Of the 19 books I read in November (wow, I think that’s a record for me!) here are my five favourite, in no particular order. It was a hard choice again as this has been another month of super books. Click on the book title to read my review.
Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro
Alice Munro’s territory is the farms and semi-rural towns of south-western Ontario. In these dazzling stories she deals with the self-discovery of adolescence, the joys and pains of love and the despair and guilt of those caught in a narrow existence. And in sensitively exploring the lives of ordinary men and women, she makes us aware of the universal nature of their fears, sorrows and aspirations.
My Verdict: I read this for the 1968 Club organised by Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Stuck in a Book and I was so glad I did. I’d read another collection of short stories by Alice Munro some time ago (Runaway) and didn’t get on too well with it. However, I loved Dance of the Happy Shades, her first published collection.
The Secret of Vesalius by Jordi Llobregat
Daniel Amat has left Spain and all that happened there behind him. Having just achieved a brilliant role in Ancient Languages at Oxford University and an even more advantageous engagement, the arrival of a letter – a demand – stamped Barcelona comes like a cold hand from behind. He arrives back in that old, labyrinthine and near-mythic city a few days before the great 1888 World Fair, amid dread whispers of murders – the injuries reminiscent of an ancient curse, and bearing signs of the genius 16th century anatomist, Vesalius. Daniel is soon pulled into the depths of the crime, and eventually into the tunnels below Barcelona, where his own dark past and the future of science are joined in a terrible venture – to bring the secret of Vesalius to life.
My Verdict: I love a good historical mystery and this is a great historical mystery in my opinion, full of twists and turns (do try to keep up, please) with an atmospheric setting and a great cast of colourful characters. An impressive debut.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer. Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man’s enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again.
My Verdict: I love the 1974 film version of this mystery classic starring the wonderful Albert Finney and I was keen to read the original book before seeing the new film adaptation. The book didn’t disappoint and reading it was made all the more enjoyable because of this gorgeous special edition. I’m now looking forward to seeing the film later this week.
Fires by Tom Ward
There’s a fire on the horizon.
For Guy, a fireman, it means the death of his wife and daughter. For 19-year-old Nathan and Alexa it means a chance to fight back against austerity and abandonment. While the teenagers turn to arson, Guy searches for meaning behind his family’s deaths, battling corruption and a lost underclass, intent on fiery revolution. For all three, their actions will lead them to the precipice of disaster.
My Verdict: As a book blogger, I receive a lot of requests from authors to review their books and it’s often difficult to decide which requests to accept and which to – regretfully – decline. There was something about the description of this book that made me think I should add it to my review pile and I wasn’t disappointed. It proved to be an intriguing, thought-provoking book from a promising young writer.
The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman
If you could change the past, would you?
Thirty years ago, something terrible happened to Luna’s mother. Something she’s only prepared to reveal after her death. Now Luna and her sister have a chance to go back to their mother’s birthplace and settle her affairs. But in Brooklyn they find more questions than answers, until something impossible – magical – happens to Luna, and she meets her mother as a young woman back in the summer of 1977. At first Luna’s thinks she’s going crazy, but if she can truly travel back in time, she can change things. But in doing anything – everything – to save her mother’s life, will she have to sacrifice her own?
My Verdict: So many of my fellow book bloggers have raved about this book that I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read it. Do you know what? They were all right. Romantic, magical and inventive.
What were your favourite reads last month?
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