Purple Princess
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Posts posted by Purple Princess
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Come Dine With Me - it's an old repeat but there doesn't seem to be much on tonight...
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I couln't agree with you more Chrissy, when i saw the trailers i thought it would be rubbish but my sister persuded me to watch it and i think it's really funny too.
I hope it doesn't lose any of the funniness as the series continues.
Gemz - it's on Living
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I've made a small start on The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes but so far i'm just not really 'getting' it. At over 600 pages it's not a short read but her books usually flow so easily that you don't notice how long they are but this one seems to be dragging - i'll keep trying with it for a little bit longer though.
I also picked up Tell Tale by Sam Hayes today in the library so i'm looking forward to starting that soon
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Mint Aero - yummy
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June the first, a bright summer's evening, a Monday.
The Brightest Star in the Sky - Marian Keyes
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I have Tricky Trickster in the work sweepstake for the race tomorrow but I probably won't bother watching it
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I finished The Girl Next Door by Elizabeth Noble last night, synopsis from Waterstones:
What makes a house a home? For Eve Gallagher, home is miles away in England since she and her husband relocated to an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side. And life isn't remotely coming up roses. What makes a neighbour a friend? Violet has lived in the building for decades but she's always kept herself apart, until Eve's loneliness touches her heart and friendship blossoms. What makes a wife a lover? Jason Kramer in Apartment 6A is no longer sure he loves his wife, but he's head-over-heels for Rachael Schulman in 6B. What makes the girl next door the woman of your dreams? Meeting Emily Mikanowski from 3A turns Trip Grayling's world upside down. It's love at first sight, but he needs help from Charlotte, the shy romance addict in 2A, if he's going to win the girl. Dreams come true, hearts are broken and no one is left unchanged when the secrets and desires hidden behind closed doors are finally brought into the light.
I chose this book at the library because I have read Things I Want My Daughters To Know by this author and really liked it and I'm happy to say I enjoyed this book just as much.
This book is based in New York which I loved because I love the city and could imagine the places in the book very vividly. The book is based around all the people living in an apartment block - and there were alot of them! So many in fact that there was a list of characters at the beginning of the book which I did have to refer to a couple of times! Despite the sheer amount of characters the book was very enjoyable and easy to read. I found myself just intending to read a few pages and then ending up reading vast chunks of it well into the night.
Overall I really liked this book and found it a nice refreshing read after my last book (although it did have some sad parts), she has a new book coming out in the summer which I will be looking out for.
9/10
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I've read quite a chunk of The Girl Next Door by Elizabeth Noble today, i'm really really enjoying it
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Today I finished Blacklands by Belinda Bauer, synopsis from Waterstones:
Twelve-year-old Steven Lamb digs holes on Exmoor, hoping to find a body. Every day after school, while his classmates swap football stickers, Steven goes digging to lay to rest the ghost of the uncle he never knew, who disappeared aged eleven and is assumed to have fallen victim to the notorious serial killer Arnold Avery. Only Steven's Nan is not convinced her son is dead. She still waits for him to come home, standing bitter guard at the front window while her family fragments around her. Steven is determined to heal the widening cracks between them before it's too late. And if that means presenting his grandmother with the bones of her murdered son, he'll do it. So the boy takes the next logical step, carefully crafting a letter to Arnold Avery in prison. And there begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game between a desperate child and a bored serial killer ...
So I picked this up from the library because I had seen it on the TV Book Club. Although the book is based around a harrowing subject I did enjoy it and it was very easy to read as it flowed so nicely. The two main characters are Steven, a 12 year old boy, and Arnold Avery - a child serial killer in prison. The book explained the thought processes of both of these characters and gave an insight into how the minds of serial killers work as well as how a 12 year old boy might think. I found the way the mind of a serial killer might work very interesting and I liked the way in which she wrote these chapters. The story might not be to everybody's tastes due to it's subject and also if you're not keen on crime based books I could see how this wouldn't really suit some people (I know my Mum was put off instantly by the front cover!) I don't really want to spoil the book by saying much more as it is a cat and mouse story but I did enjoy it, it kept me totally hooked throughout and I was happy with the ending as well
Overall 9/10
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Just finished Blacklands by Belinda Bauer, I enjoyed it very much despite it's harrowing subject
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Have now started Blacklands by Belinda Bauer, so far i'm really enjoying it - although this is a strange thing to say considering the topic of the book but i am, it's bubbling along very nicely
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Ok so I finished One Day by David Nicholls a few days ago, synopsis from amazon:
'I can imagine you at forty,' she said, a hint of malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.'
He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.'
15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways.
So where will they be on this one day next year?
And the year after that? And every year that follows?
Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY.
This is the first book i've read by Davis Nicholls and at the beginning i wasn't really sure about his writing style, but this quickly passed as i became totally absorbed into the lives of Emma and Dexter. I almost felt as if i knew them rather than i was just reading about them - that's how well this book is written. I thought it was a very interesting book in that you only got to find out what happened to both of them on that one particular day each year. So at the end of each chapter you want to know what happened next but then the next chapter is one year further on, and although this sounds like it might be confusing or might cause the story to jump around it just doesn't - i'm not quite sure how he managed to make the story flow so easily when you only get to know the story of one day per year but he really does! As the book covers twenty years in the lives of two people it covers nearly every emotion there is and i can say i did shed a few tears at one point but i also had a few laughs along the way too. All in all an excellent book in my opinion and i would recommend it to anyone and everyone!
10/10
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I started One Day by David Nicholls this afternoon
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Thanks Poppy, i've already made a start on One Day, just the first three chapters but it's already intriguing as you only know what happens on that one day and have no idea what has happened inbetween - quite different to anything else i've read
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I went to drop Her Fearful Symmetry back at the library today and ended up borrowing three more books - even though I was determined not to borrow any as I have plenty of my own to read!
But nevermind, so today I borrowed:
One Day by David Nicholls (as there has been such good reviews about it on here)
The Girl Next Door by Elizabeth Noble (because I really liked Things I Want my Daughters To Know)
Blacklands by Belinda Bauer (because I saw it on the TV bookclub and thought it sounded interesting)
I might not manage to get through all of them by the time they are due back but i'm going to try to at least read a bit of each of them to see whether or not they are worth renewing and reading in full...
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Have finished Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger synopsis from Amazon:
Julia and Valentina Poole are normal American teenagers - normal, at least, for identical 'mirror' twins who have no interest in college or jobs or possibly anything outside their cozy suburban home. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn't know existed has died and left them her flat in an apartment block overlooking Highgate Cemetery in London. They feel that at last their own lives can begin ...but have no idea that they've been summoned into a tangle of fraying lives, from the obsessive-compulsive crossword setter who lives above them to their aunt's mysterious and elusive lover who lives below them, and even to their aunt herself, who never got over her estrangement from the twins' mother - and who can't even seem to quite leave her flat. With Highgate Cemetery itself a character and echoes of Henry James and Charles Dickens, "Her Fearful Symmetry" is a delicious and deadly twenty-first-century ghost story about Niffenegger's familiar themes of love, loss and identity. It is certain to cement her standing as one of the most singular and remarkable novelists of our time.
Well I was looking forward to this as The Time Traveller's Wife is one of my favourite books but I have to say I was quite disappointed. I thought the plot was just totally unrealistic and the characters were just so unbelievable, I can honestly say that I didn't like or relate to any of the characters. I felt like it was a chore reading it and have only pushed myself to carry on with it as it's a library book and others are waiting for it. I think if I had bought it myself that I would have given up on it after just a few chapters and left it on the shelf for another day. The parts that really made me feel as if I was wasting my time reading this was when
Elspeth took the kitten's spirit out of it's body and then somehow put it back in again! And also when Valentina wanted Elspeth to look after her spirit whilst her body was placed on ice in the cemetary without her family realising! I just thought that it was a really stupid plot and I was also irritated when all the ghosts shrank themselves and went flying across London on the back of crows!
So all in all I can definately say that this was no where near as good as The Time Traveller's Wife and I can only hope that this book is just a blip in Audrey Niffenegger's writing and that her next book will be much more enjoyable.
Overall 3.5/10
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Yeah i've heard only good things about The Secret Life of Bees so when i spotted it i thought i'd give it a try - glad to hear you enjoyed it
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Hey Lexie, sad to hear this book didn't live up to Evermore!
I saw an advert on the TV the other day for both Evermore and Blue Moon - it was quite strange, just some random words and pictures on the screen with music in the background. It didn't really inspire me to go out and buy Blue Moon
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I've managed to read some more of Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger this morning, not really sure what i think of it yet though...
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Well I was reading Charm School by Nelson DeMille but Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger arrived at the library for me so I have temporarily put Charm School aside as there is a waiting list for Her Fearful Symmetry so am giving it a try.
I also bought the following books yesterday for just
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Oooo i hope you're right! I guess that would follow on nicely from where the last book left off if it is called Mini Shopaholic!
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Hey Joe, glad to hear you are enjoying Water for Elephants as it is one of my favourite books. I hope you like the rest of it as much as I did
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Some of those new chocolates that Werther's Original have brought out - they were half price in Tesco, I couldn't resist
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Started reading The Awakening by LJ Smith today, it's the first in the Vampire Diaries book series on which the TV show is based.
Purple Princesses Reading 2010
in Past Book Logs
Posted
I finished The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes a few days ago, synopsis from Waterstones:
At 66, Star Street in Dublin, someone is watching over the lives of the people living in its flats. But no one is aware of it - yet...One of them is ready to take the plunge and fall in love; another is torn between two very different lovers. For some, secrets they want to stay buried will come to light and for others, the unveiling of those secrets will have tragic consequences. Fate is on its way to Star Street, bringing with it love and tragedy, friendship and heartbreak, and the power to change their lives in the most unexpected of ways...
Well, it has taken me quite a while to finish this because I just felt like it was a bit of a chore at the beginning. There are so many characters in this book and their lives are all so entwined and complicated that it was very easy to get confused. Also the book was set out in reverse, kind of, it started on day 66 and worked backwards to day 1, but inbetween these days were random flashbacks to some characters pasts - going back sometimes years at a time. Although this did in parts explain how that particular character got to where they are in life at the moment it was sometimes a little confusing.
The book is over 600 pages and I think for perhaps the first 300 pages I just didn't understand what was going on at all, there is a strange narrator who was not human and I think this was the reason for most of my confusion. Once I got past the narrator and really started to 'get to know' the characters I did start to feel some connection to them (well some of them). The book does have a very serious and emotional storyline for a couple of the characters and I did feel for them, to be put in that situation must be a truely horrible experience. Marian did deal with the emotional storyline extremely well, as she usually does, and there were also many funny parts to the book too.....it just didn't really wow me like she has done with some of her previous books.
Overall I'd say that if you have read some of Marian's past books and like her then give it a go, but don't expect her usual style of writing. If you've never read any Marian before I wouldn't read this first because it might put you off reading some of her other wonderful books.
6.5/10