en-US Tue, 15 Apr 2025 01:45:49 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9310915141 Tue, 15 Apr 2025 01:45:49 -0700 /review/show/7489984013 Carol is currently reading The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer
]]> ReadStatus9309020423 Mon, 14 Apr 2025 13:49:28 -0700 /review/show/7488683361 Carol is currently reading There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
]]> Review7445847646 Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:44:04 -0700 /review/show/7445847646 Carol gave 4 stars to I, Mona Lisa (Paperback) by Natasha Solomons
A fabulous and unusual read. In it, The Mona Lisa tells her own story and so we learn about hundreds of years of European History from her beginnings in Florence, through Renaissance Florence to The Louvre in Paris from where she is still watching what goes on in the world and the art scene.
She also lets us into many secrets including artists� methods at the time she was created, her feelings for da Vinci and the established habits of the artistic community. ]]> Review7344632065 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 16:47:31 -0700 /review/show/7344632065 Carol gave 5 stars to Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1) by Hilary Mantel
An extraordinary take on Henry Vlll’s court. The title gives away little of the conspiracies, rivalries and dangers of the Tudor court. But Mantel shies away from nothing. Perilous for England to be without an heir, the notorious king, makes the decision to apply to Rome for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn.
But neither God nor nature are on his ‘side�.
Everyone in the court, including central figures Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Wolsey, learn that there are no ‘freebies� in Henry’s court. It’s a lavish, and gorgeous read, but unpredictable and terrifyingly brutal.
Mantel’s masterful handling of such a notorious period of English History is superb. The first of a trilogy, she rightly won The Booker in 2012 and was either shortlisted for or won many other prestigious literary awards for this and the subsequent ‘Bring up the Bodies� and ‘The Mirror and the Light� ]]> Review7445847646 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 16:35:29 -0700 /review/show/7445847646 Carol gave 4 stars to I, Mona Lisa (Paperback) by Natasha Solomons
A fabulous and unusual read. In it, The Mona Lisa tells her own story and so we learn about hundreds of years of European History from her beginnings in Florence, through Renaissance Florence to The Louvre in Paris from where she is still watching what goes on in the world and the art scene.
She also lets us into many secrets including artists� methods at the time she was created, her feelings for da Vinci and the established habits of the artistic community. ]]> Review4535831261 Sat, 08 Mar 2025 13:44:45 -0800 /review/show/4535831261 Carol gave 5 stars to Black Butterflies (Kindle Edition) by Priscilla Morris
This month’s @ShelterBox read is a book I read some time ago, but excited to read it again
Multi-cultural Sarajevo, with its splendid Hapsburg past eventually comes under siege in the Bosnian War of 1992. With devastating results.
In her remarkably powerful debut novel, Morris recreates the full horror of life in a war zone that thankfully, most of us only see on our news bulletins, albeit with accompanying vivid, reporting from exceptional foreign correspondents like Kate Adie and Frank Gardener.
Zora, the central character is an artist and teacher with a studio in the National and University Library where she paints exquisite landscapes of her beloved homeland. As the situation becomes more dangerous for civilians, she arranges for her husband and elderly mother to relocate to her daughter Dubravka and her husband Steve’s house in England.
It all begins quietly enough. Streets are safe, shops are full and men still play chess under the trees. But very quickly and coinciding with the bitter winter, snipers, explosions and fires reduce the city to a hell hole. Scraps of black paper are soon, all that is left of the magnificent library and Zora’s paintings. She and her neighbours join forces to survive but conditions become increasingly brutal, and hunger, fear, cold, lack of water and grief begin to take their toll.
It takes unbelievable courage, determination and resilience just to survive, let alone maintain some kind of feeling.
Thank you, @NetGalley and @DuckworthBooks for my pre-release copy in return for an honest review.
Bravo, Priscilla Morris. A privilege to read your novel. ]]> Review5733693094 Sat, 08 Mar 2025 13:36:42 -0800 /review/show/5733693094 Carol gave 5 stars to Old God's Time (ebook) by Sebastian Barry
Narrated by retired police office Tom Kettle. As he sits in his modest home attached to a Victorian Castle overlooking the beautiful, wild, shapeshifting and mood changing Irish Sea, he remembers.
Largely undisturbed his mind recalls his life and the happy, gruelling times he’s lived through as a father and a professional. Sometimes he appears haunted, reality and dreams muddle and Tom becomes disturbed. This is particularly so when two ex colleague detectives call on him and he is reminded of a harrowing case. He has never really been at peace since. There are many fragments of memories, when priests and nuns behaved atrociously towards children in their care. Tom’s role is never clear and the whole remains a mystery.
But boy, does he suffer.only occasionally does he recall happy family days.
Stunning portrait of a lonely, broken man, who gave his all. ]]> Review7222910350 Wed, 26 Feb 2025 03:33:46 -0800 /review/show/7222910350 Carol gave 5 stars to Caledonian Road (Hardcover) by Andrew O'Hagan
A rich tapestry of Londoners living and working on one of London’s great arteries, the Caledonian Road, from Kings Cross to Camden and beyond.
The cast of characters is immense and their relationships and raisin d’etre equally impressive and varied. We meet academics, artists, people traffickers, old ladies living lonely lives and city slickers.
It’s a far from glamorous or sugar coated portrait of a city; these characters have their problems, their hang ups and their humanity. There is also Primrose Hill and that unforgettable view.
Loved it. I’m there again, living in London. ]]> Review7344632065 Sat, 22 Feb 2025 06:15:29 -0800 /review/show/7344632065 Carol gave 5 stars to Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1) by Hilary Mantel
An extraordinary take on Henry Vlll’s court. The title gives away little of the conspiracies, rivalries and dangers of the Tudor court. But Mantel shies away from nothing. Perilous for England to be without an heir, the notorious king, makes the decision to apply to Rome for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn.
But neither God nor nature are on his ‘side�.
Everyone in the court, including central figures Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Wolsey, learn that there are no ‘freebies� in Henry’s court. It’s a lavish, and gorgeous read, but unpredictable and terrifyingly brutal.
Mantel’s masterful handling of such a notorious period of English History is superb. The first of a trilogy, she rightly won The Booker in 2012 and was either shortlisted for or won many other prestigious literary awards for this and the subsequent ‘Bring up the Bodies� and ‘The Mirror and the Light� ]]> Review7283868013 Mon, 10 Feb 2025 08:32:49 -0800 /review/show/7283868013 Carol gave 4 stars to The Other Americans (Hardcover) by Laila Lalami
Read for @shelterbox book group.
A richly varied and very timely novel about the people who live in a small town in California. Opening with a hit and run incident causes much unravelling and exposes the citizens� lives. The victim is a Moroccan immigrant, owner of a local bread shop, father and husband; and known to everyone. Part detective story part romance, but also a close up examination of American society
The wide range and diverse characters each have a story and a struggle to tell, and they do so, in their own words. Much vulnerability, anxiety, trauma, conflict and ambition emerge through the skill of Lalami.
Definitely challenges the stereotypical small town folksy stories. These are the ‘other� Americans. ]]>