Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

 

"Sometimes we don't need advice. Sometimes we just need to hear we're not the only one."

Is there anything McConaughey can't do? He can deliver an absolutely unforgettable line "alright, alright, alright", deliver in the serious drama department and convincingly hypnotise us with his dance moves and patter ( hello Magic Mike). Now he's really gone and done it — the man can write too.

Initially I was rubber necking by buying this autobiography / collection of musings and yet I basically couldn't put it down. There are some typically oddball moments such as the way his father dies, and soul searching in the desert, yet in the main, this is great. His writing voice is as affable and endearing as any great appearance on the Graham Norton show or similar.

While McConaughey has always been blessed with good looks, it is his manner that sets his apart from just another pretty boy actor. At 50, he reveals the struggles and adventures that have formed his character and he reaffirms the sense that this is a man who could spin an amazing tale at a barstool near you. 

He's the kind of guy whose positive energy and joie de vivre is magnetic, even if his lifestyle ( I could never live in a trailer) is completely counter to my own. I just wanted to befriend him after reading this, rather than harbouring any latent lusty thoughts care of Magic Mike.

 5 out of 5: green lights only from now on.

Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith

"A profound bitterness was audible in Jensen's subdued tone. Ingham was at that moment calling himself an idiot for not having realised than Jensen was homosexual."

What's not to love about Patricia Highsmith? The author of The Talented Mr Ripley and Strangers On a Train always delivers. Not only that, but her novels are often set in some pretty impressive locales.This novel is no exception, set in Tunisia, our protagonist is escaping the ghost of his divorce while he crafts a new screenplay for a never to arrive Director.

When his project fails to materialise, Howard decides to stay on, befriending the Danish painter, Jensen. When an intruder to his hotel room comes to a rather permanent end thanks to a thrown typewriter, Howard seeks a less obvious abode with the help of his Danish new friend, while he awaits word from his girlfriend.

Suspense, failed romances, exotic locales, all amount to a damn good read!! While this isn't my favourite of her novels, it makes for an intriguing ride nonetheless.

4 out of 5 - be careful with typewriters... they can be dangerous.

 

Aunts Up the Cross by Robin Dalton

 

"I remember Nana woke me up to announce the news and insisted on cracking a bottle of champagne by my bedside—not in celebration, but as her means of greeting any crisis."

Take a trip back into the cross of the 20s and 30s. Your narrator delightfully regales you with tales of her extended family and their large, eventful house, Maramanah. Her father, her dog Samual Pepys and a large cast of maiden aunts live in a massive terrace at the end of Darlinghurst Road, at the other end lies the "dirty half mile" inhabited by "soiled doves" as her grandmother describes them.

This is really like climbing into a time machine and walking along familiar streets under a very different lens, expressed with a delightfully humorous feel that reminds me of the tales my nana used to tell.

The illustrations in the edition I have adds to the book's charm, as does the forward by Clive James.

4 out of 5, now every time I alight at Kings Cross Station I'll think of it as the former site of Maramanah.

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

 "I'd underestimated my vulnerability. I'd lied to everyone, to Melissa, even to Bobbi, just so I could be with Nick. I had left myself no-one to confide in, no one who would feel any sympathy for what I'd done."

If there's anyone left on earth that didn't watch the miniseries or read the source novel of Normal People, Sally Rooney's other novel, then I feel perhaps that might be the book to start with. This novel predates the more famous one, in fact it was her debut. While its hard not to draw parallels in its reflection of college age complex relationships between the novels, they are significantly different and I wonder if my appreciation of Normal People was greater because it was centred on the main relationships, whereas the waters are far more cloudy here which might have diluted the intensity.

Perhaps where the author is the most successful is in highlighting the discrepancy between the filtered, shiny images we portray of ourselves externally and the dark confusion that reigns inside. The protagonist, Frances, has an intense bond with her best friend Bobbi, who had been her girlfriend and partner in spoken word poetry. The fact that Frances writes all the poetry and Bobbi seemed to hang on her coat-tails was the first indication that their relationship was destined to become rocky.

A meeting with a literary journalist, Melissa, and her handsome, actor husband, Nick leads to friendships and a love affair that will shake the foundations of everyone involved.I read most of this while sweating away in an infrared

sauna and the pages flew by - I managed to not sweat on the pages (it was difficult).

Covid permitting, the BBC has announced that this will also be adapted for television and it will be interesting to see who they cast as the dishy, but troubled Nick. 

5 out of 5, read this before they film it!!

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

 

"My town is a factory for the production of human babies."

Do not be fooled by the cute hedgehog cover on this interesting novel that isn't afraid to pour on the shock value. From incest to cannibalism, I was ill prepared for some of the content as it begins with a girl who feels like an outsider in a world consumed with marriage for procreation. 

So much of Natsuki's inner dialogue - imaginary friend/god, desire to be understood etc - seems palatable in her youth but goes to extreme as she grows. Well to be fair **spoilers** sleeping with her cousin was totally not okay, but her view of the world as being prepped as a future vessel for children is really disturbingly close to home. The idea that one must conform and live a prescribed life to be socially acceptable,  pure, not too fat or thin, caring but not too intelligent - is a circumstance all women struggle with.

Murata takes these confining social norms and produces an extreme counter narrative in Natsuki.

Her asexual marriage grants her a small respite from the interfering of her family, until, as when most people marry to appease their parents, they  face the prospect of  having to deliver grandchildren.

What her family don't know about is the  good looking school teacher whose unforgivable actions in Natuski's  past serve as confirmation of her fears that women are purely tools in the service of the baby making factory. If I still lived in the suburbs I might share that belief.

Natsuki clings to the hope that the bond she shares with her cousin will help her escape society's demands and then things just take a turn for the weirdness.

I can't imagine anyone making this one into a movie - but never say never!!

4 out of 5 - a fluffy toy can lead you down a dark path.

 

Death of a Typographer by Nick Gadd

"The signage, the menus, even the bloody toilet doors are in a terrible font called Impact. I felt like people were yelling at me from all sides. It gave me a migraine."

When I saw this on my book bestie's currently reading status on Goodreads,  I knew I had to borrow it. Gadd had me at the title alone and when I got to the bit about the sensitivity to ugly fonts I was all in!

Martin Kern - oh come on, even the names are gold - uses his typographic knowledge to solve crimes, but can he solve the infamous mystery of Pieter van Floogstraten?

While the blurb essentially gives away most of the story, don't be dissuaded, this is a truly novel approach to the noir potboiler that pays off. Destined to appeal to graphic designers and those that deal with font emergencies on a regular basis. One of my pet peeves with Blogger is the lack of interesting font choices, however that's not such a problem in the real world with indesign.

The description of a modern office covered in Helvetica made me giggle.

Doesn't pack quite the punch I was hoping for in the end, but enjoyable nonetheless.

 4 out of 5, this might just be your type.
 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Unknown

 

"From his neck to his loins so square set was he, and so long and stalwart of limb, that I trow he was half a giant."

I'm going to be completely honest here. I desperately wanted to reach my goal of reading 100 books last years and was still trying earnestly on December 31. It wasn't enough, I got to 80. This was one of those books I pretty much skimmed through at the eleventh hour.

If you're wondering why I was reading this, you can blame my list ticking obsession. It appeared on Nicci French's Top 10 dinner parties list at The Guardian. 

This just wasn't really my jam.

2 out of 5 - not in the mood for King Arthur.