Source: Book Club

Wednesday Wisdom – The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak Published by Viking Adult on August 5th, 2021 Genres: Fiction Pages: 368 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love. Years later, a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has […]

Posted November 23, 2022
4 Comments

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus on April 5th, 2022 Genres: Fiction Pages: 390 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo. Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its […]

Posted August 13, 2022
17 Comments

Wednesday Wisdom from The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart

The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart Published by Little Brown Book Group on March 21st, 2021 Genres: Fiction Pages: 400 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads In Second World War Bath, young, naïve wireless engineer Will meets German refugee Elsa Klein: she is sophisticated, witty and wordly, and at last his life seems to make sense . . . until, soon after, the newly married couple’s home is bombed, and Will awakes from the wreckage to find himself alone. No one has heard of Elsa Klein. They say he was never married. Seventy years later, Laura is a social worker battling her way out of depression and off medication. Her new case is a strange, isolated old man whose house hasn’t changed since the war. A man who insists his wife vanished many, many years before. Everyone thinks he’s suffering dementia. But Laura begins to suspect otherwise . . . Greetings you guys! We haven’t done a Wednesday Wisdom post in over a year. I actually kind of forgot about this fun feature where I share quotes or passages that stood out for me from a specific book. That is until I’ve read The Frequency of Us by Keith […]

Posted July 27, 2022
7 Comments

Throwback Thursday #11 – The Companionship Of Harold Fry and Miss Queenie Hennessy

Greetings you guys! It’s a public holiday here in South Africa today, so we finally have time to do another Throwback Thursday. After being on WordPress for 9 months now, it really is time to start pulling through all those reviews that are not on our archive list. What better way to do that than to join Davida @ The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review’s fun link-up meme, Throwback Thursday. The Chocolate Lady’s #Throwback Thursday takes place on the Thursday before the first Saturday of every month. Yes, there is a linky and it will remain open until she uploads the new one. Thank Goodness. My first and last sometimes gets very confused. Your post must highlight one of your previously published book reviews and Davida encourages other participants to do the same. Add the link to your post and remember to link back to The Chocolate Lady’s Book Blog And do not forget to #ThrowbackThursday! Yes, I know our Thursdays are a bit messed up. At least it’s Thursday. For today we will take a look at our first and actually up to date, our last, companion reads: Aaah, my Mommy says she’s feeling very nostalgic after seeing this review pop up […]

Posted June 16, 2022
22 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #32

Greetings you guys! The day has finally arrived! This is the date that all our renovations should be done. The fact that it is not done, is completely irrelevant and it’s only 08:00 here in SA now. So a miracle might still be in the works here. And if it’s not, we really, really don’t care. If my Mommy comes home from school today, she is going to do nothing but read her book. We are busy with such an intriguing read: We did find the opening a bit slow, but it sure is taking off at speed now and I can’t wait for Mommy to come home and we can continue reading. We are quickly going to say hi to @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday you can link up and share the first sentence of your current read (or the one you plan to devour over the weekend), as well as your initial thoughts and impressions. “WE HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER.’ It’s the first Tuesday in September, the afternoon of her one very bad day and Frida is trying to stay on the road. On the voice […]

Posted June 3, 2022
33 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #29

Greetings you guys! It’s Friday and the weather outside spells 90% chance of reading time. Rainy and cold. We’ve had a hectic week at school and with sorting out book reviews, so for this weekend, we just want to curl up on the couch and read whatever we want. No deadline or anything! We’ve been excited to read our choice for this weekend ever since the reviews first start popping out. For our first stop, we will pay a visit to @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday you can link up and share the first sentence of your current read (or the one you plan to devour over the weekend), as well as your initial thoughts and impressions. The Maid opens with a bar of soap and a prologue: I’m your maid. I’m the one who cleans your hotel room, who enters like a phantom when you’re our gallivanting for the day, no care at all about what you’ve left behind, the mess, or what I might see when you’re gone. I’m the one who empties your trash, tossing out the receipts you don’t want anyone to discover. […]

Posted April 22, 2022
34 Comments

Throwback Thursday #10 – After You

Greetings you guys! Gosh, we haven’t done a Throwback Thursday ever since we’ve switched to WordPress. I honestly can’t give you clear reason for that either. Probably admin. We hate admin and we had to add the new graphic to all the previous posts and make sure the old reviews are on the new blog and …. And that’s the main reason! I’ve realized that we are never going to pull in all the old reviews to our stunning new Ultimate Book Blogger Plug-in if I don’t make a plan around it. So joining in with Throwback Thursday, is our masterplan. The Chocolate Lady’s #Throwback Thursday takes place on the Thursday before the first Saturday of every month. Yes, there is a linky and it will remain open until she uploads the new one. Thank Goodness. My first and last sometimes gets very confused. Your post must highlight one of your previously published book reviews and Davida encourages other participants to do the same. Add the link to your post and remember to link back to The Chocolate Lady’s Book Blog And do not forget to #ThrowbackThursday! It’s not quite yet the last Thursday of the month, but if we do a […]

Posted April 21, 2022
13 Comments

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont Published by St Martin’s Press on February 1st, 2022 Genres: Fiction Pages: 320 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair is a beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder—and a brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Every story has its secrets. Every mystery has its motives. “A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman. It’s a particular feeling, the urge to murder. It takes over your body so completely, it’s like a divine force, grabbing hold of your will, your limbs, your psyche. There’s a joy to it. In retrospect, it’s frightening, but I daresay in the moment it feels sweet. The way justice feels sweet.” The greatest mystery wasn’t Agatha Christie’s disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it’s what she discovered. London, 1925: In a world of townhomes and tennis matches, socialites and shooting parties, Miss Nan O’Dea became Archie Christie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted and well-known wife, Agatha Christie. The question is, why? Why destroy another woman’s marriage, why hatch a plot years in the making, […]

Posted April 4, 2022
11 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #27

Greetings you guys! It’s Friday and my Mommy is officially on holidays! Whoo hoo! The fact that it’s only the second time this whole year that we get to our Weekend Posts, does give you an indication of how the term went. It wasn’t bad at all, just busy. Luckily we can now relax and just read a bit. So what will we read this weekend? This one might be a bit on the heavy side, but it’s a carry over from last month and we really want to read it. There will still be enough time for the lighter holiday reads. For our first stop, we will pay a visit to @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday you can link up and share the first sentence of your current read (or the one you plan to devour over the weekend), as well as your initial thoughts and impressions. Songbirds open with a very short, but powerful chapter. One day, Nisha vanished and turned to gold. The turned to gold in the eyes of the creature that stood before me. She turned to gold in the […]

Posted April 1, 2022
39 Comments

Wish you were here by Jodi Picoult

Wish you were here by Jodi Picoult Published by Ballantine Books on November 30th, 2021 Genres: Fiction Pages: 336 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads A deeply moving novel about the resilience of the human spirit in a moment of crisis. Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time. But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes. Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. The whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders […]

Posted February 28, 2022
6 Comments

Source: Book Club

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