Jen's Book Blog

TBR Pile #10 – Thorn

Medium – Book

About the Book – Princess Alyrra is promised to be married to Prince Kestrin, the heir of the throne of a neighbouring kingdom. Abused and terrorised by her family, she is not particularly keen on the marriage, but at the same time, can’t wait to get away from her mother and brother. On her way to her new life, she is enchanted by a Sorceress and switches bodies with her companion, the traitor, Valka. Valka, who now looks like the Princess Alyrra, sends our heroine to the stables to be the new goose girl. However, this type of life is exactly the one that Alyrra (now nicknamed Thorn) always wanted and she embraces her new life of hard work and friendship. Soon, however, she realises that she can’t just leave Kestrin and the kingdom to the mercies of the sorceress and Valka.

My thoughts – This was a book I received through the Book Box Club, a young adult book subscription box which includes a book (usually signed!) alongside some bookish goodies. I plan to ‘unbox’ my next subscription box on here! The books from the Book Box Club are usually really high quality and Thorn was no exception. I really enjoyed the character of Thorn, who was strong and independent without having magical powers or fighting skills. She seemed like a really normal person, which was great. The other characters, particularly her adopted family in the stables where she goes to work and the thief Red Hawk, are sympathetic and kind, and well developed despite being very much supporting characters.

I also liked how the author included contemporary issues within the story about abuse, race and the issue of consent/rape, without moving to more ‘adult’ content. There are a surprising number of deaths of quite ‘main’ characters, but the deaths always feel like they further the plot rather than just being there for effect. The only reason I have gone for four stars rather than five stars here is because the ending of the book seemed a little rushed, and I am still not quite sure how the actions that took part in one part of the ending led to the actions in the other part. But what I am pleased about it that the author left a big opening for a sequel, which I will be looking out for with interest!

TBR Pile #9 – The Secret Political Adviser

Medium – Book

About the Book – Michael Spicer (‘M’) is the Secret Political Adviser – one of the head honchos at Axworthy, a never-spoken-of group who advise world leaders through the use of in-ear headphones when they are giving their most famous speeches. Working both in the UK and US, the group work with the world’s most volatile politicians. M lets us know his innermost thoughts on the key characters – which often aren’t particularly flattering. From Trump, who has turned the White House into ‘an Orwellian soft play centre’ to Boris Johnson, who is referred to as ‘a supermarket trolley of perished lettuce’. The book adds to Spicer’s fantastic YouTube channel, which I’ve linked below, and which was recently shamelessly copied by the Daily Show in the US.

My Thoughts – I really enjoy Michael Spicer’s YouTube channel, so I was super excited when I saw he had a book, and broke my resolution for the last part of this year, which was not to buy anymore books… but I am glad I did. The book is a series of letters, diary entries, memos, emails and texts, taking us through the years 2016-2020 which have been ‘interesting’ to say the least! The book takes us from the resignation of David Cameron (‘Cambo’) to July this year and the Coronavirus lockdown, via Trump, Theresa May, Michael Gove, Prince Andrew, and all the other people who have contributed unfavourably to the political scene of the last four years.

Spicer is a master of the beautifully crafted insult. One of my favourites is the one he uses for Dominic Cummings – ‘about as tough as a tortoise with food poisoning’. His comments on the whole Barnard Castle debacle are great and sum up what I think a lot of the world was thinking at that point. I also like the complete disbelief that the pronouncements and actions of our world leaders are met with – even from someone who is supposed to be ‘in control’ of their messaging and how they conduct themselves. Overall, an excellent book. Although I’m hoping the next five years will be less eventful and won’t require this kind of book… who am I kidding?

Please do watch Michael Spicer’s YouTube channel – it’s amazing!

TBR Pile #8 – The Road to Little Dribbling

Medium – Book

About the Book – The Road to Little Dribbling picks up twenty years or so after the writing of ‘Notes from a Small Island’. In it, Bill Bryson makes the journey from South of the British Isles to the North, stopping at a number of different cities and landmarks on the way. He describes the book as a ‘love letter’ to the UK, looking at how it has changed and is changing in the twenty-first century, through the eyes of a man born in the USA. He tells stories of his times and travels through the UK as well as describing the people he meets and his views on the changes in society.

My Thoughts – This is the third time I’ve picked up The Road to Little Dribbling and tried to read it. The first time, I got four chapters in, the second time six chapters in, and this time, eight chapters in – you think I would have learned my lesson! The challenge I am setting myself with my TBR pile is that if I get past page 20, then I have to keep going until at least the half way point before giving up – and this is what I have done with the book this time! I have read and thoroughly enjoyed Notes from a Small Island – I found it refreshing and interesting, as Bryson travelled through different parts of the UK and discovered interesting information and discussed his thoughts about it. However, this book – well, I found it a bit ‘gammon-y’.

I have no doubt that Bryson likes the UK – he has made it his home and obviously enjoys his time here. His descriptions of the scenery and of London are lovely and he obviously has a great love for the natural world and the countryside, which I admire and agree with. However, I found other bits of the book just an extended moan. He moans about shops, the middle class, holidaymakers, traffic, shopkeepers, waiters and waitresses, dog walkers, Tesco and McDonald’s. Now, I might not be a fan of some of those things but the near-constant negativity left me cold. I suspect that I am not the target demographic for this book, which is a shame as I’ve really enjoyed some of Bryson’s other work.

TBR Pile Book #7 – The House with Chicken Legs

Medium – Book

About this Book – Marinka dreams of living an ordinary life, where she can make friends and her house stays in one place. However, she lives in a house with chicken legs, and the job of this house is to guide the dead. Marinka’s grandmother is Baba Yaga. She helps dead souls pass from the land of the living to the land of the dead, and she believes that Marinka’s destiny is to be a Guardian too. However, Marinka doesn’t want this – she wants a normal life, with friends among the living, a different job and other interests. She makes a plan to break away from her life of guiding – however, the house may just have other ideas…

My thoughts – I really enjoy these books by Sophie Anderson – both this one and the previous one, The Girl who Speaks Bear, which was part of the previous reading challenge I did. She writes beautifully, incorporating some lovely Russian fairy tales and folk tales with a new twist. You can never quite work out the time frame they are happening in, giving them a mystical, enigmatic quality. The characters are interesting, with lots of development and a female lead who does lots of growing by the end of the book.

I found the end of this book hopeful, but sad, which is why I have chosen to only give this book 4 stars rather than 5. I also liked the general storyline of the previous book more than this one, but that is more my personal preference than anything else. I know it’s nothing to do with the contents of the book, but can we all, just for a moment, revel in the beauty of the cover illustration? It’s lovely, and I also really enjoyed the illustrations inside. At the moment I am really busy with work – it’s so lovely to read books which are interesting, quite light reading and have such lovely pictures!

TBR Pile Book #6 – The Pure Heart

Medium – Book

About the Book – Iseabail is a young woman living on a Scottish island, on the edge of the Outer Hebrides. She is the only person on the island who can read and write and is engaged to be married to the son of the chieftain. One day, a letter and a messenger arrive on the island with a curious demand. A wealthy merchant is looking for a young girl from the island to act as companion to his daughter for one year. Reluctantly, Iseabail agrees to go to the house of the merchant, but her seven-year-old charge is very unsettling, and Iseabail soon realises that not everything in the house is as it should be.

My thoughts – This book was a freebie (or bonus book) from a subscription book box that I get on a monthly basis. The books in the box are all YA fiction, which is a genre that I really enjoy, and the box is a complete treat for me – next time I get one, I’ll blog about it on here! I found this book a bit of a let down, though, as opposed to the usually excellent books I get from the boxes. I enjoyed the settings of first the Scottish island and then the borderlands, although I did think the author could have included more of the heritage and land features of Scotland. The book was quite dark and chilling, although I found the structure of the story a bit odd – it started very slowly and then increased in momentum, with a massive information ‘dump’ in the last 50 or so pages. There is (SPOILERS) a massive plot twist at the end, which leaves open the chance for a sequel, but which also leaves the ending massively frustrating.

The main character is a bit of a wet slap really. She’s super into science, reason and logic, and puts herself into real danger in the name of ‘curiosity’. Her downfall at the end of the book is mostly due to her unimaginativeness and inability to understand that she might be in trouble and needs to leave the house. The fact that the danger can be seen by the reader and not by the main character just means that it is really annoying. The other characters are distinctly unlikeable pretty much throughout the book – the tempestuous Eidlith (Iseabail’s sister), her protective and grumpy mother, the spoilt Maria and the weird and creepy merchant. The only characters I really have time for are Artair, Iseabail’s fiancee, who appears for all of ten pages but seems a fairly clever and decent man, and William, who doesn’t speak but seems fairly switched on (there is zero character growth for either of them!)

Originally, I was going to give this book 1 star, but I was impressed by the twist at the end enough to give it an extra star – even if it did really irritate me!

TBR Pile Book #5 – Circe

Medium – Book

About the Book – Circe, the immortal daughter of Helios (the Greek God of the Sun), is a strange child, unloved by her parents and the rest of her family. Residing in her father’s halls, she sees many things that she dislikes and is teased, taunted and generally mistreated. She thinks of herself as powerless, until she casts a series of spells to turn a mortal into an immortal, and then turn her rival nymph into a raging monster. Punished by Zeus, she is sent into exile to the island of Aiaia. Living there through all the years of the earth, she meets heroes, villains and gods, and finds on the island a kind of peace and fulfilment through her independence that she never expected to find.

My thoughts – I love anything involving Greek mythology, so this book was going to always be a popular read for me, but I didn’t expect to enjoy it quite as much as I did. The book spans thousands of years, showing how Circe becomes integral to many stories – particularly those involving the heroes Jason and Odysseus. One thing I loved about the book is that it is never tempted to follow the male heroes on their travels – Circe hears about their adventures through her own wiles and relationships, rather than the action of the book following the men, which is refreshing.

The story also does a fantastic job at rehabilitating the reputation of the ‘witch’, Circe. In the story, she is see acting for the good of those around her, but also developing her skills to protect herself from the ravages of the men who would come and take advantage of her. She generally acts in a kind way, but is not perfect, lending a sense of realism to the story – Circe seems very much like a normal woman, rather than a goddess – something that she actually wishes she was through the story. I also liked the ways in which Circe is seen to grow through the story, and the very apt revenges she takes on the people who cross her. I would thoroughly recommend and will be coming back to again!

TBR Pile Book #4 – Parsnips, Buttered

Medium – Book

About the Book – The comedian Joe Lycett highlights his tips, tricks and hacks for surviving in modern Britain. Whether describing how to get out of a parking ticket fine, dupe scammers, beat ISIS or just really wind people up, Lycett demonstrates letters, emails and messages that he has sent to a range of people when he has felt screwed over and annoyed by modern life.

My thoughts – Joe Lycett is one of my favourite comedians operating at the moment. I find him utterly hilarious and really enjoy his Channel 4 TV programme, where he is basically a funnier and more charismatic trading standards. He is consistently funny and just a little silly, perfect for when you want a quick, funny and speedy read – which is just what this book is. I got through it in around 12 hours (with breaks for work and meals) and really enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed the chapter where he posed as a member of ISIS on Grindr, and the one where he hunted down the Facebook scammer with a picture of a fox…

The only reason I marked this book down by one star was because a lot of the things that were included in the book were familiar because of listening to Joe’s stand up. That’s not necessarily a problem as his stand up is extremely enjoyable, but I would have enjoyed some extra bits that I haven’t heard or read before. But overall, a truly enjoyable read which had me laughing out loud at many points during the day. I particularly enjoyed Joe’s own illustrations, which is definitely a way to get out of paying an illustrator…

TBR Pile Book #3 – Innocence of Father Brown

Medium – Book

About the Book – The first in the series of Father Brown short stories, written by G.K. Chesterton. The book introduces the character of Father Brown, the catholic priest with the propensity for solving crimes, alongside his enemy-but-then-friend, the criminal Hercule Flambeau. The book gives 12 short stories, all showing off Father Brown’s good character and amazing detective skills to the best of their ability. Unlike the recent TV series based on the books, the recurring characters are Father Brown and Flambeau, who later in the book ‘team up’ to solve mysteries and catch criminals.

My Thoughts – I am a massive fan of the recent TV series based on the Father Brown books, so was looking forward to reading this. Unfortunately, this is one of those rare occasions where I think the TV series might be better than the book! This is very much a book of its time – Father Brown seems almost just a plot point, rather than a character in his own right. He is not expanded upon and is not explored in any great detail – I would argue that this happens to Flambeau, but not to him. It seems to be a fairly common convention in ‘older’ detective fiction that the life and character of the detective are not explored in great detail – instead, the detective is generalised as ‘a good man’.

I also found that some of the stories dragged a little – the first two were quite gripping, but I found that I was skipping the first few pages which ‘set the scene’ to the point in the story where the action was starting to happen and this didn’t diminish my understanding of the story at all! The murders all seemed to be quite complicated and always seemed to follow a set formula – the murder is committed, Father Brown (with or without Flambeau) arrives, the wrong person is suspected/caught for the murder, after Father Brown’s intervention, the right person is caught. And… repeat. Not a book I would go back to again – but I will watch the TV show!

TBR Pile Book #2 – Rebel Women

Medium – Book

About the Book – Rosalind Miles traces the history of female rebellion from the days of the French Revolution to the modern day. She uses case studies of female rebellions in dress, science, education, health and wellbeing, and sets a (wo)manifesto of what women need to be truly equal in today’s society, where-ever you live in the world. She discusses histories of women throughout the world (not, as seen in many books, just the Western world) and shows how far women’s equality has come, and how far it has still to go.

My Feelings – I really enjoyed this book, and the fact that it considered women’s equality from the French Revolution to the modern age. Not that I don’t think there were strong women before this point, but because I think that period of revolution from the end of the 1700s was the beginning of a movement to give women more of an equal status. The women covered in the book are wide-ranging, from authors to scientists to activists to actors, and many other types of women too. The women covered in this book come from all over the world, so this is not just a ‘Western’ book, but instead looks at a wide range of cultures and their attitudes to women.

I found one of the most interesting chapters in the book to be the one about women’s control over their own body. Whilst abortion is briefly discussed (especially in terms of the legalisation of it in Northern Ireland), the author discusses in more depth the availability of contraception, the rights of women to be able to make choices over their healthcare, FGM, Domestic Abuse and victim shaming. I enjoyed the style of the author’s writing – all of the aspects discussed in the book are supremely important in allowing women equality, but she writes in a very dry, witty and readable way. The book was thoroughly enjoyable and only an increase in my workload meant it wasn’t finished earlier!

TBR (To be Read) Pile Book #1 – Love in a Cold Climate

Medium – Audiobook

About the Book – Fanny Logan, a 19-year-old at the beginning of the book, is the narrator of Nancy Mitford’s sequel to ‘The Pursuit of Love’. Fanny is cousin to ‘The Radletts’ – the semi-autobiographical reimagining of Mitford’s own slightly eccentric family. In this book, we encounter Polly Hampton, the only daughter of Lord and Lady Montdore. She is absolutely beautiful but doesn’t seem to be able to attract gentlemen suitors, much to the dismay of her mother. However, soon enough it becomes clear that Polly has been harbouring feelings for a man for a good deal of her life – but that man is her recently-widowed uncle, Boy Dugdale.

My Feelings: This book really reminded me of PG Wodehouse’s writings, except with more sex and homosexuality – not necessarily depicted much in contemporary writings about the 1920s. The narrative style is extremely sardonic, with nothing taken particularly seriously, even the death of a child and whisperings of Boy Dugdale liking very young girls. Which is gross. But I think the books are probably a fairly accurate rendering of what life was really like in the 1920s, rather than the slightly rose-tinted view put forward by Wodehouse. The book is certainly one ‘of its time’ but ignoring the racist and sexist overtones, parts of the book are funny.

I think the main reason I rated this book so highly is because of the characterisation, especially in the characters of Fanny and Cedric. Fanny, our main narrator, is shown as a tolerant, caring, compassionate narrator, perhaps easily swayed by others, but generally a person with her heart in the right place and she engages the reader quite sympathetically. Cedric is just wonderful – the homosexual (and proud of it!) heir to Polly’s parents, he is extravagant, joyful and extremely funny. By the end of the book, he has steered quite a lot of the action in his favour, and you can’t help but admire his scheming, although it seems to have been done to guarantee his own happiness as well as the other people around him.