Book Reviews
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Two Best Sellers
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak In 1939, Nazi Germany, Liesel is a foster girl living in Munich. She loves her accordion playing foster father, she helps her foster parents hide a Jewish man in their basement, and she steals books. Written for young adults this book has everybody talking, it was with interest I picked up my copy to read. I really struggled to ‘get into’ this novel. Reading all the reviews I note with interest The Book Thief provokes two emotions, you either love it or hate it, I’m afraid I fall into the second category. A few reasons that I found totally distracting, The Narrator of the…
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Rhys Bowen Mysteries
This week I’ve been enjoying some of Rhys Bowen‘s mysteries. Rhys Bowen has written three different mystery series, featuring very different leading characters, all set in different countries and time periods. Some I’ve ‘met’ before, some are ‘new friends’. The Constable Evans series is set in rural Wales, possibly in the 1970s or 80s. The main character is local constable Evan Evans, apparently the books are full of local characters and lots of mysteries to solve. Sadly our library doesn’t have any copies so I’ve yet to read any of these. The first Rhys Bowen books I read were her Royal Spyness mysteries. I totally enjoyed Bowen as a writer and couldn’t wait to…
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Discovering New Mystery Series
Always keen to find new book gems, I tend to devour a series or author once discovered, our children also have the same passionate approach to reading. This week I discovered a couple of new mystery series, one of which was a pleasant read, the other was a little too slow. Murder on the Half Shelf – Lorna Barrett Tricia Miles the main character is the owner of ‘Haven’t Got A Clue’, a mystery bookstore in Stoneham, New Hampshire, America. She is an amateur sleuth and embarks upon solving yet another mystery, this one involves a long ago lover whom she thought dead. Characters sprinkled throughout the book include Tricia’s…
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Mercy Watson – Transition Readers
Over the years we have built up a collection of readers for our beginner, emerging and independent readers. I am always searching for books that will fully engage and nurture a love of reading, yet as each child has their own preference, what one enjoys may not appeal to another, and as a couple of our children have been late readers this has been yet another challenge to finding books that are engaging but not daunting. Today as Jelly Bean read aloud another Mercy Watson book to me I reflected upon how truly enjoyable and unique this series of six books are. We only found the series recently but are totally ‘hooked’.…
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Catholic Picture Books – Life of a Saint Series
Slowly we are building a wonderful collection of quality picture books to encourage the children to know and love their Faith. Recently we purchased four books from the Life of a Saint Series, published by Ignatius/Magnificat. I highly recommend this series!! 5 star quality, ‘meaty’ and accurate with lovely watercolour illustrations. They are long picture books, divided into small ‘chapters’ but can be easily read in one sitting. The best saints books we have seen for younger children, happily for us most of these are our children’s patron saints. John Marie Vianney: The Holy Cure of Ars John Vianney, from a devout family who attended underground Masses heard…
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Thought Provoking Adult Novels
Recently I shared that I read 200 books in 2013, what I didn’t share is, I’m a speed reader which helps when reading a large volume. Towards the end of 2013 I considered quality over quantity more. The following books, read in the last weeks of 2013, were chosen on the recommendations of my blogging friends, so keep those book recs coming. Kite Runner The Kite Runner is the story of a friendship between a wealthy Afghan boy and the son of his father’s servant. The novel opens in Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy and continues with the tyranny of the Taliban. This is a…
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2013 Year in Books: Highlights
Reflections posts on ‘Books Read in 2013’ are beginning to appear in my feedly, some of my favourite type of chats. Goodreads record I have read 200 books this year so I’m joining the chatter. As 200 is a fair amount I’ve chosen a few highlights from each month to share, focusing on adult literature. January Kate Shackleton’s mysteries, were a new find, which I thoroughly enjoyed The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh was completely thought provoking. February Discovered Anna Jacobs and began her Swan River Saga with The Trader’s Wife. I’m always a fan of well written Australian historical novels. March Continued reading Anna Jacob’s historical novels. Discovered Daisy Dalrymple’s…
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World War 2 – Persecution and Internment Camps
*Denotes book is from our local library for the benefit of my local readers. *Hiding from the Nazis – David Adler The true story of a young girl who was ‘hidden’ with a Christian family in Holland during the Nazi occupation of WW2. Lore Baer’s family had escaped Germany a few years before and believed they were safe in Holland. When the Nazi’s invaded Holland they had to go in hiding, for extra protection many families split up, children separated from their parents. After the war Lore’s parents came to take her home but they were strangers to her. This was an incredibly well written book on a deep topic,…
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Fashion History
Different Like Coco – Elizabeth Matthews Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel was always different; poor, skinny and an orphan and she turned that difference to an advantage. Creative with sewing skills she began making clothes that suited her figure, and soon a new generation of independent working women craved her sleek, comfortable designs. She revolutionised the fashion industry. An excellent picture biography, fascinating. 4 Star Levi Strauss Gets a Bright Idea – Tony Johnston What’s a Californian Miner to do when gold dust sifts right out of his holey pockets? Good thing Levi Strauss heads out west with his needle and full of bright ideas. Levi keeps all the gold rush miners in…
