To Kill A Mockingbird - Definitely a classic!

I can't quite believe that I hadn't read this book before now, but at long last, Harper Lee's classic novel about race and class in the Deep South of 1930's America has been ticked off my TO DO list. To Kill A Mockingbird is told through the eyes of Scout and Jem, the daughter and son of the local lawyer, Atticus Finch. He is raising his children without their mother, who died when Scout was very young (she's only 6 at the start of the book), and their upbringing is more than ably supported by Calpurnia, their cook/housekeeper who is pretty much the only black person that the children encounter at this point. Brother and sister are clever and curious and wander the neighbourhood with freedom, especially during the summer holidays when their cousin Dill joins them. They are fascinated by the Radley house, where, it is rumoured, one of the family (known by the local children as "Boo") never leaves the home. Despite their fears, they really want to be the first in town to see the infamous Boo. However, when their father takes on the defence of Tom Robinson, a black man charged with the rape of a white woman, the children start to see a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy. Atticus is accused by many of favouring black people over white people, which, at that time and in that place, was not acceptable. He is bad mouthed to Scout and Jem, and they struggle to follow his instructions to not react (be prepared for the N word). Of course, despite the evidence Atticus presents to demonstrate that the accusers are lying, Tom Robinson is convicted - there was no chance of a fair trial. The aftermath of Atticus's attempts to save Tom are ugly and the children find themselves embroiled in it. I can totally understand why this book has become a classic. The main characters are engaging, and the reader is caught up in the events alongside them. Scout is a great narrator - she has the wide-eyed innocence of a child, and acts on our behalf in asking those awkward questions about why does this or that happen. Many of the issues highlighted are, depressingly, still relevant today. However, despite the incredibly heavy subject matter, there is humour and lightness to be found. I urge you to read this book, remembering that the language used is reflecting the time it was written, which I found hard to take at times, but push through that and you will be rewarded with a story that will remain with you for a long time.

My STAR rating: FIVE

Length: 309 print pages.

Price I paid: Free, picked up from a neighbour during lockdown.

Formats available: print, audio download, ebook.

Adrift - not the book I was supposed to read!

While searching my local e-library for books featured in the August selection of my Literary Diary, the only one available was one called Adrift. So I downloaded it and started to read. This is the real life story of Tami Oldham who, with her fiancé Richard Sharp, set sail from Tahiti on a journey to deliver a boat to San Diego. However, two weeks into the voyage, they encounter Hurricane Raymond, a devastating storm which leaves Tami unconscious. When she wakes up, she sees that the tether keeping Richard on board had snapped. She was injured, in a crippled boat and all alone. We now follow Tami as she goes through forty one days on board - at first wishing she had been swept into the storm with her beloved Richard and slowly making the decision to survive and find land. We see her relationship with Richard told in flashback, from when they first met, to the day he disappears. Adrift, by Tami Oldham Ashcraft is a story of love, loss and determination and it reads very much like a thriller. The first half of the book worked exceedingly well, but as it progressed I started to find it a little repetitive. Nevertheless, it is an amazing story and worth the read ... though why anyone would head out on a journey of that nature during hurricane season totally mystifies me - but then me and boats don't really mix! It was only after I'd read the book that I realised there was another book titled Adrift, which is actually the one that I should have read. Hey ho! One adventure on the high seas is enough for me in one year!

My STAR rating: 3 STARS.

Length: 240 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from library as an ebook.
Formats available: print, audio download, audio CD, ebook.

Heart Berries - grim

Heart Berries: A Memoir, by Terese Marie Mailhot was from the July selection of suggested books in my literary diary. Again, it was the only one I could get hold of in electronic form from my library. I hadn't heard of it before, but I was looking forward to reading a memoir from a Native American woman - a voice I'd not really heard before. The origins of the book are that following the hospitalization of the author and her subsequent diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder, she was given a notebook to write down whatever she wanted, as part of her therapy. Heart Berries is the result. I did not find this an easy read. The story of her dysfunctional upbringing to her random relationships with men, self abuse with alcohol and drugs and the removal of one child and the fear of losing another are heart breaking. But also, the way the memoir is written - which felt like a repetitive circular nightmare, where you never were quite sure what was a true memory or something a bit more hazy, I found tough to navigate. Other reviewers found this poetic and powerful. Yes, it is powerful, with some elements hitting you really hard, but poetic, I'm not so sure. It is a book I can admire for its bravery - the author really "puts it all out there, warts and all", and it definitely gives an insight into the struggle of coping with mental illness. However, I found it incredibly depressing and confusing and hard to get to grips with - maybe that's the point! It is, perhaps, one of the most disturbing books I have read and I was grateful for its brevity as I wasn't sure I could take much more. I know many people rave about this book, but it's just not for me!

My STAR rating: TWO.

Length: 160 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from the library.
Formats available: print, audio CD, ebook.

A Brief History of Time - Mind boggled!

I hadn't meant to read A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking, but it was the only book listed in my literary diary for June that I could get electronically from my library, so I thought, what the heck! Purported to be an introduction written for the "man on the street" to the BIG questions ... Was there a beginning of time ... is the universe infinite ... can you travel back in time? ... this book is definitely not for the faint-hearted. It starts with a review of some of the more well known theories about the world in which we live that have been put forward by the titans of the scientific world, such as Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Then we move onto how those theories have been picked up and developed or modified or even contradicted by others, in an effort to help explain the observations man has made that are not explained by the originals. And so we touch on black holes, spiral galaxies, string theory and dark matter. The first couple of chapters I could kind of get my head around, but then things get tougher and tougher. You (or maybe it's just me!) find yourself rereading a passage over and over to try to work out what's going on, but more often than not, it's almost impossible to do so. These are big concepts that are hard to grasp, especially when they introduce aspects that have been put there just to make a theory work ... and then the effort is put into either making observations that will prove or disprove that theory. But that, I suppose is science. Some books are meant to make you think, and this one certainly does, but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it. In fact, I can sum up much of my time when reading this book as follows ...




... yes Goofy, nobody says it better ... Ahurrrh!

My STAR rating: THREE stars (for making my brain work harder than it has for ages!)

Length: 272 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from library as an ebook.
Formats available: print, audio download, ebook.

Breathing Lessons - solid story telling with real heart

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler centres on the day Maggie Moran, and her husband Ira, go to the funeral of a friend. Nearing fifty, Maggie seems to be something of a romantic, and drifts into remembrances of how she and Ira got together, and how their life has turned out, with their two children, Jesse and Daisy. Maggie is an optimist, and Ira is more practical and their low level bickering during the journey is well observed and totally believable. On the way back, Maggie persuades Ira to take a short detour to the house where their grandchild lives with the estranged wife of their son Jesse. Maggie cannot help but interfere, and feels sure that if she can broker a reconciliation between Jesse and his little family, then everyones lives will be peachy once again. But despite Maggie's best efforts, she cannot solve the problems in other people's relationships, and is in danger of wrecking her own marriage. Ira is exasperated, but cannot help but recognise his wife's good heart, and be reminded about why he fell in love with her in the first place. This is a heartwarming story, beautifully written. The character of Maggie seems frustratingly oblivious to the potential chaos she may be causing with her good intentions, but you cannot help but like her. I'm just glad I don't live with her! Solid story telling that goes deeper than you might expect, exploring themes of ageing and loneliness and wasted opportunities, as well as family ties.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 336 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, borrowed from my mother.
Formats available: print, audio CD, unabridged audio download, ebook.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - short but sweet

I read all of the Harry Potter books a few years ago, and even though they aren't high literature, they are incredibly well plotted and engrossing. So, when I saw that The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling was being offered free of charge via Audible, I thought it would be rude not to accept such a gift! This is a book within a book, so to speak, being referred to by Hermione Grainger in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Purporting to be the favourite bedtime reading for young wizards, it reads like a set of fairy tales, but with witches and wizards as the stars of the show, rather than princes and princesses (if you are looking for a Cinderella-type story, you won't find it in here). There are five tales in all, including The Tale of the Three Brothers, which will already be familiar to Potter fans. I think my personal favourite was The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, where a wizard with a bad attitude gets their comeuppance in increasingly entertaining (for the reader) ways. Each narrative is accompanied by explanatory notes written by none other than Professor Dumbledore, which provides an interesting dimension. This is definitely one for the myriad of Potter fans out there, but it's also a light and entertaining read for anyone who likes fairy tales. If you happen to get the audio edition, each story is read by a different narrator and features some soundscaping too. Very short, but enjoyable.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 144 print pages.
Price I paid: free.
Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

Sword of Kings - Uhtred the indestructible!

Sometimes I just can't resist going back to authors and characters that I love. And so, I reached for Sword of Kings, by Bernard Cornwell, the 12th instalment in The Last Kingdom series. Uhtred of Bebbanburg seems quite happy at home, until he hears that King Edward is dying. This means that it is time for him to live up to the oath he made many years before to his former lover, Aethelflaed. He vowed to protect her nephew, Aethelstan, and put him on the throne. However, this means he will have to kill two men who have their own ideas about who should rule when King Edward is gone. And so Uhtred heads south once more with a small band of warriors, and plunges himself into the machinations of 10th Century Anglo Saxon politics. As usual, he encounterss formidable foes, and cannot help but get into incredibly tight scrapes. He almost meets his match and is lucky to escape with his life at one point, but Uhtred, it seems, is indestructible and manages to pull himself together for the final encounter and yes, it's shield wall time again. These novels are always entertaining, and the urge to turn the page is ever present. However, it is all becoming very familiar and, at the age Uhtred must be by now, a little on the unbelievable side. Whilst I have, and always do, enjoy a Bernard Cornwell book, I didn't feel there was much more that could be squeezed out of this character. Luckily, there is just one more book in the series and it will be interesting to see what the fates have in store in that final outing for the legend that is Uhtred.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, audio CD, ebook.
Length: 340 print pages.
Price I paid: free, borrowed from library.