The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald

I really enjoyed this novel based on the based on the early life of Friedrich (Fritz) von Hardenberg (1772-1801), the German romantic poet and philosopher later known by the pen name of Novalis. 
However,It is a bleak novel; The plot is driven by Fritz Hardenberg falling in love with a girl of twelve when he was twenty-two and there is death! 

A House For Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul

This tells the story continual struggle of Mr Biswas who wants to live his life with the opposing forces of obligation to family and the desire for independence as he struggles to delineate himself from the larger identity of the family that he is born into and then of the family that he marries into and the desire to have his own house!
It's not a page-turner - in fact in parts the plot is barely perceivable at all. However, this fits in well with the realism - the monotony of Mr Biswas' life!
The descriptions of family life, of community, and of the natural and social landscape of mid-twentieth Trinidad are beautiful. 

The Brain: The Story of You by David Eagleman

 
It is quite a basic book, only scratching the surface of neuroscience. But if you are looking for a well written & accessible introduction into the brain it is great way to start.

The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories by P. D. James

Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year by Laurie Lee

Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days by Jeanette Winterson

Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries by Martin Edwards

The Mating Season: by P.G. Wodehouse

Howards End is on the Landing: A year of reading from home by Susan Hill

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie

Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole: Extraordinary Journeys into the Human Brain by Allan Ropper and Brian David Burrell

I read this because I'd heard it serialised on radio 4 but, although I really wanted to like this book because I am interested in Neuroscience - I didn't!
I found this book patronising in tone and very self-congratulatory - possibly because it was American but I had expected it to be more like Oliver Sacks' writing!

Golden Hill by Francis Spufford

 
This is the story of a young man with a mystery who turns up in mid-eighteenth century New York, then a small colonial settlement of some 7,000 people.
I know nothing of 1746 New York but really enjoying learning about it as an English colony with a heavy Dutch influence, and slavery still the standard.
I felt the portrayal of New York was vivid, and the cast of characters believable!
The secret surrounding the mysterious Smith was intriguing right up till it was revealed at the end - I love a book where I have no idea of where it is going! 

Dracula by Bram Stoker

This classic horror story is actually told through a collaboration of journals, letters and papers.  The different viewpoints told via each journal create suspense which suits the gothic tone of the novel.
Although a classic, there are some flaws the novel does not explain - why is Dracula obsessed with Mina and the second half, where is there is less Dracula himself, is less gripping than the first half!

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

 

Having read reviews, this book seems a little like marmite - you love it or you don't - I am in the later!  
This book had the feeling of a Charles Dickens novel in some ways; the strange pacing, the somewhat caricatured characters and the atmosphere were reminiscent of The Old Curiosity Shop for me. I loved her detail of Victorian life - the social issues, descriptions of early medical advance.
The Essex backdrop was brilliantly written though, and I loved the imagery and Perry's descriptive style. I also thought that the letters the characters exchange throughout the novel were nicely done. 
I liked all the symbolism - the serpent itself, possibly a multi faceted metaphor, representing at different times superstition, the general darkness of human nature, self doubt and destructiveness, the threat of adultery to a happy marriage, and indeed there could be a reading of the book in which Cora is the Essex Serpent.
However, I didn't really warm to the characters and at times I felt the book dragged!

 

Crooked House by Agatha Christie

This book contains no Miss Marple or Poirot. But I really enjoyed this story as it has interesting characterization and well-crafted plot. Infact this was one of Christie's own favourites! It is a dark story! 

What will remain by Dan Clements

 
What will remain is a war novel born out of the author's own experiences of serving with the Royal Marines in Afghanistan. It consists of a series of distinct but closely interwoven stories told against the backdrop of the conflict. It is on the Guardian's "Not the Booker" shortlist. 
At times, it felt a jumbled mixture of background, emotion and opinion - which at times meant I didn't enjoy it.

THE LESS THAN PERFECT LEGEND OF DONNA CREOSOTE by Dan Micklethwaite

 
This is on  shortlist for the not-the-booker-prize 2016. It tells the story/love-live of  a wine guzzling twenty-two year old whose life revolves around the stories she reads in books. Though it has some very funny moments, this is a very sad book. But it wasn't for me - I didn't connect at all with the main character, Donna!

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Out of all the man Booker longlist I enjoyed this the most. It is a study of and commentary on race - very wittily done with so much in this book usually off limits and taboo. I loved the idea of employing humour to deal with serious subjects.
The pace of the book moves fast.
However, it is not an easy read - there were no 'normal sentences' and that was very tiring and there was lots of linguistic humour which as a white english person it meant it was hard to follow.

While the Light Lasts (Hercule Poirot Series Book 41) Agatha Christie

 

These previously unpublished short stories showcase Christie's talents across a range of styles from romance to the supernatural.

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

Having the read the blurb, I expected the book to be something it wasn't, but once I had got over my preconceived ideas I really enjoyed this book.

It is a gentle book which moves slowly to tell the plot.
It is a perfect Autumn book as the main character spends a lot of her time walking in the woods!
The writing is beautiful - poetic and also witty at times. I liked the descriptions of the English countryside.
One of Warner’s better tricks is that you can’t really be sure if she’s introduced a supernatural element or not. Everything that happens subsequently can be explained without resorting to infernal pacts. Everything can be explained as a rationalization of Lolly’s rebellion.

The Schooldays of Jesus by J M Coetzee

I found this quite a strange book but I am not sure if that is because I hadn't read the first book!  Effectvioely, it is the story of two adults trying to raise a very headstrong, very 'different' little boy with the plot involving murder, madness and passion.
It is set in a dystopian Spain where everyone seems to be a immigrant from another life but they have forgotten their past including their name upon arrival in Spain. 
The story was strange with a lot of abstract philosophy about identity, passion, the reliability of memories etc.   
Actually, the book was oddly compulsively readable - involving and haunting.
I think at some point when have stopped thinking about the this one I will read the first and I think there must be at least another book in the series because the ending was so strange!

Serious Sweet by A.L. Kennedy

 
 This is a romance novel: misfit meets misfit and they fall in love; the story of two people trying to meet up in London, which turns out to be not as easy as you might think.

I liked the way the author combined the minutiae of daily life for the main characters, while seamlessly weaving in detailed back story. 

However, at times the lack of plot driven action makes the books dull.

At times, it was confusing; for example Jon's colleague, Chalice's menacing monologues were well-written but out of place as there was no preamble for his threats.  And there was also overly-pretentious fillers sporadically throughout the entire book - written as tableaux of typical London life, they come across as unbidden interruptions in an overlong story. They add to page length, and nothing else. They have no bearing on the main story, nor do they impact the characters in anyway.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

I think this has been my favourite of the Mann Booker longlist! The story is told through the eyes of a girl Marie [Li Ling] who is living in Vancouver  with her mother. Her father was a musician who had fled from China to Hong Kong before committing suicide in 1989. Marie and her mother are joined by Ai-Ming, the daughter of a musician who had been a friend of Li Ling’s father. Ai-Ming is on the run, having been a demonstrator in Tiananmen Square. Marie pieces together Ai Ming’s story and that of her ancestors. 
I liked the historical bits about China before, during and after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. It really is an ambitious novel spanning fifty years.

There are simialries between this and the book The Four Books when it was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize and there is some overlap between that and this as both have The Great Leap Forward as dominant themes.

However, the first half(ish) of the books I did find confusing with its flashbacks, numerous characters set in different times of history - I felt like I needed a list of characters at times!

Work Like Any Other by Virginia Reeves

This is a story set in American south of the 1920s with all its racism, violence, and hardships telling of love, family, guilt and redemption. It is a quiet, understated story about a man who loses everything, about the consequences that can follow even the most well-intentioned actions.
Roscoe’s years in prison and what they do to his relationships, especially with his wife.
It was clever with its alternating chapters in the third person narrative on what happened to get Roscoe in prison with chapters in the first person as Roscoe is in prison.
The writing felt realistic and pragmatic.
The dialogue is authentic, and the historical background well-researched.

But the plot develops slowly and as such it was an OK read, but it didn't grip me!

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

 
I had a feeling, as I read this, of the plot being familiar... so I don't know if I ad heard it before or reading something similar.
It tells the story of Eileen, an unstable twenty-four-year old woman who works at a juvenile correctional facility for boys and lives with her alcoholic father in a shambles of a house. it chronicles the events of one week in winter where she has to leave town, never to return.
The writing is taut and evocative, the setting so specifically bleak.
I quite liked the description of Eileen - she is one of the  most pitiable and despicable characters I've ever read; neurotically self-absorbed, insecure but prone to feverishly obsessive behaviour.
The ending felt odd - quite abrupt. 

Hot Milk by Deborah Levy

 Before I read the book I had listened to it on Radio 4. It tells the story of the relationship of a hypochondriac mother and her daughter.
The dialogue to be intelligent, and funny
The whole book had a dreamy, bizarre, disjointed feel that was both intriguing and confusing.
Although I did really enjoy this book I couldn't help but feel that I was missing the main message of the book. There are metaphors aplenty - stinging jellyfish called medusas, a chained-up dog, a shattered computer--I could go on. I found it hard to enjoy the story because I was constantly struggling to understand the deeper meanings.

The North Water by Ian McGuire

 
SO far this has been my favourite longlisted book. It tells the story of a doomed whaling voyage in the 1850s. The Volunteer sets sail from Hull with the motliest of crews, made up of brutes and savages and skippered by the dubious Captain Brownlee. In the first few pages we meet Henry Drax, a vicious harpooner with a thirst for murder. He casually slaughters a drinking partner and rapes a young boy in the harbour before even setting foot on the ship.
I thought the character Drax was one of nastiest characters I had read about for a long time.
The writing is violent and unflinching from the beginning with insurance fraud, sodomy, abuse, survival in a desolate environment and some pretty gruesome scenes within the pages. McGuire doesn't shy away from writing about the gory details of life, whether that’s putrid smells, bodily fluids, animal slaughter, or human cruelty.
The sharp dialogue and stylish prose help to create an unnerving atmosphere of peril and suspense on the high seas. However the violence eventually loses its power to shock because of its frequency.
The ending felt a bit abrupt

Hystopia by David Means

This story is a unique and strange alternate history story -  JFK is in his third term, federal agencies have been created for the sole purpose of drugging vets, and deranged psychopaths running around violently murdering people. One of the main charcters, Rake is one of the creepiest nastiest characters I have come across 
 The book requires careful reading as there are lots of small details - fsuccessfully-enfolded vets are meant to be sent back into action, implying that this government administration has no real interest in ending the war at all.

 However, I just didn't enjoy this book - I found it too weird.
I also found the 3 main story lines confusing : the storyline featuring Rake, the storyline with the Corps agents, and finally Eugene’s story. While they were all tied up at the end of the book, I didn’t feel it was enough pay off for the struggle early on in the book.

My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

 
Lucy Barton is in the hospital for nine weeks following an appendectomy with complications. The novel is set during the five days her mother comes to stay by her bedside. It is written in the first-person narrative, which means the reader gets to see inside Lucy’s head: about her growing up in poverty, being abused, rising above it all, plus her constant worry about whether her mother loves her. 
 I loved the way the characters are so realistic. The book makes you think about big things. Like how we never escape from our past or the pain that was planted in us when we were growing up.
 Nothing much happens in this book; it’s all introspective and psychological, recollection and insight - one has to read between the lines. It's what isn't said that twists you all up inside, it’s the undercurrent that gets you. There’s melancholy and there’s longing, and there’s tenderness, regret, and acceptance.

The Many by Wyl Menmuir

 I really enjoyed this odd book although I am left with a sense I didn't get it! It offers a dystopian low-tech vision of a West Country fishing village where the waters are poisoned, rare catches are confined to strange mutated fish and jellies, and a cordon of empty container ships marks off a no-go zone offshore.  I found The Many more enjoyable and resonant than Howard Jacobson's J (2014).  it's significantly shorter, and the writing more atmospheric, powerfully written and haunting. 
I liked the relationship of the various time-periods as it not always what you assumed. 
The book is a metaphor about grief but it left a lot of unanswered questions.

His Bloody Project: Documents relating to the case of Roderick Macrae by Graeme Macrae Burnet

 
I really enjoyed this gripping account of notorious Victorian murders pieced together by the accused's descendant.
It had very strong characters, a great narrative, plus an intriguing why-done-it - which still having finished it makes me think! 
I liked how each section of the novel is presented as a nonfictional document (i.e., memoir, testimony, a report on trial proceedings, etc.) - this makes it seem
convincing. The place it is set in is definitely real. James Bruce Thomson, one of the characters, is real. The writing is convincingly real. I'm pretty sure it is a fabrication, but the writing is good enough to leave a lingering doubt!
I enjoyed the element of unreliability that the reader must always bear in mind while developing his or her ideas and conclusions about the narrative and the characters.

The Murder on the Links (Hercule Poirot Series Book 2) by Agatha Christie

A delightful period mystery. Lots of red herrings. All the clues right there before the reader. Twists and double-twists and even, can it be, a third twist right at the end.
However, I didn't enjoy it as much as others I read by her - but this is only the third book she wrote so she may have still be finding her style! 

The Third Man and The Fallen Idol by Graham Greene

 

This book contains 2 stories: The first is about a Brit who is invited to post-war Vienna by a friend, only to discover that said friend is dead and may have been involved in a rather nasty racket. The Third Man is unlike other Greene books. As Greene himself points out in the preface, 'it was never written to be read but only to be seen', meaning that while it's not exactly a film script, The Third Man was written to be turned into one, and it shows - the story is light on characterisation and heavy on descriptions of actions and situations.

The second, much shorter story in the book, 'The Fallen Idol', this is a tragedy about an innocent child who gets caught up in the nasty games adults play and ends up accidentally handing his best friend over to the police. It has great characters, some menace, several 'Oh, no!' moments and an abrupt but effective ending.

Both stories are beautifully written with not a word wasted, and both are very bleak in different ways

Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene

I really enjoyed this comic story which is the only book that Greene ever wrote for the fun of it. It tells the story of a middle aged man and his aunt's travels and the various places they pass through. It's not a travelogue, so there are no tourist brochure style descriptions – instead, it's a vague, impressionistic picture of the process of travelling and the places passed by as seen through Henry's untutored, and often uninterested, eye.  

I loved the aunt's character because she was brass, quite coarse, a bit vulgar and rather naughty! "I was very fond of Wordsworth while he lasted, but my emotions are not as strong as they once were. I can support his absence, though I may regret him for a while tonight. His knackers were superb."

He covers a lot of serious  topics with this  book - prostitution, the Nazi regime and how WWII changed the world, the plight of third world countries and even manages to swing in some commentary on the apartheid in South Africa along with how the pill had, rightly or wrongly, changed women’s sexual awakening and responsibility as well as Catholicism. However, at times this left story feeling sluggish.

 

Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec

 

The book is set in an apartment block in the XVIIth arrondissement of Paris where, chapter by chapter, room by room, an extraordinary rich cast of characters is revealed in a series of tales that are bizarre, unlikely, moving, funny, or (sometimes) quite ordinary stories based on the people, objects or paintings in the room. . 11 rue Simon-Crubellier has been frozen at the instant in time when Bartlebooth dies where people are frozen in different apartments, on the stairs, and in the cellars, some rooms are vacant. Each chapter is set in each room (thus, the more rooms an apartment has the more chapters are devoted to it). In each room we learn about the residents of the room, or the past residents of the room, or about someone they have come into contact with. The idea of failure is a common theme.


 

Different Class by Joanne Harris

This is a a crime novel that is refreshingly original. I didn't get the who-did-it right!

It is set in an old private boys school, St Oswald's in North Yorkshire, and written from the two main characters perspectives, from around 1981 to 2005, the strangely odd but kind Latin Master and a disturbed 14 year old boy writing in his diary to his invisible friend, Mousey. There is also a collection of intriguing characters.

The story is told by Roy and another narrator and seamlessly switches between the present and the past.

Joanne Harris had written another novel set at St Oswalds - Gentlemen and Player, so I have added that to my wishlist.

The Story of the Lost Child (Neapolitan Novel book 4) by Elena Ferrante.

I read this, the fourth story of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet, in 2 days because I couldn't wait to find out what had happened to all the characters.It is quite a sad book without moving you to tears. It leaves a lot for you to think about after.

I loved the way the character'slives are so well-drawn, their emotions and experiences are so real, and the history and neighborhoods of Italy are so well-described that this book feels more like an autobiography than a novel

It feels almost Tolstion in the number of characters who keep cropping up.


Each of the four volumes has an established theme: the development of resentment and friendship in childhood, the limitations of social boundaries, the compromises and confinements of marriage, and the establishment of regrets in old age. 

I would like to read another by her.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This is the story of a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

I liked the beautiful imagery. Both in the literal sense - the physical world of 1940s Paris/Germany - and the metaphorical. It's woven with scientific and philosophical references to light, to seeing and not seeing, and the differences between the hearing sense and the seeing sense.


I did find the flipping back and forth between different time periods a little confusing.

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (Neapolitan Novels Book 3) by Elena Ferrante

 

This is the third book in the series... it felt like the middle, not a stand alone book.

I enjoyed reading about feminism and politics, through the story, we get a course in the riots and protests that occurred in the 1960s and '70s as communists fought fascists.

I liked the way the plot referenced incidents that had happened in the previous book.

The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

This has been recently dramatised on the BEEB - I didn't really enjoy the TV adaptation, I much preferred the book (although it is not my favourite Christie!)


IT is not a usual Christie mystery, more a John Buchan style ripping yarn with light-weight espionage and a heavy emphasis on adventure. I suppose a grown up famous 5.

There are many twists and turns. The start is a bit slow but I did enjoy the end!

Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante

 
This is the second book in the My Brilliant Friend series, featuring the two friends Lila and Elena set in the girls twenties.
Ferrante is a very powerful writer. yet she does it in such a simple way - the book moves slowly but at the end of it you think WOW.
I love the way it reads like the private inner thoughts of Elena with the mechanics of friendship and growing up with the added pressures of deeply ingrained habits and customs of a different culture and generation.
I love the characters because they seem very real with ambition, but yet are flawed.
The book contains incidents of domestic abuse and rape  acceptable in a culture for men to beat women and makes pertinent social and political observations of that time. 

Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees by Roger Deakin

I loved this book with its descriptions of the people who love trees and have let their lives be shaped by the woods around them. Some of these are artists, such as Margaret Mellis who fashions collages out of driftwood or David Nash who creates large scale sculpture in wood.

Deakin gives a glimpse as well into the relationship between mankind and the woods on a global scale in his travels, from New South Wales to Kazakhstan.

The chapters are very diverse in subject matter, while still being linked by the overall theme of wood/trees. 

It is beautifully written, deeply insightful and dotted with captivating anecdotes!

Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield

This was published in book form in 1934, the “Diary of a Provincial Lady,” but it actually started life in 1930 as a serial in “Time and Tide.”. It is mostly  autobiographical; with the author substituting the names “Robin” and “Vicky” for her own children, called Lionel and Rosamund, but, aside from name changes, this is very much a light hearted diary of country life and based upon the author’s own experiences. 

I loved all the domestic disasters, the W.I., a monosyllabic husband, mutinous staff and the bossy and opinionated Lady Boxe. There are struggles with indoor bulbs and financial worries, tales of friends visits and reciprocal trips to see them – including shopping in London and a rash holiday to the South of France - it felt similar to life today - especially the musings of parenting, her statements on social snobbery, her opinions about neighbours, worrying about how she looks and feeling left out of discussions about shows she has not seen or books she has not read!

It wasn't a laugh out loud book but it was cheery and lighthearted!  A very enjoyable read. 

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

This is the story of how Rome grew, covering 1000 years of Roman history;
giving the reader a feel for what it was like to live in Rome at the different times.

A general history book of over 500 pages can be a slog, but SPQR is fast moving!

The book is instead a precise explication of what it is we know about specific selected events in Roman history, what it is we do not know, and why we do or do not know.

I enjoyed the book and the way it organised its topics in Chronology and the way dealt with political aspects of Rome and at the same time intergrated ordinary life for Romans and their subjects both rich and poor.  

The author also makes an interesting distinction between "learning from the Romans" vs. "engaging with the Romans history"
Rome was built. Mary Beard’s sweep of events goes beyond the consuls, senators, generals and emperors to cover the lives of their spouses, the middle class, the poor, and the slaves.

Adventures in Human Being by Gavin Francis

 

This is an anatomy book for a non-medical audience that talks about the human body in highly accessible manner, with minimal jargon and many medical stories.  It starts with your head and ends where else at your feet  
I loved the parts where Francis described his patients and the quirky facts about our organs and body parts that are "insider info" not common knowledge. 

He tried to combine other disciplines to the chapters which sometimes made the chapters feel disjointed. 

It is not a long book and some chapters left me wanting more detail.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

This story isn't on the International Mann booker short-list but one of its prequels - however I thought I had better start with the first one!  It tells the story of intense friendship and rivalry between two girls growing up in the impoverished outskirts of Naples.

I really enjoyed the opening where suspense is created by the fact that the novel begins from the perspective of the story-teller as a sixty-something-year-old woman being told by her friend's son his mother has suddenly disappeared.

It feels vivid and authentic, more like an autobiography retold in the first person.

There are many characters -there are so many families in the neighbourhood, and everyone has nicknames that it was tough to remember who was who and who did what to which relative. (There is a cast of characters listed at the front of the book, but it's still confusing on a Kindle.)

A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa

 
A compelling & circular tale set during the years from Angola declaring independence from Portugal & the ensuing decades of civil war but told from the viewpoint of an agoraphobic woman who barricades herself in her apartment for 30 years.

The story is a fantastic one and yet it has so much detail, recounted in the form that almost resembles journalism and feel real. However,  I wasn't sure about the interwoven stories of other characters - it did all fit together at the end but at times I found it confusing!

The Four Books by Yan Lianke

  
This story I found harder to get into it.This book is set at a re-education camp during the Great Leap Forward. It's a period of history that I know essentially nothing about, so it made for fascinating reading.

 The premise of the book is clever - the narrative chops and changes between three different "books" (the fourth book referred to in the title appears almost as an epilogue), each with a very different purpose. One is The Author writing a novel based on his experiences at the camp. One is the Author writing what's almost a religious story about The Child, the innocent despot who runs their camp. And one is the Author reporting to The Child and the higher ups on the actions of his former prisoners. However, at times I found it hard to discern enough difference among the four narratives.

In the middle the story took a bizarre turn which really drew me in where the Author goes off on his own to plan crops, and suddenly the crops are growing like crazy because he's feeding them his own blood. So that was bizarre, but clearly a metaphor for the Great Leap Forward and how it was ultimately a disaster. Then the book focuses on the great famine and how ultimately the residents of this camp start to die of starvation, leaving those still alive to contemplate just how hungry they have to be before they resort to cannibalism. 

None of the characters have actual names, they are called by the profession that landed them in this no mans land.

The Vegetarian: A Novel by Han Kang

 

I am so glad I am not a judge for the Mann Booker International Prize because I have loved all of them and this one is no different - although a complete contrast to the previous 2 books! 
This tells the story of Yeong-hye. Having recently had a dream that has convinced her to cease eating any meat whatsoever, and finds that such a decision is affect nearly all aspects of her life. It is a beautiful account of mental illness and societies perception of it - it is quite dark in places. Again not a long book  I read it easily in a couple of nights!

I liked how despite being a story that is explicitly about Yeong-hye, it is actually never told directly from her perspective. Instead, we are give about 60 pages a piece from her husband, her brother-in-law, and her sister. The oddest part about this formatting is the perspectives do not overlap. It is interesting to read about their personal issues, prejudices, and obsessions!

A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler

I loved this book - it is not a long book I read it easily on a Sunday afternoon! It tells the story of the life of Andreas Egger, an unremarkable man who ekes out a simple existence in an Austrian mountain valley. He is a thoughtful, gentle soul and though he encounters great hardship and misfortune, he never fails to appreciate and be thankful for the smaller things.

I love the treatment of time - years pass in a couple of pages or even paragraphs, or a day may take pages to describe.
It is full of wisdom and stunning imagery which results in a heartbreaking, humbling and inspiring story.  
It makes you think about the things which make you YOU and the coincidences which silently lead you through your life.