Jo-Bridge

Welcome from another geordie!

Great review of Perfume! I really liked this book too- its definately an original!

I agree. great book- its like escaping into a fairy tale world!

I like the sound of this...I'm looking for something a bit different and this might be it!

I have just mooched Copy cat on Book mooch!

Hi and welcome!

Welcome to the forum! You will love it!

Welcome!

"You now have once choice" The End of Mr Y -Scarlett thomas

good review Bethany - another for my TBR pile! i agree about the Jodi Picoult "What would you do?" scenarios.. I thinks its nice for the story to speak for itself without being too signposted!

Kate Atkinson- One Good turn It is summer, it is the Edinburgh Festival. People queuing for a lunchtime show witness a road-rage incident

Your name has reminded me....LOVE Macaroni and cheese!

Got to be pizza for me! Pepporoni with jalapenos and buffallo mozzarella

James Grippando- Beyond Suspicion When Jack Swytech's former girlfriend asks him to defend her in a case brought by investors who advance payment on insurance policies when their beneficiaries have been diagnosed with a terminal condition, it looks like an easy win; Jessie Merrill wasn't dying after all, but since Viatical Settlements accepted her doctor's somewhat equivocal diagnosis, they don't stand a chance of getting their money back. Still celebrating his victory, Jack learns that Jessie has lied to him; like the shady, possibly Mob-connected company that advanced Jessie the money, he's been scammed. Then Jessie is murdered in a bizarre scenario that not only sets Jack up as the prime suspect but also threatens his marriage to the woman who is still traumatized by a vicious attack perpetrated by another of his erstwhile clients. Enlisting the aid of his best friend, an ex-con who will do anything to protect the man who saved him from death row, Jack attempts to clear his name by finding the real murderer, who turns out to have a secret worth killing for. A good, page turning thriller- very enjoyable but not as good as the premise suggested it could have been. I think the problem is that for a lawyer the charcater does some silly things and the ending is a step too far. Good...but not great

The Other Boleyn Girl- Phillipa Gregory The Other Boleyn Girl features the Boleyn-Howard family in a way that has never been used before. Based on the life of Mary Boleyn, Gregory has portrayed a time in the English Kingdom of great need and depression seeing through the divorce of one of the most significant royal weddings in English history (that of King Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon) as well as the great need of a male heir from the King. Mary, the narrator of the story depicts a time of great hardship in the Boleyn-Howard family driven by the "bastardly" considered ambitions of Anne Boleyn as well as her Father and Uncle. I read the sequel to this novel The Boleyn Inheritance a while ago and then finally got around to reading this. It was interesting to finally read the first account after reading Jane Boleyns (George the Boleyn brothers wife) self serving account It is a really interesting and absorbing read. I think what struck me most about the book is that the three Boleyn children are actually almost children when they begin to be used as pawns in their families ambitions and they do seem to be like selfish children through out constantly using others and playing games... although never really for their own ends as they are always taught to put their family and its ambitions first. Annes downfall comes as a consequence of her trying to play the game to achieve her own goals...the most striking parts in the novel to me were her exhaustion as she tirelessly fights to keep Henrys attention and interest. None of the characters are particularly sympathetic-even the heroine Mary can be ruthless and unkind on and betrays the mistress shre loves but thsi is a world where one doesneed to be ruthless to survive. Anne though is a monster in this book! You find it hard even to understand why her siblings love her so much. I think Gregory failed to capture what must have been appealing about her.

Hi louise Did you get a chance to read The hacienda yet?

Oooh thats a good first line! Creepy!

"In eighteenth century France there was a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages" Perfume- Patrick Suskind

Right now I'm reading The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs that BF's mom lent for me. I'm about 100 pages into the 600-something book and waiting for something to happen. Only to realised supposedly huge things have already taken place! I'm not really feeling this book, I have to tell you. But I should persevere, so I can have a proper opinion for BF's mom. It's not that it's difficult to read, not at all! It's just... well, blah. I have a book called Comfort Food by the same author which was given to me. I seem to be putting off reading it because it seems like a book where not a lot is going to happen!

Yeah I liked Under The Skin.I didnt know anything about that book when I started so it was a bit of a suprise! Wouldnt be suprised if he was a vegetarian with the whole theme of that book. Barking mad but a good read! Did you read the (sort of) sequel to Crimson Petal.... Its called The Apple. Its a series of short stories with the characters from the first novel...its good, just dont expect it to answer all of your unanswered questions!

I love that book! One of my absolute favourites!

Playing For Pizza- John Grisham Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the deciding game at the climax of the season, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he became a national laughing stock and, of course, was immediately dropped by the Browns and shunned by all other teams. But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent, Arnie, finds a team that needs him. Against enormous odds, Arnie finally locates just such a team and informs Rick that, miraculously, he can in fact now be a starting quarterback. Great says Rick

Martin Cruz Smith- Rose For Jonathon Blair, a mining engineer and explorer, the color and rigors of the Dark Continent are far more suitable than the foggy drizzle of his home in Wigan, Lancashire. When he returns from Africa's Gold Coast in 1872, he finds England utterly depressing and turns to drink to ease his melancholy. His patron, a Bishop and mine owner, agrees to send him back if he can clear up the mysterious disappearance of a local curate engaged to marry his daughter. As he sleuths around the cultured homes of Wigan, through ill-cobbled alleys and into the depths of the mines, he meets the alluring Rose Molyneaux. Used to relying on himself, Blair finds that Rose's instincts provide more answers than he could have hoped for. Martin Cruz smith is one of my favourite authors so I was sure I'd love this and I was right! The depiction of the hellish world of the mines is well done and fascinatingly well detailed- the author shows you the mines as a seperate underground world. He also captures the lancashire speech well. The victorian middle class snobbery and hypocrisy is well captured- even from those who mean well. The depiction of pit girls (who worked on the surface sorting coal) and the cusrious mix of fear, disgust and lust they seemed to inspire in victorians was also very interesting and made we want to know more. My only reservations were the ending which was too OTT and and I feel he overdoes the depiction of the work of the pit girls as liberating-they were freeer than other women in their dress and behaviour and it certainly better than being a maid at the mercy of her employer or working in a mill but this was an awful, awful job!

The Pure land- Alan Spence The year is 1858. Thomas Glover is a gutsy eighteen-year-old who grasps the chance of escape to foreign lands and takes a posting as a trader in Japan. Within ten years he amasses a great fortune, learns the ways of the samurai, and, on the other side of the law, brings about the overthrow of the Shogun. Yet beneath Glover's astonishing success lies a man cut to the heart. His love affair with a courtesan - a woman who, unknown to him, would bear him the son for which he had always longed - would form a tragedy so dramatic as to be immortalised in the stories behind Madame Butterfly and Miss Saigon. This was an enjoyable book- the depiction of the move of westerners into a Japan in the 19th century that was very hostile to them (with good reason?) was very interesting and there are some tense and exciting scenes particularly when Thomas encounters Samurai. Thoma Glover is also a very appealing character (although flawed)- an actual historical figure (although how closely the Thomas in the book resembles the real man I'm unsure!) his move from small scottish village to an important figure in japan is well drawn. However, this is definately a view of japan from a European view point- you never inhabit or understand the Japanese characters or understand their culture or the behaviour. The female characters also seem thinly drawn and passive- although this doesnt seem to be the authors intention.