Happy Saturday!! And the sunshine seems to have remembered how to stay out!! Yay! Making the most of it as I’m sure the rain clouds will return soon! Nice to see the butterflies about again too! And the sunshine seems to have made me read more!! Managed to finish 6 books this week, have added 1newbie to my Netgalley shelf and was lucky to win a book via Twitter/X! Here’s my look back!
The ‘shadow line’ is a term Royle uses to describe the faint line on the top edge of the text block that allows him to see whether a book on a shelf contains an inclusion – those items inserted into books and long forgotten.
The shadow line is a constant reminder of how Royle started to think of books as more than just the printed stories or information they contain. He is always looking for shadow lines when scanning the shelves of second-hand bookstores, charity shops, hotels, Little Free Libraries and Airbnbs.
He’s no longer only looking for books that are just books. He’s looking for the book that contains a hand-drawn map of an unnamed town in Ireland that he can try to identify so he can read the book while walking the streets depicted on the map. He’s looking for the book that contains a 1957 delivery note for an address in Bristol, so that he can send the book, complete with delivery note, to whoever lives there now and invite them to welcome it back into its former home.
He’s also looking, beyond the bookshelves, for books dumped in the street, for books used as props in art installations, for books left on bedside tables in films. He’s looking for books that are Doppelgängers of other books, for books that are named after places (where they might not be set), for books with two-word titles the first of which is London. He’s looking for books that don’t exist.
This follow-up to White Spines, Royle’s instant classic published in 2021, shows his search takes many forms, giving a shape and a structure to this compelling new work, just as the search for the Picadors informed the former. Strange, haunting, comic and poignant, Shadow Lines is the perfect book for those who love physical books and the stories beyond their pages.
Books about Books! I love them! And I loved White Spines, which was the authors’ first exploration into his obsession with buying books and searching them out across the land, so I’ve been eager to read more from him, and Shadow Lines is a wonderful follow up!
This continues his obsession with second hand bookshops and charity shops, looking to add to his bookish collection but this time round looks more at those books we’ve all found on our travels with a scribbled note inside, an address, a map and it spurs him on to a quest to search out those books and maybe ring that telephone number inside, or post a book back to someone to return it ‘back home’. I loved the randomness of his journey as he finds himself seeing what he can find on shelves – alongside still looking to add to his beloved Picador collection!
There’s also a number of different side topics which keep the book theme going – such as books he sees in movies that he searches out for now and wondering what the significance is, and also the art of reading while walking!! I’ve seen a number of people do this recently and am now tempted to give it a go myself!!
I really wish I had his recall for details as there’s so much information shared be it about a book plot, the author and their background or details from films he’s seen. And I also found this book to be quite poignant reading it when I did, as he talks a lot about the author Paul Auster (who I’ve still not read but will be hunting out his work now!) who sadly just passed away – April 2024.
This was a wonderful read that looks at the journey that each book can take you on, alongside the journey the author went on to find that book and what can be found inside. I’m definitely going to be paying more attention when browsing secondhand books now to see what treasures I can discover!!
Hello! Happy Star Wars Day!! And let’s hope it’s a lovely month ahead for us all! Some settled weather would be nice! Rather nice thunderstorms overnight this week kept me awake!
On to books, and it’s been a productive week! Managed to finish 4 books, avoided Netgalley, but had a little bookish spending spree – whoops! Here’s my look back!
Hello and Happy Saturday!! I am now another year older so please bare with me!! My reflexes are slower and I want to go to bed even earlier than before lol!! Had a lovely birthday, spent bookshopping and eating cake!! The perfect combination!!
So my bookhaul is looking ‘healthy’ this week, and I’ve managed to read 2 books off my TBR pile so that pace needs to pick up! 1 newbie has been added to my Netgalley shelf too! Here’s my look back! Click on the book titles for more info!
Hello! Happy Saturday! It’s bluebell time of year so I’m happy! Distracts me too from the fact that I’m going to be another year older in the coming week…. can I just be 21 again please?!
And on the book front this week it’s been a very slow one for me and I’m not sure why! Just 2 books finished and only 1 new addition on Netgalley! So here’s my very quick look back! Click on the book title for more info!
The war is raging in Europe. These girls will do everything they can on the home front – but is a happy ever after possible in such dark and uncertain times?
Manchester, 1940:
The minute war was declared, best friends Sally and Deborah volunteered for the home guard, willing to do anything to help their boys fighting overseas. An Auxiliary Fire Service girl by night, Sally ends up stationed at the salvage depot by day. Working amidst the scrap metal and waste paper, helping to make do and mend, isn’t quite the glamorous life in uniform she’d imagined! But she’s determined to do her best, and turn saucepans into Spitfires. When Sally meets Andrew, a quiet carpenter with a heart-breaking smile who understands how important her work is, she finally feels as though her efforts to keep calm and carry on are making a difference. As love blossoms, Sally feels herself opening up to Andrew in a way she’d never imagined possible. But then, just as Sally feels as hopeful as she can be in these times of war, a devastating air raid threatens everything she holds dear. As bombs rain down all over Manchester, deadly fires begin to destroy homes, and lives. With Andrew out rescuing families from the rubble, Sally rushes towards the plumes of smoke that fill the night sky. And is horrified to realise the very worst hit area has the salvage yard right at its heart. Desperate to help in any way she can, Sally, with her fellow salvage girls by her side, sets to work. But what will they find when the smoke clears? Will Sally and Andrew get the happy ending they so deserve? Or will her one chance at true love be lost forever as the morning dawns…?
A completely gripping and heart-breaking romantic saga. Perfect for fans of Rosie Clarke, Nancy Revell and Lizzie Lane.
It’s always exciting to start off a new series, and if this is a taster of things to come then we’re in for a treat with The Home Front Girls! Set in Manchester in 1940, we’re introduced to Sally and Deborah who are eager to do their bit for the war effort. These are 2 young women living their lives in extraordinary times so it’s so interesting to see the challenges they both face.
Their friendship comes under pressure when Sally refuses a proposal from Deborah’s brother – everyone around her expected her to say yes and many are so disappointed with her, especially her parents. This was fascinating to see the family dynamic change as it was expected that ‘security’ of marriage was the done thing at the time, but Sally has her own reasons for saying no.
Watching the relationships change, while danger was all around them, was really captured well by the author. I found myself really invested in the girls and their paths, and watching them step up to their roles and put themselves in danger really made them characters to admire. Watching too how their families dealt with them maybe not following the normal path in life made you very aware of how things were at the time, and how they found the courage to stand up for what they wanted when things were very difficult.
This was a really engaging start to the series, full of drama and I’m already excited to see what is next for the girls to face in their journey!
Hello! Happy Saturday!! Spring is in the air and I’m back to stalking butterflies! Saw this lovely Brimstone this week!
And i’ve been stalking books too!! It’s been a very good reading week with 6 books finished!! I’m still avoiding Netgalley though, but have had a couple of nice bits of bookpost!! Here’s my look back!
Hello! Happy Saturday!! Not too impressed with the weather so far in April! I think we’ve had enough rain now, and winds too!! It’s full on in the garden too at the moment as I’m growing a few plants…. the ‘grow your own cat’ seed seems to have turned out well!!
And on the book front it’s been another good week – a plus side to the crappy weather! I managed to finish5 books, received a book in the post to review and treated myself to another book! Here’s my look back! click on the titles for more info on each book!
The eagerly awaited new novel from Bobby Palmer, author of the critically acclaimed debut Isaac and the Egg.
If you stood before sunrise in this wild old place, looking through the trees into the garden, here’s what you’d see:
A father and son, a fox standing between them.
Jack, home for the first time in years, still determined to be the opposite of his father.
Gerry, who would rather talk to animals than the angry man back under his roof.
Everything that follows is because of the fox, and because Jack’s mother is missing. It spans generations of big dreams and lost time, unexpected connections and things falling apart, great wide worlds and the moments that define us.
If you met them in the small hours, you’d begin to piece together their story.
Just wonderful!! I didn’t think I would get so emotionally attached to these characters, but I did!! Their fragile relationships captured beautifully by the author and really shows the impact that illness and unsaid things have on family relationships.
At the heart of the book is Jack. He finds himself betrayed by ‘friends’ and fears for his future and while in shock he comes across an injured fox who he tries to catch – and then the fox speaks to him! Not what he, or you as a reader, expects but it becomes a really poignant part of the storyline as we also hear the foxes story too.
A call from home sees him going back, to face new problems that he’d not known about. His mother has gone missing, and his sister has been caring for their father who is dealing with memory problems. Had Jack been too focussed on his own life to notice what was going on back home… he now has time to refocus and try and rebuild relationships.
There are a number of storylines running throughout this book and all were so readable… we hear the story of his mum and dad and how parenthood changed their lives, the changing relationship between brother and sister, along with that of father and son and there was just so many emotional memories and realisations that it was so difficult not to get involved in the varying emotions displayed. There’s frustration, regret, anger and forgiveness and the author has done such an amazing job of conveying the varying viewpoints of a fractured family facing more uncertainty with the changing health of the father.
A poignant and unforgettable read – highly recommended!!
‘What on earth are you on about?’ she said. ‘How are we going to catch the Yorkshire Ripper, when the police haven’t even managed to?’
I sighed. Her questioning my ideas was a recent and unwelcome element to our friendship. But it was a valid point. How would we catch him? We needed some sort of plan, a way of gathering clues and putting them into order.
I thought about what the policeman had said about structure, and then about Aunty Jean and her notebook, and the idea I had hardened like toffee. I knew exactly what we needed to do.
‘We’ll make a list,’ I said. ‘A list of the people and things we see that are suspicious.
And then . . . And then we’ll investigate them.’
The List of Suspicious Things is a tender and moving coming of age story about family, friendship and community. Sometimes the strongest connections are found in the most unlikely of places.
A stunning debut that really captures the innocence of youth, against the backdrop of the darker days of the 1970’s and 80’s. The characters are all so striking and easy to warm to as it makes you remember your own childhood goings on of adventure and trying to make sense of the events going on around you.
Set in Yorkshire, you are transported back to a time of no social media, but the news on the radio and TV was all centred around one thing – The Yorkshire Ripper. And for teenagers Miv and Sharon, their grasp of the story is one that if they can solve the puzzle of who the Ripper is then all will be well in their world, mainly to help Miv’s mum who isn’t well. So they take it upon themselves to become detectives and they start observing locals, wondering if their actions make them guilty of the bigger crimes.
The more they watch others, the more that various different stories start to become clear, mostly to us as readers, and it was fascinating to watch over these girls as different subtexts were explored.
I adored this story and it gave me Joanna Cannon vibes in places – high praise indeed as I love her writing! Highly recommended!!
Books and Me! 