The Marble Collector~Cecelia Ahern
This was the first novel that I really enjoyed reading this year. I am not normally a huge fan of Cecelia Ahern but I got sucked into this quirky book and read it quickly.
It is a sort of historical fiction but done in a very different way, told in perspective of father and daughter. Sabrina in having a bit of a midlife crisis unhappy in her job, marriage, role as carer for her Father. Fergus had a stroke at the most stressful time of his life, he is now in a care home, unable to walk or remember alot about his life.
When a box of marbles is delivered to Sabrina's house she starts to realise that her Father had a double life, and everything she though she knew about him is wrong. Unable to ask her Father for the answers she set out to find out more about this man she calls Dad
Set over the course of one day and night as Sabrina tries to piece parts of her father's life together. Fergus take the reader back to intercity Dublin in the 1950's as he remembers his childhood and family.
It did take me a couple of chapters to get into the style of writing but once it got going I really enjoyed it. Fergus childhood was really interesting to read about and I did like the slight twist in the middle of the book.
It was a book I really enjoyed and it was a good start to the month
The Island~Victoria Hislop
I have mixed feelings on this book, I was really looking forward to reading it but it wasn't my favourite of the month. Parts of the book where really interesting but other parts where so dull!
The actually history of the island in Crete which was a leper colony until after the Second World War is really well researched and makes for an intriguing story
My problem was with the two main characters Sofia and her daughter Alexis where very under developed and unlikable. Alexis storyline on if to dump her boyfriend or not was totally irrelevant to the book.
An OK book but the actually Greek history was much was gripping than the storylines the author added to it
Our Betty~Liz Smith
I read this quirky memoir in one day a Sunday...and if I could describe this book it was be just that-it's a lazy Sunday afternoon book. It's not too taxing, it's short around 220 pages, it's funny, quirky and totally Sunday reading!
I really enjoy this memoir, it's not the most revealing book but then it doesn't have to be, it is a collection of stories of Liz's life. I loved the little sketches she done of people in her life, from her lonely childhood, her Mother died when she was two. She live with her Grandparents with an unreliable Father floating in and out of her early life. I loved reading about her childhood in the 1920s and 30's as it was another time and she went into more detail about that part of her life. The the war broke out and she joined the WRENS. I liked that she described how her generation felt after the war when then had to go back to dead end jobs to be paid a pittance. How although the war was an awful time, they did miss the freedom and adventure of it, how afterwards the dead end jobs felt pointless and dull. She did have a hard life especially after her husband left and she struggled to makes end meat, keeping a roof over her two children's head and hold down various jobs.
She didn't get into acting lightly, it took alot of getting turned down for roles, acting for free and alot of determination for her to finally get her big break at the age of 50! The second part of the book didn''t grip me as much as the first and there wasn't as much detail in it. I thought she would of went into much more detail about The Vicar of Dibley and The Royale Family but I enjoyed it for what it was and that is an beautiful, funny insight to an inspiring woman.
Uprooted~Naomi Novik
This genre of reading was a new one for me I had never read any YA Fantasy before this month
This is something I definitely have to rectify this year, this was my favourite book of the month and so far this year! I got so sucked into this world of Russian folklore, magic, poison woods, wizards and witches. I devoured the book it took me away to a different world with strong characters and nail biting battles.
Uprooted takes place in an Kingdom surrounded by a large, dark dangerous wood, in one of the small villages there is tower where a powerful wizard called The Dragon lives. Every ten years he comes down from his tower and picks, the most beautiful, graceful and brave woman to go to his tower with him. Agnieszka feels like she has nothing to fear as she is none of these things, but her best friend Kasia is all these things and more. Yet when the time comes The Dragon picks Agnieszka much to everyone's shock...deep within Agnieszka he sees magic and due to the law he must teacher how to use it. The first part of the book is about how this unlikely couple come together to teach Agnieszka how to use her magic. This is a struggle as Agnieszka is at first terrified of The Dragon and then annoyed by him and he is unlikeable, brooding, cold and impatient!
Uprooted is dark, Gothic and has the most beautiful descriptions, everything that I love in a book. While reading it I could picture in my mind eye on a big screen and thought it would make an amazing movie, so when I finished the book I was happy to see it is set to make the big screen.
It was one of those books that takes up all your mind space and free time time till you finish it!
All The Light We Cannot See~Anthony Doerr
Maybe my expectations where too high when starting this book but after all the hype on booktube I thought I would really love this but I didn't I barely liked it! Very unpopular opinion here!
While the writing was very beautiful the story itself it very slow, the time jumping had me confused and annoyed me after a while.
I read alot of historical fiction so time jumps is something I read alot of, but I felt with this book they where not done very well.
The book follows two character French blind Marie Laurie who lives with her Father, when the German's invade she spends most of the time in hiding and German Werner who only friends when growing up are his sister and the radio.
The problem with the book for me, the characters where not very interesting and I didn't really care what happened to them! For a book set in WW11 its quite a boring and tame book. I didn't feel any of the danger or horror of war in this book.
For all the hype and praise for this book I didn't connect with it
The Princess Diarist~Carrie Fisher
This is a very short memoir of Carrie's time filming the first Star Wars movie, it was 1976, she was 19 years old, she fell for her older broody co star Harrison Ford. She did what every young woman does she kept a diary of that time filled with thoughts about him, poems about unrequited love, and a honest account of how she felt at that time.
Harrison was 35 married with two children, he made the first move and in doing so kept the affair how he wanted it to be, he was cool, composed and in control. Carrie away from home young and fairly naive, she fell big time, and although she tried to deny it later in the book it's all there to see in her diary. She wanted more than he was willing to give, he barely spoke to her most of the time, while she began to question everything about herself. When the time came to end things it was Harrison who gave a brief few words on the flight home to make sure she understood what happened in Pinewood studios stayed at Pinewood studios!
Why is she saying all this now 40 years after the event? I think it was to close the door on that part of her life. I think she may have held a torch for him well after there brief affair. She does state that the longer she got to know Harrison the more friendly, happy and relaxed there relationship became afterwards.
Reading in hindsight after her death was sad and eerier especially the parts where she knows what picture the press/media will use to announce her death, or when she thanks her Mother for not dying and leaving her alone.
This is not a detailed account of what it was like making Star Wars, it's more for fans of Carrie than of Star Wars and I really really enjoyed it.
Saving Grace~Jane Green
This was my first one star book of the year! I made myself finish it after almost putting it down twice! I normally put down books much quickly than this but something kept pushing me to finish this maybe in the hope it would get better....it didn't!
I felt like there was a good story in there somewhere trying to get out! The author would push one plot line than to drop it, and then move onto something else!
Grace's perfect life is suddenly turned on it's head when another woman steals her husband Ted. The other woman is not everything she seems, it predictable with the whole single white female plot, it could of been really great, instead it was really awful!!
The Midnight Watch~David Dyer
This was another book that I adored reading this month I really enjoyed this take on the tragic events of the Titanic. Almost everyone knows the events of 14th April 1912, after all there was the most successful movie which made stars of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. The Titanic which was dubbed "unsinkable" hit an iceberg and within three hours sunk, plunging it's passengers and crew into the icy waters of the Atlantic over 1,500 people died that night. Mostly where men, woman, and children of the lower classes, but ancient family-lines of English aristocracy where severed as several generations of upper class men also died.
This book focuses on another ship that was in the Atlantic ocean that fateful night The Californian, little has been put in the history books about this ship, as unlike The Carpathian, The Minia and The MacKay which either came to the aid of the Titanic or helped to recover bodies. The Californian done neither, although it was the nearest ship to the Titanic less than 20 miles away from it when it began to sink.
Dyer tells the story in two points of view, on the Californian we met Herbert Stone the Second Officer and he is on the Midnight Watch as the Titanic sinks. He sees the eight white rockets being fired into the night sky, he alerts his Captain who is sleeping below deck. The Titanic sinks that night, the Californian stays where it is until morning, when the sleeping wireless operator wakes and finally turns on his wireless to discover the Titanic has indeed sunk, only then does The Californian move towards where The Titanic should be. Soon some of the crew reveal that the second officer wasn't the only one on the ship to see the rockets in the night sky.
In Boston journalist John Steadman is eager to get a big scoop for his paper, yet he soon realises the story the Captain from the Californian is telling doesn't add up.
Dyer's story telling and writing are beautiful, this didn't feel like another Titanic retelling it was fresh and new. In all the movies I have seen and books I have read I never new about the Californian and how close it was to the Titanic. How one simple any act could of saved so many lives. Dyer gives the reader a captivating tale of one man unwilling to stop until he gets to the truth.
Wildflower Bay~Rachel Lucas
This was a lovely little book to finish the month with, something nice and light after The Midnight Watch. It's a nice sweet cosy read and it has made me want to read some more of Rachel Lucas
Set in Scotland Isla has worked hard to get where she is, head stylist is a posh salon in Edinburgh but when everything goes wrong she is forced to take a job in her Aunts run down salon in remote Scotish island Auchenmoor
It's basically a chic lit, with hints of romance, and some humour in parts. Isla was a bit annoying to be honest, all about her work no life or friends, holding on to a school crush as the love of her life and wanting to make all her one time bullies jealous at her school reunion. Yet Lucas still manages to make the reader care about Isla and I loved the relationship Isla had with Ruth and Finn.
One think I will say this book was originally published as a three parts and in some places you can feel it doesn't flow as much as it should.
It's a warm book that will definitely give you that cosy feeling when reading it!
What Paul Has Been Reading This Month~
The Walking Dead Compendium 2~Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard & Cliff Rathburn
I have completed the second compendium of the walking dead, this carries on the tale for Rick and his band of survivors. In this book, we pick up from the ruins of the prison and the aftermath of the Governor's attack. Rick has become a broken man following the deaths of those close to him and the group are lost without their leader. After a brief stop in the farm, Rick and the group decide to move on to pastures new and pick up some familiar faces on the way. They happen upon a stranger named Aaron who brings them to Alexandria, a place untouched by the outbreak but naive to the new world. Rick realises this and makes plans to ready this group for the dangers that lie ahead both the living and the dead. This graphic novel deals with key issues such as loss, trust and ethics. We are given a first hand insight into Rick's mindset as he talks to lost loved ones on a phone that is unconnected. This strangely heals Rick and sets him on his path to leadership. We are shown that you also do not have to pick a partner for life as old world problems begin to creep back in. This book was a good bridge between the first novel and the novel to come as a foe is teased that will surely test the Alexandrians resolve. As before there were differences between the hit show and the comics such as different relationships, subtle hints at grabbing power and characters left out and added.
I am looking forward to the next book which will put me on level pegging with the show.
What Oisìn Has Been Reading This Month~
My Mummy Is Magic~Dawn Richard & Jane Massey
Oisìn picked this book from the library a couple of weeks ago and has been asking for it at every bedtime since!
It's a lovely little book to read and some things I can relate to, like reading different stories, or making up ones from my head, or making falling over into something magic.
So that is what we have been reading....how about you?
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