October Book Wrap Up
So, without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?
1. Joseph, The Good Giant by Stjepan Varesevac Cobets (✬✬✬✬✬)
A great children's fantasy fairy tale that took me back to childhood, in a magical world full of adventures. A wonderful short story I would recommend to both adults and children.
2. Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale (✬✬✬✬✬)
A delightful surprise, this story had great lighthearted intelligent dialogue that makes you love the main characters even though they have many faults. I was prepared to not like the story, but I was charmed and consumed it in a single afternoon. Thank you, Laura Kinsale for both your sense of humor and your talent to write such a sweet story of love.
3. Figures In Silk by Vanora Bennett (✬✬✬✬)
With so many novels now revolving around various players who also feature in this novel — Richard III, Edward IV, the Tudors — it is a relief to find that Vanora Bennett’s focus in her second novel is not on life at court itself but on how the political machinations affect and disrupt the lives of London’s ordinary citizens and particularly its powerful merchants.
4. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (✬✬✬✬✬)
A remarkable study of human nature - in life, all of us have felt anger, hatred, jealousy, heartbreak, desire, guilt and belief, and disbelief. The author does a great job of depicting this myriad of emotions, common to human sense, in the book which is so beautifully written.
5. Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott (✬✬)
I suppose the author felt she had a very good idea about Sir Isaac Newton and his unusual rise to prominence at Trinity College, Cambridge. Sadly, she did not present it very well and produced a book that was not only very confusing but almost unreadable, despite the beautiful descriptive language used in many places. I found it difficult to follow the plot if you can call it a plot, and sometimes I had the strongest urge to just close the book and not reopen it.
6. The Countess and the King: A Novel of the Countess of Dorchester and King James II by Susan Holloway Scott (✬✬✬)
This book is rich in period detail and is well researched. Still, I found the book somewhat tedious, as it seemed to try too hard to be clever. So, though I enjoyed it I often found myself to be disengaged from it. Those who like historical fiction and tales of Restoration English, however, will find something to enjoy in this book.
7. Before Midnight - A Retelling of Cinderella (Once Upon a Time) by Cameron Dokey (✬✬✬✬)
Dokey in the author's afterword speaks about the origins of the story, from the Brothers Grimm to the older Charles Perrault that gives the true name of Cinderella. The novel isn't very long, just under two hundred pages, so there isn't much room for much development for the characters, but the writing and plotting are fairly tight, and the author doesn't forget to put in some descriptive passages that create some lovely imagery.
8. The Guardian Angel's Journal by Carolyn Jess- Cooke (✬✬✬✬✬)
This book had me on the first page. The storyline is unique. An angel comes back to earth to save herself. The storyline was so different and so interesting. The descriptions by the author are vivid. When she describes the angel’s wings, which are nothing like one would imagine, your mind’s eye can see these magnificent creatures.
9. My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares (✬✬✬✬)
A tender love story with an abrupt ending. I enjoyed turning every page, waiting in anticipation for them to be reunited again. I feel like the ending sort of trailed off, a little unfinished.
10. The Collector by Stjepan Varesevac Cobets (✬✬✬✬✬)
What a brilliant short story. This story is a great mystery with great character development and interesting surprises. The Collector is not what you expect and is absolutely worth your time, especially if you like science fiction and mysteries.
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