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Tuesday 12 March 2013

B O O K S

I love reading.  There isn’t a day goes by where I don’t read.  It usually happens on the bus into work, in the bath, in bed, in the park (on the few and far between days where we have a summer) etc etc.  I have a very broad range of genres I tend to read and am quite happy to try anything new – so any recommendations would be gratefully received and taken up on!

The past few weeks reading, below, show just how different my tastes can be.  I won’t do synopsis’ for the books – goodreads is great for this and if you enjoy reading you should definitely join this website – friend me too I love seeing what others are reading – link on the right of the screen!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green – my book of the year so far!  I loved it – a beautifully written and poignant story about two teenagers suffering from cancer.  Though a sad subject there were some really funny moments and the characters seemed so life like.  I did have to stop reading this on the bus one day as I could feel the tears coming!  Would definitely recommend! 5/5







Beautiful creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl – I wanted to try this after seeing that the film version was coming out and I ended up with the paperback with the film cast on the front.  Big mistake – all I kept looking at was who had been cast and then trying to figure out why as no one apart from Emma Thomson seemed to be anything like described in the book.  This was so off-putting especially with the ‘dark’ Ridley who was 17 with blonde hair yet played by Emmy Rossum????  Anyway I digress, the book itself was an ok read as far as YA fiction goes.  The best part was that the narrator was Ethan the male protagonist so a bit of a shift from the norm but I just felt a bit bored by the plot and a bit let down at the end – which as with every YA book is never actually an ending but a to be continued so we can make even more money out the idea!  3/5

Murder Farm by Andrea Maria Schlenkel – I’m a massive fan of The Killing and The Bridge TV series and this led me to join a book club that specialises in European crime.  It’s been going for just over a year and I’ve read crime fiction from most parts of Europe now.  This book is set in Germany and though a short book it really hooked me.  Each chapter is told from the point of view of a different character mostly in the form of witness statements following the murder and I loved this way of storytelling.  As the reader you feel that you are the only person that gets all of the information and can put everything together to try to figure out who the killer is and ultimately are the only one who really knows what happened.  The book was loosely based on a true story which made it all the more chilling.  One of the better books I have read as part of this book club. 4/5

The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore – this was the monthly read for another book club I’m in.  Again another short read that reminded me a bit of some of Susan Hill’s ghost stories.  The main difference being though I didn’t find this scary in the slightest whereas some of Susan Hills stories can be quite chilling.  It was an ok read but I just didn’t care about any of the characters – probably due to the length of the book – it could easily have been padded out a bit to give it more depth. 3/5

 



A Cold Season by Alison Littlewood – I picked this up on a  recent visit to the library thinking it was more of a crime novel but it ended up being supernatural – if I read the blurb on the back before I started reading then I would have known.  The descriptions of the lonely and isolated village and mill were impressive and created a very sinister and cold atmosphere that you could really imagine but this was let down by the characters and plot – all a bit clichéd for me I’m afraid. 2.5/5



 
The Girl You Left behind by Jojo Moyes – a recommendation from a friend.  Now we all know you should never judge a book by its cover but I definitely do and this cover just made me think chick lit!  It is in parts – its set in two time periods; WW1 and around the present day.  The present day stuff was much more chick lit and I struggled to like any of the characters, bar the old school friend or care about what was happening to them with the court case.  However, the saving grace for this book was the historical element – it evoked the harshness and loneliness of the period and I think the book would have been all the better for just focussing on this part of the story.  3/5

And am currently struggling through Citadel by Kate Mosse.  This is the third book she has written in the Languedoc series.  I really did enjoy the first two but have taken some time to get to grips with this one.  The supernatural element in the first two is such a strong theme but I feel like it is much weaker in Citadel and actually if it wasn’t there would probably not be missed.   I am enjoying the story of France during WW2 though ( a bit reminiscent of the Jojo Moyes one above but that was WW1) so will keep slogging but at 696 pages it is a long one!






I think it’s about time I picked up a classic as it’s been a while.  I recently treated myself to the beautiful Barnes and Noble Hardback version of Jane Eyre with some Amazon vouchers I got for my birthday so think a re-read of this may be on the cards.  I love this collection and am coveting them all!!!!!!!!!

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