I Read an awful lot and a lot of people ask me to recommend books! So I thought i’d kill two birds with one stone and add a page to my Tumblr about the books i’ve read and whether they are worth the read!
One Day by David Nicholls
“Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows? Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY”
One Day i was standing at a train station confronted with a huge orange poster much like the front cover of a book i had bought a year earlier but hadn’t read. So i took it with me to Florida and didn’t put it down. ‘One Day’ was quite a match for Mickey Mouse to steal my affection! I have to say it is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s funny, honest and unbelievably true to life. There were moments i provoked odd looks from passers by when I’d literally laughed out loud and even once, gasped. I felt connected to every character in the book in some way simply because I knew someone exactly like them which made it so enjoyable to read. It’s one of those books you can read over and over again and never tire of it. Often whilst reading the book I forgot what was fiction and what was reality and felt myself feeling the same emotions as the characters even when i wasn’t reading anymore! I am copiously hoping that David Nicholls produces another brilliant read for i am dearly missing the characters of One Day already!
Happy Ever After by Adele Geras
“Once upon a time Megan, Alice and Bella shared the Tower Room. Theirs was an enchanted world, and the deep friendship that grew through the final year of school helped them to survive betrayal, treachery, jealousy and a terrible act of violence.”
I read this book a while ago but i’m still enchanted by it even now. This book is a wonderfully elegant retelling of the stories Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, however, It’s not for the faint hearted, i warn you now. It deals with a lot of modern situations that I’m sure any Disney Princess would blush at the mention of, BUT It really is a brilliantly written read! I guarantee you won’t be let down by Happy Ever After!
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer
“I watched his body change. He crouched on the roof, one hand gripping the edge. All that strange friendliness disappeared, and he was a hunter. That was something i recognized, something i was comfortable with because I understood it. I turned off my brain. It was time to hunt. I took a deep breath, drawing in the scent of blood inside the humans below. They weren’t the only humans around but they were the closest. Who you were going to hunt was the kind of decision you had to make before you scented your prey. It was too late to choose anything now.”
When i finished the Twilight books I felt a sharp pang of loss. No more new stories of Edward, Bella and Jacob. So when I saw that Bree Tanner’s story was told in an all new novella I was sprinting off to my local shop to snatch my copy off the shelf! As most avid Twilight fans know, Bree Tanner is mentioned briefly in Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight saga. Even before you start the story you know her death is inevitable as you’ve either read Eclipse or you’ve read Stephanie Meyer’s introduction before the book even begins but as the pages flip by, you forget and become so engaged in her character. When the realization hits you that the character you’ve become so attached to for 178 pages is awaiting her death you are likely to shed a few tears! A brilliant, worth-while read for all Twilight fans!
King Dork by Frank Portman
’ “I’m small for my age, uncomfortable in most situations, skinny and awkward. Most of the time, i walk around here feeling like a total idiot.” But when Tom Henderson finds his father’s copy of The Catcher in the Rye, it changes his world. It puts him in the middle of several interlocking conspiracies and at least half a dozen mysteries involving dead peopl, naked people, fake people, ESP, blood, guitars, monks, witchcraft, a devil’s head and Rock & Roll. It appears to be the tip of a very odd iceberg of clues that could help Tom unravel the puzzle of his father’s death, and -bizarrely-reveal the secret of attracting Semi-Hot Girls.’
I read this a few years ago when i was in the heart of my teen years and It made me giggle to my very core. I mean, I thought guys could be dorky but this is on a whole other level! I have to say, at 14 years old i did blush at certain bits that no innocent young girl should exposed to but it is very funny, a little surreal but a real fun read!
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
’ “Sorry, but nothing of much importance ever happened to me…I’m just a girl who forgot to look both ways before she crossed the street.” When Liz is killed in a hit-and-run accident her ‘life’ takes a very unexpected turn. At nearly sixteen she knows she will never get married, never have children, and perhaps never fall in love. but in Elsewhere all things carry on almost as they did on Earth except that the inhabitants get younger, new relationships are formed and old ones, which had been sadly interrupted, are renewed.’
This book filled me with a sadness I’d never known before. The year between 16 and 17 was one of my most memorable so far, so to imagine never have even reached 16 at all is a miserable thought, let alone moving slowly backwards and further away from it! It’s written beautifully however i felt it was a ‘The Lovely Bones’ for a younger audience. However, i enjoyed it immensely and would recommend it to anyone needing a good read!
The Understudy by David Nicholls
‘For Josh harper, being in show-business means money, fame, a beautiful wife, and a lead role on the London stage. For Stephen C. McQueen, it means a disastrous career playing passers-by and dead people. Stephen’s stuck with an unfortunate name, a hopeless agent, a daughter he barely knows, and a job as understudy to Josh harper, the 12th Sexiest Man in the World. And when Stephen falls in love with Josh’s clever, funny wife, Nora, things get even more difficult. but might there yet be a way fro Stephen to get his Big break?’
This is the second novel i’ve read by David Nicholls and I love it just as much as the first. His writing is so true to life and there were moments where i was nodding in agreement with the main character, Steve C. Mcqueen (no relation to the famous one!) because i’d been in the same situation and thought exactly the same things whilst reacting the same way. It’s set in a very familiar setting, The West End, and in a business I know enough about to sympathize with a character that just has no luck whatsoever. So much so he is reduced to playing furry animals in a kid’s TV Show. Whilst reading this book in public, I acquired a few funny looks when I blurted out a snort of laughter at Nicholls’ funny lines and witty characters. I thoroughly enjoyed ‘The Understudy’ and i’ve already started raving about it to friends!
Horns by Joe Hill
’ Ignatius Martin Perrish spent the night drun and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache…and a pair of horns growing from his temples.’
I would write the full blurb but that was all i took for me to buy this book so let’s see if it works for everyone else! It’s rather chunky so I’d recommend reading it when you have a long period of time at home but i’d also suggest reading it before it gets dark! It was the first horror I’d ever read and it certainly gave me chills. It’s a cruel, unsettling and somewhat unfair tale and yet it’s charm is undoubtedly visible. Mysterious and horrifying and a very good read for those of you that like a thrill or love feeling the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end! Brilliantly chilling!
Starter For Ten by David Nicholls
“1985. First-year student and Kate Bush fan Brian falls or beautiful University Challenge queen Alice Harbinson in a brilliant comedy of love, class, growing up and the all-important difference between knowledge and wisdom.”
“Another David Nicholls book?!” I hear you scream! Yes indeed and they just get better and better! ‘Starter For Ten’ is a brilliant read however the main character is a bit of an oddball! Brian Jackson is a lanky and rather geeky boy that is unbelievably socially inept. ‘Starter For Ten’ is filled with cringe-worthy lines and moments that I even flinched at on several occasions! However, because the story is told by this adorable moron, it’s easier to sympathize with him and we see his reasoning behind the ridiculous things he says. The story takes us through his obsession with Kate Bush, the singer and Alice Harbinson, his class mate…both love affairs as unrealistic as each other! The novel really defines the difference between what you learn in class and the natural common sense that managed to skip a generation in the Jackson family. A brilliant read and a real good laugh!
The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan
‘Gwenni Morgan is not like any other girl in her small Welsh town. Inquisitive, bookish and fill of spirit, she can fly in her sleep and loves playing detective. So when a neighbour mysteriously vanished and no one seems to be asking the right questions, Gwenni decided to conduct her own investigation.’
It was only by chance that I stumbled across this book and decided to buy it. I was supposed to be working and when i got there i got a call saying they’d moved the time we were meeting to and hour later. So i walked to the nearest high street, went into the book shop and bought this little gem and i’m so glad i did. It’s a strange tale of a little girl called Gwenni from a small Welsh village who has an odd way of thinking to the rest of her family and peers. A man in her village goes missing and there is some speculation as to whether it is just a missing person case or if it goes deeper than the police originally thought. Gwenni has this delicious curiosity that I found myself feeding off of throughout the book. She digs through her family’s past and uncovers secrets: some horrible and some that she can’t understand why they were secrets in the first place. Gwenni also has this fantastic imagination. She thinks she can fly in her sleep and even though her neighbours and her own mother thinks she’s ‘odd’, she continues to believe in her own imagination and the reality of it.
Gwenni’s naivety is so refreshing and I found it quite uplifting to read a book from a child’s point of view. Children’s thoughts are so good and so in the interest of other people, it’s sad to think that we all grow out of that and become slightly more cynical and less trusting of the goodness in other people. Her family is on the brink of turning upside down and even though it effects Gwenni so directly, she finds it easy to push herself back on her feet and cling onto the people that love her as much as she loves them. Gwenni finds the good in even the worst situations and it gave me such delight to read her points of view on the darkest of subjects. I very much hope that the author, Mari Strachan, actually knows a girl like Gwenni because i dearly want to believe there are people like that out there. If the real Gwenni is out there, i hope she grows up keeping that frame of mind and teaches other to do so as well.
Hammer: A novel of The Victorian Underworld
‘Grace Hammer lives a sweet enough life with her children in London’s dank and dirty East End, dipping the pockets of wealthy strangers foolish enough to venture there. She keeps a clean house and a tight hold of her magpie nature, restricting her interests to wallets and pocket watches. At night she dreams of shiny things.
Out in the dark countryside Mr Blunt rocks in his seat by the firs, grinding his teeth. He has never forgotten his scarlet treasure, or the harlot who stole it from him. At night he dreams of slitting he lily-white throat…’
The victorian era has always been a huge interest of mine. It’s not the upper class finery that draws me in, but the gritty underworld. The street urchins, the taverns, the ladies of the night, the murders, the burglaries…i’m a sucker for a good story and they all seem to be hidden in the back alley’s of East End Victorian London. I was drawn to ‘Hammer’ like a moth to a flame. I’m the worst for imaging myself as the heroine and when I saw the drawing of the woman with my hair on the cover, I knew i’d be in for an adventure! Not to mention the heroine is one of the best I have read about in a long time. She’s tough, knows how to kick arse but she’s a lady through and through, drawn to fancy jewels and gems and amongst the suspicious miscreants of London, Grace herself is a diamond in the rough.
This novel starts when Grace steals a trinket of great value from the wrong man. Grace is a very spirited, humourous woman, but no story is complete without a twist in the tale. When Mr Blunt comes looking for her it becomes fast pace, heart stopping and truly terrifying at times. Grace has a family of four light-fingered, quick-witted children and although from different fathers, they are a close knitted family, constantly on the look out for each other as families should be and as this one needs to be with Mr Blunt and his knife on the loose. Sara Stockbridge, depicts victorian London perfectly, describing every brick, back alley, sight, smell and acquaintance so thoroughly, you feel like an onlooker in the pub, watching Grace flirt with Jack, the rough-and-tumble heart throb that every novel needs. Stockbridge was the muse to the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and has now become the muse to many aspiring writers with this fabulous novel. I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Hammer: A novel of the Victorian Underworld’ and I can guarantee you a fast paced story filled with lust, burglary and style.
Eat. Pray. Love by Elizabeth Glibert
‘Elizabeth is in her thirties, settled in a large house with a husband who wants to start a family. But she doesn’t want any of it. A bitter divorce and a rebound fling later, Elizabeth emerges battered yet determined to find what she’s been missing.
So begins her quest. In Rome, she indulges herself and gains neraly two stone. In India, she finds enlightenment through scrubbing temple floors. Finally in Bali, a toothless medicine man reveals a new path to peace, leaving her ready to love again.’
Now this is my kind of autobiography! I saw the film first and even though the critics gave it a bit of a bashing, in all honesty, I liked it! The book was an impulse buy at £4.97 with any other purchase but I ended up reading it before the book I’d actually gone into Waterstones to buy.
The novel is separated into three parts: Italy, India and Bali and each part has 36 chapters plus an epilogue which, in total, equals 109. Miss Gilbert explains at the beginning of the book that 109 is the number of beads that makes up the Japa Malas (a string of beads used in prayer of meditation). Before Elizabeth has started her story, I felt as if she’d shared part of her spiritual experience in such a simple and clever way. It made me feel uplifted and ready to take on the new, exotic ideas and cultures that would be thrown at me in this book.
Italy truly made my mouth water. Now, Julia Roberts is a skinny-pinny so she could afford to put on two stone as Elizabeth Gilbert did on her four month long trip to Rome. Somehow, I don’t think I could be as reckless, however, I was tempted at the leisurely idea of living alone in the most romantic city in the world, learning the language, eating the food and soaking in the romance.
India was a shock contrast. Miss Gilbert stays in an ashram, a place of worship and meditation where she has to scrub temple floors to earn her lodgings. The description and pictures painted for me were breathtaking. Glibert’s humour is irresistable as she struggles with teaching her busy, erratic mind the art of meditation but she soon finds enlightenment, as did I along with her.
Bali is Elizabeth’s place of balance. Or as I saw it, her place of romance. No novel is complete without a little bit of lovey-dovey in my opinion and by the time Elizabeth and I got to Bali, I felt lonely without it! However, she finds it just at the right time with the help of ‘toothless medicine man’ Ketut. I’m glad this was an autobiography because knowing there is a man out there like dear, little Ketut makes me feel a lot happier about the world.
The people Gilbert meets on her journey were such a joy to read about and I feel if I were to ever meet the real people, they’d feel like long lost friends. I urge you to read this book. Especially if you are a woman. It’s something every female needs to read just to uncover that sense of adventure and freedom in all of us that most of us so rarely let out of it’s box.
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