Persuasion, a review

Persuasion by Jane Austen is my third book from her, and after reading her short story/collection of fictional letters that was Lady Susan, it was nice to be back in novel form.

I did, however, read a weird version of this book because I used the Flipback Paperback version! A tiny little book that you can fit in your pocket, yes even in women’s jackets. This made the book feel a lot shorter and was a really cute way of reading it!

The story is a romance, unsurprisingly. But on a surprising note I really enjoyed it! I’m not a big romance reader but this was just so lovely, Austen’s writing has (temporarily) converted even me!

I really loved the travelling aspect within this story and how it progressed the narrative on further. It was actually pretty fun to wait on the inevitable “surprise” bumping into our love interest and friends from the previous location.

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 8, Atmosphere: 7, Writing: 8, Plot: 7, Intrigue: 7, Logic: 7, Enjoyment: 8. Giving a total rating of 7.43 which is a 4 star rating.

This has solidified Jane Austen as an author that I enjoy and (after getting a collection of all her works for Christmas) I’m so excited to delve into the rest of her novels!

Pompeii: Nowadays and 2000 Years Ago, a review

Another book that, let’s be honest, most of the people who follow me don’t care about. However, I adore! This one is so old that it has the price in Lira (Italy’s currency before they adopted the Euro) so it was probably acquired in around 1998 when we were there! Beat that for “longest on your tbr”!!! 😂

This is essentially a little guide to use when you walk around the site of Pompeii, with numbered points to look out for. I’ve been around the site a couple times, and there are pictures in the book too, so I was still able to enjoy this without being there.

It’s a little bit out of date now, but we can’t blame the book for that! And the information is still super interesting and it was fun to read through. My CAWPILE rating is a little bit unhelpful for this one because it’s not designed for non-fiction books. But I gave all categories a five across the board which levels it out at a nice 3 stars.

I’m glad that I’ve finally gotten around to this one after it lived on my tbr for so long!!

Do you read sequels to classics?

I was thinking about this when taking a bookstagram picture of Holes (by Louis Sachar) and it’s sequel Small Steps.

I enjoyed Holes, and don’t get me wrong, Small Steps isn’t bad. But it just isn’t as good as Holes. And it got me thinking about the other modern classics that have gotten sequels in recent years that didn’t quite live up to the original for me.

One example is Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (the sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird) which whilst still having a good technical quality to the writing style was just so much less enjoyable than the first book.

Another example is The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale) which controversially co-won the Booker Prize purely due to Atwood’s name. The book itself? Well I enjoyed this one more than Go Set a Watchman. And I did like the details that were added to the world, although this very much had more of a feel of a modern novel rather than a timeless piece. And. And. The ending ruined it all. Without that ending I could’ve given it 4 stars for enjoyment alone, but no. Nope. Had to be ruined.

Have you read any good sequels to modern classics that actually lived up to (or improved!) the original series? I’d love to know about any authors which managed this!!

Talking about racism in the UK

 

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge was born from a blog post made in frustration. A frustration at the inherently racist system that British society runs and the way in which white people are complicit. This blog post sparked something, and grew further. In the end, clearly, Reni published this book. It’s clear why I read this, or it should be. I am white, and I have not been doing enough. So here I am, educating myself about white supremacy and the struggle of Black Britons to be seen as equal.

 

This non-fiction work is written in a manner which makes it easier than many other books of the genre, this is a book that you can read without too much effort. I don’t know if this was a purposeful move by Reni or not, but it does allow her message to be more easily shared. It also packs a big punch, but not in the same way as The Hate U Give or other similar works of fiction. Instead this is a slow build, as you realise (at least this was my experience reading it as a white British female) how much privilege you’ve had throughout your life and how much others have had to struggle to even reach the block you started from. This book is incredibly well researched, with references for further reading at the back of the book, as well as including anecdotal evidence and her own personal life experiences which really helps to personify the situation and make it hit home even harder.

Eddo-Lodge talks about the racism prevalent throughout feminism, classism, the prison system, education, the work force and more in chapters dedicated to each area. She also talks about the history of racism in the UK. As a Brit I really appreciated the British focus of this book, so many anti-racism/pro Black works are written by Americans (understandably, and these are incredibly important books too), so seeing a point of view from someone from my own country and learning more about our particular history rather than that of another country made this book stand out even more for me.

I highly recommend this book, no matter what country you’re from. The breakdown of issues is one that can resonate with anyone. I do insist, however, that you read this if you are white and in the UK. It will make you take a step back and notice that which was “hiding” in plain sight.

OCD Rep All the Way Up

John Green is known for his YA contemporary novels, they cover a variety of topics but seem to have a similar plot line. I’ll be honest, that’s the same here, but there’s a different reason you should pick this book up.

In Turtles, the main character suffers from OCD, and the representation is so ridiculously good. I suffer from mild OCD myself, and no I don’t need everything to be clean, so it was so refreshing to see this done so well here and to actually properly represent the mental illness in a way that society seems to ignore.

Our MC isn’t easy to deal with, her friends struggle to not get annoyed at her quirks and weird behaviours and they impact every waking second of her existence. Sometimes they’ll go away and she can just be in the moment, but they’ll come back again and that bliss is shattered.

I 100% recommend this for brilliant OCD rep and if you want a typical “John Green” book with romance, character building and young people learning about the world then this is one for you.

Learning how to handle Ancient Roman slaves

 

I picked this book up years ago, probably in 2016. I’ve only just gotten around to it which is ridiculous, as I knew from the second that I picked it up in the shop that I would love it. This is the work of a lot of research by Jerry Toner, who has looked at the different practices across the times of the Roman Empire and written about them as Marcus Sidoneous Flax, an imaginary Roman slave owner who gives you advice on how to control your possessions. Jerry interrupts at the end of every section to talk about these bits of advice from a modern mindset.

This is incredibly interesting if you at all are interested in how slaves were treated in Ancient Rome, how they could become freedmen, and how they got into that situation. It’s a very quick read and I really enjoyed it throughout. I love the concept and the approach that Toner took to this book, which I think is really unique and I’d love to see it used for more historical situations to bring them into the modern mindset.

I definitely recommend this and I’d love to know if any more of you have read this!

Keeping it Sciency!

My first read after finishing up my thesis! Seeing as my masters degree is a science one, I decided to keep it in the family and go for a science non-fiction read for my first delve back into the bookish world. I picked this bad boy up randomly whilst in a charity shop, I grabbed a Stephen King book (11/22/63) and it was 2 for £1 (or £1 each) so I grabbed this as the cover is bright and it looked kinda interesting. I’m so glad that I did because I really enjoyed this delve into a variety of different areas of science, with Ben Miller explaining everything in simplistic detail and keeping it amusing as well.

We start off sticking quite closely to the topic of aliens, but as the book progress there are minor deviations made. Alien life is still the primary focus, but Miller pulls you back down to Earth to make you aware of what we can accomplish here which will help us when looking out towards the stars.

This was a really interesting read and one that I’m going to make my science loving boyfriend pick up, as I know he’ll really enjoy it. There was a lot of research put into this book and it really shows. If you’re at all interested in the search for alien life out in space, or just in a cool non-fiction sciency book, then I recommend picking this one up.

Poirot and Christie strike again with a peril and a young woman

Yes yes, another Poirot! These are just such easy reads, and while I’m in the end stages of my MSc that’s really what I need if I’m going to read at all (spoiler alert these reviews are normally quite behind my actual reading schedule and I haven’t read anything in weeks. Blimmin’ thesis taking up all my time!!!)

This one really got me riled up at the end, even after reading so many books from Christie in a row she still manages to astound me and take twists that are more than surprising! Of course I won’t spoil the twist but Poirot is helping a young girl who seems to be the target of various failed assassinations for an unknown reason. This specific Poirot novel goes through twists and turns as Christie analyses her view of the young people of her time and that makes it such an interesting read as always. Agatha Christie has such a good understanding of people and how they operate, as shown so clearly in her writing, but she also seems to be fully aware of biases which she may be victim to. This adds another layer of nuance to Poirot and Hastings’ portrayals, done in two very different ways, and I feel like this book is a beautiful example of that.

As always I recommend, I have quite a number of reviews on Agatha Christie’s work at this point so I definitely recommend going through my back-catalogue to find the right one for you!

The Mystery of the Blue Train

The Big Four

Poirot Investigates

The Monogram Murders

The Thirteen Problems

Death in the Clouds

The Mystery of Three Quarters

I read Thunderhead, here’s what I think of the series [NO spoilers]

The sequel to Scythe, I was so excited for this book… and it did NOT disappoint!!! I loved this book so much! I won’t be talking about any spoilers for either book so you can read on even if you’ve not read Scythe (but you should go read it).

In this version of the future, humans have conquered death so they had to find a way to deal with the ever rising population. The solution was scythes, these are people who’s only job is to randomly “gleen” (think: kill) people in order to stop the world from over-populating. This was working fine, although people were petrified of scythes when they saw them, but there’s obviously one very human problem. Corruption.

We have two main characters, and switch perspectives between them. They are both involved in the scythedom so we get to see events through two different eyes which adds another dimension to the world.

If you like dystopian, dark books (like anything else Neal Shusterman has published) then I definitely recommend picking this series up. I get so engrossed and I know 100% that I’ll speed through them and give them 5*.

The Famous Five buy a house… kinda

This is my 6th parody book from Bruno Vincent about the Famous Five. I am determined I will collect them all!! I just keep picking them up as and when I find them in charity shops! The wacky topic for this book is that the Five are having to move out of the residence that they were in because Aunt Fanny and Uncle Quentin need to sell it for money. So they’re looking for somewhere else to move to.

Of course this leads to madness and weird houses and just an absolute mess! It’s very fun and of course still has the typical happy ending, these books aren’t amazing but I keep coming back so there must be something about them! If you have nostalgia for the Five, definitely give one a go!