All of that took me away from reading and posting for a little while. But, over the past few weeks I've read quite a bit, and little by little I'll get reviews up for all of those.
But for now, let's talk about The Nightingale. I was waiting for months on my library's list to get this book, before I finally broke down and bought it on Kindle. Our family shares an account so there are often loads of different titles in there, but I was walking with my mom and telling her about this book I was just starting, and she said "Oh that was you that bought that? I thought it was your sister!"
Little did I know, the author is a major romance novelist. Not usually my cup of tea, definitely my mom's though! I was about a quarter of the way through at that point, and I was fairly shocked. It didn't seem like that kind of book at all. We theorized that maybe it wasn't the same author - it was. I don't know Hannah's oeuvre well enough to comment on how this one fits in, but to all of you out there who aren't so into the romance genre, don't let the name scare you away!
I picked up this book, because as regular readers of the blog might know, I have a major obsession with World War II related topics. And France. This novel concerns a pair of sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, who experience the occupation of France by the Germans. Vianne is a mother, who continues to believe that things will soon get better. She lives by the motto of endure. Isabelle is younger and more spirited, and is continually looking for ways to resist the enemy occupation. The two personalities are naturally somewhat at odds and the book charts the actions of both through the course of the war.
The book is well written and the story reads incredibly quickly. Before I know it I was hooked and gobbling up a hundred pages at a time. The characters are well-developed and I loved the way the author chose to conclude. I can't point to anything in particular that I really disliked. It probably wasn't the greatest story ever written (if you are looking for a good WWII book try All The Light We Cannot See, reviewed on the blog). But, I really enjoyed reading it and I think you probably would too.
Keep an eye out for more reviews out in the next week or so!