Bobblybear's Book List - 2014

[bobblybear]

Thanks all.   It was a proper mess, but luckily I have followed it up with better books.

 

Kidsmum, it actually only took him about one night and part of the following day to kill all those people, which just added to the ridiculousness of it all.

[Nollaig]

Glad you enjoyed Dracula, it's an excellent book.

 

That Sinema thing sounds like a right load of tosh!

[Kylie]

Glad you enjoyed Dracula, it's an excellent book.

 

Totally agree. It's one of my faves!

[bobblybear]

The Lost Daughter - Diane Chamberlain

CeeCee Wilkes is a young and impressionable 16 year old when she meets Timothy Gleason, a 21 year old social work major, in 1977. Falling in love and desperate to do anything to keep him happy, she finds herself involved in his attempt to have his sister released from prison. His plan is to kidnap the wife of a politician (maybe a senator, I can't recall) with some sway, and hold her to ransom on the condition that his sister is released. Typically, things go awry, and CeeCee finds herself on the run, with a lot of secrets to bear. I don't want to give a huge amount away, although the Amazon synopsis gives away a pretty big plot point. Not that it would ruin your enjoyment of the book (it didn't ruin mine, and in fact I'd forgotten said plot revelation), but it reveals more than I would want to know before starting it.

The story is told in two main timelines - one from when CeeCee was a teenager, and then when she is an adult. CeeCee had lost her mother at the age of 12, and before she died, her mum wrote her a series of letter to be opened at each birthday. The header of each chapter is an excerpt of a letter, and I liked this little extra flavour to the story. The other timeline which follows CeeCee as an adult is also interspersed with chapters about her daughter.

 

This is my second Diane Chamberlain book (first one I read was Breaking The Silence) and I really enjoyed it. She has often been compared to Jodi Picoult, because they both seem to write about a morally ambiguous situation and makes you question what is right or wrong, and what you would do. Almost like a case of when good people do bad things, etc.

It was a very compelling story, and easy and enjoyable to read, but the ending was a bit nice. I find myself saying that a lot actually. It's not that I want a darker ending, but I think sometimes it makes it more interesting and changes the way you look back on a book.

 

I'll definitely be reading her other books.

 

4.5/6

[bobblybear]

The English Monster - Lloyd Shepherd

It's very hard to know where to start with this one, and I had such mixed feelings about it. I started off really enjoying it, then I was immensely irritated with it (when something was revealed), and then I started to like it again, once I'd adjusted to this new revelation. 

The book is based upon the Ratcliffe Highway murders of 1811. I'd never heard of them, and it's a pretty interesting story and the first murder is covered very well in the opening part of the book.

 

The book follows two main stories, and it's not until a fair way in that the two are linked, and even so, it is never spelled out. The first one is set in London and follows closely the investigation of the murders. I read up on these murders (on linky given above) as I had never heard of them before and the book follows it quite accurately (via the events and the characters).

Interwoven with this, is the second - largely fictional story, though the character existed -  which follows Billy Ablass as a young lad, off to Plymouth in the 1500’s (which I didn’t pick up on initially, I thought it was the same timeline. I must learn to pay more attention to the dates given at the start of chapters! ) to find his fortune on the ships.

I can’t reveal too much without ruining the surprise (and a big clue was given in the first chapter, which had me scratching my head), but it follows a somewhat supernatural approach. This really irritated me at first, as I’d hoped for a serious story based on confirmed events, but once I got past my confusion I was quite impressed with it. It was a very interesting (and unusual) approach, and I suppose it was an acceptable one as the murderer was never found (although someone was found guilty it’s acknowledged that he couldn't have acted alone).

It’s one of those books that a lot of the pleasure is in the initial surprise, so it wouldn’t really benefit from a re-read. I would still recommend it, although you need to keep an open mind.

 

4/6

[Athena]

Great reviews, BB ! I'm glad you enjoyed The Lost Daughter. It's on my TBR (along with a lot of other Diane Chamberlain's books). I like the concept of the letters at the beginning of each chapter. I'm sure I'll enjoy the book when I read it, I've enjoyed the other books I read by her.

[bobblybear]

Thanks, Athena. Which other books have you read by her, and which ones would you most recommend?

[Athena]

I've read (in this order):

 

The Midwife's Confession

The Good Father

Brass Ring

Breaking the Silence

The Shadow Wife (Cypress Point)

 

I loved them all and rated them 10/10 but I loved The Midwife's Confession the best, it was my first book by her so I think for that reason that one will always be special. That said, Breaking the Silence was also very good and Brass Ring and the others.. Basically I like them all so far . I plan to be reading at least one book by her this year.

[Alexi]

The Lost Daughter sounds really interesting - so I have added it to my wish list after reading your review! 

[Janet]

I've had it on my 'to read' pile for about two years!   I shall try to move it up the pile. 

[bobblybear]

I've read (in this order):

 

The Midwife's Confession

The Good Father

Brass Ring

Breaking the Silence

The Shadow Wife (Cypress Point)

 

I loved them all and rated them 10/10 but I loved The Midwife's Confession the best, it was my first book by her so I think for that reason that one will always be special. That said, Breaking the Silence was also very good and Brass Ring and the others.. Basically I like them all so far . I plan to be reading at least one book by her this year.

 

I have The Good Father....I bought it quite recently (I think it was a Kindle Deal), so I'll be sure to get to it soon. I'm pretty sure I'll acquire the others over time, as she's someone I will keep an eye out for bargains and new releases.

 

 

The Lost Daughter sounds really interesting - so I have added it to my wish list after reading your review! 

 

Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did.

 

I've had it on my 'to read' pile for about two years!   I shall try to move it up the pile. 

 

I hope you enjoy it when you get to it.

[Athena]

I hope you enjoy The Good Father when you read it, BB !

[bobblybear]

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy Jones

Wilfred Price is a young aspiring funeral director, who out on a picnic one day with a close childhood friend gets overwhelmed by her yellow dress and decides to propose marriage. Grace accepts his proposal, but shortly after, Wilfred realises it was an impulsive mistake and then has to extricate himself without offending all those concerned, which by now include Grace's parents as well as many people in the town. This is further complicated by Wilfred meeting someone else – Flora - who he really does feel a strong connection with, and wants to begin a relationship with.

It started off with gentle humour, and I was quite amused by Wilfred in his situation and thought the book would be a comedy of sorts. In a way, it was quite comedic - I particularly enjoyed the advice given to Wilfred by his mentor, about what things must not be done in front of a corpse. However, soon the story took a big dark twist, which really surprised me and changed the tone of the book.

I did feel a bit short changed at the end of the book because I thought Grace’s story was far more interesting and deserved more time than it was given. It was a very odd twist and I still can't quite understand the reason for it. It changed it from a light and fluffy book, to something much more serious and heavy.

 

Coming in at just under 300 pages, it was reasonably quick and easy to read. I did enjoy it aside from what what I said above, that I would have liked to hear more about Grace's story.

 

 

I mean, it was a major thing which happened to her. How on earth could the author just drop her from the story like that?? I wanted Madoc to get his comeuppance, and for Grace to get some kind of 'happy ending', rather than just being dumped on a train, never to be heard from again!

 

 

4/6

Edited February 28, 2014 by bobblybear

[bobblybear]

Dark Lord: The Teenage Years - Jamie Thomson (unfinished)

This is another case of me buying a book which received rave reviews, instead of actually considering whether I would like the story.

I think I managed about 50% of it, before having to give up. I could have finished it, because it wasn’t that I hated it or anything. It just didn’t interest me, and was a bit immature for my tastes.

Basically, the Dark Lord is transported into the form of a teenage boy, and finds himself unconscious in a supermarket parking lot. Put into a foster home, he then has to deal with teenage issues such as fitting in at school, and trying to convince his very few friends really who he is and how to get him back where he belongs.

This won the 2012 Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Don’t know if that’s much of an accolade, but I don’t recall laughing much. However, more people like it than dislike it, but they seem to be mostly young children (early teens and a bit younger).

1/6

[Athena]

Nice reviews ! Sorry to hear you didn't like one of the books though, that's never nice. It sounds like an interesting premise, but perhaps it is not much fun to read as an adult. I hope your next read will be better .

[bobblybear]

Thanks, Athena!

[Marie H]

Good review  . I read this a couple of years ago, and I agree with you, the 'gasp horror' did seem too harsh (especially for Grace, and as the style of the story as a whole IMHO). I see that The World is a Wedding came out as a sequel last year (hardback and ebook), so I must try that sometime. Wilfred and Grace both are in this book. I thought that Grace was more interesting than Wilf, so maybe things will be more gentle for her in this sequel  .

[bobblybear]

Thanks Marie. I had no idea there was a sequel, so I'm glad that you mentioned it. It didn't even occur to me to look for one. I've just read the blurb on Amazon, and like you say, it follows both Wilfred and Grace, so hopefully it ties up some loose ends. I will definitely be reading it, as the main thing I didn't enjoy was the open-endedness of the first book.

[bobblybear]

I'm six reviews behind, and it's a bit of a struggle to catch up.
 
The Shining - Stephen King

Jack Torrance is a recovering alcoholic with a bad temperment. After losing his job as a high school teacher (due to assaulting a student), he successfully applies for the job of caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado during it’s winter shutdown. He is vaguely aware of it's colourful history, and feels it would be the ideal place to work on his writing, as well as repair his fragile marriage and re-bond with his five year old son, Danny. Danny has what is later referred to as 'the shining' - a psychic ability -  which enables him to see and feel the gruesome history of the hotel, and the increasing grip it has on his father. Soon after the arrival of winter, they become snowed in, and the hotel's supernatural influence begins to overpower Jack, and threaten to destroy Wendy and Danny.

This was a re-read for me. (I’m in a Stephen King kind of mood recently and I’m re-reading Pet Sematary at the moment). The Shining was much scarier than I remembered, or maybe I was too young to understand it enough to be scared by it. There are some genuinely creepy sections - mostly around the hedge animals, and room 217. My interest waned slightly towards the end, as some parts seemed to drag out for a bit too long. At 450 odd pages, it's not exactly a short novel, but it didn't take me too long to read it, as it's a pretty easy read. The only thing that didn't really ring true was Danny; his thoughts and behaviour were far older than a 5 year old. Even though this is obliquely referred to in the novel, it still didn't ring true, and I found it a bit distracting.

 

I shall get to the sequel, Doctor Sleep, some time this year, and hopefully it will be just as good as this one (if reviews are anything to go by, I have little to worry about).

 

4/6
 

[Athena]

Great review! I haven't read The Shining yet though I did see the film many years ago. I think I'll like the book, based on your review. Good luck catching up to your reviews .

[bobblybear]

Thanks Athena. It's quite different from the film....I think I prefer the book, but then again I usually do.

[Marie H]

Thanks Marie. I had no idea there was a sequel, so I'm glad that you mentioned it. It didn't even occur to me to look for one. I've just read the blurb on Amazon, and like you say, it follows both Wilfred and Grace, so hopefully it ties up some loose ends. I will definitely be reading it, as the main thing I didn't enjoy was the open-endedness of the first book.

I only knew that there would be a sequel as I saw Wendy Jones at our library, about a year (or maybe even 2 years)ago, promoting the first book, and she said she had already written the next one. But I had forgotten all about it, it seems a long time now, then   when I saw your review. 

[bobblybear]

She must have written it fairly quickly, as The Thoughts and Happenings..... was only published in 2012. I wonder if it was originally meant to be one volume, and then she (or the publisher) decided to make it into two.

[bobblybear]

Dune - Frank Herbert

 

Set many thousands of years into the future, the planets/colonies are ruled by families, who are in turn all ruled by the Emperor. Two of the main families in this story - the Atreides and Harkonnen - have been at odds for a long time. The ruling Emperor grants the House of Atreides control of the planet Arrakis to begin mining for melange, a rare and valuable ‘spice’. However it is suspected that this move is a trap. The Atreides move to Arrakis, and make plans to protect their planet and their newly-won 'spice' mining capabilites. However, a betrayal by one of their own, leads to the group being split and ultimately being pushed out into the dangerous desert of Arrakis.  

 

I found Dune to be very complex, and I know I struggle with complexity when it is coupled with a completely different world/time/environment. There were some sections of the book I really enjoyed (mostly about the Atriedis family, and then later on about the Fremen), and others that I was bored by (the Harkonnen - I just wasn't interested in them). I struggled a bit with definitions in the beginning and only realised too late that there is a glossary at the back on the book, which would have helped much earlier on. The detail in the book is quite overwhelming, and you most definitely need to be 100% focused while reading it. It's not a book where sections can be skim-read, and I think that's where I struggled. The parts that didn't interest me, made me want to skim through them, but in doing so I knew I'd get lost later on, so I had to pay attention, even in areas I didn't want to. (Sounds like I didn't enjoy it at all, but I did, honest! It's just that only one of the storylines really interested me).

 

It had some large jumps in time that I found distracting, and my mind did wander on occasion while I was reading. Even writing this, I’ve had to read the Wiki entry to refresh my memory.   It's the kind of book that would benefit with a re-read, but to be honest I don't know if I'd have the energy.

 

2.5/6

[bobblybear]

A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

Conor is a thirteen year old boy whose mother is dying of cancer. He begins having dreams in which the yew tree in the neighbouring churchyard comes to life. The yew tree breaks into his bedroom and tells him a series of stories over several nights, and in return Conor must confess the truth – his real nightmare - which he cannot admit to anyone, even himself.

The stories the yew tree tells are moral fables of sorts. Each tale shows the contradictions inherent in humans, and the central message in the book is that it doesn’t matter what you think, as the human mind constantly contradicts itself. It’s only what you do that counts. I thought this was an interesting point....it's basically saying to not feel too much guilt over your thoughts as your mind changes many, many times and often finds a way to try to punish you for thinking these thoughts.

While I liked it, I don’t think it had a massive emotional impact on me like it had on some others, but I’m not sure why. Maybe because I was steeling myself to it, as I’d heard a lot about it. I found it quite sad, but it didn't have me in a heap like some other books have done.

 

It’s a slim book. My version says 240 pages, but I read it in a day or so, so it felt like it was shorter. There is an illustrated version (mine wasn't), which is spoken quite highly of as well, so if you really enjoyed it, it might be worth keeping an eye out for that version.

 

3/6