Category: reading

The Shifting Fog

The Shifting Fog by Kate Morton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SPOILER ALERT!

This was the first Kate Morton novel I’ve read, and if her other novels are as good as this then I’m in for a treat!
This was so up my ally! I’m a huge fan of historical dramas and I couldn’t help but play the Downton Abbey musical suite whilst reading for the full effect.

Morton’s writing style is so effortless and natural that I never had trouble picturing any of the geographical landmarks of Riverton or had doubts about any of the characters motivations. It flowed beautifully. I enjoyed the use of sophisticated language that never seemed out of place in phrases or sentences and reflected the time period perfectly. I’ve added a lot of new words to my vocabulary based on what I’ve found in “The Shifting Fog”. Even the title refers to multiple elements in the story making it multi-faceted just on sight alone!

The twists were brilliantly done! The only one I guessed early on was Grace’s connection to the Hartford siblings. Everything else was a shock and a surprise, which is definitely what you want in a good story.

If I had to play devil’s advocate, the only thing I could pick out that could annoy readers is that only in part 3 of the novel is Robbie Hunter thoroughly explored. If you’re willing to wait until then it’s absolutely worth it! Playing devils advocate is particularly tough for this book though, I enjoyed it that much.

I can’t praise this enough! If you’re a fan of Downton Abbey and are looking for something that screams pre WW1, then give “The Shifting Fog” a try. And if you have read it already, did you enjoy it as much as me? Were you a fan of the use of language and memory? Is there anything I haven’t mentioned that you also loved, or that you didn’t like? I welcome your input!



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What I read in January 2019

This January, I started my reading goal off with a bang!
On Goodreads I set my reading goal for 2019 to be 42 books. I managed to read 42 last year and I want to break my record each year, even if it’s only by one book.
I’m pretty happy with what I’ve achieved so far this year. I don’t remember the last time I read more than 5 books in one month!

So these are the 8 books I’ve read across January:

“Of Mice and Men”- John Steinbeck
“I Can’t Remember the Title But the Cover is Blue”-Elias Grieg
“The Adventures of Catvinkle”-Elliot Perlman
“Fahrenheit 451”-Ray Bradbury
“A Thousand Splendid Suns”-Khaled Hosseini
“Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine”-Gail Honeyman
“The Pact”-Jodi Picoult
“An American Marriage”-Tayari Jones

If you’re at all curious on my initial opinions of these titles or the ratings I gave them, check out my Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/readingreviewingloving

And, of course, if you have any opinions about the books I’ve reviewed that you’d like to share (whilst being respectful obviously) then leave your thoughts down below! I’m always keen to know and understand other people’s opinions on specific books so I can be a more well-rounded consumer of literature.

Also, if you’ve read some pretty interesting things in January of this year, why not leave a pic down below as well? I’d love to see your progress!

And the Mountains Echoed

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
S P O I L E R A L E R T !

I found “And the Mountains Echoed” moving. Strong themes of history, memory, and family ring throughout and it was beautiful to read. Although not as good as its predecessors, it still weaved an intrinsic tale that captured me immediately.

The fairytale that is told to Abdullah and Pari at the beginning was heart-breaking, but also a fantastic mirror of the central plot of the book. If it wasn’t used to parallel the tragedy of separation of the siblings it could have been a great book on its own.
I also particularly loved a quote that can be found on pages 118-119. It spoke to me about fate and I found it really stuck with me after reading it.

However I did find some faults that, unfortunately, prevented it from earning five stars from me.
To start, the moment when Pari is taken away was completely botched. It wasn’t written explicitly, it was implied and it really didn’t pack as hard of a punch as the trials and tribulations his characters from his other novels experienced. The transition wasn’t there and I had to go back a few pages to make sure I wasn’t crazy for missing it. It didn’t do much for my heart-strings personally.

Due to the different stories all connecting by specific characters, the chapters contained an overload of content that spanned decades and I discovered that I had to put it down for a couple of hours to let the previous story sink in before starting the next. I would recommend other readers do the same.
It was a very similar experience to reading “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, where Charlie’s diary entries covered a lot of time.

The ending though…It broke me. I have personal experiences of loved ones losing memories and nursing homes and it reminded me of those hard times. It definitely is a bittersweet ending, not at all like Disney’s “Coco”.
So if you’re looking for something bright and meaningful to make that gut-wrenching reveal less painful: good luck!

Overall I found the book enjoyable and clever. Some stories grabbed me more than others, such as Pari Senior’s, Pari Junior’s, Nabi’s, Parwana’s and Idris’.
It definitely had its own identity and I would definitely recommend it to others who love Hosseini’s work.

So is this one of your favourite Hosseini novels? Did it stack up to his other works? Did you enjoy the structure of the narrative? Whatever your thoughts, put them down below!


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The Girl on the Page

 The Girl On The Page by John Purcell

My rating: 2 of 5 stars
S P O I L E R A L E R T !

I received my uncorrected proof copy of “Girl on the Page” whilst attending the Harper Collins publishing roadshow in August of last year. I had it signed, and Purcell left the following message on the title page:

“To Ellie
A book for book lover.
John Purcell”.



Boy was this book indicative of its author’s typo. It was terrible, and I feel terrible for saying that it wasn’t good but I feel obligated to be honest when I read. I haven’t read a book this bad in such a long time and I have to say it was an interesting experience.

Why did it suck? Here are a few of the key reasons I found whilst reading:

-It boarded on being pornographic with sex overshadowing the publishing elements in the first two thirds. It was kind of gross to see the word “cock” crop up so many times and it didn’t enhance the story by being mentioned. The whole point of Amy taking on this job seemed to take a backseat to her sex-life. It was really uncomfortable reading scenes of people filming others having oral sex and getting off on it. Not what I expected to read and not at all welcome to me personally.
-It was written so clumsily. I’m hoping the final copies of the book turned out a little better because, to me, there were some phrases in the dialogue that seemed unnatural and wouldn’t be spoken the way they were in real life.
-Does Purcell believe all women are sex-crazed maniacs? People like having sex and that’s wonderful! But when it is Amy’s primary hobby (aside from binge drinking) I couldn’t help but wonder if some sort of education should have been given to Purcell…
-As mentioned previously, the dialogue was a problem for me. Characters seemed to say one thing and their movements would reflect the antithesis. For example, there is a conversation between Amy and Max that starts off with one of them vehemently rebuking the other, but then their body language conveys the exact opposite on the next page. It’s almost as if the character is entirely indecisive. Another example comes when Amy tells Liam she can’t continue their sexual relationship because they are hurting Liam’s wife: Gail. In the next page break, Amy talks about how Gail is unfairly dictating her sex-life and that she’s shit! What the hell? Make up your mind!

When the story got back on track talking about the publishing world, it was fascinating to read. I was genuinely interested in hearing about deals being forged and how specific contracts were formed. This was what prompted me to give it two stars.

Aside from that, complete drivel. I’ll be giving my copy to someone else poste-haste!

So if you have read this gem before, what were your thoughts? Did you loathe it as much as me, or am I completely crazy? Was there any elements that could have been done better? Whatever your thoughts, leave them down below.

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