Back To Shore

One of these days I might write more substantial reviews / remarks on the books I’ve read. Today is obviously not that day. Nonetheless here are my short remarks (same as on my Storygraph) on the August collection. As always in order of my favourite down to the one I basically half skimmed through in the end.

Tausend Zeilen Lüge: Das System Relotius und der deutsche Journalismus, Juan Moreno, 2019
A German book about the huge scandal at SPIEGEL magazine a few years ago, when it turned out that their star reporter had faked almost everyone of his stories. This is the report of the free lance journalist, who uncovered it and it was such a great read.

Falling in Love Montage, Ciara Smyth, 2020
This was a lovely sapphic love story of two teenage girls in Ireland. Some of the background story felt a bit too constructed, but all in all I enjoyed it. I definitely cried more than I expected.

Unwell Women: A Journey Through Medicine and Myth in a Man-Made World, Elinor Cleghorn 2021
This was such an important book and very informative for anyone interested in women’s rights issues and also health and history. Sometimes it felt a bit too detailed and thus it took me a while to get through it, but maybe that’s just me.

The Connellys of County Down, Tracey Lange, 2023
I was a bit let down by this story to be honest. I enjoyed Lange’s debut “We Are the Brennans” (which locations make sort of a cameo here, which was a nice wink) and there were parts in this one that I enjoyed as well. I liked Tara and Conor and Tara and her “gamer boy” bosses and some other stuff. Geraldine’s tendency to avoid difficult things felt a bit too close to home for me, which isn’t necessarily in a bad thing to take away from a novel. Some of the siblings dynamic I could relate to and most of them made sense knowing their backstory. All in all I still didn’t really connect with either of the characters and I couldn’t bring myself to care all that much. I guess that’s why the truth about the crime Tara went to prison for caught me by surprise.

My main problem with the main plot was that Brian’s behaviour was soooo unprofessional. From the start of the story. From way before the start of the story as it turned out later. So many no-gos. I guess that’s also what kept me from being invested in their relationship.

With the Fire on High, Elizabeth Acvedo, 2019
This was a bit different young adult novel than I usually read them, as the main character has a 2 yo daughter. I sort of enjoyed following her through her senior year at school and find out what she wants to do with her life after graduation. Neither the plot nor the characters had me really hooked though. It was fine.

Wahala, Nikki May, 2022
This did not go the way I expected it to and the final revelation of the plot sort of ruined it for me. I just thought it was unrealistic that someone is as sociopathic as this person. But maybe I’m naive. I sort of liked getting a glimpse in a different – from my own – culture of bi-racial (Nigerian / British) women. The lives as such was the same as many mid-30 women in London and I sort of enjoyed that, but the plot as such dragged on a bit. As mentioned above the end kind of mostly ruined it for me. Bummer.

Totally Folked, Penny Reid, 2021
I had bought this as ebook years ago and thought maybe it’s easy reading enough for my state of mind right now. And it was. It started out a bit too smutty for my taste to be honest. I didn’t really connect with either of the main characters and they plot dragged on for a long time IMHO. Maybe just not the right setting / plot for me after all.

When Stars Collide, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, 2021
I remember that I liked many of the previous books in this series, so this latest one was on my list for a long time. Sadly, I was quite underwhelmed by this plot. Too many false friends and intrigue and the last bit so far fetched. Neither did I really buy into the attraction between these two. I skimmed through the last third or more just to get it over with.

Lyrics: “St. Christopher Is Coming Home” – Frank Turner, 2008

Oh look, it’s Sunday again.

I had a lovely weekend with friends I don’t see all that often anymore.

We went out to eat: breakfast, late lunch, cocktails, dinner… you name it. Not everything each day, but quite a few times.

The cakes in one of the places we met for breakfast looked to delicious to not share (with four people) at least one piece after an already yummy breakfast.

We went out to see stuff. A “Planet Ocean” photo exhibition and a digital and immersive art installation with works from Dali and Gaudi.

We talked. We laughed. We reminisced. We fangirled.

It all went by too fast. Let’s not wait so long to do that again.

There are a lot of things going on at the moment in my country, in other European countries, in the world. I have many thoughts on a lot of those things, but none in any eloquent shape or form I’d feel comfortable to share yet. Unlike the gazillions of people spewing their biased and unfounded ‘thoughts” on social media.

Here are some nice photos from this weekend instead:

This has been a bit of a so-so month book wise. I was positively surprised by some and on the other hand felt let down by others. I sold some of the latter already, so I can’t share a photo of the ones I’ve read. Here are the stats of the last 28 days.

Here are some thoughts (aka my reviews on Storygraph) on the six books, starting with the ones I enjoyed the most to the ones that left me a bit underwhelmed.

The Sun is also a Star, Nicola Yoon, 2016
I loved this much more than I expected. What a wonderful story of two young people who meet by chance (or fate) in NYC and fall in love on the day, when she (daughter of undocumented immigrants) is supposed to be deported. The story is told in short chapters, alternating from their different points of view and on occasion the side characters are taking over the narrators voice. It worked very well here and it helped to give the whole plot and story more colour. It also highlighted how much in our lives is determined by chance. Or is it fate after all? A great story and I’m happy to have ended the month on this one.

Cassandra in Reverse, Holly Smale, 2023
I might add more elaborate thoughts to this in a while [scatterbrain that I am, probably not though]. I really enjoyed this one. I like the unique way of time-travelling and could relate to Cassie much more than I thought and more than I might like to admit in public. I sometimes feel like my personality includes various neurodivergent aspects, but I shy away from self-diagonsis. But the comforting routines, staying inside my comfort zone, feeling like I’m not sharing my authentic / real person self with the world, if that makes sense. I loved the (hidden) message in this plot and found it inspiring and encouraging: People in general are kind and lovely and not in general hostile or dismissive and it’s worth the “risk” to be more open about stuff. And myself.

Ugh, I segue into self-therapy-talk, back to the book. I figured out the mystery of the letter writer about halfway through, I think the final revelation about Cassandra’s mum felt a bit too much and on the nose so to speak, but all in all I really, really enjoyed the being invited into this section of Cassandra’s life. Let’s end with positivity: The writing was great, the right variety of fun and emotions and I especially love the intro / finale about “what’s the beginning of a story anyway”.

Thees Uhlmann über die Toten Hosen, Thees Uhlmann 2019
[Audiobook] One of my favourite German singer/songwriters reads his book about the most successful German punkband Die Toten Hosen. Very entertaining, very relatable and beautifully written.

The Last Devil to Die, Richard Osman, 2023
Another enjoyable and this time also quite sad story from the Thursday Murder Club. The plot and how those seniors and the police act and react is quite unrealistic, I know, but that is sort of the fun of it. (15 July 2024)

The Scent of Death, Simon Beckett 2019
This story kept me hooked for the last few days, even though I realized I’m not as comfortable with grisly thriller plots as I used to be. Thus I’m not sure if I’ll read the next one in this series. I thought the plot was well constructed and I had no idea who the killer was until it was revealed, which is always a good thing for a thriller plot. I also mostly enjoyed the variety of side characters and in some cases felt really bad about what happened to them. The subplot of someone from previous stories who (still) wants to kill Dr. Hunter felt a bit too far-fetched for me.

Standard Deviation, Katherine Heiny, 2017
I sort of enjoyed the actual writing in this book and to be fair it’s the only thing that kept me reading till the end. There wasn’t much of a plot and even though I don’t mind a story which tells only snap-shots in lives of some people, at least make these snapshots interesting. For me this dragged and meandered on and on.