THE SWAN THIEVES - ELIZABETH KOSTOVA

I had to read this after the Dracula story reviewed below. Another detailed read about a mad artist who, for a change, isn't Van Gogh or a Parisian dauber reduced to insanity by the attraction of Absinthe and wild women.  No, he's just mad.

Once again the slower narrative and detail make for a more interesting story and there are no early explosions or car crashes to attract younger readers. This is a book for grown-ups.  

Of course I have a complaint. Because this story switches between the present and the past it needs fine and accurate detail to be convincing. As we all know, American use of English has led to various bastardisations that grate with me, especially the lazy use of prepositions. Example, "I'll have a vodka tonic." No and or with, just lazy, too busy to say the extra tiny word.

Kostova uses letters for the earlier backstory, written conversations between two people who in the late 1800s use the words "I'm writing you", several times. No 'to'. It jars.   

THE CHARM OF THE UNICORN - REX FAUSETT (ME)

The same fabulous romantic read with a new cover. Smashwords made me increase the cover size so a fesh picture seemed justified. 

As noted, available at Smashwords for a pittance.

HER EVERY FEAR - PETER SWANSON

This story is an interesting idea presented in a way I described to someone else as clunky. Whoever edited it failed to notice the way sentences were constructed in a distracting fashion. On top of that the plot, while interesting, was also reasonably predictable. Worth a read? Yes, but get it out of the library, don't buy it. When you buy a place in a block of apartments, check out the neighbours. Close your curtains. Build a small but undetectable panic room at the back of a wardrobe. Be careful what you place in your storage locker in the basement.    

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

There are now two really good vampire novels, this one being a great successor to the Bram Stoker Dracula. The story is about the search for Dracula's tomb (still not found in real life) in his Vlad Tepes persona. It's told from several points of view and is very long, 657 pages I think it was in paperback.

The research Kostova put into this is fabulous. The tale reminds me of the Millenium (Dragon Tattoo) series which were also highly detailed but completely engrossing. Follow this one from Oxford through Istanbul, Romania, Bulgaria, France and points in between. 

I checked online for reviews - I picked the book up at the library being unaware of its existence though it has been around for quite a long time - and found reviews tended to be polar opposites and it's clear that a lot of readers were disappointed by a detailed well-researched story that had no explosions in the first ten pages. Thankfully, many more enjoyed the story and gave it five stars, as it deserved to get. 

Films? The Lost Boys is very good but Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula is sumptuous and colour-saturated to great effect. That's another Gary Olman triumph. 

GEORGES SIMENON - THE HANGED MAN OF SAINT-PHOLIEN

I mentioned Joyce Carol Oates below and Simenon was one of her subjects. It reminded me that I used to read Simenon a long time ago, and I enjoyed this rather convoluted detective story. It also reminded me of a gentlemen who worked with me back in the early sixties. He was a former real detective who opted for a quieter life but he turned out to be obsessed with the television Maigret and went so far as to emulate his clothing, pipe and even Maigret's car, a black Citroen bought black so he said he would never have to wash it. Yes, he was intimidating when he climbed out of that car and stared at you on a Monday morning but he caused endless speculation and gossip. 

THE GIRL IN GREEN - DEREK B. MILLER

I'd read Derek B.'s stuff before and enjoyed it. I enjoyed this one for several reasons. Firstly, it's just a good story which revolves only partly around the Girl in Green. Secondly, once you've read it and failed to understand the factions and tribalism that created and maintained the Iraq wars, you'll understand that real, long-lasting peace in that region is almost impossible. Worth a read for that information alone.  

SOUL AT THE WHITE HEAT - JOYCE CAROL OATES

I kinew who she was of course, who doesn't, but I'd never read any of her stuff until I came across this volume. A few chapters about writing and then many chapters about books and writers. 

It was enlightening to read about some famous authors I always liked, H.P. Lovecraft for example. Not just about his writing but a summary of his work and life in a few pages that resonated. She referenced a few stories I haven't read but also name-checked some I've been reading for years, like August Derleth and Arthur Machen. 

Cue a story by Larry McMurtry, The Last Kind Words Saloon. I've never been inclined to read McMurtry although I know several who think he's the greatest living writer. Oates made me want to read this book because, if nothing else, I liked the title. Joan Didion beckons. Margaret Attwood appears. The whole book is great reading.

The final chapter, about her visit to San Quentin, is fantastic, a genuinely moving account of her visit. This line attracted my attention - 

We were aware of high stone walls strung with razor wire like a deranged sort of tinsel.