Week 7 Book 9 – The Feud (Kimberly Chambers)

The Michell Clan are fiercely respected East End family who are not to be messed with. Harry is the father and head of the family, with his three sons Eddie Paulie and Ronny following suit in the family business.

The Mitchell’s have a long running feud with traveller family – the O’Hara’s this is explained in the first chapter and immediately the pace and scene is set. Chamber’s draws the reader in from this moment with an extremely exciting and captivating start.

The book begins in the seventies and focuses on Eddie, Harry’s youngest son. We  begin with a love story centred around Eddie and a young Jessica. Eddie is a wonderful character – everything an East End gangster ought to be – loyal, fearless, and completely ruthless. He is utterly besotted with Jessica and does not hesitate to marry her as soon as she falls pregnant with twins.

The story then moves into the eighties – first when the twins are young children and then again when they are 15. Both twins happen to fall in love with the wrong people and as this develops the events turn sour and there is a particularly shocking and upsetting ending.

‘The Feud’ is centred primarily around the Mitchell’s and Jessica’s family with the O’Hara’s briefly introduced at the beginning, middle and then taking centre stage at the end. I anticipate that the second and third books in the trilogy will feature the O’Hara’s more prominently.

Chambers’ writing style is gripping and extremely effortless to read, I devoured this book within 2 days. I’m a huge fan of East End gangster novels and this has been one of my favourites. I particularly loved Eddie’s character and his relationship with Jessica, their love story was a huge part of why I couldn’t put the book down. I am very much exited to see what happens in the next two books.

Week 6 Book 8 – Northern Lights (Philip Pullman)

This novel is beautifully written, the story is completely captivating and the wonderful world of Daemons brilliantly addictive.

Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pantalaimon are the central characters. Lyra is a young orphan girl who resides at Jordan College in Oxford University with the dusty old scholars. Her world is turned upside down by an exciting series of events which begins with a visit from her Uncle Asriel, who is planning an expedition to the Northern Lights. His goal is to find and explain the source of ‘Dust’.

Soon after this we are introduced to the charismatic and intriguing Mrs Coulter. She decides it is time for Lyra to be taught proper etiquettes and trains her as a sort of assistant. However at a lavish party Lyra sees a different side to her would-be-mentor. Children are going missing, including Lyra’s best friend Roger. It turns out that the seemingly wonderful Mrs Coulter is orchestrating this for the purpose of research. Research about ‘Dust’.

Lyra makes her escape. From this point we are taken on a wonderfully exciting, although at times scary, adventure in an attempt to free these children and find out the truth about ‘Dust’. Along the way we are introduced to some extraordinary mythical creatures such as bears, witches and of course we learn all there is to know about the remarkable science behind Daemons.

I had tried to read this book as an 11 year old on the belief that it would enrapture me in the same way that the Harry Potter series did. Unfortunately I found the book to be quite a difficult read at that age. I’ve been meaning to re-read this as an adult for some time and I am so glad I have. I am very much excited to read the next two books in the trilogy.

Week 5 Book 7 – Shopaholic to the Rescue (Sophie Kinsella)

The last installment of the Shopaholic series (Shopaholic to the Stars) left us with a massive cliffhanger making the anticipation of this book ever so great. However, I was left quite bitter as it is highly unusual for the Shopaholic books to end in such a way.

For me Becky Bloomwood makes an amazing read. She is one of my absolute favourite characters and incredibly funny. I have had many a laugh out loud moment reading this series and each time I do so in public there will be a twenty or thirty-something female who catches my eye, sees the book and totally understands. Throughout the Shopaholic series Becky has got into some pretty crazy situations with her elaborate ideas and vivacious personality.

This book is the 8th volume of Becky’s fantastically hilarious life. Let me set the scene…

In the 7th book Luke, Becky’s wonderful husband, has taken his PR company to LA. During this time Becky’s best friend Suze and her family come to stay, they are later also joined by Becky’s father Graham. Graham has an old score to settle and some wrongs to right from his past times travelling around the US. He sets off on a quest to do this taking Tarquin (Suze’s husband) with him.

So the whole of Becky’s gang set off after them, this includes Becky, her mum, a neighbour, Suze, Luke and a sworn enemy of Becky’s. They embark on an epic adventure around Las Vegas to solve the mystery of exactly what Becky’s Dad is up to.

There were many elements of the book I enjoyed especially the mystery of what had actually happened with Becky’s Dad. The humour I adore about Becky was still very much evident and this book definitely made up for the disappointment I felt with the cliffhanger ending in the last.

Week 5 Book 6 – The Vagina Monologues (Eve Ensler)

Described as a ‘celebration of female sexuality in all its complexity and mystery’, I found the book extremely empowering. In many ways I just simply felt thankful to have been born into an era and a new generation whereby female sexuality has been celebrated and explored. I am free to have whatever experiences I wish and all the knowledge to unlock this – quite literally at my fingertips.

Eve Ensler has interviewed over two hundred women about their vaginas and from this has collated the various insights, quotes and stories into a play – it is a series of monologues – vagina monologues.

‘My Vagina was my Village’ reduced me to tears and just emphasised how important the freedom of female sexuality is. This is an issue that still needs addressing today and should never be hushed or ignored.

The book includes an introduction from the wonderful Gloria Steinam, who is an American feminist, journalist and political activist. I simply adore her.

From the popularity of ‘The Vagina Monologues’ V-Day was created. V-Day is a global activist movement to end violence against women and girls. The campaign allows royalty-free performances of ‘The Vagina Monologues’ to be held for charity every February 14th. The book contains lots of touching affirmations from those whose colleges have produced their own productions and the impact they have had in the local communities.

I really enjoyed reading this book. At first I found myself feeling quite coy and shy about reading it in public, noticing people’s glances and wondering about their judgements and finding this to be distracting. However I soon forgot this and almost felt proud to be reading it and how much of an impact it has had on those women who have been sexually abused. The book and the V-day movement have an extrememly important message, one that needs to be heard!

I had been given this book by a friend but I have been inspred to read it more recently as it has been added to the Emma Watson ‘Shared Shelf’ book club reading list.

Week 5 Book 5 – The Mystery of Mercy Close (Marian Keyes)

I have been a fan of the Walsh Family novels by Marian Keyes for some years now and this book has been eagerly anticipated. The book is centered around Helen, the youngest of the sisters, and my favourite family member. Helen is a feisty, no-nonsense and fearless character. Throughout the other Walsh family novels she has been hilariously funny in such a sarcastic and dry witted manner, which has provided me with many laugh out loud moments.

Helen is a Private Investigator by trade, but the economic downturn in Ireland has resulted in her business taking a turn for the worse. Work has dried up completely, she has lost her flat and is back living at her Mum and Dads.

Events suddenly take a turn and she is offered a job from an ex-boyfriend, with whom she had a messy breakup and things are a little icy to say the least! It’s a missing persons case – for non other than Wayne Diffney from the Walsh family’s favourite boyband ‘Laddz’. She accepts the job and we are taken into a dark and glamourous world searching for Wayne.

What surprised me about the book was being finally inside Helen’s mind was quite different from what I had expected. Helen has suffered, quite severly, with depression. I found this to be a curious turn of events and a great example of clever writing from Keyes.

Keyes also tackles the subject of mental health so well in the book, its frank, honest and matter of fact much like Helen’s personality. Helen is quite often referred to as a ‘tough cookie’ sort of characted and I found it extremely refreshing for a strong character to suffer from such mental afflictions. Showing that depression is a very real thing and that there doesn’t always need to be a reason or personality type to explain this.

The book was recommended to me by a colleague who is a huge Marian Keyes fan, however I was warned this was her least favourite novel and she had struggled to keep interest. This was not at all the case for me. I very much enjoyed the book, both the writing style and the storyline and I’m glad I wasn’t dissapointed in my most treasured Walsh sister’s story.

 

Week 4 Book 4 – Lighthousekeeping (Jeanette Winterson)

Silver is a young orphan who is taken in by the timeless and blind Mr Pew,the keeper of the Cape Wrath Lighthouse. The book is ultimately a collection of stories told by Pew to Silver about a mysterious character Babel Dark, a nineteenth-century clergyman. The stories are intertwined with the thoughts and musings of a young Silver and her life on the lighthouse.

Unfortunately for Pew and Silver, technological advancements mean that the lighthouse no longer requires human up-keeping and becomes automated. Pew takes off and Silver is left to fend for herself, she has been left Babel’s journals so that the stories can continue.

Winterson is a captivating writer and this book is a beautiful read. However I did feel that the story was somewhat fragmented and lacked a flowing feel. I would be completely lost in the writing one moment but then the chapter would end ever so abruptly and with little or no resolution. I felt that most of the book was left open ended and it was quite frustrating to read in parts. I did invest with Silver’s character quite deeply and I would have loved to see that develop in the book, I felt there were many gaps in her life which would have made a wonderful story.

I did struggle to keep motivation when reading this book despite the beautiful writing, and it was particularly dissapointing as it had been recommend with such high regard.