Week 9

The Girl Before has been waiting for me on my Audible.com app for a while. I was interested to see if this thriller lived up to its expectations. Told in two viewpoints, Then - Emma, and Now- Jane, it tells about the lives of these two characters before and while they live at 1 Folgate street. The house is a techno architect design house which monitors your wellbeing through regular psych assessments. The book flashes back and forth to uncover what happened to Emma.

A totally thrilling story. Another book read for my goodreads reading challenge, and at a stretch I’m going to count it as a Fiction book about psychology as the characters complete regular psychometric assessments while they live at 1 Folgate street, and without revealing any spoilers the main characters state of mind is in the fore front of your mind as you read.

Week 8

Still reading.... I am surprising myself. I am making time to catch up with a good book. Work is at its most hectic, but I’m still finding the time. This week I wanted to tick off another book from Erin’s reading challenge. This is the furthest I’ve ever progressed with this challenge. I’m halfway through reading 5 books. The secret keeper by Kate Morton is on Book Riot’s 100 must read books. I had grabbed this one last year after suggestions after reading a Kimberley Freeman novel.

This a bit of a saga set in WWII and in 2011, it tells about the story about Laurel Nicholson and her mother with dementia. Through shifting through the timeframes you get to know Dorothy Nicholson (née Smitham) and her friend Vivien Jenkins. A really beautiful story that left me weeping in the final chapter. This was a true saga written over 560 pages, it has helped me tick off another title in the Ultimate reading challenge.

In my commute, I managed an audiobook, Comedian Tina Fey’s Bossypants.

I was really hoping that it would be a rip roaring laugh out loud kind of comedic book. I like Tina Fey, she is intelligent and I find what she writes about interesting. I just don’t find it LOL funny. In fact, the only time I laughed aloud was when I was listening with my son and it was awkward moment about tampons. We both looked at each other and laughed about the awkwardness. I don’t know if I’m gonna find that kind of a book, having read three female comedians’ stories this year. But I’m going to label it a funny book, funny in an intelligent way.

I am at 12 books for the year. I can't believe I'm a third of the way through my reading goal on goodreads. Its amazing how much I read last year for my Masters. I am spending the same amount of time but reading purely for pleasure this year. I think I can complete the Ultimate reading challenge this year. 

Week 7

I chose Keepers of the House by Lisa St Aubin de Terán for my read around the world challenge. This story is set in Venezuela 🇻🇪. My first book set in South America. It is about the Beltrán family who have lived at the Hacienda La BeBella estate for many years. It starts with the character Lydia marrying Don Diego and moving to the estate, befriending Benito. Benito has been loyal to the family for many years, and tells Lydia the history of the family and estate. After he dies, the recounts the history Benito spoke of. The book has many descriptive passages of the land where the story is set.

This title also fits the criteria for Erin’s book challenge as a title with “house” or “home” in it. And so now I’ve read 4 books towards the challenge. I could have picked many categories for the Ultimate Book challenge, however I selected a book written in the 20th century as it was written in 1982. So that’s a total of ten books towards the Goodreads and ultimate book reading challenges. 

 

Week 6

The momentum continues... Work has been really hectic of late, but I'm still on top with the reading. I've achieved this through my subscription to audible.com. I spend at least an hour and half each day commuting to and from work. At the end of the working day, I switch off and sink my thoughts into the current book I'm listening to. I see you was one of those books. This book was chosen by my online reading book club. The narration was just brilliant. In fact, over the weekend I just hopped into bed and listened to the final chapters. It was a thrilling page turner, that I give 5 out of 5 stars!!

Zoe Walker spots her photo in the classifieds of a newspaper and is puzzled. She sees a woman who was mugged in the tube, photo appear in the classifieds as well. Immediately she reports to police. When shes the news-story of a murder of the next victim of stolen identity, she becomes gravely concerned about her own life and feels someone is stalking her. Seriously I loved the twists and turns in this audiobook and can't wait to discuss it with my group.

The book is set in London and we will be visiting this year, I can't wait to ride the tube and see all the train stops listed in the story. 

The next book was a bit of a miss for me. I listened thinking it would be a comedy. However, I did not smile or laugh once. It is a collection of essays about Mindy Kaling's life. I did feel her strength of character in one of the final essays when she is working with a stylist for a photo shoot. But apart from that I'm lucky I didnt fall asleep driving on the way from work. 

That's nine books read for the Goodreads book and Ultimate Reading challenge.

Week 5

Into the water by Paula Hawkins was suggested by a book club that I was thinking of joining. I had read Girl on the Train when it came out a few years ago and loved the fast pace thrill of a read. So I couldn’t wait to read her latest release. This one took me a while to get into the story. It was told in too many character’s voice. I found it hard to track all of them. But once I reached Part 2, it was a real page turner. A woman, Nel has suspiciously died at the “drowning pool”, her daughter, Lena, ‘s friend, Katie suicided in the same pool of water just months ago. What are the secrets of this water hole? Why have so many women died here? A real page turner when you get past the style of writing.

Another book read for my Ultimate reading challenge, a book published in the past year.

That’s a total of 7 books towards the Ultimate Reading and Goodreads challenges.