Amy Reads Books

Sharp Objects is probably my favourite book of 2013 so far. Gillian Flynn really emerged as a must-read author with the release of Gone Girl, but upon the recommendation of Katie I decided to start with Flynn's debut novel and it's a really good read.I was expecting a fairly standard thriller, but through Camille Preaker's story a very disturbing story comes to light within a small town which is one of those nightmarish places where everyone seems to know everyone else. Camille suffers from a variety of mental issues, largely seriously self-harm and alcoholism, largely linked to her pretty horrendous upbringing. Being inside Camille's head was really interesting and I really cared for her, even when she made bad decisions. The characterisation is great; Adora, Camille's mother and the reason for her unstable mental state, is a pretty vile human in her interactions with her daughter but styles herself as something of a Queen Bee within the community. Another key character is Amma, Camille's much younger half-sister, who appears to be a very immature 13-year-old within the home, but within the town and her school she is cruel and creepily very sexually active which I will admit made me feel rather uncomfortable. Throughout the novel, the emphasis tends to be one the women within the community; whilst there are some important male characters (the father of one of the dead girls, the brother of the other dead girl, the police officers and Camille's editor); and even some hints of romance for Camille-but Flynn places more emphasis on Camille growing outside of romance.The plot moves quickly and really builds tension as Camille begins to recognise what happened to her as she grew up. Whilst perhaps the plot goes a little off-kilter and extreme towards the end of the novel, I did really enjoy this novel. It was really fascinating, and I cannot wait to read Gone Girl.

I'd heard some fairly good things about Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate on the YouTube community, especially in the wake of her releasing her debut Young Adult novel. When Soulless was featured in one of the ridiculous Kindle sales, I felt like I should probably check it out.Carriger transports the reader to Victorian London, though not the recognisable one; this London features werewolfs and vampires and other supernatural creatures living alongside ordinary civilians. Alexia lives within the upper echelons of society with her mother, stepfather and two beautiful stepsisters; and she's a preternatural-she lacks a soul and thus can disarm the abilities of the supernatural-which is how she accidentally kills the vampire mentioned in the description.I felt that the world-building was solidly done, and Carriger's tongue-in-cheek writing style really worked in tying together a historical setting with a fantasy elements. Although at times I felt that we were thrown into the world without much guidance, so it was occasionally difficult to remember who exactly the characters were.Speaking of which, Alexia is a good female lead even if she does fall into the cliche of believing herself to be unattractive but of course actually isn't. My probable favourite character is Lord Akeldama, whose flamboyance literally lept off the pages.Aside from the world-building and Carriger's fine writing style, Soulless isn't really anything too new. The threat did not really kick in until the last third of the book, and the relationship between Alexia and Lord Maccon was pretty predictable (could they go from hating each other to loving each other?). However, it was a fast read and I was fairly entertained by the story. If the sequel, Changeless, pops up in a sale, I may be tempted to pick it up.

Having enjoyed previous novels by William Boyd, seeing that the BBC was doing an adaptation of Restless over Christmas. I firstly bought this novel in order to attempt to read it before the show, and then failed reading the novel or watching the TV version.However, I finally got round to reading Restless, and really enjoyed it. It tells the story of Eva, a spy during the early years of the Second World War, during her time in action and in the 1970s, where the tale is told from the perspective of her daughter, a single mother who teaches languages. This means that the novel ticks my love of spy-related things and even Cold War-related things which was great. Boyd's writing style, as I've previously mentioned, is fast paced and managed to make both strands of the novel very engaging. Character-wise, Boyd writes both the women very well. Both Eva and her daughter Ruth are well created and formed, I was a little concerned after Waiting for Sunrise as I felt Hettie was not necessarily the best character. However, Eva in particular was a really intelligent, strong female lead and it was really great to read her. In terms of the other characters, I particularly liked the Iranian student that Ruth was teaching who's desperate attempts to woo her were really quite sweet. Romer, Eva's spymaster, was a really interesting character who the reader, like Eva, hardly truly gets to understand.I'm hoping to get stuck into another Boyd novel soon, he's really becoming a favourite.

I really enjoyed How to be a Woman, Moran's previous work which dealt with feminism and sparked a debate among a huge amount of people on feminism's place in today's society, which was really cool. Moranthology is essentially a collection of her columns that she writes for The Times, which I was super excited about as I don't tend to buy that paper-and the paywall prevents me from reading her columns.As with How to be a Woman, Moran's writing is incredibly approachable, and frequently feels like you are just being chatted to by your really talkative friend. Moranthology covers a huge variety of subjects; from insights into her relationship with her husband (music journalist Pete Paphides) to various TV reviews and political musings. Her enthusiasm about certain topics, especially the television series Sherlock which is loved by virtually everyone, is infectious and I couldn't help but have a good time reading it.I will say that I was surprised to find Moran's writing more effective when she was writing on the more 'serious' side. For instance, her columns discussing what it's like being poor, the one that dealt with mental illness, her review of two heartwrenching documentaries and her piece on the changing abortion rules. I felt that this columns rang a little more true than some other pieces, where sometimes the humour seemed like it was being a little forced.All in all, I recommend Moranthology as an entertaining and diverting read with moments of real insight that makes me hope that Moran will put together another collection of her writing, or write a new book, soon.

This book had a substantial amount of buzz around it within the YA book community when it was released. Largely, this was because Daniel Handler is probably known better as Lemony Snicket-the writer of The Series of Unfortunate Events novels. Why We Broke Up is aimed at older readers and is exactly what it says on the tin; the story of why Min Green and Ed Slaterton broke up.I'm a big fan of unusual romance stories, for instance, The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan is borderline perfect and is a really unique love story. Therefore, I was really intrigued by a story that appeared to be told in reverse. On the whole, I really liked Why We Broke Up, and it's certainly a new voice within Young Adult ouvre. For instance, it was good to see a relationship that isn't apparently ~true love~ even if that's what it feels like when you are in the relationship. Maria Kalman's illustrations throughout the novel are beautiful as well.In terms of character voices, Handler really embodies a teenage girl's voice, Min-despite being called 'different' by almost everyone-has a really relateable quality throughout the novel. Some reviewers have described the characters as unlikeable, but it is worth remembering that we're reliving events through the benefit of hindsight. Min isn't going to be describing Ed as perfect after the end of a relationship. I also really liked the presence of a male/female friendship with Min's friend Al-it's rare to see that without it becoming some kind of love triangle in novels for any age group so I was pretty pleased. I will say the one thing I disliked about the narrative style is that occasionally it became too pretty and seemed at odds with the rest of Min's thoughts and beliefs and at least for me removed me from the main story.There were also some plot choices that I didn't love; especially the main event that triggered Min and Ed's break-up. It just seemed a little bit of a kick in the teeth for one of the better female supporting characters, a character that I quite liked. I question whether it was really necessary; it seems as though the break-up could have happened without that reason.Overall, Why We Broke Up is a pretty good read that makes me interested to see what other Young Adult books Daniel Handler produces.

I quite enjoy C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake novels, and I'm really excited by the idea of Dominion, his latest release; so I was hoping to really enjoy Winter in Madrid as it combines two of my favourite things-spies and Spain.However, Winter in Madrid was not quite as good as I wanted it to be. It tells the story of WW2 veteran Harry Brett who is enlisted by the Secret Service to spy on one of his old private school friends who is working in Franco's Madrid. At the same time, Barbara Clare is searching for Bernie Piper-another old friend of Harry's-who she refuses to believe died in the Spanish Civil War. Whilst this no doubt has the potential to be a really interesting read; the plot took about 400 pages to build, with the tension only really developing in the last quarter only to go a little bit crazy and then have an epilogue almost reminiscent of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows. There was also the addition of a fairly unnecessary romance, which I question the relevance of within the novel.As for the characters, Harry Brett was a fairly harmless character to be following, he was a great everyman to point out the sheer ludicrous side of the situation that he found himself in. I also really liked all the female characters that Sansom created; even Sofia whose relationship with Harry felt a little bit shoehorned was well drawn. Sandy was also a pretty complex character; even if he was also pretty horrible. A lot of the other character development was somewhat undone by the aforementioned end of the book, but Sansom made each one stand out.The best thing about Winter in Madrid was Sansom's ability to bring war torn Spain to life, an aspect of his writing that I also love about his Shardlake series. The desperate streets of Madrid were brilliantly painted, as was Civil War era Spain and the hideous labour camps that prisoners of war ended up in. Sansom's ability to transport the reader so wholly to a different country and time period is really, really great.Whilst I didn't love Winter in Madrid, it's certainly a really interesting look into a country's history which I don't really feel that we learn all that much about.

I was really looking forward to reading The Girl You Left Behind, having really enjoyed both The Last Letter from Your Lover and Me Before You; Moyes' two most recent novels. However, unfortunately I feel like The Girl You Left Behind suffered from my high expectations; as I did not find it as moving or compelling as her previous novels.Plot-wise, the novel is split between the story of Sophie Lefevre in occupied France during World War One, and Liv Halston, a young widow in contemporary London. While both women are interesting, both balancing a level of strength with a level of fragility in keeping with their situation; I really failed to connect to either of them. Although Sophie's situation was unarguably the more tragic of the two; there was something that just held me back from really grasping her plight-partly, I think, this was due to the fact that I didn't really see any romanticism in her and Edouard's courtship. Whilst I really liked Liv, the modern-day story seemed a little bit confused, and I couldn't help but think that there must have been an incredibly slow news week for the art ownership case to dominate the media. I also had issues with how the Kommandent of the German occupying force appeared to have some kind of character development, only to inexplicably revert back to being a typical bad guy; it would have been nice to see a little more nuance there. Also, some of the actions taken by Sophie's family just seemed totally unbelievable.However, Moyes' writing style is still great. Her descriptions alone paint really great images of the sombre lives lived by the French during the First World War; and of the feelings that both Sophie and Liv experience. The themes of loss and moving on were also dealt with pretty well; I just couldn't help but feel that the modern-day legal proceedings tale got a little in the way of these being fully explored.All in all, The Girl You Left Behind is by no means an awful book, but in my opinion it isn't a great one either (although I do appear to be the minority on this!). For those unfamiliar with Moyes' work, I would suggest Me Before You as a better starting point.FTC: I won this book from Goodreads' First Reads Competition

When Hungry was first released it went straight on my Amazon wishlist, however, as the months whiled by and other books came and went, eventually it fell by the wayside. However, when I spied a copy of it in a charity shop for just £2.50, I kind of had to buy it. The subject matter of Hungry is incredibly important and eye-opening, but for me, there were times when the messages that came through the novel were rather mixed (as a disclaimer, I am in no way a 'plus size').Hungry tells Crystal Renn's story on how she went from starving herself to be thin, to becoming a hugely successful plus-size (and by 'plus size' we're talking UK 16) model. Renn grew up in a complex family background, but had big dreams of attending university and studying law. However, at the age of about 14 she is told by a modelling scout that she could become a supermodel, so long as she lost a considerable amount of weight. She achieves this, through developing a hugely problematic relationship with food and an obsession with exercise. However, gaining a modelling contract is not as lucrative as she believed and it is only upon her cracking and deciding to become a plus size model that she really found success.Her story is an important one, that highlights the numerous hypocrisies within the fashion industry. The idea that grown men and women have no problem in telling a fifteen year old that their thighs are too big is utterly heartbreaking. It also shows the growing problems that many young (and even more sadly very young) women have in regards to their bodies-and the fact that few people really know how to talk about eating disorders that don't conform to either anorexia (not eating at all) or bulimia (binge eating & then being sick). Renn also shows the problems with regulations in the fashion industry, which tend to use the words 'should' and 'to the best of our knowledge' in regards to banning young models or those with a dangerously low BMI. Hungry is also an engaging read, whilst it's unclear whether Renn or Marjorie Ingall was mostly behind the writing, the book is pacey and I read it over a four hour babysitting session.However, despite the fact that Renn continually says that there can be naturally slender people some of her writing does fall into the camp of bashing one group to empower another. She point blank dismisses the idea that skinny people can quite suffer in the same way that larger people do with body confidence, the only women who are described as truly sexy and attractive are other plus size women; and she also brings up the idea that men prefer curvy women. Although, no doubt, larger women who have struggled with body confidence issues will find this welcoming, as a smaller person this largely left me feeling worse than I did when I started reading the book. I feel that Renn or Ingall should have made more of an effort to celebrate body acceptance for all sizes; which was attempted but undermined by the idea that 'skinny people have it easy' (as someone who has had total strangers comment on my weight & who has been told the reason I'm single is due to my lack of curves, that is far from the case).Hungry tells an important story, and Renn's tale should be used as an example of body acceptance. However, as a book to me it lacks a cohesion that could make the message empowering for all women.

High hopes, I had them. Unfortunately The House by the Sea (or The Mermaid Garden if you're in the US) was another time when the book didn't quite live up to the hugely positive reviews written about the internet. Montefiore's (which is a surname I love) novel is not a total let-down, but it wasn't quite 'unforgettable'.The House by the Sea is another novel where there is a split time period within it. The majority of the action takes place in contemporary England in Devon; where middle-aged Marina lives with her husband and two stepchildren and runs a hotel. When the novel flips back we are in 1960s-1970s Italy, where Floriana, the daughter of a drunkard whose mother and brother have long left, falls for Dante, the son of a wealthy family. Whilst I really enjoyed the contemporary plot, I wasn't quite so enamoured with the past section-especially once I guessed where the novel was going. This meant that I'd be really into the novel, until I hit the 'historical' section when my desire to pick the book up again ground to a halt. Although I don't know all that much about Italian history or culture, it did strike me as strange that class boundaries would still be so important in the late 20th century-it felt as though I was reading a story set considerably earlier.Whilst I was not really fond of any of the characters in the historical section, although I felt that Montefiore built the romance between Floriana and Dante really well, the contemporary tale characters were really interesting. Marina's history is revealed as the novel progresses and it is interesting to see how this impacts her choices and decisions in the modern tale. I also actually really liked Clementine, Marina's stepdaughter I got the feeling that sometimes Montefiore was attempting to make her a little too antagonistic and unlikeable, when really I think I would probably share some of her reactions-especially in terms of the fact that Marina and her father married so soon after the break up of her parents marriage. The colourful older ladies who come to the hotel to learn to paint, Clemetine's boss the philandering Mr Atwood and Harvey, the odd-job man who serves as a surrogate father to Marina are all also really interesting characters that are well-formed. In fact, the only character that I wasn't crazy about was Rafa, the love interest and mysterious Argentine painter-in-residence at the hotel. I just did not buy that a man in his early thirties could be quite so spiritual and deep; he seemed far too perfect to be believable, almost acting like the Disney Mary Poppins in bringing a family back together.Montefiore's writing style is fairly simple, although her descriptions really bring both settings to life very well. She also wound slightly deeper ideas, about life philosophies and relationships, into the novel with some success. I think I would like to give Montefiore another chance, because I did really like the the one story strand, and I already own a copy of The Last Voyage of the Valentina. Just maybe this time I'll go into the novel with slightly less high expectations.

2.5 StarsThe more I've thought about this book, the less I've liked it. When I finished it the other day, I rated Rescue three stars on Goodreads. Since I've finished it, I've just got irrationally annoyed by an awful lot of the book. It's a shame, because I think the synopsis on the novel had potential, even if it was incredibly misleading as to what actually happens in the novel. I'll say now that there will be minor spoilers in this review.My real problem with the novel was that I couldn't work out if Webster was supposed to as unlikeable as I found him. At first he came across as incredibly naive, in fact his character reminded me a fair bit of Gordon in Kate Atkinson's Human Croquet. However, in that novel it was pretty clear that he was not really supposed to be all that sympathetic. In Rescue, I really couldn't tell what Shreve's aim was with him; whether we were purposely supposed to see him as unlikeable or whether he was supposed to actually be a sympathetic character. His actions as the novel progressed really confused me as well; firstly, the fact he told his daughter that her Mum was an alcoholic when she was only eleven seemed a bit weird but most of all, it was the fact that he forced Sheila to leave the state rather than face her drink-driving charge when Rowan was a baby. So, far from 'a mother leaving her family', a mother is pretty much exiled from her family. That scene pretty much removed any kind of care I had for Webster's character.The other main characters were Sheila and Rowan, the estranged wife and daughter of Webster. Rowan was a pretty believable teen, dealing with not having a female figure in her life. Sheila again reminded me of Eliza from Human Croquet, a woman who essentially finds her trapped in a place and a role that she does not really want. Her change later in the novel was pretty nice to see, part of me can't help but think that it's a shame the novel wasn't told from her perspective-I think it would have maybe been a little more interesting.Shreve's writing style is pretty engaging, the novel passed really quickly, so I would guess that with better characters I would probably enjoy her work more. Judging by the other reviews on Goodreads, most fans of her work say that this is their least favourite, so I guess I started reading her with the worst possible one! I think I will probably try so more Shreve at some point, but not until I've made a substantial dent in my TBR pile.

Spoilers for A Game of Thrones3.5 StarsI read A Game of Thrones earlier in the year, and figured that this summer would be a good time to get the next installment in the series done. At the end of the first novel, Robert Baratheron was dead with his wife's son Joffrey named King. However, Robb Stark the son the murdered King's Hand Ned declares himself King in the North, and Stannis and Renly Baratheron, Robert's brothers, also attempt to claim the throne for themselves. Meanwhile, Daenerys Targaryen, the daughter of the king Robert murdered to obtain the Iron Throne, continues her journey-now armed with dragons-to return to the land she perceives as hers.I didn't enjoy A Clash of Kings quite as much as the first novel in the series, although it is still pretty entertaining. Rather than focusing mostly on the intrigue within the court at Kings Landing, the story has numerous settings throughout the realm in order for the reader to grasp what is going on. Due to this, we have numerous perspectives, mostly the same as in book one; Catelyn Stark, Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Daenrys Targaryen, Jon Snow and a new addition, Ser Davos, a smuggler turned knight working for Stannis.The major positives for me in A Clash of Kings were the characters. All of Martin's characters are incredibly well drawn, from those whose perspectives the reader shares to side characters such as Shae, the woman with whom Tyrion is having a kind of relationship. This time around, although I still really loathed Joffrey and Ceresi, I really warmed to Tyrion, Joffrey's dwarf uncle who takes over as Hand. He has really witty dialogue, and he actually seems to care about some of the people he interacts with. This novel also really extended my like of Catelyn Stark, the widow of Ned Stark; she strikes me as a gentler alternative to Ceresi Lannister and Sansa Stark, who is a virtual captive in King's Landing. I was not crazy about Stannis, but I would have liked a little more Davos in place of the slow story going on in Jon Snow's perspective.The thing that made it less good for me was the fact there were a few times were the book just seemed like it was dragging, or just building for events or introducing characters that will probably play more of a part in A Storm of Swords. When a book is as long as A Clash of Kings, it should be for a reason, and part of me felt that some parts of it did just feel like a bit of an information dump. That being said, the first half of the novel did go really quickly. Also, I did kind of want more Daenrys, who is a character I quite like.That aside, I am quite looking forward to who ultimately wins the Iron Throne, although with the third being in two halves, and a whopping 1,200 words ish in length, I think it may take a while for me to get through it.

4.5 starsI'm currently feeling a little bit stupid for not having made notes on this novel before I left for my holiday; but I shall try and review it best as I can; especially as I actually really enjoyed this book. In the wake of Fifty Shades storming the best selling book list, the idea of what makes a popular novel has been under scrutiny again. Pete Tarslow, the main character of Hely's novel, decides to create a book that ticks all the boxes that'll make it a huge success.The novel is a fictional memoir of Tarslow as he recounts how he went from writing university application letters for international students for a shady businessman's company to climbing up the bestseller list with his novel The Tornardo Ashes Club. He is not the most sympathetic character in the world, not by any stretch of the imagination, and whilst he attempts to show his motivations I did really struggle to feel any form of pity for him. However, as with Ian McEwan's Solar; Hely succeeds in not totally alienating the reader from his protagonist meaning that I remained involved in the novel, despite my dislike of Pete.The main selling point of this novel for me was the fact that it's a real book lovers book, spoofing popular and even literary fiction lovingly. Hely is so dedicated that he even creates a mock New York Times bestsellers list, although they are recognisable novels peppered throughout it. There are nods to writers like Dan Brown James Patterson, Lee Child, Lauren Weisberger, Malcolm Gladwell and even Jonathan Safran Foer, which made my inner literary geek very happy. Despite Hely pointing out the slight formulaic factors that propel a novel to the top, and the fact that Tarslow's prose is quite awful but not that far away from some writers who attempt to be lyrical in their writing; the overall message of the novel is one that points out that the best authors really believe in what they're doing-and that the fame that comes with it is usually just a side effect.The novel is pretty laugh out loud funny throughout, and I enjoyed Hely's glimpses into Pete's novel, and into the other novels that dominated the bestseller lists. The only flaw really was the fact that the other characters were perhaps not quite as fleshed out as they could have been, but that was probably due to the fact that the novel takes place purely from the perspective of Pete-who was pretty self-interested.If you love reading and know a fair bit about popular fiction, I really recommend How I Became a Famous Novelist.

I really enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind by Zafon, and looking for a short novel to tide me over before I go away, I reached for The Prince of Mist, Zafon's debut novel that has only recently been translated. Originally, it was published as a Young Adult novel; and it is a really good one-and suffers from virtually no 'first novel problems' either.This novel is more openly fantasy than Shadow of the Wind, and the only thing that slightly let the novel down for me was that the antagonist, who while really, really creepy, did not seem to have that much of an explanation of how he had this apparently mystical grip on people. Aside from that, the plot moved forward really well (sort of reminding me of a Curse of the Black Pearl feeling) and Zafon really knows how to build tension throughout the novel and its 256 pages fly by.Max is a good protagonist, a young boy on the verge of adulthood whose life is shadowed slightly by the war. He's intelligent and determined to get to the bottom of the mysteries he discovers, but Zafon is not afraid of showing him to be afraid of some of the sticky situations he finds himself in. I also really liked the character of Alicia, Max's older sister, who was really well portrayed and it was nice to see a feminine character who is not portrayed as drippy. The older characters, like Victor Kray the lighthouse keeper, were also written with the kind of sympathy and understanding that is not always present towards the adult characters in YA novels.Zafon's lyrical writing style is still present in this novel as well, it certainly is not 'dumbed down' for a young audience. At some points it got a little overdone, but that could have been due to the translation, and the fact that it was his first novel.The Prince of Mist is a really good, slightly creepy novel and I'm looking forward to reading its companion novel The Midnight Palace soon.

4.5 StarsWith all eyes turned towards London for the 2012 Olympics (go Team GB), it seemed like a really good time to read Lanchester's Capital, a novel that focuses on the inhabitants and workers on Pepys Road on the brink of the financial crisis of 2008. When even my Dad, who isn't a big fan of fiction, said that he enjoyed it I was really hopeful that it would be a really great book, and it pretty much is.Lanchester's novel isn't really plot based, but the device that ties all the characters together is the arrival of postcards with a photo of their house and 'We Want What You Have' written on them. This campaign allows is the backdrop for several character driven stories to unfold.The major success of this book is that Lanchester can keep you interested, even when his characters are unsympathetic to the reader. For example; the Youts and Roger's work colleagues deserved everything that came there way in my opinion, but Lanchester kept their stories interesting. I was actually laughing out loud at his description of Roger attempting to keep his young sons entertained and under control without a nanny. There were, however, plenty of characters that I really liked. In particular; Petinua Howe the last remaining inhabitant who had been born in her home, Patrick & Freddy Kamo who had moved to London to pursue Freddy's footballing dreams. the Kamal family with all their flaws and Quentina, the Zimbabwean traffic warden.Lanchester's writing style isn't overly descriptive or flowery, he uses pretty simple language but keeps the story moving along nicely. He also perhaps is not afraid to allow some of his own opinions to creep in, especially in terms of immigration and the City culture. However, his beliefs are not hammered through to the point that it becomes polemic or that it gets in the way of Capital's success as a novel.London is a fascinating city; it's a place that I really like visiting and can see myself working one day, and Lanchester brings his small portion of it to life brilliantly. I highly recommend it.

Barack Obama's election is what inspired me to read International Relations & Politics at university, and he remains an incredibly inspiring person to me and I have everything crossed that he'll get to stay in the White House for four more years. These feelings have only increased since I read Dreams from My Father, his memoir of his youth and search for identity.It is pretty unavoidable to know that Obama is a pretty good public speaker, and that his speeches tend to be very strong from a technical point. This charisma and writing skill are both present throughout Dreams from My Father, which is really brilliantly written. The book moves forward with some pace, despite pauses to consider some hefty issues of race and poverty-especially when Obama begins working in Chicago.One of the best thing about this book is Obama's honesty throughout. He does not shy away from presenting his younger self with flaws, as he struggled to work out what to do with his life, and nor does he insist on portraying his childhood through rose-tinted glasses. Those around him are also portrayed with flaws, rather than being portrayed as being totally positive or totally negative influences in his life. I know I finished the book with massive respect for his mother, who seemed like she was a really incredible person. It is true that Obama's youth is less than usual; being born in Hawaii, then moving to Indonesia, back to Hawaii and then to New York, followed by Chicago. This eventful youth makes the book more compelling than the 'average' treatise on race and identity. That being said, Obama's musings on those are incredibly interesting and manage to discuss sensitive topics really deeply. I found the entire section of the novel set in Kenya, when Obama travels out there to meet his father's family really moving-and I really liked Auma, his half sister. Another thing that Obama deals with really well is the search for religion, which seemed to take something of a back seat during his youth, and whilst he has now had to distance himself from Reverend Wright for political reasons, the story of him finding his faith was also really interesting, and managed to escape the 'I think this and so should you' aspects of some books where this is discussed (here's looking at you Eat Pray Love). I feel like I should probably stop gushing about how much I love this book, but it gave a really human face to one of the world's most powerful figures and is really beautifully written. You don't have to be a fan of politics or Obama's politics to get something out of this book, as it is really a book that explores issues of identity, belonging and family. It's really, really good.

3.5 StarsI first came across William Boyd when I fell in love with the television adaptation of his novel Any Human Heart, and recently bought Waiting for Sunrise but still haven't quite gotten round to actually reading Any Human Heart in novel format. However, when I was on holiday my Mum leant me her Kindle and I found Ordinary Thunderstorms on it. I had zero idea what it was going to be about, and I did quite enjoy it, despite having no idea what was coming.Adam Kindred is a fairly innocent guy who manages to get stuck in the very wrong place at the worst possible time, finding himself becoming framed for the murder of a pharmacist who was working on the cure for asthma. When this event makes Adam go underground, the novel also begins to reveal the shady goings on at the pharmaceutics company that the pharmacist, Philip Wang, was working for. Boyd's prose is incredibly pacey, and he builds the thriller aspects of the novel really well.Boyd tells the story of Ordinary Thunderstorms through the point of views of Adam, Rita who is a police officer, Jonjo who works in private security and Ingram the hapless CEO of a pharmaceutical company. He manages to give all four of these characters a unique voice and characterisation. All of them were multi-faceted characters; for instance, I started by really feeling sorry for Adam for being stuck in such a predicament, but as the novel progressed some of his actions just made me feel incredibly frustrated as he put other people at risk with seemingly little care. Also, I really disliked Jonjo, his behaviour just came across as hideously barbaric, but with the reveal of some of his back story his character becomes an example of the numerous ex-servicemen who struggle to adjust to life in 'normal' society. My only real problem with some of the characterisation was the fact that a lot of the poverty-stricken characters were portrayed in a less than sympathetic manner.That being said, Boyd crafts the story really well, gradually building tension really well. The mystery around the pharmaceutical company interested me less than the issues that Boyd puts forward through describing the issues that are faced by many people in crippling poverty. The idea of getting so deep into a mess that you become unable to be the person you actually are is really chilling, I could not imagine having to give up my entire life and become a totally different person. Ordinary Thunderstorms is a pretty solid thriller, and its ending did not leave me feeling at all content for the characters. It has made me really very excited to reading his other novels I have.