What Sophie Said

It's been a while, but here we are with a fresh reading list post! I can’t believe this is Reading List #42 – there are so many mini-reviews up on here now. The latest four reviews cover fiction and non-fiction, and each of them really impressed me. Elephant Song, Wilbur Smith In Chiwewe National Park , Zimbabwe , TV naturalist Dr Daniel Armstrong films the slaughter of an elephant herd. In London , anthropologist Kelly Kinnear is caught up in confrontation with a powerful conglomerate warning them of imminent danger in Zimbabwe . Armstrong and Kinnear form an alliance in an attempt to fight greed and corruption. This was beautiful. The characters’ passion for the land and the cause was clear, and the way both the beauty and the terror of the country are described in juxtaposition with one another is fantastic. I found myself totally immersed in their world, and the plot itself was fast-paced.      Stop Thinking, Start Living, Richard Carlson...

A couple of the books in this week’s reading list were much-hyped when they first came out, which I think sometimes makes me judge them more harshly. When I’m told a book is fantastic, I set such high expectations that sometimes it’s easy to be let down. This week’s list was a bit of a mixture – some I loved, and others just didn’t wow me. A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki This is the diary of Nao, which has been transported via a tsunami, and will change the life of its reader. The only way I can describe this book is stunning. It calls into question things like what it means to be human, to be alive, and to live in the moment. It’s a story of loss, growing up, and family, and stories which have been left behind. I’d call this a must-read: it’s beautiful. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, Therese Anne Fowler Set against the backdrop of the Roaring Twenties, this is a story of a woman trying to find her own identity from behind her husband’s shadow. Th...

This is by far one of my favourite reading lists, in that these books were all five star. Some I had been meaning to read for a long time before finally picking them up, and I’m so glad I finally read them. Others I had never heard of until picking them up and now can’t stop recommending them. Dominion, C. J. Sansom It is 1952, in a world where Britain surrendered to Hitler in 1940, and Churchill is leading an underground resistance movement. Full of spies and political drama, this was a real page-turner. The story was good, but what I loved the most was how utterly convincing the world created was. It felt like a very realistic scenario, and this was sustained throughout the novel. I’ve recommended this one to a lot of people. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire & The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Stieg Larsson The plot begins in the first book, with Mikael Blomkvist researching the Vanger Corporation for an unsolved myst...

Where do you get your inspiration for which books to pick up next? I’m in need of new ideas! Here's the latest round-up of things I've been reading:- Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese Twins Marion and Shiva are born in 1950s Ethiopia to an Indian nun and a British doctor, and grow up in a country on the brink of revolution. This is a family epic, set against an interesting, complex history. When their father is in surgery, there are some stunning descriptions of the physicality and mortality of the human body, and using the biology of the body as metaphors for life. You can feel Marion’s pain sharply throughout, and there were some heart-breaking moments. Worth a read. Burial Rites, Hannah Kent In Iceland, in 1829, a woman is condemned to death for murdering her husband. A family take the woman in, and a priest is tasked with absolving her. This was a good story, but I didn’t enjoy the tone and voice at all. I couldn’t connect to any of the ce...

This list is a real mixture of old classics and newer discoveries, along with things that have been on my ‘to read’ list for years. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins This was a really gripping ghost / mystery tale, narrated through journal accounts of multiple characters. I had been meaning to read it for a while, after hearing years ago there was also a musical version of the story, but it sat waiting on my shelf for so long I’d almost forgotten. The book built up the suspense well through the delivery of all of the separate accounts, some of which had more to say than others, and some who were a lot more certain of what they had seen than others. I can’t think of anything else I’ve read that’s quite like it, and it’s worth a try. Flight Behaviour, Barbara Kingsolver Dellarobia makes a life-changing discovery on the failing Appalachian Farm… and I can’t really say much more than that without revealing too much. This novel contains themes of nature, climate chang...

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 Ki...

The speed at which I’m getting through books has reached new levels with my daily commute. A 35 minute tube journey at each end of the day is a decent amount of time for me to get completely absorbed in a book, and as a fast reader anyway I‘m speeding through titles. Here’s my latest round-up:- The Children’s Book, A. S. Byatt Olive writes a private book bound in different colours for each of her five children. Each family in the story has its secrets, and the sons start to rebel as daughters dream of their independence in this Edwardian setting. The writing was stunning, as I’ve come to expect from Byatt, and it was a well-written family saga with stories and fairytales woven in. There were so many layers, and the whole book is just gorgeous. The Somnambulist, Essie Fox  Mr Samuels offers 17 year-old Phoebe the role of companion to his reclusive wife, and sobbing noises in the night lead her to discover she was not chosen by chance. This is a story of los...

It’s reading list time again, and there are a few here which I’ve recommended multiple times already. Mini-reviews lie ahead… Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Set in 1960s Nigeria, against a backdrop of civil war, this tells the story of Richard, an English university lecturer, Olanna, who has left a life of privilege to be with him, and Ugluu, Richard’s houseboy. The horrors of war touch each of these individuals and those around them, and loyalties are tested. I knew very little about Nigerian history, including this particular period, and it was a fascinating, if brief, insight which made me want to research a little further. The characters and writing were stunning, and this is a novel I will recommend again and again. Elizabeth is Missing, Emma Healey Maud keeps forgetting things, but the one thing she is sure of is that Elizabeth is missing. Her scraps of paper and fragmented memories lead to an investigation into a 70 year-old mystery...

How do you choose which book to read next? I read such a wide range of ‘types’ of books, both novels and non-fiction, that it can sometimes seem pretty overwhelming settling on the one book you’re going to read next. Below are my latest mini-reviews. What’s Stopping You? Robert Kelsey A book about understanding your fears, accepting who you are and negotiating obstacles, this reads like a white paper. It pulls together years of research and theories, with Kelsey providing his own highlights and tips. The main focus is on overcoming fear of failure, and the book outlines seven key steps to attempting this. This was an interesting read, and pulled together a whole collection of books of this nature, so provides a nice little overview of ideas in the field. How to Build a Girl, Caitlin Moran Although this is a work of fiction, it has the same distinctive tone as Moran’s other books. It’s a story of growing up and of self-discovery. Though claiming to...

I’ve had so many of these posts ready and waiting to publish. I race through books at such a pace that I need to hold back a little from publishing or this blog would feature book after book after book. Here’s the latest round-up of four mini book reviews: The Submission, Amy Waldman During an anonymous competition to find a designer for a 9/11 memorial, jurors open the envelope containing the winner’s details to find he is an American Muslim, architect Mohammad Khan. Debates as to his suitability or how this will be perceived by the public ensue. I was really impressed by this novel, which explored the feelings of a huge span of people in the wake of such a tragedy. There were different reactions to the competition winner, and an interesting and complex picture of America post-2011 was created. I also found Khan’s story incredibly moving, as he documents a period living under suspicion wherever he walks, whilst himself in mourning for the America he knows and loves....

It's been a while, but the reading itself certainly hasn't stopped! Here's my latest round-up of mini-reviews... Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden This tells the story of Sayuri, thrown into the geisha world where, as a young girl, she is naïve and manipulated, until she rebels. There were several strong themes throughout the novels, such as love, and loss, when she is torn from her family, and also the empowerment of women originally forced into an oppressive situation. The book had been on my to-read list for years after multiple recommendations, and offers a fascinating insight into the geisha world, a culture I know next to nothing about. The fantastic characterisation meant that as a reader I fully believed every word. Golden skilfully pulls readers into a world they may be unfamiliar with, but at once it feels familiar. The book is peppered with tragedy but inspires so much hope, and is definitely one I would recommend. Mindfulness for Life: How to Us...