It's Monday What Are You Reading?

Hello all!

I've managed to read three books this week!

The first was The Light Between Oceans which is a
heart-wrenching story about a couple on an island who find a baby washed up on the shore in a boat, and decide to keep her, after experiencing three miscarriages of their own.

They know the father is gone, but they later find out the mother is still alive and mourns the loss of her daughter terribly. What they do, knowing this, is a difficult turn of events that makes you wonder, what would you do? 

The setting is an island off the coast of Western Australia, where the author describes the remote yet magical way of lighthouse living. The characters are engaging, and endearing, and we share their heartache as they explore the dark and  desperate feelings of  loss, guilt, and betrayal.

A superbly written story that you don't want to miss.

I also read a collection of stories by Cecelia Ahern called Every Year.

 Most of these stories, as with all Ahern's books, have a disenchanted protagonist who learns to look at the bright side of life after a wake-up call. There are some clever techniques in these stories, such as unexpected narrators, and ambiguous settings, which made me smile when I realised what was going on. This book is a very short read but some of the stories, especially Mallard and May, will leave a lasting impression. 

After reading this, I couldn't resist downloading the new Cecelia Ahern novel called One Hundred Names.

The premise of the book had me at hello, in that it is about a tarnished journalist, Kitty Logan, who tries to recreate her career by following an article idea left to her by her boss. There is a list of one hundred names of people and it is Kitty's job to find out who these people are, and how they are linked, to be able to produce just one incredible article about their lives.

While excited at first about the mystery behind the one hundred names, I felt a little disappointed by the way the story went along.  The characters seemed to be just a hodge podge thrown together, and while there was a link between them in the end, it just wasn't a wow kind of link. I missed the usual Cecelia Ahern magic that sweeps me away when reading her books. 

Linking up with Sheila now, over at Book Journey.

Have a great week of reading and other adventures!

xx

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