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Better make sure this goes up the board as I wont be here to keep nudging it tomorrow.
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Thanks Helen I look forward to your review for water for Elephants
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By the way, you might be amused to hear that, this week, "Water for Elephants" and "The Queens Fool" have finally arrived at my library for me. I think I ordered them in May. Clearly they are embarrassed because I didn't have to pay the reservation fee! I have nearly finished reading "Water for Elephants."
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"Happenstance" by Carol Shields.
My stepmother, a librarian, gave me this novel many years ago so I have read it more than once.
I think this is a brilliant piece of work. I have an edition where, because the two stories were originally published separately, the wife's story begins at one end of the book and the husband's sort begins at the other end of the book and you have to turn the book upside down, if you see what I mean.
My stepmother told me that your view of the characters might change depending on whose story you read first, and she was right. This time I read Jack's story first and I found Brenda shallow and irritating. When in the past I have read Brenda's story first I have always found her to be a bit of a champion!
So the novel is a story of relationships, between husbands and wives, friends, neighbours, colleagues, parents and children. The action is centred around Brenda's going away for a few days to a crafting convention as she has recently become a professional quilter. She is fairly naive and her husband Jack, equally naive, finds the children's personalities and his own relationships with others called into focus while Brenda is away.
It is amazing how so many people live within a social circle and yet none has any real idea of the others. I particularly like Jack and Bernie going to the same tacky restaurant for 20 years yet not really knowing each other, and Brenda sallying forth through the snow wrapped in one of her quilts because her new - and far too expensive raincoat - has vanished.
It's a clever story on many levels but well worth reading. I suppose on reflection it sums up people's self-absorption.
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“The Ice Cream Girls” by Dorothy Koomson
I can’t say I enjoyed this story as the subject matter was both sad and scary; thank-heavens I have never been in this situation.
It was, however, riveting and I read several parts of it more than once to fully understand something I thought I had missed.
Poppy and Serena were very well drawn, I thought, and their different approaches to their relationship with Marcus were well described. I thought that Poppy’s family’s withdrawal from her to preserve their own feelings was very sad because it meant she had no family support.
I did think Poppy’s prison sentence was overly long (but I don’t know anything about sentencing.) And I did like the way that many of the same scenes were described from both Serena’s and Poppy’s point of view.
If you haven’t read this it is worth doing so. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so I will just finish by saying that, when the culprit is finally revealed, it’s a shame that no-one else will ever find out. Or did I miss something else??
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Greaders Review The Distant Hours
An excellent book. Good character descriptions. A mystery to solve, what happened to cause the youngest of the 3 eccentric Blythe sisters to go mad? I found that I didn’t want to put it down yet i didn’t want it to end. Lots of secrets including a murder. I big book and I was amazed that it only took her 10 months to write. It is a book that I will possibly re-read.
Greaders review Light on Snow by Anita Shreve.
A very good read as her books usually are, although I kept looking for a twist but there wasn’t one really. I did like the relationship between father and daughter, although sometimes it was hard to tell who was the adult and who the child. A baby found in the snow, whose was it and why was it left? A tenacious policeman keen to solve the story, but one with a heart. I won’t say more as I don’t want to give the plot away if somebody wants to read it.
And what was really annoying was, when I thought I still had at least 20 pages left to read, it finished. The rest of the book was a forerunner of another book. I felt a bit cheated.
Greaders Review The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale.
Not my favourite book but an interesting one. There was a bit too much technical stuff in it for me. However I found the social history of the eighteenth century in London interesting. I am not sure I liked her style of writing but all in all, worth reading.
Greaders Review the Ice cream girls by Dorothy Koomson
I was totally gripped by the time I had read the first few pages. A real page turner that I was unable to put down.
The portrayal of psychological, mental and physical abuse was so well done it was almost too painful to read.
The characters were beautifully portrayed and were all very believable. And I just loved Conrad, his character was so true to life. What a little charmer. And of course I found Marcus unbelievably cruel as I was supposed to.
I thought Evan’s reaction to the revelation of Serena’s past was very believable, his response of hurt and anger was very true to life and just how somebody would behave.
I did have a few problems at first with sorting out who was narrating what. It is unusual to have a first person novel written from two view points I think. But I was well done and once I got going I got it sorted out OK. In fact after a while I realised that Serina and Poppy actually did ‘speak’ with different voices.
All that and murder too, and who really was responsible?
It must have been quite a daunting book to write as she bears so much responsibility to those who suffer the same situations. I hope people will be helped by the book, either by somebody realising that somebody they know needs their help or by a sufferer realising that they don’t have to suffer.
I liked her paraphrase of the quote in the notes. ‘evil continues to prosper when ordinary people do and say nothing’.
Greaders review Times Legacy by Barbara Erskine.
I always enjoy time slip novels and this one was very good, slipping easily between the 21st century and the life of a female vicar and 25AD and life in Glastonbury where the Druids trained. Conflict in 25AD is between the family of Gaius and Lydia who have fled from Damascus to Glastonbury to escape the evil younger brother and in the 21st century is caused by the doubts forced on Abi by the revelations that she is able to ‘see’ things that have happened having been given a crystal by her mother. Further interest in 25AD is aroused by a gentle stranger to Glastonbury, who is he could He really have travelled to Glastonbury as myths would have. And in the 21st century why is there so much antagonism from Kier who was Abi’s boss. Then there is the perceived parallel with the 21st century to 25AD with the younger brother Justin who does not get along with his brother, who Abi is staying with. Twists and turns, convolutions, BE is so good at it.
A powerful book that really made me think and question if the myths and legends were actual truths Christian values intertwined with Druid and pagan ways. An interesting concept that the Druid (Pagan) gods were the equivalent of Christian angels and that therefore the two ‘religions’ are not exclusive of each other. It was easy to believe that the time slip could have happened and that Yeshua (Jesus) really did visit Glastonbury. (Well we don’t know for sure either way.)
Can crystals be programmed and then read? Maybe, think crystals in radios.
One thing I found hard to believe in was the supposition that Abi was a direct descendant of Mora from 25AD.
I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down, wanted it to finish, yet go on for ever.
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From Greenfingers
Light on Snow By Anita Shreve
from the moment Nicky and her father find an abandoned baby in the snow, their lives gently change, for they are both somehow both taken and shaken by the experience. living as they do as far as they could from local people, so they could block out the past, the arrival of the mother on their doorstep puts their relationship into a new place. I found that the relationship between Nicky and her father was sweet, and he was totally oblivious of the fact that Nicky missed a mother figure, or maybe he did realise but blocked it out. He denies her but not cruelly of TV and all the modern things of life. Naturally the babys mother gets prosecuted, but not before she has left an indelible mark on their lives. I loved the book, encompassing as it does alll the emotions that you could think of, but the father and daughter get closer still and know that the baby will be alright. As a fan of Anitas books I was not disappointed.
The icecream Girls
This is an unusual book in that it deals with the seduction and maniputaltion by an adult male on two misfit teenagers, both very vulnerable. They initiallly have no knowledge of each other and keep their affair with Marcus the teacher to themselves, both believing that he will marry them , even though he does have a wife. I have to say I got confused at times as to which girl was which, as the book goes backwards and forwards in time,, for me there was too much of that and it spoilt what could have been a good story line. The ending only confirmed what I had suspected that the wife had a hand in Marcus death. Overall it was not a book that I enjoyed, and I had hoped too
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Reviews please for Ice cream girls and either Happenstance or Book of Fires and any others from the list that you read.
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