I’ve lost count on where I am with my 50 book goal. Logically, I
could just count, but I kind of like not knowing where I’m at right now.
Eliminates the pressure and all that.
Before I go to sleep by S.J. Watson. I read a description of
this somewhere and thought I might like it. A few days later, I was
perusing my own bookshelf and found this. Apparently I own it and
wasn’t even aware. John keeps accusing me of owning too many books.
Pssssh. Description from goodreads:
As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will
wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I’m still a child,
thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me…
Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to
sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love–all
forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling
you half the story.
Welcome to Christine’s life.
I liked this book enough. Enjoyable, easy to read, and I didn’t
quite see the big surprise coming. There was a vague notion something
wasn’t right pinging around my brain, but I couldn’t quite catch it to
make it concrete.
*
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. I don’t know if I loved
this book, as I thought a few of the characters were really frustrating.
The local town doctor loses a woman who dies in childbirth birthing
her fifth baby in as many years. He’s a new doctor and didn’t quite
catch all the signs that she was in distress until too late. She died,
the baby lived. NOBODY in town blamed him for what happened, yet he
went down a path of self-destruction leading to him to travel to war
torn London during the Blitzkrieg to save Londoners. What?! He left
his young, new wife back in New England who eventually finds out she’s
pregnant. The postmistress is kind of portrayed as a control freak who
things she can organize the world by keeping her own post office running
smoothly. Eventually she starts hiding mail from some town citizens to
keep some bad news from trickling in, which again makes no sense. She
doesn’t know anyone in town well, as she’s new, and takes her job way
too seriously to begin with; its not realistic that she’d ruin her
reputation by messing with mail delivery. Whatever. Another book I
own[ed], which I picked up for $2 at a used book store.
What would happen if someone did the unthinkable-and didn’t
deliver a letter? Filled with stunning parallels to today, The
Postmistress is a sweeping novel about the loss of innocence of two
extraordinary women-and of two countries torn apart by war.
The casual vacancy* by JK Rowling.
No, just no. The byline for this is ‘A big novel about a small town.’
In reality its ‘A long novel about a town nobody cares about.’
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.
Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square
and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town
at war.
Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war
with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils … Pagford is not
what it first seems.
And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the
catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in
an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
The orchid house* by Lucinda Riley
So much love for this and I even bought an orchid after I read it.
As a child Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the
hothouse of Wharton Park, the great house where her grandfather tended
exotic orchids. Years later, while struggling with overwhelming grief
over the death of her husband and young child, she returns to the
tranquility of the estate. There she reunites with Kit Crawford, heir to
the estate and her possible salvation.
When they discover an old diary, Julia seeks out her grandmother
to learn the truth behind a love affair that almost destroyed Wharton
Park. Their search takes them back to the 1930s when a former heir to
Wharton Park married his young society bride on the eve of World War II.
When the two lovers are cruelly separated, the impact will be felt on
generations to come.
Lucinda Riley skillfully sweeps her readers between the magical
world of Wharton Park and Thailand during World War II with irresistible
and atmospheric storytelling. Filled with twists and turns, passions
and lies, and ultimately redemption, The Orchid House is a romantic,
poignant novel that became an instant bestseller in the UK and Germany.
Follow you home by Mark Edwards
I loved this book, probably in part because I had very little
expectations for it. I noticed on Amazon that I could “borrow” it for
free, so I did, and finished it in less than a day. A day that I had to
work. I got sucked into it, and couldn’t put it down. From goodreads…
It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, a final adventure before settling down.
After a perfect start, Daniel and Laura’s travels end abruptly when they
are thrown off a night train in the middle of nowhere. To find their
way back to civilisation, they must hike along the tracks through a
forest…a haunting journey that ends in unimaginable terror.
Back in London, Daniel and Laura vow never to talk about what they saw
that night. But as they try to fit back into their old lives, it becomes
clear that their nightmare is just beginning…
