Tag: Booklove

Book Reviews, Uncategorized

Book Review – Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

About the Book

You will certainly have heard about the Austen family or, at the very least, the timeless Jane Austen. Whether you have read her novels, watched Mr Darcy coming out of a lake (and possibly then read the book only to be disappointed that the lake scene never happened), or visited the Jane Austen museum in Bath, everyone at some point in their life will come across the name. However, very few of you, if any, will have heard of Anne Sharp (I certainly hadn’t!). Well, while the story takes place at the Austens’ estate in Godmersham Park, the story is very much Anne Sharp’s.

So, who is Anne Sharp? Well, for starters, she sounds like she has come straight out of a Jane Austen novel – A woman who refused to follow what society expected of her. She refused to marry simply for money or status, and vowed only to marry for love as she felt her mother and father had done. It came as a shock, therefore, when following the death of her mother, her father left her with little support, and a choice: Marry or work as governess at Godmersham park, tutoring young Fanny Austen.

Throughout the chapters, we hear about Anne Sharp’s struggles in navigating the Austen household, including Elizabeth Austen (her stern employer), Henry Austen (brother of Jane Austen, who sets his eyes upon Anne Sharp), and, of course, Jane Austen. 

Note: The story, as Gill Hornby notes, is based on a true story, with the events being taken from Fanny Austen’s journal – However, the rest is imagined.

My Thoughts on the Book

Right from the start, Gill Hornby writes in a way that flows really well and brings the whole scene to life. I can see, in my mind’s eye, the grand manor standing before me. I can see the grounds that they walk around. I can see the characters, their outfits and eccentricities. I can feel Anne’s moments of distress as though I were there with her, and her strength as she refuses to comply with society’s norms. 

One of the greatest pleasures of the book was seeing Jane Austen brought to life as the person I imagined her to be – There was something so invigorating about seeing a character of such humour and wit brought to life before me, and that was what I most loved about the book.

And yet, Gill Hornby doesn’t let Jane steal the limelight. This is about Anne Sharp, afterall. To begin with, Anne isn’t the most endearing of characters, though we do have some sympathy for her. But with each struggle she fights through, with each moment she refuses to be defined, and each time she opens her shell a little bit more, bringing joy to Godmersham Park, we find her growing on us bit by bit until she becomes an inspirational figure. – Anne Sharp, the woman few know, but is rightly brought to life by this superb novel.

The only point I would add about the book is that I can see how it would be more enjoyable to someone such as myself who already had an interest in the Austen family, and therefore enjoyed it from that point of view. And while I think people might still like the story, even if they don’t have such an interest, I do think it probably isn’t for those who are looking for a story full of action and surprise, something that will excite. Though, you never know!

Conclusion

I really enjoyed the book, I thought the story flowed well, and I was intrigued not only about Jane Austen, but also about Anne Sharp’s story and how everything would turn out. Would things at Godmersham Park work out, or would she be forced to find another route? But the best joy was seeing the characters really come to life right before me – For that reason alone, this is a book I would recommend to people (especially those who have an interest in the Austen family).

I hope you enjoyed today’s book blog – My next book blog will be a review of Dominicana by Angie Cruz. Goodbye for now!

TBT 🙂

Book Reviews, Uncategorized

Book Review – The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Hello there, and a Happy New Year! Wherever you are in the world reading this, I hope you had a lovely New year’s Celebration (whether that involved staying in and reading a book, or going out to a New Year’s party) and that you have a great year ahead of you. It is a great time of the year for thinking about and setting intentions for the year ahead and I have spent plenty of time thinking and writing about what my intentions will be for the next year. 

One thing that came to mind is that I would like to spend more time on my book blog. I enjoy reading, I always have and hopefully always will. I rarely, however, make time to actually think about the books I have read, what made them so good (or, in some cases, not so good), what made them connect with me, and what (if anything) I learned and could take away from the book. That was largely why I set up this book blog in the first place, along with sharing my thoughts with like-minded people.

So, long story short, this is a new year, and I hope to make it the year that I post frequently. I look forward to seeing what lies ahead in 2023, kicking things off with a review of The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly.

About the Book

I confess that the first I heard of The Lincoln Lawyer was when an advert popped up for the Netflix TV series, and I then came across the book in a Costa (the coffee chain) bookstall for charity. Now, I have said a few times that I do not usually choose to read crime or thriller novels – I have nothing against them, but they are not my go-to when deciding what to read. I do, however, get entertainment from reading something, and then watching the film/TV series to see what they have changed (a bit sad, I know…). So, when I saw the book, I decided to give it a go.

The book comes with the tagline ‘There is no client as scary as an innocent man’, and when The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller, meets his new client, he wonders whether he has just stumbled across an innocent man. 

Mickey Haller starts off thinking he has come across the star client, a man whose family is loaded with cash and can afford to pay all his fees, and ends up wishing he had never taken the case, as he is taken down darker and more dangerous paths. Until he has to ask himself the ultimate question – What will it take to bring down the devil?

What I Thought

About the Characters

I thought the characters were written really well. I didn’t particularly like Mickey Haller, his moral character was often lacking, he was constantly scheming, and he seemed more focused on money and glory than his friends and whatever family he had left. But I think that is exactly how he is meant to come across – a top criminal defence attorney who will do anything to win, and he truly believes that in doing so he is playing an important part in the justice system’s checks and balances. Despite this, I somehow found myself siding with the character who gets thrown into situations where he must make painstaking choices.

I did, however, like Maggie McPherson, who was working as a prosecutor and gunning for a higher role that, for political reasons, she had been held back from. She was doing this while having a child at home to take care of as a single mother. And she is a badass. I found her quite endearing, you both sympathise with her and respect her at the same time and, for me, I think she was one of the stand-out characters.

About the story

I enjoyed the story, there were plenty of twists, turns, and reveals to keep it engaging throughout. I did guess a few of the points in the book, but there were plenty that I did not, and you never really knew where the book was going until right at the end. 

Admittedly, I found it to be a little slow-moving to begin with, and I was wanting more, until about a quarter of the way through. At that point, everything got going and it did not disappoint – it became, and stayed, fast-paced, the narrative moving along quickly without rushing you towards the finish, at which point I was keen to find out what would happen. The ending did not disappoint.

Conclusion

I enjoyed the story. If I were to decide to read a crime/thriller book, this is the sort of thing I would be looking for and would enjoy reading – I always want to be kept guessing (but have enough information so that I could reasonably have predicted the ending – I cannot stand when books throw in a random curve ball at the end), I want the writing to flow enough that I can see it playing out in my mind, and I want the characters to be believable without being boring. And this book provided exactly that.

If you have also read the book, I would be interested to get your views on it – Did you enjoy it? Or did you find that the book was not for you? Please let me know either on social media or in the comments below, I would love to hear from you! 🙂

Goodbye for now!

TBT

Book Reviews, Uncategorized

The Last Day by Andrew Hunter Murray – Book Review

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

“[…]this balance between building up the suspense while giving us plenty of action is balanced beautifully and kept me hooked throughout.”

About the Author

The Last Day is the first solo book written by the BBC’s QI Elf and co-host of the podcast ‘No Such Thing as a Fish’ (if you haven’t listened to it already, I would highly recommend it – a perfect combination of funny and interesting), while his second book, The Sanctuary, is expected to be published on 26 May 2022.

About the Book

The year is 2059, and the world has stopped spinning. Half the world has been plunged into an icy darkness, while the other half is scorched by sunlight. Britain, however, has found itself in a place where life can be sustained, where it is neither too hot nor too cold. The situation called for action, and it was Davenport who took charge and made the decision to separate Britain from the rest of the world, creating a barrier preventing anyone from leaving or entering.

Elsewhere, Ellen Hopper, working on one of the rigs, is about to be given a clue to a secret she must uncover. It is a secret that Davenport’s government will kill to keep concealed. Can she beat the odds and find out the secret, or will she be betrayed by those close to her who fear the consequences of working against Davenport?

My Review

I really enjoyed this book. The very first line of the first chapter is immediately gripping and the chapter does a great job of painting an image of the post-apocalyptic world in which the book takes place while introducing us to the book’s main character, Ellen Hopper.

We quickly see that Ellen Hopper is a bit of an outcast, distancing herself from the rest of the crew with the exception of Harv, the only person she has allowed herself to become close to in years. However, we also see that she cares about and feels the impact the Stop has had on people, particularly as she herself has been deeply impacted by it in ways that are hinted to in the opening chapters. This, to me, made Hopper likeable and easy to connect with, and I found myself urging her on throughout the book.

We also hear a snippet about the secret by way of a letter sent to her by Edward Thorne, the secret that Hopper must choose whether to pursue in the face of threats to her life. And throughout the book we get tiny bits of information at a time, bringing us a step closer to the secret each time, but this is not without its complications – And this balance between building up the suspense while giving us plenty of action is balanced beautifully and kept me hooked throughout. This, along with the writing which flows smoothly throughout makes this the kind of book that you could easily binge-read in a day or two.

The only comment I did have is that I felt a little unconvinced by the ending of the book. Although the ending in itself made sense and wrapped up most of the issues in a way which made perfect sense, I just felt that there was maybe something missing from the end which would have given it more of an impact. Though, I would just add that: 1. It did not take away from the book for me, which was still a great read which I have already recommended to people; and 2. I obviously appreciate that other people may read the book and disagree, and believe that the ending was the perfect way to round off the book.

Conclusion

I do love a good dystopian book, and The Last Day is no exception, taking an unimaginable world and making it believable – I do hope that Andrew Hunter Murray’s second book is just as good (or better)!

I hope you enjoyed this review. If you have any comments, either in relation to my review or the book, then feel free to comment down below, and I look forward to bringing you my next book review/bookish post shortly.

TBT

Bookish Posts, Uncategorized

How I Built a Consistent Reading Habit

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

I have always been a keen reader, but I haven’t always read consistently. We tell ourselves we are going to smash through our books, that all our spare time is going to go towards reading so we can show everyone just how bookish we are… And then tomorrow comes along and nothing gets read. Which is fine, it’s only one day missed… And then another day. And another. Until the end of the week arrives and your book remains on the shelf gathering dust. Sound familiar?

It’s not surprising that many of us fail to make time for the things we enjoy doing. After all, life is busy at the best of times. And not only that, but modern life has become incredibly distracting. I’m sure we’ve all had moments where we’ve scrolled on our phones for 10 minutes, only to find that, actually, over an hour has flown by – Time that we could have used for reading! It’s important not to be too hard on ourselves when this happens, especially when you consider that this is literally what a lot of technology is designed to do. The fact you got distracted doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you, but rather that the technology is working exactly as it should.

Now, I’m not going to go into the science of how technology gets us hooked, or whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. But, I will be discussing some of the ways that I, despite this, have developed a consistent reading habit which I hope will help others do the same.

1. Set my environment

I think this is probably one of the simplest, but also the most overlooked, technique. Many of us will have at least one book (or four, or five…) on our bedside table, which is a good start. But, how often do you actually pay attention to what is on your bedside table? Do you notice which books are on there, or has your mind become blind to the fact that they are even there? If your brain doesn’t clock the books on your bedside table, chances are you won’t even think about reading… Until you’re in bed about to fall asleep, at which point it is too late.

To combat this, before I get into bed, I take a book from my bedside table and place it on the duvet next to where I lie down. This means that when I get into or lie on top of my bed, the book is there as a reminder – I don’t need to think about reading because the book is already there. There is an ironic question following this, being “How do you remember to put the book on your bed in the first place?”. Well, the answer is a combination of points 2 and 3 below.

2. Have a Prompt

The biggest mistake many of us make is to rely on our brains to remind ourselves to do something. “Oh, I don’t need to put a reminder in my phone, I’m sure I’ll remember it”. And usually, we do remember it… At the least convenient moment. We’ll remember we need to take the bins out when we’re out of the house. We’ll remember that we needed to make lunch when we’re already on the way to work. We’ll remember that we need to read when we’re already drifting off to sleep.

This isn’t always a pure coincidence, but rather in the way our brains work and the activity that goes on while we’re resting or doing something that requires less focus. Again, I’m not going to get into the science of it (If you are interested, many far more knowledgeable people have written books on this), but it is important to consider because it shows us exactly why prompts are so vital. Without prompts, we will likely forget and another day goes by where we completely forgot to read.

I don’t have any prescribed rules for prompts, other than that they should be clear and should catch your attention so you know what the prompt is for and that you actually notice it when it happens. An example can be as simple as putting a reminder in your phone to go off at a specific time. Or you can combine points 1 and 2 by (provided you don’t share your kitchen) leaving a book near the kettle/coffee machine so that when you go to make your morning tea/coffee, your book is there to be read while you wait for your drink to be done. Or it could be anything else – Whatever works for you, so feel free to experiment until you find a prompt that works for you.

3. Habit-stacking

If you have read any books or watched any videos on habit-building, you will almost certainly have come across habit-stacking (or some alternative name). The first time I came across it was in James Clear’s ‘Atomic Habits’, which it seems most people have now read, and now this idea seems to be everywhere you look. And it’s not surprising – The concept is simple, easy to implement, and very effective.

Until you stop to think about it, you probably won’t realise how many habits (whether good or bad) you already have. Perhaps you turn your alarm off, scroll on your phone for a while, get dressed, brush your teeth, make breakfast and a coffee. All of this is done before your brain has properly woken up and without having to plan where you will fit in each of these habits. That’s because all of these habits are stacked on top of each other, acting as a built-in prompt. Getting dressed is your brain’s prompt that it is time to brush your teeth, which is a prompt to make breakfast and a coffee, and so forth, and this is all done automatically.

With this in mind, you may want to consider what habits you already have and whether any of them provide the perfect opportunity to stack a reading habit (either before or after the existing habit). As an example, on a usual day, I go for an early-morning walk shortly after I wake up. When I get back, this is when I make my morning coffee and some cereal before reading my book. Since starting this habit, I barely even think about needing to read in the morning – it has become an automatic habit.

4. Tiny Habits

This is a personal favourite of mine, and I’m sure those close to me will have long become sick of me talking about ‘tiny habits’. It’s a slightly different approach to what I have traditionally seen, but it is what works best for me. 

I first came across the concept of ‘Tiny Habits’ through the work of Dr BJ Fogg (first on a podcast, and then through his book ‘Tiny Habits’) and since then it has made a big difference. There are a few different elements to this technique but, as you have probably guessed already, one of the main points is to keep the habits small enough that you will definitely carry out the habit every day. This doesn’t stop you from doing more than the minimum amount – Only that the minimum amount is initially low.

An example Dr BJ Fogg gives is that he struggled to keep a consistent habit of flossing his teeth. Using the tiny habits technique, he set a simple goal – to floss just one tooth every single day. Some days he would do more than this, but if he ever had a bad day where he didn’t feel like flossing his teeth, all he had to do was floss just one tooth. This built the foundation for his flossing habit, and over time he was able to build it up until he had a routine of flossing all his teeth.

Having used this technique myself, I have found it to be much more effective than I had anticipated – Surprisingly so. After all, I remember being taught at school that if you want to achieve something, the best way to do it is to set your expectations as high as possible so you stretch yourself further. I have seen many others setting their expectations very (but not unreasonably) high, only to crash and burn within a week, and I have experienced this many times myself. Of course, some people seem capable of constantly setting their expectations high and exceeding them – But it, like me, you have tried and failed to establish new habits in the past, I would highly recommend this technique.

So, how low does the initial target need to be? The answer is that it should be as low as it needs to be for you to be able to do it consistently. If you feel able to read 20 pages every day consistently, great! If 10 pages every day feels more realistic, then that’s also great! If you need to set it at 2 or 3 pages every day to make sure you read consistently, then guess what… That’s great! It might not seem like much, to begin with, but the results really do build up over time, especially if you are able to gradually build on the habit.

5. Enjoy the process

This one seems blindingly obvious, but many of us, including myself, have probably fallen into a trap and forgotten this one many a time. We get so caught up in maintaining the habit or exceeding our targets that we forget to actually enjoy what we are doing. And what’s the point of trying to read as much as possible, if in doing so you lose your love for reading?

In these moments, I often stop to remind myself why I am reading in the first place. If it’s a fiction book, then I am probably reading for enjoyment and so this is what takes precedence. If it is non-fiction, then I am probably reading either for enjoyment (in which case, the above applies) or to learn something, in which case, trying to read as much as possible as quickly as possible will likely only reduce my comprehension and retention of the book. This serves as a reminder to take it easy and enjoy the process. 

This is also why I have no problems with DNF’ing (DNF = Did Not Finish) a book. I read because I enjoy it, so I don’t want to have to slog all the way through a book that I’m not enjoying. People often react with horror when hearing that I sometimes DNF books, but personally I don’t see what you would get out of reading a book that you’re not enjoying, especially when I consider my reasons for reading as above (Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply when it comes to things like University textbooks…). So yes, it is ok to stop reading a book when you are part way through. Life is short, and you should spend it reading books you do enjoy!

Outro

Thank you for reading another of my bookish posts – I hope you found it useful, and best of luck if you do choose to implement any of the techniques set out in this post. If you have any other tips/advice, or if you have any comments on the points set out above, then feel free to leave a comment below. 🙂

TBT

Book Reviews, Uncategorized

Book Review – Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Hello there, and welcome to this week’s book review! Today’s review is of a book written by one of my favourite authors, Claire Fuller (whose book, Bitter Orange, was the first review of this blog (which you can find here)).

Having already read Bitter Orange and Our Endless Numbered Days, I had been wanting to read Swimming Lessons for a while but had never got round to it. So, the book launch for her fourth novel, Unsettled Ground, was the perfect prompt (I did attend the book launch for Unsettled Ground – it was a lot of fun and I look forward to reading and reviewing it soon).

So, let’s get to it.

About the book

Ingrid’s disappearance has had a large impact on the lives of her husband, Gil, and their two daughters, Flora and Nan. It comes as a surprise, therefore, when Gil looks out the window to see her standing in the street, staring up at him in the pouring rain. He calls out to her, but she does not respond. Instead, she turns away and walks down the street.

Gil runs out of the shop to follow her, but she is nowhere to be seen. He does not give up. He runs down the street, turning the corner in the hope that he catches up with her until he reaches the pier. One second she’s there, the next she’s gone. Gil, in his attempt to find her, slips off the edge of the pier, down onto the rocks below.

From here, the questions only grow. Will Gil survive? What did he really see that night? What happened to Ingrid all those years ago?

In answering these questions, the story switches between the present day told from Flora’s perspective, and the past told from Ingrid’s perspective. The latter is found in letters Ingrid wrote to Gil in the years before her disappearance, left in some of the thousands of books scattered across the house. Eventually, both stories reach their endpoint in a dramatic revelation.

I LOVED it!

I was looking forward to reading another Claire Fuller novel… And it did not disappoint. Her descriptive writing is always impeccable, so much so that it seems she could turn something so ordinary into the most interesting thing in the world. She could probably turn a white empty room into a place of wonder.

On top of this, the pacing of the book magnifies the intensity of the book. Each chapter gives us a little bit more, enough to entice our curiosity while not giving anything away. By the end, the suspense will leave you desperate to find out what happened, and the wait is worth it (but no spoilers, of course)!

But what I always admire the most about Claire Fuller’s novels is the meticulousness of the writing. All three of her books, I would happily (and probably will) read multiple times, keeping an eye out for things I didn’t spot the first time. There is something exciting in finding hidden details you hadn’t spotted previously, but I also appreciate how much work and planning has to go into a book to have this level of detail.

You have probably guessed from my review that the books are very, very good and I would highly recommend (and this book is no exception)!

Outro

I hope you enjoyed this review. I went for a bit of a different approach this time. Usually, I would spend a lot of time planning what I am going to say and how I’m going to say it and then going over the plan to make sure that I haven’t missed any key points. This time, I went for a brain-dump technique of putting down whatever came to mind. Admittedly, while writing in this way was much quicker, it felt odd not to plan it out and I probably won’t do it again. But, I would be interested to hear (well, read…) your thoughts!

But for now, it is time for coffee and another book 🙂

TBT

Bookish Posts, Uncategorized

What Stories Teach Us

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Hello there, and welcome to another bookish post! I have a little under 100 pages left of Claire Fuller’s ‘Swimming Lessons’ left at the time of writing, and so I hope to have another book review for you soon. But for now, I wanted to take some time to write about a bookish reflection I had recently (yes, you can put ‘bookish’ in front of anything and if you think otherwise, you’re wrong).

So, what have I been reflecting on? Well, if you think back to the stories we all read as children, there is often some underlying theme – a lesson to learn – that forms the basis of each story. Those lessons could be about anything from caring for others, learning to share, or about believing in yourself and many of us (whether we realise it or not) carry those lessons with us.

But what about the stories we read as adults? We often think of them as merely being works of fiction, but even the stories we read as adults are crammed full of lessons to learn. They may be lessons about our purpose in life, understanding the daily struggles of others, or dealing with grief. These lessons may be much deeper in meaning than those in children’s books, but they are no less important.

So, why was I reflecting on this? Well, there are sometimes questions of why you would both reading fiction over non-fiction, why play make-believe when you could be learning about something ‘real’. I have always rejected this idea, but this reflection reminds me of the real-world implications of fiction. Fiction books are rarely entirely abstract from the real-world – Even fantasy novels will carry lessons that we can use in our day-to-day lives.

Not only is this form of learning entertaining, but many writers (from fiction writers to business management writers, and even many lifestyle/medical writers) are now recognising the powers of stories. After all, it’s not often that we truly connect with a fact or a statistic. Even the most shocking of statistics only stays with us momentarily before we continue with the world as normal. But the best of stories stay with us forever – I still remember how I felt when I read 1984, and I’m pretty sure that feeling will stay with me forever. And this is why they are probably the best method of teaching life lessons.

So, when you read your next book, try to pick out the different lessons the story teaches us, whether obvious or subtle. You may even want to consider how you can apply those lessons in your life – the choice is yours (just make sure you don’t take away from your enjoyment of the book). The moral of this reflection is, basically – Never underestimate the power of a good story.

This was a slightly different kind of post for you today, but it is always good to reflect once in a while, whether on global challenges or the more trivial aspects of life. If you would like to see more of these kinds of ‘reflections’, then please do let me know in the comments below, but for now, I’m off to grab myself a (decaf) coffee 🙂

TBT

Book Reviews, Uncategorized

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern – Book Review

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

“This feels like a book that was weaved together. Weaved with a million beautiful strands slowly and carefully, every movement made with precision”

Hello there! It has been a while, but it feels good to be back. During the 7 months since I decided not to continue with my book blog, I must admit that a part of me has missed sharing what I have read with others and seeing what others have been reading. It was often exciting to write a review to then find that a fellow book blogger has also reviewed that same book – especially if it was a book that you both loved. There is something about having shared that same bookish experience that makes it even better.

While I hope to get back into posting and engaging with other bloggers more frequently, I would also like to experiment a bit more to see what does and doesn’t work for me. When I posted previously, I spent too much time thinking about what I would write and about the books I read, and not enough time to think about how I wanted to go about writing my posts. Basically, I thought too much about the content itself, and not enough about the type of content. 

As always, any feedback or suggestions would be very much appreciated and welcomed! Anyway, speaking of content, it’s about time that I actually get into the content! 

My Song for this book is… Bellyache by Billie Eilish

My first bit of experimentation is to choose the song I think best suits the book. When I’m reading, the book sometimes ‘connects’ with a song that I’m listening to, as though the song were written as a soundtrack for the book, the two going hand in hand to create the perfect storytelling experience. On this occasion, that song was Bellyache by Billie Eilish.

Like a lot of songs, Billie’s ‘whispery’ (Apparently this is an actual word, though I would have used it even if it wasn’t) voice gives the song a slightly dreamy quality, and that’s how I would describe a lot of this book… Dreamy. 

What it’s about

The story begins with a book in the library. The book has no author and is never taken out by anyone visiting the library. That is until Zachary Ezra Rawlins picks it off the shelf. What Zachary had not expected was to find his own story in the book, telling of his regret at not having made a choice many years earlier, something he had never told anyone else. And yet, here it was with every detail written down, even his internal thoughts, long before he was even born.

In his quest to find out the who, the how, and the why, Zachary will come across more books telling the stories of others. Some stories seem more like fables until they begin to intertwine with Zachary’s real life as he tries to find his purpose in his own story.

Book Review – I… Loved it!

This doesn’t feel like a book that was written. This feels like a book that was weaved together. Weaved with a million beautiful strands of string slowly and carefully, every step taken with precision, to create a sublime book. As above, the book has a lot of dreamy qualities with its fable-like tales that could easily have been their own bedtime stories, but even the main story itself is wonderfully written.

Though its dreaminess doesn’t stop this book from being exciting. There were many times when I was at the edge of my seat (or leaning forward while I read in bed), staying up a little bit later to see what would happen. 

It is sometimes difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes a good character and what makes us connect with them. But we can spot one immediately when we start to feel something for them without realising, whether that be admiration, hate, or otherwise. In this case, I often found myself feeling anxious about what would happen, my heart pleading for nothing bad to come to them (I’m afraid to find out, you’ll have to read the book yourself…).

Most impressively, however, is how the story is brought together. Throughout the story, there seem to be a hundred different strands to keep track of. And yet, Erin somehow brings them all together, connecting them logically and wonderfully in a way that makes all 500 pages worth it. I will someday have to read the story again as there were probably many things that I missed throughout the book, but it is a book that I would want to read again for that reason. It is sometimes easier to appreciate the hidden clues when you know what’s coming. More so when things that seemed entirely trivial suddenly become a big part of the story.

Outro

Thank you for reading what I hope to be a new beginning for my book blog. I must admit, I forgot how hard doing a proper book review was. Going from having a clear image in your head to sitting in front of your laptop with no idea which words to use (or forgetting every single word in the English language, which ironically seems to happen to writers more than anyone else…).

But, it feels good to be back talking about the books I have read, and I look forward to doing it some more. For now, it’s time for a cup of coffee and a book! 🙂 

TBT

Bookish Posts

What I read

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Hello there, and welcome to the third ‘Bookish Post’ of my blog! While bookish posts are quite new to my blog (other than book reviews), I must say that I have enjoyed writing about my bookish thoughts, and I think they are here to stay!

This week, I was trying to decide what to write about, when I thought “Last time, I wrote about Why I read… Why not write about What I read?”. So, that is what I am going to write about in this post.

I will start off, firstly, with non-fiction, before going on to fiction – mainly because fiction makes up the main bulk of what I usually read. If you are not fussed about either fiction or non-fiction, then feel free to skip ahead to the relevant sections!

Non-Fiction

I don’t generally focus on non-fiction books of a particular genre. Rather, I read about something I want to learn/learn more about, or something that sounds interesting, and some of them will be physical books, while a lot will be audiobooks. Because there isn’t a particular genre that I focus on, I thought the best thing to do would be to list the non-fiction books I am/will be reading/listening to, or that I have read/listened to in the last few months:

  • The Science of Storytelling
  • The Chimp Paradox
  • Tiny Habits
  • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a ****
  • What You Need to Know About: Business
  • The Undercover Economist
  • Stephen King: On Writing
  • The Brain
  • Eyes Wide Open
  • Hyperfocus
  • Ultralearning
  • Grit
  • What If?
  • How to

While some of the books are on related topics, most of the books have no relation to each other, other than that their purpose is to teach. And that is why I read non-fiction – because I want to learn or improve. But the ‘what’ I read depends on what I want to learn or improve at the time.

Reviewing the non-fiction books I read/listen to is something I have thought about doing on this blog, and might be something I will test out at some point. If you think that this is something you would be interested in, then please do let me know!

Fiction

Now we get into the bit that I suspect the majority of you reading will be interested in. What kind of fiction books do I read?

Romance

This is a surprisingly wide category, as some novels that are pure romance, while others are mostly adventure, but with bits of romance sprinkled on top and still have romance as the main end goal of the novel. It is the latter type that I usually read and, in fact, this probably makes up the majority of the books I read.

The combination of adventure and romance, if balanced correctly, usually makes for a great novel. The adventure element is exciting, as you don’t know what is going to happen, while the romance element introduces conflict and anticipation and is often what makes readers (like me) desperate to know how it ends and makes us keep reading.

Fantasy

From some of the stories I have read/heard, fantasy novels seem to have a bad rep amongst creative class/course teachers, and have been accused of not being ‘real creative writing’. I find this to be quite a strange view of fantasy novels. In fact, what could possibly be more creative than creating made-up worlds, made-up creatures, made-up systems? In fact, what can be more creative than creating something that literally cannot possibly exist (as far as we are aware…) in our real world?

Anyway, I digress. I do love a good fantasy novel. One of the main reasons given for reading is, often, escapism, and I think fantasy novels provide one of the best forms of escapism, as they are so far removed from the real world that it seems impossible to read a fantasy novel while also thinking about the things you have to do in real life.

Admittedly, however, it is something that I don’t read very often. I don’t really know why this is. I think it might be partly because of the large abundance of choice, and partly because it is quite wide as a genre (after all, you never really know what you are going to get when someone creates a whole new world!). But it is something that I would like to try to read more of… We shall see!

Horror

I must admit that a lot of the horror books I read, such as Stephen King novels, I wouldn’t really class as ‘horror’ because I find them more exciting than I do scary. It is a very different feel to horror films (which I almost never watch – not for me!), but I enjoy them as they are almost a cross between horror and fantasy – a fantasy element, but in a real-world setting. So you get that element of creativity and escapism that a fantasy novel provides, except it is often much darker and usually has a lot more tension.

Other Fiction

Halfway through writing this list, I realised there was a problem… A lot of fiction doesn’t fit very neatly into its own genre. In fact, it seems that a large percentage of novels are usually crammed into the category of ‘fiction’, which makes it a little difficult to discuss exactly what genres I read, other than those listed above. So, I thought I would add a few paragraphs to say what I look for in a fiction book, which might at least give a bit of an insight into what I usually read, in addition to the above.

For me, a novel almost always has to have some sort of conflict/tension. Basically, if the main characters seem to go straight from A-Z without any real issues along the way which diverts their path, then chances are that I am probably not going to enjoy the story as much.

I also enjoy realistic characters. Now, this does not mean that the book has to have your normal, down-to-earth, average-Joe. In fact, that would probably be incredibly boring. But I do want the character’s actions to be consistent with who they are. If a character in normal circumstances does something completely unexpected for no reason, it sometimes takes me out of the story a little bit, because I think “But this character wouldn’t do that?”. It might sound a little pedantic… But I’m afraid I’m more than a little pedantic… Sorry!

Lastly, is pace. There are sections where the story should be creeping forward, allowing you to soak everything in, or to build the tension gradually. And there are sections that should be quick and exciting, the moments that make you say “oh my God!” in shock at what has just happened. It is something I am working on a lot in my own writing, because it is difficult to get the balance right (for me, the slower parts are especially difficult). But when the balance is right, it adds so much to how engaging the story is.

Conclusion

So, there you have it – what I usually read. Now you have had the what and the why… But don’t worry, I won’t go through the who, the where, and the when. But I do hope you enjoyed, and feel free to share what books you usually read, and to make any recommendations.

Also, as above, I have thought about doing more posts on the non-fiction books I read/listen to, so do let me know if that is something you would be interested in reading. But for now, it is a good time to grab a hot drink and a good book!

TBT

Book Reviews

Book review – The Rest of Their Lives by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

I very much enjoyed the characters. They just seemed so genuine that I could picture them so clearly in my mind… In fact, I’m sure my brain at some points forgot that they are not real people

TW: Book contains many themes involving/speaking about death.

Intro

Hello there, and welcome to another of my book reviews! It has been almost a month since my last book review, mainly due to exams… But exams are now (hopefully!) out of the way for good! *Cheers internally* Which I am quite pleased about, as I have had a couple book reviews in my head ready to type out, but haven’t had the time to do so, and I can finally get it out of my head and over to you!

So, let’s get into it! But first, a quick trigger warning. Death is one of the central themes of the book, and this post will speak a bit about that, so please skip this post if it might be upsetting to you – you have my permission to stop reading!

About the book

The book switches between the perspective of Manelle and Ambroise. Let’s start with Manelle. She is a home help carer for the elderly in a small French town, so she gets to see quite a wide-range of people which, inevitably, includes some very bizarre personalities, but also some very friendly personalities with the ability to charm warmth into anyone’s heart. One of the latter kinds of people will change Manelle’s life forever when he makes a request she feels she cannot possibly accept.

Next is Ambroise, an embalmer (this is basically dealing with a dead body so it is presentable for the funeral, but might also include a theme to symbolise a person’s personality or life to give the person as good as send-off as possible). While he himself takes a lot of pride in what he does, unfortunately it is something which seems to put a lot of people off, or makes people act a little weird around him, so much so that he appears to have given up on a love life. It even seems to put his Father off of him, and the two no longer speak. Also featuring in the story in Ambrose’s Grandmother, with whom he lives.

Through a series of events, Ambroise ends up in contact with an elderly person who has made a request… The same request that Manelle could not possibly accept. And this is the point where the story of Manelle and the story of Ambrose (and his Grandmother) starts to come together, as we see these characters go on a journey, and it seems that nothing will be the same for any of them, ever again.

I… Thought it was ok

I must admit that, at times, I found this book very difficult to read, not because of the book itself, but because of the common theme of death (including scenes describing the embalming process). Like many people, the thought of it is something that terrifies me, and I sometimes felt myself getting a little nervous when reading certain scenes, especially the embalming scenes. Because of this, I made sure that I only read the book during the day… Never at night. I made that mistake once, and that was enough for me not to repeat the same mistake. However, I have tried to ignore this when reviewing the book, because it seems unfair to give it a worse review just because I couldn’t read it at night.

I should also say that this was not, at all, a bad book. In fact, there were some things about the book that I very much enjoyed. However, there were some things I wasn’t so keen about which were true throughout most of the book which meant that, while I didn’t dislike the book, it just wasn’t that interesting a lot of the time. But because there were some very good and some things I didn’t enjoy, I think it is best to go through both individually!

What I enjoyed

Firstly, I very much enjoyed the characters. They just seemed so genuine that I could picture them so clearly in my mind… In fact, I’m sure my brain at some points through the book forgot that they are not real people (as far as we know!). I think this is much more difficult than people think. It involves a deep understanding of your characters, and knowing how they would react if you were to put them into any situation. Sometimes, the actions of people seem random, impossible to predict, and sometimes completely irrational. So, for the writer to get a good grasp of how his/her characters might react in certain situations is actually very difficult – so I very much appreciate writers who are able to write characters in a way that their actions seem to make sense from what we know about them. And this is one of those examples.

The story also has some moments that will raise a range of emotions in the reader, and those moments usually lead to some great quotes – most of which are very deep, meaningful, but also quite clever and very well said… Well, very well worded, unless you listen to the audiobook, in which case it depends on whoever is reading the book to you, I guess…

What I didn’t enjoy

Thinking about it, there is only really one issue… But for me, it was a big one which caused a lot of smaller issues. That issue was the lack of conflict.

Pretty much every story will have one big dramatic question (in fact, I can’t think of any story that doesn’t have one) that the story will centre around, and one of the writer’s jobs is to make sure that the reader is constantly focussed on that very question, so that the answer to that dramatic question will be on the balance through the story, and may swing between two different answers to make things interesting. That usually means that there will be some sort of conflict, otherwise it would just be one answer winning out quite clearly.

But conflict seemed very rare in this story, despite there being many opportunities where conflict could have arisen – It seemed to me that there could have been many different tweaks in different places that could have made the story a lot more interesting. And there were moments where it seemed that there would be a conflict. In fact, one moment seemed perfect for conflict, which did arise… And then went very quickly and anti-climactically.

Because there was very little conflict, the story seemed very predictable. While a predictable ending is not necessarily a bad thing (i.e. the superhero almost always wins), the fact that much of the story itself was quite predictable meant it lost a lot of that excitement that usually makes you want to keep reading (it is this sort of story that makes you say “Just one more chapter” until it is 2am and you have finished the book).

It is a shame, because if a few things were different, and the story contained more conflict, I could very easily see myself changing my rating from ‘thought it was ok’ to ‘enjoyed’ or even ‘loved’. Because the story seemed to have it all… Other than the thing that adds interest and excitement in the novel. But who knows, perhaps this is something that I need to enjoy a novel, but that other people don’t necessarily need for a novel to be enjoyable – so if you think you might enjoy this novel, don’t let this post put you off!

Conclusion

Sorry for what was probably a little bit of a depressing book review… But let’s hope for a more positive book review next Monday. But for now, keep an eye out for my next ‘Bookish Post’ hopefully coming out on Wednesday. Until then, grab a hot drink and a book, for a lovely Monday evening!

TBT

Bookish Posts

Why I read

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Hello, and welcome to another of my ‘Bookish Posts’! Just a disclaimer before I get started – I sat an online 4-hour exam this morning, and my brain is currently a big pile of mush… So I am going to try to keep this blog post as coherent as possible. But if anything in this post makes little or no sense… I blame exams.

With my disclaimer (excuse) out of the way, let’s get started! As you can see (well, hopefully you will have read the title), this is about why I read. Well, it is really more about what I get out of reading. If it were simply about why I read, this blog post would be as short and simple as “because I enjoy it”. Thankfully, this will not be a single-sentence blog post (a blog sentence?), but instead I will be going deeper into why I read, and exploring exactly why I enjoy reading, and what I get out of it.

1. Entertainment & relaxation

I thought I would start with the easiest, and probably most obvious one first. This is often the main reason that we read books, watch films, and play games. They provide a source of entertainment. Whether that entertainment is in the form of humour that makes us laugh, or adventure that excites us, or even romance that tugs at our heartstrings (though, my use of a cliche will probably have just the opposite effect for any writers reading this…), it gives us something to enjoy, which is particularly important when coming home after a busy day at work.

I have also included relaxation in this point because, while relaxation, on the face of it, seems like a point of its own, I think the two are actually quite closely linked. Afterall, relaxation doesn’t always have to be in the form of lying down on a bed listening to waves crashing on the beach (another cliche – sorry writers!), and I would consider reading books, watching films, and playing games all to be their own form of relaxation (unless you get angry playing games, in which case it is probably not that relaxing…). I find books particularly relaxing, as you have to focus enough attention on the book which allows you to be transported to a whole other world, which is weirdly therapeutic.

2. They connect us to others

It can sometimes be difficult to put ourselves into someone else’s shoes (cliches all round!), particularly if we do not fully know or understand their circumstances. Books, however, provide a gateway towards stepping into another person’s shoes. When you read the story, you tend to see yourself as the main character (or the person from whose point of view the story is being told), or at least as someone who is very close to this person. You feel their emotions, think their thoughts, feel their pain. In short, books develop our empathy.

While the above is most relevant for fiction books, it can also be true for non-fiction books. The added advantage of non-fiction books is that they can fill in a gap in our knowledge and understanding, which can often be a barrier in the way of empathy. Afterall, it can be difficult to empathise with someone if we don’t even know what we are meant to be empathising with them about.

3. Learning

The opportunities for learning are endless, no matter how much we learn, there is always something else we can choose to learn. Whether this is as part of a new skill we want to learn and develop, or a topic we want to learn more about and gain an understanding of, there will almost always be a book for it, starting from the very basics, to niches and deeper explorations of a topic.

One of the things I have gained from furlough it rediscovering my love for learning, and a large part of this has been reading books on the topics I want to learn (for example, I recently read ‘economics for dummies’, because I realised that my understanding of economics, what certain economic terms mean, and why certain economic steps are taken, was lacking. Now, I feel much more capable of being able to read the news and understand what it means, and try to understand why it has happened, just from reading this book (though of course, I still come across things I have to look up – which is perfectly fine – but it is much better than not knowing where to start!).

Of course, reading a few books won’t make you an expert (I am not going to claim to be an economist – far from it). But at least it is a start! And it provides a starting block from which you can build on. And you may even learn things which help you in your working life!

4. Read to write

I enjoy writing, and have wanted to write a book even when I was a child. In fact, it is still a dream of mine to one day write a book. And of course, an important part of developing your writing is… Well, writing.

However, the second most important part of developing your writing is, I believe (though this may not apply to everyone), reading. Every book is a template on how to (or how not to) do it. If we read something we like in a book, we can try to break down exactly why we like it – what elements work well. If we read a book we do not enjoy, we can try to understand what didn’t work so well. Is it just that the book wasn’t for us, or was the book missing something? If the latter, what was the book missing?

I have heard/read many quotes from authors who have said that their writing-style is basically a mish-mash of many different authors whose books they have enjoyed. This does not surprise me. There is nothing wrong with this – you are not ‘copying’ another author’s style. Rather, you are building your knowledge and this then forms your writing style. In the same way that many argue that we are the sum of our experiences – we are not pretending to be someone else, we are just us.

Conclusion

So there you have it – the reasons behind why I read. Reading is something I have enjoyed for as long as I remember, and it is something that is still very important to me to this day, but I think this is probably the first time that I have actually thought about exactly why I read, other than the fact that I enjoy it.

I hope you enjoyed my second ‘Bookish Post’, and if you have your own reasons for reading, I would be very interested in hearing them! But for now, this post is an important reason as to why you should pop the kettle on, get yourself a hot drink, and grab a book to read!

TBT