Alexi

Oh, how disappointing! Although hopefully the rest of us will now have slightly lower expectations following your role as guinea pig and might get a little more out of it?! Which doesn't help you much I realise, expect in altruism levels. I'm waiting for it to come down in price a little given I haven't read the second yet - savouring it after loving the first. Really glad it did get better in the last third though.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Synopsis: In 1960s Nigeria, a country blighted by civil war, three lives intersect. Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, works as a houseboy for a university professor. Olanna, a young woman, has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos to live with her charismatic new lover, the professor. And Richard, a shy English writer, is in thrall to Olanna’s enigmatic twin sister. As the horrific Biafran War engulfs them, they are thrown together and pulled apart in ways they had never imagined. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s masterpiece, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, is a novel about Africa in a wider sense: about the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race – and about the ways in which love can complicate all of these things. (From Amazon) Thoughts: This has been on my kindle languishing since late 2013, but the book box has spoken and read it I therefore must. I really enjoyed the first 50 pages where we followed the young houseboy Ugwu, plucked from his village to work as a houseboy for a Professor. Seeing 1960s Nigeria through his eyes was a joy and I wanted to devour more. Suddenly, a new chapter, and it took me a few pages to realise we weren't following Ugwu anymore but in fact his professors's girlfriend, Olanna. I should clarify this - we follow the lives of three different characters through a third person narrator. After the first three chapters it is easy to pick up what is going on - the first sentence of each chapter starts with the name of the person we are following - but it really jarred with the second chapter as it took me a while to realise the formatting. It set off on the wrong tone and I really struggled with the next 200 pages. It felt meandering, and I wondered what on earth the point of following these people were. (At this point I should mention that I had not familiarised myself with the synopsis following picking it from the book box!). Suddenly, an abrupt switch to the late 60s and this is where the book really took off. Adichie's research is meticulous and her writing style emotive in bringing to life the horrors and struggle of merely trying to survive in war-torn Nigeria/Biafra. It's a narrative that drew me and compelled me to read on. Then, just as abruptly a switch back to the early 60s again. This felt totally unnecessary. It was to explain a few things that had gone on in the intervening years but it felt like the reader was just piecing that information together for themselves when we were then taken back and explicitly shown at the expense of the very involving telling of civil war. We went back to the late 60s and followed the our cast of characters until the end of the war, but it was the late 60s that I really enjoyed and the early 60s section felt bloated, a little pointless and could have done with some more heavy editing. 3/5 (I liked it) ETA: Just realised this counts for Nigeria in my World Challenge. The first one I've read for that challenge in the whole of 2015 so far!

Thanks Kylie! Interesting that we felt the same about the humour in both books. I have the second downloaded and wanted to read it pretty much immediately, but I've decided to save it for holidays in September and give myself something easy and funny to read on the various long flights! Thank you for all the well wishes. I feel like I'm slowly getting there. As my Mum has always said, the key is to have a plan. I know I'm old because I've started listening to her The pile has grown again thanks to my birthday last week. Difficult to complain about getting books (!) but I am now plus 35 for the year rather than -1. Very few of those I have bought myself, and of those I have most have been daily deals and cheap purchases, so it's not the ££ I am worried about, just the sheer size of the pile

I'm one of the minority Trying to make more time for these sort of books. I've not read as much non fiction as I would like in the last 12 months. I'm now up to page 400 of Half of a Yellow Sun and will definitely finish it now. Still fairly meandering but the descriptions of Nigeria and Biafra's conflict and those living through it are keeping me engaged.

Great review Willoyd - interesting to see the comparisons with the play especially as the book was so fresh! I must admit, Anna Karenina is one that intimidates me but I would like to read it one day. As you say though, it's one you need to get properly stuck into time wise.

I was hoping your post would be a "stick with it" Claire I'm 170 pages in now (was 150 when I posted) out of 540, so I'm 1/3 of the way in... it's on several lists though so I am reluctant to abandon, and am yet to do so this year....

Ooh interesting! There was a synopsis for Crippen at the end and I immediately wanted to read it. Thanks for the recommendation! By the way, I took out the "revelation" from the synopsis so might be better to try and not look at the book jacket if you can. BB - the banter between them was my favorite part. I often find humour forced in books but it felt really natural. After The Rosie Project I'm doing really well with funny books this year. More of the same please

I don't mean to alarm anyone who was avoiding it but my progress with Half of a Yellow Sun has definitely slowed. We are meandering between three different characters, but other than eat a lot and sigh about things I'm not entirely sure what the point is and where we are going.... I'm going to give it another 100 pages and see how we are, especially given it's on the 1001 list and the Teacher's top 100 list, there must be SOMETHING about it?!

Aww, I'm so sorry to read about the missing tokens J But very pleased with your cheer up card - sounds just the thing. Coupled with a book purchase and the day is looking up a bit!

Lies in the Dust sounds exactly my kind of thing - one of the wishlist!

The Absolutist by John Boyne Synopsis: September 1919: Twenty-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a clutch of letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian's brother Will during the Great War. They trained together. They fought together. The letters, however, are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He holds a secret deep within him. One that he is desperate to unburden himself of to Marian, if he can only find the courage. Whatever happens, this meeting will change his life – forever. (From Amazon) Thoughts: I picked this up from the library after enjoying The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and wanting to read more by the author. This one is set just after World War I, and we meet Tristan, who is finding it very difficult to adjust to life back in England after serving in France. He was trained alongside 19 other men, and we discover very early on that he was the only one who came back. His best friend was Will, and he is delivering some letters back to Will's sister. The book is divided into parts, with alternate settings in Norwich in 1919 and then during the war, where we see Tristan and Will together. The first thing that felt off was about 150 pages through we are told what feels like it should be a 'revelation' - we are 150 pages in and it occurs on the last page of a Norwich part before we are suddenly diverted back to France for 50 pages. And yet, it's something we learn on the book jacket! Either it should be a revelation or it shouldn't be. I was confused as to which it was. Which brings me to pacing - we fanned around in Norwich for a long time before getting to the meat of the book. And yet the meat is good. We do feel the horror of the battleground and the difficulty Tristan feels into assimilating back into normal life in the years following. We come to understand the relationship between Tristan and Will, and although I guessed his "secret" - which is a further twist on the previously noted 'revelation', it didn't make reading about it any more shocking. So, plenty of flaws, but still an enjoyable read. However, I feel it could have been done even better with a few tweaks and I will look out for more of the author's work and see if I feel like that about all his work - in which case it might be time to give up and wish he had a better editor! 3.5/5 (I liked it) Phew! Up to date on reviews!

The Mangle Street Murders by M R C Kasasian Synopsis: Gower Street, London, 1882: Sidney Grice, London's most famous personal detective, is expecting a visitor. He drains his fifth pot of morning tea, and glances outside, where a young, plain woman picks her way between the piles of horse-dung towards his front door. March Middleton is Sidney Grice's ward, and she is determined to help him on his next case. Her guardian thinks women are too feeble for detective work, but when a grisly murder in the slums proves too puzzling for even Sidney Grice's encyclopaedic brain, March Middleton turns out to be rather useful after all... Set in a London still haunted by the spectre of the infamous Spring-heeled Jack, THE MANGLE STREET MURDERS is for those who like their crime original, atmospheric, and very, very funny. (From Amazon) Thoughts: Absolutely loved this. It's a brilliant take on a detective story and I am delighted it's a series - I immediately snapped up book two but based on the fact that book 3 is still £7 on kindle I am going to save book 2 for holiday time and savour it. Yes, book one really was that good. Of course, a well-plotted detective story is nothing new, so what makes this stand out? Simply, the characters, their interaction and dialogue. March Middleton is years before her time, not being done down by the fact she is a woman who (we are repeatedly told) is too ugly to marry and when her father dies is taken in by private detective Sidney Grice. He, on the other hand, is a difficult, rude character used to living on his own and not working with (gasp) a woman. Both characters are hugely funny and larger than life, without turning into caricatures. The setting of 1880s Victorian London is a wonderful backdrop, and the dialogue is very, very funny - and I say that as someone who normally doesn't respond to humour in books. I've found it quite difficult to articulate exactly what was so good about this, but just please, please read it. 4.5/5 (I loved it)

Letters from Alcatraz by Michael Esslinger Synopsis: Alcatraz Island was home to some of the nation's most notorious criminals. Prisoners include Al Capone, Mickey Cohen, James "Whitey" Bulger, George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Robert Stroud- the Birdman of Alcatraz, Alvin Karpis, Henri Young, John and Clarence Anglin, and Roy Gardner. In Michael Esslinger's latest book, Letters From Alcatraz, the prisoners' stories come to life in their own words. With over twenty years of research, Esslinger, author of Alcatraz: Definitive History of the Penitentiary Years, has salvaged and compiled an extraordinary collection of inmates' letters, many never before published. (From Amazon) Thoughts: I downloaded this three years ago when it was free on kindle - it is now over £6 which seems a bit steep. The author has a clear passion for Alcatraz which shines through, and this is a meticulous piece of work, gathering letters to and from the various notorious criminals that inhabited Alcatraz over the years. Each chapter features the correspondence of a different inmate, with a few pages describing their history and crimes. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of a group of people trying to survive in America's most notorious, inescapable jail. A lot of the letters are those written from and to relations scattered across the country - the only way prisoners could get news of home. Only relatives could visit and most lived hundreds of miles away from San Francisco and could not make the trip to see them. A lot of the letters feature mundane news, both of prison life and relatives and friends at home, but it's a magnificent collection that does give a completely different insight into the minds and living conditions of men deemed too dangerous or flighty to stay in regular prisons. I do feel I would have got more out of this if I had read the author's definitive history of the rock - which I plan to visit in September - and it has gone on my wishlist. 3/5 (I liked it)

After a stage in which my brain could only handle St Clare's rereads I've now started Half of a Yellow Sun and very much enjoying it so far. I think I'm back on track...!

So sorry you didn't enjoy Empire of the Sun. I have it on my TBR and was really looking forward to it after Brian's recommendation. But nervous now! I very much liked Girl on the Train although I hated Rachel and her drinking antics got very annoying. The not cleaning up of her own vomit in someone else's house left me so disgusted! It's really stayed with me even though it's only a passing moment that bears no significance whatsoever

I think I can see what Willoyd means. I've struggled to get into Middlemarch and as soon as I've got to grips with it again the installment finishes. However, that really wasn't a problem this time. This was my favourite installment so far. I feel like I really know the characters now and want to find out more about their relationships. I love the character of Dorothea, she feels a little ahead of her time! I really want her and Will to end up together, so I'm very cross about this codicil as now people will assume there was something going on. Argh. Raffles feels very much a pantomime villain at the moment. I hope and suspect we shall see him again!

That helps enormously - thank you so much for sharing Considering taking the plunge myself, but these things seem a lot scarier than they did a few years ago - major life decisions I mean! Somehow it all seemed easier 10 years ago to make monumental decisions at the drop of a hat. Must be something about responsibilities and mortgages and things. Some soul searching to be done....

Thanks Claire Hopefully it will pick up soon! We are now going into the traditional quiet time at work (tumbleweed across the office quiet) so quite looking forward to that. I prefer to think of it as efficient use of time, rather than apathy

I absolutely love your reviews Noll! You've made me want to pick up the Catherine Ryan Hyde that is on my TBR immediately - and add more to the collection....

I enjoyed Life After Life, but felt it lost its way a bit in the second half of the novel. I would like to try something else by her though. Willoyd - a bit off topic, but I wondered if it's not too personal if you could share the highs (and lows!) of your decision to change careers to teaching? I think I'm right in thinking you didn't go straight into it after leaving education?

This. I'm not commenting as much at the moment but I do read everyone's threads. There are some people I have more in common with reading taste wise - I also read very little fantasy! - but I do tend to read everyone's threads even if I can't add much to the discussion. Personally I really enjoy reading everyone's reviews and it's one of the main reasons I keep coming back. I got a lot of non fiction out of the library this time and I know only a few people will be interested in those history and politics tomes, but I mainly write reviews for my own records. Hence my new decision not to bother reviewing the "light quick" reads that are the only thing my brain appears to have been able to handle in recent weeks!

Have an amazing time! Amsterdam is on my (very, very long) bucket list.

My goal this year was to be on 276 books by the end of the year (down by one from 1 Jan 2015). My visit to the library this afternoon has now taken the total to 306. Nightmare. I've been having a rather tough time at work and at home in recent weeks, so although I'm still reading a lot I'm turning to easy, quick reads which don't need a lot of thinking. I'm revisiting the St Clare's series after the success of our Malory Towers reread. 1 1/2 books in and I've already had two midnight feasts - much more satisfying I've decided to take a leaf out of Claire's book and not feel pressure to review everything I read - most of them, but any light-hearted, quick reads like that (or my upcoming guilty pleasure Janet Evanovich) I won't bother. That only leaves me two books behind

I've just finished The Mangle Street Murders and it was fantastic. So glad bobblybear bullied* me into buying the sequel! Wish I could start it straightaway but have some library loans that need to go back. Hmph. *informed me it was the daily deal and let me do the rest

Great reviews, particularly The War of the Worlds. I really want to read that one after enjoying The Time Machine. So many books, so little hours in the day...