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2.16k reviews by:
wordsofclover
Narrators: Alex McKenna and Steve West
Audiobook: 4 stars
Story: 3.5 stars
Audiobook: 4 stars
Story: 3.5 stars
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Murray McBride is 100-year-old and rather sick of living while the people he loves die and leave him alone. On his birthday, McBride’s decided enough is enough until he meets Jason - a young boy with a heart condition and not a long time to live. Jason has a list of five wishes he wants to complete before he dies, and Murray decides to help him, changing both of their lives in the process.
This is a very sweet, moving book that is just like a big old visit to a candy shop. Murray is the typical grumpy old man (think Carl from Up) and Jason is a exuberant boy who makes you think he’s not sick at all until the unspeakable almost happens. The two had a very good dynamic between them and once you look past some of the implausible scenarios (like Murray actually being allowed out of the blue to become Jason’s ‘Big Brother’), all the situations they get into are enjoyable and fun.
This just reminded me of a sweet made-for-TV kind of movie. The plot is straight forward, Murray is ancient but appears quite healthy, Jason is young and very sick and the friendship ends up helping them both in the long run.
The bit at the end of the book when Jason’s best friend dies in a car accident on the way home from the hospital and her mom donates her heart to Jason was just way too similar to My Sister’s Keeper for me. I also found the whole Jason being a magician as an adult reallyy, really weird.
Murray McBride is 100-year-old and rather sick of living while the people he loves die and leave him alone. On his birthday, McBride’s decided enough is enough until he meets Jason - a young boy with a heart condition and not a long time to live. Jason has a list of five wishes he wants to complete before he dies, and Murray decides to help him, changing both of their lives in the process.
This is a very sweet, moving book that is just like a big old visit to a candy shop. Murray is the typical grumpy old man (think Carl from Up) and Jason is a exuberant boy who makes you think he’s not sick at all until the unspeakable almost happens. The two had a very good dynamic between them and once you look past some of the implausible scenarios (like Murray actually being allowed out of the blue to become Jason’s ‘Big Brother’), all the situations they get into are enjoyable and fun.
This just reminded me of a sweet made-for-TV kind of movie. The plot is straight forward, Murray is ancient but appears quite healthy, Jason is young and very sick and the friendship ends up helping them both in the long run.
I received a copy of this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.
At 90 years of age, Edith Eger sat down to finally write the heartbreaking yet at times heart-lifting memoir of the most traumatic time of her life - when she was a teenager and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. This book is not about the terrible things that Edith went through but the long journey in which she came to deal with her past, and how she slowly began to learn to live and enjoy life once again.
Edith Eger is one smart lady - there's such a beautiful voice in this book, within the words on the page and it definitely feels like Edith is speaking directly to you. It's not hard to see why she became such a popular psychologist amongst her patients, and she's definitely a very calming person but also someone that has a mischievous edge to her.
I actually like that this book ended up being a little bit different to what I thought it would be. Edith's time in the death camp is actually only a very small part of the book - about the first quarter - and the rest is her slow journey through her PTSD and how long it took her to accept all the parts of herself and eventually confront her past in an intense trip back to Auschwitz.
Edith shows an amazing respect to human life, and all human conditions in her book. Even with what she's gone through, she never puts one person's pain over another and treat every one, and every patient, the same which is honestly remarkable. I just felt so calm and reassured as I read Edith's words about accepting oneself, loving yourself and striving forward despite difficulties. This is the kind of book you could pick up at any point in your life, through different difficulties, big or small, and read something that would resonate and help you.
Beautiful words from a beautiful lady. If we can all learn a little bit from Edith, the world would be a better place.
At 90 years of age, Edith Eger sat down to finally write the heartbreaking yet at times heart-lifting memoir of the most traumatic time of her life - when she was a teenager and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. This book is not about the terrible things that Edith went through but the long journey in which she came to deal with her past, and how she slowly began to learn to live and enjoy life once again.
Edith Eger is one smart lady - there's such a beautiful voice in this book, within the words on the page and it definitely feels like Edith is speaking directly to you. It's not hard to see why she became such a popular psychologist amongst her patients, and she's definitely a very calming person but also someone that has a mischievous edge to her.
I actually like that this book ended up being a little bit different to what I thought it would be. Edith's time in the death camp is actually only a very small part of the book - about the first quarter - and the rest is her slow journey through her PTSD and how long it took her to accept all the parts of herself and eventually confront her past in an intense trip back to Auschwitz.
Edith shows an amazing respect to human life, and all human conditions in her book. Even with what she's gone through, she never puts one person's pain over another and treat every one, and every patient, the same which is honestly remarkable. I just felt so calm and reassured as I read Edith's words about accepting oneself, loving yourself and striving forward despite difficulties. This is the kind of book you could pick up at any point in your life, through different difficulties, big or small, and read something that would resonate and help you.
Beautiful words from a beautiful lady. If we can all learn a little bit from Edith, the world would be a better place.
Nella is 18 years old and has married a merchant living in Amsterdam. Arriving at her new home, Nella finds her husband absent, and his sister and servants reigning house. Suddenly, Nella is forced to reconsider what it means to be a wife and what her role in his house is and when her husband gives her a wedding present of a beautiful miniature of their home, Nella connects with a miniaturist who seems to know secret things she should not about the family.
Overall, this book was really beautiful and I enjoyed it a lot. It took me a while to get used to the surroundings and Nella's voice but it wad definitely a culture and a setting I've read little of, and I enjoyed reading and learning about the merchant trade in Amsterdam, as well as the rules and regulations put on the people by the church. I began to steadily love Nella, who showed great character development - transforming from a timid 18 year old to a woman in charge of the house and able to go out and get things done. I wasn't expecting to warm to Marin, there were times she really frustrated me, but by the end of the book, I loved her as well.
I found the concept of the miniaturist really intriguing. I found that the idea of her was put to the reader to decide. Was she magical? Or just really observant and intuitive? There was no other obvious signs of magic spells or anything spectacular, everything was very secret and subtle and made me feel like it was the magic of ordinary beautiful things rather than magic magic.
I went back and reread the prologue after I finished the complete book and I'd recommend people do that as those brief words make a lot more sense and obviously you know who it is, etc.
Overall, this book was really beautiful and I enjoyed it a lot. It took me a while to get used to the surroundings and Nella's voice but it wad definitely a culture and a setting I've read little of, and I enjoyed reading and learning about the merchant trade in Amsterdam, as well as the rules and regulations put on the people by the church. I began to steadily love Nella, who showed great character development - transforming from a timid 18 year old to a woman in charge of the house and able to go out and get things done. I wasn't expecting to warm to Marin, there were times she really frustrated me, but by the end of the book, I loved her as well.
I found the concept of the miniaturist really intriguing. I found that the idea of her was put to the reader to decide. Was she magical? Or just really observant and intuitive? There was no other obvious signs of magic spells or anything spectacular, everything was very secret and subtle and made me feel like it was the magic of ordinary beautiful things rather than magic magic.
I went back and reread the prologue after I finished the complete book and I'd recommend people do that as those brief words make a lot more sense and obviously you know who it is, etc.
I received a free digital copy of this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Bo Huxley and her boyfriend Zac are living what many would deem the dream life - travelling the world whilst in love, and getting paid by big brands to do it due to their massive social media following. When the couple, and their photographer/manager Lenny decide to stay in a remote farm in Norway for Christmas, Bo suddenly begins to doubt the life she’s leading, and the people and traumas she’s been trying to leave behind. Suddenly the feeling of ‘home’ begins to mean brand new things to Bo.
This was a really interesting read, and I really enjoyed seeing how Karen Swan played around with the relatively new phenomenon of social media influencers on a massive scale. There’s been many books in the past focusing on bloggers but I feel like the topic of influencers is still something that’s only starting to creep into novels (another example would be Holly Bourne’s How Do You Like Me Now?), and Karen Swan did it in a great way.
Bo is a rather complex character - she seems to have her head screwed on straight, and isn’t conceited or self-important in any way despite clearly being slightly famous, and extremely good-looking. She’s actually on the shy side, and it’s this that makes her more relatable to the reading my opinion. She knows how to pose for the camera but that doesn’t mean she’s happy posing for a million selfies when cornered at a Christmas market.
The Christmas Lights threw up some interesting questions around social media - the intensity and addiction of it, as well as the safety issues becoming famous on it can bring up. I think it serves some lessons in terms of geolocation and tagging oneself in places easily found, though I’m not sure if the readership of this book might learn some lessons from it, the way younger readers, who often need the stark reality of social media dangers displayed to them, would.
I will say that I guessed a lot of what was going to happen in this book, and I did feel like it was a bit long for a contemporary novel. The flashbacks to 1936 with Signe were interesting for a background to the Norwegian farm area Bo was staying in, and Signe’s older character though I’m not sure how much it brought to the story, as sometimes switching timelines like that jarred me out of the tale.
This was mostly a fun, entertaining read though and I do enjoy Karen Swan’s writing and characters.
Bo Huxley and her boyfriend Zac are living what many would deem the dream life - travelling the world whilst in love, and getting paid by big brands to do it due to their massive social media following. When the couple, and their photographer/manager Lenny decide to stay in a remote farm in Norway for Christmas, Bo suddenly begins to doubt the life she’s leading, and the people and traumas she’s been trying to leave behind. Suddenly the feeling of ‘home’ begins to mean brand new things to Bo.
This was a really interesting read, and I really enjoyed seeing how Karen Swan played around with the relatively new phenomenon of social media influencers on a massive scale. There’s been many books in the past focusing on bloggers but I feel like the topic of influencers is still something that’s only starting to creep into novels (another example would be Holly Bourne’s How Do You Like Me Now?), and Karen Swan did it in a great way.
Bo is a rather complex character - she seems to have her head screwed on straight, and isn’t conceited or self-important in any way despite clearly being slightly famous, and extremely good-looking. She’s actually on the shy side, and it’s this that makes her more relatable to the reading my opinion. She knows how to pose for the camera but that doesn’t mean she’s happy posing for a million selfies when cornered at a Christmas market.
The Christmas Lights threw up some interesting questions around social media - the intensity and addiction of it, as well as the safety issues becoming famous on it can bring up. I think it serves some lessons in terms of geolocation and tagging oneself in places easily found, though I’m not sure if the readership of this book might learn some lessons from it, the way younger readers, who often need the stark reality of social media dangers displayed to them, would.
I will say that I guessed a lot of what was going to happen in this book, and I did feel like it was a bit long for a contemporary novel. The flashbacks to 1936 with Signe were interesting for a background to the Norwegian farm area Bo was staying in, and Signe’s older character though I’m not sure how much it brought to the story, as sometimes switching timelines like that jarred me out of the tale.
This was mostly a fun, entertaining read though and I do enjoy Karen Swan’s writing and characters.
