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Madcow's Book List - 2008


madcow

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I've had to put Life Mask on hold for now as it was just not grabbing my attention (so much for giving Michel Faber a run for his money!).

I've started to read Maggie O'Farrell's After You'd Gone which is a bookring book - don't want to hold up the queue :D.

Might come back to Life Mask in a few weeks.

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Loved No Time For Goodbye, took a bit longer than I thought to read but I have had a very upsetting week. The last 100 or so pages had me gripped, higly recommended :blush:

 

Next up is A Season Of Eden by J M Warwick (our own KW).

 

He's my teacher. I shouldn't be alone with him. But I can't help that he's irresistible. I let the door silently close at my back. He stared at me, and a taut quiet stretched between us. "I like hearing you play," I said, moving toward him. He turned, in sync with my slow approach. He looked up at me but didn't say anything. I rested my clammy hand on the cold, slick body of the baby grand. "May I?" The muscles in his throat shifted, then he swallowed. "Eden." My knees weakened, like a soft tickling kiss had just been blown against the backs of them. "Is it okay?" I asked. His gaze held mine like two hands joined. He understood what I was really asking. "Let me stay," I said. "Please." "You're going to get me in trouble," he said...

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Loved No Time For Goodbye, took a bit longer than I thought to read but I have had a very upsetting week. The last 100 or so pages had me gripped, higly recommended :)

 

Next up is A Season Of Eden by J M Warwick (our own KW).

 

He's my teacher. I shouldn't be alone with him. But I can't help that he's irresistible. I let the door silently close at my back. He stared at me, and a taut quiet stretched between us. "I like hearing you play," I said, moving toward him. He turned, in sync with my slow approach. He looked up at me but didn't say anything. I rested my clammy hand on the cold, slick body of the baby grand. "May I?" The muscles in his throat shifted, then he swallowed. "Eden." My knees weakened, like a soft tickling kiss had just been blown against the backs of them. "Is it okay?" I asked. His gaze held mine like two hands joined. He understood what I was really asking. "Let me stay," I said. "Please." "You're going to get me in trouble," he said...

 

Hmmm, that story sounds familiar...:blush:

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Hi Madcow:)

 

After reading your reviews of the Tess Gerritsen medical thrillers and seeing how much you enjoyed them i've decided to add Stolen and Harvest to my wishlist :) They didnt appeal to me at first but they do now!

I hope i enjoy them as much as you did :tong:

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Hi Madcow:)

 

After reading your reviews of the Tess Gerritsen medical thrillers and seeing how much you enjoyed them i've decided to add Stolen and Harvest to my wishlist :) They didnt appeal to me at first but they do now!

I hope i enjoy them as much as you did :tong:

:) Gulp, I hope you do too

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I finished A Season Of Eden yesterday and the following Amazon review from Michelle just about sums it up....

 

J.M. Warwick is the author of An Open Vein, and she has produced another interesting YA read. Eden is portrayed as a very popular member of her school, with friends and boys flocking around her. Whilst at the same time, she is trying to deal with the loss of her mother, and her strained relationship with her father.

 

Mr Christian is her new, young, music teacher, to whom she feels a powerful attraction. As they build their relationship, they have to stay aware of their boundaries. As Eden learns to deal with this new type of relationship, and her own changing feelings, she grows and matures - and it was this development that I found most intriguing.

 

How will the relationship end up? You'll have to read to find out!

 

Next up is Sam Hayes' book Unspoken.

 

If anyone else would like to read A Season Of Eden let me know and I'll forward it on :)

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Finished Unspoken yesterday another great read from Sam Hayes, highly recommended.

 

Next up is Peony In Love by Lisa See

 

Peony has neither seen nor spoken to any man other than her father, a wealthy Chinese nobleman. Nor has she ever ventured outside the cloistered women's quarters of the family villa. As her sixteenth birthday approaches she finds herself betrothed to a man she does not know, but Peony has dreams of her own.

Her father engages a theatrical troupe to perform scenes from The Peony Pavilion, a Chinese epic opera, in their garden amidst the scent of ginger, green tea and jasmine. 'Unmarried girls should not be seen in public,' says Peony's mother, but her father allows the women to watch from behind a screen. Here, Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man and is immediately bewitched. So begins her unforgettable journey of love, desire, sorrow and redemption....

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I finished A Season Of Eden yesterday and the following Amazon review from Michelle just about sums it up....

 

J.M. Warwick is the author of An Open Vein, and she has produced another interesting YA read. Eden is portrayed as a very popular member of her school, with friends and boys flocking around her. Whilst at the same time, she is trying to deal with the loss of her mother, and her strained relationship with her father.

 

Mr Christian is her new, young, music teacher, to whom she feels a powerful attraction. As they build their relationship, they have to stay aware of their boundaries. As Eden learns to deal with this new type of relationship, and her own changing feelings, she grows and matures - and it was this development that I found most intriguing.

 

How will the relationship end up? You'll have to read to find out!

 

Next up is Sam Hayes' book Unspoken.

 

If anyone else would like to read A Season Of Eden let me know and I'll forward it on :D

 

Is there any chance I could read A Season of Eden?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finished Peony In Love yesterday, lovely book which had me thinking about it even when I wasn't reading it. Some of the things the women had to endure (foot binding etc) and the customs with regards to marriage, death etc are brought to life in detail in this book. Apparently most of these customs are still practiced today even 'ghost' marriages, I wasn't aware of this until I read the authors notes at the back of the book. Fascinating story.

 

Next up is The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen.

 

When a human skull is dug up in a garden near Boston, Dr Maura Isles is called in to investigate. She quickly discovers that the skeleton - that of a young woman - has been buried for over a hundred years.

But who was the young woman? And how did she die?

It is the 1830's, and an impoverished medical student, Norris Marshall, is forced to procure corpses in order to further his studies in human anatomy.

It's a gruesome livelihood that will bring him into contact with a terrifying seriel killer who slips from ballrooms to graveyards and into autopsy suites.

And who is far, far closer than Norris could ever imagine...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Managed to finish The Bone Garden yesterday, another fantastic read from TG.

 

Next up - Alice Hoffman's Blue Diary

 

When Ethan Ford fails to show up for work on a brilliant summer morning, none of his neighbors would guess that for more than thirteen years he has been running from his past. His true nature has been locked away, as hidden as his real identity. But sometimes locks spring open, and the devastating truths of Ethan's history shatter the small-town peace of Monroe, affecting family and friends alike.

Now, the police are at the door. Ethan Ford's life as an irreproachable family man and heroic volunteer fireman has come to an end - and Jorie Ford's life is coming apart. Some of the residents of Monroe are rallying behind Ethan. But others, including his wife and son, are wondering what remains true when so much is shown to be false - and how capable we really are of change...

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Stayed up late last night to finish Blue Diary, I really enjoyed this book. It got the old grey cells thinking what would I do in that situation? I came to the conclusion I would do the same as Jorie only sooner. I even dreamt about it last night which is a first!

Not sure what to read next, I'll pop back and post later :)

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Ok I've picked up The Love Of My Life by Louise Douglas

 

Olivia and Luca Felicone had known each other nearly all their lives, but when they fall in love as teenagers and elope to London they broke the hearts of those closest to them. Luca's parents run Marinella's restaurant, the colourful hub of life in the otherwise bleak north-eastern town of Watersford, and his mother, Angela, has never forgiven Olivia for causing such a rift in her beloved family.

On a freezing January night Olivia's life is shattered when she learns that Luca has been killed in a car accident. She is left with nothing and, after suffering from weeks of overwhelming grief, she abandons her job and returns north to where Luca has been buried in Watersford.

Olivia's chance meeting with Luca's married twin brother, Marc, leads to the realization that he is experiencing a loss almost as painful as her own. Their desolation draws them into an affair, which both know has no future but which fills the space where Luca should be. It is a course of action that can only spiral out of control, and when it does the consequences are both explosive and cruel....

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I finished The Love Of My Life a couple of days ago but forgot to update my thread. I really enjoyed this and could sympathise (?sp) with Olivia having been through the same sort of thing, but only to a point (no brother in law affair!). The emotional roller coaster she goes through is well written without being depressing. It was an easy and enjoyable book to read and I'd recommend it.

I was going to start another book but then got a pm to say Tess Gerritsen's latest is on its way so I shall wait (with baited breath :woohoo:) for this to arrive and read that instead.

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Ok I've started reading A Whispered Name by William Brodrick, picked up on a whim from the library last week but looks quite a poignant read given that it has just been Rememberance Day.

 

When Father Anselm meets Kate Seymour in the cemetery at Larkwood, he is dismayed by her allegations about Father Moore, the man who shaped his own vocation. Even more disturbing for Anselm is the old man who has accompanied her, standing with his head bowed, weeping.

During the slaughter of Passchendaele in 1917, an Irish soldier faced a court martial for desertion. On the panel was a young Captain, Herbert Moore, charged with a responsibility that would change the course of his life. So Anselm embarks on a journey to uncover the secrets Father Moore had always kept hidden....

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I finished A Whispered Name the other night and thought it was a really good read. Not what I would normally select but it's nice to have a change. Althought the story was ficticious (sp?) it brought to life how things were during WW1 including being shot for desertion, without being too graffic. The story slipped easily between the past and the present without being confusing and has left a lasting impression.

 

Now on to Keeping The Dead by Tess Gerritsen.

She's Pilgrim Hospital's most unusual patient, and on this Saturday night a media circus is gathered to record every minute of her visit to the X-ray department. Crammed into the small CT scan room are reporters, TV cameras, a select group of mediacal technicians - and forensic pathologist Maura Isles.

Maura is there because the patient being scanned tonight isn't alive. She's probably been dead for centuries. She is, in fact, a mummy.

As the CT scan proceeds, everyone in the room leans in close - and gasps in horror as an image of a bullet is revealed. Maura declares it a possible homicide and call in Detective Jane Rizzoli.

When the preserved body of a second victim is found - and then a third - it becomes all too clear that not only is a maniac at large but he is taunting them. And that, unless Maura and Jane can find and stop him, he will soon be adding yet another chilling piece to his monstrous collection...

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Finished Keeping The Dead today, what can I say but it was great well worth the wait. I love Tess Gerritsen's books I've yet to be disappointed. Not sure what to read next, watch this space....

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