Too much reading, not enough reviewing!

 

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 her work, and it did not disappoint. Joyce has a knack for taking a character who, on the surface, is unremarkable and is leading a rather boring mundane life, and taking them on a great adventure.

The central character, Miss Benson, is a forty-something teacher living in 1950s post-war rationed London, who has long harboured a desire to set off on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of the elusive gold beetle. This is obviously impractical, dangerous and expensive, not to mention highly ambitious for an overweight unhealthy single woman. Like most of Joyce’s characters, Miss Benson is ill prepared for such a voyage, and is beset by many unexpected obstacles and seemingly insurmountable challenges, including her highly volatile and dubious assistant.

Joyce reveals Miss Benson’s and her assistant’s backstories gradually throughout the novel, building suspense, planting clues and keeping the reader’s interest. I found the book easy to read, full of humour but also tenderness with endearing well developed characters. It was very much in keeping with her style of writing.

 

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

I had no idea what to expect from this book and was delighted and immediately absorbed by the intriguing characters and situation they found themselves in. Whilst the novel is set in the real world, and features genuine historic scientific reasoning, experiments and explorations, it also includes fantastical elements which are cleverly interwoven, thus seeming realistic.

The story is predominantly set in London in 1883 and centres on the wonderfully dull yet pleasant Nathaniel Steepleton. Thaniel is a telegraphist at the Home Office who one day decodes a bomb threat from the Fenians. A few months before the supposed date of attack, he receives an unexpected anonymous gift, a gold pocketwatch. Cue mystery, intrigue and a whole new chapter of Thaniel’s life. I don’t want to give too much away, so I will just say that he meets the watchmaker, Japanese immigrant Keita Mori, and his life is changed forever.

I thoroughly enjoyed this steampunk-inspired book and went straight on to read the sequel, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow. I was pleased Pulley had written more about the characters, as there were many interesting elements left to explore, and I loved the setting in Japan, however she may have taken things just slightly too far in the sequel. Although it was still very enjoyable reading.

 

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

I had a vague idea what this book was about, and as soon as the event I knew of occurred – the suspicions and accusations levelled at a young black woman looking after a white child late at night – I thought I knew exactly where the story was going. But I was wrong. And I am glad that I was.

Reid subverted my expectations and took me on a completely different journey with many unexpected developments and interesting plot twists. There was a certain element of inevitability with some aspects of the plot, but I was still interested to see how we would arrive at the anticipated conclusion. Reid also made some surprising character choices and definitely did not stick to expected stereotypes. There is lots of thought-provoking internal commentary and key issues to do with race, privilege and gender roles are addressed in clever and challenging ways.

I found this book surprising, interesting and very enjoyable.

 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

To be honest I wasn’t entirely sure whether to include this book in my blog. I am not wholly convinced it deserves a place alongside the others, despite the hype, yet I would recommend it as an easy quick read.

My main issue with the book was its absolute predictability. Once you reach the part with the Midnight Library, you basically know everything that will happen during the rest of the story. I found this slightly frustrating, and the moralising and theorising about life felt a bit forced at times, however I did still enjoy reading it, and it didn’t take me very long to get through.

One possible reason I was less impressed, is the obvious comparison to other better similar stories. The First Fifteen Lives of HarryAugust was still fresh in my mind, and I would thoroughly recommend that over The Midnight Library. Likewise The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. Neither of these excellent novels have the same plot nor cover exactly the same philosophical musings as Haig’s, but they are infinitely more interesting and surprising.