The Reading List #37

Are you a Kindle or a physical book person? I absolutely love my Kindle for the tube, but I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to let go of physical books entirely… Maybe it’s the ex-English Literature student in me!

Here’s my latest round-up of mini-reviews:-


Pompeii, Robert Harris


This novel starts a few days before the eruption of Vesuvius and tells the story from four different perspectives: an engineer, a young girl, a corrupt millionaire and an elderly scientist. I absolutely loved this book. It reminded the geeky side of me of studying for my Latin GCSE, and I found it interesting reading more about such a fascinating and heart-breaking event in history. I really liked the way it brought in the scientific, the geographic and the personal, and entwined in a beautiful narrative. This one is well worth a read.


The Shining Girls, Lauren Beukes


Starting in the 1930s, Harper Curtis selects and kills his ‘shining girls’, believing he is unstoppable. In 1992 Kirby’s life is changed forever after her attempted murder as a young girl, and ex-homicide detective Dan is helping her to track down the culprit. This was well-written, and I enjoyed the jumps around in time and switching between narrators. It was fairly scary and gruesome at times, but a very good read.


Finders Keepers, Belinda Bauer


Children are disappearing, and left in their path are notes reading ‘you don’t love him/her/them’. With no ransom demands or suspects, PC Jonas Holly must investigate, despite being a man with many secrets himself. I was impressed by the way this story unfolded, and it was intriguing trying to figure out what the notes and clues could mean. I wasn’t too sure about the ending, but there were good characters and the suspense was built well.


The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield


Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield House’s past and the mysterious March family. Why does she feel such a connection to them, and how is the author Vida Winter connected to their tale? The novel is narrated through multiple voices, and occasionally punctuated with stories or ‘tales’ from the writer in the book. There were certainly many layers to this novel – at times potentially too many – but overall it’s a compelling mystery about stories, storytelling and the truth.


Let me know what should be next on the list…

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