I'm happy that I've managed to get back into the rhythm of reading.  It's a pity that it only takes me a day or two to get through a book that I am really enjoying.  They are over too fast!  And for books that I don't like as much, I usually take over a week ... and I can't wait for them to be over!

On the whole, I really enjoyed The Island.  It's a story of life in a small village of Crete which is a short boat ride away from the island of Spinalonga, a former leper colony. The fable-like storytelling style of writing was a bit irritating at times.  It seemed overly simplistic and is fine for a short story but not for a novel.

I'll take the book for what it is ... a bit over dramatized, a bit of cheesy romance.  All the women are devastatingly beautiful and the men are dark and handsome.  While reading, you wonder if you would feel as sorry for these people if they were described as ordinary (horrible, I know)!  But I have to admit. I cried.  It's definitely chick lit but with a bit more purpose as you get a glimpse of what life was like for people banished to a leper colony.  I have no idea if the book was historically accurate or not but I won't find myself quoting it just to be on the safe side.  Just a bit of light reading.

Four out of five    

(Xanga still not able to find books.  The Island )

Ok, finally catching up with all the books ...

This one was a bit touch and go for me.  I started it, then put it down, then resumed again ... got a bit more engrossed but then she kind of lost me at the end.  I did like that this was a WWII novel from the French perspective which is a new angle for me.  This novel is divided into two parts: part one despicts the French fleeing Paris and the part two is German occupation of the French countryside.  The structure of the novel made it difficult for me to gain much momentum.  She spends a few pages developing the story of a particular set of characters and then switches to other people in the next chapter.  I then have to reorient myself to the new group of people.  As soon as I do that, the chapter is practically over.  It is interesting to see the wide range of characters that she depicts from different socio-economic levels.  Even though the common enemy is the Germans, the French still stick to their own social classes and the upper classes continue to look down upon the lower ones.  I would have thought that there would be a bit more unity in a time of war but I suppose this mentality would be hard to change.  There is also a nice depiction of French and German co-existence.  It was a very long war and the two sides couldn't have spent all of it avoiding socialising with each other.  Some lines were crossed and even romance bloomed.  Life goes on inspite of war. 

Two out of five  

(Not able to find the link to the book using Xanga for some reason.  Suite Francaise. )