Holiday reading

Every so often I write a post about the books I have been reading and thought it was about time I wrote one again (well I thought it was about time I wrote any post actually...). I don't write in-depth reviews, they take too long and I am lazy. These are just brief synopses of some of the books I have enjoyed, with no plot spoilers and with the intention that you are not influenced by my views (I save them for book club). They are all, in my opinion, good books.



Elizabeth is missing by Emma Healey

This was a quick read that really struck a nerve. Alzheimer's affects many people and this book made me think often of my dear granddad. It is written from the viewpoint of Maud and weaves together her childhood and the disappearance of her sister, with the disappearance of her friend Elizabeth. The characters were believable, easy to relate to and I actually felt humbled by the patience of Maud's daughter (so much like my mum) and the determination of Maud. It made me laugh, it made me cry and was enjoyable even though it worried me (lots of books with realistic themes worry me).

Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

I am a big fan of  Cloud Atlas and have about four of Mitchell's books on kindle waiting to be read. At the moment my eyes are preferring real books though. Bone Clocks starts in the eighties and, like Cloud Atlas, has reality mixed with 'believable' fantasy, in both characters and events. I enjoyed it because I could relate to the teenage angst of Holly in the eighties and I like fantasy fiction. It was gripping from start to finish, with only a few 'what?!' moments (I liked the end chapters, but got lost/annoyed somewhere before that). The reader is reminded of global issues such as terrorism, war and what might happen in a dystopian future society (food, electricity rations, no communication systems etc, which always freaks me out). The characters are great and believably written, from the obnoxious Crispin Hershey to the charming Hugo Lamb. I am in awe of Mitchell's imagination and storytelling and would love to have a book club chat with anyone who has read it! (Though I finished it a few weeks ago now and find that stories often float out of memory.)

Dirty Teaching by Juliet Robertson

I bought this one for school. A great book to dip into for any fan of learning outdoors, it has great ideas that support our school curriculum.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

The name of this book was taken from a famous work of Japanese literature (one of the many things I learned from reading this) and is essentially about the building of the Thailand-Burma railway during World War II. It is harrowing and at times difficult to read. I am glad I read it. I wept many times because of the shocking conditions that these soldiers were in and the reality of how 300 soldiers can be treated so appallingly (and acceptingly) by the few in command. It brought back my psychology studies and a trip to a memorial in Borneo. It is a harrowing read. I sobbed uncontrollably twice. Once because of the compassion shown by a Greek man and his chip shop (I don't want to give anything away) and also the unbelievable, but true, part about the vivisections. There is a love story woven throughout, but this does not lighten it. I needed to talk to people about this whilst reading it, because I found it so incredibly disturbing.  A must read, even though I'm not sure when the best time to read it is - don't expect to sleep easily afterwards.


The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

A quick and easy holiday read. I enjoyed it for that very reason - it was light relief after the previous book. It has a slight fantasy feel to it, though I thought more could have been made of that. On amazon they liken it to The Goldfinch and Girl With a Pearl Earring, but it is not really in the same league as either of those. It does have believable characters and a good storyline, but lacks the depth of the former and the atmosphere of the latter. That is not intended to be criticism - I repeat that I really enjoyed reading it!

The Children Act by Ian McEwan

This book has a similar theme to the some of the others I have read of McEwan's, in that a significant event has a massive impact on one of the key characters. The central character is Fiona, a high court judge who deals with family law and is having a bit of a crisis in her personal life. There are many cases that she deals with that make up this story, but the main one is about a 17 3/4 year old Jehovah Witness (Adam) who has leukaemia and is refusing treatment. It is not a lengthy book, but I didn't read it quickly as I found myself really thinking about the issues in the cases and in her personal life, which I think McEwan captured well. I wasn't entirely convinced about Adam, but that's more about my experiences with teenage boys than anything else. Well worth reading (and again I would really like a book club chat about it!)

Looking back at my past book club post, I realised that there are many other good books I have read in between that one and this one: We are all completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (very different from anything else I have read and took me back to my psychology studies too); The Rosie Project by Don Tillman (loved it - much more so than other book clubbers - and laughed aloud a lot); Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell (the second of his fantasy romps with a bit of a musketeer feel); Assassin's Apprentice and Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb (not as in-depth as other fantasy novels, but that makes it an easy and enjoyable read when your mind is on other things at work); The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield were both good book club reads that I wouldn't have chosen myself.  I have read more, but some were not so good ...

I am now returning to my favourite genre of fantasy fiction, with Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan, which I am loving. Ryan has cleverly written this in a way where I am reminded of previous events, without him repeating anything or making the links between past books and present forced.  I also have The Skull Throne by Peter Brett to finish. I started reading it as soon as it was published, but decided that I needed to read the three previous books again before finishing it (my shocking memory was not helping me understand parts of it!)

As always, I value your recommendations, though I do have a pile of new books to get through (thanks to my boot sale addiction and the generous vouchers from parents and work colleagues).

Here are some of the books my friends are reading. I'm sure they will inspire you! I love how Amanda has separated her piles. I tend to borrow 'work' books from the library, then forget to read them until they are due back...

Amanda Cockburn's

 

Jo Neale's 

Becki Jennings'

More 'post Game of Thrones' reading

Before you read on, don't expect a critically written post about books I have read; this is merely a list of books that I have managed to read (and enjoyed) during a busy term at school. As always 'scuse the grammar/typos. I'm not great at proof reading my own work (as proved this week when I was mortified at missing out an apostrophe. Eeek! I no longer have the right to criticise those who add them willy-nilly!)

In my last post about books I ended with the book I was reading at that time - The Goldfinch. It is based around Theo, a character who I fell in love with because his heart-breaking situation was written so believably. I'm not going to go into detail as I don't want to plant seeds or accidentally write a plot spoiler. Needless to say I really enjoyed it, despite getting annoyed during some of the Las Vegas part of the story (and a little bit of the Amsterdam part too). I would even have been happy with less grit and more detail about the relationship between Theo and Hobie.  I imagine the book would make a good film in the future and I would certainly go and watch it, but then I usually* enjoy watching books come to life, even if they don't follow the text accurately.

After this I read The Room by Emma Donoghue, which I find quite disturbing. It was a half term holiday read - possibly not the best choice! Someone on Amazon claims to have 'adored' this book. I question that. I found it believable, but the nature of story would hardly put it in the adorable book section, in the same way that The Lovely Bones would never end up on that shelf.

In our book club we have read Coram Boy, The Hen who Dreamed She Could Fly and our current one, which is I am Malala. These are not books I would usually buy and are all relatively easy reads. Coram Boy is a children's book that deals with the fate of children born out of wedlock in the 1700s. This book was chosen by a friend, who read it as part of her course on children's literature. I think I would have loved reading this as a child, but I found it a tad frustrating (I can't remember why - it's a while since I read it) and the ending wasn't brilliant.  Our book club discussion was great after this book though - and I did learn about some historical situations because of it.

The hen who dreamed she could fly

This story has been translated into English from Korean. Apparently it is a good translation, but nevertheless I felt confused whist reading it. My book club friends seemed to love it a lot more than I, which made me question how much of an animal lover I am (I thought I was a big on that!) I couldn't read it as a story about a hen - I kept reading more into it, analysing it and making judgements about the author's life experiences. When I copied the link from Amazon just now I had a quick look at the reviews (I tend not to read these beforehand). This review by Ia890 captures my thoughts nicely.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars basic 20 April 2014

By la890

Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

I thought it was like a primary school book on diversity. Blindingly obvious parables. First I thought it was some sort of political statement. The hen wants to live in freedom not oppression. Then finds out its hard to fend for yourself.
Then a lesson in racial diversity , then a lesson on death. All a bit simply written and I can't understand why it's such an applauded book
Am I missing something?

I have been left wondering if this is book is a metaphor of the complexities of cultural difference, or merely a story about a hen.

In between book club books I have read Perfect, The Shock of the Fall, The Fault in their Stars, Traitor's Blade, The Boy who Killed Pigs and Life after Life. They are all relatively easy reads that can be read during term time and have all served the purpose of sending me off to sleep thinking of something other than work. For more information about each one, follow the links!

The shock of the fall A quick read about a young person with mental health problems. A quick read for term time.

The fault in their stars Another quick read that I wanted to finish before the film came out. It's easy to guess what is going to happen in this one and I don't fancy sobbing through the film. I quite enjoyed reading it though-I liked the characters in a Dawson's Creek kind of way.

The boy who kicked pigs I found this book on the stairs. Someone had loaned it to my son and I was intrigued. It is written by Tom Baker and I read it in a Tom Baker voice. It's a very odd (quirky?) black comedy with illustrations in the style of Lemony Snickett. That's all I'm going to say about it!

Perfect Loaned to me by my friend Becca, it is a story that flits from two children growing up, an insecure mum and blackmail, to an adult with mental health problems. It is set in the 70s and is a little slow moving (the mum's naivety annoyed me immensely) and I did guess the attempted twist in the tale, but it enjoyed it for what it was. It's not a book I would highly recommend, but if someone gives you a copy and you have nothing else, it's worth reading.

Life after Life There were some sections (only a couple) in this Groundhog Day style story that I wished were shorter, but I really enjoyed this read. It is cleverly written and quite believable. I would recommend this to friends and would appreciate a book club chat about it.

Traitor's Blade was recommended by a fellow Game of Thrones fan. I read somewhere that it was a Three Musketeers style story and that is how I subsequently read it. It's not as gory or unpredictable as GoT, but is an enjoyable read (measured by how quickly I read it). I started at the same time as my son and he read it in about three days. He has taken a break from re-reading Feist's huge collection of books and is road testing Blood Song for me. I enjoy it when we read the same books as there's always a debate to be had.

For the summer, so far I have Snow Child (a recommendation from colleagues), The tent, the bucket and me (perfect for the holidays!) and Blood Song. I have also borrowed Creating Learning without Limits from the library again, though at this point it is the only school book I intend to look at during the summer.

I would love to hear any more recommendations.


*The Time Traveller's Wife is a notable exception. For some reason he came across as more of a weirdo in the film who shows up naked in front of small children.

My 'post Game of Thrones' reading list

Getting to the end of A Dance with Dragons was bittersweet. Who knows when the next one will appear and even the debates/discussions/theories/opinions that I have shared with my son (and others) have not filled the space that this book has left. I have read lots of blog posts, teaching books and research, but a spot of fiction is much needed at bed time. So here are a few of the books that have kept me going and helped me nod off to sleep at night!

The Magician was recommended by my son who has a plethora of Feist books. I have read the first two books of the Riftwar saga and no doubt will read more, but I don't feel they are on the same level as Game of Thrones. That said, they are a good read for fantasy fiction fans.

The Daylight War (The Painted Man, book 3) another much anticipated book that didn't disappoint. I read books 1 and 2 again before reading this - mostly because I was in the post GoT void. I loved these books, even though the first time I read book 2 I felt that Brett had written it for TV (I didn't feel this on second reading funnily enough). Now I have to wait for book 4...

The 100 year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of a Window and Disappeared - I started this, found it too twee and only picked it up again recently, thinking I had to finish it really as other people were commenting on it. I found it a bit too Forest Gump and am ashamed to say that I didn't particularly enjoy the historical references. It's a bit silly and I only bought it because I liked the title (and it was 99p on my Kindle recommendations list) so i can't complain for the price!

Pigeon English was recommended by Jenni H and was a massive change from the fantasy fiction I had been reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's easy to read, but thought provoking. And heart-breaking. More sobbing!!

Ketchup Clouds is an easy teenage fiction read, written by the same author as My Sister lives on the Mantlepiece. 

The God of Small Things has sat on my book shelf for a while as another boot sale bargain that caught my eye. It is set in Kerala, which (having been there) was why I was keen to read it. The prose was a bit too 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' for my liking when I first picked it up and reading it coincided with starting my new job, so I put it down until October half term. It is not an easy read if you don't like overly floral language, and I admit it took me a while to get into it. I am pleased I persevered though because it is a beautiful and moving story. Another one that made me cry (sob).

Divergent when I went to see The Hunger Games II at the cinema we were all given the first five chapters of this book, which is a clever way to get folk to buy the book. I enjoyed this, but not enough to pay full whack for the next two books. An easy read, but I'm happy to wait until they come down in price.

At this point I decided that the best way to keep up with my reading and to try new genres was to start a book club. I phoned a few friends from my old school who often read similar books to me and it started from there. We are only on a first book, but we have selected our next four, so I have got ahead in case work takes over.

A Tale for the Time Being was my choice for the first book. It is a story that I know will stay with me for a long while, partly because it reduced me to tears in more than one place and partly because I learned a lot of new things from it (facts that no doubt I will never remember). I found it harrowing at times, but it is a very believable story and I would recommend it.

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul was a much easier read than the previous book and is essentially a romantic novel. I was grateful for this at the time as it didn't take a lot of brain power to read, but equally I found it very annoying at times and lacking substance. To me it felt like it had been written in the hope that it would be made into a chick flick with the kind of sentimentality (and sickly happy ending) that American films often have. If you want an easy read, it won't disappoint, but you have been warned!

Goldfinch was another recommendation from my cousin - and I have always enjoyed her recommendations (Middlesex and vernon God Little were both great reads). I  am only about one fifth of the way through, but it has me gripped...

I'd love to know what you have been reading!