Book Reviews

Now that I've finally some time on my hands, I'm getting to read again! I've read two books in the last two days and they didn't have anything to do with the Mitfords... although I have to admit that the next two on my list are the Nancy Mitford Omnibus (Love in a Cold Climate, Pursuit of Love and The Blessing) and a novel by Nicholas Mosley that, after reading the dust jacket, seems to be an amalgamation of his step-aunts' lives. Nicholas Mosley, of course, being the step-son of Diana Mitford/Mosley and old enough to be seeing the disintegration of his step-mother's family during the late 30's and 40's. Naturally.

Anyway, the first two books I've read have been ones I could not put down. On Monday, I was grading portfolios in the CRC when my eye, from across the room, caught a glimpse of "The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green. I just love his young adult books, especially "An Abundance of Katherine's". "Searching for Alaska " made me cry as I read it in a bookstore in the middle of Nottingham one summer afternoon. I had been wanting to read "The Fault In Our Stars" for quite some time so when I found it at the library, I checked it our immediately.

The story is about a girl named Hazel, a cancer survivor, who meets Augustus, also a cancer survivor. You spend probably half of the novel thinking that their relationships is one way but half way through, things switch in an unexpected twist. The thing of John Green's books is that they're hard to describe because you don't want to spoil anything so I don't want to say too much other than John Green is incredibly skilled in creating characters who aren't perfect, who have flaws and frustrations, but at the same time, you still feel for them and miss them when the book is over. There is so much realism, you hope things will happen in one way and then something different does that just shatters you. It was so difficult to put down and I read it in about four hours. Highly recommended.

Yesterday, I could not put down "Before I Go To Sleep" by SJ Watson. I caught my eye earlier in the semester and I stumbled back across it yesterday when i was wandering through the stacks upstairs. The main character, Christine, as an amnesiac, who loses most of her memories when she goes to sleep so each morning, she wakes up having no idea who she is, who the man next to her is (her husband Ben), nor anything about her past  really. The pace of "Before I Go To Sleep" is spot on to the point of infuriating. As each day goes by and she learned slightly more about herself through a journal she's been keeping, her life in fact gets more confusing and convoluted. You can tell from pretty much the 20th page that something is not quite right in the State of Denmark, to quote Shakespeare. You know that something is up yet Watson keeps you at the edge of your seat until it all comes to a head in the last ten pages. I read it in the afternoon and then that night finished it at 11:30 at night. Totally worth it.

I can't wait for reading this summer, especially books that I've wanted to read for quite some time. Thank you summer!

Currently reading and will be blogged about later: "The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides. "I've Got Your Number" by Sophie Kinslla. And the Jay McInerney Omnibus (The British like their Omnibi...) that I got at this teeny little bookshop down Walton Street because it was 2 books for 2 pounds). Plus Mosley and Mitford, of course.