The Book Whisperer

jottings, musings and recommendations of an incurable bookaholic

Boof’s Blah Blah Blah’s August 29, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 12:03 pm
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Ladies, welcome back

It’s been a while since these two got an airing so I’ve let them out to play (and gossip) today.

To change or not to change, that is the question

Thanks to all of you who commented on my post about changing templates the other day – it was really helpful to read all your thoughts. It looks like most people prefer this template so I have reverted back (for now). I still love the other template but every time I looked at it, it felt like I was reading someone else’s blog. So, I’m back home – until I get bored again ;)

  Zippety doo dah…..

Huzzah! I handed my notice in at work this week. I have got a new job! Woop woop! I am so excited about starting my new role in October – I would have loved to have told them to stick their job where the sun don’t shine but alas I was ever the professional and did it with a huge amount of decorum and gitted teeth. I now  have a full 5 weeks off! What can I possibly spend 5 weeks doing? Reading, that’s what! Oh, all those lovelies on my shelf calling me and all those weeks I can spend with them – is this what heaven looks like?

Heaven

 

 But before all that….

I am going on holiday again tomorrow. A week in Olu deniz in Turkey. I plan on doing little else except lying round the pool or on the beach at the Blue Lagoon with book in hand.

I have so far narrowed my holiday choices down to a rather respectable six (with a few more waiting in the wings just in case I change my mind last minute) and of course there is the obligatory stop at WHSmiths to buy airport books (it’s the law – in fact I almost look forward to my airport book spree as much as the holiday itself).

See you all when I get back! :) Happy reading!

 

 

Book Review: Losing You by Nicci French August 27, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Nicci French — The Book Whisperer @ 2:16 pm

The Blurb:

“Nina Landry has given up city life for the isolated community of Sandling Island, lying off the bleak east coast of England. At night the wind howls. Sometimes they are cut off by the incoming tide. For Nina though it is home. It is safe. But when Nina’s teenage daughter Charlie fails to return from a sleepover on the day they’re due to go on holiday, the island becomes a different place altogether. A place of secrets and suspicions. Where no one–friends, neighbours or the police–believes Nina’s instinctive fear that her daughter is in terrible danger. Alone, she undergoes a frantic search for Charlie. And as day turns to night, she begins to doubt not just whether they’ll leave the island for their holiday–but whether they will ever leave it again.”

(source: Amazon)

What I thought:

This book starts at 10.30am and ends at 6pm the same day. Inbetween the pages and the hours, a teenage girl, Charlie,  goes missing on her paper-round just hours before she and her family are meant to be going on holiday to Florida. With the last-minute packing and the surprise birthday party that is thrown for her Mother, Nina, nobody seems to notice her disappearance for a few hours and when they do it’s taken as teenage high-jinks rather than a serious missing persons case. The only one who seems to believe that something is wrong is Nina, but nobody, least of all the police, is listening to her.

What follows is what I have now come to expect of Nicci French novels: the protagonist is disbelived by police and ends up chasing all over town on her own trying to solve the mystery. Granted, this makes for a good page-turner but as alsways I have a fair few eye-rolling episodes whilste in the company of their books. In all the books I have read by this author(s) I have never yet come across a copper, nurse or Doctor who is anything but completely incompetent. Of course, the books would be somewhat duller if anyone actually did what they were paid to do, but still.

So why do I still read Nicci French books? ‘Cos they’re great fun that’s why. Suspend your disbelief for a while, expect hysterical females running all over London and Detectives who do very little detecting and you have yourself  a nice few hours with book whose pages just turn themselves.

 

Have you read any Nicci French books? Which ones did you like the best?

 

 

Book Review: A Room Swept White by Sophie Hannah August 24, 2010

Filed under: Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Sophie Hannah — The Book Whisperer @ 12:42 pm

The Blurb:

“Fliss Benson is a TV producer struggling to deal with a personal tragedy in her own life. She receives at work an anonymous card which consists of 16 numbers arranged in four rows of four. These numbers mean absolutely nothing to her. At the same time, she is handed a particularly unwelcome assignment: she has to work on a documentary about cot death and three mothers accused (wrongly, it seems) of murder: Helen Yardley, Sarah Jaggard and Rachel Hines. The controversial Dr Judith Duffy, who was responsible for the arraignment of the women after the death of their children, is now under investigation for misconduct, and the women have been set free. Fliss Benson’s reluctance to work on the film springs from a particularly personal issue — involving both cot death and the suicide of someone very close to her.”

(source: Amazon)

 

What I thought:

The strength of this book, for me, was the subject matter. I love a good pyschological thriller anyway but you’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by cot deaths and cases involving the deaths of babies which are at the centre of this book. It’s topical, relevant and current. And it made me think and ask myself questions that I had perhaps not asked myself before – A Room Swept White is a very clever book that looks at this whole issue without taking sides.

The story is told in both first person (from the view point of Fliss Benson, a TV producer who is pretty low down the pecking order) and also the third person so the reader is privvy to all the goings on in the case. The book starts with the murder of Helen Yardley who was aquitted a few years ago of killing her two babies and spent 9 years in jail for their murder. She teamed up with a TV producer / Journalist called Laurie Natriss and together they formed JIPAC (Justice for Innocent Parents and Carers) and subsequently set about securing the releases of other women who had also been convicted of killing their own babies or those in their care. The morning after Helen’s murder, Fliss Benson is suddenly promoted and asked to carry on making the documentary about the released women, and Laurie Natrass leaves the company. That same morning Fliss received in the post a small white card with 16 numbers on it, which means nothing to her until she finds out that Helen has the same card left on her body by the murderer. What follows is a quest to not only find Helen Yardley’s killer before he strikes again but also to get to the truth about whether she did or didn’t kill her two boys.

What let this book down for me were most of the characters. I understand that it’s a plot driven book rather than character driven (which is why I love thrillers as they’re fast paced and you want to know what’s going on rather than what a character is wearing) but even so, I didn’t actually like most of them. Fliss, the first person protagonist, was made out to be incompetent and ditzy and I could never fathom her reason for witholding some evidence from the police. I had no mental image of her and she felt very one-dimensional, as did some of the other big characters. There was no-one at all in the book whom I actually routed for.

What I did like about the book, however, was the whole issue around the enormity of responsibilty in these cases and just how easily the media can make us believe one thing and then another. All throughout the book I though I believed one thing and then realised that I actually had made a decision on very few facts. Once other facts came to light I was swayed again (in fact several times). Either I am incredibly gulliable or the media is way more powerful than even I imagined. The whole issue around medical witnesses in legal cases was fascinating and certainly an eye-opener (and you may end up thinking differently by the end of the book than you did at the start).

To conclude, I really enjoyed this book. Despite the rather wooden characters and some ill-placed humour (Fliss’s comedic inner monologue felt a little uncomfortable to read sometimes as it didn’t fit with the overall tone of the book), the actual plot and subject matter was fascinating, surprising and gripping.

 

I would recommend this book. Have you read it or any of Sophie’s other books?

 

There is a great interview with Sophie Hannah over on Simon’s blog at Savidge Reads which I recommend you check out.

 

 

 

Book Review: Summer by Edith Wharton August 23, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Edith Wharton,Summer Reads — The Book Whisperer @ 9:55 am

The Blurb:

“A new Englander of humble origins, Charity Royall is swept into a torrid love affair with an artistically inclined young man from New York City, but her dreams of a future with him are thwarted. A bold, provocative work, SUMMER was an immediate sensation when first published in 1917 and still stands as one of Wharton’s greatest achievements.”

(source: Goodreads.com)

 

What I thought:

It’s some book that can make you dislike a character but yet fall for her over time, that can make you never want to live in a forgotten little backwater town like that while all the time making you feel the sun on your face, marvel at the butterflies and smell the flowers on the mountain. Very clever.

Summer is the story of Charity Royall, a girl who was born on The Mountain – a place that is scorned and avoided by the residents of North Dormer, and adopted by a Lawyer and his wife who are childless. When Mrs Royall dies, Charity is left alone with the Lawyer who seems unable to connect with her.

Anxious to have some independence so that she can escape,  Charity becomes the town librarian, a part-time job which gives her a small amount of her own money. There she encounters Lucius Harney, the nephew of one of the town’s leading citizens. His interest in Charity soon develops into affection and then passion, and the two become lovers, a relationship which quickly develops complications as Charity falls in love and longs to escape the village. What ensues is a tale of heartbreak and resignation, with Charity’s adopted father playing a far larger part in the book than is sometimes comfortable.

While the themes of this book are pretty bleak (highlighting how little control over her life a young lady had back in the early 20th century), the book is not unpleasant to read. Wharton’s prose is delicious but yet her characters are unsentimental (and in most cases not very likable). What I love about a book is when I feel I am there in the middle of it – I can see, hear and smell all around me, I can feel the heat and shiver in the cold – Summer did this to me.

The only other book I have read by Wharton is Ethan Frome and that book is in my top 10 of all time – I just love it! Have you read any Wharton? Which ones did you enjoy and which one should I read next?

 

Do you like it? August 22, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 10:53 am

To change or not to change, that is the question

I’ve been toying with the idea of changing my blog template for a while now and asked the question a few months ago but the general concensus was stick with the one I had because it was “bright and cheerful and matched my personality”.

What do you think about this one? It’s bright, it’s cheerful – ta daaaah!

I’m going to leave this up for today and see what people think. What do you think? Should I change or stick with the original?

 

Book Review: Room by Emma Donoghue August 20, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Emma Donoghue — The Book Whisperer @ 11:21 am

The Blurb:

“To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It’s where he was born, where he and his Ma eat and play and learn. At night, Ma puts him safely to sleep in the wardrobe, in case Old Nick comes.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it’s the prison where she’s been held for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for her son. But Jack’s curiosity is building alongside Ma’s desperation — and she knows Room cannot contain either indefinitely. …

Told in the inventive, funny, and poignant voice of Jack, Room is a powerful story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible.”

(source: Goodreads)

 

What I thought:

I want to start by saying that I loved this book – loved it! When I see other reviews, prior to me reading a book, that state phrases like “unputdownable” and “kept me up all night” I tend to get very excited and have, in the past, been let down upon reading the book for myself. Not so with Room – believe the hype, people!

Room is narrated by five-year-old Jack who was born and still lives in an 11′ by 11′ shed with his Ma. Jack has never know any other life, and as far as he is concerned Room is the universe and only he and Ma exist (apart from Old Nick who is a bad man and visits Ma on an evening while Jack hides in Wardrobe and counts the creaks on Ma’s bed when he’s there). Room is Jack’s entire existence until his fifth birthday when Ma tells him that “outside” is not just on TV but actually exists. For a boy who has known nothing and nobody else this is a difficult concept to grasp and the narrative device deployed really works in showing us (rather than telling us) how Jack tries to make sense of this information. Jack’s little world has been about playing games with Ma (making an eggsnake that lives under the bed, jumping up towards the shed skylight and screaming at the top of their voices and running track round the tiny room), reading the same 5 books over and over and watching his best and only friend, Dora the Explorer, on TV. Now suddenly Ma is telling him that she once lived Outside and that she had a family and went to school before Old Nick brought her to Room and kept her there and she wants to go back!

I am usually pretty sceptical of books where the child is the narrator as I find that if not done sympathetically they make me cringe. Jack, however, was the perfect narrator: the whole world (or what he knows of it) is seen from his point of view so the book avoids the horror of Ma’s plight and instead sees the relationship between mother and son, born out of the most horrific of circumstances that the reader can understand, not through Jack telling us (as he doesn’t know) but through Jack showing us.

Room is both brilliantly written but also gripping: it took hold of me from the first page and never let me go until the end. This is a unique look at a relationship and a life told through the innocence and naivity of a young boy who’s whole world is 11 sqaure feet. The question is, does he need anything more?

I would highly, highly recommend this book. It’s one of my favourites of the year so far. The cover of the book has a quote by Audrey Niffenegger which I think sums the book up perfectly:

“Room is a book to read in one sitting. When it’s over you look up: the world looks the same but you are somehow different and that feeling lingers for days”.

 

Have you read Room? What did you think? Are you going to read it?

 

 

Book Review – Fatwa: Living With a Death Threat by Jacky Trevane August 17, 2010

Filed under: Biography / Memoirs,Middle East,Non-Fiction — The Book Whisperer @ 4:56 pm

The Blurb:

“Jacky was twenty-three when she arrived in Egypt for a holiday with her boyfriend, Dave. Little did she know that an innocent holiday would result in a horror beyond her imagination. Separated from Dave in a bustling street, Jacky fell and twisted her ankle, only to be swept up by a handsome, chivalrous Egyptian called Omar. It was love at first sight. Jacky spent those ten days living with the family – sharing a bed with Omar’s sister – irresistibly attracted to Omar. Swept away by her infatuation she married him and converted to Islam before returning to England to her parents.

Returning to Cairo against her parents’ advice but full of hopes and plans, Jacky’s dream turned into a nightmare. As a blue-eyed blonde she was never going to fit in with life in a poor suburb where the women walked at all times with their heads bowed. During the next eight years she suffered non-stop physical and emotional abuse. She had to escape with her two little girls but how? This tense story never quite ends. Even now, Jacky is living in the shadow of a death threat. A fatwa is issued legitimately under Islamic law to a Muslim woman who leaves her husband. Jacky to protect herself and her daughters minute by minute, day by day, never quite sure what may be around the corner…”

(source: Amazon)

 

  What I thought:

I found this a really interesting book and certainly one that had me turning those pages; the very nature of the content and the fact it’s a true story is the books forward momentum.

The story begins in 1979 when Jacky goes on holiday to Egypt with her then boyfriend whom she gets separated from when they try to get off a bus in Cairo. Jacky finds herself alone, with a twisted ankle,  in a residential area and is picked up by two young Egyptian men who escort her into the nearest appartment where she is welcomed by the family who nurse her until she can walk again. The appartment is small and Jacky can only communicate with the 15 year old daughter who is learning English at school but she is drawn to Omar, one of the older brothers and even though they can’t speak to each other there is clearly a mutual attraction. Over the next two weeks the family take Jacky on outings around Cairo and further afield and Jacky finds herslef falling in love with the family and also with Omar (they both discover that they can just about communicate to each other in French and their friendship blossoms). Before the holiday is over, Omar has not only proposed to Jacky and talked his family but they have also married.

Over the next eight years in Cairo, the once mild mannered and loving Omar changes into a controlling and angry man who beats his wife on an almost weekly basis and makes her life a living hell. The conditions and squalar that her and her children are forced to live in is a world away from the life she knew back home and rather than upset her parents she writes home about the good life that she is living and how happy she is.

The book opens with Jacky and her two children’s attempted escape back to England, from Cario to the Israeli border. There are so many challenges along the way that even though the escape has been long planned down to the minutest detail, we are still routing for her and wondering if she will actually make it. The answer doesn’t come until the end of the book.

Having lived and worked in the Middle East and spent a lot of time in Egypt, books of this nature do interest me. This is one of the better ones, I feel, as it is written in a way that is accessible to all (it sometimes has the feel of a YA book in its narrative, which I actually think is a good thing -allowing it to be read and understood by different audiences).

The book is the story of what happened to Jacky in the early 80′s and it is possible that things have changed since then (with more access to media from across the world) but even so this is a pretty stark warning to think before you act.

Good book. Recommended.

Edit (20/08/10):

I had a comment left yesterday which I have chosen not to approve for the reasons stated below. The comment came from someone called “Omar” (the name of the husband in the book) and said the following:

“jacky trevane is realy very ill and she realy need adoctors” (I have copied and pasted the exact wording).

I am adding this edit to the bottom of this post for a couple of reasons: 1) If I approve the comment that was made it will then mean that the person who made the comment will be able to post again on my blog and I don’t want that, 2) The comment was made on the wrong review so would make no sense to anyone reading that particular review, 3) I have seen this person (the email was visible for me to see) comment on other sites on the internet, all of which were derogatory towards Jacky Trevane, the author of the book and woman who suffered the horrific abuse at the hands of “Omar”

My opinion on this comment is that this is possibly either the real Omar or someone who knows him (he leaves comments in various places so I can only guess that he has some connection to the family at least as he seems to have a vested interest in tracking down any reviews about the book).

 

 

Meet the Author: Elly Griffiths August 12, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Comfort Reading,Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Elly Griffiths — The Book Whisperer @ 11:09 am

Elly Griffiths

Meet Elly Griffiths:

Elly Griffiths writes a series of crime fiction novels with a difference – rather than the protagonist being a Detective or amateur sleuth, Ruth Galloway is a Forensic Archaeologist who lives in the saltmarshes on the north Norfolk coast. Her debut novel and first book in the series, The Crossing Places, was reviewed by me yesterday.

Elly’s Ruth Galloway novels take for their inspiration Elly’s husband, who gave up a city job to train as an archaeologist, and her aunt who lives on the Norfolk coast and who filled her niece’s head with the myths and legends of that area.  Elly has two children and lives near Brighton.

 

A big welcome to Elly:

Boof: Congratulations on being shortlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Fiction Awards this year. This was your debut novel and you were up against some of the heavy-weights of crime fiction like Ian Rankin and Peter James to name just two. How did you react when you found out you had been nominated?

 Elly: I was just amazed. To think that I was on the shortlist with such giants of the crime-writing world – it still doesn’t seem real. I was star-struck the whole time at Harrogate. When Reginald Hill asked me what my book was about, all I could say was ‘Norfolk.’

 

Boof: The heroine of the series, Ruth Galloway, is in her late 30’s who loves solitude, cats, is slightly over-weight and orders lots of books from Amazon (a girl after my own heart!). How did you come up with her?

Elly: I really don’t know how I came up with Ruth. She just appeared in my head fully formed. Maybe there are some elements in Ruth of my two sisters and one of my oldest friends – all strong, independent women- and maybe there’s a little of me. Like Ruth I struggle with my weight, I love cats and reading – and Bruce Springsteen! 

The Crossing Places

Boof: Ruth is an archaeologist and this is how she helps the police with solving a crime. What research did you need to do about archaeology for the books?

Elly: My husband’s an archaeologist and he helps me a lot with the technical stuff. He has also introduced me to a colleague who’s a forensic archaeologist. She actually does work with the police so she’s has given me some invaluable insights.

 

Boof: Your series of books are set in Norfolk on the English east coast: what made you decide to set the books here?

Elly: My aunt lives in Norfolk and, when I was a child, we used to spend holidays there. Now I go there with my children. I just love the space and the loneliness and the sense of history. The North Norfolk coast is very beautiful and also slightly spooky. 

north Norfolk coastline

Boof: The second book in the series, The Janus Stone, has just come out in paperback and there is a third book due out in January 2011. How many more do you plan to write in this series?

Elly: I’m currently writing Book 4 and I’ve got ideas for at least three more. That’s the great thing about archeology – and Norfolk. There are so many eras to choose from. The Crossing Places starts with Iron Age remains, The Janus Stone involves a Roman excavation, the new book, The House At Sea’s End, is about bones from the Second World War. I’ve got ideas for books about Aborigine skulls, Victorian graveyards, medieval plague pits…

The Janus Stone

 

Boof: Can you give us any sneak previews of what we might expect in future books? (I’m particularly interested to see what, if anything, develops between Ruth and Detective Harry Nelson)

Elly: I’m not sure myself what will happen to Ruth and Nelson in the end but, in the next few books, their relationship just gets more complicated.

 

Boof: Who are your favourite crime fiction authors?

Elly: I love C J Sansom, Ian Rankin and Reginald Hill (still can’t believe I spoke to Reginald Hill!). But my favourite British crime writer has to be the first – Wilkie Collins.

[Boof: Yay! I love Wilkie Collins!]

 

Boof: Who are your favourite crime fiction characters from other books? Did Ruth or Harry end up with any of the characteristics of any of them?

 Elly: Count Fosco in The Woman in White is my favourite literary character of all time. I love the way that, though he’s a thorough villain, he’s not quite all bad. I hope that my characters are not black and white but shades of grey….

 

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Boof: What jobs did you do before you started writing and how did you make the transition to being an author?

Elly: I used to work in publishing. I was an editor in one of the big companies. You’d think that this would be the perfect job for an aspiring writer but fifteen years in publishing almost killed off any desire to write. I didn’t start to write seriously until I left publishing.

 

Boof: Where is your favourite / most productive place to write?

Elly: I write in a room that I call the study but, unfortunately, the kids think it’s the place where they watch TV and play on the Playstation.

 

Boof: Have you ever read a book and thought “damn, I wish I’d written that!”

Elly: I don’t think so though one of the things that motivated me to finish The Crossing Places was the thought that someone else would write a book about a forensic archaeologist.

 

Boof: If you were to be stranded on a desert island on a year and you were only allowed to take 3 books with you, which ones would you choose?

Elly: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, The Mating Season by P G Wodehouse, Nice Work by David Lodge

 

Boof: What is your literary ambition?

Elly: I’d love to write a really long book like The Moonstone or The Woman in White. And I’d love to be serialized on Radio 4.

 

Boof: Finally, the quick fire round:

Favourite colour: Red

Favourite animal: Horse

Favourite food: Pasta

Favourite song: Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen

Favourite author (non-crime): David Lodge

Favourite holiday destination: Italy

Favourite childhood memory: Going to Seven Sisters beach with my family and a whole group of friends, walking for miles over the sand and finally swimming in the sea.

 Thank you so much to Elly for agreeing to be interviewed on The Book Whisperer. The Crossing Places is a great book and I am really looking forward to reading the others in the series.

 

 

Book Review: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths August 11, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Crime/Mystery/Thriller,Elly Griffiths — The Book Whisperer @ 8:25 am

The Blurb:

“Dr Ruth Galloway is in her late 30s. When she’s not digging up bones or other ancient objects, she lectures at a university in Norfolk. She lives, alone but happily so, in a bleak, marshy area called Saltmarsh overlooking the sea and Norfolk’s vast skies with her cats and Radio 4 for company. She’s a salty character – quirky. When a child’s bones are found in the marshes, near a dig that Ruth and her former boyfriend Peter worked on ten years before, Ruth is called upon to date them. They turn out to be bronze-age bones and DCI Harry Nelson, who called on Ruth for help, is disappointed. He had hoped they would be the bones of a child called Lucy who’s been missing, presumed dead, for ten years. He has been getting letters about her ever since – odd letters with references to ritual and sacrifice, and including quotes from the Bible and Shakespeare. Then a second girl goes missing and Nelson gets another letter – like the ones about Lucy. Is it the same killer? Is it a ritual murder, linked in some way to the site near Ruth’s remote home? Then one of Ruth’s cats is killed and clearly she’s in danger from a killer who knows that her expert knowledge is being used to help the police with their enquiries.”

(source: Amazon)

 

  What I thought:

Despite being a lover of crime fiction I hadn’t heard of this book or author before I was invited to go to the Harrogate Crime Fiction Awards last month. Elly’s book The Crossing Places had been shortlisted along with people like Ian Rankin and Mark Billingham and it was what she said on stage about her book having many layers that piqued my interest. What an acolade to have your book nominated and then shortlisted for such a high profile event as this, and I love that there was two debut authors on this list as it brings unknown authors to the fore. And thank goodness it does – I LOVED this book!

Ruth Galloway is in her late 30′s, has cats, is slightly overweight and orders loads of books from Amazon (what’s not to love?). She is a forensic archaeologist at the University of Norfolk, specialising in bones,  and is called out to the saltmarshes on the Norfolk Coast by Police Detective Harry Nrelson when a body is unearthed. The body is discovered to be that of a young girl from the iron age, but it brings to the surface the disappearance of a five year old girl, Lucy Downey, who has never been traced and whom Harry Nelson can’t get out of his head. He then shows Ruth a series of letters he has been sent over the years with cryptic clues about Lucy’s disappearance and asks Ruth to help him decipher them. In the midst of this, and almost 10 years to the day since Lucy vanished, a four year old girl is snatched from her back garden and Harry fears that the perpetrator has struck again.

What I loved most about this books is the setting and the characters. The saltmarshes on the north Norfolk coast sounded so bleak and wind swept that I longed to be there in Ruth’s little stone cottage sipping coffee and reading books while rain hurled itself at the windows. I loved the image of the sand dunes and sea spray and the solitude. Ruth and Harry are wonderful leads too: Ruth is a woman after my own heart and Harry is a straight-talking northern bloke (and being a northerner myself I loved  his tell-it-like-it-is attitude but also recognising his warm heart under his no nonsence exterior).

Reading this book made me want to do two things: 1) go for a long weekend on the north Norfolk coast – which we are now doing around my birthday in October and 2) want to rush out and buy the second in the series, The Janus Stone (which I have also now got and it is high on my pile!)

 

I am thrilled to say that Elly Griffiths agreed to do an interview on my blog and that is coming tomorrow so please do pop back to see what she has to say about writing her first books.

 

 

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me August 9, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 9:08 pm
Tags:

I’ve won an award…

…..from Shannon at Giraffe Days who reads SO many books and writes great reviews. I love checking out her blog – especially when she goes on a book-buying binge as I love drooling over all her purchases (and I thought I had a problem ;) )

The rule is that I have to share 7 things about myself that you might not know. So here goes:

 

1) I once got deported from Cyprus and banned from going back for 4 years!

Oh yeah! Back in 1994 when I’d left Israel (where I’d worked as an Au Pair) I got on a ferry and ended up in Cyprus (the plan was to go on to Greece but myself and a friend got so drunk on the ferry that we got off in Cyprus as our hangovers were not compatible with the swaying of the boat). We hitched a lift to Ayia Napa where I worked in a rock & indie bar for 3 months until the bar was raided by the police one night for employing 5 British workers. I was arrested and deported. I went back to Israel for another month before getting to the same ferry back to Greece – but when it stopped in Cyprus I couldn’t resist seeing if I could get away with stepping off on to Cypriot soil without anyone noticing. They didn’t and I spent a lovely day pottering round Limasol flipping imaginary birds at everyone.

 

2) I used to work as a table-dancer in Faliraki, Rhodes.

It gets better, doesn’t it? The hilarity was that I used to wear Doctor Martens (when everyone else had kitten heals and strappy sandals on) and most of my other attire was either ripped or tie-die. Oh, I also had a ring and a silver spider in my nose (I was 22 – it’s allowed!). Once I had finally managed to get into Greek waters this time, I stopped on the island of Rhodes to meet up with some friends I’d met in Jerusalem but I had about £3 left in the world so I needed a job and quick. I sat in a bar until the owner finally gave in and told me that my job was to mingle with the holiday-makers and get them to spend loads of money at the bar and whenever he blew a whistle I had to get up on a table and dance. Whenever I think back I laugh out loud thinking of what I must have looked like – I was so untypically touristy that I must have stood out like a sore thumb!

 

3) I have visited a total of 25 countries

I am as passionate about travel and culture as I am about books. I love going to different places and expolring (I also love lazy beach holidays where I can do nothing but lie horizontal with my book too). I have been to the following places: France, USA, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Czech Republic, Spain, Monoco, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Some of the above I have been to on many occasions as I love it there so much (France 8 times, USA 7 times, Greece and Turkey 3 times each etc).

 

4) I used to play the piano

I played the piano from the age of about six or seven through to age 18. I wasn’t bad at it, actually, and used to play it while the kids walked into assembley at school and then play them out again. I gave up after my A Levels before going off to Uni and have never played a note since. Actually, that’s not true – I tried having a go on a hotel piano when nobody was looking once and I couldn’t even make my fingers go in the right place. I can’t remember a thing about how to play – it’s a shame really.

 

5) I once owned 8 cats in a one-bedroom flat

When I was single I had my own flat in High Wycombe and it was just me and my old rescued cat, Izzy. Then I met Mr Whisperer and he moved in and we bought Phoebe as “our” cat. A year later we got Madison because she was so fluffy and cute and we couldn’t resist her and before we managed to get her spayed she got in the family way and the next thing we know 5 kittens have been born and we had 8 cats in a one-bedroom flat. We only have two these days (Phoebe who’s now 12 and Princess Saffy who is one of Madison’s kittens who is now 9 years old).

 

6) I am the daughter of two Teachers

Actually I am the daugher of two retired Teachers now. My Mum taught both primary school and also worked in a 17th century house where kids go on school trips and dress up for the day and actually live for a day as they would have back in the 1600′s. My Mum was the Lady of the house and used to supervise activities such as spinning, lace-making, butter-making, roasting meats on the spit and telling stories to the children.

My Dad worked in a secondary school in the middle of a council estate and taught PE. He was pretty strict and earned himself the nickname of “Bomber”!

  

7) I believe in ghosts

OK, not the white sheet types with holes for eyes, but I do believe in the after-life. I believe that we all come back many times to learn lessons and move on and that we have soul-mates that we reincarnate with (in different relationships each time).

 

8. I once cleaned an airport for the arrival of Bill Clinton

When I was living in Israel I was down to Eilat (the southern tip of Israel) for a couple of months and worked as a cleaner of hotels. This compirsed of sitting on a wall every morning from about 6am with about 20 other travellers waiting for the owners to turn up and pick us for jobs that day. Once I was picked to clean Eilat Airport for the arrival of Bill Clinton on 26th October 1994 when he was coming over for the signing of the peace treaty with Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan. There were 3 of us and the airport was shut for a few days while we scrubbed and laid down the red carpet. Clinton also stayed in a hotel over-looking the marina where I was living on someones yacht but alas I never actually got to see him.

 

I hope you liked your little insight into the world of The Book Whisperer. I don’t normally like revealing too much about myself so you should be able to dine out on this little lot for quite a while.

And you thought I was just a book-nerd! ;)

 

 

 

Book Review: Stone in a Landslide by Maria Barbal August 8, 2010

Filed under: Maria Barbal — The Book Whisperer @ 10:28 am

The Blurb:

“The beginning of the 20th century: 13-year-old Conxa has to leave her home village in the Pyrenees to work for her childless aunt. After years of hard labour, she finds love with Jaume – a love that will be thwarted by the Spanish Civil War. Approaching her own death, Conxa looks back on a life in which she has lost everything except her own indomitable spirit. This story presents a fascinating timeless voice, down to earth and full of human contradictory nuances. Its’ the expression of someone who searches for understanding in a changing world but senses that ultimately there may be no such thing. The Catalan modern classic, first published in 1985, is now in its 50th edition, and has sold over 50 000 copies in the last two years in Germany alone.”

(source: Amazon)

 

What I thought:

This is the story of Conxa, a young girl from a rural Catalan village in the early twentieth century and it follows her throughout her life, from being sent away from her parents (as they can’t afford to feed all six children) to live with an Aunt and Uncle miles away, through to the years it takes to finally be accepted as a member of the village, to falling in love and having three children, being captured in the civil war and to Barcelona where she finally ends her days – and this all happens in the space of 128 short pages.

The prose is sparse and understated but it is this simplicity that makes it work so beautifully. Conxa is a wonderful narrator and tells her story, looking back on her long life as an old lady, remembering the taste of food, the smell of the meadows and dancing until she is dizzy, never once complaining about her lot or, never throwing herself a pity-party, rather recalling the events of a life in rural Spain.

This is a short read but has the right amount of gentle impact to make it a satisfying lite-bite. Recommended.

There is a great interview with Meike the founder of Peirene Press over at Winston’s Dad’s Blog which is really interesting.

 

 (My copy of this book was recieved for review from Peirene Press - thank you)

 

 

Book Review: Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella August 5, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Chick Lit,Comfort Reading,Laugh Out Loud,Sophie Kinsella,Summer Reads — The Book Whisperer @ 9:23 am

The Blurb:

 ”Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) thought motherhood would be a breeze and that having a daughter was a dream come true a shopping friend for life!

But it s trickier than she thought two-year-old Minnie has a quite different approach to shopping. She can create havoc everywhere from Harrods to Harvey Nicks to her own christening. She hires taxis at random, her favourite word is Mine , and she s even started bidding for designer bags on ebay.

On top of everything else, there s a big financial crisis. People are having to Cut Back including all of Becky s personal shopping clients and she and Luke are still living with Becky s Mum and Dad. To cheer everyone up, Becky decides to throw a surprise birthday party on a budget but then things become really complicated.

Who will end up on the naughty step, who will get a gold star and will Becky s secret wishes come true?”

(source: Amazon)

 

What I thought:

She’s ba-aack! And this time she has a mini-me in tow. My very favourite Calamity-Jane, Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood), is double trouble in this latest giggle-fest as hanging on to her Gucci coat tails is two year old Minnie, who comes complete with her own very finely tuned shopping instincts.

I have been literally chomping at the bit since I found out that this book was coming out. I am a HUGE Sophie Kinsella fan – she is one of my favourite authors, chicklit or otherwise, as every single one of her books (and I’ve read them all) make me laugh out loud and they are the ultimate tonic for me. I knew this book wouldn’t deviate from my expectations and I was right.

 Mini Shopaholic starts, as you might expect, in a shopping mall where young Minnie is wrestling with Becky over a toy pony that she just has to have! Becky is trying to look like the responsible parent in public and tries reasoning with a increasinly loud Minnie. When this doesn’t appear to have any affect, and Becky also realises that the pony is, in fact, gorgeous and Minnie really should have one, she devises a pocket money plan for Minnie whereby she will get 50p per week and as she will be backdating this to the day of her birth, she can afford to buy the pony now! Result!

This is only the beginning and what ensues is a cab-hailing Minnie with instructions to drive to Starbucks, the arrival of a nanny who quits after just one day, a TV personality called Nanny Sue who accompanies Becky and Minnie to a play area (which gets quickly forgotten when the cab pulls up at lights right outside a brand new shopping mall where every visitor gets a gift). In the middle of trying to assure Nanny Sue and the rest of the world that she can cope, Becky is also trying to arrange a surprise birthday party for Luke which just screams disaster from the start, especially while she has to deal with trying to prevent Minnie from bidding for designer shoes on ebay!

I just loved this book. Becky had me in stitches and hiding behind pillows cringing at the mess she gets herself into, in equal measures. If you’ve read the others in the series (and if not, why not?) then you MUST read this one – it’s hillarious, sweet and feel-good and I am already excited that the next book in the series has been nicely lined up at the end of this one (and when you read it and see why at the end, you just know you’re in for a real treat).

 

Here are my reviews of all the other books in the Shopaholic series and here are my reviews of Kinsella’s stand-alone books.

 

Have you read any of Sophie Kinsella’s books? What did you think? Are you looking forward to Mini Shopahoic coming out?

 

(I received my copy of this book for review from Bantam Press – thank you!)

 

 

 

Book Review: The Weight of Water by Penelope Evans August 4, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Penelope Evans,Spooky,Summer Reads — The Book Whisperer @ 4:30 pm

The Blurb:

“I had the dream again. And there she was. The little girl. She was standing, as she always stands, on the bank of the river. Grass green beneath her feet. Little red shoes, little white dress. Sara and Tom Ravenscroft need to escape London after a traumatic event nearly kills Tom. Their search for a safer, simpler life in the country takes them to the edge of Cornwall, to a house deep in its own valley, and the river that runs through it. But the locals are hardly welcoming, and it is not long before Sara begins to struggle with the isolation; the haunting dream that has plagued her since childhood starts to creep into the everyday – does the past hold the key to her dream or is it the present she needs to be wary of?”

(source: Amazon)

What I thought:

The book starts with Sara having another one of her recurring dreams;the same dream she has been plagued with sine childhood: standing perilously close to a rivers edge is a little girl wearing a little white dress and little red shoes. Just as it looks like she will fall into the water, the dream ends.

Sara and Tom live in London and met ten years ago when the both discovered that they had something huge and binding in common – they were both orphaned as babies (survivors of accidents in which both sets of parents died).

During a weekend break in the south west of England, the couple come across an advert in an estate agent window for a house in its own nine acre valley in Cornwall. They drive to see the house as Tom (who only a few weeks ago got caught up in the London bombings) is desperate to leave London and live in Cornwall and grow vegetables. While visiting the propery, Sara looks out of the bedroom window and sees a little girl standing at the edge of the river that runs through the valley. She is wearing a little white dress and little red shoes.

I don’t want to say too much more about the plot as it’s always nice to find things out for yourself when reading a book rather than knowing what’s coming.

For the first half of this book I was enraptured; I loved the pace, the style the delivery, everything. I was all set for giving it full marks but I have to confess that from about the half-way point I began to lose interest. I can’t put my finger on at what point or why necessarily but I did find myself racing to get to the end rather than just enjoying going with the flow. This is my first Evans book and while I did really enjoy it as a good summer read (I read it on holiday) I’m not sure I could rave about it.

 

Has anyone else read this book yet? What did you think?

 

 

Book Blogger Convention in Europe August 2, 2010

Filed under: Uncategorized — The Book Whisperer @ 9:58 pm

There has been some discussion recently about the possibility of having a book blogger convention in Europe next year as the one in the US is always so successful and we are jealous and…..

We want one!

At the moment it is merely at the information gathering stage so here is a survey so that we can get peoples thoughts – would you be interested in atttending? Where and when and would you be interested in helping to put it together (no pressure for the last one – it’s just to give us an idea).

Please click here to go to the survey but please don’t submit again if you have already done so on someone else’s blog so that the results don’t get duplicated.

What do you all think? Are we up for it? I am! I think it would be great.

 

 

A bookish review of July August 1, 2010

Filed under: Authors,Donato Carrisi,Gabriella Ambrosio,Katherine Webb,Lucie Whitehouse,Nicci French,Rebecca Frayn,Sophie Kinsella,Tana French,Yann Martel — The Book Whisperer @ 10:19 am

Feelin’ hot hot hot…

I wish! Apparantly July is the hottest month of the year in the northern hemisphere. If someone could just remind the sun where the UK is, that would be great.

July has been a pretty eventful month for me – the end of my wonderful France holiday, the brilliant *Harrogate Crime Festival and meeting some great crime fiction authors, and reading some fantastic books!

*You can see my post about the Crime Fiction Awards here.

 

 My July reads

I have read eleven books this month and I have had some cracking reads!

 

The Bed I Made by Lucie Whitehouse
The Legacy by Katherine Webb
Deceptions by Rebecca Frayn
The Likeness by Tana French
Tryptich by Karin Slaughter
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
Losing You by Nicci French (review to follow)
The Whisperer by Donata Carrisi
Before We Say Goodbye by Gabriella Ambrosio
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths (review to follow)
Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella (review to follow)

 

Trying to narrow it down to my top 3 has been impossible so I have had to go for my Top 5:

The Likeness – Tana French

Mini Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella (review to follow)

The Crossing Places – Elly Griffiths (review to follow)

The Legacy – Katherine Webb

Before We Say Goodbye - Gabriella Ambrosio

 

 

Most looked at reviews in July

The Legacy – Katherine Webb

Mornings In Jenin – Susan Abulhawa

The Bed I Made – Lucie Whitehouse

 

Most looked at other posts in July

The Best 11 Book Club Reads EVER!!!

“Please let those be books, Please let those be books…”

“There’s been a murder…”

 

 A great July for me book-wize: I’ve discovered some great new authors and re-discovered old favourites. Have you read any of the above? Which books did you read and love in July?

 

 

 
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