Friday 5 May 2023

A couple of titles

Two titles to talk about today, first up The Library by Bella Osborne. This is my 6th. book for the Bookish Books challenge which is being hosted by Susan at Bloggin' 'Bout Books.

Tom is sixteen and lives with his father, Paul. His mother died when he was eight and his father has never fully recovered, he drinks too much and Tom has had to learn to deal with this as well as preparing for his GCSEs, and falling for Farah Shah who is in some of his classes. His problems have made him chronically shy and in order to try and connect with girls he decides that as they seem to like reading he should try too and then he might have something to talk to Farah about. So off he goes to the local library where there's a book group in progress. Seventy two year old, Maggie, is in attendance. She lives on a small holding, farming sheep, on her own since her husband died. Outside, sometime later, Maggie is mugged and Tom tries to come to her aid. Thus a friendship is struck up and Tom becomes a fixture at the library, loaded up with romance books by a well meaning librarian that he's said are for his mother, and joining the book group. He sees Farah there too but is still tongue-tied. Then news arrives that the council are considering closing the library, 'cuts' being the excuse of course. Maggie, Tom and Farah head the campaign to stop this happening but real life often has a habit of getting in the way of the best laid plans. Parts of this must sound a bit grim and in truth it was a bit heart-breaking in places. Tom is a neglected teenager, struggling to cope with his father's drinking and exams. Maggie recognises this immediately because she herself is lonely, judging each day on whether she chatted to someone on the bus or the postman stopped to talk or she saw and spoke to no one and thus the day was not a good one. She takes Tom under her wing, he helps her on the farm and in return she feeds him properly and has the company she craves. It's heart-warming and delightful to have a depiction of two such disparate characters, not only in circumstance but also age, get along well and connect. There're up and downs of course. Maggie has secrets too, that she'd rather no one found out about. Tom wants to go to uni but his father wants him to work in the local factory to bring in some money. All life is here in this gentle but realistic tale and I challenge anyone not to enjoy this unlikely friendship and celebration of Maggie's simple life so close to the land. I loved it. Bella Osborne's books are usually a little different to this I gather, being more in the romantic vein than this one. She didn't know how this departure would go down, well I fancy it's gone down well and I for one hope she has more in the bag.

My second book is 14, a science fiction horror story by Peter Clines.

Nate has a poorly paid job he hates, no prospects, no girlfriend, no nothing really. He needs cheap accommodation in LA and is told about the Kavach building which has a vacant appartment. It's cheap and seems too good to be true but he's desperate and takes it. He learns that they can't keep tennants because people find the place odd and spooky and are unnerved by it. And Nate admits there are oddities, some appartments are padlocked up and not used, light bulbs don't work, the cockroaches are luminescent green and have an extra leg... and where does their electricity come from? He meets Veek a computer geek who also lives there - she's been investigating the weirdness of the building for some time and they join forces with several others willing to share their experiences and search for answers. Well, this comes under the heading of so weird it's Dead Peculiar. I, of course, loved it. It's a slow burner. Abut 40% of the book had passed before there was any real action, before that it's small investigations and conversations and I admit I was ready for something more concrete. I wasn't expecting what I eventually got though! The tie-in with a famous author's work took me by surprise, luckily I have read him extensively so it worked for me, I'm not sure if it would be the same for anyone who had not. The horror in the story is not of the gory variety, it's more based on ideas and concepts and more similar to a story by, say, Jules Verne (he's not the author concerned).  The sci-fi element was just as strong but also of an old-fashioned variety... adventurous and a bit mad. That's probably why I liked it so much. This is book one of Clines's 'Threshold' series but the books are loosely connected I think, not necessarily having the same characters. 14 very much stands alone but I like the sound of the other books and will read on with a great deal of interest. The next book, The Fold, sounds so good. 

I shall be busy now for a few days. It's The Coronation tomorrow and then a milestone birthday on Monday, family around, that kind of thing. I hope you're all well and finding some excellent books to read. 


16 comments:

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

First of all, Best Wishes for your Monday birthday! I hope you enjoy a lovely day and seeing as it is a Bank Holiday, I am guessing that even more well wishers than usual will be dropping by!

I might take a quick look in on the Coronation to see who is there and who's not, and of course what everyone is wearing. However, I certainly won't be watching it all day, as for me personally, my allegiance to the Royal Family, died along with the late Queen. Don't get me wrong, I am no lover of the notion of President Sunak either, but I can't forgive Charles for his behaviour towards Diana, both before, during and after his marriage and the concept of Queen Camilla isn't pleasant. Anyway, that is my own view and I hope that you enjoy the ceremony of the Coronation Service.

I have been waiting to see what you thought of 'The Library', although I could tell from your previous comments that you rated it quite highly. I already have it downloaded on my Kindle, so I guess I need to try and move it up my TBR pile ASAP. I haven't read anything else by this author, so I shall be reading it with fresh eyes and no expectations, so to speak.

I hope that people remember to top up your bookshelves as a birthday treat. Are you doing anything special for the rest of the week?

Have a great time! :) :) x

Margot Kinberg said...

Happy (upcoming) birthday, Cath! I hope you have a wonderful time! I've been hearing good things about The Library, so I'm glad you found so many good things in it, even if it is a bit heartbreaking. And the story does sound very good. Enjoy the weekend!

Lark said...

I'm so glad to hear you loved The Library! That's on my list of bookish reads for the year, but my last two bookish books were more okay than great. And I'm very curious as to who the famous author is in 14. And I hope you have an amazing weekend with both birthday and coronation. :D

Cath said...

Yvonne: Thanks very much for your birthday wishes, yes, the bank holiday means that all of the family will be around which is really nice.

Thanks too for your hope that I'll enjoy The Coronation. I've got Peter's hair to cut first and then I shall plant myself in front of the TV for the duration, even lunch will be hurried. LOL!

I hadn't read anything else by Bella Osborne so had no expectations either. It was a book with a lot going on and I didn't want to put it down. Yes, I have expectataions of new books for my birthday. We have no plans for the rest of the week but suspect we might have a nice meal out somewhere. We also need to start looking for a new car, oh joy.

Thank you! Have a good weekend.

Cath said...

Margot: Thanks for your birthday wishes. Much appreciated.

The Library lived up to the good things said about it, not all books do so it was nice that this one did. It was nice to see someone older represented positively in a book.

Thank you!

Cath said...

Lark: I hope you enjoy The Library when you get to it. I definitely thought it was a lot better than 'ok'. Ah yes... the famous author. ;-)

Thank you for your good wishes for my birthday and for The Coronation. Much appreciated.

Fanda Classiclit said...

Both books are really intriguing. I'm curious who the author is in "14"..
Have a nice weekend, Cath! Happy birthday and coronation day too! Hope you'll enjoy them much.

TracyK said...

Based on the bits of The Library that I read from the sample on Amazon and your review, I will definitely be reading that book. But I think I will pass on 14; too weird for me.

Have a happy birthday and enjoy the Coronation.

Cath said...

Fanda: The author in 14 was a classic writer of horror fiction who was writing in the early part of the 20th century.

Thanks for your birthday wishes! Just finished watching The Coronation, what an amazing spectacle.

Cath said...

Tracy: I hope you enjoy The Library when you get to it. I think it's well worth a look.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Just finished watching The Coronation, history in the making and I wonder if I'll see another. I hope so but of course you never know.

CLM said...

Happy Birthday! Sorry to hear the car is acting up again. It is not a great time to buy a car, apparently. Now that I drive to work every day instead of taking the subway and bus, I use a lot more gas and put a lot more wear & tear on my car (not to mention that my coworker's car got stolen from the lot we use every day).

Nan said...

Happy belated birthday, Cath! Same day as Harry Truman, the US President. The biography I read about him by David McCullough was SO excellent. A good man, despite Hiroshima.

Vallypee said...

Happy birthday for yesterday, Cath. I’ve been out of the loop of late, but I hope it was a lovely weekend and day. As always, I’m impressed by your reading and reviewing. I haven’t come across either of these or the authors. The horror one is definitely not for me, but the Library sounds good.

Cath said...

Constance: Thank you! Yeah, we finally relaised that the car is costing us too much and we probably need to change it. Not thrilling but it's going to have to be done. Sorry to hear you now have to drive to work, that's a real pain.

Cath said...

Nan: Thank you! As well as Harry Truman I share a birthday with Sir David Attenborough. Althugh at 97 he is slightly lder than me! I'm in good company though...

Cath said...

Val: Thank you! Yes thanks, my birthay on Monday was really nice. The Library was 'excellent'.