The Book Whisperer

jottings, musings and recommendations of an incurable bookaholic

Another for Mt. TBR December 31, 2009

Filed under: Paranormal — The Book Whisperer @ 5:06 pm

How cool does this book sound?

Synopsys from Goodreads: “What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Hidden in the dark heart of Victorian London, the Romanesque school was dreadfully imposing, a veritable fortress, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met its powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadows, of the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She saw simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gift. This arched stone doorway was a portal to a new life, to an education far from what could be had at a convent-and it was an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death…”

Here is the video for it:

I think I may have to check this one out after I have read Gail Carrigers Soulless.

 

My Top 10 Reads of 2009 December 31, 2009

Filed under: Aravind Adiga,Charlotte Bronte,Edith Wharton,Jiang Rong,Joanne Harris,Sophie Kinsella,Suzanne Collins,Tracy Chevalier — The Book Whisperer @ 3:26 pm
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So here we are, the end of another year. I have read exactly 100 books this year (well, I will have when I race through #100 today!). I’ve read some truly fantastic books and some real humdingers too! So here is my Top 10 of 2009:

This book is just awesome! I can’t believe that I have never read it before this year. I fell in love with the Bronte’s from reading this and went on to read several more of theirs this year. I also live in Yorkshire and my Mum bought me membership to the Bronte Society for my birthday this year (so excited!). The village of Hawarth is stunning – it’s no wonder that those sisters were so inspired to write such wonderful books.

You can read my review of Jane Eyre here. I also highly recommend Villette which only just missed out on a Top 10 spot.

Wolf Totem is quite possibly my favourite book of all time! I devour books about China as I am fascinated with the country (I even went there on holiday in 2004 to feed my fascination). I picked this up one night just to flick through the pages (as I was already in the middle of another book) and before I knew it I had read about 20 pages and could not put it down. Wolf Totem is not only beautifually written (I don’t know what the Chinese version is like but the translation is stunning) but I really felt like I was right there in the pages. It also made me fall head over heals in love with wolves (which has started another book buying craze!). I cannot recommed this book highly enough – it really is a gem. You can read my review here.

I started reading this book on the plane to New York a few weeks ago and I was gripped! This is one of the best written, on-the-edge-of-your-seat books that I have ever read. The plot is amazing: dystopia novels always frighten me because I can see something like this so easily happening  just as I did with Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (another awesome book). This is a YA book but really is one for the adults too; in fact I didn’t notice that I was reading something aimed at teenagers, I was so engrossed in it.

You can read my review here. Read this and then read the second in the series, Catching Fire. The third is out in August and I cannot wait!

I am a massive Joanne Harris fan. If you have read Chocolat and loved it, then you will love Five Quarters of the Orange even more. I love the way Harris can make you fall in love with a place and want to be there among the village and the characters, despite the fact that it’s set in the middle of a war. All her books are wonderful but I think that this is my favourite of them all.

I will be uploading my review of this book shortly so watch this space.

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I just love books with really bleak settings which is exactly what Ethan Frome is. I think it’s because I crave peace and quiet and solitude so to me a tiny village that regularly gets cut off by the snow sounds like heaven to me! This book really is bleak, the characters have hard lives and there is little to look forward to. Yet in the middle of that is one of the most beautiful love stories that I have ever read. I know that this book is not a favourite among a lot of people (I think it was a set read in some American schools and seems to have really turned people off it) but seriously, it is such a treat to read. I highly recommend.

You can read my review of Ethan Frome here.

Tracy Chevalier is another author that I am a massive fan of. She writes historical fiction but often based on true stories (of people that aren’t well known historical figures). Remarkable Creatures is one of those. It is based on a fossil hunter called Mary Anning who lived on the English coast in the early 19th century. This book really was a joy to read; I felt like I knew Mary and her friends and that I was there in the pages with them. I love it when a book can do that to you. It’s such a gentle read yet the pace never slackens and I found myself not able to put it down.

You can read my review here.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first in a trilogy of books. It is written by a Swedish journalis (which also stars a Swedish journalist) who died just after completing the trilogy (I wonder if he had any idea just how big this series would become). The girl in question is a computer hacker who ends up helping the journalist to solve a “locked room” mystery. It’s such a fabulous page-turner of a book, just as the second in the series The Girl who Played with Fire is. I have the third book at home which has stopped whispering to me and is now yelling at me from the bookshelf! I must read that really soon.

You can read my review here.

This book is a real eye-opener into Indian society. White Tiger is about a young boy whom we watch grow up and try to carve out an existance for himself in India. It is shocking, heartbreaking and funny all at once. There are no real heros in this book; there is no-one to root for as they all make bad choices but ultimately you have to ask yourself what would you do in their situation? They are trying to survive in a corupt world. Fantastic narrative, witty, sharp and ultimately a real page-turner.

You can read my review here.

No list is complete without some chicklit on it. And this is the best of them for 2009. I am a huge Sophie Kinsella fan and have read all her books, but out of the 4 standalone this is my favourite. I read it while curled up on a sun lounger in Kefalonia this summer and it was perfect summer reading. In Twenties Girl, yes there is the usual shopping and shoes and boys (what’s not to love?) but this time there is a ghost who wants to relive her glory years in the roaring 20′s and boy does she make sure she has fun.

You can read my review here.

Who knew that science fiction could be so much fun? I just loved this book! The Midwich Cuckoos is about a little English village that suddenly freezes in time for a few hours and all the residents collapse. Nobody can get in and nobody can get out. When they wake up they have no idea what happened but in the following weeks all the women and girls over about 15 find themselves pregnant. When their children are born they all have the same white blonde hair and don’t communicate with anyone but themselves. It’s creepy and brilliant! Don’t miss it.

I will upload my review soon so watch this space.

So that’s my Top 10 of 2009. You can see the full list of 100 books that I read here.

 

In my mailbox #2 December 31, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 1:01 pm
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In my mailbox is courtesy of Kristi The Story Siren

These are the books I bought in New York in December.

 

In my mailbox #1 December 31, 2009

Filed under: Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 2:34 am
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In my mailbox is based on an idea by Kristi The Story Siren.

Three of these books are from Amazon Vine and the others I picked up ‘cos I have heard good things. I am reading The Amanda Project right now and really enjoying it (review soon).

There is:

Invisible I (The Amanda Project) - Stella Lennon

The Last Ghost - Helen Stringer

Fallen - Lauren Kate

Kissed by an Angel – Elizabeth Chandler

13 Curses – Michelle Harrison

Secret Lives (Darke Academy) – Gabriella Poole

 

YA corner December 31, 2009

Filed under: Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 2:13 am

I have been on a massive YA binge recently. I can’t seem to get enought of vampires, werewolves, fallen angels and ghosts! What the hell – I’m living vicariously among those teenagers. There are so many great books out for young adults at the moment – far more than when I was that age. I upgraded straight from Enid Blyton to Maeve Binchy and I don’t remember there being much inbetween.

Here are some of the books that are coming up this year that I can’t wait to get my hands on:

Apparantly this is like Groundhog Day meets Mean Girls. Amazon says: “Sam Kingston is dead. Except she isn’t. On a rainy February night, Sam is killed in a horrific car crash. But instead of seeing a tunnel of light, she wakes up in her own bed, on the morning of the same day.
Forced to live through the same events – the drive to school, skipping class, the fateful party – she struggles to alter the outcome, but wakes up again on the day of the crash.
What follows is the story of a girl who comes of age in a matter of days. Who discovers, through heartbreaking insights, the consequences of her every action.
Of a girl who dies young, but in the process learns how to live.
And who falls in love . . . a little too late.”

Goodreads says: “When someone leaves three mystery flowers outside her dorm door, Laurel thinks that maybe the Avondale School isn’t so awful after all — until her own body starts to freak out. In the middle of her English presentation on the Victorian Language of Flowers, strange words pop into her head, and her body seems to tingle and hum. Impulsively, Laurel gives the love bouquet she made to demonstrate the language to her spinster English teacher. When that teacher unexpectedly and immediately finds romance, Laurel suspects that something — something magical — is up. With her new friend, Kate, she sets out to discover the origins and breadth of her powers by experimenting on herself and others. But she can’t seem to find any living experts in the field of flower powers to guide her. And her bouquets don’t always do her bidding, especially when it comes to her own crush, Justin. Rumors about Laurel and her flowers fly across campus, and she’s soon besieged by requests from girls — both friends and enemies — who want their lives magically transformed — just in time for prom.”

Goodreads says “There were no surprises in Gatlin County. We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere. At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong. There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave. Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.”

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything

 

Disney to make “Fallen” movie December 28, 2009

Filed under: Paranormal,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 11:27 pm
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It has been announced that Disney are to make a movie of Kate Lauren’s new book Fallen and also its sequels. I have this on my TBR pile courtesy of Amazon Vine so now I want to get to it even sooner to see what the fuss is about.

Here is a synopsis from Amazon:

“What if the person you were meant to be with could never be yours? 17-year-old Lucinda falls in love with a gorgeous, intelligent boy, Daniel, at her new school, the grim, foreboding Sword & Cross …only to find out that Daniel is a fallen angel, and that they have spent lifetimes finding and losing one another as good & evil forces plot to keep them apart. Some angels are destined to fall…”

Is this going to be the new Twilight?

 

My Secret Santa Gift December 28, 2009

Filed under: Larry McMurty,The Victorians — The Book Whisperer @ 10:55 pm

I am so excited to read this book. I belong to a little group of 15 on Goodreads and each year we do a Secret Santa where our names get put in a hat and we are secretly informed who we are to send a book to. My Secret Santa this year was the lovley Jesse from New Mexico and he got me Larry McMurty’s Lonesome Dove. A wonderful pressie from a wonderful person! I can’t wait to read it.

 

 

 

 

Book Reviews: Sophie Kinsella – standalone books December 28, 2009

Filed under: Chick Lit,Comfort Reading,Laugh Out Loud,Sophie Kinsella — The Book Whisperer @ 7:38 pm

Sophie Kinesella is one of my favourite authors. Her books are funny and pure escapism. Here are the reviews for her standalone books (I will review the Shopaholic series separately).

 

Sophie Kinsella’s latest standalone book, Twenties Girl, is her best in my opinion. What an absolute treat this was to read. I took this on my holiday with me as I do like a good dose of chick-lit while relaxing in my sunlounger and Sophie Kinsella never lets me down.

This book was a delight from start to finish. It is narrated by Lara, newly dumped and struggling to run a business on her own. All she needs is to be pestered by the ghost of her Great Auntie Sadie whom she never even met but is here, larger than life, as a 23 year old dancing, drinking, fun-loving girl that only Lara can see and whom she insists help her find her necklace before she is buried without it.

The character of Sadie was just fabulous! One of the most endearing I have come across in a long time; she was such good fun. This book is my new favourite out of all the independents (i.e. not the shopaholic series). I love, love, loved it!

In Remember Me Lexi wakes up in hospital thinking that it is still 2004 and she is going out with Loser Dave, has wonky teeth, loads of friends and works in a low paid job in a carpet company. In fact it is 2007 and she is married to a gorgeous multi-millionaire, has perfect teeth, lives in a huge penthouse overlooing the Thames and has a high-flying job as a Director (oh, and she is the bitch-boss-from-hell), only Lexi can’t remember a thing about it. The story follows Lexi as she tries to fit in with her new life and fill in the gaps as to how she ended up where she did (and how she managed to alienate all her friends in the process).

All the ususal magic is here – young girl, a love interest (or two), nice clothes and shoes (v. important!)

While I agree that nothing can beat the Shopaholic series (who could replace Becky?), this is still a great book to get lost in. Thumbs up for Ms Kinsella once again.

 

 Can you Keep a Secret is such a funny book. I decided to work from home one day I ended up doing nothing other than curling up on the sofa and giggling my way through endless cups of tea until I had finnished the whole thing in a day – I know, I know, shhhhhh but I just couldn’t put the thing down!!!

A great idea for a story and a great heroine make this big-hearted book a real joy to read.  This was the first of all Kinsellas books that I read and it was the start of a love affair with all her books.

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I picked up Undomestic Godess  after having just read all the Shopaholic series back to back and loving them I just had to devour more of her books.

Samantha is a high flying, stressed out workaholic lawyer for a huge London firm and spends her every waking moment either working or thinking about work and that promotion to Partner she so desperately wants. On the day she is about to find out if she has made Partner or not, she discovers a document she has overlooked that will cost her client £50 million. In a daze, Samantha runs out of the office and ends up on a train without knowing where she’s going and ends up, quite by accident, ono the doorstep of a huge mansion. The owners then mistake Samantha for the Housekeeper they’ve been trying to hire and offer her the job on the spot.

To say that Samantha has no domestic skills whatsoever is an understatement but somehow she manages to muddle her way through (mainly by ordering sandwiches through a catering company and sending the laundry away to be ironed). Of course, there is a sexy gardner to liven up the plot too (which always helps).

I really enjoyed this book, I just love Sophie Kinsella. Her books are so readable, funny and once you pick them up you can’t put them down.

 

 

 

Book Review: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castello December 28, 2009

Filed under: Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Linda Castillo — The Book Whisperer @ 6:44 pm

Sworn to Silence is a great book! I LOVED this! I’ve been just in the mood for thriller / whodunnit type books recently and some of them have been a bit samey. Not so with this book: set in the Amish town of Painters Mill, Ohio, girls start turning up dead in a frighteningly similar way to 4 murders that shocked the town of population 5000 sixteen years ago. Cheif of Police, Kate Burkholder (who grew up Amish and left as a teenager) worries no less than most for a very good reason – she thought she had shot dead the killer when he raped her aged 14.

What I liked about this book was the characters and setting; they’re small town cops in a (once) peaceful town shared between the Amish and the “English”. Snow rather than grimey streets, silence rather than wailing sirens and noisy cities; it made a refreshing change. That said, the pace never once slackened or drifted.

A huge thumbs up for this book and I can’t wait to read the rest of the series when they are out.

 

Book Review: Books, Bedbugs and Baguettes by Jeremy Mercer December 28, 2009

Filed under: Globe Trotting,Jeremy Mercer,Non-Fiction — The Book Whisperer @ 6:41 pm

I was glad to have finished this book; it was really beginning to irritate me! I wanted to like it, I really did – Books, Paris, what’s not to love? What a shame then that what started off as a very promising look into Paris’s most famous of bookstores quickly descended into one of the most self-indulgent memoirs I have ever read.

Jeremy Mercer is a Canadain journalist who after printing the name of someone he promised he wouldn’t name, did a runner one Christmas to Paris and ended up spending the next 9 months of his life living in the famous Shakespeare & Company bookshop. What did interest me was the fact that the shops owner, 86 year old George Whitman (an American) let anyone (usually with the claim of being a struggling writer) sleep in one of the many beds dotted around the shop, indefinitely. The backstory of how George came to be in Paris and how he came to set up the shop in the first place was intruiging (for about 50 pages). What confused me too was the fact that Mercer kept saying what a wonderful person George was, yet the way he portrayed him was as a rude, grumpy old man who perved after young girls 65 years younger than him! He also repeatedly talked about Georges wish for communism and how the world had it all wrong, yet he also seemed proud of the fact that the two of them would go to church sales to buy books for a few pence and then sell them on for a massive profit in his store. Infact, when one of the priests cottoned on to what they were doing, George had a physical fight with the priest over a book. Nice!

I am left feeling deflated and somewhat irritated by this book. Given the subject, I expected to fall in love with Paris over again through the book. While there were frequent references to getting drunk and telling stories by the river Seine, there was never a point where I felt that this was a magical city. The narrative was flat, it didn’t make me feel like I was there (which is always a sign of a well written book, in my opinion), in fact I didn’t even feel like Paris was somewhere I would want to revisit on the back of this book.

A self-indulgent, poorly executed excuse for a mediocre writer to cash in on his time spent living in a famous bookshop.

 

Author Interview – Becca Fitzpatrick December 27, 2009

Filed under: Becca Fitzpatrick,Paranormal,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 11:43 pm

Thank you to Becca Fitzpatrick, author of Hush Hush, for taking the time to answer some questions about her favourite books and also her own series of books.

Becca  grew up reading Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden with a flashlight under the covers. She graduated college with a degree in health, which she promptly abandoned for storytelling. When not writing, she’s most likely prowling sale racks for reject shoes, running, or watching crime dramas on TV. (Info courtesy of Becca’s Goodreads profile). Hush Hush is Becca’s first book and was published by Simon & Schuster Children’s Books  in 2009.

 Have you made any new years resolutions for 2010? If so, are there any that you can share with us?

 Laughing! I haven’t made any yet – I’m not that organized! Right now my goal is to finish Crescendo edits on time, and then I’ll start making new goals. Hopefully there’s nothing wrong with making resolutions all year long, because that’s usually how I operate!

Have you ever read a book and thought “damn it! I wish I’d written that!”? If so, which one and why? 

Yes, I’ve thought that! When I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, I couldn’t help but wish a) I could write like that, and b) have her whole story in my head.

You’re about to be stranded on a desert island for a year and you’re only allowed to take 3 books with you. What do you take?

Oh man, tough question! 1. How about Jane Austen: the Complete Novels (one book, several stories. I’m trying to economize here.) 2. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon 3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Now on to the fabulous Hush Hush: Where did you get the idea from? Did the plot and characters sneak up on you or hit you like a sledgehammer?

The very first inspiration for Hush, Hush came from something that happened to me in my own tenth-grade bio class. My teacher asked me, in front of the whole class, to name characteristics I’d like in a mate. I was so embarrassed! Years later, when my husband enrolled me in a writing class for my birthday, my teacher asked me to write a scene “showing, not telling, humiliation.” I immediately started crafting a scene based on my experience in biology. That short writing assignment evolved into one of the early scenes in Hush, Hush.

The setting for Hush Hush is fantastically dark and eerie. Is it based on anywhere you know?

No…unless you count my imagination! When I started writing Hush, Hush, I knew right away that atmosphere was going to play a big role in the book. I wanted a small, seemingly harmless New England town that was moody and creepy enough that up-to-no-good fallen angels could be at home there. I’m very happy with the way the book’s atmosphere seems to rise right out of the pages. Obviously there are things I wish I could go back and change about the book, but the atmosphere is one of the things I feel I nailed. It’s just the way I imagined it.

I absolutely adored Vee (Nora’s best friend). Do you know a Vee in real life?

I used to! Vee’s character was inspired by two of my childhood best friends. They were both wacky, crazy, wild girls. They said and did what was on their mind without reservation. In a lot of ways, I envied them the same way Nora envies Vee.

The sequel to Hush Hush, Crescendo, is coming up later in 2010. Can you give us any sneak previews of Crescendo?

In Crescendo, readers will find out what really happened the night Nora’s dad was murdered. Let’s just say he was living a secret life…one with ties to Patch…
Several minor characters also return with bigger roles, including Marcie Millar, Detective Basso, and Rixon. The most prominent new character is a guy named Scott Parnell, whom Nora knew years ago as Scotty the Potty.

Will Crescendo be the last book in the series or are there more planned?

I’m only contracted for Crescendo, but I really hope I get to write a third book. I have a storyline for Book 3, so I’m definitely not ready to be done with the series just yet.

Do you have any plans for other series after this one? If so can you tease us with any juicy tidbits?

I do have another story idea! In fact, I started working on it right after Hush, Hush went on submission to editors. I have a plot, and a couple of pretty cool characters. The story has a paranormal element, but not in the way people might expect. It’s a sexy, flirty novel, and it’s lighter than Hush, Hush.

 
Finally, the quick fire round:
Cats or dogs: Dogs
Summer or winter: Summer
Bath or shower: Shower
Beach or mountains: Beach
Coffee or tea: Neither! I’m a water girl. It’s the best drink in the world, and it’s great for your skin!

Trailer for Hush Hush

 

 

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Book Reviews: James Herriot December 27, 2009

Filed under: Comfort Reading,James Herriot,Laugh Out Loud — The Book Whisperer @ 11:18 pm

It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet

If Only They Could Talk is the first book in this series of eight (I have the box set).

 What a wonderful trip down memory lane this book was. I remember watching the TV series back in the 70′s and 80′s and picking this book up for the first time was like settling down by the fire with old friends.
Set in the Yorkshire Dales, this is the first book in a series by rookie vet James Herriot and his new life in the countryside and among the animals and his struggle to win over the old Yorkshire farmers and eccentric characters he meets there. There were so many times when I literally laughed out loud (once in a quiet hospital corridor while waiting for someone to come out of the theatre – which got me a few horrified looks!). The character of Mrs Pumphrey and her dog Tricki Woo had me bent over crying with laughter!
I just loved this book. I live in Yorkshire, about an hour from the Dales, and it has made me want to jump in my car and head off to Herriot country; the whole place just came alive with his passion for the region. I am really looking forward to reading the rest in the series – this is the sort of comfort reading that I know I can look forward to if I need a break from real life. In the words of James Herriot while describing his beloved countryside – I felt like I could breathe. This book is a real tonic – highly recommended.

 

It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet

It Shoudln’t Happen to a Vet  is the second book in the series.

Oh how I love this series! This is pure comfort reading at its very best. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard reading a book. Picking up the books in this series is like catching up with a friend for a glass of red wine by the fire.
The characters are all so brilliantly drawn that I feel I know them all. To get to know about these burly Yorkshire farmers (with all their local dialect thrown in to boot) is a joy and a priviledge.

 

 

 

Book Review: Walking in Pimlico by Ann Featherstone December 27, 2009

Filed under: Ann Featherstone,Crime/Mystery/Thriller,The Victorians — The Book Whisperer @ 11:10 pm

 Walking in Pimlico  - A comic clog dancer witnesses a brutal killing in a dark and dingy London backstreet in Victorian Britain as his show closes for the night. When he finds out that he is not the only one who witnessed the murder, they soon realise that the killer knows who they are and here begins an escape to pastures (well, stage shows) new with the killer always one step behind. Even though this is a murder mystery book, there isn’t actually much mystery to it at all as we find out who the killer is within the first 50 pages and they go on to narrate parts of the book themselves. That said, it does have it’s share of intrigue and it’s a whole load of fun to follow them the lenghth and bredth od the the country as they get more and more paranoid, constantly looking over their shoulders.

Dark, dingy, funny, recommended.

 

Book Review: Girl, Missing by Sophie McKenzie December 27, 2009

Filed under: Sophie McKenzie,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 11:05 pm

Girl, Missing gets into full swing immediately, no messing around with backgrounds or character development – the first page tells us all we need to know. Lauren Matthews is fourteen and knows she is adopted but becomes suddenly curious when she has to write a school essay called “Who am I?” and her parents become cagey and withold imformation. Lauren decides to try and find out where she came from herself with the help of the internet, a missing childrens website and her best friend, Jam. Lauren and Jam end up on an adventure that takes them to America where they find themselves on the run.

Although it was clearly aimed at the younger end of the YA spectrum, it still had it share of excitement and was a very pacey book with plenty of cliffhangers at the end of chapters.

 

Merry Christmas! December 24, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 3:58 pm

Merry Christmas everyone! It’s Christmas Eve and we are just about to put up the tree (haven’t had time yet with being in New York, work etc) so we have got the decorations out and I have put a Christmas CD on and made some mulled wine and we’re ready to go.

I will be popping back on soon to update my holiday reading. My current book Lone Wolf by Kathryn Lasky is just lovley.

Happy Holidays!

 

Book Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher December 23, 2009

Filed under: Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Lucy Christopher,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 10:00 pm

I’m struggling somewhat to write a review of this book as really not much happened.

The premise is great: British girl at Bangkok airport gets kidnapped and drugged and taken to Australia by her captor where he keeps her in the middle of the baron outback with no way of escape. I wanted to like it but the truth be told I was bored throughout most of it. I didn’t feel any anxiety for Gemma’s predicament or feel her fear, I never really got a sense that the book was set in the Australian outback (I knew it was set there, but it didn’t feel real). There was not an adequate enough explanation for why her kidnapper, Ty, had taken her.

I have read other books about being in the Australian outback (Douglas Kennedy’s The Dead Heart scared the life out of me) but as far as this book goes, it’s not one I could recommend unfortunatley.

Here is Kennedy’s The Dead Heart which is well worth a read, as are his other books.

 

My latest books sent to me by Amazon Vine December 23, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 9:42 pm

I have already read and reviewed Stolen and will be reading the others in the next few weeks.

 

Interview with Becca Fitzpatrick coming up…….. December 22, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 6:17 pm

Woop woop! I have my first author interview coming up in the next few days. Becca Fitzpatrick, author of the brilliant Hush Hush will be answering some questions and I will be asking about her new book, Crescendo, that is due out in 2010 (cannot wait for that!).

Keep watching this space!

 

Borders R.I.P. December 22, 2009

Filed under: Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Historical,SciFi / Fantasy,The Victorians,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 4:46 pm

Today is the last day that Borders in the UK is open (waaaaahhhhhh!). It’s so sad as I love that shop – there was a massive one on the side of the motorway near where I live and it used to shine like a beacon of light, calling to me and welcoming me into its bookish fold as I drove past after many a stressful days work. My mecca is no more.

But every cloud……..today there was 90% off everything in store! It was absolute bedlam in there but I did manage to pick up some books from my Mt. TBR so that has put a big smile on my face. Here is what I managed to grab:

The Battle of the Sun - Jeanette Winterson

Girl, Missing - Sophie McKenzie

The Sight - David Clement-Davies

Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson

Arthur Phillips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kept: A Victorian Mystery - D J Taylor

Babel Tower - A S Byatt

 

 

 

 

 

I’m back from NYC! December 21, 2009

Filed under: Alyson Noel,Cassandra Clare,Connie Willis,Gail Carriger,Joe Hill,Maggie Stiefvater,Paranormal,SciFi / Fantasy,The Victorians,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 3:53 pm

I’m back in good ole Blighty, armed with brand spanking new  books (bliss!) and although I had the greatest time, it’s good to be home.

As I am a good law-abiding citizen I didn’t want to be arrested for committing the crime of not obeying the law of “YOU MUST BUY BOOKS - AND PLENTY OF THEM – ON HOLIDAY!”, and dutifully managed to pick up plenty of lovely new shiny things. I spent lots of time in Borders (I had to pay hommage now that my beloved Borders is closing in the UK – waaaaahhhhh!) and also Barnes and Noble ‘cos we don’t get that over here so it’s like being let loose in a new playground. I love looking at books in the States as they have different covers to us in the UK so it’s like there’s a million new books that I have never seen before to make me run wild like a kid in a sweet shop.

As well as shop for books we walked in Central Park (love that place) and walked over Brooklyn Bridge for some amazing view of Manhattan. We also did the Christmas markets Bryant Park which had some gorgeous things. Our hotel was a suite in the Doubletree Hotel right in the middle of Times Square so we had the absolute best view!

I also met up with Lori, my lovely friend from Goodreads (who runs the TNBBC group and also has her own blog on www.thenextbestbookblog.blogsptot.com). Lori lives a couple of hours from NYC and came over with her family and we met at the Rockerfeller Centre christmas tree. We went ice-skating which was such good fun and Lori gave me a pressie of Joe Hill’s new book Horns that is due out in March 2010 (thank you Lori!). It was so cool to meet up after we have been chatting on GR for the last few years.

Anyway, so this is what I got in NYC:

 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

 

 

 

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

 

 

 

Soulless by Gail Carriger

 

 

 

 

Lone Wolf by Kathryn Lasky

 

 

 

 

Blue Moon by Alyson Noel

 

 

 

Ballad by Maggie Steifvater

 

 

 

 

The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain

 

 

 

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

 

 

 

Ahab’s Wife by Sena Jeta Naslund

 

 

 

 

The Animal Dialogues by Craig Childs

 

 

 

The Ghost Huntress by Marley Gibson

 

 

 

Secret Lives (Darke Academy #1) by Gabriella Poole

 

 

 

 

Horns by Joe Hill (my gift from Lori)

 

 

 

So, a pretty successful trip there I think. I keep looking at my new toys and admiring them. I can’t wait to dive in and get started on them. I think I will be buried in books over the Christmas holidays!

 

Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins December 21, 2009

Filed under: Dystopia,Suzanne Collins,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 12:30 pm

This book is amazing! It was so difficult to put it down that I cursed every time I had to. Such a brilliant idea for a plot and coupled with being so well executed has made it one of my favourite books, possibly of all time.

The book is set in Panem (formerly the USA) where there are districts known as the Capitol (who rule everything else) and Districts 1-12. Seventy-five years ago, the people of the Districts (who are fenced in and not allowed to communicate with other districts) staged a rebellion so in order to make sure that it never happens again, the Capitol invented THE HUNGER GAMES. Every year, two children (one girl and one boy, aged 12-18) are picked randomly from each district and are put into an arena which can be anything from swamps to lakes or forrests or deserts and the victor is the last one standing once all the others are dead. The Hunger Games are mandatory TV viewing for all Districts who have to watch their loved ones be killed on live TV. The only ones who relish this are the people of the Capitol where the cheer their favourite tributes on and place bets about who will survive and who will die.

Katniss Everdeen is sixteen years old and when her 12 year old sister’s name is read out at the reaping (the televised event where the names are called) she steps up and volunteers to go in her place. Katniss’s district partner is Peeta, a boy from school who has always liked her. The book follows their journey from District 12 to the Capitol where they are put into the arena to fend for themselves.

I read that the author got her idea for the book when she was flicking between channesl on the TV and on one side was a reality TV show and on the other was footage of the horrors of the war in Iraq and she wondered what it would be like to put these two together. The synopsys for this book may seem farfetched but to be honest I’m not so sure that we’re all that far away from these games anyway. You only need to watch Jerry Springer or Big Brother (the UK version) to realise that so much of it is set up or instigated to get the best arguments and subsequently ratings possible. It’s not that far away from the Gladiators in Rome killing each other for the publics viewing pleasure.

Having said that, this book is aimed at young adults and although the theme of the book is one that really makes you think, it isn’t gory or gruesome and is appropriate for its intended audience. I may be well past my teenage years but I can honestly say that this book is one of the best I have read for pure excitement and that “un-put-downable” factor.

I highly, highly recommend this book!

The second in the trilogy is just as fantastic and I cannot wait for the final book to come out in August 2010!

Click here to see this book on Amazon

 

Book Review: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games 2) by Suzanne Collins December 21, 2009

Filed under: Dystopia,Suzanne Collins,Young Adult — The Book Whisperer @ 12:25 pm

The second in the trilogy of the amazing Hunger Games. There’s not so much I can say about the plot of this book without giving away the ending of the first one, or ruining the surprise of the second.

What I can say is that it is just a brilliant! I cannot wait to read the last in the trilogy. I want it NOW!

(Hunger Games 3 is out in August 2010).

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Dashing Through the Snow by Mary and Carol Higgins Clark December 21, 2009

Filed under: Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Mary Higgins Clark — The Book Whisperer @ 12:21 pm

I am a huge fan of Mary Higgins Clark (her books are real comfort reads) but this one really let me down. It is the first I have read by both MHC and her daughter, Carol, and I noticed such a difference in the quality of both the plot and the narrative. The plot was really pretty terrible and had me rolling my eyes and groaning on a page by page basis. A small town is gearing up for a Christmas festival when a small group of shop-workers in a syndicate win the lottery, then the next day one of them goes missing. Throw in a couple of dastardly crooks with corny lines and a some amatuer sleuths whose reason for being there I can’t quite figure out, and that is pretty much it. Such a shame.

Having said that, it certainly won’t put me off reading any more of MHC’s books, but I may give the joint written ones a wide berth in the future.

 

 

Book Review: Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong December 21, 2009

Filed under: Globe Trotting,Jiang Rong — The Book Whisperer @ 12:16 pm

I read this book 9 months ago, after having my head buried in it for 4 days and I still can’t stop thinking about it. It is the most wonderful book and is quite possibly now my favourite book of all time.

 
From the very first page I was hooked. Jiang Rong creates such a vivid and compelling narrative that I found myself similtaniously gripped with the story yet trying to slow down and savour every word, so beautiful was each sentence.

Wolf Totem is semi-autobiographical and Jiang’s passion for the Mongolian grasslands shines through on every page. The description of the grasslands themselves, the wildlife, the lifestyle and survival was stunning. So few books make me believe that I am there at the actual place, but with this book I was there on horseback, hiding from wolves, fleeing for my life, braving blizzards and building campfires. I smiled, I cried, I hoped and I silently pleaded all within the space of an hour. I also fell in love with wild Mongolian wolves. To get to know them was a pleasure – they are clever, cunning, brave, brilliant and I loved following their story (from both sides – the good and the bad). The Little Wolf that was captured and raised by humans both endeared me and broke my heart.

While this book is most certainly a tale of the grasslands of the last 10,000 years and what happens when modern living creeps in, it is also a book about so much more. I can’t praise this enough; I am sad that it has ended as I could have read on for another 500 pages. What a beautiful book, one I highly recommend and one I will be reading again and again.

I also have these books at home that are set in Mongolia (or partly set there). I really want to read these soon:

Hearing Birds Fly - Louisa Waugh

The Empire of Genghis Khan - Stanley Stewart

Shadow of the Silk Road - Colin Thubron

 

Book Review: River Town by Peter Hessler December 21, 2009

Filed under: Globe Trotting,Peter Hessler — The Book Whisperer @ 12:11 pm

What a fantastic book. This, for me, was one of those rare books that you can’t put down but don’t want to end. Having just finnished it this morning I am already at a loss. I have read many books on China and this ranks among the best for me.

This is the story of Peter Hessler, an American student, who takes up an English teaching post in a remote town called Fuling where the River Wu meets the Yangtze. Fuling becomes his home for the next two years and here we are treated to a feast of Chinese life in a town where they are very unused to “waiguoren” (foreigners). We go through the many highs and lows with him and we meet a collection of fantastic characters along the way. To view this town and its people through waiguoren eyes is fascinating and a real eye opener.

Having been to China only once on holiday (to satisfy my enthusiasm) I am left feeling that spending all my time in Beijing and Shanaghai is abit of a cop out and I am now left with a real urge to travel deeper into this wonderful country and expore some more. This book has certainly given me a taste for that.

I highly recommend this book. I found it a real page turner.

I also can’t wait to read Oracle Bones which has been on my shelf for far too long now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks, also, to Cannon Gate for sending me a copy of Hessler’s new book Country Driving due to be released in March 2010. I can’t wait to read it!

 

Book Review: The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George December 21, 2009

Filed under: Historical,Margaret George — The Book Whisperer @ 11:41 am

“I’m Henry VIII, I am, I’m Henry VIII I am, I am!”

Wow! There’s never a dull moment with old Henry. Teenage King, always warring with France, cuts ties with Rome and changes the course of history just so he can get a divorce, six wives – two have their heads lopped off, one dies in childbirth, one is too ugly, one won’t provide him with a son (tsk! what was she thinking?) and the other gets to mop up his gangrenous leg until he dies. Phew!!!

This is a fabulous book: long, but so worth it. Written from Henry’s point of view so we get to see his life as he sees it. We all know what a bad-tempered tyrant he was supposed to have been, but in this book we get a glimpse at what may have made Henry make the decisions he made. He was born into royalty, taught to believe that he is above others (and boy, does he!) but we also see another side to him. There are times when I actually felt sorry for him; to be surrounded all your life by “yes-men” and never really knowing who you can trust must have been pretty tough even if you are surrounded by jewels and banquets all day long.

Not surprisingly, his poor wives come in for a pretty raw deal; but again it is written from Henry’s point of view. Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard never stood a chance and Katherine of Aragon was treated appallingly in later life when the King decided that he wanted to move on to a younger model. No wonder when it came to searching for a new wife 4th time around, all the eligable young European princesses were hiding in the shadows.

This is a real tome of a book and one I enjoyed immensley. The fact that it took the author 15 years to research, I knew I was in safe hands with getting a wonderful peice of fiction based entirely on fact. I would highly recommend this to history fans. Big thumbs up for this one. I now want to check out more of George’s historical books:

   

 

Book Review: Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan December 21, 2009

Filed under: Francoise Sagan — The Book Whisperer @ 11:30 am

This book was written by an 18 year old which, when you consider the richness of the narrative and the emotions involved, I find quite astounding. Or maybe I’ve just got too old and have forgotten how complex emotions are when you’re teetering on the brink of adulthood. Either way, I thought it was brilliantly done.

Bonjour Tristesse (Hello Sadness) is a tale of one tragic summer through the eyes of a seventeen year old girl. Spoilt and extrovert, Cecile is used to living the high life with her 40 year old Dad whom she goes out drinking and gambling with as if she were his contemporary. They head off from Paris to a villa in the south of France for 2 months one summer (taking along Elsa, her fathers current girlfriend) and spend the first few weeks doing little else other than sumbating and swimming in the sea. Then Anne arrives (Cecile’s dead mothers best friend) who is sensible, intelligent and calm (everything Cecile and her father are not). Cecile loves Anne, but having been used to doing exactly as she pleases, she is not pleased when Anne treats her as the child she is and makes her study for her exams. Cecile is adamant that she doesn’t need exams – she is already leading the life she wants (living in luxury and partying none stop). This sort of attitude reminded me so much of those vile brats on MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen - the ones who make my blood boil by demanding and expecting everything and you know damn well they will never have to work for anything in their lives. Shortly after, Anne and Ceciles father announce that they are getting married and here Cecile hatches a plan to stop the wedding at all costs (fearing for the lifestyle she loves with her father and knowing that it will all change). She involves Elsa, the spurned girlfriend, and Cyril, the boy from the next villa whom she has been sleeping with, to help her plot the undoing of the engagement. Everything seems to be going according to plan, and then it all goes horribly wrong…

I loved it. I don’t know if it is because Sagan was the same age as Cecile herself or that she was an incredibly perceptive young lady, but she really captures the fine balance of not being sure whether you’re an adult or a child. Interestingly, although Anne appears to treat her as the latter and her father as a contemporary, Cecile herself says that she feels like their pet kitten (something to be cooed at and petted).

I really enjoyed this.

 

Book Review: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys December 21, 2009

Filed under: The Victorians — The Book Whisperer @ 11:27 am

 

     How disappointing. After completely falling in love with Jane Eyre I was really looking forward to reading this. Perhaps, though, the reason I didn’t like this book is because of my love for Jane Eyre .

I didn’t like anything about this book: the style, the subject, the plot, nothing. I started it a few months ago, put it down and then decided to try it again – still didn’t like it. Sorry, but cannot recommend this one at all.
 

 

 

Book Review: Cold Earth by Sarah Moss December 21, 2009

Filed under: Laugh Out Loud,Sarah Moss — The Book Whisperer @ 11:09 am

Ahahahahahahaha! OK, this book isn’t supposed to be funny but it’s only for the fact that I laughed through most of it (albeit when I wasn’t supposed to) that it gets 5 stars and not one.

Oh dear, oh dear. Plot idea = great. Execution = erm, not. When I first read the blurb on the back of this I really thought I was in for a treat. Six archaelogoists on a dig in Greenland and then they get news of an epidemic back home and their communication with the outside world falls away and they are left stranded with not enough food or shelter. The book is written in the form of last letters home by each member of the party in turn.

So what happened? Very little, as it goes. Each character was so underdeveloped I didn’t give a monkeys about any of them, the “inbetween plot” of ghosties and ghoulies haunting their little camp was hilarious and not in any particular order that I could fathom and there were so many academic “in-jokes” that had me groaning on almost a page-by-page basis. I know this book was written by a senior literature professor, but seriously love, stick to your day job. Frankly most of the narrative left me appalled by its stiltedness and the oodles of references to 19th century classics only served to show off the authors knowledge than to enhance the plot in any way. Why did we need to know what picture was on the cover of Villette and Middlemarch? I sort of got the impression that alot of the authors own opinions were coming through her characters (imparticular Nina): there were left-wing views, snobbery about package holidays, views on femenism and all that had no relevence to the plot.

One of my favourtie parts was when the group had realised that they had had no internet connection for several days. They were wondering if maybe the epidemic had spread from the USA to Europe. So instead of testing a website in, say, Australia or Malaysia what do they do? Check a real-estates in Scotland and the Guardian Newspaper, that’s what. Genius!

So, the 5 stars – I laughed. I laughed a lot. And, weirdly, I felt compelled to keep reading. Did I enjoy this book? Yes, sort of. Would I recommend it? No.

 

Book Review: Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon December 21, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 11:03 am

This book was such good fun. A 19th century who-dunnit complete with beautiful but cunning villainess, rambling old houses and an upper-class layabout-turned-detective. Fabulous!

This was one of the first “sensation” novels ever written, and while it doesn’t have the sophisticated and multi-layered plots of today that keep us guessing until the very end and on the edge of our seets, it is nonetheless a great page turner and so much fun. This book was originally serialised in a paper back in 1862, and I can imagine eagerly awaiting the next installment as they would have done back then. The language is not complex either, which makes for an easy and much quicker read than some novels of this era.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lady Audley’s Secret although I am ashamed to say that I had never even heard of the author until I picked this up. I will now be checking out her other books:  

 

 
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