fiction

And the Mountains Echoed – Khaled Hosseini

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This book opens in a small Afghan village with a father telling his son and daughter a bedtime story. It’s not a happy story and sets the tone for a tear-jerking novel.

Abdullah and his sister Pari have a special bond and when life tears them apart, the story branches off into the lives of many other characters, all with some (often very tenuous) link to the children.

There’s no doubt that Khaled Hosseini can set a scene. He brings characters and their worlds to life. And for the first third of the novel, I was swept up in the stories of villagers from Shadbagh. Continue reading →

Flowers For Algernon – Daniel Keyes

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Flowers for Algernon is a brilliant choice for a book club but not so easy to review. There’s so much to discuss, but I’d hate to give anything away. So please proceed with caution…

This real tearjerker of a read is written in diary entries, or ‘progress reports’, by Charlie Gordon who, at the start of the book, has an IQ of 68 and limited understanding of the world around him. During the day he sweeps the floors of a bakery and in the evening he attends a school for people with learning difficulties. His unflinching desire to learn and be ‘smart’, leads him to be chosen for an experimental operation to increase his intelligence. As he notes down his progress, changes become apparent. At first it’s improved spelling and grammar, but soon Charlie is absorbing new information like a sponge. Continue reading →

When God Was a Rabbit – Sarah Winman

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I simply adore this book. It appeared as if by magic on my shelf and introduced me to a wonderful, if strange, family and their eventful lives. The writing is delightful, humorous and almost whimsical, but there is a darkness running through the book, allowing the reader to truly feel invested in the characters and their lives.

Starting in Essex in the early 1970’s, we meet narrator Elly as a young child. Her family comes with baggage in the form of dysfunctional parents and a misfit older brother. When a disturbing incident occurs, it’s Elly’s brother Joe that looks out for her. He buys her a pet rabbit which they decide to name ‘God’, much to the disapproval of Elly’s school teacher. Continue reading →

The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham

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I so enjoyed John Wyndham’s classic tale set in a post-apocalyptic Britain. It’s such a ridiculous premise – the world goes blind overnight and gets taken over by giant flesh-eating plants – but somehow Wyndham makes it work.

We meet the narrator, Bill Mason, in a hospital bed in London, where he is recovering from an eye operation. He soon realises something is terribly wrong, and it’s a familiar scene, as he goes through the steps of confusion, denial and then dawning realisation that the world will never be the same again.

I have a fascination for this type of story. It’s not so much the monsters or strange supernatural events, but rather the exploration of how people cope with it. Continue reading →

The Power – Naomi Alderman

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Over February and March, I’ve been participating in the #readforwomen hashtag on Instagram, set up by sarasreadingdiary to celebrate the 100th anniversary of some women getting the right to vote in the UK. This means reading only women writers for two months, which hasn’t been a struggle as I read a lot by women anyway. However, I have been more mindful than usual, trying to find books that might fit into the theme of feminism.

I kicked off with The Power, the book on everyone’s lips at the moment. And what a powerful start to the challenge! The novel explores a grim world where gender roles have been reversed Continue reading →

Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

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I grew up watching the 1968 film Oliver! but for some reason only bought a copy of the book last year. The magic of the film has stayed with me throughout my life. When I was little I loved the fact that it was both frightening and funny, and I still can’t get enough of the wonderful songs!

Perhaps because of the music and singing, I was always under the impression that Oliver Twist was a children’s book. However it’s much grittier and at times downright gruesome. There’s also less laugh-out-loud humour, which is replaced by sharp and dark satire. In fact, the book is simply dripping with sarcasm, showing Dickens’ total disgust of the workhouse and justice systems of the time. Continue reading →

The Silent Companions – Laura Purcell

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I bought this book purely for its prettiness, but it turned out to be a situation of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’.

I read it in November on my mini honeymoon to Český Krumlov, a fairytale-like town in the South Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. I often crave dark, mysterious novels in the autumn and The Silent Companions sounded like just the thing, with reviews promising a haunting Gothic tale.

At first I thought I was in luck. The book was easy to get into with a sinister plot and an atmospheric setting. In fact, it kept my attention all through the train journey. However, after the scene had been set, I was disappointed to find the book was full of clichés and obvious plot twists. Continue reading →

Human Croquet – Kate Atkinson

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The acorns and conkers decorating the cover of this book led me to believe it would be a perfect read to kick-off  the autumn. Human Croquet certainly had that fairy-tale quality that I crave when the weather turns, but I did feel that something was missing.

I’d hoped that Human Croquet would live up to the brilliance of Kate Atkinson’s more recent novel, Life After Life. Unfortunately I didn’t get off to a good start. In fact, it took about 90 pages to get into the book, even though I could see it had lots of promise. There was just about enough to intrigue me and keep me turning the pages, but it’s hard to ignore such a slow start. Continue reading →

Nod: A Novel – Adrian Barnes

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I’m one of those people that really appreciates a full eight hours of sleep. When I have a bad night, everyone suffers the next day. I become grumpy and impatient – I’m sure it’s no fun to be around me! So imagine if the whole world suddenly became insomniac. How quickly would society break down? The answer is very quickly.

Welcome to Nod, a world where only one in every thousand can sleep.

A depressing choice for a holiday read this might be, but I found myself oddly drawn to the plight of the narrator. Paul, a sleeper and a writer, records his experiences in this new world of chaos, while trying to survive long enough to outlive the zombie-like awakened. Continue reading →

Where’d You Go, Bernadette – Maria Semple

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I was very pleased to spot Where’d You Go, Bernadette on the bookshelf of my B&B in Edinburgh. I snapped it up and jumped right into it on my flight home. It’s a perfect aeroplane book – so easy to get into and with a simple, but catchy storyline.

It also contains some wonderful characters. Bernadette being my favourite, with her big sunglasses, silk scarves and eccentric personality. She doesn’t fit in with her neighbours in Seattle and  the other mothers of Galer Street school resent her. This leads to some very comical arguments between Bernadette and an especially unlikable Audrey Griffin. Continue reading →