I've been lax with my reviews lately but here are three books I've read recently that made an impression on me.
When God Was A Rabbit a debut novel by Sarah Winman and a wonderful read. Split into two parts the first follows Elly's growing up years through her eyes. She has a special relationship with her brother, a strong unbreakable one that hold fast all the way through the book. Elly's view on the world is at times hilarious as she grows and observes life. She makes an unlikely friendship with Jenny Penny whose mother has a succession of boyfriends. Elly and her family take Jenny under their wing. The family have their own problems to deal with and eventually move into the countryside. Elly misses her friend badly but at least she has her brother. Elly realises she doesn't fit in at school, that her friends don't want to play anymore but do grown up things. She is told 'never stop playing'. I SO agree!
The second half of the book has a very different feel about it. Elly is an adult. Her brother goes missing (I can't say more than that or I will spoil it for you should you wish to read the book) and Elly goes in search of him, making contact with her brother's old school friend Charlie. The death of an elderly friend looms too. While fingers of humour do push in this half of the book contrasts the childhood section. This is the adult world, though Elly is drawn to her past and happier times. Recommended reading.
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons is a book I read many years ago. This time it was my book group read and I was happy to re-read it as I'd forgotten so much, like how funny it is, how Stella Gibbons portrays her characters so outstandingly - their smoldering looks, their speech. For those who have not read this classic the main character is Fiona Poste who now an adult orphan decides to reside for a while with relatives and 'sort out their lives'. She ends up at Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex with the Starkadders. a motley family of brooding looks and weird speech, including Aunt Ada Doom who once saw something nasty in the woodshed and hasn't been out of her bedroom for over twenty years. What a lovely romping read this is. Gradually Fiona takes each family member in hand as they begin to take to her.
Stella's descriptions are poetic and downright laugh out loud - such as The Church of the Quivering Brethren and the incident when Fiona lets the bull out of the shed and each person queries who let it out (you have to read it to get it!). This is a classic book, a tongue in cheek look at country life. I'll guarantee you won't be able to read it without laughing.
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig was a Christmas present (one of three I asked for). Tom Hazzard does not age like normal people. He was born in 1581 and from the age of around 13 his aging process slowed. Now in recent times he is still searching for his daughter Marion who also has the condition, and who he lost touch with when he had to leave his wife and child to stop the suspicions of others. It was dangerous for him to live with them anymore. Tom moves across the world over time and makes a friend in Omai who is like him but otherwise relationships are difficult. He is persuaded to join Albatross who look after people like him and he has to become someone else every eight years. The main rule is to never fall in love. Now, in the present, he has fallen for a French teacher at the school where he works as a history teacher, currently stating his age as 41. Complications ensue and while Tom looks back on his life he wonders if he will ever find Marion and lead a happy life.
The book is though provoking in the way Tom views life after all these years, about how humanity never learns, how people do not like others who are different from them. Essentially it is a love story. It is also a good walk through parts of history. A good read.
The second half of the book has a very different feel about it. Elly is an adult. Her brother goes missing (I can't say more than that or I will spoil it for you should you wish to read the book) and Elly goes in search of him, making contact with her brother's old school friend Charlie. The death of an elderly friend looms too. While fingers of humour do push in this half of the book contrasts the childhood section. This is the adult world, though Elly is drawn to her past and happier times. Recommended reading.
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons is a book I read many years ago. This time it was my book group read and I was happy to re-read it as I'd forgotten so much, like how funny it is, how Stella Gibbons portrays her characters so outstandingly - their smoldering looks, their speech. For those who have not read this classic the main character is Fiona Poste who now an adult orphan decides to reside for a while with relatives and 'sort out their lives'. She ends up at Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex with the Starkadders. a motley family of brooding looks and weird speech, including Aunt Ada Doom who once saw something nasty in the woodshed and hasn't been out of her bedroom for over twenty years. What a lovely romping read this is. Gradually Fiona takes each family member in hand as they begin to take to her.
Stella's descriptions are poetic and downright laugh out loud - such as The Church of the Quivering Brethren and the incident when Fiona lets the bull out of the shed and each person queries who let it out (you have to read it to get it!). This is a classic book, a tongue in cheek look at country life. I'll guarantee you won't be able to read it without laughing.
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig was a Christmas present (one of three I asked for). Tom Hazzard does not age like normal people. He was born in 1581 and from the age of around 13 his aging process slowed. Now in recent times he is still searching for his daughter Marion who also has the condition, and who he lost touch with when he had to leave his wife and child to stop the suspicions of others. It was dangerous for him to live with them anymore. Tom moves across the world over time and makes a friend in Omai who is like him but otherwise relationships are difficult. He is persuaded to join Albatross who look after people like him and he has to become someone else every eight years. The main rule is to never fall in love. Now, in the present, he has fallen for a French teacher at the school where he works as a history teacher, currently stating his age as 41. Complications ensue and while Tom looks back on his life he wonders if he will ever find Marion and lead a happy life.
The book is though provoking in the way Tom views life after all these years, about how humanity never learns, how people do not like others who are different from them. Essentially it is a love story. It is also a good walk through parts of history. A good read.
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