„Tread softly because you tread on my dreams“ (Original quotation from a Poem by W.B. Yeats, page 64)
Content
This beautifully illustrated book is a collection of poems, some well-know, some known but forgotten, and others that might be new for the reader. The different poems are grouped together by topics: Musings, Youth, Family, Love, Imaginings, Nature, War, Endings.
I found my
favorite poem by W.B. Yeats, as well as poems by Lord Byron and Dylan Thomas,
together with song texts by Nick Care and Leonard Cohen. One of the poems that
deeply impressed me is “Outgrown” by Penelope Shuttle.
Conclusion
This collection definitely are poems to live your life by, an enjoyable book that is not meant to be read and shelved, but to be taken whenever you need time to reflect and unwind.
Ein wunderschön illustriertes Buch, das eine Sammlung von
Gedichten enthält, Gedichte, die man kennt, Gedichte, die man längst vergessen
hatte und auch Gedichte, die man bisher nicht kannte. Die Werke sind nach Thema
gruppiert, es geht um Jugend und Ende, Familie, Liebe, Krieg, Natur,
Träumereien und Phantasiegestalten.
Hier fehlt auch mein Lieblingsgedicht von W.B. Yeats nicht,
es ziert sogar als Auszug die Rückseite des Buches. Wir finden Lord Byron,
Dylan Thomas, natürlich Klassiker wie William Shakespeare, aber auch Songtexte,
zum Beispiel Nick Cave und Leonard Cohen. Doch es sei nicht zu viel verraten,
es ist eine breit gefächerte Sammlung, es macht Spaß, sich überraschen zu
lassen und Neues zu entdecken.
Sicher kein Buch, das man durchliest und dann ins Regal
stellt, sondern ein Gedichtband, den man gerne immer wieder zur Hand nimmt, um
nachzudenken und zu entspannen, oder einfach zum Vergnügen.
“But as I stared at my new home, I felt a curious urge to ask Heckling to turn the carriage around and drive me back to Norwich, where I might sit on a bench at Thorpe Station until the sun came up and then return to London, a job badly done.” (Original citation page 70)
Content
When her father suddenly had died, 21-year-old schoolteacher Eliza Caine wants to leave London and applies for the position of a governess at Gaudlin Hall in Norfolk. Her job begins in October 1867. When she arrives, she meets the two children, she will look after, 12-year-old Isabella Westerley and her younger brother Eustace, 8 years old. They seem to live alone in this grand country house. There is Mrs. Livermore who cooks and cleans but she lives in the nearby village. Soon Eliza learns that she is not the first governess coming here, but only one of them is still alive, because the house is full of secrets and terrifying things happen. Nevertheless, she is determined to not abandon the two children.
Theme and Genre
A gripping ghost story in the best tradition of the famous 19th century gothic novels, including a dark house with secrets and supernatural mysteries, and a brave heroine. The narrative takes place in England, in the year 1867.
Characters
Isabella and Eustace are very well educated children, but they are very quiet, severely traumatized by the circumstances of the death of their mother. Eliza is missing her father, but she has a very brave character, not willing to give up when she can solve some of the mysteries surrounding Gaudlin Hall and the two children. It is typical for this kind of gothic novels that the reader likes the heroine and fears for her.
Plot and Writing
The exciting, creepy story is written in the first person, told by Eliza, the governess. As Eliza begins to ask people, she and the reader learn about past events that explain some of the occurrences happening in the present. Unforeseeable twists until the last pages stress the captivating storyline.
Conclusion
A spine-chilling gothic novel that makes the reader shiver and unable to stop reading. Perfect for enjoyable reading hours on dark winter afternoons and stormy evenings.
„Eliminate ignorance, Dickens dreamed in his Carol. Eliminate want. A tall order then, and a tall order now.” (Original citation page 226)
Theme and Genre
This book is part a specific biography of Charles Dickens, part a historical overview about live conditions in London around the middle of the 19th century. It also gives a detailed description and complete overview of literature, writing and of publishing during those times, between family enterprises and booksellers who began to set up the whole production process of their books.
But most of
all this is the loveable story about one of the most wonderful Christmas books,
“A Christmas Carol”, about the idea behind the ghostly story, the realization
and what Dickens wanted to tell his readers. He wanted to touch them, making
them laugh and cry at the same time and to re-new the Christmas spirit. Which
he does until today.
Conclusion
A non-fiction story, written in a poetic prose, as delightful to read as the original story. A book for everybody who knows values and loves the Seasonal Writings of Charles Dickens.
„That’s why I call this place the Haunted Bookshop. Haunted by the ghosts of the books I haven’t read.” (Original quotation pos. 1251)
Content
The main protagonists of Parnassus on Wheels, Roger Mifflin and Helen McGill, now are married and own a second-hand bookstore in Brooklyn. Roger Mifflin loves books and he definitely loves the art of bookselling. When Aubrey Gilbert, a young advertising agent visits the shop, he too fells under the spell of the books – and under the spell of Miss Titania Chapman, the new apprentice. Then some strange things happen – a special book Carlyle’s Oliver Cromwell, is missing, back the next day and missing again – is this bookstore really haunted?
Theme and Genre
This novel, published in 1919 as a sequel to Parnassus on Wheels, again is a story about books, readers, writers and literature. Again, there is also room for romantic, love and not only love for books and a mystic crime.
Characters
Roger and Helen are charming and likeable, as well as Titania and the sometimes a little bit clumsy Aubrey
Plot and Writing
The setting, Brooklyn just after the end of WWI, is described in a very vivid way, which makes this book an enjoyable, interesting read. A humorous authorial narrator tells the story, and the events that happen to our protagonists are unsettling but funny too.
Conclusion
A book that every booklover will enjoy, but also for readers who like a good story located in a bookstore.
„As I stood in the still air of the studio, the moonlight entering the window and falling upon the desk, I knew somehow there was something waiting for me.“ (Citation page 68)
Content
Ivy is a children’s books illustrator who has moved together with her husband Stuart from London back to Cornwall, where she grew up. Now that she finally is pregnant she misses her mother, who had died five years ago, even more. When she gets her mother’s desk for her studio, she finds one of her mother’s beautiful Christmas cards, unfinished, a card, Ivy had seen never before.It is going to be Christmas at Sea Cottage, their new home, and magic is in the air.
Theme and Genre
This is a romantic, heartwarming Christmas story about the strong ties between mothers and their daughters. It is also about friedship and beautiful Cornwall.
Characters
Ivy Stuart is still missing her mother, but now that she knows that she will soon be a mother, things have changed and she feels really happy. There too are her friends and the nice old ladies, close friends of her mother. Cloudsea has charming, enjoyable Cornish characters who welcome the reader.
Plot and Writing
A beautifully written, magical story, not only about Christmas, but about life and new chances. It takes place in a Cornish village with beach walks, but also stormy Winter days. The story is told by Ivy, wtitten in the first person.
Conclusion
A magical, romantic book, that takes the reader to a cosy Cornish village. A perfect Christmas read that will make you laugh and cry, but it’s the uplifting feelings that will remain with a smile on your face.
“This moon made the night extraordinary penetrable and showed me on the lawn a person, diminished by distance, who stood there motionless and as if fascinated, looking up to where I had appeared looking, that is, not so much straight at me as at something that was apparently above me.” (Citation pos. 1100)
Content
The Turn of the Screw
“This moon
made the night extraordinary penetrable and showed me on the lawn a person,
diminished by distance, who stood there motionless and as if fascinated,
looking up to where I had appeared looking, that is, not so much straight at me
as at something that was apparently above me.” (Citation pos. 1100)
A wealthy
Gentleman from London, guardian for his nephew and niece, looks for a governess
and hires a young woman. The two children live in his country home in Essex.
Flora, the little girl, is beautiful, well educated and just loveable and after
just one hour, she and her new governess have become friends. Her elder
brother, Miles, too is a beautiful child, gentle, with good manners. Everything
seems to be absolutely perfect – but things are not always, as they seem to be.
A famous,
celebrated and well-known Gothic novella.
The Romance of Certain Old Cloths
“One of
these days my daughter shall wear them – my rings and my laces and silks.”
(Citation pos. 2364)
Two
sisters, Rosalind and Perdita, fall in love with the same man, Mr. Arthur
Lloyd, who marries Perdita. Perdita dies in childbed. Arthur has to promise her
to keep her chest with all her belongings and beautiful dresses for their
daughter. After some time, Arthur marries Rosalind and she is very curious
about the chest.
An American
Gothic tale.
The Ghostly Rental
“The last
red light of the sunset disengaged itself, as it was about to vanish, and
rested faintly for a moment on the time-silvered front of the old house.”
(Citation pos. 2540)
One grey
December afternoon, the narrator, a young Cambridge student, takes an old road
to shorten his way. He comes to a house in an orchard of old apple-trees and he
is curious about the house. The house is haunted, he is told, but he feels that
there must be more, some secret. So he returns to the place and one day he sees
a mysterious old man enter the house. He has several more meetings with the old
man, Captain Diamond. One day in September, the old man sends for the narrator,
he is dying and has one favor to ask.
Sir Edmund Orme
“From the
first time of her seeing me she had been sure there were things I should not
escape knowing.” (Citation pos. 3224)
It is
season in Brighton and the un-named narrator falls in love with charming
Charlotte Marden. Her mother has a secret and one day something happens and the
narrator shares the secret of Mrs. Marden.
A ghost story
told by an outer narrator and based on a written report of the events by the
inner narrator.
Owen Wingrave
“He talked
about the ‘immeasurable misery’ of wars, and asked me why nations don’t tear to
pieces the governments, the rulers that go in for them.” (Citation pos. 3881)
Young Owen
Wingrave is prepared for a brilliant military career like all his ancestors,
but he prefers Goethe and books to the military life of a soldier. Therefore,
his coach Spencer Coyle, his best friend and family members come together at
Paramore House, the home of the Wingraves, the house with a haunted room, where
no one ever sleeps. Owen is against war, but not a coward as assumed by his
family and is ready to proof it.
The Friends of the Friends
“Certainly they ought to meet, my friend and
he; certainly they would have something in common.” (Citation pos. 4406)
Their
friends think that they should meet: she had been abroad with her aunt when she
sees her father waiting for her in a museum – it was the moment he had dies
back at home in England. He had been a student in Oxford many years ago, when
he saw his mother waiting in his room – it was the day when she had died in
Wales. However, for years all appointments for some reasons failed.
The Real Right Thing
“The first
night our young man was alone in the room it seemed to him that his master and
he were really for the first time together.” (Citation pos. 4895)
Mrs. Doyne
asks George Withermore, a writer and journalist, to write a biography about her
husband Ashton Doyle, who had suddenly died some months ago. Doyne, a well-known
writer and young Withermore had been very close friends. George is allowed to
work in Ashton’s study, to go through his documents and papers to get
information for the biography on his friend. After some time, George has a
negative feeling while writing about Ashton.
The Third Person
“The person
the elder of the pair had seen in her room was not – well, just simply was not
any one in from outside.” (Citation pos. 5244)
Miss Susan
and Miss Amy, second grade cousins, have inherited an old house in Marr and the
will said it should be sold. But they both were so happy about the house; they
liked it and decided to live there together, in the house of their anchestors.
One day they find a small chest full of old papers and they ask the vicar to do
some researches.
A humorous
ghost story.
The Jolly Corner
“For me it
is lived in, for me it is furnished.” (Citation pos. 5869)
Spencer
Brydon left New York with twenty-three and returned thirty-three years later.
Owner of several houses, family property, he had lived in Europe from the
leases and has come back for some renovation and construction works. Just one
of the houses remains as it is with its great, grey, empty rooms.
A story
about alternative futures and possibilities.
Conclusion
A selection of the famous Gothic ghost stories by Henry James. Family secrets and spooky tales about the unknown, the mysterious in life and occurrences that remain inexplicable. A perfect read for dark winter days.
„The most important thing of all he said was to only do what I was good at, not to struggle with the rest.“ (Quotation page 224)
Content
The elegant, timeless and famous Athina Farrell is the figurehead of the House of Farrell. Once very famous cosmetic brand, but meanwhile a little bit old fashioned, is the company almost insolvent. A group of investors is ready to give the Farrell a new but last chance. Bianca Bailey, a smart businesswoman and very successful, high-profile financial expert, has the knowledge and brilliant ideas, but many changes are to be made in the family leaded company. The matriarch Athina Farrell is absolutely not open to new ideas, if not her own and she is still powerful – would she risk the future of the famous House of Farrell?
Theme and Genre
This interesting, thrilling story is about family lead companies, about cosmetics and new markets in our modern world. It is also about family, love, feelings, about social media and bullying, and the problems of very successful working moms.
Characters
The characters are interesting, well drawn and most of them likeable. Bianca, who wants to succeed in saving the company and who knows that it will work, has problems to connect her intense job with her family live as a mother of three. Florence Hamilton, director of the famous Farrell flagship store at Berkeley Arcade for many years, is just loveable. Athina Farrell, stylish but with traditional business ideas is a legend and still sees the House of Farrell as her own, not willing to cooperate with Bianca.
Plot and Writing
The story is intense, because it is much more than the exciting question, if and how the famous House of Farrell is saved. It is about decision-making and the twists, troubles and happiness in the personal lives of everybody intertwined. The author switches between the persons, and they all have their own stories. In my opinion, that is why this book is so unputdownable, together with the naturally flowing, readable language.
Conclusion
This book could be described as a saga and generational fiction of a family owned famous cosmetic
brand, but what it makes a really captivating and delightful reading are the
personal stories of the members of the family Farrell, all the persons working at
Farrell and in Bianca’s team. A perfect book for enjoyable, exciting hours of
reading.
“Compose the perfect perfume and it will live on like a song, forever.” (Quotation pos. 2765)
Content
Del Jameson has learnt how to create perfumes from her Nan. She had applied for the Leclére Parfumerie competition, was chosen and invited to Paris where the competition takes place. Her mentor is Sebastien, the son of the deceased patriarch Vincent. During the competition, Del has to blend a dream and she is thinking about her dream to own a small perfume shop in New York, but as it comes out, instead of NYC she has created Paris. Would she be able to follow her dreams, but be open to changes?
Theme and Genre
This romantic novel tells us about flowers, scents and how to imbottle feelings into perfumes. It is also about self-confidence, following a dream and about family.
Plot, Characters and Writing
The story is told by Del, the main protagonist, who has to trust herself to create perfect fragrances as asked during the competition. She is lovable and is kind of a perfume whisperer, but still is missing self-confidence when it comes to her own plans and her own life.
The writing
style is fluent, paints sparkling pictures of Paris and the Provence and
creates magical scents.
Conclusion
A romantic read about the magic of creating perfumes in Paris, the city of love. Perfect for sleepless nights and delightful reading afternoons.
“The parents’ desperate expressions indicate that they would like to believe that it isn’t their fault after all, for leaving their baby alone” (original quote, page 23)
Content
Anne and her husband Marco are invited to dinner by their neighbors next door. When the babysitter cancels, they leave their six months old daughter sleeping in her crib at home, checking every thirty minutes if she is fine. When they come home at around one-thirty, the front door is open and the crib empty!
Theme and Genre
This psychological thriller is about parenting, postnatal depression and kidnapping. Which makes this story special is the fact, that it does not only focus on the criminal acts and research, but on the different characters of the persons involved. It shows how one single decision can change a life forever in a way that could not have been foreseen.
Plot and Writing
The gripping story is much more than a typical whodunit. The plot develops and shows the reader the idea and motivation of one of the persons involved, but then continues with disturbing and surprising twists, which does not allow the reader to put the book down again before the last page.
Conclusion
A gripping, disturbingly realistic plot, which captivates the reader with its unforeseeable twists.
„Her face is like a peaceful sea, its depths suspected by no one.“ (page 17)
Content
Paul and Myriam live in Paris. They have two children, babyboy Adam and a little girl, Mila. Myriam, a lawyer, after a happy time as a mother, desperately wants to go back to work. When a former classmate offers her a job in his law firm, she is looking for a nanny. Miriam with her arabic roots definitely does not want a North African nanny for her children. Then comes Louisa, a blonde widow over 40 and perfect. Soon Louise becomes an indispensable part of the family …
Theme and Genre
This psychological thriller is about modern parenting, the difficult job of nannies, the complex place they have in the family they work for. This novel also shows how class and race can influence the whole life of a person.
Characters
Myriam, happy mother of two, with the months as a housewife passing, falls into a serious depression. Back in the law firm, she works on her carrier, often overhours, and sometimes feels bad about it. She also prefers to neglect small signs that should alert her.
For
Paul it was normal to earn the money for his family and their privileged
upper-class life. He wants to share part of it with Louisa. For him too, Louisa
is the perfect nanny and when Myriam begins to be worried, he is convinced that
she just overreacts.
Louisa
loves the children and wants to be needed and be part of the family.
Plot and Writing
The book begins with telling the end, but this does not make the story less gripping. As reader you try to scan every sentence for hints, how and when things changed and led to what happened.
Leila
Slimani is a captivating storyteller, switching between persons and their
memories and descriptions of the life in Paris, comparing the different living
conditions, while moving the plot forward.
Conclusion
A disturbing psychological thriller about the problems of mothers reconciling job and family and the questions of every parent, if the nanny their children grow up with can really be trusted. A dark, gripping page-turner.
„When you know someone’s pissed about what you’re writing – when you know you’re potentially in danger – that’s when you know you’re doing your job.“ (quotation page 36)
Content
Lela Falcon, reporter, is researching a story about a company called Undertown, that had now ownes a building connected to Lela’s first story, many years ago, about the serial killer Tusk. Now his sign, a red right hand appears again. He is dead – is he? Together with her niece Hannah, Mike Juniper, Josh, intern at her editor and his friend Derek, a genious of a hacker, she tries to stop an ancient dark force that is about to change the world through an internet virus.
Theme and Genre
This thrilling story is a combination of magic, horror and modern technology. It is gripping and makes you hope for the lives of the protagonists that try everything to stop the dark forces.
Conclusion
A book that makes you unable to put down, but for readers like me too much of „traditional horror“ with ugly figures to fight. I was hoping for more IT and dark net instead. But with the story developing and going on, it absolutely convinced me, drove me forward until the end. Definitely a book for readers that like the horror-genre and authors like Stephen King.
“But as our eyes adjust to the gloom, lit by a solitary light bulb in each room, Lucy and I gasp, because the only thing this place is, it could ever have been, is a bookshop.” (Quotation page 70)
Content
They are friends since University: Cath, Si (Simon), Josh and stunning Portia. While Portia has left to find her own way, Lucy, married to Josh, perfectly fits into the circle. Cath, successfully working for a London advertising agency, has an almost lifelong dream, to open a bookshop including a café and Lucy loves to cook and bake. Together they find a shop that had been empty for a long time, but is just perfect for them. Soon Bookends is open and running. Cath is very close to Si, her best friend, but while Si is trying everything to finally find the man of his life, Cath is sure that she definitely is not made for relationships. Maybe meeting kind, understanding James, their estate agent and a very talented painter, could make her rethink the advantages of her single life. Then Portia is back and with her exciting times.
Theme and Genre
This is not a book about literature and bookshops, but about friendship that lasts from the lighthearted student’s life to the different circle of life of adults who have to earn money, start a family and want to live their dreams. It is about misunderstandings and the fact that dealing with problems is easier if one has friends for support.
Characters
Cath, the main character, is single and happy with it, a little bit messy, but really cares for her friends, especially for Si, as he needs her. She just has to learn to trust herself and take care for her own happiness. Si is the perfect best friend as he loves to go shopping and is very good company. Lucy is an optimistic, loveable person and every character, such as Babysitter Ingrid, is special and well developed.
Plot and writing
This romantic story is written in the first person and told by Cath and is located in Hampstead, London, with interesting, precise descriptions of the surroundings and the urban lifestyle in busy London. There are some foreseeable and some unexpected twists as serious topics are entwined in the story.
Conclusion
A romantic, easy to read story about friendship, love, dreams and life – and about a bookshop. Entertaining, but with some lengths, because main protagonist Cath is just too indecisive in her behavior, with her thoughts circling almost endlessly around her fear to fall on love. I would have enjoyed to read a little bit more about the bookshop, café and its customers.
Two people in a car, driving on a cold winter day somewhere in the rural country. Jake and his girlfriend are going to visit his parents who live on a lonely farm. The girl is thinking about the future, but mostly about ending things. They could stay overnight but the girl wants to dive home, although it is late, snowing and freezing.
Theme and Genre
This is a gripping, dense, psychological thriller with many unforeseeable twists and chapters that seem not to fit into the story. A simple road trip that ends different from anything the reader would expect.
Characters
The girl, we do not even know her name, is thinking about ending things, maybe after having met his parents. She is scared by many calls and voice messages from a stranger, telling her “there is only one question”. Jack is intelligent and the girl seems somehow attracted to him.
Plot and Writing
It seems a simple car ride, written in the first person as told only by the girl and her thoughts. Interrupted by pieces of a written conversation that gives some frightening hints. A special twisted story, chilling and very entertaining the same time.
Conclusion
Words are missing to explain this gripping psychological thriller, the genius of the author, without giving too many hints. I would recommend just reading it and enjoying.
“Understanding prepares us for the future.” (Quotation pos. 433)
Content
When she was a child, Miranda Brooks loved it, when her Uncle Billy took her to his bookshop “Prospero Books”. The last time she saw him was on her twelfth birthday. After a serious argument with her mother, his sister, he just disappeared. After sixteen years, she gets a package with the book “The Tempest” inside. The same evening her mother tells her that Uncle Billy had died. He has left his bookshop to Miranda. She returns to Prospero Books, also to find out what had happened twelve years ago that had made Billy leave …
Theme and Genre
It is not only a story about reading, books (especially Shakespeare “The Tempest”) and the problems of independent bookstores, but about family and hidden secrets, lies and the importance to talk to one another.
Characters
Miranda is a history teacher when she inherits Prospero Books and hopes to save it and not to have to close it down. She is a quite pleasant main character, but during the story going on, she got just too stubborn about the family secrets. Especially her conduct towards her mother was just too much drama for me and not understandable for a grown-up person. While Malcolm, the manager of the bookstore and the regular visitors of the store and included café are interesting and likeable.
Plot and Writing
The story is written in the first person, told by Miranda. There are some flashbacks included directly into to story, where necessary for better understanding. The family secret is slowly revealed during the plot and that makes the story interesting and gripping, even if the reader at a certain point might guess the truth. I definitely have enjoyed the parts about literature and books.
Conclusion
A fine-spun plot and gripping story about literature and family secrets buried in the past. Although not always happy with the main character, I really did enjoy the story that gives the reader some pleasant, entertaining reading hours.
Dieses Buch ist auch bereits in deutscher Übersetzung unter
dem Titel „Ein Himmel voller Bücher“ erschienen. Schon der deutsche
Titel macht für mich überhaupt keinen Sinn, wenn der Rest der Übersetzung von
ähnlicher Qualität ist, sollte man wirklich das englische Original lesen. Es
ist ein unterhaltsamer Frauenroman, sprachlich angenehm zu lesen.
„I need to know you, and I need you to know me.“ (pos. 5225)
Content – Book Cover
On the quayside next to the Endless Beach sits the Summer Seaside Kitchen. It’s a haven for tourists and locals alike, who all come to eat the freshest local produce on the island and catch up with the gossip. Flora, who runs the cafe, feels safe and content – unless she thinks too hard about her relationship with Joel, her gorgeous but emotionally (and physically) distant boyfriend.
While Flora
is in turmoil about her relationship. her best friend Lorna is pining after the
local doctor. Saif came to the island as a refugee, having lost all of his
family. But he’s about to get some shocking news which will change everything
for him.
As cold
winter nights shift to long summer days, can Flora find her happy-ever-after
with Joel?
Theme and Genre
This book is part two of a series and it tells again the story and struggles of Flora and Joel, but this time the main part is about Colton and Fintan. One theme are the damages, war does to children. Another theme is foster care. The story is also about how to deal with cancer as a fatal disease. All these topics are embedded in a romantic feel-good-story on the fictional, beautiful island of Mure.
Characters
We meet again the characters known from book one and they still struggle between misunderstandings and feelings.
Plot and Writing
Jenny Colgan is an experienced author with an enjoyable writing style and she knows how to plot stories that are funny and sad in the same time. Even though part one of the series, The Summer Seaside Kitchen, is the first book of Jenny Colgan that could nor really convince me because of the endless misunderstandings that made the reading a little bit boring, I tried to give part two a chance. Again lots of thinking and misunderstandings, together with many – in my opinion too many – very serious themes in a very cozy story, which for me did not work.
Conclusion
A nice read for summer afternoons, a beautiful island, friendly people. A heartwarming story for romantic readers where even tragic ends in happily ever after – for me just too much of everything.
„When was the exact moment that I might have found some courage and for once in my life done the right thing?“ (Quotation page 341)
Content
In 1945, sixteen years old Catherine Goggin gets pregnant. As she refuses to name the father of the child to the Catholic priest during Mass, she has to immediately leave her home village Goleen and goes to Dublin. After birth, she gives her baby to a nun who has found parents with money and status for the child, that adopt the boy, calling him Cyrus. He first meets Julian Woodbead in 1952, when he is seven years old. In 1959, they meet again as roommates at Belvedere College. He adores Julian but there are also strange feelings, which he thinks to be just some sentimental misinterpretation of a fourteen years old. However, neglecting the truth leads to many years of hiding his secret, misunderstandings, travelling, until he finds his identity and place in life …
Theme and Genre
This epic novel could also be a biography. Main theme is homosexuality in the years where it still was forbidden, especially in Ireland under the pressure of the very strict rules of the Catholic Church and society. Another topic is AIDS in a time when people believed that only gay people could get it. The story of Cyril is also about friendship, compassion and how a lie can have big consequences.
Characters
Cyril, the main protagonist, tries to hide his feelings for Julian and his sexual orientation and it takes him many years to accept, who he is. Sometimes the situation makes him weak, deeply hurting other persons instead of just telling the truth. On the other hand, destiny bringst some twists and hazards into his life which are not his fault and which he has to handle. Therefore he remains likeable to the reader. This novel is full of interesting characters, their friendship, their struggles and especially the short scenes when Cyril and his real mother meet during the years without knowing who they are, are touching.
Plot and Writing
The novel is written like a biography, with Cyril as the first person narrative. He tells the story of his life in chronological order, beginning with the story of his birth 1945, which his mother many years later had told him, until 2015. There are many twists, changes of location that make the book gripping to read, very interesting how some of the characters in different times come into the story again. John Boyne shows a great feeling for the language and a fantastic ability of plot building.
Conclusion
A gripping, heartwarming but also entertaining story, that gives the reader every feeling between laughing and crying.
Deutsche Ausgabe: „Cyril Avery“ von John Boyne, Verlag: Piper, 2. Mai 2018, geb. Ausgabe 736 Seiten, ISBN-13: 978-3492058537
“A life without passion is a life half-lived.” (quotation pos. 1706)
Content
Verity Love prefers to be on her own, as she has a problem with crowds of people. Her job as admin of the bookshop “Happy Ever After”, former “Bookends”, fits her well. Tired of friends and family who try to do some matchmaking, she invents a fake boyfriend, but because of a misunderstanding, she has to present a total stranger, as her boyfriend. His name is Johnny and luckily enough, he too needs a girlfriend as company during a season of weddings and birthday parties. Both are happy to just be friends – are they?
Theme and Genre
This romantic novel brings us back to Posy and her bookshop, which is now running, and a success. This time the main character is Verity, the admin and accountant, who is an introvert, having a problem with crowds and is happy to live alone with her tomcat. Maybe this is because she grew up with four sisters and family is an important topic of the story as well as being stuck for years in an unhappy love.
Characters
Verity is special, but with the background of her youth easily to understand. Normally down-to-earth if she gets enough time to stay for her own, Johnny´s personal situation for her is not always understandable, but she wants to help him.
Johnny is
smart, good-looking but lost in his unhappy love. For me this character is
quite unbelievable in his behavior regarding Marissa.
Plot and Writing
The story starts with the idea of Johnny and Verity to present themselves to friends and family as couple in love so everybody stops to try any kind of matchmaking. As weeks pass by, the situation gets complicated and there are many misunderstandings between Verity and Johnny. Again, I was not really convinced by the story, but I liked this second book of the “Lonely Hearts Bookshop”-series more than the first one.
Conclusion
A story for fans of romantic fiction that is easy and entertaining to read, sometimes witty but with lengths regarding the endless misunderstandings between the two main-characters.
„All the secrets in the world worth knowing are hiding in plain sight.” (Pos. 3901)
Content
Clay Jannon, web-designer in San Francisco has lost his job and he finds a new one, working at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, but only the night shifts from 10 to 6. The shop looks quite small and offers a wide range of SF books, but deep in the background are huge shelves with very old, strange looking books. Clay notes that most clients do not buy books, but borrow one of these special books, bring it back and borrow another one. Therefore, this must be more than a normal bookstore. Together with his friends Mat and Neel, he begins with researches to reveal the story behind the bookshop that seems to be more a library, and its customers. However, not everybody likes these investigations and the organization in the background is powerful and dangerous.
Theme and Genre
This novel is not only about books and bookstores, but also about important knowledge and mysteries, hidden in books. IT market players like Google, the people and researches behind is also a topic.
Characters
Clay Jannon is more than a book-nerd and he definitely changes, his self-confidence growing with the dangers. He and his friends are witty, likeable specialists.
Plot and Writing
The novel is written in the first-person point of view, told by Clay Jannon. The language is enjoyable and humorous. The story is interesting and thrilling and there is some magic and mystery woven into the plot. This together makes the book a real page-turner.
The author has also written a short prequel pf 112 pages about how Mr.
Penumbra came to the bookstore: “Ajax Penumbra: 1969”, Kindle Edition, which I
have read first.
Conclusion
A gripping story for booklovers, with mysteries and exciting turns and likeable protagonists. Perfect for a weekend lost in a book.
“You know you’ve been cooped up writing for too many hours when the weak October sun seems unbearably bright and everything sort of shimmers.” (page 384)
Content
The newborn Alice Rose was abandoned in the Yorkshire moors near Haworth. Her father by adoption loves her and so does Lola, her best friend. She loves to bake and when her father by adoption suddenly dies, she works as a baker and pastry chef, until she finally returns to Haworth, hoping to find the woman who abandoned her. She has bought a little teashop that needs lots of work and renovation until she can start her afternoon tea emporium. But she has found friends who help her – with her teashop and with the research to find out who she is …
Theme and Genre
This is the story about adoption and the questions arising about the real parents, about abandonment, but most of all about having a dream, about friendship, helping together, and about baking (recipes included at the end of the book). The setting in Cornwall gives the reader a holiday feeling and there is enough humor and romance to make this book a perfect summer read.
Characters
Trisha Ashley writes about loveable, quite funny and special persons, easily to be found in small villages. Especially the member of the Giddings family, helpful and welcoming to Alice, warmhearted people, I liked every single person of them. There are two quite stubborn, old-fashioned, witty waitresses, helping Alice to reopen the teashop. Alice, the main character is used to be abandoned, sometimes just because and sometimes by fate. Also struggling she keeps her hopes, dreams and moves on to make things happen. Sometimes sad, but never lamenting, she believes in solutions and maybe wonders.
Plot and Writing
There are three entwined storylines, what makes this book special and gives exciting turns. The story begins with a prologue in 1978, the story of the abandoned baby, told by the woman, who is her mother, between the chapters of Alice today, 36 years old, and her struggles to make a go of the run-down old teashop. The third story is a fairy tale, but with new interpretations, written by Alice, mainly during long nights. Especially this third story is very funny and lets the reader sometimes laugh aloud – as the whole story does. The author has a big sense for creating funny situations and makes the story an enjoyable read.
Conclusion
A story about some bad times, but lots of good times, of friendship, about the comfort of small villages and about delicious baking. Written with a good sense of humor and romance. A book for readers who love settings in Cornwall, bakeries, funny misunderstandings and who enjoy entertaining stories. Perfect for a relaxing and comfortable weekend.
“Everything in life has its time to happen. A time to plant, a time to grow and a time to harvest. And if you take things steady, you´ll bring your harvest home.” (Citation pos. 3113)
Content
Hanna Casey had lived in London, when she divorced after almost 30 years of marriage. Therefore, she came back to Crossarra to live with her mother and she works as librarian of Lissbeg Library. Her great-aunt Maggie had left her old house to Hanna, and with the help of old Fury O’Shea, a local builder, she is going to restore it and make it her home.
Conor is
Hanna’s assistant at the library and in his opinion, the library could be
really changed and successful. But Hanna would have to change things, be more
relaxed about her stringent rules and open to new ideas.
When the
Government plans to invest in the area, to close the library and move it to
Carrick everything changes. In the convent garden of her former school, Hanna
meets Sister Michael and step-by-step plans are developed how to fight back …
Theme and Genre
This is the story about a small village somewhere at the west coast of Ireland and the people living there. Different Governmental ideas about town and area development together with property speculations are an issue too. It is also about family, relationships between parents and children, between neighbors and inhabitants of small places, gossip and misunderstandings. It definitely is a story about books, readers and book lovers and about the beauty of nature of an Irish landscape.
Characters
The author introduces the reader to a quite complicated main character, Hanna, who still mentally struggles about her failed marriage. But as the story continues, Hanna slowly changes, ready to be more open to other people and ready to call Crossarra the place where she now belongs. There may still be many misunderstandings between her and her mother, but family always sticks together, when necessary.
We also
meet different people living in the village community: Conor, the young book
lover with modern ideas about networking and libraries open to everybody, Fury
the builder, an old individualist, special but with a great heart and Sister
Michael, the old nun, a wise and excellent strategist, and many others. Each of
the characters is understandable and likeable.
Plot and Writing
As the story develops, it is interesting to see how everybody in the area starts to get together, the old-fashioned social networking as it was found for centuries in rural structures comes to life again, but combined with modern social media.
Conclusion
I have enjoyed every page of the book, there are no lengths in this story. I really liked the different characters and recommend this enjoyable, cozy read for a pleasant weekend, ready to be carried off to an imaginary trip to libraries and a small village in Ireland.
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