books
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Book Review: The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
I read this book as I am a big fan of Agatha Christie’s work and was interested in her life. It was a fascinating look at not just the events surrounding Agatha Christie’s mysterious disappearance, but also how women were viewed at the time. There’s some great plot twists later on in the novel too. In 1926 Agatha Christie went missing for eleven days. Her mother had recently died and her husband was having an affair with another woman and planned to leave her. In 1926, Agatha Christie went missing for eleven days. Her mother had recently died and her husband was having an affair with another woman and planned…
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Christmassy Reading
Happy new year! Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and a pleasant start to 2023. I have been quiet on here over the past few weeks, as I’ve been cosying up with a few books over the Christmas period. One of the things I love about this time of year is the opportunity to spend time lost in a good book. I also tend to get given books as gifts for Christmas. Here are some of my picks of what I have been reading: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. The definitive murder mystery tale, ten strangers are summoned to an island and find out that someone…
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November Book Roundup
So we say farewell to November and start to look towards December and some Christmassy offerings. Before we go full-pelt into the Christmas season, here is my monthly book roundup. How was your November? Did you manage to read everything you wanted to? This month I read ‘Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking’ by Matthew Syed. I also read ‘The Christie Affair’ by Nina de Gramont (review coming soon) and finished ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ by Suzanne Collins. I am a massive fan of The Hunger Games series, so absolutely loved the prequel. It was a bit of a whopper, but after the first 100 pages or…
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Book Review: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Secret Life of Bees follows the journey of Lily Owens, a young girl who is struggling to understand the world around her. The story takes place in 1964 in South Carolina, where Lily’s life has been shaped by her mother’s death when she was only three years old. Living on a peach farm with her harsh and unforgiving father, she has only one friend: Rosaleen, the black servant who raised her after the death of her mother. When racial tensions erupt one day and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily chooses to flee with her. As they make their way across the country, they come across a trio of…
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Book Review
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is one of those books that I knew I would love within a few pages of starting to read it. I hadn’t even considered reading it before, in the belief that it wouldn’t be my thing. But seeing as it was my work book club choice, I thought I’d give the book a whirl. The story follow Monique Grant, a reporter for Vivant magazine, who has been selected to interview Evelyn Hugo, a reclusive former star. Evelyn is auctioning some of her famous gowns to raise money for a breast cancer charity. Monique doesn’t understand why Evelyn has chosen her, but nonetheless goes to Evelyn’s apartment to meet…
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Book Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafon is a substantial novel, weighing in at over 500 pages. It’s so vast that it seems desultory to attempt to describe it in a review, yet that is exactly what I am going to do here. Hidden deep within the old city in Barcelona is a library of obscure and forgotten titles- the “cemetery of lost books”. His father brings ten- year- old Daniel there one chilly morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book and pulls out The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. Over the next few decades, he realises several people are interested in his…
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Book Review: Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
The Girl on the Train was a publishing phenomenon, a stunningly intriguing thriller which placed the reader in the perspective of three major characters in the novel. Her second book Into the Water is a similar type of read, more complex than its predecessor but still as dark. However, it stands as a thriller on its own. The plot surrounds Nel Abbot, who was found dead in the river, just a few short months after the death of her daughter’s best friend Katie in similar circumstances. Nel lived by the dark and forbidding body of water, known as ‘The Drowning Pool’ and was obsessed with stories of difficult women who…
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My Favourite Book of 2014
I meant to write this post a few days ago however, unfortunately I have been battling a heavy cold. I want to write a review of my favourite book that I read in 2014. Even though I read quite a few last year, the one that stands out in my mind is The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton. I have been a fan of Kate’s books for several years now and a new release always goes straight onto my to-read list. I was right to anticipate the release of The Secret Keeper, as it is a stunning, accomplished novel, with many layers and an excellent twist. The basic premise of…
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Review- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni
Reading the negative reviews made me wary of reading Khaled Hosseni’s The Kite Runner. It’s not the best start to your reading experience, being told you’re going to hate something, is it? But still I read it. The novel is set against the back drop of the final days of Afghanistan’s monarchy and the oppression of the Taliban. It tells the story of two boys, Amir and Hassan, and their friendship set against the social and political conflicts of the early 1970s. The two boys exist happily enough side by side, until the day of Kabul’s annual kite-fighting tournament, when a shocking event turns the characters’ lives upside down. The…
