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I read a lot of books and I write about them on here. Mummy Geek is sometimes a guest blogger....people seem to love her.....Oh and you can find me on Twitter.....@book_geek_says. Shortlisted for Blog of the Year by the 2015 Love Stories Awards...THANK YOU!!

Tuesday 2 April 2019

Reviews: The Lessons and The Power


Publisher: Viking
 
 
I'm going to bash these two together as I know Naomi Alderman needs no intro and I have NO IDEA WHY THE BOOK COVERS HAVE GONE ALL WEIRD...SORRY
 
The Lessons
This popped up on a Bookbub email and I thought why the hell not and I am so glad I read this book as I bloody well loved it. Especially it had a bit of If We Were Villains and The Secret History about it, two books I thoroughly enjoyed.
 
The POV as a bloke written by a woman worked perfectly. NA is very adept at adopting voices and personas with skill and confidence. And her writing style in this novel was totally beautiful, no doubt about it.
 
The story itself is so delicate and natural and I had none of my usual compulsions to try and guess what would happen and how things would work out...which is a big problem of mine and often ruins books for me. The book just flowed and took me with it.
 
For the characters they are varied and wonderful running from the mundane main man to the total caricatures but all were fab.
 
And as a final note, this book made me really melancholic for uni...even though my uni experience wasn't half as wild.
 
The Power
I think I may be one of the only people on the plant that doesn't really like this book.
I was really disappointed to not really like it, especially as I enjoyed the above so much.
 
I can see what NA was trying to do, I really can, and bravo, it was well executed to an extent. But I felt that the whole Power thing was far too OTT and it just didn't sit with me. It felt a all a bit too try hard.
 
I for sure get the comment that this book is brining and why it needs to be out there but I just don't think this book was for me.
 
I did however thoroughly like the fact finding parts and the start and end letters.
 
Cheers
 
BG

Friday 22 March 2019

Review: The Dinner

Publisher: Hogarth
 
First off, Kudos on the super translation....wasn't a thing I thought was weird or lost in translation....Brills.
 
 
For some of this book I had a feeling I may have read it before...so can someone tell me if either I have, or if it has maybe been made in to a TV series??
 
Anyway, on with the review.
Spiffing read. I loved the pace and how fast it all unfolds. But it unfolds with a certain subtlety and takes so many twists and turns that you don't' expect. You think it's just about something terrible a bunch of kids have done, but it is about so much more. Mental health, familiar relations, trust, violence....it's got layers.....
 
I don't want to say much more as I'm afraid I'll give things away, but this is a really fabulous read that comes from something that is to be honest so simple.
 
READ IT
 
BG

Tuesday 12 March 2019

Review: Star of the North

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
 
Another book that had been in my possession for a while before I read it. And I sorry but it was the fact that it was hardback that delayed my reading.
 
It is however a fascinating fictionalisation of factual events....or as factual as things can be when talking about North Korea. It brought back a lot of memories of reading Escape From Camp 14 which I would also like to offer as a recommendation for people who like reading about North Korea as this is a memoir.....
 
Anyway, this is a story of a girl looking for her kidnapped sister and I was thoroughly impressed by how this book was constructed. The author obviously knows the story this is based on well but has obviously done their research.
 
It's a real page turner from start to finish. It's fast paced and disturbing and distressing in places, but the book needs that edge of emotion that brutality for the reader to really understand the horror of a lot of what is being discussed and talked bout.
 
The only criticism I have is the high drama that really isn't needed. Some of the action scenes seem really unrealistic and detract from the ending of the novel in particular. These were really not required considering how absorbing and alien the book was as a whole.
 
Cheers
 
BG

Friday 1 March 2019

Review: The loosening skin

Publisher: Unsung Stories
 
I will start by saying sorry to AW, and the fact that I didn't really like her last book....SORRY. And I say sorry because I feel totally different about this one...
 
I wish I knew what to say to be honest. The book totally blew my mind.
 
I think and I know for readers of Unsung's books, I am not clever enough to totally get them and I am sorry about that. But this book I think is about how emotions, love, friendship and all the things that bring big, hard and deep emptions are skin deep, in some ways, but not all are.
 
I kinda think that this book is about how life and people change and how you can have the most amazing experiences with someone for years but life moves on and people change.
 
I think it's about the moment and living it, but also the book tells you to keep what you can and what you want but in a sane and healthy way.


I could be REALLY wrong, but that's what I took from this book and TBH it is one of the best things I've read in a long time.

THANK YOU

BG

Friday 22 February 2019

Review: The Familiars

Publisher: Zaffre Publishing         
 
 
So, I've been away for a while. Sorry about that. I've been travelling A LOT for work and work has been taking up most of my life/time. But I am going to try and play catchup and I do apologise in advance for the fact that the next set of reviews will be written from notes I made in some instances over 3 months ago.....so thanks for persisting...
 
The Familiars landed on my doormat a while ago and I was most intrigued from the start. The book is obviously steeped in fact, and it seems to be somewhat of a historical drama as it is based and steeped in the history of the Pendle witch trials.
 
The book is a really easy read and is pretty compelling. It sucked me in and has made me realise that I'd like to know even more about these trials and even, quite possibly, British history....but don't tell Boy Geek that.
 
When it came to characters, Fleetwood was ok, I got on with her. She didn't particularly annoy me but neither did I want to champion her. And even though hubby is distinctly a bit of a dick, I couldn't help but have a bit of naughty affection for him.
 
Overall, good first novel, good work
 
Cheers

BG