Easy Reader

Hi I really enjoyed Never Let Me Go nice and easy to read too. I hope you like it too. Hello thank you for the welcome

Hello I am Sally Joined a couple of days ago but still finding my feet here, only just found the introductions. I love to read and then discuss and take on other peoples opinions afterwards so I think this just the place for me. I am quite a slow reader but do try to read as much as I can and try and read books from all genres (just as long as its not too gruesome )and I have set myself the challenge of reading a book a week for 2011. Just to warn you I will be digging out lots of old threads making my thoughts be known on every book I have read I am now off to see which book to read next having just finishd Never Let You Go - Kazuo Ishiguro.

I only read this book as I want to read it before seeing the film and boy am I glad that I did. Its not a book that I would have chosen in fact I had never heard of it. The only Ishiguro I had previous knowledge of was The Remains Of The Day which was out in the cinema when I was at college and I completely dismissed it as being stuffy, I am now keen to read that and his other books too on the back of this one. Its hard to describe what exactly it is that I like about this book as I found the whole thing so conflicting within itself. I love the fact that Kathy jumps straight in telling the story as if the reader already knows what she is talking about as that is so reflective of the students upbringing where she mentions several times that she can't remember the first time she heard about such and such its like she always knew about it. Even though I didn't know what she was talking about I found the style of writing so easy it was never a problem and I realised early on that all will be revealed when it needed to be again much like the students upbringing. I thought the narration was quite void of emotion which strangly gave the book lots of warmth. I would have preferred her tone to change with each section of the book as towards the end the monotone was starting to drag. The natural relationship between Kathy and Tommy was incredibly endearing its like they were drawn to eachother with neither of them knowing why. I felt so sorry for them after their visit to Miss Emily I wanted to give them both a hug. Perhaps Miss Emily's keeping them in the dark helped them not to get too drawn into this disappointment but then if Miss Lucy had her way they could have lived a more fulfilled life before their "completion". I did find it strange that it was so important that Miss Emily and Madame lived in the dark. Madame kept disappearing into the darkness and then reappearing again which was obviously relevant but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Was it simply because these two women were intent on keeping the students in the dark or was it because they themselves were now shut out from society and any kind of normal life? I finished the book wanting to know more about the "cloning" and the "donations" and the type of people requiring these donations but I don't feel cheated of this lack of knowledge I feel it has brought the book round full circle to the beginning again, Kathy has finsihed the book assuming that the reader knows all this much in the same way she started the book assuming the same. There is really so much more I would like to say but I think my ramblings would end up being longer than the book itself.

Martina Cole gave me nightmares. I had to stop reading her books. I got Goodnight Lady and The Runaway on offer and to be honest didn't bother reading the backs I just thought thats a good deal I will get them. I took them home and then read the backs and thought "oh dear not my sort of thing" but decided to be brave and give them a go. I read Goodnight Lady first and apart from the abuse I liked the style and found it really quite engrossing. After finishing it I thought I would give the Runaway a go too which again contained abuse which I really am not a fan of I thought it was not as bad as the previous book and kept reminding myself it was fiction. Feeling braver I moved on to The Ladykiller (it does what it says on the tin) and had prepared myself for what was to come. Again I liked the writing style and reminded myself it was just fiction. The I moved on to The Jump this is the one that kept me awake at nights I couldn't get some of the images out of my head and was stuck between not wanting to finish it as it was running through my head all the time and needing to finish it to get "closure". I have stayed away for MC even since. Slightly off topic I was reading The Jump not long after watching an episode of Friends where Joey told Rachel he puts books in the freezer to stop bad things happening and reading this book I could fully understand why he would do that.

I was so pleased I read this book. I had no idea who Lady Jane Grey was other than some woman who was on the thrown for about 2 weeks and was always under the impression that she put herself there. I spent the entire book feel sorry for her and much hatrid for her Mother. This is the only Alison Weir book I have read I really must look out for some others.

I waited until I had all three books and a relatively short to be read pile before starting this as I love Philippa Gregory and was sure that I would want to read them one straight after the other. It didn't work out that way I started reading it in 2009 read the first third ok really struggled with the second third and then didn't read any at all in 2010 forced myself to finish it this year by promising myself that I would read 10 pages every night just to get it finished. I did finally pick up the pace again and sort of enjoyed it at the end but I am in no hurry to read the next two (although I will I promise. I read The Wise Woman before this one and adored that I just don't know why I couldn't get into this one. I like Beatrice at the beginning I didn't have a problem with her ruthless ways in fact I enjoyed finding out how she was going to get out of her next situation. The only thing I can think off that really put me off was the length of it and the unnecessary descriptions of emotions, I seem to remember Beatrice angrily rode her horse across the fields for three whole pages at one point. I am not the sort of person who can skip a few pages here and there. Overall I think I would have to give it 6/10.

I enjoyed this book too but felt that nothing really happened and that there isn't much to discuss on it. It was easy to read and I was interest in the process of making the tapastries and the characters were likeable and if not likeable then easy to relate to. I have read all of Chevalier's books now and I would say that this is one of my favourites along with The Girl With The Pearl Earing (which I felt was in the same style of engaging writing but not a lot of story imo)and Remarkable Creatures. The only one of her books that I wasn't too keen on was Virgin Blue as I didn't feel it was necessary to keep switching between the two time lines. I guess with TL&TU it is what it is she told the story nothing more and nothing less.

Good Luck with the challenge. I am a huge Lost fan watched it from the beginning and have often thought of reading the books but most of them aren't really my thing. I had already read a couple of them through school and liked them but they are the easier ones like Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm and Lord of the Rings. Since watching Lost I tried and disliked Carrie and Catch 22. I did however (surprisingly for me) enjoy The Third Policeman which once I stopped trying to understand found quite intresting. I am currently ploughing my way through Our Mutual Friend of which I have been reading a chapter here and there for nearly two years now but I am determind to finish it.