January 2018, Books

I love to read, and to share my thoughts on the books that cross my path. Please let me know if you have read any of these and what your thoughts were. This is what I read this month.

Jo Baker- The Picture Book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. Four generations of one family connected by their first names. William a sailor in the  First World War at Gallipoli. Billy his son, a keen amateur cyclist who sees action in Normandy on a bycycle. Will his son has walking difficulties and spends time in a children’s orthopaedic hospital which apart from location strongly resembles the Adele Shaw Hospital for Crippled Children in Kirkbymoorside that I researched last year. The one in the novel even started life as a hospital for wounded soldiers from the first world war, and the descriptions of the buildings and the staff were very recognisable.  Will’s daughter is Billie and she is an artist in London. A good book to start the year.

Lynne Reid Banks- Uprooted- written as an older children’s book, but shelved in the library with adult books, I think because of its story line. This tells the true story of the author’s time in Canada as a refugee  from the second world war. The language was so clever, it really captured how children aged about nine did think and speak. Her style was just like the diary I wrote at that age. It was an easy and enjoyable read.

Juilan Barnes-The Sense of an Ending- A winner of the Man Booker prize, 2011, I am going to have to revisit my opinion of books which win prizes as being weird and unreadable. This is very good indeed. Man looking back over life, themes of history, self-delusion, whether people can or do shape their lives or just go along what is dealt to them. Just a little disappointed with the end , but only a little.

Nick Hornby- Funny Girl- I really enjoyed this book. It starts in the 1960s with a feisty Miss Blackpool , who gives up her title almost immediately for the bright lights of London. There she becomes a successful actress in a TV sitcom. But it is the early 60s and a time of change, how long can a staid comedy about a married couple continue? In places the book was laugh out loud funny, not certain that a much younger reader would find it as funny. Give it a go.

Mark Haddon- The Pier Falls- A collection of short stories. I wouldn’t have borrowed this one had I realised it wasn’t a novel. What to say? They are very imaginative and well constructed, but half of them go way off and are rather odd. The ones that aren’t odd are enjoyable, but in an unexpected way the odd ones are better. Like Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl. But it’s ages since I read Roald Dahl so I might be wrong. I reckon if you like short stories and the unexpected you will love these.

So that was my January reading. Have you read any good books this month. Here’s what I have lined up so far for February.

Should keep me out of mischief!

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