Emma's Bookish Lifestyle

This book opens with a quote from Officer Willard Strickland, Atlanta Police Department, Retired in a 1977 speech recalling his 1948 induction as one of the city's first eight African American officers: "I must tell you, it was not easy for me to raise my right hand and say 'I, Willard Strickland, a Negro, do solemnly swear to perform the duties of a Negro Policemen.'" This is a beautifully written book by Thomas Mullen, although it is a work of fiction at points in this book you can easily identify those things that did in fact take place to the African American communities of Atlanta and other US States. I love the design used for the cover of this book and the title Darktown infers the ethnic nature of this downtown area of Atlanta in 1948 and the segregation still in place during this time. This story is based primarily around two sets of police partners.  Boggs and Smith part of the eight newly instated African American officers.  Boggs is highly ...

There is now an ever growing and much loved community on YouTube referred to as BookTube.  This is now a diverse community not covering just Young Adult but many topics and genres.   There are far too many that I follow to mention however, some of my current haul purchases have been inspired by the following channels and so I wanted to tip my hat so to speak to these in particular and thank them not only for their amazing content but also for the range of books they have brought to my attention. Simon of SavageReads Simon is a charismatic and funny guy, he always shows such enjoyment in reading and sharing his thoughts with us and I have watched all his videos to date.  Both of these books were given 5* reviews and his enthusiasm in describing both the synopsis of the books and his thoughts were contagious creating a must have purchase instinct in me. I have to also say that this is not the first purchase I have had to have from his channel and he has become t...

This year I have really returned to my adoration of reading after a major change in my life. Unfortunately I have yet to win the lottery so have to fit it around day to day life, but I cannot wait for the change of the seasons to Autumn perfect reading weather. Drawing from this positivity I have begun to read a wider range of genres than those I have enjoyed over the last couple of years.   For this reason I have extended my selection to include more classic literature.   I could not resist adding to my reading collection with these Vintage Edition Classics, this particular series of books has been published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (November 2015) and was drawn to them as they are similar in style to that of vintage wallpaper designs and would therefore go well beside my Knickerbocker Classics Cloth Flexibound editions.  I will however comment that these may not be for all as the font size is extremely small.     I ha...

Good Reads Synopsis The story of your life never starts at the beginning. Don't they teach you anything at school? So says 104-year-old Ona to the 11-year-old boy who's been sent to help her out every Saturday morning. As he refills the bird feeders and tidies the garden shed, Ona tells him about her long life, from first love to second chances. Soon she's confessing secrets she has kept hidden for decades. One Saturday, he doesn't show up. Ona starts to think he's not so special after all, but then his father Quinn arrives on her doorstep, determined to finish his son's good deed. The boy's mother is not so far behind. Ona is set to discover that even at her age the world can surprise you, and that sometimes sharing a loss is the only way to find yourself again. Review Ona’s relationship with the boy is a delightful and magical one, through each other he is given the opportunity to feel true friendship and respect when it is apparent he is fraught w...

The book starts by introducing Fran Hall and her husband Nathan who have moved to a rural farmhouse to bring up their two children Emme and Ben.   At the opening of this book Fran is awoken by Ben only to find Nathan gone from their bed.  After searching the house she moves outside and discovers his body. After reporting the situation to the police Fran finds herself under suspicion  and we begin to see a side of Fran's past that she may be running away from.  As well as a darker side to her husband Nathan's life that remains unrevealed. Unfortunately I was unable to finish this book.  I read 54% before I just had to surrender. I love a good psychological thriller and have read a few good thrillers this year, so when I saw the synopsis for the story of The Loving Husband, it looked like a compelling fast paced read. Unfortunately I should have followed my gut after the first few chapters.  Straight from the off I found it very hard to associ...

As part of my Kindle Prime account I am able to select a free e-book each month from a selection of titles and genres, most of these are new to me and enable me to experience and expand my reading experience. I have not read a great deal of books classed as Literary fiction so when I read and was intrigued by the synopsis below, this was my choice for September. "Set against a layered Manhattan landscape,  The Special Power of Restoring Lost Things  explores a fractured family through the alternating perspectives of the mother, father, and brother of a young woman during the aftermath of her disappearance. A year of silent but collective anguish culminates in the fateful thirty hours after a body with a striking resemblance to hers is found, and we see her buttoned-up Upper West Side family spiral in different, dangerous directions: Her mother, Carol, nearly comatose by day, comes alive at night in a vigilante-like attempt to track down her daughter’s killer. Her bro...