The theme for October in Spell the Month in Books — a linkup hosted on Reviews From the Stacks, — is “Favourite Genre”. Since I don’t have a favourite genre, this could be a short post. The most I can say is that I gravitate towards literary fiction and historical fiction with a smattering of crime fiction and try to avoid anything that is purely romance and fantasy.
Since the boundaries between genres are fluid, it’s often difficult to decide where to place a particular book I thought I’d stretch the remit of this prompt. So instead of favourite genres I’m going to go for a much broader category of “books that transport me to another place”. Not as catchy as “favourite genre” admittedly but I suspect you’ll be more interested in the titles of the books I’m featuring than in the title of this post.
O
Overkill by Vanda Symon
We start our journey in rural New Zealand with the first in a crime series featuring the young female police officer Sam Shepherd. The plotting of Overkill is sound but it was the atmosphere that held my interest most. The novel is set in a small farming community “slighty shabbier and more run-down” than most rural towns. Everyone knows everyone else and it’s impossible to keep anything private so it’s not surprising that by the end of the book Shepherd
C
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Convenience Store Woman gives a fascinating insight into the kind of retail outlet that’s commonplace in many Japanese cities. Murata takes us behind the scenes of one such store in Tokyo, showing how the staff are expected to demonstrate high levels of customer service. They even have to practise the script to welcome people as they come through the door and thank them as they leave. I count myself lucky in some British equivalents if the staff even acknowledge my presence
T
Milan is the next destination on our literary world tour with a beautifully written novella about love and grief. Ti Amo is loosely based on the author’s own life, in particular the time when — just like the book’s narrator — she and her husband lived in Milan where he became desperately ill. Through the narrative, Ørstavik explores the nature of love and asks how we can survive when the person we love most is about to die.
O
Old Goriot by Honoré de Balzac
Two sides of life in nineteenth century Paris are depicted in Old Goriot: the old established class of the aristocrats and the world of the new bourgeoise class who made their money on the back of the Industrial Revolution. Balzac doesn’t hold back in his critique of these worlds — he depicts Paris as the centre of a corrupt, ruthless society that feeds on ambition, money and status. It’s a fascinating read.
B
Blackout by Ragnar Jonasson
Most of the Nordic fiction I’ve come across has a heavy focus on the bleakness of the winter in those countries. Blackout proves that Iceland does have a summer with long hours of sunlight though the temperatures are still fairly cool. Jonasson’s novels in the Dark Iceland series are also interesting because they are set against a background of Iceland’s financial crisis and recession in the early 2000s which saw the country seek a bail out from the International Monetary Fund.
E
His Excellency Eugène Rougon by Émile Zola
Like Balzac, Zola wasn’t too happy about the state of the French nation. In this novel about one man’s ambition to be at the top of the political tree, he spotlights the nepotism, favouritism and corruption rife among those in the highest circles of power. As legislators and ministers wrestle with thorny issues like public spending and social unrest, their real focus is on how they can use each situation to their personal advantage. See my review here.
R
A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa
Most of A River in Darkness takes place in one place in the world I have zero desire to visit — North Korea. Masaji Ishikawa was brought up to believe that he was a citizen of “ a paradise on Earth” but which he comes to view more as a hell hole. His family live in pitiful accommodation, are always cold and always hungry. At one point they scavage for acorns, pine bark, weeds — anything that could be made edible and enable them to stave off starvation. Yet they dare not complain. This is his memoir of how he escaped to Japan, leaving his family behind uncertain if they would survive.
.If you fancy having a go at Spell the Month, you’ll find all the info you need on the website of the host, Reviews From the Stacks. The November theme is “Food or Autumn Decorations on the Cover”