The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Its been some time since I read a Disc World novel and it took me a few pages to get into it.
Rincewind is one of my favourite Disc world characters. I loved the way Pratchett based it on,( but didn't base it on!) Australia lol.
I've read way too many serious novels lately and this book gave me what I needed which was a good laugh!



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The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and very gripping from start to finish. It was a real page turner!

I can't wait for his next book to be published!





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Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not one of my favorite Picoult books. I thought the characters and storyline jumped all over the place for my liking and a couple of times, I got a bit confused.



Synopsis from Picoults site:



In this novel, Jodi Picoult interweaves five rich narrative voices to tell a story of love, loss, and self-discovery. The voices belong to a mother, her daughter, and three very different men.



Jane had always lived in somebody's shadow. Escaping a childhood of abuse by marrying oceanographer Oliver Jones, she finds herself taking second place to his increasingly successful career. However, when her daughter Rebecca is slighted, Jane's dramatic stand takes them all by surprise.



Leaving Oliver and his whale tapes behind in San Diego, Jane and Rebecca set out to drive across America to Uncle Joley and the sanctuary of the Massachusetts apple orchard where he works. Joley directs Jane across the United States in a series of letters waiting for her in designated post offices. Each letter gives concise directions to the next post office; each letter provides Jane with a chance to reflect on her forgotten past.



Oliver, used to tracking male humpback whales across vast oceans, now has the task of tracking his tantalizingly unpredictable wife across a continent. To do so he must learn to see the world-- and even himself-- through her eyes.



Songs of the Humpback Whale is a powerful and sensitive novel of family life that questions how songs are passed down from male speaker to male speaker, but also examines the female tradition of listening that women unconsciously pass on to their daughters.



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Good weekend for books.

Friday I went to a secondhand book shop with Petra and brought several books, some which will be bookcrossed once I have read them.

Last Saturday we went to Stratford upon Avon. We went to the Park and Ride Terminal and low and behold, I actually found a Bookcrossing book in the wild:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/8275168/
Ok, it is a kiddies book but who cares, I'm just very pleased to have found a book released into the wild. I am going to let the twins read it before re-releasing it.
On the Monday I dropped off 5 books at an official BookCrossing zone, Latte Heaven in Church Street Dunstable. Whilst I was there I bought some books from charity shops so I now have enough books to last me months but it won't stop me from buying more lol.

Deep Six by Mark Powell

Deep Six by Mark Powell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I really loved this book. It was fast paced, exciting and extremely well researched.
Marks' writing and use of language has evolved ten fold since his first debut novel and the words flowed nicely.

It has 'Best Seller' written all over it and Mark has secured a place in among my favorite authors along with James Rollins, Clive Cussler,Dan Brown and Chris Kuzneski to name a few.

The content , Somali Pirates, also made it a fascinating read and the characters were well thought out.
I really would love to see McCabe continue on in a series of books......how about it Mark? :-)

I was very lucky to have been sent a copy by Mark via Goodreads :-)



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Never the Bride by Paul Magrs

Never the Bride by Paul Magrs

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A comic, Gothic novel that centres around two characters, Brenda and Effie.
I found the book highly delightful and the plot lines very novel.



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The Colour of Law by Mark Gimenez

The Colour of Law by Mark Gimenez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really loved this book. If you like Grisham then you will like this book.
I found it compelling reading and couldn't put it down. I stayed awake till 5am to finish it lol.

It is fast paced, the characters hugely believable and the writing superb.



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Sphinx by T S Learner

Sphinx by T.S. Learner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I did enjoy this book. I thought the opening chapters were very slow to begin with and nearly stopped reading the book altogether. I am glad I didn't though as I would of missed a great story.



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Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis

My rating: 2 of 5 stars




I found this difficult to get into at first, but after a couple of chapters, I got into it.
I found Dixon likable and enjoyed that he seemed to like burying himself deeper and deeper into trouble.



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Joyce by Herself and Friends by Richard Garnett

Joyce by Herself and Her Friends by Richard Garnett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I did enjoy reading this. It gave a great insight into a very talented woman.

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Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed reading this book. It contained 60 chapters and over 700 pages and the writing is really small so its like reading 1400 pages.
The book is set in the 19th century and tells the story of Molly Gibson and her love for Roger Hamley. There is also her Father Dr Gibson and her step mother Clare and Clare's daughter Cynthia and many more lesser characters.
The book is character driven and full of details.
I didnt like Clare very much and thought her selfish and an egotist.
When I started reading this, I was unaware that Gaskell died before the last chapter was written. Don't be put off by this as you can easily draw your own conclusion to what happened in the end.
Beautifully written, it will now remain a firm classic favourite of mine.
I will now endeavour to try and find the BBC adaptation of the book!

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The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks

The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I really enjoyed this second book of the triology.
It continues the stories of Logan Tom, Angel Perez, The Ghosts and The Elves of Cintra which is obviously leading up to the climax in book three.
Well written, and very dark following the human apocalypse.

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The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams

The Alexander Cipher by Will Adams


My rating:
 4 of 5 stars


I thought this book was excellent!
The action was non stop and not a single boring bit in the book. I liked the characters and the plot was very good.
It's about a deadly race to find historys most enigmatic warrior king, Alexander The Great. Daniel Knox is an outcast Egyptologist and he battles two adversarys while on the run from them and trying to find Alexanders tomb.

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Farewell to The East End by Jennifer Worth

Farewell To The East End: The Last Days of the East End Midwives by Jennifer Worth


My rating:
 4 of 5 stars


The third and last book in the series.
I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit all over the place, but the characters that Worth wrote about were superb to say the least.
It left me wanting to know more about 1950s London and the East End.

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Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth

Shadows Of The Workhouse: The Drama Of Life In Postwar London:  by Jennifer Worth


My rating:
 4 of 5 stars


This is the second book in the series and I really enjoyed it.
Worth's story telling is like it only happened yesterday so to speak.
The workhouses were really awful places and I really felt for the people who's stories were told in this book.

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Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s by Jennifer Worth


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My partners mother lent me this book and to be honest with you, I didn't think I would like it, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
This book is set in the 1950's in the slums of the East End of London, and tells of Jennifers time as a midewife staying in a convent that offers midwifery to the local residents. The poverty was appalling and it was astounding to read how many children some women gave birth to back then.
Well written and done in a kind of 'action packed' way, I found it a compelling read.

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Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


For years I have shunned classic books for no particular reason, and I wished I had not.
This book is so rich in text and so well written. The text just flowed so wonderfully. The use of words was like poetry in some instances.
It is such a sad romantic tale.
Emma (Madame Bovary), marries a doctor but yearns for romance and things above her means. She has affairs and gets herself and her husband into terrible debt and about to become destitute.
I will leave it there as I don't want my review to contain spoilers.

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Quantum Breach by Mark Powell

Quantum Breach by Mark Powell
My Rating
4 out of 5

I got this book free as a 'First Reads' on this www.Goodreads.com . The copy was signed too :) 

(Thank you Mark!)

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the characters were well thought out and I took an immediate liking to McCabe and Stowe, the two main characters.

I liked the fact that espionage was mixed in with the banking and terrorists and the intelligent services.

I also liked that Mark obviously researched the banking industry so well which lent credibility.

I look foward to the next book very much as it has left me wanting more

Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks

Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed reading this book.
It is set in a postapocalyptic world where civilization has all but collapsed and people are trying to exist. It has a bit of everything from Demons to Elves, magic and monsters.
Hawk is the leader of the Ghosts, a group of children trying to exist in the ruins of a delapidated city. Then there are Angel and Logan who are Knights of the Word trying to save world as they battle the demons from The Void.
Well written and highly enjoyable.

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Sanctuary by Raymond Khoury

Sanctuary: n/a by Raymond Khoury


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I did enjoy this book even though I thought it was very slow in places.
There was lots of factual details and rich dialogue.
The plot centres around the most dangerous book in the world.....the formula for the elixer of life.
Mia Bishop gets kidnapped in Beirut and her genetist daughter and a CIA agent embark on a deadly quest to try and release her and stop a deadly doctor from fnding the book.


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Books arrived

I was a very happy chappy today as I had two books arrive in the post.
One was a signed copy of Quantum Breach by Mark Powell that I won via Goodreads.
The second is Stranger on a Train by Jenny Diski via Bookcrossing

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thought this book was amazing and definitely the best book I have read so far from Jodi Picoult.
The book was well written and researched. I loved the characters and the emotional rollercoaster Picoult takes them through.
I really don't want to say much about the actual storyline as I feel it would give too much away and the new reader needs to let the story unfold itself.


Synopsis from Jodi Picoult dot com:

Do we love across time? Or in spite of it? A developer has slated an ancient Abenaki Indian burial ground for a strip mall, and now strange happenings have tiny Comtosook, Vermont, talking of supernatural forces at work. Ross Wakeman is a ghost hunter who's never seen a ghost-all he's searching for is something to end the pain of losing his fiance Aimee in a car accident. He tried suicide-any number of times. Now Ross lives only for a way to connect with Aimee from beyond. Searching the site for signs of the paranormal, Ross meets the mysterious Lia, who sparks him to life for the first time in years. But the discoveries that await Ross are beyond anything he could dream of in this world-or the next. Expertly entwining a powerful drama of the heart's redemption and the disturbing real-life history of the VT eugenics project of the 1930s, Second Glance asks if truth is always something that can be measured… and if what can be measured is indeed always true.

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Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I absolutely loved this book and couldnt put it down. The story unfolds over the course of one day when a secret brotherhood, The Illuminati, who were thought long extinct, send an assassin into the vatican.Mayhem ensues with this faced paced novel.

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The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I found this compelling reading from start to finish.
It is about a little girl who gets horribly murdered by a serial killer and the story is told through her in heaven and how she watches over her grieving family and friends.
Beautifully written and a very emotional read.

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Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel

Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book is about The Holocaust using animals. The central character is Henry who is a novelist having had one book be a huge success, finds it difficult to get published his latest offering which is about the Holocaust.
He moves away and eventually, through a series of events, leads him to a taxidermest who has written a play about The Holocaust through Beatrice and Virgil who are a stuffed donkey and a howler monkey.
I found this book strange, weird but compelling and couldn't put it down.

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The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross

The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Business man Ben Raab is arrested and investigated by the FBI for laundering money for a Columbian mobsters. He and his family are put into the witness protection programme but his oldest daughter kate decides she does not want to do this. She tries to carry on with her life, but others have very different ideas. It leads Kate on a discovery about how her father really is.
This is a great thriller and full of suspense.It is a real page turner and very well written.

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The Perfect Murder by Peter James

The Perfect Murder by Peter James


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is very well written. I enjoyed every page.
Victor and his wife Joan, can't stand each other. They have been married for 20 years.
Victor wants to kill his wife but unbeknown to him, Joan wants to kill him too.

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Book's read

I have got behind in my blogging of book's I have read so I will list them here in one entry so I can start afresh with new books.

Vengeance in Death by J.D Robb
Agatha Raison and the Terrible Tourist by M C Beaton
Doctors and Nurses by Lucy Ellmann
Artic Drift by Clive cussler
The Last Oracle by James Rollins
Agatha Raison and the Wellspring of Death by M C Beaton
Holiday in Death by J D Robb
Death of a Gossip by M C Beaton
The Third Pig Detective Agency by Bob Burke

Lucky Me!

I follow www.waterstones.com on Facebook and last week they wrote an entry saying they had a few copies of Beatrice and Virgil by the Booker Prize winner Yann Martel to give away providing it's read and then reviewed on their site. I apllied thinking I probably wouldn't receive one. Well, I was wrong and a copy turned up this morning! I am chuffed to bits. The book is a proof version as it's not on general release. Publishing date is April the 13th I believe.

This is what Goodreads have to say on the book.

Fate can take many forms. For Henry, a writer living in a foreign city, it arrives in the form of an envelope from a reader. Instead of the usual fan mail, the envelope contains a story by Flaubert, a scene from a play featuring two characters named Beatrice and Virgil, and a note asking for Henry’s help. The note is signed “Henry,” and the return address is not far from where Henry lives. When Henry walks his dog to hand-deliver his response, he is surprised to discover a taxidermist’s shop. Here, stunning specimens are poised on the brink of action, silent and preternaturally still, yet bursting with the palpable life of a lost, vibrant world. And when the mysterious, elderly taxidermist introduces his visitor to Beatrice and Virgil—a donkey and a howler monkey—Henry’s life is changed forever.

Yann Martel’s previous novel, Life of Pi, has become a modern classic. A fantastical tale about a boy and a tiger shipwrecked in the Pacific, it asked probing questions about belief and reality. Now Martel has written another story that uses animals to examine our humanity. In Beatrice and Virgil, he poses enduring questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity. Haunting and unforgettable, this is an extraordinary feat of storytelling.

Knife by R.J.Anderson

Knife by R.J. Anderson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a lovely story. It tells of a fairy (Knife) who befriends a young man who is in a wheelchair and of how they help save 'Knifes' fairy folk in their tree in the young mans garden. Beautifully written, a must read for lovers of adult fairy tales.

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The Prophecy by Chris Kuzneski

The Prophecy by Chris Kuzneski


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book, a real page turner.
When the prophetic writings of sixteenth-century visionary Nostradamus begin to ring alarmingly true, Payne and Jones find themselves in a life-or-death race across the world to stop those who would use the French seer’s predictions for their own dark purposes.

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Starting over by Tony Parsons

Starting over by Tony Parsons


My rating:4 of 5 stars





This is my first read by Tony Parsons and I couldn't put the book down. It is the story of a man who has a heart transplant and the turmoil it brings upon his family when he is given a new lease of life. It is told from the man's point of view and is very compelling reading.

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Pilot Error by Bill Knox

Pilot Error by Bill Knox


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I had a lot of trouble getting into this book and nearly ditched it but I persevered with it. I'm not sure if it was the storyline or whether my fragmented reading of it made it hard to read. probably a bit of both.


Synopsis

A Thane and Moss mystery.Chief Inspector Colin Thane of Glasgow CID has a bad case of the Monday morning blues. Not only is he fighting a bout of flu, he’s also overwhelmed by departmental bureaucracy and the little matter of his latest assignment – the investigation of a private plane crash which has claimed the lives of two employees from a local travel agency.

And when a third employee of Eurobreak Vacations dies, and the wreckage of the aircraft is blown to smithereens, it seems likely to Thane that someone at Eurobreak is organising something rather more sinister than holidays.

So Thane and his trusted colleague Phil Moss retrace the final steps of the recently departed and take off for the Highlands on a little busman’s holiday of their own.

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The Gropes by Tom Sharpe

The Gropes by Tom Sharpe


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It's been a while since I read a Tom Sharpe and I thoroughly enjoyed his latest offering. The book is both witty and humourous. A must read for those who liked the Wilt series.

Synopsis

It is one of the more surprising facts about old England that one can still find families living in the same houses their ancestors built centuries before and on land that has belonged to them since before the Norman Conquest. The Gropes of Grope Hall are one such family.

A brilliantly funny novel about what happens when the women take charge. The Gropes are an old English family based in Northumberland, separated from the rest of society and as eccentric as they come. It is a line dominated by strong-willed and oversexed women, determined to produce more female heirs regardless of whether their desired partners are willing or not.

At the dawn of the new millennium, tired and gormless teenager Esmond is abducted and lured to Grope Hall by a descendant of the Gropes. Young Esmond is powerless to escape, and his kidnap sets in motion a stream of farcical events that will have readers laughing out loud.

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Chill Factor by Peter Turnbull

Chill Factor by Peter Turnbull


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the third Hennessey and Yellich Mystery book I read from Peter Turnbull. The detective work is superb and the characters are very believable. A must read for those you enjoy crime/mystery novels.

Synopsis

A corpse is discovered in the middle of the city of York. It is of a male; with no identification, shot, and tortured before his murder. It seems to be a professional hit, by the look of it. Gary "Hammer" Sledge turns out to be part of a large family well-known to the police, and most with previous form, and out for revenge at the killing of one of their own. Gradually people talk; hints are dropped; and trails appear - all leading to a man with no record and who has never been inside a police station. But the police know him - he's connected to another unexplained sudden death, and another, and a few more. Detective Chief Inspector George Hennessey and his stalwart assistant Sergeant Yellich need to find this Mr Big - who has a particularly chilling method of disposing of the human evidence...

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Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage by M.C. Beaton


My rating: 3 of 5 stars




I just love the character of Agatha. She is brash and so forward. I enjoyed this book imensely!

Synopsis:
The morning of Agatha's marriage to James Lacey dawns bright and clear. But her luck runs out in the church when Jimmy, the husband she had believed long dead, turns up large as life and twice as ugly. Agatha has a go at strangling him. James breaks off the engagement. So when Jimmy is found murdered next day, Agatha and James are both the prime suspects. And they'll have to work together in order to clear their names . . .

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Assassin's Creed: Renaissance by Oliver Bowden

Assassin's Creed: Renaissance by Oliver Bowden


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have never played the game and wouldn't want to but I really enjoyed the book which is based on the game.
It is sent in the 1400's in Italy. I don't want to say too much as I don't want to type a spoiler, but I would recommend this book highly.

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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I am ashamed to say that this is the first time I have read one of these books based on Sherlock Holmes. I think it stands up very well in it's own right in this day and age still. Its elementary dear Watson!

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My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a very moving book. It tells of a child who has leukemia and the parents have another child so they can harvest stuff from her body to save their first daughter.The second daughter then decides to take her parents to court to stop the medical precedures. I found this compelling reading and could see both sides of the story.

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The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka


My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I got this as a freebie in PDF format for my Sony Reader on www.goodreads.com. Its a strange story indeed about a man waking up and finding himself transformed into a bug and how his family try to adapt. This is Kafka's most famous short story although I have to admit to not knowing about him.

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Synopsis
In Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman by trade, awakens one morning to find his body has mutated into that of a repulsive bug. Outwardly a monstrous insect, only his thought processes remain human.

As his family grow accustomed to supporting themselves without his once essential income, Gregor’s suffering becomes ever more pronounced. He witnesses the corruption of their former dependence on him. Obliged to work to keep themselves and admit lodgers to their home, the Samsa family generates a disgust and a contempt for the creature that has supported them for so long, imprisoning Gregor in the stasis of an unused box room. His sister, Grete, to whom he was once so close, now wants to be rid of him, his father’s new industry leaves him no time to remember the transformed son he used to terrorise, and his loving mother now neglects him.