Despite enjoying some parts of this story of an inter-racial family in the seventies, I found most of it to be slow moving and really not that interesting. "Everything I Never Told You" seems to be well reviewed by others, but unfortunately isn't going to win any awards in my books - 2 stars.
A story of espionage during WW2 sounds like it's going to be a winner, but in reality I found that "Transcription" was a little boring and slow-paced for my liking. I liked the premise, but the story didn't impress - 2 stars.
Again I'm underwhelmed by Jessie Burton, and I'm beginning to think that perhaps she's not the author for me. "The Miniaturist" started well but couldn't really keep me interested and its 400+ pages dragged on quite a lot which definitely didn't help the situation. I didn't hate it but I won't be recommending this book to anyone in a hurry - 2 stars.
I was really looking forward to learning about the cities and countries of Europe. I really did enjoy the first few chapters, but when Bryson's humour went a bit too far, I lost interest and by the end I had almost given up. It's 2 stars from me!
"Brick Lane" has been on my shelf for years and now I've finished it, I'm underwhelmed and a little disappointed. Despite some good chapters exploring what it's like to move to the UK as an immigrant, it's long and a little tedious at times - 2 stars.
I'm not sure why this is considered a classic as I don't really feel that I've learned much about Patagonia at all. Instead of Chatwin's mostly insignificant anecdotes, I'd have preferred to learn a little about the environment, nature, culture and politics of the place. There were some enjoyable snippets though so "In Patagonia" is getting 2 stars from me.
As inspiration for BBC show "Killing Eve", this story features some strong female characters, but for me it didn't have much more going for it. I didn't find it particularly gripping or engaging andΒ I don't think I'll be picking up the sequel. Dare I say it, the TV show was better in my eyes!
Parts of this book are decent chick-lit that I enjoyed, however the rest of the book was too unbelievable for me. I wasn't a fan of the characters or the main plot points and felt that some of the book was still stuck in the past with the original. I'd give "The Rise & Fall of Becky Sharp" two stars.Β
I didn't enjoy this collection of short stories. Each story felt unfinished and underwhelming and I found that I couldn't connect with anything I was reading. Like joining a conversation somewhere in the middle where you're not 100% what's going on, these stories seemed more like snippets from a wider story and this lack of connection meant I couldn't get into most of the stories. I didn't hate it, some stories were good, so it's 2 stars for "What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky".
I found that this book didn't work for me. I enjoyed the first few chapters but I felt like I couldn't connect with the main character while jumping back and forth in time. I'd have loved a book with a little more Tracey and a little less Aimee, a little more school days and a little less plodding along building a school in Africa. After wanting to read this for so long, I'm sad to say it's 2 stars for Zadie Smith's "Swing Time".
