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Claire's Book List 2018


chesilbeach

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The next Waterstones Children's Book Prize selection was The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy.  Set in the 1940s in Sterling, a small town in America, where every seven years, something disappears from the residents of the town - their sense of smell, the ability to see the stars in the sky, even their reflections.  After the death of her mother, and her father being called up to serve in the war, Aila and her younger brother are sent back to her mothers home town, but it's not long before the whispers about her mother start, and she starts to believe her mother may been the cause of the curse on the town.  

 

For the first three quarters of the story, I was completely captivated by this story.  It seemed quite a unique mystery and dealt with themes of loss and grief really well.  The mystery itself was intriguing and there were clues and red herrings, and secrets were revealed that were unexpected making me want to read more to find out where the story would go.  There was only one problem with the book, and that was the payoff at the end.  I found it such a stretch of the imagination and impossible to reconcile that it could be the cause of the curse on the town, and it just didn't work for me.  I'm very glad I read it, but that final reveal I just couldn't accept as a believable conclusion, however, I did enjoy the writing and the bulk of the story, so I would definitely look to read another book by this author in future.

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It's always a joy when Ross Montgomery releases a new book, so I couldn't wait to read his latest, Max and the Millions.  This story is all about Max.  He lives at a boarding school, but Max is deaf and even with hearing aids, finds it difficult to follow conversations and has become isolated from all the boys in his class.  He does, however, make models on his own, and finds a friend in the school caretaker who is a model craftsman and takes Max under his wing.  But when Mr Darrow goes missing, Max finds he's left a pile of sand on the floor of his room, and a whole new miniature world opens up to him in the form of a tiny blue haired prince in the minute civilisation on the floor!

 

The great thing about Montgomery's books is that not only are they full of heart, they're full of fun and proper funny at times too!  There's a villain in Max's life in the shape of a ruthlessly ambitious headmaster, new friends to be made, and a whole race of people to save, who have their own battles to fight.  It's been really good to read a middle grade story with not only a male lead but also a deaf character, and I think it does a brilliant job of describing the detachment that those with hearing loss can suffer.  Another cracking read. :D 

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Back to YA next to carry on with the Waterstones list, and this time it was The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.  The story is told by sixteen-year-old Starr, who lives in a black neighbourhood but goes to school in the suburbs.  After gunfire breaks out at the party she's gone to, her old friend Khalil gives her a lift home, but they are stopped by a policeman, who shoots Khalil dead.  What follows is how Starr, the only witness to the shooting, has to deal with her two separate lives at home and at school, alongside trying to do the right thing to get justice for Khalil.

 

Clearly inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, this is a totally compelling YA story, that puts you in the middle of Starr's life and the prejudice she must face, the dilemmas where she must chose between her two different social situations, and what she can do to make a difference.  I found it hard to put down the book, and it gives you a very comprehensive insight into a black community, gangs and the impact of drug culture on the poorest areas of the US, and why there has become a need for BLM and other activism in society today.  Not a comfortable read, but an important one, and proves how books allow you into a world that you can't experience first hand, and allow you to put yourself in someone else's shoes.

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The Hate U Give sounds interesting because the plot is intriguing, but mostly because it has such political and social relevance right now. I'm glad you thought it was good, because now I definitely want to add it to my list of books to read this year. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oh blimey, I'm way behind on reviews again! :wibbly:

 

Time for my March stats - it's been a cracking month of reading, and I've been too engrossed in my reading to write any reviews, but I might try and rectify that tomorrow since we've got an extra day off this weekend.  Anyway, here's March in numbers for me ...

 

Books read: 20

Pages read: 6712

Authors: Female 17, Male 3

Fiction: 18

Non-fiction: 2

Format: Hardback 3, Paperback 10, Kindle 6, Audiobook 1

Round Robin challenge: 2

Waterstones Children's Book Prize challenge: 5

 

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On 3/18/2018 at 8:51 AM, chesilbeach said:

It's a good story and builds Leora's world well, but unlike This Mortal Coil which I read before this, I didn't find it quite as satisfying a read as a single book.  It very much felt like you have to read the whole trilogy to get the full story, and I'm not sure I enjoyed it enough to want to carry on the story by reading two more books.  One the other hand, the cover design is beautiful and I've seen the second books cover and that's just as gorgeous as the first! :D 

I found it hard to pinpoint how I felt about Ink.. I did like it, but something stopped it being great. I agree the cover is amazing. :)

 

I have my eye on This Mortal Coil, so I'm glad you liked it. As for The Hate U Give, something is holding me back, I think maybe because it's been on twitter constantly, and feels too hyped right now. 

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5 hours ago, chesilbeach said:

Oh blimey, I'm way behind on reviews again! :wibbly:

Time for my March stats -

Authors: Female 17, Male 3

Fiction: 18 Non-fiction: 2 

 

Completely the opposite to me!  Aside from the fact that you're reading at four times my rate (too much birding in my case!), my ratio this year has been

Male : Female = 12:3, i.e. 4:1

Fiction : Non-fiction = 9:6, i.e. 3:2

The two do appear to be at least partially linked, gender ration for non-fiction books being 5:1

I usually read quite a lot of female authors too - but not, so far, this year it seems.

 

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17 hours ago, Michelle said:

I found it hard to pinpoint how I felt about Ink.. I did like it, but something stopped it being great. I agree the cover is amazing. :)

 

I have my eye on This Mortal Coil, so I'm glad you liked it. As for The Hate U Give, something is holding me back, I think maybe because it's been on twitter constantly, and feels too hyped right now. 

 

The more I think about Ink, the more I think that the reason I didn't think it was great is that I was never surprised by anything that happened ... it all felt inevitable.  I really don't think I'm going to read the other two in the trilogy though.

 

Definitely recommending This Mortal Coil! :D 

 

I've had The Hate U Give on the shelf for a long time and felt the hype putting me off too, and the only reason I read it now was because it was on the Waterstones award list, but I thought it definitely lived up to the hype and made me think for a while about the world we're living in now and especially the Black Lives Matter movement in the States.  It's definitely worth reading.

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15 hours ago, willoyd said:

 

Completely the opposite to me!  Aside from the fact that you're reading at four times my rate (too much birding in my case!), my ratio this year has been

Male : Female = 12:3, i.e. 4:1

Fiction : Non-fiction = 9:6, i.e. 3:2

The two do appear to be at least partially linked, gender ration for non-fiction books being 5:1

I usually read quite a lot of female authors too - but not, so far, this year it seems.

 

 

The M:F this month was definitely affected by the Waterstone's prize lists which were dominated by female authors this year, particularly the older fiction category which didn't have a single male lead and no male writers at all, as well as being all debut authors, both of which I felt was a big problem.  I do, however, have a tendency to read more female authors generally, and I'm hoping this will end up as around a 2:3 ratio but the end of the year, but I usually read whatever takes my fancy, so we'll see how that goes! :D 

 

That's also affected my reading this month, and I have bought, but not read, quite a few non-fiction books recently, so these will start appearing more frequently after this month, and then in June/July, I expect that to dominate when the Wainwright prize longlist makes its appearance, as I plan to read the whole list again this year.

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The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor is a crime/thriller which starts during the Great Fire of London in 1666.  It follows the story of two characters - James Marwood, investigating the murder of a man found dead in the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral, and Catherine Lovett, who has been left in the care of her aunt and uncle, but is forced to flee in order to save her self from an abusive environment or the prospect of a loveless marriage.

 

The story rattles along at a great pace, and generally evokes a sense of time and place well, and the two stories work well in parallel and threading in and out of each other, and I enjoyed the novel a great deal.  I partially listened to the audiobook version as well as reading on Kindle, as when I had time to read it, I often wanted to keep going to find out what would happen next, so would listen in the car after having read a section in the café.  The characterisation is well done, and as you gradually find out more about the two leads back stories, it helps move the plot along and fill in the gaps to bring the story together as a whole.

 

Apparently, it's the start of a series of novels, and the next one, The Fire Court is out now in hardback.  I'll wait for the paperback edition, but I will certainly give the next one a go, although if this was to become a long running series, I wonder whether I would bow out eventually, as I'm not sure I'd want to keep going for more than a few books with this story limited to Marwood and Catherine as the main characters, but I obviously can't judge that after just one book!

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Thornhill by Pam Smy was my last read on the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for older readers list, and I'd saved it for last as it's part graphic novel and I wasn't sure how I would get on with it.  The cover shows a dark house with a white outline and illuminated window on it, and the paper edges are sprayed black too, so it has a very sinister look and if I'm honest, made me a little nervous to start it!  It follows the story of Ella who has moved into a house with her dad, and it backs on to the forbidding looking Thornhill, Institue for Children which has been shut up for years and becomes derelict.  When Ella sees lights on in one of Thornhill's windows one night, she is drawn in, and after seeing a girl in the grounds of the house, she's captivated.  The illustrations are interspersed with diary entries from one of the residents of the children's home from years ago, and Ella becomes determined to find out more.

 

Like Ella, I was absolutely captivated by the story and as it unfolds, I became all the more unsettled.  It really got under my skin, and at times was genuinely chilling.  Fabulous illustrations, with a very muted palette which suited the story and helped build atmosphere.  Just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine!

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Needing something, hopefully, a bit more upbeat after Thornhill, I decided to read The Day She Saved The Doctor by Susan Calman, Jenny T. Colgan, Jacqueline Rayner, Dorothy Koomson.  Four short stories, each focusing on one of the Doctor's companions - Sarah Jane, Rose, Clara and Bill - and each a story where the companion is the hero of the piece.  A range of Doctor's and a range of settings, I loved all these stories.  Don't want to say too much, as they're short stories so it would spoil them to give away to much information other than the characters, but great fun from four fantastic writers.  Makes me want to read some more Doctor Who stories, and I know Jenny T. Colgan has just written a Target novelisation of The Christmas Invasion (the best of the Christmas episodes from the new series, in my humble opinion), so I think that will be my starting point. :D 

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48 minutes ago, chesilbeach said:

 

The M:F this month was definitely affected by the Waterstone's prize lists which were dominated by female authors this year, particularly the older fiction category which didn't have a single male lead and no male writers at all, as well as being all debut authors, both of which I felt was a big problem.  I do, however, have a tendency to read more female authors generally, ....

 

Part of my surprise lately is that I've also tended to read more female writers than the average (at least for a male reader), including some years when it's even been a majority.  However, I've read a higher proportion of non-fiction books, and given my preferences (History, Science, Natural History), there do seem to be rather more male writers than female around (not to say that there aren't plenty of women writers in these genres, but the fields do seem rather more dominated by men - but no statistical evidence to say for sure!).  However, just finished novel by one of my favourite female writers, Elizabeth Taylor (A View of the Harbour), a stonker of a book.

 

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The Curse in the Candlelight by Sophie Cleverly is the fifth in the Scarlet & Ivy series, so I'm not going to mention the plot for fear of spoilers, so I'll just say, it continues the story of the twins at boarding school, and is another fun mystery for the middle grade audience.  I don't think it's one you'd want to read on its own, as by this point, I think you probably need to know the back story, but for the target audience, I think they'd love this series.  All I will say in terms of plot was that it was great to see Ariadne featuring more.  Enigmatic, I know, but it's so difficult to review individual stories on a long running series! 

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2 minutes ago, willoyd said:

 

Part of my surprise lately is that I've also tended to read more female writers than the average (at least for a male reader), including some years when it's even been a majority.  However, I've read a higher proportion of non-fiction books, and given my preferences (History, Science, Natural History), there do seem to be rather more male writers than female around (not to say that there aren't plenty of women writers in these genres, but the fields do seem rather more dominated by men - but no statistical evidence to say for sure!).  However, just finished novel by one of my favourite female writers, Elizabeth Taylor (A View of the Harbour), a stonker of a book.

 

 

I've had years when I've read almost exclusively women, and only realised when I've done my review at the end of the year, so I'm consciously trying to read more male authors.  Like you, often my non-fiction tends to be written my male authors, but again, I'm trying to balance that a bit more.  The Wainwright Prize is usually pretty good at having a mixture of male and female writers, so that helps, but I'm also trying to find more female authors in non-fiction and more male authors in fiction too.  I'd definitely recommend Storm in a Teacup by Helen Czerski, a book of physics in the everyday world, if you're looking for a female authors in the science world.

 

I've never read any Elizabeth Taylor but she's often mentioned on Backlisted podcast, so she's definitely on my radar as one for the future, but when that will be, I don't know!

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On 02/04/2018 at 1:46 PM, chesilbeach said:

I'd definitely recommend Storm in a Teacup by Helen Czerski, a book of physics in the everyday world, if you're looking for a female authors in the science world.

 

 

I've never read any Elizabeth Taylor but she's often mentioned on Backlisted podcast, so she's definitely on my radar as one for the future, but when that will be, I don't know!

 

Thanks for the tip.  If (I hope when) you get round to Elizabeth Taylor, My favourites to date are A View of the Harbour and The Soul of KindnessI also rated Blaming highly.  I appreciated Mrs Palfreyman at the Claremont, one that many people rate very highly, but it didn't strike quite the same chords with me.  Angel is often cited as her masterpiece - one I've yet to read.  After this last book, I've added her to my favourite authors list.

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There have been plenty of new books to honour 100 years of women's suffrage in the UK, and for the middle grade readers comes Make More Noise! by a range of female authors.  This is a selection of short stories focusing on inspirational female characters, some set in the era when women were campaigning for the vote through the 100 years following up to contemporary stories.  Some authors were familiar and others new to me, but together brought a wealth of ideas to their stories to celebrate and inspire girls and show them that they can do anything they set their mind to, and gender should not be a barrier to their dreams.  A very enjoyable collection.

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I've had A Long Way From Verona by Jane Gardam on my wish list since I heard it being discussed on Backlisted and finally decided it was time to read it.  It starts with a declaration from the narrator, Jessica Vye, that "I ought to tell you at the beginning that I am not quite normal having had a violent experience at the age of nine".  As a now considerably older thirteen years old, she records her world and her school life, with a truthful dedication as she knows she is a "born writer". 

 

A classic unreliable narrator gives this book such life, it's an absolute joy to read.  The brazen arrogance of a child who believes she is right, and struggling to conform to the rigid strictures enforced on young girls of the period, produces a witty, charming and forthright narrative that encapsulates the baffling life of a young teenager and the transition from childhood.  I laughed a few times, and as with the best of books, had to read some aloud to my boyfriend as it just had to be shared.

 

As I mentioned earlier, this was a featured book on Backlisted where I found out this is semi-autobiographical, and if you do read this book, I would definitely recommend searching out that episode of the podcast, as it will enhance the reading experience and provide lots of additional background information, including a brief excerpt of an interview with Gardam where she talks about this book. This was initially published as a children's book in 1971, I suspect because it features a thirteen-year-old narrator, but I think in retrospect, it's now found in the general fiction section of bookshops, and I suspect you will get more out of it as an adult, looking back on your childhood.  Having said that, if you read it as a child, I'm sure it's one of those books that will get into your psyche and you'll end up re-reading again as an adult time and again.

 

I've read a couple of Gardam's other novels, and will definitely be going back to read more now.

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I can't deny, the tile and the cover of Brightstorm by Vashti Hardy we what drew me to buy this middle grade book.  It's a science-fiction steampunk story in a world and period which closely mirrors our Victorian/Edwardian period, and where explorers are revered and rewarded as the cream of society.  Their sky ships (steam powered hot air balloons) take them across continents to the ends of the earth, and the two main characters, brother and sister Arthur and Maudie, are orphaned when their fathers expedition ends in tragedy.  But, something about the story of his demise doesn't ring true with the children, and after being thrown into poverty, the decide to go in search of the truth themselves.

 

The story is entertaining, but I felt the villains and heroes of the story were signposted very early on, but I think that's because I'm an adult who has read plenty of stories in my time, and can see patterns that younger readers may not, so for me, it did go exactly where I was expecting it to.  That said, what it does do, is set up a very interesting world, and I would definitely read a follow up to see where the author takes it next time.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/2/2018 at 1:07 PM, chesilbeach said:

The Ashes of London by Andrew Taylor...

 

The story rattles along at a great pace, and generally evokes a sense of time and place well, and the two stories work well in parallel and threading in and out of each other, and I enjoyed the novel a great deal.  I partially listened to the audiobook version as well as reading on Kindle, as when I had time to read it, I often wanted to keep going to find out what would happen next, so would listen in the car after having read a section in the café.  The characterisation is well done, and as you gradually find out more about the two leads back stories, it helps move the plot along and fill in the gaps to bring the story together as a whole.

Oh, I'm glad you enjoyed it.  :)  I didn't know it was going to be a series when I read it last year.  Like you, I won't continue if it goes on for too many books (I gave up on the Rivers of London series - I can't keep up!) but I will try #2.

 

I have only read 21 books this year (one more than you read in March!  :giggle2: ) - I'm normally fairly equal in terms of Male vs Female authors but this year I have (so far) read F/M: 14/7!

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1 hour ago, Janet said:

I have only read 21 books this year (one more than you read in March!  :giggle2: ) - I'm normally fairly equal in terms of Male vs Female authors but this year I have (so far) read F/M: 14/7!

 

'Only'!

(I'm contentedly on 17).

 

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21 hours ago, Janet said:

I have only read 21 books this year (one more than you read in March!  :giggle2: ) - I'm normally fairly equal in terms of Male vs Female authors but this year I have (so far) read F/M: 14/7!

 

Don't worry about the numbers - you do all sorts of other interesting things with your time!  I can't quite believe how many I've read, to be honest, I think it's because I've been stuck without access to any sort of workspace in the house and can't do any crafts, plus I have extra free time since last year so I'm just losing myself in books at the moment. :) 

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19 hours ago, willoyd said:

 

'Only'!

(I'm contentedly on 17).

 

 

Exactly!  Glad you're enjoying your books this year so far. :)  I'm looking forward to the Wainwright Prize long list being announced which I think it usually early June which is not that far away now, but I've been reading some more nature books in preparation hoping to get a headstart, but we'll wait and see. :D

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