Over the summer I finished my Christmas reading and decided it was time to check The Cloud Atlas off my ‘to read’ list.

I was so surprised this book is very delightfully unusual and fresh. I felt like I was being drawn along on this gossamer thread, being lured into the story. I blindly followed the thread and as each step revealed another question, another mystery, another desire that I read on if only to discover more. Each characters life was a delightful taste, just enough to intrigue and capture the reader. I could tell you more but the shape of the story was a delightful revelation and I would hate to spoil any of the magic. Just know that as I finally closed the last pages I was satisfied and content.

This is an unusual book that if you let yourself be drawn in (the first chapter is the hardest, it gets fun after that)  I guarantee you will be enraptured.

Right now I am reading IQ84 – I’m two chapter in and totally intrigued and I also am half way through Brick Lane by Monica Ali. I lost it for a while so I started IQ84.

Hope you had a great summer, what books did you read over the break? Anything you’d like to recommend?

I only bought this book because it kept coming up on my recommendations list. I didn’t think following the journey of a group of small Japanese ornaments from their purchase in Paris in 1870 to Edmund inheriting them from his Uncle who lived in Japan. How wrong I was, this is a fascinating story of the 264 wood & ivory carvings surviving two world wars. Saved by a loyal maid hiding them in her mattress as their house in Vienna was confiscated for being owned by Jews during WWII they continued their journey through to this day.

A wonderful trip through history as we rifle with Edmund through the lives of his family, their highs and lows and like him wonder at the cruelty and joys of their experiences. It is highly personal story that shows the resilience of one family in the fate of these small items. Highly entertaining and delightful like the carvings themselves, a unique collection and a unique story that is a great read.

In Afghanistan waiting for her lover to return from whatever dangerous mission he is on now Sunny runs a coffee shop. Kabul is not a easy place to run coffee shop – there are bombings, soldiers, rebels and the Afghan culture to negotiate.
The coffee shop and Sunny become entwined in the lives of four women whose secrets and choices could destroy them all.

This is an interesting story uncovering the Afghan society and its rules and also the occupation of the American army. However some of the characters are very two dimensional and I found some of the plot very hard to believe. I was surprised to find that Rodriguez had lived in Kabul having a hair salon. I can only say that the parts of the book she had good knowledge of were excellent like the Afghan culture and its rules for women but the diplomatic arena was very weak and her description of Candace was very stereotypical.

All in all it is a light fun read with a bit of background about Afghanistan.

In Jackson Mississippi 1962 22 year old Skeeter has got herself a job as the domestic agony aunt on the local paper. Knowing nothing about running a household Skeater turns to a local black maid she knows to ask for help. Aibileen and her friend Minny join forces to help Skeeter write a book about the lives of the maids and the families they serve, while Skeeter tries to find what happened to the maid that raised her who has disappeared.

Each of the characters is superbly drawn and Skeeter is particularly endearing. After the reading the book I went out straight away to see the movie that also didn’t disappoint.  The book is funny, poignant, eye-opening and just plain brilliant. It’s an education about slavery, domestic service and the South. Read it!

I have always wanted to read this book so when I saw it at a school fair I was happy to buy it. On the cover it says it won the National Book Award of 2000 and awards mean a good read. The plot is great – a famous Polish actress decides to emigrate  to America with her family and friends and start a community in southern California. The story follows their decision to move to America and the eventual failure of their community and the reinvention of self – a homage to the American dream where you can be anything in America.

I wanted to like this book, its full of great detail, moments of brilliance but I couldn’t. I hated the writing style. It was like walking across mudflats at low tide, you sink to your thighs in the mud and each footstep is an effort but you press on thinking all the time how great it will feel to get to the other side and surely it will get easier at some point. When you finally get to the other side you are covered in mud and too exhausted to be excited about having conquered the mud flats. You just look back thinking why did I bother.

A Thread of Grace is set during WWII and follows a group of Jewish refugees who have fled to southern France and relative protection of the Italian occupied area. Now the Italians have surrendered to the Allies the German army is coming and they must flea over the Alps into Northern Italy following the path that Hannibal and his elephants took centuries before. However Italy is now occupied by the German Army and the Allies are only slowly fighting their way north. If refugees like young Claudette Blum and her father want to survive they must find friends and hide until the allies come. This is the little known story of the partisans of northern Italy and of the people who hid Jewish refugees from the Germans.

Having read Mary Doria Russell’s two other books Sparrow and Children of God and loved them I was disappointed to find that her next book wasn’t sci-fi. However my opinion changed upon reading A Thread of Grace. Like her other books it is incredibly well written, the characters come alive and you become invested in their fate as if you are walking with them. My only issue with the book was the Italian names that mean I often didn’t know which group of people and where they were until into the chapter. One character also has several names and personas, which was hard for me to keep up with but in another way added to the enjoyment of the book.

A Thread of Grace was incredibly moving and sad but most of all I enjoyed reading about the role of the church and the citizens of northern Italy who risked all to save the Jewish refugees. I was delighted to find reading the notes at the end of the book that the story set in a real background where deeds like those in the book really happened.

There is no excuse for not reading this book as Penguin has published it under their Penguin Classic imprint so it was cheap. But this is no old musty classic, How I Live Now was written in 2004. It tells the story of fifteen year old Daisy who is sent from New York to the English countryside to live for a summer. Unfortunately her Aunt Penn goes to Oslo is unable to get back as all the borders close. Daisy and her cousins are left to fend for themselves in a world gone to war. As England is occupied and the army moves closer things go from bad to worse for the cousins.

This is a classic, the characters are masterfully drawn and the world around the cousins before the change is magical. Here is the teenage problems of identity, belonging, angst, change and growing up woven into a outstanding tale mirrored by the world around the cousins falling apart. A coming of age story with a vibrant twist, old beyond it’s years.

9.5/10

In this post apocalyptic world two children from each area are sent to fight for their lives as ‘tribute’ in the hunger games. Katniss takes the place of her younger sister and enters the games. Here she must fight and kill in order to return home and have the luxury of seeing her family never go hungry again.

The book is Death Race meets Logans Run with a touch of Survivor thrown in for good measure. It’s a well thought out plot with and interesting characters who are believable and well drawn. Although morals and the consequences of the decisions you make are the essence of the book Collins handles this adroitly. Well worth a read, a good teen/young adult book, its great for both sexes and has a gripping story line. Read it before you see the movie.

Two magicians have played a game for decades, each providing a player. This time the game arena is a circus. This is not an ordinary circus, it opens when the sun goes down and closes at dawn – it can only be the circus of dreams.

The story conjured images of  The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, has the same ethereal feel. The story is an enchantment, woven all around the reader. If I could wish for anything it would be to visit the circus, just once in my life. Even if you hate fantasy the story is so beautiful it will woo you.

10/10