November Books

These are my favourite reads from November:

Matthew FitzSimmons - Constance

Set around twenty years in the future, I found this an excellent read. The advances in technology are plausible, the world feels real. In this future, human cloning has become a reality. Constance D'Arcy (Con) wakes in a laboratory as a clone. The last she remembers is her twenty-four-year-old self attending an appointment for her latest 'upload' - a record of her body and her mind that takes place every month. But Con has no recollection of the last eighteen months between her 'upload' and the day she becomes conscious. Physically adjusting to life as a clone is tricky, especially as she shouldn't have been allowed to revive at all. Knowing that it means that her 'real' self is dead, Con escapes the lab into a hostile world. Many people think clones are an abomination, and it's just a struggle to survive. But she's determined to fill in the events of those missing eighteen months, and discover what happened to her old self. But who can she trust? In constant fear for her life, she follows leads, uncovering disturbing truths, as layer after layer of plot is revealed. Twists and turns abound, almost at each corner, as the leader is led along a thrilling journey with Con until she uncovers the final shocking reason for her existence. Brilliant.

Dr Gladys McGarey - The Well-lived Life: a 102-year-old doctor's six secrets to health and happiness at every age

This is an amazing non-fiction book. This incredible woman is still going strong at the age of 102. In the book she recounts episodes from her long and varied life, and how they have formed her way of living and working. Her philosophy of treating people is to teach them not to battle what life throws in their way, but approach it with love. She's healed many people that conventional medicine considered to be untreatable. She's also survived two diagnoses of different types of cancer, plus several other devastating experiences in her life. This is a book which gives a different way of looking at life's challenges, and how there can be other routes to wellness that conventional treatment has overlooked. Her so-called Six Secrets offer much food for thought.

Natasha Solomons - I, Mona Lisa

When I chose this novel, I thought it was going to be about the life of the subject of the Mona Lisa painting, Lisa del Giocondo. However, it turns out to be the story of the painting, sentient and able to communicate with her creator, Leonardo da Vinci. She can also speak to artists of genius, and over the centuries she interacts with, among others,  Michaelangelo and Picasso. Through her eyes we see the studio of her master, his assistants, the other artists who visit Leonardo plus nobility, popes, and royalty. Leonardo takes the portrait everywhere, treats her like a beloved daughter, confides in her. As the centuries pass, we follow her journey to France, see the court through her eyes, and discover how she ends up in the Louvre museum, where she experiences theft and concealment for her safety. I found myself drawn into the story of this enigmatic masterpiece of art, and how the author envisions the soul of the painted woman. A very different but intriguing novel which brings to life the world of the artist in vivid detail and the historic details of the existence of the Mona Lisa.