50 books
Time for another update of my reading! To save space, my reviews of the following books are under the cut:
'The Light Fantastic' by Terry Pratchett
'The Secret Scripture' by Sebastian Barry
'Flying Under Bridges' by Sandi Toksvig
'Crazy in Love' by Chrissie Manby
'Risk' by Dick Francis
'Company of Liars' by Karen Maitland'
Read more here
'The Light Fantastic’ by Terry Pratchett - 4/5
The second in the Discworld series, this novel follows Rincewind on his inept adventures. Fans of the series and the hapless wizzard will no
doubt enjoy it, but it’s not one of my favourites (while still being leaps and bounds ahead of most other books!) I would recommend ‘Witches Abroad’ or ‘The Hogfather’ if you’re just starting out with Pratchett. And if you are, I envy you - you have many happy hours reading ahead!
‘The Secret Scripture’ by Sebastian Barry - 4/5
This novel has a dual narrator - the psychiatrist Dr Greene, and his patient, Roseanne. The psychiatric hospital where Roseanne lives and Dr
Greene works is being pulled down and he must reassess her to decide if she can be freed or moved into a new institution. Meanwhile, Roseanne is secretly recording her life before the hospital, and hiding the papers under the floorboards. This book is really quite poignant, with some good twists as well. It actually had me looking forward to the long bus journey to work!
‘Flying Under Bridges’ by Sandi Toksvig - 3.5/5
With its bright blue cover, this jumped off the Oxfam bookshelf into my hands. This book starts with Eve, in prison for killing her daughter’s fiancé, and Inge, an Olympic gold medallist turned sports reporter trying to be coerced into hosting a panel show. Or is it a game show? The dual narrator is interesting, and Eve’s portion is told through flashbacks from prison. While this is good at explaining the reasons for her behaviour, and exploring the mind of the middle-aged woman, I’m not wholly sure I enjoyed knowing the ending from the beginning. Call me a traditionalist, I suppose.
‘Crazy in Love’ by Chrissie Manby - 4/5
Utterly pointless fluff chick-lit, but well-written and once I got into it I couldn’t put it down. The story centres on rich, self-obsessed Birdie
Sederburg, golf-heiress, and her extreme attempts to ensnare the man of her dreams. Of course, there are plenty of OTT situations, and Birdie learns a lot of lessons along the way. Birdie actually starts out as a very unpleasant character, and I found it quite difficult to warm to her, but as the novel progressed I got sucked in.
‘Risk’ by Dick Francis - 4/5
A part-time jockey, full-time accountant gets embroiled in a dastardly plan in this short novel. Same as all the rest of Francis’ books, then! I’m a serial Francis reader (I always have one in my suitcase when I go on holiday), but in case you’re not, this is a crime/mystery novel with a horsey slant. Francis’ writing skips along and it’s very easy to devour one of his books in a day.
'Company of Liars’ by Karen Maitland - 4/5
Set in England at the time of the plague, this novel explores the lives and secrets of a band of travellers trying to outrun ‘the pestilence’. The story is told in first person by the character Camelot, a figure we’re inclined not to completely trust, drawing the reader in to the tangled web of lies. A thick tomb of a book, this took me several weeks to get into, but after the first 100 pages or so, I was hooked - seriously, I read about 350 pages in a weekend (unusual for me!).
Total: 25/50
Halfway through the year, and halfway through my target! Not bad :)
'The Light Fantastic' by Terry Pratchett
'The Secret Scripture' by Sebastian Barry
'Flying Under Bridges' by Sandi Toksvig
'Crazy in Love' by Chrissie Manby
'Risk' by Dick Francis
'Company of Liars' by Karen Maitland'
Read more here
'The Light Fantastic’ by Terry Pratchett - 4/5
The second in the Discworld series, this novel follows Rincewind on his inept adventures. Fans of the series and the hapless wizzard will no
doubt enjoy it, but it’s not one of my favourites (while still being leaps and bounds ahead of most other books!) I would recommend ‘Witches Abroad’ or ‘The Hogfather’ if you’re just starting out with Pratchett. And if you are, I envy you - you have many happy hours reading ahead!
‘The Secret Scripture’ by Sebastian Barry - 4/5
This novel has a dual narrator - the psychiatrist Dr Greene, and his patient, Roseanne. The psychiatric hospital where Roseanne lives and Dr
Greene works is being pulled down and he must reassess her to decide if she can be freed or moved into a new institution. Meanwhile, Roseanne is secretly recording her life before the hospital, and hiding the papers under the floorboards. This book is really quite poignant, with some good twists as well. It actually had me looking forward to the long bus journey to work!
‘Flying Under Bridges’ by Sandi Toksvig - 3.5/5
With its bright blue cover, this jumped off the Oxfam bookshelf into my hands. This book starts with Eve, in prison for killing her daughter’s fiancé, and Inge, an Olympic gold medallist turned sports reporter trying to be coerced into hosting a panel show. Or is it a game show? The dual narrator is interesting, and Eve’s portion is told through flashbacks from prison. While this is good at explaining the reasons for her behaviour, and exploring the mind of the middle-aged woman, I’m not wholly sure I enjoyed knowing the ending from the beginning. Call me a traditionalist, I suppose.
‘Crazy in Love’ by Chrissie Manby - 4/5
Utterly pointless fluff chick-lit, but well-written and once I got into it I couldn’t put it down. The story centres on rich, self-obsessed Birdie
Sederburg, golf-heiress, and her extreme attempts to ensnare the man of her dreams. Of course, there are plenty of OTT situations, and Birdie learns a lot of lessons along the way. Birdie actually starts out as a very unpleasant character, and I found it quite difficult to warm to her, but as the novel progressed I got sucked in.
‘Risk’ by Dick Francis - 4/5
A part-time jockey, full-time accountant gets embroiled in a dastardly plan in this short novel. Same as all the rest of Francis’ books, then! I’m a serial Francis reader (I always have one in my suitcase when I go on holiday), but in case you’re not, this is a crime/mystery novel with a horsey slant. Francis’ writing skips along and it’s very easy to devour one of his books in a day.
'Company of Liars’ by Karen Maitland - 4/5
Set in England at the time of the plague, this novel explores the lives and secrets of a band of travellers trying to outrun ‘the pestilence’. The story is told in first person by the character Camelot, a figure we’re inclined not to completely trust, drawing the reader in to the tangled web of lies. A thick tomb of a book, this took me several weeks to get into, but after the first 100 pages or so, I was hooked - seriously, I read about 350 pages in a weekend (unusual for me!).
Total: 25/50
Halfway through the year, and halfway through my target! Not bad :)