Pseudo's Booklog

Oh look!

2011-10-29T19:21:00.002+13:00

A blog that I forgot I had! Let's see - if I ever get to the end of the book I'm reading, I'll have to remember to start posting again.

The Time Travellers Wife

2009-09-13T11:09:00.002+12:00

By Audrey Niffenegger

One of those books that absolutely everyone raves about, I stayed well clear of it until last year, when I picked it up at a boot sale for a buck (what's not to lose?). I'm glad that I came to it eventually, and discovered that the adoration professed by everyone who reads it is pretty much spot on. The characters are flawed and human, each wrapped up in their own problems, but still likable, and the love story that is weaved around is exquisitely played out.

I have read this before, so had an idea of what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this story, even if it was powerful enough to bring me to tears. I hope the movie can measure up to the sky-high expectations this book gave me.

Date finished: 13/11/09
Year total: no idea!

The Last House in the Galaxy

2009-03-22T13:35:00.000+13:00

Andy Secombe

The blurb suggested a funny book, which was enough for me to give it a try. I'm glad I did; this is a relatively light read, taking place all over the galaxy as the rebels try to steal a device out from under the Evil Dictator that would give them the advantage. With not-very-subtle comparisons to Star Wars and a thoroughly British sense of storytelling, this wasn't so much laugh-a-minute as it was a case of reading for an hour and not realising that time was passing.

Although I didn't get the sense that it was part of a series, I'd be keen to see what else I can find by Secombe. If it's much like this book, it'll be totally worth the effort.

Date finished: 21/03/09
Year total: 12

The X Files: Goblins & Whirlwinds

2009-03-22T13:30:00.000+13:00

Charles L Grant

Two separate stories, these are set near the first season of the show, before too much of the Conspiracy is looked into. Goblins deals with a military experiment gone astray, and comes to a climax at night in torrential rain. Whirlwinds takes place in the Southwest desert and involves Indian magic.

Both were good reads, and it's possible to pick up the conversations as they flow on the show; I'm not sure a non-fan would get much out of these stories, but they were a good way to spend an afternoon, almost nostalgic.

Date finished: 18/03/09
Year Total: 11

Doctor Who and The Bodysnatchers

2009-03-22T13:26:00.000+13:00

Mark Morris

The Doctor and Sam find themselves in Victorian England, while bodies are being stolen from graveyards and living people completely change their personalities.

I love the thread of humour that flows thru these books; it's possible to replace any doctor with your favourite and still have a recognisable Doctor.

Date finished: 11/03/09
Year total: 10

Face the Fire

2009-03-22T13:24:00.000+13:00

Nora Roberts

Magic in modern times; a coven of three is invaded by a love interest from years ago, just in time to do battle with an evil threatening to destroy them and their homes.

I this had the potential for me to really like it, but the fact that it was obviously the third in a trilogy, and nowhere on the cover did it say that (I would have read the others first if it had) meant that I was continually skipping bits that referred to other books, or just not understanding the undertones that followed the story.

I don't think I'll bother with any books by this author for a while. The fact that it was more like reading a Mills & Boon from page 110 meant that I was more frustrated than entertained.

Date finished: 04/03/09
Year Total: 9

True Grace:

2009-03-01T09:43:00.001+13:00

The Life and Times of an American Princess

Wendy Leigh
0312381948
2008

Maybe I expect too much from biographies, but while I now know a lot more about Grace Kelly than I did before, I didn't really feel that I understood her by the time I finished this book.

Of course, it's always going to be difficult writing about someone who is no longer living, but it seemed that a lot of this book was based on interviews about people that knew her, and what they thought of her, instead of interviewing the people themselves.

Date Finished: 28/02/09
Year Total: 8

The Reliquary Ring

2009-03-01T09:38:00.001+13:00

Cherith Baldry
0330492071
2004

Set in an alternative Venice, where Genics, genetically engineered creatures designed to serve, are an abomination to the upstanding citizens and the Church, but where they are also intelligent, thinking people, caught in a world they didn't ask for.

I thought this would be a quite bit of fluff, judging from the cover, but it was better than I expected. The was a large cast of characters, and while the genics were fleshed out, I felt that most of the humans were a little cliched, used as a backdrop to a story that rightly centred on the more interesting plight of the genics.

Date finished: 21/02/09
Year total: 7

Was

2009-02-15T11:41:00.001+13:00

Geoff Ryman

The 'real' story of Dorothy Gael and her life with her Aunt and Uncle in Kansas. There were other stories mixed in along the way, of Judy Garland while she was filming the movie, of a strange little Canadian boy, and a young man who goes to work in a mental hospital.

The other stories were distracting to me, until they started coming together and I could see the links that held everyone together.

There were two main themes that came through in this for me - sadness and futility. Although it should have been a really depressing read, it wasn't. I am a little relieved that it's finished and I can go on to something else, but I'm glad that I read it, and saw that the other side of the rainbow can hide an awful lot.

Date finished: 13/02/09
Year Total: 6

Much Obliged, Jeeves

2009-02-03T18:32:00.000+13:00

P.G. Wodehouse
0099706903
1971

I was expecting this to be a quick read, but found the formal language a bit of a shock and I had to slow down and think about a little more than the picture on the cover suggested.

That said, it didn't take long to adjust to the pace, and I found that I was able to really savour both the language and the story, rather than try to finish it and move onto the next one.

I felt that I was missing a lot of jokes and references to previous books, which was annoying, but the story itself was delightful. I don't think I'll actively hunt out the rest of the series, but would read them if they were handy.

Date finished: 03/02/09
Year Total: 5

A Song for Nero

2009-01-25T09:27:00.001+13:00

Thomas Holt
0-349-11614-8

Nero died in a ditch, his last words immortalised and repeated as legend. So the man dodging guards and prison cells all over the Empire was just a bloke who happened to look a little like him, right?

Told from the point of view of Nero's companion, a little Greek who fancies himself a thief (not a very good one, as he keeps getting caught), this book manages to be both funny and tragic, with an ending that makes you realise that Galen isn't quite as smart as he thinks he is.

Not a bad read, but there are pages where I felt my eyes glaze over. Not enough paragraphs breaks, and it's hard to plough through six pages of solid narrative.

Date finished: 25/01/08
Year total: 4

Doctor Who and the Heart of Tardis

2009-01-25T09:22:00.000+13:00

Dave Stone

Finished 14 January
Year Total: 3

The Cairo Diary

2009-01-09T21:02:00.001+13:00

By Maxim Chattam

Year Total: 2

Doctor Who and The Murder Game

2009-01-09T21:00:00.001+13:00

Steve Lyons

Featuring the Second Doctor, Ben and Polly.

Year Total: 1

Hades' Daughter

2008-12-17T21:10:00.000+13:00

Sara Douglass
0765344424
2003

The first of a trilogy. Brutus, the last of the Trojan kings, rounds up his people and takes them to the island of Albion to rebuild Troy. As the original was, his new city was to be founded on the Game, the labyrinth that traps evil and protects the city above. He would build it with the help of Genvissa, a powerful priestess with her own agenda.

I found this a little hard to read; it's an enthralling story, but the nature of the characters and the storyline itself just weren't that easy to like. Still, the whole ultimate showdown between good and evil kept me going, and it paid off. The story draws you in, and you spend the entire length of the story trying to figure out who is on which side, or even how many sides there are.

Date finished: 16/12/08
Year Total: 38

The Margarets

2008-12-17T20:58:00.001+13:00

Sherri I Tepper
978-0-57508-0-478
2007

Margaret, the only child on a station orbiting Mars, invents other selves to pay with - a queen, a healer, a warrior... a whole collection of roles to lose herself in. And without her knowing it, each of her selves find themselves living their own lives, while strings are pulled from much, much further away.

This is a big book, in size and scope. Each Margaret has her own story and own cast of supporting characters, so I found I really had to concentrate to keep track of what was going on, even more so as things fell into place.

The story was well-told and not rushed, and was hard to put down. I thought the end, with the final Margaret, was a little saccharine, but maybe she deserved that; I personally preferred the quieter fate of Sophia, but it was nice to see the promise of real progress.

Date finished: 10-12-08
Year total: 37

The Nosy Neighbor

2008-11-30T20:37:00.001+13:00

Fern Michaels
074347749-9
2005

Romance, but at least there is a dog on the front cover and not a half naked male model, which was encouraging. A lot of this book is conversation, which meant I had to slow my regular reading speed right down, or the characters seemed to consist of deranged babbling – random sentences thrown together with no kind of pause in between.

Girl has a guy, who turns out to be the Bad Guy. Cue nosey neighbour, who is the Good Guy, add a sidekick, three dogs and a blizzard, and you have this story.

There were annoying bits throughout, not least the fact that for a couple of pages they changed the spelling of the Good Guy's name, and the overall tone was like a TV movie – too much implied emotion and the feeling that the book was rushed. Maybe if they'd added another five thousand words things would have slowed down to a more believable pace.

Year total: 36

The Oracle's Queen

2008-11-30T20:33:00.001+13:00

Lynn Flewelling
0-73227749-3
2006

Tamir - formally Prince Tobin - has announced her intentions to restore Skala to its former glory. Allegiances are declared, but Tamir must face her cousin Korin, touched by an evil wizard and convinced that he is the rightful king.

This series was great - the first and second books were absolutely riveting (I stayed up to midnight just to keep reading), while the third wrapped up the story convincingly. There was one thing that I was wondering about that revealed how cunning the author was - a tiny thread woven through each book was revealed at the end to be part of a new series of books, which amused me and got me interested as well.

Year Total: 35

The Hidden Warrior

2008-11-30T20:29:00.001+13:00

Lynn Flewelling
0-732-27712-4
2003

Book Two of the Tamir triad.

Tobin, the nephew of King Erius, is finally told of his heritage - he is a girl, hidden by magic from the lethal ambitions of his uncle, and destined to fulfill the prophecies of a new queen. But between her and the throne is Erius, a formidable and terrifying king, and her beloved cousin Korin, who she has sworn to serve and protect.

Year Total: 34

The Bone Doll's Twin

2008-11-30T20:26:00.001+13:00

Lynn Flewelling
0-732-27035-9
2001

First book of the Tamir Triad.

Skala, ruled by King Erius, is an unsettled country. The prophecies speak of a queen, but after Erius' female relatives all die, what hope is there?

The king's sister, the last woman with royal blood, gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Through magic, one child dies, and one lives. But who is who? And what is the demon that haunts the surviving child?

Year Total: 33

Bill, The Galactic Hero

2008-11-05T12:18:00.001+13:00

Harry Harrison
1965
1-85798-805-8

The adventures of Bill, drafted into the troopers to fight the Chingers, a fearsome seven-foot-tall lizard (which turns out to be seven inches instead). Quickly disillusioned with the army he was drugged into joining, he finds himself in all sorts of trouble with all sorts of people.

This is hilarious, and the technology imagined from the 60s is a welcome relief from the technical jargon that goes with most modern science fiction. I wouldn't mind reading the rest of the Bill series, if I can find them.

Date finished: 05/11/08
Book Number: 32

Nobody True

2008-11-04T13:46:00.000+13:00

James Herbert
1-405-04173-0

Jim True had a habit of leaving his body and wandering around London as a spirit, looking in on an oblivious humanity. One night, his physical body is murdered while he is out and about, and he returns to find that he has nothing to come back to.

Unable to influence anything or communicate with anyone, and sunk in the misery that accompanies the realisation that he has left his wife and daughter alone, he hangs around, and learns more about his life and family than he could have imagined. But why is he still here? Is it simply a case of a haunting? Or is he able to stop the serial killer that is stalking the city?

Some of the things he discovers were predictable - there are only so many family secrets that you can guess about - while some of Moker's habit took me by surprise. While some of the digressions were interesting and revealed more about the main character, I thought that the ending was a little feel-good; the imparting of wisdom on forgiveness rang a little sugary, especially after the horrific events throughout the rest of the book. Still, this was a good read; not too gory, but still unsettling and thought-provoking.

Finished: 04/11/08
Number: 31

No Flame but Mine

2008-11-04T13:34:00.001+13:00

Tanith Lee
2008
ISBN 978-0-330-41311-4

From daughterofthenightcom, "Searching for the beautiful witch Jemhara, the magician Thryfe
at last finds her in the reinvented town of Kandexa, where a strange and passionate wooing begins. From this union
a son is born - golden-skinned, red-haired, blue-eyed - and thus the Lionwolf returns to the world of men.

Unaware of his birth, his original mother, the goddess Saftri has begun her own search for her lost love Althluan ...
while elsewhere the black and shining ones, the children of Chillel, seek to establish claims on the ice-locked planet.
Beyond, over, under all, the evil god Zzth rages and plans the ruin of these separate immortal lives.

Meanwhile, strafed by the tumult of such conflicting powers, the be-wintered Earth of mortals can only wait to learn
her destiny.(back cover copy)"

This book sort of wrapped up loose ends, but I didn't really follow the thread of Chillel's children very well, and glossed over that to some extent.

All up, this trilogy was more enjoyable than most of the books that I've attempted lately, and has reignited an interest in Lee's books.

Not sure when I finished it (will really have to work harder at keeping track), but that was number 30 for the year.

Here in Cold Hell

2008-11-04T13:30:00.000+13:00

Tanith Lee
2005
ISBN 0 330 41310 4

Book 2 of the Lionwolf Trilogy, and better than the first, if only because there is no 'perfect' hero riding around ruining it for everyone else. In fact, his hell is more intriguing than Lionwolf himself.

Cast a Bright Shadow

2008-10-04T16:23:00.001+13:00

Tanith Lee
2004
ISBN 0-330-41309-0

Finished last week sometime; have been really lazy and not reviewed it, but it was good enough to hold my interest, which is saying something at the moment. Currently reading book 2 of the trilogy.

Highlander In Love

2008-08-18T18:52:00.000+12:00

Julia London
2005
0-7434-6508-3

Half-naked man on the cover means I approached this book with a measure of skepticism, and the title means I really wasn't expecting much in the way of indepth prose.

Luckily, both cover and title belied the story itself, which had a healthy dose of humour and a lot of rural Scotland in it, making it more than readable. The love scenes I pretty much skipped over, but the ebb and flow of the story made it interesting enough without them anyway.

The author has apparently written about the other members of the family as well, but I don't think I'll be in a hurry to hunt them down. While this was a good weekend read, I'm just not that interested in the rest of the family.

Date Finished: 18/08/08
Year Total: 27

The Shadow Walker:

2008-07-09T18:29:00.002+12:00

Murder at the Edge of the World
Michael Walters
2006
1-84724-080-1

The blurb on the back of book describes an horrific murder facing Nergui, chief of the Serious Crimes Team in Mongolia, so it came as a surprise that much of the story, including the entire first half, is told from the point of view of a British detective instead.

That small gripe aside, it was refreshing to read a murder mystery in such an exotic location, and the story came together at a good pace, without the sneak peeks at the bad guys that you usually get.

Nergui remained a mystery until the end, and while I didn't feel that the outcome was as sinister as the blurb predicted, it was realistic and retained the edginess right to the very last page. This was a good weekend book, as it was easy to get lost in.

Date Finished: 09/07/08
Year Total: 26

Intimate Letters

2008-06-28T15:28:00.002+12:00

Bel Mooney
1997
0-7515-2261-9

Rosa McKee, just on the point of forgiving her husband for forgetting their 22nd wedding anniversary, is shocked when he dies of a heart attack, shattering her life.
But hard on the heels of her loss is the discovery of letters that he had written - love letters, to a mystery woman. Rosa's grief is replaced with fury, and as the betrayals mount up, she is forced to work through them, for no one can survive on hate alone.
This is very different to the books I generally read, and I found it stifling to be trapped in a first-person view for so long, especially as so much of the story happens in Rosa's mind. It was a relief to get it finished, and I have to admit, I don't think I'm the right kind of audience for this introspective, emotional journey.

Date Finished: 28/06/08
Year Total: 25

Reprisal

2008-06-24T19:48:00.003+12:00

Peter Yeldham
1994
1-86412-020-7

Seven years after a near-perfect bank robbery in Sydney, the body of the only man caught turns up bobbing in Sydney Harbour. Detective Frank Borodin is put on the case by his boss McTaggart, who, although he has been obsessed with the case from the get-go, is a pain in the backside who is quickly relegated a fringe role. Borodin, his young partner and impossibly beautiful girlfriend throw themselves into the case, only to discover that it is not the main crime going on.

This was an entertaining read. Borodin is a fairly down-to-earth character, and was by far the most realistic - everyone else seemed exaggarated almost beyond a joke; Toby reminds me of an eager puppy, McTaggart is a bolshy political wannabe, while every man in the vicinity seems to fall in love with Joanna at first sight. Still, these are minor complaints, as each character is outshone by the storyline itself, which stayed interesting well after the showdown with the bad guy.

Date Finished: 23/06/08
Year Total: 24

The Officers' Ward

2008-06-17T18:09:00.002+12:00

Marc Dugain
1998
1-86159-177-2

Lieutenant Adrian, arriving at the front lines at the beginning of the Great War, is blown up on his very first day and removed to Paris, where he spends the entire war in a hospital ward built especially for men who have lost their faces.

Between operations to repair the damage and rebuild what they can, Adrian finds three friends, and together they find the strength to continue living in the face of fear and pity in the outside world.

Written sparsely, this book is strangely moving; in spite of the sometimes bald narration, you are drawn in to the world of the sheltered and injured, so that the ending is both poignant and heartbreaking. This was a surprise find, and one that will be with me for a long time.

Date finished: 17/06/08
Year total: 23

Good Omens

2008-06-12T19:53:00.003+12:00

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
1990
978-0-57508-0-485

The Antichrist has been born - the end times are coming. Or they would be, if anyone knew where the baby ended up. Two beings, one on each side, are desperate to find out, but not because they want to be there when Armageddon begins...

I read this years ago, and have remembered it as a great read. It's not - it's brilliant. Witty, entertaining and raising a couple of points that everyone should have thought of themselves, this is now one of my all-time favourites. Both authors or living legends, with legions of fans, and the combination (even if they admit it was before they were cool) is irresistible.

Date Finished: 12/06/08
Year Total: 22

Claudia: Daughter of Rome

2008-06-10T19:48:00.001+12:00

Antoinette May
2006
0-7528-8660-2

The niece of Aggripina, (mother of Caligula) Claudia is no stranger to intrigue and politics, but as her story takes her from the arms of her family to her husband and her own family, she learns what true sorrow and pain is.

Gifted with the sight, she is tormented by her dreams, and devotes herself to her passions. Her story weaves in and out of accepted history; friends with Mary Magdalene and wife of Pontius Pilate, this is the story of an historical side note, richly fleshed out into an entertaining and absorbing read.

Date Finished: 10/06/08
Year Total: 21

The Moth Diaries

2008-06-10T19:41:00.002+12:00

Rachel Klein
2002
0-571-22463-6

The diary of a 16yo girl at boarding school, with foreword and afterword by the diarist as an adult. Starting at the beginning, with the impatience of waiting for Lucy, her best friend and roommate, and detailing the way teenage life ebbs and flows and begins to spiral out of control.

As Lucy seemingly deserts the unnamed writer in favour of Ernessa, things start to deteriorate, and the writer's obsession with Ernessa grows.

This was a disturbing read, as things get more dangerous and the inevitable ending, I found it a relief to finish.

Date Finished: 04/06/08
Year Total: 20

Something Rotten

2008-05-28T19:35:00.003+12:00

Jasper Fforde
2004
0-340-83558-3

Thursday Next is back from the world of fiction, and ready to fight once more for the return of her husband, both for her own sake and for that of her son, Friday.

This book is every bit as delicious and ridiculous as the other three that precede it, and just as addictive. Several things unwind through this story and are neatly wrapped up, and you are left with the feeling that although Thursday's part in Fforde's world may no longer be the starring role, we won't be left with nothing.

Definitely one of my favourite authors, but with one downfall - if I start to rave half as much as I want to about this story, I will be giving too much away. Take my word for it though: this is a book to entertain.

Date Finished: 28/05/08
Year Total: 19

Thirteen

2008-05-20T20:25:00.002+12:00

Sebastian Beaumont
2006
1-905802-03

Stephen is a night-shift taxi driver. As he realises the state of exhaustion he is courting, he discovers that things that he has taken for granted are not what he thought - in one case, not part of the real world.

Although he is warned off, he is drawn increasingly to the world of Thirteen, growing more and more obsessed with the mysterious people who flit in and out of his life.

This started off promising, but as he got further and further in and felt that he was discovering a lot about himself, I felt that I wasn't getting anywhere. It seemed to get more confusing, and the ending felt like no ending whatsoever.

Disappointing.

Date Finished: 20-05-08
Year Finished: 18

Eddy Deco's Last Caper

2008-05-20T20:22:00.001+12:00

Gahan Wilson
1987
0-07-0707-28-6

An illustrated mystery, this book is a fun, light and ridiculous way to spend a Sunday morning.

Date Finished: 10-05-08
Year Total: 17

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters

2008-05-07T18:53:00.002+12:00

G.W. Dahlquist
2006
0-670-91652-8

Written in a heavy, formal style and comprising over 700 pages, this book is immense, which is all the more surprising when you get to the end and realise that the entire story takes place within a matter of three days.

Miss Temple, suddenly and inexplicably dumped by her fiance, follows him, determined to find out why. She finds herself gatecrashing a terrible secret gathering, and endangers herself in the process. Cardinal Chang, scoundral for hire, finds himself at the same party, only to discover that the man he was hired to kill was already dead, and himself emboiled in the same dangerous conspiracy. And Dr Svenson, a foreigner trying to protect the idiotic prince he serves, lands in the middle of it as well. The three of them band together, fighting for their lives against a cabal armed with impossible powers.

Incredibly detailed, I found this story unique in that every moment is told from each point of view, presenting a horrifyingly vivid epic. I'm really pleased I stuck with this beyond the initial thought of such a big book written in such formal prose – the reward is infinitely worth it.

Date finished: 07/05/08
Year Total: 16

Miriam's Talisman

2008-04-20T11:35:00.002+12:00

Eleanor Gill
2007
9781869507022

Miriam, Cloe's beloved grandmother, has died, and left all her possessions to Cloe, but the one that really matters is a strange pendant, which Chloe promises never to remove. Hannah, Cloe's mother, has been left nothing, and Chloe dreads breaking the news, but it is the sight of the pendant around her daughter's neck that Hannah is shocked by. Chloe, caught up in a mystery of her own, is too distracted to wonder why, but as she learns more, she realises that her perceptions of her mother and grandmother have been tainted.

This book got me thinking about the nature of family relationships, and how well we can know people without actually knowing anything about them. I think that Chloe made the right decision and that Miriam, caught up in events, is ultimately a figure to be pitied.

Date Finished: 19/04/08
Year Total: 15

Mistress of Death

2008-04-15T18:48:00.002+12:00

Ariana Franklin
2007
978-0-593-05648-6

A murder mystery set in twelfth century England, being looked into by a European Jew, a Saracen, and a female pathologist, this does not start as a particularly realistic story.

The language is somewhat stilted, and my two favourite characters fall victim to the killer, so my interest in this story went up and down, depending. Adelia seems a character out of time, and would be more suited to a CSI-style novel than a medieval one.

Still, I was curious to see who the killer was (it wasn't who I thought it was), and then I was curious to see why there were so many pages to go after the big revelation.

Date finished: 15/04/08
Year total: 14

American Gods

2008-04-13T12:17:00.002+12:00

Neil Gaiman
2001
0-7472-7417-7

Shadow is being released from prison a few days early. Not because of good behaviour, but because his wife, the one person he has in the world, has been killed. At a loss, Shadow takes up a job offer from a mysterious man, and embarks on the strangest of journeys, meeting the strangest of people.

There is a storm coming, a battle between old and new, and Shadow - big, quiet Shadow - has found himself in the middle of it. Haunted by his wife, and of the promise made to serve Wednesday, he travels all over America.

This is a riveting book. Gaiman weaves a story so far-reaching and enthralling that it becomes a compulsion to read. The characters are old, if not all familiar. and each revelation is unexpected. I admit, I was completely taken by surprise at the big climax, and the pages that followed were a good warm-down. Once again, Gaiman has given me another reason to start collecting his books, as I get the feeling this is one that will be even better the second time around.

Date finished: 10/04/08
Year total: 13

Tall, Dark and Cajun

2008-04-05T14:46:00.001+13:00

Sandra Hill
2003
0-446-61294-4

I haven't read a trashy romance for years, so I hit this one with a bit of apprehension, expecting something wildly entertaining but not very deep. And that's what I got: the characters were sketched in only as much as they needed to be, and the plot was almost obscured by pages and pages of sexual tension.

The first thing that struck me was the language. Some parts were laugh-out-loud corny ('She stared at him hungrily, as if he were a Whitmans sampler and she was a chocoholic.'), while some of it seemed almost old-fashioned in the language. That said, I was surprised by how entertaining this book actually was. While the ending was already determined, the story itself had enough turns to keep me interested, and the final few pages contained a promise from the author to write the stories of some of the other characters. While I don't think I'll actively hunt them down, I will be taking a closer look at the romance section at the library.

Date Finished: 05/04/08
Year Total: 12

Unseen Unheard Unknown

2008-04-02T19:31:00.003+13:00

Sarah Hamilton-Byrne
1995
0-14-01743406

Raised in a private compound belonging to a secretive cult, Sarah spends her childhood and puberty in the centre of what it known as The Family. This is her story, from earliest memory to her escape, and the struggle she has faced to adapt to the outside world.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this, but her style is friendly and casual, and easy to get lost in. She is very respectful of the brothers and sisters who shared her ordeal, and is careful to make sure the reader is aware that she speaks only for herself and of her own experiences.

Of her experiences, I am a little torn. On one hand, I admit that I can't comprehend the sheer misery and fear that she has tried to convey - the incidents she recalls are horrific - and at the same time I am awed by the strength she has had to overcome her depression and suicidal thoughts.

Date Finished: 02/03/08
Year Total: 11

The Fog

2008-03-21T10:31:00.003+13:00

James Herbert
1975
0-450-03045-8

Nothing is as insubstantial as fog, so when it's the enemy, how do you fight it?

An earthquake releases a fog into the English countryside, where it roams at the mercy of the wind, sending any creature it touches completely insane. Holman, exposed and apparently immune, is left to try and convince that his story isn't fantasy, and to figure out how you fight a mist.

This is one of those horrors that unnerve you - there is normality mixed with unimaginable craziness. There is no central bad guy; everyone has the potential to lose their mind, so there is an uneasiness rather than an out-and-out fear, which seems even scarier.

There were several points in this book where I had to put it down altogether to get my head around what was happening, but it was also a story where I really had to know how it ended.

There was one thing that I thought was missed from the ending - the fate of McLellan's family wasn't told - but aside from that I thought this was riveting, and made more so for two reasons: it was set in England rather than America, and it was written in the 70s, so there wasn't the annoying convenience of technology like mobile phones and the internet.

Another reason why James Herbert is becoming my favourite author.

Date Finished: 20/03/08
Year Total: 10

Lord John & The Brotherhood of the Blade

2008-03-21T10:12:00.003+13:00

Diana Gabaldon
2007
978-844-13201-0

Gabaldon admits that her books contain vast numbers of characters to keep track of, and this one is certainly no different. In spite of losing track and just flowing, this is a good read.

Lord John this time investigates his father's death, years before, after his brother receives a page torn from his fathers stolen journal. Along the way he is distracted by both a romantic addition to his life and family, and a campaign against the French.

I've always been a fan of Diana Gabaldon, so I knew this was going to be an enjoyable book, even if I forgot who was who among the background characters.

Date Finished: 16/03/08
Year Total: 9

The Time Travellers Wife

2008-03-16T11:19:00.002+13:00

By Audrey Niffenegger
2004
0-099-46446-4

One of those books that everyone raves about and insists you absolutely must read, I decided to avoid it, and only bought it as part of a bulk-buy at secondhand shop.

It was okay - a love story all out of order, caught between the nice, lineal life of Clare and the scattergun timeline of Henry, who suffers a rare genetic defect that sees him pushed and pulled thru-out his personal timeline.

Timeline stories generally frustrate me or overwhelm me with technical details; this is the first one that I felt comfortable with. Things are more or less told as you need to know as you need to know them, and the bits that are witheld are revealed eventually.

There is humour in this book, mixed in with the love and pain and fear. Altogether, it came out as an okay book, but to be honest I still don't understand the hype surrounding this story.

Date Finished: 02/03/08
Year Total: 8

Search for the Strangler

2008-02-24T08:46:00.003+13:00

Casey Sherman
2003
ISBN 0-446-61468-8

The nephew of the Strangler's last victim, Mary Sullivan, Sherman was introduced to the tragedy by his mother as a teenager, learning that she never believed Albert DeSalvo - the man the State chose - did it.

Deciding to unearth the truth, Sherman starts his own investigation, growing more determined as the authorities refused to co-operate or share what they knew, and even refused to show at scheduled meetings. Using the media to force the state to help, Sherman makes enough headway to prove that DeSalvo was not the Boston Strangler, and leaves the state with two important questions to answer: who did kill all those women, and who is going to be blamed for letting convenient politics get in the way of justice?

Date Finished: 19/02/08
Year Total: 7

Son of a Witch

2008-02-24T08:15:00.002+13:00

Gregory Maguire
2005
ISBN 0-06-08994-2

Following on from Wicked, this story follows the son of the Wicked Witch of the West, Liir, and his journey from vague child to man.

Starting in the middle and recounting Liir's travels from the Witch's mountain castle to the depths of the most notorious prison in Oz, to the squelchy, wet south, where he must face who he could be and what his obligations are.

It's been a while since I read Wicked, and found that I missed having a map to figure out where things were. Most of the characters were easy to remember, although there wasn't much of the sense of meeting old friends, and the ending suggested that there will be another chance to meet them again in another book.

Date finished: 13/02/08
Year Total: 6

Ocean's End

2008-02-06T17:15:00.000+13:00

Colin Woodard
2000
0-465-01571-9

From the Black Sea to the Southern Ocean, Woodard has travelled the seas, talking to anyone he could along the way. Everyone told him the same thing, which he has turned into a compelling and disheartening book: the oceans are in a bad way and getting worse.

While there are accounts of beautiful coral reefs and unique wildlife, ultimately this book filled me with despair. Written in 2000, several predictions have already been fulfilled, most notably the disastrous effects a full force hurricane would have on New Orleans. It seems the rest is coming true as well, at a slower rate.

I learnt a lot from this, and really wish it was required reading for everyone; a good dose of environmentalism is clearly what is needed, and this book delivers in spades.

Date Finished: 06/02/08
Year Total: 5

Murder Most Fab

2008-01-31T18:42:00.000+13:00

Julian Clary
2007

I admit it - I love Julian Clary. Or at least, I loved his Christmas pantos that were on when I was a kid. Although I knew I missed most of the jokes, they were still fun, and I was expecting much of the same here.

Johnny D's life just seems to happen; he stumbles onto a lucrative career as a male prostitute, and from there to being rich and famous, all seemingly without effort or intent - much like the way he kills.

Much of this book shocked me - it's been a while since I read anything so blatant - and towards the end I was starting to really dislike everyone involved, but as Johnny realised what Catherine had done I surprised myself by agreeing with him: I could see the humour in it all as well, even while thinking that it was horribly wrong.

Date Finished: 31/01/08
Year Ended: 4

The Athena Factor

2008-01-26T17:09:00.000+13:00

Michael Gear
2005
ISBN 0-765-35023-8

DNA. Everyone who has seen a crime show knows how easy it is obtain. So why is there a group going to extraordinary - and well-publicised - lengths to gain the DNA of Hollywood's glittering elite? Oscar winner Sheela Marks is one of the targets, and it's her security team, Lymon Bridges and Christal Anaya who must find out why.

While bits of this story annoyed me - Anaya is so perfect that every man who sees her wants her - the story itself is compelling enough that I was happy to overlook the cliches. It moves along at a good pace, and has a good blend of humour and action. While there were long, detailed explanations about genetics, they were easy to absorb, and even made the story feel more movie-like.

The ending was like the rest of the book - realistic enough to be very slightly unsatisfactory, but more importantly, this book makes you think, and presents a worrying future.

Finished: 19/01/08
Year Total: 3

Trade Me: The Novel

2008-01-13T08:12:00.000+13:00

Geoff Vause
2006
ISBN 978-0-473-11476-3

I thought this book would be a quick, fun read about something that has become part of kiwi life: buying and selling on Trade Me, with all that goes with it.

Unfortunately it started off with promise and started going downhill from there. I'm not sure if it's been written specifically for Aucklanders (of which I am not one), but I found things sliding from uncomfortable to silly to ludicrous.

Date Finished: 12/01/08
Year Total: 2

The Vampyre

2008-01-13T07:41:00.000+13:00

Tom Holland
1995
ISBN 0-7515-1361-X

Byron, one of the romantic figures in history, plagued by rumours, supposition and his own moody temperament, has long been the main ingredient for writers of vampire fiction, and although I was expecting something equally as common and cliched here, I've read another book by Holland on vampires that was impressive, so I was more optimistic with this one.

Tracing Byron's first Tour of Europe, we discover how he comes to his death and rebirth, and his struggles with what he becomes. He becomes the Emperor of the vampires, ruling them from Venice while he wiles away lives and people, eventually giving in to his dissatisfaction with his life.

I found this book relatively tedious, and the fact that it's related as a story to another character, complete with extra quote marks, became irritating. The ending was no ending at all, and the story in general did nothing but make me wonder if Polidori was bad enough in real life to warrant the persecution from various authors.

I'm pleased I read this book, as average as it was, because it has underlined how much I like Holland's first book, but I don't think I'll read any more fictional books about Byron; it seems he's too obvious a subject.

Date Finished: 10/01/08
Year Total: 1

The Hippopotamus

2007-12-29T08:10:00.000+13:00

Stephen Fry
1995
ISBN 0-09-918961-5

Ted Wallace is an old, sour, womanising, cantankerous, whisky-sodden beast of a failed poet and drama critic, but he has his faults too.

So begins the blurb on the back of this paperback, and right away you get a sense of just how sour and cynical Ted is. The first chunk of the story is told from his point of view, and while he is an outspoken grump, he does have some redeeming qualities. Agreeing to take large sums of money from his dying goddaughter, he leaves the city to stay at the country lodge of an old friend, to spy and record what he sees for her, with instructions to keep an eye out for anything strange.

Strange things - and people - seem to flock to Swafford, and before long there is a large cast of weird and strange characters, beginning with the family themselves. Even Ted, in his self-centred drunken mess, starts to notice that things aren't quite right at Swafford, and resolves to find out what it is.

Much of the first part of the story is told through letters from various people to each other, and it's interesting to see the way they present one face to the person they are writing to and another completely to everyone there (Patricia especially). As the mystery deepens, the tale switches to third-person, flitting from character to character, but it's easy to follow, and the ending builds up into a bit of a deflating climax that you can't put down.

I love the language used in this; it's more formal than most paperbacks, and so easy to lose yourself in.

Date Finished: 28/12/07
Year Total: 45

It's a Bloody Try Ya Useless Bastard

2007-12-22T15:56:00.000+13:00

Paddy Sweeney
2002
0-9579559-1-X

Starting with two disallowed tries and a punch to the ref, this book epitomises the West Coast Bloke. From ducking shooting with prostitutes to punishing a guy more into the Junior team than he should be, this book outlines some debacles that wouldn't be out of place in real life. The blokes themselves, from Nugger to Knackerless to Echo Arse to Bull Tits, are hilarious caricatures of blokes that any kiwi either knows or can relate to.

However, I found that spelling mistakes throughout the book were quite distracting, and bits of the story were laid on a little thick, but this was a good, quick read that didn't require too much concentration.

Date Finished: 20/12/07
Year Total: 44

Book Lover

2007-12-22T15:51:00.000+13:00

Jennifer Kaufman & Karen Mack
2006
0-00-722724-8

Dora spends her life in books. When she isn't reading, she's buying books, listening to people discuss books, or over-analysing everything that goes on in her life.

I could definitely identify with Dora and the awkward way she doesn't fit into life, and was looking forward to getting lost in the world of another bibliomaniac, but while the quotes at the beginning of each chapter were easy to digest, must of the actual literary references were quite heavy, and even Dora classifies herself as pretentious in places.

On the upside, the chapters were nice and short, each neatly wrapped up with no pesky cliffhangers. This is a book you read to find the ending, not the bit that happens one page over. The pace is steady and the ending is nicely brief and vague, with one name in the one place that gives the entire story the feeling that it was worth it.

Date Finished: 13/12/07
Year Total: 43

How To Be A Little Sod

2007-12-12T18:46:00.000+13:00

Simon Brett
1992
ISBN 0 575 05916 8

"Well, here I am. And after the nine months I've just been through, this had better be good!"

So begins the story of a newborn baby, from day one to the end of the first year. The opening line suggests the rest of the story is going to be observant and funny, but by page 16 I decided that Baby isn't just a little snot, it's a little bastard with no sense of humour at all.

He and She, the parents, are to be punished and made miserable, although beyond producing such a nasty little shit, I'm not sure what they've done wrong.

I suppose parents might be able to identify with this book and find it funny, but being child-free I found it a real drag with little to keep it interesting. I have the two sequels, 'Little Sod's Next Step' and 'Not Another Little Sod' and although they are quick reads to boost my year total, I'm not going to bother.

Date Finished: 09/12/07
Year Total: 42

The Eight

2007-12-09T17:58:00.000+13:00

Katherine Neville
1988
ISBN 0 552 15467 9

I first read this book in high school, and remembered that it totally blew me away, so I snapped it up when I saw it in a secondhand bookstore.

My memory was correct: this book is what the Da Vinci Code aspires to be. The vision and breadth is amazing, and this tale weaves everyone from Napolean to Wordsworth, Voltaire and Benedict Arnold, into an intriguing mystery.

Combining mysticism, mathematics, physics and chess, this is the story of a treasure hunt. The treasure is a near-mythical chess set, disassembled and scattered across Europe during the French Revolution. One of the nuns assigned to protect it, Mirielle, embarks on a journey to discover the secret of the chess service, her efforts mirrored over a century later by Cat and Lily.

This is an incredible book, and although parts of the chess explanations were over my head, the language is plain and easy to follow. Cat's both cynical and humourous, and Mirielle and strong and focused, and each woman has their own appeal. Their stories are combined into the kind of book you willingly lose sleep to get through.

Date Finished: 06/12/07
Year Total: 41

Once...

2007-12-09T08:59:00.000+13:00

James Herbert
2001
ISBN 0 333 76140 5

This is a story about how fairytales are real, and how Thom Kindred rediscovers the faeriefolk living in the woods around his childhood home. After suffering a stroke, he puts the flashing lights and heightened awareness down to his brain misbehaving, but quickly realises that's not the case.

This was a very different story to what I'm used to from Herbert; this was a lot more adult, and much of it involved sex and sensuality. That said, I spent the first part of the book comparing it to the last book I read by the same author (The Secret of Crickley Hall), and it took a while before I could stop second-guessing what was going to happen next.

I did find Nell's transparency a little annoying - only fangs and a black cape seemed to be missing, but her story had a satisfactory ending (for me, definitely not so much for her). The rest of the ending, although just as neat, was much like a fairytale - very neatly packaged and very sappy. I would have liked to have gotten into Hugo's head one more time, but I guess that would have spoiled the mood.

I didn't feel this was a scary horror like Haunted or The Secret of Crickley Hall, and I found it a bit too light to what I was expecting.

Date Finished: 23/11/07
Year Total: 40

Neverwhere

2007-11-17T18:57:00.000+13:00

Neil Gaiman
1996
ISBN 0-563-38746-7

Richard Mayhew is a Scottish office worker living out his life in London. He is engaged, has friends at work, and is dragged around art galleries on weekends by his fiance. He is a sap, but a sap happy enough with his life.

Until he stumbles over a bleeding girl lying in the street. Disobeying his girlfriend, he picks her up and takes her home, and finds his whole life changing in unpleasant ways. First, his desk at work is replaced by a plant, his girlfriend doesn't recognise, and his flat is let to new tenants while he stands naked and invisible in the bathroom.

Richard does the only thing he can think of: he follows Door into London Below, a strange world of the forgotten people of London. He joins her in her quest to avenge her murdered family, meeting some odd people, some odder places and finally, the oddest thing of all, his own mind, talking back to him and forcing him to grow up.

I really enjoyed this book. The range of characters mixed into the twisting plot isn't overwhelming, and Richard's evolution from sap to hero is touched with a dry humour that I really liked. The ending was an opening, so hopefully there will be more books, and is already a BBC series that I will have to investigate.

One of the best of the year.

Date Finished: 17/11/07
Year Total: 39

Desperation

2007-11-14T18:59:00.000+13:00

Stephen King
1996
ISBN 0-340-65428-7

Random people, pulled together by a psychotic cop and promised living hell before death, caught in a desert town under a dust storm, fenced in by strangely obedient coyotes and buzzards.

This book started off like a TV movie that I had to sit through once, so the first dozen pages were passed wondering if it was that movie (and feeling pretty pessimistic about the rest of the story), but it veered off in a whole new direction pretty quick. Once I realised that there were no evil gangs of truckers, and that King's story was far more interesting, I started taking more notice.

This is classic King: the story takes place over one night, yet fills over a thousand pages with the history of people and places. An urban legend turns out to be horribly true, and the small band of arrested travellers realise that they are the only ones who can bring a halt to the insanity around them. The climax is built at a breakneck speed, and you don't really know what's going on until it's happening, so it's hard to put down (must know what happens next!).

I like the amount of detail that King injects into story, as I think it brings a richness to the tale that a lot of other horror writers lack, so the size of this book didn't faze me, although it did become a personal challenge to get it finished as quickly as possible. I'm not sure I'll feel compelled to re-read this story, but the first attempt was pretty enjoyable.

Date Finished: 14/11/07
Year Total: 38

Mankind: Have A Nice Day

2007-11-13T18:41:00.003+13:00

Mick Foley
1999
ISBN 0-06-103101-1

Mankind, in his leather mask and bearing weapons, is one of the biggest fan favourites in the WWE, as well as being one of my favourites. He has a sense of humour alongside his willingness to sacrifice his own body for the entertainment of others, and the back of this book has a partial list of all the injuries he has sustained in his career.

I was interested in this book for two reasons: one, that I'm a fan of Foley, whether he's Cactus Jack, Mankind or Dude Love, and two, I'm as interested in the behind-the-scenes as I am in the show itself. I want to know how it works, and was looking forward to discovering how scripted things actually are.

This book was a surprise, and a good one. Foley is a great writer, injecting a real thread of humour through a story of frustration, determination and celebration. He touched on events that I remember, which seemed to make it more personal, and the photos scattered throughout helped to paint a blood red portrait of an amazing career.

What struck me most was not the self-sacrifice, or the determination to drive thousands of miles to learn how to tackle another wrestler, but a photo plonked into the story with a footnote buried at the end - a bloodied Mick Foley lying on the floor, a towel around his face. Doctors are busy stitching his face up, while his young daughter cheers him up by offering him lollies. That photo made me realise that this is not an extension of the make believe world of feuds and fights, but a real story, about a real guy with real, attainable dreams.

Date Finished: 09/11/07
Year Total: 37

Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

2007-11-10T18:40:00.000+13:00

Gregory Maguire
1995
ISBN 0 06 098710 3

Everyone knows the story of the Wizard of Oz, and the part of the Wicked Witch of the West. While this book recounts that part, it also traces the Witch through her life, painting a picture of a political activist and guilt-ridden lover.

Elphaba, the Witch, seems a strange choice of hero, but as the Wizard reshapes Oz, ordering pogroms and condemning intelligent Animals to the lives of ordinary animals, it becomes clear where the real evil lies. As Elphaba moves away from her schoolfriends and into the shadowy world of terrorism, some of her reasoning becomes harder to follow, but once the political intentions of the wizard - and of Elphaba's sister, the Witch of the East - become clear, the original story of her crusade against Dorothy, and her eventual death, become tragic instead of the traditional good-winning-against-evil.

This was an enjoyable book. Like a behind-the-scenes sneak peek, it will make you rethink the original story.

Date Finished: 31/10/07
Year Total: 36

Suffer The Little Children

2007-10-21T11:54:00.000+13:00

Barbara Davis
1999
ISBN 0-7860-0664-1

This is the story of Jesse Cummings, a man driven by rage and violence, who was responsible for the murder of his sister and the rape and murder of his 11-year-old niece.

This was not an easy book to read. Actual content aside - the details of beatings, rapes and mental abuse is horrific - it wasn't written very well. The narrative is jerky, bouncing from the central story to the backstories of people just getting involved, and things are omitted or referred to without being explained (After everyone was arrested there is no further mention of the children until the epilogue, so we don't know what actually happened to them after the police raided the house).

The people are painted as barely as possible - there are accounts of events, but nothing that really offers a sense of who these people were, apart from repeated reminders that they were a monster and two broken women.

Jesse Cummings was sentenced to death for the crimes he was convicted for, and the author takes great delight in pointing out that he is now in a cell, forced to obey the orders of others. While the death sentence is certainly a fitting punishment, there is no record of his attitude or demeanour once the verdict was read, which I would have found interesting, if only to confirm how much of a sociopath he is/was.

Date Finished: 20/10/07
Year Total: 35

The Well of Lost Plots

2007-10-17T19:17:00.000+13:00

Jasper Fforde
2003
ISBN 0-340-82596-0

The third in the Thursday Next series. I wish I hadn't left it so long between readings, as these books carry on as one continuous story. That said, it was easy to pick up the threads once more, and get into the swing of things.

Thursday, hiding from Goliath Corporation, has taken up residence in a book in the Well of Lost Plots while studying to become a Jurisfiction agent and figure out how to remember her husband while a mindworm plays havoc with her memories.

On top of that, there is a major upgrade to the world of books approaching, and agents are suddenly dying in horribly suspicious circumstances, the book Thursday is living in is in danger of being demolished, and her dodo is nesting on the sofa.

Confusing, hilarious and wildly entertaining, I cannot recommend these books enough - if you love a little silliness, and can accept some upside-down ideas, you'll love this serious.

Date finished: 17/10/07
Year Total: 34

The Secret of Crickley Hall

2007-10-17T19:03:00.000+13:00

James Herbert
2006
ISBN 0-330-41168-4

I've loved James Herbert books since seeing Haunted, the movie based on his book, but tend to stumble over them by accident rather than set out to buy one. This one was no exception, and has been one of the best surprise finds this year.

Gabe and Eve Caleigh, both struggling to deal with the disappearance of their son Cam, leave the city and move into Crickley Hall, a forboding manor outside a tiny village. Even before they hear the tragic history of the house, they find out they aren't the only ones there, but refuse to leave.

This is one of those rare stories that stays interesting and stays as tense at the same time. This book actually made me nervous, which never happens. Herbert can create such a tense, terrifying scene that your skin will crawl.

The climax is good without being overly sappy, and although it's a horror, you still finish with a smile. I really enjoyed this - as much as Haunted, if not more.

Date Finished: 13/10/07
Year Total: 33

The Crimson Petal & The White

2007-10-07T08:33:00.000+13:00

Michael Faber
2002
ISBN 1 84195 324 5

This is a whopping book - 835 pages. It starts with the book addressing you and introducing you to the lowliest of 19th century London prostitues, and bouncing from her to someone else to someone else, before settling on the two people at the centre of the story - William Rackham, heir to the Rackham Perfume empire, and Sugar, famous prostitute.

Much of this book I found to be stilted, confined by the formal writing and etiquette of the period, and even setting this aside I found the characters hard to identify with, albeit interesting. Agnes is a walking tragedy, once you know the reason why, and Henry is a walking contradiction. His relationship with Mrs Fox irritates more than entertains, and the resolution there is ironic, if not satisfactory.

The story itself eclipses the various issues I had with the characters, and the climax builds up into a real page-turner, which made the ending all the more infuriating. In fact, the ending to this book sucked, considering how many pages there were to get through before it. That said, actually having finished it is an achievement in itself, and good enough for me.

Date Finished: 06/10/07
Year Total: 32

Fireworks

2007-09-29T13:19:00.000+12:00

Elizabeth H Winthrop
2006
ISBN 0 340 92130 7

Hollis Clayton is facing a long, bleak summer. His wife has gone - gone away to think, to see if their marriage is worth saving, his relationship with Jack Daniels is fast becoming the most immediate in his life, and he seems to have picked up a stray dog somewhere along the way.

The story is interspersed with random recollections, including the death of his son and how he and his wife retreated from each other, in between the haphazard relationship with his girlfriend, his attempts at getting past his writers block, and spying on the neighbour's kids.

Funny and sad at the same time, Hollis is wrapped up entirely in his own world and his perception of it, a lot of which struck me as honest - everyone is the same. I found the writing easy to fall into, and each memory was both touching and more or less relevant to the story in general.

The ending served to reinforce the idea that, rather than a story, this is a nonstory, a section of a man's life, and I found myself hoping that things ended positively.

Date Finished 27/09/07
Year Total 31

The House of Sight & Shadow

2007-09-25T18:43:00.000+12:00

Nicholas Griffin
2000
0-316-85444-1

Joseph Bendix arrives in London hoping to secure an apprenticeship with the reclusive Doctor Calcraft on the way to his own future and fortune.

Bendix and Calcraft experiment with the illegal remains of hanged prisoners, seeking a cure for an extraordinary malady belonging to an even more reclusive patient.

I got halfway through this book before deciding that I really didn't like Bendix or his arrogant observations about the people around him. The other characters are little better, and the more the story progressed the more it became a challenge to finish. From the saccharine, pure and perfect Amelia to the shifty, scheming Sixes, there were no characters that inspired any sympathy.

The ending was a mixture of ironic justice and too-tide epilogue, but I was more relieved to have finished it to take much notice.

Date Finished 24/09/07
Year Total 30

Blind Submission

2007-09-16T17:30:00.000+12:00

Debra Ginsberg
2006
ISBN 978174175-150-5

This story opens with first-day-on-the-job jitters from Angel, starting a new career at a literary agency - reading the submitted manuscripts and deciding whether or not they are any good. Right from the beginning, there is a sense of almost hysterical urgency - the pace at the office is exhausting, even for the reader, and Angel throws herself into it to the detriment of the rest of her life, including writer/boyfriend Malcolm.

Between a crazy boss and an apparent stalker/submitter who is penning her life, Angel would start to wonder if she is going crazy herself - if she had time between phonecalls, memos and reading assignments.

The frenetic energy of the office hits you straight away, and the weird behaviour of Lucy and 'Kelly' do nothing to make Angel or the reader feel at home. Lucy is an engima, but by no means a quiet one - she is intimidating and scary, and Angel herself is stretched so thin that it's hard to tell if her uncharitable thoughts are a result of exhaustion or if she is actually quite nasty.

That aside, the mystery at the centre of the story - who is writing the manuscript that is following Angel's life - keeps you interested and reading. The ending arrives just as quickly as the rest of the book, and it confused me for several pages, but the tidying up at the end of the book makes up for it.

Enjoyable, but exhausting reading.

Date Finished: 14/09/07
Year Total: 29

Making History

2007-09-10T20:21:00.000+12:00

Stephen Fry
1996
0099464810

I picked this book up because I am a huge fan of Blackadder, and Stephen Fry was one of the main character in the final series. He's a brilliant actor and comedian, and it turns out his humour translates just as well when he writes.

We start with Michael Young, who, together with a reclusive physics professor, hatch a plan to divert history - to make sure Hitler was never born, never mind what else he got up to.

The plan is executed - and Michael find himself in a strange country, with a strange history and a strange culture surrounding him. Armed with the dubious trust of a fellow student, he learns that Hitler may not have been the worst possibility, and that the path history has taken instead is all his fault.

There is a humour and passion in this book, and, combined with a sense of urgency that builds, manages to hide the real point of the story until the closing pages. I re-read the final dozen pages, just to savour the moment - this is a story with the best kind of ending. Unexpected, and it totally melts your heart.

This was a hugely entertaining read, and I'm definitely adding Fry as an author to collect.

Date Finished: 10/09/07
Year Total:28

Temeraire: Throne of Jade

2007-09-10T20:17:00.000+12:00

Naomi Novik
2006
000 721913 X

A sequel to the astonishing 'Temeraire', this was a welcome surprise find at the library.

The formal language and the stiff-necked etiquette is easy to get used to, and the relationship between man and dragon is explored as Temeraire is drawn towards the land of his heritage.

Laurence is put in the unenviable position of being caught between the worlds of aviator, naval officer and ambassador, and as the story winds its way towards China it gets more and more riveting.

This is a great book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and look forward to more.

Date Finished: 04/09/07
Year Total: 27

Billie's Kiss

2007-09-10T20:13:00.000+12:00

Elizabeth Knox

Book Finished: 01/09/07
Year Total: 26

The Dew Breaker

2007-08-26T16:51:00.000+12:00

Edwidge Danticat
2004
ISBN 0349 11789 6

The blurb on the back of this book promises a lot, beginning with a man with a vicious, violent past, and the unfolding of his story. The first few pages begin with the man's daughter and her discover of his secret.

From there though, things get fragmented. The story becomes the stories of other random people, some of whom have no discernible connection to the family at the centre promised in the blurb. There is no reference to when in the story things are happening, and no reference to how anyone ties in.

Altogether, this is a confusing picture of a collection of lives, all somehow touched by the hardships they've encountered, but it's so distracting trying to place how everyone fits together that the mood the author is trying to
create gets lost.

Date finished: 20/08/07
Year Total: 25

Labyrinth

2007-08-19T11:19:00.000+12:00

Kate Mosse
2005
ISBN 0 75286 054 2

Another story about the quest for the Grail, tying in modern day suspense with medieval conspiracies. Luckily, this is one story that works, and works really well.

The story begins with Alice Tanner, stumbling across a cave on an archeological dig in southern France, and then jumps between her and the confusing events that take place afterwards, and the story of Alais, a young Cathar woman who lived eight hundred years before.

Instead of relying on codes and mysteries symbols to keep the reader hooked, Mosse has drawn a rich tapestry of words, using emotion and action to keep you turning the pages. It works well - I sat up late several times so I could reach the next part of the story.

Sad and uplifting at the same time, this had me hooked. I think the quote on the cover sums it up well: "Eat your heart out, Dan Brown, this is the real thing." (Val McDermid).

Date Finished: 18/08/07
Year Total: 24

Lost In A Good Book

2007-08-15T18:25:00.000+12:00

Jasper Fforde
2002
ISBN 0340 822 83 X

I read Fforde's first book (The Eyre Affair) last year and loved it, and decided to read the books in order. It turns out this is a good idea, as the sequel pick up right where the first book left off, and there are so many references to people and explanations from the first book that it would be almost impossible to understand as a stand-alone read.

Prequel-dependence aside, this book is so packed with startling everyday occurences, such as the tourist attraction of migrating mammoths, that the idea of jumping in and out of books can seem plausible, paving the way for Thursday's apprenticeship as an agent of jurisfiction, the literary protectors who work from inside the classics.

With Hades dead and Jack Schitt (definitely something to be said for the names of the characters - several short-lived personalities included Dedman, Walking, Cannon, Fodder and Chalk and Cheese) safely trapped in a copy of the Raven, Thursday intends to enjoy married life, but is dismayed to find that her husband has been eradicated - removed from the world as a toddler - and someone is trying to kill her.

Armed with a jar of lentils and a determined anger, Thursday is out to get her husband back - whatever the cost.

Book finished: 09/08/2007
Year Total: 23

Caucasia

2007-07-27T18:19:00.000+12:00

Danzy Senna
1998
0 7336 0999 6

A story about race and family in the '70s.

I very nearly gave up within the first 30 pages. The story made me uncomfortable, and I didn't like the tone. I don't live in the kind of racist society that Birdie spent her first years in, so I found it hard to just accept things that were done and said. As Birdie grows up and loses half her family, she makes choices and says things that I couldn't identify with, but although I had no affinity with any of the characters and wasn't too keen on the plot, I kept reading to find out whether or not Birdie was reunited with her sister.

I know this book is part fiction, part autobiography, but the racism themes weaving around the story were foreign to me, making it difficult to get past and concentrate on the story itself.

Date Finished: 26/07/07
Year Total: 22

The Adventures of Flash Jackson

2007-07-22T10:12:00.000+12:00

William Kowalski
2003
ISBN 0 385 60556 0

Flash Jackson, the alter-ego of 17 year old Haley, is a stuntman looking for adventure in rural America. Horse-riding, swimming, climbing trees - it's all part of summer, so far as Flash is concerned. Until Haley goes through the roof of an old barn, shattering her leg in three places and guaranteeing a summer spent enclosed in plaster.

Going from a running start to a screeching halt, Haley starts examining her relationships with the people around her, starting with the fact her mother drives her insane. After her closest friend breaks her heart, she retreats into the woods, living with her crazy Grandmother and learning about her heritage, which alters the tone of the story from real and funny to something mysterious and fascinating.

The change is gradual, with hints right from the beginning of her friendship with Elizabeth Powell, and by the time Haley learns about her grandmother's truth, she is a different person to the Flash Jackson we met at the beginning of the book.

The main problem I had with this book was keeping the time period straight in my mind. Although Haley mentions that they live in the twenty-first century, the language and attitudes seem to be more mid-50's or so, and stumbling over references to modern gadgets like dishwashers and cellphones is a bit jarring. Getting tangled up in the wrong time period only seemed to make the book more interesting though, and the clash between forest life and modern life is only emphasised more because of it.

Date Finished: 20/07/07
Year Total: 21

I Don't Know How She Does It

2007-07-18T18:58:00.000+12:00

Allison Pearson
2002

Can a woman successfully juggle a high-flying career in finance and a family? Not without lashings of guilt, overcompensation and a horribly cynical outlook on life.

Kate Reddy thinks she's got the balance right, although she's always open to more guilty introspection. Her tale rushes headlong through missing children's bedtimes, overcompensating towards passive-aggressive nanny, being exploited in the workplace because she's a woman and trying to keep up with other women who have given up and gone home to be mothers.

The tale seems to have no apparent plotline - things lurch from one almost-disaster to another, and when a hint of storyline appears two-thirds of the way through, I thought it was played out too quickly.

Funny in places, brilliantly hilarious in others, overall this book smacked of the desperation of Kate, and although it's a relief when she finally sorts herself out, I thought the ending was both too nicely wrapped up (everyone's fate nicely laid out for easy digestion) Kate's own fate is not very satisfactory, after her struggle to cope throughout the rest of book.

Date Finished: 18/07/07
Year Total: 20

It's Not News, It's Fark

2007-07-03T20:04:00.000+12:00

Drew Curtis
2007

Fark.com is one of my favourite websites, and the best place online for news. Drew Curtis, the man behind the curtain, has spent more time than anyone looking at thousands of news articles, so he is definitely an authority on where Mass Media is going wrong, and what it's doing right.

Even with only a passing interest in politics, America law or the behind-the-scenes of how Mass Media operates, this book is hugely entertaining. Curtis has the ability to cut through the buzzwords and bullshit, leaving you with a much better understanding of how you're being manipulated, and he does it while making you laugh.

Date Finished: 25/06/07
Year Total: 19

A Cat Called Birmingham

2007-07-03T19:18:00.000+12:00

Chris Pascoe
2004

A non-fiction book about a mans cat. Not exactly a prize-winning topic but Brum is certainly not an average cat.

It's a tale of miracles - or at least the fact Brum made it to adulthood seems to be a miracle. The recounting of how Brum sets himself on fire multiple times, goes belly-flopping into ponds, off walls and onto moving cars is hilarious, as is the strange relationship between cat and toddler.

There are distractions though - imaginery holidays and tales of other, less interesting cats are less appealing, and at times downright irritating, but the pages devoted to Brum make it worthwhile.

Date Finished: 18/06/07
Year Total: 18

Not In The Guide Book: The Wackiest Sights on Google Earth

2007-07-03T18:49:00.000+12:00

Alex Turnbull & James Turnbull
2006

This little album appealed to the voyeur in me - taking a peek at other places that other people have been peeking at as well.

Each image is explained in a few paragraphs, and compass, scale and co-ordinates are supplied if you want to see 'the real thing' on your own Google Earth. There is a good sense of humour throughout the tour, and it was an enjoyable way to pass the time. At 144 pages, it's a quick flick, but I think the fun feeling would have been lost if it was much longer.

Date Finished: 17/06/07
Year Total: 17

The History of Love

2007-06-18T18:45:00.001+12:00

Nicole Krauss
2005

I didn't understand this book. The beginning, an old man trying to stay visible in a world that did its best to ignore him, made me uncomfortable - it was so intimate it felt like spying. And yet. I kept going, surprised by the contrast between Leo and Alma, and expected that the confusing parts would iron themselves out, but they didn't - by the time I finished it was a random collection of scenes, seemingly put together to fill the blank pages at the end of the book.

I thought this book was more about sadness than about love, but confusion was the most dominant feeling I got out of it.

Date Finished: 17/06/07
Year Total: 16

Ubik

2007-06-18T18:38:00.000+12:00

Philip K. Dick
1969

Two things drew me to this book: it had rounded edges, which is unusual, and the forward is written by Michael Marshall Smith, who I like.

I haven't read a lot of science fiction, as I don't like plunging into a completely foreign world where I don't know the basic rules. I was expecting this to start strange and foreign, and get worse from there, but it was written in a far more subtle way than that. I was intrigued, but I didn't feel totally lost.

The story progresses at a steady pace, with Joe Chip as the star of the show. When his boss is killed by an attacked from an enemy company, Joe must hold his colleagues together until he can figure out what to do next, but things start to go wrong, and Joe needs to figure out why before anyone else dies.

Date Finished: 11/06/07
Year Total: 15

The Lost Gardens

2007-06-18T18:29:00.000+12:00

Anthony Eglin
2005

When American woman Jamie find herself inheriting a neglected English estate, she calls in Lawrence Kingston, retired botany professor and amateur detective, to help restore the gardens to their former glory.

When an old chapel is discovered, complete with skeleton, Kinston started investigating, turning up a mystery decades old.

An easy story to read, I was expecting a fair bit of technical explanation about plants and gardens, but it seemed that Kingston knows about everything, with the exception of viticulture, which Jamie spends several pages on.

The mystery itself was interesting, but the characters and tedious technical information wasn't. Anyone with an interest in gardening, viticulture, wine and timber joinery will enjoy this book much more than I did.

Date Finished: 09/06/07
Total for Year: 14

On A Highland Shore

2007-06-18T18:07:00.000+12:00

Kathleen Givens
2006

This is the story of Margaret McDonald, whose ordered and pre-planned life is something to cherish and look forward to. Until her betrothed turns out to be an arrogant man she can't stand, and her family is killed by marauding strangers. Left alone with her unstable brother and her younger sister, she turns to mysterious Irishman Gannon MacMagnus, to help find out who destroyed her life and where her younger brother is.

It seems there are a million Gaelic love stories around now, and I was a little hesitant about trying a new author in such a crowded genre, but this was a genuine pleasure to read. The characters were well-rounded, and the bad guys were bad enough to dislike but managed to stay away from being cliched or corny. The love story managed to stay slightly ahead of the impending war in terms of importance, but was written well enough that it worked better that way.

Clearly the beginning of a series, I'd be interested to see how the larger story - that of Margaret's younger sister and kidnapped baby brother - pans out.

Date Finished: 29/05/07
Year Total: 13

The Da Vinci Mole

2007-06-10T12:59:00.000+12:00

'Dr Ian Browne'

What is Dan Brown afraid of? Uh, probably nothing. But he should be.

Parodies of books rarely follow the original very closely - they caricature the main characters, and then wander off on a tangent of their own, but this one didn't. This one is so close that you could quite easily read it without having read the Da Vinci Code first. The characters are just as annoying and transparent, the action and mystery just as convoluted and ridiculous. Even the author is a thinly-veiled parody, which just made the book seem even funnier - it gives the entire thing the same edgy hysteria as jumping on sofas on national television does.

That said, I don't think I got the answers to the riddles at the back of the book (there was nothing mentioned at the beginning about a quiz!), although the contest is closed by now anyway. I did wonder if the contest itself was part of the parody, but I guess it doesn't matter.

A quick read, I found it hilarious.

Date Finished: 01/05/07
Year Total: 12

A Man of Texas

2007-06-08T21:23:00.000+12:00

Amy Sadler
1993

A Black Horse Western, this is a quick read with minimal character development and depth. It reads like a movie, which is exactly what I was in the mood for. Unfortunately, the blurb on the back of the book tells the entire story - there's really no need to read anything inside. The story jumps ahead months or years without warning, and the writing is best described as thin. Another ten or even twenty thousand words wouldn't have gone amiss.

Date Finished: 17/04/07
Year Total: 11

Sasso

2007-06-08T21:09:00.000+12:00

James Sturz
2001

Two teenagers are found dead in a cave, in a city of caves in Italy. Before they died, they ate the walls, revealing painted frescoes. Foreign experts, including Americans, are recruited to examine the walls, while the police examine the bodies.

The police investigation goes nowhere, and the work the Americans undertake seems to go nowhere too, especially when more bodies show up and they are ordered to stop their work. As both investigations grind to a halt, so does the flow of the book, and it became as frustrating to me as it was to the characters. They lapse into lethargy, interrupted by brief bursts of determined snooping, while I continued reading only to add the book to the total of finished books.

The ending is unsatisfactory, and after the dull drag of the rest of the book, feels rushed.

Date Finished: 15/04/07
Year Total: 10

Thud!

2007-06-08T20:53:00.000+12:00

Terry Pratchett
2005

Commander Vimes is one of my favourite characters on the Discworld, and seeing him in the role of doting dad is adorable and very nearly outshines the case Vimes find himself dealing with, which is the most politically-prickly he's ever had to deal with.

Trolls and dwarves have been sworn enemies longer than anyone can remember, and, according to both sides, for good reason (not quite the same reason, naturally). Now, things are stirring on both sides that could see a legend re-enacted in Vimes' own city, which could seriously interrupt the Commander's busy schedule. He begins an investigation, which meanders in seemingly random directions, the way the best cases do.

Something that struck me that was different about this D/W story was that there are a lot of memories from past books. It seemed a lot more personal, knowing the details of past events mentioned by the aging Watchmen. I like the idea of characters evolving and changing along with the city they patrol, although it did make me wonder about who is going to retire first.

Date Finished: 25/03/07
Year Total: 9

Odd Thomas

2007-06-08T20:33:00.000+12:00

Dean Koontz
2004

Recommended to me by several people on the 50 Books group, I wondered how good yet another 'I see dead people' story could be, especially one that featured Elvis.

Odd Thomas lives up to his name - he is both funny and screwed up, just the right combination for a hero you can't help but like. His circle of friends are just as screwy, which seems to ground Odd as he moves in a world haunted by people and shadows alike.

I wasn't so keen on the way the ending was written, as I felt that I was deliberately misled, as opposed to just missing something subtly implied. Still, I enjoyed the rest of it, and will definitely keep an eye out for more Odd Thomas books.

Date Finished: 24/03/07
Year Total: 8

Dark Delicacies

2007-06-08T19:40:00.000+12:00

Edited by Del Howison & Jeff Gelb
2005

Seeing as I'm neither a connoisseur of neither horror or short stories, I began this book with trepidation. The only horror I read is Stephen King, who stuffs his tales with so much detail you get lost in it. In these stories, by definition only a handful of pages long, every detail is important somehow, and everything else is stripped away, leaving you with the bare, bloodied bones of the story.

Each story left me feeling uneasy and uncomfortable, although there were no moments when I lost myself enough to feel fright. I'm not sure that wasn't the idea though - fright can be dispelled with the flick of a lightswitch, whereas the uncomfortable feeling settled like the aftertaste of too-greasy food.

I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed these stories. They were just the literary ad-break I was looking for.

Year Total: 7
Date Finished: 21/03/07

Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures

2007-06-07T18:44:00.001+12:00

Walter Moers
2003

Fun, amazing, completely original, this book blew me away. Completely different to anything I've read in years, it was a tale that begged not to be put down, and the wide range of people, places and stories is mind-boggling.

Rumo, torn from his adopted family by marauders of the sea (technically not pirates), he grows up quickly and, under the guise of Smyke, a shark grub, begins his long list of heroic deeds. We follow his progress as he makes it to Wolperting, the city of his people, and from there to Hel, the city of the Netherworld, where he must save the rest of his people, as well as the love of his life, Rala.

This book was a real find, and I picked it purely because the cover stood out from the rest of the adult fiction. There are pictures throughout the story, of each of the main characters, and various random bits, like when Rumo steps into a pitch-black tent, the story is printed white on black. Things like that amuse me, so long as they don't overwhelm the story.

Year total: 6 (other books can seen here)
Date Finished: March 3, 2007