Tag: kate atkinson

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books and reading

Big Sky

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In my effort to get caught up on series I started but never finished, the Jackson Brodie series was at the top of my list. I read and loved Case Histories a few years ago. But after the third book, I got distracted and didn’t pursue the series. Big Sky came out a few months ago, and I knew I  needed to finish and see what Brodie was up to.

Jackson is a former police officer turned private investigator. He’s pretty grumpy, but he has a good heart and wants to do right by people. His love life is a mess, a couple ex-wives, a couple strained relationships with his children, a dog he loves, but he can’t settle. He wanders and can’t decide where to go.

This book finds him temporarily settled, trying to connect with his son, but at odds with his daughter. What I love about these books is that Jackson really just stumbles upon people in need. He doesn’t have an office and doesn’t take “clients.” He just helps when he sees people who need it. The plot of this one involves trafficking women, kidnapping, and a murder.  Brodie, although a curmudgeon, is a likable guy, and I have enjoyed all his reluctant adventures.

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books and reading

Series I’m Working On

I  have a terrible habit of starting a book series and then never going back to it. Because I do the book challenge each year, I will start a series by reading the first book because it fits into a prompt, but then I get distracted and don’t continue the series. Every few years, I make a point to wrap up any series that I’ve started, whether through the book challenge or not.

This year I’m finally finishing The Lunar Chronicles (Cinder review here) and The Dublin Murder Squad (In the Woods review here and The Likeness review here).  I have really enjoyed both of them, up to the point I’m at. Last year, I started a few more series, but I am making an effort to wrap up everything. Here is what I’m working on:

  • The Jackson Brodie books by Kate Atkinson. I have read the first three and am currently working on the fourth.
  • Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
  • The Armand Gamache books by Louise Penny. I have read the first two. These are so much fun to read, given that they involve murder. The people of Three Pines are charming, and Gamache is a great investigator.
  • The Harry Hole books by Jo Nesbo. I read The Bat this year.
  • The Jack Caffery series by Mo Hayder. I’ve read the first two (Birdman review) and have really enjoyed them, but they are definitely some of the more graphic police detective books I’ve read.
  • The Penny Green books by Emily Organ. (Limelight review). I discovered her by accident, honestly. I needed a book with a fruit or vegetable in the title and searched my Kindle for various fruits and stumbled upon lime. I have gotten most of her books for free and have read the first two. They are a lot of fun. Penny is a reporter in 1800s England works closely with the police to solve murders. They are really well-written and clever.
  • The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard. (Red Queen review). I’m really iffy about this one. There is a giant plot hole in Red Queen and it still irritates me. But I’ve been told that the rest of the books are better, so I’m giving them another chance.
  • The Charlotte Holmes series by Brittany Cavallaro. I listened to A Study in Charlotte a couple summers ago and really enjoyed it. It’s a bit of a modern Sherlock Holmes Dr. Watson series (involving their descendants) and is more complex than I was expecting.
  • The Broken Earth series by NK Jemisin. The Fifth Season review. I really liked this one even though fantasy isn’t my favorite genre.
  • The Inheritance series also by NK Jemisin. I didn’t like this one as much, but I’m going to stick with it.

Between finishing all these series and the PopSugar reading challenge, I’m going to be very busy this year trying to complete them all, but I look forward to it.

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books and reading

Life After Life

The premise of this book is really interesting. Ursula Todd dies. A lot. And after she dies, she is reborn into her own life, making it a little farther than she did the last time. First time she dies, it is in birth. Another death sees her when she’s a toddler. Some when she’s a teenager. Others when she’s a young adult. No matter what, she always returns to her life. Every decision she makes, or doesn’t make, leads her down a different path.

Ursula is a great character, wanting the most out of life and making decisions other girls her age wouldn’t. Most of the story takes place between 1910s and 1940s where women tend to get married and have babies. In most of the story lines, Ursula doesn’t make those choices. The story doesn’t really have a plot because so many elements change with each decision. Sometimes Ursula makes excellent decisions and life is wonderful. However, most of the time life is hard. Living in England (or Germany) during WWII is hard, no matter what decisions a person makes.

And even though the premise was great, I just didn’t love the book. And my only complaint is that I just didn’t feel connected to anything. I liked Ursula quite a bit, but because there’s no true plot, seeing her make the same mistakes multiple times was just tedious. There’s a companion book to this one that follows her brother, Teddy. I’m not sure if it is the same concept or if it is an actual chronologically written novel. If it’s the latter, I will probably check it out, but I think I’ve had my fill of this reincarnation concept.