Dear friends. Welcome to another Books Edition of Is This Mutton. There's a nice variety of books in today's post: two works of fiction, three memoirs and a nutritional guide. Where I'm reviewing a book that has been supplied free of charge as an advanced reader copy, I give the publisher's description and then my own thoughts.
2023 Reading Challenge Update
This Month's Reviews: Memoirs
As a follower of Sam Neill's on IG, I was expecting charm and quirkiness, and that’s what you get in his memoir.
He delivers a sucker punch early on with news that he has a blood cancer - ironic, he says, because he has always been terrified of blood. He touches several times on his treatment - he is currently in remission.
Born in Omagh, Northern Ireland, Neill has been back to the house where he was born a few times, and was thinking he wouldn't come again because there was no real connection for him. He stopped at a roadhouse and the woman who brought his tea leant over and said "We're all very proud of you here." He says he could have cried.
His family moved to New Zealand when he was quite young. Neill had been keen on acting at schooi and in college but there didn't seem to be an established training process or film industry in New Zealand. Eventually he joined a theatrical group and over time began to get opportunities to appear in films in different countries.
There are lots of amusing stories, including one about John Gielgud, and another about Princess Diana. Quite a few concern bodily functions, including the Princess Diana anecdote!
The list of women actors he has worked with reads like a who's who. He says that only one of them would say he wasn't in her class, but you would have to ask her.
I felt he was a little reticent to talk about his family, which was a shame, but he was protecting their privacy. There may have been good learnings in the end of a 30 year marriage. The book is quite random in its flow, deliberately I felt, as the title suggests it's a flow of consciousness, written quite hurriedly, by a man with a cancer diagnosis.
I'd nearly reached the end of the book and he still hadn't mentioned two of my favorite films, Dead Calm and The Dish. Fortunately they get quite a lot of coverage in the end. Dead Calm nearly had its own mechanical shark. The footage is out there somewhere.
The Archaeology of Loss, Sarah Tarlow (4 stars)
Publisher's Description
"When you find your husband lying dead, you think you will not forget a single detail of that moment. As an archaeologist, I like to get my facts right, and I will try my best to do so, but five years have passed since that day in 2016 and I am excavating my own unreliable memory. I cannot go back and check."
Sarah Tarlow's husband Mark began to suffer from an undiagnosed illness, leaving him incapable of caring for himself. One day, about six years after he first started showing symptoms, Mark waited for Sarah and their children to leave their home before ending his own life.
Although Sarah had devoted her professional life to the study of death and how we grieve, she found that nothing could have prepared her for the reality of illness and the devastation of loss.
What I Thought
A realistic, no-holds-barred account of being a carer. It isn't all about being selfless and devoted. Sometimes we are withdrawn or bad-tempered. In turn, the person being cared for is not always at their best and gushing with gratitude. "Mark became reclusive, irritable, caustic with the children. My love was too weak to sustain us."
Although it's a heavyweight topic, and there is no happy ending, Tarlow infuses the telling with wit and humour, and there is plenty of her archaeological insight.
Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the advance reader copy. The Kindle edition is published today, 20 April.
The Forgotten Girls by Monica Potts (4 out of 5 stars)
Macro Cooking Made Simple by Rachel Werner (5 stars)
Publisher's description: Stop counting calories and start eating smart! Master the macro diet with this accessible guide that includes more than 50 delicious recipes.
Instead of setting a limit on the number of calories you can eat, a macro diet defines the amount of macronutrients you can aim to eat, divided by proportion into the primary categories of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Besides helping burn fat and gain muscle, macros provide the body with energy and can help maintain good health for the long haul. Popular with athletes, this flexible diet can can also be a challenge to plan and track. But it doesn’t have to be! Macro Cooking Made Simple explains what macros are and how you can optimize them for better eating and better health, without suffering or deprivation.
What I Thought
- This was great timing because the nutritional talk at my bootcamp refresh was all about macros! I'm now measuring my macros and optimizing my intake against my wish to build more muscle in the gym.
- The ratio guide, giving suggestions for different lifestyles, is very helpful
- Varied selection of recipes
- Lovely illustrations
Fiction
Happily Married, Victoria Jenkins (4 stars)
First Born by Will Dean (4 stars)
I hope you enjoyed this month's selection. Which do you fancy? What are your latest recommendations?
Joining Sue from Women Living Well After 50, Donna from Retirement Reflections, Joanne from And Anyways and Debbie from Deb's World for the What's On Your Bookshelf (#WOYBS) link-up.
Sharing this post with #FridayCoffeeShare at Natalie the Explorer, #AnythingGoes at My Random Musings, Rena at Fine Whatever, Talent Sharing Tuesdays at Scribbling Boomer, #Neverendingstyle at The Grey Brunette, Final Friday at Marsha in the Middle Senior Salon Pitstop at Esme Salon
Reminder of my 4 and 5 star reviews for newly published books
Dystopian tale of a couple banished to a remote island for the crime of rearing a child whose birth hadn't been approved: Metronome, Tom Watson
Elegant crime thriller set in 1950s Dublin: The Lock-Up, John Banville
Visceral account of a childhood in rural Cornwall: Undercurrent, Natasha Carthew
Complex and engrossing Nordic noir: The sins of our fathers, Åsa Larsson
Quirky and hilarious: The dog of the north, Elizabeth McKenzie
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