Book Quote of the Day

“Don’t you think it’s better to be extremely happy for a short while, even if you lose it, than to be just okay for your whole life?”
― Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife

Alphabet Author and A Book Challenge – N

Alphabet Author and A Book Challenge

Day: 14

Letter: N

Author: Niffenegger, Audrey

Chosen book: The Time Traveler’s Wife

Read or To Be Read: Read

Thoughts: A fascinating novel which is so complex but beautifully written. It is shocking, sad, happy and uplifting in equal measures.

Book quote of the day

“Each of them warmed to the sound of the other’s voice. They lay in the dark together, in distant cities, each of them thinking, We were lucky this time. And they pressed their phones closer to their ears, and both of them wondered how much longer this separation could go on.” 
― Audrey Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry

Book quote of the day

[Grandma to Clare:] “Goodness, Clare, why in the world would you want to marry such a person? Think of the children you would have! Popping into next week and back before breakfast.”

- “The Time Traveler’s Wife”, Audrey Niffenegger

Book Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife

Image via Wikipedia

I have just finished reading “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger, and it has been one amazing read!

It tells the love story of Henry and Clare, who meet when Clare is 6 and Henry is 36, and who marry when Clare is 22 and when Henry is 30. Henry is a time-traveler who constantly gets pulled into his past or his future at random intervals due to a genetic hiccup.

This fascinating book shows Henry and his relationship with Clare, as they both try to live normal lives while living with the consequences of Henry’s time-travelling experiences. Present-time Henry travels back and forth through time, meeting Clare at different times in her life, as well as meeting his future or younger selves as he time-travels. It gets a little confusing at times trying to work out which Henry is which, but each segment of the book opens with the date and the ages of Henry and Clare.

There are some lovely moments in the book, some amusing ones where Henry gets into difficulty when he turns up naked in unfortunate situations, and then some really sad moments. The sad moments caught me by surprise as they occur quite suddenly in the later parts of the book. There are some difficult parts to read in this books, but they are inevitable in a book about such an unpredictable time-traveler.

I loved this book, it kept me hooked all the way through because all the little clues provided throughout the books hint at what will happen in the future and what happened in the past which we don’t know about yet. There is always the mystery of why Henry time-travels at all, and why he goes back to certain dates so often. I really feel for Clare who loves Henry so much and is so patient waiting for him to return to her.

I give it 10/10 because it is so well written, and evokes so many emotions. You are rooting for a happy conclusion and it gives you that but at the same time you know something will go wrong eventually. I will recommend this to everyone because it is a fabulous book!

Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry

Cover of Her Fearful Symmetry: A Novel

I have just finished “Her Fearful Symmetry” by Audrey Niffenegger, and have to say it is a great novel!

It starts off with a death, and then the aftermath of this event. We meet the strange but normal world of twins: the young pair Julia and Valentina, and their mum and her dead twin. Julia and Valentina’s lives are transformed when they inherit their unknown dead aunt’s flat in London, and they move from America to live a new life in England, away from their parents.

We see a power struggle between the girls, both wanting different things, but not wanting to leave the other…. but Valentina starts pulling away. They meet two interesting men in London, one lives above their flat, the other lives below. The kind man whom Julia befriends suffers from OCD and never leaves his flat. Julia is a positive influence on him and changes his restricted life forever. Valentina falls for her aunt’s dead lover living downstairs, and this relationship changes everybody’s lives forever.

The story has ghostly elements to it, and a great revelation and twist in the story. It starts out quite sadly with the aunt’s death, then grows lighter with all the possibilities the twin’s new life in London shows them. There is the constant presence of death in the novel, especially with the cemetery next door to the flats.

The story gets rather dark, mysterious and a little morbid towards the end, but i won’t spoil the ending for you, its really fascinating!

The relationships between the characters are really well written, and particularly that of the twins, which is fascinating in itself.

I really recommend this book, as it’s just beautifully written and has such a gripping storyline. It got into my head and haunted me until i’d finished it, and afterwards too! It makes you consider how far people will go for love, and wonder about life after death for both the dead and the living.

I give it 9/10 because i just loved it. I will definitely read this again, and i recommend it highly!

Books to read

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Lately, i’ve had no time at all to do any leisure reading, what between working, studying and being so tired and lazy when i finish those two, i just end up watching tv!

On my bedside table is a pile of books waiting to be read, and although i’ve started 2 of them, i just havent got round to finishing them and starting the others.

The ones i’ve started are:

• “The Junior Officer’s Reading Club”, by Patrick Hennessey – Its quite good so far, its interesting to read about life in the Army from a person within the Forces. The honesty of the narrator is like a breath of fresh air, and the book is amusing and well-written. I’ve mainly been reading this while waiting for trains on my commute to university, so i havent got very far with it, but i intend to get that trainticket moving which is holding my current page!
• “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, by Stieg Larsson – I thought i’d see what the fuss is about with this series, and have to admit its not gripping me so far and i’m up to the beginning of chapter 6. I’m not normally a huge fan of crime fiction, but as my mum is into it, there are plenty of crime-related titles lying around at home. I think i will have to read a bit further into this book to give a better judgement on it.

The other books sitting waiting to be read are:

• “Let The Right One In”, by John Ajvide Lindqvist – This is one book i’m dying to read, but i have to finish the others first! A supernatural thriller about vampires, i’m sure its better than Twilight! I love supernatural stuff, and i’m sure i will enjoy this!
• “Her Fearful Symmetry”, by Audrey Niffenegger – This sounds like a good read, and quite dark and mysterious too.
• “Corduroy Mansions”, by Alexander McCall Smith – I’ve read some of his books already, from his No1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, although they started to grate on me after a bit. Not really sure if i will like this but my mum said it’s good and lent me it, so we will see.

So that’s the current list i own.

Looking at the book market, i’m intrigued by several other titles which i’ve heard about:

• “Room”, by Emma Donoghue – sounds interesting, although, as its inspired by recent captivity news stories (think the Fritzl case), it may be a little heavy going.
• “Hush Hush”, and “Crescendo”, by Becca Fitzpatrick – 2 supernatural books about fallen angels and love, they sound like my kind of books!
• “The Historian”, by Elizabeth Kostova -another book which seems to be about Dracula, but sounds pretty good.
• “The Distant Hours”, by Kate Morton – sounds like quite a gothic tale of mystery and secrets. I’ve read other books by Morton and they were pretty good, so i’m hoping this one carries on that trend!

So there you go, all the books rocking my world at the moment, or hoping to rock my world! If you’ve read any of them, i’d like to hear what you thought of them, or if you have any recommendations you think i should try, based on the above books.

Thanks for reading!