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Book reviews

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This is the section where you can read reviews written by Calderdale readers that will tell you what they thought of a particular book and why. You won't find professional critics playing clever here!

Whether it's a thumbs up or a thumbs down, the best book they've ever read or a candidate for Room 101 - you'll find out here from Calderdale readers saying how it was for them!

Skircoat Green Library Readers' Group

Mourning Ruby by Helen Dunmore

'A very well-written book. Past, present and perhaps future of a girl (Rebecca) found in a cardboard box and her love for her daughter Ruby. Her desire to give her what she never had, but she is taken away. Rebecca loved 2 men: Adam her husband and Joe her father / brother but not lover. He writes about himself and Rebecca later in his life. It is all very well put together.'

'I usually enjoy this writer's books so I was very disappointed with this one. It moved back and forth: I didn't know who it was talking about half the time, too many plots, and why did we need to read another novel in the midst of all this confusion? No points I'm afraid.'

'A book about love, grief and coping. It should have been depressing but surprisingly it wasn't! It was very easy to read: that could be because I read the book a few years ago and knew what it was about.'

'I listened to this on CD. I don't know whether it was the reader or not, but I found it a confusing story. I could empathise with Rebecca on the agony it must be when someone loses a child in such tragic circumstances, and her way coping: but, compared with the other book I have read by this author, it was a disappointment.'

More reviews of Mourning Ruby|.

Sowerby Bridge Library Afternoon Readers' Group

Somewhere Behind The Morning by Frances McNeil

'Once I got into this book I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was written as a diary which was a good way to present the story. The author brought all the aspects of WW1 into play. The enormous loss of life, the food shortages, white feathers, suffragettes, flu epidemic all there with a good character study of Julia. Recommended.'

'Good read. One of the more interesting rags to riches stories. Reminds us how recently women became emancipated in Britain and what great advances have been made in less than 100 years towards social equality.'

'I read to page 100, put the book down and found no reason to pick it up again. The author did not manage to engage me with any of the characters. I found them and their lives uninteresting.'

More reviews of Somewhere Behind The Morning|.

Still don't know what to read? For more ideas, see our complete list of book reviews.

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