12th December - 17th December
And now for something completely different. None of the books I had on order from the library were in so I was forced to actually go to the library and peruse the shelves, Rastrick library is a bit little so that can sometimes be a fruitless exercise but this time I did quite well. In case you are interested I am a firm believe that in the case of books the old adage "you can never judge a book by its cover" is completely wrong. I have only ever picked up books that I liked the cover of and it works pretty well for me. This time was no exception. Quick precis; 1980's Sandy and Rich are environmental campaigners and very in love. Twenty five years later they are seperated, middle aged and their only connection is their daughter Sophie. Rich decides that a good way of gettng to know Sophie is to take her on a six day hike in Tasmania (crap dad award or what, what about 6 days laying by a pool in Dubai for godsake?). The book is narrated by Rich, Sandy and Sophie and I have quite enjoyed it. The whole mid-life rut thing is a bit cliched and am not sure why I feel the need to read about it when I am living it! To be honest thinking about it more carefully to write this review has made me realise that really all three main characters are very stereotypical, Sandy with her feckless hippy lifestyle and aromatherapy oils, Rich failed photo-journalist with a penchant for young women and a pony tail (big neon sign saying "sad loser" on his head) and Sophie anorexic goth, product of a broken home - see where I am going with this, the characters are exactly the type of characters you would pick as metaphors for people of their age and gender having some kind of a crisis, hope this is making sense?! Whilst its not my usual nerve tingling thriller type read I am desperate to get to the end to find out how everyone's story turns out which is pretty much the point of a book isn't it? Amazon link here just in case you want to read a well written articulate review. Just checked - there aren't any phew!
11th December - 10pm 11th December!
Sit down, strap in and prepare to ride. Absolutely love Jack Kerley's books a really good mix of strong characters, smart dialogue, nerve jaggling thrills and cracking story lines. The fact that I read this cover to cover in one day indicates just what a page turner it is and demonstrates why I rarely by books! Crack detective, Carson Ryder, goes on holiday, gets called to the seen of a grisly murder, as you do, and all hell breaks loose with him right in the middle of it. Some really gut clenching tension in places, a little light luvin' and some bloody scary badies, all round winner! Might be worth reading Blood Brothers first, just so you understand Carson's relationship with his brother, or you could read this and then have your questions answered by reading that after, whatever way round I suspect you wont be happy to you have read everything by Kerley so far (Amazon list here) and are waiting for his next publication, just like I am! New idea link to the Amazon page so if you like the sound of the book and want to purchase you don't have to trawl round to find it. Amazon, you can pop the cheque in the post any time you like! Katie you will love this one x
November 24th - Skip the first 30 pages and come in at the start of chapter 2 or risk wondering why in god's name you had ever raved about Mil Millington. It was almost as if he had taken a leaf out of Jeffery Kellermans approach to writing and was working on being paid by the word. There were freaking hundreds of them and none of them was witty or entertaining. Started once and gave up in despair. Then because I just couldn't accept that I wasn't going to love a Mil Millington book I opened it randomly and had another go. Pretty light on lol moments to be fair and the plot requires the usual suspension of belief. Bloke in pub with mates and girlfriend, gets rat arsed, wakes up in bed with mystery woman. He thinks its the next day turns out it's 20 years later, mystery woman is his long suffering wife and he is missing 20 years. Gives rise to some chuckle inducing moments but not a patch on the bloody brilliant Love and other near death experiences reviewed with much hyperbole below!
November 16th - 
Am dipping in and out of this one. I read Panic and Fear and really enjoyed them and was hoping this would be another of the sort of books that hauls you in over the course of the first two pages and doesn't let you free til you finish. Sadly not quite as grabbing as the other two I haven't really engaged with it as much. Luke Dantry was raised by his stepfather after his own father was killed by an extremist and his mother died in a car accident with stepfather survived. Luke works for his step father monitoring the actions of extremists on the internet until he is kidnapped at gun point by one of them. The story follows Lukes journey to try and find his kidnapper, having escaped - clearly! - and to work out whether his step father is actually to be trusted or not. I expect I will finish this, it just wont be soon.
15th November - 19th November.
Completely love the Thorne series by Mark Billingham and this one didn't disappoint. Thorne is his usual irascible self,
still struggling to come to terms with his softer side. The story is based on the wife of a man who she was jailed for paying someone to kill receiving photos of him, alive and well and in Spain just after she gets out of prison for her part in his murder. Runs along at a nice pace with enough of a spark to keep you interested, maybe not the best Thorne novel but an enjoyable read nonetheless.
14th November - 14th November.
Hilarious! Justin moved back home to live with his dad aged 29 having been dumped. He started a website, which the book is named after, to record all the crazy and very funny things his dad said to him and it evolved into this book which I raced through in one evening, with much cackling! As an example of the sort of shit Justin's dad says:
"Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You didn't invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that."
I loved it and would recommend it for a stocking filler for the man in your life if he likes a laugh!
5th - ?? November
Spotted this in Tesco's in Helston back in August and it has been on my list to order from the library since then. It is a work and a half so am guessing this is going to take more than 2 nights! Well it took him 25 years to write apparently so it would be rather rude to knock it off in less than a week don't you think? Basically its about a town that is surrounded by an invisible force field that prevents anyone coming in or going out, as invisible force fields tend to do in my experience. The book deals mainly with how the citizens in the town react to this and it gets some very mixed reviews on Amazon, read the first couple of chapters whilst dinner was cooking and am pretty drawn in already but if it starts to read like a Kellerman "I get paid by the word, here try my latest 60000 page novel" it will be back in the library quicker than a quick thing. Hey this is almost a review - on the basis that at least having read this you might have some idea what the book is about!! Might have to go back and edit the last couple as some facts might be of interest too!
9th Nov - about a third of the way through and its going very nicely thank you! Big cast of characters and it took me a while to get them all in order. I am liking that initially you are thinking "ooh how scary a great big invisible force field" and then a bit later you think "gosh I wouldnt be able to get to the trafford centre, that would be a bitch" followed by "exactly how much food is there in Elland and how long would it last?" at about the same rate that the residents of Chester's Mill are also working out that after the initial panic there are some pretty important things that need thinking about, not least that they are likely to run out of food and where the rubbery has all the gas gone that is needed to fuel the generators? Oh and a tip, never look on Wikepdia for the name of a town in a book you are reading, have just read a couple of spoilers by accident!
12th Nov - So good, am loving it. Reading one page last night and thought that the character was sounding an awful lot like Jack Reacher (if you haven't read any Lee Child stop reading this blog and get to a library at once, right now, seriously, I mean it) 3 pages further on and Stephen King only name checks Reacher, right there in the middle of his own novel, another authors hero, kudos Mr King.
13th Nov - All done. Terrific read, one of those that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go til you turn the last page. No spoilers here, you'll have to read it yourself but the main concept of the book is the study of how people in a small town react when their backs are up against the wall, no surprises really, the bad get worse and on the whole the good stay strong so no great "message" but a salutary reminder nonetheless and as a weeks worth of escapism - perfect!
1st - 2nd November.
A word of advice - DO NOT READ THIS IN ON AN AEROPLANE. Really, I am quite sure the bloke next to me was moments away from effecting a citizens arrest on the way to Newquay on Tuesday. I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my cheeks and was trying to stifle hysterical guffaws so much so that I was shaking. I read Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About years ago and thought it was probably the funniest thing since Spike Milligan's My Part in Hitlers Downfall, which I read at 10 so maybe isn't actually all that funny if you are a grown up! Anyway, I also read A Certain Chemistry and vowed to keep an eye out for more books by Mil Millington and then promptly got swept along on a tide of crime and forgot all about him. Spotted this in the library and was actually a bit worried that he couldn't still be writing such howlingly funny stuff - oh but he is, and then some, bloody brilliant frankly and thats why I ripped through it in 2 days. If this doesn't make you laugh out loud and insist on reading out bits to whoever is near you I will eat every copy in print. Please please read this and tell me what you think!
Post edit - you might want to know what this is about, just in case my insistence that its the funniest book ever published isn't recommendation enough! Basically main character, sorry name has gone clean out of my head, has a meeting scheduled in a pub, he is running late because he is returning some crap towels to a shop (its a long story) and the pub blows up killing everyone in it, which begs the question which decision was it that led to him being late and therefore missing his appointment with the grim reaper; returning the towels or buying the towels in the first place? And if your entire continued existence hangs on such a delicate thread then surely all decisions are life and death ones and require a great deal more thought than they would usually be given. There that about covers the plot, the plot isn't the most important thing about this book, its just the thing the words hang off, its the comedy that counts. Enjoy.
16th October - ??? November
Dipping in and out of this in between other books when I run out and can't get to the library. Heard a programme on Radio 4 about how poverty has been written about over the years and this was given as a great example - one of those that I thought I should read because it is a classic in its own way. Actually it is really interesting, all the more so because a lot of the mining and mill towns he writes about are in Yorkshire and Lancashire and the description of the back to back slums and the working conditions the miners endure make your realise just how easy life is now, certainly for most of us and I would imagine even the very worst off are living in better conditions than the people in Wigan at the time he was writing. This has to go back to the library on the 12th so its unlikely I will finish it, not least because I have just started a weighty tome that is going to take some serious reading!
23rd - 25th October
Haven't read any Stephen Leather for about 2 years, got really into him round the time I first started reading Lee Child and loved his books, spotted this in the library and thought it would be worth a whirl. Quite a departure from his usual hard-hitting, gangster type stuff as this one requires you to suspend your disbelief in all things supernatural, but it is written so well that really doesn't require much of a leap. He writes terrific dialogue and the whole thing was yet another rattle through in 2 days hardly pausing for breath, bearing in mind I do work, eat, sleep and have other blogs - I don't spend my entire life reading, in spite of what Katie thinks! Yet another recommendation!
19th - 23rd October.
Reading this at the same time as Never let me go, dipping in and out of both. Am almost sure I have already read this and as it was published this year if I have it must have been at some point in the last 10 months and yet I can't remember - the main reason for this blog existing! LOVE Simon Kernick's books he has some really original ideas and writes pacy action and great dialogue and its not a reflection on this book that I am not sure if I have read it or not, I do tend to speed read! Will come back to this one too when I have finished it, or come to the conclusion that I am re-reading and let you know, but basically if its by Simon Kernick and you like a gripping plot and lots of gritty realism in your read you'll love it!
19th - 23rd October.
Not my usual sort of thing at all, described by one reviewer on Amazon as "Haunting dystopia of ultimate utilitarianism".
And I am sure they thought they were very clever too! It is a difficult one to categorise, definitely not sci-fi in the accepted sense but based on the sort of premise that makes it sci-fi, this isn't helping at all is it? Basically bunch of clones, raised in a boarding school called Hailsham, who will become organ donors when they are adults, but not organ donors that get thank you cards and a box of chocs, organ donors that get buried! It is a very visual book, hence no doubt it being made into a film which has just been released, and although slow compared to my usual slash and grab type of thing it is thought provoking. Will come back when I have finished it and finish this, frankly, brilliant attempt at a review! Finished it, I think the thing I found most irritating was the way most chapters began with "so then such and such a thing happened, but before I can tell you about that I have to go back to two days/6 weeks/half a century to tell you why it happened" I just wanted to scream I don't give a crap, cut to the chase tell me what happened. More annoying was that after all the big build up as a rule nothing, or any great interest, had happened. Yes it was all very futuristic and then at the same time weirdly not - mention of Sony Walkmans, which are no longer being made! - and a warning about what might happen if we dabble in genetics I guess but not as thought provoking as I had hoped.
15th - 18th October
Had forgotten just how good the mother and daughter combo or PJ Tracy really is, the prologue sets the tone nicely. If I say that the author comments on the back cover include Harlan Coben and Mo Hayder that should tip you off to the quality of their writing. Bloody brilliant in short! Love Grace and the whole monkeewrench crew of cyber geeks, off to hit a sofa with a pot of tea and this for a couple of hours now. Finished it - the whole thing crackles with brilliance, you will not be disappointed and as ever a killer twist in the tale, like a swift stiletto to the kidneys, I was left open mouthed!
12th - 13th October
Got me, hook, line and sinker pretty much from the off. Raced through the first 150 pages last night and cant wait to start reading again this evening. The characters are brilliantly drawn, the subject matter is pretty terrifying and the whole thing is pulled together in a way that makes for compelling reading. Am a bit worried I have sussed something out already, am hoping I am wrong - it surely can't be that easy?!
Bloody hell!! This one finally did it, I got myself lost in it and all the crap in my head went silent. Haven't read a book in 2 sittings in quite a while but this one made it impossible not to. This was way more unnerving that the usual crime/pyscho type thing I read, probably because it revolved around mental illness in kids. Loved it, highly recommended. Oh and if you get the hard backed version of it check out the photo of Lisa Gardner on the back, heavily photoshopped but it looks ok the right way up, turn it upside down and I swear her eyes will scare the bejaysus out of you! Off to the library for next pile today.
1st - 12th OctoberAnother in the Sara Linton series of books. Am about half way through, so far so good. As it is ages since I read the last one I am struggling to piece together some elements of this and whether the characters are portrayed in this as I remember them from previous books. It has got me hooked though. I did enjoy this but wasn't as riveted as I have been by some of her other books, although still blaming a lack of head space for reading for my lack of enjoyment of pretty much everything at the moment.
24th Sept - Forever?
Oh my, isn't he just. I absolutely love how Jeff Lindsay writes, his use of a pithy one liner is second to none and for someone that hates horror he makes blood and gore completely acceptable by ensuring that they are secondary to his fantastic characters and sharp, sharp dialogue. Am a complete fan and he could write tosh on the back of a cereal box and I'd lap it up. But only if it was a stunning as his Dexter stuff. Dexter is dragging. I know I don't have the head space for much at the moment but I had honestly thought that I would be so sucked in my Dexter that all the crap that is going on in my head would shut up enough for me to read. Not so. It just doesnt seem to have the deft touch that I have come to expect, in places it is positively heavy handed, almost as if it has been, dare I say, dumbed down? Will battle on because the end is in sight but frankly it cant come a page too soon.
20th - 24th Sept.
Have read a few of Jillian Hoffman's books and generally loved them, this one had me hooked til right near then end when a page turner became a page flicker and the ending was almost an insult to her readers intelligence. Not going to give anything away other than to say I re-read the last 3 pages twice just to check I hadn't actually missed something clever. I hadn't.
September 2010 - gave up trying
Struggling to really get into this, read Security and really enjoyed it, the dialogue in this just doesn't have the same sparkle, so far and whilst the premise is interesting it seems to be taking ages setting the scene rather than just getting on with it.
12th December - 17th December
