Tag Archives: Contemporary

Book Review: Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton #audiobook

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Summary

“Bighearted, gritty, magical and moving, Lola in the Mirror is the irresistible new novel from international bestselling author of Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies , Trent Dalton.

‘Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what’s my future? What’s my past?

A girl and her mother are on the lam. They’ve been running for sixteen years, from police and the monster they left in the kitchen with the knife in his throat. They’ve found themselves a home inside an orange 1987 Toyota HiAce van with four flat tyres parked in a scrapyard by the edge of the Brisbane River – just two of the 100,000 Australians sleeping rough every night.

The girl has no name because names are dangerous when you’re on the run. But the girl has a dream. Visions in black ink and living colour. A vision of a life as a groundbreaking artist of international acclaim. A life outside the grip of the Brisbane underworld drug queen ‘Lady’ Flora Box. A life of love with the boy in the brown suit who’s waiting for her in the middle of the bridge that stretches across a flooding and deadly river. A life far beyond the bullet that has her name on it.

And now that the storm clouds are rising, there’s only one person who can help make her dreams come true. That person’s name is Lola and she carries all the answers. But to find Lola, the girl with no name must first do one of the hardest things we can sometimes ever do. She must look in the mirror.

A big, moving, blackly funny, violent, heartbreaking and beautiful novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror. All of the past, all of the present, and all of our possible futures. ‘Mirror, mirror, please don’t lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me who am I.” – Goodreads

Audiobook released by Bolinda/Harper Collins audio in 2023
Duration 13 hours 39 minutes
Narrator: Victoria Graves

My Thoughts

This story about a young girl with no name really touched my heart. It was tough and gritty, sad but also had it’s soft side, and at times it was very funny. Lola in the Mirror is at it’s heart, a love story, though at times it is brutal and hard to read. The author has approached the issue of homelessness in a very clever way, and at the same time, created an amazing story.

Once I started reading Lola, I couldn’t stop. I absolutely loved reading this book with it’s beautiful words and very strong, but vulnerable characters. There is so much heartbreak, but hope, love and friendship survive despite the sadness and heartbreak.

Lola in the Mirror is a roller coaster of emotions, with moments of violence, that are extremely disturbing, but there are also many very soft and gentle moments. There is so much that I would love to say about this book, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

I read this book without reading the back cover, so I had no idea what it was about. The reason I chose to read it, was my love for this popular Australian author’s previous books. There was no disappointment at all. From the first page Lola in the Mirror took my breath away.

“My mum never warns me about boys in cars. My mum only warns me about child protection officers in cars.”

“Mirror, mirror, on the grass, what’s my future? What’s my past? … Mirror, mirror, please don’t lie. Tell me who you are. Tell me, who am I?”

Each chapter begins with a sketch that is absolutely perfect to the story, and a great addition. I loved the way the author inserted himself into the story. That made me smile. There is every chance that this book, my second of 2024 could be my favourite book of 2024. As I listened to the audio book, I now have Lola in the Mirror on my list to re-read as a paper book or kindle.

In my opinion, Lola in the Mirror is brilliant and a ‘must read’. Also a warning, you will need tissues.

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unputdownable. Would read it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Not to be missed

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable. Would recommend it.

⭐️⭐️ Wouldn’t read it again.

⭐️ Don’t recommend this book at all.

The book mentioned in this post is my own choice and has not been sent to me to review. My opinions are my own and I receive no renumeration at all for them.

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This post is linked to Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share

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Book Review: Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes

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Someone Else’s Shoes
by
JoJo Moyes

Summary

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes?

“Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope–she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.

That’s because Sam Kemp – in the bleakest point of her life – has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag–she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change—and that thing is herself.

Full of Jojo Moyes’ signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything”.
from: Goodreads

My Thoughts

I’m not sure why I chose to read this book, as the title really isn’t one that would call to me. I read Moyes earlier book, Me Before You and loved it, but have struggled a bit with a couple of her later books.

The cover makes this book appear to be chick lit, and to a certain extent it is, but it is much more than that. It’s also a book about relationships. It’s about making mistakes and making the most of second chances when they appear. I’m sure most people would identify with the horror of making a big mistake that could wreck your career and/or your relationships. Not to mention the embarassment that public humiliation causes. Where do you go from there and what do you do when the bottom falls out of your world?

I’d describe this book as chicklit with substance. It’s funny, well written and has a premise with a difference. I loved this book, and highly recommend it as a great read.

This book was my choice for the 52 Week Book Challenge, Prompt 31: Set in a workplace.

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unputdownable. Would read it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Not to be missed

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable. Would recommend it.

⭐️⭐️ Wouldn’t read it again.

⭐️ Don’t recommend this book at all.

The books mentioned in this post are of my own choice and have not been sent to me to review. My opinions are my own and I receive no renumeration at all for them.

Have you read Pawprints On Our Hearts? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I promise to always reply to comments made below.

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Y: Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan #atozchallenge

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The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge  is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted. My theme for 2023 is Book Reviews.

You can read my reviews without worrying about spoilers. My reviews are quite brief and I give away nothing more than you would read on the back cover or on Goodreads.

YELLOWCAKE
BY
MARGO LANAGAN

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Summary

This is a book of ten short stories written by Australian novelist Margo Lanagan. Yellowcake is classified as young adult fantasy, but to me that isn’t really a correct classification, as not all stories in this book are fantasy. The stories range from fantasy to horror and much in between. The stories are all different from each other, and some I found absolutely heart breaking. There is a strong sense of family and the need to belong, that runs through many of the stories.

The author has written an afterword about where she found her inspiration for these stories, which I found very interesting and really did add to the stories.

My Thoughts

I’m not generally a short story fan but do occasionally like to read a short story. Usually, I would just read one story now and then in a short story book, but I read each story in Yellow Cake, one after the other. For this review, I felt that I needed to experience the entire book, as I would a longer novel. I picked this up only because I was looking for a book to read for the letter ‘Y’. I didn’t realise until I’d finished reading the book that it is classified as young adult. I would say that the stories in this book are suitable for both young adult and adults, as I have found is often the case with young adult in recent times.

The author has an unusual view of the world, and of people, and why they do what they do. I found most of the stories to be compelling. A couple of the stories are the author’s version of classic fairy tales.

My favourite story is Shroud of Gold, a vague rewrite of he classic fairy tale, Rapunzel. It begins when Rapunzel has had her hair cut off, and is the story of the Prince’s rescue of her, and his love for her. Parts of the original Rapunzel can be recognised during the story, as they appear in the new version. This is my favourite of the short stories in Yellowcake. That could perhaps be because I have loved the story of Rapunzel since I was a child.

I’d recommend this book as a way of dipping into fantasy, if it’s not a regularly read genre, but remembering that this book is about much more than fantasy.

All books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library, unless otherwise stated.

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Unputdownable. Would definitely read again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Fantastic read. Not to be missed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️Enjoyable read. Would recommend.
⭐️⭐️Wouldn’t read again
⭐️Don’t recommend this book again

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Images and author information: Goodreads

You can find my other blogs here:
Next Phase In Fitness & Life and Tracking Down The Family

© 2023 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

O: Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout #atozchallenge

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The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge  is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted. My theme for 2023 is Book Reviews.

You can read my reviews without worrying about spoilers. My reviews are quite brief and I give away nothing more than you would read on the back cover or on Goodreads.

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OH WILLIAM!
BY
ELIZABETH STROUT

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY

“Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are.

So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when William asks her to join him on a trip to investigate a recently uncovered family secret—one of those secrets that rearrange everything we think we know about the people closest to us. What happens next is nothing less than another example of what Hilary Mantel has called Elizabeth Strout’s “perfect attunement to the human condition.” There are fears and insecurities, simple joys and acts of tenderness, and revelations about affairs and other spouses, parents and their children. On every page of this exquisite novel we learn more about the quiet forces that hold us together—even after we’ve grown apart.

At the heart of this story is the indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who offers a profound, lasting reflection on the very nature of existence. “This is the way of life,” Lucy says: “the many things we do not know until it is too late.” – Goodreads

Published in 2021. 240 pages

MY THOUGHTS

This is a quite a short novel, but that doesn’t at all detract from it’s substance, or my enjoyment of the story. Elizabeth Strout has created characters who are flawed, and are totally relatable. The story of Lucy who is in her sixties, is also the story of her ex husband William. Lucy and William have been divorced for years, but have remained friends. This is a lovely story about relationships, the worries of ageing, memories, family, and the thoughts we have that worry us.

Perhaps it’s because Lucy and William are very close in age to me, but I really did identify with these characters. I felt their pain and their joy. I also understood the importance of their memories to them, at this stage of their lives. Perhaps this was also due to the excellent writing of the author.

I didn’t realise until I finished Oh William! that it is book three in the Lucy Barton series. Not having read the first two, didn’t make Oh William! any less enjoyable. However, I now have the other three books on my TBR list. Below is a photo of the books in order.

Image – Penguin Publishing

All books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library, unless otherwise stated.

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Unputdownable. Would definitely read again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Fantastic read. Not to be missed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️Enjoyable read. Would recommend.
⭐️⭐️Wouldn’t read again
⭐️Don’t recommend this book again

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

Images and author information: Goodreads

You can find my other blogs here:
Next Phase In Fitness & Life and Tracking Down The Family

© 2023 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

J: Just An Ordinary Family by Fiona Lowe #atozchallenge

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The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example, April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted. My theme for 2023 is Book Reviews.

You can read my reviews without worrying about spoilers. My reviews are quite brief, and I give away nothing more than you would read on the back cover or on Goodreads.

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JUST AN ORDINARY FAMILY
BY
FIONA LOWE

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Summary

“Alice Hunter is smarting from the raw deal life has thrown her way: suddenly single, jobless and forced to move home to her parents’ tiny seaside town. And now she faces an uncomfortable truth. She wants her twin sister Libby’s enviable life.

Libby’s closest friend Jess Dekic has been around the Hunter family for so long she might as well be blood. She’s always considered herself a sister closer to Libby than Alice ever could be…

Libby Hunter has all of life’s boxes ticked: prominent small-town doctor, gorgeous husband and two young daughters. But when she is betrayed by those she loves most, it reveals how tenuous her world is…

For Karen Hunter, her children are a double-edged sword of pain and pride. She’s always tried to guide her girls through life’s pitfalls, but how do you protect your children when they’re adults?

As the family implodes, the fallout for these four women will be inescapable…” – Goodreads

Published in 2020
Paperback,

My Thoughts

I don’t usually pick up books about relationships, especially family relationships, but surprising to me, I enjoyed reading about the family, the women and the secrets in this story. The secrets and conflicts seemed very real and believable to me.

There are many tears and laughters in the story, as there were for me. As the story went on, I found that I kept changing my mind about who’s side I was on, and who was the more honest and deserving of a happy ending. This is also a story about kindness and forgiveness. Nobody is perfect, as is the case in real life. A very real and relatable read, that I would recommend.

Star Rating
Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book. For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Unputdownable. Would definitely read again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Fantastic read. Not to be missed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️Enjoyable read. Would recommend.
⭐️⭐️Wouldn’t read again
⭐️Don’t recommend this book again

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

Images and author information: Goodreads

You can find my other blogs here:
Next Phase In Fitness & Life and Tracking Down The Family

© 2023 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

Book Review: Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

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The Sense of an Ending

SUMMARY

This intense novel follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he has never much thought about – until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance, one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony Webster thought he’d left all this behind as he built a life for himself, and by now his marriage and family and career have fallen into an amicable divorce and retirement. But he is then presented with a mysterious legacy that obliges him to reconsider a variety of things he thought he’d understood all along, and to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.

A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single sitting, with stunning psychological and emotional depth and sophistication, The Sense of an Ending is a brilliant new chapter in Julian Barnes’s oeuvre.
– Goodreads

Published in 2012 by Vintage
Softcover, 150 pages

MY THOUGHTS.

This is the second time that I’ve read this book. As the above summary suggests, both times that I have read this book, I have felt compelled to read this book in a single sitting. This novel is totally unputdownable, even on the second read.

Sense of an Ending is a short book, with just 50 pages and could even be described as a novella. It didn’t feel like reading a novella, even though it was a quick read. So much happened to the main character Tony, as the story followed from adolescence to his old age. At the end of the book, I felt that I was friends of all characters, which was unexpected, considering the short length of the book.

Today, when I pick this book up, the first thing I notice, other than the fantastic cover, is how it still looks brand new. To flick through the pages is to see the pages of a book that has been read in such a short time, that the pages are still very stiff, as though I have just brought it home from the book store.

The end of Sense of an Ending, has caused lots of discussion amongst readers. I would love to write my opinion here, but would hate to spoil the book for those who haven’t read it yet. I will leave it up to you to decide.

I loved and still love this book I enjoyed the story line, the characters and I especially loved the writing. I just know that I will definitely read this book again.

RECOMMENDATIONS

“A masterpiece….I would urge you to read and re-read The Sense of an Ending”
Daily Telegraph

“A precise, poignant , portrait of the costs and benefits of time passing, of friendship, of love. A masterpiece” – Erica Wagner, The Times

STAR RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Julian Patrick Barnes is a contemporary English writer of postmodernism in literature. He has been shortlisted three times for the Man Booker Prize— Flaubert’s Parrot (1984), England, England (1998), and Arthur & George (2005), and won the prize for The Sense of an Ending (2011). He has written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh.

Following an education at the City of London School and Merton College, Oxford, he worked as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary. Subsequently, he worked as a literary editor and film critic. He now writes full-time. – Goodreads

All books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library, unless otherwise stated.

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

Images and author information: Goodreads

You can find my other blogs here:
Next Phase In Fitness & Life and Tracking Down The Family

© 2020 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

#AtoZChallenge W: We were The Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

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#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary blogging from A to Z challenge letter

The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge  is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted.

Summary

The Mulvaneys of High Point Farm in Mount Ephraim, New York, are a large happy family, who have been blessed with good looks and a happy, future full of certainty. But as time evolves, things don’t go to plan for the Mulvaneys. On Valentine’s Day in 1976, an incident, involving a member of the family, causes upset and reverberation through the family for the rest of their lives.

The story spans twenty five years, and is told years later by Judd, the youngest son, as he attempts to make sense of the past and the events that destroyed his happy family.

My Thoughts

We Are The Mulvaneys is a story of the rise and fall of a family. Of how quickly the perfect life can become a tragic life. The first few chapters contain quite long character introductions, which some may find tedious as I did at first. But they grew on me, and later in the book, I was thankful for such thorough introductions, as they helped me understand why certain characters did what they did, and why they reacted the way they did to unexpected circumstances.

Recommendation

It was the title that had me hooked immediately, making me want to read this book. We WERE the Mulvaney’s. Why ‘were’? Immediately I wanted to know more about what happened to this family.

I say every reader out there should read this book, but I may be biased because I love love this story of the Mulvaney family. I was totally enthralled from start to finish and couldn’t get enough of this slightly wacky family and their wacky ways. Perhaps this book means more to me because of events beyond my control that destroyed my own happy family life. I did feel a connection and sympathy towards the Mulvanney Mum, even though many times, I felt like shaking her and telling her to wake up and do something to bring her family back together. 

“It is a book that will break your heart, heal it, then break it again” – Los Angeles Times
“One of our most audaciously talented writers: – Erica Jong
“Novelists such as John Updike, Philip Roth, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer slug it out for the title of the Great American Novelist. But maybe they are wrong. Maybe, just maybe, the Great American Novelist is a woman” – The Herald

Star Rating 4.5 star

About The Author

Oates in 2014

 

Joyce Carol Oates is a prolific American author, born in 1938. Her first novel was published in 1962 and she has since published a further 42 book. She has won many American and international awards for her writing and her books. We Were The Mulvaneys became a best seller after being selected as an Oprah’s Book Club book.

Published by Harper Perennial, Harper Collins Publishers in 2007.
First published by Fourth Estate in 2001. Paperback – 454 pages

Have you read this book. If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts. I promise to always reply to comments made in the section below.

To keep up with the latest book reviews, please pop your email into the box in the side bar. This will ensure you are notified of all updates.
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 Images: Goodreads

#AtoZChallenge U: Untold Story by Monica Ali

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#AtoZChallenge 2019 Tenth Anniversary blogging from A to Z challenge letter

The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge  is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted.

 

Summary

The most famous woman in the world.
Her death mourned by millions.
What if she hadn’t died after all…..?

What if Princess Diana didn’t die? Her seemingly idyllic life was both nightmare and fairytale. She may have been living a priveleged life, but she often felt lonely and trapped. Could she have been tempted to take the opportunity to start her life over again, but this time live her life quietly, and out of the spotlight of the media glare.

Fictional English Princess Lydia, thought someone was plotting to assassinate her, so she decides to stage her own death and and start a new life in a quiet area of Midwest America. Life abroad goes well for her, as she makes Kensington her new home. She makes many new friends but she cannot forget the family she left behind.

Unexpectedly, she has an encounter with paparazzi and the new life, and her anonymity, that she has worked so hard to create for herself, are put under threat and she wonders if she will ever be able to put her past behind her.

My Thoughts

The topic and plot of this story drew me to it. However, I didn’t enjoy the way the story went from the present day, where it is narrated by Lydia and the photographer who is sure he knows her real identity, to the butler in her past, who helped her to disappear. The story is also told from the letters that Lydia wrote to the butler ten years earlier.

I was irritated by the way the chapters seemed to jump back and forward from past to future and to the letters.  This spoiled my enjoyment of the book. The premise and plot could have made an engrossing read, but the style that this book was written in, just didn’t do it for me.

My rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

About the Author

Monica Ali

 

Monica Ali is a British writer and novelist, born in Bangladesh.  When she was three years old, her family moved to England, where she still lives today with her husband and children.

 

First published in Great Britain by Doubleday, 2011.
This edition published by Simon and Schuster UK Ltd 2012. Paperback, 342 pages

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photo: goodreads