Animal Farm – by George Orwell

8 10 2014

I never realised how short some of these ‘classics’ are! I am more than willing to work through a load of them at that length! Actually finished this a couple of days ago, but life’s been a bit too hectic to sit down and write it up…

This book actually made me really angry. It just represents a totally unjust society, where the leaders tell the people things are brilliant and that they’re all equal, when really, it couldn’t be more uneven. As the cover of the book says: “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”

Sadly it really reminded me of the state of some countries in our world in this present day, I think that’s where my anger really came from. This isn’t just fiction, it’s a reality for so many.

The story is well told though, and the animal parts make it light enough that you don’t completely want to cry, but it just makes some excellent points while it does that.

animal farm


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An Abundance of Katherines – by John Green

29 09 2014

Colin is 18 years old, and has just been dumped by Katherine IXX (yes that’s right, his 19th girlfriend called Katherine). There’s definitely a couple of parallels between this and The Rosie Project which I read recently – the lead character is a remarkably intelligent man, who struggles a little socially, and tries to find a way to formulate relationships. In the Rosie Project, this was by matching a vast amount of criteria. In this book, Colin is trying to find a formula to predict whether a relationship between two people would work, how long it would last, and who would be the dumper and who the dumpee.

Colin struggles with the fact that while he was a child prodigy, he hasn’t turned into a genius. He wants to be someone who matters. This leads to a lovely quote somewhere in the book: “And so we all matter – maybe less than a lot, but always more than none.”

The book actually follows Colin and his friend Hassan (who has his own issues to deal with) on a summer road trip to try and cheer Colin up, ending up in some random little town and that’s where the story unfolds.

Fairly light hearted mostly, a little confusing until I got used to the flashback stories of previous Katherines through the book, but some great stuff, including a highly mathematical appendix (starting from uber basic and building up) by an actual professor – lovely!

an abundance of katherines


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Of Mice and Men – by John Steinbeck

12 09 2014

The final book in my “I need to finally read all the stuff I was meant to read at school but didn’t!” list.

I never realised just how short this book is! Only 120 pages – I could probably have done this in one sitting if I’d had a quieter week. And just as when I read To Kill A Mockingbird, it was much better than I remember at school. Again supporting my argument that books were meant to be read and enjoyed, not analysed to within an inch of their life.

The story is based around George and Lennie, two men who travel together and find ranches to work on. George is a smart guy, Lennie is something of a gentle giant, and really quite simple. He is adorable, doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, and has a love for cuddly small animals – which leads to trouble when he doesn’t realise his own strength.

It’s not the happiest of reads, but there’s a reason this book has stood the test of time and is still well read today. Like most books, it’s about getting to know the characters and wanting to know more about them.

of mice and men


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The Rosie Project – by Graeme Simsion

29 08 2014

Firstly, this is the first book review I’ve not managed to find the correct book cover for online, and it annoys me more than it should! Mine is the same as below but turquoise!

Anyway, enough of that, from the back of this book I gathered it was about a guy who decided to find the perfect woman he’d start matching them up to criteria and find the one who literally ticked all the boxes – then met Rosie who didn’t tick all the boxes, “and yet…”

However, it’s so much more than that. From the outset it’s clear that this guy is massively socially awkward, somewhere on “the spectrum” (well we all are, but this guy further along than most), and his whole life is rigidly set by schedules, criteria, etc, and so he tries this stance with women too. The book is narrated by this character, so it’s great to see how he thinks – not dissimilarly to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

There’s a fairly major sub plot to this book too, and much as it’s often perceived as a bad thing, I kind of saw where it was going from pretty early on. But as there were some major curveballs thrown in which massively made me doubt myself, it definitely kept me going, and I really was hooked, I read this in less than a week I think?! Brilliant.

the rosie project


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Call the Midwife – by Jennifer Worth

21 08 2014

Having watched one series of Call the Midwife I picked up the book somewhere and goodness I loved it! It is definitely a little more graphic and descriptive than the TV show…

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it all, the book is autobiographical, and the TV series is based on it. After discovering that there is very little mention of midwifery in literature, Jennifer Worth took up the challenge to correct this. She was a midwife in 1950s East London, amidst an awful lot of poverty.

This book is an education. I learnt about biology (the obvious), PSHE (again, fairly obvious), but probably above all, history.

I’d heard bits and pieces about like in 1950s London, but never in this much detail, particularly the poverty. The idea that there were high rises with about 10 members of a family in each 2 room home and that was normal, is insane. It may sound odd, but even though I’m used to hearing stories of families living like this in the developing world, I never realised it was that bad in the UK that recently. Being a book that features a lot of pregnancies, and a lot of poverty, there was also a fair amount of coverage of the brothels and life in them – again pretty eye opening.
I definitely feel better educated about life in 50s London now.

The other thing that really interested me in the book was right at the end. All through the book Jenny is clear that while she is a midwife based in a convent, she is probably agnostic. She respects the nuns, but the faith thing isn’t for her. Over the book, she softens a little, and then, right at the end after talking with Sister Monica Joan and pondering, more, the last line reads “That evening, I started to read the gospels.”

I was gutted it finished there, I want to know more! The next book is more about the workhouses as this was touched on in the first book, so I don’t know if it’ll pick up on that theme again or not, I’ll have to find out when I get round to it!

The book is essentially a book of anecdotes, and really was fascinating. I’d definitely recommend it, I really feel I learnt a lot in a lot of different areas!

call the midwife


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Heaven is for Real – by Todd Burpo

3 08 2014

Earlier this year we were talking about resurrection/heaven in my housegroup, and this book came up as some had read it. The film also came out earlier this year.

Safe to say, some people really hate this book. I’m not about to dive into a theological debate, feel free to read the book for yourself.

Basically it’s another testimony book. A family whose son got very ill, and while on the operating table, experienced some time in heaven. As he starts to mention things he saw, he shares things that at his tender age of 3, he could only know from experience, definitely not things he’d’ve been taught in Sunday school, and he talks of people he met, who died years before he was born.

But the biggest thing for me in this book was the dads attitude. The book is written by the father, who himself is a church pastor. Every single time his son recounts something from that trip, he immediately goes to his bible and checks that it tallies and corresponds, and most importantly does not contradict what he finds there.

Of course the cynics claim it’s all made up, no story is without it’s disagreers, but I definitely found it an encouraging read, not just for the glimpse of what heaven might be like, but the things the family learnt as they went through that awful time too.

Read it and see what you think 🙂

heaven is for real


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Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy – by Helen Fielding

29 07 2014

I was quite nervous about this book. The first two were excellent, but there are some major changes in Bridget’s life between books 2 and 3. We know that at the end of book 2 she and Mark Darcy were happy, settled, and engaged. Book 3 fast forwards several years…

**SPOILER ALERT**

Ok, technically it’s not a spoiler as it’s how the book opens, but some people would still be upset to find out, so I’ve put that there in case.

The book opens with Bridget, in her early 50s, with two children, Billy in year 3, and Mabel in year R. Mark Darcy died 4 years ago.

So instead of singleton, hopelessly-alone-forever Bridget, we have widowed single mum Bridget. I was worried how this would ever work, how she could still be the Bridget we know and love.

But fear not, she totally is 🙂

We travel with Bridget as she discovers twitter, works to get a screenplay she’s written made into a film, and deals with her friends telling her it’s time to move on and sleep with someone else, and see where that takes things.

I won’t say any more as there’s so much that’s just better enjoyed as you read, but Bridget is still the Bridget we know and love, still rather socially awkward if she’s not drunk with her friends, but totally wonderful.

There are obviously a few more sad moments in this book than the last two as she still deals with the loss of her husband, and there’s a beautiful bedtime story that he wrote for Billy and Mabel, but the book is full of humour too. Do try it!

bridget jones - mad about the boy


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Notes from a Small Island – by Bill Bryson

22 07 2014

From the outset this book had me cracking up audibly.

Bryson is an American writer and journalist, but lived over here for several years. This is written just before he and his wife take his family back to America so that his children can experience life there too, and so he takes one final lap of the UK using public transport. He visits both places he’s been to before and loved, and places he’s heard of and wanted to see before he leaves.

He started in the south, so I loved reading about places I know, and then gradually works northwards. He often goes off on tangents, either old anecdotes, or just thinks he loves, or finds peculiar (or both) about the British. These were probably the bits that made me laugh the most!

I really enjoyed the book, although the last few chapters did get a bit repetitive. He’d arrive in a new city by train, book into a hotel/guesthouse, try and find somewhere for dinner, and comment that all British high streets have the same shops, and some are ruining the original buildings with modern exteriors. But for the most of the book there was so much interest and humour I really did like it!

the complete notes

I’m going to take a break and read something else before reading the Big Country half of the book – but I’ll come back with that soon enough!


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Billy and Me – by Giovanna Fletcher

7 07 2014

I should admit the main reason I bought this book was because it was written by the wife of Tom from McFly, but I’d also had a friend read and like it, and it’s chick lit, so thought it was definitely worth a try.

The book focuses around a girl who lives in a small village, working in a tea shop, and falls for a young man who happens to be a massive teen movie star (which she doesn’t realise) who is filming locally, and what happens when she’s thrown massively into the limelight.

I enjoyed the read, it was an easy holiday book, though it got a little sickly sweet in places and though it has it’s ups and downs, it’s all a bit too easy!

billy and me


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The Vow – by Kim & Krickett Carpenter

1 07 2014

This book was not at all what I expected.

I watched the film when it came out at the cinema. A story of a couple who have an accident and the woman loses all memory of her husband and he has to win her over again.

The key word in that trailer is “inspired by”, not “based on” true events. Technically that outline also covers the story in the book, except the details are very different, and for one key point: The book is a testimony. The book is the story of how God was central to their relationship, their marriage, and how they both had to lean on Him to get through it all. It is an autobiography and the focus is God. He doesn’t even get a look in on the film!

The book is also very different in the way they meet, how the relationship develops, the wedding, the relationship between the husband and her parents – it may as well be a different story but for the very basic outline.

I love this book because it shows how through the most truly awful circumstances, God worked through it, and brought them to a much better place than they could have imagined.

At the time apparently their story got a lot of press coverage, I don’t remember this, but they were so passionate to share what God had done each time they shared their story. It’s inspirational!

the vow


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