March has been an interesting month for reading. Some good. Some great. Some I was a bit disappointed with. There’s the list.
Lost and Found by Brooke Davis - Paper - 3.5 stars
This book has been everywhere for the last few years. Finally, I found a copy on a trading table, curious about its longevity. And sure, it was okay – a book about grief in many ways, but I found this a bit all over the place, with some great ideas and writing thrown in. It’s hard to rate a book when you both like it and dislike it all at once. There ere some things, like the two older characters, who were great, but their quirks were off putting. Would I recommend it? Yeah… nah… maybe. It is well written, but…
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – Audiobook - 4 Stars
I decided to listen to the book before seeing the film. Hopefully, I’ll see the film over Easter.
Regardless, I really enjoyed the audiobook of this. It’s very science driven, whether this science is accurate, I do not know or care. And to be honest, if they're going on about the science stuff, it's explained in layman's terms - which is one of the great things about Grace's character - being a teacher. The book keeps you on your toes, as Ryland Grace firstly tries to work out what has happened, and then he tries to save earth, with his new friend, the alien, Rocky, who’s in exactly the same boat. I’m looking forward to the movie, but the book is excellent.
The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage – Paper – 3 Stars
I feel a bit bad, as I bought this for my mother for Christmas. This book of revisionist history fictionalising the current royal family wasn’t my cup of tea. I was after something light and fluffy after the book before - but this was far too superficial for my liking.
What Rebecca Armitage has done is to take elements of the current Royal Family and mess with it. The main character, Lexi, has run away to Australia, become a doctor, only to return to England when her father and brother, first and second in line to the throne, are killed in an avalanche. She has to navigate family politics, her vile Uncle and his daughters (a bit too similar to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his daughters) and her feelings for her housemate in Australia.
There were too many brand names mentioned for my liking. It just wasn't for me.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman – Audiobook – (4 Stars)
I think Fredrik Backman is a Swedish national treasure. And yes, I find him a little formulaic, and I have to be in the mood to read him, but he writes about humanity like no other writer.
My Friends stands up with his best. (My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises is my absolute favourite) We meet a young woman on the run from the foster system and an artist. Then we meet his friends through the road trip the girl and the artist's friend embark upon.
This is a book about friendship, and art, and finding your family and the transformative power of all three of these things.
I listened to it - and loved it. This is up there with Backman's best.
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey – Paper – 4 Stars
New Zealand writer, Catherine Chidgey whites a chilling novel about an England we barely know. The Book of Guilt revises the history of World War II, things are different. Some of the experiments the Nazis were doing in have continued in these homes as a part of the Sycamore Scheme. According to the Amazon blurb, "England, 1979. Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers- Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night."
This is a very good read. My only qualm is that it reminded me of Kazuo Ishiguru's Never Let Me Go - one of my most favourite books. Chidgey creates this alternative world well - but she's not Ishiguro.
Definitely worth a look - especially if you're not aware of its Booker nominated relative. (Interestingly, both sets of people, when no longer required, end up at a seaside town...)
Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes – Audiobook – 4 Stars
I read Rachel's Holiday when it first came out and I loved it. My battered copy sits behind me now. Listening to it as an audiobook was like having an old, and rather funny friend in the car.
I'm gently working my way through Marian Keyes' back catalogue. Although parts of this have dated a little bit, it's forgiven. You come out fighting for the badly mothered, strong willed, very funny Rachel - and you want to meet tight-pants Luke - still hot after all these years. I
And yes, I've read her second Rachel book, which is just as good.
Very enjoyable if you needs something light, but not stupidly so.
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood – Paper – 4.5 Stars
This book has been sitting on the cat's throne at my place for 18 months. Finally, I picked it up and read it - and my mind was blown - but Margaret Atwood is incredible, and this is as amazing as her other works.
Hag-Seed is a reworking of Shakespeare's The Tempest. According to Booktopia, "Felix is at the top of his game as Artistic Director of the Makeshiweg Theatre Festival. His productions have amazed and confounded. Now he’s staging a Tempest like no other. It will boost his reputation. It will heal emotional wounds.Or that was the plan. Instead, after an act of unforeseen treachery, Felix is living in exile in a backwoods hovel, haunted by memories of his beloved lost daughter, Miranda. Also brewing revenge. After twelve years, revenge finally arrives in the shape of a theatre course at a nearby prison. Here, Felix and his inmate actors will put on his Tempest and snare the traitors who destroyed him. It’s magic! But will it remake Felix as his enemies fall?"
You don't need to be a Shakespeare boffin to like this, but it does help. It's a miraculous book, where the protagonist, like Prospero, exacts revenge on those who have done him wrong. It's also a book about grief and overcoming adversity.
I loved it - but of course I would. Shakespeare and Margaret Atwood are two of my most favourite things.
The Tempest by William Shakespeare - Paper – 3.5 Stars
Because I was reading Hag-Seed, I also had to get out my old copy of The Tempest to remind myself what was going on. One of his later plays, and stranger plays, reading it reminded me why I prefer seeing Shakespeare on the stage or screen.
Still, it was good to do as an exercise. I was reading it along as I was navigating Hag-Seed. I'm glad I did it.
I wonder what April's reading will bring.
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