So I feel I probably come across as pretty hard to please when it comes to books but I really loved A Spool of Blue Thread. I read this is one weekend in two sittings, partly because I hadn't got round to reading it on my holiday for book club, but also because it was that good.

Our bookclub (Much Ado About Books based in Hillingdon) were lucky enough to be chosen to shadow the Bailey's Womens Fiction shortlist through the Reading Agency and their #ThisBookClub scheme. This meant that we were given a beautiful copy of the book to read and a copy to give to a friend plus a lovely bottle of baileys for the book group. It's a great scheme as it not only gave us a chance to read, discuss and share our thoughts on the book but also to interact with other book clubs taking part in the scheme through social media.

Of all the books on the Baileys prize shortlist, this is probably the most beautifully written. Anne Tyler famously doesn't do plot in her books, she does detail and style and realism. Everything about this book made me feel immersed in the characters' lives that the need for an action-packed plot is long forgotten. It is a book where nothing happens but the writing style you along the book until before you know it you're at the end. I think this was one of the reasons I was able to read this book is two long sittings, I could sit there for 4 or 5 hours and just read it without getting bored or tired or distracted. I read every day on my commute and I can go through a book every 3 or 4 days, but rarely can I sit there for that long in one go and read a book solidly. This one is something special.

Everyone in our book club agreed that this was so and that it is definitely a book by a woman for women. It is feminine but not overbearingly so. Even the male in our group, who isn't a fan of these type of books said that he could appreciate the beauty of it all and would keep reading it. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this book won. I haven't finished all of the shortlist yet, but I doubt the other books compare with such a lyrical writing style.

The winner of the prize is going to be announced next Wednesday! I'm very excited as I've managed to get an invite to the ceremony and will be sure to take lots of pictures and blog about it afterwards.

I'm currently 7 books into my 20 long list challenge and although the winner will be announced next week I will endeavour to keep reading them all so watch this space!

Before embarking on this challenge I have already read 3 of these books. In a moment of potential madness, 3 out of 20 seemed an optimistic number to inspire me to venture on with the remaining 17. I then found I Am China in the charity shop and apparently it was a sign! It may be a slow progress through the year but I have to admit that I am enjoying every minute of reading these celebrated women writers!

The books: Station Eleven, Elizabeth is Missing, The Life of a Banana and I Am China

Here's a quick overview of what I thought of the first books so far...


I Am China
I wanted to love this book, I really did. I completely got what it was trying to do and it painted a really vivid picture of political China and the struggle for a right to a voice, however, I found the main narrator, Iona, really jarred me, I found her character really quite arrogant and flat - there is such a beautiful story of two Chinese lovers separated across the globe by the desire to make a stand against the corruption of the country and I feel that Iona's story doesn't add anything to this and rather than focus on her own inability to feel anything other than sexual need, I wanted her to stand up and go on an epic journey to reunite these lovers and raise a flag to the freedom of speech in the corruption of China, maybe next time.

Elisabeth is Missing 
I read this for my bookclub when it was at the height of its success and winner of the Costa First Novel Prize 2014 and I can definitely see why it was chosen. The writing is incredible, especially for a debut author like Emma Healey, I felt she really captured the true, down-to-earth reality of the mind of a person with Alzheimer's. This really blows you away and breaks your heart. As the harsh critic that I am, I thought the overall plot line itself was a tad weak for such hype but the writing style really carries this book and encouraged me to recommend it to everyone.


The Life of a Banana
This book was not for me. I can recognise what PP Wong was trying to do with this book and hats off to her for being first British Born Chinese novelist to get a publishing deal in the UK but I struggled to really get this book. There were alot of satirical, bordering on farcical moments in the book that I wasn't really sure if they were meant to be a literary device and possible ironic, or an actual description of slapstick stupidity. I think the fault lies almost entirely with me and my reading rather than the book itself. As a book club choice, I wouldn't necessarily have chosen this for myself otherwise but I'm glad I dd read it and it is worth a read.




Station Eleven
Oh, Station Eleven, I've read this twice now and done it in all my (many) bookclubs including a couple of discussions with the author herself and so I feel I know this book inside and out, and I still love it. I think what strikes me with this book and one of the reasons it has done so incredibly well is the sheer originality of the plotline - After the apocalypse of human kind, only 1% of the population has survived and now 20 years later we're homing in to where they are at. I think it did brilliantly to cut out all the chaos and violence of the happening and aftermath that would've made it like every other apocalypse book out there. It doesn't give you an essay about the science behind it and how much humans abuse their privileges, it focuses on Shakespeare and the arts of all things. It's brilliant and it's written with the mass market in mind. Even if it's 'not your kind of thing', you should read it once anyway - it's less about sci-fi and more about human nature - it may surprise you.


Do you want to know what the best thing is about the Bailey's Prize long list? They're all so very different, in genre, writing style, life/political and moral messages and they make you think about everything in completely different ways. So far, Station Eleven has been my favourite but there are 16 more to go and I'm pretty excited about getting my hands on some of them already.


The books up next: