chaliepud

All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr Goodreads synopsis - Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When Marie-Laure is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris, and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge. Well, I finished it but I have to say, disappointingly, I wasn't overly impressed. The book is written in very short chapter form, sometimes just a page, switching between 2 main characters, and occasionally another, and this bothered me greatly as I felt I wasn't able to get into either one of their stories properly. The book was interesting and the writing was great and at moments I found myself loving it but then it would go downhill again and at times I found the story dull and offering nothing new to the WWII angle. I did like the Marie Laure, Papa, Etienne side of the story and those characters were probably the only thing that kept me going. The Werner angle was, whilst believable, uninteresting and dragged on and became repetitive. The fact that it took me two weeks to read speaks for itself, I may not be the fastest reader but generally a good book will have me reading at every opportunity thus speeding up the process. 6/10

I finished All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, I liked it but it didn't live up to the hype for me. I'm now starting The Girls from Corona Del Mar by Rufi Thorpe.

I'm still battling through when I have the time (school holidays have started, eek!!) Hopefully by tomorrow I can give you a final opinion. Hopefully you will enjoy The Nightingale, I can't help thinking it is a very 'female' book though..only time will tell!

Welcome. Is your username Miranda Shell or Miranda's Hell? I'm presuming the former?

About two thirds of the way through (third diamond part) . It's picking up more for me now but still not keen on the very short chapters. Hope to finish in the next couple of days, will attempt a short review!

Brilliant Gaia!

I think I am going to read it Kylie, with a little trepidation but then I am always like that if I have liked an authors other novels and don't want the next to be a disappointment (yes, Sebastian Faulks, that comment is aimed at you, be more consistent man! ) I read the first chapter in The Guardian yesterday and am a little intrigued so will buy it in the not too distant future I suspect, Thursday probably when I will not be able to ignore it as I walk past Waterstones! I have to admit that Attitcus wasn't my favourite character in TKAM anyway, I always felt there was something a little too perfect about him, so I would be eager to read how he behaves in this book. (I have been very careful to avoid spoilers so I'm not too sure what people have been saying though to be honest).

I just read the first chapter, not what I was expecting at all but definitely intriguing!

Playing it Cool with Chris Evans, a surprisingly good low budget film, great soundtrack, funny, a bit odd, loved it!

Not too much rain here (Surrey) but the humidity is horrible, I've had a dull headache for over a week now and I'm sure it's because it is so humid as I normally get one before a thunderstorm. Make sure mind up weather, let's have a good storm or roll the sun back out please!

Not reading but I have had the go ahead for a new bookcase! Am waiting for my Mum to order it as she gets a discount so please everyone keep fingers crossed that they have it in stock when she goes in store on Wednesday.. Is it crazy to be excited about a bookcase?!

These were the best of my WWI/WWII reads, all 5* books in my lowly opinion. WWI Birdson - Sebastian Faulks Half of the Human Race - Anthony Quinn Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo The MoonField - Judith Allnatt The Girl You Left Behind - Jojo Moyes All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque WWII The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah The Book Thief - Markus Zusak The Blue Door - Lise Kristensen Night - Elie Wiesel I'm looking forward to adding some of the suggestions above to this list!

Oh that is sad, he can't have been very old if he was still teaching too. I will put Regeneration back onto my wish list, maybe I didn't get into it as it was so soon after reading Birdsong, which had totally blown me away.

Went into Waterstones to buy Looking for Alaska by John Green for my daughter and came out with that and also Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky and Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford. Both look great!

Thanks, I shall put it on my ever expanding wish list!

Claire, would you say it is necessary to read the first book before the second? If so I'll need to buy it!

I got the first chapter in the paper yesterday so will have a read of it today and then decide whether to buy it or not. It cannot possibly live up to the hype, surely?

Dry here at the moment so got the dogs out early before it comes! Wonder if it will affect Wimbledon Mens Final?

Welcome Alice

A large bowl of fruit salad, 3 different melons, strawberries and mango.

Charlie did say that Animal Farm appealed much more to the boys than the girls though. Another of the classes did To Kill A Mockingbird which went down well I think.

That is a big shame, my son did OMAM and Animal Farm for his GCSE this year and loved them both. Waiting to hear what he will be doing for his A Level and what my daughter will be doing for her GCSE now. They really need good books with understandable references!

Thanks.

Is it fiction or non-fiction?

Brilliant Claire, glad it all worked out so well in the end. Hopefully you celebrated with more book purchases?!