The Book Whisperer

jottings, musings and recommendations of an incurable bookaholic

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak January 4, 2010

Filed under: Historical,Markus Zusak,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 5:39 pm
I had seen this in book shops for months and had picked it up and put it down again so many times that I finally decided to give it a go based on so many positive reviews I had seen. I’m so glad I did. For the 3 days it took me to read it I was immersed in the life of a young German girl during World War 2 and although the book prepares the reader almost from the beginning for what is going to happen I wasn’t prepared for the ending to pack such an emotional punch. In fact, I read it two years ago and I still think about it.
The book itself is narrated by Death (not the Grim Reaper image that most of us have, but a figure who roams the world collecting the souls of the newly departed and gently taking them away with him.) Death tells the story of Liesel, a young girl who has been placed with foster parents in a poor part of Munich and we follow her story throughout the war. We are told from the start that most of the characters we meet will die but because we spend so long with them and become so involved in their lives, it doesn’t make it any less shocking by the end of the book.

This book is brilliant in the way that it manages to avoid the gory detials of war but involves us in the day to day lives of some of those who lived through it. It is so important that we never forget what happened during that time and that there were so many wonderful, selfless people out there that were prepared to help others.

I highly recommend this book and I’m sure it is one that will stay with me for a long time. Amazon reviews here.

 

Borders R.I.P. December 22, 2009

Filed under: Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Historical,SciFi / Fantasy,The Victorians,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 4:46 pm

Today is the last day that Borders in the UK is open (waaaaahhhhhh!). It’s so sad as I love that shop – there was a massive one on the side of the motorway near where I live and it used to shine like a beacon of light, calling to me and welcoming me into its bookish fold as I drove past after many a stressful days work. My mecca is no more.

But every cloud……..today there was 90% off everything in store! It was absolute bedlam in there but I did manage to pick up some books from my Mt. TBR so that has put a big smile on my face. Here is what I managed to grab:

The Battle of the Sun - Jeanette Winterson

Girl, Missing - Sophie McKenzie

The Sight - David Clement-Davies

Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson

Arthur Phillips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kept: A Victorian Mystery - D J Taylor

Babel Tower - A S Byatt

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George December 21, 2009

Filed under: Historical,Margaret George — The Book Whisperer @ 11:41 am

“I’m Henry VIII, I am, I’m Henry VIII I am, I am!”

Wow! There’s never a dull moment with old Henry. Teenage King, always warring with France, cuts ties with Rome and changes the course of history just so he can get a divorce, six wives – two have their heads lopped off, one dies in childbirth, one is too ugly, one won’t provide him with a son (tsk! what was she thinking?) and the other gets to mop up his gangrenous leg until he dies. Phew!!!

This is a fabulous book: long, but so worth it. Written from Henry’s point of view so we get to see his life as he sees it. We all know what a bad-tempered tyrant he was supposed to have been, but in this book we get a glimpse at what may have made Henry make the decisions he made. He was born into royalty, taught to believe that he is above others (and boy, does he!) but we also see another side to him. There are times when I actually felt sorry for him; to be surrounded all your life by “yes-men” and never really knowing who you can trust must have been pretty tough even if you are surrounded by jewels and banquets all day long.

Not surprisingly, his poor wives come in for a pretty raw deal; but again it is written from Henry’s point of view. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard never stood a chance and Katherine of Aragon was treated appallingly in later life when the King decided that he wanted to move on to a younger model. No wonder when it came to searching for a new wife 4th time around, all the eligable young European princesses were hiding in the shadows.

This is a real tome of a book and one I enjoyed immensley. The fact that it took the author 15 years to research, I knew I was in safe hands with getting a wonderful peice of fiction based entirely on fact. I would highly recommend this to history fans. Big thumbs up for this one. I now want to check out more of George’s historical books:

   

 

Book Review: Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier December 12, 2009

Filed under: Comfort Reading,Historical,Tracy Chevalier — The Book Whisperer @ 12:57 pm

I loved this book so much I didn’t want it to end. I met Tracy Chevalier at a book promo in Hawarth, Yorkshire (Bronte country) and she read an excerpt from this book and I knew then that I was in for a treat. The author was great too; really down to earth and answered all questions about her previous work and inspirations etc.

Based on the real-life characters of Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot in the early 19th century, Remarkable Creatures is a story of two pioneering women in the coastal town of Lyme Regis who discover some of the most amazing fossils ever found and who influence scientific thinking around the possiblility that extinction may exist and who also discovered the fossils of previously unknown prehistoric animals. So little is known about these characters becuase of the fact that they were women in a time when it was thought that science was a mans game. In fact, Mary is only mentioned briefly in a science paper years later. The relationship between Mary and Elizabeth is such a charming one too due to the fact that there is almost a 20 year age gap and Elizabeth is a well-off spinster and Mary is an uneducated working class girl. What brings them together is their love of the great outdoors, fossil hunting and discovery. Elizabeth is also later instrumental in getting Mary some of the recognition she deserves for her finds.

I am a huge Tracy Chevalier fan and this book just reinforced all the reasons why. This book was a joy to read from start to finish and I could have read on for another 300 pages easily. I highly recommend!

Other books of Chevaliers that I have read and also highly recommend are:

 

Girl with a Pearl Earring
Virgin Blue
 I still have two more of hers to read (Burning Bright and The Lady and the Unicorn) both of which I am looking forward to.
Tracy Chevalier also told us at the reading a brief outline of the next book she will write and it sounds amazing! Hope we don’t have to wait too long.

 

 

 

Book Review: The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale December 12, 2009

Filed under: Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Historical,Kate Summerscale,Non-Fiction,The Victorians — The Book Whisperer @ 12:53 pm

What a fascinating book this was. I expected to read about the true story of one of the most shocking crimes in 19th century England but I hadn’t bargained for also getting a fantastically written and hugely interesting social commentary of Victorian times and attitudes and behaviours with regards to the emergence of Police Detectives in this country.

Mr Whicher, the Detective called in to this particular case, was one of the first ever Scotland Yard Detectives which came with its own share of suspicion and mistrust. The case in question was of the murder of a 3 year old boy, one of several children of a well-to-do family in a country house in Wiltshire. In June 1860, the young boy was found to be missing from his cot in the morning and later that day his body was discovered (with his throat slit and a stab wound to his chest) down the servants toilet outside in the grounds. It soon became apparant that the purportrator was one of the people inside the house on that night (which consisted of the boys family, the nursemaid and housemaid). Whicher was called in to find out which one of the family murdered the three year old while the whole of England became obsessed with the drama, writing into the newspapers in their thousands offering their opinion on who committed the crime.

While I found the unravelling of this story fascinating in itself, I was also delighted to see so many references to some great Victorian authors inclduing Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon. 1860 was also the year that the first victorian “sensational” novel was published and this appeared to feed the frenzy of the public. This particular case has also been reported to have been the basis for subsequent rather famous novels such as Dickens’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood , Collins’ The Moonstone and Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret all of which contain themes from this particular story. Dickens (who was also an aquaintance of Mr Whicher) even wrote letters to Collins offering his theory on what took place that night.

This book is completely non-ficiton to point that only recorded conversations and facts are included (which seems to be the reason there are alot of negative reviews about it – perhaps it seemed too dry for some). And while this is more of a why-dunnit than a who-dunnit , there are still a few surprises along the way that caught me off-guard.

I thoroughtly enjoyed this book; infact I could barely put it down. Summerscale stuck to the facts without trying to sensationalise the story any more than it already was by putting words in peoples mouths and the result was a hugely enjoyable novel about a shocking crime and its repercussions in Victorian society. Highly recommended

 

Book Review: The Book Theif by Markus Zusak December 11, 2009

Filed under: Historical,Markus Zusak,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 9:31 pm
The Book Theif by Markus Zusak

I had seen this in book shops for months and had picked it up and put it down again so many times that I finally decided to give it ago based on so many positive reviews I had seen. I’m so glad I did. For the 3 days it took me to read it I was immersed in the life of a young German girl during World War 2 and although the book prepares the reader almost from the beginning for what is going to happen I wasn’t prepared for the ending to pack such an emotional punch.

The book itself is narrated by Death (not the Grim Reaper image that most of us have, but a figure who roams the world collecting the souls of the newly departed and gently taking them away with him.) Death tells the story of Liesel, a young girl who has been placed with foster parents in a poor part of Munich and we follow her story throughout the war. We are told from the start that most of the characters we meet will die but because we spend so long with them and become so involved in their lives, it doesn’t make it any less shocking by the end of the book.

This book is brilliant in the way that it manages to avoid the gory detials of war but involves us in the day to day lives of some of those who lived through it. It is so important that we never forget what happened during that time and that there were so many wonderful, selfless people out there that were prepared to help others.

I highly recommend this book and I’m sure it is one that will stay with me for a long time.

 

 
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