Author Archives: al

The Girl in the Red Coat

Girl_in_the_red_coat

This was recommended to me by members of the book group. Not an ‘official’ read but an optional one as the author came to the library to do a talk.

It seemed like nothing happened for the first 100 pages but afterwards I became sucked into the plot, despite my disbelief that a child of 8 would know anything about people’s ‘energies’. Actually the whole spiritualism aspect annoyed me. The chapters written from the young girl’s point of view were very convincing though. The Gramps and Pastor characters were thoroughly menacing. The end felt rushed; it was a happy ending and I would have expected the author to make more of that. Anyway. Not sure I’d recommend this to anyone as there are better thrillers out there (e.g. The Girl on the Train) but it was a page-turner with some interesting ideas in it.

The Emergence of Judy Taylor

Emergence_of_Judy_Taylor

This was a reading group choice. A rather mixed bag of a book. All the characters apart from the protagonist are quite sketchily portrayed, to the point where I kept mixing people up or forgetting who they were. The thought that kept recurring to me throughout the book as Judy went through one bad experience after another was, why doesn’t she give her husband (more of) a chance? On the plus side there are many very astute observations about life as a woman in her mid-thirties that jumped out of the book and spoke to me. Also to the book’s credit is that fact that the front cover gives the impression that it is chick lit, but the book is far from light, bubbly reading.

Overall, I probably wouldn’t recommend this; life is too short to spend reading books that are just ok.

The Miniaturist

Miniaturist

My reading group leader Kay said that she would be interested to know what I thought about this book.

Nothing happens for thr first 152 pages so I almost gave up ir. However, the language is alluring and the mysteries kept me hooked. SPOILERS: I guessed right from the start that Johannnes’ husband was gay. I was disappointed that the mystery of the miniaturist was not resolved in the end.

I would recommend this book if you are interested in that period of history because it is very evocative, but not really otherwise.

The Girl on the Train

girl-on-the-train

This one is a real page-turner, on a par with Before I Go to Sleep in that it plays with your perceptions. Better than Gone Girl, which it has been compared to. I’d definitely recommend this one.

Jeeves & Wooster at The Rep

Jeeves & Wooster

Went to see this last night with Mark. It was very funny, clever and lots of fun. Loads of costume and set changes which all seemed to done by the actors themselves, absolutely seamlessly too. Buckets of talent.

Finding Ultra

Finding Ultra

This is an easy read and an inspiring story. I admire him for successfully conquering his alcoholism. The amount of pain this man has gone through is unbelievable. It makes running a marathon look like an easy task in comparison.

Something very interesting I picked up from the book is the Hadd Method of endurance training which, in a nutshell, says you need to run slower (about 70& of your heart rate) to get faster over time.

The only thing that jars is his ‘plant-powered’ diet. He takes all sorts of weird supplements and needs to eat vast quantities of vegan stuff like avocadoes in order to power himself through endurance events. Both of these things seems silly and unnecessary to me.

Good Evening Mrs Craven

Good Evening Mrs Craven. jpg

This was a book group choice. It is the first collection of short stories that I’ve enjoyed in its entirety. They give a fascinating insight into the situations that middle class English women found themselves in during the war. Each story is a little portrait of the protagonist. Although you don’t have long to get to know them in a short story, the characters are believable and their emotions are very vivid. There are a few lines that made me laugh out loud. Yes, I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I might.

The Road Home

The Road Home

Unusually for a reading group choice, I really loved this. It’s the story of an Eastern European coming to London to work. There are so many vivid characters and plenty of gripping drama. There are a number of very touching moments, a few shocking ones and humour is scattered here and there. A wonderful book.