Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller #inbetweeny

So I pushed for Our Endless Numbered Days to be a book of the month a couple of times but failed. Disgruntled I went off and bought it for myself only for it to take months to get to my 'next on the shelf'.

The book is based on 8 year old Peggy/Punzel who is taken by her father to a hut in the woods and told by him that a disaster has happened resulting in only them left in the whole wide world.

If I'm honest I didn't expect the book to take the turn that it did (trying to not give too much away to those of you who haven't read it already) and I struggled with where the book ended up. Parts of the book were difficult to read and I'm still struggling as to where I stand with the book nearly a week after finishing it. I'm not sure I liked it but I'm not sure I didn't.

The beginning of the book confused me. Numerous subtext was hinted at that the reader wasn't entirely aware of and I'm not sure I got to the bottom of it all by the end. I also found the setting hard to place, Ute was German yet I took the book initially to be in America, only to find out it was in England and to end up in France.

James was clearly a very disturbed person, why then would Ute up and leave? Because of Oskar? possibly but the lack of contact was difficult to understand from an otherwise seemingly caring mother.

I guessed about Reuben early on, noting Punzel spotted him shortly after any argument/trauma. This is apparently a common early guess by readers so I'm thinking maybe Fuller wanted the reader to know, why? The extent that things went with Reuben surprised me - how far must Peggy's mind have gone?

I found the ending jumbled (as no doubt Peggy's mind would have been) but it left me unsatisfied as I didn't really feel anything had been resolved. I'm aware this could well have been deliberate but I couldn't get away with it and wanted some sign that Peggy's mind would be capable of being healed.

I basically wasn't prepared for the book to cover the issues it did thinking naively it was going to be more of a thriller/survival book. Despite having read widely about every kind of issue it left me uncomfortable and I cant work out whether it was the topic that made me not like the book or whether it was the book itself? Still not decided whether it's staying on the shelf.

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Lock down book club - books from a different country

So we continued with the Zoom version of book club this month and it was lovely to see so many of us tackle it. The theme was books set in a different country (if you can't travel, let a book take you). I read The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet, a detective story with an element of tricksy fiction set in France. I really enjoyed it and you can read my full review here. We travelled to America a couple of times most interestingly to see whether Hilary Clinton (or Bill for that fact) would have made President if they had not got married. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld is out in hardback now. Norway was a popular spot - Norwegian Nights by Derek B Miller about a retired american marine who moves to Norway and intervenes to save a young boys life sounded interesting. So much so that at least one member of the group has gone on to buy the first in the series, American By Day. We even made it as far as Japan and Botswana (and discovered a Scottish connection for Alexander McCa

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi

I expected to be emotionally drained after reading this one and to be honest (in a weird kind of way) I didn’t mind the thought that I would be. This was backed up by the introduction describing a brilliant young man whose writing was breath taking and whose story was devastating. Emotional rollercoaster of epic proportions was surely in store. I didn’t mind the beginning of the book although I was slightly surprised when we delved so deeply into Kalanthi's past in what was only a slim book. I was willing to gloss over the large number of references to his search as a youth to finding the meaning of life and what makes us, us as after all this was written by someone forced to ponder that very question. I also found the medical training he did vaguely interesting, I appreciated the reverence he placed in relation to the cadaver he was required to cut open as part of his medical training. However when it became apparent the actual portion of the book to do with him receiving hi

Mount by Jilly Cooper #inbetweeny

I'll start this blog with a warning, this post does contain spoilers. So if you haven't read the book then please don't read this blog, yet. Of course you should read this post just wait a little while until you've read the latest installment of Rupert Campbell Black (RCB). Warnings out of the way I'll begin. I was massively looking forward to reading this book having hugely enjoyed the previous ones. RCB is my (not so) secret trashy pleasure and has been for many years. This book had all the ingredients of a classic, pages of wonderfully named characters, a few tortured souls and of course RCB with all his horses, dogs and now grandchildren. The book got off to a good start full of characters from old but also plenty of new ones to mix it up a bit. The horse's really played a starring role in this book but I also really loved Gav and at first Gala. Yep only at first as she went strongly down hill and I bet you can guess why. RCB. Here is where I fell o

Cramlington Book Club

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