More than halfway through the year and definitely time for a reading recap. Of all the things this year has been, it has been an excellent year for reading. Let’s dive in and in no particular order, this is what I have been reading or listening to over the last couple of weeks.
The Impossible Thing
This has to be my book of the year. All my favourite books have a feisty gal character, all of them. And this is one of those! It also has a true crime, with more than one timeline, but the biggest “wow factor” for me was the fact that there is a whole egg collecting underground criminality in the world. Who knew? At the turn of the last century, egg collecting, or oology, was considered to be an excellent pastime for gentlemen of the day, and just as important as the eggs that had to be stolen from various nests, was The Data, which was a small card kept with the egg, filled with as much information about the egg, the bird parents and habitats, conditions on the day and suchlike…
Meanwhile, the book begins with a small impoverished girl, living on the furthest corner of the Yorkshire Coast, who could step through a small opening in the cliffs once a year to, to gather an incredibly rare egg for a rich collector, and thus secure funding, food and rent for her family for the rest of the year.
At the same time in the book, but decades later in the timeline, a house in the wild Welsh countryside is broken into, there is actual violence but not an obvious robbery. In fact the only thing stolen is a red egg, that had been stored in the attic for several years, in a particularly beautiful box. The boy, who lived in the cottage advertised his egg on e-bay, for about five minutes, before changing his mind and taking the advert down… but that was enough time for the underground egg traffickers to spot it and seek it out.
The two young men have no idea that having an egg is illegal, but very quickly realise that it would be a mistake to go to the police, in fact, it would be a mistake to trust anyone. They are focused on saving for a gaming chair, and they want their egg back. At the same time that the young men are setting out on an adventure of note, our young lady is growing up in her timeline, and her life appears to go from one misery to the next… one cannot help but be caught up in all of this. It is an excellent read, I really loved it.
Favourite Daughter
I loved this one… this is a brilliant read… as a mom of a few daughters, I was curious about the title. This is a great weekend/holiday read, while the premise is somewhat disturbing, the story is heartwarming. Two girls, with the same dad, and raised by their moms, in completely different circumstances are thrown together at the last minute, when their father passes away. Arlo, was raised with her mom and dad, they lived in affluence, she suffered for nothing and is now a practising and successful psychiatrist. Mickey, the oldest daughter, vowed to never see her father again, after he walked out and abandoned her and her mom for his NEW family. Mickey’s life has been a struggle, financial and emotional, she never quite got over the loss of her father and frankly would rather not think about him ever again… she is a practicing kindergarten teacher with a “not so slight” drinking problem.
Arlo adores her father and nurses him for months on his death bed, when he passes away, she is horrified to discover that while she thought she would be financially taken care of forever, her father has twisted her fate somewhat and left his wealth to his older daughter, Mickey. There is a condition, Mickey has to attend several therapy sessions in order to receive her inheritance and of course she ends up at the only psychiatrist that she really shouldn’t seek help from, her sister, Arlo. There are a lot of ups and downs in this story, it is happy and sad, funny and poignant. This is a wonderful escape, and a great read.
Follow me to Africa
Penny Haw is a local author who has the skill of telling the stories of women in science from days gone by. She manages to turn their stories into living history, and create fascinating reads for her growing audience. This book is about the archaeologist, Mary Leakey, who under the shadow of her much more famous husband, developed into a world renowned archaeologist in her own right, despite her non-academic education.
The story unfolds through Grace Clark, a teenager who has recently lost her mom, and joins the dig with her father. As Grace’s story unfolds, so we are introduced to Mary Leakey’s story and the two parallel timelines blend in and out of each other along with a love for the wildest and remotest parts of Africa. This is a lovely read, you can almost feel the heat and the red dust sticking to your sandals… I loved the slow lilt of camp life, despite Grace’s young and eager race to get things done, nothing in Africa will be rushed.
I absolutely loved Penny Haw’s previous reads: The Invincible Miss Cust and The Woman at the Wheel… you can read my author interview with her here.
The Midnight Carousel
This book I listened to on audible and it was a spectacular mystery. Another feisty female protagonist, this time we follow the life of Maisie, who at age six finds herself in a terrible foster home… from which she is rescued by a well meaning aunt, to life with a well-to-do family. Where well-to-do definitely doesn’t mean happily ever after. From the youngest age, Maisie has been intrigued by a particular French Carousel, and though her life takes her far and wide, the French Carousel seems to follow her, and it has a somewhat sinister, if not menacing mood, that overshadows every joyful moment. From the great exhibition in Paris, to Chicago in the roaring twenties, the Carousel appears to be on a journey of its own… and wherever the Carousel goes so does Detective Laurent Bisset of the Paris police. The thing is, this Carousel has a history… where ever it travels children appear to go missing, and the only common denominator with all crimes, is that Maisie Marlowe appears to always be on the scene. This is an excellent read/listen… I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.
The Homemade God
You know I absolutely love a Rachel Joyce and I mean LOVE!!! The Homemade God is very different to her previous books and yet it is just as whimsical and thought provoking and lovely… I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is a story about a family that has stood the test of time – or has it? When world renowned artist Vic Kemp’s wife passes away he is left to raise their four feisty children on his own. Each with their own unique and precious voice, Vic appears to have done a great job despite his limitations. Somehow he has bumbled along and managed to raise his children, with long lingering summers at The Lake House in Italy. Now that they are all adults, the family still meet up together, always taking on their typical rolls.
But Vic has other plans for is family, this season of life will not actually go on forever, because he has fallen in love and is about to remarry… Bella-Mae enters the scene, she is a young art student, 27 years old to his seventy six years old, and full of ideas about Vic and how he should be living his best life. Needless to say his children are not a little bit horrified: Who is this upstart? Who stands to inherit their summer home? There is a lot to unwrap in a short space of time. A whole lot of childhood trauma, that was neatly wrapped up in a box, has to come out and be worked through… there is a lot to unpack, there is a lot to put back together. This is a coming of age book, which for vic’s children, was long overdue…
The Vipers
If you are going to choose a book by its cover, then choose this one… an absolutely stunning cover for an excellent epic, set across generations. It is a book about a high flying family, the Lingates, who believe that money can protect them from every kind of crime… Thirty years before the book begins, Sarah Lingate is found crashed on the shore below the cliffs of Capri. The question is, how did she die? As the story unravels and her young daughter, Helen, grows up, we realise more and more, that Sarah was just a victim of a frightfully wealthy family that thought appearances were more important than relationships. This is a psychological thriller of note. There is every kind of sinister character in this book, from sinister employees, to manipulative husbands, from drug addicted aunts, the list is endless, and the opportunities for Helen to escape from the Lingate tyranny are few and far between. There are loads of twists and turns, so many hidden truths… and just when you think you are on track… you really aren’t. Set yourself the time to get into this one, this a a slow burn, with loads of characters, and well worth the trip to Capri, and to see how it all resolves in the end. Or does it resolve?
An Act of Murder
Yes, South Africa is in the grip of a cosy crime writing spree and this is the story of Arnold Prinsloo: a failing actor, his girlfriend has left him and if he doesn’t pay his rent he will be without a home as well. That is all in the first two pages… needless to say things are not going well for Arnold. This book is all about when things start to go from bad to worse, and then much… much worse. Arnold believes he will redeem himself at a birthday party speech… only he ends up leaning over a murder victim and he is holding the weapon. This is a weekend read, it has short snappy chapters, it’s laugh out loud funny in places, and less funny in others… it is a quick “who dunnit,” with a South African flavour. Arnold is quite a character and typically cannot “read the room,” when the police arrive at the scene he is convinced they are coming to rescue him, and definitely not to charge him at all… happy reading, this is great for a wintry weekend read.
A lot of these books were given to us for review purposes by Penguin Random House South Africa, a few of them I bought myself, and a couple of them I bought the audible version as well. This is not a sponsored post and opinions expressed are entirely my own.