It was great to spend some more time with Constable Hirsch. He has developed a routine at Tiverton, doing his rounds, watching over the district, getting to know the community but it doesn’t take long for things to escalate and the crimes to pile up. Interesting storyline with an interesting odd bunch of characters. Can’t wait to see what is in store for Hirsch in the next story!
When they close Nina’s library in Birmingham (true story for many libraries in the UK), she is out of a job. On a whim, she goes to Scotland, buys a huge van, and turns it into a travelling bookshop. It’s a super light, fun, silly, romantic book about the power of reading, taking chances, and how lovely Scotland is.
I really struggled to get through this, not because I was disliking it, I didn’t seriously consider giving up, but somehow the three seemingly separate storylines kept me at sea for too long. In the last third however, as they came together I began to be invested in this world. Extraordinary world building, dystopian feel, and only faint glimmers of light and hope, this is a wildly imaginative world, and I definitely need to find out what happens.
This collection of essays begins with one about libraries, a very good start indeed. I love Zadie Smith’s fiction, and very much enjoyed many of the essays, especially those about books I have read, or places I have been or long to go. There were quite a few essays about people I knew nothing of, and which did not capture my interest, and others which I felt simply not clever enough to appreciate. It is fascinating to hear the actual voice of a novelist, writing as herself, and come to know something of her life, how she thinks, and how she writes her novels.
A moving story filled with sorrow and hope. Subhi was born in a detention centre – it is the only world he knows and it is not a pretty world. Then one night Jimmie appears from Outside and it changes both of their lives. The importance of stories to your identity, the value of friendship and the way refugees are treated are highlighted.
Set in Darwin in 1942, All Our Shimmering Skies is about Molly Hook, a motherless girl, daughter of a gravedigger, looking to the skies for hope. When Japanese bombs begin to fall, she sets off on a quest in the wilderness. With the most gorgeous sense of place, endearing and deeply frightening characters, it is lyrical, magical, moving, and hopeful.
Four and a half stars for this bittersweet, funny, and heart-warming book. Twelve year-old Norman Foreman lives in Cornwall with his mum, and his best friend, Jax, has just died. Norman and Jax were a comedy duo with plans to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, when Norman wants to go alone, and to find his Dad, Sadie and her elderly friend Leonard, take him on a road trip. Thoroughly lovely characters, and plenty of action, it’s a story about giving life your all.
This story is woven through the Jack the Ripper stories. Susannah marries a doctor without much thought and it quickly dissolves into disaster. The storyline was interesting but I did not connect with Susannah and her rambling thoughts. In parts in was gruesome, others just weird but it did highlight the struggle of women in a male dominated world. I also found interesting the medical descriptions of the 1880s, so glad progress has been made!
I knew this would be good for me, and I knew it was important, but I didn’t expect it to be so gripping. It’s a good, hard look at ourselves and our history, told with passion, clarity, and wisdom. It’s the story of Stan Grant and his family, of his people, of his country; it is our story, full of shame, despair, horror, but also community, connection, and hope. Telling the story doesn’t fix things, but understanding is important.
Although written by three talented authors the story is seamless, with each author writing a character’s story. It is set on the fateful voyage of the Lusitania during World War I with mystery and romance. What was on the Lusitania vital to the war effort and who was the German spy?
rrlreads 