Since I started my travel journeys a couple of years back, I've not been the biggest reader. I think if I'd had my kindle with me all the time, I would have read a lot more often since I could have bought anything and everything, rather than whatever I could scrabble from a charity shop shelf. Sadly living out of a suitcase means limited space and books just don't make the cut.
So to the point! Being stuck under what can only be described as house arrest (for your own good and the good of those around you, but house arrest all the same) I got back to reading a bit more. I had just bought three new books before lock down along with another five on my kindle, so I wasn't exactly short of options.
New Zealand is now at a new normal and that means having the freedom of movement, working, shopping, bars, cafes and gyms all open again. I didn't quite make it all the way through the pile, but I thought I'd share the ones that I did read.
Christmas Promises at the Little Wedding Shop
The first read of my lock down days was a book in a series I've been following for ages. Christmas Promises is the fourth book, with the fifth one coming out this year. It's always a light hearted and pretty predictable story line about two people falling in love. The thing I like about the series is that the stories are always in the same village with the same people, so by book four you've gotten to see the couple from the first story and how they evolved as well.
The Kingdom
I'm not entirely sure what I expected from the Kingdom but it was definitely worth the read. Based on what I can only assume is Disney World on crack, The Kingdom have their fantasists - the six princesses that are half animatronic and half flesh, just like the hybrid animal creatures in the park. Seeing through the eyes of one of these princesses, you get to see what goes on in their minds and how you can't really control them, just because you created them. They have their own feelings and their own ideas that can't be stopped and can even become dangerous.
It was a pretty cool book and shows you the true evil behind the idea of the perfect fantasy world.
Liberation Square
Imagine what would happen if D-Day had gone wrong for the Brits, if Germany had that boost to take over. Well that's precisely what you get to find out in Liberation Square. You discover a world where Germany invaded Britain and had to be rescued by the Russians and the Americans. The Republic and the Democratic - it was essentially the Berlin Wall but right through London. You follow the life of a woman who has just found her husbands ex wife, dead in her bathroom and all the secrets he decided to hide from her in the last few years slowly start to emerge. It's a pretty good story, even though it did take me a while to get in to it.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
This book is set in Glasgow and I wasn't sure what it was going to be like before I started reading it. But it sounded pretty interesting so I figured I would give it a go and it was brilliant. You get to see the world from the point of view of an adult who grew up in trauma and foster care. When people think she's being rude, you see that she just understands things differently. The way in which she believes her life is absolutely fine the way it is, but that's only because she's used to her own routine and doesn't know much about life outside of it. And when your routine involves a couple bottles of vodka every weekend to sit alone in your flat and drown out the past from your mind, you know there's an intriguing story laying behind it all.
The Flatshare
This was a book that I downloaded on my kindle, when I didn't fancy reading any of the books I had bought in the store before lock down. When I found a list I'd made of books I wanted when I was at a store in Sydney a year ago, Flatshare was top of the list. And it was worth the read. It was the perfect combination of two people finding each other without the drama of will they or wont they. It had the portrayal of finding a healthy relationship completely by chance, compared to their previous ones that were there just for the convenience or manipulatively abusive. It showed what a genuine relationship looks like, whether its trusting one another or needing someone to be understanding and there in the darker times. The book constantly flips between the two main characters which is my favourite way to read, because you get to see whats going on in the both their minds and see everything from two different points of view.
So to the point! Being stuck under what can only be described as house arrest (for your own good and the good of those around you, but house arrest all the same) I got back to reading a bit more. I had just bought three new books before lock down along with another five on my kindle, so I wasn't exactly short of options.
New Zealand is now at a new normal and that means having the freedom of movement, working, shopping, bars, cafes and gyms all open again. I didn't quite make it all the way through the pile, but I thought I'd share the ones that I did read.
Christmas Promises at the Little Wedding Shop
The first read of my lock down days was a book in a series I've been following for ages. Christmas Promises is the fourth book, with the fifth one coming out this year. It's always a light hearted and pretty predictable story line about two people falling in love. The thing I like about the series is that the stories are always in the same village with the same people, so by book four you've gotten to see the couple from the first story and how they evolved as well.
The Kingdom
I'm not entirely sure what I expected from the Kingdom but it was definitely worth the read. Based on what I can only assume is Disney World on crack, The Kingdom have their fantasists - the six princesses that are half animatronic and half flesh, just like the hybrid animal creatures in the park. Seeing through the eyes of one of these princesses, you get to see what goes on in their minds and how you can't really control them, just because you created them. They have their own feelings and their own ideas that can't be stopped and can even become dangerous.
It was a pretty cool book and shows you the true evil behind the idea of the perfect fantasy world.
Liberation Square
Imagine what would happen if D-Day had gone wrong for the Brits, if Germany had that boost to take over. Well that's precisely what you get to find out in Liberation Square. You discover a world where Germany invaded Britain and had to be rescued by the Russians and the Americans. The Republic and the Democratic - it was essentially the Berlin Wall but right through London. You follow the life of a woman who has just found her husbands ex wife, dead in her bathroom and all the secrets he decided to hide from her in the last few years slowly start to emerge. It's a pretty good story, even though it did take me a while to get in to it.
Now on to my two favourite books of the first half - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and The Flatshare.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
This book is set in Glasgow and I wasn't sure what it was going to be like before I started reading it. But it sounded pretty interesting so I figured I would give it a go and it was brilliant. You get to see the world from the point of view of an adult who grew up in trauma and foster care. When people think she's being rude, you see that she just understands things differently. The way in which she believes her life is absolutely fine the way it is, but that's only because she's used to her own routine and doesn't know much about life outside of it. And when your routine involves a couple bottles of vodka every weekend to sit alone in your flat and drown out the past from your mind, you know there's an intriguing story laying behind it all.
The Flatshare
This was a book that I downloaded on my kindle, when I didn't fancy reading any of the books I had bought in the store before lock down. When I found a list I'd made of books I wanted when I was at a store in Sydney a year ago, Flatshare was top of the list. And it was worth the read. It was the perfect combination of two people finding each other without the drama of will they or wont they. It had the portrayal of finding a healthy relationship completely by chance, compared to their previous ones that were there just for the convenience or manipulatively abusive. It showed what a genuine relationship looks like, whether its trusting one another or needing someone to be understanding and there in the darker times. The book constantly flips between the two main characters which is my favourite way to read, because you get to see whats going on in the both their minds and see everything from two different points of view.
And now I've started making my way through the rest of the books which I really need to do so I can go out book shopping again. I refuse to buy more until I've already read the ones in the house, or they'll just get forgotten about and never read. I'm one of those people....
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