Oh dear, I haven’t written anything in ages. I had a brief hiatus (for a few weeks) when I didn’t read anything, but mostly I prioritised work and other such distractions. So this post is by way of a catch up.
Books read since last I posted;
- Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill
- The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
- Look Who’s Back by Timur Vermes
- Darkmouth by Shane Hegarty
- Ancillary Sword by Anne Leckie
- All The light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Actually, I suppose as a snapshot it shows a little of how eclectic my reading can be.
Only Ever Yours, is a dark young adult book. Yet another dystopian world, this one with shades of Scott Westerfeld’s ‘Uglies’ world, where young women compete to find their place in a male dominated society. It’s a sad, frightening existence, made more so because it takes amplifies and builds on many of the issues faced by young women today. It really is a speculative indictment of what some young women expect of themselves, of youth culture, of celebrity culture. As a youth worker I see many facets of the characters lives mirrored (obviously in a much less extreme way) in teens I work with. For that reason I finished the book feeling depressed. It is a book to be admired rather than enjoyed.
The Silkworm is an enjoyable crime novel written by JK Rowling under her Robert Galbraith pseudonym. It’s the second novel featuring likeable character Cormoran Strike. The writing and plot is clever, and fans of crime fiction this should be a treat. Crime fiction is probably a genre I don’t read a huge amount of, but this more than kept my attention and I fairly flew through it.
Darkmouth is the latest children’s fiction sensation from Ireland, following the success of the Artemis Fowl and Skulduggery Pleasant series’. Darkmouth is a small town in Ireland where the last Legend Hunter and his son Finn, live. There’s plenty of humour and drama here to keep the most discerning of young teen or tween engrossed. I’m sure many parents will enjoy reading this book and any subsequent episodes to follow along with their children. The scary monsters are sometimes a little scary and sometimes really not, so if looking for an excuse to read it, checking its suitability for your child is as good a reason as any.
I was looking forward to reading Look Who’s Back for ages after seeing the larger paperback version in my local bookshop. Alas the anticipation didn’t quite match the reality. It was ok. I liked it. But it wasn’t great. 2 and half to three out of five I’d say. I was looking forward to something really funny, and a scathing attack on modern politics. There were some humourous parts, and it did have a dig at 2015 Germany, but like I’ve said, it never quite hit the heights I was hoping for. There’s probably some sort of lesson about not judging a book by its cover, but who among us hasn’t fallen for that one? It’s also probably a bit unfair to judge it on what I was hoping for rather than what it was.
Ancillary Sword on the other hand met my expectations. I loved Ancillary Justice. It was one of my favourite books of last year, so I was really pleased to find the standard hadn’t dropped. If you don’t like science-fiction, you should probably leave it alone. But sci-fi fans will lap it up. Intelligent space Opera.
The last book in this round-up is All The Lights We Cannot See, and I think I’ll give that a little post all of its own. Spoiler alert though. I loved it. Best book I’ve read in 2015, beautifully written and captivating story.
Passing time 