Purchased eBooks

The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy

I’ve been wanting to read this book for ages but hadn’t got around to buying it so when I spotted it in a Kindle Daily Deal yesterday I snapped it up. I’m looking forward to reading this one.

In 1988 Saul Adler (a narcissistic, young historian) is hit by a car on the Abbey Road. He is apparently fine; he gets up and goes to see his art student girlfriend, Jennifer Moreau. They have sex then break up, but not before she has photographed Saul crossing the same Abbey Road. Saul leaves to study in communist East Berlin, two months before the Wall comes down. There he will encounter – significantly – both his assigned translator and his translator’s sister, who swears she has seen a jaguar prowling the city. He will fall in love and brood upon his difficult, authoritarian father. And he will befriend a hippy, Rainer, who may or may not be a Stasi agent, but will certainly return to haunt him in middle age. Slipping slyly between time zones and leaving a spiralling trail, Deborah Levy’s electrifying The Man Who Saw Everything examines what we see and what we fail to see, the grave crime of carelessness, the weight of history and our ruinous attempts to shrug it off.

The Hopes and Dreams of Libby Quinn by Freya Kennedy

I downloaded this on Kindle recently when it was free. I love the author’s work under her alter-ego so am intrigued to read a novel by her that’s a completely different genre!

Libby Quinn is sick and tired of being sensible. After years of slogging her guts out for nothing at a PR company, she finds herself redundant and about to plough every last penny of her savings into refurbishing a ramshackle shop and making her dream become a reality. She hopes the opening of bookshop on Ivy Lane will be the perfect tribute to her beloved grandfather who instilled a love of reading and books in her from an early age. When her love life and friendships become even more complicated – will Libby have the courage to follow her dreams? Or has she bitten off more than she can chew?

Seven Lies Elizabeth Kay

I’ve had my eye on this book for a while and decided to buy it this week. I’m really intrigued about all the lies in this novel and what is going to happen. I don’t think this will be waiting very long to be read!

It all started with one little lie . . .Jane and Marnie have been inseparable since they were eleven years old. They have a lot in common. In their early twenties they both fell in love and married handsome young men. But Jane never liked Marnie’s husband. He was always so loud and obnoxious, so much larger than life. Which is rather ironic now, of course.Because if Jane had been honest – if she hadn’t lied – then perhaps her best friend’s husband might still be alive . . . This is Jane’s opportunity to tell the truth, the question is: Do you believe her?

No Win Race: A Story of Belonging, Britishness and Sport by Derek A. Bardowell

I spotted this one on Kindle just the other day and I immediately bought it. I’m trying to read and educate myself on racism at the moment and as a football fan this perspective really called to me. I hope to get to this one very soon.

In the eighties, black footballers emerged from the dressing room to find bananas being hurled from the stands. But the abuse didn’t stop at the full-time whistle – racial harassment in sport mirrored the experience of many in society. As a kid from the East End, Derek Bardowell found solace in the success of black athletes. It is what bonded three generations of his family. Yet even now, success on the field seldom converts to power or justice away from it. No Win Race is Bardowell‘s deeply personal exploration into the complexities and biases implicit in being black in Britain, told through the prism of sport. Covering the period between the Brixton ‘riots’ and Brexit, this visceral, powerful book is for those who want an honest insight into UK race relations, and for anyone who understands that sport is more than just a game. 

Review Books

Dear Justyce by Nic Stone

I read and love Dear Martin a few weeks ago and as soon as I heard there was to be a follow-up novel I knew I wanted to read it. I was delighted to be approved to read this one on NetGalley this week and plan on reading this very, very soon.

In the stunning sequel to the New York Times bestseller Dear Martin, bestselling author Nic Stone unflinchingly explores race and inequality and the impact of both on young black lives.  Vernell LaQuan Banks and Justyce McAllister grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, Justyce walks the illustrious halls of Yale University . . . and Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center. Through a series of flashbacks and letters to Justyce, Quan’s story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there’s a dead cop and a weapon with Quan’s prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure…

West of Jim Crow by Lynn M. Hudson

I downloaded this from the Read Now section of NetGalley this week as it sounded like a fascinating read and one that will give me a greater understanding of race issues across America.

African American resistance to white supremacy from California statehood to the 1950s. African Americans who moved to California in hopes of finding freedom and full citizenship instead faced all-too-familiar racial segregation. As one transplant put it, “The only difference between Pasadena and Mississippi is the way they are spelled.” From the beaches to streetcars to schools, the Golden State—in contrast to its reputation for tolerance—perfected many methods of controlling people of color. Lynn M. Hudson deepens our understanding of the practices that African Americans in the West deployed to dismantle Jim Crow in the quest for civil rights prior to the 1960s. Faced with institutionalized racism, black Californians used both established and improvised tactics to resist and survive the state’s color line. Hudson rediscovers forgotten stories like the experimental all-black community of Allensworth, the California Ku Klux Klan’s campaign of terror against African Americans, the bitter struggle to integrate public swimming pools in Pasadena and elsewhere, and segregationists’ preoccupation with gender and sexuality.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales From The Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

I’m fascinated by this novel and have been wanting to read it for a little while now so was thrilled to be approved on NetGalley.

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time… From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula’s time-travelling offer. Among some faces that will be familiar to readers of Kawaguchi’s previous novel, we will be introduced to: The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago; The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral; The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry; The old detective who never gave his wife that gift… This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?

Have you got any new books this week? I’d love to know what you got. Or have you read any of my new books and recommend I get to any of them sooner rather than later? If you’ve shared a book haul post this week then please feel free to share you link below and I’ll make sure to visit your post! 🙂