Whatsonyourbookshelfchallenge – Page 2

What’s on my Bookshelf – September

Another month has gone by since this challenge started and it’s been a bit of a slack one for me regarding books! I have read a couple but not as many as I normally do. Too much has been on the TV lately keeping me otherwise occupied.

I have just finished a marvellous book by Carrie Kablean, an author previously unknown to me.

I enjoyed this book so much and couldn’t wait to get back to it every night! It’s all about the youngest but one of the Bennet sisters from Pride and Prejudice. I have read similar books about Mary but not about Kitty. It starts at the end of Pride and Prejudice where everybody is still getting over the embarrassment and shame of Lydia’s running off with Wickham. Carrie Kablean describes each scene with wonderful detail and stays true to the style of Jane Austen. Definitely 5 stars from me.

A book from last month that I did not mention before was The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve. I had forgotten I had downloaded this sample over a year ago and have no reason why it was never read! But I’ve rectified that now and it was an amazing read. There are several publications but this is the cover I like best.

This story is set around a true event in 1947 Maine, USA. A massive fire wiped out nine towns and killed 16 people. It has a very slow burn (excuse the pun) and build up to the actual fire itself. The main person is Grace, a young woman with two children in a stifling marriage. It was another satisfying read for me. Sad to say that Anita Shreve passed away a few years ago, but I’ve enjoyed many of her other books.

Books I’m reading now

I’m finding it hard to finish The Book of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel, set in wartime France during the occupation of the Nazis. It’s a bookclub choice so I must try and get on and finish it. It’s just not grabbing me.

The Hoarder’s Widow – Allie Cresswell is one I’ve just started – yes I always have two or three on the go at once! So far so good and I love this author.

I am enjoying this challenge first mentioned by Debbie from Deb’s world. I do like reading book reviews to see if I share these views or not. Sometimes I’m definitely a standalone in my views but as I mentioned before life’s too short to read a bad book. I find it hard to start a new book no matter how excited I am, especially after finishing a brilliant one.

This is a new challenge for me and it’s hosted by Deb over at Deb’s World with a few other bloggers. It’s called What’s on your Book Shelf.

I love reading and have always done so, ever since I could read. I enjoy a good crime novel and I think the earliest ones I ever read were the Enid Blyton Famous Five books and Secret Seven. I really wanted to be in those gangs and they fired up my imagination to search for more of the same. Then came Agatha Christie and I don’t think I ever guessed who did it.

These days I read all types of fiction books which is my preference, rather than an autobiography or non-fiction.

I’ve just read the following three books.

They are about three different women, Jocelyn, Georgina and Evelyn.

The House in the Hollow

This is the first in the trilogy. It’s mainly about Jocelyn who is banished to Tall Chimneys. We don’t find out the reason until later on in the story. She is humiliated and dishonoured and sent to live with just a few staff in the North of England. It is set in the Regency period where appearances matter above all else.

I loved this book and was transported back to a time when women were just puppets made to do as they were told by the men in their lives.

The Lady in the Veil

This is the second one and it does say it’s a stand alone but it would definitely make more sense to read the first. In this book we also don’t find out until later on why Georgina insists on wearing a veil. It is set in the year 1835 and not much has changed for women who still continue to do as their male relatives tell them. I enjoyed this book very much and it was a definite change from the usual psychological thrillers I usually read.

Tall Chimneys

Tall Chimneys is set at a much later period, just before and during the second world war. This can be read as a standalone. It is about Evelyn who is banished to Tall Chimneys as the family don’t quite know what to do with her. I enjoyed this one the most as I felt I really got to know Evelyn and her trials and tribulations against the men in her life and how much her home meant to her.

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Another book I also loved is the first novel by Chris Whittaker called Tall Oaks. Last year I read another one by him called We Begin at the End, this would be one of my all time favourite novels. What a talented author this man is to be able to write from a 14 year old girl’s viewpoint. They are both contemporary fiction and each features a police officer trying to solve a crime. Both have twists that I didn’t see coming.

I do belong to a book club and we meet once a month, usually in a cafe or in the house of whoever chose the book. It is called the Dancing Queens Book Club because we mainly all met at zumba!

We chose our books around two months in advance. Some of the books I love but some are DNF’s! which is a bit slack of me, but life is too short to read something I can’t get into. It’s one of the reasons I love my kindle as I can download samples to see if they grab me or not. I can usually get a feel of whether I’m going to enjoy the book by the first chapter although I do try and give it the 100 page test.