America Unchained – by Dave Gorman

8 01 2014

I have utterly loved joining in on the journey in this book.

The basic premise is that he buys an old second hand car, and tries to drive coast to coast across the USA without giving any money to chain stores. This means finding independent motels, restaurants, and petrol stations! I don’t think they even exist in the UK, and it turns out that in America they’re pretty few and far between as well!

The thing I love about Dave Gorman’s books is that they never end up being about what they’re meant to be about. His books always end up being about the people he meets on the way through his various adventures/challenges/whatever you want to call them (at least one or two fall under the heading “bets made whilst drunk”!). Plus the whole way through I had utterly no idea if he’d even manage to complete it (and I won’t spoil it for you) – I was definitely kept guessing.

One of the most fascinating sections for me, oddly, was when he visited a town with a high population of Mormons. He looked into it a bit and thoroughly explained (far beyond any level of knowledge I had previously) what they were about, what they believed, where Mormonism originates from – anything you’d ever want to know. I’ll be honest, he doesn’t portray them positively, but then from what I’ve now learnt, I do understand why! I won’t say any more as I don’t want to offend, but it’s definitely interesting, and I’m more educated than I was.

A highly recommended book. I started it in Uganda because the book I was reading at the time was too heavy to take with me, and then picked it up again last month when I finished the large book. Since then I barely put it down. It had me picking it up whenever I could, which I think is always a strong recommendation 🙂

america unchained


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A Lineage of Grace – Francine Rivers

30 12 2013

This book took a little longer than my last few books, five months to be precise, but I’ll put that down to it actually being 5 books in one!

Each book is a historical fictional telling of the life of a woman in the bible, so the book works through the lives of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary.

I found the Tamar and Rahab books fascinating, I’d never heard their stories before – you don’t tend to cover the stories of prostitutes in Sunday School! I thought this would also be the case for Bathsheba as it’s another one I’d never heard, and it was for the first part of the story, but then it just seemed to drag and drag and go on and on!

I really struggled with the Ruth story. I know this story inside out – I’m sure we did it at least once a year at Girls’ Brigade for a while – and so some of the things she added in I found particularly noticeable. For example, she paints Elimelech to be an awful man who is to blame for everything that ever went wrong in Naomi’s life…

Mary’s story was another good one – again, a woman whose story is oh so familiar, but just to read it from her side (or at least an interpretation of) was quite refreshing.

I look forward to trying the male equivalent, Sons of Encouragement, at some point!

Lineage of Grace


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One Hundred Names – by Cecelia Ahern

29 07 2013

I was partway through a slightly heavier book, but what with the heatwave that’s been going on the last few weeks, when my pre-order of Cecelia Ahern‘s latest book arrived, I decided it was time for a break and a slightly easier read!

I have read every novel this lady has written, she’s brilliant! Best known for P.S. I Love You, most of her books have some slightly mystical element, something not quite real, but this was one of the “realistic” ones, one that could technically happen.

I was a little nervous as I started it, the blurb was a little bland. Someone has a list of 100 names and has to work out what links them, but as the book moves on I got more and more involved with what’s going on. I read the entire book in a week and was so sad for it to end!

The only criticism I’d have is that I struggled to keep up with the number of characters. Each time a name came up for the first time in a chapter I had to work out who they were and remind myself, it wasn’t til I was about 90% of the way through I got to grips with them all!

But I’d still recommend it, a really lovely story 🙂

one hundred names


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One Red Paperclip – by Kyle Macdonald

30 06 2013

I’ve utterly loved this book, reflected in how quickly I’ve read it!

This is a book about a guy who is sick of pouring his money down the drain in rent, and has no steady income, and so, inspired by a game called “Bigger and Better” from his childhood, tries to trade up from a Red Paperclip, up to a house he can call his own.

I really doesn’t sound possible does it? The book works you through each trade and how it came about, chapter by chapter. It’s a real story, the website and blog he wrote at the time all still exist! There’s not too much of a spoiler in them either as the introduction to the book says pretty much exactly where it’s going to end up!

The guy behind it all is really quite inspiring. It’s not about trading up for something of higher monetary value, it’s about the journey, about the people, and the idea that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Definitely worth a read!

one red paperclip


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Just a Minute – Wess Stafford

20 06 2013

We were given copies of this book at work when it was published, but unfortunately at that point I wasn’t reading much at all and it just went on my bookshelf. But when I was looking for my next book to read, I put a couple of options I had out on twitter and had a reply from Mr Wess Stafford himself! After that I didn’t really have an excuse to read anything else 🙂

Wess has been the President of Compassion International for a long time and is just in the process of retiring and handing over to his successor. He’s a great man and brilliant speaker, his first book was called Too Small To Ignore and is his story of his childhood in an African village, and how we must invest in children.

Just a minute carries on his theme of caring for those children around us. It’s a whole load of short stories of different people’s “minutes” that changed and influenced their lives, something someone said or did that affected them. Most are uplifting positive stories which inspire us to do the same, but be warned, there’s a handful that show how damaging a minute can be – Hitler’s childhood actually gets a mention….

I found this book challenging and motivating to really think about how I treat and talk to the children I know and come across regularly, how is a passing comment I make going to potentially affect them long term?

A great read, and not a tricky one either, just pick a story or two in one sitting if necessary!

just a minute


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The Time Traveler’s Wife – by Audrey Niffenegger

20 05 2013

I’d seen the film of this a long time ago, but as books are so often better and I’d picked it up cheaply in one of those bargain bookshops years ago I thought I’d knock it off my list.

I found this a bit tricky to get into. The first chunk of the book time jumps around a lot, and it was pretty hard to follow. However, once the book reached a point where there was a bit more flow to time, as in you were at least watching one of the characters timelines chronologically, it got far easier to understand what was going on!

The book got a bit dodgy in places, but only really 3-4 times max, most of it was clean or I’d’ve given up far earlier, but really it was only a couple of scenes that I could get past and move on.

Once I got into it the narrative got stronger and stronger until, as so often happens, I couldn’t put it down! I knew what was coming having seen the film, but still it’s very well written!

If you can get past a bit of smut (what a great word!) and confusion, then worth a read. I don’t know if I’d read it a second time now I’ve done it the once, especially as the film is a cleaner version! But it’s a lovely story 🙂

the time travelers wife


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Fantastic Mr Fox – Roald Dahl

8 04 2013

Boggis and Bunce and Bean
One fat, one short, one lean.
These horrible crooks
So different in looks
were none the less equally mean.

While working out what to read that could compete with The Hunger Games, I thought I may as well do another Roald Dahl! It’s only 82 pages so I did it in about 2 sittings over Sunday afternoon, but still a great story! Yes it encourages stealing and drinking…. but only in a sense of finding something to eat when your whole family is starving – the book tells us that it’s ok to thieve in that case!

fantastic mr fox

A couple of years ago a film was made of this book. I don’t know if it’s just me but I really didn’t like it – the animation style made the film look like it was 20 years old! They also added a lot to the plot – although I suppose you have to for such a short book… here’s the trailer, if you’ve read the book, see what you think!


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Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins

7 04 2013

The final Hunger Games book! As a trilogy these books are phenomenal!

This book I’d say was the weakest of the three, but that does NOT make it bad! The speed of time jumps around a lot which gets a bit confusing. There’s a lot going on, but I just didn’t feel it flowed as well as the first couple, the plot was a little more juddered.

This doesn’t mean I still didn’t exclaim out loud at some bits, and yesterday afternoon as I finished it I think I read about 150 pages straight, it’s still one that’s hard to put down!

Again, don’t want to put any spoilers here so won’t discuss the whole outcome with the various elements – but do read it!!

mockingjay


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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

31 03 2013

This book definitely fell into the category of can’t-put-it-down; I read the first half in 2 days, and 3 days later had finished it!

Following the first book we’ve moved on a little while, and deal with the fall out of the events. There are so many twists and turns, I don’t want to write anything for fear of giving away the plot, but just to say, in places this book actually made me gasp audibly – very highly recommended!

catching fire


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The Hobbit – by J.R.R. Tolkien

23 03 2013

I picked up this book because it was half price by the door in WHSmiths, the film had just come out, and it felt like it was one of those books I “should” have read. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I thought it’d be very difficult and complicated and ye olde English, but I’d heard it was meant to be lighter than Lord of the Rings, and a bit more aimed at children, so thought it was worth a shot!

It got tough in places – got pretty confused towards the end with all the different groups of people, but I actually did enjoy it! There was humour and drama, and not too much of all the battly stuff, which I always struggle to follow! And of course it was written in relatively normal English – I forget this was written by a guy who was friends with C.S. Lewis who wrote Narnia which again is ‘normal’ language – I shouldn’t have been so apprehensive! Of course there’s all the crazy names of people, creatures and places, and way too many of them to keep track, but that normally happens!

Obviously the first film for this has just come out and there’s two more to go, but I couldn’t help but wonder given it’s format of lots of mini adventures within a greater adventure, whether it wouldn’t have worked really well serialised for TV? I guess budgets are lower for that sort of thing and you don’t get the epicness of the big screen, but it definitely felt like it would break down into chunks quite nicely!

I’ll leave you with my favourite quote, which comes early on in the book:

“He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of The Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul’s head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole, and in this way the battle was won, and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.”

the hobbit


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