A Mixed Bag of Books

It's been a while since I've added a new blog post.

I have a couple of book reviews ready to post but have to wait until nearer the publication date.  I have actually now read all the books on my NetGalley shelf!  It's difficult not to keep requesting books as there are so many with intriguing descriptions.  I really want to request them but I know I am likely to be busy between now and the Christmas holidays.

In the meantime I'll mention a few more books I've read - some for review and some simply for pleasure.


Thanksgiving by Mary R Arno

I very much enjoyed reading this beautifully written book although there are some heartbreaking and even shocking moments.

The book is set in Louisiana and begins in 1965 when the three principal characters are still girls, all from different backgrounds. We then get glimpses of them at various stages in their lives until an unexpected and shocking event decades later.

Mary R Arno cleverly shows how their lives and the lives of those around them all come to interconnect over the years and how the lies and deceits of the past lead to a shocking end.


The main events all take place around the Thanksgiving holiday.

I liked the (slightly) unusual device where the story is told in a third person narrative but then it changes to a first person voice so that we get the particular character's thoughts on the situation in more detail.

I found it easy to imagine the characters and locations and the believable dialogue flowed smoothly - a really well written book.

It's not a long book.  I read it immediately after struggling through the 900 + page book. Thanksgiving was the perfect antidote.

Author's website:   www.maryarno.com
Published:              26 November 2015

According to Yes by Dawn French

I was lucky enough to win a copy of Dawn French's new book from Good Housekeeping Book Room on Facebook.

It made a change having a physical hardcover book rather than a kindle edition.  Although it's nice to be able to turn pages it did take up more room in my bag (I like to read on bus journeys) and I think I appreciate the kindle app on my phone and tablet even more now.

This was quite a funny book.  You could definitely 'hear' Dawn French's voice.  I wasn't sure at first if I was going to like it, but it grew on me.

Rosie Kitto is a 38 year old primary school teacher who takes a job as nanny to a wealthy Manhattan Family.  The matriarch has very fixed ideas of what is acceptable and suitable and what is not.  Rosie proceeds to break all the rules and tries to bring some fun into the family's life.

The book is way over the top and into the realms of farce but it kept me entertained for a day!

More short reviews to follow ......

CITY ON FIRE - An Epic Novel

Well I finally finished this book.  Wow!  City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg is a sprawling, complex novel set in New York in the 1970s. It is pretty impressive for a debut novel but at 900+ pages it's a bit of a marathon read and not for the faint-hearted.

It begins in December 1976 when we are introduced to some of the characters. A pivotal event occurs on New Year's eve when a teenage girl is shot in Central Park. The book covers what happened afterwards and also what had gone before and slowly reveals the connections between the various characters in the book.  Things all come to a head on 13 July 1977 when all the lights go out in New York City.

There are a myriad of characters, many of whom are introduced in (or fall into) pairs: Charlie and Samantha, William and Mercer, Regan and Keith, Felicia Gould and her 'Demon Brother' Amory Gould, Richard and Jenny, Pulaski, Nicky Chaos and Solomon Grundy, Sewer Girl ….. and more.

The characters include a wealthy New York family and the two estranged heirs, a teacher recently arrived, two Long Island teenagers drawn to the New York punk scene, a re-formed punk band and the characters around them, a writer, the police officer investigating the shooting, a gallery owner.... and more.

I loved the way the author cleverly weaves the story to reveal the connections between the various characters (although they don't realise it at the time).

I also liked the fact that the story is told from the viewpoint of individual characters.  It also jumps backwards and forwards in time.

I thought the author described the locations really well. You could imagine yourself in these places. The characters are also very well formed and I feel you really get to know them, or at least some of them.

For all its brilliance, it's not a happy, uplifting story. It's a bit bleak in parts. It took me longer than usual to read and I came close on a couple of occasions to giving up simply because of the sheer length of the story but then the pace would change and I engaged with it again. I'm glad I read to the end and although for some characters there is a satisfactory ending for me there were still some unresolved issues.

Even as I'm drafting this review I can't decide how I feel about the book.  I suppose I could say it's brilliant in parts but the sheer length of the novel could turn it into a bit of a slog.  Overall I would say I'm glad I read it.

(Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a review copy - the book is due to be published in the UK on 22 October 2015).

Author website:               www.garthriskhallberg.com/

Author facebook page:    www.facebook.com/GarthRiskHallberg/