July 2013
Welcome to Fife’s libraries reader reviews newsletter. All books reviewed in this newsletter are available from Fife’s libraries. To find out which libraries have these books, to make a request or share a review, visit fife.libraries@fife.org.uk/readingroom
What’s New? Emperor: Blood of Gods by Conn Iggulden Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult Books Reviewed this month
The Humans by Matt Haig
Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian Death in the Floating City by Tasha Alexander
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Stolen: Escape from Syria by Louise Monaghan The Technologists by Matthew Pearl Konstantin by Tom Bullough Why be Happy when you can be Normal? By Jeanette Winterson Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler All editions of Right Guid Read are available on www.fifedirect.org.uk
Reader Reviews Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian This story might be fiction, but it still deals with true events from the past. The author successfully ingrains in your mind the stark reality of war and the tragic accounts of the brave characters contained within. It tells of the Armenian genocide of 1915, a time of slaughter ‘The Great Catastrophe,’ a year you won’t forget once you’ve finished reading. This story is a testimony on how these characters, and people in general, can move forward in life and have another chance to make a future and have some normality, be happy, with this distant but close to heart tragedy in their past. Chris Bohjalian makes you feel as though you can reach out to touch the colours, the places and the people. I definitely recommend it. This title is also available in Large Print from Fife’s libraries
Death in the Floating City by Tasha Alexander This is the latest book in the Lady Emily series and one of the strongest. The setting for this one is Venice, where Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves have travelled to help Emily's "frenemy" Emma, whose father-in-law has been murdered and her husband is missing. Figuring out who killed Emma's father-in-law leads to the discovery of a mystery from Venice's past. The two stories run parallel throughout the novel and then the past meets the present at the end. One of the best features of any Lady Emily story is Alexander's research and attention to detail, which are particularly strong here. I've never been to Venice, but I feel as though I have and I learned a lot about the city's history. The ending points to intriguing ideas for the next instalment.
Stolen: Escape from Syria by Louise Monaghan The use of language in this book is rather repetitive and simplistic, but then I realised it was not about how it was written, but why! Louise Monaghan is a very brave woman. This story shows the love of a mother for her child. I found myself feeling so relieved that Louise and her daughter May were safe, that I found myself ‘Googling’ their story as I wanted to see how they had moved on from this difficult and challenging time. This story will stay with me for a long time. I am glad that Louise was able to share this part of her life as I am sure it will give many people hope. I found this a very moving read and one that I highly recommend
Fife Cultural Trust—Libraries, Arts, Museums & Archives
Reader Reviews The Technologists by Matthew Pearl Great historical fiction. I was captivated from the beginning, and couldn't do anything else until I finished. I will admit, as some negative reviews may point out, that the last 1/3 or so of the book slowed down considerably from the beginning. It was also a bit confusing. Nonetheless, this book does everything it set out to do. It provided a great, engrossing mystery with enough action to make sure that it is more than just a historical fiction. (There are some plot holes for pure mystery/thriller buffs, but if you look at it as historical fiction/mystery, I think you will quite enjoy it.) It introduced us to deep characters, bit by bit. It took us back to the beginning of MIT and the dawn of the "technology age." The prose was fairly well written, and I had no trouble with the 19th century speak. The culture of that time period is apparent through the book, as it should. You really get a great sense of being in late 1800s Boston. This title is also available in Large Print from Fife’s libraries
Konstantin by Tom Bullough It is 1867 and winter in Ryazan, a city on the banks of the Oka River in Central Russia. Konstantin is ten years old. His days are full of dreams of flight - to Moscow, even to the silent stars. But then, one day, he catches cold in the freezing woods near his home and his own world becomes silent. Left deaf by scarlet fever, his outlook is desperate. Only his fascination with a newly mechanised age and his astonishing visions of humanity's future seem to offer him any sort of hope. "Konstantin," Tom Bullough's brilliant, inspirational novel, tells the extraordinary story, based on a real-life character, of the first man to reveal how travel into space might be possible. It is a story of man, nature, and the limitless power of the imagination.
Why be Happy when you can be Normal? By Jeanette Winterson Jeanette Winterson’s memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is the non-fiction version of her earlier book, Oranges are not the only Fruit. The looming figure in both books is Winterson's adopted mother, who is always referred to in the book as Mrs. Winterson. Her parents were Pentecostal and her mother raised Jeanette to become a missionary. Mrs. Winterson was abusive, frequently locking Jeanette out of the house overnight, leaving her to freeze on the porch steps. She searches long and hard and eventually finds her birth mother, although her own reaction is much more complicated than she imagines. This memoir, with its poetic language, gives hope to people who feel that they are different from everyone else around them, that life is too difficult. This title is also available on CD and in Large Print from Fife’s libraries
Reader Reviews Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell Aren't we all Mrs. Bridge at times? Wanting to say and do the right things (whatever our perspective of "right" is) but often not knowing how. Mrs. Bridge has the best intentions which made my heart love and ache for her at the same time. Like Mrs. Bridge, how often do we want to learn something new, create something, be someone, but in spite of having all the time in the world, can't find the time to do it. I also hurt for Ruth and Douglas who weren't getting what they needed from their mother, and was saddened by Mrs. Bridge inability to break from traditions to even recognize their needs and know who they were. I was heartened by Ruth's comment later in life that perhaps it wasn't her mother's fault. I believe that in spite of the emotional distance between her and her mother, eventually she would be able to love her mother for what she was able to give and forgive her for what she lacked.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Twisty like a pretzel, dark like unadulterated chocolate, and as compelling as a twisted car wreck, this thriller delivers! On their fifth anniversary, Nick and Amy's marriage implodes when Amy goes missing and Nick is hardly as distraught as he ought to be. Too much plot summary would detract from the pleasure of reading the book for yourself. Suffice it to say, this is one psychological mind bender accompanied by witty, incisive, laser beam writing; if you like that type of thriller, this one is a bomb. Gillian Flynn has launched herself into the big league. I loved it, though it might not be for everybody! This title is also available in Large Print from Fife’s libraries
The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler I loved the concept of this book: a deceased wife returning to visit with her husband. The main character, Aaron, doesn't seem to always know what he is doing or why. It's a well written and witty story. The characters are well drawn and I liked the slower pace of the writing. The only thing that let it down a tiny bit was the slightly too predictable outcome. The lonely widower marries the woman who was right in front of him all along. I think what irritated me was how different she was from his first wife, Dorothy. This second wife was oh so domesticate and willing to take care of him. But, in the end, this was the great insight he got from his wife's visitations: that he could accept being cared for and I found that very sweet. This book is also available on CD from Fife’s libraries
New Titles Emperor: Blood of Gods by Conn Iggulden The fifth and final instalment of the Emperor series. Julius Caesar has been assassinated. A nation is in mourning. Revenge will be bloody. Rome’s great hero Julius Caesar has been brutally murdered by his most trusted allies. While these self-appointed Liberatores seek refuge in the senate, they have underestimated one man: Caesar’s adopted son Octavian, a man whose name will echo through history as Augustus Caesar. Uniting with his great rival Mark Antony, Octavian will stop at nothing to seek retribution from the traitors and avenge his father’s death. His greatest hatred is reserved for Brutus, Caesar’s childhood friend and greatest ally, now leader of the conspirators.
Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella Lottie just knows that her boyfriend is going to propose during lunch at one of London’s fanciest restaurants. But when his big question involves a trip abroad, not a trip down the aisle, she’s completely crushed. So when Ben, an old flame, calls her out of the blue and reminds Lottie of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. No formal dates—just a quick march to the altar and a honeymoon on Ikonos, the sun-drenched Greek island where they first met years ago.
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult Sage Singer befriends an old man who's particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone's favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. They strike up a friendship at the bakery where Sage works. One day he asks Sage for a favor: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses…and then he confesses his darkest secret - he deserves to die, because he was a Nazi SS guard. Complicating the matter? Sage's grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. What do you do when evil lives next door? Can someone who's committed a truly heinous act ever atone for it with subsequent good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren't the party who was wronged? And most of all if Sage even considers his request - is it murder, or justice? This title is also available on CD from Fife’s libraries
The Humans by Mark Haig The narrator of this tale is no ordinary human—in fact, he’s not human at all. Before he was sent away from the distant planet he calls home, precision and perfection governed his life. He lived in a utopian society where mathematics transformed a people, creating limitless knowledge and immortality. But all of this is suddenly threatened when an earthly being opens the doorway to the same technology that the alien planet possesses. Cambridge University professor Andrew Martin cracks the Reimann Hypothesis and unknowingly puts himself and his family in grave danger when the narrator is sent to Earth to erase all evidence of the solution and kill anyone who has seen the proof. The only catch: the alien has no idea what he’s up against. This title is also available in Large Print from Fife’s libraries