Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman hits all the right buttons on the back cover copy and inside flaps. In theory, it sounds like a great coming-of-age novel dealing with race, culture, immigration, acceptance and adolescent violence. However, I had a lot of trouble getting into the story and I was finding it difficult to relate to.

Newly arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister, eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku lives on the ninth floor of a block of flats on a London housing estate. The second best runner in his grade, Harri races through his new life in his personalized trainers — the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker — blissfully unaware of the very real threat all around him.

With equal fascination for the local gang — the Dell Farm Crew — and the pigeon who visits his balcony, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of his new life in England: watching, listening, and learning the tricks of inner-city survival. But when a boy is knifed to death on the high street and a police appeal for witnesses draws only silence, Harri decides to start a murder investigation of his own. In doing so, he unwittingly endangers the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to try and keep them safe.

A story of innocence and experience, hope and harsh reality, Pigeon English is a spellbinding portrayal of a boy balancing on the edge of manhood and of the forces around him that try to shape the way he falls.

From the publisher, House of Anansi Press

Read the rest of this entry »

I finished The Lady Elizabeth a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to muster a review. I think it’s a little bit of ambivalence; I enjoyed the book, but it lagged a bit in places. I read Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir a few years ago and remember really enjoying it. I love historical fiction and the fact that Weir began as a historian and has now delved into storytelling is very appealing.

Even at age two, Elizabeth is keenly aware that people in the court of her father, King Henry VIII, have stopped referring to her as “Lady Princess” and now call her “the Lady Elizabeth.” Before she is three, she learns of the tragic fate that has befallen her mother, the enigmatic and seductive Anne Boleyn, and that she herself has been declared illegitimate, an injustice that will haunt her.

What comes next is a succession of stepmothers, bringing with them glimpses of love, fleeting security, tempestuous conflict, and tragedy. The death of her father puts the teenage Elizabeth in greater peril, leaving her at the mercy of ambitious and unscrupulous men. Like her mother two decades earlier she is imprisoned in the Tower of London–and fears she will also meet her mother’s grisly end. Power-driven politics, private scandal and public gossip, a disputed succession, and the grievous example of her sister, “Bloody” Queen Mary, all cement Elizabeth’s resolve in matters of statecraft and love, and set the stage for her transformation into the iconic Virgin Queen.

From the publisher, Random House of Canada

I’ve just reread my review for Innocent Traitor and realized that I also said it was a bit slow in places. Perhaps that is Weir’s writing which tends to be more historically based, and therefore a little heavier reading.

I like how The Lady Elizabeth was broken into three parts — her childhood as the daughter/bastard of the king; her life as sister to the king when her brother, King Edward, is crowned; and her life as sister to the queen when Queen Mary reins. I found the second and third parts to be the most interesting, particularly because Elizabeth comes into her own and is less influenced by those at court. However, it could also be the intrigue and scandal that is appealing in the later years.

Either way, I look forward to reading Alison Weir’s newest book, The Captive Queen. I do need to take a break from historical fiction for a bit — maybe some lighter, fast-paced reading.

I’ve been meaning to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon for a few years because I’ve heard extraordinary things about it. It came out in 2003, was a #1 international bestseller, and received numerous book awards. The book is covered in review quotes of praise: dazzling, brilliant, original, addictive, inspiring, captivating, moving… etc.

Christopher is 15 and lives in Swindon with his father. He has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. He is obsessed with maths, science and Sherlock Holmes but finds it hard to understand other people. When he discovers a dead dog on a neighbour’s lawn he decides to solve the mystery and write a detective thriller about it. As in all good detective stories, however, the more he unearths, the deeper the mystery gets – for both Christopher and the rest of his family.

From the publisher, Random House UK
[Note: Cover image shown is the Canadian/US paperback]

Read the rest of this entry »

I know I haven’t posted much on the blog lately, but I’ve been quite the traveller with limited internet access. I’ve seen lots of England, which was my original intention: Stratford-Upon-Avon, Bristol, Bath, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Leeds, and tomorrow the destination is York. Here are a few photos as I don’t have time to relate all my travels yet.

That will have to satisfy for now. My flight home is on Wednesday and I’m planning to spend as much time as possible with my boyfriend until then. Cheerio!

Here are some photos CW and I took of the dogs when it began to snow last week. I really enjoy taking them out and the snow makes it even more fun. Happy Dogs on Thursday!

8 inches of snow on the Racecourse

On the path at Peel Park near the University of Salford

Making a snow angel while the dogs lick my face and jump over me.

Snow snuggles with Oscar

Oscar sporting new Snow Boots