Reviews by Jenny (69)

Jenny 2025-08-05 The Gospel of the Eels

Fascinating creatures

The Gospel of the Eels

I really enjoyed learning about eels which it turns out are mysterious and unexplained creatures. After the first chapter I had fallen in love with them. The second chapter then hit me like a ton of bricks with the author's reminiscences of his times fishing for eels with his father. Suddenly these -to me- newly discovered mysteries were being killed and skinned. So the rest of the book was a bit up and down. I tended to skim or skip the fishing with father memories, but was fascinated by the chapters detailing the research into eels. Jane posted a link to an eel breeding place in Stillbaai where you can go and visit them (see the Links on this book). I am planning a day trip as soon as I can drive there - any takers?

Jenny 2025-08-05 The blue hour

Spooky and Scary

The blue hour

This thriller is set on an island with only 1 inhabitant. Grace been left the house by the eccentric artist Vanessa with whom she lived for years on the island. Vanessa's philandering husband had disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Grace is visited by a representative of the institute managing Vanessa's artistic legacy as irregularities in some of the works have been discovered. There is a sinister sense of foreboding and the island becomes a scary place. Not my cup of tea but a gripping read.

Jenny 2025-08-05 The Emperor of Gladness

Life on the fringe of society

The Emperor of Gladness

In this novel the young protagonist is an immigrant in the USA and is pretending to his mum that he is flourishing at medical school as that is her dream for him. But in fact he is lonely and homeless and suicidal until he moves in with Grazina, a semi-senile old Eastern European immigrant who is also battling on the margins of American society. Their unusual friendship is tenderly developed, and Hai gets a job at a fast food place to support the two of them. Here he finds a family, kindness and a support structure in his poor working-class colleagues. This is a beautifully sensitive account of life on the fringe written with a gentle humour and acceptance. It is a complex book and I found it helpful to watch some interviews with the author introducing his novel that I have put in the Links for this book.

Jenny 2025-08-05 Follow me to Africa

Magical

Follow me to Africa

I loved this historical fiction which is structured with a dual timeline. The first is the largely true historical part which documents the life of Mary Leakey, who joined her husband Louis on archaeological digs in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania in the 1930's and contributed more to his discoveries that was generally acknowledged. The parallel fictional story is set in the 1980's when a young 17 year old girl, recovering from the death of her mum, joins her archaeologist dad in Tanzania where Mary Leakey is still working. The 2 women form a close friendship around their concern for an old cheetah who they are trying to rescue. The descriptions of the African bush are lovely and the way the 2 stories work together makes for an entertaining and heart warming read.

1 ... 3 4 5 ... 14