The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin

I have never been to New Orleans, but after completing Ray Celestin’s debut novel The Axeman’s Jazz I’m hooked, and now the unique carnival city sits on my list of places to visit.

Within reading the first few chapters of historical crime thriller I found myself googling pictures of the French Quarter, lapping up words such as Banquette*, searching for recipes for Gumbo and discovering recently colour-restored pictures of Louis Armstrong.

It seems odd that a novel based on an unsolved serial killer case would make you want to visit the place it is set. 

I first heard of the Axeman of New Orleans after watching American Horror Story, a series which embodies the modern day obsession with all things gruesome, and like Ray Celestin’s creation demonstrates why New Orleans is a wonderland setting for any writer.

French Quarter http://www.trekexchange.com/tours/99

The case is as follows…

From May 1918 and October 1919 eight people were brutally murdered in New Orleans by a killer who was never caught. 

On March 13 1919 a letter was published in the local newspapers from the Axeman with the ominous threat that on following Tuesday any home which did not have a jazz band playing on 12.15 “will get the axe.”

The case shares parallels to Victorian London’s Jack The Ripper, an unsolved set of grisly murders in a city loaded with underworld tensions, ripe for the picking for any grabbing sensationalist reporter, conspiracy theorist or future crime writer.

Ray Celestin seems to be a member of the historical crime club and pays tribute to one of its founding fathers Sherlock Holmes in the form of the character Ida Davis; a budding young female detective who enlists the help of her friend Lewis Armstrong to find answers. 

Alongside the pair Celesin also supplies a disgraced cop, Luca d’ Andrea and his former protégé Lieutenant Michael Talbot who are carrying out separate investigations of the murders. 

Ray Celestin tails the three leads and tours New Orleans in the early twenties - perusing the haunts of the Mafia, exploring the Voodoo dens of the Bayou and jumping aboard a cruising Tramp Steamer -  all the while enjoying the linguistic delights of the local tongue, sampling words such as tignons, fichus and colporteur.

The Axeman’s Jazz is a lovely fanciful bite of ghastly escapism to cuddle up to.

As of yet I haven’t booked by plane ticket to Louisiana so for now my New Orleans reading wishlist will have to do.. 

* Banquette – a sidewalk, the term is typically used in Costal Louisiana and is French in origin.

New Orleans Reading List:

Anything by Anne Rice but The Feast of All Saints tops the list.

Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table by Sara Roahen - According to reviews this book makes to want to visit New Orleans instantly, plus anything with food for me is a winner.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy - a posthumous winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

There is something special about reading a book by an author you have enjoyed before. When I heard that Donna Tartt the author of The Little Friend had brought out a new novel I didn’t rush out to buy it, and with it numbering at 863 pages I thought I would wait until I had some time in the holidays to savour it.

Donna Tartt’s first novel, The Secret History, created quite a following after its release.

Embedded in Greek tragedy, the dark murder mystery tells the story of a college cult and poses the question: What would happen if the characters in the Dead Poet Society embarked on Bacchic-style orgy?

Her second book The Little Friend sits high on my favourite books list and is a gorgeous coming of age Southern Gothic jammed packed with beautiful descriptive prose. 

With a ten year gap between them (which I don’t mind if the break produces great fiction) The Goldfinch appears to be penned with the same ink.

It is dark and gothic. It retains the same danger of its predecessors with its exploration of a murky drug-fuelled lifestyle. 

It is boldly poetic. Donna Tartt has a gift which all writers aspire to achieve; The Goldfinch has sentences I read and re-read. Her words glide into passages which possess a startlingly smoothness and clarity relating to real life experiences such as grief and trauma.

It is full of the descriptions that I love and seek out in any book. There is a hoarding of objects, possessions and antique furniture which do not sit around like useless clutter but enrich the book with an enjoyable eloquence.

It is full of life and colour. In Theo Decker, Donna Tartt provides a compelling character study which I felt looking at me directly in the eye as if to say “Here I am. I am more like you than you think.” 

Without giving away any spoilers, The Goldfinch is about the protagonist Theo Decker’s lifelong obsession with the painting of a chained bird.

On the inside back of the book there is a copy of Carel Fabritius’ famous creation and I often found myself engaging in a read-along with Theo; while he gazed at the painting so would I, asking myself “What does this mean? What is this trying to say?”

How can I, an English female, relate to a story about the rich upper classes of New York, collecting beautiful antiques while carrying out their secret and self-destructive behaviour?

However in a final magnificent brushstroke by Donna Tartt, Theo provides a monologue that is that clinches the accolades and Pulitzer Prize which have been presented to this book and its author. 

I would strongly suggest after finishing the last page to revisit Theo’s and his mother’s trip to the Met and her discussion of the paintings on page 26 as it brings into light the book as a whole.

The Goldfinch is about the universal appreciation of beautiful things. 

Like a famous painting which thousands flock to see each year searching for interpretation, I see this book being studied in English workshops as a piece of fiction that moves with a steady beating heart.

Revival by Stephen King

In all art forms the next generation always plays homage to the previous.

In his memoir Keith Richards describes how The Rolling Stones came up their name when they were put on the spot by a reporter and an album by the legendary blues guitarist, Muddy Waters, was lying on the floor; “Muddy waters to the rescue! First track on The Best of Muddy Waters is ‘Rollin’ Stone.’ The cover is on the floor.” 

And today their legacy continues with many bands such as The White Stripes, Aerosmith and AC/DC counting them as an influence.

Keith Richards explains this rock n roll cycle on interview with the magazine of the same name; “What Muddy Waters did for us is what we should do for others. It's the old thing, what you want written on your tombstone as a musician: 'He passed it on.'

In the foreword to his 2014 novel Revival Stephen King bows down and plays tribute to the gods “who helped to built this house”. 

An impressive list reads like roll off from Horror Writer’s Hall of Fame, with Mary Shelley, Lovecraft and Bram Stoker hitting the top spots. 

In fact, the overall feel of Revival is like an reunion concert of a much-loved rock n’ roll band, where all the familiar acts - the macabre and tales of other worlds (Lovecraft) and the mad scientist (Shelley) - have reformed, still rocking and shocking, to produce something that is highly entertaining.

Stephen King still takes the lead however with his trademark riff: injecting a bit of freak into small town America.

Jamie Morton, the youngest of five, grows up in a New England town, picks up the guitar at 13, plays in teenage rock and roll band and falls in love.

But Jamie is haunted by the memory of his church minister Charlie Jacobs; a passionate man who experiments with electricity in his home workshop and is one day struck by tragedy.

If you are junkie for Stephen King’s character development Revival supplies that insatiable fix. Jamie crashes in adulthood, a drifter and loner accompanied by his only friend; his guitar, and wrestles with monsters dark and strange hiding behind the other side of the door…

Revival sucks you in like a lifelong fan. After finishing the final page you will felt like you have been taken through a horror memory lane. Both reliving the first time you ever read Stephen King and remembering no matter what they come out with nowadays that the oldies are still the best.

My 2015 30 Book Resolution

After over-doing it on New Years Eve and waking up in 2015 with a hangover to possibly end all hangovers I decided I would embark on Dry January. 

I can hardly believe it myself.

If someone told me I would be embarking on 31^st days of soberness in 2014 I would have probably would have not believed them. However three days into 2015 I still feel no need to head down to Bargain Booze.

I’ve decided that before the summer I will take on the 30 day squat challenge and work out a new ab routine for the gym. 

However more specific to this blog and keeping with the “thirty” themed challenges, I have decided in 2015 I will complete thirty books.

I will keep track of my progress on goodreads here. 

Pictured above is my Christmas book haul which should keep me occupied for the next couple of months. 

The pink Cava in the picture will unfortunately have to wait until February.