This post has been sitting in my drafts pile for the past week and I've only just realised, the day of publishing, that I had called it October Wrap Up. When we've just been through November.. Clearly time is moving too fast for me this year. I can't believe its December already.
The month of November is pretty bad for me in terms of the number of books I've read but it feels like I haven't read anything for absolutely ages. Recently I've been getting awful headaches and the Optician and Doctor recommended I stop reading for a while until my headaches have subsided. 2 weeks they lasted. 2 weeks without being able to read any books - modern day torture I tell you.
I only have 1 physical copy of all of the books left because I've swapped them all before managing to get photos!
I've read 5 books in the month of November.
I haven't done a full review of any of these books, but please let me know if you'd like me to do one for any of these. In fact, any of the books on my GoodReads, if you want reviews let me know.
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessey by Rachel Joyce
This book is a companion novel to the more famous The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel. I haven't read it nor had I actually heard anything about it until I picked this up. I'm not actually sure what made me pick this book up, I vaguely remember shopping with my boyfriend and he was more than likely rushing me to pick my 3rd book in a 3 for 2 offer so I ended up with this. You begin the story by finding out Queenie has cancer, and has written a letter/note to Harold Fry telling him she has cancer, to which he simply replies asking her to wait for him and he's going to walk to see her. We are kept in the story by a new volunteer at the hospice who encourages Queenie to document her story and previous life with Harold Fry; during which we discover Queenie was quite in love with Harold but never mentioned or expressed this to him. I gave this 3 out of 5 stars on GoodReads as I wasn't really impressed with the ending. It felt really rushed and it made me miffed at the whole book. I wouldn''t say you had to have read the companion novel, however people I have spoke to say that it's much better if you do.
Life and Death by Stephenie Meyer
I understand I may get some grief for this one, but Twilight and the whole series is my secret love. When I found out Stephenie was releasing a new book (albeit being it was later ruined and leaked online) I was super excited, and actually I'm really glad she released a 're-invented' version of Twilight. It isn't just gender swapping, the story is similar don't get me wrong, but with the characters being so different, it's like reading a whole different story and seeing a whole different relationship blossom. I'm not going to say much more because it will ruin it for you, I'd really really recommend reading this. Even if you weren't a huge fan of Twilight, I think you'll enjoy this. I really like as well how Stephenie put a letter to the reader in the edition, acknowledging her disappointment also that the novel released isn't Midnight Sun.
The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
Since watching and reading Gone Girl I am an official Gillian Flynn groupie. Everything she writes is incredible, and I find myself reading it over and over again. Th/e way she allows the characters to be so relatable to every day people, but will then show their creepy dangerous side is fantastic for getting reads engaged with the story. The main character is exactly what you would expect from Gillian. The story itself evolves into its own monster over the course of the 100 something pages. The everyday life of a working girl is transformed into a psychological, supernatural almost thriller plot. The ending is very much ambiguous. I re-read the last chapter over and over to make sure I hadn't missed something that made the ending that bit better. Whilst I enjoy making my own mind up about the end of a story, this felt almost as if the book had been forgotten about and published without an ending. I still rated it 4 stars on GoodReads.
Grief is the thing with Feathers by Max Porter
I watch Jean (Jean Bookish Thoughts) on YouTube and she kept mentioning this book in a few of her videos so I thought I'd buy it and give it a try. The story refers quite heavily to Ted Hughes' The Crow selection of poetry, which I haven't read and don't feel like you have to to enjoy this book. A family of 3 are mourning the death of their mother and whilst the Dad is struggling to cope with his devastation a Crow appears and helps them overcome their grief and move forward with their lives. The story switches between narrative of the Dad, the Crow and the 2 Boys. From my perspective, the Crow is a babysitter but when a friend of mine read this she viewed the Crow as a trickster, prying on the minds of this poor vulnerable family. It was a different book for me to read definitely, I don't feel there really was going to be a story in the sense of beginning, middle and end, but the story does tell the process of grief and overcoming the loss of a family member. It was ok, but it hasn't really transformed me into wanting to read this particular style of narrative.
TechBitch by Lucy Sykes
I'm not going to go into too much detail about this as there is/will be a full review on this somewhere soon! The story revolves around Imogen Tate, a Director in Chief of Glossy magazine. Upon returning from sick leave, Imogen finds her once assistant is now plotting to take over Imogen's job and turn the famous fashion magazine into an app. Whilst I tried my hardest not to, this was so comparable to Ugly Betty. Fashion isn't really my forte or something I'm interested in, so perhaps this is why I didn't enjoy this. I found Eve's character very similar to one of the Clients I work with which made her character much more relatable and funny.
Have you read any of these books? Have you posted your November wrap up? I'd love to read it!
