Lucybird
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I had a migraine this weekend so haven't been reading. Still a bit fuzzy headed so I've been reading Bleach manga which is easier on my concentration.
Otherwise I've been reading Break The Skin- Lee Martin on paper and Last Train to Linguria on kindle.
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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.
4/5 -
Just on our way home from the Gadget Show Live at the NEC in Birmingham, a great day for all of us..
The boyfriend went to see The Gadget Show on Friday. He enjoyed it but said it was a little audio-visual heavy.
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I finished The Show on Friday, I had a few little niggles with it but generally enjoyed it well enough. Rather than starting a new one on my kindle I borrowed Friends Like These from Archie (the other half), I actually bought it for him originally- with no agenda of course!
Janet, Miss Mabel, and Frankie - I finished reading "Water For Elephants" tonight.It is the best book that I have read so far this year. I cannot give it enough praise, thoroughly enjoyable.
I remember a lot of people raving about Water for Elephants when I first joined, in fact I think I read it as a book ring on here. The film is quite good too, although not as good as the book, as films rarely are.
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Do you use a screen protector for your kindle. If so, what type and are you satisfied with it?
I don't, mainly because I have a kindle with buttons rather than touch screen, and I have a case so it didn't seem necessary.
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Either my hands have got bigger or Creme Eggs have got smaller . . .
I'm pretty sure Creme Eggs have got smaller.
Have had a tough couple of days. Some home drama kept me awake till gone 3 on monday night/tuesday morning then I had to get up for work at 6. On top of that have had 2 days of long shifts with another tomorrow. Just hope I get some decent sleep tonight.
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Except you might want to change the year to 2013.
Still on The Rats - about 3/4 through now, so hopefully will finish it tonight. Then I have to look at my reading plan as I've forgotten which books I want to read next.
Whoops! In my defense it was about 1am
I've started Still Alice- Lisa Genova on paper, and I'm reading The Show- John A Heldt on my kindle as a review request.
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I think people have covered most of it. I want to add though if you're reading PDFs on a kindle they do come up small, you can zoom in, but not change the font siize which means you have to scroll.
Also you can't automatically use kindle books on another e-reader, you have to convert them with a program, and I'm not sure if it's legal. I was going to replace mine with a kobo until I found that out.
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I figured seeing as it's now the second day of April (technically) I could go ahead and post this as I can't see it elsewhere.
I've finished Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris. I've found I'm reading my paperbacks slower now I have a kindle but I still enjoyed it.
What's everyone else reading?
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The Guardian's April Fool was good, but very unbelievable.
I managed to enjoy a cold on my long weekend (boo!) and have a long shift tomorrow (more boo!). Why can't I just stay in bed?
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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.ReviewThis 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 -
The Pearl Savage- Tamara Rose Blodgett
Synopsis (from amazon)
Seventeen-year old princess, Clara Williamson, lives an old-fashioned existence in a biosphere of the future.
When her sadistic mother, Queen Ada, betroths her to an abusive prince of a neighboring sphere, Clara determines to escape Outside where savages roam free.Clara escapes tyranny only to discover the savages are not the only people who survived the cataclysmic events of one hundred forty years prior.
Once Outside, Clara finds herself trapped, unable to return to the abusive life of the sphere while facing certain danger Outside.
Can Clara find love and freedom with the peril that threatens to consume her?
Review
When I was younger I used to make up a story in bed every night whilst trying to get to sleep. It was a story which was basically the same every night, but changed and adapted over time. One thing stayed the same though. A princess who didn't really want to be a princess, or at least not the princess her mother wanted her to be, but the people were important to her so she was looking forward to changing things once she became queen. At first The Pearl Princess reminded me a bit of my story, and I didn't really like that. It was disconcerting and because I knew my story so well this one just didn't meet up. It made it a little difficult to approach the book without a bit of a wonky view point, and early on I did consider giving up, but I did stick with it, and, generally speaking, I was glad that I didn't give up.
I didn't find that the writing of The Pearl Savage was particularly good. I found the battle scenes in particular lacked real action and weren't very descriptive. However after a while the plot interested me enough to generally not be too bothered by the less than great writing. Only the battle scenes were really off putting.
The end was perfectly open for a sequel, although the books could easily have been closed as it was. It's something that frustrates me a little as it means I want to read to some sort of conclusion but I really don't think I'm willing to pay for a book in this series (the first is free on kindle). There are 4 books so far (with a 5th planned for release this year)and I certainly don't want to be caught in a series trap.
2.5/5
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Oh dear! The synopsis sounds excellent, but your review makes me want to steer well clear! I hate it when books don't deliver on a promising synopsis
It makes them extra disappointing, doesn't it?
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I finished The Pearl Savage today. It wasn't a very well written book but I am interested in what happens next (it's the first in a series), this one was free on kindle though and the rest aren't, not sure if I want to pay for it.
Am trying to decide what to read next on the kindle. Have a couple of review books which need reading or I might pick one from my book jar.
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I do bookcrossing but I've had replies from only a minority of the books. Doesn't mean they haven't been picked up though.
I know Inver does a lot of bookcrossing too.
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I'm still reading Peaches for Monsieur le Curé in paperback, and I've started The Pearl Savage on the kindle. Getting into the first now but considering giving up on the second, it's for my out the comfort zone challenge and it is really not me at all.
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The Specimen- Matha Lea
Disclaimer: book was given to me free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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
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I own this book but haven't read it yet. Shame you didn't like it as much as other people though I'm glad you still enjoyed it somewhat. Nice review, I look forward to reading the book sometime and see what I think.
I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it. I'll look forward to finding out what you think.
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Have been away Wednesday to yesterday at my boyfriend's brother's wedding. My boyfriend was best man, and he looked so handsome in his suit. Got to meet the whole of his family, I will never remember all the names!
Today have been chilling a bit today and had a driving lesson in preperation for my test tomorrow (eek!)
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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 mywishlist 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 parrellels with the fairy story. It was nice in a way but it was also part of what made me annoyed at Mabel.
3/5
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If you want to read one of her other non-crime books, I'd recommend Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Lucybird. It's been years since I read it, but I remember enjoying it a lot.
Thanks. I think my Mum has it so I may have to steal it off her
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Life After Life- Kate Atkinson
Disclaimer: I was given an advance copy of Life After Life free of charge by the publisher (via netgalley) in exchange for an honest review.
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 -
Me and the boyfriend saw The Great And Powerful Oz last night. Rather enjoyable, and funnier than I expected. It was kind of evocative of Disney classics, especially Alice n Wonderland, and Snow White, and of The Wizard of Oz of course.
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I finished Life After Life which was, well, amazing. I am sad to have finished it, not sure where to go next with my kindle books. Off to write my review now whilst the amazement is still there (is amazement a word?)
What's up in April?
in General Chat
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Had a long week at work then got rewarded with a migraine this weekend
pfft