Audiobook: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Due to the loss of my 2 hours a day of commute time (read: reading time) this poor little corner of the blogosphere has been severely neglected of late. Nowadays I walk to work, 40 minutes each way. I decided to stop using that as an excuse not to absorb books in the sponge-like fashion of my commuting days; so downloaded the audiobook version of Eat, Pray, Love (if you’ve never heard of it, welcome back to Earth! We missed you!) read by the author Elizabeth Gilbert.

This was a perfect introduction to the world of audiobooks. Eat, Pray, Love is the personal story of Gilbert’s emotional journey over one year of travel, food and finding god, so it was only fitting that it was read by her and luckily, very well. She imbues all of her speech with the same passion, insight, wit and honesty that is so evident in her writing (and one of the reasons she is an international bestselling author now), creating a conversational, convivial feel which makes you giggle with her and share her heartaches, confusions and bliss as if they were your own.

After a traumatic divorce and a long battle with depression, Gilbert extracts herself from her life to spend four months in Rome in pursuit of pleasure, four months in India in pursuit of god, and four months in Bali in pursuit of the balance between the two. The exact thing she is searching for throughout the book is what makes her writing so lovely – the combination of opulence and indulgence and raw emotional honesty gives the story real balance. It is not a frivolous romp of lavishness, nor is it a demented self-help guide for chakra-cleansing hippies. Gilbert makes spirituality appealing by being honest about who she is and how she got to be where she is. It helps that she is hilarious, sweet and modest, with a very cheeky sense of humour.

I loved the voices she did for different characters, and how expressive she was in general. Every implication of wry sarcasm, stifled laughter, bitterness, pain and everything else was there to be heard in her intonation and lilt, making a very personal journey an easily shared one. Honestly I’d recommend having a listen to the audiobook even if you’ve read the book, maybe if you’re planning on re-reading it. It is a true delight, adding another dimension of personality to a story already packed with punch and vitality and love.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Shadow is about to finish a three-year prison sentence when he is informed his wife has been killed in an accident. He is released a couple of days early in order to fly home for the funeral, but on the plane he meets a mysterious man named Mr. Wednesday, who offers him a job. Shadow, with nothing left to lose, accepts.

Working for Mr. Wednesday takes Shadow on a crazy, hazy road trip around America, meeting all manner of people & creatures, being kidnapped, haunted by his dead wife & seduced in his dreams. He must come to terms with the fact that he doesn't really know who he is, and he might have been chosen for this job for a reason. "A storm is coming..." they continuously tell him, and Shadow must find a way to stop it. But first, he needs to work out exactly who, and what, he is dealing with.

Another fantastic concept from Mr Gaiman - where does he come up with these things?: America is a country mostly made up of immigrants. People from all over the world have come & settled there, bringing with them their ideals, cultural identities, social structures and... their gods. But what happens when gods are transported to a new land and some generations later, forgotten about? Gaiman explores the psyche of American gods, from the forgotten (Anubis, Anansi, Odin et al) to the gods of a more modern society, such as gods of the internet, television and cars. Leprechauns with coin tricks, the murderous black god Czernobog, old ladies in nightdresses who pluck the moon from the sky, the walking dead and television figures that come to life are just some of the enthralling and delightful characters this book explores. I am once again dazzled and deeply impressed with Gaiman's imaginative prose. Really, this book is a mythology geek's dream-come-true; it is packed full of myths, legends, fables and folklore cleverly tucked into its every nook. If, like me, you're not so well-versed in mythological stories, this might be of some help.

The only thing that bothered me about this hefty novel (the edition I read was around 650 pages) was how many mystery-doors were opened in the first half or three-quarters of the book that subsequently then had to be closed & tied up towards the end. It made me feel somewhat as though the book was never going to come to an end (although it could be argued that is a good thing!). Gaiman's novels are always exciting, crazy, and imaginative, and this is no exception. American Gods made me re-appreciate the value of stories, old and new. People tend to reflect themselves in their fables, which is why fables are timeless and those who can tell compelling, illuminating, humorous or fascinating stories just should.

East Of The Sun by Julia Gregson

Another novel set in India, and I never get bored of them. Ridiculous, I know; having never been to India it is bizarre that I should love it and even miss it when I don't dive into another fictional world set in its tumultuous, richly-coloured landscape. But I do!

This one is a little different than some I've read recently - it is set in the late 1920s - when India was still under British rule, but only just. Three young English women are venturing to Bombay, each for their own reasons. Rose is the young naive bride-to-be of Captain Jack Chandler of the British army; Victoria (Tor) is her best friend in the world, accompanying Rose not only to help her with the wedding and be a bridesmaid, but also to escape her overbearing mother & hopefully snag a husband for herself.

Viva, their chaperone - is another story altogether. An independent woman in an age when that is unusual, she is mysterious & vague about her past. She has no family to speak of but is on the way to a remote part of India where she grew up to retrieve a trunk left to her in her parents' will; and her aloofness makes her strangely alluring to everyone she meets - especially Guy, her other charge: a moody, pimply teenager prone to getting in trouble and with an increasingly dark side.

Gregson delivers another richly illustrated and dramatic portrait of India in a tense political period. On the one hand, there is Tor's 'British India' with the 'season' and parties at the Bombay Yacht Club; luxurious estate houses with servants & exotic fruits & drinks at one's disposal. Then there's Rose's new life as a military wife, bundled off to Poona & coping with heat, flies, isolation and talk of baby-thieving monkeys. Viva's Bombay life is something else; much more immersed in the political & social agitation of the time, and the smiling, hopeful faces of children amongst all the poverty & crime & dirt. Though the three women move in very different directions, they attempt to maintain their friendship and when things come to a head with Guy & his obsessive behaviour, they need each other more than ever.

A great read, full of all the near-palpable sights & smells I love about India novels, and with the quaint, sweet finesse of a book about Englishwomen. Add a bit of mystery to the mix & you have East Of The Sun. Thanks to my dear friend Kate, who recommended this book to me & thus put it on my radar.

Of Cats and Men: stories by Nina de Gramont

This charming book of short stories is not as naff as it's title would have you think - while cats do feature in each of it's 10 stories, they are diverse and not always cutesy characters. The different dynamics of relationships de Gramont explores through her stories is interesting and makes for quirky, touching narratives that are sometimes devastating, sometimes thoughtful and serene, sometimes painful and always quite raw.

My favourite of the stories was about a pregnant woman who has to deal with her mentally ill brother-in-law's presence at a sensitive time in her life. The tension is palpable; de Gramont's style is simple but effective. I had a pure picture in my head of their mountain home, with it's airy rooms and thin walls throughout. I find short story compilations can sometimes be frustrating to read - as I tend to impatiently plough through them as though devouring a novel, rather than taking each story as it's own whole, seeing it in it's own light. De Gramont has made this easier for those like me - her stories are so different and yet meld seamlessly together through the common element of relationships: feline and otherwise. It does help that I am a cat lover because each cat was infused with delightful character; whether it was disdainful, loyal or pretentious. Different breeds and circumstance showed in the stories an understanding of the dynamic a pet can bring to a person's life. The locations also played a large role in the stories' feel: they were often coastal or mountainous and always influenced or mirrored the tone of the story. There are quaint subtleties in de Gramont's simple observations. She evokes a world of beauty and pain in soft tones, easily read and well-remembered.

I guess the best thing about collections of short stories is that you can often pick it up, read a chapter, and put it down again. Personally I am too eager for that, but if you find you don't have time to read whole novels, this is an alternative with my stamp of approval. Of Cats and Men is darling, sweet, entertaining and sits snugly in my memory, curled up like a sleepy, satisfied kitten.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

As the now well-travelled story goes, Gaiman conceived of this novel many years ago, watching his young son ride his tricycle around a graveyard opposite their house. Gaiman was reminded of Kipling’s The Jungle Book, and mused on the possibility of, on that premise, a child being brought up in a graveyard and learning all the things the dead people know. Thus, the idea for The Graveyard Book was born, but it wasn't until 20 years or so later that Gaiman finally decided he was "as good as he was ever going to get" at writing, and put pen to paper to complete it.

I for one am glad he waited, because if, as he claims, he couldn't have written it this way all those years ago, it's readers would have lost out. There is a part of me that shares Garth Nix's sentiments, when he says "I wish my younger self could have had the opportunity to read and reread this wonderful book", but getting the chance to read it as an adult also has its advantages.

Bod (short for Nobody) Owens crawls through the graveyard gates as a tiny child, having luckily escaped the man Jack, who has murdered the rest of his family. The residents of the graveyard take him in and bring him up their way, giving him the 'freedom of the graveyard' and teaching him how to slip and fade from human view, and other important lessons. His adoptive parents, the Owenses, were childless in life and love Bod as their own, and his guardian Sylas, who only comes out and night and sleeps in a crypt, is reserved but caring. But as Bod gets older he starts to feel his difference to the characters of his world, and begins to be uneasy because of it. He is neither here nor there – not living a human life, but not dead. Along the journey of his self-exploration, Bod encounters ghoul gates, werewolves, ancient Sleer, witches and human girls (not to mention a plethora of hilarious ghost characters) as he tries to discover his place amongst it all - and as is to be expected, Gaiman's writing is a pure delight. It sings off the page. I had the pleasure of hearing him read a chapter from The Graveyard Book in London on his recent tour, so perhaps that helped. When reading it I could definitely hear Gaiman’s voice resonating and infusing each word with his intended lilt. You can watch and hear him here, on his video tour.

Gaiman’s prose is perfectly concocted and strung together most magically. I had so much fun and my imagination floated away so powerfully when reading this that I actually cannot wait to read it to my future children! That has to say something, surely?