Rennie's 2007 Book List

[Renniemist]

The following are a list of books that are in my to be read pile. Now I know that there is no way that I am going to read them all this year, because I refuse to give up going to the library (I enjoy going) and I am also sure that I will browse in bookstores and be tempted (I love doing that). My list could well end up bigger at the end of the year than at the beginning, especially since there will be books to get for the reading circle. :)

My philosophy for this year is to relax and enjoy books.


The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Holy Fools by Joanne Harris
The constant Gardener by John le Carré
East Wind West Wind by Pearl S Buck
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Bitten by Kelly Armstrong
The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
The Abortionist’s Daughter by Elizabeth Hyde
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Mauritius Command by Patrick O’Brien
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Jamaica Inn by Daphne duMaurier
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell
The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka
Africa Diary by Bill Bryson
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Baudilino by Umberto Eco
Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie
Derailed by James Siegel
Empire of the Sun by J G Ballard
Hey Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland
I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Misery by Stephen King
Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehrain
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Russka by Edward Rutherfurd
Shindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
The Accidental by Ali Smith
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Falls by Ian Rankin
The Haj by Leon Uris
The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
The Palace of Heavenly Pleasures by Adam Williams
The Peoples Act of Love by James Meek
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo
The Suspect by Michael Robotham
Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
Vernon God Little by D B C Pierre
What the body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

[Renniemist]

Read so far this year.

December

58 The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler 7/10
57 Sharpe’s Trafalgar by Bernard Corrnwell 7/10
56 Brick Lane by Monica Ali 5/10
55 The Road by Cormac McCarthy 8/10
54 Spilling the Beans by Clarissa Dickson Wright (audio book) 7/10
53 Sharpe’s Fortress by Bernard Cornwell 7/10
52 Border Crossing by Pat Barker 7/10
51 The Life of Pi by Yann Martel 8/10

November

50 Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson 6/10
49 A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving 10/10
48 The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth 7/10
47 Port Mungo by Patrick McGrath 8/10
46 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 8/10

October

45 The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd 7/10
44 One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson 7/10
43 Animal's People by Indra Sinha 10/10
42 Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller 9/10

September

41 The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle 7/10
40 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd 7/10
39 Atonement by Ian McEwan 10/10
38 The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood 8/10
37 On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan 9/10
36 The Sea by John Banville 10/10
35 Arthur and George by Julian Barnes 7/10
34 Exodus by Leon Uris6/10

August

33 A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon 8/10
32 In The Country of Men by Hisham Matar 6/10
31 The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly 7/10
30 The Distance Between Us by Maggie O'Farrell 7/10
29 Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday 8/10
28 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling 8/10
27 Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery 8/10


July

26 The Covenant by James Michener 8/10

June

25 The Hills is Lonely by Lillian Beckwith 8/10
24 The Night Watch by Sarah Waters 9/10
23 Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 7/10
22 Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy 7/10

May

21 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 9/10
20 Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood 7/10
19 The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell 9/10

April

18 My Lover's Lover by Maggie O'Farrell 7/10
17 A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon 8/10
16 Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky.. abandoned

March

15 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 8/10
14 Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller 8/10
13 Every Light in the House Burnin' by Andrea Levy 7/10
12 The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld 6/10

February

11 After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell 9/10
10 Perfume by Patrick Suskind 8/10
9 A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle.6/10
8 On Beauty by Zadie Smith. 8/10
7 The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman. 8/10

January

6 An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro 7/10
5 Slow Man by J M Coetzee 7/10
4 The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell 7/10
3 The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 6/10
2 The Butchers Wife by Li Ang 6/10
1 Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters 5/10

[Renniemist]

The year has started very slowly as far a books are concerned.

I started Tipping the Velvet just before going on holiday. It was not nearly as good as Fingersmith in my opinion.

Amazon.co.uk Review
The heroine of Sarah Waters's audacious first novel knows her destiny, and seems content with it. Her place is in her father's seaside restaurant, shucking shellfish and stirring soup, singing all the while. "Although I didn't believe the story told to me by Mother--that they had found me as a baby in an oyster-shell, and a greedy customer had almost eaten me for lunch--for 18 years I never doubted my own oysterish sympathies, never looked beyond my father's kitchen for occupation, or for love." At night Nancy Astley often ventures to the nearby music hall, not that she has illusions of being more than an audience member. But the moment she spies a new male impersonator--still something of a curiosity in England circa 1888--her years of innocence come to an end and a life of transformations begins.



The Butchers Wife was a very quick read. I read it on the flight home from Cape Town.

Under traditional Chinese law, the only valid explanation for a woman murdering her husband is her adultery. In 1930s Shanghai a case came to light where a woman dismembered her husband. There was no evidence that the woman had ever had a lover. This inspired Li Ang to write a deep and harrowing novel about the situation that might lead to such a murder. Chen Jiangshui is a pig-butcher in a small coastal Taiwanese town. Stocky, with a paunch and deep-set beady eyes, he resembles a pig himself. His brutality towards his new young wife, Lin Shi, knows no bounds. The more she screams, the more he likes it. She is further isolated by the vicious gossip of her neighbours who condemn her for screaming aloud, because, as they see it: As women we're supposed to be tolerant and put our husbands above everything else. According to an old Chinese belief, all butchers are destined for hell (an eternity of torment by the animals they have despatched). Lin Shi, isolated, despairing and finally driven to madness, fittingly kills him with his own instrument - a meat cleaver. THE BUTCHER'S WIFE was a literary sensation in the Chinese language world with its suggestion that ritual and tradition are the functions of oppression. It also caused widespread outrage with its unsparing portrayal of sexual violence and emotional cruelty. The novel has made a profound impact on contemporary Chinese literature and today ranks as a landmark text in both women's studies and world literature. Amazon.

I have now started on The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.

Los Angeles PI Phillip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old Man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. But with Sternwood’s two wild, devil-may-care daughters prowling LA’s seedy backstreets, Marlowe’s got his work cut out – and that’s before he stumbles over the first corpse….

[Angel]

My philosophy for this year is to relax and enjoy books.


I like that philosophy ;)

[Purple Poppy]

Renniemist said
My philosophy for this year is to relax and enjoy books.


I'll third that! Seems very sensible.:)

[everydayxangels]

The Virgin Suicides - I personally liked this book! more so at the beginning. Towards the end I was thinking, "c'mon, just get on with it already."

The Constant Gardener - I was so bumbed to learn that this was a book after I saw the movie. I can't read a book after I see the movie. Dunno why. But seeing the movie after the book is always a treat. :)

On Beauty - I didn't like this one at all. I gave it the 75 page chance I give all my books, and normally the plot improves by then, but this one was just HORRIBLY SLOW i didn't stick around to finish.

Devil in the White City - NOT for the faint of heart. Some of the murders with the details will make your skin CRAWL.

[Kell]

There are a few on your list I've read & several I wantto read too, so I'll be waiting to hear what you think of them...

[Renniemist]

The Virgin Suicides - I personally liked this book! more so at the beginning. Towards the end I was thinking, "c'mon, just get on with it already."

The Constant Gardener - I was so bumbed to learn that this was a book after I saw the movie. I can't read a book after I see the movie. Dunno why. But seeing the movie after the book is always a treat. :)

On Beauty - I didn't like this one at all. I gave it the 75 page chance I give all my books, and normally the plot improves by then, but this one was just HORRIBLY SLOW i didn't stick around to finish.

Devil in the White City - NOT for the faint of heart. Some of the murders with the details will make your skin CRAWL.


Its strange you should think that way about “The Virgin Suicides” because that is exactly how I felt about Jeffrey Eugenides other book “Middlesex”. :)

I’ve seen the film “The Constant Gardener” but I still feel I want to read the book.

I have heard a lot of people say the same as you about “On Beauty”. When I get around to reading it I will let you know how I get on.

I am actually about half way through “Devil in the White City”, but have not got to the Skin Crawling bits yet. I will be picking it up again soon so I have been warned. I’ll let you know what I think. :hide:

[Janet]

I've had Schindler's Ark on my TBR pile for a few years! I might try to read it this year.

I also like your philosophy. :D

[Renniemist]

It has been on my list for quite some time too.:o

I have no good excuse. Maybe I should commit myself to reading it by a certain time.

[Renniemist]

I have finished reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. I am never very keen on detective novels and I don’t know why I keep buying them. This one was pretty good however.

I have started on the Reading Circle Book The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell. It looks as if it might be good.

[Freewheeling Andy]

I'm not a big fan of decective stuff on the whole, like you, but I love The Big Sleep. I'm not quite sure why. It might be the atmosphere that's generated, that it's not so much "Whodunnit?" It's more about Marlowe with the investigation running in parallel.

[Gyre]

I really enjoyed 'Schindler's Ark', it didn't pull any punches, it was direct

[Renniemist]

Thanks for the recommendation. :) I will definitely read it sometime this year but I don’t know when because I have just been to the library and got myself another four books.:roll:

[Renniemist]

I finished the Reading Circle book The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell. I enjoyed it and at sometime this year and will read the next book in the series.

I have now also finished Slow Man by J M Coetzee.

Paul Rayment is on the threshold of comfortable old age when a calamitous cycling accident results in the amputation of a leg. Humiliated, his body truncated, his life circumscribed, he turns away from his friends.

He hires a nurse named Marijana, with whom he has a European childhood in common: hers in Croatia, his in France. Tactfully and efficiently she ministers to his needs. But his feelings for her, and for her handsome teenage son, are complicated by the sudden arrival on his doorstep of the celebrated Australian novelist Elizabeth Costello, who threatens to take over the direction of his life and the affairs of his heart.


I enjoyed this book also. Although it is a pretty depressing subject you have to keep reading to see if Paul is going to cope.

[Renniemist]

I have now started on An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro.

It is 1948. Japan is rebuilding her cities after the calamity of World War II, her people putting defeat behind them and looking to the future. The celebrated painter Masuji Ono fills his days attending to his garden, his house repairs, his two grown daughters and his grandson, and his evenings drinking with old associates in quiet lantern-lit bars. His should be a tranquil retirement. But as his memories continually return to the past – to a life and a career deeply touched by the rise of Japanese militarism – a dark shadow begins to grow over his serenity

[Polka Dot Rock]

I think you and me have quite a similar taste in books :) Which means I'll be able to flog you some of mine later :lol:
I'll just look at your list to see if I can recommend any, if I may...

[Polka Dot Rock]

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Now, you know how in Tracy Marie's blog/list you said you hadn't yet read an Ishiguro better than Never Let Me Go? Well, I bought this straight after reading Never Let Me Go and, omg, it completely blew me away. Absolutely stunning!

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
I LOVE this so much I cannot articulate it! It's just one of the most incredible novels I've ever read: bursting with themes and idea yet totally readable. I cannot recommend this enough. The characters are wonderful!

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
These are two favourites of mine.
Have you Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides? That's a wonderful novel.

On Beauty by Zadie Smith
My favourite book of last year :) If you go here (http://polkadotrock.vox.com/library/post/qotd-top-5-in-06-books.html), you'll see a review I did of it, if you so wish lol.

The Accidental by Ali Smith
I read this last summer and, sadly, I was disappointed with it. I admired the writing, but I found it quite forgettable.

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
Definitely one of those 'must-read' books. I read it when I was 14, and I remember it made my head feel like it had looped-the-loop :lol:

[Renniemist]

Hi Amy

Have been saving The Remains of the Day because everyone says it is great. Waiting for the right moment – I think it will need to be soon.

I put Nervous Conditions on my Christmas wish list because you recommended it in another thread, and someone was kind enough to buy it for me. The others I am also itching to read, but I keep going to the library and …… Well you know the story.:blush:

I may well be able to buy some from you later. You look as if you have some good books there.:)

[Polka Dot Rock]

Oh yes, you'd read The Poisonwood Bible! I remember now...
Ah bless the person who got you Nervous Conditions - it can be tricky to get: it seems to have a limited number of reprints and because it's popular for Postcolonial courses, it tends to disappear!

[Renniemist]

I have now finished An Artist of the Floating World. It was a good read. I really like Kazuo Ishiguro’s style it is very enjoyable. Perhaps this was not as good as Never Let Me Go, but it gives an fascinating insight into post-World War II Japan.

I have started on The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman.

[Polka Dot Rock]

I have now finished An Artist of the Floating World. It was a good read. I really like Kazuo Ishiguro’s style it is very enjoyable. Perhaps this was not as good as Never Let Me Go, but it gives an fascinating insight into post-World War II Japan.

Ooh, I'll keep that book in mind. I'm fascinated by Japan. I still have When We Were Orphans that I need to read...

I have started on The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman.
:yahoo:Woo-hoo! (Sorry!)

[Renniemist]

I have now finished reading The Complete Maus. I enjoyed it very much. I found it easy to read and will certainly read other Graphic Novels. I would like to compare this one with how others are written.


I have now started On Beauty by Zadie Smith.

Set in New England mainly and London partly, On Beauty concerns a pair of feuding Families – the Belseys and the Kipps – and a clutch of doomed affairs. It puts low morals among high ideals and asks some searching questions about what life does to love. For the Belseys and the Kipps, the confusion – both personal and political – of our uncertain age are about to be brought close to home: right to the heart of family.

[Renniemist]

I have finished On Beauty by Zadie Smith and I really enjoyed this book.

Admittedly it was very slow to start with and I was beginning to wonder if I liked any of the characters, but it most definitely improved and was very funny in parts. I read White Teeth by Zadie Smith last year and I enjoyed it as well.

I have now started on A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle.

Born in the slum of Dublin in 1901, his father a one-legged whorehouse bouncer and settler of scores, Henry Smart has to grow up fast. By the time he can walk he is out robbing, begging, often cold always hungry, but a prince of the streets. At fourteen, already six foot two, Henry is in the General Post Office on Easter Monday 1916, a soldier in the Irish Citizen Army, fighting for freedom.

[Polka Dot Rock]

Glad you enjoyed On Beauty :D On the graphic novel front, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a good graphic novel to read after Maus, I reckon.

[Purple Poppy]

I have just ordered Fluffy from Amazon, as it looks good. Will let you know how I get on with it. I doubt it could be more different than Maus!

[Renniemist]

I have just ordered Fluffy from Amazon, as it looks good. Will let you know how I get on with it. I doubt it could be more different than Maus!


What is Fluffy about PP? :)

Glad you enjoyed On Beauty :D On the graphic novel front, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a good graphic novel to read after Maus, I reckon.


Thanks Amy. I have Persepolis on my wish list. I am hoping that some kind person (son or daughter) will get it for me for Mothers Day.:D

[Purple Poppy]

This (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product//0224080482/026-0311748-4577270)is Fluffy. I had a peep inside when I was at Waterstones yesterday, and after reading the blurb, I think it looks good. Will let you know.:)


Pp

[Renniemist]

It sounds as if it will be a lovely read PP.

[Purple Poppy]

It does doesn't it? And a bit different. When I finish it (2010...you know how slow I am) I will pass it round to those who would like to borrow it.

Maybe we should start book chains...lend a book out and track who has it on the forum until it gets back home again. Everytime it arrives at a forum members house, its logged as received and when they finish it, they post it to the next person on the list.:)

[Ronny]

I have now started on A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle.

Born in the slum of Dublin in 1901, his father a one-legged whorehouse bouncer and settler of scores, Henry Smart has to grow up fast. By the time he can walk he is out robbing, begging, often cold always hungry, but a prince of the streets. At fourteen, already six foot two, Henry is in the General Post Office on Easter Monday 1916, a soldier in the Irish Citizen Army, fighting for freedom.

I have this on my TBR shelf, I hope it's good. It was an impulse buy for me :)

[Renniemist]

Hi Ronny I got this book out of the library because I had read a couple of other books by Roddy Doyle. So Far it is quite different and much darker.

[Renniemist]

I have finished reading A Star Called Henry. It was very different from the other Roddy Doyle books that I have read.

I am now starting on Perfume by Patrick Suskind.


He is abandoned on the filthy streets as a child, but grows up to discover he has an extraordinary gift: a sense of smell more powerful than any other human’s

Soon he is creating the most sublime fragrances in Paris. Yet there is one odour he cannot capture. It is exquisite, magical the sent of a young virgin. And to get it he must kill! And kill. And kill….

[Renniemist]

I have now finished reading Perfume by Patrick Suskind. I enjoyed it very much.


I am now reading After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell.


Alice Raikes boards a train at King’s Cross to visit her sisters in Scotland. Hours later, she steps into traffic on a busy London road and is taken to hospital in a coma.

Who or what did she see in Edinburgh that made her return so suddenly? Was the accident a suicide attempt? And what exactly do her family, waiting at her bedside, have to hide?

Sliding between different levels of consciousness, Alice listens to conversations around her, and begins sifting through recollections of her past, and of a recently curtailed love affair.

[Polka Dot Rock]

Ah, this is one of my favourite novels EVER! Definitely All Time Top 5 material for me. I really hope you enjoy it!

[Michelle]

I've just recommended it to KW aswell.. :D

[Renniemist]

I am loving it so far.

[Michelle]

Maggie O'Farrell will be with us in May, so if you have any questions for her whilst reading, make a note! :D

[Renniemist]

Will do, but I am so involved in the story I just want to read.:)

[Renniemist]

Well I finished After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell. This was such a good read. I can’t believe it was her first novel. I just whizzed my way through it and now I have a little empty feeling - I am sad it is finished.


I will start on the Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubensfeld for the Reading Circle.

On the morning after Sigmund Freud arrives in New York on his first - and only visit - to the United States, a stunning debutant is found bound and strangled in her penthouse apartment, high above Broadway. The following night, another heiress, Nora Acton, is discovered tied to a chandelier in her parents’ home, viciously wounded and unable to speak or recall her ordeal. Soon Freud and his American disciple, Stratham Younger, are enlisted to help Miss Acton recover her memory, and to piece together the killer’s identity. It is a riddle that will test their skills to the limit, and lead them on a thrilling journey – into the darkest places of the city, and the human mind.

[Renniemist]

I have finished reading The Interpretation of Murder and I have now started on Every Light in the House Burnin’ by Andrea Levy.


Better opportunity – that’s why Angela’s dad sailed to England from America in 1948 on the Empire Windrush. Six months after her mum joined him in his one room in Earl’s court…

…Twenty years and four children later, Mr Jacobs has become seriously ill and starts to move unsteadily through the care of the National Health Service. As Angela, his youngest, tries to help her mother through this ordeal, she finds herself reliving her childhood years, spent on a council estate in Highbury.

[Michelle]

Well I finished After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell. This was such a good read. I can’t believe it was her first novel. I just whizzed my way through it and now I have a little empty feeling - I am sad it is finished.


I'm reading The Distance Between Us atm, and that's really good too. :)

[Renniemist]

I really mean to read more of Maggie O’Farrell's books. I think they are excellent.:)

[Polka Dot Rock]

I really mean to read more of Maggie O’Farrell's books. I think they are excellent.:)

If I may, I'd recommend the following in order of preference:

1) The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (out in paperback 17 May)
Set between the 1930s,and the present, Maggie O'Farrell's new novel is the story of Esme, a woman edited out of her family's history, and of the secrets that come to light when, sixty years later, she is released from care, and a young woman, Iris, discovers the great aunt she never knew she had. The mystery that unfolds is the heartbreaking tale of two sisters in colonial India and 1930s Edinburgh - of the loneliness that binds them together and the rivalries that drive them apart, and lead one of them to a shocking betrayal - but above all it is the story of Esme, a fiercely intelligent, unconventional young woman, and of the terrible price she is made to pay for her family's unhappiness. This is vintage Maggie O'Farrell: an impassioned, intense, haunting family drama - a stunning imagining of a life stolen, and reclaimed.

- I loved this: I think it's her best since After You'd Gone :)

2) The Distance Between Us
On a cold February afternoon, Stella catches sight of a man she hasn't seen for many years, but she instantly recognises him. Or thinks she does. At the same moment on the other side of the globe, in the middle of a crowd of Chinese New Year revellers, Jake realises that things are becoming dangerous. They know nothing of one another's existence, but both Stella and Jake flee their lives: Jake in search of a place so remote it doesn't appear on any map, and Stella for a destination in Scotland, the significance of which only her sister, Nina, will understand. Gripping, insightful and deft, this is Maggie O'Farrell's finest achievement to date.


- Really enjoyable, great characters.

3) My Lover's Lover
A compulsive tale of betrayal and its impact upon a group of flatmates and lovers, a keenly observed portrayal of shifting metropolitan lives and a superbly imagined story of a haunting. When Lily moves into Marcus's flat and plunges headlong into a relationship, she must contend not merely with the disapproval of flatmate Aidan, but with a more intangible, hostile presence. Could it be that Sinead, Marcus's ex, is trying to communicate with her? When Lily begins to 'see' Sinead first about the flat, and then on the streets of London, she must question not merely her sanity, but whether the man she loves is someone she can, or indeed ought to live with at all.

- My least favourite, but by no means a poor novel whatsoever! Still a great read.

[Renniemist]

Oh I had not realised that there were three more books she had written. That is good news. :D

I will try and read them in the order you suggest Amy. Thanks:)

[Michelle]

I'm finding that The Distance Between Us reminds me very much of After You'd Gone, where as My Lover's Lover was very different. I found myself rushing through that one, because I wanted to find out what had happened, whereas the other two I relax and enjoy more.

May I remind everyone that there will be quite a few copies of The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox on offer during April. :smile2:

[Polka Dot Rock]

My Lover's Lover was very different. I found myself rushing through that one, because I wanted to find out what had happened, whereas the other two I relax and enjoy more.

That's very true: I remember rushing through it too.

I sped through The Distance Between Us but only because I had insomnia for two nights running. It was a great companion!

[Renniemist]

I have finished Every Light in the House Burnin’. I found it rather disturbing and quite sad, but I did enjoy it. This is the third book of Andrea Levy’s that I have read now, and they have all been good.

I have started reading Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller.


Alexandra Fuller was the daughter of white settlers in 1970’s war-torn Rhodesia. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight is a memoir of that time, when a schoolgirl was as likely to carry a shotgun as a satchel. Fuller tells a story of civil war; of a quixotic battle against nature and loss; and of her family’s unbreakable bond with a continent which came to define, shape, scar and heal them. In a wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she looks back with rage and love at an extraordinary family and an extraordinary time.

[Renniemist]

I have finished Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller. I really liked this book. It was interesting to hear about Alexandra Fullers childhood in what was once Rhodesia. She painted a particularly vivid picture of the colours and the sounds and the smells of Zimbabwe.

I have now started reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

[Renniemist]

It has taken me a while but I eventually finished reading Lolita. I quickly got used to the style but I was pretty appalled at Humbert Humbert and so I could only read a little at a time. I am struggling to get the right words to describe this book. I enjoyed it but at times I hated it and it made me shiver. I am putting it in my to be read again pile.

I am now starting on Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky.

Set during the year that France fell to the Nazis, Suite Française falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation. Suite Française is a novel that teems with wonderful characters struggling with the new regime. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places.

[Gyre]

I have finished Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller. I really liked this book. It was interesting to hear about Alexandra Fullers childhood in what was once Rhodesia. She painted a particularly vivid picture of the colours and the sounds and the smells of Zimbabwe.

I have now started reading Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov.

Off topic, but Fuller is my maiden name, I have always wanted to read 'Lolita' so I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts Rennie x

[Polka Dot Rock]

It has taken me a while but I eventually finished reading Lolita. I quickly got used to the style but I was pretty appalled at Humbert Humbert and so I could only read a little at a time. I am struggling to get the right words to describe this book. I enjoyed it but at times I hated it and it made me shiver. I am putting it in my to be read again pile.

I had to re-read Lolita and I'm very glad I did: you read it very differently, probably because you've 'got over' the shocks in it. You don't end up sympathising with HH, but I think a re-read helps you to see through him more and what a sad character he is (in both sense!). Definitely worth revisiting :)

I am now starting on Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky.

I have this on my TBR pile. Quite want to start it soon-ish. I'll look out for your thoughts on it!

[Renniemist]

Hi Paula

I would recommend reading Lolita, but it can be depressing. I would also recommend reading Alexandra Fuller’s book. Despite being set in a war zone it is more lighthearted and easier to read than Lolita.

Glad you are enjoying The Robber Bride. I enjoyed it too.

Margaret Atwood is one of my favourite authors. :friends0:

[Renniemist]

I have got stuck with Suite Française. I don’t think it is the books fault. I am worried that I have gone off reading. I have really read nothing for days now.:cry:


I thought that in order to overcome this I should read something by a favourite author so I have started on Diana Gabaldon’s A Breath of Snow and Ashes. This may be a huge mistake since at 979 pages I can hardly lift the book never mind prop it up with one hand. ;)


1973 – The eve of the American Revolution. In Boston men lie dead in the streets, and in the backwoods of America isolated cabins burn in the darkness of the forest. The colony is in ferment.

Jamie Fraser receives and envoy from Governor Josiah Martin asking for help. The Governor needs someone to unite the backcountry, pacify the seething resentments of settlers, and to keep the mountains safe for King and Crown. Jamie Fraser, everyone agrees, is the man for the job.

But Jamie knows what is to come. His wife, Claire, has travelled back in time from the twentieth century, and she knows that it is only a matter of years before the start of the War of Independence, ending with the exile or death of men loyal to the King of England. Neither prospect appeals to Jamie.

I may now be able to join Kell’s Doorstep Challenge.:D

[Renniemist]

I have finished A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon. This was the 6th book in The Cross Stitch/Outlander series and I loved it. I had put off reading it because of its length and because I had thought that the series was going down hill a bit, but this book saw Diana Gabaldon right back on track. Although glad to have made it through the 979 pages I still I felt quite sad when it finished. Will there be a 7th book? Oh I do hope so.

I am starting reading My Lover’s Lover by Maggie O’Farrell in preparation for her being on the forum in May.

When Lily moves into Marcus’s flat she is intrigued by signs of his recently departed ex-lover. A single dress left hanging in the wardrobe, a mysterious mark on the wall, the lingering odour of jasmine.

Who was this woman? And what exactly were the circumstances of her sudden disappearance? It doesn’t take long for Lily’s curiosity to grow into an all-pervading obsession.

[Renniemist]

Well I have finished reading My Lover’s Lover and I found this book very different from After You’d Gone which was also by Maggie O’Farrell. I liked the second part of this book so much better than the first part where I was not sure that I liked the character of Lilly. Anyway I am glad I kept reading and ended really enjoying the book. I am now about to start on The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, which is also by Maggie O’Farrell. I am really looking forward to this.

[Renniemist]

I finished ‘The Vanishing act of Esme Lennox’ several days ago. I must say I really enjoyed this book and had difficulty putting it down.

I have now started and I am almost half way through ‘Alias Grace’ by Margaret Atwood.

‘Sometimes I whisper it over to myself: Murderess. Murderess. It rustles, like a taffeta skirt along the floor’ Grace Marks. Female fiend? Femme fatale? Or weak and unwilling victim?

Around the true story of one of the most enigmatic and notorious women of the 1840’s, Margaret Atwood has created an extraordinarily potent tale of sexuality, cruelty and mystery.

[Renniemist]

I finished Alias Grace last night. I enjoyed it very much. I don’t know whether she was guilty or not but she seems have been a charismatic character. Margaret Atwood has given us a good tale.

I am starting on The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have been saving it for a while but I feel the time has come to read it.

In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the aging butler of Darlington Hall embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside and into his past…

[Polka Dot Rock]

I hope you enjoy The Remains of the Day, Rennie :) It's one of my favourites!

[Renniemist]

I thoroughly enjoyed The Remains of the Day thanks Aimz.

I finished it on holiday. It was the only book I did manage to read. So May was rather a slow month.

I have started on The Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy. I do enjoy Andrea Levy’s books, and this one looks as if it will be good.

Faith Jackson has set herself up with a great job and a brilliant flatshare. But life is not perfect….

Her relations with her overbearing, though always loving, family leave a lot to be desired, especially when her parents announce their intention to retire back home to Jamaica. Perplexed, even furious, Faith makes her own journey there, where she I immediately welcomed by her Aunt Coral, keeper of a rich cargo of family history. Her Aunt’s compelling storytelling unfurls a wonderful cast of characters from Cuba, Panama, Harlem and Scotland in a story that passes through London and sweeps over continents.

[Renniemist]

I finished Fruit of the Lemon. It was very interesting with a great deal of family history from Jamaica.

My next read is also set in Jamaica, but I suspect it is very different in tone.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

Inspired by Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, and set in the lush, beguiling landscape of Jamaica in the 1830’s

Born into an oppressive colonialist society, Creole heiress Antoinette Cosway meets a young Englishman who is drawn to her innocent sensuality and beauty. After their marriage disturbing rumours begin to circulate. Poisoning her husband against her. Caught between his demands and her own precarious sense of belonging, Antoinette is driven towards madness.

[Renniemist]

I have not updated this for some time now. I have had a little period when I stopped reading for some reason, but I seem to have recovered now. Thank goodness! :D

I finished Wide Sargasso Sea some time ago and really enjoyed it. It is the story of Jane Eyre’s husband’s first wife. Made me think again about Mr Rochester.

I also enjoyed The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. I had thought that I might not like this book as I struggled with the first part, mainly because I was not in the mood for reading. I am really glad I persevered with it however and after the bad start I raced through the rest. A great read.

I then went on and read The Hills is Lonely by Lillian Beckwith. I had read this book years ago but could remember very little except that it was a nice easy comfortable read. It was just the thing for someone going through a bad patch in his or her reading. I loved it. It is about a schoolteacher from the north of England who goes to live on one of the islands in the Hebrides for health reasons.

I am now reading The Covenant by James Michener. The story of history of South Africa. I am enjoying this immensely. The only problem is it is over 1000 pages long with very small print so it will take me some time to get through it.

[Janet]

I then went on and read The Hills is Lonely by Lillian Beckwith. I had read this book years ago but could remember very little except that it was a nice easy comfortable read. It was just the thing for someone going through a bad patch in his or her reading. I loved it. It is about a schoolteacher from the north of England who goes to live on one of the islands in the Hebrides for health reasons.
Wow - that's a blast from the past. There were loads of Lillian Beckwith books on our bookcase when I was a child. I don't think my Mum has them any longer though.

Is it a factual book?

[Polka Dot Rock]

Fruit of the Lemon
Wide Sargasso Sea

Those are two novels I really ought to read: I've become really interested in the Caribbean since reading Small Island! Thanks for mentioning them, Rennie :)

[Renniemist]

Wow - that's a blast from the past. There were loads of Lillian Beckwith books on our bookcase when I was a child. I don't think my Mum has them any longer though.

Is it a factual book?



Hi Janet, According to wikipedia the books are semi-autobiographical. Lillian Beckwith (Comber) stayed on Skye for some time and wrote about her experiences.

The books are lovely, easy to read and very funny. I got my copy in the local charity shop and unfortunately it is not in great condition.

[Renniemist]

Fruit of the Lemon
Wide Sargasso Sea

Those are two novels I really ought to read: I've become really interested in the Caribbean since reading Small Island! Thanks for mentioning them, Rennie :)

No problems Aimz! You are always a helping me to extend my TBR list.:lol: It is time to return the favour. :mrgreen:

I think that you would enjoy both these books. I think that Small Island is Andrea Levy’s best book so far, but the others are all worth reading.

Wide Sargasso Sea is also worth a read especially if you liked Jane Eyre.

I hope you enjoy them, and I am glad you like Purple Hibiscus. I enjoyed that book too.

[Renniemist]

Well at long last I have finished The Covenant. 3000 years of South African history in just 1079 pages. It tells of the life of three different families over this period, but ends in 1979. I enjoyed it very much except that I thought I was never going to get to the end.

I am now starting on Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery for the Reading Circle this month.

[Renniemist]

I loved re-reading Anne of Green Gables. It was just as good as I remembered.

I am now starting on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

[Renniemist]

Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Good Conclusion I thought.

I am now starting on Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday.

Blurb

Doctor Alfred Jones has many reasons to be content with his life. His latest paper ‘Effects of Increased Water Acidity on the Caddis Fly Larva’ looks set to cause a stir on the pages of Trout and Salmon, his job as a fisheries scientist is satisfactory, and he and his wife Mary have just celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary – for which she gave him a replacement electric toothbrush.

So why does he feel as though something is missing?

When he is asked to become involved in a project to create a salmon river in the highlands of the Yemen, Fred rejects the idea as absurd. But the proposal catches the eye of several senior British politicians who feel it might distract the media’s attention from the less welcome stories coming out of the Middle East. It’s not long before the wheels of government start spinning, and the publicity-savvy PM is talking about the project on television. Fred find himself forced to set aside his research and instead figure out how to fly ten thousand salmon to a desert country… and persuade them to swim there.

[Renniemist]

Salmon Fishing in The Yemen was an enjoyable read about a ludicrous idea and how, with a bit of pressure from Government, Dr Alfred Jones tries to bring this about. There is a bit of love, a bit of politics, a bit of fishing and a lot of humour.

I am now starting The Distance Between Us by Maggie O’Farrell.

Blurb

On a cold February afternoon Stella sees a man walking towards her on a London pavement. She hasn’t seen his face for many years but instantly she recognises him. Or thinks she does.

At exactly the same moment on the other side of the world Jake is realising that the crowd around him. Celebrating Chinese New Year is about to turn dangerous.

They know nothing of one another’s existence, but both Stella and Jake flee their lives. Jake in search of a place so remote it doesn’t appear on any map and Stella for a destination in Scotland the significance of which only her sister, Nina, will understand.

[Renniemist]

I have now finished The Distance Between Us by Maggie O’Farrell. This is the 4th book of hers I have read this year and this one certainly does not disappoint. The book starts in London and in Hong Kong but like most of her other books the action then moves to Scotland.

It jumps about between the past and the present but I found it relatively easy to follow. Overall pretty good.



I am now starting on The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, which I picked up at the library because I thought there had been one or two good reviews about it on here.

It is not my usual read, as I tend to stay away from fantasy except in exceptional circumstances.

Blurb

High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the loss of his mother. He is angry and he is alone, with only the books on his shelf for company.

But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in the myths and fairytales so beloved of his dead mother he finds the real world and the fantasy world and the have begun to meld. The Crooked Man has come, with his mocking smile and his enigmatic words. ‘Welcome, Your Majesty. All hail the new king.’

[Renniemist]

I have finished The Book of Lost Things. It started really well and was quite emotional. When it got to the fantasy bit I was not so sure, but it was a really easy read and in the end I found that I had really enjoyed it.



I have now started on In The Country of Men by Hisham Matar.

Blurb

Nine-year-old Suleiman is just awakening to the wider world beyond the games on the hot pavement outside his home and beyond the loving embrace of his parents. He became the man of the house when his father goes away on business – but he sees his father, standing in the market square in a pair of dark glasses. Suddenly the winder world becomes a frightening place where parents lie and questions go unanswered.

In his fathers worrying absence Suleiman turns to his mother who, under the cover of night, entrusts him with the secret story of her childhood. And as the lies and fears intensify, it feels as if the walls of Suleiman’s home will break with the secrets held within it.

[Princess Orchid]

I have started on The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman.

Ooh, I loved Maus! My parents got me The Complete Maus in high school.

[Renniemist]

Hi Princess Orchid! The Complete Maus was one of the Reading Circle books back in February. I think most people enjoyed it. I know I did.:)

[Renniemist]

I have finished In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar

I am not sure about this book. I could not take to Suleiman so perhaps that has coloured my opinion. I wanted to know more about Libya but in the end felt a bit dissatisfied.


I am starting A Spot of Bother by Mark Hadden.

Blurb

George Hall doesn’t understand the modern obsession with talking about everything. The secret of contentment, George felt, lay in ignoring many things completely. Some things however cannot be ignored.

At fifty-seven George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, and listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie his tempestuous daughter announces that she is getting remarried to Roy. Her family are not pleased – as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has ‘stranglers hands’. Katie cannot decide if she loves Ray or loves the wonderful way he has with her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by all the planning and arguing the wedding has occasioned, which gets in the way of her quite fulfilling late life affair with one of her husbands former colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Janie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony to the dreaded nuptials.

Unnoticed in the uproar George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind.

[Renniemist]

A Spot of Bother was a very entertaining book. For me it was one of these books that keep you reading with no effort and before you know where you are you have reached the end. Very funny.

I am now starting on Exodus by Leon Uris

Blurb

Exodus is an extraordinary novel of one of the twentieth century’s most dramatic events: the birth of a new nation despite incredible military, political, geographical and economic hardships. With a memorable cast of characters and a narrative drive that takes a story line based in historic fact and makes it soar with drama and passion.

[happyanddandy]

I am now starting on Exodus by Leon Uris




wow must have read this 25 years ago - it was more like a history lesson but a good read - very fat book if I remember :smile2:

[Renniemist]

Well that is Exodus finished and I am glad I made it to the end of this book. It started off quite well telling the harrowing story of several different Jewish families and how they came to be on their way to Palestine. In my opinion however, later on the book got bogged down in historic detail and it seemed that Uris could not quite make up his mind whether he was writing a novel or a textbook. I know that this book was a bestseller when it was published but I am afraid it was not for me.

My next book will be Arthur and George by Julian Barnes

Blurb

Arthur and George grow up worlds apart in late-ninetieth-century Britain. Arthur in shabby-genteel Edinburgh, George in the vicarage of a small Staffordshire village. Arthur becomes a doctor, then a writer, George a solicitor in Birmingham. Arthur is to become one of the most famous men of his age, while George remains in hard working obscurity. But as the new century begins, they are brought together by a sequence of events, which made sensational headlines at the time as The Great Wyrley Outrages.

[Renniemist]

When I started Arthur and George I had not realised that Arthur was ‘Arthur Conan Doyle’. Apparently it is based on a true set of events that occurred at the beginning of the 20th Century. I felt that it was a little long but nevertheless enjoyable.

I am now starting on The Sea by John Banville

Blurb

When Art historian Max Morden returns to the seaside village where he once spent a childhood holiday, he is both escaping from a recent loss and confronting a distant trauma. The Grace family appeared that long-ago summer as if from another world. Drawn to the Grace twins, Chloe and Myles, Max soon found himself entangled in their lives, which were as seductive as they were unsettling. What ensued would haunt him for the rest of his years and shape everything that was to follow.

[Renniemist]

Despite having had The Sea by John Banville on my shelf for over a year now I was putting off reading it because I had heard some negative reviews. However I loved this book. It is beautifully written and very descriptive. I felt bereft when I finished it.

Since reading The Sea I have also read On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. This was another really good read. It is the first McEwan that I have read but I will be looking for more shortly.

I have also had The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood on my shelf for a while. I gave it a read on holiday and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I managed to get a copy of Atonement by Ian McEwan. I wanted to read it before I see the film. This was a wonderful book. Definitely one of the best books I have read this year.



I also managed to squeeze in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd while away. This is a good easy read and interesting too.

I am not quite sure what I will read next. I am ploughing my way through the 1400 posts that have appeared on this forum since I departed just over a week ago. That will keep me busy for a while I reckon.:)

[Renniemist]

Well I eventually decided to read The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle.

Blurb from cover

I swooned the first time I saw Charlo. I actually did. I didn’t faint of fall on the floor but my legs went rubbery on me and I giggled. I suddenly knew that I had lungs because they were empty and collapsing.

[Renniemist]

The Woman Who Walked into Doors was a pretty depressing story about domestic violence. The thing that is interesting about the book is that although we hear the disturbing account of abuse from Paula the victimised wife’s point of view we have to remember that the book was actually written by a man. Roddy Doyle does this so skilfully that sometimes it is difficult to remember that the author is not female. Roddy Doyle writes in quite a different style with no quotation marks, which makes it a little difficult to get into, but once you get used to it you don’t notice this. I think there is a follow up to this book, which I will certainly read at sometime as I have so far enjoyed all the Roddy Doyle books that I have read.

Next I am going to read Notes on a Scandal by Zoë Heller

Blurb from cover

When Sheba Hart joins St George’s as the new pottery teacher, lonely Barbara Covett senses that she has found a kindred spirit. But Barbara is not the only one drawn to Sheba. Before long Sheba is involved in an illicit affair with a pupil. Barbara is powerless to stop Sheba from pursuing her foolhardy course of action. But when the liaison is found out and Sheba’s marriage falls apart, Barbara is loyally standing by, ready to provide succour.

[Renniemist]

Barbara a lonely spinster who has a dislike for all of her colleagues in the comprehensive school where she works is the narrator of Notes On a Scandal. She is in her sixties and feels that she is superior to most other people that she comes across, so it is not a surprising that most of the characters are not particularly likeable since we see them through her eyes. The story is supposed to be about Sheba who has an affair with a 15 pupil by in reality we are learning more about Barbara. I absolutely loved this book and I could not help feeling rather sorry for Barbara despite how unlovable she seemed to be.

I am now going to start on Animal's People by Indra Sinha. I picked this book up at Gatwick Airport when I went on holiday recently. It apparently has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, so I feel I should read it before they announce the winner. I expect I shall have to be quick.

Blurb from book

Ever since he can remember, animal has gone on all fours, the catastrophic result of what happened That Night when, thanks to an American chamical company, the Apocalypse visited his slum. Now not quite twenty he leads a hand to mouth existence with his dog Jara and a crazy old nun called Ma Franci, and spends his night fantasizing about Nisha the daughter of a local Musician, and wondering what it must be like to get laid.

[happyanddandy]

Barbara a lonely spinster who has a dislike for all of her colleagues in the comprehensive school where she works is the narrator of Notes On a Scandal. She is in her sixties and feels that she is superior to most other people that she comes across, so it is not a surprising that most of the characters are not particularly likeable since we see them through her eyes. The story is supposed to be about Sheba who has an affair with a 15 pupil by in reality we are learning more about Barbara. I absolutely loved this book and I could not help feeling rather sorry for Barbara despite how unlovable she seemed to be.

.

I thoroughly enjoyed it too - I recently watched the DVD as well - the ending has been altered but otherwise it's excellent with Judi Dench as Barbara

[Renniemist]

Yes I saw the film earlier in the year HanD. I really enjoyed it and that is why I went on to read the book. I think you are right the ending had been altered, but both were still excellent. When I was reading I could hear Judy Dench’s voice most of the time. It was quite creepy.:)

[happyanddandy]

When I was reading I could hear Judy Dench’s voice most of the time. It was quite creepy.:)

Same here - she was so right for the part!!

[Renniemist]

I thought that Animal's People was really good although it was not at all how I had expected it to be. I had thought that I would be quite depressing since it was about how a Chemical Explosion at a factory in a town in India (similar to Bhopal) had affected the inhabitants. In fact this is a book about the fight for compensation and justice. The characters are very vivid, especially Animal a twenty year old boy whose back is so twisted he has to go on all fours. He is foul mouthed, sex obsessed but he looks out for the elderly nun who brought him up when his parents died that awful night. He is also in love with Nisha who is in love with Zafar the leader of the campaign for justice.
The descriptions of Khaufpur are colourful. The sights the sounds and smells are all there. I would recommend this book to anyone.


I don’t know what I will read now as I am still feeling the glow from Animal’s People.

[Adam]

I thoroughly enjoyed it too - I recently watched the DVD as well - the ending has been altered but otherwise it's excellent with Judi Dench as Barbara

I watched this film as well. I have never read the book, but the film was very good.

[Kell]

I thoroughly enjoyed it too - I recently watched the DVD as well - the ending has been altered but otherwise it's excellent with Judi Dench as Barbara
It was actually one of the rare occasions where I far preferred the film as the book seemed (to me) to lack most of the intensity that was got a across in the movie version. And the cast was so excellent that I couldn't help but be glued to the screen - unlike the book, where I was bored much of the time.

[Renniemist]

I could not settle after reading Animal’s People. I lifted and started two books and had to put both down because I could not get into them.

So decided I need a complete change therefore went for One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson which has been on my shelf since last Christmas.

Blurb from Book

It is summer, it is The Edinburgh Festival. People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a road-rage incident that changes the lives of everyone involved. Jackson Brodie, ex-army, ex-police, ex-private detective, is also an innocent bystander – until he becomes a suspect.


This is a good easy book. As the cover says it is ‘A Jolly Murder Mystery’. Well to begin with it did not seem to be much of a mystery but as time went on it got much more complicated and interesting. I have now read three Kate Atkinson books and I have enjoyed them all.

[Renniemist]

The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd

Blurb from the cover

From the mysterious killing of King William Rufus, treachery and witchcraft, smuggling and poaching run through this epic tale of well-born ladies, lowly woodsmen, sailors, merchants and Cistercian monks. The feuds, wars, loyalties and passions of generations reach their climax in a crime that shatters the decorous society of Jane Austin’s Bath.

From the cruel forest laws of the Normans to the danger of the Spanish Armada, from the free-roaming herds of ponies and wild deer to the mighty oaks, which gave Nelson his navy, Rutherfurd has captured the essence of this ancient place. Forest and sea: there is no more perfect English heartland.

I had forgotten that I had this book on my shelf until several members of this forum started discussing the books of Edward Rutherfurd. I had read both Sarum and London many years ago and enjoyed both book so I decided it was time to dust of The Forest. At 882 pages it is not a light read and it seemed to me to be pretty slow to begin with. It starts at the time of William Rufus and follows the fortunes of the descendants of several Forest inhabitants over the centuries. There are many interesting descriptions of the flora and fauna of the forest and the impact that the many wars and other events throughout the period have had on the area. I became more interested in the families concerned and their connections to the other families in the forest, as I got deeper into the book. This is not the best Rutherfurd that I have read, as I think that honour goes to Sarum, but nevertheless it is an interesting tale.

[angerball]

Sounds great - good old historical fiction. :D I have both Sarum and London, but have yet to read either. :blush:

[Renniemist]

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque


Synopsis from Amazon
One by one the boys begin to fall… In 1914, a room full of German schoolboys, fresh faced and idealistic, are goaded by their schoolmaster to troop off to the ‘Glorious War’. With the fire and patriotism of youth, they sign up. What follows is the moving story of a young ‘unknown soldier’ experiencing the horror and disillusionment of life in the trenches.


This is such an emotional book. The descriptions of the trenches during World War I are written from a young German’s point of view and are particularly harrowing. It reminded me to a great extent of ‘Birdsong’ by Sebastian Faulks, but of course ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ was written so much earlier.

The young soldier and his comrades are fresh out of school but it is so easy to believe that they were much older as the awful description of the war continues. Their daily life consists of rats, lice, mutilations and death. It is no wonder they feel old – they don’t even feel human.

This is a terribly sad and poignant book but I highly recommend it.

[Janet]

I managed to avoid reading your review of AQotWF but I'm going to read it when I finish my current book. :)

[Renniemist]

Port Mungo by Patrick McGrath

Blurb from the cover

From the days of their privileged eccentric English childhood, Jack Rathbone has enjoyed the adoration of his sister Gin. When both attend St Martin’s School of Art in London it is a painful wrench, for Gin to watch jack fall under the spell of Vera Savage, a flamboyant, not entirely clean nor sober artist from Glasgow. Jack and Vera run off to New York within seven weeks of meeting and, from a bruised and bereft distance, sister Gin follows the couple’s progress south via Havana to Port Mungo a seedy river town in the mangrove swamps of the Gulf of Honduras. There in an old Banana warehouse, Jack devotes himself to his art, while Vera succumbs to infidelity, and a rackety, chronic restlessness, which even the birth of two daughters cannot subdue.

This is a very complex book. We hear the life story of Jack told by Gin, his sister, who was very close to him in childhood. She adores him and although critical of his chosen lifestyle she is inclined to blame Vera the older woman who enticed him, at the age of 17, to run away with her.

Since Gin lives in New York and Jack and Vera live in the topics, Gin’s version of events are coloured by what her brother tells her and by what she wants to believe. She tells the tale slowly, letting slip crucial incidents in Jack’s life every now and them. However there is always a little doubt about Gin’s tale of Jack as her obsession with him is quiet clear from the outset.

This is a tale of sorrow and damaged lives, but I thought that it was well written and enjoyable.

[Renniemist]

The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth



Blurb from Cover

Thurstan, a young Norman and would be knight at the court of King Roger in Palermo, has been in love since boyhood with Lady Alicia, now returned a widow from the Holy Land. At the same time, he is enthralled by the earthly sensuality of the dancer Nesrin, whose troupe he brings to the court to dance for the King. In a compelling tale of love, passion, intrigue and treachery, Thurstan finds himself caught in a tangle of plots and counter plots and deceptions that threaten to destroy him.

This story is set in Sicily in the twelfth-century, a period of history that I know very little about and in an area that I am not at all familiar with but Barry Unsworth brings the scenes alive with vivid descriptions. It is quite a complex book with a great many characters introduced who seem initially have no place in the story. The book is well underway before you realise that everyone is important in this tale of love and deceit. It is a time of religious wars in a place where many different religions apparently co-exist in peace. Danger is never far away however and Thurstan finds himself right in the middle of a conspiracy. This is an enjoyable colourful tale.

[Renniemist]

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving


Blurb from Cover

Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friends mother. Owen doesn’t believe in accidents; he believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul is both extraordinary and terrifying. At moments a comic, self-deluded victim, but in the end the principal, tragic actor in a divine plan, Owen Meany is the most heartbreaking hero John Irving has yet created.

John Wheelwright is the narrator of this story. In 1987 he is living in Toronto and remembering his childhood in New Hampshire with his best friend Owen Meany. Owen believed that nothing was a coincidence and that things that happened were meant to happen. He believed that God chose him for a purpose.

This book has many very funny incidents that made me laugh out loud. It is also a sad story and I came very close to crying over this book – a thing I very rarely do. It is quiet a long book at 637 pages but it is a terrific read and I highly recommend this.

[Renniemist]

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson


Blurb from the Book

Motherless and anchorless Silver is taken in by the timeless Mr Pew, keeper of the Cape Wrath lighthouse. Pew tells Silver ancient tales of longing and rootlessness, of ties that bind and of the slippages that occur throughout every life. One life, Babel Dark’s a nineteenth-century clergyman opens like a map, that Silver must follow. Caught in her own particular darkness, she embarks on a Ulyssean sift through the stories we tell ourselves, stories love and loss, of passion and longing, stories of unending journeys that move through places and times and the bleak finality of the shores of betrayal.


I thought this rather a strange book. Lighthousekeeping is a book about stories. I liked the start of the book and I liked the stories but somewhere along the way I got lost and was not sure what was happening. This is the first Jeanette Winterson book that I have read so I don’t know if this style is typical of her or not. It is a very short book so I managed to finish it and I am glad that I did, but I don’t think this was for me.

[Renniemist]

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Blurb from Book

After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The crew of the surviving vessel consists of a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan, a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger and Pi – a 16-year-old Indian boy. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary pieces of literary fiction of recent years.


I have put off reading this book over the years because I have heard so many negative reviews. Friends have given up on the book early on saying that they could not get into it. So after having taken the book out the library 3 times and each time returning it unread I thought that the time had come to find out for myself what the book was like.

I have to say that I can’t see what the problem with the book is. I found it easy enough to read. I liked the bits about the animals in the zoo and I thought the narration was entertaining. I did have a problem when Pi was on the raft to begin with, but this was because I had a really strong fear of tigers when I was a child. I could not read this book late at night for fear of nightmares.

The book got easier to read and I would say that on the whole it was enjoyable. I realise it is not for everyone but it did not seem the awful book that I had expected.

[Kell]

I loved Life pf Pi! It was recommended to me by my non-bookworm sister and I agreed with her that it was simply lovely. :)

[Renniemist]

Border Crossing by Pat Barker


Blurb from book

When tom Seymour, a child psychologist plunges into a river to save a young man from drowning, he unwittingly reopens a chapter from the past he’d hoped to forget. For Tom already knows Danny Miller. When Danny was ten Tom helped imprison him for the killing of an old woman. Now out of prison with a new identity, Danny has some questions – questions he thinks only Tom can answer.

Reluctantly, Tom is drawn back into Danny’s life – a place where the border between good and evil, innocence and guilt is blurred and confused. But when Danny’s demands on Tom become extreme, Tom wonders whether he has crossed a line of his own – and in crossing it, can he ever go back.

A disturbing tale about a young man who was convicted of murder when he was eleven-years-old, but who has now been released with a new identity 13 years later. Child psychologist Tom Seymour whose evidence helped to convict the boy is now trying to help him come to terms with his past. Pat Barker is not judgemental in this story. The pace is fast and it is not a long book. I enjoyed it despite the disturbing nature of the crime committed and the age of the offender.

This is the first book that I have read by Pat Barker and I would like to read some of her other books.

[Renniemist]

Sharpe’s Fortress by Bernard Cornwell


Blurb from Book

It is December 1803, and Richard Sharpe is now an officer in sir Arthur Wellesley’s army which is seeking to end the Mahratta War. Relegated to a tedious job in the baggage train, Sharpe discovers a treason conjured up by his old enemy, Sergeant Obadiah Hawkeswill, but in uncovering this Sharpe finds himself alone and under dreadful threat. He falls back on his fighting ability to regain his confidence and his treasure, the jewels of the Tippoo Sultan, which have been stolen from him.

This is another enjoyable if predictable tale of Sharpe’s adventures. He is still fighting in India so there are many books still to come. Although Sharpe’s exploits all seem to follow the same pattern I find the history behind them quite fascinating. I am looking forward to getting hold of the next one.

[Renniemist]

Spilling the Beans by Clarissa Dickson Wright (audio book)

Blurb from cover

Clarissa was born into a wealthy family of food lovers who thought nothing of flying pigeons in from Cairo for supper. Her mother was an Australian heiress and her father was a brilliant surgeon to the Royal Family. But he was also a tyrannical and violent drunk. Clarissa was determined and cleaver, though, and her ambition led her to a career in the law. At the age of 21, she was the youngest ever woman to be called to the Bar.

Then disaster struck when her adored mother died suddenly. There followed a mind-numbing decade of wild drinking. Rich from her inheritance, in the end Clarissa had drained her entire fortune. It was a long road to recovery along which Clarissa finally faced her demons and turned to the one thing that always brought her joy – cooking. Now at last she has found success, sobriety – and peace. With the stark honesty and brilliant wit we love her for, Clarissa recounts the tale of a life lived to extremes.

I have never particularly liked listening to audio books. Moreover I usually steer clear of biographies. However I thought it would be a good idea to listen to Clarissa ‘Spilling the Beans’ while I tried to make some sort of impact on a pile of ironing.

I found her voice very easy to listen to as she recounted the horrors of her childhood and the dreadful period of her life when she was an alcoholic. It must have been an almost insurmountable task to overcome that phase of her life. Nevertheless she did survive and as most will remember went on to be one half of ‘The Two Fat Ladies’. For me this was the best bit of the book even if it was rather short. The programme was not one that I watched very often but now after having listened to Clarissa ‘Spilling the Beans’ I may just splash out and buy one of their cookbooks. I certainly enjoyed listening to this book and the pile of ironing disappeared in no time.

[Renniemist]

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Blurb from Book

A father and his young son walk alone through burned America, heading slowly for the coast. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscapes save the ash on the wind. They have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves against the men who stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food – and each other.


I liked the way this book was written. Cormac Mccarthy does not use a lot of punctuation and in this respect he reminds me of Roddy Doyle and Jose Saramago who also write in this style. Not only did the style remind me of Saramago’s writing but also the bleakness of the subject reminded me of Blindness by Saramago which I read last year.

At no point do we know the names of the characters on The Road or even the age of the son. I was never sure just where they were as they travelled along the road and indeed most of the time they do not know themselves. All this adds to a feeling of desolation. I did however care about the welfare of the father and son and it was obvious they cared for each other. I wanted them to survive because they tried so hard against what seemed like impossible odds. I liked the ending in this book but I am not sure whether things ended well or badly. I suppose it depend on whether you are optimistic or pessimistic.

This book has had so many good write-ups that I thought that it would be very difficult for it to live up to expectations, but I know that for sure this is a book that I will long remember.

[Renniemist]

Brick Lane by Monica Ali


Blurb from book

At the tender age of eighteen, Nazneen’s life is turned upside down. After an arranged marriage to a man twenty years her elder she exchanges her Bangladeshi village for a block of flats in London’s East End. In the new world, where poor people can be fat and even dogs go on diets, she struggles to make sense of her existence- and to do her duty to her husband. A man of inflated idea (and stomach), he sorely tests her compliance.

But Nazneen submits, as she must, to Fate and devotes her life to raising her family and slapping down her demons of discontent. Until she becomes aware of a young radical, Karim. Against a background of escalating racial and gang conflict, they embark on an affair that finally forces Nazneen to take control of her life….

Despite the differences in the ages of Nazneen and her husband, and the fact that he is so full of his own importance and really quite an ineffectual man, she tries to be a good wife to him and a good mother to her children. She has very little knowledge of English as her husband thinks she does not need it. She finds she is always discontented. She gets letters from her sister who is leading a very difficult life in Bangladesh and she worries and longs to see her again.

I liked the bits about Bangladesh but I could not warm to any of the characters and so I found this a rather long slow book.

[happyanddandy]

I would agree with you - it was difficult to like any of the characters. I thought the book was well written with depth. I saw the film recently - it was excellent :smile2:

[Renniemist]

I would like to see the film HandD. :)

[FishAndChips]

Spilling the Beans by Clarissa Dickson Wright


That sounds good. I might have to add it to the wish list.

[Renniemist]

I found the audio book very good FishAndChips. Clarissa’s voice was easy to listen to. :D

[Renniemist]

Sharpe’s Trafalgar by Bernard Corrnwell


It is 1805 and Ensign Richard Sharpe, having secured a reputation as a fighting soldier in India, is on his way home to join the newly formed Green jackets. The voyage should be a period of rest but his ship is riven with treachery and threatened by a formidable French warship, the Revenant, which is terrorizing British shipping in the Indian Ocean. An old opponent of Sharpe’s is aboard his ship, and the voyage is further disturbed by the lady Grace Hale, apparently as unreachable as she is beautiful.

In this adventure Sharpe is at sea and sad to be leaving India. This is a bit different from the usual Sharpe books that I have read so far, but equally enjoyable. I particularly liked hearing about the voyage and currents the winds that rushed the ship along or left it becalmed. It reminded me of the Hornblower books that I read and enjoyed when I was a girl.

[Renniemist]

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler


Blurb from cover

How does a man addicted to routine – a man who flosses his teeth before love-making – cope with the chaos of everyday life? With the loss of his son, the departure of his wife and the arrival of Muriel, dog trainer from Meow-Bow dog clinic. Macon’s attempts at ordinary life are tragically and comically undone.

Anne Tyler is an author that I keep hearing about, so since my library has a lot of her books I thought that I would start with The Accidental Tourist.

Macon is part of a family who are very set in their ways. They don’t show much emotion and they like to use and to hear proper grammar. They also like to stay at home. So Macon has put this preference for home comforts to good use by writing guidebooks for businessmen who don’t really want to be in foreign countries. Macon has his life organised and likes it that way therefore it is interesting to see how he copes with the awful things that can happen.

I found the first 100 pages of this a little slow but after that it became very entertaining. I would recommend this book. I have Digging to America by Anne Tyler on my shelf already and plan to read it over the Christmas Holidays.

[happyanddandy]

The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler


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So glad you enjoyed Anne Tyler - she is I suppose my fave author and I have them all and have read them all. Accidental Tourist was made in to reasonably good film although they couldn't quite capture Macon and his systems very well