Tag: Yorkshire

Books

Book 406: The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1) – Jasper Fforde

Geoff W

Fforde, Jasper - The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next #1)I wanted to love this a lot more than I did, but that being said I did really enjoy it. I picked this one up back in May of last year at the bi-annual Friends of the Library book sale. I then almost immediately picked up Lost In A Good Book and even more recently (as in this past weekend), picked up the next three in the Thursday Next series: The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten and First Among Sequels! Friends have told me that the series get betters and I’m clearly hoping that happens as I’ve bought through the fifth book in the series.

I think where I struggled with getting into this one was the world building. The world of Thursday Next is a fascinating place full of mystery, technology and a love of literature I would jump into in a heartbeat, war and all.

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Books

Book 394: Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike #3) – Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)

Geoff W

Galbraith, Robert (J.K. Rowling) - Career of EvilI was so excited this book came in early at the library. The best part about living in a bigger city is that we have multiple library systems so I wasn’t sure which one was going to come in first, but I didn’t expect either of them this fast. There were almost 200 people on the list and I thought for sure I’d signed up a lot later, but apparently not!

This is just as much a page turner as The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm and provides even more character development for Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott. It picks up not long after The Silkworm and Robin and Cormoran have seen a successful uptake in business, that is until they receive a woman’s severed leg in the mail. And then they’re off on the chase. What always surprises me about mystery novels is how little action there can be, but with a great writer it still feels action packed.

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Books

Book 370: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – Susanna Clark

Geoff W

Clarke, Susanna - Jonathan Strange & Mr. NorrellWhat a journey! I don’t know what I was thinking waiting this long to read this novel. It’s been sitting on my bookshelf for almost 10 months and has been out for over a decade! In the last few months I finally heard enough about Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to pick it up and read the tome that it is. (AKA the boyfriend wants to watch the new TV adaptation and I said I couldn’t until I read the book.)

I am most definitely beating myself up for not reading it sooner. Sure I was a bit scared of the length, hello doorstop clocking in at 846 pages, but I was even more concerned with the comparisons to Dickens! How wrong I was; how wrong I was. For some reason I let this one comparison (I still think Dickens needed an editor) blind me from the wondrousness that was this book.

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Books

Book 278: Solsbury Hill – Susan Wyler

Geoff W

Wyler, Susan - Solsbury HillThis book ended better than it started, but wasn’t at all what I wanted. I hate having to write that, but it’s the truth! Even as I’m writing this I realize I’ll probably drop it from a three star to a two star rating on Goodreads when I post this, but I’m not sure – it’s probably a two-and-a-half star book. I was honestly relieved to see this was Wyler’s first novel as she shows a lot of potential and clearly I thought the story was an excellent creation, just the writing (or editing) needed a lot of work.

The idea behind this book was fascinating and perfect, but the execution just wasn’t there. I almost wish Wyler sold the story to another author to write it better, but she didn’t and we have this novel. I sort of think of this as a crossing between Becoming Jane Eyre/Becoming Jane and Austenland in a weird sort of mash-up where historical fact quickly turns to fiction and modern-day collides with it.

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Books

Book 111: Howards End is on the Landing – Susan Hill

Geoff W

Every book blogger should read this memoir at some point. I don’t remember when I first came across the title but it’s been in the back of my mind to read for quite some time, but funnily enough never made it to my to-be-read list. (Book bloggers, this may be contentious, but if you don’t want to read the post at least check out a quote on book bloggers and modern reading in the middle of the post and the following paragraph.)

This is one of my ‘take a break from challenges and read whatever I want novels’ and so counts for nothing other than a great book and a good source for future books to read. (If you read Howards End is on the Landing, be prepared for your to-be-read and to-be-re-read lists to grow dramatically.) Prior to reading this novel I knew nothing about Susan Hill, but having finished the novel I feel like I know her a little better, or could at least hold a conversation with her. There is something very intimate about publicly sharing your list of 40 books you would keep if you could only keep 40 for the rest of your life.

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