Scan barcode
A review by jenbsbooks
The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver
5.0
Sentimental 5* for me ♥ I'm a sucker for these parallel lives, "what if" possibilities. This was a total random find for me, one I hadn't heard of, but came across in a Little Free Library. It was someone's nice hardcover BOTM pick, and the cover illustration, title, blurb all called to me. I was glad to see it had a decent rating on GR (as that can dissuade me). I was able to get the audio/kindle copy from the library easily.
Just a random thing I noted here ~ the book starts May 2018, it ends January 2020 ... before Covid was mainstream. I wonder if author's will stay in this timeframe more than they might have otherwise (just not wanting to deal with including Covid in storylines/or pretending it didn't happen. Recent read [book:Sandwich|200028726] went ahead and covered Covid. It wasn't integral to the story at all, but had to be addressed if the timeframe extends over 2020/2021 and some forward. I remember [book:Horse|59109077] went ahead and mentioned it at the end, again, nothing to do with the story).
While I had the physical book, I went primarily with audio. I know if I'd been reading myself in the Kindle edition there would have been statements and sections I would have highlighted. Little moments, when Lydia realizes that life in her other "fairy tale" world isn't all perfect. That living in the world where Freddy died, and letting him go, he actually WILL (would have) stayed more perfect in her eyes/memory.
The "asleep" when she finds herself at the gym totally made me laugh! Her thoughts of "if I was dreaming this up on my own I would NEVER put myself here!" ... she mentioned 'miles' for measurement, which I had thought was more American (this is VERY British) but I found out that miles are indeed used in England. I honestly thought they were kilometers only there.
The Kindle and Audio had a good Table of Contents - no chronological chapters, but the year, followed by the day and Awake or Asleep. I can't help but think the physical copy is not as complete without a TOC. Much harder to find your place, required a lot of page flipping.
The Kindle copy had Book Club discussion questions - a trend which I very much appreciate! I love that little nudge after reading to ponder things, perhaps delving deeper into something I hadn't considered on my own. The Audio had an interview with the author, which was fun to listen to.
I really, really liked this! ProFanity x10, slight sex/closed door.
Just a random thing I noted here ~ the book starts May 2018, it ends January 2020 ... before Covid was mainstream. I wonder if author's will stay in this timeframe more than they might have otherwise (just not wanting to deal with including Covid in storylines/or pretending it didn't happen. Recent read [book:Sandwich|200028726] went ahead and covered Covid. It wasn't integral to the story at all, but had to be addressed if the timeframe extends over 2020/2021 and some forward. I remember [book:Horse|59109077] went ahead and mentioned it at the end, again, nothing to do with the story).
While I had the physical book, I went primarily with audio. I know if I'd been reading myself in the Kindle edition there would have been statements and sections I would have highlighted. Little moments, when Lydia realizes that life in her other "fairy tale" world isn't all perfect. That living in the world where Freddy died, and letting him go, he actually WILL (would have) stayed more perfect in her eyes/memory.
The "asleep" when she finds herself at the gym totally made me laugh! Her thoughts of "if I was dreaming this up on my own I would NEVER put myself here!" ... she mentioned 'miles' for measurement, which I had thought was more American (this is VERY British) but I found out that miles are indeed used in England. I honestly thought they were kilometers only there.
The Kindle and Audio had a good Table of Contents - no chronological chapters, but the year, followed by the day and Awake or Asleep. I can't help but think the physical copy is not as complete without a TOC. Much harder to find your place, required a lot of page flipping.
The Kindle copy had Book Club discussion questions - a trend which I very much appreciate! I love that little nudge after reading to ponder things, perhaps delving deeper into something I hadn't considered on my own. The Audio had an interview with the author, which was fun to listen to.
I really, really liked this! ProFanity x10, slight sex/closed door.