Firstly, Happy Christmas to you all!
I hope you're having a wonderful day, but I thought I'd interrupt it by sharing with you a few of my stocking fillers, in the field of literature.
On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
It is July 1962. Edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset Coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their private fears of the wedding night to come...
This book, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize this year, was given to me by my lovely Auntie Jacqui and her partner, Mike. It didn't win the prize but nevertheless, the novel has been well praised. It is a short novel so hopefully I will be back soon to give you some feedback on its good and - perhaps - bad points.
The Gathering, Anne Enright
The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - although that certainly helped - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house, in the winter of 1968. His sister Veronica was there then, as she is now: keeping the dead man company, just for another little while.
Now, this one did win the Man Booker Prize, so you've probably heard of it. Enright was also in the papers around the time the prize was awarded for writing an essay that criticised the McCanns. My Grandma and Grandad bought it for me and I'm sure it will live up to its award-winning status.
Engleby, Sebastian Faulks
Mike Engleby says things that others dare not think.
Another present from my grandparents, this is something apparently "unlike anything he has written before", but since reading Birdsong, I've been a bit of a fan of Faulks. I haven't read any reviews, but it has been recommended to me by a teacher - let's hope it doesn't disappoint.
Suite Française, Irène Némirovsky
In 1941, Irène Némirovsky sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. Némirovsky's death in Auschwitz in 1942 prevented her from seeing the day, sixty-five years later, that the existing two sections of her planned novel sequence, "Suite Française", would be rediscovered and hailed as a masterpiece.
This, a present from my mum, sounds like an incredible story. My novel is the translation of the original French publication and I can't wait to read it. I'll have to read into the author's own story a bit more too as even that sounds like an amazing, if heart-wrenching story.
So, those are my four Christmas novels. Maybe some of you out there could help me decide what to read first, and, if you've read any of them already, let me know what you think. Hopefully, I'll have a few reviews on the way soon.
Have a happy Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
I hope you're having a wonderful day, but I thought I'd interrupt it by sharing with you a few of my stocking fillers, in the field of literature.
On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
It is July 1962. Edward and Florence, young innocents married that morning, arrive at a hotel on the Dorset Coast. At dinner in their rooms they struggle to suppress their private fears of the wedding night to come...
This book, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize this year, was given to me by my lovely Auntie Jacqui and her partner, Mike. It didn't win the prize but nevertheless, the novel has been well praised. It is a short novel so hopefully I will be back soon to give you some feedback on its good and - perhaps - bad points.
The Gathering, Anne Enright
The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - although that certainly helped - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house, in the winter of 1968. His sister Veronica was there then, as she is now: keeping the dead man company, just for another little while.Now, this one did win the Man Booker Prize, so you've probably heard of it. Enright was also in the papers around the time the prize was awarded for writing an essay that criticised the McCanns. My Grandma and Grandad bought it for me and I'm sure it will live up to its award-winning status.
Engleby, Sebastian Faulks
Mike Engleby says things that others dare not think.
Another present from my grandparents, this is something apparently "unlike anything he has written before", but since reading Birdsong, I've been a bit of a fan of Faulks. I haven't read any reviews, but it has been recommended to me by a teacher - let's hope it doesn't disappoint.
Suite Française, Irène Némirovsky
In 1941, Irène Némirovsky sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. Némirovsky's death in Auschwitz in 1942 prevented her from seeing the day, sixty-five years later, that the existing two sections of her planned novel sequence, "Suite Française", would be rediscovered and hailed as a masterpiece.This, a present from my mum, sounds like an incredible story. My novel is the translation of the original French publication and I can't wait to read it. I'll have to read into the author's own story a bit more too as even that sounds like an amazing, if heart-wrenching story.
So, those are my four Christmas novels. Maybe some of you out there could help me decide what to read first, and, if you've read any of them already, let me know what you think. Hopefully, I'll have a few reviews on the way soon.
Have a happy Christmas and best wishes for the new year.
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