Top Ten Tuesday - 10 Books with flowers in the title.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This weeks prompt could be anything to do with flowers so I’ve chosen to list books with flowers in the title. Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2003) – An…

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Top Ten Tuesday - Books I DNF

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This weeks list is top ten books I did not finish. It isn’t often that I DNF a book. I’m not sure what I think will happen if I abandon a book but I tend to struggle…

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It's been a while...

I decided this year not to do any reading challenges or make any lists of what I was going to read. I finished the TBR challenge last year but I didn’t finish the blogs so I decided no more challenges. My only plan was to read some of the fatter books on my shelf. I didn’t even sign up to the Goodreads challenge as I find that stressful if I get too far behind – which I would if read some long…

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TBR 10 Yr - You Before Me - Jojo Moyles

Genre: Chick lit, romance, disability Narrative Style: First person from a number of different people, chronological Rating: 2/5 Published: 2012 Format: Kindle Synopsis: Louisa Clark is in need of a new job. The job centre sends her to be carer to quadriplegic, Will Traynor. Will is rude and miserable and at first refuses to acknowledge Louisa. She hates it but perseveres and soon, Will’s…

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TBR 10 Yr - 10. The Thing Around Your Neck - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Genre: Short Stories, African literature Narrative style: Varies Published: 2008 Rating 4/5 Format: Hardback Synopsis: Adichie tells the stories of Nigerians, in Africa and the USA. They are tales of sorrow and longing, about the clash of cultures and the struggle to reconcile them. Time on Shelf: I inherited this from my husband’s aunt in 2014 so a long time. I’m not a huge fan of short…

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TBR Yr 10 - The Feminine Mystique - Betty Friedan

Genre: Feminism, Academic Narrative Style: Academic Published: 1963 Rating: 3/5 Format: Kindle Synopsis: When Friedan does a survey of her old college classmates, she finds most of them are not using their education and she wonders why. She starts to speak to more women and realises that they have put motherhood and having a family first and many of them feel dissatisfied and don’t know why.…

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TBR 10 Yr - The Accidental - Ali Smith

Genre: literary fiction, family, experimental Narrative style: Stream of consciousness from a number of different viewpoints. Rating: 3/5 Published: 2005 Format: Paperback Synopsis: Eve Smart and her family are on holiday in Norfolk when Amber appears at their door. Eve believes she is a student of her womanising husband, Michael. He believes that she has come to interview Eve. Amber is…

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TBR Yr 10 7. No One Here Gets Out Live - Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugarman

Genre: Music, Biography Narrative Style: Third person, chronological Rating: 4/5 Published: 1980 Format: Paperback Synopsis: Jim Morrison, as frontman of The Doors, is instantly recognisable as the creator of a dark and compelling music. His dark good looks pushed him into the role of heartthrob where he would have preferred to be recognised as a poet, a contradiction he never quite managed…

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TBR Yr 10 - 6. The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker

Genre: Magic realism, historical fiction Narrative Style: third person from various viewpoints Published: 2013 Format: Kindle Rating: 5/5 Synopsis: Chava is a golem, made to obey, whose master dies before he has a chance to issue any instructions. Ahmad is a djinni, born into the Syrian desert and trapped in a lamp by a wizard. Both of them find themselves in New York at the start of the…

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TBR Yr 10 5. Black Mischief - Evelyn Waugh

Genre: Satire, Classics Narrative Style: Third person, chronological Rating: 3/5 Published: 1932 Format: Paperback Synopsis: Black Mischief is set on the fictional island of Azania and follows new emperor, Seth as he tries to set up his government and modernise the country. He is aided by his Oxford friend, Basil Seal who sees plenty of possibilities in the new country. Reading challenges:…

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TBR YR 10 - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein

Genre: Science fiction, Classics, Politics Narrative Style: First person, chronological Rating: 4/5 Published: 1966 Synopsis: The moon (Luna) is a former penal colony for Earth. They provide a lot of grain to Earth and are tied into an almost impossible to escape business structure that keeps Luna inhabitants poor and Earth well fed. The Federated Nations refuse to acknowledge Luna as a real…

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TBR 10 Yr - Munich - Robert Harris

Genre: Historical Fiction, Espionage Narrative Style: Third person with viewpoint alternating between two characters. Chronological. Rating: 4/5 Published: 2017 Format: Kindle Synopsis: Hitler is determined to start a war and Chamberlain is determined to stop him. Hugh Legat works as one of the prime minister’s private secretaries. His old friend, Paul Hartman is a German diplomat. They…

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TBR YR 10 - 2. The Man in the Red Coat - Julian Barnes

Genre: Biography, History Narrative Style: Third person Published: 2019 Rating 5/5 Format: Hardback Synopsis: Barnes’ biography of Samuel Pozzi begins with a trip to London by three men – a count, a prince and a commoner – the commoner being Pozzi – and expands to take in the Parisian Belle Epoque. Pozzi is the man in the red coat – one of John Singer Sargent’s greatest portraits. Whilst…

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TBRYear 10 - 1. The Children of Men by P. D. James

Genre: Dystopia Narrative style: Chronological, shifts between first and third person. Rating: 2/5 Published: 1992 Format: Kindle Synopsis: Babies are no longer being born anywhere around the world. This has been so for over 20 years. Theo Faron is merely getting through his days with no hope for the future – either his own or that of civilisation. Then he meets Julian who is part of an…

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TBR Challenge 2023 - Sign up.

TBR Challenge 2023 – Sign up.

Once again, I am going to sign up for the TBR Challenge hosted by Adam at Roof Beam Reader. I haven’t really looked at any other challenges yet but this one is a definite because it means that I will definitely clear some of my TBR pile. Here is my list: The Thing Around Your Neck – Chimananda Ngozi Adichie (2008) Lucky Jim – Kingsley Amis (1954) The Man in the Red Coat – Julian Barnes…

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Round up of last year

Round up of last year

I lost my blogging mojo in the middle of last year. I’m not sure why. I was a little busy but no more than usual. I could have done it but I just couldn’t bring myself to write them. In the end, I wrote the blogs for TBR Challenge 2022 (hosted by Roof Beam Reader) but even then I only just managed to finish by the end of the year. I read the last book – The Princess Bride – by the start of…

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Books Read in 2022 - 30. The Princess Bride - William Goldman

Books Read in 2022 – 30. The Princess Bride – William Goldman

Genre: fantasy, children’s literature, adventure Narrative Style: Third person, chronological with interruptions from the author. Published: 1973 Rating: 3/5 Synopsis: This is the story of Buttercup, the most beautiful girl in the world and the ups and downs of her romance with Westley. It is also the story of Goldman abridging the tale (written by S. Morgenstern) he heard his father tell him…

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