Tag: English

ARC, Books

Book 234: The Bookstore – Deborah Meyler

Geoff W

As with many galleys I end up with, I thought this book was a different book. However, I am glad to have read this one and for a debut novel it was really well written and I mostly enjoyed it. I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and received no compensation in return for my honest opinion of the book.

The Bookstore starts and ends with great potential, but never quite lives up to it. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the setting of the book, but there was just something missing from it. I’m not sure if it was the writing style, lack of a finite conclusion (even though I did like how it ended) or something else completely, but the entire time I was reading I couldn’t help feeling as if something were missing.

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Books

Book 231: The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) – Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

Geoff W

I don’t know why I waited so long to read this book. If I guessed it’s probably the same reason I put off reading The Casual Vacancy, that I didn’t want Rowling to disappoint. And in this instance she didn’t!

With The Casual Vacancy Rowling faced a lot of justified criticism in that the book did nothing and went nowhere. And although I disagreed with the numerous critics, I can see why and how readers would think this. Personally, I preferred the quiet and slow reveal of the story line and the intimacy of all of the characters and the small-town feel. With The Cuckoo’s Calling Rowling answers all of this and more. She provides a fast-paced and gripping thriller with adult characters whom the reader can identify with. As I went into this book, this was my chief concern, whether or not Rowling could write a book solely featuring identifiable and sympathetic/empathetic adult characters.

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Books

Book 229: When the Emperor was Divine – Julie Otsuka

Geoff W

When the Emperor was Divine was the required reading for the college where I work and although I do think it was a good choice, I feel that there are other novels out there which tell this story better. (Such as Snow Falling on Cedars, and this story wasn’t even the main storyline in that book.)

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this book and I did not get along. It wasn’t bad, per say, but it definitely wasn’t good. It was a very short read and I read it in three sittings on the train to and from work, but there was just something about it that I didn’t enjoy.

I’m starting to think that it might be related to the fact that it was chosen as the required reading and I felt that it wasn’t very challenging. I do believe it highlight’s a portion of World War II which many people aren’t aware of, or never learned about, but the writing style and the novel were very basic. Given I didn’t attend the speaker series, this could be a total misinterpretation of the novel, but I feel that a required reading for college students should be more challenging. However, that being said there were parts of the novel that were really well done, so don’t think it was a completely horrible work.

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Books

Book 223: The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë – Syrie James

Geoff W

After thoroughly enjoying The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen and The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, it will come as no surprise that I enjoyed this book as well! It also doesn’t hurt that I always forget how much I love the Brontës when I’m not reading about them and then as soon as I start reading about them I quickly fall back in love with them. I’m super excited that I’ve got Wuthering Heights to re-read again this year!

The only other Brontë fan-fiction I’ve read was Becoming Jane Eyre in February of last year. I remember enjoying it and of course there were overlaps with this book, as this book covers a lot broader swath of time than the last. This book covers a long period of time and through flashbacks even includes a lot of the Brontës’ youth. It is noteworthy, although not shocking at all, that there are many similarities in writing style and stories in the two books. We know a lot more about the Brontë siblings than we know about say Austen or the more reclusive female writers.

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Books, Quotes

Book 222: The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen – Syrie James

Geoff W

Although I enjoyed this book I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as James’ The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen. I’m not sure if James’ skills as an author increased, but I’m actually reading them in reverse order of her publishing the novels culminating in The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë which is next on my reading list.

However, as with Missing Manuscript, James’ has a distinct ability to write as and embody Jane Austen. Many Austen fan-fiction novelists are able to mimic Austen, but I don’t feel are able to get into her psyche as well as James’ has shown she is capable over the last two novels. James takes snippets of fact and builds amazingly detailed stories around them and as a reader I couldn’t help but appreciate her ability to spin a believable story around the most basic and minimal facts.

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