What I'm Reading Now...

Say You Will, by Kate Perry.  This was a quick, 'chick-lit' read, as I wanted something quick and easy to read.  This is the start of a series (the Summerhill series) about a wealthy, upper class family of six sisters, all named after Shakespeare heroines.  At the start of the book, they are attending the funeral of their father, who by all accounts is a terrible person, who has died in a car crash with his mistress.  However, they can't locate his will, and its urgent that they find it in order to ensure that they don't lose all their property and money.  Throw in a half sister that no one knew about, and a love interest and the story romps along from there.  It was an engaging read, and the rest of the series follows each of the sisters in turn.  It will probably be a decent series, but I wasn't really in a rush to pick up the next one. 

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell.  This is the first David Mitchell book i've ever read, although I have seen the film of Cloud Atlas.  I did try and read Cloud Atlas several years ago, but just couldn't get into it.  I feel that this is a good place to start with David Mitchell, as the story starts off with a fairly basic premise - Holly Sykes has a massive fight with her mother, and runs away.  Her younger brother ends up going missing on the same day.  However when Holly was running away, she ends up having an unusual encounter with a stranger, which will impact on the rest of her life.  I don't want to say any more about the rest of the plot, but I really enjoyed this book, despite it veering into sci fi towards the end.  The books is structured into 6 sections, which follow Holly and various characters through her life.  It was really interesting and i'd definitely recommend it - i'll definitely be making more of an effort to read more by David Mitchell. 

The House of Fiction, by Susan Swingler.  This is a memoir of Susan Swingler, whose father Leonard was married to a famous Australian author, Elizabeth Jolley.  It's an interesting story, but quite unusual.  Susan tells the story of how her parents, Leonard and Joyce were friends with a woman called Monica (who later changed her name to Elizabeth and apparently changed her name several times through her life).  However, Leonard and Monica were having an affair unknown to Joyce, which resulted in both Joyce and Monica having children within weeks of each other.  Leonard leaves to go to Scotland for a job, but it later turns out that he has moved to Scotland with Monica, then they move from there to Australia, where they stay for the rest of their lives.  The odd part of the story is that Leonard asks Joyce not to contact his family, and he then carries on communicating with his family as though he is still with Joyce.  This is then all found out when Susan becomes an adult, and the book deals with how Susan unravelled the tangled web of lies that she discovers and how it impacts on the rest of her life.  Its an interesting story, but incredibly odd and unsettling. 

Something Wcked This Way Comes,  by Ray Bradbury.  I choose to read this in the week running up to Halloween, as I wanted to read a good horror classic, and it didn't disappoint.  The language used in this story was absolutely amazing, and it was extremely creepy in parts.  It tells the story of two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, who are intrigued to learn that a circus is coming to town, but the circus is not what it seems, and the fate of the towns survival lies in the boys hands..  I'd definitely recommend this, its fairly short and a great read.

What I'm Reading Now...

Hi all, another weekly update about what I've been reading this week...

It Would Be Wrong To Steal My Sister's Boyfriend (Wouldn't It?), by Sophie Ranald.   I picked this up as part of my Kindle Unlimited subscription, as I wanted something light and easy to read. I really enjoyed this, I found it to be a cut above the usual run of the mill chick lit - I could mostly tell how the characters were going to end up, but it was done in a clever enough way that I didn't find the book boring or draggy,  like this genre can often be.  I think it was a good idea for a book, as it was a bit of a different spin on a genre than can be a bit formulaic!  I'd previously read another book by this author, called A Groom With A View, and I had also really enjoyed it - I'd definitely read more by Sophie Ranald! 

What You Wish For, by Mark Edwards. I've previously read two of Mark Edwards books,  Because She Loves Me and The Magpies, and really enjoyed them, finding them to be good psychological thrillers. This one however,  just wasn't up my street. The story is about a photographer called Richard who falls in love with a woman called Marie... who believes in aliens.  Four months into their relationship,  Marie suddenly disappears, and the rest of the story is concerned with Richard searching for Marie through the underworld of alien and UFO believers. I just don't have a lot of time for alien conspiracies, but so much of the story was focused on it! I read it to the end,  but it was only 200 pages so it wasn't too much of a time investment.  In the authors comments at the end of the book, he says that he starting writing the book approximately 15 years earlier, and ended up scrapping it all and rewriting it, just keeping some characters intact.  I think it shows to be honest - there's not as much finesse, and to be honest, I just didn't find it as clever or as engaging as his other books.

Prep, by Curtis Sittenfeld.  I wanted to try something by this author, before I read her version of Pride and Prejudice, which she is writing as part of the Austen Project.  I read Sisterland and really enjoyed it, so I bought a couple of others to try and this is the first one. Lee is a 14 year old girl attending a prestigious school and struggling to fit in. She's quite and shy, and finding that she doesn't really fit in with the elite. I'm only about 20% into the story, but I'm really enjoying it so far, im interested to see how it goes!

What I'm Reading Now....

Hi all!

I thought I'd just post a quick update to let you know what I'm currently reading - in depth reviews to follow!

The Innocents, by Francesca Segal. I'm reading this for my book group, and really enjoying it! It was chosen by one of the other members,  and is about Jewish families in North West London.  Adam has been with Rachel for 13 years, and at the beginning of the story they've just gotten engaged.  However, Rachel's glamorous cousin Ellie appears on the scene, will she lead Adam into temptation or will he stay in his safe little cocoon of a life?

The Girl With All The Gifts, by M R Carey. This was a recommendation from a friend. The story focuses on Melanie, who lives in a locked down facility that's staffed by the army and scientists. She's kept locked up at all times and isn't told anything about the current world.  This is a good take on a common theme, but in all honesty, I've had to force myself to pick it up a few times, im finding the story to drag a bit in places and most of the characters are fairly unlikeable. I'm about 80% of the way though now so will definitely see it through to the end.

Red Or Dead, by David Peace. I've only read one other David Peace novel previously,  1974, which was good, but fairly harrowing, so I've still to return to the rest of that series. Red or Dead started being talked about on various media outlets quite a while ago. It could be seen as a companion book to The Damned United - the cover photo is the the same one on both books - and both are a type of fictional nonfiction.  A lot of the information is correct, but there's a lot of information which simply couldn't be known by the author. A lot of the buzz around this book regarded the writing style, which is extremely repetitive.  I thought I would find this irritating, but after the first page or two, it becomes extremely hypnotic. I am enjoying this book,  but I do find its taking me quite a while to read. I'd recommend it though, even to non football fans - it's an interesting read!