Top 5 – Books Awards 2011

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I started Bundleofbooks in April, so it’s not quite a year of reading – but oh! what books I have read in the last nine months! I have re-read old favourites such as Daphne Du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn and Rebecca and discovered some incredible authors; Margaret Atwood and Isabel Allende. I’ve finally got around to reading books that have been on my To Read list for years; Brick Lane, Naples ’44 and Sense and Sensibility. I’ve had a giggle with Bill Bryson and Douglas Adams and suffered moments of depression with Cormac McCarthy and Graham Greene.

Through all the delights, tears, fears, laughs and yawns I have had a wonderful year of reading! So without further ado, I would like to welcome you to the Book Awards – 2011 where I have chosen the best (and worst) books from my 2011 reading list!

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Adaptations – Sense and Sensibility 2008 vs 1995

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For Advent with Austen, I decided upon two versions of Sense and Sensibility to watch; the much loved 1995 adaptation with some very talented actors, and the more recent 2008 BBC TV serial. Having heard good things about the 2008 adaptation, I decided to start with that one. The episodes were also a perfect length to look forward to after work for a few nights.

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Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

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Pride and Prejudice is the most popular of Austen’s novels and the most re-told. Therefore, when I first read it quite a few years ago I was determined to not like it! When I look back on my feelings of the book, I thought Elizabeth Bennet was selfish, rude and not at all a heroine for women to be proud of. Now that I have read the book a second time, I am rather ashamed.

I think the reason the plot has translated so well to all sorts of different fan fictions and adaptations is because it is a story that can be believed in the modern day. Elizabeth Bennet is the second eldest in a family of five sisters. She is a good natured, pretty young woman who knows her own mind and is not afraid to show it. On first meeting the rich and exceedingly proud Mr. Darcy, she takes an immediate dislike to him, but who would blame her after he insults her quite openly? This dislike is carried on through most of the book, even as Mr. Darcy’s feeling towards her change. Continue reading →

I Came, I Saw – Norman Lewis

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After reading the excellent Naples ’44, I was eager to read more by Norman Lewis. So when I was exploring my mum’s bookshelves the other day, I was pleased to find a dusty copy of I Came, I Saw, which I quickly saved from a life of being hidden behind many other dusty books. Naples ’44 means a lot to me because it was written about a time and place that was significant for my family. It is well written and honest. I’m glad to say that Lewis hadn’t lost his writing skills when he sat down to create this autobiography. (NOTE: I Came, I Saw is a republication of Jackdaw Cake, published in 1985 – I Came, I Saw has an extra fifty pages about Lewis’ time in South Italy in the 1960s and 1970s). Continue reading →

Persuasion – Jane Austen

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I like to think of Persuasion as a bit of a back-to-front love story. There is no gradual falling in love and no eyelash fluttering flirtations leading up to an engagement – at least not for Anne, the pretty and polite protagonist. There may be girlish flirtations and gossip involving the other girls in her circle, but Anne’s heart was taken seven long years earlier, and now can never love another. The man in question is Frederick Wentworth, a good looking and decent enough man, but who at the time had “nothing but himself to recommend him”. At the age of nineteen, young Anne was persuaded by her father and her loyal friend Lady Russell to pull out of the engagement. Continue reading →

The Owl Service – Alan Garner

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I bought this book on Amazon in a frenzy of excitement after reading some reviews raving about how fantastic it was. When I settled myself down comfortably to read The Owl Service, I thought I was in for a real treat, so maybe my expectations were a bit too high from the very beginning.

Supposedly a book to be enjoyed by both children and adults, the idea behind The Owl Service is wonderful. It’s set in a secluded cottage in a beautiful valley in Wales. This is the perfect setting for eerie and magical happenings and when there are mysterious scratching noises coming from the attic, the reader can’t help but feel a bit of a shiver down the spine. Continue reading →

Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen

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When I found out it was the 200th anniversary of this much celebrated classic, I immediately hurried to my bookshelf to check that I still had my, as yet, unopened copy. With a thrill of excitement, I found it among all of my other unread books. Now you may be shocked, but I have never actually read Sense and Sensibility. It’s one of those books that has been on my To Read list ever since I can remember, so it was nice to have an excuse to finally read it!

I loved the 1995 film adaptation when I was younger, even if I didn’t understand all the complicated love triangles. The pretty costumes and idyllic locations were what appealed to me most. So I was very happy to discover that the book itself recreated the lovely surroundings of the cottage at Barton with all the warmth that I remembered. Continue reading →

The Guardian Review Book of Short Stories – Various Authors

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Last month was The Guardian Book Season – A very exciting thing for bookworms all over Britain and beyond. It included a huge book swap, which book lovers across the UK got involved in, leaving their used books on park benches, at bus stops and in coffee shops. A @GdnBookSwap Twitter account was opened and photos of dropped and found books popped up everywhere.

Unfortunately I was not lucky enough to find a book, but I did leave a couple of my own lying around for others, wanting to spread the joy of reading. It is lovely to celebrate something as important as reading and to get people involved in sharing their favourite books. Hopefully it also encouraged people, who wouldn’t normally, to pick up a book and start to read. Continue reading →

The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty

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I don’t usually go out of my way to read something spooky for Halloween, but I needed an excuse to read The Exorcist, which I bought on a whim from a charity shop years ago. I hadn’t actually realised it was a book, having only heard of the film, banned for being shocking and obscene. And so I started reading, feeling a bit nervous and hoping that I would not be spending the next week having nightmares.

I was surprised to find that the book wasn’t actually all that scary. There were moments where I thought something terrifying was on the verge of happening, but then the tension petered out and I was left feeling a mixture of mild disappointment and extreme relief. This seemed to be a pattern in The Exorcist. There would be a slow lead up, with gradually more tension filling the pages, until the reader is on the edge of their chair and peering through fingertips. Then everything would stop, the child would fall asleep and it would be back to the beginning for the boring lead up to start all over again. Continue reading →

Girl Meets Boy – Ali Smith

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I have read three of Ali Smith’s books now and one thing that has always hit me, is that she captures the world of teenagers and young people exceptionally well. She portrays their hopes, dreams, innocence, uncertainties, frustrations and self doubts all at the same time, producing work which brings together jumbled emotions and wrapping them up, creates a non-patronising representation of what it is like to be young. Smith’s style is in complete harmony with the subjects that she writes about. It is fresh and often dreamlike, gracefully arranged, making the words flow across the page like poetry. Continue reading →