This week's bookcase includes reviews of How To Be A Grown-up by Daisy Buchanan; The Thirst by Jo Nesbo, and Hamlet, Globe To Globe: Taking Shakespeare To Every Country In The World by Dominic Dromgoole.
How To Be A Grown-up
Daisy Buchanan
This is a warm hug of a book packed full of wise words of reassurance for millennials. Even if you think you're already a grown-up, there is something you can learn from Grazia's agony aunt and Guardian columnist Daisy Buchanan's painfully funny and reassuringly frank look at what it's like transforming into an adult in your 20s and 30s. Think of your most embarrassing moment on your journey to adulthood and Daisy's own experiences are both 10 times worse and laugh-out-loud funny. As she shares the pitfalls of the modern-day 20-something experience, from Insta-envy, fashion disasters and nameless one-night stands, to green-eyed envy of engaged friends, hating your body, struggling with money and overcoming your fears, Daisy's wisdom is a soothing balm for anyone struggling with taking responsibility for themselves and forging a path into adulthood. She carefully builds up the reader's self-worth and confidence, reminding us to put ourselves first. You might look on this as a self-help book to reach for when feeling anxious, or after a break-up or losing your job, but anyone who is curious about understanding themselves better can benefit hugely. I know I did.
The Thirst
Jo Nesbo
Nesbo has been a professional footballer, economist, rock star and most recently, a bestselling writer. He's most known for his gritty thrillers that focus on troubled detective Harry Hole, and the Norwegian's latest offering, The Thirst, is as violent as ever. A blood-thirsty serial killer, known as the "vampirist", is terrorising the streets of Oslo. While his method of using metal teeth to bite and kill his victims is rather far-fetched and fanciful, the fact he targets young women from Tinder makes it seem alarmingly believable. This is a tense and scary tale. If you're partial to bad dreams, don't read this just before bed. With constant twists along the way, it's another gripping read from the king of Scandinavian thrillers.
The Girlfriend
Michelle Frances
Laura and her son Daniel have always been close, but for the past few years, he's been away at university. When he returns home after graduating, she relishes spending time with him. In a matter of days though, Daniel meets Cherry, a bright, ambitious estate agent who has always wanted more for herself. Laura invites Cherry over for a family meal, but rather than forging a friendship, the two women get off to a less than auspicious start, and soon the relationship turns from strained to downright poisonous. Michelle Frances has worked in television drama for 15 years and the fruits of that labour are borne out in this impressively compelling debut; the tension positively oozes from the pages. Her skill lies in taking a universal relationship, familiar to many, and creating two characters who transform it into something much more malignant. The novel keeps the reader on a knife-edge throughout and with film rights secured by Andy Serkis' Imaginarium, The Girlfriend looks set to thrill on the big screen too.
We All Begin As Strangers
Harriet Cummings
It's the summer of 1984 and a mysterious figure known as the Fox is breaking into homes in a Bedfordshire village, either leaving curious objects behind or taking things of no monetary value. When church-going shrinking violet Anna disappears, suspicion falls on the Fox. The villagers, who all have something to hide, rally round to find her before the Fox strikes again and exposes their secrets. Harriet Cummings' debut novel was inspired by real-life Fox Malcolm Fairley, who was breaking into people's homes in the summer of 1984. Her Fox is more benign (Fairley sexually assaulted some of his victims and shot one) and is used to explore the notions of loneliness and belonging. Like local PC Brian, the story is a little plodding in places and it borrows heavily from Elizabeth Is Missing and The Trouble With Goats And Sheep, but there's a surprising twist at the end.
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