The 20 Books of Summer Challenge...

Cathy at Cathy 746 has a yearly challenge to read twenty books over the summer months starting on 1 June 2016 and running until 5 September 2016, and this year, I’ve decided to join her.

I'm always up for a bookish sort of challenge and as I need to clear some space on my book shelves I thought that this was a good challenge to get involved in. I'm not sure that I'll achieve the 20 books challenge but it's worth a try and in order to keep me motivated I'll be joining in with the rest on Twitter using the hashtag #20booksofsummer.


I've had rather a lot of review books on the go so my own personal reading chcoices have taken a back seat but here's another of my 20 Books of Summer reads...




The Doll's House by M.J. Arlidge


A young woman wakes up locked in a cold dark cellar with no recollection of how she got there, and the body of a young woman is found buried in the sand of a remote beach. For DI Helen Grace and her team of detectives, the hunt is on to find the link between these two seemingly unrelated occurrences.
What then follows is a cleverly crafted crime novel which moves along at the speed of light but which never falters on the strength of the story or of the emotional commitment given to all of the characters.I love the short snappy chapters which allows the story to unfold scene by scene almost as if you are watching a TV drama.
As with any established crime series it i
s not just about the story in the here and now, but also about the subtle nuances of the investigative team and this time around Helen Grace is leading a relatively new crime team , who each have their own faults and foibles to contend with, which makes for interesting reading.


This is now the third book in the Helen Grace series, I know that there are at least two more already published...Liar Liar and Little Boy Blue, both of which are squirreled away on my book shelf !!





The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones


It's Emma Torrington twentieth birthday and the family have gathered together in the faded grandeur of Sterne, which was once a rather grand country house but which is now experiencing difficult times financially and the family, once influential, are now down on their luck and are facing an uncertain future.

When a group of strangers arrive at Sterne, victims of a train accident seeking refuge, a definite sense of disquiet follows them and they very soon bring a decided chill to the birthday celebrations.

What then follows is the story of a house and its people, and the effect that this incongruent group of people have on each other and the roles they play in the sinister goings-on which twist and turn at every opportunity.

There is a definite air of malice in this story which has all the makings of a realistic gothic melodrama but occasionally I felt that it lacked certain oomph.




The Cleaner of Chartres by Salley Vickers


Agnès Morelis the eponymous cleaner of Chartres Cathedral, a quiet and enigmatic young woman who always seems to around when someone needs her. Her quietness suffuses the novel with gentle realism, as do the other characters flit into and out of Agnès’ story.
The book is very slow, almost languid and whilst nothing much seems to happen, the story does draw you in until you can’t help but be intrigued by the story which gradually unfolds. Parts of the story are in the here and now whilst other parts of the story reveal Agnès’ troubled past.
The story is typical of this author’s style of writing and reminded me so much of her other works, which I have also enjoyed.

Books read in my 20 Reads of Summer Challenge

1. Origins of Love by Kishwar Desai
2. The Emperor of Paris by  C S Richardson
3. On Rue Tatin by Susan Loomis
4. The Glovemaker by Stacia Brown
5. Astray by Emma Donoghue
6. The Doll's House by M J Arlidge
7. The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
8. The Cleaner of Chartres by Salley Vickers

The 20 Books of Summer Challenge..

#20booksofsummer

Cathy at Cathy 746 has a yearly challenge to read twenty books over the summer months starting on 1 June 2016 and running until 5 September 2016, and this year, I’ve decided to join her.

I'm always up for a bookish sort of challenge and as I need to clear some space on my book shelves I thought that this was a good challenge to get involved in. I'm not sure that I'll achieve the 20 books challenge but it's worth a try and in order to keep me motivated I'll be joining in with the rest on Twitter using the hashtag #20booksofsummer.

Astray by Emma Donoghue



I'm not usually an active reader of short stories but, occasionally, when I feel in the need for something lighter and less intrusive, I do enjoy dipping into well written short stories which bring something a little different to the table. Astray has been on my book shelf since it was first published and initially, I started to read the stories one by one, but then, as always, with so many other books to read, I read a couple of stories and then put the book back on the shelf, and promptly forgot about it.

Reacquainting myself with the book for my 20 Reads of Summer challenge has been like entering into a wonderful literary world. Fourteen cleverly adapted true stories, each with a little bit of a fictional edge, and which collectively take you on a journey through time, from Victorian London to Cape Cod. All give a fascinating insight into human frailty and intrepid enterprise.

I enjoyed some stories more than others, but what I found most fascinating was how all the stories, although not inter-related in any way, all blend seamlessly together to form a cohesive whole.

Books read in my 20 Reads of Summer Challenge

Origins of Love by Kishwar Desai
The Emperor of Paris by  C S Richardson
On Rue Tatin by Susan Loomis
The Glovemaker by Stacia Brown
Astray by Emma Donoghue

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The 20 Books of Summer Challenge

#20booksofsummer

Cathy at Cathy 746 has a yearly challenge to read twenty books over the summer months starting on 1 June 2016 and running until 5 September 2016, and this year, I’ve decided to join her.

I'm always up for a bookish sort of challenge and as I need to clear some space on my book shelves I thought that this was a good challenge to get involved in. I'm not sure that I'll achieve the 20 books challenge but it's worth a try and in order to keep me motivated I'll be joining in with the rest on Twitter using the hashtag #20booksofsummer.

The Glovemaker by Stacia M. Brown

I picked up this book primary because it's set in London in the years just after the death of King Charles 1 and the idea that a young mother could be incarcerated after the death of her baby and on such flimsy evidence of wrongdoing was intriguing. I didn't know that there has been an act passed in 1624 to prevent the destroying and murdering of bastard children, how dreadful a crime does that sound?

When a baby is found buried in the woods, all blame seems to be laid laid squarely on Rachel Lockyer, an unmarried glove maker who had an illicit affair with the political agitator, William Walwyn. This is the story of how Rachel, by concealing the dead child, was considered to be guilty of murder, and what then follows is the story of her incarceration in the notorious Newgate prison, and of her subsequent trial and devastating sentence.

Blending fact with fiction The Glove Maker should have been an interesting look at both the social and political history of puritan London, but I'm afraid to say that the book was something of a disappointment. There are some really interesting facts about the Levellers and of their political significance in the early part of the seventeenth century which I enjoyed reading, but overall the book lacked a certain oomph and sadly, it never really progressed sufficiently to maintain my interest.

On Rue Tatin by Susan Herrmann Loomis

This is a nicely done story of French life which looks at the small quirks that make up the minutiae of day to day living. Interspersed with culinary tit bits this is one of those lovely little stories which you can dip into and out of at whim and still find something interesting to read.

The author, Susan Loomis talks about her decision to move to France in 1980, and of her early start as a student of French cuisine ,through to her subsequent marriage to Micheal Loomis, and of their decision to settle in Louviers, in a house on the Rue Tatin which was in need of some renovation work!

The story caught my attention and I enjoyed the Gallic feel of the narrative which reminded me so much of the little French towns I have passed through whilst on Holiday in Normandy and Brittany. I especially enjoyed reading the recipes which are interspersed at regular intervals, there is one for
Melting Apple Custard which sounds delicious.

More details about The 20 Books of Summer Challenge 

and also here at Cathy 746

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The 20 Books of Summer Challenge...

Well, as promised, I am making a start with the first two books in my 20 Summer Reads Challenge.

The reviews won't be as detailed as some but I will link all of my twenty reads onto my blog via Goodreads.

Anyone who want to follow my reviews on Goodreads can find me as Jaffareadstoo...

Or follow the hashtag #20BooksofSummer on Twitter

Origins of Love by Kishwar Desai
#20 Books of Summer

Against her better judgement, Simran Singh is a social worker who is involved in a clinic in Delhi which specialises in surrogacy and the risky business of providing babies for those who have enough money to rent-a-womb. There is no doubt that for some unscrupulous providers this is a very lucrative trade,and for those who operate the clinic it would seem that money is the prime objective. However, for Simran, the very human cost of this enterprise is seen in the small baby who lies abandoned and alone after being born with IVF and in the pregnant women who are used, abused and used as commodities to be bought and sold.

This is an interesting story, the moral implications are there and are crafted very carefully and it’s good to see that Simran offers a still small voice of calm in an increasingly complicated situation. I enjoyed watching this story unfold, and thought that Ben and Kate, a young infertile couple from London, added an altogether different perspective to, what is a very complex and emotional subject.

Enjoyed it.

The Emperor of Paris by C.S. Richardson
#20 Books of Summer

It took me a while to get into this one, not because its poorly written, far from it, the prose is really well considered and beautifully expressed; it’s just that the quiet introspection of life in Paris during the early part of the twentieth century needed studied concentration.

It’s the story of Emile Notre-Dame, the thinnest baker in all of Paris, his wife Immacolata and their son Octavio; it’s also about Isabeau, a scarred beauty who works in the underground archives of the Louvre and who loves the escape that art and literature brings to her fractured world. And then there’s an artist with a fine eye for expressive detail and book seller called Henri who has a magical world stored away. All very different but whose lives are shaped and made more special because of their connection.

It’s a story about hopes and dreams, love and loss, and the tangible evidence that we all need something special in our lives. And it’s also about books and their ability to transform our world with written magic.

Henri said, “The old man claimed you could tell what a book looked like by closing your eyes and feeling it. I would run my fingers along the spines, as you are now, for hours on end guessing at the colours and leathers and lines and foils and embosses…”

Lovely.

More details about The 20 Books of Summer Challenge 

and also here at Cathy 746

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