Into the Still Blue – Veronica Rossi
I don’t really have a lot to say about this. I still like the world building but I’m struggling with them finding the perfect place and what about the rest of the world?
Life After Life – Kate Atkinson
I read this on the recommendation from Ma. Thanks Ma! I really enjoyed it eventually, I was getting a bit tired of the ‘darkness fell’ line at the beginning but once I got past that I was hooked. I enjoyed the way that the characters seemed always to stay themselves and of their era. Go read.
This is about to be made into a TV series and has many sequels and lots of fans but I don’t think I’m one of them. First up it’s ridiculously long and second she pretty much threw the kitchen sink at it. Everything that ‘can’ happen does and it ends up being really contrived. Oh look, our hero is being physically injured again, oh look our heroine is being stupidly feisty again. So we have time travel, English soldiers being brutal (and gay and sadistic), Scots being brave, witch trials, the Loch Ness monster and all sorts of other shenanigans and it just over-stretched credibility and my patience. Apparently apart from the magical elements, it’s well researched historically, I don’t know enough about Scotland in 1743 to know if it is or not but I can’t see that I’m going to pick up any of the others that will take the reader to France (Bonnie Prince Charlie) and finally to America in time for the War of Independence.
This was Luc’s pick for Half Term bookclub and I really liked it. The premise of a really bad snow storm and 7 kids trapped at school as things get worse is not cheery and the book is really good at pointing that out. Luc said it made him think about his school buildings in a new light. Yep. Tension builds, it doesn’t go all ‘Lord of Flies’ and I really enjoyed it.
Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Willows, Anne’s House of Dreams, Anne of Ingleside, Rainbow Valley, Rilla of Ingleside – LM Montgomery
This was Helene’s pick for half term. To my horror I discovered that she hasn’t read all the Anne books, she’s read the Emily books and I think Green Gables and I heavily sold them. Fortunately for me, she reads lots and was happy once through GG to go through all of them. They’re re-reads for me and it was quite nice to read physical books instead of ebooks and I love these books…
Nic Dempsey 