Rae of Light

For several years I’ve set myself the challenge of reading a certain amount of books per year. The idea first came to me when I joined Goodreads as an author in 2016 and noticed they had a facility for logging reads and reviews as well as calculating your reads annually. I initially thought of using it as a teaching aid since I had a great deal of reluctant readers in my tutoring rota. How great it would be for them to chart their reading progress and also instil the practice of writing reviews as it was a required part of KS3 learning. Kill 2 things with wings and all that. I decided to follow the maxim: do as I do. Besides, I feel that children need role models for the good things in life as well as the bad.   Following the success of this first calculated reading venture , the Goodreads challenge became an annual thing and nothing difficult for me to accomplish since I read voraciously and had always done so. After my dad died it did however become a serious challenge. His dea...

I’ve always been proud of the fact I read anything and everything. There are however certain books which have stumped me. 3 in particular. These are books which have worldwide acclaim yet have failed to make my top ten. Is it me or are these books simply unreadable? “So which books are these exactly?” I hear you ask. Well, book the 1 st : In the Name of the Rose by Umberto Ecco I’d heard from several people, whose reading instincts I trust, how absolutely fabulous this book is. So naturally with such recommendations it had to be done. I mean, who can argue with a book which has sold over 50 million copies since its publication in 1980. Besides, the author’s name sounded so absolutely cool. Yes, things like that occupy my weird brain. But I struggled my way through it. I ended up wishing I had the Cliff Notes . So I abandoned it and watched the Sean Connery film instead. Book the 2 nd : The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie What a furore this one caused wh...

It was 19 December and I still had 17 books left to read to complete my Goodreads challenge. I was convinced I wouldn’t reach my 100 book target before the end of 2018. So I decided to indulge in a spot of cheating by raiding the reading closets and shelves of the students on my tutoring rounds. Anyone who has followed my blog will know I have a bit of previous in this regard. Exhibit A Once more, my students did not let me down. They brought their books to me like Wise Men offering their presents up to baby Jesus. Huge thanks to the Chowdury children for trusting me with their treasured collection. You set me on the road to achieving my goal when all seemed lost and gave me the opportunity to read my first ever Peppa Pig . Thank you also for handing over  Little Miss Splendid to boost my reading power and self-esteem. Due to this generous reading donation my unreachable target moved towards something achievable. My next stop was the children’s section of Tat...

#Review: HAGSTONE by Helena Rookwood A 4 star read I liked how I was immediately thrown into the action with the central character, Madeleine. The world she and her family inhabit is well described and I was able to picture its various elements very well. This is a bonus for someone like me who has trouble with geography in general. The place descriptions allowed me to create a world picture of where I was and feel that I inhabited this place with the characters. The main tension is set up by an unusual cast of characters, including Madeleine’s young daughter and her mother-in-law who exhibits witch-like traits. Add to this Madeleine’s secrets about her past and the growing tension between herself and her husband and you get an intriguing set of circumstances. The book is essential a quest novel. At the beginning we learn that Madeleine’s quest has been curtailed. As her daughter has grown from baby to toddler and nears teen hood, Madeleine’s desire to resume her ques...

#Review: BLAZE by Devyn Jayse A 4 star read The main character, Vincent is living in the insalubrious world of the Blights with his younger sister Penny. They are orphans striving to survive in a harsh world. Vincent has his set of friends and a burning anger fuelled by the unfairness of the situation he is forced to live in. Suddenly a series of fires begins to engulf the district. People are afraid and accusations start flying. This is an engaging read with good characters and well a created setting. I felt I was in the shady world of the Blights with Vincent. The idea of a divide between The Blights and The Town is made very clear to the reader. Vincent’s cohort of friends are interesting and the description of the bond between them is realistic as it also charts the scuffles which can often occur between a friendship group of boys or young men. Further suspense is created by pushing Vincent into a situation where he’s forced to prove his innocence concerning several...

#Review: RED DESERT by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli 4 Star reading I must confess a certain attraction to the inhospitable red planet ever since I saw Total Recall . The Arnie version of course. There simply is no other. As many of you know, I’ve even squeezed a mention of Mars into my very own little eco SciFi number. So I was delighted to come across this translation of Deserto Rosso. It is written in diary format from the perspective of Anna Persson, an astronaut landed on Mars together with several colleagues. Together they are hoping to set up a primary colony. The opening is dramatic as use of the present tense and the narrator’s situation draws the reader in. The story line switches between events on Mars and flashbacks, in the past tense, in which we learn a great deal of backstory. I found these details and the relationships Anna has with other characters very engaging. I wanted to read on and in fact finished the book in only 4 sittings. Anna's compl...

#Review: THE RED RIBBON by Rachel Ledge 2 Stars for lack of enjoyment due to frustration This book won a Grand Prize in the Clue Awards so I was excited to see what it had to offer. The plot sounded engaging – set in 1773, a young woman (Julia) from a privileged background struggles to return to a normal existence after the murder of her best friend. To complicate matters, Julia’s fiancé has been found guilty of the murder and awaits execution while Julia still harbours feelings for him despite the fact she has married his best friend. Another problem she faces is a headstrong younger sister who is intent on ignoring the advice of her elders. The opening was very confusing. Initially it was difficult to establish which character was which when it came to the two sisters. Nor were matters helped by the constant shift between modern and archaic language. Even before I was 9% into the reading several proof reading and editing issues had already reared their heads: shi...

#Review: The Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer by Demelza Carlton 4 stars for concept 2 stars for execution At the start of the book we are introduced to the two central characters: Caitlin Lockyer and Nathan. The opening is successful as it draws the reader in due to intrigue. The story is told from Nathan’s perspective and we see his reaction to unfolding events and hear his inner thoughts. Nathan’s narration is interspersed with separate chapters outlining Caitlin’s nightmares. This is where I feel problems creep in as the format begins to feel too repetitive. It could have benefited from interspersing with nuggets of Nathan’s backstory – just enough to further beguile the reader. The further into the story you get the less this format grates as the reasons for Caitlin’s trauma are gradually revealed. The suspense does however feel rather forced. In a novel of this type there is always the need to create tension but then there’s the danger of a writing tric...

#Review: Wolfbound by Jane Bailey A 2 Star read This is a story of two halves: the one in which a pack of werewolves feature prominently and the other where a young woman’s anxieties about her lack of attractiveness to the opposite sex are foremost.   The protagonist, Eileen, has always felt there’s something other about herself. She’s battled long and hard to push this side of her nature aside. I was engaged.   When the plot brought her and Zachariah together I got the sense he was going to either bring her otherness to the fore or help her rid herself of it completely. The opening chapters of the book are solid in their descriptions and the writing style easy to read. However, this is where the plot unravels. Once a failed attempt at understanding Eileen’s true nature is described, the story loses its way and lingers far too long on her anxieties. The link between her relationship with Zachariah and who she truly is, is lost. Furthermore, I was very troubl...

#Review: The Spellbound Spirit by Lana Hart 5 Stars for engagement and plot 3 Stars for execution The plot is a haunting, murder mystery, erotica hybrid with a triangle of lead characters: Misty, Jack and Cassie. We all know the power of the triangle, especially where passion is involved. The murder victim also plays a key role in the events which unfold. During horrific descriptions there is an engaging use of language which incorporates the senses to good effect. At times though it is somewhat clichéd. Some of the turns of phrase are lovely with a clever twist on well used phrases: “She wasn’t about to look a gift ghost in the mouth.” But it is during erotic descriptions where I’m less convinced. This is because it tips into Barbara Cartland mode at times. The author negotiates big themes of loss, grief and familial mental health with great sensitivity. Misty’s fears regarding these issues feel authentic and are described with an accuracy which suggests the a...

#Review: A Touch of Magic by Lisa M White 5 Stars for story concept 3 Stars for execution This book was a tonic which helped pull me out of the glums I was feeling after having recently read two overly prophetic books about current society. It tells the tale of isolated plastic surgeon Jessie Inglewood whose pride and prejudice regarding her profession and practitioners of natural medicine lands her in turbulent waters. With the help of the mysterious Angel and a bit of magic she comes to see the error of her closed off mind. An easy read, the style is relaxed but plays with ideas of thwarted romance giving us two leading men in the form of heart surgeon Dr Bergh and naturopath Adam Newfield. Which one of these men will claim Jessie’s heart and lead her to happiness? The plot also touches on the consequences of bereavement. There were moments when I didn’t really believe the dialogue but that did not take away from my enjoyment of the content. It was als...

In 2016 I resolved to set myself a reading challenge through Goodreads . This first challenge saw me attempting to read 100 books in a year. I achieved this with only the tiniest bit of cheating. I’ve been assured it was allowable cheating, so thankfully my penance simply consists of having to read more books. My second challenge saw me delving into the #Discworld. What a Fantasy-tastic challenge that was. To read about it please check out my 15 December post from last year. For my reviews of all the books I read please go to Goodreads . This year I’m going for the big 100 again but with a little twist. My aim is to read as many graphic novels and Indie books as possible. To save costs I’ll be getting the graphic novels from the library and the majority of the independent books I’ll probably read on my kindle. So I’m going to be spending a fair amount of time accessing books through Instafreebie for that portion of the challenge. For those of you not familiar wit...

I’ve done it! Just ahead of my 31 December deadline I’ve finished my final book of the Discworld series. There are 41 books in total so the smallest amount of cheating was involved since I’d already read 16 of them prior to setting myself this challenge. Despite this it was more difficult than I initially anticipated.  Some of the books took longer to read because they didn’t grip me in the way I expected. Because of this I was forced to abandon my desire to reread several of my favourites such as The Wee Free Men . There is however next year for that. The most unexpected part of this challenge was that I didn’t automatically love every single Discworld novel penned by Sir Pratchett. Happily I loved enough of them to justify this author’s status as one of my favourites forever more. Besides, anyone who co-authors a book like Good Omens is a writing god as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t only read the Discworld series during this period though. There were several oth...

Reading through 41 Discworld novels is harder than it would seem. This I realised after I undertook the challenge at the start of 2017. I originally figured since I find Fantasy my go to genre when life’s being a bit antsy, it would be a breeze. The trouble with this though is that not every single book written by a favourite author may be as good as the last one you read. I came to understand this quickly as I was disappointed by some of the books on offer in Pratchett’s Discworld series. But I was quickly heartened to find the themes, characters and humour I so love about Pratchett coming to the fore in their droves the more I read.  I once again began to feel my choice of genre and author was justified. Top of my list are the following: Guards Guards Men At Arms Carpe Jugulum Feet of Clay Hogfather However, by far my favourite of the entire series is The Wee Free Men . I defy anyone to read this and not come away thoroughly entertained. These out...