The Dead Heart - Douglas Kennedy

Lue lent me this. About a guy who goes travelling in Australia and has quite a unique experience.. quite good, scary and funny at the same time. Totally unbelievable though!

7/10

Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie

Not sure where this came from, it was just on my shelf.
Was struggling with a different book so thought I'd have this as a filler. and it was that perfectly. Good story. Fab unexpected ending.

7/10

Life Class - Pat Barker

The problem with Pat Barker is that once you get in to her story it seems you're trapped and have to finish this. I read Life Class in less than 2 days in Rome. It's very sad, quite gruesome, but also a beautiful story and I am still thinking about the characters even though it's a vedry short novel.
It's not another Regeneration, but I think that would be asking a lot.

available for borrowing!

9/10

Ann Veronica - HG Wells

I really really like HG Wells it turns out. This is a good read - set in London (and the home counties) just as the suffragetes are active. It is very domestic - about a young girl leaving home (this is why I thought it was a bit jane austen katy) - but also a big political theme. Some of the characters are hilarious and some just weird, while the main character Ann Veronica became less likeable I thought as the book went on. The ending's a bit weak, but the notes say that Wells sort of gave up on it which seems plausible.
But will definitely read more of his, probably some more sci fi next.

7.5/10

Heaven or Hell by Don Felder

An autobiography by one of The Eagles - the one who got thrown out just after the band reunited after 14 years apart. OK. A bit bland or twee but with a lot of insights into the relationships amongst the Eagles - interesting to me but not to anyone who is not a real Eagles fan.

5/10

Bristol Story by Eugene Byrne and Simon Gurr

A loan from katy. A conventional sized paperback which is a comic book approach to the entire history of Bristol - a very clever and modern format. So, easy to read but with a deceptively large amount of content - a long read! Very enjoyable and informative for nerds like me. I may buy another of their books: a graphic history of Isambard Kingdom Brunel (told you I was a nerd!)

7/10 (for me)

Morvern Callar by Alan Warner

Not sure who recommended this book but I got it as a book swap a while ago. A very strange read about a girl living in the Highlands who finds her boyfriend dead one morning. Without giving the story away, what she chooses to do next is rather odd and not without a touch of black humour. It's a quick read once you get used to the style. There's a film out of the book which I might fancy seeing although it could be a bit disturbing I think.
8/10

The promise of Happiness - Justin Cartwright

Hmmm... I think I bought this from amazon because I need to make up the cost for free delievery and I liked the cover.

The book was interesting. about a family all coming together after various crises had sent them all over the globe. Quite interesting but a slightly glib ending.

7/10

Shakespeare by Bill Bryson

A surprisingly enjoyable read. Bill Brysons' light style runs through this book but it is a really easy-to-read biography. It also clarifies fact from the many myths about Shakespeare and paints an interesting picture of life and 'social politics'inthat time. Thanks Katy or Sarah for this book (was it for father's day?)

9/10 (for me. Maybe 7/10 for you)

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

This month's Book Club read is written by the same man who wrote "Cloud Atlas" which I found interesting but quite a hard read. I probably wouldn't have chosen this book for myself but in fact it's a very good read. It follows a year in the life of a 13 year old boy and could be compared to "Adrian Mole" except that I think the style is much better. Very amusing in parts, it still manages to bring a tear to your eye.
9/10

The Baby in the Mirror

I am a bit confused by this - enjoyed a lot of the description of the studies, and in general his description of the developing relationship with his daughter (who I met in Australia just for the record - she's rather more grown up now and was looking veeeery bored with a conference wine reception). But I'm not sure it was a "good read" more like work I'm afraid. It's a great summary of the literature, but I found the narrative quite hard and I didn't like the way he kept jumping around between ages. Relatively low score as i was hoping for something more chatty - but good as a work book (can't believe i tricked mum in to reading it).
7/10

A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini

Fantastic book..I enjoyed it even more than "The Kite Runner" and I gave that one 9/10. It's based around the lives of two women married to the same man in Afganistan and shows how bad life can be for women in that country. Life there is just a million miles away from our experiences here and we think we have it hard sometimes.
10/10

The baby in the mirror by Charles Ferneyhough

One of Sarah's claims to fame! I must confess that I thought this would have been easier to read, but it's aimed at people with more than a smattering of psychology knowledge I think. Lots of technical stuff but still an interesting read. Couldn't understand some of the illustrations...were they meant to be so blurry or did he use a cheap camera?
7/10 (but that's only because I'm not very clever)

Julius - Daphne du Maurier

Read this thinking, 'hmm it's not very spooky it's not really very DdM' and then like a Ian McEwen novel it came out of the blue and was proper scary.

So whilst the first 200 pages were an interesting story about a self made man in late 1800s in london, the last 100 are perfect DdM.

8/10

chasing unicorns - Bella Pollen

Lue lent me this.. I think mainly I just liked the name of the author

written from 2 people's point of view, who swap each chapter. one is an american journalist and the other the dead brother of the main charactor in the book. centred around upper clas families, so I'm always giong to be happy but a bit of a daft ending!!

6/10

I capture the castle - dodie smith

Saw this for borders book club and thought about going.. didn't just read the book.

About a family who are very poor and rather eccentric. very gentle and not a huge amount happens.. but quite enjoyed it. written from the youngest (about 14) daughter's view point so there are big bits of the rest of the family you don't know what they are thinking.

nice though

7/10

Second wind - Dick Francis

well at least I'm reading something... borrowed this from Alex for a light read in between playing shops with connie.

3/10 (and that's only because it was so quick to read)

Once upon a time in the North - Philip Pullman

enjoyed this short read. I actually read it ages ago, but forgot to post it here!

7/10

Mum, can you lend me twenty quid? by Elizabeth Burton-Phillips

This is this month's book club read, otherwise I'm not sure if it's the sort of book I'd normally read. A true story from a local Reading lady about her twin sons who were both heroin addicts. One son died and the other one is no longer a user.
6/10

Redemption Falls by Joseph O'Connor

A natural sequel to Star Of The Seas, though barely linked to it. Interesting novel set in the the untamed territories of America just after the civil war. The same victorian style that makes it hard to read - not a quick read - but strong portrayal of characters and relationships make it worth reading.

7/10