THE DUTCH HOUSE by Ann Patchett

Sublime, beautiful writing - how does a writer do this? And tell a good story at the same time. This is a bit of a modern day fairy tale, complete with orphaned children, a step mother, step sisters, kind older women, and a huge rambling landmark of a house at the centre of it all.

The story is told through the eyes of Danny Conroy, firstly as a child living in the Dutch house with his parents and older sister Maeve. The Dutch house is a thing of beauty, originally built for a wealthy Dutch family, then purchased by Danny's dad Cyril sometime after WWII. Mother Elna never settles in the house, and then one day she is gone. Danny is only 4 so has little memory of his mother. It is Maeve who suffers the worst with the absence of her mother, especially when Cyril brings home Andrea. Danny narrates this time in his family's life without truly understanding what is going on, as one would expect. Things worsen after Cyril dies, the brother and sister effectively on their own. Danny is now in late teens, and Maeve mid-late twenties.

Maeve unwittingly takes on the role of protector and carer of Danny, and together the two of them muddle through life. What keeps them bonded for eternity is the house, the centre point of their relationship with each other and with the rest of the world. Their infrequent visits to their home street sees much conversation and processing taking place in the car across the road from the house, still a landmark in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The narrative of the story travels through the years finishing when Danny is in his forties, and I am guessing late 1980s. The only political indicators we have during the course of the story is that Danny is at college during the Vietnam War, and the manages to avoid the draft because he is doing a medical degree, reluctantly as it turns out, but it keeps him alive.

The lives of all the characters are remarkably ordinary, and yet the writing almost lends a magic glow or cast to their lives and who they are. I guess if you are telling a fairy tale or its modern equivalent, a little bit of etherealness is never going to go amiss. I mean, look at that cover! Maeve, all of 10 years old, sitting there having her portrait done so it can take its place with the other portraits in the house. This book was an absolute dream to read, I didn't want it to end, I just wanted to keep enjoying Ann Patchett's beautiful and understated writing.

MYTHOS by Stephen Fry

What was the last book you read that made you laugh out loud? This one will do it for you, the outrageous and gifted wordsmith Stephen Fry seamlessly weaving ancient story telling with modern commentary, a bit of naughtiness and some great word play. I loved it. We all know at least one Greek myth, many of our words derive from Ancient Greek and the stories of the gods,  as do many facets of our lives and how we live them. The collection in this book are only a handful of the thousands of myths and stories that have arisen out of Ancient Greece as a way of explaining the world. All societies and cultures have a creation story - here is the Greek one in all its violence, bizarreness, and strangeness giving us such characters as Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, Poseidon and many others. The fun really starts when the human being is created, and interaction begins between the two. These gods sure knew how to have fun with us mortals! I loved the way the gods moved freely with the mortals, giving new meaning to the word interbreeding, but also producing a race of wonder people. I bet every single Greek person now lays claim to be descended from a god, but which one do you want to be descended from!

The stories are simply wonderful to read. Stephen Fry relates every single story to some facet of our modern day life or recent history. We are all aware of narcissism - read the story of Narcissus; Pandora's box of course is another one we all know about addressing temptation, disobedience.  I loved the story of how wine was made, such an important discovery that Zeus made Dionysus a god, putting a few noses out of joint at Mt Olympus. Fry makes the gods human in their behaviour, their petty jealousies, their desires. And they are so violent - punishment is dished out with horrible frequency for mad misdemeanours, obviously as examples to us mere mortals to behave ourselves otherwise we too could meet a similar fate.

Now I have Heroes on my radar - where he tells the stories of Jason, Oedipus, Theseus, Heracles and many others, again apparently in that easy, modern day relevant way. Maybe these books will lead to a revival of classics in the education system, because they are all such ripping, exciting, and informative rides. 

CONFESSION WITH BLUE HORSES by Sophie Hardach

So hard to believe that it is 30 years ago since the breaking down of the wall that divided the city of Berlin - east vs west, communism vs democracy, freedom vs oppression. It took a while but it is really only in recent years that the stories are beginning to come out. Terrible stories of betrayal, torture, imprisonment, people disappearing, families destroyed, life lived in fear, any individual thought or action subject to intense scrutiny.

It is the 80s, and the Valentin family, living in a small flat on the east side of the wall, are quite fortunate compared to many others.  Parents Regine and Jochen have good jobs as writers, and with their three children Ella, Tobi and baby Heiko live in the shadow of the wall. The time comes though when Regine and Jochen have to leave, plans are made, but in the process of escape things go terribly wrong. Regine is imprisoned, the two older children remain in the care of their grandmother, and no one knows what has happened to Heiko or Jochen. Twenty years later, Ella and Tobi are living in London, now grown up and getting on with life. Ella has never really adjusted to life following the escape attempt and its consequences - too many unanswered questions, including who betrayed them. One day she receives a packet in the mail from the new owner of the flat she and Tobi lived in when they first arrived in London. It contains notebooks from the time their mother was in prison, and it sets Ella on the trail of trying to solve the mysteries of their childhood. And at the centre of it all is a painting of three blue horses.

Her search takes her to a Stasi archive in Berlin, where she meets a young American intern Aaron whose job it is to painstakingly put together all the files that the Stasi shredded, for whatever reason, keeping the shreddings. Together they embark on what would seem to be the impossible and hopeless task of locating the Valentin family files.

Ella is the main narrator of the story - a naive, silly and funny child of ten. As an adult in her early thirties she is alone, tired, lacking in direction or ambition. Too much in her past to resolve for her to be able to focus on a future. Aaron is also a narrator, carefully and diligently trying to put together the appalling life stories he is uncovering, the pointlessness of it when no one is around to read them. Until Ella turns up, giving him that motivation he needs.

This is such a well told story, so sad, heart breaking really. Yet out of all that pain, good things happen. Ella finds out what happened to her family, putting a number of ghosts to rest, in the process finding some peace and giving her the drive to go and make something of her life.

BECOMING by Michelle Obama

Read This. An ordinary woman who is also a most extraordinary woman. Ordinary because she has the same values and morals as most of the rest of us, ordinary because she wants the best for her children and her family, ordinary because she wants to be fulfilled in her relationships and her work. Extraordinary because of the opportunities she found she had and what she did with them and her determination to be the best person she could be, extraordinary because of the unusual and not very ordinary man she married, and most of all extraordinary because of what she has done with those chances, the difference she (and her husband) have made to the face of the US,  to women, children, people of colour and diversity not just in the US, but everywhere. Down to earth, relatable, open and frank about her marriage, her family, the impossible working mother balance; radiating positivity and energy, fighting her own internal demons as well as the public ones. And a great story teller. Truly an immersive and uplifting reading experience. 

THE PARIS DIVERSION by Chris Pavone

A day in Paris - what is not to like about a story set against the Louvre, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame. Imagine living there and having all this at your disposal on any day? Not so on this day. A Middle Eastern looking man is standing outside the Louvre wearing a bomb vest and a suitcase strapped to his wrist; a multi millionaire investor about to reap the benefits of a huge deal he has orchestrated is missing in action somewhere with his assistant; there is a bomb threat in Mumbai. And what's with the couple in Venice?

Kate Moore was introduced to readers in 'The Expats'. Ex-CIA, but still 'active', she and her  money market investor husband Dexter, are now living in Paris.  By the way, I strongly recommend reading 'The Expats' first, as it provides a lot of background to this story, explaining how and why the Moore family is now in Paris rather than Luxembourg.

Kate now operates an off-the-radar cell in Paris, and once her children are safely in school her spy-self kicks in. Dexter is still involved in money making, and even after everything that went down is Luxembourg, he still has no idea at all what his wife is doing with her time. This is just one of the many implausible details in the story, full of implausible happenings. Despite the intricate craziness of the plot, and the superwoman capabilities of Kate the spy, it is easy to suspend disbelief and enjoy this for the thriller ride that it is. It does become a page turner as the various elements and geographical locations slowly, over the course of the day, do come together. Would love to tell more of the plot, but it is tricky to do so without giving away some of the spider's web that is created. The characters are ok, a little one-dimensional perhaps, but interesting and unusual things happen to them which makes them in turn interesting as they react to the events going on around them.

Some reviewers have panned both this book and 'The Expats'. Neither is a must-read, or is particularly outstanding in the spy/thriller genre, but as I love the spy genre, I did enjoy this. It will hold your attention on a boring day, a long flight or travel journey. And you never know, you may end up in Paris.