Falling in love with audiobooks
* This is a Big Catch Up post – see bottom of the page for details!
For the first time, audiobooks made up half of my reading this month. I became obsessed with Stephen Fry’s readings of Harry Potter and raced through books 2, 3 and 4, which was a refreshing nostalgia trip I highly recommend. Has it been a while since you reread Harry Potter? Get to it! You may be as surprised as I was, in just how truly good it still is.
Meanwhile, for physical books, I got stuck into some YA and read an exciting ARC. So, a pretty successful reading month… perhaps inspired by the cold and dreary month of January?!
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
By J.K. Rowling
Ever since Harry Potter had come home for the summer, the Dursleys had been so mean and hideous that all Harry wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he’s packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange impish creature who says that if Harry returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor and a spirit who haunts the girls’ bathroom. But then the real trouble begins – someone is turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects… Harry Potter himself!
The first book I read of the year was Chamber of Secrets as I wanted to start the year as I meant to go on! This prompted the continuous listening to Stephen Fry each night before bed for a few months, which was enormously comforting.
I not only fell in love with Dobby again and had forgotten just how funny Harry Potter can be!
With everything that happened over the first four months of 2020, it was much needed to have the stability of Harry Potter. Like seeing old friends, Hogwarts is wonderfully familiar, and these stories feel more like ‘home’ than any other.
I liked Chamber more than Philosopher’s Stone, as we begin to delve deeper into the characters and the wider story. It is remarkable reading the book, of course, knowing everything that is yet to come but spotting all the little things that all make sense in the wider context of the series.
I remember reading that J.K. Rowling had planned to have the story of Riddle’s diary later in the series as she didn’t want to introduce the concept of the Horcrux too early. I think it works brilliantly, both as a thrilling reading experience and with all the wider consequences of the story later on.
The Queen of Nothing
By Holly Black
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black comes the highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to the Folk of the Air series.
Almost a year after reading Cruel Prince, this thrilling YA series came to an end, and I am sad to see it go. Having since read quite a few more YA fantasy books I am appreciating just how great the Folk of the Air series is. The world-building is really well done and I love that it is set in essentially our normal world, but with faeries hidden away within it. As opposed to being a whole new ‘world’ like the majority seem to be. Queen also spends a bit more time in the ‘real world’, and so it’s interesting to build on the contrast.
The premise of the story is of human sisters being taken and brought up in ‘faerie’ land. But these faeries are far from cute and cuddly, instead, being a human amongst fantastical creatures is actually quite scary and genuinely dangerous! I love that it is more relatable in this way, even if the protagonist does turn out to be a badass. But she kind of has to be to survive, so there feels like there is more depth and context behind her past and her motives.
Obviously I can’t review Queen without mentioning the love story, and the dynamic between Jude and Carden just gets stronger and stronger with each book. Let’s just say it was a satisfactory ending that had me racing to finish!
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
By J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter, along with his best friends, Ron and Hermione, is about to start his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry can’t wait to get back to school after the summer holidays. (Who wouldn’t if they lived with the horrible Dursleys?)
But when Harry gets to Hogwarts, the atmosphere is tense. There’s an escaped mass murderer on the loose, and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school…
As you can maybe tell from the photo above I kinda love Prisoner of Azkaban. It is my favourite of the films and – I thought – my favourite of the books. But this reread has revealed this is not the case any longer! In fact, after each book, I kept finding myself thinking …”This is the best one”!
I love all things time travel and so bringing in this element to the story was always going to resonate with me.
The atmosphere in this book (which is wonderfully brought to the screen) is darker than before, and the characters are now teenagers. Things are starting to mature, both with the characters and with the style of writing. Of course, this maturity only grows, but the themes explored in Azkaban are pretty dark, man.
I mean limbs are cut off, people are tortured for decades and there’s a literal shadow of death hanging over most of the second half!
One thing that made me rethink my ‘favourite’ status is that the plot isn’t as developed upon reading it again. This is the only Harry Potter story where he doesn’t face Voldemort. Instead, Harry is coming to terms with his place in the world, and the people who are important to him. It’s perhaps the last time he can really be innocent.
It is still an incredible book, of course, and worthy for the first time (in my eyes) of five stars. There is room to grow in the story, and boy does the series live up to expectations by the end!
The Confession
By Jessie Burton
From the million-copy bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse, this is a luminous, powerful and deeply moving novel about secrets and storytelling, motherhood and friendship, and how we lose and find ourselves.
One winter’s afternoon on Hampstead Heath in 1980, Elise Morceau meets Constance Holden and quickly falls under her spell. Connie is bold and alluring, a successful writer whose novel is being turned into a major Hollywood film. Elise follows Connie to LA, a city of strange dreams and swimming pools and late-night gatherings of glamorous people. But whilst Connie thrives on the heat and electricity of this new world where everyone is reaching for the stars and no one is telling the truth, Elise finds herself floundering. When she overhears a conversation at a party that turns everything on its head, Elise makes an impulsive decision that will change her life forever.
Three decades later, Rose Simmons is seeking answers about her mother, who disappeared when she was a baby. Having learned that the last person to see her was Constance Holden, a reclusive novelist who withdrew from public life at the peak of her fame, Rose is drawn to the door of Connie’s imposing house in search of a confession . . .
Initially, I rated this a solid four-star read, but as time has gone on I have felt less enthusiastic about Confession. It’s quite an intense book, with a kind of ominous gloom hanging over the story.
The subject matter isn’t exactly light, so this may have something to do with it, but it wasn’t what I was anticipating. It’s hard to pinpoint what genre this book is: literary, contemporary, with enough flashbacks to the 80s to almost make it historical. The story is a mystery which unfolds, as the pieces slowly come together to reveal the larger meaning.
It was intimate at times, and each character was very well crafted. I could see people in them. They felt like they could walk off the pages. However, this isn’t what I’d call a fun book. You go on a thoughtful journey, but it is not one I would go on again necessarily. A solid read, but unfortunately somewhat forgettable.
Perfect
By Cecelia Ahern
Celestine North lives in a society that demands perfection. After she was branded Flawed by a morality court, Celestine’s life has completely fractured–all her freedoms gone.
Since Judge Crevan has declared her the number one threat to the public, she has been a ghost, on the run with Carrick–the only person she can trust.
But Celestine has a secret–one that could bring the entire Flawed system crumbling to the ground. A secret that has already caused countless people to go missing.
Judge Crevan is gaining the upper hand, and time is running out for Celestine. With tensions building, Celestine must make a choice: save just herself or to risk her life to save all Flawed people.
And, most important of all, can she prove that to be human in itself is to be Flawed?
The second book in a duology, I read and enjoyed the first book Flawed last year. It was a fun YA read that was a nice bit of escapism.
It took me a while to track down Perfect from the library and honestly wasn’t necessarily worth the trouble. The love story that was built up in the first book didn’t amount to expectations and – like with the first one – much of the plot felt predictable.
It was fun enough, with a good ending to the overall story, but just lacked a certain something needed to bring it above 3 stars.
The Knife of Never Letting Go
By Patric Ness
Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Pretisstown.
But Pretisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in a constant, overwhelming, never-ending Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets.
Or are there?
Just one month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd unexpectedly stumbles upon a spot of complete silence.
Which is impossible.
Prentisstown has been lying to him.
After a series of not-so-great reads, Knife was perhaps the straw that broke the camels back. I got about 100 pages of the way into the audiobook and I just couldn’t go on.
Whether it was the slightly grating voice reading the story, or the writing style, but I just wasn’t connecting fully. I think the story was picking up slightly, and I was beginning to get used to both the voice and style, but I just didn’t really care. Maybe, as it is was intended to be read by children, there was just something I wasn’t getting as an adult reader? I’m not sure.
So while the sci-fi concept of the book seemed interesting, and I could tell there was more to come, I lost interest and decided to call it a day. Who knows, I may try it again one day.
[I don’t like to rate books I DNF as I don’t feel it’s fair.]
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
By J.K. Rowling
The summer holidays are dragging on and Harry Potter can’t wait for the start of the school year. It is his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and there are spells to be learnt and (unluckily) Potions and Divination lessons to be attended. But Harry can’t know that the atmosphere is darkening around him, and his worst enemy is preparing a fate that it seems will be inescapable . . .
Goblet is all about those three challenges of the Triwizard Tournment, isn’t it?! And then that cracking twist at the end when the ball drops and nothing is the same ever again. Just thinking about what happens in the graveyard makes my heart sink. We’re not playing games anymore, this is real. Voldermort is back and this is life and death.
I remember always enjoying Goblet, but this time around I really appreciated the majesty of the story. Compared to the first three, this is hands down so much better. The world-building is on another level, the details are on another level and most importantly the plot is just on a whole other level. There are more twists and turns than a pretzel on a roundabout, and Goblet bridges the gap from children’s story about a wizarding school to psychotic murderer killing children effortlessly.
This was the first book where things really started to depart from the films, and the books really come into their own. This was out of necessity I suppose, as this was one chunky book! The details are insane, and I had forgotten just how long the House Cup chapters are at the beginning. While it is barely brushed over in the film, it really feels like you are camping out there with Harry and the Weasley’s for days! The little things Rowling includes here (and the entire book) are beautiful and are what make you feel a hugely deep connection with every character for the first time.
I loved all the little explanations of how the ministry works, the dark politics behind it all. The introduction of new Wizarding schools and new magic like the unforgivable curses. The new creatures, like dragons and Merpeople and spending a more extended time with the adults in Harry’s life: the Dursley’s, the Weasley’s, teachers etc. This is proper fantasy with proper fully fleshed characters. Goblet is when the HP series starts to get serious and it only gets better from now on…
The Switch
By Beth O’Leary
Leena is too young to feel stuck.
Eileen is too old to start over.
Maybe it’s time for The Switch…
Ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, Leena escapes to her grandmother Eileen’s house for some overdue rest. Newly single and about to turn eighty, Eileen would like a second chance at love. But her tiny Yorkshire village doesn’t offer many eligible gentlemen… So Leena proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love, and Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire.
But with a rabble of unruly OAPs to contend with, as well as the annoyingly perfect – and distractingly handsome – local schoolteacher, Leena learns that switching lives isn’t straightforward. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, and with the online dating scene. But is her perfect match nearer to home than she first thought?
I loved The Flatshare last year, and so was eagerly awaiting Beth O’Leary’s next book. When I saw it available as an ARC I was super excited to get stuck in. O’Leary’s writing was again lovely, and Switch was an enjoyable read, but I just didn’t connect with it in the way I’d hoped.
Instead of romance, this is the more the story of grandmother and granddaughter and their very sweet relationship. Both feeling stuck, they decide to ‘switch’ places with one another and experience each others lives for a while. They both find themselves thriving in their new lives: Eileen in London trying online dating and bringing the flat building together for the first time, and Leena in the country juggling the community demands as she processes the news of her boyfriend cheating on her.
These are some great female characters, along with the side story of Leena’s relationship with her mum as we explore their past grief. There is some sweet humour as they both initially struggle to adjust, and both women have a romance or two, but I wasn’t completely blown away. If you’re in need of a fun escapist read this Summer that explores family, friendships and the fantasy of ‘starting over’, then this is a great book. When compared to the originality of Flatshare it pales somewhat, but it is still an OK read, that just wasn’t for me.
* This is a Big Catch Up post. Written in May 2020 as part of a lockdown project to get back into blogging. Currently, I’m ‘catching up’ with the last few months of reading round-ups, before launching into new content!
