Susan and her Books

me-myshelf-and-i replied to your post: Hello! I was wondering if you could recommend any…

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey Legend (Legend, #1) by Marie Lu Prodigy (Legend, #2) by Marie Lu I’ve done reviews for these and I enjoyed them. Now I’m reading The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken, which falls under this category. Hope this helps!

I’ve heard good things about the Legend Series, thanks for the recommendations :)

daianara replied to your post: Hello! I was wondering if you could recommend any…

Margaret Atwood-The handmaid’s tale and George Orwell-1984. Those two are a must is you’re looking for dystopian themed novels.

Those are two of my favourites too, in particular The handmaids tale, I didn’t include them because there not really YA and don’t have especially romantic sub plots in them. But they are definitely great books that I would encourage anyone to read :)

daguchna answered your question: Book Haul I just purchased these 10 books in a…

“With Nails”! It’s so lovely… especially when you adore REG.

I’m really looking forward to reading that one, Withnail and I is one of my favourite films, plus he’s such a funny guy. 

Synopsis: Escaping gray London in 1972, a beautiful, determined mother takes her daughters, aged 5 and 7, to Morocco in search of adventure, a better life, and maybe love. Hideous Kinky follows two little English girls — the five-year-old narrator and Bea, her seven-year-old sister — as they struggle to establish some semblance of normal life on a trip to Morocco with their hippie mother, Julia. Once in Marrakech, Julia immerses herself in Sufism and her quest for personal fulfillment, while her daughters rebel — the older by trying to recreate her English life, the younger by turning her hopes for a father on a most unlikely candidate.

 Plot: This is the story of a eccentric hippy mother who takes her two small children to Morocco, on her own journey of self discovery, and financial instability. (The title does make sense once you read the book, but it really doesn’t before hand). 

Form: This is an autobiographical novel, however it reads very much like a memoir with a dash of travel writing thrown in. 

What I liked: The story is engaging and the characters are interesting. Along with the narrator there is her mother, (who is a little frustrating), and her older more straight laced sister. 

The narrator Bea is a six year old version of the author, this point of view could have been annoying and overly cutesy but it really wasn’t. This is where you can see how truly well written this book is, the narrative voice is true throughout, it really does feel like a child is telling you the story.

This is particularly effective when the narrator gets distracted, or doesn’t fully understand what’s happening. As an adult reader I felt a lot more concerned about certain events and there effects on the children than the narrator was. As the narrative voice is simple, the chapters are short which sets a good pace making it a very quick read. 

What I didn’t like: I felt at times like this book was building to a crescendo /high point of tension or drama  but it never quite got there. To be honest it was a short pleasant read but I found it quite forgettable. 

I would be really interested to read another book by Esther Freud as I really liked how this book was written, even when I wasn’t enthralled with this particular story. 

Recommendation: If you enjoy reading memoirs of childhood/life writing or if the subject sounds interesting to you, I would say it might be worth a  quick read. 

Quote: In this quote Bea wants to climb onto the luggage rack with her sister, ‘I badly wanted to climb up and join her, but I thought it would be safest to stay on the seat in case Mum changed her mind about going home and decided at the last minute to jump off at one of the stations on the way’. 

Rating: 3/5

• For more information and other peoples reviews: http://www.goodreads.com/book/photo/283787.Hideous_Kinky 
  
• Follow friend me on goodreads for more reviews:     http://www.goodreads.com/susanandherbooks 

Have you read this book or any others by Esther Freud, what did you think of it?

Synopsis: Once, as a small child, she realizes that her skin is a different color from that of her beloved parents, Jackie Kay embarks on a complicated and humorous journey to treasure the adoptive family that chose her, track down her birth parents—her Scottish Highland mother and Nigerian father—and embrace her unexpected and remarkable life.
Taking the reader from Glasgow to Lagos and beyond, Red Dust Road is revelatory, redemptive, and courageous, unique in its voice and universal in its reach. It is a heart-stopping story of parents and siblings, friends and strangers, belonging and beliefs, biology and destiny, and love.

 What’s it about?: This is an unchronological non fiction memoir which details how the poet and writer Jackie Kay found her birth parents. 

Jackie Kay was adopted by a couple of Scottish Communists, she has a happy childhood and a good upbringing  Although she loves her parents as a child she can’t help fantasizing about what her birth parents might be like/ were they are. When she’s expecting her own child she decides to find out who they really are, this is the story of how through the years she finds them and who they really are. 

What I liked: This is a light hearted and funny yet moving book, (usually quite a hard line to walk). 

The unchronological nature of the book is a really good device, that a long with the short chapters keeps the pace moving very quickly making it a quite easy read. (I would suggest this book would be great read for a commute, its the sort of book you can pick up for five minutes, put back down and remember where you left off).

What I didn’t: To be honest I can’t pinpoint anything i didn’t really like, but I can’t give it a 4.5 or a 5 rating either. All in all it was a lovely read but it never quite reached excellent, this really makes me want to read more of Jackie Kay’s writing in particular her fiction. 

Recommendation: If you know Jackie Kay’s poetry I would definitely recommend this to you,although reading poetry and non fiction is obviously different its very easy to see Jackie Kay’s perspective and in particular her sense of humour.

By the way if you enjoy poetry and are not aware of her work,I would in particular recommend her collection Fiere, especially if you are a fan of Carol Ann Duffy. 

I also think if you enjoyed ‘Why be happy when you can be normal?’ by Jeannette Winterson I think you would really enjoy this book, and vice versa. 

Rating: 4/5

• To see other peoples opinions here is the books goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7817715-red-dust-road?ac=1

Have you ever read this book or any other work by Jackie Kay, what did you think of it?