Reading has been taking up a lot of my time in the past few months. I have always been a book worm, losing entire days to a good book, or three less good ones. Reading has taken a back seat throughout my university years and the kids' early years. I kept telling myself that I didn't have time to read whole books, that it was an indulgence. That I had other, far more important things to do.
It's only been in the past couple of years that I have come to realise that reading is hugely important, both in understanding who I am and discovering who I want to be. Now I am wondering if I'll live long enough to read everything I want to.
The point of this ramble is that I have decided to start recording what I have read each month. Maybe you'll spot something interesting in there too, or you could just skip my self indulgent rambling. Either way is fine with me.
So this month I have read:
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The Anatomy of Wings by Karen FoxleeMy review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really connected with the author of this book. We're close in age, and she comes from the same outback town as my husband, the same one I lived in for a number of years. The novel is set in a fictitious mining town which bears striking similarities to that town. The story is narrated by a young girl, and covers the final year of her teenaged sister's life and the effect her sister's death had on the entire family.
Having lived in the town that was the inspiration for the fictitious, the sense of place had a strong influence on my enjoyment. Karen Foxlee has captured the strangeness and the beauty of these isolated towns, where the next decent sized city can be a full day's drive away. I was particularly struck by the description of her grandmother's back yard, where the lawn gives way to desert with no visible boundary - the thin and fragile veneer of civilisation masking the true wildness of nature.
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The Sevenwaters Trilogy, Book 1: Daughter of the Forest by Juliet MarillierMy review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
Sometimes I go searching for a book, but this one found me. It was the name of the wicked step mother, Oonagh, that pushed me into buying it. I could see that it was fantasy, which is not usually my genre, but the Celtic basis for the characters tempted the historian in me. This book is set in Ireland and England in the ninth century, and is based on a fairy tale that I have loved since childhood. I am not going to say which one, but you'll figure it out once you get into the book.
The novelisation of fairy tales has been an idea that appealed to me, and I find it even more interesting after reading this novel. I am not much of a series reader, but I will be searching out the next one in this series.
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Sula by Toni MorrisonMy review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow. This book, like all of Toni Morrison's has layer upon layer of meaning. Sula and Nel are childhood friends, who grow up in a poor, African American settlement. The novel deals with friendship and love between women, between friend and mothers and daughters. Be warned, though, that Toni Morrison does not do happy endings. Her prose are wonderful to read. This is a book I see myself coming back to time and time again. There is too much in it to absorb in a single reading.
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2 comments:
you should join Goodreads...I am addicted to it. ;)
I agree about Daughter of the Forest - it is a great book. And don't go searching for the rest of the series - they are packed up in a box in my spare room. I will send them down to you! Book is just as good as the first. Book 3 took a bit more for me to get into it, but still good.
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