Finished books

I've been a bit rubbish at reading recently. I have however finished The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot and My Friend Walter by Michael Morpurgo. They we both good for children's books but didn't really engage me as an adult. I'm user all kids would love the, though. I've added a number of books to my to eat list and hopefully Santa will have delivered some more Nicholas Sparks books at home when I get there on Friday. A New Years resolution is to read a lot more so I'm hoping to keep up with this blog better next year! If work allows! Merry Christmas everyone xx

Books to finish

Over recent months (years in one case) I've started 4 books and for one reason and another I haven't finished them, so my next mission is to finish them before I start anything new.

1 - J.R.R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring - I started this nearly 2 years ago immediately after reading The Hobbit, which I had enjoyed. I just couldn't get into this though. I've tried to pick it up a couple of times and its hard going. But I'm determined to finish it!

2 - Meg Cabot - The Princess Diaries - I started this as a light in the bath read a while ago and managed to leave it in the bathroom. Just discovered it in the cupboard this weekend so I shall finish it one night this week hopefully!

3 - Michael Morpurgo - My Friend Walter - I started this just before my holiday (so only a week ago) as a nice easy per-holiday read but I was so tired I kept nodding off. As a result I've only read about 20 pages so far. So I shall finish that some time this week.

4 - Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island - I'm about half way through this I think. Need to check the exactly which page I'm on. This was a bus read before the holidays and I haven't been on many buses really! So this is now to finish once term starts again. Or just on an evening when I haven't much else to do (haha!)

Then I shall read something different...maybe by someone I've not read before :)

Nicholas Sparks - The Rescue

I've loved every Nicholas Sparks book I've read so far and this was no exception. It took me 3 days to read on the sun terrace and curled up in bed while on holiday. It was only after I'd read the first few chapters that i realised I thought I'd read it before. It must have been the first of his books I started to read, though for one reason or another it mustn't have been renewed at the library as I didn't remember the ending. 

It did follow the same sort of thread to other books by Nicholas Sparks so there weren't really any surprises. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy every word. The story begins with a mother, Denise, recalling the life of her young son as she drives home from yet another appointment with a doctor/specialist while he sleeps in his car seat. A storm is raging and inevitably there is an accident. A volunteer fireman comes to her rescue and as she comes round, she realises her little boy is missing...he knows how to get out of the car. The only problem is, the storm isn't letting up and Kyle won't answer if his name is called. The fireman (Taylor) is the one who finds the boy and from the beginning it's clear that he and Kyle have a special connection and that soon this connection will be made with Denise too.

But Taylor has his own demons to face, and believes that he is to blame for events in his past and therefore he doesn't deserve to be happy. Because of this he pushes Denise away and in turn hurts young Kyle. But with his friends and family believing that Denise was the girl for him, does that mean she will be the one to help him face his past?

I sat and cried openly reading this story. With both sadness and happiness. There were a couple of things I found myself waiting for...the inevitable breakdown between Taylor and Denise, and the moment that would make all the hard work She has put in teaching Kyle really mean the world to her.

Not sure what will be next. Now I'm home it might be 2 books. One for kindle while travelling and one on paper for reading at home! 

Brooke Powley - The Missing Half

It took just 2 days to read this debut novel written by a friend from uni. And I was going to save it for my holiday but thought, I'll read a couple of pages to get an idea of it. Then I couldn't stop reading!! I'd have read the whole thing in one if I'd had the time!!

The book is written in 2 parts. The first part is from the point point of view of a mother, Alice, who is writing to her daughter, Grace. One day, while her father and twin sister, Hope, were shopping, Grace was left outside in her pushchair sleeping. When they left the shop, Grace was gone. Alice writes to Grace telling her all that has happened in the 10years since she disappeared and all the efforts that have been made to find her and bring her home. She is determined that the daughter who was taken from her is still alive and will not stop looking until she is found.

The second part of the story is written from the points of view of a number of other characters who all had a role in Grace's life after she had disappeared. It's hard to write without giving away what happens, but we hear from a PI who has been employed to look for Grace, we hear more from Alice, and from others who play a role in this case.

I loved this book (and I'm not just saying that because I know the author!). I will openly admit I cried at various points! I particularly liked reading the point of view of Edd and learning about his story and his motivations for doing what he does. I thought at several points as I was reading that to name the remaining twin Hope was a stroke of genius as hope is the emotion that keeps the characters going through the challenging times. I loved that the story was written from the point of view of each character. It helped to fill in any gaps that might be emerging and to understand why each acted in the way they did.

I really enjoy stories like this, as I find I can really engage the characters and love a good page turner. I hope this isn't the first and last book from Brooke...I'd definitely buy another by her!!


Not sure what's up next, it may be a Michael Morpurgo book just to get me through to holiday as they're fairly quick reads on my shelf.

Determined to read!

I love books, I really do. Unfortunately due to work and other commitments reading sometimes has to take a back seat and I don't think the books I read to the kids at school can really count. This year so far I've read 22 books which isn't bad but it's not as many as I'd hope to read! A book a week if not more would be my ideal target, particularly with the hundreds of books I want to read in my lifetime already and more to add each year! I would like to make my way through both adults' and children's books whether best sellers or winners of awards, or merely from one of the many lists that someone somewhere has compiled as books we should all read in our lifetimes.

As a kind of incentive, and a record, I'm aiming to keep a blog (along with my Goodreads account) to remind myself of what I've read, what I've enjoyed and if there's anything else I might read.

If I do any writing myself (I keep toying with the idea) I'll try and make a record of that too. 

On top of reading, I teach Reception and make cards for family and friends so I'm pretty busy. Just hoping that I'll manage to keep going with this reading plan and get through all the books I hope to!!