Not Really a Review ...

Oh, David Mitchell, why do I not get on with you? I tried, but failed miserably. I know I'm in the minority here - I have read so many glowing (gushing?) reviews about The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. I saw David Mitchell interviewed on BBC News recently and thought he seemed like a really lovely man - this is what pushed me to try the book. I've had Cloud Atlas on my TBR shelf for ages, and I have even picked it up once or twice, but put it back after a couple of pages, thinking I wasn't in the right mood for it. I really wanted to like this new book but sadly it wasn't to be!

I managed to stick with it for 80 or so pages. Several things were irritating me. I had no idea what was going on - there didn't really seem to be any sort of plot developing, and with so many characters I was having trouble keeping track of who was who. The pigeon English of the Japanese characters was really getting on my nerves. But there was one small thing that was annoying me beyond belief, and that was Mitchell's style of writing ... the way he breaks up dialogue in the middle of a sentence ... some random examples:

"From what mouse-hole," Marinus glares "did you spring?"
"Where," the prisoner manages to croak, "am I to be incarcerated?"
"Did I" - Ouwehand consults the ceiling - "utter a single word?"

I just found the writing to be so disjointed and non-flowy (yes, it's a word ;)) and it BUGGED ME! Sorry, David, I'm afraid your writing is just not for me. 1/5

On a different subject ... boys and reading. I have a 9 year old son who is very clever. He is in year 4 and is attaining levels expected in year 6. Obviously, he can read. Very well. But it is so difficult to get him interested in a book! He went through a stage of devouring the Beast Quest books, but eventually got a bit bored with them, then discovered Football Academy books, but he zips through them in half a day. He enjoyed all the Wimpy Kid books. I know he hasn't read a book at home for a long time. So this Easter holidays I set him and his 12 year old sister (similar problems with her actually!) a challenge to read two books. Just two. I didn't want to push it. We went to the library and he chose the three books in the post below. He said he would count the two Football Academy books as one as they are so quick to read. Unfortunately Eye of the Sun didn't grab him. So earlier in the week we went shopping and stopped off in Waterstones where he chose this:

Seriously, get your 9 year old boys this book! He was engrossed! Yes, it was a quick read, he finished it the same day, but I didn't hear a peep out of him (except for a few chuckles). I've had a quick look at it myself, and it is FUNNY! There are more to come in this series and I can't wait for them to be published! Anything that gets boys reading makes me happy :)

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This is my first time taking part in this meme from Bookjourney, so here goes!

I managed to finish two books over the weekend - the first was Gallows View by Peter Robinson

This is the first in the Inspector Banks series, which comes highly recommended to me by my mother, amongst many others. I was a little disappointed, to be honest, but I'll try a couple more as I think the series will improve as it goes on - this first one seemed a bit slow and very dated!

My second read of the weekend was Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.

This is a book that has been sitting on my TBR pile for ages. I decided to get it read as it is on patchworkbunny's wishlist so I said I'd swap with her. I really enjoyed the more gruesome chapters in this book, but I'm afraid the rest I found a bit boring and was again disappointed.

A quick visit to the library today, as it's the beginning of the Easter holidays and I'm lucky enough to work term-time only, and this is what we came home with:

I've started this one first. I haven't read anything by David Mitchell before, though again, Cloud Atlas has been on my TBR shelf forever ... not sure why it hasn't appealed! We'll see how I get on with this one.

I love Dorothy Koomson's books - Ice Cream Girls was a great read, and I hope this one lives up to my expectations!

Natasha picked up these two:

... which I've just realised is the second in the series - luckily I have the first so she can read that first. And

And Freddie came home with two Football Academy books and

Some good reading to be done this week :)

A small charity shop haul!

All this for a fiver! Well, actually Gallows View was a swap from Read It Swap It, but the other four - charity shop bargains! And in fact they came to about £3.50, but I felt like I was stealing at that price, so gave the lady a fiver and told her to keep the change. I bought Pig Island by Mo Hayder as I've heard good things about her and have never read any of her books, so thought I'd give it a go. Echo in the Bone I bought because I have the first in the series on my TBR, and it was such a huge book for 80p I couldn't resist. The two Stephenie Meyer books I bought for Natasha - I've read them and stupidly swapped them on, but she is now reading Twilight so she'll be moving onto these next ...

I love a good charity shop haul!

Review: Never Look Away by Linwood Barclay

The Blurb (from Lovereading.co.uk)
It starts with a trip to a local amusement park. David Harwood is hoping a carefree day at Five Mountains will help dispel his wife Jan's recent depression, black moods that have led to frightening thoughts of suicide. Instead, a day of fun with their four-year-old son Ethan turns into a nightmare. When Jan disappears from the park, David's worst fears seem to have come true. But when he goes to the police to report her missing, terrified that she's planning to take her own life, the facts start to indicate something very different. The park's records show that only two tickets were purchased, David and Ethan's, and CCTV shows no evidence that Jan ever entered the park at all. Suddenly David's story starts to look suspicious - suspicious enough for the police to wonder if she's already dead, murdered by her husband. To prove his innocence and keep his son from being taken away from him, David is going to have to dig deep into the past and come face to face with a terrible childhood tragedy - but by doing that he could risk destroying everything precious to him.

The Review
Looking for a gripping thriller of a read? Linwood Barclay knows how to do it. Never Look Away is his fourth novel and I would almost say his best yet. In his previous books the plot has tended to run away with him a little, and there's always a point where you think "oh, come on, this would NEVER happen!". But that point doesn't really come in Never Look Away ... although there is one twist in the plot which does come close to being unbelievable, but I'll give Mr Barclay the benefit of the doubt. It did take me a little while to get into this one, but once I knew I was hooked I checked the page number and I was on page 101, so it didn't take all that long.

Never Look Away tells the story of a man looking for his wife. A wife who, he discovers, is not who she says she is and who he doesn't really know at all. The police, of course, think he has done her in and this is really quite a scary concept, being taken for guilty until proven innocent! I can only imagine the terror of being wrongly accused of murdering someone you love, someone you are desperate to find.

This is by no means a literary masterpiece, but it is most certainly a page turner with an absorbing plot and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good thriller!

My Rating: 4/5

Review: No and Me by Delphine De Vigan

From lovereading.co.uk
Lou Bertignac has an IQ of 160 and a good friend called Lucas who gets her through the school day. At home her father cries in secret in the bathroom and her mother hasn't been out of the house properly for years. But Lou is about to change her life - and that of her parents - for good, all because of a school project she decides to do about the homeless. Through the project Lou meets No, a teenage girl living on the streets. As their friendship grows, Lou cannot bear that No is still on the streets when she goes back home - even if it is to a home that is saddened and desolate. So she asks her parents if No can come to live with them. To her astonishment, her parents - eventually - agree. No's presence forces Lou and her parents to finally face the sadness that has enveloped them. But No has disruptive as well as positive effects. Can this shaky, newfound family continue to live together? A tense, brilliant novel tackling the true meanings of home and homelessness.

One of the reviews on the back of this book describes it as being "funny and tender" (Yorkshire Evening Post). While I agree wholeheartedly with the "tender" description, I did not find it funny as a whole. There were some amusing moments, but there was always a slightly sinister feel in the background (perhaps "sinister" is too strong a word) and overall I found this to be a sad tale of homelessness, dysfunctional families and painful adolescence. This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the book - it is a touching story and I raced through it, hoping for a happy ending ...

Delphine De Vigan draws wonderful characters with her words. I felt great sympathy for homeless No and desperately wanted things to turn out well for, though perhaps it says more about me than No that I was waiting for her to "slip up". Lou, the genius who doesn't fit in, is infinitely likeable even through her mistakes.

Oddly, this book reminded me of Eve Green by Susan Fletcher in the way it was written, although Eve Green is not one of my favourite books by a long shot! No and Me is a lyrical and thought provoking novel and one I would highly recommend. The fact that it is set in Paris is a happy bonus!

My Rating: 4/5

A Resurrection!

Well, Easter is just around the corner ...

I didn't realise it had been quite so long since I updated this blog! It's not that I haven't been reading - I have, though not quite as avidly as usual for some reason. Anyway, whatever the reasons are, I am going to try to keep this a bit more up to date. I might start with a couple of "mini reviews" of stand out books in recent months ...

Looking at the sidebar there, The Hunger Games Trilogy is jumping out at me. I read these three books as part of a challenge on Good Reads. Now I'm not the hugest fan of YA books - I did love Twilight though, and the Harry Potter series of course - but had heard such good things about this series that I decided to have a go. Oh my goodness. I devoured these three novels. I was swept away on the journey with Katniss and Peter and loved everything about them. The horror of it all. I didn't want the series to end and wish there were more books to come ... sadly all we have to look forward to is a film. Which I will hate. I know I will - Harry Potter excepted, there is not a film I have seen that beats the book (with the Harry Potter series, I love the films and the books equally). I highly recommend this series to absolutely everyone, and urge you not to be put off by the "Young Adult" label. This is a gripping, emotional series. My rating: 5/5!

Right, I'm off to fiddle with my blog!

Mrs Lincoln

Title: Mrs Lincoln
Author: Janice Cooke Newman
First Published: 2009




My Rating: 5/5


From Lovereading.co.uk:

May 20th. Mrs Mary Lincoln admitted today - from Chicago - Age 56 - Widow of ex-President Lincoln - declared insane by the Cook County Court May 19th - 1875. This is the Patient Progress Reports for Bellevue Place Sanatorium.Incarcerated in an insane asylum after committal proceedings instigated by her own son, Mary Lincoln resolves to tell her own story in order to preserve and to prove her own sanity. Mary Todd Lincoln the original 'First Lady' is a figure of some notoriety in the USA: British readers introduced to her for the first time will encounter a fascinating, complex and captivating heroine of history.

Now, I am a Brit girl with leanings towards being South African, and I know next to nothing about American history ... and must admit, have little desire to learn much more. My heart always sinks a little when one of the challenge in the GoodReads Seasonal Reading Challenge requires us to read a book about an American president, an American war, or some incident in American history. I have visited America, and loved it, and just about every American I have interacted with has been perfectly lovely. I admire their patriotism. I sometimes wish us Brits could be a bit more like our American cousins. But still, I'm not that keen on reading about American history. So when one of the Summer challenge tasks was to read a book about Abraham Lincoln or his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, my heart sank a little lower ...

I went to the library and was just browsing generally when I saw this book. It was set aside from the other books on its' shelf and looked a bit lonely. I looked closer and saw the title ... and it seemed like it was meant to be, so I checked it out. I started reading it the next day, and I was gripped from the first page!

The story is told from Mary's viewpoint as she looks back on her life from the lunatic asylum where her son has had her committed. Mary is a middle child, and although loved, somewhat neglected. Her beloved mother dies in childbirth, her father cannot give Mary the affection she needs, her younger siblings understandably require a lot of attention and her older sisters are disinterested and mean. Mary meets and falls in love with the poor, gangly and not very handsome Abraham Lincoln and they live in an environment of poverty and restrained passion until Abraham becomes President. Mary endures a difficult life full of sadness and loss which unsurprisingly causes her to fall into a depression. She overshops and overspends in an attempt to protect what she has left, attends seances to contact her beloved children and husband and is eventually committed to a lunatic asylum by her son who is a hard, dispassionate and cold creature.

Throughout the novel I felt huge sympathy for Mary, a warm and passionate character who was forced to deal with great losses and personal tragedy as well as the huge stresses of being the President's wife. Perhaps a woman born before her time. I found the portrayal of the other ladies in the lunatic asylum interesting and comparisons could be drawn with mental health issues that are prominent today. The ladies in the asylum were looked down upon by the rest of society, and not treated with the simple respect that was offered to "normal" ladies.

All in all, this is a very powerful and very readable novel of American history. I flew through the 500 or so pages and was engaged with the story and the characters from the beginning. I would recommend this to anyone who likes reading historical fiction - I think Philippa Gregory fans would really enjoy this.