Review: A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

Photo Credit: Carpe Librum

Nothing much happens in A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier, so why did I fall in love with it? It's not the first time this has happened either. Stoner by John Williams is the slow moving story of an ordinary man and it was such an exquisite portrait of his life that it instantly became an all-time favourite of mine.

Violet Speedwell is the protagonist in A Single Thread and in 1932 she is reeling following the painful loss of her brother and fiance in WWI. Violet decides to leave home and try to make it on her own in Winchester. Life is tough for surplus women and Violet does her best to get by and carve out a life of joy for herself.

While admiring the architecture of the local cathedral, she comes across the work of a group of broderers and decides she'd like to make a kneeler. It will be a permanent reminder of her life when she too is gone.

I've often shared Violet's thoughts that when I die, there will be no lasting evidence I was ever here. One of the reasons I love looking at architecture, paintings and needlework is that I can wonder about the hands that painstakingly created these precious objects from the past and imagine the lives their creators lived. I'm sure the desire to create something that might just outlive me was a small part of the reason I started stitching in the first place. Creating a tangible gift for a loved one with your own hands is something special and Violet wants to do this too.

This combination of historical fiction and stitching - along with the unexpected inclusion of bell ringing - was a sure sign I was going to enjoy this novel.

Adding to my reading experience was the fact I suggested this book for a monthly book club on GoodReads called A Stitcher's Book Club. A couple of us read A Single Thread at the same time and I'm sure this added to my overall reading enjoyment.

Containing themes of family, duty, responsibility, post-war culture, grief and expectations of women in society, A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier was a real feel good read and I heartily enjoyed it.

For more, check out my review of The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier and Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier.

Carpe Librum!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Bloggernomicon - Proud Book Reviews

I'm proud to welcome the first official Bloggernomicon interviewee today, Anthea Proudfoot. Based in Melbourne, Anthea's book blog is called Proud Book Reviews and her byline is: expanding my library one book at a time. It's a pleasure to welcome her to Carpe Librum today.

Welcome to Carpe Librum Anthea and thanks for being part of Bloggernomicon. When did you start reviewing books and can you tell me the story behind your blog name?
I started reviewing books on April 1st 2018 because I wanted to keep track of what I thought of all the books I was reading. Thankfully my partner (Rick) helped me out with the name coz I'm really shit at naming things! I told him I wanted it to represent me but also make it clear it was about books and he came up with Proud Book Reviews since my last name is Proudfoot (no, I'm not from the Blackfoot tribe but my family is mentioned in Lord of the Rings!).

How many books do you have on your TBR? (Virtual and/or physical)
In physical books I have I think 30-40, but virtual I have like 1500+ free books on BookBub. Kinda why I needed to start a blog to remember what all these new books were about and which ones I loved enough to want to reread!

How do you organise and keep track of your reviewing commitments?
I've been using Trello since I started to get more tours approved and author requests in the later part of 2018 and have started using a whiteboard calendar this year. Trello I use to keep track of whether a book has been committed to, ready to be read, reading, needs a review written, artwork needs to be made/received, is ready to be scheduled, scheduled, published etc. Then I archive them once I've copied the review to the appropriate sites. My whiteboard just has what I'm reviewing/writing on what day so I can visually see how busy I am and where I have space so I don't go crazy requesting too many tours/ARCs.

Can you share one of your proudest moments as a book blogger?
I have two. My first is the first author review request after just 3 months of blogging. Adrianna Gavazzoni asked me to review her debut book even though I felt like NO ONE knew who I was. I now need to get her 4th book which was released in November 2019. My other achievement was the first time I could see that at least one person had visited my site every day for 30 days. I'm super proud of that coz it meant people were finding my little corner of the internet and were liking what I had to say enough to keep coming back 😀

What's your most popular blog post? What can you tell me about it?
Hahaha yeah... My most popular post is called "Pottermore inconsistencies - did you see them?". Basically I wrote this up after watching Fantastic Beasts - Crimes of Grindelwald because there were a few things that even my semi-oblivious partner picked up didn't make sense after we'd binged all the Harry Potter movies. I just had to put it out there and I guess people liked it and had something to say too which is cool.

Do you have a favourite publicist or publisher you enjoy dealing with?
She's not really a publicist, but Rachel from Rach Random Resources is amazing. She works so hard to bring great books on tour and it really shows. She makes sure you have the book and all the artwork etc with plenty of time to read and set up your reviews. I also want to give a shout out to Harper Collins Digital, who started pre-approving me for books on NetGalley after they noticed how many of their books I'm getting, loving and reviewing.

Do you spend money on your blog?

Anthea Proudfoot - Proud Book Reviews

Yes. I pay for the domain name, web hosting (My Zuver, I love their support service and they are based in Australia which is awesome) and page builder (Elementor Pro). I try not to pay for anything else though since I'm not making any money.

When asked by an author, publicist or publisher to review a book, name something that can tip the balance in their favour?
Having read about me, my review policy etc so they get a sense of what I'll like. For instance, I just had an author submit a review request and he was able to quote information on my website and say why he thought I'd enjoy his book. Taking the time to see that I've liked similar books, (OMG the people who ask me to review YA when I've explicitly said I don't take requests for that genre annoys me!) and having taken 5 minutes to look at my site just warms my heart and butters me up. Makes it much more likely I'll say yes!

Do you use any of the reading statistics spreadsheets out there? Do you make any specific reading goals around trackable criteria?
I've just started to this year. I found out about them a couple of months into 2019 and my OCD wouldn't let me start a spreadsheet that's meant to track a year when I was going to have a few months missing. I've actually combined two spreadsheets I liked the look of and made further modifications to make it suit me. You can find out more in my "2020 - The Yr to Come" post. My goals were more to read one book a week and to read more sci-fi and books from my TBR pile (both trackable with my spreadsheet).

Name something you'd like to achieve in the world of reviewing and blogging about books.
I would LOVE to be mentioned on a book cover ANYWHERE! I see people noted there and until last year I always thought they were paid critics, but I found out last year that they can be regular book bloggers too so I would love to be one of those people! Preferably for an author who I've read and worked with previously because then I've built up a relationship with them. It'd be even better if it was an Aussie author coz I feel like they don't get as much love as the US and UK based authors.

Thanks so much for participating in Bloggernomicon Anthea. Being a fellow Melbournite, I do hope you can join us at the GoodReads catch-up next month.

2020 Reading Challenge Sign Ups

It's the beginning of a new decade and I'm going to start as I mean to go on, by continuing to challenge my reading choices. I'll be participating in my regular three reading challenges as well as adding a new yearly challenge to the mix. Here's what I'll be participating in this year:

• 2020 Australian Women Writer's Challenge
• 2020 Aussie Author Challenge
• Book Bingo 2020
• 2020 Historical Reading Challenge

📘📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘📕📗📘

2020 Australian Women Writer's Challenge

Aiming for the Franklin level of the 2020 Australian Women Writer's Challenge this year I'll need to read 10 books and review at least 6 of them in order to complete the challenge. The challenge is run by writers and volunteers and encourages readers to discover more books by Australian women.

You don't need to review the books in order to participate either. You can just nominate a particular number of books to read for the year in order to join in. Check out the sign up details here.

Some of the books I'm planning to read for the challenge are:

- A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski
- Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
- You Don't Know Me by Sara Foster

2020 Aussie Author Reading Challenge

I'm participating in the newly created Emu level of the Aussie Author Reading Challenge this year. I'll need to read and review 24 titles written by Australian Authors of which at least 10 are female, 10 are male, and at least 10 are new-to-me authors. Hosted by Jo from Booklover Book Reviews I'll also need to read from at least 4 different genres.

Some of the books I'm planning to read for the challenge are:

- A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski
- Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
- Shark Arm by Philip Roope
- Gulliver's Wife by Lauren Chater

Book Bingo 2020

Hosted by Theresa Smith Writes, Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse, this is my first year participating in Book Bingo. To complete the challenge, I need to read and review a book from each of the 12 bingo squares. Check in is every second Saturday of the month and I'll be sharing my progress over on the Facebook page.

1. Themes of culture
2. About the environment
3. Set in a time of war
4. Themes of inequality
5. Prize winning book
6. Set in a place you dream of visiting
7. Themes of crime and justice
8. Friendship, family & love
9. Set in an era you'd love to travel back in time to
10. Themes of politics and power
11. Coming of age
12. A classic you've never read before

2020 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

I love historical fiction and will need to read 10 historical fiction novels to complete the Renaissance Reader level of the 2020 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge this year.

Hosted by Passages to the Past, you don't need a blog to participate either, you can join in on Facebook or GoodReads. Check out the sign up details for more info.

Some of the books I'm planning to read for the challenge are:
- City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Gulliver's Wife by Lauren Chater

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You can follow my progress on my Challenges 2020 page as I make my way through these challenges and let me know if you're participating in any reading challenges this year. Have you set any reading goals or targets for 2020? I'd love to hear about them.

Carpe Librum!

Introducing Bloggernomicon - An ongoing series of interviews with book bloggers and reviewers

Today I'm excited to launch Bloggernomicon - An ongoing series of interviews with book bloggers and reviewers.

I realised I enjoy learning about fellow book bloggers and reviewers almost as much as reading about favourite authors so I thought I'd devise a platform by which I could get to know them a little better. I've come up with a selection of 30 questions to choose from and have at least 22 book bloggers and reviewers keen to participate in this new series of interviews here on Carpe Librum.

I thought it was only fair to launch Bloggernomicon by setting the example and answering some questions myself first. So, here we go.

When did you start reviewing books and can you tell me the story behind your blog name?
I started my blog in 2005 and it was originally called My Four Bucks, because I always seemed to have more than 2 cents to contribute. In August 2012 I re-branded to Carpe Librum, a name aptly chosen by my husband who drinks and names things.

How many hits does your blog receive each month?
I've received an average of 11,400 hits per month over the last 12 months.

How many books do you have on your TBR? (Virtual and/or physical?)
I have 78 physical books at home to be read, a virtual TBR on GoodReads of 117 and a Maybe shelf on GoodReads of 105 books. Those on the Maybe shelf are books I think I'd like but haven't decided or committed to yet. If I add them together, I have 2.5 years worth of reading on my TBR. Not bad, but I'm very fussy and selective about what I add.

How do you organise and keep track of your reviewing commitments?
I use a spreadsheet to track all review requests and unsolicited books I receive, with dates and notes. I keep a few email folders for correspondence and record the books I request from publishers in Outlook Notes. I then keep a list of all blog posts I want to write (reviews, giveaways etc) in my bullet journal.

I use the private notes function on GoodReads for each book to record title specific information (e.g. requested on x date, received on x date from x publisher etc) so I can stay organised. Books I've requested always receive first priority, then unsolicited books and those from my own backlist jockey for position.

Can you share one of your proudest moments as a blogger or reviewer?
The launch of my logo in 2016 and reaching a million hits in 2017 were both super proud moments for me. I was on cloud nine for weeks both times. Being asked to be a blogger for the Melbourne Writer's Festival two years running was a major highlight and something I'm very proud of.

Does your blog make money?
Unfortunately no.

What book have you had on your TBR the longest? How long has it been there?
I've had Inheritance by Christopher Paolini on my bookshelf waiting to be read since.... 22 June 2011. Eeeek!

What are 3 words that tell you immediately a book is not for you?
Zombies, espionage and virus.

What are 3 words that tell you immediately a book is for you?
Twins, mansion, secrets.

If you could improve one thing on your blog, what would it be?
I'd love to increase my email subscribers. Having 11,000+ hits per month is fantastic, but having dedicated email subscribers who want to read your posts when they pop up in their busy inboxes gives me immense joy.

What's your most anticipated new release for 2020?
That's easy, The School of Glass by Bridget Collins. The Binding by Bridget Collins was in my Top 5 Books of 2019 list so I can't wait to read her new novel. I haven't even seen the blurb yet so I have no idea what it's about but I hope it's another masterpiece.

Name something you'd like to achieve in the world of reviewing and blogging about books.
I've had the pleasure of being mentioned in an author's acknowledgments and praise section of a book on a few occasions and that's always a huge achievement so I'd like to continue receiving that level of recognition. It's such a buzz every time and maybe I'll make it onto the back cover one of these days. I know some of my fellow bloggers have achieved this so it's definitely possible.

I hope you'll enjoy Bloggernomicon and are as excited as I am about the series. I'm pleased to announce the first interviewee is Anthea Proudfoot, author of Proud Book Reviews. Stay tuned!

Review: The Right Side by Spencer Quinn

* Copy courtesy of Bookstr and Atria Books in 2017 *

Spencer Quinn (pseudonym for Peter Abrahams) is better known for his Chet and Bernie mystery series of books featuring a canine narrator and private investigator.

In The Right Side, Quinn has created a stand alone novel about LeAnne Hogan, an Afghanistan war veteran coming to terms with life after the Army. LeAnne suffers from PTSD and physical ailments as a direct result of her service in Afghanistan, including the loss of an eye and permanent scars on her face.

Recuperating and receiving psychiatric treatment in Walter Reed Military Medical Centre, I found it hard to genuinely warm to LeAnne. Written in the third person, she's abrasive, full of anger and confusion and comes off as abrupt and uncaring. I did enjoy the bond she formed with her roommate Marci though and wanted this to continue longer that it did.

After losing Marci, LeAnne recklessly abandons her treatment and goes rogue as a mystery begins to take over the plot. I found the constant jumps in the timeline a little confusing and some of the elements of her emotional state seemed unrealistic to me but fine for the general reading audience.

Dog lovers will enjoy the appearance of a dog later in the novel and while I'm not a dog person, I couldn't help but enjoy their interactions. LeAnne and the dog have a special connection and bond that was evident on the page and made me laugh out loud several times.

The Right Side by Spencer Quinn contains themes of duty, honour, sacrifice, survivor's guilt, anger, betrayal, recovery, healing and love. I just wanted more.

Carpe Librum!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My Top 10 Books of the Decade (2010 - 2019)

This list is my own personal top 10 favourite books of the decade. This list has been drawn from the books I've read during the last ten years, and isn't a list of the best published books of the decade. Each book chosen has stood the test of time in my own personal reading experience. Some were new releases, some were backlist and some were published decades (or in one case more than 100 years) ago.

Here are my Top 10 Books of the Decade (2010 - 2019) in the order I read them:

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

A dual narrative historical fiction novel about a 4yo girl abandoned on a ship bound for Australia in 1913.

Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K Jerome

Published in 1889, this Penguin Classic is about a trip up the Thames river by three men and is an absolute hoot.

Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth

An historical fiction fairytale retelling of Rapunzel full of passion, love, hardship, revenge and redemption.

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

A uniquely Australian novel about two families. Incredibly memorable and moving.

The Martian by Andy Weir

I don't read much science fiction but this was MacGyver in space with an awesome sense of humour.

Stoner by John Williams

A deeply honest portrait of an average man told with such care and beauty that the ending brought a tear to my eye.

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin

The only non fiction book of the list, I learned a lot about myself and others in this book and still think about it every few days.

The Corset by Laura Purcell

A Victorian gothic thriller about secrets, friendship, needlework, gruesome hardship, betrayal, revenge, redemption, hope, poison and mystery with an ending that made me gasp.

The Binding by Bridget Collins

A combination of fantasy and historical fiction about the art of binding memories into a book.

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

A young adult fantasy novel about a boy who grows up in a library and is obsessed by the mysteries surrounding the lost city of Weep.

Thoughts?

Wow, what an eclectic list! What are your thoughts? It was great to see three Australian authors on the list and a good combination of genres represented. 

An honourable mention should go to one of my favourite authors Philippa Gregory. Two of her books were included on my Top 5 books of 2015 and 2016 respectively, but she just missed out on making it onto my Top 10 Books of the Decade. 

Have you read any of the books on my Top 10 list?

Carpe Librum!

2019 Reading Stats

I love hearing about the reading stats of others and it's been a while since I've shared my own so here we go. 2019 was a record breaking year of reading for me. I spent a lot of time in waiting rooms and I'm sure this was directly responsible for my increased reading results.

I read a new personal best of 75 books in 2019.

Gender

Gender never influences my reading choices but I continued to track my reading by gender in 2019. 69% of the books I read were written by female authors, 26% by male authors and 5% by more than one author. I was surprised to have read predominantly female authors and I will aim to have more balance in 2020. I'd like to make the point that my participation in the Australian Women Writer's Challenge has no influence on my choosing to read more women than men.

Author

I also find it interesting to track whether an author is new to me or not and in 2019, 71% of the authors I read were new to me, meaning the remaining 29% of books I read were by authors I've read before.

Genre

What did I read? Historical fiction formed the greatest portion of my reading at 20%; not surprising given it's my favourite genre. Non fiction formed 12% of my reading for the year which I'm very happy with.

Fiction and crime fiction formed 30% of my reading - 15% each respectively - and next was true crime which formed 7% of my reading.

Source

In 2018, review books from publishers, publicists and authors formed 79% of my reading while books I owned formed 13% and books borrowed from friends or the library constituted the remaining 8% of books. I began 2019 wanting to read more from my own TBR pile, so how did I do? Review books formed 75% of books read in 2019 so I managed to achieve a small reduction which is good. I also managed to increase the owned books I read to 21% and I can see a visual reduction in my physical TBR as a consequence which is fantastic.

In 2020, I aim to read at least one of my own backlist books every month. (E.g. not a new release or review book).

Monthly stats

You can see a corresponding trend in the two graphs above between books read per month and pages read per month. May was my best reading month of the year in terms of both number of books read and number of pages read with August being the worst.

Reading

On average I read 73 pages per day in 2019 and managed to get through one book every 5 days. I know I could read more if I went to bed earlier, but that's always the challenge isn't it? The average book length for me was 357 pages.

Ratings

In 2019 I gave 12 books a rating of 5 stars. This equates to 16% of my total reading and is considerably lower than 27% in 2018. My average star rating for the year was 3.5 stars and I'm quite happy with that because it means when I give a book a 4 or 5 star rating, it definitely stands out from the rest.

Giveaways

In 2019 I ran 9 giveaways and enjoyed giving away $360 worth of books and prizes. I'm already organising the first giveaway for 2020 and you can keep track of events on my giveaways page.

Tracking

It was my second year recording my data in the stats spreadsheet provided by Portal in the Pages and I look forward to using it again in 2020. Sophie provides the spreadsheet free of charge every year for booklovers to use and personalise and it's a lot of fun to track your reading habits and achievements.

Feel free to check out my Reading Year in Review on GoodReads too, where you'll see everything I read in a snapshot. Otherwise I'm looking forward to another productive year of reading. Do you track your reading stats?

Carpe Librum!

Review: A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia *

Women's literature isn't a favourite genre of mine, so when I received A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski for review back in June 2018, I wasn't in any particular hurry to get to it. An intriguing premise and beautiful cover held promise I might enjoy this, but I haven't picked it up until now in a concerted effort in 2020 to try and reduce my unsolicited TBR pile.

Mature female characters Adele, Ros, Simone and Judy have belonged to an online book club for years but have never met face-to-face. When Adele agrees to house-sit a property in the Blue Mountains, she decides on a whim to invite the other three women for a bookclub getaway. All four women are facing different challenges in their lives, and accept the invitation for different reasons.

The trip will be about rest, recreation and reading. Each woman is to bring along a book for bookclub that tells the group something about themselves and enough copies for all participants to read. Taking it in turns, the women will read a book a week and discuss one each Sunday, hence the title, A Month of Sundays.

Once I was able to keep the characters' lives straight in my head, I warmed to the setting and social interaction between the women quite quickly. Their book discussions were my favourite part of the novel - naturally - and their growing friendships were a 'feel good' guilty pleasure.

The problems each of the characters were dealing with were of interest, despite the fact that the women were at least two decades or more older than me. The familiar Australian setting of the Blue Mountains was also a plus.

A Month of Sundays by Australian author Liz Byrski is a novel about ageing, the joy of reading and the importance of deep and meaningful friendships. It was an unexpected delight to read and I can highly recommend it.

Carpe Librum!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Top 5 Books of 2019

I read a new personal best of 75 books in 2019, however only 12 books earned a 5 star rating. Having fewer 5 star reads did make the selection of my Top 5 Books of 2019 a little easier, however I'd like to reiterate this list has been drawn from the books I read in 2019; they weren't all published in 2019.

Here are my Top 5 Books of 2019 in the order I read them:

1. The Binding by Bridget Collins

This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2019 and I loved it. In this world, books are forbidden and the profession of bookbinder is akin to that of a witch. A binder has the power to take a traumatic memory - or series of memories - and erase it from a person's mind by binding it into a book. Those suffering grief and trauma often seek the services of a binder, despite being shrouded in superstition and plagued by prejudice.

I enjoyed reading about Emmett's apprenticeship to Seredith and was pleasantly surprised to learn Collins is an amateur bookbinder herself. Her experience in this field clearly shines through.

The Binding is a combination of fantasy and historical fiction or historical fiction meets urban fantasy and I loved that it contained hints of folklore and myth whilst remaining rooted in reality.

2. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

This is a Young Adult fantasy novel and I haven't been this impressed by an author's imagination and world building since reading my first Harry Potter.

Our main character Lazlo Strange is a war orphan raised in a monastery and library by monks. He has an active imagination, grew up fascinated by stories and comes to work at the Great Library of Zosma. Strange is obsessed with the mysteries of the lost city of Weep and is determined to find out what happened there. Perfect premise right?

Full of magic, gods, alchemists, scholars, myths and legends, Strange the Dreamer is overflowing with the most amazing writing that made me feel as though I were immersed inside a fairytale.

3. Anna of Kleve - Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir

Historical fiction author Alison Weir is no stranger to my Top 5 book lists, two years ago she featured in my Top 5 Books of 2017 with Anne Boleyn: A King's Obsession and she's done it again. Anna of Kleve - Queen of Secrets is the fourth in the Six Tudor Queens series and is the story of Anna of Kleve, or Anne of Cleves as most of us know her.

In this historical fiction imagining of her life in the 1500s, Weir has provided an alternate history for Anna of Kleve. It is well known Henry VIII had their arranged marriage annulled and Anna was known from then on as the King's Beloved Sister. However Alison Weir takes us beyond this turning point in her life all the way through until King Henry's death in 1547 and Anna’s own death a decade later in 1557.

Thanks to Hachette Australia for this copy, I eagerly await the next in the series due to be published in 2020, Katheryn Howard: The Scandalous Queen.

4. Snake Island by Ben Hobson

A bitter dispute between the Cahills and the Moore family drives this fast-paced crime thriller. Set in regional Victoria where I grew up, the feud is fuelled by small town gossip and a sense of family loyalty by both families.

The situation goes from bad to worse, others get caught up in the mess and I was on edge the entire time wanting to know what was going to happen.

Each of the characters is flawed in their own way and each made decisions that either failed to halt the crisis or added fuel to the fire. Each character was memorable and realistic as they explored the often complex relationships between fathers and sons as well as themes of duty, forgiveness, regret, retribution, the cycle of violence, familial love and legacy.

Snake Island by Ben Hobson (courtesy of Allen & Unwin) was a terrific rural thriller and you can read my interview with the author here.

5. The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

This is gothic domestic noir meets creepy psychological thriller and I absolutely loved it. The novel starts with a live-in nanny (Rowan) accused of being responsible for the death of one of the children in her care at Heatherbrae House in a remote area in Scotland. The novel is her account of the events.

Heatherbrae House is a newly renovated smart house and is run via the use of a smart app. Previous nannies haven’t stayed long and things begin to go wrong in the house fairly early on. The writing is perfectly paced with an unexpected juxtaposition of the old and new parts of the house leading to a creepy and unsettling atmosphere.

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware (thanks to Penguin Random House Australia) had an ending that took my breath away and made it an instant addition to my Top 5 list for the year.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Have you read any of the books on this list? What were your favourite reads in 2019?

Carpe Librum!

Review: Fucking Good Manners by Simon Griffin

RRP $19.99 AUD
Published November 2019

* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin *

After the demonstrably successful Fucking Apostrophes in 2016, Simon Griffin is back with Fucking Good Manners. December is the perfect time of year for a laugh. Everyone is busy, it's hot and hectic and there's quite a bit of argy bargy when it comes to Christmas shopping and being considerate of others. Griffin acknowledges that we can ALL do better when it comes to our manners and sets out to demonstrate.

Chapter headings like public transport, driving, public toilets, queuing, the workplace and social media give the reader an accurate picture of what will follow.

Griffin quickly identifies many of our pet hates when it comes to dealing with others (family, friends, workmates and strangers) and in doing so, inspires us to do better. The author uses his sense of humour to shed light on every day issues and just like Fucking Apostrophes, he frequently makes me laugh in doing so.

In fact, I was reading this book in a hospital waiting room and cracked up when I got to this part:

"The business world is full of ugly acronyms, obscure abbreviations and bullshitty jargon, generally designed to make people feel more intelligent than they are. It started with thinking outside the box, putting ducks in rows and hitting the ground running, but each workplace has its own unique set of bullshit buzzwords. Forget about running things up the flagpole and touching base and getting the ball rolling and peeling back the fucking onion. Stop wasting people's time with this gibberish and start using some plain fucking English." Pages 135 & 136

It was the classic cliche of laughing while reading in a public space, but this really did happen! A few old people were sitting across from me and were glowering but too bad, their loss.

However, the best part of the book came at the end while reading the Acknowledgements when I recognised my name mentioned in the thanks section. This immediately elevated this to a 5 star reading experience, but I need to stay true to the rating I'd already settled on in my mind before I lost my shit seeing my name printed in another book.

Fucking Good Manners by Simon Griffin is a funny book with instant appeal for readers of all ages. It does contain the 'f' word on every page though, so use your discretion. Highly recommended.

Carpe Librum!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★