Book Reviews

‘The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.’ Alan Bennett

“Many a book is like a key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self.” ― Franz Kafka

Thursday 17 May 2012

From the Review Pile #1

From the Review Pile is a new meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity. 

Says SOOTP "I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!"

This week, I am going to showcase two books I've been really looking forward to reading and hope to read very soon.




The Bellwether Revivals by Benjamin Wood - published by Simon and Schuster


Synopsis from Goodreads:
Bright, bookish Oscar Lowe has escaped the urban estate where he was raised and made a new life for himself amid the colleges and spires of Cambridge. He has grown to love the quiet routine of his life as a care assistant at a local nursing home, where he has forged a close friendship with the home's most ill-tempered resident, Dr. Paulsen. But when he meets and falls in love with Iris Bellwether, a beautiful and enigmatic medical student at King's College, Oscar is drawn into her world of scholarship and privilege, and soon becomes embroiled in the strange machinations of her brilliant but troubled brother, Eden, who believes he can adapt the theories of a forgotten Baroque composer to heal people with music. Eden's self-belief knows no bounds, and as he draws his sister and closed circle of friends into a series of disturbing experiments to prove himself right, Oscar realises the extent of the danger facing them all...






The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn - published by Headline Review


Synopsis from Goodreads: 
Clarissa is almost seventeen when the spell of her childhood is broken. It is 1914, the beginning of a blissful, golden summer - and the end of an era. Deyning Park is in its heyday, the large country house filled with the laughter and excitement of privileged youth preparing for a weekend party. When Clarissa meets Tom Cuthbert, home from university and staying with his mother, the housekeeper, she is dazzled. Tom is handsome and enigmatic; he is also an outsider. Ambitious, clever, his sights set on a career in law, Tom is an acute observer, and a man who knows what he wants. For now, that is Clarissa.

As Tom and Clarissa's friendship deepens, the wider landscape of political life around them is changing, and another story unfolds: they are not the only people in love. Soon the world - and all that they know - is rocked by a war that changes their lives for ever.




6 comments:

  1. You're in for a treat, Lindsay, I really enjoyed both of these and The Bellwether Revivals is outstanding.

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    1. Thanks Treez! I am looking forward to both.

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  2. Ooh, the Bellweather Revivals sounds really interesting! I might have to check that one out - I really like the cover of it too. I hope that when you get around to these you really enjoy them!

    Stephanie

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    1. I know, I have been wanting to read it for so long. Thanks for commenting and for the new meme!

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  3. Hello Lindsay, thanks so much for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. I just called in to say hi and ended up following your lovely blog.
    I've just added The Bellwether Revivals to my TBR pile.
    Barbara
    marchhousebookscom.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. Hi Barbara, thank you for visiting my blog and for following, that's so kind of you! Looking forward to visiting your blog again soon.

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