“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
Theodore's Bookish Thoughts (TBT) 