What more can I say?

A friend sent me this on facebook and I absolutely love it and couldn't agree more.  Unfortunately I can't make out the signature in the top left to give the artist proper acknowledgement.

The Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna

Publisher: Mr B's
£11.69 (special edition hardback)
Bought from Mr B's Emporium
ISBN 9780857869661

I've heard only very good things about this book, and was not disappointed myself.  As a friend from book club said on her blog site - for a bookshop to organise their own special edition print run it must be something special!
This is a wonderful story about a miller called Gunnar Huttunan who moves to a small village.  At first the village are pleased to have a new miller in town and like what he's doing to rebuild the dilapidated old millhouse, but soon things turn sour when his eccentric ways (howling at night and imitating animal behaviour) set him at odds with the rest of the villagers, and piece by piece things get worse for our anti-hero.

It's tempting to tell you about what happens to him, but I will try to resist, and instead tell you that this is a story about friendship, love, acceptance and freedom.  It's easy to identify with Gunnar, despite his eccentricities, and the descriptions of the escalating war between Gunnar and the villagers affects you more than you would expect.

The story was written in Finnish and translated to English via a French translation, so it's hard to say for certain what effect this has, however it reads very well, and you do get the impression that not a word is wasted.  I heartily encourage you to give this one a chance.

At the time of publishing this I can't upload the picture of my cover... hopefully I can do this soon.

Merry Christmas and all the trimmings.

Merry Christmas! It's a little late I know, but in our house we all got struck down with a cold over Christmas and are just beginning to emerge from the flu-fog.

I hope Father Christmas was generous with you, I got several books, and all but one was from my wish list. The one that wasn't must have been a mistake as its about 'daughters' and as far as I know Father Christmas is not my parent. I tried reading it but it made me cry, so it will have to wait til I'm feeling better and a little more stable ;-)

I haven't even felt able to pick up a book, and that was my main plan for this Christmas - to make a serious dent in my to be read pile. I tried yesterday with a copy of Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler, but read a page and a half and couldn't remember a thing I'd read. I'd been reading and re-reading the same page for half an hour before I had to admit defeat.

I'm going to try again today with The Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna. Wish me luck.

As for the new year, I wish you and yours a very happy healthy 2013!

My Christmas Present Wishlist

I've been slowly building my Christmas wish list on Amazon's wish list service, and as you might expect from a devoted reader such as myself it consists largely of books.

Of course I know I will never receive any of these unless I buy them myself, since most of my family are too technophobic to bother following the link I've sent them.  Every now and again I give in and buy something I've listed so it is constantly changing, but here's what's on there right now (in no particular order)...

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
Advent by James Treadwell
John Saturnall's Feast by Jonathan Norfolk
The Vanishing Act by Mette Jakobsen
I am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley
The Small Hours by Susie Boyt
The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman
A Song of Ice and Fire (7 volume box set) by George R.R. Martin
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Recently purchased...

Delusion in Death by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts)
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
The Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna

Most of these are either recommendations I've seen on Mr B's website, or books in a sequence I started to read from a Mr B's spa recommendation.  I feel I should state that I have no direct affiliation with Mr B's other than being an avowed devotee of their sterling bookselling services, and their uncanny ability to find perfect little gems for me to read that I might never see otherwise.

Dark Matter: A Ghost Story by Michelle Paver

Publisher: Orion
Price/Format: £7.99, paperback.

Bought from: Mr B's Emporium

ISBN 1409121186

This was one of the first books I read from Mr B's Reading Spa recommendations.  I am well known in my circle of friends and family to be a downright scaredy cat, and have nightmares for weeks after watching or reading something particularly scary, so I was a little aprehensive about reading this.

I had decided that having read it back in July/August it was too late to post a review about it now, but what do you know?  Apparently sometime after reading it I posted about it on our facebook book club page and it's now assigned as one of our upcoming books.  I may give it another go, knowing what happens may add a certain something to re-reading it.  Kind of like re-watching a film and seeing all the clues you missed the first time.

Set in the 1930's Jack is a poor man with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, who gets given a great opportunity to do something incredible and take part in a scientific expedition to overwinter in the arctic circle.  His team members bit by bit leave him for various reasons and he finds himself left to carry the expedition on his own, accompanied only by the sled dogs and the feeling of not being really alone in the permanent darkness.

For much of the novel you aren't sure if Jack is actually being haunted or just mentally crumbling under the strain of being alone in the constant darkness of such a stark environment.  It is essentially up to you to decide which you want to believe, and neither are comfortable options.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, up to about half way through I was quite happy to read at night, but as the story progresses the tension mounts and I had to finish the book while only reading during the day.  It was well written I thought, easy to read, well paced with events escalating throughout the story.  The descriptions of the place, Jack, etc are all wonderful and really bring the story to life.

If you're braver than me (lets face it - who isn't?) then I highly recommend reading it at night.  If we have another cold snowy winter it would really be an excellent atmospheric read.  I am particularly looking forward to re-reading it while I'm cosy and warm on a wintry night in deepest darkest December.