Sunday 23 February 2014

Library Love. The Midnight Dress, Prep, Stitches, It Felt Like a Kiss. #readwomen2014


This month I've been reading....

The Midnight Dress - Karen Foxlee
This is a YA book, but reads more like adult fiction somehow.  I really loved this, set in Australia around the lives of two teen girls, adventures in the rainforest, sewing a dress with a 'witch' lady and a murder.  Two parallel stories run through the book.  One tells the story from the end, you find out one of the girls is dead and it runs backwards, the other plot line runs forwards.  The sub-plot line of the witchy lady's life is interesting too.  

Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld
This is a book for adults about teenagers at a private school in America.  Sittenfeld perfectly captured the excruciating awkwardness of being a teenager.  The main character is sooo self conscious and awkward, I was an extremely awkward teenager, so I really related to her.  Really good.

Stitches - David Small
This graphic novel is the story of the authors childhood.  His family is on the dysfunctional side and he awakes from an operation to find his vocal chords damaged so he cannot speak.  It has excellent illustrations and has a hopeful ending despite dark beginnings. 

It Felt Like a Kiss - Sarra Manning
I buy and read every Sarra Manning book as soon as it comes out, it started when she used to write in J17 magazine, I'm hooked.  I didn't like this book as much as some of her others.  It was a really slow start, but about half way through I got really into it, and stayed up late reading till the end.  I loved the quirky mix of characters, I found the subject matter a bit hard to deal with for personal reasons (Dad-issues are a bit close to home for me, and resulted in a sobathon at one point, I suppose that's a sign that it was well written though!), but overall I enjoyed it.  I can't wait for her next book to be out in May!

This year is the year of reading women, there's something going on on Twitter called #readwomen2014.  I think I read books written by women most of the time anyway, but it's fun to support this campaign and literature written by ladies.

What have you been reading? 

8 comments:

  1. I also tend to read female authors too now that I think about it Sooz! I have read Donna Tartt's The Little Friend and Kartography recently and loved both of them. I am reading my first Bella Pollen book at the moment and it's taking a little while to get into it, we'll see how it goes... X hope you have a great week

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    1. I keep hearing a lot about Donna Tartt, think I'm going to have to add her to my reading list!

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  2. I love books and I love to read! I just ordered two books written by Freud and a book on the weird side of Austin. When I'm in London in a few days I plan on visiting the Freud Museum so I want to read things the man himself wrote first!
    I hope you have a wonderful week!
    Tammy xx

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    1. It's a great idea to read books about places you're going to visit, I hope you enjoy the Freud museum, it sounds so interesting! Enjoy your time in London :)

      I must find some books set in Brazil, that's where I'm off on my holidays to in a couple of months.

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  3. Those books sound really interesting - when I would have time to read them I do not know, I need a few extra hours tagged onto each day as it is. A great way to unwind after a busy day tho. I met a female author the other day E M Powell. I love the idea of women supporting women in this way.

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    1. If you find a way of adding a couple of extra hours to a day, please do let me know!

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  4. hurray! i love this #readwomen2014 thing! i loved prep too!

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