the belle lumiere

On The Beach by Nevil Shute
I was really excited to read this book, as it deals with one of my favourite subject matters – the end of mankind. I know, I’m a little bit kooky but that’s just how I roll. Unfortunately for me this book didn’t really hit the mark, and I’m putting it down to a generational difference. This book was a very neat and tidy description of an Australian town facing the end of days. Published in 1959, this book has (at least to me) a very old fashioned feel and view about it. In particular, an “old fashioned” (read: dated) view of women. The women in this book were portrayed as absolute morons. It took me a while to get over my distaste of that fact to really enjoy the book, and despite that the book itself didn’t really capture my attention til the last 3 or 4 chapters when things really start to happen. I won’t be re-reading this anytime soon.

A Dog’s Heart by Mikhail Bulgakov
I loved this book. It was suggested to me by a friend, and the brief synopsis that she gave me instantly caught my attention. I feel like some of the story might have been lost in translation (the original text is Russian) but it still retains a lot of it’s humour, and meaning. I want to re-read this book again, because I feel like I might get something more out of it the second time around.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
This book has shot itself up to the top of the list and is now one of my favourite books of all time. It’s an amazing book – fascinating, harrowing at times (well, most of the time) and above all incredibly touching. I was sobbing at the end of this book, though that might not say much because I am a total sap. One thing I will say about this book is that the lack of punctuation can be slightly off putting. I grew accustomed to it pretty quickly, but if that is something that puts you off reading a book – give this one a miss. If not, I would definitely recommend reading this one, it’s amazing!

The Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum
I think anything that I read after The Road would pale in comparison, and The Wizard Of Oz was no exception. I couldn’t get into the storyline at all (it differs from the film, in case you didn’t know) and the old fashioned and somewhat childish (or simple?) way of writing put me off a lot. Thankfully it didn’t take me very long to read once I did finally sit down and attempt to get stuck into it – though I doubt I will re-read it again.

The Unbearable Lightness Of Being by Milan Kundera
I absolutely adored the first half of this book and couldn’t put it down but then I really struggled to retain my interest throughout the second half. The character development had so much promise but it really seemed to fizzle out half way through the story. Chopping and changing between character perspective can either add to the book or take away from it, and in this case it was the latter. I also found it hard to like or relate to any of the characters, (except the dog) which made it hard for me to keep my interest in what was happening within the relationships in the story. Doubt I will read this one again.

Now, who wants to shell out $133.77 and buy me this limited edition of The Secret Garden? How amazing is the cover art?