Five on Friday - A Reading List

It seems like a long time since I wrote about the books I've been reading so I've picked five recent reads to share with you for Five on Friday

1. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I resisted picking up Me Before You for quite a while, mostly because it had received a lot of hype and I thought it might not live up to it all but I was pleasantly surprised. It tells the story of the unlikely relationship between bubbly and funny Lou Clark, a very ordinary girl with very few expectations from life and Will Traynor, a previously high flying businessman who has been left quadraplegic after a motorcycle accident. It cleverly tells of the impact they have on each others lives with humour and empathy. I think it is a serious book about serious issues but cleverly presented as a romance and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm wondering if I'll enjoy the film as much.

2. The Beauty of Murder by A. K. Benedict

This was our book club choice back in September. It is a murder mystery with a difference as it involves time travel and it is also set in Cambridge which gave added appeal as I always enjoy reading about places that are familiar. I actually quite enjoyed it and it presented some interesting ideas but the writing style became irritating after a while. For me it seemed so obvious it had been written by someone who had taken a degree in creative writing as it was packed full of far fetched metaphors and at times an over flowery style. So it was no surprise to find that A.K.Benedict has an MA in creative writing. It wasn't an overly popular choice in our book club and one of the biggest questions was whether the author was male or female! (I'll leave you to find out!) But I found it quite an entertaining read.

3. The Cake Shop in the Garden by Carole Matthews

This was one of those books that I popped into the trolley when I was supermarket shopping. I admit I didn't have high expectations and I was seduced by the title, a light read and the idea of a cake shop in the garden. But I have never read such drivel in my entire life. Fay Merryweather (yes, I know even her name says it all) runs a cake shop and cafe in her garden where she also has a canal boat moored in the canal at the back of the house. She is put upon by her cantankerous bedridden mother, taken advantage of by her horrible selfish sister, treated terribly by her boring boyfriend but all the time poor old Fay soldiers on with a smile... what a martyr! And all the time you know that eventually the chap who has turned up on a boat to do odd jobs will be her knight in shining armour. He just takes 422 pages of repetitive, long winded, highly predictable drivel to do it. And before you ask, I have no idea why I actually bothered to finish it!

4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Fortunately my brain was prevented from turning to mush by our October book club choice All The Light We Cannot See which was brilliant. Set in the second world war it follows the parallel lives of a young French girl, Marie-Laure who happens to be blind, and a young orphaned German boy Werner, who is recruited to the Hitler Youth because of his talent for fixing radios. Their lives are linked by the impact of radio during the war and the devastation in the walled town of St. Malo where their lives eventually converge. It is a well written and beautifully crafted story and it was an extrememly popular book club choice.

5. When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendleson

I have just finished When We Were Bad and found it a quick and entertaining read. It tells the story of the Rubin family, Rabbi Claudia, her husband Norman and their four "grown up" children and how they collapse into one big mess after their beloved eldest son does a runner on his wedding day. It is witty and warm and although the story doesn't really go anywhere it is a nice little observation of human behaviour. A fun read!

I'm currently reading In Order to Live by Yeonomi Park, which is a harrowing autobiography by the young Yeomoni telling of her escape from North Korea, via human trafficking in China. Have you read any good books lately?

There is no Five on Friday link up this week but as I'd already written this post and it's Friday, I'm sticking with it!