The Authenticity Project - Clare Pooley

Title: The Authenticity Project

Author: Clare Pooley

Pages: 352

First Published: 2020

My Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Such an uplifting novel that forces 6 strangers to face their own truth. And in doing so, it forces you to do that also. There were parts of the book that were obvious, and other that you didn't see coming.
I only gave 4⭐ simply because there was so much hype around it and I was expecting something even bigger and better. I suppose that's the risk in reading popular books.
Said so, I loved it and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

The Switch - Beth O'Leary

Title: The Switch

Author: Beth O'Leary

Pages: 328

First Published: 2020

What is it about: After a horrible year of working and working, Leena has a breakdown just in the middle of a very important presentation. Her boss gives her 2 months of sabbatical to get better and tells her to go away, take it as an opportunity to put her life back together after her sister's premature death. Leena decides then to leave London behind and go up to Yorkshire to visit her grandma. 

Eileen Cotton, almost 80-years-old, who has been left by her husband, is starting a new project. She wants to find someone to date, but there are no eligible men up in her little village in Yorkshire. 

Once Leena arrives, it is clear to the pair of them that they both need a change in their lives. Eileen has been busy taking care of Leena's mom and everyone else in the village, but herself. Leena is stressed from everything. So they decide to switch lives. Eileen is going to spend the next two months in London, chasing her dream from when she was a young girl, before life got in the way. Leena is going to take a much needed break from everything and everyone up in Yorkshire.

My thoughts: I loved this book from the start! It was predictable, but it was just such an amazing, light read; it was comforting. Eileen was such a character! I laughed basically during all of her chapters. She is such a strong female character and everyone should learn from her.
Leena was more the typical protagonist of every romance novel, she struggles with her life, goes away for a few months and magically understands what she is really supposed to do. 

There are so many books around like that and don't get me wrong, I do love reading them every now and then, it brings some sort of comfort to my life, especially these days; but Eileen's story was much more interesting for me to read.

What I loved about both characters, though, is how they were there for other people. No matter who they were, they were there to help them. Female power to the rescue!

I read 'The Flatshare' as well by Beth O'Leary, but 'The Switch' was much better in my opinion.

The Midnight Library - Matt Haig

"We spend so much time wishing our lives were different,
comparing ourselves to other people and to other versions of ourselves,
when really most lives contain degrees of good and degrees of bad"

Title: The Midnight Library

Author: Matt Haig

Pages: 288

First Published: 2020

What is it about: Nora feels alone in the world. She doesn't speak to her brother anymore, well, he doesn't speak to her; her "best friend" has moved to Australia and the relationship is just not the same; she gets fired; her cat dies and she doesn't have a fiancée anymore after she decided not to marry him. 

So she decides to kill herself. No one is going to miss her, right? 

But death doesn't come easily. Before she can move on to an afterlife, she stops into a limbo - The Midnight Library. Mrs Elm, her former librarian at school, is there waiting for her; she will help Nora going through lots of different books, which will lead to different lives of 'what if...'. What if she married the guy? What if she carried on with swimming? What if she was still talking to her brother?

My thoughts: I loved this book. I cried, of course. I knew it was going to end the way it did, but the journey to get there was truly emotional. 

It is such a well written, uplifting novel, perfect for everyone. We all need to remember what's truly important in life. 

We spend so much time on social media, looking at other people's lives, imaging "what if I was her/him", "what if I had all their money/success". And this is unhealthy. We all have different lives, we all are on different journeys and everyone's is as special as the other. 

Even if we don't realise it or think about it every day, our life has an impact on someone else's.

The Salt Path - Raynor Winn

Title: The Salt Path

Author: Raynor Winn

Pages: 270

First Published: 2018

What is it about: Ray and Moth have lost everything; their home and their source of income. To top it up, Moth has been diagnosed with a terminal illness; they really have nothing else to lose. So they have to face a choice, either wait for the council to give them a roof or embark in a potentially life-changing journey walking the South West Coast Path in England. Their choice is of course for the latter, 630 miles of walking through Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Cornwall, taking with them only the bare essentials.

Ray takes the reader through every moment, every challenge, every thought they went through, making you feel on the journey with them.

My Thoughts:

Being separate from people for large
chunks of time had reduced our tolerance level

Well, if this does not reflect everyone's thought at this stage of our lives, I don't know what does.

On a serious note, this book was published in 2018, so in a time when COVID did not even exist, a time where everyone's lives were much better. However, reading this, sometimes I felt like the journey they went through at the time is, in a way, what we are going through right now. 

Ray and Moth find themselves alone, with just each other as company, helping each other to go through those rough moments that inevitably occur in life.

Their situation was even worse as had to live on £48 a week, camping in the wilderness, with the possibility for Moth to deteriorate even more.

What got me about their story, is that they didn't give up. They faced many challenges, they had moments, days without water, without food to sustain their bodies. But they carried on. Not just the walk, but their lives.

And I think this message is important now more than ever. We are now facing a third lockdown in England and lots of people are struggling with this, myself included.

Not being able to see your loved ones, to do what you normally do, to live!

But the important thing is not to give up. 

I would honestly suggest this book to everyone who is experiencing a bit of anxiety in these times, not only it will help to escape your room for a little bit, but it will inspire you, it will give you courage that there is light at the end of the tunnel, we only need to keep strong a little bit more.

Ciao Ciao ♥

V.

The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman

Title: The Thursday Murder Club

Author: Richard Osman

Pages: 377

First Published: 2020

What is it about: In a retirement village in Kent, four pensioners love solving murders. They have founded a "Thursday Murder Club" so they can meet and discuss old cases. How do they get hold of them? Don't ask. Their routine is about to change when someone gets killed near them. Someone who has something to do with their peaceful retirement village. They have to solve the murder. With or without the help of the police. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim use all the resources at their disposal in order to find the killer, uncovering many more secrets on the way.

My Thoughts: This was most certainly the best book I could have chosen to start 2021. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I cannot wait for the second one to come out. The writing was clear and concise, went straight to the point, with the first murder only a few pages in. All characters have such a witty sense of humour that made me chuckle all the way through. 

Chapters are short but full of content, which I loved as it gave me time to pause for a second to get my facts straight. I hate when chapters go on and on for pages as I tend to get lost and forget where the chapter actually started in the first place.

Like any modern woman, I am any number of things,
as and when the need arises.
We have to be chameleons, don't we?

This was the first book in a very long time, in which I could not predict the ending. I had my suspicions along the way, some were right in part, some were completely wrong, but I most certainly did not expect to end the way it did.

All of the characters have a background story, so no one was just put there by chance, they all had a purpose in the storyline, something that is not always expected in a book. 

I only knew Richard Osman from telly - even though I don't think I actually ever watched an entire episode of his program, but I do really like him as a writer and cannot wait to read his next book.

Ciao Ciao ♥

V.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Title: The Night Circus

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Pages: 502

First Published: 2012

What is it about: Marco's and Celia's life have been intertwined by something bigger than they could even imagine. One game that can result in one winner only. The rules? Do your job. Setting? A circus of dreams, that only opens at night, you don't know when or where. It simply appears one day and it might be gone the other. A game that goes on for many years, even before the circus is open. A game that has been going on way before Marco and Celia. Who will be the winner?

My Thoughts: I have to admit, I've never heard of this book until probably a month or so ago. It appeared one day in my Amazon research and I got intrigued by the storyline. I simply had to have it.

It started a bit slow, I am really impatient with books and want for the main event to arrive soon, but I felt like the circus was not even mentioned at the beginning and did not understand where it was leading to. But once the circus arrived, oh boy, I could not put the book down. Everything was magical. Reading this book made me feel like when I was reading as a child, I have not felt like this in a very long time. All the books I've been reading lately make me feel so grown up and I cannot transport myself in the world described between those pages. But with the Night Circus I was just able to do so. Everything was described so well that when I had to look away from the pages for one reason or the other, I was surprised to be still in my room rather than inside one of the circus tents. 

The characters were also fascinating, although I feel like one or two of them were superfluous to the storyline.

I truly enjoyed this book and recommend it to everyone who wants to escape reality for a little bit and feel that spark we all had as children.

Ciao ciao ♥

V.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

Title: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Pages: 390
First Published: 2018
What is it about: Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.
Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled existence. Except, sometimes, everything...

My Thoughts: I am a bit behind time with this book. When everyone was reading it when it first came out, I did not understand what the fuss was all about. So, when I saw a copy of the book in a charity shop, I decided to pick it up.
I have to admit, when I started it, it was so strange that I almost put it down. I powered through a few more pages and I was hooked!

Eleanor is a very strange woman. She has no clue how to interact with other people, resulting in extremely embarrassing and extremely funny at the same time.

Something has happened in her past and she doesn't talk about it. She has locked it far away in her mind, but this is affecting her reality.
She experience love for the first time and it's like watching teenagers with their first crush.

"Well, there was a man that I took a bit of a liking to, a little

crush, you might say, and I got slightly carried away, and then I

realised that, actually, I'd been a bit silly. We weren't going to be

together. And he - well, it turned out that he wasn't even right 

for me anyway. He wasn't the man I thought he was. I felt sad

about that, and I felt extremely stupid for getting it all so wrong. 

That's all it was..."

- - - - - SPOILER ALERT beyond this line - - - - -

But the book is more than this. There is a story of abuse and murder. Eleanor is this way because of her mother. She is very much conditioned to what she thinks of her, even after all this time. Reading the book, I found myself thinking, well, why don't you just stop talking to her; she's not good for you, you can clearly do better. And yet, Eleanor, never missed her weekly call with "Mommy", as she calls her.
I definitely don't want to spoil the whole book here; but this story is funny and it makes you think at the same time. For how much a person thinks their strong on their own, we all need help, we all need love.
I am guilty of this myself. I always think that I am a strong independent woman, that I don't need anyone in my life but myself. And for how much I still believe this, there are moments in which a simple phone call or a text from my family means more than anything in the world.
I am blessed to have such amazing family and friends that I can count on for anything. Good and bad things.
This book makes you think.
This book made me think.
If anyone needs help, I invite them to seek it. Whether in a family member, in a friend or in a stranger - sometimes it's easier - but do not bottle up your feelings.
Life is beautiful and everyone deserves to live it in full.

Ciao Ciao,
V.