andintothetrees's reviews
554 reviews

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson

4.0

This book is one of the bestselling in the UK today, so popular in fact that I had to pay 40p to read it (on top of my 45p reservation charge) as another library user had reserved it and I couldn’t renew the loan. Scandalous, I know (this miserliness is why I won’t get a Kindle, most of books I­ like to read are around a fiver to download as e-books or free/at most 45p to reserve at the library). Thus I don’t know how much I can say about Before I Go To Sleep that hasn’t already been said, but I’ll give you my two pennies’ worth anyway.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/before-i-go-to-sleep-by-sj-watson/]

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

4.0

I heard about Pigeon English through the Guardian’s Saturday Review supplement, and placed a library reservation almost as soon as I had read it was an adult* novel with a child protagonist. As regular readers of this blog may be aware, child (and teenage) protagonists are one of my favourite things to find in a novel, and that coupled with the protagonist being a boy new to the UK, meant this was a “must read” for me. I love young protagonists and/or protagonists who are new to “modern life” (e.g. recent immigrants, the time-travelled) as they provide a device for the exploration of the familiar through the eyes of an outsider, new to that which I see as everyday, which is very refreshing and encourages my own thinking to be more creative.
* adult as in not written for children/young people, not adult as in erotic, before you get any ideas. There are plenty of other places on the internet for that kind of thing.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/pigeon-english-by-stephen-kelman/]

Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

2.0

Rosamund Lupton’s debut novel Sister was one of the best books I read last year and fell into the coveted “impossible to put down” category. I therefore placed a reservation for Afterwards at the library as soon as I knew it was out*, and eagerly awaited being sucked into another mystery. Sadly this was a poor shadow of its predecessor and ended up more of a book I had to persuade myself to pick up and finish than one I struggled to put down.
* this was another book I had to pay a fine for as I didn’t get around to reading it before my initial three week loan was up, and which I wasn’t allowed to renew as someone else had placed a reservation. In fact the library staff informed me that another three people were waiting for the book, which makes me think that Dundee libraries need to improve their stock and consider buying more than one copy of a book. Moan over.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/afterwards-by-rosamund-lupton/]

Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher

2.0

I’ve had a mini-run of reading not-great books it seems! Truth be told, I probably shouldn’t have bothered picking this one up, as I’ve previously read both Postcards From The Edge and The Best Awful by the same author, and didn’t enjoy either – in fact I’m not sure I even made it to the end of one of them. I always feel like I should like Carrie Fisher’s books though, since she discusses topics I am interested in and usually enjoy reading about, plus they are supposed to be oh-so-hilarious and I like a good laugh (well, who doesn’t?). I picked Shockaholic up nevertheless, since my local library had a shiny new copy waiting temptingly… I then told myself I had to read it once I’d got it home, since I want to break my habit of taking out more books than I read, as it just means a) unnecessary carrying of books and b) me hogging library copies of things other people might really want to read, instead of just being vaguely interested in.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/shockaholic-by-carrie-fisher/]

I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson

2.0

I picked this book up at the library after hearing it discussed as a participant’s favourite novel on Channel Four’s TV Book Club. It was mentioned that a lot of the story is conveyed through emails, and this being a device I love (along with letters and journals) it went straight onto my “to read” list. Since it is also a novel about motherhood I thought it would be pertinent to my life at the moment and give me a taste of what I have to look forward to in years to come. Unfortunately I was disappointed on both counts – the emails only appear sporadically and I couldn’t relate to or sympathise with the main character at all.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/i-dont-know-how-she-does-it-by-allison-pearson/]

Riding In Cars With Boys by Beverly Donofrio

2.0

Oh no, it’s another two star review! I can promise that the book I’m currently reading (Case Histories by Kate Atkinson) will get a much higher rating, unless it goes rapidly downhill in its final third, which I doubt. Anyway, this was something I’ve been meaning to read for a while, as the movie version is one of my favourite films. I’ll need to watch it again however, as I found the book had a vastly different feel to the film – unless perhaps I’m just “not getting it”, or maybe my perspective has changed drastically since becoming a mother myself.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/riding-in-cars-with-boys-by-beverly-donofrio/]

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

5.0

At last, a decent book! Kate Atkinson is (or rather, was) one of those authors who I often heard about and who seemed to be popular among people who enjoy similar books to me, but whose work I had never tried (despite the fact that her books often have wonderful titles such as Started Early, Took My Dog and Emotionally Weird). I guess her plots just didn’t seem hugely appealing, and I was put off by the fact they often seem to receive comparatively fairly mixed reviews. That said, I picked this one up at the library on impulse recently – I knew I had to get around to trying her books eventually, and when I read the blurb and realized the book was set in Cambridge, with a main character who never felt he belonged there, I was sold (as I went to university there, and never felt like I belonged either).

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/case-histories-by-kate-atkinson/]

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson

5.0

I wasn’t sure whether or not to give this book a 5 star review, but what the hell, I’m feeling generous. 5 stars becomes meaningless if you never award it, anyway (I realise my musings on what star rating to give each book are probably not that interesting to read, but hopefully I’ll find it easier to decide what rating to give as I become more experienced at this blogging lark). So, yes. This book has one of the best titles I’ve come across – I love long titles, titles with punctuation and titles that I feel are relevant to my life/interests, and this one ticked all the boxes (that said, when I was younger I often thought being more normal would make me happier, rather than it being a straight choice between the two. Nowadays I embrace the weirdness, and so the title is more than reasonably relevant to me).

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/why-be-happy-when-you-could-be-normal-by-jeanette-winterson/]

Boys Don't Cry by Malorie Blackman

3.0

Every once in a while I feel like reading some YA fiction, and when I went to my small local library in search of some this caught my eye. I’ve been reading a lot of books about parenthood lately (as regular readers will have noticed), exploring literature around it as I explore the reality. Additionally, Malorie Blackman has long been a favourite YA author of mine – if you haven’t read her Noughts And Crosses series you must, regardless of age. Boys Don’t Cry is quite different from both Noughts And Crosses and my experience of parenthood, nevertheless I enjoyed it well enough, albeit largely just as a quick and undemanding read.

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/boys-dont-cry-by-malorie-blackman/]

Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein

4.0

I have to thank my friend Katie for lending me this book as she (correctly) thought it was relevant to my interests – feminism, parenting, rants – it’s all good. Cinderella Ate My Daughter sets out to analyse the implications of the “girlie girl” culture that surrounds modern female children, and in doing so takes a long look at the sexualisation and the commodification of childhood. (Word is telling me sexualisation and commodification are not words, but I’m sure they are. If not, then blame my addled-due-to-sleep-deprivation mama brain.) Although I am the parent of a son rather than a daughter, I found that many of the topics put forth in the book were still pertinent to me, and even non-parents would, I believe, find it interesting from an theoretical point of view (and they wouldn’t have to then worry about having to find away to avoid the pitfalls of this culture described in the book either. Win win!)

... [Read the rest of my review here: https://whathannahread.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/cinderella-ate-my-daughter-by-peggy-orenstein/]