Friday, May 30, 2008

A safe place - Lorenzo Carcaterra

Thanks for the lend dad. This is the same guy and family as sleepers.. Interesting story of life in 50s (??) new york and a really wierd slant on the feelings of those in an abusive relationship.

Didn't change my world, but interesting to read.

6/10

Thursday, May 29, 2008

the Siege - Helen Dunmore

This was the bristol big read a few years ago, so I got a free copy of it, but just never got round to reading it.
It was very moving, and rather amazing. Gentle style very much like my blue eyed boy, but a very different story, about the siege of leningrad during the 2nd world war..

would defo recommend although I've just lent my copy to Nick (mark's mate).

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs is the real-life pathologist who also writes novels and is aclaimed - if that's the right word - as being a better writer than Patricia Cornwell. But her books are becoming formulaic and this one certainly is. It was OK but I wouldn't recommend it.

4/10

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Regeneration by Pat Barker

Only read the first book of the trilogy but thought it was fantastic and reminded me how great the poetry from the First World War is. A very harrowing read dealing with officers with break downs during the war and the conflict they suffered by not wanting to appear uncourageous.
Have other books I must read before the next in the trilogy, but already looking forward to it.
9/10

Monday, May 12, 2008

Your Blue-eyed Boy - Helen Dunmore

Think I borrowed this from mum AGES ago.. About a woman who's got a lot on bringing up her family in remote british countryside (I assumed it was Norfolk) and an ex boyfriend gets in touch.

Very gently with an unexpected ending.

8/10

Death of a Stranger - Anne Perry

Found this as a book crossing book in a pub in town so was v keen to read it as a change. It was actually a dul victorian (??) murder mystery that I can see why someone would want to give it away.

Very cliche and a reasonably predictable ending.

4/10

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Bel Canto by Ann Prachett

This was my Florida read and took most of the holiday...not because I didn't enjoy it, I just seemed to have little time for reading. It's about what happens when terrorists take over a gathering of people at a birthday party, hoping to kidnap the president of the country. He doesn't attend and so begins several months of seige in the vice president's house. One of the hostages is an opera singer and the love between her and a Japanese business man provides a main theme of the book. Another of the hostages falls in love with a terrorist and the story examines relationships, until the authority storms the building and causes the fate of the main characters.
8/10

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

I borrowed this book from Lynn at school. It's an interesting read but not a must. Irene Nemirovsky lived in France during the Second World War and began writing "Suite Francaise during then. She died in Auschwitz before finishing it. I have to confess that I didn't read the appendices as other books took over, but I'm sure they are very thought provoking. Clearly she wrote from first hand knowledge of living in occupied France.
7/10

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Once Upon A Time In The North by Philip Pullman

Hmmm.

Lovely to see and hear him talk about this book in Oxford. But as a read it was quick and simple and stylised - as he said, a western set in the cold north. It pre-dates the Dark Materials trilogy and introduces a young Lee Scorsby who meets the bears and particularly Yorek Berinson (apologies if the name is not right) for the first time.

So, a short story which is a quick and easy read but it is not in the same league as any of the Dark Materials books. Bit sad, that.

4/10