BOOKS AND GOOFY

All That I Am by Anna Funder My rating: 5 of 5 stars Blurb (from Goodreads): All That I Am is a masterful and exhilarating exploration of bravery and betrayal, of the risks and sacrifices some people make for their beliefs, and of heroism hidden in the most unexpected places. When eighteen-year-old Ruth Becker visits her cousin Dora in Munich in 1923, she meets the love of her life, the dashing young journalist Hans Wesemann, and eagerly joins in the heady activities of the militant political Left in Germany. Ten years later, Ruth and Hans are married and living in Weimar Berlin when Hitler is elected chancellor of Germany. Together with Dora and her lover, Ernst Toller, the celebrated poet and self-doubting revolutionary, the four become hunted outlaws overnight and are forced to flee to London. Inspired by the fearless Dora to breathtaking acts of courage, the friends risk betrayal and deceit as they dedicate themselves to a dangerous mission: to inform the British govern...

Blurb (from Amazon): After a long and eventful life Allan Karlsson is moved to a nursing home to await the inevitable. But his health refuses to fail and as his 100th birthday looms a huge party is planned. Allan wants no part of it and decides to climb out the window... Charming and funny; a European publishing phenomenon. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, Allan Karlsson is waiting for a party he doesn't want to begin. His one-hundredth birthday party to be precise. The Mayor will be there. The press will be there. But, as it turns out, Allan will not... Escaping (in his slippers) through his bedroom window, into the flowerbed, Allan makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving a suitcase full of cash, a few thugs, a very friendly hot-dog stand operator, a few deaths, an elephant and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, Allan's earlier life is revealed. A life in which - remarkably - he played a k...

Brief blurb: The Husband's Secret  follows a few characters intrinsically linked by a secret from the past. Cecelia Fitzpatrick finds a letter addressed to her by her husband, John Paul, which is only to be opened after his death. Cecelia is curious but John Paul's reaction is even more bewildering. What is he hiding?  To read the Goodreads blurb, click here . My say: I really wanted to like this book. But it just didn't click for me. In the beginning, I thought this was because I couldn't make the connection between all the characters. What does Cecelia have in common with Rachel? How does Tess fit in? Needless to say, it is John Paul's secret that link the three women in a way that they wouldn't have dreamed of. When everything starts to fall into place, I however started to feel even more disconnected. While I understood why the story unfolded like it did, it just felt like all rationality broke loose. None of the characters had the strength or res...

My Rating:  3/5 Finding Emma is about 3 year old Emma being taken from her family. Without giving away too much of the storyline, Finding Emma  essentially follows  Emma's family as they deal with her loss. It is now 2 years since Emma had been taken. Her mother, Megan, won't give up hope, seeing Emma everywhere. Her dad, Peter, is trying to find peace by, what I personally perceive, as giving up. One sister is regretful, believing Emma's disappearance is her fault. The other is struggling to find attention. The story also follows Emma (or Emmie) and the older couple she's been living with. Whilst guilty of taking her, you cannot help but feel for the older couple as their circumstances unravel. Regardless of the circumstances, they really do love her and have taken good care of her. The story ends with Emma being reunited with her family. While I found myself immersed in this book, there were a few things that bugged me. The relationshi...