This week on Top Ten Tuesday The Broke and the Bookish are looking at the top 10 covers of books that we have read. I’m just putting images as it’s an image based top ten, but I will put links to any relevant reviews at the bottom.
Tag Archives: books
Top Ten Book Covers
Filed under Memes, Top 10 Tuesday
The Lifeboat- Charlotte Rogan
This book was read as part of the wishlist challenge
Synopsis (from amazon)
I was to stand trial for my life. I was twenty-two years old. I had been married for ten weeks and a widow for six.
It is 1914 and Europe is on the brink of war. When a magnificent ocean liner suffers a mysterious explosion en route to New York City, Henry Winter manages to secure a place in a lifeboat for his new wife Grace. But the survivors quickly realize the boat is over capacity and could sink at any moment. For any to live, some must die.
Over the course of three perilous weeks, the passengers on the lifeboat plot, scheme, gossip and console one another while sitting inches apart. Their deepest beliefs are tested to the limit as they begin to discover what they will do in order to survive.
Review
There was a lot of talk going on around The Lifeboat. It was one of the Waterstone’s 11 last year, and there were a hell of a lot of reviews around. It was on my wishlist for a long time, but once I actually got it it took me three months to actually get around to reading it. Partly because of my requested reviews backlog. I had actually been excited about reading it.
I had expected to like the part of the story focused in the lifeboat itself to be the most interesting (it was split between a tale of what happened on the lifeboat, and Grace’s impending trial), but actually I found that rather slow moving, and you didn’t get the moral debate I had expected. In fact the idea of people being sent from the lifeboat, or jumping was barely discussed at all. It was more a story of what extreme situations can bring out in people.
There was also a vague mystery aspect which was interesting, except we never really got any answers. It was almost as if Rogan had started another storyline but forgotten or been unable to finish it.
The sea scenes were rather well done, and you could imagine very easily what it might be like to be on a little lifeboat in the middle of the ocean.
4/5
Buy it:
Paperback (£5.03)
Kindle (£3.99)
Hardback (£7.81)
Other reviews:
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review, Historical, Mystery
Children’s Hour: Our Favourite Books
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Children’s Hour is going to be a little different this week. Last week the toddlers were asked to bring in their favourite books for everyone to look at. These are some of the books we came up with (links lead to amazon):
The Tiger Who Came to Tea: We’ve discussed this one on Children’s Hour before.
Peppa Big and the Big Train: Everyone’s favourite pig, Peppa goes on the train. This was maybe a little long for a ‘first’ book but interesting enough for our toddlers.
Monkey: Let’s face it, the popular thing about tis book is the button that makes Monkey noises…I’m not even sure we got as far as reading the story, if we did it wasn’t memorable.
Dear Zoo: I’m really glad one of the kids brought this in because it’s a great book. A child writes to the zoo because he wants a pet, but they keep sending things that aren’t quite right, with each animal being revealed when a flap is lifted.
The Octonauts: The Octonauts love to explore the sea. I was fully expecting an Octonauts book to turn up as one of our kids adores the show. However he wasn’t the one who brought the book in!
White and Black: My Animals: This is a very simple book. Black and white cartoon pictures of different animals with single words saying which animal is shown. However it has more that the animals which turn up in these books stereotypically, and the kids loved to name all the animals.
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
Top 10 books dealing with tough issues
It’s Tuesday again so The Broke and the Bookish are hosting Top Ten Tuesday.
This week it’s top 10 books which deal with tough issues.
1) Handle with Care- Jodi Picoult. In this book a mother is suing her midwife believing that she should have been told that her daughter would be born with brittle bones. It’s difficult because it suggests that if the mother had known she would not have continued with the pregnancy. It also follows her daughter and the issues she has. All of Picoult’s books deal with tough issues but this one hits harder to home because I have a similar (though less severe) condition. Which I talked about in my review
2) Eva- Peter Dickinson I read this as a teenager and it’s still one of my most recommended books. It’s a strange sort of animal rights book. It’s set in the future and a girl who was in a major accident has her brain transplanted into a chimpanzee. She finds herslef in a sort of limbo between the world of the chimps and the human world.
3) Night Waking- Sarah Moss at time of writing this is my current read (although I’ll probably have posted the review before this post goes up). The story focuses on a mother and all her issues with being a mother. She finds a baby’s skeleton in her garden and becomes obsessed with finding out who it was. There are quite a few issues covered, working parents, child abuse, death, infanticide, anorexia. It’s a tough read emotionally but worth it I think.
4) Reservation Road- John Burnham Schwartz This novel follows a family after their child is killed by a hit and run driver, and follows the driver of the car.
5) Bad Girls- Jacqueline Wilson until I was about 14 I used to read every single one of Jacqueline Wilson’s books, all of which deal with issues faced by children. Bad Girls, which talks about bullying, peer pressure, and friends was one of my favourites. It was the story of Mandy who is bullied by her classmates. One day she meets Tanya and they become friends, but is Tanya more trouble that she’s worth.
6) Deenie- Judy Blume Another author, one read by most teenagers, who deals with teenage issues this time. Deenie is a popular girl then she finds out she has a curved spine and will have to wear a back brace. Basically tragedy to a teenager.
7) Speak- Laurie Halse Anderson is another I read as a teenager. A teenage girl starts high school after an event at a party led her to call the police. She’s basically a social outcast, and she still can’t talk about what happened.
8) Room- Emma Donoghue is the story of a woman who was kipnapped and had her abductor’s child. Hard hitting but fantastically written.
9) Mockingbird- Kathryn Erkskien is the story of an autistic girl who looses her brother. We see her life and her brother’s death thorough her eyes.
10) Middlesex- Jeffrey Eugenides follows Cal as she grows up. Cal knows she is different but doesn’t realise that she is actually neither female or male.
Special mentions go to The Help, The Virgin Suicides, books by Paula Danziger, and Kerb Crawling
Filed under Memes, Top 10 Tuesday
Lost and Found- Tom Winter
Synopsis (from amazon)
It started with a letter …
Carol is married to a man she doesn’t love and mother to a daughter she doesn’t understand. Crippled with guilt, she can’t shake the feeling that she has wasted her life. So she puts pen to paper and writes a Letter to the Universe.
Albert is a widowed postman, approaching retirement age, and living with his cat, Gloria, for company. Slowly being pushed out at his place of work, he is forced down to the section of the post office where they sort undeliverable mail. When a series of letters turns up with a smiley face drawn in place of an address, he cannot help reading them.
Review
Lost and Found is a rather quaint story. I don’t exactly have much to say about it. It’s not exciting, and although not exactly predictable nothing happens which you wouldn’t really expect, it could quite easily be true.
That is not to say that it isn’t enjoyable to read. It had quite a conversational style which I enjoyed, and the characters were believable and likeable, especially Albert.
I didn’t really like the ultimate decision which Carol made, but I did understand it, and maybe if she had made the other decision it would have made for a less enjoyable story.
3.5/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£3.99)
Hardback (£8.31)
Paperback- pre-order (£7.99)
Other reviews:
Did I miss your review? Post a link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review
Children’s Hour: Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Buy Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer:
Paperback (£5.39)
Paperback with CD (£7.99)
Big Book (£10.79)
Hardback (£3.99)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
Night Waking- Sarah Moss
Synopsis (from amazon)
Historian Anna Bennett has a book to write. She also has an insomniac toddler, a precocious, death-obsessed seven-year-old, and a frequently absent ecologist husband who has brought them all to Colsay, a desolate island in the Hebrides, so he can count the puffins. Ferociously sleep-deprived, torn between mothering and her desire for the pleasures of work and solitude, Anna becomes haunted by the discovery of a baby’s skeleton in the garden of their house. Her narrative is punctuated by letters home, written 200 years before, by May, a young, middle-class midwife desperately trying to introduce modern medicine to the suspicious, insular islanders. The lives of these two characters intersect unexpectedly in this deeply moving but also at times blackly funny story about maternal ambivalence, the way we try to control children, and about women’s vexed and passionate relationship with work. Moss’s second novel displays an exciting expansion of her range – showing her to be both an excellent comic writer and a novelist of great emotional depth.
Review
I found this book rather emotionally tough at times. I really liked Anna but because we could see in her head I often found the things she thought, and sometimes even the things she did made me feel uneasy, especially when it came to her children.
In fact it was quite well done because you could understand Anna’s thoughts and approach to things, even though you might not agree, and they were easy things to judge her for.
A lot of the book was about Anna as a mother. At times I did actually find her to be a good mother, but at others she completely lost the plot. Maybe that made it authentic, I really don’t know, I maybe hope not. I suppose all parents get frustrated with their kids sometimes, but Anna didn’t always deal with it well.
There was something about the kids. I think Raph maybe wasn’t meant to be ‘normal’, certainly he seemed ‘too clever’, but I did really like him. Moth was presented at the ‘normal’ kid but I work with two year olds, and he seems rather infantile.
The letters I found rather frustrating. They seemed to break the story, but the way they eventually linked in to the rest of the story made them worth reading.
It’s far from the easiest read, but I did end up abandoning my paperback in favour of finishing Night Waking, and I think that says a lot about how it captured me.
4/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£4.12)
Paperback (£5.51)
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review, Mystery
Children’s Hour: Well Done Little Bear
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Bit late for Children’s Hour this week. I’ve been rather busy.
Well Done, Little Bear is one in the Big Bear, Little Bear series by Martin Waddell (who also wrote Owl Babies). In Well Done, Little Bear Little Bear wants to go exploring and does lots of exciting thing, with Big Bear always there to help him. Little Bear’s adventures get more and more risky until he slips into the river, but Big Bear soon saves him and they get across the river together. This is a lovely book to talk about people who look after us. One boy in particular really loves Little Bear and Big Bear, although he’s rather confused as to where Little Bear’s Daddy is. It’s not one we read often because it’s a bit long for the younger toddlers, but it’s getting requested a lot by this particular child, and the other older children enjoy it too.
Buy Well Done, Little Bear:
Hardback (from £1.00)
Paperback (from £1.99)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
City of Women- David Gillham
Disclaimer: This book was provided for me free of charge, by the publisher (via netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis (from amazon)
It is 1943 – the height of the Second World War. With the men taken by the army, Berlin has become a city of women. And while her husband fights on the Eastern Front, Sigrid Schroder is, for all intents and purposes, the model soldier’s wife: she goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law. But behind this facade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman who dreams of her former Jewish lover, who is now lost in the chaos of the war. Sigrid’s tedious existence is turned upside-down when she finds herself hiding a mother and her two young daughters: could they be her lover’s family? Now she must make terrifying choices that could cost her everything.
Review
I read Lisa’s review of this book a month or two ago which made me immediately search for and request it on netgalley. I’m big reader of World War fiction and this one sounded a little more unique, plus the review made me think it would be well done.
It was an interesting subject. I think we should really admire Germans who harboured Jews during Hitler’s reign. It would be so easy just to ignore what was going on around you and stay safe (or at least relatively safe).
I quite liked how Sigrid battled with wanting to be a ‘good German’ and not being able to ignore what was going on around her. It showed that she wasn’t some sort of saint, but that this was the way she reacted to the situation. In that sense it makes the idea rather hopeful, that anyone could do something amazing for a fellow human-being, given the right circumstances.
In many ways she was just trying to get through the days, waiting for the war to end. And I can imagine it was that way for a lot of people.
The story was very sad, but also hopeful. I really felt for Sigrid, even if I didn’t always like her. Again it just showed that she was human.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Socialist.Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me. - Martin Niemöller
4/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£7.99)
Paperback (£8.96)
Hardback- Large print (£20.44)
Other Reviews:
Did I miss your review? Leave me a link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Fiction review, Historical
Last Train From Liguria- Christine Dwyer Hickey
Synopsis (from amazon)
In 1933, Bella Stuart leaves her quiet London life to move to Italy to tutor the child of a beautiful Jewish heiress and an elderly Italian aristocrat. Living at the family’s summer home, Bella’s reserve softens as she comes to love her young charge, and find friendship with Maestro Edward, his enigmatic music teacher. But as the decade draws to an end and fascism tightens its grip on Europe, the fact that Alec is Jewish places his life in grave danger. Bella and Edward take the boy on a terrifying train journey out of Italy – one they have no reason to believe any of them will survive…
Review
I was surprised to find that this book had three storylines running through it, as only one appears in the synopsis. The first (and probably main) story is the story of Bella. A spinster essentially (considering her age and the time she was living in) who is sent to Italy in the reign of Mussolini by her father to care for a young boy- Alec.
The second story, which takes place in modern times, is that of a woman who watches as her Grandmother slowly dies in front of her eyes and finds out that, despite being brought up by the woman, she barely knew her at all.
The third is the story of a man who flees his home after killing his sister in a drunken rage- also set during the run up to the second world war.
Somehow all the storylines were a little too much. We enter the story with the last storyline, which put me off a little as it was not at all what I expected. In some ways this story added a flavour to the story- and maybe explanations for later on, but it wasn’t really needed.
The second storyline just frustrated me because it took me away from the story I was interested in, and it definitely wasn’t needed. I’m not even sure why Dwyer Hickey decided to include it.
The main story itself did take sometime to get going. But it did mean that I felt like I was building a relationship with Bella, and although at times it did feel a little like it was dragging ultimately it made me care about her, enough that her story ended too abruptly for me.
I loved the way atmosphere was built in this story. The beauty of Italy contrasting with the increasingly tense atmosphere. It was like some sort of reverse pathetic fallacy (is there actually a term for that? I’m sure there is but really cannot think of it).
As a war story, Last Train From Liguria is different, maybe it is more realistic in its way. Bella seems very naive but maybe she was just in denial? I’m sure there were plenty of people like that.
3/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£3.95)
Paperback (£5.51)
Other Reviews:
Have you reviewed this book? Add your link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Fiction review, Historical
Children’s Hour: The Cat and the Mouse
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
The Cat and the Mouse is he third book I received from the author Mike Lockett, and actually had probably been our least read. Not because we don’t like it but because we prefer Hickory Dickory Dock and Monkey and Rabbit Together, plus pre-school keep borrowing it!
The story follows a familiar pattern, and is based on an lesser known Mother Goose rhyme. It reminds me a lot of The Old Woman and her Pig which was just funny to us as kids because it was so absurd.
The Cat and the Mouse follows a similar line. The cat bites the mouse’s tail off and says she will only give it back if the mouse gets her some milk. Only the cow won’t give the mouse any milk unless he gets her some hay, and the story continues. It’s a little more logical than The Old Woman in her Pig, no talking to inanimate objects, but I liked that about the Old Woman and her Pig.
However the children do enjoy this version. Because it’s quite repetitive they can join in easily, and start to know what’s coming next with a few readings. They love to shout “No” at the mouse.
The Cat and the Mouse is not available in the UK but you can get it shipped from The Book Depository for free:
Hardback (£9.76)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
World Book Night 2013
Happy World Book Night everyone!
This year was my first year taking part in World Book Night as a giver. With a mixture of excitement and nerves!
World Book Night (for those who don’t know) is sort of like World Book Day, but for adults. The idea is to get people who wouldn’t normally read to read. Events take part up and down the country and half a million books are given away, some by givers (like me) and some are given directly to hard to reach areas.
I gave away 20 copies of Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair which is a favourite of mine. I picked it because it is easy to read, it’s engaging, it’s funny nd exciting, and it has a little bit of everything. Plus it’s the first in a series which makes it easy to go on from there, as well as being related to Jane Eyre, which is another way to continue your reading.
I was giving away copies to parent and staff at the nursery where I work, which is in a deprived area of Birmingham. It actually went much better than I expected. Not one parent who I offered a book to refused it, and a couple of staff took books too.
I actually found that quite a few of the parent like reading, I don’t tend to know the parents that well and it was interesting to see something new about them. One parent in particular was really interested to the book. He was asking me what it was about and about the rest of the series, he said he would definitely read it, but that it was his wife who should read more. Another told me she was reading The Help at the moment but would read The Eyre Affair next, then pass it on to her Mum who she said was also a reader. One of the grandparents seemed unsure at first but once she found lut there was a crime element, and it was also connected to Jane Eyre she changed her mine- and said she would pass it on to Mum. Quite a few seemed to think they needed to pay for them, or make a donation, maybe adults are just not used to getting free stuff, these seemed to be particularly gracious when they found out it was theirs to keep for free.
Some of the kids actually seemed interested too, which is good in a role model sense. The granddaughter of the grandparent I mentioned before asked why she got a book, and got the reply “because I was a good girl”. Another kid insisted on ‘reading’ the book himself. And another actually picked up a book for his parents, claiming it was about “George’s Day”, probably because it is St. George’s Day today.
Still Alice- Lisa Genova
Synopsis (from amazon)
When Alice finds herself in the rapidly downward spiral of Alzheimer’s Disease she is just fifty years old. A university professor, wife, and mother of three, she still has so much more to do – books to write, places to see, grandchildren to meet. But when she can’t remember how to make her famous Christmas pudding, when she gets lost in her own back yard, when she fails to recognise her actress daughter after a superb performance, she comes up with a desperate plan. But can she see it through? Should she see it through? Losing her yesterdays, living for each day, her short-term memory is hanging on by a couple of frayed threads. But she is still Alice.
Review
I read a review of Still Alice on another blog quite some time ago (long enough ago that I can’t remember whose blog it was, sorry!) which made me put it on my wishlist. By the time I actually bought it I couldn’t really even remember what it was about.
In terms of books about Alzheimer’s I found it rather emotive and there were moments I just felt so, not despairing exactly, but almost pityful for Alice. At times it was just gut-wrenching.
I liked Alice a lot, even as she forgot more and more, and I think that’s part of what made it so emotive. However I did not like John. He didn’t seem supportive at all, and I found him rather selfish.
There were a couple of little things which annoyed me. First Alice was a psychology professor but still didn’t recognise her symptoms as being Alzheimer’s, however I was able to forgive this. Even if you know something it’s easy to pretend it isn’t happening, or to attribute it to something else. The second thing was that one of her daughters had noticed something but said nothing. I can see it being awkward to talk to her Mum about it, but I would have thought that she might at least have brought her thoughts up with someone else in the family.
4/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£4.99)
Paperback (£5.99)
Other Reviews:
Lainy @ So Many Books So Little Time
Have I missed your review? Post your link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review
What to do with old ARCs?
The other day Jennifer (from The Restless Reader) was asking on twitter what other bloggers do with ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) once they have read and reviewed them? It’s always something which I have been a little unsure about, meaning that the majority of my ARCs are sitting on my shelves still, and most of them I am unlikely to read again.
I have in the past bookcrossed old ARC copies. It seems to be a pretty good solution to me. It’s sharing bookish love but means that you’re more likely to get someone who would not buy the book if they didn’t find it. Pretty much anyone can pick it up, and in a way that’s a sort of promotion of the author, and seeing as you’re meant to pass bookcrossing books on they may still buy the book if they enjoyed it.
Then there’s the rather popular blogger option of having an ARC giveaway. It’s not one I’ve ever done myself, mainly because of postage, I find it easier to just giveaway new books from the book depository. I can see the appeal though. It stands as a bit of a promotion for your blog (I tend to get more hits when I’m hosting a giveaway at least), and it’s again sharing the bookish love. Plus it’s fairly likely that whoever wins the book is a fellow blogger, so that could mean another review for the author.
Another option is to give them to a charity shop. However ARCs are never intended for selling, and although you wouldn’t benefit from it in monetry terms the charity would, which makes it a bit like selling the book on. It’s more acceptable than selling the book for your own gain because all books come to charity shops free of charge, whereas you’re ‘payment’ for the review is supposedly the book itself.
Then there are swapping options. Things like bookmooch, and read-it swap-it. Again you’re getting a sort of payment for this in the form of other books to read.
So what do you guys do with old ARCs? If you’re an author/publisher what would you like to see happen with ARCs?
Filed under Musings
Children’s Hour: Hickory Dickory Dock
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Image from mikelockett.com
Hickory Dickory Dock is one of the other books which I got sent along with Monkey and Rabbit Together. Personally it’s probably my least favourite of the three which the author sent to me but the children seem to like it the most (which is what’s important really). I think what they like about it is that it’s familiar but different. The story is a sort of extension of the rhyme Hickory-Dickory-Dock and repeats lines from the rhyme which make it easy for the children to follow and join in with. It also rhymes which give a nice sing song rhythm. However I feel sometimes clarity is sacrificed in favour of rhyme, for example it talks of playing games “like seek and hide” which is a bit of a odd way to say playing hide and seek- as someone has to hide before you can look for them!
Again I really like the pictures in this book. They almost look like they’re textured and you can imagine how is might feel to be in a clock with a mouse from them.
Hickory Dickory Dock is not available in the UK but you can get it shipped from The Book Depository for free:
Hardback (£12.03)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
Friends Like These- Danny Wallace
Danny Wallace is about to turn thirty and his life has become a cliché. Recently married and living in a smart new area of town, he’s swapped pints down the pub for lattes and brunch. For the first time in his life, he’s feeling, well … grown-up.
But something’s not right. Something’s missing. Until he finds an old address book containing just twelve names. His best mates as a kid. Where are they now? Who are they now? And how are they coping with being grown-up too?
And so begins a journey from A-Z, tracking down and meeting his old gang. He travels from Berlin to Tokyo, from Sydney to LA. He even goes to Loughborough. He meets Fijian chiefs. German rappers. Some ninjas. And a carvery manager who’s managed to solve time travel. But how will they respond to a man they haven’t seen in twenty years, turning up and asking if they’re coming out to play?
Part-comedy, part-travelogue, part-memoir, Friends Like These is the story of what can happen when you track down your past, and of where the friendships you thought you’d outgrown can take you today…
Review
I nicked borrowed this book off the boyfriend the other week when nothing on my kindle was inspiring me and I just fancied an easy read. I actually got it for him for Christmas because he loves the film Yes Man- I wasn’t sure if he had read the book the film is based on so I went for another Danny Wallace instead. When he read it he said I should too.
Well I did say after reading Charlotte Street that I wanted to try some of Wallace’s non-fiction, and who am I to deny an offer of a book?
I’m sure everyone knows the sort of friends Danny is trying to find. Those friends who you somehow lost, never really intending to, but still it happens. So I think Danny’s feelings about his friends are easy to relate to (not that most of us have the time or money to find and visit all our friends from primary school).
In a way I liked this more than other similar types of books (i.e. comedian goes on an adventure to find people, or things e.g. Googlewhack, Around Ireland with a fridge, Dave Gorman Vs. The Rest of the World), because it was more real. It was sort of inspirational. Not in the sense of I would go around the world to find people I knew in school, but in the sense of wanting to try and reconnect with lost friends.
But it had what those types of books have too. It was funny, and a bit stupid, and a little unbelievable and over the top.
4/5
Buy it:
Paperback (£5.99)
Kindle (£5.22)
Filed under Comedy, non-fiction review, Travel
The Show- John A. Heldt
Disclaimer: I was given this book free of charge by the author in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis (from amazon)
Seattle, 1941. Grace Vandenberg, 21, is having a bad day. Minutes after Pearl Harbor is attacked, she learns that her boyfriend is a time traveler from 2000 who has abandoned her for a future he insists they cannot share. Determined to save their love, she follows him into the new century. But just when happiness is within her grasp, she accidentally enters a second time portal and exits in 1918. Distraught and heartbroken, Grace starts a new life in the age of Woodrow Wilson, silent movies, and the Spanish flu. She meets her parents as young, single adults and befriends a handsome, wounded Army captain just back from the war. In THE SHOW, the sequel to THE MINE, Grace finds love and friendship in the ashes of tragedy as she endures the trial of her life.
Review
Sorry if this review is a little all over the place, I’ve had a migraine this weekend and my head is still a little fuzzy.
The Show is the third book in the Northwest Passage series. It continues where the first book in the series, The Mine, left off. I have not read the second book in the series, The Journey, but it follows a different storyline so it isn’t needed (in fact I’m not really sure why Heldt put a random non-joining story in the middle). You could probably even read The Show as an independent story, but I would recommend reading The Mine first.
When I first got the e-mail about a sequel to The Mine I was interested to see what happened with Grace and Joel next, and to see how Grace settled into modern life. However when I read the synopsis I was a little less sure. It seemed that Heldt was trying, unnecessarily to stretch the sci-fi element by making Grace time travel again. In a sense this was true, and I think I would have preferred a book which showed how Grace got used to the new millennium. Having said that there was a certain element of this too the story, and once I got into the story after she had time travelled it didn’t really matter to me whether it was too much of a stretch or not.
When reading The Mine I had preferred Grace to Joel and it was nice to have a story which was more from her perspective. Also because I already knew Grace from reading The Mine I cared a bit more about her. Her emotions once she lost Joel again were quite well built, and I could imagine myself acting in a similar way, however I think she got over the loss and moved on a little too quickly. It was again a sense of Heldt pushing a story in a direction which didn’t seem quite natural. Whilst I did enjoy the plot in terms of a story in it’s own right, I didn’t really like it as it related to The Mine.
There was one this in particular that bugged me about this book. It was only a little moment, not even an important one, but it really bugged me. Especially as it’s partly billed as a historical novel. In the book two girls move from England to America. They talk about how happy they are to move to the US because it’s so much more liberated than England. As a Briton that grated at me, but I was ready to overlook it. But then they started talking about how women could vote here, but not in England. Which made me think, wait a sec…didn’t votes for women exist in the UK before the US? Which yes they did, in fact at the time that the book is based women couldn’t vote in most of America.
2.5/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£1.97)
Filed under Fantasy, Fiction review, Historical, Sci-Fi
Children’s Hour: Monkey and Rabbit Together
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Monkey and Rabbit Together is a bit different when it comes to my Children’s Hour books in that I was asked to review it (I usually just review what the children have been enjoying). The author sent me 3 of his children’s books and Monkey and Rabbit together is definitely my favourite. I was unsure of how the kids would react to it however as I thought it might be a bit long and grown-up for the toddlers. In some ways I was right, the younger toddlers did find it a little difficult to stay focused throughout the story- but the older toddlers enjoyed it quite a lot. I think the pictures initially attracted their attention, they are very bright and bold and the kids tend to like animal based stories. They also found the references to monkey scratching his bottom to be funny, and laughed and said “ewww” every time he did it. They liked me adding actions as well to show monkey and rabbit’s bad habits. They also liked it during the rest of the day when I said they were being like rabbit when they weren’t sitting still.
Monkey and Rabbit Together is based on a West African folktale, and the book is dual language in English and Chinese.
Monkey and Rabbit Together is not available in the UK but you can get it shipped from The Book Depository for free:
Hardback (£9.84)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
Peaches for Monsieur le Curé- Joanne Harris
Synopsis (from amazon)
It isn’t often you receive a letter from the dead.
When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she allows the wind to blow her back to the village in south-west France where, eight years ago, she opened up a chocolate shop. But Lansquenet is different now: women veiled in black, the scent of spices and peppermint tea, and, on the bank of the river Tannes, facing the church: a minaret.
Nor is it only the incomers from North Africa that have brought change. Father Reynaud, Vianne’s erstwhile adversary, is disgraced and under threat. Could it be that Vianne is the only one who can save him now?
Review
Chocolat is one of my favourite books so when I heard about a third book in the series was to be released (the second is The Lollipop Shoes) I was rather excited. However it was sitting on my shelf for quite a while before I actually got around to reading it, there were challenge books to read, and review books. Despite wanting to read it it’s priority was a little low. I finally decided to finish reading it rather than reading a book for the wishlist challenge last month.
One problem which I have with the Chocolat series as a whole is how spaced out each instalment has been. I first read Chocolat when I was about 16, I read it a couple of times before I read The Lollipop Shoes but still managed to forget a few elements which made links more difficult. I remember more or less nothing from The Lollipop Shoes now, so it made references to things that had happened then rather difficult to understand.
Luckily I was able to enjoy Peaches for Monsieur le Curé as a novel in itself, and the links with Chocolat were rather strong which made it easier to make those links. It did take me a long time to read, not because I wasn’t enjoying it however, or because it was difficult, but rather because I kept getting too drawn into the books I was reading on kindle (I read Life After Life at the same time for one thing) and because I tend to get less time to read my paperbacks than my kindle books.
I think maybe something that happened in The Lollipop Shoes may have been important in that Vianne grew. Last time we visited Lansquenet the priest (Francis Reynaud) was seen as a stubborn, backwards, and unaccepting man. In this we can sympathise with him more, maybe he is a little conceited, and maybe his views are a little black and white, but he is generally well meaning. Poor Francis is rather out of popularity and everything he thought he was doing for Lansquenet seems to have gone wrong, until it seems everyone has turned on him.
It is quite a testament to Harris’ writing that she can write about the same person, and even at times the same situation but completely change the reader’s outlook. You can certainly interpret Francis’ actions in Chocolat as being well intentioned, but, probably because Vianne doesn’t see it that way, you don’t. Whereas in Peaches for Monsieur le Curé she sees Francis in a different light, and so do we.
Something I tend to like about Harris’ writing is her skill in setting an atmosphere. The descriptions of chocolate in Chocolat make you want to visit that shop, and in Peaches for Monsieur the atmosphere of the Muslim area of the village is so well built that you can almost imagine yourself there.
As with Chocolat Peaches for Monsieur le Curé seems quite pondering but has a great climax, which doesn’t come as a complete shock dur to the elements peppered throughout the rest of the book. However what the climax is does come as somewhat of a shock.
Note: in the US PEaches for Monsieur le Curé goes by the name Peaches for Father Francis. (I often wonder what US publishers think of their readership with the way that they change book titles.)
4/5
Buy it:
Paperback (£5.27)
Hardback (£11.47)
Kindle (£5.01)
Other Reviews:
Have I missed your review? Post me a link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Fiction review
DNF: The Museum of Abandoned Secrets
Spanning sixty tumultuous years of Ukrainian history, this multigenerational saga weaves a dramatic and intricate web of love, sex, friendship, and death. At its center: three women linked by the abandoned secrets of the past—secrets that refuse to remain hidden.
While researching a story, journalist Daryna unearths a worn photograph of Olena Dovgan, a member of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army killed in 1947 by Stalin’s secret police. Intrigued, Daryna sets out to make a documentary about the extraordinary woman—and unwittingly opens a door to the past that will change the course of the future. For even as she delves into the secrets of Olena’s life, Daryna grapples with the suspicious death of a painter who just may be the latest victim of a corrupt political power play.
From the dim days of World War II to the eve of Orange Revolution, The Museum of Abandoned Secrets is an “epic of enlightening force” that explores the enduring power of the dead over the living.
Thoughts
It’s really a shame that I could not get along with this book as it was the first picked from my Book Jar. The plot wasn’t really there. It was all very over the place, and everything that did happened seemed kind of sluggish. I get the impression that it could be a thoughtful book which isn’t plot driven (after all plot isn’t everything), but the language was rather clunky. I don’t know if this was because of the translation or just the quality of the original writing.
I gave up about 20% in.
DNF
Filed under Fiction review, Historical
Children’s Hour: That’s Not My…
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
The That’s Not My… series are pretty good when it comes to baby books. No real plot or excitement but simple enough for babies and good for exploring textures. Each book is basically the same. They follow an object trying to find the right one, e.g. ‘That’s not my fairy her wand is too squashy’, with textures which match the words. The pictures are simple and bright too which makes them attractive to babies. There’s a whole series of books, from fairies, to monkeys, to tractors, and there are even Christmas and Easter specials, and colouring book versions.
Buy That’s not My…:
Board Book (from £3.46)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
The Rest is Silence- Carla Guefenbein
Synopsis (from amazon)
As the adults sit down to gossip over a long wedding lunch and the rest of the children rush off to play, a young boy slips out of sight beneath the table. At twelve years old, Tommy’s weak heart prevents him from joining his cousins’ games, so he sets his MP3 player to record the voices chattering above him. But then the conversation turns to his mother’s death and he overhears something he was never meant to know: that she didn’t die of an illness, but suicide.Confused and hurt, Tommy keeps what he has learned to himself and begins his own secret investigation into what really happened. At the same time, his father and step-mother have problems of their own to contend with. Juan is racked by private grief and guilt after the death of one of his patients (a boy of his son’s age), and Alma, his second wife, senses an increasing distance in their marriage and gradually finds herself drawn back towards an old flame. As all three withdraw into their own worlds, leaving more and more unsaid between them, their family story moves inexorably, affectingly towards its devastating conclusion.
Review
This was the first book I read after I finished Life After Life. I really didn’t want to read anything, I more or less had to force myself to start something. I was sure that once I’d actually got into a book it would be alright, but starting was a difficult step. Maybe my view of The Rest is Silence suffered because of this, I couldn’t help comparing it to Life After Life- at least to a point. And whilst I enjoyed it well enough I didn’t find anything special in it either. Maybe I should have chosen something a little more easy going after Life After Life?
It wasn’t really what I expected. I expected the discovery of suicide to be an important plot point which sustained throughout the story. In fact it was more of a spark that starts a fire. It was referred back to, but it wasn’t as much of a key point as I had anticipated, and actually the story may have worked without it (although it would have suffered somewhat if it was taken out).
The story switched through different voices. Tommy, the young boy, Alma, his stepmother, and Jaun his Father. The time also jumped around a little, especially in Alma’s chapters. This was most obvious at the beginning of the story, and it made things a little confusing, and it did make it harder to get into the book.
There were, in effect 3 (or maybe 4) stories running through the novel, one for each character, but another where all the stories interlinked. It was interesting to see the different sides of a story, and the ways the stories deviated showed the fractures in the family.
I enjoyed Alma’s story best, and I think I liked her best too. There was something quite strong about her, but she almost wanted too much control over her life, she didn’t ever seem to just let things happen. Possibly I shouldn’t have liked her, but there was something very easy to like about her. I think part of it was that Juan was shown as having quite a hard exterior, and although we saw his softer side he never seemed to understand that sometimes you have to show you’re soft side and at others it’s better to remain strong. We saw the contrast between the ways he and Alma interacted with people, and Alma came off better.
Tommy’s story should have been the most interesting, but his voice didn’t really work for me. Sometimes it felt like a child’s voice, but most of the time it was a bit too adult, without and common sense.
3/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£5.44)
Paperback (£8.31)
Other reviews
If you have reviewed this book leave me a link and I will add it here.
Filed under Fiction review, Literary
Top 10 Books I Recommend the Most
I was going to write a review today (a line is forming), but then I saw that today’s Top 10 Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) topic is Top Ten Books I Recommend the Most, and I decided I should join in, even if it is a little late.
In no particular order:
1) Life After Life- Kate Atkinson
This is currently my most recommended book after being blown away by it when I read it a few weeks ago. I think I am still suffering from post-Life-after-life flunk, I’ve read two books since but nothing is quite good enough.
2) Harry Potter
I insist that everyone who hasn’t read Harry does. I’m even on a quest to Bookcross every Harry Potter book (only one I haven’t is Deathly Hallows).
3) The War of Don Emmanuel’s Nether Parts- Louis de Bernières
One of my most recommended books used to be Captain Correli’s Mandolin. It was one of my favourite books and I used to just give it to people randomly. Then I read The War of Do Emmanuel’s Nether Parts (in my quest to find other great stuff by De Bernières) and I was like ‘ZOMG de Bernières has written something better than Captain Correli!’. It’s like Captain Correli’s in a way but more surreal. My Mum’s book group actually read this after it was my favourite read of 2011 but they didn’t like it so much because of the sex and violence. Which is why I didn’t recommend…
4) The Crimson Petal and the White- Michael Faber
And that’s a shame because I think it would be the perfect book group book, there’s so much you could discuss.
5) The Eyre Affair- Jasper Fforde
Which is the book I’m going to give away for World Book Night. Although Shades of Grey is my favourite Fforde The Eyre Affair (and continuing series) is much more accessible, and fun for readers and non-readers alike.
6) The Brooklyn Bites Series- Scott Stabile
If you’ve been visiting this blog for a while you’ll know I really champion Scott Stabile. He’s an independent author whose first book of short stories I was asked to review and adored. I think bloggers have a great role to play in promoting independent writers, and I like to read indie fiction, but this is the best I’ve read.
7) Remembrance- Theresa Breslin
This is actually a war book written for teenagers but it’s one of the most accessible I’ve ever read, and once which is truthful.
8) The Etymologicon- Mark Forsyth
A very interesting but readable book about language. I loved it and recommended it to lots of people.
9) Middlesex- Jeffrey Eugenides
There is a group on facebook that urges everyone to read Middlesex, and explains that it’s difficult to define what makes Middlesex so great but everyone should read it. This is pretty much how I feel about Middlesex
10) Living Dolls- Natasha Walters
Is a feminist book for today’s woman and made me look at things in a different way. All women should read it, whether you see yourself as a feminist or not.
Filed under Memes, Top 10 Tuesday
The Specimen- Martha Lea
Synopsis (from amazon)
The year is 1859. Edward Scales is a businessman, a butterfly collector, a respectable man. He is the man Gwen Carrick fell in love with.
Gwen Carrick first meets Edward Scales on a windswept beach in Cornwall. The spark is instant and the couple begin to forge a future together. Seven years on, Gwen’s world has fallen apart and she finds herself in the docks at the Old Bailey, charged with Edward’s murder.
Could Gwen Carrick really murder the man she loved? From country house drawing rooms to the rainforests of Brazil, The Specimen explores the price one independent young woman might pay for wanting an unorthodox life.
Set in a Victorian world battling between the forces of spiritualism and Darwinism, polite society and the call of clandestine love, Gwen and Edward’s tale is a gripping melodrama, a romance and a murder mystery that will compel readers to its final thrilling page.
Review
I cannot remember the last time it took me this long to get through a book. It’s taken me a while to write this review too, mainly because my overriding reaction was ‘YAY I managed to finish!’
I had fairly good hopes for The Specimen, a bit of a mystery, a bit sciencey, a bit romantic, maybe a little feminist. Sadly I was disappointed. It did have all the elements I expected but not to a satisfying level. To try and order my thoughts I’m going to go through each expectation at a time then add anything I haven’t covered.
Mystery, well, I never really wondered who killed Edward. It was basically old from the beginning as if Gwen was guilty. I wondered why she might have done it, and I think I eventually got an answer, which was, to be honest a bit of a cop out of an answer considering other things which had gone on and could have been built to a motive. I had expected Gwen to be married to Edward at the time as well which took away a large chunk of the drama for me.
The science was probably the best in terms of detail, but it was also the bit I was anticipating the least. I thought the Darwinism issue would be interesting to read about, but there was less of a debate as a general feeling that everyone wanted to prove Darwin right, and even that was brief. I dud however like how involved Gwen was in her biologist role and how interested she was in the creatures.
At first there was a fair bit of romance in the way Edward and Gwen interacted but this seemed to very suddenly just disappear for no reason, and I was waiting for a moment that showed they loved one another. There was a sort of intensity to the times when the ‘love’ was there which made me unsure of how genuine it really was, and how but Gwen and Edward really knew each other.
Actually the only thing I really did like was that Gwen was quite a feminist. She wasn’t to be able to explore the world in the same way that a male scientist would, and she- most of the time- expected to be listened to the same as a man would be. I respected her for that although I didn’t exactly like her the whole time. She was certainly an improvement over Edward, even before they went away I started to loose any reasoning as why she liked him, and it just got worse.
There was a certain element to the book which was hard to follow. The time kept switching and I was often confused as to how the events fitted together. Plus there were a few sections which didn’t seem to fit in with everything at all.
2/5
Buy it:
Hardback (£8.96)
Kindle (£7.12)
Other reviews:
Have I missed your review? Link me in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Crime, Fiction review, Historical, Mystery
The Book Jar
So today I have been making my book jars. An idea I first saw on Laura’s blog, Devouring Texts and she saw on Alex in Leeds.
I made two. The bigger clear one is for my paper books and the little orange one is for my kindle books. To make an extra distinction (and because they’re pretty) I made my paper book options into paper cranes.
Basically the idea is for a book jar to be a sort of lucky dip. On each piece of paper is written a book from your to be read pile. Not sure what to read next? Pick a piece of paper and read the book written on that paper. Mine isn’t colour coded like Alex’s, the colours just for prettiness.
I think it’s going to give a good chance to those books I’ve had for a long time but somehow never read. I just wish I’d had it during my post Life After Life reading flunk.
For fun here’s a tutorial on how to make an origami crane. They’re pretty easy, the only origami I can make actually (although I have managed to make a parrot a couple of times with lots of instruction.). This is the only video I could find that used the exact same method I do- but I’m sure other methods work.
Filed under general
The Snow Child- Eowyn Ivey
Synopsis (from amazon)
Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding: is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her?
Review
There was a lot of buzz about this book when it first came out. It was one of the Waterstone’s 11, and everybody seemed to be reading it. It was on my wishlist for a long time but I didn’t buy it until it was on offer as part of the 12 Days of Kindle.
I had a bit of an up and down relationship with this book. It started very slowly and early on I did consider giving up (I need to work out a rule for when I can give up on a kindle book). I was interested in Mabel particularly which is part of what made me continue. Having no children was so hard on her that she was prepared to move to a rather inhospitable part of the world just to escape the pain.
In a way I sympathised with Mabel but sometimes I just wanted to tell her to stop being so stupid. Her thoughts and decisions were so emotion based that she didn’t seem to even realise where they might lead her, and when they were just absurd.
Once the child entered the story I started to enjoy it however. I think part of it as knowing how much Mabel wanted it, and despite my annoyance with Mabel I did want her to be happy.
The imagery of Alaska was rather good too. I liked the contrasts between the harshness and the beauty of the environment.
The end for me was rather abrupt. I think it could have ended better earlier or needed to be extended a little more for a more satisfying conclusion.
As for the parallels with the fairy story. It was nice in a way but it was also part of what made me annoyed at Mabel.
3/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£4.99)
Paperback (£3.84)
Hardback- Large Print (£20.78)
Other Reviews:
Have I missed your review? Link me up in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Contempory, Fantasy, Fiction review
Life After Life- Kate Atkinson
Synopsis (from amazon)
What if you had the chance to live your life again and again, until you finally got it right?
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, a baby is born and dies before she can take her first breath.
During a snowstorm in England in 1910, the same baby is born and lives to tell the tale.
What if there were second chances? And third chances? In fact an infinite number of chances to live your life? Would you eventually be able to save the world from its own inevitable destiny? And would you even want to?
Review.
I really did not want this book to end, it was, just, wow, there’s no words! I’m sad that it ended when it did. I have that sort of melancholy feeling you get from finishing a book that’s really special. I can’t remember the last time I felt that, maybe as far back as The Elegance of the Hedgehog (and that was back in 2010)? In some way it’s greater because the story didn’t have to end there. The nature of the story means it never really had to end, although I suppose if it didn’t end Atkinson would still be writing it and I wouldn’t have got to read it at all!
How can I describe this book? It’s a sort of epic Groundhog Day. It’s strange how everything seems sort of inevitable, even though Ursula has lived it before, has knowledge from that former life, even though you know she should fix it you’re scared that the same thing will just happen again, and again, and again. You’re shouting at her. You know what’s going to happen and there’s a sadness, and a dread, somehow you don’t think she’ll fix it.
I think that shows something of Atkinson’s writing talent, and ability to get you into a story, that your emotions trump your logic, every, single, time.
I loved Ursula, when everything changed, however she decided to live that life, she was still, undeniably Ursula, and that’s probably a hard thing to achieve. I enjoyed the whole family dynamic too, and that was something which barely changed.
A lot of the story focused around the second world war, which is a period of time I like to read fiction about. It was interesting though because Ursula’s different lives meant you could see the war from different angles, and with a sort of hindsight which was built into the novel, rather than from the reader living in a different time.
I’ve never read any Atkinson before, she’s known for crime stories, which aren’t generally my thing, but I may read more of her now.
5/5
Life After Life is released on 14th March, you can pre-order it now:
Kindle (£8.50)
Hardback (£10.63)
Paperback- released September (£10.09)
Other Reviews:
Have I missed your review? Link me in comments and I’ll add it here.
Filed under Contempory, Fantasy, Fiction review, Historical
Children’s Hour: Monkey Puzzle
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
We have recently introduced Monkey Puzzle and The Gruffalo to our toddlers, and both have been rather popular. Monkey Puzzle follow a monkey and a butterfly as they look for the monkey’s mum. Butterfly tries her hardest but just keeps getting it wrong. The kids love pointing out what the different animals are and laugh when monkey dispares of butterfly, especially when it’s the elephant again.
No! No! No! That’s the elephant again!
As with all of Julia Donaldson’s books Monkey Puzzle has a rhyme and rhythm to it which makes it easy and interesting to follow, and of course it’s accompanied by those beautiful pictures by Axel Scheffler.
It’s probably a bit more simple in storyline terms than most of Donaldson’s other books but I think that makes it a good introduction to her work, it’s easier for younger children to follow.
Buy Monkey Puzzle:
Paperback (£4.00)
Board Book (£4.79)
Big Book (£10.87)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
1,227 QI Facts to Blow Your Socks Off- John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
Synopsis (from amazon)
QI is the smartest comedy show on British television, but few people know that we’re also a major legal hit in Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Africa and an illegal one on BitTorrent. We also write books and newspaper columns; run a thriving website, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed; and produce an iPhone App and a sister Radio 4 programme. At the core of what we do is the astonishing fact – painstakingly researched and distilled to a brilliant and shocking clarity. In Einstein’s words: ‘Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.’
Did you know that: cows moo in regional accents; the entire internet weighs less than a grain of sand; the dialling code from Britain to Russia is 007; potatoes have more chromosomes than human beings; the London Underground has made more money from its famous map than it has from running trains; Tintin is called Tantan in Japanese because TinTin is pronounced ‘Chin chin’ and means penis; the water in the mouth of a blue whale weighs more than its body; Scotland has twice as many pandas as Conservative MPs; Saddam’s bunker was designed by the grandson of the woman who built Hitler’s bunker; Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it is explicitly illegal in Britain to use a machinegun to kill a hedgehog.
1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off will make you look at the universe (and your socks) in an alarming new way.
Review
This is going to be quite a quick review because I don’t really have much to say.
As with the other QI books I have read (have a look at the QI tag) this book is full of interesting facts. It’s immensely quotable and I did tweet quite a few facts whilst I was reading it. Unfortunately some of the facts repeated what had been on the TV show, and I think the majority of QI readers are probably also QI watchers.
I read this on kindle but I think it’s probably better as a paper book, simply because it’s easier to dip in and out of a paper book. On a kindle you really have to read cover to cover which didn’t work well for a book which is basically a long list of facts.
3.5/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£0.20)
Paperback- pre-order (£7.99)
Hardback (£5.99)
Filed under non-fiction review, Trivia
It’s Monday. What are You Reading? 4/3/13
It’s been a while since I’ve taken part in It’s Monday! What are you reading? (which is hosted by Bookjourney) but I have time to write the post this week so I thought, why not? Visit Book Journey for links to other blogs and to add your own.
Currently Reading
Peaches for Monsieur le Curé- Joanne Harris This book is third in the Chocolat series. Having loved Chocolat and enjoyed Lollipop Shoes I was looking forward to this one, although I haven’t got far enough into it yet to judge. In this one Vivianne is called back to the village where she first opened her chocolate shop to find much has changed.
The Snow Child- Eowyn Ivey I got this book as a kindle deal after Christmas. The story followers an older couple who moved to Alaska to escape the sadness of their childless life. A fresh start. One day a child appears in the snow. Could this be the child the couple have longed for? Does she even exist at all? Despite a slow start I’m enjoying this book so far.
Finished Last Week.
1,227 QI Facts to Blow Your Socks Off this book was so cheap on kindle it was ridiculous! And it still is only 20p (click the image for amazon). I love the QI show, and I’ve read most of the books. They are always full of interesting things you never knew, and this was no exception. I just wish there was a bit less repetition from the show.
The Specimen- Martha Lea I was sent this book by Canongate and I’ve been reading it since December, that’s a hell of a long time for me! It really was not holding my attention. It is the story of a Victorian woman who goes to Brazil with her lover to study the insects there. Decades later her lover is murdered, and she is the suspect, but what went wrong and why would she kill the man who allowed her to live her dreams?
A Long Way Down- Nick Hornby is the story of 4 people who interrupt each others suicide attempts and decide together to wait and see if they still want to commit suicide in 6 weeks time.
Reviews
Irv’s Odyssey: Seeking the Way Home- Irving H. Podolsky is the third in series where Irv searches for meaning in his life
I am the Music Man- Debra Potter was my Children’s Hour pick last week. It’s a version of the well known song from school discos with bright pictures and a variation in instruments.
Added to the TBR
Life After Life- Kate Atkinson despite being closed for review requests at the moment I just cannot resist the occasional peak at netgalley, which is where Life After Life is from. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Kate Atkinson but despite my sister and my mum both enjoying her books I’ve somehow never got around to reading anything by her. This is a sort of Groundhog Day novel. If you could live your life again what would you change? And what impact would it have? This one is going straight to the top of my TBR pile.
The Show- John A. Heldt is a sequel to The Mine which I have previously reviewed on this blog. It follows on from The Mine where a woman from the 1940s discovered that the man she loved is a time traveller from 2000. Grace manages to follow her man, only to stumble back in time to 1918! It was given to me by the author.
Filed under It's Monday! Waht are you reading?, Memes
A Long Way Down- Nick Hornby
Synopsis (from Amazon)
‘Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?’
For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer’s pretty simple: he has, in his own words, ‘pissed his life away’. And on New Year’s Eve he’s going to end it all . . . but not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then eighteen-year-old Jess and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin’s private party. They’ve stolen his idea – but brought their own reasons.
Yet it’s hard to jump when you’ve got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices if cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living?
Review.
Previous novels which I’ve read by Nick Hornby have both been books where I’vd seen the films previously (you can see my reviews of Nick Hornby’s other works by using his tag) I’m not entirely sure what effect this has had on my reading of them, I enjoyed both so I certainly wouldn’t say it had a negative impact but it did give me some expectations.
I’ve been meaning to read some other of his novels for some time but was unsure where to go. A Long Way Down probably wouldn’t have been my first choice except that it was in the 12 days of kindle deals after Christmas so it seemed sensible.
Why wouldn’t I have gone with A Long Way Down? Well, my experience with funny suicide novels is not the best. I didn’t get on well with A Spot of Bother, and I wasn’t that enamoured with The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim either, but I did enjoy A Matter of Death and Life. I did know though that it’s Nick Hornby’s forte to manage to write light novels about serious subjects.
Well as far as funny suicide novels go it was pretty good. It did make me laugh, sometimes to the point that I felt a little bad about laughing, it was absurd but maybe believable. However I did feel it skimped a bit on the emotion. I never felt particularly attached to the characters, or especially emphatic- although my empathy did grow a little as I got to know them better.
There was only one character that I really felt had a halfway decent reason to want to commit suicide, but strangely she was also the one who I wanted to succeed the least.
3/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£6.99)
Paperback (£6.74)
Other reviews:
If you have reviewed this book leave me a link and I will add it here.
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review, Humour
Irv’s Odyssey: Seeking the Way Home- Irving H. Podolsky
Disclaimer: I received this book free of charge from the author in return for an honest review.
Irv’s Odyssey: Seeking the Way Home is the third of the Irv’s Odyssey trilogy. Read my reviews of the previous books using the Irving H. Podolsky tag.
Synopsis (from amazon)
Food service and Irving Podolsky are NOT friends. Still, Irv rises to the level of waiter in the Fairmont Hotel. What about his budding film career, making the world a better place and finding a nice Jewish chick? Well, instead, Irv meets an exotic older girl from Germany. Could she be the one, Irv’s forever, but not-Jewish-at-all soul mate? Ben suggests she is. Ben is a drawling spirit voice channeled through a Puerto Rican pothead. And Ben knows all about Irv’s recent nocturnal fly-outs: those uncontrollable out-of-body trips that bring him to the Other Side where he encounters creepy crawlers in attack mode and goes back and forth in time and into his own future. These bizarre events are not dreams or fantasies. They are real. For as Irv finds out, magic and miracles do exist. And so does true love, if he can just convince his parents that it’s okay to marry a shiksa.
Review
This book was somewhat different from the first two and initially I wasn’t really sure about that. It started off with a much stronger spiritual element than the previous two (which had a spiritual element, but where it wasn’t the main bulk of the story). At this point I doubted somewhat if I would enjoy this book. Then Irv met Marianne and it suddenly switched over, rather than Irv’s spiritual life being the focus it became his, not personal life, exactly but his life in reality I suppose. When it was mainly spiritual there was still and element of day-to-day life, and when the focus was on his personal life there was still an element of spirituality but there was never really an equal balance.
Marianne didn’t like elements of Irv’s spiritual life and he agreed to give those elements up. When reading I found this a little contradictory to the plot of a spiritual journey. It was almost as if he had been trying to discover himself then just given up on the whole idea. However after thinking about it I think that actually his giving up elements of his spirituality was a part of finding it. His spirituality had been part of what had led him to where he was, and once he got there he needed to think about how to balance his spiritual and personal lives.
One thing about this book was that Marianne’s habit of not finishing her sentences really grated on me, especially when I wasn’t yet used to it. I did like her as a character but I really thought at one point that I might have to give up just because of it.
I do think this is probably my favourite of the series, but it was the hardest to read.
3/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£0.77)
Paperback (£9.17)
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review
Children’s Hour: The Animal Boogie
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
The Animal Boogie has been our favourite book over the last two weeks. We already knew and sung a version of the song (yes this is a song book in the same vein as Walking Through the Jungle), and I’ve heard a couple of different versions too. This is probably actually my favourite. The one we sung before the book featured animals (and also the kids) doing the laundry! The version in the book actually shows the animals doing things that they might do, the elephant stomping, the monkey swinging, the snake slithering.
Down in the jungle where nobody sees,
What can you see swinging through the trees?
With a swingy swing here and a swingy swing there,
What’s that creature swinging through the trees?
The action comes before the children see the animal so they can guess what the animal could be first, however our kids pretty much know the song off by heart so they might not be working it out so much as remembering. Either way they love to shout out what animal it is.
IT”S A MONKEY
He goes swing, swing, boogie woogie, oogie…
Each verse has only a slight variety so the kids can join in quite easily especially with the actions and with the boogie, woogie, oogie bits.
The pictures are bright and attractive and compliment the song perfectly. There’s also a different child on each page and it’s obvious the illustrator has tried to be very inclusive as there are lots of different races represented and a child in a wheelchair.
If you don’t know the tune then the book comes with an audio CD, although I think my collegue sings it better!
Buy The Animal Boogie:
Paperback (£6.29)
Hardback (£9.40)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
The Woodcutter- Kate Danley
This book was read as part of the Out of Your Comfort Zone Challenge
“2) Go to amazon’s book page and pick a section your don’t usually read from, try to make it a different section to option 1. Look at the bestsellers list and read the number 1 spot, if it’s part of a series read the first in a series.”
The Woodcutter was the number 1 bestselling kindle graphic novel
Synopsis (from amazon)
Deep within the Wood, a young woman lies dead. Not a mark on her body. No trace of her murderer. Only her chipped glass slippers hint at her identity.
The Woodcutter, keeper of the peace between the Twelve Kingdoms of Man and the Realm of the Faerie, must find the maiden’s killer before others share her fate. Guided by the wind and aided by three charmed axes won from the River God, the Woodcutter begins his hunt, searching for clues in the whispering dominions of the enchanted unknown.
But quickly he finds that one murdered maiden is not the only nefarious mystery afoot: one of Odin’s hellhounds has escaped, a sinister mansion appears where it shouldn’t, a pixie dust drug trade runs rampant, and more young girls go missing. Looming in the shadows is the malevolent, power-hungry queen, and she will stop at nothing to destroy the Twelve Kingdoms and annihilate the Royal Fae…unless the Woodcutter can outmaneuver her and save the gentle souls of the Wood.
Blending magic, heart-pounding suspense, and a dash of folklore, The Woodcutter is an extraordinary retelling of the realm of fairy tales.
Review
Well first off what the hell was this doing in the graphic novel section? Graphic novels do need t have pictures right?!
So the story itself. It was a pretty good premise. A blending of different fairytales gone wrong with the woodcutter (you know, the one who saved Red Riding Hood, because Princes aren’t always all that) having the job of fixing everything.
I’m not sure I can really say that the premise met up to its promises however. The beginning was rather good and got me interested but the further I read through the story the more it seemed like Danley was trying too hard to fit in as many fairytale characters and creatures as she could and sometimes it didn’t really benefit the plot.
I did like the woodcutter however, and especially the idea that he was more than he seemed, rather a guardian of the worlds which intersected in his wood than actually a simple woodcutter.
It was an easy read, and fairly entertaining, but I didn’t really think it was anything special.
3/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£3.99)
Paperback (£8.99)
Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book please leave me a link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Fantasy, Fiction review
Children’s Hour: When I’m a Grown-Up
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
When I’m a grown-up who will I be?
A bird in the air?
Or a fish in the sea?
Some possibilities are a bit silly, while others are sensible. It ends with the girl deciding that she doesn’t mind what happens as long as she is still herself. It has quite similar themes to do with thinking about yourself as Me does but is a bit more sophisticated and more suitable for older children.
The children enjoy picking which they would want when they grow-up. It’s similar to the reasons that the kids enjoyed You Choose but there are less options which makes it easier for the toddlers to pick.
There are some beautiful pictures too (the animals in particular made some interesting pages to look at) and there’s that rhythm you often find in kid’s books which makes it more attention grabbing.
Buy it:
Hardback (£4.99)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
Garden of Stones- Sophie Littleford
Disclaimer: I was given this book free of charge by the publishers (via netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis (from Amazon)
In the dark days of war, a mother makes the ultimate sacrifice Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up—along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans—and taken to the Manzanar prison camp. Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions of the camp. Corruption and abuse creep into every corner of Manzanar, eventually ensnaring beautiful, vulnerable Miyako. Ruined and unwilling to surrender her daughter to the same fate, Miyako soon breaks.
Review.
It’s taken me quite a while to get around to reviewing this book.
It’s the first I’ve read about Japanese living in allied countries during World War Two, I read a lot of WW2 fiction but most of it is based in the UK or Germany. Part of what I liked about it was how it seemed to show that it wasn’t just the Nazis who discriminated. Not that the prison camps were anything compared to German concentration camps, but that people were treated as enemies just because they were of Japanese heritage.
Some of the story was interesting. The atmosphere of the camps was well written, and you could imagine what horrible places they were to live in. The actual events that happened in the camp seemed a bit much though. I am not debating whether or not those types of things may or may not have happened but it seems a lot for one person to be involved in. I almost got the sense that Littleford couldn’t make enough of one story so decided to knit a few together.
If that was indeed what she did the stories were linked fairly well, but made the ‘secret’ somewhat predictable. My only doubts when it came to what I thought the secret was came from having been told early on that something else was the answer to what had happened.
At the time I rather enjoyed this book, but having waited to write my review, and starting Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet since have slowly worn down my opinion. I am glad I read it because I wouldn’t have known to read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet without it, and it opened my eyes to less told stories.
However I didn’t really get that strong a sense of how it felt to be Japanese at that time. This novel started off being historical, but became a mystery somewhere along the line and I would rather have just had a historical novel.
Oh and the whole way through I did not like the cover, the girl on the front is just too young looking. It’s not something that would have stopped me picking it up however.
3.5/5
This book is released in paperback on 19th February and on Kindle on 1st March. You can pre-order now from amazon:
Paperback (£8.28)
Kindle (£5.59)
Other reviews
Sam Still Reading
Have I missed your review? Link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Fiction review, Historical, Mystery
Against My Will- Benjamin Berkley
This book was read as part of a Virtual Author Book Tour. Visit other stops on the tour for more reviews, giveaways, interviews, and guest posts. The next stop on the tour is Teena in Toronto.
Synopsis (from Amazon)<
Danielle Landau knows she should feel lucky, but she can’t feel anything but dread. Not only did she pass the New York Bar, but she married the man her father says is just right for her and lives in a fashionable new loft in Queens. But the man who seems like the perfect catch is a perfect nightmare at home. Jacob tries to control her career, her daily routine, and even what she eats. He ignores her desires and belittles her every chance he gets. Soon, Danielle doesn’t recognize her husband or herself, and she struggles to find a way out.As we follow Danielle on her journey of terror and recovery, we see her story intersect with the diary entries of a young girl from more than fifty years ago, and the full weight of the family’s secrets becomes clear. This is a story of survival, self-discovery, justice, and ultimately about love.
Review.
I hada bit of a funny relationship with this book. A lot happened, and I was interested in the things that were happening but everything seemed a bit brief. I think with all the topics there could have quite possibly have been three, or maybe even four different novels written, and I think that would have been better because it would have meant the stories would have to be told in more detail.
I did feel that I got to know Danielle quite well, but it was more from knowing her that I could tell how she felt rather than how her actual feelings were described. It meant that early on I felt a bit detached from her, but towards the end I could look back and imagine her feelings a bit better. I can’t quite decide if that’s a good thing or not. It’s a bit more like getting to know a friend than you would get from a deeper description, and in a way in the end that makes you care more. I wanted things to work out for Danielle buy the time I felt I knew her. On the other hand the most emotional areas were at the start of the book, and this is where I felt the most detached from her.
The second story however I didn’t really get. There was very little to really link the two stories, and the detail was far too sparse. It felt like Berkley added this bit to try and add something deep and meaningful into the story, but he would have been better off adding something more to Danielle’s story. If he wanted to write a story of the concentration camps then I feel it should have been done as a separate story.
3/5
Previous tour stops:
Filed under Fiction review
On Covers, Readership and The Bell Jar
Recently there has been lots of fuss around the new cover for The Bell Jar (see above). Lots of people have been saying that the cover doesn’t reflect the book, that it makes the book look unsubstantial, that it has an aura of chick-lit around it.
Really this post isn’t about The Bell Jar cover as such, but I feel seeing as it’s what has inspired this post then I should at least make my own feelings on this known. So, in brief. I can see how the cover can be seen as being chick-lit like. The lipstick, the pretty woman, the mirror. However I think if it’s a chick-lit cover then it’s chick-lit about a sad woman, I mean look at those lips, look at that reflection. If it does indeed attract chick-lit readers then once they see the image closer up then they will see that it is different, but may be interested enough to look further.
Anyway Faber & Faber answered the concerns this week. Key in their reasoning was the idea of a new readership, a reader who…
will enjoy its (The Bell Jar’s) brilliance without knowing anything about Plath’s other work.
There’s a certain deja-vu about it all. What was it that Bloomsbury said of the new editions of Harry Potter? What did Headline say of their new ‘chick-lit style’ Austen covers? It always seems to be finding a new readership, but does it work?
Well there could be quite a shock for people who pick up The Bell Jar based on its new cover, especially if they are reading it based solely on the cover image. Whilst I can personally see a sadness there is it just because I know The Bell Jar? If I knew nothing of the Bell Jar would I pick it up expecting something light and easy? Even having read the blurb (which gives no real allusions) would I still expect everything to turn out perfectly (because, you know, there aren’t sad endings in chick-lit)?
Even if this new cover gets people to buy The Bell Jar who wouldn’t have previously will you actually be getting a new fanbase (for want of a better word)? How many of these people will give up when they don’t get what they expected and how many will become Plath convertees*? I imagine that there would be people who wouldn’t have considered Plath before who find they actually enjoy The Bell Jar so look into her other works, However I also imagine that there will be people who go for The Bell Jar expecting something else and feel a little like they have been tricked.
After all that’s what a new cover is about isn’t it? About making a book appear differently. I don’t really think that the new cover for The Bell Jar is too bad for this but whilst Jane Austen is in a way the mother of chick-lit the chick-lit style covers do suggest something other than a classic. If you live in a hole and have never heard of Jane Austen you may actually think they are your stereotypical chick-lit books based on the covers (see right). Just don’t ask me what type of hole you can live in to have access to chick-lit but still not know who Jane Austen is.
So what do we think? Are different covers a good idea because they might bring new lovers to old books? Are they just a trick which might get up sales for a bit but ultimately lead to nothing? Or are they just an attempt which will never do anything?
Have you ever bought a book based on a new cover?
*yes, I do realise that convertee is not a real word, but it works, so I’m keeping it
Filed under Musings
The Woman Who Died a Lot- Jasper Fforde
The Woman Who Died a Lot was read as part of the Wishlist Challenge.
This is the seventh book in the Thursday Next series. You can read my reviews of the previous 5 Thursday Next books by using the Thursday Next or Jasper Fforde tags.
Synopsis (from Amazon)
The BookWorld’s leading enforcement officer Thursday Next is four months into an enforced semi-retirement following an assassination attempt. She returns home to Swindon for what you’d expect to be a time of recuperation. If only life were that simple.
Thursday is faced with an array of family problems – son Friday’s lack of focus since his career in the Chronoguard was relegated to a might-have-been, daughter Tuesday’s difficulty perfecting the Anti-Smote shield needed to thwart an angry Deity’s promise to wipe Swindon off the face of the earth, and Jenny, who doesn’t exist.
And that’s not all. With Goliath attempting to replace Thursday at every opportunity with synthetic Thursdays, the prediction that Friday’s Destiny-Aware colleagues will die in mysterious circumstances, and a looming meteorite that could destroy all human life on earth, Thursday’s retirement is going to be anything but easy.
Review
As with the previous book The Woman Who Died a Lot read much more like a series book than the previous books did. That is that it is harder to understand if you didn’t read the previous books.
I found that this book was a little more predictable than the others. I quite often guessed what was going to happen before it did, which hasn’t generally been true of the Thursday Next books. However enough was confusing and there were enough twists that I didn’t guess everything, so it was still exciting and intriguing enough for me to want to keep reading it.
I did kind of miss the bookworld element which wasn’t in this book, and the literary references were a bit less frequent.
Eagerly awaiting the next one now.
4/5
Buy it:
Paperback (£5.59)
Kindle (£4.99)
Hardback (£10.87)
Other Reviews:
Have I missed your review? Comment with your link and I will add it here
Filed under Contempory, Crime, Fantasy, Fiction review
Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl- Tracy Quan
Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl is the third book in a series, it is preceded by Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl and Diary of a Married Call Girl.
Synopsis (from amazon)
Married call girl Nancy Chan has been asked to do something outrageous – even by her standards.
Most favoured customer Milt has invited Nancy to his luxurious new villa in idyllic Provence. That’s a lot of euros, but …
Can a (married) Manhattan call girl really holiday with a client? Seeing him morning, noon and night, coming up with new entertainments, and maintaining both a light tan and
a ‘professional’ distance? Not to mention Milt’s Viagra habit. In a difficult economic climate a girl can’t always meet her quota, and Nancy’s worried about losing her edge.
Nancy jumps at the chance to have a break from Manhattan (and from husband Matt) for a few weeks. Desperate for an alibi, she invents a vacation with her mom in southern France. In reality, Nancy is hard at work with some new playmates – Tini (Malaysian, with something extra), Isabel (a St-Tropez madam), and Serge (Isabel’s hunky chauffeur) – while Matt grows more inquisitive. As Nancy discovers, the French countryside is ‘ten times trickier than Manhattan’ and nothing in her temporary world is quite what it seems.
When Milt’s enigmatic cook Duncan turns up unexpectedly in Nancy’s erotic fantasies, she begins questioning everything she knows. Can Nancy keep getting away with this?
Review
Having read the first Nancy Chan novel as a teenager, and the second in 2009 I’ve had Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl on my wishlist for quite some time. When I saw it in The Works I considered the Wishlist Challenge and thought, why not?
In comparison with the other Nancy Chan novels it was a bit racier than I had remembered. Obviously if it’s a book about a Call Girl you expect at least some sex but I’m sure there was less in the other books.
The plot was rather different from the other two as well. A bit less realistic, a few too many coincidences.
I did rather enjoy it however. It was an easy read, and had a bit more kick than your standard chick-lit.
3.5/5
Buy it:
Paperback (£6.89)
Kindle (£2.99)
Filed under Chicklit, Fiction review
Deep Powder- Dirk Robertson
Synopsis (from amazon)
Black snowboarder Finlay turns amateur sleuth when his gardening expertise leads him to believe that the death of fellow snowboarder Animal, is no typical slope accident. Things heat up when he learns that the flashy new snowboard he promised to test is designed to not only cut through snow, but to transport another kind of powder. With a little help from his friends, Finlay gets closer to the truth, and as the tables begin to turn, the line between friend and foe begins to blur.
Review.
Oh my God this book was sooo bad, just simply terrible. Words cannot describe. I probably never would have even finished it is it wasn’t for the fact that my kindle broke, and slightly because I didn’t want to give up on a book I was reading for my own challenge.
First off there were just factual errors. Whoever heard of a high-pitched Birmingham accent for one thing? Then there were continuity errors. At one point someone watches someone else die after he has already made sure that he has expired!
There seemed to be random events thrown in which had absolutely nothing to do with the rather absurd (and at times very predictable) plot. The worst being a very clinical, very pointless, very unlikely, and very badly written sex scene.
It was just…urgh.
2/5
Buy it (maybe for someone you hate?):
Paperback (£7.19)
Filed under Crime, Fiction review
Children’s Hour: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
Here We Go the Mulberry Bush is a variation on the traditional song. It starts off with the traditional song then carries on by following a child’s day. The changes are simple e.g. This is the way we brush our teeth/go to school/eat our lunch on a cold and frosty morning/afternoon/evening, which makes it easier for the children to follow, and easy for them to learn so they can ‘read’ it to themselves. The accompanying pictures show each part of the day. They are beautiful and bright to really capture the children’s interest, and the older kids love spotting all the different things that the children in the pictures are doing. See if you’re kids can spot the similarities in the pictures shown by the holes too!
Buy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush:
Paperback (£5.39)
Board Book (£4.99)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
A Possible Life- Sebastian Faulks.
Disclaimer: This book was given to me free of charge by the publishers in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis (from amazon)
Terrified, a young prisoner in the Second World War closes his eyes and pictures himself going out to bat on a sunlit cricket ground in Hampshire.
Across the courtyard in a Victorian workhouse, a father too ashamed to acknowledge his son.
A skinny girl steps out of a Chevy with a guitar; her voice sends shivers through the skull.
Soldiers and lovers, parents and children, scientists and musicians risk their bodies and hearts in search of connection – some key to understanding what makes us the people we become.
Provocative and profound, Sebastian Faulks’s dazzling novel journeys across continents and time to explore the chaos created by love, separation and missed opportunities. From the pain and drama of these highly particular lives emerges a mysterious consolation: the chance to feel your heart beat in someone else’s life.
Review
Despite being rather disappointed with the last book I read from Sebastian Faulks I would still happily describe myself as a fan. Birdsong is one of my favourite books, although Engleby shows a greater writing skill. So when I was contacted about reviewing A Possible Life I was very eager. A small part of me worried that it would be in a similar vein to A Week in December, but you can’t expect to love every book by an author so I tried to approach A Possible Life without any reference to Faulks’ back-catalogue.
There was something strange about this novel in that it wasn’t really one. It was actually a collection of short stories. It was advertised as being a novel made up of stories with a link. Well there maybe was a link, if you insisted on finding it, but only because of something which featured in the last story, it wasn’t a link you would see if you weren’t looking for it, and I’m not really happy with calling it a list.
In some ways I think A Possible Life might be a good place to start with Faulks. It’s almost like a showcase. Different styles of writing, different themes. I think everyone is bound to enjoy one of the stories, however it might be a fight to get to the story you like.
For me the best stories were the first and the last.
The first had certain echoes of Birdsong, not just because it was a story of war but also because it had a certain level of insight to that experience. My problem with this story however was that it felt like it was stripped down. All the stories ran over a period of decades, which was good in a way because it showed the progress of a character, but also meant you didn’t feel you were getting enough detail.
The last story was the story of a gifted music artist. It’s the story which has stuck with me the most. Faulks’ descriptions of Anya’s music make me want to hear her sing- but seeing as she isn’t real I can’t do that! There was also an almost beautiful fragility to Anya which made me really care about her- or maybe that’s just what the narrator felt for her. Even if it is the second then it shows that Faulks’ first person narrative is realistic and evocative. I could have read a whole book about Anya, and it may have been able to make into a whole book, but only if it was either told by Anya herself, or without using the first person narrative, either of which I feel would have taken something away from the story.
Thinking about it all of the stories did have an element I liked, but (except for the possible exception of the last story) those moments seemed to be over all too quickly and were surrounded by moments which I didn’t care so much about.
I’m not really sure how I want to rate this book. The stand out parts are close to 5 stars, but other bits only really deserve 3. So (for now at least) I’m going to skip the rating on this one.
Buy it:
Kindle (£9.49)
Hardback (£12.00)
Paperback: pre-order (£7.19)
Other Reviews:
If you ave written a review of this book leave your link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review, Historical, Short story
Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet- Jamie Ford
Synopsis (from amazon)
1986, The Panama Hotel The old Seattle landmark has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made a startling discovery in the basement: personal belongings stored away by Japanese families sent to interment camps during the Second World War. Among the fascinated crowd gathering outside the hotel, stands Henry Lee, and, as the owner unfurls a distinctive parasol, he is flooded by memories of his childhood. He wonders if by some miracle, in amongst the boxes of dusty treasures, lies a link to the Okabe family, and the girl he lost his young heart to, so many years ago.
Review
When Judith @ Leeswammes Blog saw that I was reading Garden of Stones (the review of which is scheduled for February) she suggested that if I was interested in the topic I should read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Unfortunately for Garden of Stones I was reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet when I got around to writing a review. At the time of reading Garden of Stones I had really enjoyed it, but it pales in comparison to Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
I found Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet felt rather authentic, especially during the war years. In some sense the story seemed not so much a war novel as a romance.
A beautiful romance novel too. There was the level of uncertainty of first love, a sort of is this love feeling. At the same time Henry really had great conviction, even when everything was against his love he still held on, he never really let Keiko go. In a way this makes the end of the war a bit of an anti-climax. (highlight for spoiler) It seemed at odds that Henry wouldn’t wait longer for Keiko. If his letter was returned especially she still might come to find him, but instead he gives up on her
Henry was the perfect character to explore the war element from because he could see lots of different sides as a Chinese-American in love with a Japanese-American. He wasn’t completely embedded in any of these perspectives but you could gain a sort of empathy for conflicting views which you wouldn’t have gained from seeing one perspective in detail. I would have liked to see the interment camps in a little more detail but from seeing the changes the Japanese citizens would return to meant that as a reader you can imagine longer-term effects.
In shot I’m glad I started my year on this book. Here’s to hoping 2013 brings lots more great reads.
4.5/5
Buy it:
Paperback (£5.99)
Kindle (£4.79)
Hardback (£11.69)
Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book please leave me a link in comments and I will add it here
Filed under Fiction review, Historical, Romantic
Ignorance- Michèle Roberts
strong>Disclaimer: I was given this book free of charge by the publishers (via netgalley) in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis (from Amazon)
Jeanne and Marie-Angèle grow up, side by side yet apart, in the Catholic village of Ste Madeleine. Marie-Angèle is the daughter of the grocer, inflated with ideas of her rightful place in society; Jeanne’s mother washes clothes for a living and used to be a Jew. When war arrives, the village must play its part in a game for which no one knows the rules – not the dubious hero who embroils Marie-Angele in the black market, nor the artist living alone with his red canvases. In these uncertain times, the enemy may be hiding in your garden shed and the truth can be buried under a pyramid of recriminations. A mesmerising exploration of guilt, faith, desire and judgement, Ignorance brings to life a people at war.
Review.
The synopsis above is rather different to the one which I read on netgalley, and I feel it represents the book much better. I went into the story expecting a story which looked back on war times, and something which had been hidden within that time, some great secret. What I got was the story of two women, childhood friends who had started on a similar path but ended up going in completely different directions.
The war was somewhat of an important factor in the story, however it was only significant in that a major storyline would not have happened outside of the war- there was never any real sense that it was war-time.
Marie-Angèle ended up going to an (arguably) better place, she still seemed to have some care for her old friend, however it came across as charity, or a duty. Marie-Angèle didn’t seem to actually care for Jeanne so much as to want to be seen to be caring for her. Jeanne in her turn actually seemed to dislike Marie-Angèle, and I didn’t blame her.
You see I didn’t like Marie-Angèle the whole way through this book, and that made her chapters a little difficult to read. I found her snobby, fake, and rather conniving. The nearest I can say I came to liking her was that I understood sometimes why she might think what she was doing was right, although she seemed to value her own opinion as being much above others.
Jeanne I ended up liking. We never really know what became of Jeanne, but I hope her life got better.
There were some elements to the story which I didn’t really understand the inclusion of. They added little to the plot, apart from fulfilling the promised secret which was not significant to the rest of the story.
3.5/5
Buy it:
Kindle (£3.99)
Hardback (£9.59)
Paperback- pre-order (£5.99)
Other Reviews:
I haven’t seen any other reviews of Ignorance. If you have written one please leave me a link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Fiction review, Historical
Children’s Hour: Lulu’s Holiday
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
About a year ago one of our toddlers had an obsession with Lulu’s Holiday. We had to read it every single day, usually more than once. It’s a very simple book. It’s written as if the writer is speaking to Lulu, but you never hear Lulu’s voice, all you get is the writer saying things as if she is rephrasing what Lulu is saying, but it almost feels like she is talking to a baby, giving the answers for Lulu, and Lulu is not a baby. As something to read I didn’t really see its appeal. The story was very basic and not even written in a way that made it interesting- the most exciting thing which happened was that the baby ate some sand. However the pictures are beautiful and bright, so I can see that as an attraction to look at the book, just not to read it.
Lulu’s Holiday is no longer being published, however you can buy copies from other sellers on amazon:
Paperback- used (from £9.52)
Hardback- used (from £2.87)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
Children’s Hour: How Santa Really Works (Pop-Up)
Children’s Hour is a feature posted every Thursday here at Lucybird’s Book Blog. Children’s Hour is my time for reviewing children’s picture books. In my job in a nursery I encounter lots of children’s books, and these are the books I use for Children’s Hour.
You can find links to past Children’s Hour posts here.
I’d love to hear everybody’s experiences of the books I review too, and feel free to post me a link to your own reviews, I’d love to make this a bit interactive.
The image (if you were wondering) is taken from Shirley’s Hughes’ Alfie and Annie-Rose books which I loved as a child.
I’m glad that the first Children’s Hour of the year is technically still being posted during the Christmas season because it means I can spotlight How Santa Really Works. My niece (who is 3) has really been liking this book whilst she has been staying with us. The book tells us all about what happens in Santa’s workshop, and on his journey at Christmas. The word part of the story are quite simplistic, but still interesting. Really however the pop-up pictures are what make the book. Each page contains a very detailed images with almost endless things for the kids to find. One page even includes little letters to Santa which you can read.
Image from booktopia
The ideas behind how Santa works are pretty ingenious- but probably more interesting for the adult reader than for the children themselves, not that that matters, it’s good for the adult to be entertained too. It’s a really good discussion book for everything the kids can find. It would actually be nice to show the kids at work, but I doubt the pop-ups would last even a day! Certainly a book to share in your family, not with a big group of kids.
There is also a version of How Santa Works without pop-ups, the pictures do look like they would still be interesting, but not as good I think.
Buy How Santa Works:
Hardback (£8.96)
Filed under Children's Hour, Fiction review, Picture books
All She Ever Wanted- Rosalind Noonan
Disclaimer: I was sent this book by the publishers, via netgalley, free of charge in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis (from amazon)
For years, Chelsea Maynard has longed to be a mother. She’s imagined caring for a new baby in the lovely house she shares with her husband, Leo, fondly planning every detail. But after a difficult birth, those dreams of blissful bonding evaporate. Chelsea battles sleep deprivation and feelings of isolation. Little Annabelle cries constantly, and Chelsea has dark visions fuelled by exhaustion and self-doubt. Her sister, Emma, insists she gets help for postpartum depression, but Chelsea’s doctor dismisses her worries as self-indulgent. Doubting her ability to parent – even doubting her own sanity – Chelsea is close to collapse. Then an unthinkable crisis hits.
Review
This book reminded me strangely of Beneath The Shadows it shouldn’t have really. There’s a similarity in plot, in that in both stories focus around a person going missing, and both include a baby. However that is where the similarity ends. There were some similarities in writing style, but not enough to really explain why I kept thinking of Beneath the Shadows whilst reading All She Ever Wanted.
I expected a little more soul searching and a little less blaming anyone but herself. From the synopsis given on netgalley I had imagined Chelsea being frantic that she may have done something to her baby, but whilst that element did come into it she seemed more to want to find someone else to blame than to try and find something inside herself. This made it a bit more of a mystery novel than I had expected.
Having said that it was more than your stereotypical mystery. There were the usual twists and turns, and maybe just a few to many suspects, and I wasn’t able to guess what had happened. However there was a deeper emotional aspect than you would get from most mysteries.
The postnatal depression sections were done well too. You could really see how Charlotte felt. Most people know a little about postnatal depression but this really got through what it’s like in reality.
4/5
All She Ever Wanted is out on Kindle now and is released as a paperback in February, but you can pre-order it now
Buy it:
Kindle (£6.68)
Paperback (£9.89)
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review, Mystery, Psychology (fiction)
The Virgin Suicides- Jeffrey Eugenides
This book was read as part of The Rory List
Synopsis (from amazon)
The shocking thing about the girls was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date of their lives. Twenty years on, their enigmatic personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassiere draped over a crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters’ breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear.
Review
After loving Middlesex, the first book I read by Eugenides, I added The Virgin Suicides to my wishlist. It wasn’t something that had really appealed to me before, it sounded a bit depressing to be honest. I had heard that it was good but it took another book by him to make me actually want to read it.
It wasn’t really that disturbing however. In fact the actual suicides took up only a tiny fraction of the books. They still weren’t exactly the most pleasant thing to read about but they were more upsetting from their consequences than for themselves.
It’s not really a story about the girl’s suicides as such. It’s an important factor, but really it’s about a community. Everyone seems to be obsessed with the sisters, even before the suicides start. There’s a sort of shared experience there, with everyone wanting to know as much about the girls as they can, and sharing all the knowledge they have.
There is a certain element of how the suicides effect the family, and the wider community, but the incidents are never really looked into in that great a detail. There is some wondering about why the suicides happened, but once a theory is suggested everyone just seems to go with it, even though it never really fully explains why what happened happened.
I did enjoy The Virgin Suicides. It still had the same beauty of writing, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Middlesex. Maybe because I didn’t really feel I got to know the characters that well. I felt I got to know them in the same way as you might get to know someone who you see everyday, and might speak to, but isn’t your friend. Maybe that was Eugenides intention seeing as that was how the boys knew the girls really.
4/5
Buy it:
Paperback (£6.74)
Other Reviews:
Alone. Together. Fact. Fiction
Reading is the Ultimate Aphrodisiac
Have I missed your review? Leave a link in comments and I will add it here
P.S Out of interest has anyone watched the film? Is it any good?
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review, Literary
Reservation Road- John Burnham Schwartz
Disclaimer: This book was given to me free of charge by the publishers is exchange for an honest review
Synopsis (from amazon)
At the close of a beautiful summer day near the quiet Connecticut town where they live, the Learner family – Ethan and Grace, their children, Josh and Emma – stop at a gas station on their way home from a concert. Josh Learner, lost in a ten-year-old’s private world, is standing at the edge of the road when a car comes racing around the bend. He is hit and instantly killed. The car speeds away. From this moment forward, Reservation Road becomes a harrowing countdown to the confrontation between two very different men. The hit-and-run driver is a small-town lawyer named Dwight Arno, a man in desperate need of a second chance. Dwight is also the father of a ten-year-old boy, who was asleep in the car the night Josh Learner was killed. In a gripping narrative woven from the voices of Ethan, Dwight, and Grace, Reservation Road tells the story of two ordinary families facing an extraordinary crisis–a book that reads like a thriller but opens up a world rich with psychological nuance and emotional wisdom. Reservation Road explores the terrain of grief even as it astonishes with unexpected redemption: powerful and wrenching and impossible to put down.
Review.
Reservation Road was less of a thriller than I had really expected from the synopsis. There was a certain element of one man trying to find his son’s killer, and another man trying to hide, but that was only a very minor element of the story when it came down to it. In fact the synopsis made me want to read the book less than I would have if it was presented in the way I read it.
This was a story of loss, and of love. Initially the loss of Josh and how it effects his family- particularly his parents. You can really imagine how his parents may feel, and although you see different perspectives from the family they don’t really hold together, which increases the sense that the family are falling apart, individually and as a unit. Sometimes I found myself almost wanting to shout at them to get their acts together because being able to see inside all their thoughts made you know that they could help each other if they tried. Indeed that they had the capacity to help one-another.
On the other side you see Dwight. A man terrified of loosing his own son who he as just started establishing a new relationship with after some time in prison and a split from his son’s mother. Dwight is so scared that something will go wrong, and he searches for love from his son. I think that is part of the reason that he drove on after hitting Josh- he fears he will loose his son all over again. It was quite clever how Burham Schwartz made you feel sympathetic for Dwight rather than angry at him for hiding. I think I preferred the story of Josh’s family, but Dwight’s story was compelling enough to want to read.
Corsair have also sent me the sequel to Reservation Road (Northwest Corner) to review. I am unsure of how wise a sequel is as Reservation Road feels like a stand-alone novel, however I am interested to see.
4/5
Buy it:
Paperback (£7.19)
Kindle (£4.99)
Other Reviews:
I haven’t spotted any other reviews of Reservation Road but if you have written one leave a link in comments and I will add it here.
Filed under Contempory, Fiction review
