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Book Review: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
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 In The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, Lib, a Nightingale trained Nurse accepts a job in Ireland. Her job is to observe Anna, a child whom claims not to have eaten in months. Anna and her family claim that she is being maintained by manor from heaven. Lib’s job is to prove or disprove these claims with the help of a Roman Catholic Nun.

Sounds simple enough? Well nothing about this cleverly woven story is simple. Each of the characters is complex, felt completely real and has their own secrets that are revealed over the course of the story.

Lib and the Nun agree watch shifts, ensuring that Anna is watched at all times. Lib immediately sets to stripping down the room to search for food.

Visitors flock to see The Wonder, the child who can survive without food. Lib immediately puts a stop to the visitors. Lib even limits the contact Anna has with her mother and other family members. All to prevent any food from being slipped covertly to the child. Throughout Lib’s watches she keeps a memorandum book noting down anything observed.

Whilst off-duty Lib meets Byrne, a Correspondent for the Irish Times. At first she wont say much about Anna, Anna’s family or the situation because she is concerned about confidentiality. But as Lib notices subtle deterioration in Anna’s health, Lib confides in Byrne.

The plot starts at a crawl, to slow for me. But pacing does increase to the equivalent of brisk walk from the middle to the end of the book. The ending is inventive, imaginative and overall pleasing.

The Wonder was a Christmas I requested off my mum. The description online didn’t tell me much about the story. If I’d known it was historical fiction, I probably wouldn’t have asked for it. I’m really not into historical fiction. With that said, it was an enjoyable read. But not a story that I would read again.

If you like historical fiction or stories set in Ireland then The Wonder is worth picking up. The Wonder is available to buy on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Review soon,

Antony

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Tuesday 21 February 2017

Book Review: The Marble Collector by Cecelia Ahern

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
the-marble-collector-ahern-book-cover Ahern’s books are either a hit or a miss with me. The Marble Collector was most definitely a miss. If I had to choose one word to describe this novel it would be: dull. Or pointless. Or boring.

The Marble Collector is essentially two stories rolled into one.

The first story is that of Fergus Boggs who is an avid and secretive Marble Collector. It is the story of his life that starts in his childhood and proceeds over the decades through his adolescence and adulthood, right into his present old age.

The second story is is an extraordinary day in the life of Boggs’ daughter Sabrina. It stars with her throwing a cup at a wall in work, which leads to her being sent home by her boss.

Then there’s a delivery of a marble collection that she didn’t know her father even had collected, never mind kept. Sabrina discovers her father’s life long obsession with marbles.

As Sabrina looks through the marble collection, she notices that the two sets of marbles that are worth the most money are gone. So she sets off on a mission to find the missing marbles and along the way learns more about her emotionally distant father and more about herself.

Both of the main characters were uninteresting and lacked depth. The idea behind the novel was reasonable at best, but the plot was completely flat. The pacing was slow throughout. Description of scenes and characters were sparse, but mostly adequate. Pages and pages of words were wasted, with these pages adding little to the two dimensional characters or plot.

I wanted to like The Marble Collector by Cecelia Ahern. But I have found it difficult to find anything positive to write. The best part of the The Marble Collector was reaching the end of it.

You can buy The Marble Collector by Cecelia Ahern on Amazon and at all good book shops, but I wouldn’t bother. In fact The Marble Collector was bad enough to put me off from pre-ordering any of Ahern’s books in future.

Review soon,

Antony

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Tuesday 10 January 2017

Book Review: Misery by Stephen King

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
misery-stephen-king-book-cover Misery by Stephen King is compelling, creepy and will have the reader on the edge of their seat with anxiety and fear.

In Misery Author Paul Sheldon has a dreadful car accident. When he finally wakes up, he finds himself in the guest bedroom of Annie Wilkes.

Annie Wilkes is a psychopath and Paul’s number one fan. She has dragged him from the wreckage, set and splintered his mangled legs. Paul is in an incredible amount of pain and knows that he should be in hospital. Anne Wilkes used to be a Nurse has a stash of painkillers.

Annie is reading Paul’s latest book. Paul’s bestselling books about Misery Chastain have made him a lot of money, but he hates writing them despite their popularity. He see’s the Misery Chastain books as making the money he needs to live, so that he can get on with some real writing. So in this latest book Paul has done something drastic: he has killed Misery Chastain.

Annie doesn’t know about Misery’s death yet, but when she does she calls Paul a dirty bird and demands another Misery book, just for her, called Misery’s Return. And she won’t take no for an answer.

Nobody knows that Paul is at Annie’s remote mountain home. It will be months before the snow melts to allow Paul’s wreck of a car to be found. And meanwhile Annie makes it clear that she is prepared to make him suffer, severely, if he doesn’t cooperate. Paul does the only thing he can: write as if his life depends upon it (which it actually does).

The idea behind Misery is brilliant, clever and excellently expressed through King’s writing. He has turned Misery into a horror classic, with some traumatic scenes that will stay with the reader for a long time after they’ve finished the book. So people with a sensitive disposition be aware.

Misery is told in the first person perspective of Paul, meaning that there is an awful lot of internal monologue, especially at the beginning where Paul is bedbound. The description of pain from Paul’s perspective does lack variety and begin to feel a bit repetitive. The plot is fast-paced, full of tension and has plenty of hooks to make the reader be compelled to read on.

I read Misery in about a week, often staying up far later than I intended to, to find out what happens next.

Misery is gripping and a must read. Misery is available to buy on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Review soon,

Antony

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Sunday 1 January 2017

A Review of Goals & New Experiences for 2016

By Books & Authors, Happiness & Joy, Life, ThinkingNo Comments
goals-and-adventures-large Goals for throughout the year:
Unticked Box Read & Review at least 20 books.
I have read 19 books this year and reviewed 17 of them. The two books that I have not reviewed yet, will be reviewed in January 2017. See my Book List 2016 for a list books that I’ve read this year, along with links to reviews I’ve written for each book.

Unticked Box Watch & Review 6 films.
I can remember watching at least 5 films this year, they include: The Giver, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Good Dinosaur, Star Trek Beyond and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. However I’ve not done a review of a single film this year.

Tick Box Bullet Point To create more time for creative projects.
I am more than happy with my creative output this year. I’ve reduced my working hours, so that I can still afford to live, but so that I have more time for creative projects. I have also been careful about how I use the limited time and energy I have to get the most out of it. This combination of working less and using my time and energy better has significantly increased my creative output.

Tick Box Bullet Point To complete 2 creative projects.
I’ve completed 12 creative projects this year. This is a massive achievement when compared with my creative output in previous years. For more details of my creative projects see: 11 Creative Projects That I Never Intended To Do… This Year and The Finished Project (candle making project).

Tick Box Bullet Point To get up-to-date with my financial obligations and continue to reduce the balance on my debts.
I am up-to-date on my mortgage and other household bills. I have continued to reduce the balance on my debts. I have paid monies back to family that I owed monies to.

Unticked Box Save up for and buy a new rug and corner sofa for the living room.
I still need to do this. The sofa is getting in desperate need of replacement. Both of these will be goals for 2017.

Unticked Box To give up smoking.
I’m still working on this on a semi regular basis.

Monthly Goals

January
Tick Box Bullet Point Start a new creative project.
I published my latest short story Soulmates, here is an excerpt:
Soulmates-by-Antony-Simpson-Short-Story-Excerpt

I also wrote two blog posts that I’d been thinking about and planning to write for at least the last few years: 5 Wise Quotes from Albus Dumbledore and A Tale Of Overcoming Adversity.

Unticked Box Take it easy.
This didn’t really happen. This year has was exceptionally busy. Most of time due to circumstances beyond my control.

February
Tick Box Bullet Point See Mary Poppins with Mum, etc.
Done. I blogged about it here: Mary Poppins Live at The Palace Theatre, Manchester: Marvellous, Magical and Magnificent.

March
Unticked Box Treat yourself to a reiki treatment.
I haven’t had a single reiki treatment this year. At the start of the year it was due to lack of money. Towards the end of the year it has been due to my Reiki Pracitioner changing where she works.

April
Unticked Box See a sunrise.
This has been a goal for the last few years. I think I need to take a day of annual leave off work to experience this next year. So this will be a goal/new experience for 2017.

May
Tick Box Bullet Point Celebrate your 30th in style, including a night out in Newcastle and a family meal.
I didn’t manage the night out in Newcastle, but did do the family meal which was wonderful. I blogged about the family meal here: My Thirtieth Birthday.

June
Tick Box Bullet Point Visit Chester Zoo Islands Exhibit.
I actually did this in May, as part of my birthday celebrations. See A Day Trip to Chester Zoo.
Tick Box Bullet PointStart a new creative project.
One weekend in June I wrote, edited and then published an article on The History of the National Health Service (NHS). It was a creative project that I have been thinking about for sometime and I was proud of myself because I had finally done it.

July
Tick Box Bullet PointSpend time in nature. Go for walks in places of natural beauty.
I visited Astley Hall Park with my friend Simon. I would have liked to spend more time in nature during July, but the variable weather influenced what I was able to do.
Tick Box Bullet Point Visit a botanical gardens.
I visited Southport Botanic Gardens (Churchtown) with Simon in August.

August
Tick Box Bullet Point Visit a castle, one that you haven’t been to before.
Okay, technically I didn’t visit a new castle this year. But I did do a tour of acient sites along Hadrian’s Wall with Simon. See The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure (Part 1) and The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure (Part 2). A goal/new experience for 2017 will be the finishing off of The Hadrian’s Wall Adventure, meaning that Simon and I will have followed the wall from one end of the country to the other.

September
Tick Box Bullet Point Read in the horror genre. Maybe some Stephen King.
I read Under The Dome by Stephen King, which I reviewed here. I also read The Stand by Stephen King, which I reviewed here. Although I’m not sure that either of them was in the horror genre, I’ve ticked it off as completed.

October
Tick Box Bullet Point Celebrate Samhain.
Celebrated Samhain in style with my friends Simon & Chrys. Great food, drink, fire, music and company.

November
Tick Box Bullet Point Take it easy.
I tried to do the bare-minimum in November. This was probably why there were only a few blog posts in November.

December
Unticked Box Bring people together to celebrate Yule.
Yule fell on a Wednesday, which made it difficult to arrange a get together. Perhaps I will put this on future goals when it lands on a weekend.

This year I’ve completed 14 of 22 goals/new experiences for 2016. That’s over half and not at all bad when you consider the 12 creative projects I’ve completed this year, along with how busy the year has been otherwise.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Tuesday 27 December 2016
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