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?

I read this book this week:

It was brilliant! If you love books like Tim Winton's Dirt Music, or Lee Child's Jack Reacher stories, about men travelling with minimal supplies in stark landscapes, then you will love this! And it's a quick read too. I'm excited about watching the movie now, which stars Willem Dafoe.

I'm still making my way through Mists of Avalon, although I've decided that I really don't like reading about pagan rituals. It just clashes too much with my Christian beliefs. I will probably finish it though, and just skip those bits.

Also I've been reading Jasper Jones which is an intriguing read about the murder of a teenage girl. The style of writing reminds me very much of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Another book I'm reading this week is Her Fearful Symmetry, which I'm loving!

I didn't realise it was a story about a ghost, so that was a nice surprise. I can imagine the Olsen twins playing the parts of the young twins in a movie version. And, funnily enough, there is a character with OCD, when I've only just finished reading another book about a person with OCD. I find it a fascinating illness.

Not sure what will be next up. I've just downloaded a stack of e-books and samples of books by 1920s writers from the Apple Bookstore onto our ipad, so I'll be trying out some of those.

     

Oh, also I got this book from my hubby as an Easter gift (such a sweet man!)

 It has a very pretty cover!

And I'm going to try to find Josephine Pennicott's new book at the shops this week:

I love this cover too!

Happy reading to you! xx

Pop over to Sheila's Book Journey to get some more reading inspiration. You can even win prizes!

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

I'm playing along with Sheila's Bookjourney to let you know my latest reads. I've read the three books I said I would read, along with one other, "The Virgin Blue" by Tracy Chevalier. What a fantastic read that was! Actually I still have a few more chapters of "Jessica" by Bryce Courtney  to read, and then I will have read these 4 books.

They were all great reads, particularly The Virgin Blue and Jessica, which I will give 5 stars each. 

Now that I've read three Australian books ( and a French one thrown in for good measure!) I've decided to read some well-known English books:

Emma by Jane Austen

These are all on the Dymocks Top 100 list, so I'm sure they'll be brilliant. I've not read any of them before, and I haven't even seen any of the movies based on the books either. Oh, hold on, I may have seen Mists of Avalon, and perhaps the beginning of Possession.

Let me know if you can think of any good novels about ghosts - I really love them and need some recommendations. Some of my favourites include  "Second Glance" by  Jodi Picoult, and "Midnight is a Lonely Place" by Barbara Erskine.

I've even started to write a story about ghosts!
Check out what everyone else is reading at Sheila's Bookjourney xx