It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. Continue reading
Tag Archives: John Boyne
Six Degrees of Separation – from The Arsonist to Tin Man
It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up!
This month we begin with The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper. It’s a fascinating account of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. One of the themes Hooper explores is remorse. Continue reading
My Best Books for 2018
I did away with ‘top tens’ a few years ago, and instead I finish the reading year with a recap of the books that are still speaking to me (less about four and five-star ratings, more about what has stuck). Continue reading
2018: What I Read
Here’s my year in books (with thanks to the Goodreads record keeping tool): Continue reading
Reading Challenges 2018
Sure, I might squeeze in another couple of books before midnight on December 31, 2018 but I think I can safely draw a line under the reading challenges for the year.
I participated in six challenges this year – finished four; one is ongoing; and I failed one – not miserably but I didn’t complete the target number of books. Continue reading
Six Degrees of Separation – from Atonement to Bitter Orange
It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up! Continue reading
Sample Saturday – letters, lobsters, and love
Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. Continue reading
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
For a book to get five-stars, I want to laugh and cry. I want to whoop with joy when a character triumphs but equally, I want to have my heart broken (just a little). Basically, I want a million feelings and Cyril Avery, the star of John Boyne’s big, ramshackle novel, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, delivers it all.
There’s great emphasis from the outset that Cyril Avery is not a real Avery – he’s adopted by the peculiar but not inherently unkind, Charles and Maude Avery.
I was not a real Avery and would not be looked after financially in adulthood in the manner that a real Avery would have been. ‘Think of this more as a tenancy, Cyril,’ he told me – they had named me Cyril for a spaniel they’d once owned and loved – ‘an eighteen-year tenancy. But during that time there’s no reason why we shouldn’t all get along, is there?’ Continue reading
Slumps (and how to get out of them)
No, there are four types of slumps: add reading slumps. Continue reading
Six Degrees of Separation – from No.1 Ladies Detective Agency to The Heart’s Invisible Furies
It’s time for #6degrees. Join in and see where your book chain takes you.
This month we begin with the international bestseller, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith. Continue reading