1001 Books July 2019 Round Up
This months winners and losers…
Archive for
Jul 30
Jul 26
Guilt by Amanda Robson
Guilt by Amanda Robson
Published in: 2018
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★★]
Whose killing who?
Jul 25
Read Around the World: Lebanon
July 2019 we visit Lebanon a country steeped in history and if you believe the hype blessed by God.
Jul 23
The Longlist is here! The Longlist is here!
No total left field picks this year … Nicole’s strategy backfired and I’m completely gutted to see that On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous didn’t make the list.
Booker Prize 2019: the longlist
Margaret Atwood (Canada) – The Testaments (Vintage, Chatto & Windus)
Kevin Barry (Ireland) – Night Boat to Tangier (Canongate Books)
Oyinkan Braithwaite (UK/Nigeria) – My Sister, The Serial Killer (Atlantic Books)
Lucy Ellmann (USA/UK) – Ducks, Newburyport (Galley Beggar Press)
Bernardine Evaristo (UK) – Girl, Woman, Other (Hamish Hamilton)
John Lanchester (UK) – The Wall (Faber & Faber)
Deborah Levy (UK) – The Man Who Saw Everything (Hamish Hamilton)
Valeria Luiselli (Mexico/Italy) – Lost Children Archive (4th Estate)
Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria) – An Orchestra of Minorities (Little Brown)
Max Porter (UK) – Lanny (Faber & Faber)
Salman Rushdie (UK/India) – Quichotte (Jonathan Cape)
Elif Shafak (UK/Turkey) – 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World (Viking)
Jeanette Winterson (UK) – Frankissstein (Jonathan Cape)
Jul 22
Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli
Lost Children Archive – Valeria Luiselli
Published in: 2019
Reviewed by: Nicole
Rating: 5/5
Ground Control to Major Tom
Jul 22
Booker Prize 2019 Our Longlist Predictions
The official longlist for this years Booker Prize (the name change is due to new sponsors Sir Michael Moritz and his wife rather than the Man group) is due to be announced on Wednesday so in the “readersroom” tradition of recent years we have assembled our shadow panel and put together our own predictions for the longlist.
Let the madness begin…
Jul 15
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous – Ocean Vuong
Published in: 2019
Reviewed by: Nicole
Rating: 5/5 10/10 20/20 …. (you get the point)
The Au Pair by Emma Rous
The Au Pair by Emma Rous
Published in: 2019
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★]
Digging into the past can be dangerous…
Jul 9
A Nearly Normal Family by M T Edvardsson
A Nearly Normal Family by M T Edvardsson
Published in: 2019
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★]
What really goes on behind closed doors…
Jul 1
The First Time Laura Pailing Died by Alyson Rudd
The First Time Lauren Pailing Died by Alyson Rudd
Published in: 2019
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★★]
This ARC was provided by HQ (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis from Goodreads: Lauren Pailing is born in the sixties, and a child of the seventies. She is thirteen years old the first time she dies.
Lauren Pailing is a teenager in the eighties, becomes a Londoner in the nineties. And each time she dies, new lives begin for the people who loved her – while Lauren enters a brand new life, too.
But in each of Lauren’s lives, a man called Peter Stanning disappears. And, in each of her lives, Lauren sets out to find him.
And so it is that every ending is also a beginning. And so it is that, with each new beginning, Peter Stanning inches closer to finally being found…
Book Worm’s Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book that explores the many worlds theory of physics, it examines what it could mean if instead of dying a person could move into another similar but different world where they already have a life.
As a child Lauren has been able to see into other worlds through beams like beams of sunlight that only she can see. Lauren learns that to touch the beam causes her pain and confusion but she is often unable to resist looking inside. What she sees are glimmers of the past and future but not in her current world in other worlds.
Once Lauren dies in world one the reader is plunged into several new story arcs. We follow what happens to her family in world one after her death, what happens to Lauren in her world two and then we branch out into other worlds where the only constants are that Lauren exists and that Peter Stanning disappears.
This is not a fast paced book it is more a study of how people react to grief and the loss of a child. It’s about moving on, about finding closure and about realising there are many possible ways to live your life.
Who would like this? I would recommend this to any one who loves a quirky story and doesn’t mind their heartstrings being pulled.
We want to hear from you! Have you read this book? What did you think?
Book Worm
jenp27
Nicole Del Sesto
The Reader's Room 