Book Thirty-Eight: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy

Please excuse the hiatus on blog posts – I’ve just returned from sunny Goa, so am rather behind with my reviews!

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy is a sister tale to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, which I read and loved earlier this year. It fills in the gaps left by TUPOHF – namely Queenie’s story that she narrates from the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed, whilst waiting for the arrival of Harold Fry as he makes his way across the country. Like TUPOHF, this book is full of charm and incredibly moving. Queenie’s tale is both bewitching and poignant – she is not just a woman who wears a brown suit and has no life, but a woman who has loved and lost and stayed true to her love for many years.

Rachel Joyce writes with a love and care that will wrap around you like a nice hug. It’s not all sparkles and happiness, but a story with real light and shade. If you loved TUPOHF, then this is well worth reading. Personally I preferred it to Queenie’s story, but really felt that this book bought both characters full circle and gave some closure. A very clever idea, but also a brilliant and moving novel in it’s own right. I also feel that you could read the books in either order – they are like brother and sister, not parts one and two.

Book Twenty-Three: The Fault in Our Stars

 

So basically, I chose to read this book, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, off the back of seeing a trailer for the film, which I think is coming out soon. Got to say, I didn’t really have high hopes for this tale of teenage love between two cancer patients – I was expecting something schmaltzy in the vein of a Jodi Picoult or Nicholas Sparks novel. I was pleasantly surprised.

The Fault in Our Stars is the story of two young cancer patients and how they fall in love. I admit it sounds soppy. Hazel is 16 and has terminal lung cancer. She relies on an oxygen tank and her life is very fragile – she and her parents know that she could be gone at any moment really. Keen for her to live her life, her mum sends her to a cancer support group which takes place in the ‘literal heart of Jesus’ – it’s there that she meets Augustus, whose cancer took one of his legs, but thanks to that amputation, has an 80% chance of full recovery. He’s smitten with her right away, but she’s reluctant to get involved, knowing that her life is like a ‘grenade’ and she could blow up at any time. Of course they do end up falling in love eventually (it’s inevitable) – but I think that’s as much as I will share about their story.

The thing that made this book for me was the humour – Hazel and Augustus are such sharp, brilliant, deliciously quirky characters and whilst there are lots of poignant moments, there are probably double the amount that will make you smile and feel warm inside. It’s a very real and human look at child cancer, but a very uplifting one. I loved it. And I am not a soppy person really – so for a book like this to win me over, you know it’s got to be good. Of course there were hysterical tears by the end – again that’s pretty inevitable! But I’d say all in all, this was an unexpectedly brilliant book. Definitely worth reading and probably, knowing Hollywood, avoiding the film which will no doubt turn it into one of those schmaltzy, Picoult/Sparks type affairs that I detest!

On for the cooking! Well one thing really stood out from this book food wise and that was a scene where Hazel gets in a big strop over why scrambled eggs are considered a breakfast food and can’t be eaten at another meal time. Well, I for one eat scrambled eggs quite frequently for dinner – it’s probably one of my staple meals that can be whipped up in minutes. The best thing about scrambled eggs in my opinion are all the ways you can pimp them up – I add all kinds of things to mine (to varying success). I’ve had some very grey looking scrambled eggs – but I’ve had plenty of yummy successes. One of my favourites is Mexican scrambled eggs – basically you add lots of Mexican inspired foods to the eggs – chilli, tomatoes, coriander always a must, some cheese and whatever else you have kicking about in the fridge. Serve on a tortilla with some avocado and hey presto, you have delicious food that could not be simpler to make. Some disasters I’ve made have included adding pesto to the eggs – doesn’t work – and adding any kind of cream cheese to the eggs – yuck! Stick with Mexican eggs and you can’t go wrong. Here’s a pic of the eggs I made today for lunch. Other people eat roast dinners for Sunday lunch, I eat scrambled eggs!

I cunningly added a pot of M&S Bean & Feta salad to this – result = total yumminess!