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Follow Me To Ground by Sue Rainsford

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PREMISE: Ada and her father, touched by the power to heal illness, live on the edge of a village where they help sick locals—or “Cures”—by cracking open their damaged bodies or temporarily burying them in the reviving, dangerous Ground nearby. Ada, a being both more and less than human, is mostly uninterested in the Cures, until she meets a man named Samson. When they strike up an affair, to the displeasure of her father and Samson’s widowed, pregnant sister, Ada is torn between her old way of life and new possibilities with her lover—and eventually comes to a decision that will forever change Samson, the town, and the Ground itself.

This book blew me away (so much so that it’s my Portland Award winner for 2020). Sooooo (the more O’s, the bigger the emphasis) beautifully written and a really unique premise and story. It stayed with me for ages afterwards too, floating around the largely blank space of my mind and coming to the forefront every so often. It’s one of the few books that I know I will find time to read again at some point when all this ‘new novels’ malarkey calms down and there’s no new releases for a year or two. Bound to happen at some point, surely.

We Eat Our Own by Kea Wilson

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PREMISE: When a nameless, struggling actor in 1970’s New York gets the call that an enigmatic director wants him for an art film set in the Amazon, he flies to South America, no questions asked. He quickly realizes he’s made a mistake when it becomes clear that he’s replacing another actor who quit after seeing the script—a script the director now claims doesn’t exist. The movie is over budget. The production team seems headed for a breakdown. The air is so wet that the celluloid film disintegrates.

But what the actor doesn’t realize is that the greatest threat might be the town itself, and the mysterious shadow economy that powers this remote jungle outpost. Entrepreneurial Americans, international drug traffickers, and M-19 guerrillas are all fighting for South America’s future—and the groups aren’t as distinct as one might think. The actor thought this would be a role that would change his life. Now he’s worried he won’t survive it.

Best book name ever? Maybe not, but it’s certainly up there. I like to think that Kea Wilson originally had an extra word at the end of the title but decided to drop it last minute. We Eat Our Own Biscuits? Pets? Faeces? Assholes? There’s a novel in each one of those. I imagine We Eat Our Own Biscuits is an historical drama written by Hilary Mantel. We Eat Our Own Pets is obviously a Stephen King novel; he’s got that whole pet thing sewn up. We Eat Our Own Faeces is probably a Gwyneth Paltrow self-help book. And We Eat Our Own Assholes by Ivana Sukyuov, the Russian contortionist gymnast turned porn star.

Anyway, back to the book with no fifth word in the title. It’s fantastic. I get a real joy discovering books like this. An author I’ve not heard of, an intriguing premise, a rivetingly addictive read. There was something really fresh and unique about this book that I’m not a good enough writer to explain so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Zero Zero Zero by Roberto Saviano

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PREMISE: In many countries, ‘zero zero’ or double zero flour is the finest, best flour on the market. Among narco-traffickers, then, ‘zero zero zero’ is the nickname for the very purest, highest quality grade of cocaine. From Mexican cartels to Milanese financiers, Guatemalan mercenaries to Ukrainian warlords, Calabrian traffickers to the traders in Wall Street and London who wash the money clean, this is an unforgettable story that goes around the globe and through every level of society to show the extent to which the drug trade affects us all.

Weaving together stories, interviews, wiretaps and his own experience of the criminal underworld, Saviano reveals an international narco-state, which, in the wake of the financial crisis, is now the pillar of our global economy.

I found Roberto Saviano through Mogwai. An Italian journalist taking on organised crime in Italy and the worldwide cocaine trade by way of a Scottish post-rock band. Naturally.

Mogwai, of course, wrote the soundtrack to the TV adaptation of this book, which I watched, loved and then devoured Saviano’s Gomorrah, the book, associated TV series and then this book.

It’s an eye-opening look at how the cocaine trade works and who is involved at each stage of the process before it reaches my dealer.

Just kidding…I wouldn’t touch the stuff but I find the subject fascinating and thanks to ridiculously brave people like Saviano (who has lived under Police protection since 2006!) we get to learn about it and be dumbstruck by every single aspect of cocaine.

XX by Rian Hughes

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PREMISE: At Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, a radio telescope has detected a mysterious signal of extraterrestrial origin—a message that may be the first communication from an interstellar civilization. Has humanity made first contact? Is the signal itself a form of alien life? Could it be a threat? If so, how will the people of Earth respond?
           
Jack Fenwick, artificial intelligence expert, believes that he and his associates at tech startup Intelligencia can interpret the message a find a way to step into the realm the signal encodes. What they find is a complex alien network beyond anything mankind has imagined. 

I love books like this; this, House Of Leaves, S, The Raw Shark Texts, Bats of the Republic. Books that don’t just contain ‘normal’ text, but use a variety of different ‘things’ to tell the story. I’m assuming it’s some sort of regression back to my youth and my immature need to have pictures (or something more than words) in a book. Whatever it is, I like it.

This book is magnificent. Really pretty breathtaking in it’s scope and how it’s put together. Not to mention the level of intelligence and creativity it takes to come up with something like this. Stunning…

The Overstory by Richard Powers

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PREMISE: a novel that follows the interconnected lives of nine individuals, all deeply connected to trees, as they grapple with the destruction of forests and the impact on the environment. The story unfolds through multiple generations, exploring themes of environmental activism, the interconnectedness of living things, and humanity’s relationship with nature.

I would like to refer to my blog Home Page here; there’s a good reason why I’ve got that disclaimer in early about not reviewing books. How does a simpleton like me review a Richard Powers book? To me, his books are half fiction, half non-fiction due to the sheer amount of stuff I learn while reading them. In a way, Richard Powers is the world’s finest writer; he takes hefty subjects and weaves them into stories that are equal parts intelligent and beautifully written. I actually feel grateful that I discovered his books and I still have a few of his back-catalogue to read.

Right, enough of the Powers-noshing. This book is fantastic and you should read it.

House Of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

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PREMISE: A young couple – Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson and his partner Karen Green – move into a small house on Ash Tree Lane. It soon becomes clear that something is terribly wrong – their new home is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. What happened next is loosely recorded on videotapes and in interviews, and impelled an eccentric old man to compile – on loose sheets of paper, stained napkins, crammed notebooks – a definitive account of what took place at Ash Tree Lane that seems to unveil a thrilling and terrifying history.

When you have a minute, go on Goodreads and check out some of the reviews on this book. Particularly the 1 star ones. I could pick any at random to make my point but I’m choosing one of the twattiest by a guy named David (cool name, bell end) who states his “overpowering disgust at the people who continue to naively read this book“. He relates the authoring of this book to the downfall of society (?) and concludes by saying “I fear for the future of humanity”. What a wanker.

I love this book and would urge anyone to read it. It’s like nothing you’ve ever read before. But that’s just my opinion. Some people clearly don’t like it and some do. That’s how reading works. And, in general, any type of art. I’ve read a few books I didn’t like but I can’t think of any time I then felt disgust at people who did like them. Fuck off David. I fear for the future of humanity mainly due to colossal fucknuggets like you.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

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PREMISE: Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Man, this one is a lingerer. I’m reading an old Carl Hiaasen novel at the moment (always fantastic) but this baby keeps popping into my head. Another book where you can’t help wondering whether something like it will eventually happen. Let’s hope not. A great read.

Unruly by David Mitchell

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PREMISE: A rollicking history of England’s earliest kings and queens, a story of narcissists, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and more, from award-winning British actor and comedian David Mitchell

Think you know the kings and queens of England? Think again.

In Unruly , David Mitchell explores how early England’s monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects’ destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky bastards who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear to us today in their portraits.

Either we let/make David Mitchell write every history book from now or we bring in a law that says that every author has to copy him. This is how history books should be written. Informative whilst being funny as fuck. Loved it.