Book Club - The Lovely Bones

“Sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams you never even knew you had.” 

The Lovely Bones has been on my ‘to read’ list for years, I first picked it up when I was around 14 but my mum stopped me as she knew it wasn’t suitable for youngsters. I’m so so so glad I’ve finally got round to reading it, it has literally haunted me ever since. 

Set in the 70s and 80s the book follows the family and friends of murdered Susie Salmon through her eyes in heaven. I’ve never really believed in heaven or an afterlife, but if I ever do I think I will believe in one very similar to how Alice Sebold describes it. One where things you desired when living are replicated around you and where you stay watching over people until you are ready to leave.

Following both her murderer and those most affected by her death Susie narrates her way through 10 years, the journey her family takes to repair the damage done to those who she didn’t know much when living but who were affected in life changing ways by her death. One of my favourite characters was Ruth who was ‘touched’ by Susie on her way to heaven and goes on to see the stories of murdered women wherever she goes. 

Touching, sad and joyful The Lovely Bones examines human relationships in a way which will stick with you for days afterwards, and in examining death through the eyes of the deceased gives hopefulness to the book I hadn’t experienced before. 

Book Club - Where'd You Go Bernadette

“That's right,' she told the girls. 'You are bored. And I'm going to let you in on a little secret about life. You think it's boring now? Well, it only gets more boring. The sooner you learn it's on you to make life interesting, the better off you'll be.” 

Where’d You Go Bernadette is unashamedly a book I judged based entirely on its cover – come on, you have to admit it is gorgeous. I discovered this book when I got a sample of the first chapter in a book I ordered last year from Amazon and Lee bought it for me as a birthday present.

Not written in a linear style, but instead composed of emails, letters, thoughts and other documents the book is held together by Bernadette’s daughter Bee who narrates through the events before and during Bernadette’s disappearance. The dynamics and character of the family is gradually revealed through the book in the various documents, from Bernadette’s hatred of people and more specifically the mothers of Bee’s classmates, her husband’s devotion to his job at Microsoft and Bee’s struggle believe in her mother, when everyone else had given up.

Frequently making me laugh, this book is a true page turner. I’m putting some of that down to the set up of the story, but the characters are so likeable and the pace fast that it is genuinely hard to put down – I read it in 3 days.

I’d highly recommend it, I’m going through a stage of reading mystery/disappearance books and this was a nice uplifting option compared to the depressing reads I’ve been delving into recently.  

Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition

After work three of us went to visit the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House. At work I look after the social media side of a photography competition and get to see a lot of the entries, so it was a great exercise in comparison.

The photos were - as you'd expect - amazing. There were so many different categories, my favourites being sport, enhanced and split-second. There was a whole room dedicated to Andrea Gjestvang who photographed the survivors of the Norway bombings in 2011 which gave all of us goosebumps.

It isn't something I'd normally do on a Thursday after work, but it made a nice change and I should really make the effort to get out and do more of these kinds of things.

The exhibition is only on until the 12th and costs £7.50 so hurry if you want to see it!