I read 5 books in a week and here's what I thought
During lockdown book sales have increased, I know this because books I had in my Amazon basket have gone from being £2 to £8.50 and, an abundance of bookstgram accounts on Instagram have popped up. Which is a bitter pill to swallow because I have been forced to ransack friends bookshelves forcing them to send me their novels convincing them they will never read and finally pay attention to the fourty five unread books I had littered around my own bedroom but on the plus side the growth in the Instagram book community has resulted in several more friendships for me.
My boyfriend, constantly glued to his PC splitting his time equally between completing his University work, playing counterstrike and ignoring me, has graciously freed up a lot of my time allowing me to up the quantity of my usual reading. Here are the five books I have read in the past seven days:
The flat share
Admittedly, this is one I read solely because it was monopolising my feed and also, partially because the teal cover sort of stole a piece of my heart. The Flat share tells the story of Tiffy, an editorial assistant with an absolutely mental ex boyfriend and Leon, a nurse who agrees to share his flat with Tiffy under the legally binding expectation he will never have to see her. She occupies the flat overnight whilst he is at work and he has it during the day when Tiffy is tearing through eccentric manuscipts. This was nowhere near as fluffy as my bookish friends would have me believe, there was toxicity and depth and a raw depiction of adult friendships and relationships. I'm not one to shy away from something purely because of the hype but I strongly contest all the five star reviews I have seen. The story has substance but it's no Virginia Woolf, it has charm and wit but doesn't overflow with it or stand out too much for me. I'd say its worth the read but is a solid two and a half stars from me.
If on a Winter's night a traveller
This was my first Calvino and after this reading experience it will definitely not be my last. This book, like Grief is a thing with feathers jumps out as experimental and memorable because of that. The chapters were all so different but each remained endearing and the style of the narrative gives the reader no choice but to remain engaged throughout. I thought this was wonderful and exciting but the only drawbacks for me are one) you never get enough with the different characters to fully understand them to an adequate extent and two) one of the major selling points of this book is the narration style which places the reader as the protagonist yet pronouns he/him remain prominent throughout. This made it a bit clumsy for me as a female reader to get over and connect in the ways the author probably intended but that remains a small price to pay for such a progressive narrative. I wish more books were like this one.
Melmoth
This is one my final year university flat mate allowed me to borrow well before lockdown and its still on my hands. In a nut shell, this gave me a well travelled woman in black vibes. This is one, out of the hundreds of books I have read so far in my twenty one years of living that has made me feel tense. I had a similar experience last month with certain chapters of Stephen King's Salem's Lot, however with Perry's novel the fear wasn't exclusive to the night time. I'd be on my way to the toilet or sat at my desk brushing my hair and suddenly i'd feel like the woman dressed in black that is Melmoth was stood behind me getting ready to offer me her hands and meet the end of my days. This probably did my frequent nightmare problem no favours, fiction is no remedy folks, it only makes you think more. I would absolutely love to see this one adapted into a film or a mini series and have Melmoth shared with the world. The narrative is so rich you can really picture it nesting comfortably on Iplayer between Killing eve and Normal people.
Jamaicca Inn
Du Maurier's Rebecca has to be my favourite opening to a novel ever, her writing is immense. She was a very progressive writer in my opinion, her writing is littered with feminist prose which she channels perfectly into the novels protagonist Mary Yellan. Mary is a grieving young woman attempting to navigate growing up in an alien and abusive environment after the loss of her parents, her home and her town. She is incredibly noble and inspiring, her strength makes the entire narrative for me but even if she wasn't such an admirable character the non stop action and tension this book should be more than enough for anyone to enjoy the read. I felt so fulfilled and satisfied by this novel, something I haven't taken away from a reading experience in a long time.
Little Women
The last book of my week was Louisa May Alcott's beast of a book at 500 pages and shockingly, not even in the top three largest books I've read this year. I think I have joined the cult of people in love with Jo March. She is wonderful, determined, strong-willed, passionate and progressive. Beth was a firm second favourite but even if she had been dry Jo alone is reason enough to read this novel. Some of the prose was incredible to read, it had such flow and charm and emotion. Its definitely a very quotable book and it succeeded in making me cry. Something which hasn't happened since I first met Ishiguro's Never let me go as a young teenager. However, what stopped this being a five star read for me was the lack of continuity in prose. I felt at times its quality slipped and the vivid women had to carry the novel for Alcott but that being said I still really enjoyed my time with the March family and will returning there on a rainy day later on in my twenties.
My boyfriend, constantly glued to his PC splitting his time equally between completing his University work, playing counterstrike and ignoring me, has graciously freed up a lot of my time allowing me to up the quantity of my usual reading. Here are the five books I have read in the past seven days:
The flat share
Admittedly, this is one I read solely because it was monopolising my feed and also, partially because the teal cover sort of stole a piece of my heart. The Flat share tells the story of Tiffy, an editorial assistant with an absolutely mental ex boyfriend and Leon, a nurse who agrees to share his flat with Tiffy under the legally binding expectation he will never have to see her. She occupies the flat overnight whilst he is at work and he has it during the day when Tiffy is tearing through eccentric manuscipts. This was nowhere near as fluffy as my bookish friends would have me believe, there was toxicity and depth and a raw depiction of adult friendships and relationships. I'm not one to shy away from something purely because of the hype but I strongly contest all the five star reviews I have seen. The story has substance but it's no Virginia Woolf, it has charm and wit but doesn't overflow with it or stand out too much for me. I'd say its worth the read but is a solid two and a half stars from me.
If on a Winter's night a traveller
This was my first Calvino and after this reading experience it will definitely not be my last. This book, like Grief is a thing with feathers jumps out as experimental and memorable because of that. The chapters were all so different but each remained endearing and the style of the narrative gives the reader no choice but to remain engaged throughout. I thought this was wonderful and exciting but the only drawbacks for me are one) you never get enough with the different characters to fully understand them to an adequate extent and two) one of the major selling points of this book is the narration style which places the reader as the protagonist yet pronouns he/him remain prominent throughout. This made it a bit clumsy for me as a female reader to get over and connect in the ways the author probably intended but that remains a small price to pay for such a progressive narrative. I wish more books were like this one.
Melmoth
This is one my final year university flat mate allowed me to borrow well before lockdown and its still on my hands. In a nut shell, this gave me a well travelled woman in black vibes. This is one, out of the hundreds of books I have read so far in my twenty one years of living that has made me feel tense. I had a similar experience last month with certain chapters of Stephen King's Salem's Lot, however with Perry's novel the fear wasn't exclusive to the night time. I'd be on my way to the toilet or sat at my desk brushing my hair and suddenly i'd feel like the woman dressed in black that is Melmoth was stood behind me getting ready to offer me her hands and meet the end of my days. This probably did my frequent nightmare problem no favours, fiction is no remedy folks, it only makes you think more. I would absolutely love to see this one adapted into a film or a mini series and have Melmoth shared with the world. The narrative is so rich you can really picture it nesting comfortably on Iplayer between Killing eve and Normal people.
Jamaicca Inn
Du Maurier's Rebecca has to be my favourite opening to a novel ever, her writing is immense. She was a very progressive writer in my opinion, her writing is littered with feminist prose which she channels perfectly into the novels protagonist Mary Yellan. Mary is a grieving young woman attempting to navigate growing up in an alien and abusive environment after the loss of her parents, her home and her town. She is incredibly noble and inspiring, her strength makes the entire narrative for me but even if she wasn't such an admirable character the non stop action and tension this book should be more than enough for anyone to enjoy the read. I felt so fulfilled and satisfied by this novel, something I haven't taken away from a reading experience in a long time.
Little Women
The last book of my week was Louisa May Alcott's beast of a book at 500 pages and shockingly, not even in the top three largest books I've read this year. I think I have joined the cult of people in love with Jo March. She is wonderful, determined, strong-willed, passionate and progressive. Beth was a firm second favourite but even if she had been dry Jo alone is reason enough to read this novel. Some of the prose was incredible to read, it had such flow and charm and emotion. Its definitely a very quotable book and it succeeded in making me cry. Something which hasn't happened since I first met Ishiguro's Never let me go as a young teenager. However, what stopped this being a five star read for me was the lack of continuity in prose. I felt at times its quality slipped and the vivid women had to carry the novel for Alcott but that being said I still really enjoyed my time with the March family and will returning there on a rainy day later on in my twenties.
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