Familiar Things

8.5/10
A lyrical tale for our times holding some of the consequences of rampant consumerism and industrialisation up to our gaze. The main setting is a vast rubbish tip on an island where the disadvantaged and disenfranchised compete for scraps. People become disposable like the trash they scavenge through. Sad but also wistful and somehow beautiful in its descriptions. The mysticism the young boys discover are reminiscent of Murakami as the supernatural is never explained lest this destroys its magic. The terrible conditions had some echoes of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Overall, quite different and unexpected and lovely to read.

Crying in H Mart

8/10

A sometimes brutally honest memoir of Michelle Zauner's relationship with her Korean mother and searching for her identity growing up in the North West of the United States. Partly a coming of age story, the narrative alternates between childhood memories, a terrible battle with cancer and the grief of losing her mother to that battle. Korean culture and particularly its food is interwoven throughout and this forms the backbone of the maternal relationship and of the story. A well-written fascinating and very moving read.

The Summer Book - Tove Jansson

9/10

A seemingly straightforward story about life on a Finnish Island, inspired by the actual island of Klovharun where Jansson lived for nearly 30 years. The book is an easy read, each chapter being a separate episode all interlinked around the glories and tribulations of summer. It is a sweet and beautiful meditation on the cyclical and the endless flows of time and tide, cleverly constructed around the intermingling of child and adult perpsectives. The simple writing style and the themes of isolation and interaction with others brought back memories of Moominland Midwinter which I read as a child. This is a delicate hymn to life, the human memory full of the humour, sorrows and joys of life itself. Unsurpising that it has come to regarded as a Scandinanavian classic.

Chouette - Claire Oshetsky

8.5/10
An astonishing novel which gracefully pulls off its preposterous parable of the mother daughter relationship until you are lost deep in the story. The book hooked me in right from its startling opening paragraph and the music referenced throughout was beautiful to listen to on Spotify.

All Our Shimmering Skies - Trent Dalton

7.5/10
I thoroughly enjoyed this very Australian fable with its deft interweaving of important historical events and a mysticism which seems to work well when events are narrated from a child's perspective. The characters tend towards the one-dimensional, either good or evil, but there is also some defter exploration around the themes of love and loss. A beautiful love letter to the Northern Territory landscape.

Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy - Raghuram G. Rajan

 7/10

Highlights hidden structural economic issues and imbalances in the global economy. Very good discussion, particularly in the early chapters. Certainly some interesting ideas to be found in here but I also found the book somewhat dry and too academic at some points.

The Child That Books Built - Francis Spufford

6.5/10

Went in some unexpected and fascinating directions. However, some of the 'academic' discussion went on too long. There was a particularly overlong discussion of the Little House on the Prairie books. Other books that seemed interesting subject matter were just touched on.