Book sharing as a family

 

Swarm Rising by Tim Peake & Steve Cole (Hodder Children's Books)

Advance reading copy

This book is a real family affair (not least because as you might have guess from reading this blog we're all into space travel!)

Kentishbookboy's grandad won an advance copy of this in a BookTokens competition and instantly handed it over to a grateful Kentishbookboy (and his mum!).

On a recent visit to see the family KBB very kindly lent me the book, with the proviso that I had to read it and give it back to him that same weekend as he was still only half way through! I now have to apologies to the rest of the family for basically ignoring them while I kept my promise!

In all honesty it wasn't a hardship to read this all in one go - I found it a compelling, exciting page turner and even if I hadn't been on a deadline I'd have read it just as fast.

Peake has set this just a few years into the future so that the tech isn't too far off what we have now but is just a little more advanced. There are more driverless cars and drones than in 2021 but we're still texting, playing computer games and getting takeaway pizza!

As an adult reading this book I could see where a lot of the plot was going, but that is just because of life/reading experience. There were still surprises and twists that I hadn't expected and there's also a lot of plot ideas that will make great talking points. It also has a couple of really strong messages in the plot but they did (just) seem natural parts of the story rather than preachy.

I'm not always overly keen on 'If you like xxx you'll love this' tags for books but as an adult I think that if you are an Andy Weir or Doctor Who fan you're likely to enjoy this - just don't forget you aren't the target audience.

The thing I like the most about this book is that Peake is quite open that he has co-written this with another (excellent) author - there's no hidden ghost writer or false claims about authorship. Having read books by both Cole and Peake I can 'hear' them both in this one and I think that the book is all the stronger for this.

Thanks to Dad/Grandad for sharing his prize, and to Kentishbookboy for letting me sneak my read in!

What I've been doing this summer instead of reading...

What I did in the summer of 2018

Inspired by my nephew writing all about his summer holiday at school I thought it would be interesting to keep a note of all the things I've been doing this summer instead of crazy theatre going and binge reading.

To be truthful there has been some theatre going, since May I've seen:

• Two Noble Kinsmen (the Globe)
• The Chalk Garden (Chichester Festival Theatre)
• Othello (the Globe)
• Me and My Girl (Chichester Festival Theatre)
• Pressure (the Ambassadors Theatre)
• Emilia (the Globe)
• Love's Labour's Lost (the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse)

When listed like this it seems a lot but in the same time frame last year I saw 13 plays (often in double bill days) so this is a reduction.

So apart from a lot of resting, and poppy sorting (more on this soon), what have I been up to?

Spending time with family has featured highly this summer and thanks to the lovely weather we've been able to get out and about a lot too. We've been to cricket matches, family meals and also Legoland but there are two huge highlights.

The GoGoHares trail here in Norfolk - family came to stay with us for this and we spent several days out and about in the city and county looking for the beautiful sculptures.

Then while the good weather lasted we returned the visit to family and spent a glorious Saturday in Ashford following the Snowdog trail.

These trails are wonderful, we spent hours out in the fresh air, walking miles and at the same time soaking up the happy feeling of both locations. In addition to this we were supporting two wonderful charities - Break and the Pilgrim's Hospice.

We've done lots of other things too but the joy we had discovering beautiful sculptures and new areas of both locations will be hard to beat - and the fun and laughter we shared was brilliant. Here's hoping that the auctioning of the sculptures later in the year raises loads of money for each charity. Huge thanks to everyone who has made these two events so great.