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~ Spending the year hunting out bookshops and reading plenty!

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Category Archives: MILLER, Madeline

Circe by Madeline Miller (2018) #bookreview #circe #greekmythology #fiction

16/05/2018

Madeline Miller gives Circe the Witch a starring role in this epic tale. Based on Greek Myths Miller develops Circe into a 3 dimensional and fascinating character.

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Wool is the first book in a dystopian trilogy. The setting is an underground silo that sits with over 100 levels and only a staircase to go up and down. Right at the bottom is mechanical where the workers sort out the pumps and generators and keep them going. Working up through the levels you find supply, IT and finally the mayor and sheriff. The story starts with the sheriff who’s wife, we find out, was the last person sent out of the silo for cleaning. Cleaning is a punishment. You get suited up to go out and clean the cameras so that the outside can be seen more clearly. The toxic air and storms makes them grubby. The toxic air kills you if you go outside. The sheriff, it seems, has gone slightly mad - is it from the grief or wanting to go outside? He volunteers. And then they have to find a new sheriff. The mayor and the deputy journey to mechanical to recruit Juliet into the role. She was involved in an investigation a few years ago and impressed the police team. This book is about Juliet. What happens to her and what impact she has in the silo. I thought it was a really good story, great characters. Plenty of good and bad guys, plenty of action and plenty of surprises. I’m ready to go with book 2 now which is about how it all came to be! #wishvintagereads

One of my favourite reads last year was The Electricity of Every Living Thing by @katherinemay_ a wonderful account of walking the SW Coastal Path coupled with working out what an aspergers diagnosis meant to her. Yesterday I saw Katherine partake in a panel talk at the @favlitfest where she spoke about her book alongside a book about wild swimming. The topics were really interesting but made me want to go outside much more. Just like reading the book had done. But the panel were totally ok with tech too discussing for instance how autistic people are able to find a community through an online presence. Just as our vintage community has come about here. Life is definitely about connections, no matter how they come about! #wishvintagereads.

This book was written by one of the original FBI agents in the Behavioural Science Dept and he who was inaugural to actually interviewing serial killers to figure out how they tick. I initially watched the @netflixuk drama based on it which I loved. The book is much more factual and personal. There were moments where I really knew I’d have struggled to deal with the authors ego if I met him. Thankfully that will never happen so I can just say this book is very interesting, very insightful and not as gratuitous as most serial killer books tend to be. I really understand now how they can work out the possible age of an offender but make and model of car is surely witchcraft? #wishvintagereads

So guys I stayed in bed to finish this this morning because I have really struggled to put it down. I saw it had won the Costa Book Awards ahead of Sally Rooney and when I read the premise I knew I had to read it. And what a story. Well, a true story! About a little Jewish girl living in Holland at the start of WWII who’s parents sadly part with her to give her a chance of living. Her biographer is an Oxford Professor who’s grandparents were the first family she lived with. He tells her story with great care and respects both her and his own relatives in such a sensitive way. He also weaves into the story events of the bigger picture, what was happening in Holland whilst this little girl hid. And somehow he brilliantly weaves in the now. What is happening in our world that is mirrored in what happened then. Only when you read of her and the last family having to pack up their things and leave because the Germans are coming can you sense that this really could happen to you. This is an interesting, poignant and sad story and I highly recommend it #wishvintagereads

My reading year was hectic last year, about 80 books. On reviewing what I read it was really obvious that I hadn’t read many male authors at all. Which felt odd. So inspired by @whatmeworry_reads and his pursuance of an all female 2018 I am going to purposefully seek out male authors. Here’s a pile of what some of you recommend and a couple of previews I’ve been sent that I’m really excited about. I’ll keep you up to date with how it does. What male authors do you swear by?

Book review on the blog today is this magical piece of YA fiction, definitely worth recommending to that 12-16 year old in your life. Or you. #wishvintagereads #shadowscastbystars #catherineknutsson

The review on the blog today. A dystopian nightmare where image and likes are what makes the world go round. #wishvintagereads

Sorry for the radio silence, I’m busy in Boston right now but the blog continues with plenty of scheduled posts, today a review of this rather marvellous apocalyptic offering! Link in my bio! #wishvintagereads

Today on the blog I review this little known Daphne Du Maurier. When I read about it I knew I had to read it. The U.K. has left the EU and it’s so disastrous that the US and the U.K. merge to become US:UK, US troops appear to invade though the government deny it. A family in Cornwall watch the invasion and deal with the troops and the reality of what it all means. A book filled with great Du Maurier characters and big scenes. Not her greatest but given that she’s written some of the greatest novels in English literature I figure you can’t have it all! Have you read it? What do you think about the topic in the current climate? #wishvintagereads

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