tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90570104187019345712024-02-24T10:46:27.899+00:00The Little Reader LibraryLindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.comBlogger684125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-57178664232791164442018-09-17T13:57:00.002+01:002018-09-17T14:02:48.839+01:00Reading round-up August 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Reading round-up - August 2018</b> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I thought I'd be able to get back to posting more regularly but it's been ages again unfortunately. As I've not written any full reviews I thought I'd share a taste of what was a very good reading month for me in August. There was a lovely variety in what I read, everything was enjoyable, and it was great to read such a quantity as well. I wish I could manage this every month but sadly that doesn't happen. I've read little in September so far, although the one novel I've finished thus far -<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36645951-a-ladder-to-the-sky"> <b><i>A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne</i></b> </a>- was absolutely brilliant and I'd highly recommend it. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I read some lovely illustrated children's books, a graphic novel, crime fiction, and a selection of other fiction - historical and contemporary, even some poetry. Additionally there was a compelling memoir, and a very welcome and supportive book on surviving the modern world. Some mostly brief thoughts on them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-weight: bold;">The </i><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24);"><b><i>Disappearance</i></b></span></span><i style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-weight: bold;"> of Adèle Bedeau </i><span style="color: #181818;">- Graeme Macrae Burnet has become a new favourite author since, earlier this year, I read his brilliant novel <i style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); font-weight: bold;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2383735929?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">His Bloody Project</a></i>, whilst on holiday up in Scotland. I've since read his other two novels and thoroughly enjoyed both. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Notes on a Nervous Planet </i>- Matt Haig's book <i style="font-weight: bold;">Reasons to Stay Alive <a href="https://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.com/2015/03/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig.html">(my review is here)</a> </i>was a wonderfully supportive and sympathetic read which I found an awful lot of strength from and this is another book which takes an honest look at the pressures of the modern world and the struggles we may have with it and gives support and hope in coping.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-weight: bold;">The Case of the Missing Hippo (Fabio the World's Greatest Flamingo Detective 1) </i><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24);">- This book is fabulous fun and a very enjoyable read, what a clever imagination.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24);"><i style="font-weight: bold;">I Am, I Am, I Am </i>I love Maggie O'Farrell's novels, and really enjoyed this series of 'brushes with death', if enjoyed is the right word. I enjoyed her writing once again, though these many close scrapes are at times frightening, she has come through so much. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #181818;"><b><i>You Sad Feminist</i></b> - I heard about this poet on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/BookishThoughts">Jean's - <i>Bookish Thoughts</i> - book tube channel</a> and thought it sounded up my street, and then I watched a video of the author Megan Beech reading some of her poetry aloud and was very impressed, as I was when I read this collection. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #181818;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">The Yark </i>- A children's book I found whilst browsing in Foyles, it caught my eye, translated from French and published in New Zealand, it's a story I enjoyed though be warned it certainly has a dark edge to it. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>The Book Case</i></b> - Lots to love in this and I will look out for more. Some fab characters especially Daphne. I liked the illustrations a lot. A fair bit of action and adventure to the story.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b><i>The Poet's Dog</i></b> - This is a </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">lovely story that says so much about love/friendship and kindness in so few words. And the main character and narrator is a dog. Perfect.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Stay Where You Are and then Leave</i></b> - </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I loved this story from beginning to end, it was moving and very well told. I was sad to leave the characters behind and am wondering what happened to them all next.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b><i>Rooftoppers</i></b> - This was a m</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">agical read! I had a tear in my eye at the end. Not sure how I missed this before. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><b><i>All We Shall Know</i></b> - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i>'We merged over time into one person, I think, and it's easy to be cruel to oneself.'</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">I've previously read one book by this author, <i>The Spinning Heart</i>, which I absolutely loved, so I did go into this new book with high expectations I suppose, and I wasn't disappointed. Whilst I think overall I still would say I loved The Spinning Heart most, I absolutely loved reading Donal Ryan's beautiful, lyrical writing again here in All We Shall Know, with his often acutely painful but so on the nose observations about people and about relationships of love and youth and promise gone so bitter and so wrong. I just feel he has a brilliant grasp on people and on what makes people's hearts soar with joy and what absolutely tears people apart in themselves and from each other. I think his writing is at times a class apart and sometimes I stop and reread a sentence or passage numerous times in awe of it. </span></span></div>
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Here he tells the story of a woman named Melody Shee, who we learn straight away is pregnant and the father is not her husband Pat but Martin, a young traveller boy. She is in a very dark place in her mind as the novel begins, and we learn of the darkness that haunts her from her past, from schooldays and from her marriage gone sour. The only brightness on the landscape is a new friendship that blossoms between Melody and Mary, a traveller living on the same site as Martin, and to some extent the time Melody spends with her father. This book gave me an insight into a community that I know very little about. The author depicts the way memories of past transgressions haunt us and can come back to taunt us. The tension and atmosphere grows as the weeks of her pregnancy progress. The whole of the passage about marriage vows that is about a page long is amazing. Superb, writing which is both beautiful and so insightful, and amazing how he does this in 150 or 200 pages, and I've already bought two more by this author to look forward to.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Standard Deviation</i></b> - I really enjoyed this debut novel. I do like a good story of everyday family life set in the present day, and Katherine Heiny has crafted just such a tale here, a really readable story centred predominantly around just a few characters - Graham, his wife Audra, his first wife Elspeth and Graham and Audra's son Matthew. The author has a pacy writing style, and she writes with great humour at times, and makes some very sharp and true observations on modern life, love, marriage, parenting, there's some lovely characterisation. There's also some real sadness, sometimes coming as quite a surprise. Though in some ways it feels as though Graham is the main character, Audra is such a presence that it does feel like she is the most memorable character in the book, and at times I thought Audra was brilliant, though I do think she would also drive me a little mad at times too if I encountered her in the real world. Sometimes I thought, oh she's not really going to say that is she, and then she does, oh my goodness! The development of young Matthew's character was nicely done, his talent for origami. There's some witty and at times acerbic commentary and judgements, often from Graham, on the personalities and behaviours of those he meets, and sometimes you can't help feeling you might have thought the same thing, however unkind, and other times it makes you stop and think about how we judge others based sometimes on very little. It made me think about how we view our relationships. And although there were very sad moments, it really did make me laugh at times. I'd definitely read more by this author. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">The Pavee and the Buffer Girl - </i>I enjoyed this moving graphic novel about outsiders finding each other. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818; font-weight: bold;">An American Marriage - </i><span style="color: #181818;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24);">A compelling tale and one that makes you think about whose side, if anyone's, you are on. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">Snap </i>- I really enjoyed this, a compelling page turner, some witty lines and enjoyable characterisation, recommended. One of my favourite reads from a few years ago is Belinda Bauer's novel <i><b>Rubbernecker <a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.com/2013/01/rubbernecker-belinda-bauer.html">(my review is here)</a>.</b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Have you read any of these? </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What was your favourite read over the summer? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>New releases</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm hoping this autumn will bring more good reads and there are several I'm really excited about over reading the coming weeks, including <i><b>Lethal White by Robert Galbraith, Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak, Transcription by Kate Atkinson, </b><b>Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty</b>, <b>The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton</b></i>, to name a few. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is there a new release you are looking forward to?</span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-78144028713587165882018-04-14T20:46:00.000+01:002018-04-14T20:46:21.205+01:00Bookish thoughts on The Scandal by Fredrik Backman <br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24);"><b>The Scandal by Fredrick Backman, translated from the Swedish by Neil Smith.</b></span></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><b style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;">'Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead and pulled the trigger. </b><b style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;">This is the story of how we got there.' </b><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Beartown is a small town in a large Swedish forest.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">For most of the year it is under a thick blanket of snow, experiencing the kind of cold and dark that brings people closer together - or pulls them apart.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Its isolation means that Beartown has been slowly shrinking with each passing year. But now the town is on the verge of an astonishing revival. Everyone can feel the excitement. Change is in the air and a bright new future is just around the corner.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Until the day it is all put in jeopardy by a single, brutal act. It divides the town into those who think it should be hushed up and forgotten, and those who'll risk the future to see justice done. At last, it falls to one young man to find the courage to speak the truth that it seems no one else wants to hear.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><br style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24); color: #181818;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">No one can stand by or stay silent. You're on one side or another.</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Which side will you find yourself on?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i>'So the first thing that happens in a conflict is that we choose a side, because that's easier than trying to hold two thoughts in our heads at the same time. The second thing that happens is that we seek out facts that confirm what we want to believe - comforting facts, ones that permit life to go on as normal. The third is that we dehumanize our enemy.'</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I find Fredrik Backman a very insightful writer when it comes to observations of human behaviour. I've read a few of his novels now, I really enjoyed <i style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24);">A Man Called Ove </i><span style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24);">in particular</span>, but with <i style="caret-color: rgb(24, 24, 24);">The Scandal</i> he has done something a bit different to his previous stories. I think all the others, however they might have touched upon serious or important matters, had a lighter side or tone to them on the whole, but here there is much more of an exploration of the darkness within families, friendships and communities, the buried secrets, the suspicion, the mistrust, sadness at tragic losses, regret at unfulfilled potential. That's not to suggest the world within this novel is without hope though; there are moments of joy in there too, and touching humour, but it felt heavy at times with the pervading rather gloomy and oppressive atmosphere. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The enclosed, limited, cold and bleak world of this small town in Sweden, Beartown, is really successfully conveyed by Backman, I think the reader gets a full sense of the claustrophobia and limitations that many of the characters experience, the isolation in this rural place surrounded by forest. This is the backdrop against which the story builds. There seems little to celebrate or shout about there, and what matters to the majority of the people there is ice-hockey and the possibility of renewed success of their team would bring about such a lift in spirits, as it did in the past. That's why, when something absolutely terrible happens, so many of the inhabitants are thrown into a moral conflict and the way they emerge from it will show their true colours.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's a difficult read at times, with the criminal act of rape that is the turning point of the story being very upsetting and shocking. But I found it a very convincing portrayal of a community and of so many different characters, young, middle-aged and older, all drawn so vividly and roundly, all with their own problems, anxieties and passions. The narration jumps around a fair bit to show different reactions and points of view to the unfolding events, and I really liked the variety of characters we come to know. I admit to knowing little about ice-hockey before reading, and although it is intrinsic to the life of the town and the backdrop of the plot, it doesn't matter if it doesn't overly interest you as it is the characters - their actions and motivations, thoughts and secrets - and the themes - friendship, loyalty, honesty, being a parent, bereavement - that really stand out in this tale. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These characters in <i>The Scandal</i> felt so alive to me as I read, and I kept thinking about some of them whilst I wasn't reading, as well as after I had finished the book. It was certainly a thought-provoking read, and caused a bit of a 'book hangover' for me afterwards, as it didn't feel like anything else was going to capture my thoughts as this had. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I borrowed this book from the library so must get a keeper copy one day. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was excited to see that there is another novel coming out from the author with the same setting, <i>Us Against You</i>, (Beartown Two) - the title of The Scandal in some versions is<i> Beartown</i>, a direct translation of the original Swedish title I believe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">Some wonderful quotes that stood out for me...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">'Another morning comes. It always does. Time always moves at the same rate, only feelings have different speeds. Every day can mark a whole lifetime or a single heartbeat, depending on who you spend it with.'</span></span></div>
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'When I was little, my dad used to hit me if I spilled my milk, Leo. That didn't teach me not to spell things. It just made me scared of milk. Remember that.'</div>
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'So the first thing that happens in a conflict is that we choose a side, because that's easier than trying to hold two thoughts in our heads at the same time. The second thing that happens is that we seek out facts that confirm what we want to believe - comforting facts, ones that permit life to go on as normal. The third is that we dehumanize our enemy.'</div>
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'...Ana creeps into the house and wakes the dogs, then takes them as far out into the forest as she can. Then she sits there with her face buried in their fur and cries. They breathe on her neck, lick her ear, nudge her with their noses. She will never understand how some people can prefer other people to animals.'</div>
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'If only she hadn't existed, the none of this would have happened, why didn't she think of that?'</div>
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'She does what she has done a thousand times in her childhood when the house stank of alcohol and her parents were screaming at each other. She sleeps with the animals. Because the animals have never done her any harm.'</div>
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'All men have different fears that drive them, and Peter's biggest one is that he isn't good enough.'</div>
</span></span>Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-45910530611862283132018-03-10T12:35:00.003+00:002018-03-10T12:35:55.014+00:00Bookish thoughts on Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCG6x2XKDkEQ397KpIYt3A3uuUDoFmFqPDf60dnKs3JvsELsDMhy0D24thpgGbDrM0LUrjnre3a8jKmUWw5g9zz6qc4kLvYGaBV_4lyPqdjz-VnIg5Lt8mnRCAn9C2k79xZyEcTXKEAn_/s1600/three+things.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="318" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCG6x2XKDkEQ397KpIYt3A3uuUDoFmFqPDf60dnKs3JvsELsDMhy0D24thpgGbDrM0LUrjnre3a8jKmUWw5g9zz6qc4kLvYGaBV_4lyPqdjz-VnIg5Lt8mnRCAn9C2k79xZyEcTXKEAn_/s320/three+things.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
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<i style="color: #111111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">Three Things About Elsie</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> is filled with some lovely touches of humour, poignancy, and perceptive observations on life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">As well as this, it invites the reader into a mystery regarding a man from our main character Florence's past.</span></div>
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Florence is in her eighties and living in managed accommodation for the elderly. Elsie is her best friend - this is the first of the three things about her. As the book commences, Florence has fallen in her flat, and she is thinking about recent events in her life, telling us about Elsie, and about another friend in the flats, Jack, and also about a new arrival, a man who brings back past memories for Florence and causes her to embark on solving a mystery buried in her past, if she can just reach within her mind and find the answers. </div>
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Joanna Cannon writes with warmth and in a compassionate, honest way in dealing with dementia and ageing, as well as portraying the bonds of friendship and companionship. </div>
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There are many beautiful observations and expressions once again in Joanna Cannon's writing, as I found there were in the author’s debut novel, <i>The Trouble with Goats and Sheep</i>, but this time, for me, there is a stronger and more compelling story to go with it.</div>
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I enjoyed the stories woven in about the side characters of Miss Ambrose and Handy Simon, both with their issues of self-doubt and self-discovery, though I felt I would have liked to know a little more about Jack, for him to have felt just a little more fleshed out as a character. </div>
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The book cover is a lovely appealing design of Battenberg cake which was very tempting every time I looked at the pattern, and the jigsaw pieces emblematic of Florence trying to piece together the past and find that missing piece in her present.</div>
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As I said, there were some lovely expressions and thoughts on life, many sentences and passages I marked as I read and which caused me to pause and think, some of which I've shared below.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Some of my favourite pieces of writing from the book:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'She always wore cheerful clothes, it was just a shame her face never went along with it.'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'A small existence, disappeared. There was nothing left to say she'd even been there. Everything was exactly as it had been before. As if someone had put a bookmark in her life and slammed it shut.'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'We'd only been there ten minutes and my mind started to wander. It can't help itself. It very often goes for a walk without me, and before I've realised what's going on, it's miles away.'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'Elsie's father left for the war and returned as a telegram on the mantelpiece.'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'But sometimes life takes you along a path you only intended to glance down on your way to somewhere else, and when you look back, you realise the past wasn't the straight line you thought it might be. If you're lucky, you eventually move forward, but most of us cross from side to side, tripping up over our second thoughts as we walk through life.'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'It's strange, because you can put up with all manner of nonsense in your life, all sorts of sadness, and you manage to keep everything on board and march through it, then someone is kind to you and it's the kindness that makes you cry. It's the tiny act of goodness that opens a door somewhere and lets all the misery escape.'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'It didn't take them long to undo my life. I had spent eighty years building it, but within weeks, they made it small enough to fit into a manila envelope and take along to meetings.'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'...perhaps it's only in the silence that you're able to hear just how loud your own worrying is.'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'Nothing he had a go at seemed to fit. Life sometimes felt like trying on the entire contents of a shoe shop, but all of them pinched your toes.'</span></div>
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</span>Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-73447833572356828082018-02-23T15:21:00.003+00:002018-02-23T15:38:19.588+00:00Back with some Best Books!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Long time, no post, I know. I wasn't sure if I was coming back to write here again. I'm still not sure if I'm back for any length of time, or regularly, so let's just see what happens. I've still enjoyed reading many of the excellent book blogs I always followed before, though I have been terrible at commenting, for which I'm sorry. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I thought an interesting post to return with might be <b>my favourite reads of 2017 </b>(in no particular order). </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Underneath the titles, I've posted the comments that I wrote on Goodreads at the time, if any - some I wrote a little, some I didn't write anything. No reflection on the book(s) at all, just whether I managed to write a comment/review at the time or not. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Favourite reads of 2017</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine</b> - Gail Honeyman</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><b>The Underground Railroad</b> - Colson Whitehead</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I loved this novel, I thought Colson Whitehead constructed and told his story very well indeed. I liked the longer and shorter parts of the narrative, and the different viewpoints, and I feel he has written a very important, compelling, honest and very readable novel about an absolutely awful part of humanity's past, which should never be forgotten. I felt I learned a lot in reading this novel, and it made me go off and research more about some of the historical events of the period in which this story is set, as well as find out about the underground railroad as it was something I didn't know about previously. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I became thoroughly immersed in Cora's life and was reluctant to put the book down at times, as I had to know what would happen, despite my fears at what I might found out as I read on. I did find some of the things that happened upsetting, I was appalled by some of the horrendous behaviour and the way people were treated back then.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div>
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I feel this is an important novel to read and I am very glad I have read it; as well as dealing with something which taints our past, it is a gripping, harrowing, well written and engaging story with some wonderful characters, Cora most of all, as well as Caesar, Sam, and others. It definitely deserves the praise it has received. I love the cover design too, very striking and fitting for the book.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Unseen World</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Liz Moore</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Marvellous, I loved it. Ada and David will stay with me for a long time, as well as Liston and ELIXIR. Intelligent, thoughtful and compelling read. Love this author.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span><br /><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How to Stop Time</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Matt Haig</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pretty darn marvellous. So much feeling and insight into life, especially into how humans repeat mistakes again and again, and uplifting in terms of trying to live in the moment. A really good, and lovely, story. The audio book narrator does a brilliant job too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shelter</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Jung Yun</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A brilliant read, combines so much, beautifully done, and very well written.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span><br /><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Tidal Zone</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Sarah Moss</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I loved this book, I thought it was beautifully written, with a compelling and very readable narrative with so much to say about the way we live our lives today; the delicate nature of our health, the weight, relevance and truth of our history, the influence of previous generations and their experiences. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I found it especially well written and honest when discussing how we get through everyday modern life with its struggles and joys, and there were some delightful touches of humour in there too.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div>
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I loved the interspersed parts about Coventry Cathedral as Adam conducted his research. (The cathedral, as well as some of the area around/near there, is a place that has a special resonance from the past for me, that's another story though, I won't go into it here.) </div>
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I admired Adam for his role, and I think Sarah Moss really conveyed so well the love and devotion he had for his family, as well as the utter turmoil when they were threatened by the frightening health scares.</div>
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I also thought she was spot on with many of the current worries and issues troubling our world. I liked that Miriam was a feisty and positive girl who cared about a lot that isn't right with the world. I like the beautiful and striking cover painting too. I'm really excited about reading more novels by this author now, I like her writing style very much. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Museum of You</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Carys Bray</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What a lovely book.</span></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Son</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Phillip Meyer</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Past</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Tessa Hadley</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What a lovely read, I enjoyed it from the off and then more and more as I read on, and I'm sad now to leave those characters behind, I feel like I'll miss them. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So beautifully done, so perceptive in writing about people and so enjoyable to read. Just the book I needed right now. And a back catalogue of the author's for me to explore.</span></div>
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<br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Spinning Heart</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Donal Ryan</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Absolutely superb.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Heart’s Invisible Furies</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - John Boyne</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have read many, though not yet all, of John Boyne's previous novels, both some of his adult and children's work, and I do enjoy his writing style very much, and the way he tells a story. So I went into this new book knowing I would probably like it, but still a little nervous, as it's his longest yet I believe, and as stated in the book, his most ambitious to date. I need not have worried - I thought it was amazing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1486642142l/30839466.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="260" height="200" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1486642142l/30839466.jpg" width="130" /></a><span style="background-color: white;">John Boyne has depicted Cyril Avery, throughout his life, prior to his birth, through to his death, and everything in between. He deals with some of the major happenings of the century, but these are not brought in in a heavy handed way, but dealt with very well, incorporated sometimes into the foreground, and sometimes into the background of the main story. There are so many characters to love, to admire, to dislike, to hope for, and Cyril is at the heart of it all. As discoveries were made, revelations, and chance meetings that the reader reacted to having the knowledge that Cyril didn't, it all made for a heartbreaking, moving and very involving reading experience. Cyril experiences much pain in coming to terms with his sexuality, in coping with love that is not reciprocated, in being adopted by such an unusual pair as Charles and Maude. I liked the structure of the novel, as we caught up with Cyril every seven years throughout his life, and I liked the first chapter detailing his mother's experiences immediately prior to Cyril's birth. There were so many characters I was sad to leave behind when I finished the book, some that I had mourned for, and some that had been wonderful company, in particular I loved Mrs Goggin, and Maude is fascinating.</span></span></div>
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A really major achievement by a superb author, this is a beautifully, honestly written, and compelling tale. I am so grateful to have read this book.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Tree Grows in Brooklyn</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Betty Smith</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Absolutely wonderful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The House by the Lake</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - John Harding</span><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A fascinating read.</span><br /><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">War and Peace</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> - Leo Tolstoy</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Wow, what a book. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">~~~~~</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">And <b>my favourite reads of</b> <b>2016</b> because I didn't post then either!</span></div>
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<b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Favourite reads of 2016</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">A God in Ruins - </span>Kate Atkinson</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I absolutely loved this book, superb. Moving, stunning, had me in tears. Highly recommended.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Under the Skin - </span>Michel Faber<br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Fates and Furies - </span>Lauren Groff</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">A compelling, powerful portrait of a marriage, of two lives. </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">I was intrigued by this novel for a while, and I saw great reviews for it by people who loved it, and I also saw reviews where people were not so keen. I kept thinking shall I, shan't I, read it, and eventually I did give in to the temptation because it wouldn't go away. Well this time I was right to trust that little voice in me that said read this book. I thought it was brilliant. </span></span><br />
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</span><span style="background-color: white;">Lauren Groff writes her story in two halves, first couple of hundred pages tell Lotto's side, under Fates, and the second half of similar length, Furies, gives Mathilde's story. They married at just 22 years old, and the way the novel shines a light on their marriage is superbly done.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;">I feel that in creating Lotto and Mathilde, in the way she portrays them, Lauren Groff demonstrates that she can brilliantly capture people in all their complexity, and show the intense joys and the immense sadnesses of life.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">She has a beautiful writing style, this is intelligent literary fiction, plus she has written a compelling narrative that made this book a real page-turner too. I was drawn in early on and it was fascinating to discover what would happen over the course of their lives together, how their hopes and dreams and expectations would play out as they aged, and to see these lives from both perspectives too.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">I'm not very well versed in the aspects of Greek drama that I believe may be in play here, but I understand that the comments in brackets littered in the novel are like a Greek chorus commenting on events/telling us the truth? Anyway, this aspect worked for me too.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Whilst I wouldn't say this was an absolutely perfect novel, I thought it was very good indeed for all the reasons mentioned above - the use of language, the storytelling, the compelling characters. Lotto and Mathilde weren't people I loved, perhaps at times I liked something about them but for the most part I didn't, but they were convincing, and felt real and flawed, and I was invested in their story, wanting to know more, wanting to know what would happen, what was hiding underneath the surface.</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">I hope this review goes some way to conveying why I really enjoyed this novel. It's the first novel I've read by Lauren Groff, though I've had The Monsters of Templeton sitting on my to be read pile for years, and still plan to read it. After reading Fates and Furies, I'm looking forward to it even more.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">The Muse - </span>Jessie Burton</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Art, love, friendship, culture, feminism, independence, immigration, war, intrigue, mystery, so much and so well told, absolutely loved this story.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">This Must Be the Place - </span>Maggie O'Farrell</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Once again, beautiful writing by this author, as with her previous novels, so too with this one - so enjoyable to read and so compelling too. We have a narrative that moves about in time and also we have different narrative voices; after a few sections, getting used to this structure, I loved how we got an intimate picture of several of the characters' lives, and how the story kept being related at different points in time of different characters' lives.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I found all of the different voices convincing and sometimes I was both keen to read the next part by someone else and yet also wanting to know what would happen next to the character I had just read about. If this makes the novel sound confusing, it's not, you soon grasp the various connections within your mind and become engrossed in these characters' lives. The storylines and lives are carefully and cleverly woven together; Maggie O’Farrell is a great storyteller and this is another super read by one of my favourite writers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Ready Player One - </span>Ernest Cline</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Loved it. So many reminders of the eighties too. Another successful step outside my reading 'comfort zone'.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lovely lovely read, I love the original classic and I love this modern day take on it, great fun. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">I don’t always rush to read new versions or modern takes of classic novels, especially when the original novel is one I loved, as is the case here with Pride and Prejudice. I worry that it will spoil my memory of the original, or just feel like it was unnecessary. However, I loved Curtis Sittenfeld’s novel American Wife, have her other novels waiting on my to be read pile, and had to admit to being intrigued by just how she would deliver her updated version of Jane Austen’s most famous novel, with the wonderful characters and story transported to modern day USA. (I believe this is now the fourth of Jane Austen’s novels to have been given a new take by a present day author.)</span></span></div>
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The story has all you might expect of a modern day tale, gossipy text messages, hi-tech companies, glossy magazines, reality tv shows, and more. I won’t put spoilers or further details here because it’s best to discover them as you read, but I liked her interpretation of pretty much all of them, from Fitzy and Chip to Mr Collins and Kathy de Bourgh. Curtis Sittenfeld brings through many of the characteristics and features that we know so well from Austen’s novel, Mrs Bennet’s anxieties and prejudices, Mr Bennet’s dry humour, Kitty and Lydia’s giggly silliness and flirtatiousness, Mary’s enigmatic isolation, Jane’s beauty and her kind spirit, Liz’s intelligence and thoughtfulness, now with a hip and independent edge to her. So, the characters and plots retain a lot from the original, but are brought cleverly up to date and/or their situations and difficulties made relevant for the present day, with some concerns still relevant in both, eternal human concerns of love, togetherness, loneliness, money, and families. And of course Mrs Bennet still just wants to see her five daughters married well!</div>
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It’s a lengthy novel at over 500 pages, but it carries you along and I got through a fair chunk every time I picked it up, so compelling was the need to keep reading and so witting the writing. Some chapters are very short, most are fairy short, and I loved the way it was done. To me it felt both like the classic tale and like a very current, relevant and entertaining contemporary novel, and I thought it was brilliant. </div>
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If you are open to this story being retold do give this a go because it is a lot of fun to read, it skips along at a fine pace and I at least came to love the characters, or laugh at them, or cry with them (especially with Liz), just as much all over again. I hope this review gives some sense of what it’s like, there’s a lot more I’d love to write about but I think then I’d bring a lot of spoilers in. A really great read, such fun!</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">House of Silence - </span><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Linda Gillard</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>House of Silence</i> is a really gripping read, the story and the setting are both high on atmosphere and mystery. It's a moving, intriguing read that kept me wanting to get back to reading it. I loved it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are some brilliant characters, ones that will stick in my mind, especially Hattie, and the storytelling is layered and clever. There's romance, pain, loss, passion, denial, secrets, mystery - a cracking read.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Truly Madly Guilty - </span>Liane Moriarty<br style="max-height: 1000000px; word-wrap: break-word;" /><span style="background-position: 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; max-height: 1000000px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over the past couple of years I've read many of Liane Moriarty's novels, and have loved them all. So I was both very excited and also apprehensive about a new book from her - it will be brilliant won't it? I need not have worried because I thoroughly enjoyed Truly Madly Guilty, another cracker from this superb author. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">More than anything I just feel that she absolutely grasps people and what makes them tick, and she writes so intelligently about relationships, internal thought processes, feelings, and it's wonderful to read someone who 'gets' humans so well.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></div>
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Truly Madly Guilty is a compelling read, well-plotted and intriguing, but it is the deftness of touch with regard to her character portrayals, and the understanding of people, of emotions, of joy and desire and sadness and fear and love, that shines through most of all. I can't wait for her next one!</div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thanks very much for visiting and reading!</span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-11648761185189692802015-07-20T16:11:00.001+01:002015-07-20T16:11:32.397+01:00Six months of books 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've taken part in this in previous years and it's great to see it back again. A chance to look back at the books we've read in the first 6 months of 2015, 6 books in each of 6 different categories.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Visit the home of this meme, <a href="https://josbookjourney.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/six-in-six-2015-my-choices/">The Book Jotter, here</a> to find out more...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Six books I have enjoyed the most...</b></span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-miniaturist-jessie-burton.html">The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton</a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel.html">Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel</a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hausfrau - Jill Alexander Essbaum</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Last Anniversary - Liane Moriarty</span></li>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Six authors new to me...</b></span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café - Fannie Flagg</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How Green Was My Valley - Richard Llewellyn</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sleepyhead - Mark Billingham</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Big Ray - Michael Kimball</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">City of Thieves - David Benioff</span></li>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Six books that took me on extraordinary journeys...</b></span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/inflicted-ria-frances.html">Inflicted - Ria Frances</a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-leipzig-affair-fiona-rintoul.html">The Leipzig Affair - Fiona Rintoul</a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel.html">Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel</a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dissolution - CJ Sansom</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Auschwitz Violin - Maria Àngles </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anglada</span></li>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Six books by favourite authors...</b></span></div>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Secret Keeper - Kate Morton</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A History of Loneliness - John Boyne</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Last Anniversary - Liane Moriarty</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chess - Stefan Zweig</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig.html">Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig</a></span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Fry Chronicles - Stephen Fry</span></li>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plumdog - Emma Chichester Clark</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marbles - Ellen Forney</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This One Summer - Mariko & Jillian Tamaki</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Complete Maus - Art Spiegelman</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sex Criminals - Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anya's Ghost - Vera Brosgol</span></li>
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<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new Foyles, London</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St. David's Bookshop, Pembrokeshire</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heffers, Cambridge</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aldeburgh Bookshop, Suffolk</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any Amount of Books, London</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St Ives Bookseller, Cornwall</span></li>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-30713475837954406342015-07-16T12:53:00.001+01:002015-07-16T12:53:38.975+01:00Romantic Novelists' Association Conference 2015 - What Reviewers Want Panel <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMR_P9QsIj4AEauYKJPJZEAM7jPWn7WtHLrAhOZIvS2LzZmkX-eJ-yh4OFrAdZH-xuIpBCwybpwzx7BrWM14ejxEh7P6pO4KWMuv_AsLtcgZT3gukj6WMaVKIKAkwMWzh6Nj95ELqqS_i/s1600/RNA+full+tag+Artwork+web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbMR_P9QsIj4AEauYKJPJZEAM7jPWn7WtHLrAhOZIvS2LzZmkX-eJ-yh4OFrAdZH-xuIpBCwybpwzx7BrWM14ejxEh7P6pO4KWMuv_AsLtcgZT3gukj6WMaVKIKAkwMWzh6Nj95ELqqS_i/s1600/RNA+full+tag+Artwork+web.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">image from the RNA blog</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A little while ago, I was kindly invited to join a panel of book industry folk at the <b><i>Romantic Novelists' Association Conference</i></b> for 2015 at Queen Mary University, London. I was delighted to be asked and though I knew I'd be anxious and nervous I also knew it would be a wonderful thing for me to try doing and I was so pleased to be given the opportunity that I seized the moment and accepted. The conference took place last week and I was getting ready to go along, sorting out what I needed etc the day before, same mixture of nerves and excitement. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Come the evening before the day of the panel and I develop a really sore throat :( and the next morning it feels worse and I can sense a full on cold too. Sadly my plans to try and attend more of the day prior to the panel session that afternoon, and my hopes for staying to the dinner that evening, didn't seem manageable anymore, I was feeling worse, and probably only thanks to my husband aka my knight in shining armour whisking me to and from the venue for the panel event that I got there. Thankfully </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did make it in time for the lovely main conference welcome by Eileen Ramsay and Jan Jones.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On to the panel itself, our session <b><i>'The Reviewers' Panel' </i></b>was entitled </span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>'What Reviewers Want - top reviewers discuss the growing importance of online reviews and give their tips for review success.'</i></b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I thought the session was very interesting indeed, it was great to see so many people attending it and I really enjoyed both meeting the other panellists - </span><i style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Elaine Everest who runs the RNA Blog, Peter Crawshaw co-founder and director of the book website Lovereading.com, Anna James (chair of the discussion) the book news editor of The Bookseller magazine and editor of We Love This Book and books editor for Elle UK, Charlie Place reviewer from The Worm Hole blog</i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - and hearing what they had to say as well as having the chance to speak myself. I think sometimes when you don't feel so well physically it can take your mind off your nerves a bit and I think I worried slightly less and concentrated even more on the discussion because of this; anyway, I felt braver than I thought I might have. There were some excellent questions and they prompted some interesting discussion, about how we each choose what to review, good ways to go about approaching reviewers (and not so good ways), building up relationships between authors and reviewers, how where books are reviewed and talked about has changed, the role of bloggers, Amazon reviews, Search Engine Optimisation and information gathering, and more, including how blog posts and helping support authors isn't just about reviews, but also features, book extracts, author interviews and so on. Thank you to Anna for leading the panel discussion and the audience questions so well, involving us all and keeping the session flowing.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm so glad I was still able to take part and </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wish I had felt better, been able to stay longer and had the courage to speak to a couple more writers - there were a few people I thought I recognised from online photos but I didn't pluck up the courage to speak to anyone in the brief time I was there. It was lovely to see Sheryl Browne up in the audience and thank you for saying hi to me Sheryl, I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you properly. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you to Jan Jones for the kind welcome and for ushering me over to meet Anna and Charlie when I arrived, and a big thank you to Jenny Barden for the very kind words and for such an interesting panel. Thanks to Karen Aldous who had some kind words for all the bloggers out there (echoed by Sheryl) and who came and introduced herself to us at the end of the session. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a brilliant event and I'm very glad to have been part of it and I hope I can be part of something similar again one day. From a (budding) writer's point of view the whole event and indeed the RNA itself looks like it offers both a lot of inspiration and support plus a lot of fun.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>PS As I write this the rubbish lurgy seems to finally be on its way out, yay. I really hope I didn't pass it on to anyone else. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>PPS A nice thing was that my dog had her first trip to London and went for her walkies near where myself and my other half used to both live before we knew each other, bit of romance for you :)</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.rna-uk.org/index.php?page=main">Romantic Novelists' Association </a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://romanticnovelistsassociationblog.blogspot.co.uk/">Romantic Novelists' Association Blog</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.lovereading.co.uk/">Lovereading</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.thebookseller.com/">The Bookseller</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/">The Worm Hole</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Links to some of my reviews of RNA members' books...</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/taking-charge-mandy-baggot.html">Mandy Baggot - Taking Charge</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-lost-duchess-jenny-barden.html">Jenny Barden - The Lost Duchess</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/somebody-to-love-sheryl-browne.html">Sheryl Browne - Somebody to Love</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/highland-storms-christina-courtenay.html">Christina Courtenay - Highland Storms</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/new-england-rocks-christina-courtenay.html">Christina Courtenay - New England Rocks</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/renovation-renovation-renovation-by.html">Nell Dixon - Renovation, Renovation, Renovation </a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/secrets-between-us-louise-douglas.html">Louise Douglas - The Secrets Between Us </a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/quintessential-gemini-linn-b-halton.html">Linn B Halton - The Quintessential Gemini</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/reaching-for-stars-janice-horton-review.html">Janice Horton - Reaching for the Stars </a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/tales-from-heart-sophie-king.html">Sophie King - Tales from the Heart</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/untied-kingdom-kate-johnson.html">Kate Johnson - The UnTied Kingdom</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/love-and-freedom-sue-moorcroft.html">Sue Moorcroft - Love and Freedom</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/never-coming-home-evonne-wareham.html">Evonne Wareham - Never Coming Home</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sophies-turn-nicky-wells-review-author.html">Nicky Wells - Sophie's Turn</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/mini-skirts-and-laughter-lines-by-carol.html">Carol Wyer - Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Let me know if I've missed any and I'll happily add them!) Also see <a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/p/review-directory.html">my <b><i>Reviews A-Z</i></b> page </a>for more links to reviews and author interviews. </span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-3915676476981441722015-06-14T18:56:00.000+01:002015-06-14T18:56:59.676+01:00The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2T5p2z2c2HmxeXiADfFMcYwtj7el_t0sOVkjKI9R_AwO9lLowy8ljM2t0IEJOBSAGx6Ab6PYp8_gJXxx_HpHTcLYgUskfdadxDrs40itWM-KCuF1DZduWPBtxGMHeEA_11ooLlBlhZAI/s1600/miniaturist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK2T5p2z2c2HmxeXiADfFMcYwtj7el_t0sOVkjKI9R_AwO9lLowy8ljM2t0IEJOBSAGx6Ab6PYp8_gJXxx_HpHTcLYgUskfdadxDrs40itWM-KCuF1DZduWPBtxGMHeEA_11ooLlBlhZAI/s1600/miniaturist.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Synopsis</b></i></span></div>
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<i style="color: #351c75;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On a brisk autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives in Amsterdam to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt. But her new home, while splendorous, is not welcoming. Johannes is kind yet distant, always locked in his study or at his warehouse office-leaving Nella alone with his sister, the sharp-tongued and forbidding Marin.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">But Nella's world changes when Johannes presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. To furnish her gift, Nella engages the services of a miniaturist-an elusive and enigmatic artist whose tiny creations mirror their real-life counterparts in eerie and unexpected ways . . .</span></i></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Johannes' gift helps Nella to pierce the closed world of the Brandt household. But as she uncovers its unusual secrets, she begins to understand-and fear-the escalating dangers that await them all. In this repressively pious society where gold is worshipped second only to God, to be different is a threat to the moral fabric of society, and not even a man as rich as Johannes is safe. Only one person seems to see the fate that awaits them. Is the miniaturist the key to their salvation . . . or the architect of their destruction?</span></i></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Enchanting, beautiful, and exquisitely suspenseful, </span><span style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><b>The Miniaturist</b></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> is a magnificent story of love and obsession, betrayal and retribution, appearance and truth.</span></i></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>~~~~~</i></span>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Review</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a little while now since I read this book, but like several other books I've read this year but not yet written about here, I did want to share some reflections on it, so even if this isn't a very long post, I still wanted to try and put some thoughts together, so here we are. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really enjoyed reading <i><b>The Miniaturist</b></i>. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">I found it a quite magical, wonderful read, I felt immersed in the world created in the novel and the characters were vividly drawn and memorable. It took me away from my troubles, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">transported me </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">away overseas to Amsterdam and back in time to the seventeenth century, and I really enjoyed every sitting that I spent reading it, and experiencing the storytelling. </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This story captured my imagination, and I thought it was a really impressive work for a first novel. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved the historical detail, the atmosphere, the locations, the society and people so vividly evoked, they came to life for me and I was there with them as I read, walking beside Nella, anxious about her husband Johannes, uncertain about his sister Marin, or looking out for the Miniaturist.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story unfolded beautifully and had me wondering and guessing as I read on, needing to know what was being hidden, where danger lay, and who would be safe. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I must give a mention to that special cover design, it is so beautiful, incredibly appealing and a great complement to the story itself. This book is one to treasure and it is a novel I could see myself re-reading one day, I'm sure there are fresh details and nuances that I would notice on a second reading.</span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-83112675821706172292015-06-01T15:07:00.001+01:002015-06-01T15:08:14.014+01:00Half a million...THANKS!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I just loaded up the blog to start writing a May round-up post and discovered that the total views has just passed <b>500,000</b>! When I started I didn't really know if anyone else would read it and it was just a place for me to collate my little book reviews that I'd been doing for a couple of places such as <i>newbooks</i> magazine. It was brilliant when I started getting the occasional comment and I have 'found' many other avid readers far and wide through the blog. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Though I haven't been able to update it as often in recent months, I am still here and keeping it going, and still reading and loving my books, and I'll be back with a review or two and some other bookish updates as and when I can. Writing reviews and other book related fun on the blog has really helped me at times when I've not felt very well and I'm glad I plucked up courage to start it when I did, after dithering about it and being very nervous. In the meantime please <a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/p/review-directory.html">visit the Reviews Directory A-Z page</a> where you'll find around 300 book reviews to keep you going. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anyway I never expected to get this far so...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A massive thank you to everyone who has visited and read my book blog over the past four and a bit years, and to everyone who has supported me with it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="color: #351c75;">T</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">H</span><span style="color: #351c75;">A</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">N</span><span style="color: #351c75;">K </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Y</span><span style="color: #351c75;">O</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">U</span><span style="color: #351c75;">! </span></b></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">T</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">H</span><span style="color: #351c75;">A</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">N</span><span style="color: #351c75;">K </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Y</span><span style="color: #351c75;">O</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">U</span><span style="color: #351c75;">! </span></b><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #351c75;">T</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">H</span><span style="color: #351c75;">A</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">N</span><span style="color: #351c75;">K </span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Y</span><span style="color: #351c75;">O</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">U</span><span style="color: #351c75;">!</span></b></span></div>
Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-57586228065859405722015-05-26T08:00:00.000+01:002015-05-26T08:00:01.862+01:00The Invisible Man from Salem - Christoffer Carlsson - Extract - Blog Tour<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp4UqSFR82uOvk0HNkqkMwyL4sMBZLt4Yvwyqf4SL_UtMh2l0QIaY2VcUZUOtTYmdHOTzKTw5JYQhoWhpDZrZrGePZnS4-jYmRoDHa9U9gp1PYyNmremg-zhDZCaKuwkpwiqWbkO8ybxBt/s1600/Invisible+Man+Blog+Tour+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp4UqSFR82uOvk0HNkqkMwyL4sMBZLt4Yvwyqf4SL_UtMh2l0QIaY2VcUZUOtTYmdHOTzKTw5JYQhoWhpDZrZrGePZnS4-jYmRoDHa9U9gp1PYyNmremg-zhDZCaKuwkpwiqWbkO8ybxBt/s1600/Invisible+Man+Blog+Tour+image.jpg" height="400" width="281" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm taking part in the blog tour for <b><i>The Invisible Man from Salem</i></b> by Christoffer Carlsson today!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the first book in the Leo Junker series. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's published in the UK by Scribe Books and is translated by Michael Gallagher.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm featuring an extract from the book. Do visit the other stops on the tour too - see the picture above!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~~~~~</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Extract from <i>The Invisible Man from Salem...</i></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m outside, standing under the overcast sky. I take several deep breaths. My head’s spinning, and I feel sick; it’s hard to breathe. It’s been so long since I thought about her. She’s been there sometimes, like a ghost. Some nights.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Julia Grimberg’s necklace was in Rebecca Salomonsson’s hand. They couldn’t have known each other. It must have been put there by whoever killed her.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, as if I’m being watched, my phone buzzes.<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>not going to have a guess? </i>writes the anonymous sender.</span></div>
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<i>guess what? </i>I write, looking over my shoulder, looking around for anyone who might be sticking out from the crowd. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>guess who i am</i>, comes the reply.<br />
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<i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">are you the one who killed her?<br />
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<i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">no it wasn’t me</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">do you know who did it? </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">maybe<br />
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<i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">who was it?<br />
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<i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can see you, Leo</span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>About the novel...</b></i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><i>When a woman in his building is killed, Leo cannot stay away. Despite being on suspension from the force, he bluffs his way onto the crime scene and examines the body. When he notices that the woman is clasping a cheap necklace in her hand – a necklace he instantly recognises – he knows he must investigate, even though he has been warned to stay away. As a series of frightening connections emerge linking the murder to his own troubled youth in Salem, Leo is forced to finally confront a long-ago incident that changed his life forever.</i></i></span> </div>
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Selling over 70,000 in its first year in print in Carlsson's native Sweden and netting the coveted Swedish Crime Academy's Award for Best Crime Novel, <i>The Invisible Man from Salem</i> has earned comparisons to Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo from critics. Still in his 20s, Carlsson – who has a PhD in criminology – has become one of the country's most in-demand authors, acclaimed for his ability to combine page-turning prose and razor-sharp social realism.</div>
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<i style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">About the author...</span></b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQK0LwTNiYOxoVco3EI-Y7iZz3VdDJgohO75n6W8I8RY8LhO0n8fLWZ7xQgmMYY0c_F9z7f609b1VjdPsEaVWNziwY_uZnfaPOruqSa201ffnQa2n38IC8WV10Up38Ec-O-jrSPVz1ute/s1600/carlssonauthor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbQK0LwTNiYOxoVco3EI-Y7iZz3VdDJgohO75n6W8I8RY8LhO0n8fLWZ7xQgmMYY0c_F9z7f609b1VjdPsEaVWNziwY_uZnfaPOruqSa201ffnQa2n38IC8WV10Up38Ec-O-jrSPVz1ute/s1600/carlssonauthor.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Christoffer Carlsson was born in 1986. The author of two previous novels, he has a PhD in criminology, and is a university lecturer in the subject. </span><i style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Invisible Man from Salem</i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> has been a bestseller in Sweden, and won the Swedish Crime Academy’s 2013 Best Crime Novel of the Year award. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is the first in a series starring a young police officer called Leo Junker, and will shortly be developed into a three-season TV</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">drama by StellaNova Film.</span> </div>
Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-86236180452842976532015-05-20T18:12:00.000+01:002015-05-20T18:24:01.010+01:00My (late) April 2015 reading round-up & May reading<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7979867702868285755" itemprop="articleBody" style="position: relative; width: 546px;">
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm here with a very late April wrap-up, oops!</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As well as struggling to post this month, I haven't been getting around the blogs I love to read much yet this month either, so apologies for that and I am looking forward to catching up on reading lots of reviews and other posts asap. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>I read these books in April:</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Worrier's Guide to Life - Gemma Correll</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fanny Flagg</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hausfrau - Jill Alexander Essbaum</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A History of Loneliness - John Boyne</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Books reviewed in April on the blog: </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/my-heart-and-other-black-holes-jasmine.html">My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Book(s) of the month for April...</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1225788658"><b>Hausfrau</b>, just brilliant!</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Amazing book, I was addicted to it, the location, the language, Anna's life, so desperate and painful, but superbly and poetically written. Definite shades of Emma Bovary.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(and a mention for </span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A History of Loneliness</b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, a very good read.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>May reading</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">In May so far I've read </span><b style="line-height: 1.4;">Crooked Heart</b><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> by Lissa Evans, </span><b style="line-height: 1.4;">The Humans </b><span style="line-height: 1.4;">by Matt Haig, </span><b><span style="line-height: 1.4;">Amulet Volume 1: The </span><span style="line-height: 22px;">Storekeeper</span><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> </span></b><span style="line-height: 1.4;">by Kazu Kibuishi, <b>Paris for One </b>by Jojo Moyes, and I'm currently reading </span><b style="line-height: 1.4;">Middlesex</b><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> by Jeffrey Eugenides, and </span><b style="line-height: 1.4;">City of Thieves</b><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> by David Benioff. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">I've almost finished listening to the audio book of <b>Moab is my Washpot</b> by Stephen Fry. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">And I've been dipping into an interesting non-fiction book, <b>All Day Long - A Portrait of Britain at Work</b>, by Joanna Biggs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was your favourite read in April 2015?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wishing you a great month (for the rest) of May!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~~~~~</span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-89862926319133406402015-04-21T13:03:00.001+01:002015-04-21T13:03:44.963+01:00My Heart and Other Black Holes - Jasmine Warga<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Synopsis</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span id="freeText2857195465996863199" style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Aysel and Roman are practically strangers, but they've been drawn into an unthinkable partnership. In a month's time, they plan to commit suicide - together.<br /><br />Aysel knows why she wants to die: being the daughter of a murderer doesn't equal normal, well-adjusted teenager. But she can't figure out why handsome, popular Roman wants to end it all....and why he's even more determined than she is.<br /><br />With the deadline getting closer, something starts to grow between Aysel and Roman - a feeling she never thought she would experience. It seems there might be something to live for, after all - but is Aysel in so deep she can't turn back?</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>'Maybe we all have darkness inside of us and some of us are better at dealing with it than others.'</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was keen to read <i>My Heart and Other Black Holes </i>when I found out about it, as the storyline and themes really interest me personally. I read it quickly and found the story gripping and compelling, and I felt compassion for Aysel and Roman, two young people, total strangers, who plan to take their own lives, together. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the most part I thought this was an excellent book; I was so glad to see something written in young adult fiction exploring difficult, complex feelings of guilt, and dealing with deep depression, and in this case focussing on teenagers. This is an impressive, moving and honest debut novel with a frank and well portrayed depiction of depression, sadness and self-blame. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are some excellent scenes and a real understanding and compassion of depression is demonstrated in the writing, as well as the difficulty some people can have with interactions with others, retreating into themselves so far that their outlook on the world becomes very bleak indeed, believing they are everything their illness tells them they are. The author convincingly depicts problems within different relationships, whether between siblings, mother-daughter, mother-son - so as well as depression and the individual, the novel looks at different family structures and friendships too and how they are affected. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My main quibble was that I personally was not a hundred percent sure about the ending and whether it felt right to me, but I would definitely recommend others read this novel and decide for themselves. This story affected me in the way I think I thought the book <i>The Fault in Our Stars</i> would but didn't. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read a proof copy a while ago now and I hope when the finished book appears here in the UK that there will be appropriate help and support links at the back for the UK for anyone who might need them (as the novel is set in the USA). </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I do think it is important that topics like this are covered, sensitively. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did find parts of this story upsetting and notice my mood drop, so if you doubt your strength do think about whether it is the right time for you to read this, and whether it will help you. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Review copy received via amazon vine </i></span></span></div>
Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-58721949961671433092015-04-13T20:18:00.003+01:002015-04-13T20:18:57.421+01:00You can find me...<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">...over on Josie's blog <b><a href="http://jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/bloggers-on-blogthe-little-reader.html">JaffaReadsToo</a></b> today; it was lovely to be asked to take part in her <b>Bloggers on the Blog</b> feature, and this week it is the turn of <b>The Little Reader Library</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/bloggers-on-blogthe-little-reader.html">Here's the link if you'd like to have a look. </a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you very much to Josie and Jaffa for having me as a guest. I enjoyed answering your questions and I love your blog. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~~~~~</span></div>
<br />Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-79798677028682857552015-04-01T09:00:00.000+01:002015-04-01T09:00:13.403+01:00My March 2015 reading round-up<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took part in the <i>Take Control of your TBR Pile</i> challenge in March, hosted by Kimberly at <i><a href="http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/">Caffeinated Book Reviewer</a></i>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I managed to read these books from my TBR pile in March:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1032713057"><b>Disgrace </b>- Jussi Adler-Olsen</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1202371305"><b>Anya's Ghost</b> - Vera Brosgol</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How Green Was My Valley</b> - Richard Llewellyn</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1180368144"><b>The Last Anniversary</b> - Liane Moriarty</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel.html"><b>Station Eleven</b> - Emily St John Mandel</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started these TBR pile books in March too, but am still reading them so will hopefully finish them in April:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poirot Investigates - Agatha Christie</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Forbidden - Tabitha Suzuma</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also read two non-fiction books in March,<b> <a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig.html">Reasons to Stay Alive </a></b><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig.html">by Matt Haig</a> and <b>Making Friends with Anxiety</b> by Sarah Rayner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I read two graphic novels from the library, <b>The Complete Maus</b> by Art Spiegelman and <b>Marbles</b> by Ellen Forney. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I listened to an unabridged audio book, also from my tbr, <b>The Fry Chronicles</b> by Stephen Fry, which was brilliant.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I plan to carry on reading mainly from my tbr pile this year, it wasn't just a goal for March. I want to read more of those lovely books that have been waiting too long. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Books reviewed in March on the blog: </b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/the-leipzig-affair-fiona-rintoul.html"><b>The Leipzig Affair </b>by Fiona Rintoul</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/disclaimer-renee-knight.html"><b>Disclaimer </b>by Renée Knight</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig.html"><b>Reasons to Stay Alive</b> by Matt Haig</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel.html"><b>Station Eleven</b> by Emily St. John Mandel</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Also featured:</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/my-book-blog-is-in-newbooks-magazine.html">My blog article in <b>Newbooks Magazine</b></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/my-4th-blogiversary-giveaway.html"><b>My fourth blogiversary</b> post and giveaway</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/stranger-child-rachel-abbott-guest-post.html">An author guest post by <b>Rachel Abbott </b></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Book(s) of the month for March...</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved several this month, and I will have to pick two again...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel.html">Station Eleven</a>, and <a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig.html">Reasons to Stay Alive</a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-z6vc8KNUFj1xcVclMUxWnbhm_BA9_XFUDOH6Hc9EnMTqs6BW2HNyXmvkAKiaJ7XTz7YUw8UsPM2bfhp08f9eJSyL2JfoIKNW-cXZXlnp5kpc3x09lqqYaUyDOFh-QcyYacW0MbrArQ4/s1600/station+eleven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-z6vc8KNUFj1xcVclMUxWnbhm_BA9_XFUDOH6Hc9EnMTqs6BW2HNyXmvkAKiaJ7XTz7YUw8UsPM2bfhp08f9eJSyL2JfoIKNW-cXZXlnp5kpc3x09lqqYaUyDOFh-QcyYacW0MbrArQ4/s1600/station+eleven.jpg" height="200" width="125" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0_EjHsQUKIFqPbW1sXcMajLwGVHnVLj6uQzaU1mFHz6naNZuaR8kj7_ZUOqfsL5zjuNkUpQDz23EGHdru5eHbVbrSX6IX3ueoH-u7xp8BqfQreRkKLXhVjig4qLzL0EnKRmRGqGPkEafV/s1600/reasons+stay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0_EjHsQUKIFqPbW1sXcMajLwGVHnVLj6uQzaU1mFHz6naNZuaR8kj7_ZUOqfsL5zjuNkUpQDz23EGHdru5eHbVbrSX6IX3ueoH-u7xp8BqfQreRkKLXhVjig4qLzL0EnKRmRGqGPkEafV/s1600/reasons+stay.jpg" height="200" width="144" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What was your favourite read in March 2015?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope you had a good March, and that April brings lots of good books for us all too!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~~~~~</span></div>
Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-42659599761931459802015-03-30T17:31:00.001+01:002015-03-30T17:39:24.857+01:00Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-z6vc8KNUFj1xcVclMUxWnbhm_BA9_XFUDOH6Hc9EnMTqs6BW2HNyXmvkAKiaJ7XTz7YUw8UsPM2bfhp08f9eJSyL2JfoIKNW-cXZXlnp5kpc3x09lqqYaUyDOFh-QcyYacW0MbrArQ4/s1600/station+eleven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-z6vc8KNUFj1xcVclMUxWnbhm_BA9_XFUDOH6Hc9EnMTqs6BW2HNyXmvkAKiaJ7XTz7YUw8UsPM2bfhp08f9eJSyL2JfoIKNW-cXZXlnp5kpc3x09lqqYaUyDOFh-QcyYacW0MbrArQ4/s1600/station+eleven.jpg" height="320" width="201" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 19px;">DAY ONE</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span id="freeText12509691446647090937"><span style="line-height: 19px;">The Georgia Flu explodes over the surface of the earth like a neutron bomb.</span></span></i></span></div>
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News reports put the mortality rate at over 99%.</div>
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WEEK TWO</div>
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Civilization has crumbled.</div>
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YEAR TWENTY</div>
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A band of actors and musicians called the Travelling Symphony move through their territories performing concerts and Shakespeare to the settlements that have grown up there. Twenty years after the pandemic, life feels relatively safe.</div>
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But now a new danger looms, and he threatens the hopeful world every survivor has tried to rebuild.</div>
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Moving backwards and forwards in time, from the glittering years just before the collapse to the strange and altered world that exists twenty years after, Station Eleven charts the unexpected twists of fate that connect six people: famous actor Arthur Leander; Jeevan - warned about the flu just in time; Arthur's first wife Miranda; Arthur's oldest friend Clark; Kirsten, a young actress with the Travelling Symphony; and the mysterious and self-proclaimed 'prophet'.</div>
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<span id="freeText12509691446647090937">Thrilling, unique and deeply moving, this is a beautiful novel that asks questions about art and fame and about the relationships that sustain us through anything - even the end of the world.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><i>Review</i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b><i>'We bemoaned the impersonality of the modern world, but that was a lie, it seemed to him; it had never been impersonal at all.'</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What an amazing read. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I absolutely loved this novel, it is incredibly thought-provoking, shocking, sad, yet also strangely uplifting at times. It's clever, inventive, impressive, at times chilling and haunting, at times heartwarming, and quite unlike anything I think I have ever read before really. I think I was unsure whether it would be a book for me, and I'm so glad I started reading it because I would have missed out on such a captivating, important book if I hadn't. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The narrative is so beautifully knitted together over the course of the book. I was absorbed by this story, it deserves all the praise and plaudits it has received. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved each of the characters - I think my favourites were Jeevan, Kirsten and Clark though - and I just loved how the author brought their stories together. Her evident storytelling skills and marvellous imagination bring us a </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">frighteningly vivid and conceivable scenario for our planet's future, her understanding of the best and worst of human behaviour gives us an insight into a strange, unfamiliar version of our world, yet with common bonds of friendship and love, appreciation of music and theatre - most of all Shakespeare, cleverly woven into the story - , families and beauty, living on. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By sharing these catastrophic times with the reader through poignant details of several individuals' lives, we can identify with them, and the momentous changes are almost given more impact through the small yet devastating details we learn (I hope that makes sense). So when I read<b><i> 'Jeevan was standing by the window when the lights went out. There was a stupid moment or two when he stood near the front door, flipping the light switches. On/off, on/off'</i></b>, I knew that this small thing, an action we all do so many times per day, was actually huge, life-changing, now, because that was the last time, because the power was gone, full stop. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s an extremely memorable book. The characters and some of the circumstances are still vividly in my mind now and it feels like they'll be there for some time to come. For me it was a page-turner yet I did actually sometimes put it down because I wanted to savour it, and to save some of it a bit longer; I didn't want the experience of reading it to be over too quickly.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">I couldn’t stop thinking about the book even when I wasn't reading it </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">though;</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> I was either thinking about the situations one or the other of the characters were in, or thinking about how I might feel if I actually was one of them. I don't want to say much about what happens or how things change because you need to discover that as you read, but I was </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">particularly</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> fascinated by the airport and life there after the pandemic, as well as life on the road for the Travelling Symphony, and for Jeevan. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's beyond hard to comprehend the level of devastation that has occurred in the world of this story, to image a life continuing without so very many of the people and things that we treasure. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It really made me think about our lives and our world, it made me appreciate a lot of things in the world anew - definitely a good thing - and it beautifully highlights what is most important to humanity. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">I don't think I can get anywhere near doing it justice, please do try it though and don't be put off by the 'dystopian' tag - I am not a reader of post-apocalyptic fiction, or anything </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">particularly futuristic, but I thought this was amazingly good</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">. If this review comes off as overly enthusiastic it's because that's how I feel about this book. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love the cover design too. It was really hard to know what to read next after this book because it was superlative in so many ways, everything else seemed not quite right for a while afterwards.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just a superb, brilliant book and one of my absolute favourite reads this year so far. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Reviews by other bloggers:</i> <a href="http://www.curiositykilledthebookworm.net/2014/08/station-eleven.html">Curiosity Killed the Bookworm</a> | <a href="https://forwinternights.wordpress.com/2014/09/08/station-eleven-by-emily-st-john-mandel/">For Winter Nights</a> | <a href="http://www.pamreader.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/review-of-station-eleven-by-emily-st.html?m=1">Pamreader</a> | <a href="http://www.sarahsbookshelves.com/fiction/station-eleven-by-emily-st-john-mandel-book-review/">Sarah's Book Shelves</a> | <a href="http://www.litnerd.co.uk/2015/01/review-ish-station-eleven-by-emily-st.html">Lit Nerd</a> |</span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-86115992896823754372015-03-25T08:01:00.001+00:002015-03-25T08:01:10.285+00:00My 4th Blogiversary & Giveaway<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The blog has been going for four years now which seems amazing to me. Thank you to everyone who has visited and been part of it over that time. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm holding a giveaway to celebrate!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioLVDVXEIZ9fV9RkP1USzqGxkY1xULgoBTpOCS02_thWT07SAccAZhyphenhyphenvqx3TvQsB0uirhvdbvqWuZg4eP6kB29UKIybTk7q57vxTU-rbdj8PaK4SAMOWtazyscWS7Hk6jXt1Ctp1_dA83g/s1600/love+virtually.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioLVDVXEIZ9fV9RkP1USzqGxkY1xULgoBTpOCS02_thWT07SAccAZhyphenhyphenvqx3TvQsB0uirhvdbvqWuZg4eP6kB29UKIybTk7q57vxTU-rbdj8PaK4SAMOWtazyscWS7Hk6jXt1Ctp1_dA83g/s1600/love+virtually.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The prize is a brand new copy of</span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i> Love Virtually </i></b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Daniel Glattauer, bought by myself. </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/love-virtually-daniel-glattauer.html"><i>(You can read my review of this book here.)</i></a></span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The giveaway is open until Thursday 2nd April 2015. </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The giveaway is open internationally.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please enter using the rafflecopter form below.</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The winner will be chosen at random and contacted - if I don't hear from them within 48 hours another winner may be chosen at random. </span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good luck and thanks very much for visiting.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~</span><br />
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<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="309a275017" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/309a275017/" id="rcwidget_p9wyl68f" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
<script src="//widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js"></script>Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-24094688109101202362015-03-23T14:21:00.000+00:002015-03-23T14:21:42.233+00:00It's Monday! What Are You Reading?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>It's Monday! What Are You Reading?</b></i> is a weekly meme hosted by <a href="http://bookjourney.net/" style="text-decoration: none;">Sheila at <b><i>Book Journey.</i></b></a> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8A0Bc8U0rBORIDK_3hFKDxZN1X5tJf6DtWuoPd-3of3d67bJIUGcuZC7Gozs-hJPyemoteCTvC1IjP7TF2pYD5KtRyf-tD4I5zTuMvta5B-Q7wu-qBFtYlK9R_GU3AnCXDAu3W0YYegu/s1600/station+eleven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8A0Bc8U0rBORIDK_3hFKDxZN1X5tJf6DtWuoPd-3of3d67bJIUGcuZC7Gozs-hJPyemoteCTvC1IjP7TF2pYD5KtRyf-tD4I5zTuMvta5B-Q7wu-qBFtYlK9R_GU3AnCXDAu3W0YYegu/s1600/station+eleven.jpg" height="200" width="125" /></a><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I finished reading </span><b style="line-height: 18px;"><i>Station Eleven </i></b><span style="line-height: 18px;"> and I have to say I thought it was utterly brilliant and </span><span style="line-height: 18px;">incredibly thought provoking. I really have been thinking about it a lot of the time when I was out walking the dog etc. It's definitely one of my favourite books of the year so far, and it surprised me because I wouldn't have expected to necessarily enjoy 'this kind of book' if that makes sense! </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0sQssyHTAx1s4f-vtvo5XJ-ccvOst-L0a6-sDM734B0zUgJZvlo8wSEGmSxiEhLzOOfurhPGuBTrlbL-LQhLJ1H7ezYTww4i1JSTQ0F1kjzgCOfYH8yDwLpXwA4TrAgT9X9MNuHVcl-F/s1600/silkworm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ0sQssyHTAx1s4f-vtvo5XJ-ccvOst-L0a6-sDM734B0zUgJZvlo8wSEGmSxiEhLzOOfurhPGuBTrlbL-LQhLJ1H7ezYTww4i1JSTQ0F1kjzgCOfYH8yDwLpXwA4TrAgT9X9MNuHVcl-F/s1600/silkworm.jpg" height="200" width="129" /></a><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm just started reading <b><i>The Silkworm</i></b> by Robert Galbraith, another one from my tbr pile. I enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling a lot, and this second book in the series feature private investigator Cormoran Strike has gotten off to an intriguing start too. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMYzaqhyphenhyphenPE1mE-iitvM2wwMcL5RzBU22l4FuXsYtEYCb6te1rZbUtaoBHF7lql3EhCM0MFuFCz2CUQ4vLterMvJP9AQE4aKc9LhBd4qSjEY7bzjagidGUK3-6_OEC9vikWhLtuckTZUYGc/s1600/poirot+investigates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMYzaqhyphenhyphenPE1mE-iitvM2wwMcL5RzBU22l4FuXsYtEYCb6te1rZbUtaoBHF7lql3EhCM0MFuFCz2CUQ4vLterMvJP9AQE4aKc9LhBd4qSjEY7bzjagidGUK3-6_OEC9vikWhLtuckTZUYGc/s1600/poirot+investigates.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm also currently dipping in and out of reading <b><i>Poirot Investigates</i></b> by Agatha Christie on my kindle; this one is the third in the series I believe and it is short stories rather than a whole novel.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~~~~~</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>What are you reading this week? </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>As always, I hope you have a great week of wonderful reading, and thank you for visiting.</i></span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-71487563440516305182015-03-20T09:00:00.000+00:002015-03-20T09:37:25.774+00:00Disclaimer - Renee Knight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqDlzFzpPQBhyphenhyphen4EWANWHRbbdMSYsTErihjUspAtuGBWrc0D3D38VW5KNWVRWkdAiiNW9usZMSeRPJfznvLRWy6VzoLi_kq1a2QfX_B_nqMiZOoBwqyyiUuJ-y3_KtPwfqgmxVgvtJvyQp/s1600/disclaimer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqDlzFzpPQBhyphenhyphen4EWANWHRbbdMSYsTErihjUspAtuGBWrc0D3D38VW5KNWVRWkdAiiNW9usZMSeRPJfznvLRWy6VzoLi_kq1a2QfX_B_nqMiZOoBwqyyiUuJ-y3_KtPwfqgmxVgvtJvyQp/s1600/disclaimer.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Finding a mysterious novel at her bedside plunges documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft into a living nightmare. Though ostensibly fiction, The Perfect Stranger recreates in vivid, unmistakable detail the terrible day she became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew—and that person is dead.</span><br style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><br style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><span style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Now that the past is catching up with her, Catherine’s world is falling apart. Her only hope is to confront what really happened on that awful day . . . even if the shocking truth might destroy her.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Review</b></i></span></div>
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<b><i>‘Catherine had unwittingly stumbled across herself tucked into the pages of the book.’</i></b></div>
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<i>Disclaimer</i> is a really compelling debut novel from Renee Knight. The narrative has a clever structure and the premise of the story is a real cracker – starting to read a novel and discovering the story is about you, hence the title ‘disclaimer’ – in the novel Catherine Ravenscroft picks up, <i>The Perfect Stranger</i>, there is a line crossing the usual disclaimer out, because although it appears to be fiction, in fact it very much does resemble ‘actual persons’ and events. Not only is the story all about an episode in Catherine’s past, with accurate details, but it also reveals a deep, dark and painful secret that she believed she had successfully buried long ago, kept from everyone including her husband and son, never to be uncovered. The other main character we are introduced to is widower and former teacher Stephen Brigstocke, and chapters alternate between his story in the first-person, and Catherine’s in the third. I was intrigued to see how their lives, and initially seemingly unconnected worlds, would intersect as the novel progressed.</div>
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With a page-turning, tense plot, boasting twists and revelations as secrets and lies come to light bit by bit, the past comes back to haunt Catherine and as a reader it was a book I kept wanting to get back to, wondering where the story would take me next. The author does a great job of keeping the reader guessing and wondering about the true nature of what occurred in the past, challenging our assumptions and maintaining suspense, depicting her characters in such a way as to make us unsure as to where our true sympathies should lie. </div>
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The story is thought-provoking, questioning the wisdom of the secrets people keep, and the novel deals with loneliness, love, intimidation, obsession and revenge, violence and trust – I won’t say more because the story must be discovered without spoilers. I would have liked perhaps a bit more detail about Robert, Catherine’s husband, to flesh him out a little more clearly. Overall though I thought this was a gripping story. Sometimes psychological thrillers such as this are very strong plot-wise for part of the book but then waver or tail off; for me, in this one the storyline stayed strong until the end. </div>
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</span><i>Review copy received via amazon vine</i></div>
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For another view of this one, <a href="http://myreading-corner.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/disclaimer-renee-knight.html"><span style="color: #551a8b;">here's Karen's review at My Reading Corner</span></a> and <a href="http://beadyjansbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/disclaimer-renee-knight-cleverly.html"><span style="color: #551a8b;">Jan's review at Beadyjans Books</span></a></span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-12642625044723553312015-03-16T11:08:00.000+00:002015-03-16T11:08:22.131+00:00My book blog is in Newbooks Magazine!<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxf7ck1r2B873Zj6DyAZpMq_q1LwRpH1r5WDwgSnU_THQ1s2sFdp_ikLtvdUCFtMeHXqX3Hm9eq4DoGe2NI44iUJZdXQ8reKLTTImM_wZCamEmRdd2VCn8jqfcfCG16cyGcxyyrHW62jE/s1600/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxf7ck1r2B873Zj6DyAZpMq_q1LwRpH1r5WDwgSnU_THQ1s2sFdp_ikLtvdUCFtMeHXqX3Hm9eq4DoGe2NI44iUJZdXQ8reKLTTImM_wZCamEmRdd2VCn8jqfcfCG16cyGcxyyrHW62jE/s1600/FullSizeRender-2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've really looked forward to the moment each time a new edition of <b>Newbooks Magazine</b> - <b>for readers and reading groups</b> - arrives in the post over the past few years since I have been subscribing to it, and I have had the chance to read and review some lovely books for them too, as well as attend a brilliant 'Readers Day' that they put on. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgAVf9JunNtZ9Qt1X3pUJlvg7Fn4PT5pDMhRF-60XoG0vZx1NTiuBAEprBc1ZCU3URI1WT7LMIGyJQ5MiDt3oDCIMgUR_qlsFxx7KGbY8S5ibkeh64tPQ7IXYrZbd9uQb88cQMmBIDrGz/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgAVf9JunNtZ9Qt1X3pUJlvg7Fn4PT5pDMhRF-60XoG0vZx1NTiuBAEprBc1ZCU3URI1WT7LMIGyJQ5MiDt3oDCIMgUR_qlsFxx7KGbY8S5ibkeh64tPQ7IXYrZbd9uQb88cQMmBIDrGz/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you haven't given it a read as yet, I'd definitely recommend it, it's a great way to find out about new books, I've discovered quite a few debut authors over the years through reading about them in the magazine, and there's also lots of book reviews and other bookish articles of interest, as well as some extracts from new books. It has a compact new look and the presentation looks better than ever too. I love having a magazine all about books! Last year, <i>Newbooks </i>teamed up with <b><a href="http://www.nudge-book.com/">nudge books</a> </b>which offers a great selection of online content about books, including reviews and news. This has enabled <i>Newbooks </i>to continue offering their lovely paper magazine in tandem with all the online content on the nudge website Do have a look at both if you can! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Warning: beware the inevitable numerous additions to the to be read pile though....!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, it was an honour for me</span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">when I was invited to feature in the magazine, spotlighting this very blog </span><i style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Little Reader Library</i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new issue <b>nb84 Spring 2015 </b>is just out and I was really excited and proud and happy and nervous to be featured. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you very much to Guy Pringle at </span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.newbooksmag.com/">newbooks</a></b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for the opportunity and thank you to </span><b style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.claire-king.com/">Claire King</a></b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> for permission to feature parts of an interview with her. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Josie at the lovely <a href="http://jaffareadstoo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-magazine-for-readers-and-reading.html"><b>JaffaReadsToo</b> book blog</a> was featured in the previous issue, do check out her blog too. </span><br />
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-4724590073307276402015-03-16T11:05:00.002+00:002015-03-20T14:55:22.133+00:00It's Monday! What Are You Reading?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>It's Monday! What Are You Reading?</b></i> is a weekly meme hosted by <a href="http://bookjourney.net/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Sheila at <b><i>Book Journey.</i></b></a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week I read a graphic novel, <b><i>Anya's Ghost</i></b> by Vera Brosgol, and I finished reading <b><i>How Green Was My Valley</i></b> by Richard Llewellyn. That's two more off my tbr pile as part of the challenge I'm doing this month.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm currently reading <i style="font-weight: bold;">The Last Anniversary </i>by Liane Moriarty<i style="font-weight: bold;">, and Station Eleven </i>by Emily St John Mandel<i style="font-weight: bold;">,</i> both from my tbr pile too. I loved the other Liane Moriarty novel that I read, <b><i>The Husband's Secret</i></b>, and I am three quarters of the way through this one and finding it an enjoyable and intriguing easy read. I feel like <b><i>Station Eleven </i></b>is a book just about everyone else has read, and I am glad to finally be reading it and discovering what it's all about. I am a third of the way through and enjoying the development of the story. I thought the beginning was very good too.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the blog, I posted a review of <a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/reasons-to-stay-alive-matt-haig.html"><b><i>Reasons to Stay Alive</i></b> by Matt Haig.</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thank you to everyone who commented on this post or read it. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also shared a great <a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/stranger-child-rachel-abbott-guest-post.html">guest post by crime writer <b>Rachel Abbott</b> about her research. </a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We had a lovely day in the New Forest at the weekend, it was still a bit cool but bright and clear and dry and it feels like Spring is breaking through. Then we discovered a new walk not far from where we live on Sunday, and Daisy made some new four-legged friends. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also received the latest copy of <i><b>Newbooks Magazine</b></i> in the post, and it was an honour to see my blog featured in there. <a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/my-book-blog-is-in-newbooks-magazine.html">I've written a post about it here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>What are you reading? </i></span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-76973564704493493772015-03-13T11:18:00.001+00:002015-03-13T11:18:16.020+00:00Stranger Child - Rachel Abbott - Guest Post<div style="border-bottom: solid #4F81BD 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-themecolor: accent1; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0cm 0cm 4.0pt 0cm;">
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm very pleased to welcome author Rachel Abbott to the blog today! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rachel is the author of four novels, her new book is called <i><b>Stranger Child</b></i>, and she is here to tell us about the kind of research that goes into her writing. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've read and reviewed two of Rachel's novels so far, <i><b><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/only-innocent-rachel-abbott.html">Only the Innocent </a></b></i>and <b><i><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-back-road-rachel-abbott.html">The Back Road</a></i></b>, and enjoyed them both very much <i>(click the titles to read my reviews)</i>.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b></span></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">A thrilling
line of research</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>by Rachel Abbott</i></span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRirgk7ekADCEXsTFBSD69hNsn8AcVZ3SQ4160tpGVZxftkX-JWVx6sCCP_evo75ZsKhaZ2XjqWTGy9CAhFB3h285_qhdeiG_taSoHjcA5JKSVXqqHGbW3MMPTEWtD2zBAS2s2zUAhTRpx/s1600/rachel-abbott.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRirgk7ekADCEXsTFBSD69hNsn8AcVZ3SQ4160tpGVZxftkX-JWVx6sCCP_evo75ZsKhaZ2XjqWTGy9CAhFB3h285_qhdeiG_taSoHjcA5JKSVXqqHGbW3MMPTEWtD2zBAS2s2zUAhTRpx/s1600/rachel-abbott.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the aspects of writing that I have
always thoroughly enjoyed is the research. My husband has said frequently that
a police raid must be imminent as I scour the Internet to discover methods of
killing people, and learn about money laundering, drug distribution and people
trafficking. Fortunately I can prove – through my books – that it really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i> all been in the line of research.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don’t know how writers managed before the
Internet came along. I know there is much you can do in libraries, but when you
are researching a thriller it’s hard to know where in any respectable library
you might find out how to manufacture liquid nicotine, and where best to inject
it to cause death.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I sit down with an idea for a book, I
usually start with a ‘what if?’ question. ‘What if a woman had no choice but to
murder a man?’; ‘What if a man is so obsessed with his wife that he has to…’
(I’m not going to finish that sentence – it gives the game away in one of my
books.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From that initial question, I start to develop
the plot. What has happened to these people to bring them to where they are
now? As the ideas develop, I start to build character profiles and a timeline
of events.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even these first steps, which I believe are
crucial to forming a picture in readers’ minds, require research. When I
develop a character profile, I have an idea of what a character might look
like. But that’s not enough. I want an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">actual</i>
picture so I don’t lose sight of them. I scour web images, looking for anybody
– a star, a model or just somebody’s mum – that fits the bill. That image is
pasted into the character profile, and I find other items to add to their
portfolio – where they live, what clothes they wear, what they like to drink,
and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The timeline creates its own research list. In
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Child</i>, Tom – the main
detective in all my books – is reminiscing about his youth with older brother,
Jack. I check the timeline to confirm when they were both born. What music
would they have been listening to in their teens? I trawl through the charts
for that year, and decide which brother would have liked which tracks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of this is valuable research, but for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Child</i> I had to go one step
further – although I actually bottled it when it came to one part of the investigation.
But I’ll come to that shortly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger
Child</i> one character has to go into a safe deposit vault buried deep under
the streets of Manchester in the middle of the night – with no light other than
a head torch. For me, this would be a terrifying experience, but to make it as
realistic as possible I needed to know how it might feel. So I phoned up a
company (they wish to remain anonymous) and asked if I could have a tour.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, I went during the day when the
lights were on and it was full of people. But I stood in the centre of the room
and tried to imagine I was there on my own, and it was pitch black. As it’s
underground, there would be no ambient light, and the sounds from outside would
be muffled. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s a viewing room where people take their
boxes to add or remove items, and I imagined how it would feel to know that
somebody might be hiding in there, waiting for me. I had to make others feel how
I knew I would have felt, with an authenticity that couldn’t have been achieved
without a site visit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And now for the bit where I have to admit to
being a wimp! <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Child </i>references
the Dark Web. For those who may not know much about the Dark Web it’s part of
the Deep Web (an area of the internet that cannot be found through search
engines). There are several reasons why websites and other content might
legitimately not want to be accessed via search engines, but the Dark Web is the
part of the Deep Web associated with the buying and selling of anything from
guns and drugs to credit card details. Some use the terms Deep and Dark
interchangeably, but my research suggests that there is a subtle difference. Neither,
though, is readily accessible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was a vital part of my story, so I
researched how to penetrate the Dark Web. It must be possible, or there would
be no market for the illegal goods sold there! And I managed it. I actually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> how to get into the Dark Web. But the
truth is, I didn’t have the guts to try it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given the amount of attention being given to
cyber crime by Europol and other agencies, for the first time since I started
writing I was actually afraid of completing my research by visiting any of the
sites. What if I stumbled across some seriously illegal activities? What if,
entirely by mistake, I bought a gun, or found I had inadvertently bought a
stack of bitcoin?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So unlike my quest for creating the realism of
the vault, I relied on the fact that I knew a lot about the dark web without,
thankfully, ever having visited it. And I assumed most of my readers would know
no more than me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Research for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Child</i> was fascinating, but with each book, I seem to have
to delve deeper into dark worlds. So if you hear I’ve been arrested, it was all
in the interests of authentic research.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span>
<o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>About 'Stranger Child'</i></b></span></o:p><br />
<o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></o:p>
<br />
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<span style="color: #351c75;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">One Dark Secret. One act of revenge.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;"> </span></i></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br style="text-align: start;" /></i></span></o:p></o:p></span>
<div>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">When Emma Joseph met her husband David, he was a man shattered by grief. His first wife had been killed outright when her car veered off the road. Just as tragically, their six-year-old daughter mysteriously vanished from the scene of the accident.</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> </span></i></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br style="text-align: start;" /></i></span></o:p></o:p></span>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">Now, six years later, Emma believes the painful years are behind them. She and David have built a new life together and have a beautiful baby son, Ollie.</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Then a stranger walks into their lives, and their world tilts on its axis. </i></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Emma’s life no longer feels secure. Does she know what really happened all those years ago? And why does she feel so frightened for herself and for her baby? </i></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p><o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"></span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"></span><br style="text-align: start;" /></i></span></o:p></o:p></span>
<div>
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;">When a desperate Emma reaches out to her old friend DCI Tom Douglas for help, she puts all their lives in jeopardy. Before long, a web of deceit is revealed that shocks both Emma and Tom to the core.</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> </span></i></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><o:p><br style="text-align: start;" /></o:p></i></span>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="text-align: start;">They say you should never trust a stranger. Maybe they’re right.</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: start;"> </span></i></span></div>
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<o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></o:p>
<o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></o:p>
<o:p><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>About Rachel</i></b></span></o:p><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rachel Abbott was born just outside Manchester, England. She spent most of her working life as the Managing Director of an interactive media company, developing software and websites for the education market. The sale of that business enabled her to take early retirement and fulfil one of her lifelong ambitions - to buy and restore a property in Italy. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;">But even in Italy the winters can be cold and wet, and so Rachel decided to fill those dismal days by fulfilling another ambition - writing a psychological thriller! ONLY THE INNOCENT, her first novel, was more successful than she could ever have imagined, and it enabled her to change her life yet again, and become a full time writer. Her third novel, SLEEP TIGHT, was released on 24th February 2014 and was her third number one. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;">Stranger Child, Rachel's latest book, was released on 24th February 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Web : <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.rachel-abbott.com/" target="_blank">rachel-abbott.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blog: <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span> <a href="http://rachelabbottwriter.com/" target="_blank">rachelabbottwriter.com</a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twitter: <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span> <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/Rachel__Abbott" target="_blank">@Rachel__Abbott</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Facebook:<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/RachelAbbott1Writer" target="_blank">RachelAbbott1Writer</a></span></div>
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Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-79171167836830827582015-03-09T12:41:00.001+00:002015-03-09T12:41:27.645+00:00Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJilFixAhyphenhyphenMQd-o23TbPBX1OVdrBM7wm7ACQr9eC6Wm1B0ucmwmDFxerbyD6By9lmm-qA0LVoOtVmrAhCFwWsgN1a8b1r22wZtc5GFoA0zuWd4XTtmrW4XCODiE10ui8wzb6nAy9KUiQE/s1600/reasons+stay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJilFixAhyphenhyphenMQd-o23TbPBX1OVdrBM7wm7ACQr9eC6Wm1B0ucmwmDFxerbyD6By9lmm-qA0LVoOtVmrAhCFwWsgN1a8b1r22wZtc5GFoA0zuWd4XTtmrW4XCODiE10ui8wzb6nAy9KUiQE/s1600/reasons+stay.jpg" height="320" width="231" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Synopsis from goodreads:</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I want life.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 19px;">I want to read it and write it and feel it and live it.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 19px;">I want, for as much of the time as possible in this blink-of-an-eye existence we have, to feel all that can be felt.</span></i></span></div>
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I hate depression. I am scared of it. Terrified, in fact. But at the same time, it has made me who I am. And if - for me - it is the price of feeling life, it's a price always worth paying</div>
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Reasons to Stay Alive is about making the most of your time on earth. In the western world the suicide rate is highest amongst men under the age of 35. Matt Haig could have added to that statistic when, aged 24, he found himself staring at a cliff-edge about to jump off. This is the story of why he didn't, how he recovered and learned to live with anxiety and depression. It's also an upbeat, joyous and very funny exploration of how live better, love better, read better and feel more.<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Published by Canongate</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b>~~~~~</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>'When you are depressed you feel alone, and that no one is going through quite what you are going through. You are so scared of appearing in any way mad you internalise everything, and you are so scared that people will alienate you further you clam up and don't speak about it, which is a shame, as speaking about it helps. Words - spoken or written - are what connect us to the world, and so speaking about it to people, and writing about this stuff, helps connect us to each other, and to our true selves.'</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">I read <b><i>Reasons to Stay Alive</i></b> the same day it arrived in the post. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">I'd been looking forward so much to this book arriving.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Actually, both looking forward to it, and a bit trepidatious about reading it. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">For one thing, I thought, if I don't read it straight away, I might put it off and become more and more scared about starting it. So I opened the cover and just read it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">It's not always easy to comment about something that deals with subject matter which relates very personally to you. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">But I want to try, because if ever there was an important book it's this one. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Because, speaking from experience, depression can be an isolating, frightening, misunderstood illness, and if there's anything that's able to help with a sufferer feeling a bit less alone and bit more understood, then that 'thing', be it a book, a film, whatever, is worth shouting about. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Words I would use to describe this book, for someone who doesn't want to read or can't manage to read a big long review just now, (based on my experience of desperately wanting to understand more about this illness but recoiling at the detail in some books that I just couldn't cope with on my own at times when struggling):</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">kind, understanding, honest, helpful, warm, positive, open, important, cheering, supportive, encouraging, straightforward, a friend.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book helps because it grasps what depression is like, how it can take over your life and make you feel like you are not yourself anymore, the depression is you. How can the book do this with so much insight and comprehension? Because the writer has been there and knows.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Author Matt Haig describes his own personal experiences with depression and anxiety, the worst and lowest point he found himself at, what he has done to try and get better, how he has found ways that sometimes help him, and the things that he wants to live for. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was wonderful to read of how books, and then starting to write, have been so important in helping Matt. He recommends here some of the books that he read when he felt unwell. </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find solace myself through reading as much as I am able to, and still want to try writing one day, so it was encouraging to read how these things helped the author.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He also discusses some of what he has learnt about the illness; I found the mentions of evolutionary psychology interesting and maybe one day I'll read more about this - has the world moved on too fast for our minds? I think that was the sort of idea, if I've grasped it correctly. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The book informs, or reminds us, depending on your knowledge, that there is still a huge amount that is unknown about this illness:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>'The more you research the science of depression, the more you realise it is still more characterised by what we don't know that what we do. It is 90 per cent mystery.'</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">In terms of my thoughts about the book, all I can say is what the book did for me, as I was reading it, and after I had finished. I hope that this is helpful.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">For someone struggling with depression (and anxiety), this book could make a difference to you in these ways - these are some of the things I thought and felt about it as I read:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">It will help me</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It will help someone who loves me</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's kind and understanding and honest</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's easy to read, and well presented, decent sized decently spaced print and a manageable length, something that can't be underestimated when you're depressed</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's open and honest and it shows me that there is a chance to get through each day</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It shows that I are not alone in thinking awful things, in thinking I might never feel better, and it understands - this is huge - it understands that sometimes doing the tiniest smallest things are terrifying, and they are major </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">accomplishments. In particular I'm thinking of the part about going to the shop on your own when you are very low. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It understands the battle to try and hold on to a positive thought. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It offers me reasons to be hopeful, to be strong, and ways to look at things differently, positively.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">I feel like someone else in the world understands me now. I feel a bit less alone, a bit less scared, a bit less guilty and anxious and burdened. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It helps you understand that everyone's experience of depression differs, that there is no one size fits all approach or answer to it, but it offers things to try that have worked for the author.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just to reiterate one of my feelings about it mentioned above - I think it will be helpful to read for someone who loves you and is trying to help you with this illness, to help them see it from the inside as well as the outside, it offers some clarity and insight that a person really suffering might not be able to put into words very well for themselves, - how do you explain depression? - and it will help them to encourage their loved one that they are not the only one who feels depressed like they do (a common feeling). </span><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's a couple of pages headed up </span><i style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>'Things depression says to you'</b></i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. I nodded at it all so I marked the whole pages. Things like...</span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>'Why are you trying to apply for a job? Who do you think you are?.....</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Why are you crying?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Because you need to put the washing on?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Look at the people walking outside....</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Why can't you be like them?'</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those pages alone really helped me feel a relief that somone understood. And they might just help others without experience of it to gain insight. And to me, both of these things, the compassion given to sufferers and the understanding given to others, breaking down stigma, are really, really important. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">Many other words that struck a chord as I was reading, here's a couple of them: </span></div>
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<b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">'...the sheer exhaustion of never being able to find mental comfort. Of every positive thought reaching a </span><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">cul-de-sac before it starts.' </span></span></i></b><br />
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<b><i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">'days contained thousands of tiny battles'</span></span></i></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 19px;">There are so many sentences I will revisit and re-read, that struck a chord with me and had me nodding in agreement, thinking 'yes, that!', or passages that had me in tears, or sections that felt like a comfort, like a virtual hand holding mine or a virtual friend offering understanding and kindness, and I think and hope I will be able to find encouragement in this book in any future times that I might need it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was great to see the quote from Stephen Fry on the book's cover, someone else in the public eye whom I like and admire for breaking down stigma surrounding mental illness.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hope these thoughts have made some sense and it's not all too incoherent I just felt this was a brilliant book and I had to write about it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Thank you Matt Haig for being brave enough to look back on his memories and experiences and write this book, thank you to the publisher Canongate for bringing it to us. </span></span></div>
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</span>Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-24576664235616855982015-03-05T09:00:00.000+00:002015-03-05T09:00:08.742+00:00The Leipzig Affair - Fiona Rintoul<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLMJFUK0WCqqPqiFUeBJFfYGSvmaI4Ae-ljIQKO_3WEzawAAldkzLj7o9E8mFA0DwoCQs5xeLMtuwAfMxwfj5R3fIWXvw8KdDf-nlj32nGprwPoJdD0hVIsCZpq9CV-DjSjaettaT7wc8W/s1600/leipzig+affair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLMJFUK0WCqqPqiFUeBJFfYGSvmaI4Ae-ljIQKO_3WEzawAAldkzLj7o9E8mFA0DwoCQs5xeLMtuwAfMxwfj5R3fIWXvw8KdDf-nlj32nGprwPoJdD0hVIsCZpq9CV-DjSjaettaT7wc8W/s1600/leipzig+affair.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Synopsis</i></span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">The year is 1985. East Germany is in the grip of communism. Magda, a brilliant but disillusioned young linguist, is desperate to flee to the West. When a black market deal brings her into contact with Robert, a young Scot studying at Leipzig University, she sees a way to realise her escape plans. But as Robert falls in love with her, he stumbles into a complex world of shifting half-truths – one that will undo them both.</span><br style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Many years later, long after the Berlin Wall has been torn down, Robert returns to Leipzig in search of answers. Can he track down the elusive Magda?</span><br style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">And will the past give up its secrets?</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Review</i></span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>'It's another world over there.'</i></span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I loved this novel, it had me gripped all the way through. The setting and time period is one that I find fascinating having studied German, and I do enjoy/find intriguing a lot of fiction that involves events surrounding the Berlin Wall and the former East Germany. Fiona Rintoul has created two captivating main characters in Magda and Robert. She creates tension and suspense, and really conveys the atmosphere and secrecy of the times. Magda is studying interpreting in Leipzig, East Germany, in 1985, but is disillusioned with life and politics there, and wants to leave and get to the West. Robert is a student at St Andrews, and events see him ending up in Leipzig and meeting Magda, getting to know some of her friends, and becoming involved in her complicated world.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The story is told in alternating chapters with Robert's story recounted in the first person, and Magda's told in the second person. I thought these points of view worked successfully here. I felt Robert's character was fleshed out particularly well; his personal weaknesses and the moments from his business career added depth and dimension to the story. The novel concentrates not only on those days back in 1985, but also takes us to the present, with the Berlin Wall having fallen and Robert finally revisiting Leipzig, and I was excited and nervous to travel with him there once more and discover what, and who, he would find there this time.</span></span></div>
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I felt absorbed in the tale as I read and I also felt that the author knew her stuff regarding the background and setting of her novel, and that she wrote in a balanced way about this period of Germany's history. Though Magda and many others like her felt determined, desperate to flee to the West from the GDR, and were very disillusioned by the country, the Stasi surveillance, the way some people were treated such as the tragedy that befalls Magda's brother, nevertheless many people also looked back at their former country with a certain amount of regret once it was gone. This is captured particularly well in a conversation between Magda and her father, after the regime has come to an end:</div>
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'"Personally, I think we've paid a very heavy price to have bananas in the shops and shiny new cars on every street corner. I look around me and I see young people with no jobs and no hope. I see homeless people. Did you ever see a homeless person in our Republic?..."</div>
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He's jutting his chin out again. It's odd. You agree with much of what he says. It's true that things are not so wonderful in the the new Germany. The West Germans are arrogant. They think they know it all. People like you have become strangers in their own country. Everything from the past has been swept away, whether it was good or bad, without anyone asking if that's what the people want.'</div>
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It's sad to read that <i><b>'all the dreams from 1989 of building a better kind of GDR, creating a new kind of socialism, are long forgotten.' </b></i>Fiona Rintoul gives us a picture of the hope and then the reality that many felt hit them after reunification.</div>
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I thought <b><i>The Leipzig Affair </i></b>was a really enjoyable, gripping read, well-written throughout. I'm really glad I read it and I will definitely be watching out for more works by this author.</div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Review copy received via amazon vine</span></i></div>
</span></span>Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-17650874082866928032015-03-03T09:00:00.000+00:002015-03-03T09:00:04.601+00:00First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzHIxAQBlmPxDCzAoxH2GMVdkSbyIJFc1dQFCFXYnLfqdrXTHlvv8Xki8iOIZQ6Ze0z9ejXsLIfEbtt4QZEQw3RPyQhoKXNwfxz4XIwmoaod1yL3D9EGwkSr23WHczoW4Yv0zAxIkYBlk/s1600/first+chapter+tuesday+intro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzHIxAQBlmPxDCzAoxH2GMVdkSbyIJFc1dQFCFXYnLfqdrXTHlvv8Xki8iOIZQ6Ze0z9ejXsLIfEbtt4QZEQw3RPyQhoKXNwfxz4XIwmoaod1yL3D9EGwkSr23WHczoW4Yv0zAxIkYBlk/s1600/first+chapter+tuesday+intro.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Every Tuesday <b><i><a href="http://bibliophilebythesea.blogspot.co.uk/">Bibliophile by the Sea</a></i></b> hosts </span><b style="line-height: 18px;">First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros</b><span style="line-height: 18px;">, where we share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book we are reading or thinking about reading soon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm reading <b><i>Disgrace</i></b> by Jussi Adler-Olsen.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are the opening lines...</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>'Another shot echoed over the treetops.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The beaters' calls had grown clearer. A throbbing pulse was thundering against my eardrums, the damp air forcing its way into my lungs so fast and hard that it hurt.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Run, run, don't fall. I'll never get up again if I do.<i>'</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~~~~~</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>What do you think, would you keep reading?</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Synopsis</i></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span id="freeText4105611445811943204" style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Kimmie's home is on the streets of Copenhagen. To live she must steal. She has learned to avoid the police and never to stay in one place for long. But now others are trying to find her. And they won't rest until she has stopped moving - for good. Detective Carl Mørck of Department Q, the cold cases division, has received a file concerning the brutal murder of a brother and sister twenty years earlier. A group of boarding school students were the suspects at the time - until one of their number confessed and was convicted. So why is the file of a closed case on Carl's desk? Who put it there? Who believes the case is not solved? A police detective wants to talk to Kimmie and someone else is asking questions about her. They know she carries secrets certain powerful people want to stay buried deep. But Kimmie has one of her own. It's the biggest secret of them all. And she can't wait to share it with them...</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> </span></span></i></div>
Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-37616775727765277022015-03-02T11:23:00.002+00:002015-03-02T11:23:27.953+00:00It's Monday! What are you reading?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>It's Monday! What Are You Reading?</b></i> is a weekly meme hosted by <a href="http://bookjourney.net/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">Sheila at <b><i>Book Journey.</i></b></a> </span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week I read a comic book - <b><i>Saga,</i></b> Volume 1, by Brian K. Vaughen and Fiona Staples, and a graphic novel - <b><i>Eustace</i></b> by S.J. Harris, both borrowed from the library. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm currently reading <b><i>How Green Was My Valley</i></b> by Robert Llewellyn, and I'm also reading <b><i>Disgrace</i></b> by Jussi Adler-Olsen.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the blog, I posted a review of <b><i><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/inflicted-ria-frances.html">Inflicted by Ria Frances.</a></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've just posted my<b> <i><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/my-february-2015-reading-round-up.html">February 2015 reading round-up.</a></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also I've posted my starting post for the <b><i><a href="http://thelittlereaderlibrary.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/take-control-of-your-tbr-pile.html">Take Control of your TBR Pile challenge March 2015.</a></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~~~~~</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>What are you reading? </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I hope you have a great week of wonderful reading, and thank you for visiting.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>~~~~~</i></span></div>
Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9057010418701934571.post-55636537100292716422015-03-02T11:10:00.003+00:002015-03-26T18:01:52.379+00:00Take Control of your TBR pile!<span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">It's time for the<b> Take Control of your TBR Pile </b>challenge<b>,</b> hosted by <i><a href="http://caffeinatedbookreviewer.com/2015/01/march-2015-take-control-tbr-pile-challenge.html" style="color: #888888; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Kimberley at Caffeinated Book Reviewer</a><b> </b>- visit there to find out all about it and to sign up</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I haven't set myself a certain number of books to read, nor have I specified which books I will read, because I am almost certain to change my mind anyway even if I did that. But I would like to get through a few, certainly into double figures would be great. And it will be interesting to discover, I hope, some treasures that have been hiding on the shelves unread for far too long.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'll list here the books from my to be read pile that I manage to read in March...</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>TBR Pile - books read March 2015...</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1 - Disgrace - Jussi Adler-Olsen</span></div>
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2 - Anya's Ghost - Vera Brosgol</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3 - How Green Was My Valley - Richard Llewellyn</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4 - The Last Anniversary - Liane Moriarty</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5 - The Auschwitz Violin - Maria Angels Anglada</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6 - Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel</span><br />
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 - </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #351c75; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good luck to everyone doing the challenge, and thanks to all for visiting. </span></span><br />
<br />Lindsayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08731930823596505781noreply@blogger.com2