Best Reads of 2018 - Le migliori letture del 2018

And here are my best reads of the year: 2 American fiction, 2 British, 1 French, 2 Italians, a super crime fiction and a memoir. Highly recommend them all!

Click on the titles to read the reviews

CATEGORY: Fiction

Only child - R Navin

No and me - D. de Vigan

The love letter - L. Riley

The greatest hits - L. Barnett

Christodora - T. Murphy

The color purple - A. Walker

CATEGORY: Narrativa italiana

Storia della mia ansia - D. Bignardi

Resto qui - M. Balzano

CATEGORY: Crime fiction

Letal white - R. Galbraith

CATEGORY: Memoir

Educated - T. Westover

Book Review: A country Christmas - V. Henry

I really enjoyed other novels by Veronica Henry, so I was looking forward to this Christmassy one. However, I was not able to continue after the first quarter. I found the story dull and unoriginal, same for the characters and I did not fell the curiosity to go ahead and see what would happen to them.
A big disappointment for me...

Overall rating:  Abandoned    Plot: 5   Writing style: 6   Cover:  8

Title: A Country Christmas (first published as Honeycote)

Author: Veronica Henry
Publisher: Orion
Pages: 480
Publication year: 2002

The Plot:

It's the most wonderful time of the year, they say. And in the little Cotswolds village of Honeycote, the festive season looks set to bring people more than a few surprises under the tree. As Lucy Liddiard plans the festive lunch for her nearest and dearest, she has little idea of the dramas about to play out before the crackers are pulled and the corks popped. She knows the family brewery, Honeycote Ales, has seen better days. She knows her husband, Mickey, is an incorrigible flirt. But does she realise how close both are edging towards disaster? As the nights draw in, garlands deck the halls and the carols ring out, there are secrets and lies, love and lust all waiting to be unwrapped. Welcome to Honeycote, and a Christmas no one will ever forget...

The Author:

From the Author's webiste:

"As an army child, I went to eight different schools, including the Royal School Bath, where I learnt Latin, how to make rock buns and how to take my bra off without getting undressed.  I went on to study Classics at Bristol University, followed by a bi-lingual secretarial course - a surprisingly useful combination.     I landed a job as Production Secretary on The Archers at Pebble Mill in Birmingham, where it used to take me two and a half hours to type out an Archers script on an Olivetti ET121 typewriter.  Duties ranged from recording the sound of newborn piglets to playing Peaches the barmaid in the Cat and Fiddle.  There was never a dull moment, and The Archers taught me that everyone needs an escape from everyday life. From there, I became a script editor for Central Television, working on broadcasting legends Crossroads and Boon.  I started a family and became a freelance scriptwriter, writing hundreds of hours of television drama, including Heartbeat and Holby City.   In 2000 I got my first book deal, and am currently writing my twentieth novel. I also write lifestyle features for newspapers and magazines, including Woman and Home, Red, The Daily Mail, Woman and The Sunday Times. I speak regularly at Literary Festivals, libraries, WIs and charity events, talking about my career and the inspiration for my novels."

Book Review: One day in December - J. Silver

Everybody is talking about this book on social medias so I had high expectations about it.
I really struggled with the first part of the novel, I just couldn't see where it was going and it was all a bit slow for me. I enjoyed the second part though, it is a pleasant romantic comedy, I can really see it on the big screens as if the story actually belongs more on TV than in a book.
I wouldn't say it is an original plot, it reminded me of other novels where the two main characters fall in love but never manage to be together until the very end. I don't think i got the whole picture of Laurie, known the true her throughout the novel and this is why I am giving it an average rating. I was not as engrossed and whisked away by the romanticism of the story as it happened with other books.

Overall rating:  6,5    Plot: 6,5   Writing style: 6,5   Cover:  7

Title: One day in December

Author: Josie Silver
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 432
Publication year: 2018

The Plot

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn't exist. After all, life isn't a scene from the movies, is it? But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there's a moment of pure magic...and then her bus drives away. Laurie thinks she'll never see the boy from the bus again. But at their Christmas party a year later, her best friend Sarah introduces her to the new love of her life. Who is, of course, the boy from the bus. Determined to let him go, Laurie gets on with her life. But what if fate has other plans?

The Author:

Josie Silver is an unashamed romantic who met her husband when she stepped on his foot on his twenty-first birthday. She lives with him, her two young sons, and their cats in a little town in England called Wolverhampton.

Book Review: Bright young dead - J. Fellowes

Second volume of The Mitford murders serie (click here to read the mini review of the first volume)

I quite enjoyed the first novel of the Mitford murders serie so I was looking forward to this second installment. But, unfortunately, I was disappointed.
 Also in this book we find  again the same characters, the Mitford sisters, Louise, Guy, plus the infamous Bright young people in the 20s swinging London and a gang of women thieves, which make the novel interesting from a social point of view. The murder case though is slow and generally the pace of the book is painfully low speed for my liking. The chapters are quite repetitive and, even if a lot could happen, nothing really does and I was left with a bitter taste of what it could have been.
Pity...

Overall rating:  5    Plot: 6   Writing style: 5   Cover:  8

Title: Bright young dead 

Author: Jessica Fellowes
Publisher: Sphere
Pages: 400
Publication year: 2018

The Plot:

Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford, but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighbouring the Mitford home.The police quickly identify the killer as a maid, Dulcie. But Louisa Cannon, chaperone to the Mitford girls and a former criminal herself, believes Dulcie to be innocent, and sets out to clear the girl's name . . . all while the real killer may only be steps away.

The Author:

Jessica Fellowes is an author, journalist and public speaker, best known for her work as author of five official companion books to Downton Abbey, various of which have hit the New York Times and Sunday Timesbestseller lists. Former deputy editor of Country Life and columnist on the Mail on Sunday, she has written for publications including the DailyTelegraph, the Guardian, The Sunday Times and The Lady. Jessica has spoken at events across the UK and US, and has made numerous appearances on radio and television. She lives happily in London and Oxfordshire with her family, an energetic Labradoodle and two chickens.

Book Review: The Angel Tree - L.Riley

What a family saga! I was glued to the almost 700 pages of The Angel Tree for three days. Ac compelling story about three generations of a family whose destiny touches a lot of other people unrelated. Tragedy, fame, love, beautiful scenery, drama, illnesses, motherhood, friendship: there is a lot going on in this novel spacing forty years and yet it doesn't seem too much as sometimes happen.
Lucinda Riley has demonstrated me yet again that she can hold my attention so well and involve me in the plot and the characters fully.
A must read family saga!

Overall rating:  8    Plot: 8   Writing style: 8   Cover:  6,5

Title: The Angel Tree

Author: Lucinda Riley

Publisher: Pan MacMillan

Pages: 672

Publication year: 2015

The Plot:

Thirty years have passed since Greta left Marchmont Hall, a grand and beautiful house nestled in the hills of rural Monmouthshire. But when she returns to the Hall for Christmas, at the invitation of her old friend David Marchmont, she has no recollection of her past association with it – the result of a tragic accident that has blanked out more than two decades of her life. Then, during a walk through the wintry landscape, she stumbles across a grave in the woods, and the weathered inscription on the headstone tells her that a little boy is buried here . . .The poignant discovery strikes a chord in Greta's mind and soon ignites a quest to rediscover her lost memories. With David's help, she begins to piece together the fragments of not only her own story, but that of her daughter, Cheska, who was the tragic victim of circumstances beyond her control. And, most definitely, not the angel she appeared to be . . 

The Author:

Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland, and after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into over thirty five languages and sold fifteen million copies worldwide. She is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller.

 Lucinda is currently writing The Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is based allegorically on the mythology of the famous star constellation. The first five books, The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister and The Moon Sister have all been No.1 bestsellers across the world, and the rights to a multi-season TV series have already been optioned by a Hollywood production company.

Book Review: Agatha Raisin and the Busy body - M.C. Beaton

Agatha Raisin serie - Book 21

I don't think I will ever grow tired of Agatha! yes, probably the books now are a tiny bit predictable as it is our Agatha, and yet I still find reading her misadventures very enjoyable and it is like coming back home a bit/
In the busy body there is a double murder in a nearby village and the possible culprits are so many, most likely the entire village as they all loathed the Health inspector that was murdered.
Between the events and Agatha solving the crime, a year goes by and we encounter a new character, a young trainee detective that spices things up a bit, while Agatha is still her true self and cannot help herself in seeing love in every man she comes across.

Overall rating:  6,5    Plot: 6,5   Writing style: 6,5   Cover:  6,5

Title: Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body

Author: M.C. Beaton
Publisher: Constable
Pages: 244
Publication year: 2010

The Plot:

Cranky yet lovable Agatha Raisin has always been ambivalent about holiday cheer, though her cozy village of Carsely has long prided itself on its Christmas festivities. Until now. This year, local Health and Safety Board officer John Sunday is threatening to undo some of Carsley’s most time-honored traditions. The tree on top of the church? A public menace. The decorations hanging on the lampposts? Hazardous. Even May Dimwoody’s homemade toys are deemed unsafe for the children. Bah humbug! The Carsely Ladies Society is in an uproar and will do anything to put a stop to this Scrooge—only to find that someone else has done it for them…with a kitchen knife. Soon Agatha’s detective agency is on the case. But when a man has made as many enemies as Mr. John Sunday, it’s hard to know where to start—or how to stop the killer from striking again.

The Author:

M.C. Beaton was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department at John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she received an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to become their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing experience, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter.After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion moved to the United States where Harry had been offered the position of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. They subsequently moved to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs at Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York. Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, supported by her husband, started to write Regency romances. After she had written close to 100, and had gotten fed up with the 1811 to 1820 period, she began to write detective stories under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Hamish Macbeth story. Marion and Harry returned to Britain and bought a croft house in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. When her son graduated, and both of his parents tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds, where Agatha Raisin was created. While Marion wrote her historical romances under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, as well as several pseudonyms (Helen Crampton, Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, and Charlotte Ward), because of her great success with mystery novels as M. C. Beaton, most of her publishers both in the U.S. and abroad use the M. C. Beaton pseudonym for all of her novels.

Book Review: So che un giono tornerai - L. Bianchini

"Signora e' femmina...come la vuole chiamare?"

Angela resta immobile, come se il suo parto non fosse finito ma stesse per ricominciare di nuovo. Era femmina, aveva sentito bene.

E pronuncio' il nome che aveva sempre pensato.

"Giorgio".

Per come la vedo io, ci sono due Bianchini: quello che leggo con estremo piacere che comprende la maggior parte dei suoi libri (vedi recensione di Nessuno come noi qui), Instant love in primis, e quello di "Io che amo solo te" e di quest'ultimo romanzo, che invece proprio non mi sono piaciuti. Li ho trovati banali rispetto agli altri, troppo "paesani", pettegoli e senza davvero nulla che mi attirasse e mi incentivasse ad andare avanti con la lettura.

Mentre con gli altri romanzi sentivo le storie piu' "vicine" e coinvolgenti, con quest'ultimo romanzo, come anche con Io che amo solo te, davvero non ero interessata a sapere cosa sarebbe successo. 

Peccato, perche' sui numerosi libri che ha scritto, ne ho amati molti, quindi spero che il prossimo rientri di nuovo nel filone Bianchini che piu' mi piace.

Overall rating:  5    Plot: 5   Writing style: 5   Cover:  7,5

Title: So che un giorno tornerai

Author: Luca Bianchini
Publisher: Mondadori
Pages: 264
Publication year: 2018

The Plot:

Angela non ha ancora vent'anni quando diventa madre, una mattina a Trieste alla fine degli anni Sessanta. Pasquale, il suo grande amore, è un "jeansinaro" calabrese, un mercante di jeans, affascinante e già sposato. Lui le ha fatto una promessa: "Se sarà maschio, lo riconoscerò". Angela fa tutti gli scongiuri del caso ma nasce una femmina: Emma. Pasquale fugge immediatamente dalle sue responsabilità, lasciando Angela crescere la bambina da sola insieme alla sua famiglia numerosa e sgangherata. I Pipan sono capitanati da un nonno che rimpiange il dominio austriaco, una nonna che prepara le zuppe e quattro zii: uno serio, un playboy e due gemelli diversi che si alternano a fare da babysitter a Emma. Lei sarà la figlia di tutti e di nessuno e crescerà così, libera e anticonformista, come la Trieste in cui vive, in quella terra di confine tra cielo e mare, Italia e Jugoslavia. Fino al giorno in cui deciderà di mettersi sulle tracce di suo padre, e per lui questa sarà l'occasione per rivedere Angela, che non ha mai dimenticato.

The Author:
Dal sito dell'autore:

"Nato l’11 febbraio 1970 a Mola di Bari, Luca Bianchini ha vissuto la sua adolescenza e la sua giovane età a Nichelino (TO) e attualmente vive a Torino dove si è laureato in lettere moderne. Mente brillante e dalla bella parlantina, oltre ad essere uno scrittore di successo sempre crescente è stato anche conduttore radiofonico. Nella sua vita Bianchini ha svolto diverse professioni tra cui intervistatore telefonico, redattore filatelico alla Bolaffi, scrittore freelance. Per la BGS d’Arcy ha curato le campagne pubblicitarie di diverse grandi aziende come Ferrero, Pagine Gialle, FIAT, TIM, Piaggio. In seguito, dal 2000, con la Adv ha lavorato per Unicredit, Tele2, Suzuki e Breil. Insomma, Luca Bianchini ha studiato e fatto la gavetta, conosce l’Italia, ha capito che per adattarsi occorre lavorare, muoversi, cambiare. Una mente brillante ha meno difficoltà nel farsi notare, soprattutto dai lettori che hanno potuto apprezzare le sue opere. Tra le più conosciute Instant Love, Ti seguo ogni Notte, Se domani farà bel tempo, Siamo solo amici, Io che amo solo te, Dimmi che credi al destino che è l’ispirazione per molte slot machine online italiane."

November 2018 Wrap up

November, month of fireworks nights here in UK!

Some really great novels read this month, an ever green Christie and three big disappointments I had to abandoned. 

(click on the titles for the full mini review)

No and me - D. de Vigan
A touching and profound novel, highly recommend it.
Rating:  8,5 out of 10

Educated - T. Westover
Shocking, insightful, very powerful. a must read
Rating:  8,5 out of 10

Only child - R. Niven
Heartbreaking, very touching, loved it.
Rating:  9 out of 10

The beach hut next door - V. Henry
Great escapism, a fairy tale set in a great seaside place. Enjoyable.
Rating:  7 out of 10

All grown up - J. Attenberg
Not my cup of tea. Abadoned
Rating: Abandoned

They do it with mirrors - A. Christie
Agatha never lets you down! Another great crime story with the cheeky Miss Marple!
Rating:  7,5 out of 10

This is how it always is - L. Frankel
A strong message, a very brave family and child. Extremely interesting, it loses its charm a bit in the last part in my view.
Rating:  7 out of 10

So che un giorno tornerai - L. Bianchini
Ho amato tanti libri di Bianchini, ma questo, insieme a Io che amo solo te, non mi e' piaciuto.
Rating:  5 out of 10

The darkest day - H. Nesser
I couldn't get into the story at all. Abandoned!
Rating:  Abandoned

Winter garden - K. Hannah
Too slow and repetitive for my liking, nothing seems to happen for ages. Abandoned!
Rating:  Abandoned

Book Review: The beach hut next door - V. Henry

In all honestly I got this book from the library just because I was going to Wells next the sea and I wanted a book cover to photograph with the beach huts!
I have read and enjoyed Veronica Henry's books before, she writes pleasantly and this novel too is a very good escapism, full of secrets, love, happy endings.
Various characters, all linked by the beach hut setting, have their secrets, troubles, hopes in the various chapters of the novel. All very pleasant, some more than others. I really like Eloide's story, from the grandeur of a wealthy family and the happiness of youth to a massive betrayal and her finding her own feet.
Probably a bit too "and they all lived happily ever after" to be credible, but nevertheless a very enjoyable book. And I really want a beach hut now!

Overall rating:  7    Plot: 7,5   Writing style: 7   Cover:  8

Title: The beach hut next door

Author: Veronica Henry
Publisher: Orion 
Pages: 304
Publication year: 2014

The Plot:

Summer appeared from nowhere that year in Everdene...and for those lucky enough to own one of the beach huts, this was the summer of their dreams.For Elodie, returning to Everdene means reawakening the memories of one summer fifty years ago. A summer when everything changed.Vince and his brother are struggling to come to terms with the death of their father - but they have very different ways of coping.And for Jenna, determined to put the past behind her, the opportunity to become 'the ice cream girl' once again might just turn her life around.But this summer is not all sunshine and surf - as secrets unfold, and some lives are changed for ever...

The Author:

From the author's website:
"As an army child, I went to eight different schools, including the Royal School Bath, where I learnt Latin, how to make rock buns and how to take my bra off without getting undressed.  I went on to study Classics at Bristol University, followed by a bi-lingual secretarial course - a surprisingly useful combination.    

I landed a job as Production Secretary on The Archers at Pebble Mill in Birmingham, where it used to take me two and a half hours to type out an Archers script on an Olivetti ET121 typewriter.  Duties ranged from recording the sound of newborn piglets to playing Peaches the barmaid in the Cat and Fiddle.  There was never a dull moment, and The Archers taught me that everyone needs an escape from everyday life.

From there, I became a script editor for Central Television, working on broadcasting legends Crossroads and Boon.  I started a family and became a freelance scriptwriter, writing hundreds of hours of television drama, including Heartbeat and Holby City.  

In 2000 I got my first book deal, and am currently writing my twentieth novel.

I also write lifestyle features for newspapers and magazines, including Woman and Home, Red, The Daily Mail, Woman and The Sunday Times.

I speak regularly at Literary Festivals, libraries, WIs and charity events, talking about my career and the inspiration for my novels."

Book Review: This is how it always is - L. Frankel

“This is how it always is. You have to make these huge decision on behalf of your kid, this tiny human whose fate and future is entirely in your hands. Who trusts you to know what's good and right and then to be able to make that happen. You never have enough information. You don't get to see the future. And if you screw up - if with your incomplete contradictory information you make the wrong call - nothing less than your child's entire future and happiness is at stake. It's impossible. It's heartbreaking. It's maddening. But there's no alternative."

A family of seven, an ER doctor mother, a writer father and five sons. A busy, chaotic life, two loving parents and the littlest of the boy that one day starts wearing dresses and affirms he wants to be a girl when he grows up. 

A very powerful message, a very brave story of acceptance and about loving your dear ones for what they are, but also of finding who you really are when it is not so obvious and you are stuck in the middle.
A very difficult theme to write about, gender dysphoria in a very young child, in a very bigoted America, in a family that is doing a great job, but maybe in doing so is making things to easy to last.
I loved the first part of the book and all the characters, I was less fond of the second part as I found it too focused on the mother than on Poppy/Claude.
Overall, a novel of high impact for the subject more than for the writing style.

"How did you teach your small human that it’s what’s inside that counts when the truth was everyone was pretty preoccupied with what you put on over the outside too?” 

Overall rating:  8,5    Plot: 8,5   Writing style: 8   Cover:  8

Title: This is how it always is

Author: Laurie Frankel
Publisher: Headline Review
Pages: 480
Publication year: 2018

The Plot:

When Rosie and Penn and their four boys welcome the newest member of their family, no one is surprised it’s another baby boy. But at least their large, loving, chaotic family knows what to expect.
But Claude is not like his brothers. One day he puts on a dress and refuses to take it off. He wants to bring a purse to kindergarten. He wants hair long enough to sit on. When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.
Rosie and Penn aren’t panicked at first. Kids go through phases, after all, and make-believe is fun. But soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes. 

The Author:
Laurie Frankel is the New York Timesbestselling, award-winning author of three novels. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Publisher’s Weekly, People Magazine, Lit Hub, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other publications. She is the recipient of the Washington State Book Award. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty-five languages, and all three have been optioned for film or TV. A former college professor, she now writes full-time. She was recently named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Seattle where she lives with her family and makes good soup.

Book Review: They do it with mirrors - A. Christie

“We’re all mad, dear lady,” he said as he ushered her in through the door. “That’s the secret of existence. We’re all a little mad.” 

I still have not read a book written by Agatha that has disappointed me.
Her insight of human nature and relationships, her ability to picture murders and other secrets in enclosed spaces are so great, she never lets you down as a reader.
They do it with mirrors is one of Miss Marple's cases, this sweet looking old lady with an eagle eye for crimes and details. I'd have never guessed who did it, to be honest; so many possibilities, so much going on for each character, they could all have done it.
I always know that when I need a novel to engross me and ensure me entertainment, Agatha is a safe bet!

Overall rating:  7,5    Plot: 7,5   Writing style: 8   Cover:  6

Title: They do it with mirrors

Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: The Agatha Christie collection - Planet Tree
Pages: 192
Publication year: 2002 (First published (1952)

The Plot:

A man is shot at in a juvenile reform home – but someone else dies… Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in a Victorian mansion which doubles as a rehabilitiation centre for delinquents. Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a revolver at the administrator, Lewis Serrocold. Neither is injured. But a mysterious visitor, Mr Gilbrandsen, is less fortunate – shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building. Pure coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and vows to discover the real reason for Mr Gilbrandsen’s visit.

The Author:

Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1890 and became, quite simply, the best-selling novelist in history. Her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, written towards the end of the First World War, introduced us to Hercule Poirot, who was to become the most popular detective in crime fiction since Sherlock Holmes. She is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 100 foreign languages. She is the author of 80 crime novels and short story collections, 19 plays, and six novels under the name of Mary Westmacott.

Book Review: Educated - T. Westover

“You can love someone and still choose to say goodbye to them,” she says now. “You can miss a person every day, and still be glad that they are no longer in your life.” 

If this was fiction, I would have said a very interesting and compelling novel. But this is real life, this is an autobiography and consequently for me it is quite shocking and very dramatic.
Religion doesn't really matter in the book, what matters is a bipolar father that has never seen a doctor and his personality is so strong and his wife so subdued to him that he ruins his life and the ones of his entire family. No doctors, no school, everything needs to remain in the family.
A serie of psychological abuses from a father to his family and afterwards from a brother to his siblings. People too scared of being banned from the family to face them and confront them.
And of the three of them that find the courage to fly the nest and go and study, in reality it is just Tara who breaks her mind from the poisoned relationship.
Brave, brave, brave. A survivor, but a strong one, who went on to build a great life for herself after years of abuse.
Unbelievable that in this modern age this is still the reality in some places. I really wonder how many Taras there are out there. It is sad.
A must read, and a loud well done to Tara for reinventing herself.

“The decisions I made after that moment were not the ones she would have made. They were the choices of a changed person, a new self. 

You could call this selfhood many things. Transformation. Metamorphosis. Falsity. Betrayal. 

I call it an education” 

Overall rating:  8,5    Plot: 8,5   Writing style: 8   Cover:  6

Title: Educated

Author: Tara Westover
Publisher: Windmill Books 
Pages: 400
Publication year: 2018

The Plot:

Tara Westover and her family grew up preparing for the End of Days but, according to the government, she didn’t exist. She hadn’t been registered for a birth certificate. She had no school records because she’d never set foot in a classroom, and no medical records because her father didn’t believe in hospitals. 
As she grew older, her father became more radical and her brother more violent. At sixteen, Tara knew she had to leave home. In doing so she discovered both the transformative power of education, and the price she had to pay for it.

The Author:
Tara Westover was born in rural Idaho. She studied history at Brigham Young University and upon graduation was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She received an MPhil in intellectual history from Trinity College, Cambridge in 2009, and a PhD in the same subject in 2014.

Book Review: No and me - D. de Vigan

“All my life I've felt on the outside wherever I am - out of the picture, the conversation, at a distance, as though I were the only one able to hear the sounds or words that other's can't, and deaf to the words that they hear. As if I'm outside the frame, on the other side of a huge, invisible window.” 

A really touching and profound novel about two girls, one homeless and one very clever and lonely.
Two very different realities but one commonality: the companionship, the "being in it together" that both girls are looking for.
Lou tries very hard to "save" No, to give her a home, a family, a sense of "normality", but it cannot last forever, No has been burnt too many times to survive this kind of "normality" and before it ruines her, she ruins it and escape.
Highly recommend it, a novel that touches your heart.

Overall rating:  8,5    Plot: 8,5   Writing style: 8   Cover:  8

Title: No and me (original title No et moi)

Author: Delphine de Vigan
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Pages: 256
Publication year: 2007

The Plot:

Lou Bertignac has an IQ of 160 and a good friend in class rebel Lucas. At home her father puts a brave face on things but cries in secret in the bathroom, while her mother rarely speaks and hardly ever leaves the house. To escape this desolate world, Lou goes often to Gare d'Austerlitz to see the big emotions in the smiles and tears of arrival and departure. But there she also sees the homeless, meets a girl called No, only a few years older than herself, and decides to make homelessness the topic of her class presentation. Bit by bit, Lou and No become friends until, the project over, No disappears. Heartbroken, Lou asks her parents the unaskable question and her parents say: Yes, No can come to live with them. So Lou goes down into the underworld of Paris's street people to bring her friend up to the light of a home and family life, she thinks.

The Author:
Delphine de Vigan is an award-winning French novelist. She has published several novels for adults. Her breakthrough work was the book No et moi (No and Me) that was awarded the Prix des Libraires (The Booksellers' Prize) in France in 2008. 
In 2011, she published a novel Rien ne s'oppose a la nuit (Nothing holds back the night) that is dealing with a family coping with their mother's bipolar disorder. In her native France, the novel brought her a set of awards, including the prix du roman Fnac (the prize given by the Fnac bookstores) and the prix Renaudot des lycéens.