Posts tagged ‘books’

Jun 22

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan
Published in: 2016
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: ★★★
Find it here: Dear Amy

This ARC was provided by Penguin UK (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Amazon:

In Helen Callaghan’s chilling, tightly-spun debut novel of psychological suspense, a teenage girl’s abduction stirs dark memories of a twenty-year-old cold case…

Margot Lewis is a teacher at an exclusive high school in the English university town of Cambridge. In her spare time, she writes an advice column, “Dear Amy”, for the local newspaper.

When one of Margot’s students, fifteen-year-old Katie, disappears, the school and the town fear the worst. And then Margot gets a “Dear Amy” letter unlike any of the ones she’s received before. It’s a desperate plea for rescue from a girl who says she is being held captive and in terrible danger—a girl called Bethan Avery, who was abducted from the local area twenty years ago…and never found.

The letter matches a sample of Bethan’s handwriting that the police have kept on file since she vanished, and this shocking development in an infamous cold case catches the attention of criminologist Martin Forrester, who has been trying to find out what happened to her all those years ago. Spurred on by her concern for both Katie and the mysterious Bethan, Margot sets out—with Martin’s help—to discover if the two cases are connected.

But then Margot herself becomes a target.

Jun 21

5 Comments

1001 Book Review: Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Those of you new to our blog my not know that Book Worm and I are making our way through Boxell’s 1001 list of Books You Must Read Before You Die. This list has been revised several times and 1305 books have been on at least one iteration of the list. You can find the full list on page “1001 books.” We both happen to belong to an online reading group that is making its way through the list so occasionally we post our joint reviews of 1001 books. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym was one of the books we read with that group in June. Keep reading to see if we liked it and thought it worthy of the list. Read more

Jun 20

26 Comments

Read Different Challenge & LGBT Pride Month

diverse books

Last month we decided to join in with the Hachette’s Read Different campaign and we invited you to join us in an informal reading challenge to expand your reading horizons. The month of June happens to be LGBT pride month so what better time to highlight some of the great books by LGBT authors or with LGBT characters? Read more

Jun 16

6 Comments

Read Around the World: Israel

Israel

It’s been a while since we’ve done a read around the world post. Our next stop in our world tour of reading is Israel. Keep reading to see which book we picked and which other Israeli literature we recommend. Scroll to the bottom to see photos from our contributor, Nicole’s recent trip to Israel. Read more

Jun 14

4 Comments

The Girls by Emma Cline

Out in stores today, The Girls is one of the summer’s most anticipated releases. Emma Cline received a $2 million advance for her debut novel and it is one of those books that everyone is talking about. I was lucky enough to get a galley of the book and also met the author briefly at Book Expo this year. Here is my review… Read more

Jun 13

4 Comments

In Love and War by Alex Preston

In Love and War by Alex Preston
First Published in: 2014. Released in paperback tomorrow
Reviewed by: Jen
Rating: 3.75/5 stars
Find it/buy it here: In Love and War

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Faber & Faber in exchange for my honest review.

In Love and War is Alex Preston’s third novel. Set in Florence, Italy in the 1930s and 40s, it is an epic tale of love and war. Esmond is a young Englishman who has been sent to Florence, in part to escape scandal he brought on his family in England, but primarily to strengthen relationships between the British Union of Fascists and Mussolini’s government. His primary responsibility is to set up a radio station that will promote fascist ideals and highlight important cultural works from Italy. When Esmond arrives in Florence he meets an interesting cast of characters (many of them real historical people like Norman Douglas) who ultimately challenge his original viewpoints and political stance. Read more

Jun 10

6 Comments

Do we still need a Women’s Prize?

logobaileys

A few days ago we announced the winner of the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for fiction. The Bailey’s Women’s Prize was started in 1992 when a group of people within the literary community came together to discuss, and try to remedy, the incredible underrepresentation of women nominated for major literary awards. Since then, there continues to be much dialogue on the underrepresentation of women in the publishing world, but some women authors have also spoken out about the concept of a Women’s Prize.

In 1990 A.S. Byatt denounced the prize as “sexist” and “unneeded.” She claimed that “You couldn’t found a prize for male writers. The Orange prize assumes there is a feminine subject matter – which I don’t believe in. It’s honourable to believe that – there are fine critics and writers who do – but I don’t.” But what Byatt failed to account for was fact that for many years, all the major literary awards were essentially prizes for men since women were consistently being underrepresented in all these awards.

Thankfully, we seem to be making some progress in this area with women starting to be seen more frequently in major literary longlists. The question is do we still need a women’s prize today? We took a look at the last 5 years of Man Booker Awards and here is what we found. Read more

Jun 9

3 Comments

A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale

A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale
First published: 2012 (most recent edition released 2016)
Rating: 3.5 stars
Reviewed by: Jen
Find it/buy it here: A Perfectly Good Man

Set in the heart of Cornwall, A Perfectly Good Man is a novel about faith, morality, and what it means to live a good life. The protagonist, Barnaby Johnson is a parish priest who is summoned to the home of a paralyzed young man named Lenny. When he arrives, he learns that he wasn’t called to provide comfort but rather to witness and provide last rites for Lenny who ingested poison while the priest was in his home. Barnaby witnesses the young man die, helpless to do anything other than pray for him. Lenny’s death has impacts for the whole community and Gale draws in various characters to highlight these far-reaching effects.

The novel is told in a nonlinear style with chapters centering around various stages of Barnaby’s life and the final chapter in the book takes place when Barnaby was a child. Barnaby is not a perfect man. He has moments of weakness, crisis, and doubt. Yet despite these moments, he is a good man (hence the title). The nonlinear style is clever in building up suspense and providing a few moments of shock when the reader realizes how some of the pieces of his life come together. The emotional impact of various events only gain true meaning when certain facts are revealed in later chapters.

I had never read anything by Patrick Gale prior to this book. The publishing house contacted requesting a review stating that they thought I might like it because I had indicated preference for Colm Toibin’s work. There were definitely some similarities in style between the two authors and there is no question that Gale is a supremely talented writer. I enjoyed many things about the book including the writing style, the non-linear style, and the rich character development. The book is heavy on the religious themes — the main character is a priest after all. It’s certainly not heavy-handed or preachy and in fact the major conflict in the novel is a crisis of faith. However, the author has something to say about the power of prayer. I am not a religious person and I don’t particularly care for books with heavy Christian themes. In fact, I explicitly state (on our review page) that I won’t take requests for Christian fiction. I wouldn’t classify this as Christian fiction but it is an exploration of faith: faith tested and faith restored. So it’s a testament that I actually enjoyed it as much as I did.

This book will appeal to those who like beautifully constructed novels that tackle questions of faith. It is a heartfelt novel that is emotionally engaging and interesting. It will also appeal to those who enjoy reading books about ordinary people living in small towns.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Does it appeal to you? Why or why not? Have you read others by Patrick Gale?

Jun 8

2 Comments

YA Review: Flawed Ceceila Ahern

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
Published in: 2016
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: ★★★★
Find it here: Flawed

This ARC was provided by Harper Collins UK (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads: Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule and now faces life-changing repercussions. She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found flawed.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where perfection is paramount and flaws lead to punishment. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her everything. Read more

Jun 7

26 Comments

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

I just so happened to snag a signed copy of this book at book expo this year. This book is getting hyped all over the literary community. It comes out today in bookstores all across the U.S. Is it worth the hype? Read more