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City of Veils by Zoë Ferraris |
I would never have chosen this book but it was lent to me by a lawyer friend who lives near a privately owned bookshop. Lucky! Although a thriller in a way the subject is immaterial; it's much more about the attitudes and insights of three very different characters into the life and beliefs of people in Saudi Arabia. Fascinating! I learnt and understood a lot more than I had ever done, and was completely absorbed in the story.
(bwl 69 Summer 2013) |
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How Green was my Valley by Richard Llewellyn |
I last read this novel over 65 years ago. I sort of remembered it, but had completely forgotten how absorbing the story was of a family, and how scary a life was led by the Welsh miners, and the horror of the slag heap growing steadily behind the village. Wonderful read.
(bwl 67 Winter 2013) |
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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes |
From the first page I was completely at ease with this book which had been recommended to me. I had never heard of it. It is a very unusual love story. Two entirely different people are thrown together in the most unexpected circumstances and their slowly developing happiness and sadness is absorbing, at times funny and at times heart-breaking! I loved it. There is a sequel - After You - which I have just started.
(bwl 83 Winter 2017) |
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The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón |
I read this because I thought Zafon's first book was brilliant, this one was a very pale imitation of the first, and very difficult to follow, extremely complicated, and most of it didn't make sense. Really bad. Shame. The first one made one feel one was in Barcelona, this one, one needed a pull-out map.
(bwl 57 Summer 2010) |
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The Facts of Life by Patrick Gale |
Having thoroughly enjoyed Gale's Notes from an Exhibition (bwl 46), in desperation for something to read, I discovered this book in the library the other day. I found it totally absorbing, except for some pretty graphic descriptions of gay sex in the middle, which nearly made me abandon it, but I'm very glad I didn't. It all came together exceptionally well - I think! A good read.
(bwl 57 Summer 2010) |
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The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern |
Two people on the same day said: "You must read this". I did and was captivated by the magical world of Le Cirque des Rêves which suddenly is 'there' between sunset and sunrise. From the love affair between two characters caught in a mysterious contest to the amazing events and extraordinary people 'in' the circus, I wanted to be there wandering through the whiteness of the tents bewitched by every mind-blowing happening. I loved it.
(bwl 68 Spring 2013) |
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The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey |
I can't remember what made me buy this book - maybe the reference to Arthur Ransome, whose books I loved as a child, and a Russian fairy tale. It is beautifully written and utterly magical and captivating! A first novel by an Alaskan, about Alaska interwoven with a couple's love and survival in the desolate land, and their longing for a child. I was very sad to get to the last page, it had taken me to another world.
(bwl 67 Winter 2013) |
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