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Lost Property
Lost Property
Helen Paris | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Dot Watson works in the TfL Lost Property office, meticulously labelling items found on London’s public transport in the hope of reuniting them with their owner. However, it soon becomes apparent that it is Dot who is lost, grieving the loss of her father to suicide, her mother to dementia and her ever-deteriorating relationship with her sister.

What isn’t initially clear is why Dot feels guilt-ridden by her father’s suicide but Paris carefully peels back the layers of Dot and her family’s lives to expose their loss, their love and their vulnerability.


Dot herself is fastidious in details, finding safety in rules, routine and order. Her safe words (Sellotape, safety pin, superglue) echo through the novel with no real context except to calm Dot, to allow her to keep everything together and in place. In contrast to this, Dot is clearly falling apart.
Dot’s life is already poles apart from what she envisioned for herself but circumstances cause her to fall further and start looking for an escape: an escape that she finds amongst the stacks of unclaimed items, with a little help from a bottle of absinthe!

Dot’s hallucinations do cause moments of humour but more than this they portray her raw grief and her depression. Dot tries to find a story behind every item in the stacks, to give the item an identity, an owner, a purpose. But what she is really looking for is her identity, her purpose. She passionately fights for these items, believing that their worth surpasses monetary value, but she cannot apply this to herself until it is almost too late.


The characters surrounding Dot serve to reflect how isolated she has made herself.
 Our protagonist has few friends in her social circle and those that she does have seem to be work friends, in whom she often finds criticism. I really appreciated the roles of characters such as Anita, she never stopped inviting Dot to events even when Dot had refused several times before. Anita is the perfect model for a friend of someone with depression: keep showing up, keep listening and never give up.

Dot’s mother, Gail, has dementia and has recently moved out of the maisonette she shared with Dot and into a care home. The relationship between mother and daughter has never been as close as the bond Dot had with her father but Dot’s memories of her mother slowly unfurl into the recognition and acceptance of her as a person and a protector, rather than the background character she has always assumed her mother to be.

Dot’s sister Philippa seems to be a bit of a steamroller of a character at first, bossy and controlling in that she plans to sell the maisonette and thus make Dot homeless. However, Philippa finds her spotlight in the final few chapters, perhaps because Dot allows herself to see her sister properly and acknowledge the life and pain that they both shared. The resulting love between the two sisters is heart-warming.

 
Lost Property is heart-breakingly honest and open. I laughed and, as someone coming to terms with a dementia diagnosis within the family, I cried my little heart out. I frankly couldn’t believe Lost Property is Helen Paris’ debut novel. This is the most emotive book I have read this year.

Thank you to Bookstagrammers.com, Helen Paris and Penguin Random House UK for gifting me a hard copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  
WT
Whisper to Me
Nick Lake | 2016
10
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is fantastic. I know it sounds cheesy, but I literally could not put it down.

The plot isn't just one simple story line; it's twists and turns and ups and downs all over the place. Cass is writing to someone - who is never named, actually - recapping events. The style means that she can switch from talking about the past to describing her current situation and feelings, in the present. She's able to reflect on the past, add a whole new level to the story. I loved it. And when "you" are in the story, she describes you but also skips the mundane details that you would already know, keeping the story really interesting. It really sounded like she was writing to someone.

Cass's letter/email is an apology, an explanation, for hurting someone. She acknowledges this right from the start, but it takes a long, long time to get into what really happened. Not in a boring, dragged-out way, but in a suspenseful way. Constantly, I wanted to know what she was referring to, what had happened to require the writing of this email.

So the plot is, as I said, not a straight line at all. But some important things are:

Cass starts to hear a voice. A voice that's not there, not really.
Cass meets "you" and the voice is quiet and everything is great. But things go wrong. Things go so, so wrong.
Cass's dad has issues - untreated PTSD from serving as a MARINE.
Cass has some, uh, unacknowledged issues caused by the death of her mother.
Cass meets Paris. Paris is sunshine and love and happiness.
There's a serial killer on the loose.
As you can see, there is a lot going on in this book. I won't tell you how all the things link together, but it's so clever. And oh, so heartbreaking.

Let's just say that you know it's coming - you can tell by Cass's choice of language that something is going to happen - but you still hope for some miracle.

Leading on from that last point, the characters are fantastic. Paris is honestly just amazing; I really fell in love with her. Probably more than Cass's actual love interest. Oops. And Cass's dad is so complex, clearly struggling with some stuff, and although he does wrong and he gets angry and he scares Cass sometimes you don't hate him, not really, and neither does Cass. He's her dad and she loves him, and he's trying his best and I could really feel that.

Some books really do just click with you, and this was one of those for me. I made excuses to read for longer than planned, stayed up later. It was lovely to have that excitement back when reading, even if I do feel kind of sad and empty now it's finished.

Part of me wants some kind of follow-up, but I also know that that would kind of ruin the whole mysterious, imaginative element that the ending leaves. I don't know.

I would completely definitely certainly recommend it. It covers so much - mental illnesses and single parents and love and death and sex workers and just so many different aspects of life that you maybe wouldn't expect to find thrown together into one book. But Cass doesn't seem crazy, isn't made out to be some kind of mental patient. And no single theme dominates the story - this isn't just about love, or just about murder. It's about life.

Definitely 5 stars. I adored this book.
  
40x40

ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Bastille Spy in Books

Aug 1, 2019 (Updated Aug 1, 2019)  
The Bastille Spy
The Bastille Spy
C. S. Quinn | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A very enjoyable historical spy adventure!
England’s best spy, in this novel set in only just pre-Revolution Paris (1789), is Attica Morgan. Yes, in a time where a woman was deemed to be the fairer, weaker sex, Attica is a ruthless, all-action spy in His Majesty’s Government. And I loved her.

I’ve no idea how likely this would have been, and largely speaking, I don’t actually care. This book is non-stop action, as Attica is asked to investigate the murder of a rebel in the Bastille. She sees how dangerous Paris is becoming, and how the French royal family really don’t care about their poorer subjects. Attica teams up with a Privateer/ Pirate to complete her mission - and I found myself wondering (and hoping - see point 2):
1. When the next book will be coming out*, and
2. Will he be in it!

*for the record, I know that this book has only just released, and I’m firmly of the opinion that authors should take as long as they want/ need to take over writing their books. Can’t help but want to see more of these fabulous characters though!

Attica’s backstory is fascinating: the bastard daughter of a British nobleman who has escaped from slavery, educated and brought up as a Lady, she is expected to marry to her family’s advantage (or to that of the Crown). Attica doesn’t really like playing by the rules though, and trains to be a spy - which sounds brutal, but prepares her for some pretty risky missions.

The French people generally, whether Royalists or Republicans, don’t come off terribly well. The Republicans all seem to be pretty bloodthirsty and immoral, the Royalists are ‘just’ immoral. So, happy days (I should also say here that I know lots of lovely French people who are neither immoral or bloodthirsty. Just to make that clear 😉)!

Have I said how much I liked this book? Because I really did. If you want a fun, exciting, historical fiction novel, then this will be right up your street. I’m definitely putting this in my ‘Look out for the next in the series’ watchlist (yes, I really do have one of those).


Many thanks to Jellybooks who provided me with a copy of this book to read and review all the way back in April 2019! I’ve had to try very hard to keep this under my hat since then!
  
The Change 3: Paris: A City of Fools
The Change 3: Paris: A City of Fools
Guy Adams | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Odd and more intense than previous books
This third book, again in a different city to the previous ones, is set in central Paris. A group of people have made a life for themselves in the catacombs and tunnels underneath the city, largely safe from the strange monsters and beings that have taken over the city.
Loic, the main PoV character, is a former street child who has quite easily adapted to life under the streets, scavenging for food where he can. The main threat they face is the Impressionists, a race of paint-monsters who roam the streets and tunnels rounding up the people they find.
This book is more focused on people who have made a life for themselves following The Change (still a mystery, but safe to assume that weird things can happen now), rather than those struggling to come to terms with it.
It is quite an exciting tale of rescue, bargaining and trying to evade some very strange, but very Parisian, enemies who are never as they seem.
This book, for once, is fairly self-contained and has an ending and was a good short read.
  
Un Conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale) (2008)
Un Conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale) (2008)
2008 | International, Comedy, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I sat next to someone called Arnaud Desplechin at a dinner once in Paris. At home a week later, I saw a movie called A Christmas Tale. It was jaw-dropping, immediately one of the best films I’d ever seen. I got up from the couch thinking, Who in God’s name directed this thing? At the TV, I flipped over the DVD case and shrieked. I’d been sitting right next to him and hadn’t said a thing. I was distraught—like someone who decides not to buy an eight-dollar painting at a thrift shop only to find out later that it was a Picasso. Surely A Christmas Tale is built on one of our sturdiest clichés, that of a dysfunctional family reuniting for the holidays. But that’s where everything you’ve ever seen before ends. There’s not a filmic technique that isn’t employed to its fullest, no trick Desplechin is afraid to pull. Every beat is specific, there’s not a written false note, and it has some of the ballsiest acting on any side of the Atlantic. I only wish I had known all this when I was sitting next to the man. C’est la vie."

Source
  
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm by A Tribe Called Quest
1990 | Hip-hop, Rap
1.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This 1990 masterpiece is very much a travel album. It has all the hallmarks and some of the pitfalls of a life on the road: the single 'I Left my wallet in El Segundo' is a case in point. The advice lyric 'I don't eat no ham'n'eggs cuz they're high in cholesterol' in the classic cut 'Ham'n'eggs' is another highly unusual call and response rhyme - but again paints a true picture of the perils of a road life spent in diners. Over the course of the album we visit Lucien in Paris and traverse around the world of music with a zillion samples of classic sixties and seventies rock and soul albums. It's always optimistic and wide eyed - the best way to travel. I was talking to my friend Ben the other day about how this is my favorite Tribe album - (most people seem to prefer The Low End Theory?) - but I learned so much about music through this record - The songs are great and it's one of those albums that drags you into a different universe and world view and changes you for the better."

Source
  
Behind Closed Doors
Behind Closed Doors
B.A. Paris | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
9
8.0 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
158 of 250
Kindle
Behind Closed Doors
By B A Paris

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You might not want to like them, but you do.

You’d like to get to know Grace better.

But it’s difficult, because you realise Jack and Grace are never apart.

Some might call this true love. Others might ask why Grace never answers the phone. Or how she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. And why there are bars on one of the bedroom windows.

Sometimes, the perfect marriage is the perfect lie.


Absolutely chilling! The whole book I just couldn’t put it down! It’s 1:37am and I just had to finish it! This is not a book if normally pick up but so glad I did! I had this knot in my stomach that hurt so much till o knew he was dead!! And what a fitting death. Highly recommend!
  
Sharpe's Assassin
Sharpe's Assassin
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It's been 15 years or so since Bernard Cornwell last returned to perhaps his most famous creation Richard Sharpe, in Sharpe's Fury.

In chronological order, that was then, novel # 11 of 23 (including short stories in that count).

While Cornwell continued on with his 'Saxon Stories / Last Kingdom' series starring Uhtred of Bebbanburg (read those. Enjoyed those), I've always held a soft spot for the soldier-up-from-the-ranks of Richard Sharpe, so I was quite happy to hear that he would be returning to that character.

This is that return, chronologically novel # 23 of 24, taking place almost immediately after the Battle of Waterloo (worth reading Sharpe's Waterloo again - you don't need to, but it gives context). There's no historical battle (for the setting) this time around; instead we have Sharpe getting caught up in/foil an a plot to assassinate the Duke of Wellington - who, here, seems to have mellowed somewhat towards Sharpe - and the returning King Louis XVIII, with a large portion of the novel set in and around the environs of Paris (in particular The Louvre).

Good to have Sharpe and Harper back together!
  
John Wick. Chapter 4 (2023)
John Wick. Chapter 4 (2023)
2023 | Action, Crime, Thriller
6
7.8 (13 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The longest John Wick movie to date, clocking in at just under 3 hours, with Keanu Reeves once again the focal point for some inventive action scenes.

Even if, by this point, all the assassins are operating at a level just below that of superheroes: bouncing off cars, falling out upper storey windows (and then getting up and dusting themselves off), shrugging off wounds that would incapacitate you or me ...

I also have to say, just where is the police when all this is going on?!

Anyway, that's all by the by: here, John is still out for revenge on the High Table that branded him 'excommunicado', with the bounty on his head growing ever and ever larger all the time. This film also moves that action - largely - away from New York, instead relocating to Japan (Osako) and France (Paris), with the last hour or so pretty much an extended action scene as John (fist)fights, shoots, brawls, stabs and crawls his way to a dawn appointment for a duel like something out of the 18th century that he hopes will finally close his ledger.
  
Colette (2018)
Colette (2018)
2018 | Drama, History
“The hand that holds the pen writes history”.
Colette is yet another tale of female empowerment: a woman with real talent trying to break out of the gilded cage she finds herself trapped in.

The plot
This is a true story, set in Paris in the late 19th Century. Colette (Keira Knightley), a beautiful country girl living in Burgundy is seduced by and then married to the much older Parisian ‘literary entrepreneur’ Willy (Dominic West). Willy is a “brand” in Paris: a well-known critic turned author. The only problem being that he does virtually no writing of his own but ghosts work out to his team. Colette exhibits a gift for writing slightly lascivious tales of her life (under the pseudonym Claudine) at her girl’s school, where clearly nighttime swimming lessons taught more than back stroke! As a result, Willy fills a financial hole by publishing Colette’s work in his name. The books fly off the shelves faster than the publishers can print them. But Willy has expensive habits and Colette gets locked into writing an ever-popular series but without a voice of her own.

Bohemian Rhapsodies
If the swinging 60’s started anywhere, it was probably in Paris during this time period! While Victorian England was staid and conservative, Paris – home of the Moulin Rouge – was a hot-bed of liberation. As a result, Colette and Willy’s marital affairs are – erm – sexually ‘fluid’. While Colette has to learn to live with her philandering ‘Free Willy’, he positively encourages the bi-sexual Colette to explore the other camp, as it were.

The turns
Keira Knightley turns in a truly cracking performance in the titular lead. No-one does ‘brooding’ better than Knightley, and she gets ample chance here to exercise that look, most notably in a train scene near the end of the film: if looks could kill.

Dominic West delivers as reliably a solid performance as you would expect from him, but he is such a despicable and loathsome character that it is difficult to warm to him.

Driving me mad (not sexually you understand…. although…) was the girl playing the American double-dip love interest Georgie: I knew her so well but just couldn’t place her. It was the American accent that threw me: she is of course Eleanor Tomlinson, Demelza from TV’s “Poldark”, here showing a lot more flesh than she can get away with on a Sunday night on BBC1!

An interesting choice of language
The film is obviously in English about one of France’s literary greats (although curiously Colette writes in French). My guess is that the film will go down like a lead balloon in France as a result. A part of me would have liked this to be French language with subtitles, but maybe that’s just me.

When you look at it objectively, Colette’s story is quite remarkable: what a clever and determined woman.

Gorgeous to look at
Aside from Knightley, the other star turn in the film comes from cinematographer Giles Nuttgens (who also did “Hell or High Water“). The scenes, particularly the bucolic ones set in the French countryside, are simply gorgeously photographed. The framing of the shots is also exquisite with an impressive shot of the slog up a spiral staircase to the couple’s flat being repeatedly used.

Sex vs violence – still not on a par in 2019
It remains curious to me how prudish both the UK and the US are still about sex on screen. In the UK the film is a 15 certificate; in the US the film is R-rated! Yes, there are some breasts on show, and a few mixed- and same-sex couplings (particularly during a frenetic 5 minute period in the middle of the film!), but they are artfully done and you don’t get to see much more than the breasts. In comparison, the violence that would get meted out during a 15/R action thriller would typically makes my eyes water.

But is it any good?
This is one of those films that is worthy, beautifully done, well acted but for some reason it felt to me like a bit of a slog. At 111 minutes it certainly felt a lot longer than it was. The middle reel of the film in particular is rather pedestrian (and yes, I recognise the irony of the fact that I just said there was the frenetic 5 minutes of sex during that part!). Maybe on the night I was just not in the mood for this type of film.

The director is Englishman Wash Westmoreland, whose last film back in 2014 was the impressive “Still Alice”.

I’m glad I’ve seen it, and it is a lot better than many films I saw last year. But in terms of my “re-watchability” quotient, its not going to rate that highly.