THE CRYING TREE By Naseem Rakha

Firstly, please let me tell you what a beautiful book this is. It is a stunning work of literary fiction.

When Nate Stanley came home from work one day to announce the family was moving to Oregon, no one in the family really knew why. When he explained he had a job promotion, they assumed that was all there was to it. They never imagined the secrets that he was hiding from his family. However moving doesn't solve their problems and Irene and Nate's son is shot dead in their own home.

We join the family nineteen years on, just a month before the scheduled execution of their son's killer. However, secrets come to light that no one dared speak of till now, and they could change everything.

I am so glad that I decided to read this book. Ever since it arrived in the post as part of a winter reading selection I found on line, it seemed to be calling me. It caught my eye first out of all those other books and it did not disappoint in any way shape or for. In fact, it exceeded ALL expectations I had for it.

When I started reading this book, I never for one moment thought that its main message would be forgiveness. I imagined it to focus on pain and loss, depression and separation, and a number of other miserable emotions we expect from a novel where a parent loses a child. This was not the case!

A while back I wrote an article about the difference between literature and 'good reads', and the conclusion I came to was that good literature was something that would leave a lasting impression and would, above all, teach you something about yourself and/or the world around you. This book certainly does that and I would definitely class it as literature.

Normally I try to write about my favourite character(s) in the book but on this one I'm stumped. there never seemed to be one character that stood out more than the other all of the time. At one point Shep was my favourite, at another point Bliss, and even Robbin at some parts of the book. Everyone took their turn in the emotional lime light and everyone had a story to tell. I was really impressed and mesmerized by the way that Rakha wove so many stories into one narrative plot stream. I really is genius.

This is a hard hitting book in places and one to make you think, but I would certainly recommend this to everyone. It is a brilliant read and delivers an important message in a friendly and non-intrusive way. A five star rating really doesn't seem quite good enough for this one. Not nearly good enough at all.

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES By Thomas Hardy (PHASE THE SEVENTH)

Alas! It is finished. To be honest it all seemed to end rather quickly and I can't decided whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. All the way through, despite enjoying the book, and I've been longing for it to finally finish, and now that it is finished, it's sort of left me with a bit of a book-hangover. I genuinely never expected Tess of the d'Urbervilles to give me book-hangover. For those of you who are unaware of the term book-hangover here it is:

Even twenty four hours after finishing the book, I still don't really know how I feel about the ending. Its really difficult to explain without giving too much away, although with it being a classic, everyone probably knows how it finishes anyway.

I knew what was coming and I knew it was going to be awful,but I never envisaged it to be like this. In fact, this has been the only section of the book when I haven't been furiously angry with the author, the characters and everyone else involved in the book. Hardy wrapped everything up and tied all the loose ends incredibly quickly, leaving you with a sense of almost lostness and almost defencelessness because for so long you have had these characters and their personalities to keep you going and now it all ends so quickly that you don't really have time to say goodbye properly. In addition to this, I find that Tess becomes very harsh and impulsive in the final chapter of this book, which is understandable once she meets Angle again but, before hand it seems a little odd that she has gone so long living in the hope that her husband would return that you never expect her to suddenly up and leave to go somewhere else.

I found that once Angle returned to the country from Brazil, I didn't hate him nearly as much as I did before he left and what was more was that I wasn't upset with myself for not hating him either. In fact the tables turned a little and I felt really sorry for him and I was so please that he had finally come to his sense, but even Angle seems to follow the same metaphor as everyone else in this book: Too little too late.

Over all I have very much enjoyed reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles and I would not at all mind reading some other works of Thomas Hardy. Hardy is a very successful author who definitely knew how to get a response out of his audience and how to make them feel exactly what he wants them to feel. I admire him and his work and would recommend that most people should read his work if they get the chance.

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES - By Thomas Hardy (PHASE THE SIXTH)

I think the author here, is just plainly on a mission to make his readers angry, an I must say that if this was indeed his main goal for this book, then Hardy has most definitely succeeded! I never want to see Alec d'Urberville again.

This phase of the book, really does give a clear account of the social views of the time period. We know they are given throughout the entire book, but they are especially clear in this phases. Particularly towards the end when we discover that the Durbeyfield family may have had a home for the near future, on a weekly tenancy had it not been for Tess and the way that she is viewed due to her misfortune. This also makes me really angry... but lets be honest here... the entire book makes me so angry it's unbelievable! Angry in a good way though, angry in a good way.

THE CONVERT. That is the title of this phase and develops numerous possible plot lines prior to reading this; Does Clare finally change his mind about Tess? Do Tess's parents stop believing the stories about their heritage? What of Alec, does he finally stop stalking Tess?
The thought of Alec finding religion is the last thing that you would ever imagine being the base of this huge part of the story. Initially I felt like I was being forced to like him and forced to forgive him as if someone makes a commitment of faith then there is nothing that can be said against it, it is what it is and you can't do anything about it. However, when Alec says 'I have done nothing', you know that his 'conversion' is nothing but a facade which he cannot keep up once he meets Tess for a second time. The basis of converting to faith and Christianity is realising you have done something wrong and repenting of it, turning from ever doing it again, however, Alec does not recognise that he has something to repent of and therefore cannot repent of something he doesn't believe was ever wrong. Is it bad that I was pleased when I found out that I didn't have to like him?

I got so excited on both occasions when Tess deliberately hurt Alec, particularly in the first instance where she slaps him with her leather glove and makes his lip bleed. I almost jumped for joy when I read that bit and I was overwhelmed by the fact that Tess had finally decided to physically and properly stand up for herself instead of making a half-hearted, womanly effort. However, my immediate after thought was 'is this too little, too late?' If only she had done something like that back with those blasted strawberries, things may never have turned out so negatively... or they could have been worse, you never know.

Discussing Tess's return home brought to light more interpretations of this section than we originally thought possible. My fellow, student seemed to think that the branch waving in front of the window, making it blink (Chapter 50) was there to add a momentary relief for the reader as we see Tess finally returning home to where she belongs. They thought that it was a good thing. However, I was of the opinion that this wasn't as positive as everyone else thought. The 'winking' light at the window of their cottage reminded be of a candle flame flicking just before it goes out. I took this to be a foreshadowing of the family having to leave home, as if Tess is returning home just as the last flame of life is flickering from the place that they call home. Multiple interpretations, you gotta love 'em!

So, we've only got one phases left to go, and from the spoilers my classmates have left me with, this isn't going to be pretty, but I'm sure we can get though this together. See you there :)

THE END OF MR Y By Scarlett Thomas

Well, that started the 2014/15 Six Book Challenge of with a bang didn't it?

This is the story of a young PhD student / part time teacher at the university who happens to come across one of the rarest and possibly most cursed books in the history of literature. Did I mention that the author of said book, was also Ariel's favourite author and subject of her PhD? Now all things considered, what would you do? Read the cursed book of course! She spends every penny to her name on this book, her supervisor and tutor has been missing for over a year and she figures she has nothing to lose. As it turns out, love, time-travel and having the ability to read other people's minds isn't as great as you would initially think so.

This has been a phenomenal book, and if there was a Fandom for this book, I would consider myself par of it. It was amazing and being an English language student myself, I was amazed and overwhelmed (in a good way) by this world that had been created entirely out of language, science and the science of language.

Initially I was a little confused when it first switched from narrator to the first extract of the book because there was very little to differentiate between the two. No font change or subheading, not even a chapter change in some case, and I was very confused by this, but Thomas has done a very neat job of tying this up quickly as Ariel continues to explain about how reading this particular book doesn't allow her to switch between herself and the character, she feels as if she is or should be the character in the book and therefore the mix of narratives are totally in the right place and let the reader experience as much as they can of Ariel's confusion while maintaining clarity in the bulk of the novel.

I thought that the presentation of the girls school was very interesting, and I'm even sure why if I'm honest. I only remember being particularly interested in the way that part was written and it stood out to me possibly more than any of the rest of the book did. What do you think?

I love Adam's character, he's just so lovable and stoic. Initially, I just overlooked him a little, but towards the end I genuinely felt that I wanted him back as much as Ariel did. Although; without giving anything away too much, I feel that the last few pages spoiled Adam a little for me. I feel that he strayed too far from his roots, but ultimately I think that was what Adam wanted, to stray as far away from his own life as possible, until he found something that made him happy, or at least content with his life.

I am genuinely struggling to find the words to rave about this book to the extent that it deserves!

I just love this book for its complexity, yet despite it being complex, it really isn't that hard to follow. I think the hardest part it trying to remember how to pronounce some of the scientific jargon. (just reading about quarks made me feel intelligent :P). The End of Mr Y. is a fantasticly academic book which I would recommend to most people, however:

I would just like to add a note onto the end of this here review to recommend that this book is not read by children or even 'young' adults. This is definitely one for the more mature readers due to its graphic sexual content.

Find out more about the Six Book Challenge here >>>>>  http://sixbookchallenge.org.uk/