Sofa Spotlight - Black Moon, L A Weatherly

This is the final book in the Broken Sky Trilogy and I had high hopes for how this would end. It didn’t disappoint. Just to warn you there may be spoilers below, so reader by cautioned!

The final book catches up with Amity aka Wildcat as she continues to try and bring down President Kay Pierce. There’s been quite an effective love triangle up until now but really by the end of the second book I was fed up of Collie and in this one there is no bringing him back from what he does. Ingo is by far the nicest of the two and I had high hopes of him and Amity making it work. Although, there are a few too many similarities with The Hunger Games’ Gale and Peeta duo, but it’s still good.

Anyway the Resistance is doing its best in New Manhattan to sort things out and bring sanity back to the world before Kay destroys it with the nuclear weapons she sort of inherited from Gunnison What happens as their plans unfold is some great story lines that twist and turn right to the end. Have to say that I loved it. This and the whole series.  

Sofa Spotlight - The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare

 I was looking forward to reading this play as lines from it are often quoted by my Dad. So it’s about time that I got around to reading it. And it didn’t disappoint. This is one clever play. Not that Shakespeare’s other plays are not clever but I appreciated this one so much more.

The plot revolves around Antonio who has defaulted on a debt to Shylock the Jew. Shylock wasn’t a fan of Antonio to begin with and is in a mood because his daughter has become a Christian and run off with Lorenzo. As soon as Antonio defaults on the debt Shylock is after blood – well a pound of flesh. It’s a bit harsh because Antonio seems to be a nice chap and the victim of a lot of bad luck. But Shylock is typical villain and comes after him.

Of course, there is the usual amount of characters going about in disguise and resolving the sticky situations people find themselves in. Which begs the question – would more of life’s problems be resolved if more people went around in disguise?

Anyway much enjoyed, and on my recommendation list.

Sofa Spotlight - The Intuitionist, Colson Whitehead

This is another excellent novel by Colson Whitehead. The story is about two schools of elevator inspector – the Intuitionists, who can intuitively know what is wrong with an elevator or if it needs maintenance, and the Empiricists, who rely on instruments to determine the status of an elevator. When I first hear that this was what the story was, I was skeptical that I would enjoy it. But in true Colson Whitehead style this is about more than just elevators.

The time in which the novel is set is not specified, but there are clues all through the story about where this society is. The main character, Lila Mae Watson, is black, which forms one of the struggles she faces in this novel. Integration is a big theme in this and as well as being black Lila Mae is also a woman in a predominantly male workforce, as well as an Intuitionist. Intuitionists are the minority, although Lila Mae finds a community that is looking for the truth behind the theory.

Lila Mae is a character on a quest – initially to find out the truth behind a fatal elevator accident that is being blamed on her. But then her quest becomes to get to the heart of the Intuitionist theory and the perfect elevator envisioned by the theory’s founder.

You should definitely read this book or listen to it as I did. It is intriguing, thought provoking and keeps you guessing until the end.

Sofa Spotlight - Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt

 This was a book that seemed to be the book to read when I was studying for my A-levels. I’m getting around to reading it about 15 years later! It’s the memoir of Frank McCourt and his childhood in 1930’s/40’s Limerick, Ireland. Not an easy read at all.

What was hard was hearing how hard the conditions were for the poor in Ireland. The way it’s described makes you think it should be something out of Dickens rather than less than a hundred years ago. Like I say it’s a hard memoir to read as Frank’s father is an alcoholic and struggles to hold down a job, which ultimately affects the family.

It may not be easy to read but it did give some insight into what life was like in Limerick during the war. And there were tears from me too – life was so hard and it made me realise how much I take for granted. So, a thought provoking read but I’m not sure I could read it again, in places it was a little on the explicit side.  

Sofa Spotlight - The Merry Wives of Windsor, William Shakespeare

I think this might be the first one that hasn’t annoyed me in some way, and it might even have made me chuckle. Which is something I’ve been waiting to happen since I started reading these comedies! The basic plot follows Falstaff, a knight who is short on money. To solve his money problems he decides to court two married women, who are fairly wealthy. He sends them letters that are almost identical, and somehow not only do both the women work out his plan, but so do their husbands.

The wives lead Falstaff on a merry dance that ends up with him being attacked by fairies and all being put right at the end.  This was the first play where I was interested to find out what would happen. Full points for that, and I like plots that involve someone being hoist by their own petard, as it were. So this may not be the strongest of Shakespeare’s plays but I liked it, even if the characters may not have been the most morally upright.

Sofa Spotlight - And the Shofar Blew, Francine Rivers

 I don’t often read Christian fiction, and when I do, I don’t review it. So, this is a first for me. But there was something about this book that made me want to talk about it. When it comes to Francine Rivers I’ve not read much, in fact only the Mark of the Lion series, which was very different to this.

My biggest concern when I started reading this was that it would be dated and, if I’m honest, cringey. The book centres around Paul, the pastor of a mega church in the US, and his family. Paul starts off wanting to take a small, struggling church and use it to reach as many people as he can for God. Along the way he gets more than distracted and the focus shifts from building up God’s people to building his own reputation.

It didn’t take long for my opinion to change. And yes the book has a strong 90’s feel to it, and it’s American, but its message is bigger than those things. It gets to grips with the real struggles of pastoring a church and also how Christians do and should respond to inconsistencies that they see in the church and their pastor.

I thought this was a very well written, challenging novel. It doesn’t shy away from the nastier side of the church and provides a strong warning. I would put it down as a must read. Still not sure I like the title though!