Recent Review Round Up - Holiday Reading

Its'a amazing how many books you can go through when you give you brain a week off from everything else. Ok, so three and a bit books in two weeks might not sound like very many, but this is pretty impressive for my easily distracted brain right now. I'll start doing the odd full review again soon, but in the mean time here are three reads that got me thinking this summer...


The Paying Guests - Sarah Waters

This is the first Sarah Waters book I've read and it certainly won't be the last. Is that enough of a review do you think? If I don't end here then I'm in danger of offering you up an essay about it, but I shall continue and try to keep it brief. I've made a resolution to start reading a bit more adult fiction, and this book has set the bar, quite frankly - a masterclass in how to write a well-drawn, living breathing character. I was slightly daunted by the length (as I said, I get easily distracted), but there wasn't a single wasted word. The story of how the arrival of Lilian and Leonard impact on the formerly well-to-do Frances Wray and her mother is tense and romantic in equal measure.

Am staring to think I should have written a full review of this because now, as I'm typing, I have ALL THE THOUGHTS. Oh well.



Me and Earl and the Dying Girl - Jesse Andrews

I'm conflicted about this one. I enjoyed it. It was smart and funny (very funny) and refreshing, and I wish there was some way to bottle that feeling you get when you read something truly unique in YA fiction (sorry, but it just doesn't happen that often). I just wasn't entirely convinced by Andrews's attempts to subvert a the common dying teenager YA trope. It just felt like he should have pushed the button a bit more - tricky, I know - because I was just left with the feeling that the book hadn't quite managed to detach itself completely with that particular trope and that it had shied away from a few issues it touched upon. But whatever drawbacks I had with it, the voice is one of the most convincing I've read in recent months.



Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson

I enjoyed Roger and Amy's Epic Detour and I was looking for a good contemporary YA to get my teeth into. This had been sitting on my kindle for a while and seemed to fit the bill. However, I was THIS (imagine me holding up my fingers to indicate a short distance) close to giving up on it about half way through - shy Emily may have felt realistic, but my patience with her as a main character was starting to wane, I still hadn't gotten any sense of who her missing best friend Sloane really was and the flashbacks felt cumbersome. BUT, exactly slap bang int he middle, it drew me in and I started to care, really care, about all of them. I adore YA books about complicated friendships and I'm happy to say this one ended up being incredibly moving. Plus, there were also some excellent playlists hidden in these pages (although I much preferred Frank's taste in music to Emily's - sorry country fans).

TRAVEL MONTH REVIEW - 'Amy and Roger's Epic Detour', Morgan Matson (Simon and Schuster, 2010)

With her family ripped apart by a tragic loss, Amy is instructed by her absent mother to drive their car across country from California to Connecticut, ready to leave behind all their memories and start afresh. But Amy doesn't do driving anymore, so a travel companion is foisted upon her, a long forgotten family friend and college sophmore, Roger. Both carrying baggage of the metaphorical kind, they decide to take a little detour from the itinerary and make a fair few discoveries about themselves in the process.


Two words that I associate with North America and travel - ROAD TRIP! Ok, three words - ROAD TRIP BABY! (the baby bit is very important). Apart from having a strong hankering for an indulgent long weekend in NYC, my main desire for travel in the US of A consists of hitting the open road, Thelma and Louise- stylee. So it was with great excitement that I picked this one up after it was recommended to me by several bookish folk.

Even on the interstate, there were green, rolling hills on either side of the car, for as far as the eye could see. It looked like pictures I'd seen of Ireland, but I had no idea that parts of my own country looked like this. It hit me once again just how big America was, and until now, how little of it I'd seen.

And I loved it. This was an engrossing one day read with the lot - romance, chemistry, tragedy, big old Southern mansions, topiary, bitchy beauty queen types and fast food. (god, the food! Why do we not have region-specific fast food chains in the UK? The only one I can think of is Greggs, but they're everywhere now anyway. And they're not really the same. Or do we have more? Am I missing something?). Like I said, THE LOT. It also has some wonderful little extra story-telling devices - handwritten notes for their travel journal, copies of room reservations, Roger's state-by-state playlists. And that boy has some impeccable taste in music. The only downside of this was that I was reading it on my Kindle and I really did need some reading glasses to the power of a million to decipher some of these notes. Maybe one to read on good-old fashioned paper, I reckon.

I was particularly impressed with the well-drawn out characters. Amy was great. Her awkwardness and matter-of-factness were brilliantly done. This could so easily have come across as annoying but she was very realistic and empathetic. We learn a lot less about Roger and I would maybe have liked a little more as he did come across as a bit bland on occasion. But this was really Amy's story, so that was I guess that was unavoidable for the most part.

It won't be a complete shock or particularly spoilery to mention that there is romance involved. The build up is EXCELLENT. Perfectly pitched with spine-tingling chemistry in buckets. My only criticism of this was that the pay-off was a little...'was that it?' MORE PLEASE.

My only other gripe was the use of flashbacks. Yes, they gave us a lot of information and were, in general, fairly short, but they did slow the pace right down. The writing was skillful enough in the present day chapters for this reader to get the required emotion and the impact Amy's past was having on her actions. Also, the foreshadowing could be a little heavy-handed on occasion. Lots of bits about 'letting go' felt about as subtle as day-glo pink sledgehammer.

Anyway, this was perfect YA in every other respect. Perfect travel YA, in fact, so perfect for me!

TRAVEL TIPS?

Despite the length, there's something about 'the loneliest road in America' that appeals. Why am I drawn to all the dark stuff? I really am a shiny, happy person, honest *does cheeky, chirpy cockerny knees up dance* Living in the UK, I love going to BIG spaces where you can properly see the stars at night. Loving the large expanses here. And the food! Yes, for me, travelling is about eating as much as seeing, and this had that in spades. I've never really associated North America with unusual cuisine, but this book mentioned so much yummy stuff that I simply must try one day. NOM. NOM.