Lucybird

The Fry Chronicles- Stephen Fry Synopsis< (from Amazon) Thirteen years ago, Moab is my Washpot, Stephen Fry’s autobiography of his early years, was published to rave reviews and was a huge bestseller. In those thirteen years since, Stephen Fry has moved into a completely new stratosphere, both as a public figure, and a private man. Now he is not just a multi-award-winning comedian and actor, but also an author, director and presenter. In January 2010, he was awarded the Special Recognition Award at the National Television Awards. Much loved by the public and his peers, Stephen Fry is one of the most influential cultural forces in the country. This dazzling memoir promises to be a courageously frank, honest and poignant read. It will detail some of the most turbulent and least well known years of his life with writing that will excite you, make you laugh uproariously, move you, inform you and, above all, surprise you. Review As far as an autobiography of Stephen Fry is concerned Moab is My Washpot (which is about his life before he became famous) had really quite surprised me, I don’t pretend to know a lot about Stephen Fry. Just that I love watching him on television and think he is generally pretty awesome. Having read the first autobiography I had less expectations of this one in a way, I didn’t expect it to be at all predictable because in the first book his life seemed to differ so much from what was suggested by his television persona. In terms of what I would expect from Fry this was a little more what I had expected than the first book. You could certainly see parts of who he seems to be now coming out. In some ways it seemed a little self-obsessed (but can one really write an autobiography without it being a little self-obsessed?). I never really got the idea that he was elevating himself, if anything he was quite humble and even at times would tell himself off for being a little self-obsessed (which never seemed like he was pretending, more like he couldn’t understand why people would be interested). All the way through there was a certain level of disbelief that he had become famous. It was obvious he didn’t feel he deserved it, and from what he said in his more present voice he seemed still not to quite believe how lucky he has been. In a way this was the element of the book which most surprised me. On adding this book to goodreads I had a quick flick through the (spoiler free) reviews (it’s something I often do, just reading the first few lines of each review to get a general picture of how people found the book). I happened to catch sight of a review which suggested that the book was a bit to name-droppy (and no that isn’t a real word, I don’t care). This did cause me a bit of worry. I’m not one of those people who is really into celebrity culture (I think I am right in saying that this is the one celebrity biography I have read). However I don’t think I needed to be worried. There were maybe a few name-drops that were unnecessary but most of the time he mentioned people who were friends or who he had worked with, I don’t think you can really write a whole autobiography without mentioning any friends or colleges. The descriptions of Fry’s time at Cambridge were more interesting than I had expected too although not as interesting as when the ‘fame thing’ started. At time it had me laughing out loud but in general I wouldn’t describe it as a comic book- still it was almost worth reading just for Hugh Laurie’s reaction to Fry buying his first Apple Mac. Only real problem I had with it is that the way it ended made it very obvious that Fry intended to write another autobiography. Which almost forces you to read it. I mean his life isn’t over so I suppose another biography would be expected but I would like to feel I have more choice Oh and one more thing, there were a few points where I thought the Kindle edition might be different to the paperback. Just things which seemed to suggest you were on an e-reader. Does anyone know if there are any differences? 4/5

I did change the colour, it's how I do it on my blog and I copied the review over, it seemed simpler to just do it that way. Thanks I hope youo enjoy it

I'd Know You Anywhere- Laura Lippman Note: This book is also known as Don’t Look Back. For some reason when I put the IBSN number into goodreads it came up as I’d Know You Anywhere (which was the name I had known the book by before I bought it) even though in my Kindle it’s called Don’t Look Back. Synopsis (from Amazon) Eliza Benedict’s past returns to haunt her when the serial killer she escaped from as a young girl walks back into her life. The new nail-shredding novel from New York Times bestseller, Laura Lippman.25 years ago, he stole her innocence. Now he wants to get in touch.Eliza Benedict cherishes her quiet existence with her successful husband and children in the leafy suburbs of suburban Washington. But her tranquillity is shattered when she receives a letter from the last person she ever expects – or wants – to hear from: Walter Bowman.In the summer of 1985 when she was fifteen-years-old, Eliza was kidnapped by serial killer Walter Bowman, who targeted young girls like Eliza in a sexually motivated killing spree. Now facing lethal injection on death row, Walter is keen to make contact with Eliza, seemingly motivated by a desire to atone for his sins before he finally meets his maker.Carefully, with some reluctance, she lets Walter enter her life, first by letter, then in person. Walter is keen to convince Eliza that he has changed but it becomes clear that Walter has more of an agenda than he first revealed. Cunning and manipulative, Walter is never more dangerous than when he can’t get what he wants, and he wants something very badly. Disturbingly, he seems to have an ally working in the outside, one who seems to know everything about Eliza’s life – including where she lives.As Walter once again manages to exert his malign influence, Eliza must draw on all of her reserves of wisdom and strength as the battle of predator and prey once more plays out and she must face the past head on if she is to survive.A taut and mesmerizing novel by the highly-acclaimed author of Life Sentences and Every Secret Thing. Review Note on review: For clarity I will refer to grown up Elizabeth as Eliza and young Elizabeth as Elizabeth. Ok so my vision of this book may be a little skewed by the fact that novels having their names changed is one of my pet peeves, I really don’t understand why thy do it, it just confuses everyone. I think I am at risk of going on a rant but I shall hold back and maybe do a musings post on it at some point in the not to distant future. As for the book itself. It was ok. As a crime novel it didn’t do great. There was no real mystery, especially as we saw the criminal committing most of his crimes. As a thriller I can’t say it was that great either. I was intrigued as to what Walter was trying to get from Eliza, but didn’t really expect anything very dramatic. The only real mystery I found in it was [highlight for spoiler]not knowing if Walter had actually raped his victims or not, and to be perfectly honest I didn’t really care, or at least I didn’t care enough to give it any real thought. When it came to the characters I didn’t like Eliza. She just seemed a bit pathetic to be honest. She talked about being worried for her kids but a lot of her actions don’t reflect that and seem to have been put in just for the author’s convenience. I preferred Elizabeth I think, she seemed more genuine, but maybe I only think that because that was the part of the story which most interested me. Walter interested me more, possibly that’s just the psychologist in me talking but I felt in a way we got to know him best, and in a way could understand him more. 3/5

House of Silence- Linda Gillard Synopsis (from Amazon) “My friends describe me as frighteningly sensible, not at all the sort of woman who would fall for an actor. And his home. And his family.” Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n’ roll, Gwen Rowland is invited to spend Christmas at her boyfriend Alfie’s family home, Creake Hall – a ramshackle Tudor manor in Norfolk. She’s excited about the prospect of a proper holiday with a proper family, but soon after she arrives, Gwen senses something isn’t quite right. Alfie acts strangely toward his family and is reluctant to talk about the past. His mother, a celebrated children’s author, keeps to her room, living in a twilight world, unable to distinguish between past and present, fact and fiction. And then there’s the enigma of an old family photograph… When Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters sewn into an old patchwork quilt, she starts to piece together the jigsaw of the past and realises there’s more to the family history than she’s been told. It seems there are things people don’t want her to know. And one of those people is Alfie… Review When I found out that Linda Gillard’s new book was only coming out in digital format I was disappointed. I didn’t have a Kindle and I wanted to read it (and honestly reading on my ipod really ruins the reading experience). So when I got my Kindle it was one of the first books I bought. Having really liked Emotional Geology and Star Gazing, and loving A Lifetime Burning, I had pretty high hopes for this one. Were my hopes met? Well I enjoyed it certainly, and although it took a little getting in to I didn’t want it to stop by the end. The old manor house and family intrigue put me in mind of Kate Morton’s The Distant Hours, and for some reason parts of plots began to blend in my head after I had read this one. It’s strange because apart from an old house and family secrets there is very little similarity. You don’t expect the same sort of secrets (even if at certain points it seems to be going that way you are shocked by it and expect even at the time for it not to be as it seems). There is the love element which The Distant Hours doesn’t have. The one love interest in the book is pretty classic Gillard. Not the strong handsome type of chick-lit but sensitive, and flawed with a past that makes him more that just ‘the love interest’. The other, at least initially, seems much more your standard ‘hero’ type, handsome, charming, witty, but somewhat fake. I liked them both though I wouldn’t say it is Gillard’s best work of what I have read but still certainly worth the read. 4/5

How to be a Woman- Caitlin Moran Synopsis (from Amazon) 1913: Suffragette throws herself under the King’s horse 1970: Feminists storm Miss World Now: Caitlin Moran rewrites The Female Eunach from a bar stool and demands to know why pants are getting smaller There’s never been a better time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain… Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should you get Botox? Do men secretly hate us? What should you call your vagina? Why does your bra hurt? And why does everyone ask you when you’re going to have a baby? Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin Moran answers these questions and more in How To Be A Woman - following her from her terrible 13th birthday (‘I am 13 stone, have no friends, and boys throw gravel at me when they see me’) through adolescence, the workplace, strip-clubs, love, fat, abortion, Topshop, motherhood and beyond. Review. Those who follow my Twitter feed will know that I had a bit of a girl crush on Caitlin Moran during this book. Honestly I just would love to be her friend! It’s almost difficult to see this as a feminist book simply because you feel more like you are reading something designed to entertain. I was pretty much constantly giggling and the tone of her writing is just so natural you feel as if you are having a conversation with her rather than reading something she has written. Indeed in some parts she even writes out what she imagines the reader might be thinking and answers it. You can just imagine her sitting there talking to herself as she writes. Yet it is a feminist book. It talks about what you may call ‘little’ feminist issues- high heels, waxing, and the occasional bigger issue, but it makes it much easier to relate to things you encounter on a day to day basis, and are so easy to accept that they don’t even seem to be issues. But she’s right, who decided heels are a good idea? They’re stupid, they just kill your feet! Why is it attractive to have no hair? Honestly you have to read this. 5/5

Is anyone reading anything from this at the moment? I'm buying books to take to Venice with me and thought I might buy a couple of Rory ones

I used to read one at a time, very occasionally 2. Now I have my Kindle I'm reading one on the Kindle and one tree book

Oooh I loved it too. My Dad decided Cumberbatch looks like my boyfriend, which I am more than happy to accept as they are both gorgeous

I am Number 4- really not worth watching at all. I got distracted halfway through and couldn't even be bothered to rewind

You can read my review of the year for 2011 over on my blog. I won't post it all here as it's very long.

The Truth About Us- Dalene Flannigan This book was given to me free of charge in exchange for a honest review. Synopsis (from Amazon) What happens when the past catches up to the present and the truth surfaces? Three women, roommates back in college, find their lives forever altered when one of them feels compelled to confess the secret sin of their past. And whose truth is it? ‘The Truth About Us’ weaves the past and the present in a page-turner that explores the shifting quality of truth, and the cost of secrets. Review Well I can honesty say that this is probably the best self-published novel I’ve read to date. (Not that I’ve read many, but I think I’ve read enough to be sure of that much). I often find that when stories are up to scratch with self-published novels there are problems with editing, which is understandable as the author won’t have a whole team of editors and proofreaders behind them. I found few problems with editing with this book though, there were only a couple of times I thought something should be changed (and I’m really bad for spotting things like that). Readability wise it was a quick and easy read but more substantial than easy reads tend to be. I really felt for the characters, especially Erica, and even understood Jude up to a point. I’m not sure I can exactly side with Grace but it certainly is somewhat of a moral dilemma, especially when taken with the twist at the end. I must admit that I found Jude the most interesting character, she just seemed so naive in a way that was kind of difficult to understand. 4/5

Reserved

Reserved

The Girl Who Played with Fire- Stieg Larsson Synopsis (from Amazon) Lisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists about to expose the truth about sex trafficking in Sweden are murdered, and Salander’s prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society – but no-one can find her. Mikael Blomkvist, editor-in-chief of Millennium, does not believe the police. Using all his magazine staff and resources to prove Salander’s innocence, Blomkvist also uncovers her terrible past, spent in criminally corrupt institutions. Yet Salander is more avenging angel than helpless victim. She may be an expert at staying out of sight – but she has ways of tracking down her most elusive enemies. Review. It’s taken me over a year to finally get around to reading this book. I wasn’t especially impressed by the first one in the series but interested enough to want to read the second, I just wasn’t in any hurry to do so. Consequentally I have forgotten a lot of what happened in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and they made some of the reference in this book a bit difficult- but did not stop me understanding the story as a whole. I think maybe I would have enjoyed this one more if I had read them close together but I still enjoyed it a fair bit. For my memory this one is better than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I was more interested to see what would happen next. I’m still unsure though if it was actually better or if I just has less expectations of it which made it easier to enjoy, I wasn’t waiting for it to impress me the whole time. 3.5/5

Rory Gilmore Booklist Challenge (started 2010) Have decided to take part in this challenge. I'm not actually expecting to read all the books in my want to read list but am going to see how many I can read without actually giving up on reading other books! Will be adding to my TBR pile as I get hold of books. For books I read as part of this challenge in 2010 have a look at my old thread or my blog. What I want to read: Atonement by Ian McEwan The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Beloved by Toni Morrison Catch-22 by Joseph Heller Charlotte's Web by E. B. White Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson Emma by Jane Austen Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien Frankenstein by Mary Shelley George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy The Gospel According to Judy Bloom The Graduate by Charles Webb The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Hamlet by William Shakespeare Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare Henry V by William Shakespeare High Fidelity by Nick Hornby The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo (Have started this one as a reading circle book on here but couldn't get past the first 100 pages, still I may go back to it) Macbeth by William Shakespeare Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings Book 3 by J. R. R. Tolkien Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers The Sonnets by William Shakespeare Sophie's Choice by William Styron Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon And have read: Pre-challenge To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Life of Pi by Yann Martel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bront� Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger Brick Lane by Monica Ali Babe by Dick King-Smith Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt 1984 by George Orwell Books read '10 Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte Middlesex- Jeffrey Eugenides The Complete Polysyllabic Spree- Nick Hornby Wicked- Gregory Maguire The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chbosky High Fidelity- Nick Hornby Books read '11 Everything is Illuminated- Johnathan Safran Foer A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius- Dave Eggers Snow White and Rose Red- The Brother's Grimm Rupunzel- The Brother's Grimm Books Read '12

Grimm’s Fairy Stories- Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm Synopsis (from Amazon]) The Brothers Grimm rediscovered a host of fairy tales. Together with their well-known tales of “Rapunzel”, “The Goose Girl”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Hansel and Gretel” there are darker tales which deserve to be better known. This is a collection of their tales. Review This was the first book I read on my lovely new Kindle. Oh the excitement! I suppose though my method of reading them was not the best. I read them all one after the other and that did make them all seem to blend together a little, and made the similar ones so much more obviously similar. There was a certain strangeness about it. A lot of the stories of course I knew, but I was surprised by some of the differences, and that there were so many I didn’t know. I especially enjoyed The Six Swans and although there were aspects I recognised it was not a story I really knew which made me wonder why it is not more well known. The stories were simple and easy to read, perfect bedtime reading 4/5

The Hare with the Amber Eyes- Edmund de Waal Synopsis (from Amazon) The history of a family through 264 objects – set against a turbulent century – from an acclaimed writer and potter Note: This is the short description from Amazon. The long description gives away just a little to much, so I decided to leave it more mysterious. Review This book, which was the winner of the Costa Biography Award last year, got a lot of buzz towards the end of last year and during this year (although I don’t believe I’ve seen any bloggers reviewing it, if you have please link me so I can look). It made it a pretty easy choice as my book recommended by a professional reviewer for the Take a Chance Challenge but it’s taken me all year to actually get around to reading it. One thing I can say that really stood out in this book was the descriptions, especially the descriptions of places and objects. I could really imagine what the netsuke looked and felt like, and I came out of the book wanting to visit Vienna. The last time a book has made me want to visit a place was when I read The Historian back before I started this blog. I did have a bit of an odd relationship with this book though. When I was actually reading it I found I was quite interested, but when I had put it down I was never really that bothered about picking it up again. At one point I was even on the brink of giving up on it, but with a little persuasion from my Mum, and he knowledge that I did find it interesting part of the time, kept me going. I am glad I did. While I didn’t find the first part of the story that interesting I really raced though the last hundred or so pages because I was generally enjoying that section. I think just the period of time it was set in was interesting (during the second world war) or maybe it was just because I knew that period of history so I could put events into a more clear setting. I did like however the thread going through the book setting a sort of atmosphere for what was to come. I suppose that is history, but certainly it was a good idea to make that path clear. One thing I would have really liked in this book though is more pictures of the Netsuke, however there is an illustrated edition which may work better. 3/5

You can easily see all my review on My Blog as well as reading them on this thread. Number of Books Read: (8) January (8) The Truth Between Us- Dalene Flannigan How to Be a Woman- Caitlin Moran House of Silence- Linda Gillard The Unit- Holmqvist Ninni I'd Know You Anywhere- Laura Lippman The Fry Chronicles- Stephen Fry Untying the Knot- Linda Gillard Sing You Home- Jodi Picoult February () March () April () May () June () July () August () September () October () November () December () To Be Read () To Be Read Pile (28) Dracula- Bram Stocker Atonement- Ian McEwan The Wizard of Oz- Frank L Baum The Shadow of the Wind- Carlos Ruiz Zafron Emma- Jane Austen Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen Persuasion- Jane Austen Rebecca- Daphne De Maurier Charlotte's Web- E.B White Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen Oryx and Crake- Margaret Atwood Her Fearful Symmetry- Audrey Niffenegger Jonathon Strange and Doctor Norell- Susanna Clarke Little Women- Louisa May Alcott A Game of Thrones- George R.R. Martin The Good Angel of Death- Andrey Kurkov The Picture of Dorian Grey- Oscar Wilde The Testament of Jessie Lamb- Jane Rogers Bears, Recycling and Confusing Time Paradoxes- Greg x. Graves Tweeting the Universe- Marcus Chown and Govert Schilling Mockingbird- Kathryn Erskine The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald Harvesting the Heart- Jodi Picoult The Crimson Petal and The White- Michel Faber Snow Flower and the Secret Fan- Lisa See Supersense- Bruce Hood The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde Currently Reading 1Q84 (Books 1 and 2)- Haruki Murakami A Long, Long Way- Sebastian Barry

Thanks Chrissy. I'm looking forward to reading the next one.

The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts- Louis de Bernieres Synopsis (from Amazon) When the spoilt and haughty Dona Constanza tries to divert a river to fill her swimming pool, she starts a running battle with the locals. The skirmishes are so severe that the Government dispatches a squadron of soldiers led by the fat, brutal and stupid Figueras to deal with them. Despite visiting plagues of laughing fits and giant cats upon the troops, the villagers know that to escape the cruel and unusual tortures planned for them, they must run. Thus they plan to head for the mountains and start a new and convivial civilisation. Note: I do not feel that this synopsis adequately describes the book. However I am at a loss of how I can describe it any better while still allowing some of the...plot to be hinted at so I am using this for lack of anything better. Review Oh why had a never heard of this book before? I can't even remember seeing it in bookstores (despite the fact that it is the first in a series and still in print). For so long I have been looking for a Louis de Bernieres novel which meets up to my experience of Captain Corelli's Mandolin which is one of my favourite books. I had seen Senor Vivo & The Coca Lord a number of times and considered buying it but was never convinced (it is probably a good thing seeing as it is further along in the same series). Well I can certainly say I want to read it now! I suppose you can guess that I really enjoyed this book. I think it sis one of the most unique books I have ever read. It's full of all kinds of strange happenings. Those who watch my twitter feed may have noticed me commenting that I had never read a book where a woman gave birth to a cat before, and that gives you just an idea of some of the strange things that happen in this book! It did take me a little time to get into, but once I was into it you couldn't get me away from it, and I generally find that I end up loving books more when they have been hard work. There was a point where the main strangeness was that I couldn't work out how it would all come together. It seemed for a long time that there were just lots of individual storylines which weren't connected, or at least barely connected, and I kept getting the characters mixed up. However after a while I began to work things out a bit more, and even became disappointed when a chapter end because I knew it would be a while before I found out what would happen to that character, and the stories began to join together a bit more. I can't say there was a character I didn't enjoy reading about by the end but I did especially like reading about the President. I also enjoyed how different sides of the same story were shown so that even though there were some horrible acts they never really seemed to be done by horrible men because you not only saw their consequences but also how they came about. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series 5/5

Crazy- Benjamin Lebert Synopsis (from Amazon) Benjamin Lebert introduces himself on the first day at his new school: “Hi, I’m Benjamin Lebert, I’m 16 and a cripple. Just so you know…” He is paralysed down his left side, but nevertheless lives his life to the full as a rebellious schoolboy, smoking, drinking, running away, meeting girls and having sex – and all the while pondering the meaning of life. Review When I reviewed The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which I loved) Zee of Zee’s Wordly Obsessions recommended Crazy to me, suggesting that it may be something similar. Well I’m sorry Zee but I really didn’t really find Crazy comparable to The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I’m not saying it was bad, I just couldn’t find myself relating to it in the way that I related to The Perks of Being a Wallflower. The one thing I found a could relate to was Benjamin’s annoyance at his body not doing what he wanted but it was only briefly mentioned. I can say I preferred it to Catcher in the Rye though, I never really liked Holden but I didn’t mind Benjamin. In some ways I thought Lebert was trying to make Crazy more like Catcher in the Rye as he often included passages where the boys would philosophise. Mainly though this philosophising seemed pointless, and even annoyed me a little. There was nothing profound about it, but I did kind of like how the boys thought they were being profound, it seems realistic for how teenagers would view their own thoughts- as being really original and earth breaking. One thing I didn’t understand is that the book is categorised as a novel (it even says a novel on the back cover), but the main protagonist has the same name as the writer, which suggests it’s actually and autobiography. Does anyone know what it actually is? A quick and easy read, it took me less than 2 days to read. 3/5

The President’s Last Love- Andrey Kurkov Synopsis (from Amazon) Moscow, 2013. Bunin, the Ukrainian President, has joined other heads of state in an open air swimming pool to drink vodka and celebrate with Putin. During his rise to power Bunin has juggled with formidable and eccentric political and personal challenges. His troubles with his family and his women combine with his difficulties with corrupt businessmen and demanding international allies, but it is his recent heart transplant that worries him most. Since the operation he has started to develop freckles, and his heart donor’s mysterious widow seems to have moved in with him… Spanning forty years, The President’s Last Love is a hilarious satire on love, lies and life before and after the Iron Curtain. Review Andrey Kurkov is one of those writers I keep forgetting about and then re-discovering. I first encountered him work with Death And The Penguin several years ago but since reading that and its sequel (Penguin Lost) I forgot about him until I read about him in The Complete Polysylabbic Spree, which led me to reading A Matter of Death and Life. After reading that I vowed not to forget him, but it wasn’t until I saw some of his books on display in Waterstones that I remembered my vow. I immediately bought this book and added a few more to my wishlist. I really do not know why I keep forgetting Kurkov, I always enjoy his books. They tend to be easy to read but there is a certain strangeness to them that makes you feel like you have something to puzzle out. I would say I prefer the Penguin books over this one, just because of the character of the penguin himself, and the main character’s relationship with him (which is probably reflected in the fact that I remember the penguin’s name, but not that of his owner). I did find I had a little confusion when switching between chapters (each of which were focused on one of 3 periods in the president’s (Bunin’s) life) and working out where I was in relation to other chapters, especially as each individual story got more complex. I also had a little trouble distinguishing the women in his life from one another, especially when they overlapped into each others time frames. You could probably make three novellas from this book as it was like three stories in one but I kind of liked reading them alongside each other and it was clever how sometimes something from one time frame would explain something in another. However I did want some of the stories to carry on as I was interested to see how Bunin got to where he was in the last timeline. Certainly a good read, and fairly easy, but if you have never encountered Kurkov before I would recommend Death and the Penguin as a better starting point. 4.5/5 On an aside I love the old style cover art for these books, all my over Kurkov books are the old style but now they seem to have all changed to the new style. Ah well what will be will be, cover art doesn’t make the book after all.

Alison Wonderland- Helen Smith I was sent a free copy of this book in return for an honest review. Synopsis (from Amazon) After her husband leaves her for another woman, twentysomething Londoner Alison Temple impulsively applies for a job at the very P.I. firm she hired to trap her philandering ex. She hopes it will be the change of scene she so desperately needs to move on with her shattered life. At the all-female Fitzgerald’s Bureau of Investigation, she spends her days tracking lost objects and her nights shadowing unfaithful husbands. But no matter what the case, none of her clients can compare to the fascinating characters in her personal life. There’s her boss, the estimable and tidy Mrs. Fitzgerald; Taron, Alison’s eccentric best friend, who claims her mother is a witch; Jeff, her love-struck, poetry-writing neighbor; and—last but not least—her psychic postman. Her relationships with them all become entangled when she joins Taron for a road trip to the seaside and stumbles into a misadventure of epic proportions! Clever, quirky, and infused with just a hint of magic, this humorous literary novel introduces a memorable heroine struggling with the everyday complexities of modern life. Review. The first thing that springs to mind with this book is how different it it, but at the same time how mundane it can be. I still can’t really decide if I liked it or not. I think I just didn’t ‘get’ it. It wasn’t that it wasn’t entertaining, it’s just, well, nothing that much really happened. I can’t go as far as to say there was no storyline but somehow the storyline (or more storylines really) didn’t really seem to matter, it just seemed to be a way to join strange occurances together. 3/5

I would recommend Harry Potter to anyone, ever, but then I am a bit of a fanatic!

Darke- Angie Sage Synopsis (from Amazon) Septimus is on the threshold of his fourteenth birthday, which falls on the shortest day of the year. While everyone celebrates and the Castle is lit with the traditional candles, Septimus has greater concerns on his mind. He has finally reached the period in his Apprenticeship known as Darke Week. During this crucial time, he hopes to undertake the very dangerous mission of restoring Alther from Banishment, following the attempted invasion of the Castle of Syren. But while this preoccupies him, other Darke things are afoot in the Castle. Review Oh I think this has got to be my favourite Septimus Heap book so far. I think they have been gradually getting less childish. While I would still classify Darke as a children’s book it is much more sinister than the last 5. With the horrible ‘Things’ and the two faced ring and it’s power it brings to mind Tolkien’s Dark Riders and The One Ring. I still feel somewhat sorry for Merrin, somehow despite everything he has done he still seems like a victim to me. Maybe because of the way he was introduced to the Darke, maybe just because in many ways he is still a child. Somehow that makes what he does seem not so bad. Increasingly the barriers between Magyk and Darke Magyk are being blurred. The bad guys are not so bad (certainly not in the way Dom Daniel was) and maybe the good guys are not so good either. It all adds up to a book which is distinctly more adult than the others in the series. I wouldn’t go as far as to say children shouldn’t read it. Nothing is too graphic except in where your own imagination may work on something. 4/5