Category Archives: Reviews
Stories for Homes Volume 2 – Blog Tour
This second anthology of short stories, flash fiction and poetry on the theme home is published in support of Shelter. This edition is dedicated to those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire and the foreword talks about the impact of Brexit on feelings of home especially for migrants.
Personally I feel, having talked to friends who feel similarly, that even British natives have had their sense of home pulled away by the animosity over Brexit. That feeling of safety, of thinking you know what people around you are like, has been undermined.
With that being said the stories contained within the book offer snapshots into sense of home and belonging. For me I find it difficult to read a whole book of short pieces in one sitting and so this will be a book for me to dip into in waiting rooms and spare 5 minutes.
The first entries out of 55 range from a brief snapshot of a moment of routine which captures the sense of being at home with another person (TED BONHAM – The Life This Is) to fighting systems that can prevent you finding a, or feeling at, home (MICHELE SHELDON Monsters) and the whimsical tale of, I assume a homeless woman, who shares the little she has and lets a seagull take up residence on her head ( SHARON BENNETT – Seagull).
The voice and palpable sense of longing drew me into the story of a woman returning home after a jail sentence by LEIGH FORBES (Coming Home). And I also picked out the following story, from later on in the book, to read based on its title. ISABEL COSTELLO’s A Place to Paint Yellow explores whether home is a person, a place or a feeling and what happens when those things change or are lost. Its protagonist being an obese woman also examines feeling at home in your own skin.
Shelter, the charity which Stories for Homes supports, cites three main criteria for housing: safety, stability, affordability. The UK is currently failing its citizens on every point. Volume one raised over £3,000. Buy this book to help them help others. It’s available as an e-book with bonus online content here – http://storiesforhomes.wordpress.com/.
Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, said: “Stories give our imaginations a home. It’s good to see them helping to give people shelter in the real world, too…” reflecting the connection between the immediacy of housing crisis and the stories people tell about their lives around and within it.
Here’s a 6 word story I wrote as part of a challenge last September.
Do check out the rest of the blogs promoting the book to see which entry felt most like home to them.
I received a copy of this ebook for the purposes of review. Opinions are my own.
Share this on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
Riot Days by Maria Alyokhina – Book Review
I picked up Riot Days as a memoir by one of the Pussy Riot group who were imprisoned in Russia for protesting. I had hoped to better understand their experience but unfortunately the structure of the book didn’t work for me.
Initially I was trying to read the Advanced copy via my kindle app and I wondered if the formatting was making it difficult to read so I switched to a PDF version which was easier but still strange.
Each chapter was split into short sections with bold headings but I couldn’t work out the placement of these because sometimes they seemed to relate to what had been written before and sometimes to what came next.
The text itself was almost like a cross between poetry and prose with short paragraphs and a disjointed style, more like a stream of consciousness. It left me very confused about what was happening as timelines crossed.
There were a few illustrations used, and I’m not sure if these were drawn by Maria but they were very childish and I don’t think they added anything to the narrative.
The final two chapters were the most informative and seemed to be more linearly structured. In these Maria shares with us how she challenged the injustices in the prison she was in through her legal representation and made life better for the inmates.
The start didn’t really help me understand exactly what the initial protest was for and so I experienced a disconnect with her plight , which was undoubtedly traumatic. To be honest it left me wanting to go back and read news items about it instead. I wonder if this is a case of lost in translation.
I did like this quote though
“There is no certainty or predictability. There is no fate. There is a choice. My choice and yours, in each moment that demands it.”
I received an e-copy from the publisher via Netgalley. Opinions are my own.
Share this on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
Prisoner of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren – Blog Tour
Synopsis
Valor is under arrest for the attempted murder of the crown prince. Her parents are outcasts from the royal court, her sister is banished for theft of a national treasure, and now Valor has been sentenced to life imprisonment at Demidova, a prison built from stone and ice.
But that’s exactly where she wants to be. For her sister was sent there too, and Valor embarks on an epic plan to break her out from the inside.
No one has escaped from Demidova in over three hundred years, and if Valor is to succeed she will need all of her strength, courage and love. If the plan fails, she faces a chilling fate worse than any prison …
An unforgettable story of sisterhood, valour and rebellion, Prisoner of Ice and Snow will fire you up and melt your heart all at once. Perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell, Piers Torday and Cathryn Constable.
Author
Ruth Lauren lives in the West Midlands in England with her family and a lot of cats. She likes chocolate, walking in the woods, cheese, orchids, going to the movies, and reading as many books as she can. She’s been a teacher and worked in lots of different offices, but she likes writing best. Prisoner of Ice and Snow is her debut novel.
Website: https://www.ruthlauren.com/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ruth__lauren
Instagram: www .instagram.com/ruth_lauren
What I Thought
This was such a thrilling read with high stakes (both personal and societal) from the outset, and as a consequence had me zipping through to find out what happens.
Prisoner of Ice and Snow was like a cross between Prison Break, Six of Crows, Nevernight, and the first Throne of Glass, with a strong central sisterly relationship (a la Frozen), but perhaps aimed at a slightly younger audience.
Valor is such an awesome character. The book is told from her first person perspective. She’s a 13 year old willing to risk her own freedom for her twin but good enough to not walk over other people. I will admit to being a little ahead of her at times but I believe that was purposeful and for me doesn’t usually detract from enjoyment of a story.
I really liked that although the main action was the attempted escape from the prison Tyur’ma that there was intrigue outside of this. If Valor’s sister Sasha is innocent of the crime she was said to commit who did it and why?
The wider cast of characters were all interesting in their own right and I’m glad to hear a sequel is coming so hopefully we get to know even more about them and the world in which they live.
Prisoner of Ice and Snow is out tomorrow so you can read it really soon. Do make sure to check out the rest of the blog tour too. Thanks to Faye and Bloomsbury for my copy of the book for the purpose of this honest review.
kirstyes 