emmacb's reviews
176 reviews

This was a really interesting read. A little slow starting, but it kept me coming back. The book introduces you to the story of this estate, and documents their journey from an active farm to a still developing wildland.
The concepts and methodologies for conservation described in this book are described in a way that makes them seem so simple, and yet in many cases they are still not broadly accepted in the conservation world. This book has made me question a lot about how we as individuals and as a nation interact with wildlife. It has forced me to question my assumptions about what we know about wildlife, and about how we should approach conservation.
However, the seeming obviousness of the arguments Tree presents in this book make me want to read around the subject. The presentation of Knepp's project as such a clearly superior solution makes me question whether it might be a little one-sided. Everything she says makes so much sense my inner-sceptic is suspicious of it!
After reading I did a bit of research and found I live only an hour's drive from Knepp Castle Estate. A visit is now in the works to see it all for myself!

I have mixed feelings about this book. I didn't strongly love or hate it.

The depiction of Queenie's slow breakdown under all her stresses felt quite realistic - you could see the stress mounting until it reached breaking point. I'm glad the book also showed her getting the help and support she needed, and liked how the story showed and developed her family's responses to it. This book helped me to realise my lack of patience for characters who are struggling and thus making 'Bad Life Decisions.' I found this interesting as I always believed that in real life I was quite supportive of friends in this sort of scenario - something I will now have to examine a bit closer!

I liked the ending and how, whilst it didn't tie everything up in a neat little bow it did show the beginnings and potential for the future improvement of some of Queenie's difficulties, like those with her mother and her job. A lot of feminist and race issues were raised. The lack of resolution for them made me feel frustrated and I want to say I wish they had been given more resolution but sadly I know how they are is a more realistic reflection of real life.

The style of writing is one I haven't read a book of in quite a long time. I have to admit I didn't love the frequent use of texting or email format, but at the same time I do think it made sense for the type of story!

I think ultimately, my ambivalence towards this book comes from the fact that I didn't warm to Queenie. I think this is mainly due to the lack of patience I mentioned above - watching her make choices that I, as a reader know will be bad for her mental health was very frustrating! This is not a bad book, just not quite my bag. I'm sure some people will love it more than I did, and some will hate it more than I did!

I read this in one evening. I think maybe in one sitting. However, it was fairly quickly clear that I was more doing this to get it finished so I could move on to the next book than because I was entirely hooked!

That's not to say I think this book is bad. More that I think it has quite a specific niche. This isn't really an adult book, nor is it, in my opinion, a kids book to read for pleasure. I first heard of this book from a fellow teacher who was reading it with one of her Year 4 (8-9y.o) classes and I think that would be the best way to read this book.

It introduces very complicated concepts such as war and it's consequences from wildlife devastation to PTSD, framed in a child-friendly story of a boy and his fox. The use of young and/or animal narrators allows the author to break down these things and interact with them them in a child-appropriate way, which I think could lead to some really interesting class discussions.

As a side note, I love John Klassen's illustrations which could also be a good link to an art project if reading this with children!

Overall, this is a great children's book, but not really one I'd recommend to adults to read alone!

This is a really sweet, short read. It follows a housekeeper and her son with the story being written from the Housekeeper's perspective. The relationships between characters in this book were beautifully written. They never felt rushed - they were always organic, and shifted and changed with the story to make it truly feel like a brief window into someone's life. I think it is the relationships, especially between the three central characters, that really made this book for me.

The professor is a wonderful character. The affection between him and the others builds so beautifully as the layers of his personality are revealed. The way he (and the author through him) talk about the world of mathematics, and the Housekeeper's thoughts as she learns from him truly do lead you to see the beauty in the numbers described as 'peeking into God's notebook.'

Every character though, has their own layers. I loved this little snapshot of their lives but would equally love to learn more about every one of them. I have found out there is a film and will be tracking that down as soon as I can!

On a side note, I want to give some credit to the translator as well as the author. I speak some Japanese, so recognised some bits of this story that must have been really tricky to translate while retaining the spirit of the original text (palindromes prooobably dont translate directly!). I would love to peek at the Japanese version of this book to see how the translator has worked through that.

I absolutely fell into this book. I hadn't read a full on fantasy book in a while, and this really reminded me why I love them - it's so engaging to immerse yourself in this whole new world and learn about it as the story unfolds.
I enjoyed the easy, realistic interactions between characters - dialogue felt like real conversation, relationships felt genuine and even the fairly fast-moving romance made total sense in context. The seeds for the 'big reveal' were sown right from the start, but took long enough to come together that it still felt like a revelation.
My only complaint is where the story cut off! It mentioned in the author's note at the end that it started out as a single book which snowballed into enough material for a duology, and I would say that shows, as the cutoff point at the end of this book feels a little abrupt - like it was meant to roll straight on to the next act, but can't! If I enjoy the second book as much as I did this one though, I will be coming back to revise up my rating. It's a 4.5 really anyway, I'm just being cautious/mean!
[Spoiler alert: I did enjoy the second book as much, so this has been revised up to 5 stars!]

I love this book and love this author. Super excited she has another series for me to get my teeth into at some point.
Again, the dialogue is amazing. I don't think I've ever read a book where the characters' interactions feel so true to real life. They talk in a realistically casual way to each other, and make jokes and innuendos and sarcastic comments and it's just great. It makes you care about a relatively minor character within a few lines of speech.
The writing is also beautiful. It really did feel like watching a film at times since I could imagine the story so vividly from the description.
I really hope Laini Taylor returns to this world at some point, there is so much more story she could tell!

I can't say I loved this book, but it does have some important things to say.
I initially struggled to connect with Dolly, as we don't have an awful lot in common! However, there is a section towards the end of the book where she talks about the similarities between romantic love with a boyfriend or girlfriend and the love you have for your friends which I thought was really well put, and incredibly important for people to remember.

I read this book with a Year 5 class I was covering for 2 weeks. It's a fun read but not one I'll be rushing to read with other classes.

I know it's a children's book, but even taking that into account a few of the characters and motivations and plotlines felt a little shallow.

That being said, it has quite a lot to teach children about how books are written, which feels very intentional. Almond occasionally takes breaks from the story to discuss how stories come about, how they can change and move around the world as they exist in our imagination. I quite liked that element from a teaching perspective, though it did feel a little clunky at times.

It took me a while to get going with this book, which I think was partially due to the writing style which I wasn't used to, and partially due to my leaving it at my sister's house for 2 weeks before I could get it back, which kind of broke the initial pull of starting a new book and put me in a brief reading slump!
Once I picked it back up though, I quickly got back into it. Being written in verse, the author could express emotions and ideas in ways which aren't possible under the restrictions of writing in sentences, and it really helped to drive home the depth of feeling within the characters.
The story was just as compelling in its own right. I love how it handled the conflict in all its characters, and how rounded they all felt - there was no entirely 'bad' character. The girls' father is portrayed as a complex character who loved and was loved by both his daughters even with the way he has hurt his family. Even El Cero, the man harassing Camino, is given the potential for a sympathetic side even if that is not realised.

Overall this is just a lovely, heartwarming, bittersweet story I would fully recommend.

This book was very interesting, and definitely reminded me that I need to read more books about big adventures, as those chapters were by far my favourite part of the book.
Stroud's discussion of the evolutionary basis of our body's relationship with food and exercise was presented in a clear way that made it easy to follow his logic.
I'd be interested to look up some of his more recent work (should it exist!), as the copy of this book that I read is borrowed from my dad, and is now 23 years old, so I'm sure Stroud has been involved in many other adventures and research projects since this book was written!