JANUARY WRAP UP PART II

BOOK REVIEW: POEMS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE BY EDITED BY CHRIS RIDDELL

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

_____

Title: Poems To Live Your Life By
Edited and Illustrated by: Chris Riddell
Published: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 208
Rating: 3/5

Summary:

This is a beautifully illustrated collection of poetry about life, death and everything in between.

Review:

This is a lovely little book.

I find I don't have that much to say about this; it's gorgeously illustrated and I really enjoyed making my way through the different sections in here, each exploring a different part of life. As with most collections of poetry, there were some poems in here I loved and some I didn't care for as much.

I do think if you're an avid reader of poetry, you will have come across most of the ones in here before, and I would've loved to maybe see a few more surprising choices in here. For younger readers and those new to poetry though, this is a great one.

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

#FRIDAYREADS

 

BOOK HAUL: JANUARY

 S P O N S O R E D  :  O N E  B O O K  S E N T  B Y  P U B L I S H E R
I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S
_____

The first month of the year is almost gone and it's been a pretty quiet month for me. Things have really slowed down, which I've been enjoying and I've been taking a lot of time to recharge after a long period of stress at work.

January also brought about another lockdown in Oslo, which we're still in and nobody knows how long it will last. Hopefully the situation can be brought under control pretty fast, but I suspect we all need to bring a little extra patience to the table right now. 

Other than that though, I have, as usual, gotten a bunch of new books this month, all of which I will hopefully read soon (although I know myself well enough to know this will not be true for all of them). They all look great though!

( a f f i l i a t e  l i n k s  +  b o o k  m a r k e d  *  s e n t  b y  p u b l i s h e r )

Den Gåtefulle Oberon Qvist by Knut Nærum
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
*The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris
The Absolutist by John Boyne
The Story of More by Hope Jahren
Kon-Tiki Ekspedisjonen by Thor Heyerdahl (English edition here)
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
The Shining by Stephen King
Carrie by Stephen King
Hypnotisøren by Lars Kepler (English edition here)
Mannen Som Ikke Var Morder by Hjorth Rosenfeldt (English edition here)
Askepott by Kristina Ohlsson (English edition here)
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton

I hope you're all staying safe and that you're having a good day!

BOOK REVIEW: AGENT SONYA BY BEN MACINTYRE

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

_____

Title: Agent Sonya: Lover, Mother, Soldier, Spy
Author: Ben Macintyre
Published: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 377
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

This tells the true story of one of the greatest female spies in history; German born Ursula Kuczynski aka Agent Sonya.

Review:

This was such an interesting book and I loved reading it!

I'm not surprised I enjoyed this so much, having previously read The Spy and the Traitor which has become one of my favorite nonfiction books. This one was equally interesting, even if it wasn't equally nerve-wracking.

I loved getting to know Ursula/Sonya and following her from her upbringing, through her years as a Soviet spy before, during and after World War II and eventually seeing where she ended up. I think she's a fascinating woman and I really enjoyed getting to see how complex and complicated she was, as well as reading about her daring work alongside her life as a mother.

The author does a great job of bringing life to people, place and time. The writing style is easy to follow along with and never swerves into being too simple or too complicated. I loved getting to learn more about just about everything this book discusses and had a great time doing so.

Overall, an excellent biography about a very interesting woman. I'd really recommend it if you like reading about spies and the rise and fall of the Soviet Union (and honestly, who doesn't?)

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

NEW ON MY TBR

 

READING MISERY BY STEPHEN KING

BOOK REVIEW: ISPRINSESSEN BY CAMILLA LÄCKBERG

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

_____

Title: Isprinsessen
Author: Camilla Läckberg, Gry Brenna (translator)
Published: 2003
Language: Norwegian (translated from Swedish)
Pages: 368
Rating: 3/5

This is the first book in the Fjällbacka/Patrik Hedström series. 

Summary:

An author returns to her small home town after her parents have passed away and while she's there, her childhood friend is found murdered and she finds herself drawn to both the case and the detective investigating it.

Review:

I love a good nordic noir and a good mystery, and although this one didn't knock my socks off, I enjoyed it for the most part.

I love the setting of this book; getting to know this little community and seeing all these little secrets slither out as we go along. I really like the atmosphere and the grittiness of the book, and I overall found the mystery to be quite intriguing, especially towards the end (even though it wasn't entirely unpredictable). 

I liked reading about the characters in general and I liked getting to know them. I did have some issues with the writing in parts though; there were several parts where I stopped and rolled my eyes a little bit, and I found that towards the end I got thoroughly annoyed with the focus on the characters weight and what they should and should not be eating (I didn't feel like this added anything to the story or the characters, it was just unnecessary).

Overall though, this was pretty all right and I might continue on with the series, just for the atmosphere and the suspense. 

You can get this book at Adlibris or the English edition at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

#FRIDAYREADS

 

NONFICTION I WANT TO READ IN 2021

BOOK REVIEW: THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB BY RICHARD OSMAN

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

_____

Title: The Thursday Murder Club
Author: Richard Osman
Published: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 381
Rating: 4/5

This is the first book in The Thursday Murder Club series. 

Summary:

In a peaceful retirement village, four pensioners meet weekly to discuss unsolved murders, calling themselves The Thursday Murder club, and when a brutal murder happens right in their village, they find themselves in the middle of the case. 

Review:

This was a delightful book and it was a great way to start off the new year.

I love a good cosy mystery and a story with amateur sleuths, and I loved getting to know the little gang in here. I found the characters interesting and wonderful to read about, and I think the setting is excellent. The mystery was also very intriguing, with several twists and turns along the way. Overall, everything in here was just enchanting.

There's also quite a lot of humor in here, which I adored, and reading about these old people running around, causing mayhem and not giving a flying fig was just so much fun. 

It's a clever and well written novel filled with charming characters and a murder mystery set against a fantastic backdrop. I would highly recommend it for anyone who likes cosy mysteries and reading about some very mischievous old people. 

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

FICTION I WANT TO READ IN 2021

#FRIDAYREADS

 

JANUARY WRAP UP PART I

BOOK REVIEW: TROY BY STEPHEN FRY

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

_____

Title: Troy
Author: Stephen Fry
Published: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 496
Rating: 4/5

Summary:

Following Mythos and Heroes, this book retells the glorious myth of Troy.

Review:

This was an incredibly enjoyable and wonderful book, just like I thought it was going to be.

I'm not going to go too much on about this, as I've already sung the praises of both Mythos and Heroes and this follows very much in the same footsteps. All of these books are easy to read, very entertaining and perfect if you like Greek myths. It's filled with wit and humour and makes for very interesting reading.

I'd highly recommend all of the books in Fry's Great Mythology Retelling series; they're all fun, educational and very well written. 

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads

NEW ON MY TBR

 

BEST BOOKS OF 2020: NONFICTION

#FRIDAYREADS

BEST BOOKS OF 2020: FICTION

BOOK REVIEW: ONE BY ONE BY RUTH WARE

I N C L U D E S  A F F I L I A T E  L I N K S

_____

Title: One by One
Author: Ruth Ware
Published: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 384
Rating: 2/5

Summary:

A group of colleagues come together to discuss the future of their company and end up trapped in a mountain chalet in the French Alps after an avalanche and this has deadly consequences.

Review:

I had pretty high hopes for this book, so I'm a little disappointed to say that this wasn't really all that great.

I don't always love mysteries where a big part of the story is business or corporate get togethers, and so I found myself not really all that interested in that part of this story. We read from the perspective of two characters in here and I quite liked the dual perspective, but I found especially one of them felt a little underdeveloped and honestly just annoying most of the time. In general, I didn't find any of the characters particularly fascinating.

I think the strongest part of this book is the setting and I loved reading about the mountains and this retreat, but even this I think had unexplored potential as the atmosphere wasn't as good as I think it could've been.

I do think it's fun with these kinds of locked-in mysteries where there are only a certain amount of characters present and a murderer is among them, but I just didn't find this particular one intriguing. I found the whole thing to be kind of obvious, which doesn't make for very exciting reading. 

You can get this book at The Book Depository (affiliate link)
You can read more about it on Goodreads