Recent Reads - Books - 5 Books To Enjoy This Autumn/Winter By Genre.

Hi!!!

I love reading all year round as I'm sure many of you do. However, I know for lots of people it is an activity best enjoyed at home in autumn and winter, while sat under a blanket with a mug of tea. With that in mind, I've put together a little collection of books that I have read in the last 18 months or so and really enjoyed for you to consider reading. I've organised it into genres and picked one from each - I'm aware there are more genres but I wanted to keep these to things I've read recently so have chosen five. And excuse the fact that there are only three books in the photos - I couldn't locate some of them.

Award Winning General Fiction - Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey

Since Elizabeth Is Missing first came out, I'd been wanting to read it, and never got round to it. My lovely best friend Elf Girl included it in a blog post and when I mentioned it to her, she let me borrow and read her copy.

It is about an elderly woman called Maud, who suffers from dementia, and her efforts to find her friend Elizabeth, who she believes is missing and about her past, and in particular, her sister Sukey.

It is such a beautiful book, and is deserving of all the critical acclaim it has received.

Healey writes in a very descriptive and sometimes poetic way. The book is a character driven piece, which I loved.

It talks about dementia in a very eye-opening and honest way and it is emotional at times to witness through the first person narrative the struggles Maud experiences.

It's a must read.

General Fiction - Funny Girl by Nick Hornby

I read Funny Girl on holiday earlier this year and it was a very enjoyable book.
It follows a team working on a BBC sitcom in the 1960s and explores many themes and social issues within that, as well as having romantic and comical elements. It's very entertaining.
The book also features photographs at certain points which help you create a picture of the world the characters are living in as you go, which is really unique and something that I really liked about it.
 Its a fun read.
I have also reviewed this book in full, and you can  read that here.

Young Adult Fiction - Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns was a book that I never thought I would read, and yet it is one of my all time favourites and means a lot a to me.
It follows Q as he tries to find out where the girl he has loved silently for years has disappeared to, as he and his friends leave high school.
It is full of stunning language, it is incredibly meaningful and thought-provoking and yet so much fun.
There are so many elements to this book and so many things to take away and I love it.
I have reviewed it in full, and you can catch that here.

 

Sci-Fi/Fantasy - The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

My most recent post about books was about the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde and The Eyre Affair is the first in the series.
This is the book in which we first meet Thursday, and are introduced to life in the version of the 1980s that she lives in (which features dodos, time travel and literary detectives!)
It is a unique, dynamic, funny and imaginative book that I adore.

Crime - The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

The Cuckoo's Calling is the first in the Cormoran Strike series.
A supermodel called Lula falls from the balcony of her London apartment and to her death. Her brother asks Strike, a private detective, to look into it because he believes there was more to it than meets the eye.
It is a very good novel. I haven't read the others in the series yet, so can't comment on anything other than this one.
It was written by JK Rowling under a pseudonym, which she has decided to reveal, so if you like her writing then maybe this could be a good read for you.
I thought it was very detailed and descriptive, I liked the characters and thoroughly enjoyed the story. I will say that I wasn't completely keen on the way she writes dialogue sometimes (e.g writing out accents...) but other than that I loved it and have passed it on to several people.

That brings a end to this post, then. Thanks for reading.

What are your favourite books? Have you read any of these? Let me know by leaving a comment.

Speak to you all soon. Oh, and HAPPY BLOOMING NOVEMBER!!!

Have a terrific day!

GingerSnaps xxx

Recent Reads - Books - 'Funny Girl' Review.

Hi!!!

Good evening people! How are you all on this fine Wednesday? I hope your week is going well. Today I have a book review for you. I'm going to be sharing my thoughts on Nick Hornby's most recent novel, 'Funny Girl', which was first published in 2014.



'Funny Girl' follows Barbara, a young woman from Blackpool who is determined to move to London and make it big as the next Lucille Ball. She becomes Sophie Straw, under the advice of her agent, and soon lands the leading role in a BBC sitcom, that evolves to showcase her. The book follows the different relationships of the cast and crew of the sitcom and how they change and develop as time goes on.

 

I enjoyed reading 'Funny Girl'. There are some funny lines in it, the storyline is quite easy to follow and yet it is also interesting.

 Its full of details about television production and London in the 60s which was both pleasing and also somewhat unexpected. There are photographs distributed throughout the book of various things, usually specific details that the reader may be unfamiliar with, which not only helps put the images of certain people and places into your mind, but makes sure you are kept in the loop, which I appreciated.

 

One thing that did bother me slightly about the book was the way the characters were described. Particularly the female characters. They were beautiful, and there were two types of beautiful if I remember rightly - either Marilyn Monroe types or a-kind-of-but-not-quite Audrey Hepburn type, if you know what I mean? And that's fine, but it just bothered me a little bit that they weren't all a bit more different and dynamically described.

I did find that I could connect with the characters - they are well constructed and have detailed lives, so even the less than loveable ones (looking at you Clive!) are still characters you want to find out more about.

 

I'd recommend this to people who enjoy character led books, to those who are interested in the 1960s and television comedy and so on. There were some minor details that I wasn't too keen on, like the previously mentioned descriptions issue, but I was so keen to find out what happened, I made everyone stay in the holiday apartment for an hour or so longer than they had intended to give me time to finish it before we went out.

Overall, I'd give 'Funny Girl' a solid and well deserved four stars. It's entertaining and engaging and made me chuckle. Maybe check it out during your lunch break tomorrow.

That's a wrap on today's post. I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading it.

Have you read 'Funny Girl' or any other novels by Nick Hornby? Do you have any book recomendations for me? What about suggestions for future posts? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you ever so much for reading.

Have a delightful day!

Gingersnaps xxx