Easter Reading

I originally started the blog with the intentions of reviewing lots of books. This seems to have fallen by the wayside recently but I have decided to address that today with a look at some of the books that I have enjoyed reading over the Easter holidays.

I had a lovely Kindle as a Christmas gift this year although strangely over Easter it has been a bit abandoned, mainly because the books I wanted to read were loaned to me, borrowed from the library or unavailable on Kindle yet, so I went for the traditional books, lovely! I do enjoy the Kindle reading experience, however, and will be returning to it once I decide what I’m going to download next! One of the lovely things about the Kindle is that you can download extracts from the books you are interested in, usually the first 20 or so pages, which you can read and then decide if you want to carry on. The disadvantage of this system for me is that:

·         I now have about 20 book samples downloaded and can’t decide what to read next

·         When I’m on a book search roll, I can, at the tap of the Kindle button, buy 10 or more books, easy and convenient, but not so great for the bank balance!

I also do love a good old paperback or hardback and some books just can’t be replicated adequately on Kindle. One such beloved book is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris van Allsburg.

This is a wonderful, clever and beautiful book. I don’t think I can do it justice with words because it’s a book that has to be seen to be fully appreciated (hence the Kindle can never do it justice!)

So, other books I have enjoyed over Easter (in order of enjoyment!)include:

The summer without Men by Siri Hustvedt (5 stars)

The Star of Kazan by Eve Ibbotson (5 stars for a children’s book)

So Much for that by Lionel Shriver (4 stars)

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman (4 stars)

 Grace Williams says it loud by Emma Henderson (4 stars)

If you would like to read more information about any of these books, they are reviewed below or you can find them via the Book Reviews link on the side bar.

So, having finished that little lot, I’m now deciding what to read next, here’s my pile to decide from, I’m almost finished with The Gift by Lewis Hyde, which is a nonfiction book that I’m finding slightly laborious although very interesting. I’ve started to read Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, which is again interesting, but I’m not sure I can entirely enjoy his prose style as I’m trying to relax before bed!

The Woman’s World book is conceptually fun and funny, being composed entirely from words cut out of women’s magazines, again, the concept is interesting but it hasn’t gripped me yet.

The bottom two books on the pile are a fantasy novel The Last Four things by Paul Hoffman. I quite enjoyed his first book The Left Hand of God, although it meshed and amalgamated a lot of fantasy elements rather disturbingly, I am happy to go back and see what he’s going to do with this next one and then Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, no idea what to expect from this one only that it was recommended as a favourite read by someone on The Guardian website and I thought I’d give it a go!

Finally, on top of the pile is the Kindle, with its many samples and an indecisive reader!

Right, signing off now and going to read, not sure what, but that’s the intention...any recommendations warmly welcomed, as you can probably tell, my tastes are pretty eclectic.