Book Reviews – Page 2 – Travels with Ali

What’s on your Bookshelf – May

Time to review some more books for the WOYB challenge hosted by Debbie, Jo, Sue and Donna and I have three books to share with you this month.

The Match

Not one of Harlan’s best I have to say but I enjoyed it all the same. It’s the second in the series of The Boy From the Woods, a man simply known as Wilde. In this book he finally searches for the truth about himself and finds on a DNA site a 100% match for his father. This is when the trouble starts and he stumbles onto something more. I like the way Harlan Coben writes so will generally read most of his books. 3/5

Such a lovely read, I enjoyed every word as did a friend of mine. Set in 1960s California, it tells the tale of Elizabeth Zott a woman who is a chemist in a man’s world. Having been derailed by the unscrupulous men she works with, Elizabeth finds fame hosting a cooking show using her scientific skills. She has a daughter called Mad, who seems to be a child prodigy and thinks more like a teenager than a five year old. There are many hilarious characters in this book. A good fireside, feet up, rainy day kind of book. 5/5

This book has been on my TBR list for a while now so I took the plunge and dived right in. Set in the summer of 1822 in Edinburgh and the city is all of a dither about the forthcoming visit of George IV. It is about the botanical garden and a very rare plant about to flower. Not all of the characters are fictional and the story has elements of the truth about it. The main characters are just so well written you feel as you know them. Firstly Elizabeth a newly widowed young woman from London who comes to stay with an elderly relation and Belle, a courtesan with a mind of her own. Both women are drawn to each other through their love of plants. I loved this book also and highly recommend it. 5/5

A book that I tried in vain to read as it was for my bookclub was Klara and the Sun by Kashuo Ishiguro. It is about Artificial Friends who are made to live in a family and befriend a young teenager. I just felt that every character in the book was artificial and because it is written from Klara, the Artificial Friend’s point of view, there was no emotion in this book. Whenever I tried to read it, I was left feeling quite empty! It has great reviews so perhaps it was just me.

My A – Z of Favourite Authors ~ F ~

Looking through my “read” titles on my Kindle, I have quite a few for this letter.

Julian Fellowes – Past Imperfect. A very enjoyable read, although it does have very mixed reviews.
Gillian Flynn – All of her books, I am a huge fan.
Lucy Foley – The Hunting Party – A mystery set in the Scottish Highlands.
Ken Follett – Fall of Giants. A fantastic read set before and after World War I, it gave me a greater understanding of why the war started and which countries fought against each other.

I hope you enjoy some of these books as much as I have and find some new authors amongst them.

📚 What’s on your bookshelf – January 📚

Time for another look at December/January books for this month. A challenge hosted by Deb, Sue, Donna and Jo for all of us readers to share our love of books and be inspired to read more through the recommendations. I have found many new books by reading as many posts as I can.

I managed four books this last month, a record for me actually. The first three are all a bit tragic, but were still so enjoyable if that’s possible and I highly recommend them.

A story of three sisters. A tale full of grief and secrets. “When Nell’s father makes a deathbed declaration that hints at a long-held secret, it reignites feelings of isolation that have plagued her for years. Her suspicions about the family’s past only deepen when her mother, Annie, who is losing her memories to dementia, starts making cryptic comments of her own. ” – Goodreads
I enjoyed this story and tried to work out several times what the secret might be. I didn’t guess correctly at all. I would have liked another few pages at the end to see how things went! 4/5

Another tragic one! Not as raw as the first book though. A very strange story indeed and there were some very unpleasant characters in this book. There is a song that is repeated over and over in this book and it drove me a little bit mad. There is a twist in this book as well, kind of easy to spot but still keeps you guessing. Many themes run through this book, grief, loneliness, sexual abuse, bee keeping to name but a few. 4/5

I think this book will be in my top ten favourites of 2022 already. I absolutely loved this book as tragic as it was! Set in a small town in Massachusetts in the late 1950’s through to the 1960’s it centres on Dahlia and Louie, foster parents and their long term foster children. The story is told from the points of view of Dahlia, Zaidie, Jimmy and Agnes. Although tragic there is such heartfelt warmth throughout this story. My favourite character would definitely be Agnes. Patry Francis writes with such depth you can imagine yourself right there alongside these characters. 5/5

Finally getting away from tragedies I ripped through this book in a few days. It is our Book Club book for February but I started early! Such a fun book but also very amoral I suppose. Obviously I can’t condone what Patience did, but who knows if I had the gumption and confidence she had whether I would have done the same. It’s not a long story but very rewarding. 4/5

What’s on your Bookshelf #3 – October

Another month of books reviews from Deb at Debs-World. A challenge Deb and some others are hosting called What’s on your Bookshelf

My bookclub this month chose Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. It’s all about William and Anne Shakespeare and their children, mainly about the death of one of them. Sadly this was a DNF for me. It was just too “purple”, using ten words where one would do. It does have some great reviews, but in amongst all those five stars I spotted a few that thought along the same lines as me!

I have read another book by this author – The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox – which I really enjoyed – 4* from me.

I finished The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, recommended by Deb last month, I can’t say it was a favourite of mine – 3*. I recommended it to a friend and she loved it and has gone onto read the others in the series.

I read another of one of my favourite authors – Allie Cresswell, Relative Strangers. A book about a very dysfunctional family who get together one week in a stately manor for a celebratory anniversary. It ends in carnage and mayhem with some falling out and some getting closer. I enjoyed this book although not as much as her others – 4*.