Tag: Booklove

Bookish Posts

My 5 Favourite Fiction Books

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Hello there, and welcome to the first of my ‘Bookish Posts’! You would think that creating a new page called ‘Bookish Posts’ would be easy to do… Well, you would be wrong. It was super frustrating and took me a little over an hour (excluding the writing of this post). But I got there eventually, so here we are!

I am glad to have got it sorted, and I am excited to now be able to share my non-review bookish thoughts – the first being my 5 favourite fiction books. This (as you would expect) was very difficult – firstly, because the moment I tried to remember what books I have read, I forgot almost every book I have read (typical!); and secondly, once I was able to remember the books I have read, it was even more difficult to cut the list down to just 5 books.

After much deliberation, however, I did eventually face the challenge, and was able to bring it down to just 5 books. So, let’s get started (not in any particular order)!

1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I was tempted to choose ‘the Complete Sherlock Holmes’… But, that would have been cheating (given that it is several books in one). However, there was no way that I could have a post about my favourite fiction books without mentioning a Sherlock Holmes book. They are some of my favourite books by my favourite author, and while I rarely read a series of books in one go, I very happily read the Complete Sherlock Holmes in one go (not in one sitting, that would be insane!).

But I was still stuck between whether to choose The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, or The Hound of the Baskervilles. In the end, I opted for the former. This is mainly because The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes manages to tell 12 different stories, while making it seem like you have read 12 books by sucking you into each story. I also think being able to come up with what is often a highly bizarre (but believable) story, and include a logical explanation that leaves you thinking “how did I not think of that?”, not once, but TWELVE times is incredible!

2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

This book is a lot of things. It is heart-breaking, while also being heart-warming. At times it will fill you with anger, and at others it will fill you with pride. But all of it is simply brilliant.

As you can probably tell, this book is full of emotion, but it is so wonderfully well-written, and the story so well told, that the emotion is not overdone (though it is powerful!). It must have been about 3 years since I read this book, but it is one of those that stays in your mind for most (if not all) of your life – it is well worth a read!

3. 1984 by George Orwell

I feel as though this is a book which will be on most people’s lists of favourite fiction books… And for good reason! George Orwell (fun fact – his real name is Eric Arthur Blair) literally creates a whole new world, with a completely different political (well, it is full of thought-control, so not really ‘political’ anymore…) system which is bizarre, terrifying, and… believable. The way that the whole story is put together makes it easy to believe how such a system could exist without people rebelling. I hate to imagine how much time must have gone into just thinking about the system before even beginning to write the book!

I also still remember feeling almost genuine panic at some of the twists in the book – so unexpected that they caught me completely off guard. While I won’t spoil anything – you should (if you haven’t already) read this book to find out the twists for yourself. It is no surprise that this book makes most people’s lists.

4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Here is yet another classic. I still remember being in secondary school, and my English teacher asking if I had read To Kill a Mockingbird. When I said I had heard of it, but neither read, nor knew what it was about, my English teacher got the book from the bookshelf at the back of the classroom, loaned it to me, and told me to read it. And I did.

It has been a long time since I read this book, and it is one I need to re-read again soon, and so there is a lot from the book that I don’t remember… But there is also a lot from the book that I do, and probably always will, remember. I remember that I loved this book and raved to my English teacher about how good the book was the first day that I was in school having finished reading the book.

It is incredibly powerful, and I am pretty sure that almost every aspiring lawyer who read To Kill a Mockingbird immediately felt that they wanted to be like Atticus Finch.

5. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

It is this fifth choice that was the most difficult, with several books fighting in my mind to be in the top 5… But in the end, I felt that a list of my top 5 fiction books would be incomplete without a Harry Potter book. I remember that I used to read a lot of books when I was younger, but I don’t really remember what it is that I used to read (other than the books we were required to read). What I do remember, however, is standing in the dinner queue, reading Harry Potter, waiting to be let into the food hall (which others saw as being super weird…).

I will say that I don’t think this is the BEST of the Harry Potter series. But, this one makes it into my favourite fiction books, because this is where it all started – this is the book that creates the whole wizarding world, and brings the characters to life, and that is simply (pardon the pun) magical.

Though I do need to read them again, because I am not faring very well at the Harry Potter sections of Zoom quizzes…

Conclusion

So, there you have it! My 5 favourite fiction books. It is difficult to see any books I read breaking into my top 5, given the quality of these books, but you never know! I am going to keep on reading to find out.

So time to pop on the kettle, and open another book!

TBT

Book Reviews

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Tagline: ‘Even the chapters where nothing of much importance happens are so wonderfully written, that you will still find yourself hooked’

Hello again, and welcome to another book review! Which, this time, is only a few months late… But I am still trying to keep the reviews coming. It just might not be as often as first intended.

Today’s review is of a book which I have wanted to read for a while, but haven’t felt in the right mood to read (I pick what to read depending on how I feel at the time). In the end, I had put off reading this book for too long, and decided to take the plunge! 

Background

The story begins in the dorm of a few college students in the small town of Santa Lora in California. The town, we are told, has a lot of strange history – a lot of residents even believe that the town itself is cursed. 

On the day in question, a college student falls asleep – after all, who didn’t spend a large part of University life sleeping? But, when the other college students try to wake her up, it becomes obvious that this is more serious than a quick nap.  The college students, no matter how hard they try, cannot wake her. But, she is still breathing, and her heart is still (obviously) beating.

She is taken away to the hospital where she enters into a state of relaxation so extreme that her heart slows down, so much so that her heart eventually comes to a stop. A student killed in her sleep, by her sleep.

The other students don’t get much time to mourn the death of their friend, as other students start to suffer from the same illness – falling asleep, incapable of being woken. But, different students suffer different symptoms – not all of them enter a state of extreme relaxation (as the first student did). Instead, they sleepwalk, suffer nightmares, and more (some of these symptoms being lethal).

We then see how easily a disease like this can spread. The medical staff who treated the first student begin to develop symptoms, and so the staff, and anyone they have been with, are quarantined (the students are also quarantined in their dorm). But, this is not enough, and soon we will see the impact the disease will have on this whole town. 

As the disease spreads, we see the best and the worst of humanity. People helping others, despite the increased risks of catching the disease themselves, and people acting out of fear, doing anything to not catch the disease. 

Review – 4.5 out of 5 stars ✯✯✯✯(+1/2)

Admittedly, this book is not what I was expecting. I was expecting a light-hearted book that would make you feel ‘warm’ inside. Instead, it was a dark story which will keep you on the edge of your seat to find out what happens to the characters. And I loved it. 

Quite often, it takes some time before a book gets interesting, as the characters, location, situation etc are being introduced. This is not one of those books. This book was interesting right from the start and only got more and more interesting. First, you are keen to know what is causing this disease, who is going to get infected, and how it is going to affect each person. Later, you wonder what will happen to those who have been affected, and how the remaining ‘survivors’ will act.

Even the chapters where nothing of much importance happens are so wonderfully written, that you will still find yourself hooked – the writing is almost soothing on the mind, in spite of the darkness of the book. This includes the characters, as we see how they develop through the story, some of them acting in ways they never would have done before the disease (for better and for worse). You also find yourself willing the characters to avoid the disease – to survive. 

I hope you enjoyed my review of The Dreamers – if you have read it and would like to share your thoughts, or would like to suggest my next read, then feel free comment down below. If you wish to see more of my reviews in future, please do follow/like/other – my social media pages are available on the ‘Contact & Social Media’ tab at the top of the page.

TBT

Book Reviews

Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Tagline: ‘If you enjoy sarcastic humour, you will be highly entertained. And with the strange questions asked by customers, there is plenty of opportunity for dry and sarcastic humour’.

Welcome back! This is probably the most consistent posting schedule I have had since I started this blog. Had this post been just a few days earlier (on Wednesday) it would have been near perfect. Which does give me some hope that I will be able to post more regularly than I previously have done – but apologies if at any point I do go a few weeks (hopefully not months) without any blog posts.

Anyway, let’s go into the actual review! This time I will be reviewing Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell, which is the second book of this series. For those of you that didn’t read the first book, The Diary of a Bookseller (just as a sidenote, you should definitely read it), Shaun Bythell is the owner of ‘The Bookshop’, the largest second-hand bookstore in Scotland, which is based in Scotland’s National Book Town – Wigtown.

The store itself also gained some publicity from its social media pages on which you will see posts similar to what you will read in the diaries (customers doing rather extraordinary things – and now in a good way), postcards which customers from across the world send in, and the occasional photo/video which involves the destruction of a Kindle. There are even a few music videos they have put together, with the two most viewed being ‘Reader’s Delight’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2caiU5Bu-k) and ‘The Bookshop, Wigtown’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC-oA4zKZlI).

Having enjoyed the first book, I immediately felt that I had to get this book, and weirdly managed to buy it a day before the supposed release date in Foyles (I considered: 1. Whether I had mixed up what day it was, in which case I would be in a lot of trouble with work for not turning up; or 2. Whether I had stepped into a portal which took me one day into the future. In which case I would again be in trouble with work for not turning up. Neither were true, the Foyles bookstore I went in had just been selling the book early). So, I was looking forward to seeing if this book was as good as the first.

Background
As suggested above, this is a continuation of Shaun Bythell’s previous book ‘The Diary of a Bookseller’, which is exactly what both books are – a diary of his days working at The Bookshop (with the occasional diary entry being when he is away from the store). The diary entries provide an intriguing insight into the customers he encounters – from those who chat too long, to those who are just outright rude – the people he has worked with, and his family and close friends.

I am sure a lot of us have wondered what it would be like to own your own bookstore – working in a place where you will be surrounded by books (what’s not to love!). Well, this book lets you get a glimpse into what it would be like, without having to actually deal with the difficult customers, the admin side of things, and the financial side of things. And the book does not seem to omit any details (the book is, a lot of the time, brutally honest), so you do get a full insight.


Review – 3 and a half stars ✯✯✯(+1/2)
As above, you do get a very thorough insight into what it is like to work in a second-hand bookstore. However, you do also get an insight into the people working at the bookstore, what they are like, and Shaun Bythell’s own thoughts both about work and about life generally. I felt that this allowed you to ‘connect’ with the people who work there, rather than seeing it as just a bookstore with faceless people, and I found that this added a lot of charm to the book.

But, the main thing about this book is its humour. Unfortunately, if you do not enjoy ‘dry’ and often sarcastic humour, you may not find this book as entertaining. But if, like me, you enjoy sarcastic humour, you will be highly entertained. And with the strange questions asked by customers, there is plenty of opportunity for dry and sarcastic humour.

While I admittedly preferred the first book (and in all fairness, given that a lot of days will be quite largely the same, I imagine it must have been difficult to keep finding new things to write about day to day – but he has done a good job of it), I still found this book to be very entertaining on its own merit.

I hope you enjoyed my review of Confessions of a Bookseller – if you have read it and would like to share your thoughts, or would like to suggest my next read, then feel free comment down below. If you wish to see more of my reviews in future, please do follow/like/other – my social media pages are available on the ‘Contact & Social Media’ tab at the top of the page.

TBT

Book Reviews

The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Tagline: ‘The tension between friends, combined with the suspense of what will happen next, will keep you entertained through the whole book. You will find yourself desperate to find out what happens next’.

Hello there, and welcome to another book review. I said I would try not to leave it so long between blog posts this time, and here we are – two blog posts in two weeks! Sadly, I cannot promise that there will be a blog post every week (as much as I would love to be able to), but I want to try to get as quick a turnaround as possible. Anyway, that is quite enough babbling – now onto the actual blog post.

Today, I will be reviewing The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri (again, hopefully you already know this from the title, and actually know what you are here for). This book has been on my very long list of ‘to be read’ books (who doesn’t have an ever increasing to be read list?) for a while, but it is finally one I can put onto my read list (one book down, only an infinite number of books left to go). So, was it worth it? Let’s find out.

Background
The book starts with ‘the pact’ made between four friends (Art, Mauro, Tony, and Fabio) from Casalfranco, a small town in Southern Italy. The four friends were once very close, however, they all went their separate ways and left Casalfranco (with the exception of Art, who returned). To keep the friendship going, however, they made a pact in which they all agreed to meet at American Pizza, a restaurant is Casalfranco, once a year (because who doesn’t love a good pizza place). Apart from last year (when Fabio decided not to go), they have kept the pact going all these years.

This year, however, Art has not turned up. To people outside their friend group, this might not sound too strange – friendships grow apart all the time and, afterall, Fabio chose not to come last year. Inside this friendship group, however, they knew that there was something amiss. Art was the one who came up with the idea of the pact, and was never one to miss an appointment. Worse still, this is not the first time that Art has gone missing.

It was ten years earlier that Art first went missing for 7 days. There was no trace of him, and the other friends quickly became prime suspects for the kidnapping (and possible murder) of Art. Until Art suddenly came back, claiming that he just needed to find out if he could escape Casalfranco and was pleased when he found out he could. His friends, however, know that this is a nonsense excuse, but Art refused to tell them the real reason for his disappearance. They suspect that something horrible must have happened to Art, something which he cannot even voice, something which changed Art for the rest of his life.

Back to present day, his friends try to find out what happened to Art without getting themselves in so deep that they cannot escape. However, when they find out that Art has been dealing weed, and has been involved with the Sacra Corona Unita (a large local criminal network), they end up in a position that they can either find out what happened to Art, or they can avoid getting themselves in too deep – but they cannot do both. They chose the first option.

The three remaining friends find themselves getting involved with the Sacra Corona Unita, pushing the limits of their own friendships in doing so. In their investigation of Art’s disappearance the friendship group will suffer betrayal, broken hearts, and one of the biggest tests that their friendships have faced. They must risk it all if they are to find out what happened to Art.

Review – 4 and a half stars 4½ Stars ✯✯✯✯(+1/2)
At the start, I asked if this book was worth it… Yes, yes it was worth it.

This book left me hanging off the edge of my seat (usually on the seat of the bus into/from work) for most of the time that I was reading it. The tension between friends, combined with the suspense of what will happen next, will keep you entertained through the whole book. You will find yourself desperate to find out what happens next.

It is difficult for me to provide a full review of what was good about this book without giving any spoilers, but I really enjoyed where they took the story, and how the story ended. And I do not want to give spoilers because I believe that the book is a better read if you don’t know what happened so you can, while reading, come up with your own theories about what you think happened to Art – and this is another thing I enjoyed about the book, as it gave you just enough information to do that.

Another thing is that, while the friends are sufficiently similar to be able to get along (despite their disagreements), they are also largely different, and so I think that different people will like and dislike different members of the friendship group (on a sidenote, that would be a great question for a book club – which friend did you most closely align to, and why). These are the reasons why I give this book four and a half stars.

I hope you enjoyed my review of The Book of Hidden Things– if you have read it and would like to share your thoughts, or would like to suggest my next read, then feel free comment down below. If you wish to see more of my reviews in future, please do follow/like/other – my social media pages are available on the ‘Contact & Social Media’ tab at the top of the page.

TBT

Book Reviews

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

Tagline: ‘This is possibly one of the most quotable books I have read. Maybe not inspiring and motivational quotes, but certainly for quotes which will make you laugh out loud’

Hi all! You were probably thinking you would never see another blog post from me… Well, you were wrong. This blog is still going, I have just been very busy recently. And I will likely stay busy for the foreseeable future, and so I cannot guarantee that there will not be any long delays in future. But, while my enjoyment of reading and blogging continues, so will my blog. And besides, we all need an escape of some sort from the business of everyday life – and mine is reading and blogging.

So, the book I will be reviewing (in case, for whatever reason, you did not read the title and don’t actually know what you are here for) is Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Most of you will probably have heard of Good Omens already (if not, where have you been?), either because of the book, or because of the recently released TV series starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

I had, of course, heard a lot about Good Omens – mostly positive. And the negative comments I had heard were mainly about the ‘religious cult themes’ of the book which had angered some people, mainly in the massively religious areas of America. It was, therefore, a book which I was looking forward to reading (because of the positive stuff, not because it angered some very religious people).

Background
The story revolves around the end of the world which will be brought about by a child, to be followed by the biggest war of all time – the war between Heaven and Hell. This is what Heaven and Hell have both been working towards since creation, and they are both ready. Well, almost all of Heaven and Hell.

Aziraphale the angel who strives for good, and Crowley who strives to make peoples’ lives… Hell (sorry but also not sorry about the pun) have both been together since the beginning. Which seems like a strange pairing given their differences, but the two have a pact which allows them both to carry out their minor deeds of good and bad, pleasing their respective command (Heaven and Hell). And they both share their uncertainty for the plan which would spell the end of the world, and the start of the Great War, and try to prevent it happening.

Meanwhile, Anathema, a witch, is trying to make sense of ‘The Nife and Accurate Prophefies of Agnes Nutter’ which predicted what would happen in the build up to what will be the end of the world. Anathema is having to make sense of it because it has been written in an almost entirely nonsensical way. And Newt, who has recently taken on the role of Witchfinder, goes hunting for witches (as you would expect a Witchfinder to do).

Review – 4½ Stars ✯✯✯✯(+1/2)
So, is this book worth the hype? Absolutely, yes.

This is possibly one of the most quotable book I have read. Maybe not inspiring and motivational quotes, but certainly for quotes which will make you laugh out loud (although, the joke about Crowley having created the Welsh Language hurt a bit – Damn you Gaiman! But then again, there are very few people who aren’t joked about, so I will let it slide).

The story and the language used was uncomplicated, making it an easy read (in a good, relaxing way) while also being interesting, and keeping the reader (in this case, me!) engaged – particularly with the level of creativity in both the story and the humour. Had I not had a lot going on, this would have been a book which I would have got through very quickly.

I also liked (though I do not know whether this is in all versions of the book) the inclusion of the sections on ‘What it was like to write with Terry Pratchett’ and ‘What it was like to write with Neil Gaiman’ (even these sections made me laugh), and ‘Good Omens, the facts’ which goes into more detail about how the ideas came about, how they wrote the book together, and how they found the experience. This gave the kind of insight which I am sure devoted readers and writers will have loved reading – I certainly did!

And now I feel ready to watch the TV Series (I prefer to read the book first, to then see if the characters and events are as I imagined them)!

I hope you enjoyed my review of Good Omens – if you have read it and would like to share your thoughts, or would like to suggest my next read, then feel free comment down below. If you wish to see more of my reviews in future, please do follow/like/other – my social media pages are available on the ‘Contact & Social Media’ tab at the top of the page.

TBT

Book Reviews

Audiobook Review – In Your Defence by Sarah Langford (Narrated by Catherine Bailey)

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

4 out of 5 stars ✯✯✯✯

Hello there! This is a very different kind of blog post – firstly, it is my first non-fiction book review. Secondly, it is my first Audiobook review.

With my Legal Practice Course (LPC) starting back, my schedule has become a lot busier and I have a lot less time for my Book Blog as a result. I am also spending a lot more time reading textbooks, rather than novels (and I don’t think any of you want me to review my Property Law and Practice textbook).

But I have loved having my book blog to turn to – an excuse (not that one is needed) to read more and different books, and to share my bookish thoughts with others. So I knew that I wanted to keep it going. To make things a little bit easier, therefore, I have turned to the use of Audiobooks which I can listen to while doing my walks and runs. This will allow me to get through more books, and therefore more reviews, while I slowly try to get through my paper books in between my LPC work.

I am also on my second day of no caffeinated drinks (I am drinking decaf coffee – as I love the taste too much to go without coffee altogether). So, if anything I write makes no sense, blame it on the lack of caffeine and the withdrawal symptoms.

About the book
Somewhat ironically, my first Audiobook review is a legal one (but don’t worry – this is an exciting legal book, not a textbook). This book is written by Barrister, Sarah Langford, who retells the stories of the legal cases she has been involved with, the Clients she has represented, and her own mindset for each case.

These involve cases in the criminal courts, from burglary to the most serious of offences, and in the family courts, where divorced parents fight for custody of the child (sometimes using the child in an attempt to win one over the other parent). Each chapter represents a different story and goes into detail about the offence, the Clients she is representing, the other parties involved, and her own internal thoughts.

So, if you enjoy Crime and Courtroom dramas (however unrealistic they may be), this could be the Audiobook (or book) for you!

My thoughts on the books – 4 out of 5 stars ✯✯✯✯
While this was a non-fiction Audiobook, it was just as easy to review as a fiction book because, just as a fiction book tells a story, this was Sarah Langford retelling her stories. And this is what I enjoy reading books for – great stories which are well-told. And this story was certainly well-told.

Sarah Langford has a marvelous mastery of the English Language that you would expect from a Barrister, with the ability to tell a story which flows well. This, together with her explanations of the law and the legal process, makes it very easy to follow even if you have little or no knowledge about the workings of the Criminal and/or Family Courts. And the stories she tells are very intriguing – interesting stories which raise questions we may not have considered before.

Sarah Langford also seems to have developed a great writer’s instinct of knowing how people are feeling in certain situations, how they are likely to react, but most importantly, why they feel and react in this way. In doing so, she also shows excellent self-awareness by providing us with a glimpse into her own thoughts and feelings, and the prejudices she didn’t even know she had – and she tackles her own thoughts and feelings openly and honestly, even if they risk painting her in a less favourable light.

The narrator, Catherine Bailey, was also a perfect fit for this Audiobook. Her voice – calm, clear, and professional, sounds exactly as you would expect a Barrister to sound. You might not necessarily think of the narrator as being an important part of the story – but I found that the use of Catherine Bailey as the narrator made a big difference, and I found myself able to paint a picture of Sarah Langford standing in court, making her arguments in front of the judge, with the voice of Catherine Bailey.

I hope you enjoyed my review of In Your Defence – if you have read it and would like to share your thoughts, or would like to suggest my next read, then feel free comment down below. If you wish to see more of my reviews in future, please do follow/like/other – my social media pages are available on the ‘Contact & Social Media’ tab at the top of the page.


Thank you very much for joining my for my review – and I hope to have another book review up shortly!

TBT

Book Reviews

A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better – Benjamin Wood (Book Review)

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

3 out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯

This is another book I picked up from my local library, along with The Number One Chinese Restaurant which I reviewed last week (https://tbt.art.blog/2019/08/18/number-one-chinese-restaurant-by-lillian-li-book-review/), and the Welsh version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Harri Potter a Maen yr Athronydd – yes, even his name is spelt differently in the Welsh version).

This is one thing I have gained from my Book Blog – an added incentive to pick up books from different sources (book shops, libraries, charity shops etc), which I may not have done otherwise. And more books read can only be a good thing!

About the book
The story is told from the perspective of Daniel who begins by telling us about his Father, Fran Hardesty, and how Daniel would often defend his Father against criticism, despite his faults, and always believed that one day his Father would one-day prove himself to everyone. His Mother, Kath, however, did not.

Kath would constantly remind Fran of all his faults, using him as a verbal punching bag – especially after he had cheated on her. She also saw him as a sleazebag of a father, always letting people – including Daniel – down. He was not always like this, however. He once showed great potential for set design and, when he landed a job on the set of ITV’s The Artifex, he had finally found a job he could enjoy and feel content with.

This job also gave him an opportunity to bond with Daniel who had a keen interest in The Artifex. And this sets up the main plot of the book, as Fran Hardesty has promised to take Daniel on the long journey to Leeds to show him around the set of The Artifex. Daniel is excited at the prospect of meeting his hero, Maxine Laidlaw, who plays the main character of The Artifex.

During this journey, Daniel will learn about his Father’s past. How he got to where he is now, and about the different sides to his Father’s personality – his humour, his charisma which makes people immediately drawn to him, but also his anger which knows no bounds. Daniel will see a side to his Father which he has never seen before and, after the trip, he will never be able to see his Father in the same light.

My thoughts on the book – 3 out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯
I was a bit disappointed in the story. When I read the blurb, and started the book, I was expecting a story full of tension which would keep me at the edge of my seat throughout. When the story got going, I really was on the edge of my seat and I could feel the tension in the pit of my stomach – which is when you know the story is getting really good. I felt, however, that the story took a long time to get going, and then the suspense didn’t last as long as I would have liked.

And so it was only for a few chapters in the middle of the book that I could feel that tension I was looking for, while nothing much seemed to happen for the rest of the book. This is a shame, as the moments of suspense were written in so brilliantly – I felt the anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach getting deeper as I kept reading to find out what would happen. And I wish I could have experienced this for a while longer.

I did, however, greatly appreciate Benjamin Wood’s quality of writing which enabled me to keep reading, even when nothing much was happening. It flowed so smoothly, felt easy to read, and the way he told the story from the perspective of 12 year old Daniel was brilliantly executed.

Conclusion
While I felt a bit disappointed with the story itself, I felt no disappointment with the actual writing – and Benjamin Wood is clearly a highly talented Writer. Therefore, while the story itself was not for me (except for that middle, very exciting, part of the book), I was still able to enjoy the book due to the quality of writing which allowed me to appreciate the book.

It is for these reasons that I have awarded the book 3 out of 5 stars.

I hope you enjoyed my review of A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better – if you have read it and would like to share your thoughts, or would like to suggest my next read, then feel free comment down below. If you wish to see more of my reviews in future, please do follow/like/other – my social media pages are available on the ‘Contact & Social Media’ tab at the top of the page.


Thank you very much for joining my for my review – and I hope to have another book review up shortly!


TBT

Book Reviews

Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li – Book Review

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

5 Out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯✯✯

Number One Chinese Restaurant is a book I came across while browsing the shelves of my local library. The cover is unspectacular, but enough to catch the eye’s attention – subtle but appealing.

Number One Chinese Restaurant was longlisted for the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction (not bad for Lillian Li’s first novel!). Despite this, it is not a book which I had previously come across – and does not seem to have received much publicity.

About the Book
The story starts from the perspective of Jimmy, the ‘little boss’ of the Duck House restaurant. Jimmy is discussing business with Uncle Pang. During this chapter, we start to get a sense of Jimmy’s ambition, desire, and his anger, as he shouts at employees when things go wrong and even dismisses an employee on the spot. This does not, however, prevent his fear of Uncle Pang – about whom his father (the original owner of the Duck House) had warned him about.

Uncle Pang is portrayed as a powerful and sinister character – if crossed, he will not take it lightly. And it is easy for Uncle Pang to get revenge when he knows all the people in the right place, allowing him to bend the rules. And in this first scene, Uncle Pang is crossed – by Jimmy.

Next, we are given the perspective of Nan (and through the story we also get the perspective of Ah-Jack). Nan and Ah-Jack have been close friends and colleagues for many years and, through the story, we see their friendship develop. Nan’s role often involves looking after Ah-Jack who is unable to do very much as his body has gradually grown weaker. Ah-Jack’s role is to keep Nan happy with his playful personality.

Throughout the story, we also get the perspectives of Pat (Nan’s Son) who has become troublesome and rebellious, and Johnny, the ‘big boss’ of the Duck House Restaurant and Jimmy’s older brother – he is also the calmer and more calculated brother, and if there is a problem, he knows what to do. We also, very briefly, get the perspective of Feng Fei, Jimmy and Johnny’s mother.

Despite being family, Jimmy, Johnny, and Feng Fei do not get on – and often seem to be plotting against each other in some way. Jimmy dislikes Johnny for always inserting himself into every situation, while Johnny dislikes Jimmy for his carelessness and feels that he is required to step in to stop things going wrong. They both, however, have a mutual dislike of their mother who is constantly criticising them, while their mother is disappointed by how her two sons have turned out and often asks what she has done to deserve them.

Each chapter flicks between each person’s perspective, as we see how their relationships develop through the problems which arise.

My thoughts on the book – 5 out of 5 stars ✯✯✯✯✯

Firstly, the characters feel very authentic in their personalities, the things they do, and the way they react to certain situations. So much so that they seem like real people, which makes it easy to bring the characters to life in your mind while reading the book. There is also a great mix of characters, from the impulsive Jimmy, to the calculated Johnny, to the playful Ah-Jack and the loyal Nan.

Secondly, the way the story is written – switching from a different character’s perspective each chapter – is brilliant. As a result, the story does not spend too long on one moment at a time and remains engaging throughout. In fact, I felt engaged and interested throughout the whole book. To keep a book entertaining throughout is very difficult, and yet this has been achieved brilliantly by Lillian Li.

This also allows you to see different sides to each character, without actually changing how the characters act. For example, from Jimmy’s perspective, Jimmy is driven and unstoppable – nothing will get in his way. From Johnny’s perspective, however, Jimmy is reactionary and careless, causing problems which he then has to deal with. Throughout both viewpoints, however, Jimmy is still acting in exactly the same way, and nothing has actually changed about him. This, for me, shows Lillian Li’s wonderful writing ability.

Finally, the story itself is thrilling and you never know what is going to happen next. Due to the changing perspective, you are sometimes kept waiting for an answer, which makes you want to read on and find out what will happen. And when you get there, it is always worth it.

This book was really wonderful to read, and I had nothing I would change about the book, making it one of the favourite books I have read so far. This is why I have given this book the top rating of 5 out of 5 stars.

Conclusion
As you can tell, I loved this book – its characters, the story, and the writing which all came together so brilliantly. I do not think the book has received the publicity it deserves, but I feel lucky to have found it in my local library (you never know what you might find in a library!).

I hope you enjoyed my review of Number One Chinese Restaurant – if you have read it and would like to share your thoughts, or would like to suggest my next read, then feel free comment down below. If you wish to see more of my reviews in future, please do follow/like/other – my social media pages are available on the ‘Contact & Social Media’ tab at the top of the page.

Thank you very much for joining my for my review – and I hope to have another book review up shortly!

TBT

Book Reviews

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Translated by Geoffrey Trousselot) – Book Review

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

5 out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯✯✯


This is a book which I requested, and was granted early access to, on Netgalley. For those of you who do not know, Netgalley is a website on which Book Reviewers/BookBloggers can request books before they have been released – in return for a review of the book. This is my first Netgalley book review.

As suggested by the title of this post, this was originally written in Japanese but later translated into English. The book was originally released in Japan in 2015, and is set for release in the UK on 19 September 2019.

About the book
The entire story takes place in a coffee shop, Funiculi Funicula. From the description, this seems like an ordinary coffee shop – a few tables with a few customers, and a counter behind which members of staff prepare and serve coffee. In fact, the only things which appear to be out of the ordinary are the three clocks, all of which show different times (only the middle clock tells the correct time), and the constantly cool temperature, despite only a ceiling fan to regulate the temperature.

However, as the story develops, we learn that this is not an ordinary coffee shop. This coffee shop allows people to travel in time!… But there are some rules. In most books and films involving time travel, the first rule would usually be to not interfere with acts which happened in the past – this could cause irreparable damage. The first rule of time travel from this coffee shop, however, is that the present, no matter how hard you try, cannot be changed.

Altogether, the rules are:

  1. The present cannot be changed (not that this is prohibited. Rather, that it is impossible to change the present);
  2. You must sit in a certain seat (this seat is usually taken up by a ghost, who cannot be forcibly moved – but she does move once a day to use the toilet) and you cannot move from this seat or you will return to the present;
  3. Because of Rule 2 above, you can only travel back (or forward) in time to meet someone who has visited (or will visit) the coffee shop;
  4. You can only time travel once;
  5. There is a time limit – to travel in time, you will be poured a cup of coffee. You must finish this coffee before it gets cold, otherwise you must take the place of the ghost (referred to in Rule 2 above).

Given the very strict rules, the number of scenarios in which you would want to time travel would appear to be very limited. The book, however, is split into 4 parts, each part providing a different person’s story in which they choose to travel back (or forward) in time.

Story 1
This is the story of Fumiko Kiyokawa, a career-driven woman who was in a relationship with Goro Katada, and was hoping that he would propose to her. Instead, however, he announced that he would be moving to America for work, and rushed off to the airport.

Fumiko hopes to go back in time to convince him to stay – despite her hopes being dashed by Rule 1, she is determined to give it a shot.

Story 2
This is the story of Kohtake whose husband, Fusagi, has developed Alzheimer’s. During the first story, we could see how Fusagi’s Alzheimer’s was affecting him. By Story 2, however, he can no longer recognise his wife – though he remembers that he has a wife and has an envelope containing a letter he wishes to give to her, if he can find her.

Kohtake wishes to go back to a time when Fusagi still recognises her, and find out what was written in that letter.

Story 3
This is a story of two sisters, Hirai and Kumi. Hirai, being the big sister, was destined to run the inn owned by her parents. Hirai, however, had other plans. She instead left home, and Kumi took over Hirai’s responsibilities in relation to the inn. Since Hirai left, Kumi had often asked Hirai to return home to the inn. At first, Hirai would listen to her requests patiently, before making it clear that she will not return home. But as the requests continued, Hirai grew weary, and started avoiding Kumi altogether. Until, one day, Kumi died in a car accident.

Hirai feels guilty. She feels that the accident was her fault – and her parents seem to think this too – and wishes to go back in time. She wants to tell Kumi how sorry she is for avoiding her all these years, and to see her face one last time.

Story 4
This is the story of Kei and her unborn child. Kei was born with a weak heart, and yet she is never seen without a smile on her face. She has been told, however, that because of her weak heart she is unlikely to survive the pregnancy, and there is no guarantee that the child will survive. This affects Kei’s mood – not because she herself might not make it, but because her child might not make it. And even if the child does make it, the only thing she will have given her child, is life.

Kei therefore wishes to travel to the future, to find out if her child survives and, if so, if they can forgive her for not being able to offer anything during their life.

My thoughts on the book – 5 out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯✯✯
Although, at times, the writing style was not the best, this was such a wonderful book that I was able to overlook the writing style. The book carried so much charm, while also being packed with emotion (as you can probably tell from the breakdown of the stories above, some of the stories are quite upsetting).

Given the rather strange rules to time-travelling in this coffee shop, it set a very interesting basis for the story and it was nice to see a different approach taken to time travel, which must have been difficult to do given the amount of books and films which involve time travel. I also appreciate the description of the coffee shop – the two things which seem unusual at first (the clocks and cool temperature), later seem to give the coffee shop a sense of timelessness. And the minor role the ghost plays through the stories is also a nice touch.

This was admittedly quite a short book, but this does not change the fact that I flew through the book because of how much I enjoyed it – once I got partway through a story, I just had to know how it ended. Therefore, despite the writing style not being to my taste at times, I still loved this book and all the charm and emotion it carried. This is a great example to show that you don’t have to have the best quality of writing to be able to write a beautiful story.

The story itself, therefore, earns 5 stars for what is my first NetGalley review.

Thank you for reading another of my book reviews. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to have another book review coming soon.

TBT

Book Reviews

The Binding by Bridget Collins – Book Review

Theodore's Bookish Thoughts

4 out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯✯

The Binding is Bridget Collins’ eighth published novel. The Binding, however, is Bridget Collins’ first adult fiction novel, with the other 7 novels falling within the young adult genre. This is the first of Bridget Collins’ novels I have read, and so I was interested to see what this novel would be like.

Before even opening this book, it makes an exciting impression on the eye and is probably one of the prettiest books I have come across – I felt myself unable to resist purchasing this book.

About the book
The beginning of the book takes a different approach to many others I have read. It starts with an unwell Emmett (the main character of the novel) working in the fields, when a letter arrives. In this letter, it is announced that Emmett has been specifically chosen by Seredith to be her apprentice.

This leaves Emmett’s Mother in shock, his Father enraged, and Emmett himself in a state of confusion. Seredith is a Binder, and Emmett’s parents had always warned Emmett against Binders and books. And yet Emmett’s Father has suddenly decided that it would do Emmett some good to work as Seredith’s apprentice and, eventually, Emmett’s Mother and Sister are in agreement too.

Emmett is therefore taken to Seredith who starts teaching Emmett about binding, and how to bind people. We learn that to bind a person, is to take certain memories away from them and store those memories in a book. So if you wish to forget about a traumatic event, a past relationship, or just something really embarrassing you once did many years ago, you can ask to be bound. Once bound, that memory will be stored (somewhat) safely in a book, and you will no longer remember whatever is now in the book.

At first, the art of Binding troubles Emmett – particularly the way a newly-bound person left blank-eyed, as though a part of them were missing. Seredith, however, remains resolute in her defence of Binding, showing Emmett the horrors that this person had gone through and how Binding is, actually, the lesser of two evils. Binders do not bind for the hell of it, but in fact they bind to make lives better for others. At least, this is the case when it comes to Seredith’s version of Binding.

But what happens when Binders wield their powers irresponsibly? Imagine what people could get away with if they were willing to pay Binders to make their victims forget what they have done to them. Seredith warns Emmett against this kind of Binding. Through no choice of his own, however, Emmett ends up with this type of Binder, and this is when we see the damage which unscrupulous Binders can cause.

My Rating – 4 Out of 5 Stars ✯✯✯✯
I used to love reading Fantasy novels – I found that there was little which provides as much pleasure to the imagination than a novel whose story seems so far from reality, and yet somehow realistic enough to be able to immerse oneself in the story. The Binding, however, is the first Fantasy novel I have read for years, and I feel that I chose a good book to re-join the world of Fantasy Fiction.

It took me some time to properly get into the book, but this is unsurprising given that Bridget Collins has had to create a whole new world in which Binders (and even books) are seen as an evil magic.

However, the way the story is built up from the start creates such a great sense of mystery and suspense which makes you want to keep reading and find out more. Why is Binding seen as an evil magic? What happens when this power is abused? How did Emmett get to this position, and why was he chosen? These are questions which we gradually get answers to as the book progresses.

Once I got past this point, I really started to enjoy this book. Bridget Collins created a wonderful story and characters I felt I could really connect with (or which I despised). I also enjoyed the questions of morality which arose – such as, is it right to have your memory erased to forget your bad memories? Do those bad memories actually form a part of who we are (which would explain the blank-eyed look of the person Emmett witnessed, shortly after they were bound)? These are the kind of questions I asked myself for a while after reading this book, which is a sign of the book leaving its own imprint on my brain.

Conclusion
It is the wonderful story, the characters that are easy to connect with, and the questions of morality you are left with to think over, that earn this novel the high score of 4 out of 5 stars. This was, therefore, a pleasurable return to the world of Fantasy fiction and I think I might come here more often.

Thank you for reading another of my book review. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope to have another book review soon.