs personality type? What is it?

2. What are five books that you really, really like?

3. Do you have a favourite "genre" of books?

4. What do you think of the idea of someone never quite getting over someone, to the point where they are never able to be happy in any other relationship? Is it unrealistic?

I'll outline my theories in a later post...

Three beautiful things, all of them vaguely literary

I bought Brussels Unlimited today. I almost never buy it, but yesterday I wanted to, and I couldn't find it, and so today, even though it's a new issue, out of sheer bloody-mindedness I tracked it down. And I'm so glad I did, because without it I would never have known that:

* They picked my question on Starbucks to use in their section at the beginning where they round up the discussions on xpats.com.

* Howard Jacobson is coming to Brussels! He won the Man Booker Prize, and I've heard him interviewed on both the Guardian Books Podcast and Radio Four Books, and I like him. I haven't read The Finkler Question, but I certainly intend to, although I think I'll go for his earlier work, The Mighty Waltzer, first, after hearing him talk about it on the Radio Four Book Club Podcast. This is exciting, because as far as I know Real Live Famous Authors never (or rarely) come to Brussels, and this is the kind of event I ought to be going to as an aspiring writer. I'm even tempted to have some business cards made, though I can't think why - surely not to give to him? Although, well. You never know, do you?

Unrelately to Brussels Unlimited, but staying in the general theme of newspapers, I passed a Guardian today that had an article which intrigued me, but I talked myself into being sensible and not buying it. My last lesson of the day was in Exki on Place Stephanie, where - bless their hearts - they have a variety of newpapers in various languages, including my British rag of choice. And since I was there when it closed, and since no one - bless all of your hearts - had taken the G2 section, they let me take it away with me. For free, not the statutory €5, or however much a British newspaper costs here these days. These little things make me smile. ]

Having my chubby-faced nephew flash me beautiful dimpled smiles was also pretty great today, but that takes me to four beautiful things, and that's not allowed, is it?

On my bookshelf, 2011

So, last year I made it to sort-of 50 books. I'm not sure if I want to set a numeric goal for this year, because if I do I will never get round to reading Anna Karenina, Moby Dick or Gone with the Wind (although my motivation is a little on the low side for all of those anyway).

Who am I kidding? I'm far too competitive, even if it is only myself I am competing with. Full disclosure: this list (and last year's) includes book I finished this year, even if I started them last year. That said, there will be books I start this year that I don't finish until later, so it all comes out in the wash, or something.

1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer.

- 9/10. Difficult to know how this one can be topped. Oskar, the main character, is so very real and his story is haunting and heartbreaking, and I loved that it was long enough that you could really get into it - great book to take on holiday. It was a bit of a stretch that so much tragedy could have happened in just one family, but the story was so good, and so well-written, that I forgive it. I love how the different elements all tie up. I welled up several times at the end. Can't wait for J Safran Foer's next novel, and trying not to feel inferior about the fact that he's only a year older than me.

2. Cupid and Diana, by Christina Bartolomeo

- 7/10. I was looking for a book set in Washington DC, and this one is infused with its setting, so I wasn't disappointed. Yes, it's chick lit, and no, I don't read much of that particular genre, but it was funny and wry and there were some great observations on the life of an early-thirties woman trying to find love. The ending left me unconvinced, though - she had me rooting for a different one. I recommend this one for a poolside read in the summer.

3. Chapter after Chapter, by Heather Sellers

- 8/10 Inspirational and helpful, and tackles some questions that none of the (many) other books I've read about writing have answered. I liked the "nobody tells you" chapter - I feel better prepared for life as a writer now, though I still need to do the exercises!

4. Super Sad True Love Story, by Gary Shteyngart

- 7/10 I enjoyed this, and he writes well. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. It was a good read, though, and a scarily plausible prediction of America in the not too distant future.

5. The very thought of you, by Rosie Aliison

- 6/10. Not the sweet coming-of-age story implied by the title, the cover or the reviews. Still, I couldn't seem to stop reading, so there must have been something about this book that I liked, and towards the beginning especially I found it quite moving. I love that she structured her book how I plan to structure mine. And gold star for not one but two mentions of Belgium!

6. Catcher in the Rye, by J D Salinger

- 8/10. I found Holden's voice compelling and readable and I really liked him as a character with his wry observations, his recurring pet phrases and yes, even his negative outlook. The ending didn't feel very satisying, but I think the book was more an insight into a character than a story with a definite beginning and ending as such. I liked it a lot.

7. Dog Days, by Ana Marie Cox

- 6.5/10. Not a book I'd lend to my mum or recommend to my pastor, or even normally read myself, but it was really useful research for my novel: another DC-based book with a great "sense of place". I'm bemused by the title, though.

I was going to give it a lower rating so you could all admire my preference for literary fiction over chick lit, but the truth is, despite its mildly ridiculous yet oddly believable plot and language and erm, things, it was a bit of a page turner!

8. The American Future, by Simon Schama

- 8.5/10 I don't read much non-fiction, and I certainly don't read much history. I would read more if it was all like this, though it's a slow burner: you have to be awake and able to concentrate for good bit of a time!

Schama is a master storyteller, weaving together the strands of history, and shedding light on current issues by drawing lessons from past events, but never in an over-obvious way. He assumes an intelligent reader, and I like that. I also particularly liked that he admitted that he finds it hard to square certain very positive aspects of true Christianity with his own worldview.

Oh, and he likes the word pyrrhic. I love words with odd spellings, so that worked well for me.

9. Florence and Giles, by John Harding

- 6.5/10. I really only read this because I was doing a book review - but can't complain, there are worse ways to earn money! Not really my kind of book - it's aGothic novel, and possibly more of a YA novel too, but it made interesting use of language and that's always good to keep me reading. "Nothing prepares you for the chillingly ruthless finale," says one review, and that's about accurate.

10. Primary Colors, by Anonymous/Joe Klein

-8.5/10. I thoroughly enjoyed this - quality writing, a good story, a romantic subplot, and a genuinely unpredictable ending. I was a little confused by the many characters, though, particularly in the first third of the book.

Joe Klein's observations are astute, his writing is carefully crafted and a joy to read, with some great turns of phrase. There were too many characters for me to be able to keep track of all of them, but the ones I could felt so real. Aspiring writers could do a lot worse than study this writing. The main character had more than a hint of Josh Lyman about him, too: "politics, politics, politics... you're a stunted little man, you don't even have the courage to tell Daisy that you love her". The romantic subplot was beautifully done - subtle and realistic - though I admit that I did skip ahead to find out what was happening with that, in much the same way as you might "accidentally" Google Janel Moloney "just to check Donna doesn't die" and happen to find out (spoiler alert) that it all works out for Josh and Donna in the end. Anyway, I digress

11. Sammy's House, by Kristin Gore

- 8/10. I loved this! Sammy's Hill, which I read last year, was good, but this was a notch up from this. Sammy herself is fun and endearing and has lots of quirks I can identify with. I was really rooting for her and Charlie and I am normally quite scathing of happy endings, so Kristin Gore clearly worked her magic. Plus, you know, the whole DC thing.

I think I said this about Sammy's Hill, but it's basically Bridget Jones meets the West Wing. These are both very good things.

12. The me I want to be, by John Ortberg

- 7/10. Eminently readable, though I enjoyed it less (and got less immediate pratical application from it) than his other books. But maybe that says more about where I'm at right now than about his book.

13. The People's Choice, by Jeff Greenfield

- 7/10 This was, at times, an easy read, and at times I really needed to concentrate to understand the point he is making. And he is making a point: it's a lesson in the oddities of the American electoral system as much as it is a novel, and there were way too many characters for me to be able to keep with them all, but I enjoyed it, and the ending was more satisfying than I thought it would be. The style is idiosyncratic - the author is consicously talking to and educating readers. I liked that, though I'm not sure I'd want to read a hundred novels in this style.

14. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

- 9/10 Haunting, beautiful, enchanting, heartbreaking. 

15. The Privileges, by Jonathan Dee

- 7.5/10 I really enjoyed the first two thirds of this. I hope the ending is deeply meaningful and somehow passed me by, because otherwise it's just weird.

16. I think I love you, by Allison Pearson


- 8/10 This book perfectly captures how it feels to be thirteen years old. I enjoyed the second half - the main character as an adult half - less, but it still gets 8/10 because some scenes were amazing, in particular the scene at the David Cassidy concert, which has haunted me, and there were times when I had to sit on the train platform after I'd got off because I couldn't bear to finish the chapter there and then.

17. Breakfast at Tiffany's, by Truman Capote

- 8.5/10 Beautiful, elegant, moving.

18. When a Woman Trusts God, by Sheila Walsh


- 6/10 To be honest, I always suspected I might not love this. I can't really tell you what the main point was, other than that of the full title - beautiful things happen when a woman trusts God. I keep hoping one of these days a book like this is going to tell me what it actually means practically to trust God, and how you square that with the fact that God is not predictable, but this wasn't the one! 

19. Living History, by Hillary Rodham Clinton

- 8/10 Learned so much through reading this. Inspiring and moving too. Only wish there were an afterword in which she became President!

(Later edit: I'm currently in a pro-Obama phase, and so I regret writing that. But those were the feelings the book stirred in me, and he was being a little weak at the time.)

20. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

- 9/10 This book epitomises what I love about literary fiction: lyrical, poetic, heart-breaking, deeply understanding of and full of compassion for humanity. The only thing I didn't like was the ending - it left too many unanswered questions. You go on this epic journey with this family and you get to the last page and want to say "and then what happened?" It's as if he leaves you in limbo.

21. The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook Guide to Getting Published


- 8/10 You wouldn't think, would you, that this would the kind of book you would curl up with in bed and read cover to cover? And yet Harry Bingham (doesn't he sound like a Jane Austen character?) writes so well,so informatively, and even so humorously at times, that's exactly what I did! I've learned so much about the publishing industry and the world of being a writer through this. It's also, for better or for worse, what introduced me to Authonomy - which may bear part of the blame for there being fewer books than I'd like on this list this year.


22. The Finkler Question, by Howard Jacobson

- 6/10 There's no doubt the man can write, and I enjoyed it at first, but then it got darker, weirder, and more incomprehensible to those not versed in the intricacies of Judaism and the intellectual arguments for and against Zionism, and he lost me.

23. Wannabe a Writer We've Heard Of?


- 8/10 Packed full of useful tips, and an easy, fun read. A lot of is is probably most  useful to writers of commercial of issue-based fiction (for example, I highly doubt that I would get as much airtime on television for loving the West Wing or living in Belgium or being an expert on language learning as she does for talking about controversial aspects of relationships) but there was still more than enough material in here that I can use or adapt. Good stuff. Realistic, too, and very British in tone, which is useful when your market is the UK, and makes a change from all the (mostly very good) American stuff I've read about writing. 

24. Hostage in Havana, by Ann Somerhausen


- 8/10 A fascinating, elegantly written of a tumultuous year in Cuba in the early 1970s (complete with a kidnapping), as the American wife to the Belgian ambassador. If all memoir were like this, I would read a lot more of it! 

25. Know Doubt, by John Ortberg


- 8/10 Honest and helpful, though the main point for me was in chapter three, where he talks about different levels of belief - head, heart and core, and how your core beliefs are what affect your behaviour. After that, the rest kind of felt like filler - but that may just be because it was the part that I most needed to hear. 

26. Becoming George Sand, by Rosalind Brackenbury

- 8/10 This was an interesting one. The writing was beautiful in places, the descriptions wonderfully detailed: if it had just been about Maria's life in Edinburgh now, it might have been one of my top five books of the year. But there were sections I was sorely tempted to skip over - my heart sank whenever I arrived at a  "life of George Sand" section, and there were some tenuous links made between Maria and George, too.

27. Bird by Bird: Some instructions on writing and life, by Anne Lamott


8.5/10 I loved this - and not just because Bradley Whitford does too. I loved her refreshing honesty about, for example, jealousy towards other writers.The concept of a crappy first draft - just get it out there, it doesn't matter if it's bad, it probably should be bad - has of course been invaluable but has been quoted and requoted so much that I felt like I already knew that part. It made me want to read more of her stuff. Parts of it, though, baffled me, and after re-reading some paragraphs three times I had to admit defeat on them.


28. No Plot No Problem, by Chris Baty

7.5/10 I read this in preparation for NaNoWriMo, and would definitely recommend it to those getting ready for their first attempt. It was practical, funny, encouraging and easy to read - and was the first (and so far only) book I've read on my iPad.


29. Capitol Offence, by Barbara Mikulski


7/10 Enjoyed this, more for the DC and politics sides (which is why I was reading it in the first place) than the thriller part - but the fact that I made it through a thriller speaks volumes in and of itself, even though I was left frowning at the end of it, unsure of exactly what had happened.


30. The Audacity to Win, by David Plouffe


9/10 This is a remarkable book, particularly when you consider it was the author's first, and written fast. The quality of the writing was high enough to hold my interest, and it's packed full of insights - I did a lot of underlining! It was a great way to learn about Obama and the campaign, and really inspiring - I didn't know anything about American politics in 2008 and so I wasn't aware of the enormity of what was achieved. I have a better idea of that now, and of a campaign that was built on some great principles, valuing each member as part of the team and placing huge importance on grassroots support, innovating, always daring, always willing to step outside conventional wisdom. A campaign with the discipline to stick to its playbook, and I'm very glad it did. I loved the human moments, too - when David Plouffe goes home at the end, I could visualise that as a West Wing scene - though I was blown away by the sacrifices made by Mr Plouffe's wife, Olivia Morgan.


32. Helen of Pasadena, by Lian Dolan


8/10 The perfect travelling/can't-sleep-because-I'm-jetlagged-after-just-coming-back-from-Pasadena book. I'm calling it "high end commercial fiction" rather than chick lit, to assuage my intellectual guilt. I even cried  little bit. Fine, go ahead and judge me.


31. The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene


7/10 This ties with The Finkler Question as the weirdest book I've read this year. There are some great observations and turns of phrase, but the religious element feels kind of false and exaggerated and a bit incoherent. Another one of those books that I started out thinking I would love and then frowned more and more as I turned each page.


32. The Whites of their Eyes: the Tea Party's revolution and the Battle over American history, by Jill Lepore

8/10 I read this for a book club meeting I went to while I was in Studio City, California. Well, actually, I only read the first third in time for the meeting, but I finished it later, and I liked it. It was thoughtfully structured, intelligently argued, thought provoking, informative, and provided plenty of "ha!" moments.


33. A Week in December, by Sebastian Faulks


6.5/10 I had high hopes for this book; I'd been saving it for months, to read at an appropriate point in the year. And maybe if it hadn't been so hyped I might have liked it more. Instead, my overwhelming emotion was "meh". There was a lot that was good about this book, but there was also a lot that was preachy, overly complex, and contrived (for example, it just happened that one particular character was reading the Koran, for no reason that was integral to the plot, so that he could comment on what was probably going on in the mind of another character, when their stories weren't interlinked.) I think it might have worked better as separate novels. Also, I know once you're published and famous you can do what you like, but I wanted to scribble helpful advice in the margins like "show don't tell!", "too much backstory up front!", "you are losing readers who don't know anything or want to know anything about the banking system"!




So there you have it - my reads of 2011. And since 33 is my age, I'm taking it to be a nice symbolic number. It was always the intention, of course. Cough. 

2010: my five favourite books

1. Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann.

Literary fiction at its best: I read it slowly, not because it didn't intrigue me and make me want to find out what happened - it did - but because I wanted to take in the beauty of the writing. He had me at the prologue, where even rubbish flying in the wind sounded like poetry.

Set against the backdrop of Philippe Petit's funambulist act in th 1970s, during which he walked across a wire between the newly built Twin Towers, it tells the story of a few interweaving lives across the spectrum of New York society. I can't recommend this highly enough.

2. The Song is You, by Arthur Phillips

Every once in while you stumble across a book that you hadn't heard of, and whose existence you then want to shout from the rooftops. This, for me, was one of those books. The characters were haunting, and it was so refreshing to find a love story that isn't boy-meets-girl-and-they-defeat-enemies-then-live-happily-ever-after. It was the perfect read for a person who has a tendency to fall in love with people at a distance, and for a writer whose novel is (hopefully) full of the same kind of angst.

This kind of book is exactly what I want to be known for - yes, it's romance, but there is nothing trite or easy about it, and the writing takes my breath away. He made the clicking of iPod wheels and the opening of emails into poetry. I want to write like this guy.

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Schaefer

I can't remember the last time I dreamed about a book and then woke up desperate to find out what happens next. I'm not normally one for jumping on bandwagons, but this book thoroughly deserves the acclaim it's received. The epistolary form is original, refreshing, and easy to read even when you're getting on and off tubes, and helps bring characters to life. The tone is light-hearted, generally, but that does not mean it shies away from more difficult aspects of life in and just after the War. I fell in love with this novel a few pages in, when the main character dumps her fiance after he removed her books from her shelves so he could put his sports awards there instead.

4. State by State - a Panoromic Portrait of America

This is a wonderful, wonderful introduction to a country whose diversity is brought to life by fifty different authors who, together, provide what is basically a road trip in book form. Some of the authors recall childhood memories, others talk about the geography, history of politics of their state, or the people who live there. There is a lot of beautiful writing here, too, and I found that it was a great place to start for discovering contemporary American authors, as well as their country itself.

5. The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama

It's not often that I pick up a book that is basically 100% policy. It's even less often that I am so inspired by it. Barack Obama writes clearly, eloquently, and convincingly. It's no coincidence that the heroine in my novel says, referring to this book, that he makes her heart sing. Mine too.

Also worthy of note are One Day, for its page-turner qualities, for Emma, the character I so identified with, and the originality of its structure; American Rust, for its elegant writing; Brooklyn, because you feel like you're right there with the heroine in her seasickness and homesickness and lovesickness, the Time Traveller's Wife, for doing romance well, and Plan B: What to do when God doesn't turn up the way you thought he would - no-nonsense, honest, helpful.

Book Review: An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An Abundance of Katherines opens with a very ordinary tale of adolescent heartbreak. But Colin is not ordinary, and neither is his predicament: his nineteenth Katherine has just dumped him. Him! Him, who is destined for greatness, if he could just work out how to make that difficult transition from child prodigy to adult genius. Him, who can make a dozen anagrams out of any given set of words. Him, who can speak far more languages than anyone will ever need to.

Enter Hassan, the loyal best friend who cares enough about Colin to tell him when his conversational tangents are Not Interesting. He drags Colin away from home so that he can forget about Katherine XIX, and together they can engage on the American rite of passage par excellence: a road trip. But they never make it past Gutshot, Tennessee – here they meet some new friends, find a job, and Colin works on his Important Project: a mathematical equation that will predict the success of a relationship.

Colin is a collector of useless facts, and shares many of them with us. By the end of this book, you will not only have spent time with some lovable characters and learned more than you ever thought you wanted to about maths, you will also know which President was so fat that he once got stuck in the bath and why the shower curtain always seems drawn towards you.

Think of this book as Adrian Mole meets the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, with a dash of social commentary thrown in.

Warm, witty, and engaging, this is a “Young Adult” novel with an appeal far broader than the genre would suggest. Lovable, self-confessed geeks like Colin and Hassan are particularly likely to enjoy it.

Favourite things that begin with B...

Dear Bradley Whitford,

So you get through a book a week? This, this, is why I think you should be on Twitter. I would like to know what's on your bookshelf right now; what your favourite novels are; whether you ever well up when you read Barack Obama.

I'd like to know if you've read Let the Great World Spin and, like me, paused on page two, and then many, many more times, to think that if your writing ever gets sent out there into the great spinning world, this is what you would like it to sound like.

Come and join us.

Or you can write to me. That would be fine too.

calling other bibliophiles...

Dear people who read a lot,

I was hoping you could help me out.

Writing the end of this novel is turning out to be a lot like passing healthcare reform, only without the publicity. I've lost count of the number of levels I'm stuck on...

For inspiration, and help on navigating certain things, I'm looking for:

- books where the heroine sacrifices herself (in whatever way) for her hero...

- books where there is some kind of book club involved as either a main theme or just a sub-plot...

- books where a character is passionate about politics

- books where a character is a piano player and/or loves jazz...

Any recommendations?

Thanks in anticipation

Claire L :)

Books that I would like to write...

... or co-write. Or ghost write. Or adapt. Or translate. The list is endless...

Obviously, there is Inevitable, then the Muffin House and then the novel that will be loosely based on my time (hopefully) working for the Obama campaign in 2012.

But non-fiction-wise, I wouldn't mind working on the following (and leaving aside every variation on Inside the West Wing you can imagine)...

... Janel Moloney's biography

... the translation into French of Marlee Matlin's autobiography, "I'll scream later" (Marlee, if you're reading - you can check out my credentials on LinkedIn)

... So you're British and you think you can spell? - An adaptation of this great book of "Killer Quizzes for the Incurably Competitive and Overly Confident"

... Bradley Whitford's autobiography, which he really should write himself* , if the episodes of West Wing he did are anything to go by - but maybe I can proofread it for him, and advise him on which pictures to put in. You know, that kind of thing.

... Being Donna Moss: Adventures on the Campaign Trail

to be continued as inspiration strikes...

*For you clever clogs out there, I realise that an autobiography is by definition written by the person concerned. Is it, though? Jason Donovan's wasn't. Not that I am putting Jason Donovan in the same league as Bradley Whitford, although one thing they do have in common: my devotion to them. (In my defence, I was 10 when Jason was in his heyday and I was in love with him. There is no defence for my Brad devotion. I like to think that none is needed....)

Books that I would like someone else to write...

... because they'd write them far better than me, or I want to hear their take on it, or the whole point is that it's stuff I want to know without doing ridiculous amounts of research.

Or in one case, because if such a book existed, and were non-fiction, that would make me an unspeakably happy girl.

Making the horse drink...

How to motivate adult language learners to learn their verb conjugations

and its sequel

Blood from a stone

How to get adult language learners to use their imaginations

The Missing Years

Or my take on seasons 5 to 15 of the West Wing

by Aaron Sorkin

Find Me Valuable

(How an ordinary British girl won the heart of an ageing yet still desperately eligible Hollywood actor)

Destined for Greatness (or a far wittier title)

The autobiography of Bradley Whitford (with lots of photos, and plenty of inside info on the West Wing that we fans don't already know... and politics... and what it's really like to be an actor... and all that stuff)

American politics and history from the beginning for not-quite dummies

(aka reasonably intelligent Brits who knew nothing, literally nothing, about the US until they got addicted to the West Wing)

to be continued...

On my bookshelf, 2010

It is a truth universally acknowledged (or at least it ought to be) that you can tell a lot about someone from what is on their bookshelves. Which is possibly why they seem to be what my eye gravitates towards the first time I am in someone's home. (This, among many other things, is a trait I share with Catherine, the heroine of my book, Inevitable.)

I'm not entirely sure what a person would make of mine, or of the fact that my books, which mostly look unread (as they would when you - ahem - carry them round in an Amazon wrapper to avoid spoiling them) are clearly classified in a definite order according to a precise system, when the rest of my flat bears precisely none of the hallmarks associated with a person with obsessive compulsive disorder or even just the tendency to neatness.

Since I re-acquainted myself with voracious reading a couple of years ago, I've been listing all my bookseverything I've read thanks to a Facebook application. It occurs to me, though, that this may not be the most efficient way of doing so.

It also occurs to me that recording the books I am reading is as good a way as any of tracking the things that consume me, my passions and obsessions and vague interests, over a year, over a lifetime, even. Perhaps even the basis for a future autobiography, who knows.

So, here is my 2010 list for the benefit of those who would like to get to know me (Bradley Whtiford, are you out there?), and for mine too, because I'm sure one day it will tell me something useful. One day, I may well add reviews (and feel free to ask me about a specific book if you are interested) but for now, I'll content myself with purely subjective marks as and when I finish each book.

Recommendations, Amazon style (if you hated that, stay away from this, that kind of thing) are also very welcome.

American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld. Six out of ten. Not what I wanted it to be, which was basically a literary version of the West Wing. Only the last 100 of 600 or so pages vaguely scratches that itch. But it did scratch it somewhat effectively.

Reading like a Writer, by Francine Prose. Nine out of ten. Loved it.

Deadlock, by James Scott Bell. Seven and a half out of ten. It's set in New York and DC, has political and Christian overtones: could there be a more ideal read for me? Did not know such a thing existed. Fab.

Washington Square, by Henry James. Eight out of ten.

Le voyage d'hiver, by Amélie Nothomb. Three out of ten. (I am not, like many wannabe literary critics, a Nothomb snob: I've enjoyed a few books by her. But this one, I am convinced, would never have been published had she not already been famous and bound to churn out a book a year. I enjoyed the first third; then it went weird and disjointed and ought to have turned into three separate novels if she could have been bothered, but there you are. At least it's short.)

Finding your voice, by Les Edgerton. Four and a half out of ten. I keep meaning to blog about this one. It irritated me, but it did also teach me useful principles, and was an easy read.

The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton

Scene and setting, by Jack M Bingham. Five out of ten. Yawn, but vaguely useful.

The Art of Subtext in Fiction, by Charles Baxter.

Description and Setting, by Ron Rozelle. Eight out of ten. Really useful and inspiring. Second time through, and actually did some of the exercises this time.

The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen. Eight out of ten. Could even ignore other people while reading this. Only occasionally did I start thinking, "erm, get to the point please!". Which for a book this long is quite an achievement!

(I've just discovered another useful thing about this list: eleven books in just over two months is not, after all, that bad. Perhaps I am not wasting quite as much of my time as I thought.)

The Art of Time in Fiction, by Joan Silber. Good stuff. Seven out of ten.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Burrows - 8.5/10 Wonderful stuff. I actually dreamed about it one night and woke up thinking I had to finish it right there and then.

State by State, edited by Sean Wilsey and Matt Weiland. Thoroughly recommended - a great introduction to America.

On Writing, by Stephen King. Probably the only Stephen King book I'll ever read but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I loved the accounts of his marriage - so heart-warming.

Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin. Great stuff. Fantastic descriptions of sea sickness, the New York cold, homesickness, and re-entry shock. You felt you were there.

Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. Giving out 4 out of 10, because I'm feeling charitable.

Beginnings, Middles and Ends, by Nancy Kress. Six out of ten.

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Seven out of ten. I cried. I never cry at books.

The Writer's Idea Book, by Jack Heffron. Nine out of ten; just what I have been looking for. Of course reading it is only half the story - it's really all about the practical exercises.

The World According to Bertie, by Alexander McCall Smith (a 44 Scotland Street novel). Not high literature, but a perfectly pleasant and at times chucklesome read. Six and a half out of ten.

American Rust, by Philipp Meyer. Man, this guy can write. 9 out of ten.

Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney. 8 out of ten. Loved his style. Enjoyed the first half more, but who knows if that was a change in my mood or really a change in the book

The Rehearsal, by Eleanor Catton. I'll say 7 out of ten, no, 7.5, because she has some great detail and insight into the lives and minds of teenagers. But the post-modernness of it irritated me a little - the whole not knowing what's really real. Also, it felt like it just stopped, without resolving anything.

Sammy's Hill, by Kristin Gore. The West Wing meets chick lit. Passed the time very pleasantly... :) 7/10

Let the Great World Spin - this is amazing. The writing is practically poetry, the characterisation is deep, the stories touching, the interlocking of lives done beautifully. 9.5 out of ten this one. I think it's up there on my all-time favourites now..

God is closer than you think, by John Ortberg. Every bit as good as the first 35 times I've read it. Nine out of ten. Accessible, practical, inspiring.

The Piano Teacher, by Janice Lee - I hate giving up on books, but by page 130 I was ready to throw things. I didn't much like her writing or the gory war details. Can only assume that whoever compared it to Atonement has never actually read any Ian McEwan.

One Day, by David Nicholl

Word Painting, by Rebecca McClanahan

An Equal music, by Vikram Seth

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, by ZZ Packer

The Writer's Ideas Workshop, by Jack Heffron

The Earth hums in B flat, by Mari Strahan

Plan B: What to do when God doesn't turn up the way you thought He would, by Pete Wilson - recommended if you struggle with a hope deferred. Refreshingly honest and devoid of platitudes. So good that I begged my old Church to let me review it for their magazine. (Well, not begged, exactly. Offered. They said yes. Hooray.)

The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger - brilliant.

The Art of War for Writers, by James Scott Bell - full of useful info and inspirational quotes, like "a baboon can write 350 words per day. Don't be shown up by a baboon."

Writing your first novel, by Sophie King - Hmm. I don't want to be negative, and there was useful stuff in here, and maybe if it had been the first book I'd read about writing, I would have enjoyed it more. But I found it a little patronising, and it seemed to assume we all want to write commercial fiction, and most of the examples given were from her own work, which grated a little. It's possibly just a question of personal preference - I prefer the more academic kinds of books on this topic...

Hearts and Minds, by Amanda Craig. 7 out of 10. Enjoyed it, and at times found it hard to put down. Identified with a few of the characters, too, and it's always nice to read a book set in a place you know well. The mention of Pimlico made me smile.

Did I kiss marriage goodbye? trusting God with a hope deferred, by Carolyn McCulley. Now I need to go through it all again and actually put this stuff into practice! If I do, my life and those of people around me will be hugely enriched. Recommended, but prepare to be challenged.

The Song Is You, by Arthur Phillip. This is a beautifully written love story - he makes poetry out of clicking iPad wheels and pinging open emails. Deserves to be better known. Nine out of ten. Loved it. One of my favourite books this year.

The Constant Art of Being a Writer, by N M Selby. A really useful overview of and introduction to the life, art, and business of writing - so it does what it says on the tin! 8 out of 10.

84 Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff. Relentlessly charming, to use of its own phrases. Full of pithy observations about Brits and Americans, which you will especially appreciate if you experience of both cultures. If you know London and New York, so much the better. 8 out of 10.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - as a teenager, this would have blown my innocent little mind, but it's a good read. The characters feel real and draw you into their world and their relationship.

A Writer's Book of Days, by Judy Reeves. Her writing prompts are pure magic; her advice and inspiration is invaluable. A must for every writer's bookshelf!

Nine and Counting - the Women of the Senate - dangerously inspiring

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark. Fun, dark, quirky, old-fashioned. 7.5/10.

Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham. Fun, entertaining, but the ending was a little on the ridiculous side. 7/10

Falling man, by Don DeLillo. I know realise why DeLillo is on all the if-you-want-to-write-you-must-read-this lists. Haunting, beautiful, heart-breaking. 8.5/10, but I may have loved it more if I hadn't gulped it down so quickly. It's one of those books that may be best savoured.

Incomparable, by Andrew Wilson. Bite-sized, highly accessible theology about the character of God. 8.5/10.

Extremely loud and incredibly close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. Beautiful. Amazing writing. Again, haunting. 9/10

Okay, that might be cheating, since technically I haven't finished it, but if you add the half or so of this I've read with the little of the Piano Teacher that I read, that might make 50 in total, which brings me to my goal.

"Inevitable", by Claire Lyman - what's it about?

What's it about? I usually get asked when I apologise for my recent lack of social engagement with the excuse that "I'm writing a book, and I'm living eating sleeping breathing nothing else at the moment." So, for those of you who've wondered...



Catherine is bored. It’s not that she doesn’t love her books and her West Wing DVD collection, and the passion and excitement they stir in her. But she’d like something to happen in her real life for a change.

In search of adventure, or at the very least some existential angst she can use to finally do some of that writing she’s always secretly wished she had the heartbreaking past to fuel, she moves back to her native Belgium.

Yes, Belgium. Things happen there too, you know, as she discovers when she begins teaching French to Brad, an American diplomat, who, looking as he does like Bradley Whitford circa 1999 and minus the disproportionately controversial moustache, is not hard to fall in love with.

All well and good, but Brad’s ambiguous friendship with the beautiful Lucy (think Janel Moloney), back home in the US, seems to be getting in the way of the perfect Pride and Prejudice ending she’d like for her autobiography.

If heartbreak is the price for adventure, is it worth it? Should she fight for Brad? Should she settle for his best friend, who just happens to be another attractive American? Or should she retreat back into the world of fiction, living vicariously and free from gut-wrenching pain?

Come with her and help her decide...

Thankful, part 2

Today, I am thankful for...

drumroll please...

Amazon.

I know, I know. I should be supporting my local bookshops, not some big evil American corporate entity. Boo hiss.

The thing is, though - they're brilliant. Not just cheap, though I will freely admit that cheap is a big part of it. But so efficient. Admittedly I can't get the free postage from here in Chocolate Land, but it's not extortionate, and my parcels arrive soooo quickly! And now you can track them too!

In my defence, living in Belgium means buying English books here is an expensive business. But I wouldn't want to give you the impression that I never used Amazon before. Oh no.

(Lest you think I am over my West Wing addiction, I'd also like to plug the fact that you can currently get *the entire box set* for just under fifty pounds! The entire box set!)

And then of course there's the Wish List feature. I'm the only person I've ever met who plugs mine, which is 37 pages long because I started way back in 2001 when I barely had a grip on email, let alone exciting things like online shopping. But getting presents you actually want? You can't put a price on that. (Well, you know what I mean.) And in fact getting more presents, because all people need to do is click a couple of times. Genius. Pure genius.

And what's more, free with every book comes its own protective cardboard wrapper, which you can use religiously every time you leave the house with some reading material. OCD? Maybe. But a book with a bent spine or upturned corners? Shudder.

On writing, part 2

Okay, so I really want to read Zadie Smith's "The Autograph Man".

It's set in London, where I lived for five years as a child and five years as an adult, and New York, where I am very excited about going in just over three weeks' time, and where one of my very top favourite TV stars lives.

It's about, as far as I can make out, a young man obsessed with celebrity and wanting to meet famous people.

Now, here's the thing. That sounds a lot like something I could write about. From, erm, personal experience, apart from the fact that I am not a man of course. (If anyone has been following me on Facebook or Twitter you will have no trouble understanding what I am talking about.) It also sounds a lot like something I might WANT to write about at some point in the future.

So what do I do? Do I read it? But what if there are ideas in it that I would have come with myself, but then can't use because I will know I've read them in or been inspired by the Autograph Man?

I surely can't just avoid all books for the rest of my life, can I?

Help...!!