What Katie Read

Hello fellow readers! I am sorry to disappoint any faithful followers, but I have decided to stop posting reviews on this blog. The settings within the site have changed so it no longer sends email alerts of new posts to my subscribers. However, in case anyone is actually checking the blog and would like reading suggestions, I will add new books to the list below every so often. Books I have enjoyed recently: Saving Missy  by Beth Morrey Three Things About Elsie  by Joanna Cannon Girl A  by Abigail Dean The Bedlam Stacks  by Natasha Pulley Akin  by Emma Donoghue 10 minutes 38 seconds in this strange world  by Elif Shafak The Devil and the Dark Water  by Stuart Turton True Story  by Kate Reed Petty Weather  by Jenny Offill Sweet Sweet Revenge Ltd  by Jonas Jonasson Yours Cheerfully  by A J Pearce The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot  by Marianne Cronin

  If, like me, you are a fan of the Deutschland 83-86-89 TV series, then this book is for you. Half set in East Berlin in 1987-9 and half in 2010, it follows the story of Ella and her search for the truth. In 1987 Ella is living with her family in an apartment near the wall. Her parents are art historian academics, who are becoming more and more uncomfortable with and restricted by the state’s viewpoint over worthwhile art and the freedom of artistic expression, or lack thereof. Whereas Ella’s grandmother, who lives downstairs, and of whom Ella is very fond, is a card-carrying GDR supporter. To her grandmother’s dismay, Ella’s parents hatch a plan to escape to the west. Flash-forward to Berlin in 2010 where we meet Aaron, an English PhD student interning at the Stasi archive. The shredded Stasi files are being painstakingly reconstructed, and victims of persecution are able to access their surveillance documents, discover traitorous friends and even read interrogation transcri...

  It has already been a year since I started this book blog – time flies when you’re immersed in other worlds and lives! Whilst this blog doesn’t feature all the books I have read and enjoyed over the past year, in fact it is a fraction of the number, these are my favourites and ones I would recommend the most. And looking back through the posts, I am already planning to re-read several! I realise I haven’t posted any reviews recently, because I have been hungrily devouring books one after the other and not pausing to write reviews. Shocking behaviour, I know! I will try to be better and share my reading enjoyment again. Due to my lack of posts, this one is a bumper edition, with not one, not two, but four reviews! I will keep them brief. I plan to resume my one book review per post tradition after this.   Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce This is Joyce’s fifth novel, and I thoroughly recommend all her others. I was looking forward to reading this, being a fan of h...

Given the title I thought I would really enjoy this book, and I was correct.  I was immediately gripped by the story and the concept and whizzed through the 400 odd pages.  Despite the quite complex nature of the plot and the various theoretical debates, I found it easy to read and completely absorbing. As the title suggests, the novel centres on a man called Harry August who, when he dies, is reborn at exactly the same time and in exactly the same place and circumstances.  As he grows up he starts to remember his previous lives, but none of those relationships or interactions exist or have happened yet in his current life.  He effectively lives for centuries, but only ever within the years of his lifespan. Whilst the story did remind me of Kate Atkinson’s fantastic Life After Life , I found it to also be completely different from it and almost as enjoyable. The novel deals with the inevitable and tricky time-travel dilemma very well and in a very upfront matter-of-f...

  I have to admit I did not initially think this book would make it into my blog, as I only include books I would recommend.  I was not immediately gripped and it took me over 50 pages to get into it – I wondered whether I would make it through all 520 pages.  However, after persevering I was rewarded, becoming absorbed by the story and keen to know both what would happen next and more about the characters.  I even found myself sad to be running out of pages, rather than happy to be finishing it.  Whilst it has its faults – it is by no means perfect and has been accused of being too “preachy” – I would recommend it if the story and themes interest you. The novel is set in Vineland, New Jersey and centres on one particular house.  In modern day the house is occupied by the Tavoularis family who have newly inherited it.  The main character is Willa, a wife and mother who is struggling to adjust to her new home and is beset by worries about how best to ca...