Something really strange happened today…
What better reason, then, to nip down to Pugneys Lake for a little snooze in the sun and to start my sumptuous looking new book Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris. I slipped into the first pages like melted chocolate and can’t wait to read on.
Holiday bliss – reading on the beach
Regular readers of my blog will know that travel is one of my passions (I still have to do part 2 and 3 of my trip to Paris yet – sorry I’ve been off the radar for a while but I will get round to it, I promise). Last month, Mr Whisperer and I went to The Gambia on the west coast of Africa and it was one of my favourite holidays.
What I loved about The Gambia:
1) The people – it’s not nickenamed The Smiling Coast of Africa for no reason – the locals are some of the friendliest people I have ever met. They are happy, smiley, chatty and have a great sense of humour.
2) The weather – hot, hot, hot!
3) The animals – we had monkeys and cats on our patio and huge turtles and lizards elsewhere in our hotel grounds. We also went to a crocodile park and I actually got up close and personal with a crocodile (with nothing between me and it). I was expecting its skin to be like armour but it was actually really soft (although as my horrified sister-in-law pointed out, it’s teeth aren’t!)
4) The culture – we went on an open top jeep tour and among other things we visited a local primary school and watched some lessons in progress and also a fishing village in the early evening when the boats were coming back in with the fish. It was crazy and amazing!
5) The relaxation – beaches, palm trees, friendly locals, sun. What more is there?
A regular visitor to our patio (usually when there was peanuts or mangos nearby)
The most insane place – the village of Tanje where they bring in the fish each day
Crazy, insane, wonderful!
Trip to see a local primary shcool
Children hanging around the school in the hope of some sweet – luckily we came prepared
Wall art with books – and lots of them 
The fruit ladies on the beach touting for business
The lovely Fatima who adopted us as “her” customer
Trip down the Gambia River and through the mangroves
The oyster ladies in the mangroves
Chilling with one of my books on the beach – bliss
Band on the beach
I’m watching you!!!
Hanmade batik’s
Our hotel
NB/ The above photos belong to me and may not be used without my permission. Thank you.
In three words:Inspirational, passionate, engaging
I admit – I had never heard of Chrissie Wellington. I am a recent conver to cycling and swimming in particular and I kept coming across this book so I was intrigued to find out why so many glowing reviews.
Chrissie Wellington is an extraordinary woman – she never started out life wanting to be a sportswoman, despite being a member of the local swimming club. What is aparant from her early life, though, is her passion and dedication to everything she cares about: Chrissie does nothing at half measures and sets out to win at pretty much everything she does (academic, career or sport). Not only that, but Chrissie came to this sport late – not even competing in her first race until she was in her 30′s.
What is fantastic about this book is that it grips you from the beginning and doesn’t let you go. Chrissie takes the reader through her younger life and early career to show us how she came to be the winner of so many Ironman triathlons. Her early travels and career which took her all over the world, pretty much, were just as intersting to me as the “sports bits” as it really shows us the sort of person that she is. Cycling with friends though Nepal was also a grounding for her future career in competing triathlons and I loved hearing about the rides and adventures she went on there as well as New Zealand, Argentina and so many other places. Chrissie’s passion for the charities she worked for shone through too and I am sure it is this dogged determination that has seen her win so many races since.
Verdict: Whether you are a lover of sport or not, I would highly recommend this book. It is engaging, interesting, passionate and a gripping read. And even if you haven’t even got on a bike in the last 20 years (like I hadn’t until recently) I guarantee you’ll be wanting to enter an Ironman after reading this…
In three words:Cambridge, nightmares, scared
Just over a year ago I discovered S J Bolton’s books, starting with Sacrife which I absolutely loved. Since then I have gone on to read three more of her books and this latest book is every bit as good as all the others.
Dead Scared is the second book featuring Detectives Lacey Flint and Mark Joesbury and this time they are in Cambridge investigating an unusually high number of student suicides at the University over the last 5 years. Lacey is sent undercover to live as student Laura Farrow at the Universtity and only days into her “new life” she discovers that the suicides aren’t quite what they first seem. The students, usually female and pretty, are killing themselves in increasingly violent ways after complaing of nightmares and being terrified for weeks beforehand. Lacey/Laura delves deeper into the lives and histories of the student deaths with the help of University Psychiatrist Evi Oliver (who is apparantly a character from Blood Harvest which is the only obe of Boltons books that I haven’t read yet – to be rectified VERY soon!). Evi is the person who alerted the police to her concerns about the high suicide rate in Cambridge and soon finds that not only is she suffering from nightmares herself but strange and very scary things are starting to happen to her in her own home too.
Despite this being the second book to star Flint and Joesbury, I don’t think that it is at all necessary to have read the first in the series, Now You See Me. There are a few references to things that happened in that first book but I was really pleased to note that Bolton didn’t give away any of the plot that would spoil it for readers who haven’t picked that one up yet. Also, the way that this book ends means that surely there is a next in the series to come. YES!
Verdict: Highly recommended. I found this book absolutely fantastic and had trouble putting it down. It had me hooked from page one (which has been something pretty rare recently as I have struggled to get into a few books), and it was an intelligent and fast-paced thriller with genuinely creepy moments and if you are of a nervous disposition I would heartily recommend that you don’t read this book alone in the dark….
(Source: I received a copy of this book for review from Netgalley)
It was my niece Sophie’s 9th birthday last week and this is the cake that my super-talented sister-in-law made for her. Sophie is a bookworm too – she loves reading pretty much anything she can get her hands on and for her birthday her mum and dad got her a brand new big bookcase to home her expanding collection (much to her huge delight). That’s my girl!
Six delicious cakey books
Cover of The Secret Garden which Sophie has just read this year
The back of David Walliams' book Mr Stink
A blog I love (and only discovered a few months ago) called A Room of One’s Own has decided to start a Classics Club and I am LOVING this idea!
The rules are pretty flexible but basically you have to list 50 or 75 or 100 classic books that you want to read in the next 5 years (these can be changed at any time – which is great for me ‘cos I am fickle 
) and you have 5 years to read them. There are so many classics that I really want to read and I am loving the timeframe as it means I don’t have to panic-read them all this year (or fall off the wagon as I don’t think it will be do-able).
Jillian (A Room of One’s Own) has also set up a private group on Goodreads for all those who are joining in the Classics Club to share links and posts and reviews etc.
So after much thought and deliberation, here is my (initial) list of books I want to read. I have gone for sixty as that equals one per month for the next 5 years which I think should be more than do-able.
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos
The Monk by Matthew Lewis
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
Sylvia’s Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell
Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
The Beth Book by Sarah Grand
Aurora Floyd by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac
Germinal by Emile Zola
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Odd Women by George Gissing
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas
Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope
Can you Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
Armadale by Wilkie Collins
Hunger by Knut Hamsun
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Esther Waters by George Moore
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Complete Short Fiction by Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E M Forster
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
The Mad Ache by Francoise Sagan
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Vet’s Daughter by Barbara Comyns
The Distance Between Us by Dorothy Whipple
Mariana by Monica Dickens
Justine by Lawrence Durrell
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
Daniel Martin by John Fowles
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going to Paris for 4 days as present for my 40th birthday (last year): I’m back now after having had the most fantastic time and wanted to share with you some of my trip as there are so many lovely bookish landmarks in Paris:
Mr Whisperer and I stayed in a gorgeous little Parisien appartment in Bastille right next to a patiserie where we got pain au chocolats and croissants each morning to go with our coffee overlooking a little courtyard. Although we were only a couple of minutes walk from the metro we decided to spend our few days there cycling round Paris instead. Cycling is THE ONLY way to see Paris! You get to see all the bits you don’t travelling by metro and places that you would never have time to see all on foot. It was so easy to get around and we came across places we wouldn’t normally have this way. To top it all it was so much fun!
The first day we went on an organised cycle tour with Bike About Tours which took us to places more off the beaten track (rather than the big well known sites that we can all get to on our own). I can highly recommend this company if you go to Paris.
The first place we stopped on the tour was the Jewish memorial in Le Marais which I was really keen to see as I had read Sarah’s Key only last year. This is part of The Roundup and we stopped at a boys school where 400 Jewish children were forceably taken and sent to the camps.
Amber our tour guide next to the wall of names of those who had helped hide or save Jewish people in France in WW2
I really enjoyed Sarah’s Key (particulalry the historical part of the story) as I hadn’t heard of The Roundup before then. I also watched the film that came out at the end of last year which I can highly recommend too.
The next part of the tour took us to Victor Hugo’s house which is part of Places des Voges. It was once a royal residence and is now split into homes which hardly ever come onto the market (apart from one about 6 years ago for 25.5 million Euros!). We didn’t actually go into the house (although you can) but it was exciting for me to see the author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (neither of which I have read yet although both are on my radar).
Victor Hugo's house
We then went on to an area of Paris called Les Halles which used to host the biggest and oldest market in Paris. The market is the setting for Zola’s book The Belly of Paris. It doesn’t exist in the same place anymore (in fact it is now just a busy junction with shops and fast food places) but what I did find interesting is the poison shop that still remains all these years later. The market was rife with the pitter-patter of tiny paws so there was a shop selling rat poison right next to the market which still has the stuffed bodies of rats from 1925 hanging in the window.
Cute!!
And the winner is…Thank you for all of you who entered the latest Literary Giveaway Blog Hop; I hope that, even though you haven’t won, I may have convinced you to give either The Mayor of Casterbridge, Little Women or North and South a read.
Anyway, as always, there can only be one winner so congratulations to:
Ryan has chosen North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and said in his comment that his friend has been trying to get him to read it for years, so I really hope you enjoy it, Ryan
And now I’ll say goodbye until next week as I am about to jump on a plane to Paris for 4 days. I cannot WAIT! It was part of my 40th birthday present from last year from Mr Whisperer and he has also given me permission to spend as long as I like in Shakespeare & Co (probably my favourite bookshop in the whole world) and have a little (ahem) spending spree. See you next week with my brand new purchases
Welcome to the fourth literary giveaway blog hop hosted by Judith at Leeswammes where there are a whole buncg of blogs giving away books! Hurrah! The last ones were a great success with lots of blogs joining in the fun and this year there are even more (make sure you pop over to see who else is giving lovely books away). What better way to start the weekend than to have a little mosey at all those lovely books being given away and trying to win some (or all) of them! Good luck!
Please pick ONE of the following books and tell me why you would like to read that one in the comments box below. The winner will be picked by random.org on 22nd February (at 8am GMT – sorry I have to finish in the morning but I am going on holiday that day so I won’t be around to pick later on). This giveaway is open internationally and I will send you a brand shiny new copy from either Amazon or The Book Depository.
I have selected three books that I have really enjoyed in recent months and hope you will too. This time I’m going with the classics:
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
“When I began this book I have to admit that I didn’t think the three words I’d be using to describe it would be drama, excitement and intrigue.” You can read my full review here.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
“Think of it like a tonic or a soothing balm on your frazzled nerves. Lovely.” You can read my full review here.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
“This book has it all: class conflict, politics, religion, women’s rights and passion! It makes you think, it makes you reflect on what was and it makes you ponder how we got from there to where we are now. We smile with them, we cry with them.” See my full review here.
In three words:Gripping, exciting, thrilling
I have been a huge fan of Lisa Gardner after discovering her books about 2 years ago, and I particularly like the Detective D.D. Warren series of which Catch Me is the latest. Her books always start with an intriguing prologue that grabs you by the throat but actually gives away very little meaning that the rest of the book is up to you to work out. I still have a lot of Gardners’ books to read (yay!) so I can only speak for the ones that I have read so far, but what I have found (and liked) is that there is usually an ureliable narrator at the helm. In some cases this is deliberate (for reasons that become apparant later on) and in some cases (i.e. Catch Me) it is because the narrator can’t actually remember any more than she’s telling us so we are muddling through in the same way that she is.
Charlie Grant (or Charlene Rosalind Carter Grant as she insists upon being called) tracks down Boston Detective D.D. Warren on 17th January to ask for help: she thinks she only has 4 days left until she will be murdered. On the last two January 21sts her two best friends, Randi and Jackie, were murdered a year apart and Charlie thinks she will be next. As well as working on what appears to be a serial killer of paedophiles , D.D. is intrigued enough to check out Charlie’s story at the same time, and becomes more so when it appears that the two cases may be linked…
You don’t have to have read all (or indeed any) of this series to be able to get full enjoyment out of this book (I have read only the latest 4 which means I can now go back to D.D’s roots and see where she started out) but I do like the fact that I have seen her character develop. Once hard-nut workaholic D.D. is now mother to 10 week old Jack and living with partner Alex and for once actually looking forward to getting home after a shift. Old habbits die hard though and D.D. ins’t one to let a case go cold and her spidey-senses start tingling like mad towards the end of this one.
What I also liked about this particular book was that characters from some of her other series’ had cameos too; in fact quite a few of them did. Again, if you’re not familiar with Gardner’s books you wouldn’t even notice (and it wouldn’t spoil the book in any way) but for fans this was actually a real treat.
Verdict: One of my favourites. I ripped through it in no time at all and enjoyed every page. Highly recommended for crime fiction fans.
(Source: I recieved this book from NetGalley)
In three words:Charming, family, WW1
I had seen a few reviews of this book recently as it is a newly re-published book by Persophone so when I caught sight of this small, battered and stained copy languishing on the shelves of my library (also apparantly neglected as it has only been checked out twice in four years) I knew it had to come home with me.
What a wonderful and charming book this is. Written in 1932, Greenbanks tells the story of the Ashton family spanning from around 1910 to 1925. It is centered around the house, Greenbanks, in the Lancashire village of Elton, and revolves mainly around Louisa Ashton, Mother and Grandmother. Louisa has five (very different) children who have all started to make their own way in the world too and so Louisa dotes on her 4 year old Granddaughter, Rachel. Greenbanks may be a lovely, beautifully written book about a family in a grand old house but there is plenty of room for sibling rivalry, illegitimate births, divorce, tyranical fathers and heartache. In fact all these are done so well that I was in awe of how well Whipple understood human emotion such as depression, jealousy, shame and love.
The book is set at during the early part of the last century when ideas and ideals are shifting and in particular Whipple explores the changing roles of women at this time. Louisa is the gentle, kind head of Greenbanks (after her philandering husband dies) but her daughters are exploring new territories that are still thought of as a huge embarassment to the gossiping folks of Elton. Daughters Letty and Laura both carving out new paths for themselves and lodger Kate Barlow still lives the shame and stigma of having an illegitimate child all those years ago. Granddaughter Rachel, much to her Father Ambrose’s profound disappointment, is intelligent and is desperate to continue her studies at University when she grows up, but Ambrose wants a dutiful daughter who will greet him at the door and “take his hat”.
The character of Ambrose Harding is actually one of my favourite characters despite his prigishness and I found him (unintentionally on his part) very amusing: he is so old-fashioned and is constantly baffled as to why people don’t behave the way he expects and wants them to.
“And he did not believe in all this education for women; in fact, he considered knowledge definitely unbecoming to them. It destroyed their charm; they did not listen so well if they knew too much.”
“That’s what this modern education did for them. These modern girls, smoking, riding motor-bicycles, flying airplanes, breaking speed records; they would do anything for notice. What else could it be for? Men did these things for the love of them, to try them out, or to advance knowledge, experience, but women did them for notice, just to get into the papers, to be made a fuss of.”
The quotes made me laugh, especially when I think of how times have changed now. But even with Ambroses sexist rants I could still sympathise with him to a degree as he was born in an age where men were head of the house and no one (especially a wife or daughter) would ever question him. His three other children (all boys) were a huge disappointment to him also as they didn’t follow the direction he wanted them to follow and went their own way; Ambrose felt unloved and and couldn’t understand why. Such a brilliantly drawn character.
A final quote that made me laugh (because it could have been me saying it) Iwas when Letty who in frustration cries:
“”Is there something wrong with me?” she asked in alarm. “This is no more than other women have to put up with. Why don’t I like housekeeping?”"
Verdict: I highly recommend this gorgeous book. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon with a cup of tea (or in the bath, or in the postoffice queue….pretty much anywhere really). Loved it!
In three words:Magic, circus, duel
Do you believe in magic? You might just do after reading this book.
The hype for this book has been everywhere: if you’ve missed it you have possibly been under a rock for the past few months. Normally, if a book has SO much hype I give it a wide berth until it has all died down so that I can read it and savour it on my own but this one had me so intrigued and convinced that I would love it that I was itching to read it. Magic and Victorians, I thought; what’s not to love?
Unfortunately quite a lot. Despite loving parts of it, most of it left me hugely underwhelmed. OK, so let’s talk about what I liked about it first: the images created from this book were vivid – the costumes and the settings were largely well written and I could see them easily in my head. Infact, one thing that I loved was that several years ago I had visited the Cirque du Soleil and I remember a really heady smell of powder and costume paint in the tent, and reading this book managed to evoke that sense again which made me smile. I loved the tents and what was in them – acrobatic kittens, snowy wonderlands, the labarynth eating caramel and chocolate popcorn. I also loved the tent where whenever you took the lid of a random bottle you were transported to somewhere else, comeplete with smells and taste: it reminded me of what I love about books – you get so emersed in another world that it’s often a surprise to look up and realise that you are still in your front room.
Now on to what didn’t work for me: I never felt like I got to know any of the characters well enough; there were too many and none of them felt fully fleshed out to me. The books blurb has us believe that there is some epic battle of wits and skill between the two young aprentices, Celia and Marco who are pitted against each other in a battle to the end, despite them falling in love. I never bought their relationship at all – it came out of nowhere and it would be months, even years, between them seeing each other for only a few hours. Where was the passion or the tenderness or the longing to be together? It was the most understated relationship I have ever read about. Also, this epic battle that is eluded to in the blurb is hardly that – infact it takes about 20 years; the pacing was way off to make it in any way exciting or intriguing.
Verdict: For me, this was definitely a case of style over execution. The plot felt weak. The visuals were good but the plot was more of a whimper than a bang and I found myself rushing it in the hope of getting to the end and being rewarded which I never felt I was. It’s a shame – I wanted to love it but I really didn’t.
This is the second book I have read for the Victorians Challenge and the first neo-victorian book
Men judge us by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts themselves**by Charlotte Bronte
I didn’t do any challenges last year and I promised myself I wouldn’t this year either as when I have done them in the past I have found that they can sometimes feel like homework and that I “have” to read something. However, being a massive fan of Victorian literature, I have been eyeing up this one, hosted by Laura’s Reviews for some time and I have decided to give it a go.
1. The Victorian Challenge 2012 will run from January 1st to December 31st, 2012. You can post a review before this date if you wish.
2. You can read a book, watch a movie, or listen to an audiobook, anything Victorian related that you would like. Reading, watching, or listening to a favorite Victorian related item again for the second, third, or more time is also allowed. You can also share items with other challenges.
3. The goal will be to read, watch, listen, to 2 to 6 (or beyond) anything Victorian items.
So, knowing how rubbish I am at sticking to plans and lists, I have decided not to give myself a huge goal but to say that I will read six this year and then just keep going if I fancy more. Seeing as I have almost finished two so far this year, it’s looking pretty possible.
Here are some of the books / authors I would like to read this year. Obviously, I won’t get to them all but a girl gotta have options :
1) The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (already read)
2) The Complete Short Fiction by Oscar Wilde (almost finished)
3) Armadale by Wilkie Collins
4) Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
5) Something by Dickens (I’m thinking either David Copperfield, Oliver Twist or Little Dorritt at the moment)
6) Shirley by Charlotte Bronte
7) More books by Thomas Hardy (whom I have fallen in love with) like Jude the Obscure, Far From the Madding Crowd or The Woodlanders
8) Aurora Floyd by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
9) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackaray
I wasn’t sure if non-Brits would be included at first but Laura (in her post) has included authors such as Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott so I’m hoping it’s OK to include some other nationalities like the French and Russian for example. If so then I really want to read:
1) Cousin Bette by Honor Belzac
2) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
3) Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant
4) Germinal by Emile Zola (already started)
5) Hunger by Knut Hamsun (Norwegian)
And if I have time after that little lot I would also like to read some non-fiction like finish Claire Tomalin’s biography of Charles Dickens and also London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew.
After regulsarly complaining that I don’t get bookish gifts for birthdays or Christmas (people assume that I can’t possibly want more when I already have so many – oh but I do!!!), this year I haven’t done too badly.
From my mum and dad I got a lovely book with short Christmas stories by various different authors (both past and present) and a gorgeous address book with quotes about reading (of which I shall be posting some soon) and also a pack of bookmarks (one can never have too many).
From my lovely cousin Sara and her family I got Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters which I have been wanting to read for ages as I loved North and South and her Gothic Tales. I also got a note book and a journey planner which I love as we go away a lot and I can now start planning my reading about the places we go:
I am a member for an online group in Goodreads (there are 15 of us – 2 Brits, one Australian, one Candian and the rest Amreicans) and we have been really close since getting to know each other on one of the larger groups on Goodreads and setting up our own group aside from that about 4 years ago. Every year we do a Secret Santa where we make a list of 5 books each that we really want and then one of the partners of the group send out who has who so it’s a secret to us all and then we send out our gifts. This year we couldn’t open before Christmas as mine and one other package went missing and we were waiting for them to arrive. My Secret Santee, the wonderful Jen from USA, was so worried that mine hadn’t turned up that she sent me another package (with 2 books in it!) and the very next day the first package turned up so I ended up getting three books off my list! We had the grand unveiling last night where we all go online together and open them and it’s really good fun – everybody ripping open their parcels and posting little comments and refreshing to see what other people have put. My husband rolled his eyes when I told him how much fun it is; maybe you just have to be a book-nerd to understand the excitement
Anyway, the fabulous Jen sent me Hunger by Knut Hamsun, Armadale by Wilkie Collins and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I also got a book bag and two bookmarks! I love them all. I have been very spoilt!
And finally…
No Christmas is complete without a little treat for oneself
I have almost finished The Mayor of Casterbridge and it is shaping up to be one of my all-time favourites. And I couldn’t resist the Oscar Wilde Complete Short Fiction for reasons I shall explain when I post about it.
In three words:Heartwarming, family, love
It has taken me years to get round to reading this book – YEARS I tell ya! This wasn’t my first attempt at reading Little Women, although it was the first time that I have read the whole thing through to the end. Despite loving the films since I was a child (particularly the 1949 version with Elizabeth Taylor and June Allyson) every time I picked the book up, I could only stomach a few pages without wanting to throw up. So, with attempt number trillion and one this Christmas, how did I manage to get through it? Not sure but who cares – I LOVED it!
It is said that all readers (and viewers) will relate more to one March sister than the others. Not being in the least bit domesticated (Beth), vain (Meg) or spoilt (Amy) that would make me more like Jo, as aside from her love of books (check), Wikipedia describes her as ” clumsy, blunt, opinionated, and jolly, her behavior is often most unladylike” my husband would be sure to agree in a flash that yes, I am indeed Jo.)
So, what once made me cringe and slighty vomit, this time around had me swooning into my hankerchief and devouring every page as if I were there in Concord, Mass. in the snow with lanterns, singing songs by the fire and warming Marmees slippers for her before she gets home from do-gooding. Who’da thunk? Seriously though, I genuinely loved this book.
I read somewhere that Alcott was more well known for writing sensations novels (of which I really must check out) and that she was asked to write a book like this instead. When reading it, several times I did wonder if she had deliberately gone over the top with her narrative and morality but either way, this time around I found it endearing and comforting (which is probably what she was going for). The overriding message of the book for me was about learning lessons (there are a lot of these to be learnt, but they are never done in a preachy way) and overcoming obstacles but at the heart of the book is a family that loves each other and sticks together through thick and thin: maybe it was because I read it over Christmas at a time when I caught up with all my family, but I found it really heart-warming.
Jo was by far my favourite character: she’s fiesty, funny and brave. One of the my favourite parts, though, and the one that made me laugh the most starred Meg and her attempt at being a housewife once she had moved into her tiny home with new husband, John Brooks. One afternoon she decides to surprise him to her culinary delights by making jam before he comes home from work. What ensues is the sort of chaos that I can only describe as having hit my own kitchen on the odd occasion that I have decided to surprise my husband with a little domesticity. In Meg’s case, her husband arrived home to find jam and fruit and a crying wife all over the kitchen. In my case, my husband has usually arrived home to find an equal amount of mess but with a wife laughing hysterically and a rather odd concoction of some sorts served for tea. He’s a lucky man!
Verdict: A true joy to read and one I think I will revist again at some time. Think of it like a tonic or a soothing balm on your frazzled nerves. Lovely.
1949 film - my favourite
…I am rubbish at making plans. OK, not strictly true – I am great a making plans, just rubbish at sticking to them.
After a very murderous 2011, I have an urge for something a little gentler right now and I plan to raid my own shelves in 2012 and read some of what I actually own. This year I have had the absolute best fun reading about serial killers and detectives and crime fiction was all I craved for a long time: I will still be reading crime fic in 2012 as it is one of my favourite genres but at the moment I am craving books that have been sat on my shelves and whispering my name for years.
So, knowing full well that these best-laid plans will fall by the way-side by around mid January, let’s have a little fun pretending for now:
I am dying to get back to the Victorian classics and have read Little Women and Oscar Wilde’s Complete Short Fiction over Christmas. These are also some authors that I would like to read more of in the new year.
Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre and Villette are two of my favourite books of all time and so this year I’d like to read Shirley.
Thomas Hardy
I have only read Tess of the D’Urbervilles and think it’s about time I read some more. I am thinking The Mayor of Casterbridge and Jude the Obscure first.
Charles Dickens
This Master of the Tome has always been slightly daunting to me (despite me loving Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol) but this year I am determined to read at least one more of his and on my hit list are David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop.
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
I absolutely loved Lady Audley’s Secret and have heard great things about Aurora Floyd so that will be next. I just love Victorian sensational novels.
Elizabeth Gaskell
I loved North and South and my cousin bought me a copy of Wives and Daughters for Christmas which I have heard great things about.
Wilkie Collins
I have only read The Woman in White so it is high time I picked up more of Collins’ work and next up are Moonstone and Armadale.
I love reading books set in France or by French authors. At the end of February I am going to Paris for 4 days so I plan to read some Paris-based books before I go to get me in the mood:
Emile Zola
I have only read Thérèse Raquin and I am about ¼ of the way through Germinal but I would also like to read The Belly of Paris or The Ladies Paradise this year.
Victor Hugo
I am thinking about joining in the year-long read-a-long of this book, hosted by Kate at Kate’s Library as I have wanted to read it for years and it does seem like a good way to do this, but like I said, I am crap at sticking to plans so let’s see…
Two other authors I would like to read are Ernest Hemingways’ A Moveable Feast and George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London and some shorter stories by Guy de Maupassant.
I have a habit that goes like this: I read a book by an author, I love it, I buy a tonne of other books by that same author, they sit on my shelves waiting to be picked up.
So, with that in mind, plan #3 entails taking said books down from said shelves, dusting them off and actually reading them. Authors include:
Edith Wharton
Daphne du Maurier
Margaret Atwood
Sarah Waters
John Steinbeck
Cormack McCarthy
Agatha Christie
Jose Saramago
I also have a habit of buying books by authors I think I should be reading but never get round to. Yes, I’m looking at you
Doris Lessing
Ernest Hemingway
China Melville
Amoz Oz
There are certain books that have been on my wishlist for reading for so long that I almost cringe out of guilt when I hear them mentioned. Fortunately, two of them are being read this year in my on-line book club: Gone with the Wind and The Grapes of Wrath. Others that look at me longingly from my shelves are: Shantaram, Shogun and My Antonia.
I successfully managed to avoid the great publisher/blogger debate that was doing the rounds last month, and I still intend to. What I will say is that when an unexpected (or expected) package lands on my doormat I still get that feeling like it’s my birthday and Christmas rolled into one. There is not much more exciting than ripping the packaging off something book-shaped. Having said that, I do regularly get overwhelmed with the number of books that drop through my letterbox and my guilt at not reading them all still hounds me, but this year I have decided that I want to concentrate more on the books I already have rather than spending the majority of my reading time on proof copies. It’s a tough one really as despite the fact that a) I don’t get the time to read them all and b) abandom some pretty quickly, two of the unsolicited copies that arrived at my house this year (and to be honest, I may not have picked up myself in a shop) ended up on my top 10 of 2011 list.
So, there are my current plans for 2012. This may change. In fact, this probably will change. Afterall, when something new and shiny lands on the doormat, what’s a girl to do?
Heartwarming, sweet, festive
These books aren’t on sales in the UK shops (not that I have seen anyway). The first time I came across a Donna van Liere book was on a visit to the USA a few years ago in December; we were at a little village in New Jersey with my American family and browsing in a Christmas shop when I saw a pile of these little books on a table and I just had to have them – they looked so welcoming and delicious. I read the first three while in NYC over the next 2 days and I have read them several times since. I ordered this latest book online and read it this weekend and it still had the exact same magic of all the others.
Gretchen has moved to Grandon (the setting of all her books) with her two small children to be closer to her Mum. While unpacking she meets the very odd and reclusive Melissa, her new next-door-neighbour, who is determined to be unwelcoming and succeeds. Melissa had a horrible childhood with a drunk, uncaring mother and when she finds out that her mother has died, Melissa doesn’t feel anything except relief and rebuffs Gretchens offer of help to clean out her mothers appartment. Once she gives in though, she finds a half fisnished note from her mother to herself that opens up a whole new world to her…
These books wouldn’t be for everyone, I accept that. They are very sweet and some may find them too sweet. I just adore them though; they are full of hope and kindness and salvation and magic and they have the most gorgeous covers ever. I have loved every one of Donna van Liere’s Christmas books and reading this latest one has made me want to go back to my shelf and read the others all over again.
Verdict: If you are feeling bah humbug at Christmas, these books cannot fail to cheer you up. Just lovely.
…back in the mid 80′s when I was slightly more interested in boys and ra-ra skirts that great literature, I was made to read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens for English lessons. I hated it! I came to dreaad those lessons where we would be expected to disect this book to within an inch of its life and gained no enjoyment from it whatsoever – in fact the only thing I did gain was an aversion to anything Dickens-related for the next twenty years!
About four years ago, I was browsing in Borders (ahhhh, remember those days?) when I came across a copy of Great Expectations: it was staring at me from the shelf. I half-smiled as I picked it up for old times sake and flipped to the front page. Within 5 minutes I found myself sunk into one of the comfy chairs and completely and utterly engrossed in this wonderful (and so FUNNY!) tale. How did I miss the fact that Dickens was a comedy genius? Perhaps it was because we (the class) were trying to work out if the colour of Pip’s underware was a reflection on Dickens’ mood (or some such nonsense). Seriously, who’da thunk? That copy of Great Expectations found its way home with me that day and in the days ahead it had me howling with laughter at all the stuff I had missed all those years before.
That year I went on to read A Christmas Carol (while snuggled up on the sofa on Christmas Eve) which rapidly became one of all-time favourite books. I remember being so in awe of Dickens and his ability to suck me into the book so entirely that it was often a surprise to surface for a moment and realise that I wasn’t flying through the air hand-in-hand with a ghost and was, in fact, still in my front room.
So why haven’t I read any more Dickens since? THAT is a very good question! I actually don’t know. The only reason I can come up with is that most of his books are soooo long that I know I will have to sacrifice at least 4 other books in the time it would take me to read one of his.
A month or so ago, I received a gorgeous hardback copy of Clare Tomalin’s new Dickens biography - Charles Dickens: A Life - from the lovely Riot Communications girls (they know my love of Victorian lit) and I have been dipping in and out of it ever since. I haven’t read the whole thing yet so I can’t do a proper review but it was awakened my passion for wanting to read more Dickens – and soon!
Also, I am so looking forward to the new Great Expectations drama from BBC that is coming out in the UK on 27th December. It looks like it’s going to be fantastic – and the brilliant Gillian Anderson as Miss Haversham is sure to steal the show once again. This is definitely one show I will be settling down to with a glass of mulled wine and plate of mince pies.
It must be because it’s Dickens’ 200th birthday in February but it does look like 2012 is going to be the year of all thing Dickens. It appears that the BBC will also be doing The Mystery of Edwin Drood (the book he never quite finished before dying). I haven’t read this book and actually don’t know very much about it so I am excited to see this one too. I wonder what else is in the pipeline? I would love to see some of his longer books made into a series (maybe Our Mutual Friend or Dombey and Son – the ones that don’t seem to get as much attention as the others).
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
I am going to make an extra special effort to read more Dickens in 2012. I keep meaning to pick up Oliver Twist or David Copperfield but are there any others that you recommend or insist that I absolutely MUST read?
In three words:Dystopian, violent, bravery
Up until about a week ago I hadn’t even heard of this book. Then I saw that it had won both Best YA book and Best Book of 2011 on Goodreads as voted by the members. I was curious about this book that hadn’t reached my radar yet and upon reading the reviews discovered that it was being hailed as the new Hunger Games (which is one of my all-time favourite books). A day or so later I happened to be in a bookshop (what are the chances? Okay, I jest, I am almost a permanent fixture in bookshops) and saw a copy of Divergent staring out at me from the shelves and I just had to have it.
Before I comment on my thoughts I will briefly outline the plot for those, like I was, are unfamiliar with it: This is a world sometime in the future and set in a city that I believe was once Chicago (as the now-abandoned Sears Tower is based there). Every person in this city belongs to one of five factions: Abnegation (selflessness), Erudite (learning), Amity (kindness), Candor (honesty) or Dauntless (bravery). Beatrice Prior (or Tris as she becomes known) is a member of Abnegation and the book starts with the day that she and every other 16 year old from all factions undergo a test to see which faction they will belong to from then on: if they chose a faction other than the one that they were born into it means betraying their families and potentially never seeing them again). However, Tris’s test doesn’t turn out quite as she had expected as her results mean that she could choose one of 3 factions. She is told in confidence that this is because she is a Divergent but she must not tell anyone, even her family, as this is an extremely dangerous thing to be. On the day of the choosing ceremony, Tris abandons her family to join the Dauntless faction and that is where the adventure starts.
I thought the idea of this was brilliant and I was excited to find out about the factions and how Tris’s choice to join Dauntless would affect her. However, the more I read the more disillusioned I became: I never felt that I got a proper sense of the city or why it was like that or why the factions had come about and I would have liked to have learnt more. Also, as the book moved along I became more and more frustrated at why each person would only fit into one of the factions; afterall I don’t know anyone who is honest but can’t be kind or intelligent with it or brave but can’t be honest etc. I would expect that the majority of people would fit into more than one category – I certainly would; in fact I think I could fit into all of them (except Dauntless ironically – particularly after reading what they had to go through).
As well as some other minor annoyances, I did have one huge dislike too and that was the violence that went on for chapters and chapters. Each faction had to train its new recruits to pass an initiations (and those who fail are kicked out and become known as factionless and have to live on the streets), and despite knowing that the Dauntless faction was all about bravery, I found most of their training completely over the top and unsavoury to read. Fighting each other until someone passes out, throwing knives at each other, almost killing someone to test their mettle: I accept that some of this may have been necessary to show us what they recruits had to go through but for it to go on for so long and to be so brutal left a really bad taste in my mouth.
I would really have liked to know more about the other factions and how the city came to be like this but we got little information about anything outside the Dauntless compound until the end. Is this just in one city? Are there other cities exactly the same with their own compounds and set of factions? None of that was even addressed, never mind answered. I know this is the first book in a trilogy so maybe some of this will be answered in the future books, but even a little teaser or snippets of info would have been good.
Despite my little rants, I sort of enjoyed this book. I understand that it is the debut novel written by a 23 year old and that has to be commended. I hope that the books become tighter and more polished as the series continues and I am curious enough to want to read them to see what happens.
Verdict: Some major disappointments and it certainly is no Hunger Games (not in my mind at least). Aside from my ramblings though, it is still a fast-paced adventure story and should appeal to the masses.
(Source: I bought this book myself)
In three words:Vintage, magical, nostalgic
♪ ♫ Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…♪ ♫
What a wonderful book to read in the run up to Christmas. I have just been swept away on a tide of vintage clothes, soaps and old-school glamour.
Miracle on Regent Street is about Evie Taylor, the stockroom girl at Hardy’s – a 100 year old department store in London – and despite feeling that her talents should lie on the shop floor, she is completely invisible to anyone else who works there (OK, she’s not exactly invisble as oposed to blending into the background so much that the entire staff still call her Sarah which is the name of her predecessor of two years before). One day, right at the beginning of December, Evie overhears a conversation between the owner of Hardy’s and her manager, and it horrified to realise that if Hardy’s fortunes don’t turn around before Boxing Day they will all be out of jobs. What follows is Evie’s secret attempt to turn the shop around before Christmas, with a little help from some rather unexpected corners – Sam the delivery boy, Lily from the tea-shop who still dresses as though she’s going to a tea dance from the good old days, Felix the security guard and a couple of eastern european cleaners. I loved the whole cast of characters in this book, and despite wanting to shout at Evie for not standing up for herself (I’m not one for keeping my mouth shut if something bugs me at work ), I still found her engaging and routed for her and her friends throughout.
One of the things I loved about this book was the wonderful nostalgic trip through a long-ago age where shop assistants spent time with customers, women were made to feel like women and a trip to the department store was a special treat. The transformation of the store through Evie and her secret elves made me long to be part of that world and I could see this wonderful place so clearly in my mind that I wanted to wander round the stalls and browse through the gold compacts, crystal perfume bottles and vintage peep-toe shoes (and this from someone who is not remotely a girly girl!); I wanted to glide down the huge wooden staircase and pick up the handbags, trilbys and corsets and then pop into the tearoom for tea and cake, red lipstick and stockings firmly in place.
I do love a chicklit book now and then, but I have to say that this is one of the most sophisticated that I have read; it didn’t have the cheesiness or sickliness of some and instead it had old fashioned glamour, romance, wit and warmth and it was a delight to read.
Verdict: If you are looking for a christmassy feel-good read then please, please look no further than this book. It is a real treat.
(Source: I received this book for review from Simon & Schuster)
In three words:Magical, spellbinding, beautiful
This book is truly magical. It hooked me from page one and did not let me go until I closed the final pages, and it was with a heavy heart that I said goodbye to this wonderful place and its small cast of characters.
Jack and Mabel arrive in Alaska in 1920 to make a new home for themselves and to get away from the terrible heartache of losing their only child at birth ten years before. Their sense of loss and grief is palpable and their sadness at realising that they are also losing each other is felt clearly through those opening pages. Just as things seem to be coming to a head, Jack and Mabel – in a rare moment of companionship – build a snowgirl together when the first snows of that winter arrive at their homestead. They dress it in mittens and a scarf and use the juice of berries to give some colour to its lips. The next morning, not only is their snowgirl gone, but there are little footprints leading away from the mound of snow and the couple start to be convinced that they have seen a little girl in a blue coat dashing between the trees in the snow, followed by a red fox.
What follows is a truly captivating and spell-binding tale of a little girl, who we come to find out is called Faina, and her place in the rebuilding of the lives of Jack and Mabel. As the elderly couple open their hearts once again, Mabel remembers a book that her father used to read to her when she was a child: a snow child that appears at the house of a childless couple and, despite many re-tellings and different endings over the years, always ends with the little girl melting back into the snow, and Mabel comes to dread the day that Faina will leave them too. Faina herself is not quite tamable and always slightly out of reach of the couple and it is through her that the reader is treated to such a feast of beauty and nature and landscape. Just wondferful.
Istill can’t quite believe that this is a debut novel and beacuse of this, I cannot wait to see what else she comes up with in the future. The Snow Child isn’t released until 12th February 2012 but I just had to review it right now and yell that you MUST, MUST, MUST get yourself a copy of this book when it is out - run to the shops!
Verdict: Wow, just wow. My favourite book of 2011 and I am head over heels in love with it.
(Source: I received a review copy of this book from Amazon Vine)
In three words:Quirky, clever, riddle
What a strange yet strangely appealing book from this Japanese author, Keigo Higashino. I have read several novels by Japanese authors over the years and they have all had similar styles in that they have been sparsely written with barely a word wasted, yet they have all packed an almighty punch (without even trying it somehow seems). The Devotion of Suspect X is a clever crime book. There is a murder but no blood and gutts, a crime but no evidence. The killing takes place in the first few pages of the book and we all know straight away who did it: what happens immediately afterwards is what keeps the reader on their toes.
The story is centred around Yasuko, a single mum who works in a lunch-box shop and whos unsavoury ex-husband tries to worm his way back into her life. Within pages, said ex-husband is dead and entering from stage left is strange nextdoor neighbour Ishigami, who is a genius mathemetician with rather a large crush on Ysasuko. On the case of the body dumped in an oil drum by the river is Tokyo Detective Kusangi who vents his frustrations about the case to friend Yukawa who happens to be a genius physician and whom knew Ishigami at University. What follows is clash of the geniuses: not in an action-packed, race-against-time way, but more like a battle of brains over a quiet game of chess. While this was a great way to help the reader unravel what happened, I have to admit that about ¾ of the way through the book I started to become a little bored with the perpetual cat-and-mouse game between Yukawa and Ishigami: I remember sighing and uttering “get on with it” at one point. However, not long after I was rewarded with an almighty wollop at the end that I didn’t see coming. And then, just as I’d relaxed again, I was left staring at an ending that made my mouth go into this shape….. O
Verdict: Quirky, surprising and rewarding.
(Source: I bought this book myself)
In three words:Gripping, unreliable, thrilling
I have been a fan of Lisa Gardner’s books for a while now, but for some reason she doesn’t seem to be as well known in the UK as other crime writers. I hope that changes soon as her books really are great! I am especially loving this series starring Detective D.D. Warren who is one of Boston’s top homicide Detectives.
Love You More is a gripping thriller that opens with State Tropper Tessa Leoni being arrested for the murder of her husband and the disappearance of her 6 year old daughter. Tessa’s narrative takes the reader back and forth through her relationship with Brian and their last moments together and it becomes clear early on that she may not be a reliable narrator, as her story often changes, but why does she do this? The reason does become apparant nearer the end – and it’s a good one! Interspersing Tessa’s story is Detective D. D. Warren and her race to find missing six-year-old Sophie. D.D. is a great character – she’s fiesty, funny (without trying) and kick-ass; I love her. The switching between the two perspectives keeps the plot fast-paced and interesting too, espcially as you are wondering who to believe most of the time.
Verdict: As with all the previous books of Gardner that I have read, this one is equally as addictive and has twists and turns a-plenty.
(Source: this book was sent to me from Headline Rerview who have just taken over as Lisa Gardner’s publishers and this edition is available on 2nd Feb 2012)
In three words:Sensitive, engaging, beautiful
On a perfect summers day, in the south of England, a school hosts its end of year sports day. While the school is awash with children, parents and siblings helping out, somone sets light to the art room and what results is an inferno that lands mother and daughter (Grace and 17 year old Jennifer) in hospital and seriously ill.
Afterwards is narrated by Grace who , in an out of body experience (along with daughter Jenny), is trying to make sense of just what happened and why. Grace does this by talking to her husband, Mike, whom cannot see or hear her but whom she reminisses about the past and confides her fears about the future, which I found this difficult to grasp at first as I kept having to remind myself who she was talking to.
I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this book is a literary thriller, but the prose and themes of love, faith and hope feel a step away from most crime fiction; however the mystery of what happened at the school is certainly the central theme. The language used is, in my opinion, at times beautiful and at times irritating (for bordering on gushy and being a little disney).
Despite the fact that the book sometimes felt a bit drawn out, I was sufficiently engaged enough to want to know who the arsonist was and why they had set fire to the school. There were twists, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say red herrings as certain characters were slightly too obvious to be real contenders.
Verdict: A lovely and engaging read and refreshing in style. Recommended.
(Source: This book is from my own shelves)
In three words:Creepy, chilling, thought-provoking
The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover: It looked eerie and intriguing. Perfect People is a stand-alone thriller which was a perfect place for me to start with Peter James’ books as I have yet to pick up one of the Roy Grace series (more on that later).
According to the blurb, this book has been 10 years in the planning. When the idea first came to James about writing a book about designer babies, it was just that – an idea. Now it is a reality. That makes reading this book all the scarier – we may just be looking at our future.
John and Naomi Klaesson live in California and have lost their 4 year old son to a rare genetic disorder which made them watch him die a slow and horrible death. Still young and desperate for another child, the Klaesson’s opt for paying a huge sum of money to geneticist Dr Leo Dettore who has promised them that he can prevent this child from being born with the same disorder that killed their son. What soon become apparant is that Dr Dettore can also offer them so much more scope in “designing” their next child.
This book poses so many questions and will undoubtedly make you think about what you would do in the same situation. Being faced with the option to make your child more empathetic (but would that make them a playground bully target?) or allow them to survive on only a few hours per night like many CEOs and politicians do (but would that mean that they may have sociopathic tendancies?) what would you decide? These are the dilemas that also face the Klaessons when going through page after page of tick-box options. The Klaessons are normal people, they have normal jobs, they live in a normal house and they only thing they really want is a disease-free child…but does that mean that they can’t be tempted by anything else?
What makes this book so compelling is that it becomes apparant pretty early on that something isn’t quite right. It’s so difficult for me to be say anything more about the plot as it really would spoil it, but what I will say is that with fairly short chapters that have a tendancy to end at a point where you can’t possibly put the book down, then this makes for one migthy page-turner.
Verdict: An amazing thriller. One that will make you question what you would do, one that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and one that has sufficient twists to keep you on your toes and not get too comfortable…
As I said earlier, this is the first Peter James book I have read (call myself a crime fiction fan? Pah.) I have been meaning to read one for ages after I saw Peter at the Theakstones Crime Awards in Harrogate in 2010. Despite already haveing a legion of fans, he is also incredibly polite on Twitter and Facebook and really seems to interact with his readers. I am going to make a special effort to read the Inspector Roy Grace series really soon - they have been on my radar for so long and after popping my cherry with Perfect People I have a feeling I am in for a real treat.
(Book source: Thank you to Midas for sending me my copy of this book for review).
The brand new list of books for 2o12′s World Book Night has just been announced and this year there is an even bigger selection.
I have read 10 of the 20 books listed so now I need to pick wich of those ten I want to give out. At the moment I am having trouble narrowing it down between I Capture the Castle, The Book Thief,The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic , The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, The Road and The Time Travellers Wife. Sigh. For those who remember WBN 2011 earlier this year here is my first outing as a Secret Book Santa which was great fun.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Player of Games by Iain M Banks
Sleepyhead by Mark Billingham
Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Take by Martina Cole
Harlequin by Bernard Cornwell
Someone Like You by Roald Dahl
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Room by Emma Donoghue
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Misery by Stephen King
The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Let the Right One In by John Ajvde Lindqvist
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
The Damned Utd by David Peace
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Touching the Void by Joe Simpson
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak
In three words:Spooky, gothic, graveyard
I first heard about this book last year when I was doing my Dare You Read It? series over the Halloween period. It was recommended by Helen at She Reads Novels as a spooky / scary book and as I tend to enjoy the a lot of the same books as Helen I decided to hunt down a copy. I managed to find a second hand copy as the book had actually gone out of print, but it is now available on Kindle via Amazon for anyone who wants to give this a read.
This gothic horror starts with Maisie, an Australian musician with a successful career and loving boyfriend, who is disillusioned with life and decides to go to England to see her maternal Grandmother, Sybil, whom she has never met, who lives in a remote cottage in Yorkshire by the coast. Maisie’s mother is dead set against her going and then confesses that her Grandmother actually died 3 months ago which makes Maisie even more determined to go, to find out about where Sybil lived and what she was like.
When she arrives in Solgreve, Yorkshire in the winter, Maisie soon discovers that not only was her Grandmother not at all liked but that, apparently, neither is she. A wall of silence and unfriendlyness greets Maisie in the little village (including a very cold introduction from the village Vicar) so Maisie sets about trying to clear Sybils cottage and discover what she can about her past. The only person that is remotely nice to her is a young man called Sasha (who is part gypsy and used to help Sybil in her garden) whom she meets when he brings Sybils old cat back round.
It’s not long before things begin to go bump in the night in this remote little cottage. Maisie is unnerved by the cat who takes up the same post on top of the washing machine every night to stare out, unblinking into the night, but not so much as when she sees a shadowy figure by the trees at the back of the cottage that is staring straight back at her.
Maisie soon discovers a diary dating back to 1793 that, upon reading it, starts to give her clues to what is going on and what makes the inhabitants of the village of Solgreve behave the way they do.
This book is choc full of chills, thrills and surprises. There was one particular point when Maisie and a friend are alone in the cottage one night when things take a horrifying turn, that literally had me on the edge of my seat. Yes, there were parts of the book where I really had to suspend my disbelief (but then this is horror fiction) but overall it was a great October read and perfect for the RIP challenge.
Verdict: Fans of gothic, horror and suspense are sure to like this book. Don’t expect a literary masterpiece but if it’s thrills and chills you’re after then look no further.
I read this book as part of the RIP Challenge
After another fantastic literary blog hop hosted by Judith at Leeswammes’ Blog, where over 50 book blogs took part, I now have a winner as picked by random.org. So out of a total of 128 entrants, the winner is…
Congratulations! I will send you an email shortly and then there will be a lovely copy of Her Fearful Symmerty on its way to you.
In three words:Revenge, murder, pyschopath
I first discovered Val McDermid’s Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series about 7 or 8 years ago and I have been a dedicated fan ever since. The Retribution is not only the latest in the series of seven books but it also reintroduces one of the serial killers from a much earlier book The Wire in the Blood – the evil and twisted Jacko Vance. To be honest, I could barely remember a thing about that book so it wouldn’t make any difference to reading this book out of sequence if you haven’t read McDermid’s earlier ones yet.
Jacko Vance is clever – brillianlty clever and charming to boot. He has spent the last 16 year behind bars for the murder of a teenage girl (although he murdered many, many more but the prosecution couldn’t prove it). In The Retribution, Vance escapes from jail (no spoiler – it’s in the blurb) and is hell bent on payback to those who landed him in prison in the first place, including both Tony Hill and Carol Jordan. At the same time, another serial killer is on the lose in Bradfield killing prostitutes and Detective Carol Jordan’s team set out to track him down.
The fact that both these stories are running in tandem with each other means that not enough time was devoted to either. The prostitute killer felt almost like an afterthought and his ultimate capture was bordering on eye-rolling. The sotry of Jacko Vance’s escape and revenge would have been more than enough to keep us on the edge of our seats and, at times, I was. Waiting to see who would feed Carol Jordan’s cat (it will make sense when you have read it, I promise) had my pulse racing overtime and trying to figure out who was next on his hit-list was great stuff. Jacko Vance is such a brilliantly evil character that despite his psychopathic nature, I wanted to spend more and more time in his company in the book; I had to know what he was thinking and planning on doing next and loved seeing how he doesn’t see anything wrong with himself, just everyone else. However – and it’s with a heavy heart that I write this, being such a fan - I felt that this book wasn’t on a par with others in the series. In fact, Beneeth the Bleeding (two books earlier) was also somewhat lacking and I wonder if Tony Hill and Carol Jordan are finally running out of steam….. or maybe McDermid is?
Despite my overall enjoyment of the book, I was left with a feeling that the ending was rushed and that the prostitute killer had almost been forgotten and that Hill and Jordan were not acting completely in character. As for the end….it felt so implausable that I almost saw the character involved as a charicature of themselves, complete with moustache-twirling “mwahahahahaaa”. The book also ends very abruptly, almost like the end of a chapter than the end of a book and it left me with a feeling of “now what?” rather than satisfaction.
Verdict: A really good read, just not a great one. I felt a little short-changed which is disappointing as I always look forward to the latest book in the series so much. Will I read the next? Absolutely!
(Source: I recieved my copy of this book for review from both Little, Brown and also Netgalley – thank you)
Thank you to all who dropped by to wish me a Happy Birthday after my mammoth (and trust me, it felt like it) 40 day challenge. There were days when I wondered why I’d commited myself to posting every day but I got so many lovely comments and someone even said it was like opening a new door on an advent calendar every day which really made me smile
Anyway, on the final day of my challenege I offered the chance for one person to win their choice of any of the books that I had read and posted about in the previous 40 days (and there were lots to chose from). So, after using random.org I now have a winner….
(drum roll please)
Sabrina blogs at Thinking About Loud and she has chosen Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. It’s a fantastic book, and I hope you enjoy it Sabrina
Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Boof and I am a bookaholic. I have a very serious book-buying habit that I have yet to find a cure for (phew!). In this blog I read, review and discuss books - the good, bad and the downright ugly. I love all books and read from most genres. All reviews are my own thoughts and feelings about a book. I am not a literary critic so all a book needs to do to get a rave review is make me happy and glad that I've read it. Simples!
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « May | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
Recent Comments