Monday, October 29, 2007

The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver

Picked this up in Taos, New Mexico because I needed a new book, had thought her book the Poisonwood Bible was amazing and this one was set in the SW so I thought would be atmospheric. It was a relatively easy and quick read - a simple story and some nice characters but nowhere near the Poisonwood Bible league. This was her first book, and it does seem quite simple and contained.
Liz Robinson told me she'd loved P.B. but read others which weren't good at all, so I might not explore Kingsolver further, unless I hear great things!

6/10

That I loved by Siri Hustvedt

Excellent read. Kept you wanting to read more, and thinking about the characters when you weren't reading! It triggered lots of heart-plucking emotions but lots of frustration and tension as well. Very easy narrative style but tremendous painting of characters and their interaction.

9/10

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Northern Lights - Philip Pullman

Thought I would re-read at least the first book (perhaps all three) before the film comes out at Christmas. It was a great read second time round - the plot is complicated enough that you don't always know what is coming, but there are also lots of details i'm sure I missed first time round and it's really interesting reading it knowing what will happen in books 2 and 3. The only problem I found was it was a poor choice for taking on my trip to Santa Fe as i had read it all before we landed...


9/10

Monday, October 22, 2007

Random Winds by Belva Plain

Carmen leant me this book while we were in Florida...it's definitely a "round the pool" book. Quite long so took a while to read, but an easy style. Can't really remember what it was about which says it all. The sort of book people leave in your apartment when they haven't room to take it home in their case.
3/10

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson

Got this on a 3 for 2 offer and had read her other stuff so thought I'd read this.
Defo much better than case histories which I thought was pretty weak and quite a few twists that are still playing in my head.
Each chapter is about a different member of the cast and how they all like together.

7/10

Friday, October 12, 2007

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Saw this on a 3 for 2 at waterstones and bought it.. fancied reading it for a long time. It's about a childhood in afganistan and then an adulthood i america. Not a LOT of cultural stuff but enough to make it intersting. Would like to read more of his stuff

8/10

Friday, October 05, 2007

The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov

Linda (at work) lent this to me ages ago, she's quite into sci fi. I enjoyed it but it was a bit slow going, and perhaps didn't seem as radical as it would have at the time (it's 50s) I liked the insight in to robots and man's relationship with developing technology, and there were some cool touches. In a way what's weird is that some of the predicitions he makes about the futuristic world are too normal now to be shocking...
Overall a good quick read, and a clever ending. Might read something else by him.

7.5/10