The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas

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Translated by Torbjørn Støverud and Michael Barnes

Tarjei Vesaas is a completely new author for me, but when I saw two new editions of his books available from Pushkin Press in English translations, I was intrigued by both of them. I decided to start with The Birds, which sounded fascinating. On the front cover, the author Karl Ove Knausgaard describes it as ‘the best Norwegian novel ever’.

The Birds is a short but powerful book. It’s the story of Mattis, a Norwegian man in his late thirties who sees the world differently. Today he would be described as having a mental disability, but Mattis lives in a time when people are not always so sensitive. He’s aware that his neighbours talk about him behind his back and that the village children call him Simple Simon. He has never been able to hold down a steady job and lives with his older sister, Hege, who supports them both through her knitting.

Mattis has low self-esteem and is afraid of what will happen to him if his sister ever leaves, but he is still able to find pleasure in the small things in life, such as the appearance of a woodcock which begins to fly over their house at night. Although nobody else seems to care, to Mattis this is an important, momentous event and the bird and its fate eventually become symbolic of himself. Another, equally significant event is the arrival of Jørgen, a lumberjack with whom Hege falls in love. Convinced that she’ll go away with Jørgen and abandon him, Mattis struggles to cope with this unwelcome change in his life.

This book was published in 1957 and I was impressed by how sensitively and convincingly Vesaas writes about Mattis and his disabilities. He knows he’s not like other people, which makes him feel inadequate and isolated, so any little victory means a lot to him. I found it very moving to see the joy he feels when two young women are kind to him and his sense of pride when he finally starts his own business as ferryman (despite there never being any passengers). I also had a lot of sympathy for Hege. Although we only really see her through Mattis’ eyes, it’s clear that the situation is equally difficult for her. She loves her brother and is protective of him, but at the same time she feels tired, trapped and frustrated. Life seems to be passing her by, so when she finally gets a chance of happiness, she doesn’t want to lose it.

The Birds is a sad, poignant novel but also has some moments of hope and inspiration and is beautifully written, in a simple, gentle way. I loved it and am now looking forward to reading The Ice Palace which sounds just as good.

Thanks to Pushkin Press for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Top Ten Tuesday: Series I still haven’t finished!

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This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is “Satisfying Book Series”.

I am very good at starting a series but not so good at remembering to continue with it, let alone finish it! I’ve taken a slightly different approach to the topic and am listing ten series that I’m in the middle of – or, in some cases, still at the beginning of. I’ll be satisfied if and when I finish them!

1. The Wolves Chronicles by Joan Aiken – I somehow missed out on this series as a child but have now read the first two books, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Black Hearts in Battersea. I’ve found that the series has a lot to offer an adult reader too, so I’ll continue!

2. Bryant and May by Christopher Fowler – Starting with Full Dark House, I’ve been reading this series about an octogenarian detective duo since 2011 and am still not even halfway through! I did read the fifth book, White Corridor, recently and will be reviewing it soon.

3. The Johnson Johnson series by Dorothy Dunnett – Dunnett is better known for her historical novels, but this is a contemporary mystery series with each book set in a different part of the world. I’ve read three of them: Tropical Issue, Rum Affair and Ibiza Surprise.

4. The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard – There are five books in this series following the Cazalet family from the 1930s to the 1950s and so far I’ve read the first two, The Light Years and Marking Time. I enjoyed them and hope I’ll be able to pick up the threads of the story again when I eventually get round to the next book.

5. The Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian – When I started to read Master and Commander I didn’t really expect to like this nautical historical fiction series (I often struggle with books set on ships), but here I am eight books in and still enjoying it!

6. Daughters of England by Philippa Carr – This is a pseudonym of Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt. I read an omnibus edition containing the first three books of the series – The Miracle at St Bruno’s, Lion Triumphant and The Witch from the Sea – and did intend to continue with the fourth one, but never have.

7. The Gervase Fen series by Edmund Crispin – I loved the first Edmund Crispin book I read, The Moving Toyshop, but was less impressed with the second, The Case of the Gilded Fly. There are lots more in the series still to try, though, and the good thing is they don’t need to be read in order.

8. The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters – I loved Crocodile on the Sandbank, a mystery set in 19th century Egypt, when I read it back in 2012, but thirteen years later I’ve still only read two more books from the series. I do have the next one ready to start!

9. Temeraire by Naomi Novik – I wasn’t sure if I would like this series set in an alternate history version of the Napoleonic Wars (with dragons), but I loved the first book, Temeraire, and went on to read the second one, Throne of Jade. Seven more to go!

10. Barsetshire Chronicles by Angela Thirkell – I liked, but didn’t love, High Rising and Wild Strawberries, set in Thirkell’s fictional Barsetshire (originally created by Anthony Trollope). I’m planning to continue with the series but am happy to work through the books at a slow pace.

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Have you read any of these? Are you currently reading a series that you would like to finish?

Six Degrees of Separation: From I Want Everything to Soot

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It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for another Six Degrees of Separation, hosted by Kate of Books are my Favourite and Best. The idea is that Kate chooses a book to use as a starting point and then we have to link it to six other books of our choice to form a chain. A book doesn’t have to be connected to all of the others on the list – only to the one next to it in the chain.

This month we’re starting with I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena. I haven’t read it, but here’s what it’s about:

You all know this, of course, but years and years ago, acclaimed Australian novelist Brenda Shales went missing. After two explosive, controversial books that would shape the literary canon of the country for decades to come — and that terrible legal scandal about plagiarism, of course — she was simply gone.

That was, right up until a frustrated young writer sees an elderly woman swimming at his local pool in Melbourne. She looks familiar…very familiar in fact. No. It couldn’t be. Stunned, he returns home to confirm the impossible truth; it’s Brenda Shales, now in her old age and stranded in a retirement home. He’s determined to pursue her, to discover what happened to her all those years ago, and to possibly fulfil his dreams of literary stardom through a tell-all biography. But when he finds her, a case of mistaken identity and Brenda’s own terrible secrets begin to derail his ambitions, and ultimately, his entire life.

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I’m going to begin this month’s chain with another book about an author who goes missing. In Death of an Author by ECR Lorac (1), the reclusive crime writer Vivian Lestrange disappears without trace, leaving the police questioning whether he ever really existed in the first place. This is the only book I’ve read by Lorac so far and I enjoyed it, although I think it probably wasn’t the best one I could have started with – I must read another one soon!

Now a simple link using the word ‘Death’. Death in Cyprus by MM Kaye (2) is one of a series of romantic suspense novels set in different parts of the world. In this one, Amanda Derington visits Cyprus while accompanying her uncle on a business trip. Before the ship even arrives at the port, a murder has taken place and Amanda finds herself the next target. The books are all standalone stories and can be read in any order – this is one of my favourites.

Another book set in Cyprus is The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop (3). The story takes place in Famagusta in 1974, when a luxury hotel, the Sunrise, is evacuated during a Greek military coup and Turkish invasion. Although I found the book quite unevenly paced, I did love the setting and the descriptions of the abandoned city in the aftermath of the invasion.

Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow (4) is another book with a hotel setting. It tells the story of a Russian Count who is sentenced to spend the rest of his days under house arrest in Moscow’s Metropol Hotel. I loved this book and found it very inspiring to see how the Count managed to lead such a fulfilling life during his confinement.

Room by Emma Donoghue (5) also deals with confinement. It’s narrated by five-year-old Jack, who is being held captive with his mother inside a single room and has never seen the outside world. Although the plot is quite disturbing and it also took me a while to get used to Jack’s narrative voice, I eventually became gripped.

Like Room, Andrew Martin’s Soot (6) has a four letter title with a double o in the middle. This is the only similarity, though, as this book is a mystery set in 18th century York and revolving around the murder of a painter of silhouettes. I really enjoyed this book, so it’s a good place to end my chain!

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And that’s my chain for this month. My links have included: missing authors, the word ‘death’, Cyprus, hotels, confinement and four letter titles.

In November we’ll be starting with We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – at last, a book that I’ve actually read!

The Predicament by William Boyd

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After finishing last year’s Gabriel’s Moon, I was pleased to learn that William Boyd was writing a second book about Gabriel Dax. I’ve now read it and enjoyed it even more than the first.

The Predicament begins in March 1963 with travel writer Gabriel trying to lead a peaceful life in a small East Sussex village. However, his parallel life in the world of espionage just won’t leave him alone. His Russian contact, Natalia Arkadina of the KGB, still believes he is a double agent working on behalf of Russia and has requested a meeting with him to give him his latest assignment. Meanwhile, Faith Green of MI6 has also approached him with a new mission: to go to Guatemala and interview Padre Tiago, the man expected to win the upcoming presidential election there.

Gabriel is not thrilled about getting involved in spying again, but agrees to the Guatemala plan as he’ll be able to combine the trip with some research for his new book on the world’s rivers. Unfortunately, things go badly wrong and he leaves the country in a hurry, having made himself the target of some unscrupulous people. It’s not long before he is given a new task, though – this time he must go to Germany and try to prevent an assassination attempt on President Kennedy, who is visiting West Berlin.

I don’t often choose to read spy thrillers, but one of the things I find compelling about this series is that Gabriel is such a reluctant and accidental spy. He never intended to get mixed up in international espionage and is really not very good at it! We do see him adding to his skill set in this book, though, being trained on how to lose someone who is trying to follow him and how to use everyday items as weapons. And although his Guatemala mission is disastrous, he does play a part in foiling the conspiracy to kill JFK in Berlin (I’m sure it’s not a spoiler to say that it was foiled as everyone knows that he wasn’t assassinated in Germany). Boyd does a good job of creating tension in the Berlin sections, despite it already being obvious what the outcome is going to be!

Gabriel’s Moon probably had slightly more depth, as it also featured a storyline about a childhood trauma that affected Gabriel’s mental health, but I preferred this book overall – possibly because when I read the first one I was comparing it unfavourably with Boyd’s previous and very different novel, The Romantic, which I loved. And although the mental health storyline is pushed into the background in this book, Gabriel does find himself facing some other personal predicaments: he is being accused of plagiarism by another travel author, who is not pleased that Gabriel has written about the same group of islands; his ex-girlfriend Lorraine is trying to rekindle their relationship; and Gabriel himself is continuing to struggle with his feelings for his MI6 handler, Faith Green. Faith is an enigmatic character – is she really romantically interested in Gabriel or is she just stringing him along for her own purposes?

The Predicament is an entertaining read with some fascinating settings – Guatemala on the brink of a political revolution and post-war Berlin shortly after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Throughout the book, Gabriel’s Russian contacts, Natalia and Varvara, keep pushing for him to also visit Moscow, so maybe that will finally happen in the next book! This is apparently intended to be a trilogy, so hopefully we’ll get answers to some of the other questions in the final novel too. Something to look forward to.

Thanks to Viking for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

My Commonplace Book: September 2025

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A selection of quotes and pictures to represent September’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

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‘The pandemic was such a strange time,’ she murmured. ‘Everyone in the world lived through a nightmare. So much uncertainty and fear for the future. We couldn’t take anything for granted. Not even in Midwinter. A village like nowhere else.’

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards (2025)

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Ohio buckeye tree

Therein, she thought, lies the unbearable solitude of a lie: you’re alone when you tell it, alone when you live it, alone when you try to dismantle it.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (2025)

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Kuzunoha may be shown looking sorrowful and with her head downcast, but her eyes are wide open. And neither of them has been painted in. If the finishing touches are the most important part of a painting, then looking at this one will really show you just how important the eyes are to a human face.

Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo (1947)

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‘That’s life, Gabriel. None of us knows the full consequences of our decisions. History is the history of unintended consequences. Life is random, unpredictable.’

The Predicament by William Boyd (2025)

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Eurasian woodcock

It grew late, later than Mattis usually stayed up. All the same, he didn’t feel like going to bed, and went on strolling about outside. When you had something on your mind it was even worse, lying in bed twisting and turning.

The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas (1957)

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Poems take us to all kinds of strange and surprising intimacies in the past; they invite us into unexpected empathy with individuals and moments far away.

A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke (2025)

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Favourite books read in September:

Buckeye, A History of England in 25 Poems, The Predicament and The Birds

Authors read for the first time in September:

Patrick Ryan, Catherine Clarke, Tarjei Vesaas

Places visited in my September reading:

England, US, Japan, Guatemala, Germany, Norway

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Reading notes: This was another slower month for me in terms of the number of books I finished, but I enjoyed them all and loved most of them, which is the most important thing. It was also good to discover some new authors and to add Guatemala, a completely new setting for me, to my list of countries visited! I read two books that counted towards the RIP XX challenge and have lots more lined up for October – although I don’t know how many I’ll have time for because October also means 1925 Club, the latest club year hosted by Karen and Simon, which is always something to look forward to!

What did you read in September? Do you have any plans for October?

Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo

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Translated by Bryan Karetnyk

Over the last few years, Pushkin Press have been publishing Seishi Yokomizo’s Kosuke Kindaichi mysteries in new English translations. This is the latest, but I found it different from the previous ones in several ways.

First, where the other books are full-length novels, Murder at the Black Cat Cafe is a novella (this edition also includes another short story, Why Did the Well Wheel Creak?, to make the book more substantial). Yokomizo’s detective, Kosuke Kindaichi, plays a prominent role in the first story, but a very small one in the second – in fact, I wouldn’t really call that one a Kindaichi mystery at all as he only appears right at the end. Both stories belong to the type Yokomizo refers to in the prologue as ‘faceless corpse’ mysteries – in other words, where the murder victim has had their face destroyed so they can’t be identified.

The other main difference is in the setting. Usually the Kindaichi mysteries are set in rural Japan – a small village, a country house, a remote island – but Murder at the Black Cat Cafe has a city setting: Tokyo’s red-light district, an area known as the Pink Labyrinth. First published in 1947, the story takes place just after the war and begins with a policeman on patrol discovering the faceless body of a woman in the garden of the Black Cat Cafe, an establishment owned until very recently by the Itojimas, who have just sold it and moved away. Beside the corpse is the body of a black cat, which has also been killed. It’s assumed that the cat is the famous mascot of the Cafe – until the Cafe’s black cat emerges alive and well. Where did the other cat come from and who is the dead woman?

I enjoyed the post-war urban setting, but with the second story, Why Did the Well Wheel Creak?, we are back on more familiar ground with a family living in a remote village. The patriarch, Daizaburo, has two sons – one legitimate and one illegitimate – who are almost identical apart from their eyes. When both young men go to war and only one returns alive, having lost both eyes, questions begin to be asked. Is this man who he says he is or could he be pretending to be his brother?

Both of these stories, then, feature mistaken or stolen identities and people who may or may not be impostors and both have enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing until the truth is revealed. The first one was probably the stronger mystery, but I did enjoy the second one as well and liked the way the story unfolded through letters sent from a sister to her brother. I’m already looking forward to the next Kindaichi book, She Walks at Night, coming next year.

Thanks to Pushkin Vertigo for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.

Book 2 for RIP XX

A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke

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If you had to choose a selection of poems to represent your country’s past, which ones would you pick? What can poetry teach us about a nation’s history, culture and identity? These are some of the questions Catherine Clarke sets out to answer in this wonderful new book which tells the story of England through twenty-five famous and not-so-famous poems.

Beginning with the 8th century poem Cædmon’s Hymn, written in Old English, the book then moves chronologically through time, ending with Zaffar Kunial’s The Groundsman from 2022. Familiar names including Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Tennyson and Lewis Carroll are all represented, but so are some lesser known poets from more diverse backgrounds such as Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American woman to have her poems published, and Grace Nichols, an immigrant to Britain from Guyana. The poems have all been selected for what they can tell us about specific moments in English history: Viking raids, the Battle of Agincourt, the plague, the miners’ strikes, the Great Storm of 1987 and many more.

Before picking up this book, it’s important to know that it shouldn’t really be approached as simply a poetry anthology. Not all of the poems appear in full – many are just extracts – and they haven’t necessarily been chosen for the beauty of the language. The literary merit of each poem is discussed only briefly or not at all, as Clarke is more interested in the life of the writer, why they chose to write that particular poem at that particular time and how the poem fits into the wider context of what was happening in England during that period. Each poem is given its own chapter and with twenty-five of them to get through, the chapters are relatively short, although still long enough to say everything that needs to be said.

I enjoyed every chapter – although I was already familiar with most of the historical figures and topics discussed in the book, it was interesting to see them from different, unusual perspectives and to discover some new poems I’d never read before. Some of my favourites were Mary Leapor’s Crumble Hall, written through the eyes of a servant in an 18th century country house; Adlestrop by Edward Thomas, describing a train briefly stopping at a station in 1914; and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s The Cry of the Children, a protest against child labour during the Industrial Revolution.

I can highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in English history. If you also like poetry it would be helpful, but not essential! I thought it was a fascinating approach and it would be good to read about another country’s history seen through the lens of its poetry like this.

Thanks to Penguin Classics/Allen Lane for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley.