Reviews from We Love this Book

LEARNING FROM DEAD MEN Author Kitty Aldridge on how writing about a young employee of a funeral home changed her view on life Funeral homes: dark, a bit gothic, perhaps a place you don’t want to be unless you have to? Not so, says author Kitty Aldridge. “I hadn’t realised what a happy and positive place a funeral home would be… [The staff] are very unapplauded." Aldridge spent a lot of time in such places researching her new novel A Trick I Learned from Dead Men. It is the story of Lee, a twenty-something trainee at the local funeral home whose life is increasingly subsumed by caring for his deaf younger brother Ned after their mother dies. A seemingly gloomy premise is leavened by Lee’s stoic view on life, his pursuit of the lissom Lorelle, employee of Fleurtations florists, and a beautiful rural setting. It is an optimistic read about learning to live. MORE >

	FEATURES

HOW TO TRAVEL IDLY Dan Kieran tells holidaymakers how to make the most of travelling slowly Journalist and author Dan Kieran hasn’t been on an aeroplane for 20 years. Preferring to travel the ‘slow’ way – by rail, sea or road – he believes it to be an enlightening experience. “We don’t actually travel anymore,” he says, “we only arrive. We’re completely missing out on what travel is actually supposed to be about.” MORE >

ALL ABOUT JOHN BOYNE The author chats to a fan for The Sun Comes Out On Moon Lane festival Stevie Guest: I really liked The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas but it is very sad. Did you find it upsetting to write? John Boyne: I think it's important to keep a certain distance as an author. If one feels too emotionally attached then the story will suffer. It was always going to be a sad story; there's no other way to tell that tale. MORE >

	BOOK OF THE WEEK

ARCHIPELAGO by Monique Roffey A story fraught with grief and loss, Archipelago revolves around Trinidadian Gavin Weald and his daughter Ocean as they deal with the aftermath of a flood that decimated their house and took a life from their family. Roffey’s writing flows beautifully as she describes the Caribbean and its islands. Her descriptions are transporting for the reader and the scenes play out almost cinematically. But it’s the relationship between father and daughter that is the centrepiece of the book, and we watch with a little awkwardness, and some charm, as Gavin and Ocean grow closer. Roffey has penned a wonderful novel. MORE >

	BOOK REVIEWS

ANCIENT LIGHT by John Banville John Banville’s new and brilliant novel, Ancient Light, follows ageing actor Alex Cleave, familiar from Banville's novels Eclipse and Shroud, as he reminisces about his affair with Mrs Gray and the suicide of his daughter ten years ago. Alex was 15 when he started the love affair – or did Mrs Gray start it with him? Banville paints an atmospheric picture of rural Ireland and slowly builds up the detail around his characters. Truly a novel to savour. MORE >

WALKING HOME by Simon Armitage In the summer of 2010, the poet Simon Armitage set out to hike the 268-mile Pennine Way in its entirety. Walking Home is an account of that journey. It is a worthwhile book to spend time with, not only because it provides a haunting portrait of the mist-clad and rainswept features of the backbone of England, but also because Armitage’s own deeper topography seemingly solidifies around him, and in some respects robs him of his achievement.  MORE >