Folks, I am shocked that my last book review on here dates back to October 2018. Unbelievable. Despite the lack of said reviews within my bookshelf series, I have been reading several books and I now have quite a bit of backlog in terms of book reviews to share, starting off with some of my recent reads in 2020 in todays instalment, The Bookshelf #5. I do plan on featuring the books I read in 2019 but silly old me didn’t take any notes so that might take a bit longer to put together.
Some of the books I have read so far this year have been physical copies, such as those pictured above whereas others have been on my kindle. In this post, and those going forward I will be reviewing those I read on the kindle as well as physical copies which is why not all of those mentioned today will be shown in the picture. As always, I won’t give away spoilers (to the best of my ability) just in case you haven’t read any of these books yourself.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris – ★★★★★
I had high expectations of this book from the get-go due to the numerous reviews I had read online, along with it becoming a best seller in the Amazon charts. It felt like this book was everywhere at the beginning of the year, it was hard to avoid and in the end, when it dropped to 99p on Amazon I decided to give it a go. In a nutshell, I enjoyed this book a lot which is why I then read Cilka’s Journey pretty much straight afterwards. Cilka’s Journey is a sequel which follows the journey of a different character from this book. In respect of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I wouldn’t say it is the most well written, however, this didn’t take away the enjoyment of the read for me. The story was interesting and insightful, which was only enhanced by it being based on the true story of Slovakian Jew, Lale Sokolov who is taken to the former German Nazi concentration camp during WW2 known as Auschwitz. I liked the fact that the story was based on a true account, even if some of the names and certain aspects had been tweaked to of course protect privacy but to also add something fictional along with the reality. I think it is a beautiful, yet heartbreaking story surrounding the lives of those within the camp in which the events of such a monumental historical period bring together two people in one of the most difficult of times.
Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris – ★★★★★
The follow on from The Tattooist of Auschwitz follows the journey of Cilka as the name would suggest who, once becoming free from Auschwitz upon liberation is caught up within the compounds of a Gulag which, in the day were forced labour camps. Now, I won’t say why she ends up in the labour camp as that would provide spoilers not just for this book but also for The Tattooist of Auschwitz, which of course I don’t intend to do, however, once in the labour camp we find ourselves on a journey that I wasn’t really aware existed. By that I mean that once the concentration camps were liberated I had assumed (wrongly) that survivors of said camps were free to go home, to live their lives as free men and women yet here is an example of that not being the end of what was already an horrific deal for many, long after the end of the Nazi regime. Whilst this is based on a true story, not much is known about Cilka so for the majority of this book I treated it as fiction. I enjoyed the story immensely and found Cilka’s character to be strong, determined and admirable, even in the face of adversity. If you liked The Tattooist of Auschwitz then I will have no doubt that you will enjoy this too.
The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken by The Secret Barrister – ★★★
Oh the pain, well, not quite a pain but gosh I found this hard to plough on through. I wanted to love it, I truly did, especially being in the legal profession myself. I found it to be long-winded, over-complicated and somewhat overhyped and dare I say, dull. It could have been magnificent, I would have liked more humour and perhaps a more grounded opinion on the subject. In truth, I felt like I couldn’t connect with the writer as they were, for me, somehow on a pedestal that I couldn’t be part of. Parts of the book were interesting which is why I gave it three stars, and I would say that for the most part, that the writer had a valid point; I just think it could have come across a bit better. It is surely plain to see that the Criminal Justice System within England and Wales is in a poor state, this, in my opinion, starts from the very beginning at the initial policing stage and runs right through to sentencing, I also include here the prison system. The main reason is due to lack of funding and of course legal aid, the two go hand in hand and unfortunately, this seems to go down every year making it very difficult for those that need it to even access it. I don’t think we need a book to make that clear, however, I do think that there is a place for this book. Perhaps we should all read it, even if it does take several months of our time.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon – ★★★★
I have had this book on my bookshelf for easily eight years, maybe more. I used to work for a well-known bookstore which is where the majority of my hard copy paperbacks came from. Most end up at the charity shop ultimately but not until I have read them of course. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the most unique books I have ever read. The main character is a fifteen-year-old boy called Christopher who I understand has Aspergers Syndrome or a form of Autism and it is written throughout in his point of view. It is written as he sees the world which at times can be endearing, frustrating and relatively simple, so much so that I wish I could see things without complicating them further. I enjoyed it, although I found some of the illustrations in the book (particularly the mathematical ones) went straight over my head. Ultimately the book is about Christopher’s investigation into who kills the neighbours’ dog, there is a wider story around this which becomes apparent towards the end of the book. All in all, a lovely read but I am not too sure how much it is true to those who suffer from Aspergers or Autism as I do not know enough about the conditions myself.
The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse – ★★
A bit like the above book, I have had this for ages too so I used the lockdown period to my advantage and finally sat down to read it. I have only read one book by Kate Mosse before and I really enjoyed it, however this time I felt a bit underwhelmed upon finishing The Winter Ghosts. I liked the concept of the story which involves the main character Freddie who lost his brother in the war. It tells a tale of his grief, mixed in with a ghost story which for some reason I didn’t cotton onto, despite the title of the book. This story is not in any sense remotely scary at all, trust me, I don’t do ghost stories. It’s a bit of a soft tale, so much so that I personally don’t feel that there is much of a story to be told. I feel like the book could have been over in half the pages and that the writer did, for want of a better word, waffle on a bit. In truth I think I was a bit generous in giving this three stars, I have since dropped it down to two.
Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce – ★★★★★
Now, onto one of my favourite reads in a while, we have Blood Orange which I picked up on the kindle. I first discovered this through Beths Bookclub which I have to say, has been fantastic for discovering new reads and discussing books with like-minded people who love books just as much as I do; I am so glad that I joined. Blood Orange to my knowledge is the first book from Harriet Tyce and I am already eagerly awaiting the next. It follows the story of our main character Alison, a defence Barrister who juggles her working life and family life. Made more complicated by a secret affair and a challenging relationship with her husband. The whole story from start to finish had me gripped, more so than any other book for a long time. I found it to be dark, creepy and captivating; I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anybody.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – ★★★★
The award for the prettiest cover here goes to The Night Circus but how did the book fair up? Well, I liked it but I didn’t love it. I wish I could have given it five stars but I’m learning what really makes a good book for me and unfortunately, this just didn’t quite make the cut. I liked the storyline in general, although for me it lacked passion between the two main characters. I can overlook that however as on a whole, the book was beautifully written. It was very descriptive, whimsical almost. For me if you’re looking for an action-packed adventure, be that of the fantasy kind or not then this book is not for you. It’s slow, airy, and not that much happens in truth. There was for me a lack of build-up to what I thought would be a huge climax but in the end, nothing really happens. I actually struggle on how to write a review for this, it’s one of the strangest books I’ve read in a long time, I feel like I need to re-read it to try and make sense of it. I have given it 4 stars, I don’t know why and how I can justify that when I struggle to still make sense of it.
The Familiars by Stacey Halls – ★★★★★
A debut novel from Stacey Halls and a great one at that. I read this earlier on this year and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This had an enchanting twist to it due to the witchcraft element and, to some extent a gothic feel. I think because I have an interest in witchcraft and the women who were persecuted underneath such accusations during the 15th -17th Centuries that this helped me to enjoy this book and connect with it even more. I believe that this is loosely based on the Pendle Witch Trials in England during the 16th Century, although I haven’t looked into it that far. The story follows our main character, Fleetwood Shuttleworth who is a noble lady that is married and under pressure to produce an heir, whereby after seeking the help of a midwife after several miscarriages, the story unfolds into a tale based on prejudice, friendship, strength, betrayal and defiance. This has been one of my favourite historical fiction books in a very long time and I am eagerly awaiting the next release from the author.
If you have made it to the end then I thank you. I would love to hear about any recent reads of yours and of course any recommendations. Finally, if you have read any of the above books then please do share your thoughts on them below as I would be so interested to hear what you thought of them.
Lastly, I am on Goodreads so, without requesting a follow, it would be wonderful to see some new people over there so that we can share recent reads and our book challenges!
