The Storyteller's Library

June

Welcome to June’s, Storyteller’s Library. I didn’t quite get everything on my list read this month but it’s been a busy month on the writing front, so I’ve rolled over a couple of books into July. I’ve also enjoyed a couple more of the ‘Rivers of London’ series via Borrowbox. So here they are, the books I read (and listened to) in June:

Physical Books

• The Wicked Tricks Of Till Owlyglass by Michael Rosen

• Minor Arcana Volume 1 by Jeff Lemire

• The Puzzle Wood Rosie Andrews

Audio Books via Borrowbox

• Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

• Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

• Ragnarok by AS Byatt

The Wicked Tricks Of Till Owlyglass by Michael Rosen

Quirky German folktales featuring a trickster akin to the tales Nasreddin Hodja from Turkey, this is a fun, gentle collection of stories perfect for the under ten and those with a young heart.

Some of the jokes fall a bit flat but that might be because these stories are from a different time and culture but you will be left in no doubt that Till Owlyglass (Till Eulenspiegel) is a bored, mischief making, lazy good-for-nothing who even caused troubled when they buried him.

I’ll be doing some further research into these stories in order to tell a tale or two over the summer at Weald & Downland.

Minor Arcana Volume 1 by Jeff Lemire

Occasionally I dabble in the world of graphic novels. I love perusing the shelves of the local comic book store in order to try and find a little gem and last month I found Jeff Lemire’s (of Sweet Tooth fame) Minor Arcana series.

Drawn in by the use of the tarot’s major (yes not minor) arcana cards to drive the story forwards and the esoteric nature of the story I knew this was one I had to read. Lemire’s artwork is fabulously otherworldly depicting perfectly the chaos and confusion that is present in the main characters life as she negotiates a sick mother, a return to her home town and the discovery that she has psychic abilities. I can empathise with all of these!

Relatable yet at arms length allowing the story to continue almost on another plane, I for one am very much looking forward to Volume 2, slated to arrive in November this year.

Ragnarok by A S Byatt

I loved this book! An interweaving of Norse Myth and the Second World War; the similarities are frightening. It tells the story through the eyes of a girl who has been evacuated to the countryside and has been gifted a book of Norse myths by way of entertainment. Through the myths she makes sense of the world, proving that yet again story is a powerful tool for personal, social and cultural development.

Broken Homes - by Ben Aaronovitch

The fourth in the series this one features high rise flats, London’s plane trees, tree nymphs, a nod to Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsommer’s Night’s Dream’ and the development of the ‘Faceless Man’ story with Russian spies thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed this one although perhaps at times there was a bit too much going on in terms of themes.

Personally, I would have preferred Aaronovitch to focus on the fae and tree nymph aspects of this story in the same way as he focused on the river deities in the first in this series. I think too much action in the form of kidnapping and peril, can take you away from the underlying lore and magic of this series. We shall see how it develops over the next books.

The Puzzle Wood

I enjoyed this book at first. It has a Victorian, Jane Eyresque and C J Cooke’s The Nesting feel about it, but as the book progressed it felt haphazard and confusing with everything happening at once in a cataclysm of events: accidents, mine cave ins, murders, disappearances. Talk about portents and omens! This storyline had a plethora of them.

I also feel like the storyline of the governess who cons her way into the heart of the family in order to discover the truth has been done a few too many times and the main character’s role as governess doesn’t ever really have time to develop in this story. I’m definitely lacking sympathy with the characters too as why would any one who actually cares about children do this to a child. By which I mean con their way into their lives, even if it’s to uncover a crime, it’s going to psychologically damage the child.

The writing is solid and well researched with no jarring anachronisms. The chaos and bewilderment that the characters lives hold is well invoked, however I found myself skimming through the last third of the book trying to work out how the hell it all pieced together. A puzzle wood indeed.

Foxglove Summer - by Ben Aaronovitch

I loved this! This and the first book are easily my favourites in the series so far. I was initially concerned about the missing children theme, but this didn’t become grim, gruesome or drawn out and the resolution was a satisfactory one.

Fae folk, the countryside, Beverley Brook is back for this one too; what more could you want! For reasons I won’t explain, because it would spoil what happens in book four, Lesley is not in this book and actually I think it benefits greatly from this. Peter and Lesley’s relationship had plateaued and didn’t seem to have any arc or direction so I think Aaronovitch made the right choice with her story.

This one as is set in the Herefordshire countryside away from the cities and there was so much going on, particularly with new characters from the demimonde. I’m hoping some of these characters return in subsequent books. We shall see.

What Were Your June Reads?

Don’t forget to share what you’ve been reading this month in the comments below.

Next Month’s Reading List

As always you can buy any of above books in all good bookshops. If you would like to buy a copy online, please consider visiting my page on Bookshop.org where I have gathered some of the books I read and recommend. Here you will find a plethora of myth, legend and folktale.

And don’t forget to support your local library too. See if they have a copy to borrow.