It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Hello, my book-reading friends!

I finally, FINALLY finished reading The Woman in White! Talk about the longest book in history! I persevered with it because I loved the characters and enjoyed the writing, but now I understand why Reader's Digest do abridged versions of the classics! I think they could whittle that book from 672 pages down to about 300. It didn't help that I was only reading it for about 15 minutes a day for about 6 weeks!

Anyway, phew, it's done!

If you find an abridged version, I recommend reading it!  The story begins when art teacher, Walter Cartwright, on the way to his new teaching appointment with Laura and Marian Halcombe,  comes across a distressed woman dressed in white who he finds out later has escaped from an insane asylum. He endeavours to look for her, and meanwhile falls for Laura, who much to their devastation, is promised to marry Sir Percival Glyde. Sir Percival is very concerned about the woman in white being on the run and makes every attempt to track her down, as she knows a Secret about him, which could destroy him. The chase is on; who will find Anne Catherick first, who will discover Sir Percival's Secret, and what will be the repercussions on everyone involved?

The characters are over the top, Dickensian style, which is fun to read. And the story is presented from the point of view of many different characters, which makes solving the mystery of Sir Percival's Secret quite tricky. It is worth reading to the end to find out how things turn out for all the main characters. The ending is satisfying after such a long read!

Now I am devouring The Light Between Oceans, which is much more my type of book. The story is set in Western Australia, which makes it relatively local for me, and the descriptions of the land and sea remind me of Tim Winton's style (a well-known and brilliant West Australian author). The characters are so lovable, and the setting of the island light house is fascinating. I enjoy reading about people living in harsh or isolated environments because I wouldn't want to do it it myself - I love my modern luxuries too much!

So, I'm off to visit Sheila and friends at Book Journey to find out what everyone else is reading!

Have a good week!
xx

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Hello, my readerly friends!

I read another great Cecelia Ahern book this week, called The Gift. 

This is the story of Lou Suffern, a man who lives his life racing against the clock, always on time for appointments for his work, but never quite making the time to be with his family. His ambition absolutely consumes him, and he gives all he has, with the aim of achieving an upcoming promotion. 

Enter, Gabe, a homeless man, who speaks to Lou outside his building one day, actually slowing Lou down for a moment to consider the world around him. Gabe has seen things, and knows things, that could benefit Lou, so Lou gets him a job in the mailroom of the office building. 

Gabe is a fast mover, and impresses everyone with the way he can seemingly be in two places at once. 

Lou wants what Gabe has, but what happens when he gets it?

This, like many of Cecelia Ahern's other books, takes an unlikable protagonist, gives his values a good shake-up, and leaves us with an unpredictable ending. Magical, engaging and thought-provoking, this is a book that needs to be read by those who reach for the top, but leave everyone else behind them on the way. There are lessons to be learned here!

In other news, I'm still reading through my two big books, Foxmask and The Woman in White, but Foxmask has taken my interest more at the moment. I haven't had a chance to start Casual Vacancy yet, but it is on my bedside waiting patiently!

Hope you find some good reads this week! I'm coming to check out what you're up to at Book Journey:

xx