Literary Lane: Two Books For Your To-Be-Read List
If World Book Day earlier this month reignited your love of reading, let our resident bookworm Georgina Lane take the stress out of choosing your next book as she reviews two very different titles just released in the literary world…
First up is a book that’s already got critics raving on various websites, it first came to my attention on Buzzfeed. Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa takes place entirely in the space of one afternoon during the Seattle WTO protests of 1999. It follows the story of Victor, a runaway teenager who is trying to make some money selling low level drugs to the protestors in order to buy a plane ticket out of there. But as he takes to the streets he becomes captivated by the mixture of people making up the 50,000 strong march and soon decides to support them. The protestors have trained for months and intend for this to be a peaceful protest with no violence, but human nature gets in the way.
Over the course of the afternoon we meet seven people all with different personalities and motivations, each making decisions that will change the way the day plays out. Amongst them is Victor’s estranged father, who also happens to be the Chief of Police, a non-violent protestor who is fearful her destructive violent acts of the past will catch up with her and a financial minister who’s been working for years to improve the future of his country.
What Sunil has crafted here is something very human and poignant, with each chapter dedicated to a different character, it provides a very visceral perspective of the events as they unfold. I tore through this book as I wanted to know what became of the characters and see how their actions affected those around them. This a stunning debut novel by an incredibly talented writer, who cleverly displays the power rash decisions can have, and how speaking up is important. The latter chapters of the book took my breath away, this isn’t one you will want to miss.
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist is published by Lee Boudreaux Books and is available on the Kindle from Amazon (RRP £7.99) The print edition is available in all good bookshops (RRP £11.99)
For those amongst you who are looking for something a little less powerful we have The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart by Anna Bell. When Abi goes to her boyfriend’s house after work with fancy wine and the hope of making plans for their one year anniversary the last thing she’s expecting to happen is for Joseph to break up with her. Shocked and stunned Abi spends the next few weeks at home, refusing to shower and sobbing into her Chinese.
After receiving a not so friendly letter from the HR department at work she decides to go back and attempts to make a fresh start, starting with her hair. With a new flash hairstyle and wardrobe (thanks to her best friend Sian) Abi thinks she might be ok, that is until Joseph leaves a box of the things she left at his house on her front doorstep, shake up Abi begins to sort through the contents and discovers a bucket list of Joseph’s. Abi decides that the best way to win him back is by working through the list and proving to Joseph that they are compatible and have plenty in common. Unfortunately Abi isn’t the outdoor type and most of the activities involve abseiling Spinnaker Tower, cycling around the Isle of Wight and climbing a mountain.
This being a chick lit book, you can imagine that things don’t always go to plan there are stresses and miscommunications, but it’s an easy read and the bucket list acts as a tool to keep the storyline moving along. An easy read that is delightful, cheesy and inspiring.
The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart is published by Zaffre and is available on the Kindle from Amazon (RRP £4.99) The print edition is available in all good bookshops (RRP £7.99)
