~V~

i finished this yesterday. took me all of three days despite me dragging it out as i was enjoying it so much. have written a little in my book list here but have kept it spare as i didn't wish to post any spoilers

13. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell Amazon Link I loved this book. It slowly unfolds, showing you the secrets within but never overstating the point. The story is told from the point of view of three characters, one of whose is very disjointed due to Altzheimer's but there are these small nuggets of reason behind what she is saying. It spans various time-zones over the past sixty years, showing how attitudes have changed in such a short space of time. I want to say more but would hate to post any spoilers so, suffice to say, I like the less-is-more approach Maggie O'Farrell has taken and will now seek out more of her work. 10/10

i only started this late on friday night. i'm over halfway through it already thanks to a train journey yesterday. am loving the book, and also looking out for more by this author. so the giveaways do work in some instances. took me a few pages to get into whose story it was at the time as it alternates between three women and also different times for all of them, one with altzheimer's whose thoughts are fractured. but once you have an idea of what is going on, you get so drawn into it i like the 'less is more' way she writes

12. Can You Keep a Secret - Sophie Kinsella Amazon Link I've read nothing by this author before, but have heard people rave about her (maybe it's just the 'Shopaholic' books they rave about) and at the moment all I can read is light stuff. Anyway, it's a girl-meets-boy-loses-boy etc book. It's supposed to be funny (I think) but isn't really. I just read it and waited for the inevitable ending So, it passed a few days .... 5/10

11. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne Amazon Link Sadly I read a spoiler about this book on here which meant I was reading it with some fore-knowledge. It would have been good to read it with no preconceptions and see how long it took me to click. However, that all said, the book is excellent. It tells the story of Bruno from his point of view well. He is nine years old and the portrayal of how a child that age views the world is very convincing. Bruno appears to be a very typical child; selfish, self-serving and yet loyal. There are many things around him he does not understand and so he puts his own inference onto what they may mean, and yet he also appears to be quite perceptive as to who is 'good' and who is not. Obviously the author has the benefit of hindsight when writing about a subject such as this, but nonetheless this does nothing to deter from the pleasures (can I call them pleasures) of the story. It isn't a book for children, but for all ages. 8/10

the weird thing with the ann/anne debate is that usually it's 'ann' if a first nama en 'anne' if a second (or subsequent) name have no clue why, just something i noticed (and i said 'usually', so i'm not inviting examples that disprove the rule)

i liked the sound of this so have requested it on RISI

he does it so well

shhh..... shouldn't that be in spoilers?

i love his books. i especially like the short chapters. i'll be reading and think 'oh just one more chapter' and then another and another .... the stories are easy to read and real page-turners and i knew he didn't write his own stuff nowadays (if he ever did), i think andrew gross writes most why the co-authors don't just write their own stuff beats me. maybe they don't have the plots or they earn more this way. suppose it's a good way to become 'known'

i got all out of synch (moved house, all books packed away, taking forever to unpack) and haven't read that yet. doh!

the only time i've ever cried in the cinema

oh well, he reincarnated as an ER doctor

philadelphia the english patient truly madly deeply

i'm not sure. i know claire was 'watermelon' and rachel was 'rachel's holiday' (obviously) and i can't really remember those as they were so long ago did we have a maggie one? i'm guessing we did as she seems to be doing them in age order i also spotted that the next generation seem to be getting set up for future books

10. Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes Amazon Link I adore Marian Keyes. I love her books equally as much. Having seen her on the tv quite a few times, it's hard not to 'hear' the text in her voice. This book goes back to the wondrous Walsh family. This time with 'Daughter no 4', Anna. It starts off in Ireland but flits between there and New York, where Anna lives and works. The family are as barmy as ever, Mother Walsh has discovered e-mail and the youngest sister is working as a PI, with a small sideline in investigating a problem close to home. Some of the lines are hysterical, and there's some real tragedy too, along with some great characters, many of which you will recognise. 10/10 I love this book

not sure how i get the impression, but you love chris manby don't you?

1. mr god this is anna - fynn 2. the time traveller's wife - audrey niffenegger 3. the eight - katherine neville 4. good omens - neil gaiman and terry pratchett 5. memoirs of a geisha - arthur golden 6. times arrow - martin amis 7. down and out in paris and london - george orwell 8. jamaica inn - daphne du maurier 9. gone with the wind - margaret mitchell 10. the mezzanine - nicholson baker that was hard! start with a few and then as you think, you get far more than ten and then have to edit. grrr..... doubt many of mine will end up anywhere near the top 100

in the historian there's a touch of quoting too

loads of the books on the stall i had already read. discussed them with the lady running it. she did say i'd probably like 'unless' when it comes to kate atkinson though, i have mixed feelings. i loved 'behind the scenes at the museum' (reminded me of my own childhood) but wasn't sure about 'emotionally weird' we shall see. it'll turn up in my book blog sooner or later

second-hand book stall at work a couple of weeks ago: 1. carol shields - unless 2. robin white - siberian light 3. kate atkinson - human croquet 4. julian barnes - the history of the world in 101/2 chapters 5. t.r. bowen - the death of amy parris 6. paulo coelho - the pilgrimage all proceeds went to an african charity and i spent £6

i thought the last episode was awful sad really. it answered questions, but in an unsatisfactory way. i've been addicted to this show and now feel a tad let down by it

9. At Risk by Patricia Cornwell Amazon Link I thought I'd give her another chance. It says on the back she is returning to what she does best. Well I'm sorry Ms Cornwell, but this book is poo. It feels like a draft copy. There is no element of 'whodunnit' (kind of esential in a crime book surely?) and the detectives manage to solve the crime 'off the page', so to speak. The story jumps around with huge shafts of information missing, but far too many characters for such a short book. I'm sorry but I am a reasonably intelligent person and found it very difficult to keep track of who was who (two of the characters, being related, are called by the same name at times) and what people were doing. If the main characters were already 'known' it wouldn't have been so bad but it in no way serves as an introduction 2/10 purely because I finished it

it is. and it does (obviously just in my opinion) i recently tried yogurt covered fruit. a colleague was bringing me supplies as i can't seem to find it but she's left now.

it's not often i do that with a book, but it adds a lot when you do. and with books, it's rare you find a spoiler