Do you ever go through phases where you subconsciously read one book genre exclusively? At the start of the year, I was reading a lot of memoirs, but lately I’ve completely switched and have settled into some really enjoyable novels. Here’s five I read lately (some you may remember from my summer TBR!) and my thoughts on them.
Small Pleasures – Clare Chambers
In 1950s London, local paper writer Jean Swinney lives a limited existence with only her belligerent mother for company. When a young Swiss woman, Gretchen Tilbury, contacts the paper to claim that her daughter is the result of a virgin birth, it is down to Jean to discover whether she is a miracle or a fraud. But the more Jean investigates, the more her life becomes intertwined with Gretchen and her family.
Small Pleasures had a heartwarming protagonist who you naturally rooted for from beginning to end of the novel. It is an easy read but not a stand out amongst over books I have read, as it’s quite forgettable – what has the most impact is its abrupt ending, which I still feel quite unsatisfied by!
Where The Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her. Where the Crawdads Sing is a unique mixture of ode to the natural world, profound coming of age story and murder mystery.
One of the biggest novels of the past couple of years, I finally got round to reading Where The Crawdads Sing recently. Its setting is very rich, the author has clearly harnessed her immense knowledge of nature to bring the story to life. I liked it but didn’t love it as much as many do, as it would have benefitted from more historical context and I found the court case section jarred with the rest of the novel. I recently read the film adaptation which weaves this scene in more naturally, but was a very prettified version of the story.
This Lovely City – Louise Hare
With the World War II over and London still rebuilding, jazz musician Lawrie Matthews has answered England’s call for labour. Arriving from Jamaica aboard the Empire Windrush, he’s rented a tiny room in south London and fallen in love with the girl next door. Playing in Soho’s jazz clubs by night and pacing the streets as a postman by day, Lawrie has poured his heart into his new home ― and it’s alive with possibility. Until one morning, while crossing a misty common, he makes a terrible discovery.
Coincidentally, we’re back in 1950s London for my next read, a fascinating and heartbreaking look at race relations in post-war London. This Lovely City‘s themes are darker than I expected from its jazzy cover – its murder mystery element makes it a harrowing read. Hare smartly focuses the reader’s attention on one character before you realise that it’s actually a different character who is far more crucial to the plot. It’s a novel that is wrapped up neatly, with a subtle sense of foreboding for worsening race relations in the later years of the 1950s.
The Empire – Michael Ball
1922. When Jack Treadwell arrives at The Empire Theatre, he is instantly mesmerised. Amid the glitz and glamour, he soon learns that the true magic of the theatre lies in its cast of characters – both on stage and behind the scenes. But with a shocking secret waiting in the wings, can the theatre as they know it survive?
Michael Ball’s debut novel The Empire is set in a 1920s theatre in the north of England, showing that all that glitters isn’t gold. It has a mighty cast of characters – perhaps a few too many to keep up with at times – many of which are very likeable and well-developed throughout the course of the novel. It’s a shame he sets it in an uninteresting fictional city ‘Highbridge’, as I would have preferred it to be set somewhere real, but overall this was very easy to pace through and a great British hit.
So Lucky – Dawn O’Porter
Beth, Ruby and Lauren are always told that they are ‘so lucky’, but is anyones life really as perfect as it looks? It just takes one shocking event to make the truth come tumbling out…
Dawn O’Porter’s first novel So Lucky is told through the perspectives of two characters, Beth and Ruby, whose lives are littered with problems despite how perfect they seem to outsiders, while the third protagonist, Lauren is depicted through her Instagram posts. Despite the two narrators being very shallow and irritating at the start of the novel, there’s a lot of character development that goes on to make this a very addictive read. At the beginning, these women are complete strangers – their lives become intertwined in the novel in a far deeper way than I expected. It’s worth giving the characters a chance, but isn’t groundbreaking.
Make sure to follow me on Goodreads to keep up with what I read next! What have you read lately?
