I fell off for a week or so and this thread has moved so fast
1: Paper Aeroplanes by Dawn O'Porter
2: This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
3: The Glass Menagerie by Tenesse Williams
4: Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
This is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare modern retellings of the plays series. We are reading Hagseed by Margaret Attwood (retelling of The Tempest) for my bookclub next month, so as this has sat in my TBR folder on my Kindle since I got it for 99p a couple of years ago, I thought it was worth a go.
It's a modern retelling of the Taming of The Shrew, which to be honest of all the Shakespeare plays (that I am familiar with anyway) does not date well. It basically is a comedy about a father trying to get rid of his troublesome, outspoken older daughter, by basically paying someone to marry her.
As a modern novel it was a bit disjointed and some of the characters were jarring and unbelievable, presumably because the author is trying to stick to the plot of Taming of the Shrew (which doesn't really work for the modern reader)
I do however like the idea of the modern retellings, so have high hopes for Hagseed, and I have bought Jo Nesbo's Macbeth with the Waterstones voucher I got for Christmas.
5: Endurance- Shackleton's Incredible Journey by Alfred Lansing
I was vaguely aware of this incredible story of survival and leadership by did not know the details of the story. In 1914, Ernest Shakleton and his men sailed south to cross the Antarctic. Their ship The Endurance became trapped in the ice and they spent the Antarctic winter on the ship (and on the ice around it) but eventually the ship was sunk due to the pressure of the ice and Shackleton and his men ended up camping on the ice and making their way laboriously over the ice, dragging their supplies and three lifeboats salvaged from the ship with them. After more than a year, they ended up camped on Elephant Island after a nightmarish sea journey in the open boats, and Shackleton makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave his men, and sail in a small lifeboat, with just five other men across the Antarctic ocean to South Georgia where they had set out from nearly two years previously, to go for help.
It is an inspiring story, with an ultimately happy ending as every man survived.
I did fell it ended rather abruptly as Shackleton and the rescue ship arrived at Elephant Island to rescue the rest of his men, but I would have loved some more information and background about what happened to them after they got back to England. I know from googling afterwards that some of the men went straight to the WW1 front when they returned to England in 1917 and were tragically killed, but it would have been good to have this information in the book.
A very good read though, a fantastic story.
6: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
I read this as it is one of those children's classics that I should have read (but somehow never have)
I can see its literary merit, interesting plot and story - which I am sure everyone knows - groups of boys are stranded on an island after a plane crash and while it starts well, with the boys choosing a Chief and agreeing on rules and keeping a signal fire going, it degenerates into savagery over an unclear timescale.
I have lots of questions - why are all these boys on a plane with no grown ups in the first place, and they all seem remarkably calm about having been in a plane crash and being stuck on an island with no adults. There is no pre-amble, it starts after the crash and the boys are wandering around the island.
Lots of vivid descriptions of the boys' fear and explorations into human nature versus society's rules, but I have to admit, I did get a bit bored in places (probably because I knew what happens in the end and there is only so many ways you can describe wind/roots of trees etc)
Lots to write about for GCSE English, and in fairness, a lot to talk about but not one that will go on my re-read shelf.