Category: Read

#WWWWednesday – 23rd June 2021

whatcathyreadnext10 Comments

WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

The Penguin Book of Spanish Short StoriesThe Penguin Book of Spanish Short Stories edited by Margaret Jull Costa (proof copy, courtesy of Penguin UK)

This exciting new collection celebrates the richness and variety of the Spanish short story, from the nineteenth century to the present day. Featuring over fifty stories selected by revered translator Margaret Jull Costa, it blends old favourites and hidden gems – many of which have never before been translated into English – and introduces readers to surprising new voices as well as giants of Spanish literary culture, from Emilia Pardo Bazán and Leopoldo Alas, through Mercè Rodoreda and Manuel Rivas, to Ana Maria Matute and Javier Marías.

Brimming with romance, horror, history, farce, strangeness and beauty, and showcasing alluring hairdressers, war defectors, vampiric mothers, and talismanic mandrake roots, the daring and entertaining assortment of tales in The Penguin Book of Spanish Short Stories will be a treasure trove for readers.

Secret Keeper CoverThe Secret Keeper of Jaipur (The Henna Artist #2) by Alka Joshi (eARC, courtesy of Mira Books and Random Things Tours)

It’s the spring of 1969, and Lakshmi, now married to Dr. Jay Kumar, directs the Healing Garden in Shimla. Malik has finished his private school education. At twenty, he has just met a young woman named Nimmi when he leaves to apprentice at the Facilities Office of the Jaipur Royal Palace. Their latest project: a state-of-the-art cinema.

Malik soon finds that not much has changed as he navigates the Pink City of his childhood. Power and money still move seamlessly among the wealthy class, and favors flow from Jaipur’s Royal Palace, but only if certain secrets remain buried. When the cinema’s balcony tragically collapses on opening night, blame is placed where it is convenient. But Malik suspects something far darker and sets out to uncover the truth. As a former street child, he always knew to keep his own counsel; it’s a lesson that will serve him as he untangles a web of lies.

Recently finished

Links from the titles will take you to my review.

The Readers’ Room by Antoine Laurain 

Yours Cheerfully by A. J. Pearce 

One Last Time by Helga Flatland 

What Cathy (will) Read Next

Three Little TruthsThree Little Truths by Eithne Shortall (review copy, courtesy of Corvus and Readers First)

One happy street. Three pretty houses. So many lies.

Martha used to be a force of nature: calm, collected, and in charge. But since moving her husband and two daughters to Dublin under sudden and mysterious circumstances, she can’t seem to find her footing.

Robin was the “it” girl in school, destined for success. Now she’s back at her parents’ with her four-year-old son, vowing that her ne’er-do-well ex is out of the picture for good.

Edie has everything she could want, apart from a baby, and the acceptance of her new neighbors. She longs to be one of the girls, and to figure out why her perfect husband seems to be avoiding their perfect future.

Three women looking for a fresh start on idyllic Pine Road. Their friendship will change their lives, and reveal secrets they never imagined. 

#BookReview The Readers’ Room by Antoine Laurain @BelgraviaB

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The Readers' RoomAbout the Book

When the manuscript of a debut crime novel arrives at a Parisian publishing house, everyone in the readers’ room is convinced it’s something special. And the committee for France’s highest literary honour, the Prix Goncourt, agrees.

But when the shortlist is announced, there’s a problem for editor Violaine Lepage: she has no idea of the author’s identity. As the police begin to investigate a series of murders strangely reminiscent of those recounted in the book, Violaine is not the only one looking for answers. And, suffering memory blanks following an aeroplane accident, she’s beginning to wonder what role she might play in the story …

Format: Paperback (176 pages)    Publisher: Gallic Books
Publication date: 17th June 2021 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Mystery, Literature in Translation

Find The Readers’ Room on Goodreads

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My Review

I really enjoyed Antoine Laurain’s amusing novel The President’s Hat so had no hesitation in accepting the kind offer by Isabelle Flynn at Gallic Books of a review copy of the new paperback edition of The Readers’ Room, translated by Emily Boyce and Jane Aitken. The Readers’ Room was originally published in hardback in September 2020.

Set in the world of publishing it’s full of references to authors past and present, and to the often tortuous process of getting a book from blank page, to spiral bound manuscript, to finished edition. The book focuses on the gatekeepers of the process at the publishing house where editor Violaine Lepage works – the members of the readers’ room. Their task is to review unsolicited manuscripts in order to sort the wheat from the chaff. Usually it’s mostly the latter but then the manuscript of a novel entitled Sugar Flowers arrives. All the readers agree it’s something out of the ordinary even if its author seems unusually anxious to conceal their identity.

An element of the uncanny is introduced when a series of murders appear to match those in the book. Soon Violaine and the detective investigating the case, Inspector Sophie Tanche, discover they have a mutual interest in tracking down the author of the novel. For Violaine, it’s about maximising the publicity benefits that arise from having published a prize-winning book. For Sophie it’s about successfully solving the murders.

The author, like his fictional counterpart, has fun throwing in all sorts of red herrings to keep the reader guessing whilst at the same time making sly digs at the inner workings of the publishing industry. For instance, the lunches at which editors feed their authors “like fat misanthropic cats they’re hoping to butter up and make purr”. I suspect the author may also have misgivings about the proliferation of modern technology given brief scenes featuring a rather unsettling encounter with an advanced AI program and a sat nav that answers back. Naturally, as a Parisian, the author has no trouble conjuring up the atmosphere of his home city with its grand parks and avenues lined with restaurants, bars and brasseries.

If you subscribe to the view that everyone has a novel in them, you’ll enjoy the following image from early in the book. “All those phantom books form a sort of enveloping cloud around literature like the ozone layer around the earth.” In fact, in the book, Violaine has some rather unearthly encounters with authors such as Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf.

They say truth is stranger than fiction, but is it? And was Oscar Wilde right when he said “life imitates art far more than art imitates life”? I confess the solution to the mystery when it came didn’t quite live up to the ingenuity of the rest of the book but The Readers’ Room remains an extremely entertaining read.

In three words: Clever, witty, stylish

Try something similar: The Forgers by Bradford Morrow or The 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet

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Antoine Laurain
Pascal Ito © Flammarion

About the Author

Antoine Laurain is the bestselling author of six previous novels, including The President’s Hat, a Waterstones Book Club pick which won the Prix Landerneau and the Prix Relay des Voyageurs, and was adapted for television, and The Red Notebook which was selected for HRH the Duchess of Cornwall’s Reading Room book club in April 2021. His novels have been translated into more than twenty languages. Antoine was an Author of the Day at London Book Fair 2019. A writer, journalist and antiques collector, he lives in Paris. (Bio/photo credit: Publisher author page)

About the Translators

Jane Aitken is a publisher and translator from the French. Emily Boyce is an editor and in-house translator at Gallic Books.