Knife Skills for Beginners - Orlando Murrin

Title: Knife Skills for Beginners
Author: Orlando Murrin
Length: 336pgs
Pub Date: 1st February 2024

I found the book a little slow at the beginning, felt like I wasn't really interested in what was happening. However, at about 50% of the book, I got invested in it and found myself wanting to know who the culprit was.

I guessed where the murderer was coming from, but I didn't see the ending coming.

What I loved about this book, is that - firstly, because the author is an actual chef, knows what he's talking about (nice cheffy language used) And as I worked in restaurants and hotels for years, the book made me re-live the old days.

Secondly, I loved how the end gives a clear explanation on everything that has happened, a nice and clean ending to the story.

All in all, I have given 3 stars to it as the beginning was a little slow, but then it made up for it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the e-ARC

Rhubarb Lemonade ~ Review

 Rubarb Lemonade by Oskar Kroon

Description: 
Vinga dreams of the sea. She's going to be a sailor when she grows up, sailing to distant lands. At home, back in the city, Mum is sad and Dad has left for good. But here with Granddad on the island, all her problems feel far away. Summer goes on as usual, with porridge for breakfast, drinking rhubarb lemonade under the lilac tree and watching the sunset from 'her' cliff.
But things are different now too. The heat vibrates during the day, and a girl with a black hat has started appearing. Her name is Ruth. The only thing they seem to have in common is their age and that they are both on the island for the summer. But spending time together, their friendship soon turns out to be something much more.
Rhubarb Lemonade is a story filled with empathy and heart about an unusual summer when childhood comes to an end.

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK for giving me the opportunity to read this e-ARC.

This was just ok for me, I'm afraid.
I thought the premise was very good, but I don't think it delivered the way I was expecting. The story lacked something, I just wish there was a little more to it.
And.. I didn't love the end. I'm sorry but why did that person have to die? 

NetGalley classified this as YA and LGTBQ+, but it felt more like a book made for children, as it was very repetitive and the LGTBQ+ factor was at a bare minimum. There was hardly any romance and the two protagonists had no chemistry whatsoever. 

Said so, the writing was fluid, with enough descriptions to let the reader imagine the island, yet not too intrusive.

I'm really disappointed I didn't enjoy the book as I honestly thought it could be much more.

May Book Haul - Salone Del Libro, Torino

This month, I managed to visit Salone del Libro in Torino for the first time in 14 years. 
Last time I was there, I went during a school trip and it was definitely on a weekday.
This time, I visited on a Saturday. It was chaotic.
There were so many people around, I could barely see the stands.
On one hand, that was probably a good thing as I didn't buy as many books as I actually did; on the other hand, I would have liked to see more books, if not to buy them, at least to add them to my TBR.

As I have shared the titles on my Instagram already, I would like to talk a little bit more about each of the books that are also available in English.

• Residenza Per Sole Signore by Masako Togawa (EN The Master Key)
  The K Apartments for Ladies are occupied by over one hundred unmarried women, once young and lively, now grown and old, and in some cases, evil.
  Their residence conceals a secret connecting the unsolved 1951 kidnapping of four-year-old George Kraft to the clandestine burial of a child's body in the basement bath-house.
  So, when news comes that the building must be moved to make way for a road-building project, more than one tenant waits with apprehension for the grisly revelation that will follow. Then the master key is lost, stolen and re-stolen, and suddenly no-one feels safe.
  
  
  
  
  
• La Ragazza Che Saltava Nel Tempo by Yasutaka Tsutsui (EN The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)
  The Girl Who Leapt Through Time tells the story of Kazuko Yoshiyama, a third-year middle school student who accidentally acquired the ability to time travel after an unfortunate accident in a school science lab. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• La Libreria Alla Fine Del Mondo by Ruth Shaw (EN The Bookseller At The End Of The World)
  A rich, immersive, funny and heart-breaking memoir of the charming bookseller who runs two tiny bookshops in the remote village of Manapouri in Fiordland, in the deep south of New Zealand.
  Ruth Shaw weaves together stories of the characters who visit her bookshops, musings about favourite books, and bittersweet stories from her full and varied life.
  She's sailed through the Pacific for years, been held up by pirates, worked at Sydney's Kings Cross with drug addicts and prostitutes, campaigned on numerous environmental issues, and worked the yacht Breaksea Girl with her husband, Lance.
  Underlining all her wanderings and adventures are some very deep losses and long-held pain. Balancing that out is her beautiful love story with Lance, and her delightful sense of humour.
  This will make you weep and make you laugh and make you want to read more books - and make you want to visit Ruth and her two wee bookshops.
  
  
  
  
  
• Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (IT Kafka Sulla Spiaggia)
  Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy.
  The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down.
  As their parallel odysseys unravel, cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghost-like pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since World War II. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle - one of many which combine to create an elegant and dreamlike masterpiece.
  
  

  
  
  
• Seni e Uova by Mieko Kawakami (EN Breasts and Eggs)
  Breasts and Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own.
  It tells the story of three women: the thirty-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with growing up. Her silence proves a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and frustrations.
  On another hot summer’s day ten years later, Natsu, on a journey back to her native city, struggles with her own indeterminate identity as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless.
  
  
  
  
  

(All pictures and summaries are taken from Goodreads)

The Wren Hunt - Mary Watson

What is it about: Every winter, Wren Silke is chased through the forest in a warped version of a childhood game. The boys who haunt her are judges, powerful and frightening pursuers, who know nothing of her true identity. If they knew she was an augur, their sworn enemy, the game would turn deadly. But Wren is on the hunt, too. Sent undercover as an intern to the Harkness Foundation - enemy headquarters - her family's survival rests on finding a secret meant to stay hidden. As the enmity between two ancient magics reaches breaking point, Wren is torn between old loyalties and new lies. And trapped in the most dangerous game of her life.

My Thoughts: I am very conflicted about this book. I've read it for the monthly book club I'm subscribed to and on paper, this is the kind of book I would have actually picked myself. But the reality was very different. I found it very difficult to get into. The author was describing rituals and using names like if I knew all about them already. It was like reading a whole new language, could not understand what was going on for about 280 pages. And when I finally started to get the gist of it, the book ended. Leaving me wanting to know more.

The story is based on Irish mythology and I don't know anything about it, so that didn't help.
I do love mythology but I mostly know about Greek's and Roman's, so this actually made me want to know more about the Irish one as well.

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke

What is it about: Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has.
In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls.
On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food and waterlilies to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.
Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims?
Lost texts must be found; secrets must be uncovered. The world that Piranesi thought he knew is becoming strange and dangerous.
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.

My Thoughts: Oh how much I loved this book!
I've buddy-read this which made it even more of a magical experience.
We were both lost for the first 20 pages, and were trying to figure out what the heck was going on. But once inside the story, I could not put it down. I was scribbling down notes whilst reading as kept having random thoughts and I hoped to give myself some answers before the book gave them to me. Boy I was wrong every single time. 

Piranesi is such a wonderful character and I just felt so sad for him. 
I was scared that it would be one of these books with an open ending, but I was glad to see it came to a conclusion - although I would have liked to see a different ending, more tragic.
But if you haven't read it yet, please do. It will take you through a strange but wonderful journey

In the Mirror, a Peacock Danced - Justine Bothwick

What is it about: Set against the lush backdrop of early 20th-century India, In the Mirror, a Peacock Danced – the debut novel from Justine Bothwick – is the moving story of one woman’s journey back to herself.

Agra, 1938: Eighteen-year-old Florence Hunt has grown up riding horses past the Taj Mahal and chasing peacocks through her backyard under the critical gaze of her father. Increasingly enamoured with his work on the booming railway, Florence yearns to know more, but finds herself brushed away, encouraged only to perform the more ladylike hobbies of singing and entertaining guests. So when a dazzling young engineer walks into her life, she finds herself not only gripped by secret lessons in physics but swept entirely off her feet.

Portsmouth, 1953: Fifteen years later, Florence finds herself pregnant and alone in post-war England – a far cry from her sun-drenched existence in India. Struggling to cope with the bleakness of everyday life in a male-dominated world, Florence is desperate to find the woman she used to be. But when someone from her past reaches out, Florence might just have a chance to start over.

Soaring from the shimmering heights of the big top to the depths of heartbreak, can Florence find the happiness, independence, and passion she once had in order to start living again?

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book!
Florence is such an amazing character. You can see that she tries to fit in the norms of a young woman living during the Second World War but she is definitely conflicted and wants to get out of those standards. Loved the journey of self-discovery she went through and how it ended.
The writing was flowing and it was easy to read - only part I struggled with is when the author was going into too many details about trains and engines - which was one of Florence's passions, new for a woman in those years.

Whilst reading this, I was also reading 'Mythos' by Stephen Fry and noticed that the peacock is one of the symbols of Hera, goddess of marriage. Florence always sees and talks about peacocks when talking of/with Jay and I like to think there is a connection there (maybe it's just in my head, but I like to think there's Greek mythology everywhere).

I honestly really liked the background also. It was interesting to see India and the process it went through for independence from England, and how it was seen by both Brits and Indians - even though this is not the main topic of the book, I would have liked to see even more of it.

Love the cover of it as well, I hope there will be a version with sprayed edges! - Publication date, 24th June.

Thanks to NetGalley and Agora Books for the opportunity of reading this advance copy.

Never Say Never - Justine Manzano

What is it about: Brynn is done with love. 
After she walks in on her mom doing the horizontal mambo with a man that’s decidedly not her dad, Brynn Stark swears to NEVER fall in love. One of her friends--Val-- reveals her true identity--Aphrodite, goddess of love, and promises to show Brynn why she shouldn’t lose faith.
But when Brynn realizes she’s beginning to fall for Adam, Aphrodite's boyfriend, Brynn’s forced to decide if she’ll choose her goddess-given fate, or risk it all for the wrong-but-right guy.
One thing’s for sure.
Love sucks.
And it's all about to blow up in their faces.

My Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this one.
Let's start with the positives.
I would have loved to read this book when I was a teenager. It has mythology, it has a hurt teenager who doesn't believe in love, it's a fantasy and it's easy to read. I most definitely found some elements of myself - mostly my younger self - in the main character, Brynn.
"True love is a relationship unicorn. You either find it, or you spend your entire life searching for it", this has been my view of love my entire life.
And... All this talk about mythology, made me want to read Stephen Fry's 'Mythos' again - which I think I will! Now, for the parts I didn't like.
At times is a bit too dramatic. I know Greek mythology is supposed to be dramatic, but I found it overly so. Like the arrival of Val's real father - I won't spoil it -... was not keen on that part.
Quite a few times, Nina's asthma took over the story, I think there was way too much of it. Overall, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't read it again, it is one of those books I would read on holiday but nothing more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sword and Silk Books for providing me with an e-ARC for an exchange of an honest review.