30 day book challenge; day 16, the longest book you’ve read

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

This book is truly epic. It may be 1011 pages long but it certainly doesn’t feel like that- yes, it does capture ten years of Scarlett O’Hara’s life but it is also incredibly absorbing and you won’t want it to end. It depicts the extent to which war can change a nation and also a person. Scarlett starts off as shallow, selfish and manipulative but by the end of the book she is incredibly hardened, but also (in my opinion) a much more likeable character. You can’t fail to respect her strength and the way in which she works tirelessly to provide for her family. At the start of the book she was a largely unlikeable teenage girl but by the end of the book she is a flawed yet very admirable character. This book really is about change and its length doesn’t feel excessive, so don’t let it put you off!

What’s the longest book YOU’ve read? Let me know in a comment!

One-Day-Ful!

Sorry about the cheesy pun! I’m trying to come up with imaginative titles for my posts and this was the best I could come up with- I’m not very witty or a natural comedian. But anyhoo, I’m reading ‘One Day’ (as you might have guessed). It’ s written by David Nicholls, who I hadn’t heard of previously but is actually a fantastic writer- the book is funny, poignant and a fantastic love story.

But the critics on the back of the jacket could have told you that. ‘One Day’ is about more than Emma and Dexter (wonderful protagonists though they are); it’s about ageing, growing, changing. We travel with them through twenty years of their lives- we experience their ups and downs, career changes, new homes and new partners, with their love for each other constant the whole way through, even when they don’t like each other much. The changes that the protagonists go through reflect the experiences that everyone has between the ages of twenty and forty- being radical, being oversexed, holidays, awful jobs, drink, drugs, going to parties, feeling down, settling down, parenthood, break ups, loss, letdowns and family divisions. It’s the coming of age novel for an older generation. It really is an incredible book, not to mention it’s easy to read and impossible to put down. ‘One Day’ is an absolute must for any book lover, especially if you like a bit of romance, like me. And though it essentially is a romance novel, it’s not too soppy, but paints a more realistic picture of romance, bittersweet, painful, yet irresistible.

What did YOU think of ‘One Day’? Let me know!