What was on my reading list recently
A monthly round-up of recent-releases, book-store best-sellers and other literary discoveries.
I was in constant hunger for reading this month! It’s the steady rainy and windy weather in London, and I genuinely prefer to stay at home under cosy blanket and glass of red wine. Not that I am complaining.
I’ve just finished reading the last of five novels you can see listed below. I am very glad that two of them turned out to be marvellous- Becoming by Michele Obama and The Familiars by Stacey Halls. Unfortunately, two picks were off the mark- giving me a lesson that good reviews won’t guarantee a good book.
Hope you’ve recently enjoyed some good books as well!
Becoming ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Michele Obama
Amazon | Goodreads
I am getting along my 2020’ reading list with this title. Listened on Audible and Michele’s Obama own voice- it was a great and long listen (19h!). Her great narration has accompanied me on a business trip three weeks ago when I spent total 4h train ride listening to it. It is an honest and very engaging story of a fascinating woman that you read like fiction rather than a biography. I feel like I got a bit closer to her. Each personal story is explained in detail and sometimes certain stories are recalled later in the book so you feel as if her memories are somehow yours.
Becoming is Michelle Obama’s memoir starting from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the White House by the side of her husband, Barack. She is experiencing racism, disappointments, her tragedies such as miscarriage which all have shaped her. The book is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman whose story was intended to inspire us to do the same.
The Familiars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Stacey Halls
Amazon | Goodreads
This is the book that will appear on my 2020 favourites list! I was captivated from the start and didn’t want it to end. It was just a perfect combination of a good story, believable characters (that developed as the story proceeded), plot twists and fairytale-like pinch. I couldn’t put it down. I strongly recommend the audible version- north accent in the narrator’s voice is another side benefit.
Fleetwood Shuttleworth is 17 years old, married, and pregnant for the fourth time. She is a mistress at Gawthorpe Hall but as she still has no living child, her husband Richard is anxious for an heir. When Fleetwood finds a letter she isn’t supposed to read from the doctor who delivered her third stillbirth; she is dealt the crushing blow that she will not survive another pregnancy. Then she crosses paths by chance with Alice Gray, a young midwife. Alice promises to help her give birth to a healthy baby and to prove the physician wrong.
Nightingale Point ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Nightingale Point was a long but satisfying read focused on before and after a tragedy happens. It’s a deeply moving and thoughtful read. Each character has such depth and their story grows and evolves across the pages. They are all flawed and imperfect which makes you like them and care about their faith. This is terrific storytelling, considering it is an author’s debut book.
On an ordinary Saturday morning in 1996, the residents of Nightingale Point wake up to their healthy lives and worries. It’s a day like any other until something extraordinary happens. When the sun sets, Nightingale Point is irrevocably changed and somehow, through the darkness, the residents must find a way back to lightness, and back to each other.
The Holiday ⭐️⭐️
I’m sad to say that I couldn’t recommend this book. I had quite high expectations based on reviews I read but the plot was awful, going round in circles. The story is built over a conspiracy theory and the author continually led the reader to believe something, that was not true. The ending left so many holes as well!
It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, dreamed up by Kate- four best friends and their husbands and children in a luxurious villa under the blazing sunshine of Provence. But there is trouble in paradise. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair and that the other woman is one of her best friends. As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine ⭐️
Gail Honeyman
Amazon | Goodreads
I have no idea why this book has 82% of 5 stars on Amazon. It’s a long time since I have been so entirely disappointed by the book. I got as far of chapter 6 and couldn’t take it anymore. The main character is the biggest cliched stereotyped character- her behaviour doesn’t make sense for someone aged 30 (who doesn’t know how to order a pizza??!!). Don’t read this! There are plenty of other great books.
Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend. One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted — while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.
