Review of 'The Sky is Everywhere' by Jandy Nelson

I'm finally reviewing my first 2020 read which means I'm under six months behind, so I'm catching up! However, it was not a good start to the year in terms of how much I enjoyed it. I really thought I'd love it - YA where the main character loves Wuthering Heights, with a beautiful cover to boot, but it just didn't hit the spot for me.

Lennie Walker loves her sister more than anything. When she passes away, Lennie's left completely adrift, not knowing what to do or even how to begin coping. A band geek who's book obsessed, the one way Lennie begins to understand her grief at all is through writing poetry. Poems are interspersed between the main text of the book, and all have grief as their central theme. When Lennie starts to fall in love however she questions how she could possibly feel joy or contentment when her sister doesn't get the opportunity to.

I really wanted to love this. The poetry seemed like such a great idea (and probably was my favourite part of the book in the end) and I went in fully prepared to cry. But it just didn't make me feel anything that intensely. I think the main issue is that it really was bordering on teen fiction rather than being true YA, so I'm not the target market for this kind of book.

However, I had two other major issues with it: one was Lennie continuously making out with her dead sister's boyfriend???? Which made me question whether the author had a sister at all because I just can't imagine a world in which that would have ever happened, even if they were 'bound together by their shared grief'. And the second is that the mystery around their missing mum never reaches a conclusion. Again, I think that's more of an issue coming from me as a reader being someone who always wants things wrapped up neatly.

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Review of 'The Binding' by Bridget Collins

I've finally made it to the reviewing the last book I read in 2019. I mean, I could have done with getting here five months ago, but this'll do. It means I'm actually less than six months behind and that maybe there's a chance I'll catch up this year? Unlikely, but let's see.

Set in the 19th Century-ish, The Binding explores a world where books are dangerous. Emmett Farmer has only seen one in his life and it's shortly seized off of him by his parents. There are imitation books, sold without permission of the person who the story is about, but the real books hold the most danger. Binding is the process of a binder taking bad memories from the mind of the person wanting to be bound. They're bound into a book which is kept safe forever and the person who is bound cannot remember what has gone into the book or being bound. Every time a person is bound they lose a little of themselves.

After having a breakdown whilst trying to do his normal work on a farm, Emmett's family sends him to live with a binder in the hope that she can cure him. She starts to teach him how to bind, focusing on the physical books themselves, but Emmett only gets more ill. He needs to find out what really happens when people are bound and why they do it, but he finds out more about himself than he ever anticipated when he does so.

This was one of my favourite books of 2019. It started off incredibly slowly, with a lot of world building and heavy description but STICK WITH IT. This has some of the best LGBT representation in a book that isn't YA fiction I've read, and I was really glad to see it so well done in adult fantasy. The romance in it is beautifully written and honestly I've been recommending it over and over again since I read it.

I found myself really intrigued by the idea of binding, and at first as I was reading it all I could consider was that people would use it to destroy traumatic memories that have damaged them or upset them. However, the book delved into a much darker side of it: forcing other people to be bound so they forget what you have done to them, and being bound so that you can live a guilt free life by forgetting terrible things you've done.

In the second half of the book I was tearing through the pages trying to see what happened next after the very slow start and I couldn't put it down. I would recommend this for fans of magic realism and Victorian-style novels.

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Review of 'All That She Can See' by Carrie Hope Fletcher

My first introduction to magical realism that I can remember was being forced to read Ian McEwan's A Child in Time in school and it put me off the whole genre for a long time because I cannot stand his writing. Turn to my mid twenties and I'm now finally coming back around to the idea and I'm starting to read more and more books in the genre? 

Carrie Hope Fletcher always has the most creative book ideas, and this didn't disappoint. All That She Can See is about a woman named Cherry who sinks into despair after she loses her dad. She starts to bake as a coping mechanism as she eases out of a bout of depression and realises that she can add a little something extra into her baking.

You see, Cherry can see things other people can't. She sees all the negative emotions we have attached to our bodies like little gremlins. She starts to tweak her recipes, adding in lavender for someone with insomnia and realises that she can treat people and make them happier. Then Chase turns up and he's different: he threatens to ruin everything she's built up around her, and makes her realise she's not the only one with a gift for seeing something a little different.

This was magical realism done well. As I said, the author's storylines are like nothing I've ever read before every time and I really love how much they tap into her imagination. I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought it would - I expected it to be quite a cutesy girl-meets-boy predictable book (which I do love), but there was a whole other level of danger almost to a thriller level that took the book up a notch. 

I gave this four stars and would recommend it for fans of Jenny Colgan and Karen Swan's books.

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Review of 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' by John Green and David Levithan

I'm going to kickstart this by saying that this book was in my top 5 least favourite books of 2019. So if you're looking for a review to convince yourself to read this, or you're reading the review because you enjoyed the book then this isn't going to be what you want.

Will Grayson Will Grayson is all about two teenage boys with the same exact name who meet by chance. The book is written from both their perspectives: one is a gay teen who is struggling with a tricky home life and a lot of teen angst, whilst the other is a well-off boy who is navigating being a little unpopular at school with his gay best friend Tiny.

When the pair meet each other, they affect each others lives in ways they could never expect, and the book tells a story of teenage love and the importance of friendship.

I really loved the premise of this book, which is why it wasn't a one star read, HOWEVER, I really couldn't get onboard with the execution of it. There is a lot of internalised homophobia in the character of the Will that is gay. There's a whole amount of rage at being gay and in particular, being gay and being in love with a fat boy. The fatphobia in this book went hand in hand with other issues and there were whole passages of text where Will was talking about how disgusted he was in himself for liking someone fat and the other Will saw himself as being very self-sacrificing for having a fat, gay friend. The language was really quite awful and damaging in my opinion and has really put me off reading either of the authors' books for a while.

I gave this two stars because the story was a good idea and I enjoyed some parts of it, but I was really shocked by a lot of the language used.

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Review of 'The Flat Share' by Beth O'Leary

The Flatshare is one of those books that you see plastered all over Instagram for months at a time. It sits alongside books like The Tatttoist of Auschwitz and Queenie in that respect. I read this towards the end of last year and it ended up being one of the best romances I came across in the whole of 2019!

After TIffy breaks things off with her controlling ex-boyfriend she needs a new cheap place to live urgently. Strapped for cash, Leon is also looking to make a little more money, and advertises a pretty novel flatshare experience: he would use the flat during the day, as he works nights in a care home, and the other person could use the flat at night and for all of the weekend as he spends that time in his girlfriend's house.

Tiffy's extravagant wardrobe starts to take over the flat, as well as the post it notes her and Leon leave for each other because they never get to speak. Soon Tiffy and Leon realise they're looking forward to these post-it conversations more than most other things, and start to consider whether this friendship shows how badly their other relationships are doing.

This was a really heart-warming comforting read. It tackles some difficult topics including emotional abuse, but would be a great lockdown read to get your teeth into. I found myself really looking forward to reading more and more of it, and I liked the fact that Tiffy and Leon were such distinct 3D characters. The book is told from both of their perspectives so you really get to know both of them and understand how they feel very well.

I would recommend this for fans of Cecelia Ahern's or Jenny Colgan's books and I gave it 5 stars.

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Review of 'Flights' by Olga Tokarczuk

Flights is a book that is miles out of my comfort zone. It takes the form of more of a memoir, and even has some elements that seem more non-fictiony than that. It really is something that on paper I would not enjoy at all, but I found it much more interesting than I ever thought I would.

The book is a series of different travel stories, covering travel in all different forms. There are flights in aeroplanes, as the title suggests, but there are also journeys on foot, by sea, journeys through the body, and journeys through life. There are lots of very short journeys described interspersed between much longer chapters. One of the most memorable longer ones is the journey of Chopin's heart. As a reader, you're not following a character in particular, as you're passed between different ones, and the journey takes place through many different mediums. Everything is bound up in the heart.

This felt very modernist in its almost dreamlike path that it took the reader on through the book. It really felt like one of those dreams you have where you open a door in your house and instead of leading to your bedroom it leads to a field or a different room entirely, and you travel through the book with these small connected entries into each story before it moves on to something entirely different. 

I found this an interesting read as I said, but it's not something I enjoyed *that* much, so I've given it three stars. There were definitely journeys I enjoyed more than others, but I think it's the fact that it's not really a novel that I struggled with. If you're a fan of Gertrude Stein's poetry, I'd recommend this.

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Review of 'The Christmas Lights' by Karen Swan

I know it's June and I'm posting a review of a Christmas book, but I read this way back in December and I'm trying to not get even further behind on these than I already am. I think I'm catching up, slowly? 

The Christmas Lights is the first Christmassy romance I've ever read and it's made me want to read everything Karen Swan has on offer. The main characters Bo and her partner Zac are Instagram influencers who spend their lives travelling, offering insights into what it's like to be a local in different places around the world. They have the most stunning, romantic life online that everyone's envious of. However, when Zac's proposal to Bo has to be filmed at multiple locations and shots taken over and over again from all different angles she realises that maybe she's not as happy as she always thought.

The pair (and their photographer/manager of course)are heading to the Nordic fjords for Christmas in the hope of taking breathtaking photos of the Northern Lights as well as the stunning scenery around their isolated cottage. Signy, an elderly lady who rented this out to them is left with the wrath of her grandson Anders who is having to deal with their demands in winter when the cottages are normally closed. Her stories from being a young girl are intertwined between the passages about the lives of Bo, Zac and Anders.

This was the perfect Christmas read for me. Heartwarming, set in a place you would love to be curled up in during the festive season, and it had a really great love story to boot. The descriptions of the fjords were beautiful and I was totally hooked. It was a little cheesy and predictable, but what can you expect from a Christmas romance? I really want to pick up some of her other books this December to give a go then!

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Review of 'The Friendly Ones' by Philip Hensher

I'm a big 'always judge a book by its cover' kind of person, so if this hadn't have been a book club read for me I honestly could say I think I'd have gone my whole life without every getting anywhere near reading this book. Sometimes a book that I think is going to be not my thing surprises me, but unfortunately I was pretty right on this one.

The book tells the stories of two neighbouring families in the UK. It kicks off with Nazia and Sharif hosting a massive family party, whilst their elderly neighbour Doctor Spinster looks on and tries to get involved. Chapters then switch between Sharif and Nazia's life and Hilary Spinster and his family's. 

We switch between Sheffield and Bangladesh, where Nazia and Sherif lived before moving to the UK. In Sheffield we are taught about the struggles of a seemingly loveless marriage between Hilary and his wife Celia. In Bangladesh the reader learns about the history around the lead up to independence for the country. It was an interesting read, but I found myself only wanting to hear about Nazia and Sherif's story. I've never read a book set in Bangladesh before, and it made Hilary's side of spoiled adult kids not caring about their parents totally drag in comparison.

I'm really not a massive fan of literary realism, and whilst some people in my book group loved the author taking you through the mundanity and boring parts of both families' everyday life, it's really something I wasn't a fan of. There were definitely parts I loved, but sometimes it took another 100 pages to get to another bit I enjoyed, so I've given the book three stars. I'd recommend this if you're a fan of Sally Rooney's 'Conversations with Friends'.

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