Weekly Wednesday #1

This is a new and hopefully regular feature on the Outsider. I really want to get back into blogging more than twice a month so fingers crossed this will help! I'll mention books I'm reading or have read, new books that may have accidentally landed on my desk, and movies that I've been watching - both big and small screen. Let's start with the books!

Currently Reading

After devouring Now You See Her I was so excited to receive a copy of Come Back For Me in the post a couple of weeks ago. An unknown body buried in the garden and a small island community is making for some tense reading! It's not out until July 11th in hardback but it came out in e-book format on June 1st, and if you hurry you can pick it up for 99p as a limited time deal on Amazon during June. I'm taking part in the blog tour so look out for my review on publication day!

Now the twins are 9 (!!!) they're reading more, especially E, so I like to check out books I think she might like. The Middler is by Kirsty Applebaum and published by the wonderful Nosy Crow. It's about Maggie, the middle child, her older brother Jed and her younger brother Trig, forbidden friendship and betrayal. I'm only about 25 pages in but loving it so far.

Up Next

This is the first of my YALC 2019 reads and I cannot wait! I loved The Wren Hunt so much, it was one of my top 10 books of 2018. In fact, I'm contemplating doing a re-read before delving into The Wickerlight but trying to create a YALC reading schedule before I decide.

On The Big Screen

 I'm off to see Dark Phoenix tomorrow, and apart from the fact that Sophie Turner is playing Jean Grey, I've managed to avoid spoilers and reviews. Really hoping this one lives up to the hype!

I saw Godzilla: King Of The Monsters yesterday and loved it! I love monster movies and will quite happily watch them for days! There was a man sitting in front of me though who obviously didn't share my love of Mothra because he alternated between playing with his phone and falling asleep and snoring - loudly...

Can't Wait For...

Hurrah! A new Jackson Brodie from one of my favorites, Kate Atkinson. This novel has been a long time coming and I always just assumed that there would be no more new Jackson stories. Very happy to be proved wrong! Extra bonus - Jason Isaacs, who played Jackson in the television adaptation, is going to be at ComicCon 2019...

Top Ten Tuesday #104 - 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn't

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the fabulous girls cover at The Broke & The Bookish. This week's topic is -

Top Ten Nine 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn't

Oh dear. Where do I start with this list? There are so many titles that could be on my list and I feel guilty about every single one of them. Although I did start reading several of these I just never got round to finishing them...

Life After Life - Kate Atkinson

Life After Life - Kate Atkinson
ISBN UK - 9780385618670
          US -  9780316176484
Publisher UK - Doubleday
                US - Reagan Arthur Books
Release date UK - March 14th 2013
                     US - April  2nd 2013
Find - Book Depository/Goodreads

Ursula Todd is born on a snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd dies on a snowy night in 1910. And so the story begins... Ursula is destined to be born, live and die many, many times in many varying ways. Each time she lives a little bit differently and a little bit longer. In some lives she dies as a child, some as an adult, whilst on holiday or working as an air raid warden or even simply rescuing a dog. When approaching what might have been her death in a different life she experiences deja vu, a sense of urgency that maybe she's done this before and something's not quite right and though she doesn't know why, somethings needs to be done differently.

Behind the scenes are Ursula's family - parents, brothers, sisters and an outrageous aunt - who are all caught up in the constant circle of living and dying. Her parents (especially her mother) know there's something different about Ursula and even send her to a psychiatrist after one incident in which she tries to alter history. Her younger brother Teddy is also caught up in the living/dying cycle, sometimes dying young, or as an adult. My favorite members of the family were solid, dependable Pamela and the completely irreverent Aunt Izzie who was a law unto herself, especially given the time period.

Ultimately, the aim of the story appears to be whether Ursula succeeds or not in her goal of killing Hitler as is seen in the prologue, and to see how or if the world changes by altering things with the killing of a major historical figure. I don't read much about World War II - fiction or non-fiction - but Kate Atkinson's attention to detail is impeccable, it definitely kept me turning the pages as the chapters become longer when Ursula stays alive for longer periods after she changes her choices in each life and we become more immersed in wartime London (or Germany/Austria). I had a couple of niggles about Life After Life, firstly I didn't really like the inclusion of Eva Braun as a character, as a friend of Ursula's and felt that her story went on a bit too long for someone who wasn't a major character. The second niggle was the ending as it just... ended! I was left a bit adrift and wondering if I'd missed something, skipped a few pages or something but my sister said something along the same lines so definitely not just me!

I'm a huge fan of Kate Atkinson's work and have been since I read Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Human Croquet and Not The End Of The World. Most people though know her for her Jackson Brodie detective books, and the television adaptations starring the rather lovely Jason Isaacs as Jackson! Life After Life is definitely up there with the rest of them and I look forward to seeing what Ms Atkinson comes up with next.

Reading RoundUp #22

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

You can tell I spent the whole week at my sister's house, I got so little reading done and it was a complete fail on Bout Of Books 7.0. For the next one I'm locking myself in the house and making no plans! I've also been really lax in keeping my book journal so I've lost track of what I've started and what I've finished. Another reason why I shouldn't spend so much time at my sister's without my journal, or my books...

Finished

Life After Life -Kate Atkinson

Me Before You - Jojo Moyes

Witchstruck - Victoria Lamb

Midwinterblood - Marcus Sedgwick

Chantress - Amy Butler Greenfield

Dead Ever After - Charlaine Harris

Still reading

Wickedness - Deborah White

A Clash Of Kings - George R R Martin

Started

Undone - Cat Clarke

I think that's everything I've started and/or finished, I'm sure at the end of the year when I'm updating my Goodreads I'll more than likely think of quite a few that I've missed over the year. In other exciting bookish news, last Sunday I went to a book signing for the first time since a certain Jasper Fforde last year and got to meet the lovely Raymond E Feist! He was very nice and signed my copy of Faerie Tale and of course, Magician's End, which is the whole reason he was touring the UK. I've got two more really exciting signings/talks coming up over the next month, one by a strange chap by the name of Neil Gaiman! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!