The Invisible Man

This is another of my attempts to make a dent in the huge number of books buried in the latter pages of my kindle, though since I'm back in England now, I'll most definitely be reading more physical books from now on. Hooray!

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that the main reason for choosing this one was that it looked short... (I find big books kind of intimidating!) This review is about:

The Invisible Man

Author:

H.G. Wells

Genre:

Mild sci-fi thriller. The book actually calls itself 'A Grotesque Romance'.

One-sentence summary:

A mysterious stranger arrives in the village of Iping, and soon reveals himself to be an invisible man, leaving a trail of disaster in his wake.

Review:

I started out without a real idea of what this book would be about (besides the obvious!), and it took me a little while to get my head into the story. The character development is quite strange, as there isn't really a main protagonist. The invisible man himself is, I suppose, a sort of main character, but the story is only intermittently told from his point of view. It also took me quite a while to work out where my sympathies were supposed to lie, and I never really reached a concrete solution to this. I guess it was always intended to be quite ambiguous, and in a way that made for a more interesting story.

The writing was pretty readable, especially for an older book, but didn't especially stand out to me. It was narrated almost from the point of view of someone who had heard about the events from eye-witness accounts and village gossip - I say 'almost' because this perspective only occasionally came to the fore, while the rest of the time it read just like a normal narrative. The story itself had a reasonable amount of action and some intrigue, though I wasn't really wowed at any point.

To be honest, I'm actually finding it hard to think of things to say about this book. It was a fun, interesting read and I enjoyed it. But that's about it.

Final thoughts:

I found this book to be interesting and readable, and I enjoyed it. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to someone, but I would encourage someone to read it if they were already considering it (especially if they were a fan of older sci-fi style books).

Similar books:

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

What did you think of The Invisible Man? Did you agree with my review? Let me know in the comments.

Bookshelf Tour 2014 - part 2

So, here we are for the second instalment of my bookshelf tour. Plenty of great books for you today!

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First up we've got my collection of young adult hardbacks, all of which I've had for years. I'm a terrible hoarder, but I recently had a ruthless purge of all the books from my childhood and teens, so these are the ones that made the cut. My absolute favourite from these has to be The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (along with the other two in the series of course), as his writing is just amazing. Balanced on top of these, I also have a book on How to do just about everything and the fifth Harry Potter book in French, purchased from a market stall in France a couple of months ago.

Next, here are some more book for younger readers. Out of these, I would highly recommend What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones, and all the Moomintroll books. Plus, of course, the Harry Potter books, though that goes without saying! (Yes, I do only own two of them... I'm building up to a full set!)

Here are some more adult books, though there are a couple mixed in there that would be suitable for younger readers too (Little Women for example). I loved The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and am really looking forward to reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding (no, I haven't read it yet! Shocking I know...).

Up next we have my beautiful complete collection of Jane Austen novels, given to me over a series of birthdays and Christmases by my grandfather, who loves giving books as presents. I've also got a couple of classics that are most definitely up there on my TBR list, and Greenery Street by Denis Mackail, a book that I absolutely loved.

This is another section of must-reads! The first two books (The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith and The Road by Cormac McCarthy) were my most recent purchases, and I'm definitely going to read them soon while I'm still so excited about them. I also must definitely read Dracula by Bram Stoker soon! It's been on my TBR list for so long!

This is another load of books that I'm super excited about. I can't recommend the Hitch-hiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams highly enough (that's the second book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, that you see in the middle there), so that would definitely be my favourite from this section so far. I am also in the process of reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, and am excited for John MacNab by John Buchan (having loved The 39 Steps).

So that's it for my main bookshelves! But the tour's not over... Here are some books (and other things) that are dotted around my other shelves.

Here is the section of giant fat books that don't fit anywhere else. You may notice that there's only one huge dictionary here (plus the Collins English one that you may have spotted on the wide shot in the previous post). Though I do own 6 huge language dictionaries, these are the only two currently on my shelves - they just take up so much space! I also have the complete Edward Lear and Shakespeare, plus the Chronicles of Narnia in Italian.

Okay, so these don't strictly belong in a bookshelf tour, but I thought I'd show them anyway! These are my CD and DVD shelves! I have so many! I definitely need to get rid of some of these...

And finally...

Here are a few books that I acquired in France on my year abroad, and didn't manage to find space for on my shelves. The bottom one was a present from my boss, who I worked for as a translation intern in Biarritz (south of France). It was her favourite book when she was studying German herself, and she's written a lovely little note in the front. We also decided to read Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand together, hence why I have a copy here. The Maupassant was an impulse buy on the recommendation of my French friend Julie, and A Passage to India by E.M. Forster is the book I'm currently reading (review coming soon!).

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Et voilà! That was a thorough and comprehensive tour of my bookshelves. I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to do your own bookshelf tour and post the link in the comments. I'd love to have a nose around!

(If you missed it, you can find part 1 here!)

Bookshelf Tour 2014 - part 1

Having well and truly immersed myself in the YouTube world of booklovers (otherwise known as BookTube!) I have become particularly interested in the trend that is Bookshelf Tours. In case the name isn't self-explanatory enough, these tours are basically videos showing the person's bookshelves. I quickly discovered that I had a kind of strange fascination with these videos... Perhaps it is the result of our natural snooping tendencies! But the fact that I love these videos so much, coupled with recently returning home and being reunited with my own bookshelves, has inspired me to do a tour of my own.

My full shelves. Please excuse the random junk!

Oh books, how pretty you are!

Let's start at the top shall we? 

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First off, we have my Christian book section. I particularly enjoyed Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger, an inspirational account of her spontaneously moving to China, and Is God a Delusion by Nicky Gumbel. I also have a book called Compared to Her by Sophie De Witt - my friend sent me this while I was abroad and it hasn't been unpacked and put on my shelves yet - which talks about how we compare ourselves with others and the damage that does in our lives (something I definitely struggle with!).

Next up we have some language learning resources, ranging from history books to parallel texts, as well as basic language tips and phrasebooks. As you can see, I often have the urge to randomly start up a new language, hence the Portuguese, Swedish and Dutch resources up there. Though how I think I'll ever find the time for all these languages I can't imagine! I think my favourite book on here has to be Sky my husband by Jean-Loup Chiflet, a book of French idioms and their direct English transliterations (as well as their actual meanings). Hilarious!

Here, from left to right, we have my collection of books about Language and languages, my uni set texts, some more word-y books, and some fun books. I particularly enjoyed La Machine Infernal by Jean Cocteau and Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. And I adore the Cake Wrecks book. Cracks me up every time!

Moving onto my second shelf down! Here we have the beginning of my collection of foreign language books that aren't for uni, beginning with a few Italian books and moving onto German ones (though a couple are actually English translations). I think I'm most excited to read Im Westen Nichts Neues (All Quiet on the Western Front) by Erich Maria Remarque, simply because it's become so well known and so iconic, and Der Tod in Venedig (Death in Venice) by Thomas Mann, for similar reasons. I'm also looking forward to reading Drei Männer auf einem Bummel, a German translation of the sequel to Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat, as I can't wait to see how they've translated the very stylistic humour.

Here are some more German books, followed by some French. I am slightly ashamed to say that I don't think I've read any of these! Oops... Although, come to think of it, I have started Alice by Judith Hermann, but since it's a collection of short stories, I have only read parts of it. I still enjoyed it though and would recommend it as a modern work in German where the language is not too difficult. My most anticipated read from this shelf has got to be Fish and Fritz by Wolfgang Koydl, which is a German expat in England's take on Britain and the British. Could be interesting!

Moving onto some more French novels, and it strikes me now that I got the majority of these for free! Certainly those Pagnol ones in the middle (and some others too!) were free from the French department at university. My favourite here has to be Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan, which was probably the first French novel I read for fun. 

Here we come to the end of my foreign language collection (though there are plenty more on my kindle!), my favourite here being, naturally, the first Harry Potter in French. Next to it on the shelf I also have the Chamber of Secrets in Italian, though I have only read a small part of it (my Italian is shamefully rusty).

Now let's move on to some books in good old English! First of all we have a few non-fiction works, including autobiographical writings from Gerald Durrell, Anne Frank and Agatha Christie. This last one leads me on nicely to my collection of her actual works. I must confess to being a shameless Christie addict, and absolutely love her books, though some more than others. I actually got rid of a few that I didn't enjoy quite so much to try and make some space on my shelves. Plus I've read a few from the library and have several on kindle.

Here we come to the final section of this part of the bookshelf tour, where I've put my collections of books from the same authors, as well as a couple of random ones at the end. Though I always love a good Wodehouse, my favourites from these shelves have to be Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee and A Room with a View by E.M. Forster. The first is a memoir of Lee's childhood in a rural English village, and the latter is a novel about a girl's awakening to love and to the ways and hypocrisy of society. Both are hauntingly beautiful and I can't emphasize enough how much I love them! I can't wait to read Laurie Lee's sequel As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, and The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Oh, and Dubliners by James Joyce. Basically, I just love this section of bookshelf!

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So there you have it! Part 1 of my very own Bookshelf Tour! Tune in next time for part 2.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Having absolutely loved the Hitchhiker's Guide series, it was only natural that I should seek out other works by Douglas Adams after finishing his more famous ones. So, in true Amazon-addict fashion, I bought three books from another series of his, and this review is about the first one:

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Slightly odd cover! And I really don't know what the cat has to do with anything...

Author:

Douglas Adams

Genre:

Mystery/sci-fi

One-sentence summary:

After a night involving his eccentric old college tutor from Cambridge and almost running over the ghost of his boss, Richard MacDuff's life takes a turn for the bizarre (and the supernatural) and he revisits an old acquaintance who now runs a peculiar detective agency.

Review:

In my book reviews, I often talk about 'zing', which is sometimes quite hard to define. But if I were to choose one author's writing as the embodiment of zing, it would be Douglas Adams. I simply adore his style, and this book has it in spades. Right from the start I was plunged into a world of mystery and intrigue, with plenty of plausible-ish sounding futuristic sciencey stuff. The writing is witty and creative, interspersed with plenty of ideas and questions to keep your thought circuits whirring.

The author also has this incredible knack for writing enormously intricate and multilayered plots, then feeding them to the reader one tantalising nugget at a time. I raced through this book at top speed because I simply couldn't bear the confusion and suspense any longer. Though, for me, this story's complexity did run away with it a little, leaving me equal parts impressed and infuriated. I really struggled to keep all the little details in my head, so that when the plot was all wrapped up I found myself questioning whether everything had actually been resolved. Perhaps it would benefit from a re-read and some serious note-taking.

The first half of the story was, for me, spectacular. Mysterious and thrilling, the plot built up tension and suspense on all fronts, so I just couldn't wait for all the different elements to come together. I was slightly less impressed by the resolution of these mysteries, which, though they were certainly inventive, didn't quite live up to my imagination. The second half delved a little too far into the paranormal, which I felt didn't completely mesh with the first half of the story. I still enjoyed it though. And the bit with the sofa was just genius!

Final thoughts:

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as much as I always relish Adams' writing. The fact that (as I only noticed afterwards) the characters are a little two-dimensional didn't really bother me, and certainly didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book. The twists and turns of the plot, and the perfect balance of the profound and the downright silly, made for a compelling and thoroughly brilliant read.

And for that reason, it's getting...

What did you think of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency? Do you agree with my review? Did you manage to follow the plot? Let me know in the comments.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

As I have mentioned before, I am an avid reader of the Black White & Read Book blog, and was inspired by one of her posts to delve into one of the most widely read African American classics:

Their Eyes Were Watching God

There will be some non-kindle covers soon I promise!

Author:

Zora Neale Hurston

Genre:

African-American literature

One-sentence summary:

Janie tells her friend Phoeby the story of her loves and losses, her trials and her patient (and not-so-patient) perseverences, giving insight into her discovery of love and her experiences as a black woman in the deep south.

Review:

I'm still reeling from trying to pull myself too quickly out of this book into the real world, so I don't know how good this review will be.. But here goes anyway.

I loved this book! I found it profound and sad, and deep and mesmerising until I was swallowed up by the world and the people in it. The writing is just beautiful, and some of the imagery is so vivid, creating an abstract sensation or feeling or atmosphere without always describing things in a concrete way, which nonetheless makes you feel like you are right there experiencing it all too. The characters' speech is all written phonetically to emphasize their strong accents, which did slow down the pace for me a little as I had to sort of sound it out in my head. This can be profoundly irritating and even a deal-breaker for a book if it's not done well, but in this instance it's exactly right. It just conveys the characters' voices so beautifully and I don't think it would be right any other way.

The characters... What to say? Actually, much as I loved Janie and completely rooted for her, I felt like I didn't really get to know her until the second half of the book. Though it occurs to me now that maybe that was deliberate, since she doesn't really find herself either until she meets Tea Cake. In the first half, I had more of a sense of the character of the community as a whole rather than Janie's.

But she really seems to come to life in the second half. Though she often has no choice in what happens to her, she never loses control of her own mind, no matter how much it takes a beating. Her character really stood out in comparison to the stereotypical 'strong woman' character, who is in charge of her life and can do anything she wants. Janie is much more nuanced. She doesn't always speak her mind. She doesn't really defend herself when people put her down (both mentally and physically). She often depends on men for things. Yet she owns her decisions and knows her own mind. Her strength is often through enduring rather than fighting, which I think is definitely a much downplayed quality in literary protagonists. What stood out the most about her for me was that she didn't seem to be a representative of anything. She was just a person; flawed and not always rational, but real.

The story was quite slow-moving, and was much more focussed on developing the atmosphere of the community and showing their interactions rather than concentrating on specific events. This really worked for me in this book. I found myself immersed, so I knew exactly how the characters' world worked. And, as you may have already gathered, I found it pretty hard to tear myself away from it.

Final thoughts:

This book really got under my skin. I just felt so immersed in the story's world that it was hard to drag myself out. Although it's fiction, I feel like this book presents a slice of history, not the history that we often hear about, but real-people history, with people's individual stories and lives. When reading this book, I could feel it's importance, that it was shining a light on something that is often overlooked. That was especially true for me because I have never even scratched the surface of African American literature (partly because I'm British and don't read all that much American literature anyway). As you can probably tell, I highly recommend this book, not just because of it's importance but also it's worth as a piece of writing.

I'm going to give it:

What did you think of Their Eyes Were Watching God? Did you agree with my review? What other African American books or authors would you recommend?

Bonus: Check out this review of the book by Ashley at climbthestacks for a lot more information about the context of the book and other movements in African American literature, as well as a thoughtful review. I've put the link to her video on youtube instead of embedding it here to encourage you to go on over there and join the discussion/show her some love.

The A-Z Book Quiz

Right, so I've been super addicted to book blogs lately (just wrote bloogs.. could that be some sort of punny name?? I THINK IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN PEOPLE! Ahem). Anyway, I saw on my fave book blogger's site (that's right, Black White & Read Books) that she'd done a post featuring an A-Z Bookish Quiz, originally taken from a post by The Perpetual Page-Turner. Now, I'm too much of a fresh-faced newbie blogger to actually get tagged in one of these, but I thought I'd just throw caution to the wind and just do it anyway. I'm kinda crazy like that. So yeah, without further ado, here's my booky quiz:

Author you've read the most books from:

I'm struggling to come up with an author I've read more books by than J.K. Rowling's 7... Ooh, actually I've read 7.5 ish by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (got distracted halfway through The Lost World)... And come to think of it I've read quite a lot of Agatha Christie's too. Let's call it a draw..!

Oooh, actually it's just occurred to me that I was shamelessly addicted to Jacqueline Wilson books and K.A. Applegate's Animorphs series during my early teens, so those win hands down. Not exactly Conan Doyle but there you go ;-)

Best sequel ever:

Stealing this answer from my inspiration for this post blackwhitereadbooks.com, but it's gotta be all the Harry Potter sequels! I particularly love the 3rd, 6th and 2nd, but I'm also kinda partial to the 7th, 5th and 4th books... Decisions are hard!

Currently reading:

A LOT (if you want to take goodreads' word for it). But if you want a list of ones I've opened recently, as opposed to ones that have been temporarily abandoned, I'm currently reading:

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (review coming soon!)

A Travers Paris by Victor Eugene Geruzez

Harry Potter et la Coupe de Feu (that's The Goblet of Fire in French) by J.K. Rowling

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (this one is borderline off the list.. definitely need to remind myself of the beginning before carrying on this one)

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (it's waiting when I get home)

and as always,

The Bible

Hmm, can you tell I'm a French student?

Drink of choice while reading:

Tea or coffee are always welcome!

Ereader or physical book?:

Ooh, this is a tough one. I love the feel of a real book in my hands; it's just not the same experience with an ereader. But there is soo much to be said for the ability to carry around multiple books on a small and light device, particularly when travelling abroad with limited baggage space/weight. I have vivid memories of lugging a year's worth of clothes and books to Paris in my pre-ereader days, and it's no picnic I can tell you! I just love to have a choice, and ereaders can give you that without taking up extra space.

Fictional character you probably would have actually dated in high school:

I have actually no idea. I'm a sucker for a shy but funny nerd so if anyone can suggest one of those I'm all ears!

Glad you gave this book a chance:

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. I haven't actually seen the film, but I've heard it described as a romantic comedy, which led me to believe that the book would just be a fun bit of light reading, with nothing too deep or thought-provoking. But instead I found this book to be so sweet and sad and funny and melancholy and poignant and heartbreaking and light and dark and so much in between. I don't know... It was just so much more than I thought it would be and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Hidden gem book:

Greenery Street by Denis Mackail. A beautiful depiction of the life of a pair of young newlyweds in the twenties, told with wit and flair. I can definitely imagine re-reading or just dipping back into this book in the future because it just left me with such a lovely feeling. Simply perfect.

Important moment in your reading life:

Probably getting a kindle. I'd never even thought about reading Sherlock Holmes before getting one, and now it's one of my favourite things to read ever! It opened me up to an amazing world of (free!) classics that I hadn't considered before.

Just finished:

The Villa by Rosanna Ley

The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (nostalgic re-read)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Kind of books you won't read:

Not really interested in erotic books. Even romances kind of annoy me. As do religion-bashing ones. And I'm not that keen on horror. But what really matters to me is if a story is done well. A book might seem exactly right on paper (excuse the pun), but if it's not well executed it ruins the whole thing.

Longest book you've read:

Probably the 5th Harry Potter book to be honest.. though I've also read almost all of the Bible and that's pretty huge!

Major book hangover because of:

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman always gives me a serious book hangover. As do the Harry Potter books. Also, I read Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve a few months ago, and the ending really stuck with me - it was so brutal! I didn't expect it at all!

Oh man, I just remembered another couple of books that majorly stuck with me/traumatised me forever... The Andalite Chronicles and The Hork Bajir Chronicles, both by K.A. Applegate. They're sort of back-story spin-offs from the Animorphs series, and they just hit me so hard in the feels I just didn't know how to recover. The power of reading, kids!

Number of bookcases you own:

Right now, my only bookcase is on my kindle, but I have a wall of books in my bedroom plus several teetering piles around the room/house waiting for me when I get home from France (in one week!). No idea how many though...

One book you have read multiple times:

I actually re-read books quite a lot. I know some people who never re-read, or consider it a waste of time, but I could not disagree more. I've re-read all these multiple times:

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

All the Harry Potter books

The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett

Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

OK so that's way more than one, but there you go.

Preferred place to read:

I live right by the beach at the moment so I think that's my current favourite place. But I do get sunburnt pretty quickly so I have to be careful about finding some shade in case I get too engrossed in the book and end up looking like a lobster. I also love a cosy café or library, and will never say no to a comfy armchair, or my bed... Quite a lot of favourite places it seems!

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you've read:

So I should probably pick something super inspirational from one of the classics that has a profound impact on life and stuff, but this one just makes my eyes well up a bit even thinking about it...

“He accused me of being Dumbledore's man through and through."

"How very rude of him."

"I told him I was."

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. Fawkes the phoenix let out a low, soft, musical cry. To Harry's intense embarrassment, he suddenly realized that Dumbledore's bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knee. When Dumbledore spoke, however, his voice was quite steady. 

"I am very touched, Harry.”

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Oh Rowling you cruel woman! Why must you bring back all these feels again! *sobs*

Reading regret:

I spent a lot of time not reading in my late teens, so I feel like I've missed out on some stuff and am constantly trying to catch up. I also wish I'd started on Jane Austen way sooner... They're just so great!

Series you started and need to finish (all books are out in series):

A Song of Ice and Fire. I was in two minds about this series, since I'm not normally a huge fan of overly detailed fantasy where it gets too wrapped up in the world's politics, which is the impression I'd got from hearing about it. But my brother's really into it, and bought me the first book for my birthday ("If you like it, then that's your birthday and Christmas presents sorted for the next few years!")... I started it, but since I was given it when home from Germany over Christmas with limited baggage space, it stayed at home. So that book, and all the others in the series, are waiting to be read this summer and in the coming years. Could be a long ride folks!

Three of your all-time favourite books:

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton (though I love the Father Brown stories to!)

Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster

Unapologetic fangirl for:

As you may have gathered, I love Harry Potter. I am also a self-confessed Agatha Christie addict, and haven't read nearly as many of her books as I would like (so many books, so little time!)

Very excited for this release more than all the others:

I look forward to reading the new Rachel Aaron series, and really hope Reginald Hill writes another book.

Worst bookish habit:

Not finding enough time to read. My mum has a better one though - she often reads the ends of books before the middle, just to make sure it's going to be worth her time. I know so many people who are completely scandalised by this!

X marks the spot:  Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book:

Right, well I'm not at home so I'm just going to pick the 27th book on my kindle instead. That kind of counts, right? It is...

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Your latest book purchase:

Doctor Sleep: Shining Book 2 by Stephen King

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late):

I remember staying up late reading pretty much ALL the later Harry Potter books, but I also find Jane Austen really gripping! The last one I read was Emma, and I just couldn't put it down to go to sleep. I had to make sure everything was OK with the characters first.

Et voilà!

If anyone else fancies doing this survey thing, consider yourself officially tagged! And feel free to post your answers in the comments. I'd love to read them!

Losing the Villa to Live

This review is rather delayed due to the ridiculous amount of time it took to actually finish the book, followed by a lack of internet. It means I'm almost done with the next book though, so I can be extra speedy with the next review. So hey, every cloud...!

Oh Amazon, why must you tempt me? This next book was a spur-of-the-moment download via an email from Amazon. Having taken 2 years of Italian and being the lover of European travel that I am, I thought this book would be a safe bet for a light-hearted beach read with a smidge of Sicilian intrigue (and maybe some mafiosi..?). What could possibly go wrong? 

And the book is...

The Villa

Author:

Rosanna Ley

Genre:

Romance-ish, with some treasure hunting, food and travel thrown in

One-sentence summary:

Tess inherits a villa in Sicily which she then visits, uncovering secrets from the island's, and her mother's, past while she is there.

Review:

I was supremely underwhelmed by this book in many ways. But let's start with the positives, shall we?

My favourite thing about this book was definitely the incredibly vivid and lush descriptions of Sicilian cooking and landscapes. It certainly got my mouth watering and made me desperately want to visit Sicily! The writing throughout these descriptions was inventive and there was some unusual imagery that I enjoyed, especially when describing the food markets using all the senses, making me feel like I was really there. Plus the author clearly knew her stuff and had done a lot of research on diving, Sicilian history and cooking, and Sicilian language (though one or two things did stick out as being not quite right.. "funghi bello"? Where's your adjective agreement???).

But sadly this was not enough to salvage the book. It started out in my estimates as a solid 3 stars; not my usual thing, but still might be worth sticking with. But as it went on, it became clear to me that I was only ploughing through to give me something to review at the end, and I started really looking forward to being able to start something else.

One of the things that annoyed me the most about this book was the ridiculously slow pace. It took me what felt like a lifetime to get through. There was just nothing to pull me in and make me want to keep reading, and I felt like nothing really happened in the first half of the book, apart from Tess going to Sicily and talking to people, then people coming back from Sicily, then going again. Oh, and there was a bit of angst in between. Not exactly gripping. Plus the book just seemed to go on forever! Perhaps it was because I was reading the ebook and couldn't really get a sense of how long it was, but I just kept marvelling at how slow my progress through the book was. ("Wow, I only progressed by 2% in the last half hour and nothing really happened in the story...") Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to slow pace if it benefits atmosphere or character development. But I was a bit disappointed by that too, which leads me on to...

The characters. These were a mixed bunch really. My favourite character, and the only one that really resonated with me, was Flavia, Tess's mum. As the book progresses, more and more of Flavia's past gets revealed, and we learn the reason she left Sicily never to return. I thought telling her story alongside her favourite Sicilian recipes was an inventive touch, and I thought Flavia's love stories rang the truest of all of them.

I just couldn't get into the other characters though. Tess, to me, was just a bit wet. Not a great characteristic for a supposed protagonist! She just sort of went round finding out about things and not doing much else, and I never really got a strong sense of her voice (hard to define, but you just know when a character has this). I felt like her Sicilian love story appeared from nowhere and I didn't really get a strong sense of her feelings either. Pity.

And her daughter, Ginny, was even more irritating! I read so many of her ridiculous exclamations that I was almost compelled to throw my kindle out the bus window..! "Jumping jackals", "hovering unicorns", and "suffering slugs"??? Just no! I also felt like there really wasn't much point to her parts of the story... The whole lot could quite easily have been cut right out and it wouldn't have made a difference to the plot. It might even have improved the book as it would have made the end come sooner. (Oh snap!)

WHY???

Final thoughts:

Needless to say, this book was severely lacking in suction power and zing. It just dragged on and on without much plot to show for it, and I found most of the characters pretty bland (except when they were using ridiculous teen 'slang'). The only places the book came close to impressing me were the descriptions of food and scenery, which far outstripped the plot, characters, and general interestingness which lagged behind quite catastrophically. These, and these alone, are what saved this book from the dreaded 1 star.

Instead, I'm going for...

What did you think of The Villa? Do you agree with my review? Does anyone know an actual teenager who talks like Ginny??? Let me know in the comments.