For this week’s reading roundup I read something I don’t often read – a play. I was fortunate enough to catch via NT Theatre Live Helen Mirren’s wonderful performance as Her Majesty The Queen in Peter Morgan’s witty play about the weekly audiences between Queen and Prime Minister. It always wonderful to watch a well written play performed by skilled actors, and this was no exception. I enjoyed picking up on a few things I’d missed – like the explanation of why Peter Morgan opted to avoid a chronological narrative – he didn’t want to have the audience counting off the Prime Ministers on their fingers. It’s certainly worth checking out. Morgan also wrote such excellent screenplays as The Queen and Frost/Nixon. Pick it up on Kindle, Kobo or iTunes. I also recommend that you take a look at the NT Theatre Live’s programme of events – this is a truly excellent series of plays and I applaud the theatre’s commitment to bringing them to a wider audience. I am coming to the conclusion that I’m not really so fond of the grimdark genre. This week I read/listened to Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. There are some interesting characters –…
This week I finished The Gem Trilogy by Kerstin Gier, which I absolutely adored. I will say though that it is one long book divided into three parts rather than three separate books with an overarching storyline – the first two novels don’t really have a strong ending. For this reason you may wish to wait before starting the trilogy as the final book, Emerald Green, is not due out in English until October – unless you read German, that is. There were several twists in the final volume, some of which were clearly signposted along the way, others more surprising – I found that Gier had a nice balance there. I continued to enjoy the character of Gwen and her adventures. The fact that the subtitle of “love throughout the ages” can be applied to more than one couple was very appealing to me. I would certainly recommend this trilogy, although I recommend waiting a few months until the English translation is available! Check out the Gem Trilogy on Kindle, Kobo, iBook and Audible formats. The next book I read/listened to was Brandon Sanderson’s new YA novel The Rithmatist. As an aside, I would not recommend listening to this…