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#book2_The Girl in the red coat Roma Ligocke was born Rominka Liebling to a Jewish family in Krakow, Poland, in 1938, about a year before the start of WWI.
During the Nazi occupation, she and her parents were put into the Krakow Ghetto. In autumn 1941, 2,000 Jews were murdered there and deportations had begun. They survived, though. When, in 1943, the Krakow Ghetto was liquidated, the then 4-yr old Roma and her mother escaped via an underground passage. Her mother bought false ID papers, assumed the Polish name Ligocka and dyed Roma's dark hair blonde. Living as pretense relatives of the family who took them in, all lived in permanent fear of being discovered.
The war ended and this moving autobiography stretches till recently. Readers follow Roma growing up, her marriages and divorces, well, her troubled life with eating disorders, pill addiction and her roaming through Europe till she finally settles down...in Germany. Roma may have survived the Holocaust but could never overcome her ghosts.
It would therefore be misleading to call this a Holocaust memoir, as it's more a life memoir: her recollections from her sad childhood are naturally vague and fragmentary memories and take up just the beginning of the book. Besides her constant brandishing her attributes, this is a superb first-hand account of the impact of the genocide on the survivors, particularly fear, nightmares, depression, sleeplessness. But why has this book come out? It was as a survivor of the Ghetto that the Mayor of Krakow invited her to attend the world premiere of Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List, where Roma spots herself wearing a red coat. After that day, Roma knew she had to tell the story of "The girl in the red coat".

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The Girl in the Red Coat, Roma Ligocka, BookCover

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#book1_Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer, is, in part, about a boy coming to terms with his father's death during the 9/11 tragic events.
Oskar Schell is a super smart, precocious  9-yr-old boy who verbalises his thoughts. He is grieving his father's death in the World Trade Center attack and feels so guilty about not picking up his father's last phone call that, when he finds a key in an envelope with the word "Black" on it inside a vase in his father's closet, he starts a quest: he decides to track down every person in NYC with the last name Black.
Oskar is surrounded by a loving mother and a very protective grandmother. Along his quest, he meets other concerned grown ups named Black who, nevertheless, can't make it up for the devastating emptiness he feels and his constant state of anxiety and fear.
Let's wait now for students' opinions and feelings about this 9 yr-old  with no friends his own age - who, to me, seems to have Asperger's Syndrome and whose determination and obsession with with detail reminds me of  "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" , a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon.

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#book20_another classic read, this time Anne of Green Gables, a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery.
It recounts the adventures of Anne (written with –e) Shirley, an 11-year-old orphan girl, sent to Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who wished to adopt a boy to help them on their farm - Green Gables - in the fictional town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island.
This “odd little figure” with the “long braids of red hair and the eager luminous eyes” soon starts winning their hearts, with her faults, her constant chatter and reasoning, and the value in her learning.
We follow Anne as she grows older and wiser when she tells Marilla “I’m not a bit changed – not really. I’m only just pruned down and branched out.”(Chap 34) I love her innocence and the need for a “bosom friend”, her search for “kindred-spirits”, her imagination and the way she shows appreciation to every one.
A timeless classic, no doubt, and just like Little Women, must-read titles I should have read long ago.

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#book19_ Just finished Normal People, the 2nd book by the Irish novelist Sally Rooney.
Marianne Sheridan and Connell Waldron grow up in a small town in Ireland - she is from a wealthy family, while he has a working class background; she is a loner while he is popular; she is from a troubled family, while he has a very supportive and loving single mother... Despite all these differences, they fall for each other and eventually move to Dublin to attend college.
This book is the recipient of several awards and ravishing reviews and therefore, my expectations were high. Right now, I can only say I don't really understand the hype...First, my bewilderment (and sometimes exasperation) concerns the fact that these two young adults, educated, well read, critical and politically aware end up getting involved in awkward situations, especially Marianne, always questioning her self-worth, so submissive and 🤬. Second, I found - and still find - no interest in reading about these 2 characters' constant navel-gazing, their sexual intercourse, their on-off relationship, largely due to miscommunication, only to find out they can't really stay apart. Much more interesting and productive was their email exchange and distant contact... I've been wondering if it's just me and how far this mirrors Irish youth since Rooney is quite young, Irish and living in Dublin.

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#book18_Another Portuguese title A Casa da Cabeça de Cavalo (in English,  The House of the Horse Head) is the first I've read by Teolinda Gersão, an awarded Portuguese author.
This house is located in a village in the north of the country and has a horse head on its wall which is a metaphor for time: for the passage of time, all day long with the sun moving on it and for its inhabitants. Throughout time, the house inhabitants have died, but, most important of all, are the family (hi)stories written down by Januário. The book has a unique structure with the family (hi)story being revisited, giving visibility to its some weird inhabitants now invisible there.
The characters' names and lifestyle are typically Portuguese and some of them are quite interesting as Duarte Augusto (with his sudden mood swings, but, particularly, his furies), Filipe (The Frenchman, D.Augusto's son -in-law) and Maria Badala (and her feminist views and equality arguments).
I can't say I loved it, but it's really excellent Portuguese writing.

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#book17_The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt - one of the longest books I've read but sooooo good!!!
It's brilliantly written, with gorgeous descriptions, memorable characters (with slang and all) and covers so much: the uptown NY moneyed elite and the downtown working class, the NY social visits and the gambling (and drug) addicts of Las Vegas, philosophical reflections, furniture restoration and art history, mental illness, Russian drug dealers and how a teenage boy feels after experimenting different drugs (and even overdosing), and how it's like to be always in love with the wrong person. And friendship. True friendship.
As the title suggests, the book is around a stand-alone masterpiece - The Goldfinch - painted in 1654, by Fabritius, and begins withTheo(dore) Decker, a 13-yr-old New Yorker who survives a museum explosion that kills his beloved mother. Abandoned by his alcoholic father and ignored by his grandparents, the boy is taken in by the family of a wealthy school friend. From then on, readers follow Theo's erratic life, first in NYC, then in Las Vegas and then again in NYC when he is taken in by another good friend. We also accompany the tormented Theo into adulthood, clinging to the small painting that reminds him of his mother, into the underworld of art and an ever more dangerous circle.
It is really a masterful story, totally different from everything I've read before, but sometimes I found that there was too much detail and that the last chapter dragged on forever...a few edits here and there and The Goldfinch wouldn't have lost its high quality and would be some pages shorter.

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#book16_Sete Mulheres, Sete Histórias (In English, Seven Women, Seven Stories) is a 2006 wonderful collection of 7 short stories I've come across through the generous hands of my good old friend @margarida_seica_eventos ❤️.
. Seven Portuguese women with different careers and of different social and cultural backgrounds bring us 7 amazing stories. What do they have in common then? They share their strength and courage to follow their dreams thus encouraging readers to do the same.
. Captivating as it is, I couldn't put it down until I finished and, as you may guess, I read it in a single sitting. Being short stories though, they can be read whenever we have 5/10 min. Now the question I keep asking myself is why have I taken so long to pick it up???

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Sete Mulheres, Sete Histórias, Book Cover

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#book15 _Having felt a bit disappointed with A Marriage in December, the 1st title I read by Anita Shreve, I tried a 2nd one, The Last Time They Met, and, in 24 hours, I changed my mind.
.It actually started really dull with a chance encounter, in Toronto, at a literary festival, of 2 former lovers, Linda Fallon & Thomas Janes. A story that started 35 years before, twice abruptly interrupted, is now projected to the present, with half sentences referring to those previous meetings and relationships.
.The book has 3 parts - Fifty-two, Twenty-six and Seventeen - Linda's ages when they first met, in the USA, and fell in love, then when they rekindled their relationship, in Kenya, and Linda was 26, and after 26yrs (the present) when Linda is 52, and they meet again.
.This is a complex story of passionate, obsessive love, told in reverse chronological order which, sometimes, is not that easy to follow. Having met only 3 times in over 3 decades, theirs is an enduring first love, which not even marriages and children from other relationships can overcome.
.Well, not that bad after all, but I'm glad I can now move on to a less romantic title

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#book14_ I rarely do it, but I admit I picked up High Tide, by Veronica Henry, based on its cover and title. The fact that I had recently finished reading another title by the same author also spiced up my interest.
This multi-narrative novel revolves around 4 main characters:
.Kate lives in New York where she leads a very stressful life. She flies to picturesque Pennfleet, on the Cornish coast, for her mother's funeral.
.Sam was an A&E consultant, in London , whose life turned upside down when his wife died. For the sake of his children, he moved from the big city to charming Pennfleet where he now runs a cosy cafe, sam's picnic emporium. His mischievous but well-intentioned children set him up so that he can meet a partner.
. Nathan is a happy, good-looking local lad who, besides running picnic cruises up and down the river, is also a hearse driver. It's exactly after a funeral and after kissing the widow of the richest man in Pennfleet that he stops being happy 😉.
.Vanessa has always had a discreet life, even if detached from her husband's, Spencer. After 17 yrs of marriage, her hubby dies of a massive stroke and she just wants to get drunk to forget the stress of dealing with Spencer's entourage.
. Kate's mum and Spencer's funerals are on the same day it it was riveting to note the differences: Joy's funeral and "after party" is a celebration of life while the other is an excuse for a huge party and the expectations about what's in the decease's will!
. I haven't regretted my choice as this was a light summer read, with enjoyable, engaging and relatable characters as well as a wonderful setting.

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#book13_Part of my Reading Challenge for 2019 included reading some classics I have too often postponed...until now. Many I read while at university, but others have simply been overlooked for contemporary authors and more modern topics.
. Time has come to fulfill my own promises: I've just finished the much beloved Little Women.
. This book of autobiographical inspiration by Louis a May Alcott follows Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy's daily life, their joys and sorrows, their learnings from their own mistakes...for about a year, 1861, during the American Civil War. The girls'father (Mr March) is absent from most of the story. However, we learn that he is a very good man as is Mrs March with all her teachings. Though poor and undergoing a lot of strain, life for the March sisters and those around them is very rich and full of energy and activities.
. I had a great time reading about past times, good manners, female education and expectations, and gallantry.
. What about you? Have you read it? And which of the four March girls do you most resemble?

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#book12_Suite Française, published posthumously, by Irene Nemirovsky, is another poignant portrait of tragic events in the beginning of the 2nd WW - even more tragic if we think that the author was writing the novel while simultanously experiencing the events described...the air raids over Paris, the hasty and mad exodus  on foot, by train, by car, villages invaded by French nationals, refugees in their own country, hungry and exhausted people, from all walks of life, begging for food and a place to sleep...
Inspired by Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Suite Française was planned to have five sections, but the author's arrest in July 1942 and her death one month later in Auschwitz, meant this ambitious novel was left unfinished, with 2 parts: Storm in June (a depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion) and Dolce (depicting a small community, some even housing German officers, struggling to survive under occupation). However, amidst so much loss - on top being human loss - and scarcity of bread, wheat, flour, potatoes, petrol, cars, horses...everything, hope prevails as does nobility and love among conquerors and the conquered. Indeed, it's not the first time that German officers are featured as cultured, educated men (e.g.The Nightingale / The Girl you left behind) and not as brutes, many being also (unfortunate) ramifications of the war machine.
So, even unfinished, it's a brilliant and acute observation of the events that the author herself was experiencing and a timeless portrait of humanity.
The doubt remains: if this is already so good, how much better could the final version have been?

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#book11_Promise Me, by Harlan Coben, hooked me from the beginning till the very end!
Myron Bolitar, a former sportsman, and now a literary fictional agent (similar to Detective Cormoran Strike or Robert Langdon), promised a close friends' daughter he would help her at any time in case she ever got in trouble...Aimee Biel would just have to call. This well-intentioned promise turns into a nightmare when Aimee does call him at 2.17 am and asks to be left at an unknown address (supposedly a friend's) and disappears into the night. The next day she is reported missing...
. Full of guilt and moved by the despair of the girl's parents, Myron (and readers) embark(s) on a whodunit journey, a journey that exposes teenagers' secretive lives, the lengths parents will go to save their children and these high schoolers' future at top universities.
. Just like The Chalk Man, this is a high-paced suspense/thriller novel, a real page-turner full of twists. Coben has an engaging rich writing, Promise Me has a thick plot with inviting, short chapters and before I knew it, I'd soaked up half the book.
. Again and again, many thanks to my dear friend @margarida_seica_eventos for yet another wonderful gift. I'm truly enjoying these crime mysteries.

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#book10_ChickLit alright, but a good one! It was delightful to bury myself in "How to Find Love in a Bookshop", the first title I've read by Veronica Henry.
Emilia Nightingale returns to her beloved hometown, bookshop and dying father, Julius. She is suddenly on her own having promised him the bookshop "never closes its door". This book - and the bookshop itself - is a dream come true for all bookworms: it has loads of references to literary excerpts, authors and, from time to time, there are lists of ten titles, of classics, eponymous literary heroines, literary country houses, books about music, novels set in Ireland.
The book has several parallel stories intertwined, with relatable characters, life stories and romance, as well as Emilia's struggle to save Nightingale Books not to disappoint herself and the vibrant mix of customers. However, for me, the book and its title entail so much more: I've always felt drawn to a bookstore whenever I see one as I believe I'll always find something (not someone) to "love" there: a good book to purchase, a nice chat around a book, its characters, title or author, a book club...as Henry Ward Beecher proclaimed "Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?"
Well, it was indeed a perfect choice for a weekend summer break at the beach!

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How to Find Love in a Bookshop, Book Cover

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#book9_Jeremy Mercer's "Time was soft there" is a memoir of the time this Canadian reporter lived in the celebrated English language bookstore on Paris's Left Bank, Shakespeare and Co, while working for the proprietor, the legendary George Whitman. It's therefore also a biography of G. Whitman who had been running what he called a "socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore" for over 50 years. Since Mercer was there in the first half of the year 2000, the book is also a first hand account of the Parisian literary bohemia at the turn of the Millennium.
Ever since its origins in 1951, the store has been a literary hub having attracted famous names and even more relevant is the fact that Whitman had always taken in poor, unemployed, aspiring writers, poets, artists to live in and above the bookshop. There are now over a dozen beds and the owner often claimed he had housed more than 40,000 people. In exchange for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of staying in this romantic world of communal life, the bookstore had a unique residency policy: make your bed in the morning, help out in the shop, read a book a day and write a one-page biography for the shop's archive.
In spite of all the ups and downs of living for 5 months in the crowded quarters of this mythical bookshop with windows overlooking Notre Dame, Mercer had a memorable time there, learning a lot with Whitman and feeling inspired to share his peculiar experiences with the world.
"Time was soft there" is the story of a personal journey as much as it is a journey to a literary hub in the shadow of Notre Dame. G. Whitman, also rightly nicknamed the "Don Quixote of the Latin Quarter", may have passed away in the last days of 2011, but his legacy lives on, now run by Sylvia Whitman, George's only daughter. If ever in Paris don't miss the opportunity to, at least, visit this mecca...and make sure you read this honest, charming memoir before you go.

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#book8_The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted_This was the first title I’ve ever bought just based on its title; a bit disappointing but ok to read.
I confess that I had never read anything by Robert Hillman, an Australian writer, whose experiences of growing up in rural Australia inspired the character Tom Hope and his life as a farmer (and a handyman).
With his heart broken after his wife left him not once but twice, and then again when she came back after 2 years to claim her son, Peter, this lonely farmer wakes up very early to milk his cows and then check on his woollies. His love life is turned upside down though when Hannah Pope comes to town, eager to open a bookshop. She is a twice-widowed Auschwitz survivor from Hungary, who hires Tom to renovate the old shop. In spite of all odds, they soon become lovers and end up getting married.
Set in the 1960s, this is a tender novel about broken hearts and forgiveness, but I was expecting much more around a bookshop. However, I did appreciate the entrepreneurship, commitment and persistence around creating a bookshop in an unlikely place, which I see as a victory of culture and reading taking into account that Hannah is a WWII survivor and that the Nazis burned so many books.

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The bookshop of the Broken Hearted, Book Cover

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#book7_I bought Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast last month while in Paris (as it should be) and had it inscribed at the bookstore with the classic #shakespeareandco stamp.
Hemingway (H.) often refers to the place and Sylvia Beach, the founder and original owner (the lady in the book cover with H.) with affection and gratitude. As if this wasn't enough, there's a whole chapter dedicated to this rental library and bookstore (then at 12, rue de l'Odéon) which the author describes as "a lovely, warm, cheerful place with a big stove in winter, tables and shelves of books, new books in the window, and photographs on the wall of famous writers both death and living."
Indeed, A Moveable Feast is a memoir and concerns H's time in Paris, from 1921 to 1926, struggling as a young writer, his musings about his readings and the process of writing,  his associations with other expatriates like Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald, while married to his first wife, Hadley Richardson. It's curious though that he just started writing this memoir that so well captures the vibrant mood of Paris in the 1920s after, in 1956, repossessing material he had stored at the Ritz Hotel in Paris back in 1928. For me it was also interesting to complement with The Paris Wife, by Paula McClain, whose voice is Hadley's.
Published posthumously in 1964 with text editions by H's then 4th wife, this is a restored edition (with the original manuscript) and contains 19 complete chapters as well as 10 "Additional Paris Sketches" (unfinished texts as H. left them when he died).
A fascinating author whose experiences in Paris are immortalised with A Moveable Feast.

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#book6_A mysterious chalk man leads Eddie and friends right to a dismembered body...

Narrated by Eddie, in flashbacks of his childhood, as a 12-yr-old boy, and present day events as 42-yr-old teacher The Chalk Man is C. J. Tudor's gripping debut novel.
I found it hard to put down with the vivid tale of murder and loss; each page is a whodunit that kept me glued to the book.
Very well written and a really excellent crime fiction plot not to miss!!
Many thanks to my dearest friend @margarida_seica_eventos for the generous gift 💕.

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#book5_Martha Hall Kelly’s 2016 bestselling debut, Lilac Girls, is a historical novel inspired by the true story of New York socialite Caroline Ferriday’s fight to help the Nazi concentration camp survivors known as the "Ravensbrück Rabbits."
Divided into 3 parts in which fact and fiction interplay, the novel has 3 alternating female narrators and spans two decades, from 1939, right when Hitler invaded Poland, till 1959.
Volunteering at the French Consulate in NYC, Caroline Ferriday (C.) worked tirelessly and used her own funds to help orphans and later to help Ravensbrück survivors.

Another narrator is Kasia, a Polish girl who gets involved in the Resistance, is arrested and taken to the infamous female “reeducation” camp where women endured not only starvation, cold and illness, but were also submitted to brutal medical experimentations that left many (the Rabbits) limp and in permanent agony – Kasia being one of them.

The 3rd voice is from Dr Herta Oberheuser, a cold-hearted young surgeon from Düsseldorf, loyal to the Nazi cause.

I’ve read many novels around WWII, but this one was the first to detail life at the female concentration camp and the brutal, really disturbing medical experimentations on young and healthy Polish women. Yet, unforgettable and powerful is also the depiction of friendship, support, resilience and courage among these camp survivors as well as by those who helped them to finally being granted reparations.

Now, why did these Polish survivors of the Ravensbruck concentration camp sulfa experiments become known as “Rabbits”? Well, rabbits for hopping about the camp after having been operated on (their legs) and also because they were Nazis’ experimental rabbits. As for the title, C. loved lilacs and referring to these flowers as well as to the tough situations Kasia and her sister had to endure , she says “It’s a miracle all this beauty emerges after such hardship” since lilacs only blossom after a harsh winter.

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#book4_I can't really say if I loved The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood as I've got mixed feelings about it: on the one hand, I couldn't stop establishing connections with Orwell's 1984 and with women's rights, (lack of) gender equality and some religious fundamentalism taking place around the world. On the other hand, and as a woman, while reading, I was always edgy and shocked concerning the handmaids' ordeals, whose existence was only for reproductive /breeding means.
In this oppressive regime of the Republic of Gilead, women had (intentionally the use of past tense) absolutely no power, couldn't speak their minds, read or write...
As the Commander says in a service "I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel/with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; / But with good works. / Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. / But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. / For Adam was first formed, then Eve. / And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. / Notwithstanding she shall be saved by childbearing..." (Chap 34, page 229).
A thought-provoking book from the beginning till the end, literally from cover to cover...

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#book3_The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah’s latest novel, follows the Allbright family (Ernt and Cora, and their 13-yr-old Leni) as they move to the harsh wilderness of Alaska in 1974 hoping to be happy and make a fresh start.
As we soon learn, life isn’t easy there either and they must work themselves to the bone just to survive the treacherous and long Alaskan winters. Besides, for Cora and Leni there are dangers far greater and within their own walls than wild animals and the elements. Indeed, Ernt was in Nam and a POW and he and his wife have a toxic relationship due to the combination of nightmares, flashbacks, lack of sleep and too much alcohol. After years of domestic violence and enduring all kinds of abuse, of neighbours stepping in and promising help, Cora finally has the guts to change the course of events.

This intimate family portrait is heart breaking, but I just couldn’t even stop to sleep and read it through the night: the hope of change, the mixture of love and fear, the budding romance between Leni and Matthew first as teens and then as young adults, make it unputdownable.

Kristin Hannah dedicates The Great Alone – title derived from a poem about Alaska’s isolation and beauty – to the women in her family and it’s, in fact, a celebration of the remarkable and enduring strength of women. A must-read!

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#book2_I'm a great fan of historical fiction and this was definitely a great kickoff in this genre.
"The girl you left behind", by Jojo Moyes, is not only the title of the book but also the name of the portrait  Edouard LeFevre painted of Sophie Bassere, later LeFevre.

The book is divided into two parts. The first, set in 1916, the midpoint of WWI, takes place in a small French town, St Péronne, which is occupied by the Germans and focuses on Sophie, her sister Helene and her children, and their brother. While their husbands are fighting in the front,The two sis run their former hotel La Coq and are supposed to feed German soldiers and their commandant, who yearns to possess the painting - Sophie's portrait - hanging on the wall.

As I was so engrossed in this storyline, the author takes us to London, 2006 (2nd part) and we meet a 33 yr-old widow, Olivia (Liv) Halston, the current owner of the painting. Still trying to overcome the sudden death of her brilliant architect husband, Liv treasures her honeymoon gift too much to let it go.
As with so many valuables looted by the Germans during WWI & II, this painting is now subject to a restitution request led by Paul McCafferty, a professional investigator and co-owner of a company specialised in restoring stolen art to their rightful owners.

The Girl you Left Behind is centered around the ownership of a painting and it's the intertwining of Sophie and Liv's stories that makes it not just a historical novel but also a mystery, keeping me on tenderhooks.

Despite being a page-turner, I have to say that I found Sophie's story much more engaging; also in case of high-profile and valued pieces, there's always extra security which didn't happen at Liv's place or when she arrived at court carrying "...a multi-million-pound work of art...like a loaf of bread" (chapter 34). I loved the plot around a painting, learned a lot about art and the restitution process under the Geneve  Convention. I'll definitely read more titles by Jojo Moyes.

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#book1_Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X is written in poetic verse and is about the coming of age story of 15.yr-old Xiomara (hence the X) Batista. Of Latino origin (her parents emigrated from the Dominican Republic), she lives in Harlem, NY, with her parents and brother “Twin” Xavier with whom she has a close relationship. She has a very conservative upbringing, with her mother being a very devout Christian, and constantly feeling unheard and misunderstood.
I’ve always loved poetry and to be honest the title caught my attention – and I’m so glad it did! What really fascinated me about the book is not the content but the format, the way she finds her own voice through slam poetry: we learn about family tensions, about her brother giving her notebooks to express her feelings and emotions, about her bio class and first love, about her mother’s plans for X’s Confirmation, Ms Galiano – a teacher who picks up on X’s writing talent -, and a slam poetry club that will put her in the spotlight.

Xiomara has a powerful voice and her teen feelings and growing up struggles are very relatable and straightforward as well as the so-called “generation gap”. In any case, I read it fast and highly recommend it.

PS: Slam Poetry is a relatively new but increasingly popular form of poetry, that does not rely on rhyming at all, and does not follow ''traditional'' poetry structure. This free-form poetry is mainly designed for oral performance and you can even check some performances by the author herself on YouTube.

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Who doesn't remember the haunting image of a child refugee found lying face-down on a beach?  Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey induced the world famous Khaled Housseini,  also a Goodwill Envoy to the UNHCR, and the founder of The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, to write this short work. Sea Prayer, beautifully illustrated, is a letter,  a poem, a beautiful emotional prayer from a father to a son on the eve of a terrifying sea journey as well as a depiction of their life in Homs, Syria, before the war and then as a war-zone.
It's not really a bed-time story, but a tribute to all refugees, and as such, a reality that should be told and retold to readers of all ages.
PS: the book is a fundraiser for refugees.

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Sea prayer, Khaled Housseini, BOOK COVER

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It's Christmas time and that's one further reason to be sensitive to these heartwrenching escape stories, an agglomeration of of expectations and traumas common to refugees, regardless of their creeds, celebrating Xmas or not 🎄.
Here are some highlights of Refugee, by Alan Gratz, a harrowing page-turner that all should read:
📖Josef (from Nazi Germany), Isabel (from 1990's Cuba) and Mahmoud (from modern Syria) are child refugees, apparently without much else in common as they are from different eras and places, and have different religions. Though they are fictional characters, their tales are based on true stories (author's note);
📖These teen protagonists have to be visible, to stand up and out to survive, to be able to reach their "promised land" wherever it may be;
📖As readers and critical thinkers, we have to question ourselves if we REALLY know what's REALLY happening around the world, what refugees REALLY go through and ask...how many people (have) see(n), hear(d) and help(ed) refugees?
📖By the connections tying these 3 storylines, those who better understand and REALLY help are the ones who have already been refugees themselves;
📖As a Catholic, I couldn't help noticing the Biblical references to Noah, Moses, the Promised Land (page 273) and similarities to Mt 2: 12-15: the Holy Family were also refugees as they had to flee Bethlehem to escape King Harod who was slaughtering all male children were under 2.
So...many good reasons for youngsters and adults alike to read this touching book 🎄.
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Strangely enough, I really enjoyed reading The Madman and the Professor. As far as I am concerned, Simon Winchester wrote it superbly and has a clear admiration for Dr Chester Minor, the Madman. However sad Dr Minor’s life may have been, his contributions for the making of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) were numerous, prodigious and complex which clearly demonstrate that mental disorders have absolutely nothing to do with intelligence…his devotion to the OED was laudable and the work he produced was fully validated by Dr James Murray, the Professor, and his team.

Luckily for Dr Murray (his truly unexpected and unconventional friend), the OED and all dictionary users for decades to come, the unfortunate Dr Minor was  institutionalised in state asylums for almost 50 years, essentially untreated.
Every chapter starts with a definition and its uses – as any dictionary does - and, as I kept reading chapter after chapter, something kept me drawing to this book, namely how meticulous and acute - as well as delusional – Dr Minor was throughout his long life. escAlso surprising was that in spite of his long punishment, he was generous till his very end.
Highly recommended, especially now with the movie release announced for 2019!

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The Professor and the madman, Book Cover

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The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a novel that tells the story of a group of young boys who survive a plane crash and are forced to learn to survive on a deserted tropical island Left to fend for themselves, the boys ultimately govern themselves in the absence of any adult authority.
Throughout the story the boys change, the group falls apart and, eventually, fight a war amongst themselves.
The Lord of the Flies - physically, it is the pig head that some of the boys mount on a sharpened stick and leave as an offering for the beast; it is described as dripping blood and attracts a swarm of buzzing flies - asks questions about innocence, civilization and the effects of power...
Not my cuppa as I found it a disturbing read.

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I'd been meaning to read it for ages, especially after having been to the place where (supposedly) Oscar Wilde stayed and wrote this short, four-act play.
Lady and Lord Windermere are a happy, young couple with a 6-month old child. As Lady W. gets ready for her birthday party, she hears rumours that her husband is having an affair with a Mrs Erlynne. Lord W. promptly denies it and even asks his wife to invite Mrs Erlynne to the party.
Lady W. is so distressed that, that same night, she decides to run away with a Lord Darlington...no more spoilers, but what matters is that all ends well: Lady and Lord W. make amends and decide to take a holiday from society.
Lady Windermere's fan is a comedy of customs, a typical Wilde's play, published in 1893, satirizing British society and its dynamics. One of its themes is the concern about maintaining appearances within the upper class in Victorian England, creating the illusion that all is ok, the other is the obsession for (good) marriages but lack of a mother figure...

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When 7-yr-old Pierrot Fischer becomes an orphan, he has to leave his Jewish friend, Anshel, his dog, D'Artagnan and his home in Paris to  live with his aunt Beatrix, a housekeeper in Berghof, an isolated mansion in Germany, close to the Austrian border.
These are troubled times though, and as soon as the boy arrives, his aunt renames him Pieter as it is safer for him to have a German name with Berghof's owner being...Adolf Hitler!
As an unlikely friendship develops and Pieter becomes under Hitler's wing, he joins Hitlerjugend and becomes an informer.
I found this short novel by awarded writer John Boyne both intriguing and disturbing, namely how the ingenuity of a child can be so easily corrupted. Indeed, we follow a clear metamorphosis of the protagonist from being naive, fearful, helpless and vulnerable to becoming a bully, an arrogant, unscrupulous blind mini-me Hitler, and finally, with the end of the war, a shamefaced, insecure and disoriented Pierrot who ends up knocking on his only friend's door...
Even though it's primarily aimed at a young audience, The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain should be read by all as it tackles important issues as death, bullying, (in)tolerance and friendship: after a life of regret, Pierrot learns that not even time destroys a true friendship.

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The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain, Book Cover

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I started reading this Home Front Girls when I didn’t have The Goldfinch with me and took advantage of having no electricity or internet to finish reading it 😊
This is my cuppa 😊 – historical fiction around WWII.

3 girls from different backgrounds meet when war strikes and all start working at a department store (Owen Owen) in Coventry. Dotty has just turned 18 and left the orphanage she has always lived in to become independent; Lucy lives with her siblings helped by a kind-hearted neighbour. Unlike the other two girls, Annabelle is spoiled, has led a life of privilege and unwillingly has to start working to help provide for herself and family. As the war rages on and its devastating effects take their toll, their friendship blossoms and their mutual support becomes precious.

Even though I found the plot a bit predictable, it was both a light read and an uplifting story of friendship and survival as Rosie Goodwin so well conveys the destruction and casualties of WWII in England.

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I've read countless books on WWII and the Holocaust, but The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris, has so far been the only one depicting life (better still, survival and death) inside Auschwitz. Even though it's not graphic / violent in detailed descriptions, the account is nonetheless devastating.
This book is based on the true story of Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, whose job - soon after his arrival in Auschwitz in April 1942 - was to tattoo the prisoners' numbers on their arms. As this job grants him some perks, he is determined not only to survive but also to help others withstand the worst of humanity as they endure starvation, disease, hard work and cold. Hence, for a 3-yr period, he trades jewels for food, chocolate and medicine deeply believing that "Choosing to live is an act of defiance,  form of heroism."(page 158) and "To save one is to save the world". (page 35)
The (for)ever shocking cruelty of what happened in concentration camps as opposed to so many selfless acts even in the darkest of times, highlights the triumph of the human spirit and love between Lale and Gita, the ingredients to make this reading unstoppable. Another must-read!

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Starting in 1995, Travelers' Tales has been publishing short stories by and for women. I happened to read The Best Women's Travel Writing from 2007, courtesy of an old friend, and I enjoyed the variety and richness of the stories in what concerns the places, their wit and discoveries. Great to read whenever we have a few minutes.

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Best Women's Travel Writing 2007, Book Cover

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I do enjoy reading Michael Morpurgo's books, not only because I like his historical fiction tales around the 2 world wars, but also to recommend them to my pupils. However, I have to say that Escape From Shangri-La hasn't become a fave especially because I found Cessie, an 11-12 yr-old girl, a bit annoying, and the adventure that explains the title, a bit...far-fetched. The other main character is the girl's 65 yr-old granddad, Popsicle, whose sudden appearance after decades away, changed everything.
In any case, it's a book for all ages portraying a really sweet and tender relationship both between a tween and her granddad, who can only remember his past in glimpses, and among a group of OAPs young at heart.

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'Before We Were Yours', by Lisa Wingate, is a heartbreaking and moving fictional story, inspired by true events that shed light on the despicable real-life actions of Georgia Tann, considered the “most prolific serial killer” by running a black-market child trafficking ring masked as a legitimate adoption agency for decades in Tennessee. She catered to the rich and famous and made millions off with the sale of children, who were often kidnapped. This book spans generations, alternating between the present day and the past. The "past" story is narrated by the oldest Foss sibling, Rill (aka May). Avery Stafford, a former federal prosecutor and the daughter of a prominent Senator, tells the present-day story. Gradually, the two storylines unfold and the connection becomes clear.
Memphis, 1939. 12 yr-old Rill Foss and her 4 younger siblings are gypsies living a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shanty boat, their own kingdom, Arcadia. However, everything changes forever when their father must rush their pregnant mother to the hospital on a stormy night and strangers arrive to take them into Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage. At first, they are not aware of their fate, but it soon becomes clear that they are not going to be returned to their parents as they are being forcefully kept and even renamed by the facility’s cruel director.
Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Avery Stafford returns home to help her prominent father deal with health issues and determined to find out the truth following a seemingly innocuous event at a nursing facility, she begins digging into the past, taking a journey through her family's long-hidden history.

I absolutely loved this book and it has had a great impact on me… while I was appalled by such infamous historical events (and the plight of the fictional Foss children) I knew nothing about, the author wonderfully mingles fact and fiction and it is simultaneously an uplifting tale with life lessons on sisterly love and on reminding us that our heart never forgets who we really are and where we belong. A must-read!

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This is a pretty weird, avant-garde book around the death of Abraham Lincoln’s beloved 11-year-old son, Willie, who succumbed to typhoid fever on Feb. 20, 1862, during the American Civil War, and the grief-stricken president’s visits to the crypt where his son was.
It’s basically a ghost story, told in many different “voices”, monologues and a real patchwork of material around the President and his child’s death. I felt all this supernatural chatter a bit boring at times, but at the same time, it shows us the despair, the extent of the heartache caused by the untimely death of one’s child – any child – in this case Lincoln’s, and the irreversibility of such loss. The mother’s fragility isn't ignored as aren't the references to the weight of the ongoing Civil War and the discrimination suffered by Negroes.

Although Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders, was Man Booker Prize in 2017 and focuses on the President’s humanity, his personal and political burdens, I found it too sad and missed a plot, a story to follow and therefore can’t name it as a favourite.

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Definitely not my fave book genre, but truth be told, I liked reading Before I forget, by Melissa Hill.
Even though the book starts with a depressing, boring, workaholic Abby whose longtime boyfriend has just dumped her, it becomes a heart warming story.
Abby Ryan's life takes a turn when she has a freak accident that causes her brain damage. In spite of trying to convince herself otherwise, her long-term memory is affected and with her family and close friend Erin's support, she sets about creating new amazing memories, taking photographs, and with the help of technology, all is kept in a memory chest.
As scary as the prospect of losing one's treasured memories may be (and I often put myself in her shoes!), this is an uplifting novel on unconditional love and friendship.
SOOOO, thanks Guida, for your friendship and for this lovely book :)

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The Alice Network, by Kate Quinn, is a remarkable story in which historical fiction and real life people and events mingle.
One of Quinn's storylines is based on a real woman, a French secret agent - Louise de Bettignies - also known by her code name, Alice Dubois (hence the title), who controlled a spectacularly successful spy network set in Lille during WWI. In it, we meet some fictional characters, some "fleurs du mal", namely Eve, a brave woman spy, with crippled hands and a stutter. The other storyline follows a pregnant American college student, Charlie, looking for her cousin who went missing after WWII.
The reader then juggles  between two alternate stories - one set during WWI and told by Eve, and the other after WWII told by Charlie - being René Bordelon, a fictional profiteer, the bridge between the 2 wars and the 2 timelines.
Both stories are vivid and captivating (even though I really prefer Eve's) and both storylines unsurprisingly merge together in the final pages. Just like "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah, this is a great book depicting the too often unsung heroes of any war...Highly recommended for all historical fiction lovers :)

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To be quite honest, I had high expectations for Circling the Sun, by Paula McLain, since I had read The Paris Wife and loved it. This second, however, was a bit of a disappointment...
Although I've come to admire the heroine, I have never felt much empathy for Beryl Markham, an adventurous, free spirit, whose accomplishments in horse racing, as a bush pilot and her  record breaking voyage across the Atlantic in 1936 made her famous. Despite her wings to fly, her boldness and fearfulness, all comes with a price and throughout her life she suffers so many losses... starting with the "loss" of her mother and her unorthodox upbringing in Kenya, two failed marriages, a scandalous love affair with Denys and his death, and even some friends either die or move to other countries.
In other words: even though the book is not a favourite, I've come to feel a strong admiration for Beryl's bravery and stoicism, always looking forward to testing and challenging herself no matter what. I wish I had her guts!!!

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"The more you know, Kezia, the better you grow" - Chapter 31, Michael Morpurgo's Flamingo Boy.
What a stunning book! I had pre-ordered a copy and as soon as it arrived in my mail box, I started reading it. Nonstop!
Being a teacher and mother of a "borderline" Asperger's boy, I usually read every book I come across dealing with this issue and M. Morpurgo's heartfelt choice of having 2 children as central characters - an autistic boy, Lorenzo or Renzo, and a Roma girl, Kezia or Zia - hit me hard...
I loved every page of this book. It's told by 18 yr-old Vincent, beginning in 1982, recalling his travels to Camargue to visit the beach where Vincent van Gogh had painted the picture he has hanging in his bedroom. Once there, he meets Lorenzo and then Kezia, who transports the reader to the occupied South of France during WWII. In that idyllic landscape and a safe haven for flamingos, lives are disrupted by the Nazi occupation. However, there are kind people even among Germans as Caporal or Capo, who introduces himself as "In this uniform, I am Caporal Willi Brenner. Under this uniform, I am Willi Brenner, husband, father and Lehrer."
This is not simply a book for children; it's for all ages. It's a tender and touching tale of love and acceptance, of friendship and trust, of confidence in overcoming differences. In spite of the time setting, of WWII ravaging Europe, it's a soothing book, maybe due to the love surrounding these characters and all the efforts needed to convey the possible normalcy around a special boy who loves routines and animals. A must read!

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Now some poetry, by Pablo Neruda, 20 Love Poems and a Song of Despair. I brought this copy from my school library and it's a bilingual version ES / PT though the EN version is available online.

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Let's celebrate books and reading on this World Book Day 2018 (1st March, UK)!
My choice falls on This is NOT chick lit. I really liked this diverse collection of stories, some not that different from chick lit topics, but definitely more thought-provoking, from funny to touching...
One of the greatest advantages of all short story collections is that you can carry it with you to read whenever you have 5/10 min without losing track of the story, without having to reread a few lines or pages to remember the plot.
Do read these stories by inspiring, talented female writers, especially now that International Women's Day is so close

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The novel My not so Perfect Life, by Sophie Kinsella, was a pleasant read: relatable, feel-good and laughable.
The heroine, Katie (or Cat, sometimes also Cath) Brenner is willing to put up with much everything just to be able to live in London. Though she has to struggle daily living in a tiny room, in a crowded, shared flat, commuting and saving all she can to survive in the city, she goes to great lengths to hide that from all and takes refuge in her (far from true) Instagram posts.
Her life is turned upside down when Katie is fired and retreats to her family townhouse where she is happier and more successful with a glamping business than she ever was in London in the branding company.
This is a novel that includes some romance but, above all, it is a book about surviving, about finding one's own way, rediscovering and valuing one's origins, relatives, nature, the countryside. In a media obsessed world, this is an example that life is not always what it seems and how social media can be so much deceiving...

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Jan 27, 1945, was the day that the Soviets liberated Auschwitz concentration camp in modern-day Poland. This day has become Holocaust Memorial Day, a date to remember the six million people brutally killed during WWII.
This 27 Jan 2018, my book recommendation is The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman.
It depicts true events and real people and is set in Warsaw, Poland, during WWII.
After the Germans devastate the Polish capital including the city's zoo, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski are left without animals (either killed or looted for for German zoos) and begin taking in Jews into the empty enclosures...
This is an amazing story of bravery, sacrifice and survival; it's not simply another war story. Beautifully crafted (though sometimes with many scientific details), it's a true story of unsung heroes (as it was the German Oskar Schindler's or the Portuguese Aristides de Sousa Mendes's among so many others') that also combines animals and doing everything to save both...

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Right after the Christmas break, one of my 8th graders proudly came to me speaking highly of an awesome book she had read. She summarised it to me and I asked her if I could read it too. And that's exactly what I did this past weekend: I read a book recommended by one of my pupils which is usually the other way round! It was reassuring to see that even pupils who don't usually read come to me which may mean that I am setting an example and, one way or the other, instilling them to read.
The title (Girl Online - the blogger's alias) caught my attention as did the content.
Typically YA lit, there are some lessons to be learnt not only on online privacy (or lack of it) as well as on family and friendships. But maybe the pupil can tell us more about the book, about the world famous blogger / vlogger behind it...

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Book Lover, co-authored by Jennifer Kaufman & Karen Mack, is a readable chick-lit novel. What I liked about it? Well, the literary references, Dora's (the protagonist) genuine friendship and concern about other people's well-being and her learning curve.
What I didn't like???
I didn't appreciate the heroine's lifestyle. Coming from a dysfunctional family, she should know better; however, most of the time, she's pathetic, depressing and a snob about her lavish lifestyle, wasting her life and unnecessary money on booze (among other things) considering she lives on a trust fund and has no job...
I wish I could binge on books, but definitely not for the same reasons ;)
As I said, a readable novel, with some laughable situations.

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A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles, is a unique book in many ways.
It spans several decades throughout the 20th century in Russia, more exactly in Moscow at the famed Metropol Hotel. As there was so much I didn't know about Russian History, I often stopped for some research, for example, on Bolshevism and on Yavas, a corrective labour camp from the Gulag system recognised as a major instrument of political repression in the former Soviet Union.
The main character, Count Alexander Ilych Rostov,  is a calm, positive, charming person - a true gentleman - all along, despite being condemned to house/hotel arrest indefinitely, which portrays that he committed himself to mastering the circumstances. Indeed, even though Towles perfectly conveys the misery of the Soviet people and the political theatre either through events with other characters or descriptions, the Count manages to keep his own life (and Sofia's, the girl he raised as his own) running smoothly. As his friend Mishka wisely comments: "Who would have imagined", he said, "when you were sentenced to life in the Metropol all those years ago, that you had just become the luckiest man in all of Russia."
Even the ending is unique in the sense that it's not Hollywood-styled. The count's love life with the "willowy figure" (Anna Urbanova) is secondary and having watered his friendships (with Andrey, Emile, Marina) on a daily basis, they support each other and when he leaves, he is generous and will be deeply missed. I, too, will miss Towles's use of language and his associations. This is a beautifully written and wonderfully satisfying book; TOP historical fiction!

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Ruth Hogan's debut The Keeper of Lost Things is a light, feel-good read which was indeed what I needed :)
Though not present throughout most of the book, Anthony Peardew's double loss affects the whole story since he leaves his home, Padua, to Laura as well as the daunting task of restoring the lost items to their rightful owners.
2 main stories with 2 sets of characters alternate though: a modern day story that revolves around Laura, her aging boss (also referred to as Saint Anthony, the patron of the lost things), Sunshine, a Down's syndrome girl who had been bullied at school, and Padua's gardener, Freddy; back in time, when she was just 20 years old, we have Eunice's perspective and it moves around her lifelong friendship with her employer, Bomber, who dies from Alzheimer's...These two stories ultimately intertwine when it comes to giving back lost property: a tin with human /cremation remains and a medallion.
Taking into account this is not my fave genre, this was a very interesting read for these cold days with so many wonderful and problematic characters who are also animal lovers.

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I had been postponing the reading of Half of a Yellow Sun, by award-winning author Chimamanda Adichie for some time, but shouldn’t have. I’m glad I finally did as it was a superb reading!
Set in the 1960s Nigeria, the novel develops around a group of interesting characters: Ugwu, just a boy when he starts working for a university lecturer, “Master” Odenigbo, a revolutionary; Olanna, a wealthy and educated woman who leaves her privileged life behind to live with her lover, the lecturer; Richard Churchill, a white Englishman in Nigeria to explore Ibo-Ukwu art who falls for Olanna’s twin sister, Kainene. The novel is also set in two different time frames: “The Early Sixties” and “The Late Sixties”, that is prior to and during the Nigerian Civil War, or the Biafran War (1967-1970). Here I have to admit that I had never heard anything about it and therefore surfed a bit. Though this is historical fiction, the title of the book is a reference to the Biafran flag and as the author explains “While some of the characters are based on actual persons, their portrayals are fictitious as are the events surrounding them.” Nevertheless, etched in my mind are the descriptions of the starving children, of kwashiorkor cases, the violence and the rapes.

As it usually happens in wartime, love and loyalties are tested as families are torn apart and driven to extreme situations by the horrors of a civil war.

A heartbreaking but extraordinary book. Another must read!

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In The Swimmer, by Swedish author Joakim Zander, a deep cover CIA agent races across Europe to save the daughter he abandoned when she was still a baby. The now adult Klara Walldéen was raised by her grandparents on a remote archipelago in Sweden but has since moved to Brussels where she works as a EU Parliament aide.
Regretting having prioritised his job over his family, the old spy who now only finds solace in swimming, finally ponders his choices in life and, on Christmas eve, he races to save his only daughter who was dragged into all that via an ex-lover (Mahmoud Shammosh) when he came across very sensitive information.
This page turner spy thriller takes place across the globe and also alternates between the past and the present; though it starts at a slow pace, when one gets into the book, it's an adrenaline packed thriller for present day terrorism.

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Just finished reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and loved it - but how wouldn’t I when it's historical fiction around WWII?
This is, though, unlike any other book I've read since it's a touching portrait about women during wartime. Whilst men are away fighting, mothers, wives, sisters, daughters are at home fighting another war - that of survival. Fighting to survive the Nazis, fear, starvation, cold, disease and, if this wasn't enough, 🤬.
The main storyline follows 2 sisters, Vianne and Isabelle. Vianne is the oldest, married to Antoine and has a daughter, Sophie; Isabelle is younger, a real rebel but a heroine (just like her sis, btw).
I highly recommend its reading in spite of all the brutality of WWII that is depicted.

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I absolutely loved A Man Called Ove, by Swedish author, blogger and columnist Fredrik Backman. The story is around "the archetypal grumpy old sod"  (Chapter 37) yet loveable 59-year-old Ove and it starts after his wife's (Sonja) death. Ove is a very unassuming man with a big heart who enjoys routines and is always ready to help neighbours - it's them, after all, by unknowingly keeping him busy all the time, who help him heal and avoid his repeated suicide attempts; it's also a life lesson as far as I am concerned as it isn't always as we wish or plan...
Looking forward to watching the movie :)

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The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas, is definitely a “stunning” novel, as John Green puts it. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement (and Tupac), the book depicts the uneasy balance of 16-year-old Starr between the poor black neighbourhood she was born and raised (Garden Heights) and her posh and mainly white high school in the suburbs.
Starr is the only witness of her best friend Khalil wrongful murder by a police officer and after that traumatic event she finds her voice and activism. An increasing sense of injustice, prejudice and racism followed by frustration and anger starts building up which ultimately leads to her determination to take a stand. Always supported by her incredible parents who do everything for their children to have equal opportunities, Starr gives her face and voice to this relevant and timeless novel in a fresh attempt to challenge inequality and put an end to this lasting cycle of discrimination. As her mother, Lisa, tells her "Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right."

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As with I See You, Clare Mackintosh's debut - I Let You Go - surprised me and made me stop right at the end of the first part - OMG, what have I missed??  Another excellent psychological thriller that hooked me and made me read it in one day; it disturbed me right in the beginning with five-year-old Jacob's death after a hit-and-run accident. It left me on tenterhooks to know how it would unfold as the reader follows Jenna Gray moving to Wales trying to escape the memory of that freaking car accident, two police investigators who never give up chasing down lead after lead, and a deranged husband...
Highly recommended!

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Fascinated as I have always felt by Hemingway’s books and now his life (and wives), I reread The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926, when he was still married to Hadley and therefore dedicated to her and their young son. This first novel gives voice to the so-called Lost Generation and portrays the life of expats in Paris in the 1920s with lots of drinking, some eating and not much work. It is also an interesting book since it immortalises Pamplona, bulls, bullfights and the festival of San Fermin. A great reread, but I have to admit that the two previous books are far more exciting.

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Mrs Hemingway by Naomi Wood follows the life of Ernest Hemingway and his four wives from the 1920s to his death in 1961. It is organised in four different parts, one for each of his wives, set in different parts of the world, and is therefore based on real lives and facts researched by the author. It explores the loves and losses of Hemingway’s four wives, his inability to be on his own, his betrayals (he was often a real jerk!) and booze that eventually led to his suicide.
As it happened with The Paris Wife, I also loved this memoir and highly recommend it.

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hoje estarás comigo no paraíso is Bruno Vieira Amaral's second book, and is about a murder investigation. The author uses the investigation around João Jorge's - his own cousin - death in the 80s to go back in time, to recall his own childhood, his neighbours, Angola before the Independence.
Bruno Vieira Amaral was definitely a welcome and two-fold surprise: a very well written piece, full of detail, and in Portuguese!

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Hoje Estarás Comigo no Paraíso, BOOK COVER

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Ana Paula Mabrouk, a fellow colleague, but, above all, a friend since we were about 12 years old, is the author of Poemas da Shoá. It is an astonishing book of poems, all around the European Jewish History during the infamous 30s and 40s / 2nd WW of the 20th Century. This collection of poems includes different voices, rhymes and the cruel numbers of the Holocaust. What is really worth highlighting is her reminder of our responsibility not to allow these atrocities to be forgotten - ever!

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I See You, by Clare Mackintosh, is another fast-paced psychological thriller just the way I love.
Just like The Girl On The Train, it develops around daily routines and commuting to work; just like George Orwell's 1984 and, more recently, by Andrew Keen's Digital Vertigo and this society of hypervisibility and exposure with social networks, it is a timely reminder of the danger of surveillance - either physically and by stalking, by CCTV or on Facebook.
It's definitely a creepy scenario if we put ourselves in those shoes and picture ourselves being watched and with our photos shared in dating websites as it happens with the main character, Zoe Walker. Recommended reading yes and until the very last page...

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Recommended by a fellow reader and colleague, "My Brilliant Friend" by Italian novelist Elena Ferrante has positively surprised me and left me craving for more.
Starting in the present time with the missing Lila, the narrator - her friend Elena Greco - then goes back a few decades in time to tell us the story of their friendship. This is just Book One of the Neapolitan Novels, a tetralogy to be more precise, and from Elena's perspective we have an unforgettable portrait of the two girls' developing friendship, of their troublesome neighbourhood, of the city of Naples and of Italy.
Looking forward to reading Book Two!

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The Atlas of Us, by Tracy Buchanon, contains two narratives that develop throughout the book till they finally emerge into one. The story/ies is/are told from both Louise and Claire's perspectives, in the past and in the present; whilst Louise frantically searches for her mum after the devastating 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, Claire is a travel journalist struggling with her infertility who finds love after a disastrous first marriage.
The book is a beautiful but heart-wrenching tale of love, loss and new beginnings.

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Following a tragic incident, Myrtle ‘Tilly’ Dunnage was sent away from Dungatar (a fictional small Australian town) having spent the time wisely learning the art of couture dressmaking. Twenty years on, she is now back to visit her ailing mother, Mad Molly, only to discover that all is still the same in that small place: both Tilly and her mother are still outcasts.
The characters depicted in the book are far from nice! Except for the only town policeman, Sergeant Farrat, and Teddy McSwiney, the inhabitants are unpleasant characters, with some dark secrets, deep rivalries and plenty of unhealthy competition. Tilly’s only way to be accepted (yet still not tolerated) is due to her skill as a dressmaker once women are worried about appearances even if they aren’t quite keen to pay for Tilly’s outfits. Indeed, the descriptions of fabrics, fashion, sewing and frocks are in such detail that we can even picture them!

In my point of view, The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham is a well-written story about an isolated small town where the inhabitants think they can get away with anything only to discover that revenge is definitely a dish best served cold.

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After having crossed the ocean for a wedding as a photographer and following a chance encounter there, Rowena (or Ro) Tipton finds herself auditioning for a coveted houseshare in The Hamptons, the elite beach scene from New York, and suddenly a new life is what she has and not simply a pause from her long term boyfriend… Ahead of her is a summer with her three housemates, days on the spectacular sandy shores and parties. But high rewards bring high stakes and soon Rowena finds herself caught in the crossfire of an intimidation campaign.
Both the setting and the characters are fascinating which, together with a compelling storyline, make The Summer Without You a must read for this season. What bothered me though were the constant references to Ro’s boyfriend, Matt, whom she kept clinging to and their future together (but, hence, the title!). I loved the mystery storyline interwoven in the book, the environmental worries, the gorgeous area and the exuberance of the landscapes and dwellers.

It’s the first book I’ve read by Karen Swan but definitely not the last!

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Couldn't finish reading "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Lao" by Junot Díaz. It can be a best-seller but it's definitely not my type of books or writing and I can't read what I don't appreciate. Sorry, Díaz!

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I've read all Victoria Hislop's books and was looking forward to reading "The Last Dance and Other Stories" but it turned out to be disappointing...The 10 short stories are great, but I missed her narratives, her descriptions! My problem, surely.

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the diary of a young woman who turns her illness. It regenerates in a surge of love for life through the passion for drawing and writing.

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What a debut thriller "The Girl on the train "is!!! Paula Hawkins leaves readers unsettled with three female narrators sharing the storytelling and none can be trusted. Rachel is an alcoholic who suffered abuse, Anna is a liar and Megan a cheat!

Rachel is the girl on the train, a commuter, who glanes at the people around her and makes stories, even names, especially for a couple "Jess and Jason" whose lives she imagines. One morning she witnesses something completely different in their apparently perfect lives and everything changes.

Fascinating! To be read in one sitting with so many secrets and entangled lies...

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Fabulous novel "All the Light we cannot see" by Anthony Doerr, and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2015.

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where the girl’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

Around the same time, in a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.
Interweaving the lives of those two youngsters for several years and in different places, the author keeps us focused and shows us how, in the worst of times and surrounded by tragedy, people try to be good to one another.

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Dr Spencer Johnson is the author of this bestselling book "Who moved my cheese?", a fable of four characters (2 mice and 2 humans) who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. Cheese is a metaphor for what one wants to have in life - whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money or a possession, health or spirital peace of mind. And the maze is life, where one looks for what we want.

Acknowledging our own fears and mistakes, being able to deal with unexpected change are some of the ideas put forward. Fast and easy reading.

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Lisa Genova has done a fabulous job bringing attention to such a debilitating disease as Alzheimer in her novel "Still Alice". I fought hard to hold my tears as I was reading about Alice Howland, 50, an intelligent, independent, vibrant and accomplished woman, a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, she - just like so many patients around the world - first attributes these signs to normal aging, menopause, too much stress, and not enough sleep. When she eventually sees a neurologist, the tragic diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's changes her life forever as well as those who surround her and become her caregivers.

I had always associated Alzheimer's with old age, but after having read "Still Alice" I will never look at Alzheimer's the same way or forget about it; this moving psychologiccal portrait of a woman's deteriorating mind has also affected me... hopefully specialists come up with a cure soon for the sake of Alzheimer's patients and their families and caregivers.

Do read this insightful novel!

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Who would say that "Calling Me Home" was Julie Kibler's debut novel? I absolutely loved the book and rated it *****!

Another book on racism and segregationism this time in in Shalerville, Kentucky, USA, starting in 1939. This stunning novel has two different voices and alternate chapters telling us about the past and present and revolve around 2 characters: 89 yr-old Isabella McAllister and 36 yr-old Dorrie, the former's hairstylist.

In 1939, 16 yr-old Isabelle, born into wealth and privilege, finds her life turned upside down when she falls in love for Robert, the ambitious black son and handyman of her family's housekeeper. Before long, They are crossing extraodinary and dangerous boundaries to consummate their forbidden love.

Many years and decades later, the now old Miss Isabelle will cross the country for a funeral having invited her friend Dorrie, a black single mother, to drive her. Isabelle's heartbreaking and painful past is told during that long journey back home...

I laughed and I cried, but I would read it again and again.

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I highly recommend "The Invention of wings" from the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees", Sue Monk Kidd. This is a historical novel, a fascinating story of real-life abolitionist sisters, Sarah and Angelina (Nina) Grimké, born into the power and wealth of aristocracy and left all behind to fight against segregationism (as well as women's rights) in Charleston over a period of 30 years. Indeed, they were the first female abolition agents and among the earliest American feminist sisters.

All started on Sarah's eleventh birthday when she is given a present, a slave girl called Hetty "Handful" Grimké. The whole novel is told by Sarah and Hetty and the symbolism of the wings is carried  through the novel, both by Sarah and Hetty in different ways, to escape the tyranny of geography. The novel evokes a world of contrasts, of cruelty and injustice, literacy and illiteracy, but also of friendship and trust against all odds. Fascinating read!

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"And the Mountains Echoed" is an epic 3rd novel by Afghan-born California-based doctor, Khaled
Hosseini, one of my favourite writers.
As usual, set in Afghanistan, this is a magnificent story of poverty, struggle, and the unbreakable  bonds of (siblings') love.
From the moment I realise Saboor, Abdullah and Pari's father, is going to give three-year-old Pari to a childless couple in Kabul, I yearn for the
moment that bro and sis will reunite which only happens in the end...
Unlike his previous best selling novels, this is a multi-layered narrative, a collection of inter-

connected short stories spanning around 60 years (opening in an Afghan village in 1952) and evolving around the globe - from Kabul to Paris / France to San Francisco / the USA and to the Greek island of Tinos.
Absolutely lovable and highly recommended!

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And the mountains echoed, Khaled Hosseini

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"When God was a rabbit" is another debut novel, this time by Sarah Winman, and was first published in 2011.

Spanning 4 decades (from 1968 onwards) it follows the life of Eleanor Maud (Elly), her family and all the people she befriends first in Essex, then Cornwall and also in NYC. It depicts several moments of violence, but the book is a homage to family, to relationships, to love in all forms; ultimately it's a book about the unbreakable bond sister / brother.

As for the book title, it is named after God, a pet rabbit given to Elly by Joe, her brother, and is a constant companion throughout h childhood.

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By Miranda Dickinson "Welcome to my World" was a bit of a surprise.

Harriet Langton is a travel agent who has never been abroad; Alex is a well travelled guy back home after 10 years abroad. They strike an unlikely friendship and support each other throughout their personal ups and downs.

In a leap of faith after suffering so much, Harri finally manages to break free and make her dreams come true. A chick-lit love story :)

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I've read all novels by Victoria Hislop and loved them all. They are historically rich and with strong plots though The Sunrise is the saddest...

Summer 1972, Famagusta - Cyprus. A thriving city with tourists flocking to its glamorous hotels and paradise beaches. A wealthy couple, the Papacostas, invest in the most luxurious hotel, The Sunrise.

Summer 1974, Famagusta is invaded by the Turks and the population forced to abandon their beloved city.

2014, 40 years on, Famagusta is still barbed wired off and left to rot...

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The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith aka J.K.Rowling is the 2nd of the highly accalimed series featuring detective Cormoran Strike and his beautiful as determined assistant Robin.

This novel is as ingenious as The Cuckoo's Calling with a complex story and so many twists. Highly recommended, an unputdownable "whodunit" set in London and among a community of writers, publishers, interests and... death.

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I've never felt this way reading a book...
On the one hand, this debut novel by Celeste Ng positively surprised as it so clearly deals with issues like marital strife, racism and interracial marriages, sexism, extramarital affairs, parenting.
On the other hand, though, it is so sad, so heartwrenching that I always felt a knot in my stomach...
The book starts with Lydia's death, the middle daughter of a Chinese American family, and it unmasks all the family secrets, feeling, resentments, fears, dis-
appointments...it is a honest portrayal of parents who project unrealistic expectations and their own frustrations on their children and insofar it's ok; what disturbed me, as a mother, was the way these parents neglected their two other children who, in the end, have so much to teach in what concerns love and affection.

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"A Place to call Home" by Carole

Matthews is about an abused

woman from SriLanka, but living

in Britain, who has the courage

to escape her violent husband.

In the dead of night, Ayesha just

takes her daughter, Sabina, and

a holdall.

Behind she leaves 10 yrs of pain

and heads to London where she

unexpectedly finds a whole new

life, friends and love. Best of all,

her daughter recovers speech. A

very uplifting novel indeed!

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By Vince Vawter, retired after 40 years in journalism, "Paperboy" is his debut novel. An 11yr-old boy takes over a friend's route delivering newspapers. However, he can hardly say a word without stuttering and has to communicate...it's the local junkman, also a thief and a bully who puts him and his devoted housekeeper in danger. Set in 1959, the novel is autobiographical and also approaches racial discrimination.

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"Up with the Larks" chronicles Tessa Hainsworth's own escape to rural Cornwall.

WIth her husband and their two young children, the writer dared leave Up Country / London and its rat-race to an idyllic seaside village, where she started working with the Royal Mail.

During that first year, we follow her transformation from "Posh Postie" to active and much loved member of her new community.

Here's also some more info https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGFAGYsVrdI

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"Ice Drift" by Theodore Taylor is considered a book for children but I really iked it. It's an epic voyage of two brothers who are adrift for half a year on an ice floe after going seal hunting. It's a survival story and the brother's ordeal, the depiction of brotherly love definitely moved me. Also includes detailed info on Inuit culture.

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Gayle Forman's debut novel is amazing!

Mia, a musically gifted 17-yr-old girl, is left in a coma after a terrible car accident involving her family.

"If I Stay" is a very sad, heartbreaking book but beautifully written, making us think about the bonds of family. Most of the book is Mia's out of body experience as she watches her relatives and friends gather to see her at the hospital, her memories and her choice(s): to stay and live, or let go and die.

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Amazing debut novel by Jean Kwow!
When 11 yr-old Kimberly Chang and her mother leave Hong Kong to settle in Brooklyn, USA, they are ready for changes  but face too many obstacles: linguistic, cultural, and far too many debts.

With her mom being exploited by their own relatives at a garment sweatshop, intellectually gifted Kim will have to lead a double life to open up the way for the two of them to succeed.

"Girl in Translation" was my first read of Chinese immigration, poverty, difficult choices and sacrifices of all recent immigrants...

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This novel by Benjamin Alire Saénz took me by complete surprise. I absolutely loved his tender and sweet exploration of teen identity and sexuality on "Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets of the Universe"!

Despite their impressive names, Aristotle and Dante are two loners of Mexican origins trying to find the secrets of the universe.

They meet at the local swimming-pool when they are 15 and seem to have nothing in common, but, as time goes by, they become closer and develop a strong friendship. Together, they interact about books and art, and about being Mexican-American; they question life, their feelings and discuss about their own bodies.

This is so much more than a novel on friendship! It's also about growing up, family and supporting gay children / relatives.

Highly recommended for ALL: Mexican-Americans, gays, loners, book lovers...above all, and as Saénz says, "To all the boys who've had to learn to play by different rules."

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My first read by acclaimed author, Neil Gaiman.

"Neverwhere" starts in London Above with Richard Mayhew, an unassuming young man, whose life is changed forever the moment he stumbles across a girl bleeding on the pavement.

This good-hearted fellow is catapulted into an Underworld in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below London - another city of those who have fallen between the cracks...

Kind of "Alice in Wonderland" but far darker and more dangerous! A modern urban fantasy worth reading :)

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"The Secret Garden" by Francis H. Burnett is an English classic of
children's literature. Mary Lennox is a spoiled, rude and unaffectionate 10 yr-old girl, born in India. She is suddenly left alone as her parents and servants die of a cholera out-break. She is then sent to England to an uncle she has never met, Archibald Craven, and it is there, at his place, that she finds  secret garden. With time and with her unlikely friends, she
will grow to be a different person and will help her own cousin overcome his "illness".

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I never have enough of Victoria
Hislop's historical novels! In "THE
THREAD" the events start and
finish in 2007 but the thread goes back to 1917, the year Dimitri is born. The storyline follows Dimitri and Katerina's life in Greece through wartime, persecution and fear, social and political unrest in Greece. Having always refused to leave and now in their 90's, this elderly couple now has a custodian to look after the treasures and memories of those forced to leave.

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I'm not much into dystopian novels but I did like "The Giver" by Lois Lowry.
It stars in a seemingly perfect world where 12-yr old Jonas is chosen to be The Receiver...

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A new tool for book recommendations: Narrable!

A few more reading suggestions by my 10th graders :)

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The worst blizzard for 50 yrs is the background for 3 holiday romances by a trio of bestselling authors. 3 wintry (and Christmasy) interconnected love stories take place in Gracetown after a train gets stranded in the storm.

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A book recommendation by Georgiana a 10th grader who absolutely loves Nicholas Sparks books!

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A Walk To Remember (Nicholas Sparks) - Reading Recommendation by Georgiana

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A surprisingly good read, "Simply Perfect" was a book recommendation by Karima, a Kenyan teacher.

I enjoyed it thoroughly and at first I felt deceived by the back cover description which promised a kind of chick-lit. Not so! Claudia Martin, owner and headmistress of a girls' school, is a 35-yr old spinster who sees her world upside down, when she meets Joseph Fawcitt, a Marquess, well above her station. A book on society and social conventions, expectations, courage and, obviously, on love and marriage for love.

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Barcelona, 1945: Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax.

But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written.

In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence...

An epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.

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A young adult debut story by Meg Rosoff that tells us Daisy's story, a 15-yr old New Yorker who moves to England. There she meets her cousins and soon afterwards a war breaks out.
This is a survival story of a teenage girl in a world of chaos, shattered by an unnamed enemy. A good read.

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GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn is a machiavellian novel set basically in Noth Carthage, Missouri, even though it starts in New York.

Nick Dunne and Amy Elliott get married in NY, but after a while, they move to Missouri. There, on a warm summer morning on their 5th wedding anniversary, clever and beautiful Amy disappears.

This is an ingenious, creepy and scary thriller, mixing disturbing appearances and reality. As evidence mounts, Nick is incriminated and though he is far from being the perfect husband, is he really a killer??? Well, couldn't put it down, so twisted and wild!

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Another lovely book by Michael
Morpugo. "Farm Boy" is the sequel to Warhorse, book and movie.
Some years on, a boy then a man, loved visiting his Grandpa and spending time at his Grandpa's farm and listening to his stories. But Grandpa had a secret...
A book for all ages, interesting, fast and easy to read, perfect for our EFL learners!

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"A Wedding in December" by Anita Shreve is simple and elegant prose, but a bit disap pointing. A group of former classmates gather for a wed ding after over 20 yrs apart. It's a novel of missed opportunities, of unsolved past events and therefore a feeling of sadness pervades the whole book. The relationships among these friends are well explored, but most interestingly, for me, and parallel to this is a story within the story: Agnes, one of the characters, is writing a novel about the 1917 Halifax blast.

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A 2005 children's novel by Morris Glitzman, ONCE, is about a Jewish boy named Felix. It's set in Poland in 1942 and it deals with the boy's quest to find his parents, oblivious of the war. To him, everything is a story. However, as time goes by he begins to see horrors that not even stories can explain. A book about friendship, love ONCE - because everybody deserves to have something good in their life. At least ONCE.

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Clara, a tenth  grader, is another book worm.
She has just shared with me another book by Nicholas Sparks, this time, "Nights in
Rodanthe". Shall we see her book trailer?

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Another Reading Recommendation by Clara, a 10th grader. Enjoy your forthcoming Easter holidays with a good book. Clara will do the same!

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As we already know, Inês is an avid reader.

This time her book trailer is on anther book

by Lesley Pearse, her favourite author. Please

see, read and listen!

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Nunca Me Esqueças / Remember Me (Lesley Pearse)

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Nunca Me Esqueças / Remember Me (Lesley Pearse) - Leitura Recomendada / Book Recommendation by Inês Gomes