September Book Haul

Books Books Books!

Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Hardwired by Meredith Wild, A Women Of Substance by Barbara Taylor Bradford
The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald, To Killing A Mockingbird by Harper lee, Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

Anyone who knows me, knows I love reading, since a young girl I have always carried a book around and my criteria for my Handbag had to be that a book should fit my bag!

So thanks to booksandquills.blogspot.co.uk and Youtube.com/Rosianna@papertimelady for their encouragement in their video to read classics. I love the books they both discuss and like to get inspired with their suggestions, so here it goes!

I have 6 books that I am going to read, 3 of them are classics, 3 of them general reads that have also been a part of nonfiction literature for few years. So this blog is more of a haul for books and once I have read them I will then do another blog to review them.

I think reading should be encouraged to everyone its a wonderful way to escape, widens your creativity and a perfect way to understand storytelling from a different perspective. Its great escapism and a good way to learn more vocabulary, you can't go wrong with reading more so lets encourage it to everyone.


Lets start with the classic books first:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Those of you who feel this book sounds familiar, are probably right! Leonardo Di Caprio recently did a movie adaptation to this book, I think its fair to say that it did well and though critiques of the movie and book have said that perhaps the film didn't do the book justice I know that Leonardo performances in his movies is always appreciated.

So moving on to the book . Its about Jay Gatsby post war America and how society at that time is in awe of wealth and status this book is about Gatsbys tragic pursuit of this . How he lives in a beautiful mansion, throws amazing glamorous parties and is the talk of the town, yet seems to never entirely fit in and feels he silently watches people from afar. I think this book shows the conflict of illusion versus reality.

Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck

Im actually quite excited to read this I have heard so many great review on this. George and Lennie are friends and in some way drifters, who are in pursuit of work in California . They come from poverty and have nothing on their back except the clothes that they are wearing and hope that one day their hard work will pay off and they will live the American dream , living in their own house with a car stable job a family. This dream they realise will come at a price! Lennie the gentle soul of the two gets into trouble whilst working with the boss's daughter-in-law, trouble so bad that even his best friend and protector may not be able to save him!

To Kill A MockingBird by Harper Lee

Now most school children will have heard of this book! it has so much fame attached to it that I remember quite vividly in my Library for years it was the most requested book. It certainly is a classic and children at school today are told to read this, as I saw just last week my nephew reading through this book at lightening speed, I curiously asked I didn't expect you to read this as night reading! and his reply 'no my school have set this as reading'! so there you go. For some reason I wanted to read this book on many occasions and never got round to it and now that I am setting this challenge to myself I look forward to devouring this book.

This book deals with racism and rape during the American depression early 1930's and how one lawyer defends a  man accused of raping a lady the impact it has on his children and the  way society perceived racial tensions during that era. The story is told through the eyes of the lawyers child Scout and how a simple lawyer is trying to raise his kids in a deeply prejudiced society.

So yes these books are classics but at the same time not your typical Shakespeare or Jane Eyre or even Emily Bronte. But still perceived as ultimate classics amongst schools and colleges. I look forward to giving you reviews of these books and letting you know my take on the stories and what worked for me and what didn't.

The next 3 books are modern day books, one of them the Barbara Taylor Bradford book is actually amongst the nonfiction books talked about a great deal and it has been lying on my shelf for years, so now is the time to read this. 

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

I remember reading an extract for this book a few years back now, it was part of the Oprah Winfrey book club. It started so well I was hooked by the time the first chapter had ended, so I had firmly put that on my books to read list. However only now have I got around to buying it and reading it, this is the book I am currently reading out the 6 books and I thoroughly am enjoying this. Its the style of writing the easy manner in which emotions and turmoil is described gets you hooked.

The story is autobiographical and is about Cheryl and her journey to setting herself free from the sadness of her mothers early demise and her failure to not preserver at anything whether its her job career husband or family ties. Sh deiced on embarking on a thousand miles of a walking trek called the pacific crest form Mojave desert through California and Oregon to Washington, she does this all alone. Its that journey she takes and the people she meets along the way the silence that envelopes her and the terror exhilaration and that sense of  freedom that keeps her going on this crazy journey.

I can't wait to see where Cheryls journey takes her and whether at the end of the book she comes to some peace about losing her mother. I think the biggest hurt for her is that her mother passes away so young that also with a disease linked to smoking, which she had never done in her life! and also the suffering she had to endure when the disease had become terminal.

HardWired by Meredith Wild

This book was recommended by Richard and Judy for their book club. I came across it while standing in the line for the post office and decided to pick it up and see whether it would be something I would be interested in! and yes I loved the style of writing the intrigue that sets in straightaway and it just seemed like a book that I would enjoy. This set of books is part of a trilogy and I also purchased the second book which in due time I will review too.

The book is about Erica Hathaway she is the main character in this and her story of making it on her own. Her mother died when she was very young, father had left the family a few years prior to that,s he was left be raised by an aunt in Boston and was an excellent student who ended up studying in Harvard. Its starts with her graduation and talks about where she should start working and doing what. The storyline is that she wants to start up her own business with her own website, she faces a group of investors and one of the guys there is arrogant and determined to derail her presentation. He is Blake Landon who is a well known hacker and it seems Erica maybe going weak at her knees for him and so the story begins.

I like the idea and concept, it has a gritty storyline and a love angle to it . I have never read any work by this author or whether she is a new author I'm not quite sure. But I do believe this trilogy will be intriguing and interesting to read.

A Women Of Substance

I am so glad that I am finally going to read a book by this very famous and popular author during the early 80's and 90's. This book was so talked about during my part time job days of being a Librarian and was always on my book list of must reads. It has a feel of a Lesley Pearce book where the main character is a strong young women and the story will cover 3 generations, family drama, lives upheavals and many more exciting things that happens in a long exciting life.

Its about Emma Harte in 1905 single and pregnant by 1968 she is one of the richest women in the world ruler of a business empire stretching from Yorkshire to the glittering cities of America and the rugged vastness of Australia. Its a family dynasty style saga and I look forward to reading this perhaps on my next holiday, its easier to devour a book as big as this when doing nothing, to fit it in, normal life can be hard but not impossible when you are a book lover like myself.

The author is now 82 and hasn't stopped writing so I look forward to reading more of her books once I have read this first book of hers.

So over the next few months I have a lot of reading to do. I love setting myself challenges, big or small I like to learn develop and grow it keeps the fire and curiosity in me burning I think we all should try and set up small challenges for ourselves. What have you all challenged yourself with this year? doesn't have to be anything big maybe reading a book or learning a new recipe let me know in the comments.

Also have any of you read the books I have mentioned? let me know

Lots Of Love
Unscipted & Unapologetic
NeerusLifeStyle
xx