All posts filed under: Books & Lit

‘Normal People’ by Sally Rooney ~ A Review

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Sally Rooney’s second novel has been around for little less than two years and, in that short time, has managed (among others) to be hailed by public and critics alike, get longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2018, be voted Waterstone’s Book of the Year and win the Costa Book Awards Best Novel for 2018, get longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 and be ranked 25th on The Guardian’s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. In 2019 BBC announced its plans to adapt the book for TV, with the series premiering a few days ago on BBC3. In the midst of all the hype, I somehow only heard about it a couple of months ago – from long- time favorite blogger and fellow bibliophile Anna Newton (of ‘The Anna Edit‘). It’s now been a few weeks since I finished the book and, for some reason, I have found getting around to reviewing it to be very difficult contrary, in fact, to what reading it felt like (in few words: …

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ by Gail Honeyman ~ A Review

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If I am to be honest I must say that I picked this up on a whim, partly ’cause of the catchy title & cover blurb, partly ’cause I really enjoy discovering new authors and this happened to be a debut novel. To begin with, it slightly reminded me of Graeme Simsion’s ‘The Rosie Project’ (my review of which can be found here) so things were already off to a great start. While I read on (which really didn’t take long, since I practically devoured this in about a day and a half!), however,  I realised that the only thing the two books had in common after all was the quirky main character angle. I also, quickly and slightly painfully, realised that Eleonor’s story would influence me deeply – in a way that Don’s story never did. Through her, easy going but consistently interesting and vivid, writing Honeyman brings her (few) characters to life and creates a story that keeps you glued to the page and reading well into the night. I think the best …

‘The Monogram Murders’ by Sophie Hannah ~ A Review

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Let me preface this by saying, I’m a huge Agatha Christie fan (my absolute favorites being Poirot mysteries). One might be tempted to believe that this would make me less inclined to appreciate any effort to add to the little Belgian detective’s legacy. On the contrary, I was so freakin’ excited to hear of the first new (Agatha Christie Estate sanctioned, no less) Poirot novel that I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into it – and picked it up with the very best of intentions. I mean, it was Poirot… how bad could it be? The answer, unfortunately and soul crushingly is quite… Now, you will probably come across glowing reviews as well but this just didn’t do it for me. Poirot felt like a crude caricature of himself, while his “sidekick”, Catchpool (a.k.a. why, oh why, could we not have also resurrected Hastings?) was the sorriest excuse for a detective that I have personally ever come across. As for the rest of the characters they were flat and underdeveloped, bearing no semblance to …

‘Levels Of Life’ by Julian Barnes ~ A Review

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I cannot, in all honesty, say I am much of a Julian Barnes’ fan. In fact, the only other book by him I’ve ever bought (‘A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters’ 2009) is still gathering dust somewhere along my bookshelves – unfinished and unloved. There was something about this, though (the title? the book blurb? the front cover?) that grabbed my attention and made me decide to give it a try. I wasn’t disappointed… In its mere 128 pages Barnes explores love and loss by combining three seemingly unrelated genres – historical non-fiction, historical romance and personal memoir. The book is broken down in three parts (Sin of Height- On the Level- Loss of Depth) with the first two feeling a bit disjointed and irrelevant, but ultimately serving as metaphors for life’s diverse highs and lows thus ‘setting the stage’ for Part III: a sad and raw account of grief, over the death of a loved one. In spare but masterful prose, Barnes offers up a testament to the love of his …

‘The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden’ by Jonas Jonasson ~ A Review

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Having hugely enjoyed Mr. Jonasson’s first book (‘The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared‘), picking this one up was admittedly a bit of a no brainer for me – and, all in all, I can’t really say I was disappointed. Interweaving fact with fiction, the author takes us on another absurd journey of coincidence, this time from 1970’s South Africa to 21st century Sweden. A large cast of quirky, funny & fully fleshed- out characters (including an “illiterate” mathematical genious of a girl, a useless alcoholic engineer, Chinese counterfeiters, Mossad agents, non- existent Swedes, heads of government and Royalty – to name but a few) populates a plot that is just as far fetched and almost as entertaining as that of its predecessor. Truth be told the story does lag a bit, around the middle and the book could probably have benefited from stricter editing at that point. That said, the plot soon picks up again leading to a pretty great, happily- ever- after finale (with all loose ends tied up …