My Book Year 2025 - Gifted Reads and More!

It's year FIFTEEN of my reading challenge blog, and this year I'm focusing on reading all those books that people have gifted to me that have always gone to the bottom of the pile of unread tomes. No longer will they languish in the gathering dust, but instead, they'll be given the priority they deserve! Oh, and I'm going to try and read more in general after a couple of years of struggling to muster up more than 5-10 minutes at the end of a day. Let's go!

Friday, 30 June 2017

My Brilliant Friend - what am I missing?

Hailed as a modern masterpiece, I was really looking forward to getting my teeth into My Brilliant Friend, by Italian author, Elena Ferrante. This is part one of a set of four books, which follow the lives of two friends from Naples - Lila and Elena. This first "chapter" takes them from early childhood into their teens and is set not long after the end of the second World War. Lila is the fearless one, and incredibly smart - outdoing everyone at school. Elena is in thrall to this force of nature, and is almost overwhelmed by her when they become friends. Elena then spends almost all of her time trying to emulate her brilliant friend, especially at school - where Lila seems to pick up things really quickly, Elena has to study hard. As time passes, we see how the relationship between the two girls ebbs and flows, and how it is influenced by the large cast of other characters - their family, friends and, in some cases, their enemies in the local neighbourhood. It felt to me that there was almost a love/hate friendship, with Elena (who is the narrator) at turns fascinated by Lila, and the next moment, trying to outdo her. Is that what all friendships are like? When Lila seems to be ignoring her, Elena seems to grow and develop, but as soon as Lila clicks her fingers, Elena just cannot resist and falls back under her spell. Whilst there are some lovely images and moments created, overall, I found the writing style a little disjointed and bare for my personal taste. I found it hard to sympathise with the characters, and I always struggle with a book when this is the case. There didn't appear to be much love on show, and I found the atmosphere harsh and unforgiving, which was how many of the characters came across too. There is a seedy and threatening undercurrent, especially with regard to the treatment of the female characters, pervading every page. This creates a constant state of tension in the book, and I was never comfortable at any time. I feel like I have missed something in this book, as it is so well regarded. I just didn't feel it! A challenging read - most definitely. A journey that I want to continue - not so sure.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 336 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from my local library.
Formats available: print, audio download, MP3 CD, ebook.

No comments:

Star Ratings 2024

5 STARS: False Value (a); Project Hail Mary (a); A Game of Thrones (p); Proven Guilty (a); Lethal White (p); The Night I Met Father Christmas (a)
4 STARS: Dog Stories (p); Once Upon a River (a); Mystery Man (a); Sea Glass (p); The Secret (p); The Marriage Portrait (a); Odd and the Frost Giants (a); Mr Mercedes (a); Lily: A Tale of Revenge (a); A Question of Blood (p); The Last Bear (a); The Romantic (a); The Dictionary of Lost Words (a); The Confession (a)
3 STARS: Thunderball (a); Various Pets Alive & Dead (p); The Revenge of Seven (a); Unruly (a); The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (p); The Spy Who Loved Me (a)
2 STARS:
1 STAR:

Star Ratings 2023

Star Ratings 2022

5 STARS: Songbirds (a); The Handmaid's Tale (a); On Animals (p); The Garden of Angels (a); The Fishermen (a); The Dutch House (a); The Humans (a); Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (a)
4 STARS: Everything Under (a); The Time Travel Diaries (a); Resurrection Men (p); Girl, Woman, Other (a); The Anatomy of Ghosts (a); The Ladder of Years (p); Waterland (p); The White Tiger (a); A Tale for the Time Being (a); The Secrets of Gaslight Lane (a); The Captain and the Enemy (a); The Dead Fathers Club (a); Autumn (a); A Single Thread (p)
3 STARS: Prague Spring (p); A Most Wanted Man (p); Curious (p); Oh William! (a)
2 STARS: C (p)
1 STAR:

Star Ratings 2021

5 STARS: Neverwhere (a); The Word Is Murder (a); My Name is Leon (a)
4 STARS: The Hoarder (a); The Pillars of the Earth (p); The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (a); Capital (p); Paris Echo (p); The Blackwater Lightship (a); The Rose Code (a); The Three Musketeers (p); Death Descends on Saturn Villa (a); 61 Hours (p); The Hellion (a); The Mermaid of Black Conch (a); Alias Grace (a); Half Blood Blues (p)
3 STARS: How Much of These Hills Is Gold (a); The Pirate's Daughter (p); Rabbit, Run (p); The Messenger of Athens (a); His Bloody Project (a)
2 STARS: Shanghai Tango (a); Emotionally Weird (p)
1 STAR: Single & Single (p)

Star Ratings 2020

5 STARS: To Kill A Mockingbird (p); The Mirror and the Light (a); Sweet Sorrow (a)
4 STARS: War of the Wolf (e); Nicholas Nickleby (a); A Rare Book of Cunning Device (a); Things in Jars (a); Boy Meets Boy (e); The Beekeeper of Aleppo (a); A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs (a); Lies Sleeping (a); Sword of Kings (e); Breathing Lessons (p); Pax (e); Any Human Heart (p); The Odyssey (a)
3 STARS: The Little Book of Hygge (e); Giovanni's Room (e); Phoenix Squadron (p); The Secret History of Hollywood: Hunting Witches With Walt Disney (a); The Tenth Circle (p); The Bell Jar (e); Crazy Rich Asians (e); How to Make Art (e); The Tales of Beedle The Bard (a); A Brief History of Time (e); Adrift (e); For Your Eyes Only (a)
2 STARS: Heart Berries (e)
1 STAR:

The STARS list 2019

5 STARS: The Sisters Brothers (p); Sovereign (p); Himself (a)
4 STARS: Berlin Red (e); The Curse Of The House Of Foskett (a); A Far Cry From Kensington (a); Miss Garnet's Angel (p); Set In Darkness (p); The Hanging Tree (a); A Symphony Of Echoes (a); Before They Are Hanged (p); Milkman (a); Anno Dracula (p); Entry Island (a); Career of Evil (a); Engleby (p); Waiting for Sunrise (p); Blood Rites (a); On Writing (a); Light On Snow (p); The Binding (a); The Falls (p); The Librarian (p)
3 STARS: The Tidal Zone (a); Vinegar Girl (p); Mister Johnson (p); The House At Riverton (p)
2 STARS:
1 STAR:

The STARS list 2018

5 STARS: Norse Mythology (a); Just One Damned Thing After Another (a); The Song of Achilles (a); Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (e); Look Who's Back (a); Life After Life (e); The Go-Between (a)
4 STARS: Lincoln in the Bardo (e); Sharpe's Devil (p); La Belle Sauvage (p); The War of the Worlds (e); Death Masks (a); The Power (a); On The Brinks (e); The Devil's Star (p); The Night Circus (e); The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (e); Circe (e); Little Dorrit (a); Artemis (a); A Prayer for Owen Meany (e); Americanah (a)' Diary Of A Bookseller (a); The Silkworm (a)
3 STARS: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (e); The Secret Life Of Cows (p); Her Fearful Symmetry (e); Life Without Limits (a)
2 STARS: Moby Dick (e); Close Range (e); Snow (p)
1 STAR:

The STARS list 2017

5 stars: Dracula (a); The Cuckoo's Calling (p); The Muse (a); Pride and Prejudice (a); 11.22.63 (a); The Final Empire (a); The Blade Itself (a)
4 stars: Goldfinger (e); William Walker's First Year Of Marriage (e); Body Surfing (p); Burial Rites (a); Dead Souls (p); The Very First Damned Thing (a); The Hard Way (e); Climbing With Abraham (e); The Flame Bearer (e); The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson (e); Bad Luck and Trouble (e); Fall of Giants (a); The God Of Small Things (p); When Will There Be Good News? (e); The Elephant Keeper (p); Silence (a); Winter of the World (e); Sharpe's Waterloo (p); Barnaby Rudge (a); A Spool of Blue Thread (p); Stardust (e); Kolymsky Heights (a); The Christmasaurus (a)
3 stars: The Lies of Locke Lamora (a); A Christmas Carol (a); Small Wars (p); The Soulkeepers (e); My Brilliant Friend (e); The Girl With The Cat Tattoo (e); Tales of Nibiru Volume One Z.I.R.M. (e); Found Wanting (p)
2 stars: Allegiant (e)
1 star:

The STARS list 2016

5 STARS: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy (e); The Girl Who Saved The King of Sweden (p); The Wise Man's Fear (a); Sharpe's Revenge (p); Case Histories (e); Company of Liars (a); Warriors of the Storm (a); Monsters Of Men (p); Dark Fire (p)
4 STARS: On The Edge (a); The Enemy (e); The Innocent (p); From Russia With Love (a); The Hanging Garden (p); A Funeral For An Owl (e); The Long Funeral of Mr White (e); Dr No (e); One Shot (e); Kafka on the Shore (a); The Hare With Amber Eyes (p); Summer Knight (a); One Good Turn (e); Kitchens of the Great Midwest (e); The Mangle Street Murders (a); The Alchemists's Secret (e); Our Mutual Friend (a)
3 STARS: Life: Keith Richards (a); The Mystery of Edwin Drood (a); Sweet Caress (a); Once Bitten (e); Mansfield Park (a); A Possible Life (p)
2 STARS: Gone Girl (e); Child of the Mist (e); The Dark Side of the Sun (p)
1 STAR:

The STARS list 2015

5 STARS: The Name of the Wind (a); Walking Home (a); The Day of the Jack Russell (a); The Black Jackals (p); The Knife of Never Letting Go (a); Sharpe's Siege (p); The Ask and the Answer (a); The Empty Throne (a)
4 STARS: Without Fail (e); Moonraker (p); The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (e); Diamonds are Forever (a); The Gathering Storm (p); Sharpe's Regiment (p); Towers of Midnight (p); The Redbreast (p); Hogfather (p); The Thrill of It All (a); Persuader (e); When God Was a Rabbit (a); A Memory of Light (p); Divergent (e); Toby's Room (p); Grave Peril (a); Slaughterhouse 5 (e); The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (a); My Dear, I Wanted To Tell You (a); Nemesis (p); The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman (e); The Rosie Effect (a); Juliet, Naked (e); Black and Blue (p); The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (e); The Return of the Native (a); The Long Song (a); Northanger Abbey (a)
3 STARS: The Last Hundred Days (a); The Half-Life of Hannah (e); Echo Burning (e); Me Before You (a); The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (a); Thursdays in the Park (e); The Act of Roger Murgatroyd (p); The Forgotten Garden (e); The Buried Giant (e); Treasure Island (a); Insurgent (e)
2 STARS: The Fault In Our Stars (e)
1 STAR:

The STARS list 2014

5 stars: A Monster Calls (a); Bring up the Bodies (a); Moon over Soho (a); The Rosie Project (a); The Shock of the Fall (a); Whispers Under Ground (a); Broken Homes (a); Sharpe's Honour (p)
4 stars: 1356 (p); Men at Arms (p); The Beating of his Wings (a); The Bat (a); Sharpe's Sword (p); The Power of Six (a); The Killing Floor (e); Cockroaches (a); The Pagan Lord (e); Catching Fire (a); The Black House (a); Soul Music (p); The Lewis Man (e); Sharpe's Enemy (p); Storm Front (a); Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (e); Mortal Causes (p); Mockingjay (a); Die Trying (e); The Cleaner of Chartres (a); The Chessmen (a); The Rise of Nine (a); Apple Tree Yard (a); The Dynamite Room (a); The Fall of Five (a); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (e); Foxglove Summer (a); Tripwire (e); Fool Moon (a); Let It Bleed (p); Walking Backwards to Christmas (e); The Visitor (e); Feet of Clay (p)
3 stars: The Black Book (p); The Truth (e); Crossroads of Twilight (p); Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (e); Knife of Dreams (p); Live and Let Die (a)
2 stars: The Grapes of Wrath (p)
1 star:

The STARS list 2013

5 stars: Jane Eyre (a); The Secret Garden (e); Winnie-the-Pooh (p); Brave New World (p); Brideshead Revisited (a); Guards! Guards! (p); The Alchemist (a); Memoirs of a Geisha (p); The Stand (a)
4 stars: Great Expectations (e); The Great Gatsby (p); Dune (a); Gone with the Wind (p), Matilda (p); War and Peace (a & e); Middlemarch (a); Treasure Island (e); Persuasion (e); Noughts & Crosses (p); David Copperfield (a); Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (e); Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (e); I Capture the Castle (a); Emma (e); Holes (p)
3 stars: Black Beauty (p); Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (e); Good Omens (p); The Twits (p); Wind in the Willows (e); On the road (p); Watership Down (p); Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (p); Anne of Green Gables (a)
2 stars: The Catcher in the Rye (p); The BFG (p); The Story of Tracy Beaker (p)
1 star:

Top 10 books 2012

1. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce (audio)
2. The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (print).
3. Unseen Academicals, by Terry Pratchett (print)
4. Death of Kings, by Bernard Cornwell (print)
5. Sharpe's Company, by Bernard Cornwell (print).
6. Life on Air, by David Attenborough (audio)
7. How to save an hour every day, by Michael Heppell (audio)
8. The key to Rebecca, by Ken Follett (ebook)
9. Stonemouth, by Iain Banks (audio)
10. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, by Annabel Pitcher (audio)

The STARS list 2012

5 STAR: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (a); Sharpe's Company (p); The Life of Pi (p); How to save an hour every day (a); Death of Kings (p); The key to Rebecca (e); Life on Air (a); Unseen Academicals (p)
4 STAR: Shades of Grey (p); Casino Royale (p); A Tale of Two Cities (e); My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece (a); The Invention of Murder (a); The Way of Perfection (e); Strip Jack (p); Harvesting the heart (a); The last four things (a); Pereira maintains (a); Reaper Man (p); Trespass (p); Oliver Twist (e); Professor Moriarty (a); Sweet Tooth (a); Our Mutual Friend (e); Toploader (p); Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages (a); Lennox (a); The Hunger Games (a); Stonemouth (a)
3 STAR: Skippy Dies (a); Bleak House (e); Perfect People (e); Winter's heart (p); Sea of Poppies (a); To kill the Tsar (p); No, it's us too (e); A Jethart Laddie (p); The Great Seige (p)
2 STAR: My Man Pendleton (e); Dogs Chase Cars (e); Nothing left to lose (e); Mugby Junction (e); The Apple Tree (e)
1 STAR: None to date.

The STARS list 2011

***** The Elephant to Hollywood (Audio); Dancing Backwards (Print); Restless (Audio); Sharpe's Fury (Print); Water for Elephants (Audio); The Graveyard Book (Audio); Chocolate Wars (Audio); Getting Sassy (Audio); The Help (Audio); Life and Laughing (Audio); Rivers of London (Audio)
**** One Day (Audio); The Zookeeper's War (Print); The Solitary Man (Ebook); Fup (Ebook); The Girl Who Played With Fire (Print); Tooth and Nail (Print); Mousetrapped (Ebook); Confessions of a GP (Ebook); Mr Toppit (Print); The Last Hero (Print); The Mayor of Casterbridge (Ebook); Sharpe's Battle (Print); Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes (Ebook); Mort (Audio); The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Print); I am Number Four (Audio); Wading Home (Ebook); The Information Officer (Print); A Fraction of the Whole (Audio); Good as Dead (Print); Mercy (Print); Hard Landing (Ebook); William Walker's First Year of Marriage (Ebook)
*** (and a half!) Airman (Audio); Devil May Care (Print); Labyrinth (Print); Switched (Ebook)
*** Painless (Ebook); Cranford (Ebook); Revelations of Divine Love (Ebook); The Secret Holocaust Diaries (Ebook); Moon Dance (Ebook); Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools (Ebook); Greenmantle (Audio); Ex Machina (Ebook); Little Women (Ebook); The Things We Cherished (Print); Agent Zigzag (Print); Life ... With No Breaks (Ebook)
** The Lady in the Tower (Print); Path of Daggers (Print); Beauty and the Beast (Ebook)
* She's never coming back (Print)

Friday, 30 June 2017

My Brilliant Friend - what am I missing?

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