There are Books and Then There are Big Books

For Christmas, my son and daughter-in-law bought me a hardback copy of Robert Galbraith’s sixth book in the Cormoran Strike series, The Ink Black Heart. So far this is the biggest book in the series standing in at 1012 pages long. It took me from the 7th to the 30th of January to read it. The most frustrating thing about the book was the pages where the publisher/author was trying to imitate text messages on a computer screen. These were set up in columns of three. I found myself having to read one column at a time to understand what was going on. By the end of the novel, it became clear the character, Strike and Robin were hunting for online, was being played by more than one person.

Not the first large book, I’ve read.

I did enjoy Ink Black Heart and look forward to the next in the series. I have noticed on Goodreads some readers are personally attacking the author for some comments made by them on Twitter. The readers, who disagreed with the author (who has as much right as the readers to voice their opinion, too) should read Ink Black Heart. The theme in the book covers online bullying and how easy it is for people to hide behind avatars and cause problems to others.

The second book I’ve just finished reading isn’t one of my normal reads. The Dolphin’s Kiss: (The Lady Amelia Saga Book 4) by Dawn Knox is a captivating romance saga, set in Australia at the turn of the 19th Century. The story uncovers a family secret and shows how even as white settlers carve out a living in the wilds of Australia, the class system is still important to some people. The setting is perfect, the pace is fast-moving and the characters are well-drawn. I highly recommend this book.

If you haven’t read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and love books which are a mixture of historical and fantasy then this is the book for you. The writing is outstanding, and the plot is page-turning. I read it years ago, and it remains on my top ten list of fiction books I would take with me to a desert island. It’s a book you could read again, and again and never become bored of it.

Thank you for reading my book reviews.

Chat again soon.