Kindle: The God of the Woods, Liz Moore

 

I honestly don't understand the hype around this one.

Personally, I found The God of the Woods an absolute slog to read. In fact, I think it might contain almost every ingredient of my worst-nightmare book.

There are so many characters. Usually, even with a large cast, I eventually get to grips with who's who. Not this time. I spent far too much of the book trying to remember names and work out how everyone fitted together.

Then there are the multiple timelines, constantly jumping backwards and forwards. Add to that the fact that it's written in the present tense, which I know is very much a personal preference, but I really don't enjoy it.

And then... the em dashes. SO. MANY. EM DASHES. There were so many that I actually stopped reading at one point and asked Google whether the book had been written by AI. 😂 Apparently not. The author is an English professor, so I decided to persevere.

So, persevere I did, largely because all the glowing reviews had me convinced there must surely be a massive, delicious twist waiting for me that would make the whole slog worthwhile.

There is a twist. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, I was so over the book and so disconnected from the characters that I honestly couldn't bring myself to care.

Clearly I am in the minority given how highly rated this book is, but it just wasn't for me.

A generous 2/5 ⭐⭐. Sorry!

Libby Audiobook: Son of Hamas, Mosab Hassan Yousef

I wanted to learn more about Palestine and Hamas. Very interesting book and man. There is still a lot I need to learn. What I find interesting is that his father started Hamas, he the author, became a spy for Israel, and convertered to Christianity.

3.8/5
 

Libby Audiobook: The Prophet and the Idiot, Jonas Jonasson

Started off strong but then lost momentum and I got really bored.

3/5
 

Kindle: The Reluctant Detective Goes South, Adrian Spalding

 

Good light hearted, dry British humour. 4/5

Libby Audiobook: I see you called in dead, John Kenney

This was a weird one. On the one hand fairly humorous, obituary writer gets drunk, writes his own obit and accidentally gets it printed. Hence the title.

But, there are pockets of such sadness.

Long and short of it, we need to live every day.

3.8/5
 

Libby Audiobook: This Happened to me, Kate Price

 

This is a heartbreaking and deeply confronting memoir. What happened to Kate Price is horrific, and I have enormous respect for her courage in sharing such a personal story. By telling it, she shines a light on an issue that deserves far more attention and understanding.

That said, I didn't particularly enjoy the audiobook. The narrator's delivery felt very staccato and, to me, conveyed constant anger. Given the subject matter, that anger is entirely understandable, but listening to it for hours became emotionally exhausting and made it difficult for me to stay engaged.

The book is often recommended to readers who enjoyed Educated. While both are powerful memoirs about overcoming extraordinary adversity, Educated resonated with me far more. I found its storytelling more immersive and emotionally nuanced, whereas this audiobook left me feeling more drained than connected.

This is an important book, and I admire Kate Price immensely for having the strength to write it. My reservation is not with her story, but with my experience of the audiobook narration.

Libby Audiobook: Open, An Autobiography, Andre Agassi

 

Not a fan of tennis, but am a fan of biographies.

Biggest surprise, Andre Agassi does not lik tennis!

I really liked how his none denominational pastor described God to him. He didn't have a good relationship with his dad, and the pastor said that God is totally the opposite of his dad. 

Was married to Brooke Shields and later to Stephi Graf.

4/5