Reviews and Comments

Massive fan of Kathleen Jamie, I’ve loved everything of hers I’ve read so far and you can add this collection to that list. She has this ability to write about the sort of things you might see often, rooks for example, she is able to shine a new light on that thing, seeing it in a way you’ve never considered and it brings it to life on the pages. I especially liked Hawk and Shadow where the poet gets lost trying to focus on the bird and it’s shadow as it glides across the hills.

Favourite was a collection of 5 poems called Five Tay Sonnets a snapshot of 5 brief moments which transport you to the moment. There were a few in Gaelic (I’m guessing the language here) I’ve not much of an idea what they mean but they sound beautiful when read aloud.

A wonderful collection about nature, humanity and hope which will look great on anybody’s shelf.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/07/02/the-overhaul-by-kathleen-jamie/

I had heard of amber before, all thanks to the mighty Jurassic Park, but I’ve never heard of the Amber Route, I couldn’t even hazard a guess as to it’s location. As soon as I saw the map I knew I had to read this book, an area of the world I have barely read about.

This was a fascinating read, Schüler takes the reader across present borders and past borders whilst tracing the route that the amber trade used, all the time keeping an eagle eye for any bits of amber he can find on beaches. During this journey he shares with us the history of the area, so much turmoil going all the way back to Roman times, it is incredible just how much conflict there has been. During this trip Schüler tries to trace his family, looking for their legacy, where they lived and worked before they had to flee during WWII, the stories he shares are heart-breaking, there is no place on the route that escaped this conflict and it didn’t matter how many times Schüler revealed the damage and deaths it never failed to hit you in the pit of your stomach.

One of the most interesting parts of the book was the famous Russian Amber Room, still missing since WWII, Schüler gives an interesting account about how it was made, whom made it and who for, how it was moved around and all about the remade panels currently in their place. It is almost a mini-book within the main book.

Schüler has a vast knowledge about music from this era, I’m always impressed when somebody is able to identify a piece of classical music but to identify a piece that a park bench is playing??? I doff my hat to you Mr. Schüler very impressive. He also discusses the architecture that can be scene, describing what is there currently and comparing it to what was there before it was destroyed during one of the many conflicts in the region.

I felt this book was missing one thing, locals, whilst Schüler does meet the locals he doesn’t share much of the conversations he must have had. Apart from this one bit this was a fantastic read, so much information within these pages, this is one of those books that will sit on my shelf and be dipped in and out of when I need to find a fact to win an argument.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/06/25/along-the-amber-route-st-petersburg-to-venice-by-c-j-schuler/

Oh dear me this was awful. I only picked up this book because it is hugely popular, and the series has got rather large so I thought there must be something good here right?

Things got off to a bad start, a scene where a woman has cut herself and a drop of blood lands on her leg, all quite normal for a book, but for some reason it is described as looking like a firework going off...why do we need that extra-long description? This wasn't enough for Mosse, a bigger description was needed, she specifies the day that the "blood firework" goes off. I couldn't take this book seriously after that, I kept laughing at the many extra words used...cheese kept being described as white again and again and a young lady's hair was tumbling one second and then writhing like a snake the next. The whole thing felt like a school kid doing an English essay and trying to get the word count up so they could go out to play.

I could see there was potential for a plot, but the book was way too slow for me to spot anything of interest happening, into the bin with it.

I made a bit of a mistake here, I really enjoyed Erskine’s last book so much I jumped at the chance of reading this one…turns out it is book 3 in a series. It’s my mistake but all the pressure is on Erskine, will this book work as a standalone novel or will those readers new to numbers be complaining during their whole review? Luckily Erskine is a mighty fine writer, and this book works well without having read the previous ones, you get a little background that doesn’t get explained and that is enough to entice you into checking out what came before whilst not taking anything away from this reading experience. The character descriptions are spot on so that I can see they won’t get repetitive as you work your way through the series…so in conclusion for this opening paragraph, this book works.

Our main character is Jaq Silver (an autobiographic representation of Erskine herself methinks, kick-ass and a scientist), a rather unusual character, she is tough, knows how to fight, has an uncanny ability to spot trouble and she knows her stuff when it comes to sciency things, but she also shares her weaknesses, she can be selfish by using others to get what she needs and even though she has all these great positives she is lacking in confidence at times, which had me cheering her on as she battled with her confidence. Her mother has just died and in part of her inheritance she receives some proper good “soap-opera” news, as things were building up to the big reveal I had all kinds of ideas but was still way off the mark.

There is plenty of science going on in here and Erskine has this ability to take something complicated, make it easy enough for the layman to understand whilst still making it look complicated enough that you feel clever for understanding it….if that makes sense. There are lots of cool gadgets whose functions are explained in detail and if you are left disbelieving then at the end of the book Erskine shares how close these gadgets are to being a reality, I can’t wait to travel to work just using my belt.

The story is made up of quite short chapters and this makes the action more intense, whilst the story flows along at a fast trot. The plot is tight, everything gets explained well, and it was very easy to get drawn into the story, with the intrigue over the inheritance to have me committed early on. One of my favourite things about this book was the food, a lot of writers will say that a character is eating and that’s it, Erskine must have a real passion for food because the images were so vivid I actually drooled onto the page when Jaq was at one restaurant.

Another fine book from Erskine that leaves the reader wanting more, luckily for me there is more as I will now have to go get books 1 and 2. Highly recommended read for those who like a good thriller.

PS: Check out page 58

Well this was an unexpected delight, a lovely little family story featuring the likes of Harry the Hippo, William Shakesbear and Bucky the One-Eyed Bunny this could easily be the screenplay for the next Toy Story Movie. The story is focused on the author, dealing with grief and his imagination runs riot and like Alice in that Wonderland place he ends up in some bizarre kangaroo court fighting for his life.

The book is a quick read but I found myself chuckling from the first pages, I could easily picture the plush bears in their place in court, pacing back and forth like human lawyers and being all judgy like a judge….luckily thanks to Amber and Depp I know all the intricate workings of a courtroom and Kornreich has got it all spot on. The ending was well played out too, couldn’t fault it.

This was a fabulous book, I had so much fun reading it and I can only hope that John Grisham picks up this book to see where he has been going wrong all these years.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/06/11/shakes-bear-in-the-dark-by-joshua-kornreich/

I’ve been reading Robbins’ blog for a few years now and have always found what he writes to be interesting and informative, one issue I have is being unable to fully take in what is written on a webpage so when I found out Robbins had converted some of these posts into a book I jumped at the chance to read it and for me it was a million times better on paper. There is something very soothing with his voice, a bit like that Attenborough chap, you get drawn in very quickly and find yourself nodding along to what is being described….in fact I kept thinking “Man, this would work as a documentary series” because the research is impeccable and somehow he has made a subject as dry as the books of Agatha Christie into a riveting discussion.

With a couple of exceptions these chapters seem to have evolved from a book review into a discussion on one subject expertly linking together similar writers and their books. I especially enjoyed The Butler Did It. Or Did He? I haven’t read any of the traditional English Whodunnit novels and this chapter was very inspirational, I might have to check out some of the books that get a mention. There are a few chapters on the world wars and Robbins has dealt with the subject matter very well, I was appreciative of how each chapter ended giving the reader info about how the life’s of the people mentioned played out, I’m always surprised how invested I can get.

There was one chapter that didn’t seem to fit in for me, Rear-View Mirror just didn’t seem to interest me, I’m not really sure why, maybe it’s the fact Robbins moves away from books or that I had never heard of the TV shows getting a mention but I just couldn’t connect with it. By far my favourite was A Life In The Saddle I am a massive fan of Robbins’ Travel/memoir book and this was the sort of experience that would have fit in perfectly, really interesting and highlights his great sense of adventure.

All in all I have thoroughly enjoyed this…not sure what my tbr list is going to make of the many additions that will be going on to it. Everybody should give this a read and then join me in demanding that Robbins starts making documentaries.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/06/05/on-the-rim-of-the-sea-a-journey-in-books-by-mike-robbins/

I am rather particular about what short story collections I read, I like there to be a theme or some kind of link between the stories….so Music of the Night is right up my alley. A collection of writers writing crime all based around Music, most impressive is the number of different ways music has been woven into the narrative, from rock bands, struggling composers, jazz musicians, record collectors and a blatant attack on the mighty Annie Lennox there is nothing repetitive about this collection.

Before starting this I saw a reviewer on Goodreads saying this was a disappointing collection, I have no idea what they read as there are some proper good gems here. Stand out stories were Love Me or Leave Me: A Fugue in G Minor using text messages to evolve the story to it’s unexpected conclusion, Taxi! was fantastic the most violent and desperate of the collection, Some Other Dracula had a real murder mystery evening to it and Not a Note which will have a twist ending you won’t be expecting. My favourite has quite surprised me as it had the weakest link to music, detectives chatting about music in the car but it grew on me as the story was less about the murder and more about the process the detectives take to come to their conclusion including using all the technology available to them, No More ‘I Love You’s’ was top for me.

The biggest strength this book has is there is none of the TV detective series silliness that rely on the criminal easily confessing to the crime to wrap things up, the detectives do all the work here, massive praise goes to these talented writers for managing to do this in so few pages.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/05/30/music-of-the-night-from-the-crime-writers-association-edited-by-martin-edwards/

There was something very pleasing about reading this book, as Gibbings is slowly drifting down the Thames he shares with the reader what he sees and what memories these sights trigger, it is these random tangents that have the reader gently drifting through the pages of this wonderful book.

Gibbings has travelled the world and has now decided it is time to travel closer to home, he decides he wants to slowly travel down the Thames to find out what it has to offer and it seems visit every pub on the route. He is rather particular about what boat he needs for his journey, a man needs room for his books and art supplies and microscope doesn’t he? Unable to find a boat fit for purpose he builds his own with the help from some university friends. Once on his journey it soon becomes apparent just how wise he is, so much knowledge about nature, architecture, literature, science, history and the people of the world, every bit of information he shares is fascinating, I loved that he took his microscope with him just so he can see nature as up close as possible.

Gibbings has a wicked sense of humour and can be rather cheeky at times, any chance encounter with a young lady and he goes into super flirt mode…which probably wouldn’t go down well in this day and age but the ladies seem up for some harmless banter and it is these scenes that show’s you what fun Gibbings was.


Whilst on this journey Gibbings did a lot of sketches and (I think) these have been included throughout this book, they a small with a nice amount of detail, they are a great addition and really pull this book together whilst showcasing yet another of his talents. I have enjoyed this book, learnt loads and am left happy that I’ve been able to read about this epic pub crawl.

This is the second book I have read from the Little Toller travel & nature writing series, they really know how to make an exquisite book, gonna have to get another one ASAP to keep building my collection.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/05/26/sweet-thames-run-softly-by-robert-gibbings/

It’s not often that Eland publish a book of fiction but when they do it never fails to surprise me with just how caught up I get, temporarily forgetting that it is all made up. One People is set in a Jamaican hamlet, full of what I’m guessing are squatters, these people are living their lives as full as their circumstances will allow and they are some of the happiest you’ll ever meet. Kennaway has written this book in the local patois and it is this use of language that pulls you in, the sing-song flow of speech is almost mesmerising and your inner-voice instantly picks it up, what could have been a potentially difficult book to understand works perfectly. The book is not one story and neither is it really a collection of short stories, what has been put together here is an anthology of local lore, imagine a gathering of friends where you’re all reminiscing about the good old times and the crazy stuff you got up to.

The characters are so good, there are a lot and each of them appear on the pages so vividly you don’t lose track of who’s who. A few of my favourites were Yami a true Rastafarian living at a level of peace we can only dream of, U-Roy a wily chap that is far wiser than he realises as he can come up with a scam instantly and while it doesn’t always work out each scam just builds on his legend and then there is Vinton who is probably the poorest in the hamlet but due to hard work and a lack of fear he could become the most successful. This is one of those places where everybody knows everybody and gossip flows quicker than the actual events.

The book is one of the funniest I’ve read, there is a constant stream of humour and crazy situations, even the little things in the background had me laughing, the coach driver screeching to a halt at bar to neck a couple beers whilst the tourists look on. The scams the locals pull off, games of footballs, home-keeping, obsessions with TVs, road signs and the treatment of tourists, there is so much jammed into these pages.

This book is endearing, you’ll fall in love with the place and the people and before you know it you’ll be hopping on a plane to fall for a scam….yes I am currently writing this review as I fly over the Atlantic…..

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/05/17/one-people-by-guy-kennaway/

Wow! I have just finished this book I’m now attempting to find some words to describe this book (gets out thesaurus). Dazzling, Astounding, Gut-wrenching, Remarkable, Kick-Ass. There ya go a few words to give you an idea of just how good this is. I’ve read a few books now which cover the events of the Covid pandemic but none feel quite as important as this one, a proper good piece of journalism looking into how the lockdowns and incompetent government affected the people of Scotland and England, with a big focus on mental health.

Simon Parker is a travel journalist and was unable to work during the lockdown, he was dealing with the loss of a childhood friend, unable to pay the mortgage and overwhelmed by everything that was going on, so what he did was try to escape it all by going on a cycling journey. Starting off in the Shetlands he cycles the length of those islands, then the Orkneys before hitting mainland Scotland, wild camping as much as possible and staying somewhere warm only when he couldn’t possible handle the elements any more. Gradually he cycles around the coast with a break for the second lockdown (unfortunately missing out Wales due to the border being closed) eventually heading north again. And during the whole of this journey he uses his unique skill of getting people to open up to find how life has been for them.

I think this book is less about the cycling and more an anthropological study of the British people, he comes across the shining beacons of kindness far more times than I expected, it was wonderful to read his journey and to see the updates on twitter taking their effect and people reaching out again and again (totally gutted I missed this event). I’ve read a number of books about people travelling around the world and relying on the kindness of strangers and always thought you’d never get this kindness in Britain….so glad to be proven wrong. And of course he does meet the odd total bell-end but comes out mostly unscathed.

He has committed himself fully to this task, no shortcuts and no support system following him on the road, he shares the highs and lows with the reader, those moments he was overwhelmed I felt I was there…those moments when he woke up hungover I was also there shaking my head and tutting. I do feel a sort of kinship with him, at one point he says there is nothing on Earth worth visiting when 1000s of others are also there, that’s exactly how I am, I’ll put the effort into trying to find that place nobody else bothers to go to.

This is one of those once in a lifetime books you’ll come across, somebody has truly put themselves through hell and then has the talent to put those experiences into words, if you don’t give it a go then you’re poorer for missing out. The big question now is has this book inspired me to get out there and go on an adventure to find myself? Well the bike is in the shed and does look like it’s comfy at the moment…maybe if there is a zombie apocalypse I’ll get out for a long bike ride.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/05/08/riding-out-a-journey-of-love-loss-and-new-beginnings-by-simon-parker/

If there is one thing I like doing it is picking up a book with no idea what it is about, jumping in and absolutely loving it. Last year I read Low’s first book CoinciDATE and really enjoyed it so I had high expectations for this one. The cover is pretty impressive, at first glance it looks plain but when you look deeper you can see all sorts of shapes and things going on in the graffiti. It turns out this is a collection of 4 stories all focused on trying to understand the Russian Soul and what a cracking bunch of stories they are.

First up there is a group of friends who travel to Russia to try and find fellow fans of Viktor Tsoi a Russian Rock star from the past. A great bunch of characters and an interesting way to review a band, Viktor Tsoi is real so you can use the google machine to find their music videos and maybe go on your own pilgrimage to Russia. Next is my favourite, a teacher with a handful of students interested in spending a years learning in Russia, when he doesn’t get a satisfactory answer to his question “What is Russian Soul?” he tells them a story, a fantastic series of events that had me chuckling and with an ending that was spot on. Next is the most absurd point of the book a documentary script about an inventor who has created the ultimate cop brimming with this Russian Soul, I laughed big time here…that is until I realised this was absurd enough to be true….could this be a Putin biography? Finally the last story is short, it features a couple of characters from a previous story and what starts as a bit more fun turns into a rather tragic event, it really makes you think about identity and left me wondering is this last story the moment that Russian Soul is understood?

This was great fun, I’ve found a new band to explore and I’ve had loads of laughs. You can really tell that Low has had fun writing this, especially in story no.3 where he is seeing how far he can push the absurdity or Russia Cop. Give this book a go, it deserves to get some recognition.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/05/08/schlock-featuring-russia-cop-by-david-r-low/

This is a remarkable book, it has an interesting history, written as part of a series of books for young Japanese nationals, it shows them how to behave in the world, how to become a great human and how you should treat others. I found it really inspiring but at the same time it made me realise how world weary I have become, each time I go on social media there is always somebody showing their worst side and I just wanna sit them down and make them have a read of this book.

The book is centred around Copper a 15 year old school boy, we follow him as he makes friends, deals with bullies and cares for those who are considered outcasts. His Dad has recently died and his uncle has stepped up to be the father figure in Copper’s life, the uncle is the sort of person everybody needs guiding them at a young age, very wise and ethical, it is his diary entries that guide Copper through any tricky situation. As well as giving fatherly advice he teaches Copper about history, we learn about gravity, Napoleon and Buddhist statues and he has a fantastic voice the keeps the reader engrossed.

If I had read this as a child would I have found it interesting? I doubt it, it is the sort of book that needs to be read to you when young for you to fully appreciate it’s message, I reckon if my parents had read this to me I would be less of a troll as an adult

How do you go about describing a book by Nicholls? The trickiest thing is to describe it without giving anything away and ruining the reading experience….here goes nothing! Condemned to Cymru is a love letter from a struggling writer with body issues, whose biggest outspoken bully is himself, possibly down to the incredibly deep rooted over powering mother and absent father issues he has which leads to him being in an abusive relationship…I therapist’s wet-dream.

Our narrator is Magnus, he has Quantum IV level acne on his face, the pimples have enough presence to get their own names, Wales has been at war with another European country and Magnus gets sent over from Iceland to carry out a anthropological study…What Magnus returns with is not the results you’d expect from said study. There are a number of absurd local stories from people in pubs and random strangers who randomly get into his car, there are little snippets of overheard conversations, definitions of town’s names, poems from the biggest name in Welsh poetry and ya know those little blue plaques you see when visiting a town in the UK? well it has them too. For me my favourite part were those trips down memory lane remembering Welsh bands of the past…used to love Catatonia. You may think that the information that Magnus is providing is irrelevant but once you start digging deeper you’ll see just how clever the book is.

I’ve read a few books by Nicholls now to know what to expect, a proper onion of a book with so many layers that you can get lost in the dialogue and forget what the actual plot of the book is, there are always those little references to things that have already happened to keep you from completely losing your way. It’s like an abstract painting, he lays everything out on the pages and leaves your own imagination to unravel the book’s mysteries. If you live in Wales, or were born in Wales or have visited Wales or are an actual Whale then ya gotta get this books to see if your town/village gets mentioned…you might want to sue.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/04/23/condemned-to-cymru-by-m-j-nicholls/

It says on the back of this book in big capitals “TRAVEL WRITING MATTERS”, this has never felt more true since the lockdowns started in 2020, with people unable to travel they needed some way of escaping the monotony of home schooling/working from home and becoming an armchair travel was one method of escape. The editors of this book have been travelling the world for many years and being trapped at home inspired them to look into what other writers had experienced and put together this collection of short travel pieces.

I always think that the first piece in a book like this is always the most important as it sets the standard of what to come, this fell to Leon McCarron with The Night Train. Travelling across Iraq by train at night, not much you can write about the view…due to the sun being AWOL…so the focus is on those using the train, a fascinating insight into the people on the train and a great start to the book. There are some very good pieces here and they cover a lot of places and events I know very little about and in many of the pieces the pandemic is ever present.

Favourites here include visiting well known Safari park during the lockdown, without the many many tourists the animals seem very content, relaxing in the peace and quiet. A father’s ashes being taken to the Ganges as a sort of pilgrimage and somebody taking part in the Hajj pilgrimage were probably the best in the book, I knew nothing about the Hajj and Tharik Hussain shares their experience and explains why they go and the fear they experience before getting the euphoric feeling that they achieved what they set up to do.

One of the most impressive things about this book is each writer is considered British and such a large number of different cultures are represented, it’s wonderful see how varied we are. Each piece of writing here has featured in a magazine or journal of some sort and that restricts the word length, using this book as a way to scope out the talent works well, there are many writers here that I would happily read again.

Blog review: felcherman.wordpress.com/2022/04/13/the-best-british-travel-writing-of-the-21st-century/