Bobblybear's Book List - 2014

[Alexi]

Have fun with your new purchases !The Stand, The Shining and 11/22/63 are the top three I want to read most I think, because they've got such good praise.

Same! I have 11/22/63 and The Shining on my TBR.

 

The Uninvited sounds great BB - thanks for the excellent review. Off to update my wishlist...

[bobblybear]

Thanks Athena and Alexi.

[bobblybear]

Bright Young Things - Scarlett Thomas

The book begins by introducing us to the main characters, and giving us a brief look at their lives. It dedicates one chapter to each character - just to let us know who they are and what their basic story is. There are three men and three women, all in their 20’s and feeling unfulfilled and disgruntled with their lives. They (individually) see an ad in the paper looking for ‘bright young things’ to get involved in a special project, and decide to apply for an interview in the hopes it will shake up their lives.

 

Following their interview, they all wake up together in a house on what appears to be a deserted island. It’s obvious they have been drugged, and they have very little memory of what brought them there. The island is well stocked with provisions (food and water) and suitable accommodations, but no clear way of escape. Over the next few days (actually I’m not very clear on the timescales) they learn a bit more about each other, while trying to figure out what they are doing there, and what they have in common to bring them there (they don't realise they have all applied for the same job).

 

I was a bit worried about starting this, because I didn’t enjoy PopCo, but my TBR list is getting ridiculously long and as I’ve had this since 2012, it was about time I gave it a go.    I’m so glad I decided to read it, because I liked it a lot. In fact, it’s easily in my top 5 reads of the year so far. It had me hooked all the way through, even though a great deal of the book is heavy on dialogue. The characters were all quite interesting and likeable, and there was also the mystery of why they were there, which held my interest (which turned out to be a massive surprise).

 

This book has many negative reviews on Amazon (far more negative than positive ones), with so many people saying it is very poor compared to her other books. This makes me want to read more of her work, as she writes well, and can obviously evoke strong opinions.

 

For anyone interested, it is a bargain on the Kindle at £0.20

 

5/6

[Anna Begins]

That sounds great!  TBR list for me, I'll give it ago. Plus, I think a lot of those Amazon reviews are bias.  It's pretty pricey here though- $9.

[bobblybear]

Ouch - that is pricey!   It's been £0.20 here for ages (since at least 2012 when I bought it).

[frankie]

This thread is dangerous, lots of great reviews and I see I have to add a lot of books on my wishlist...!  
 
First of all, I'm so happy you enjoyed Dracula so much! It's one of my favorite classics, it was very readable, which was a bit surprising. I remember I tried starting it a decade ago and couldn't get into it at all. But then on another try, I was sucked right in =) Like you, I think it's definitely re-reading material.
 
 

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

 
 This sounds good, and it's going on my wishlist! =)

 

The Slap - Christos Tsiolkas

During a barbeque hosted by Hector and Aisha for their friends and family, an unruly 3 year old child is slapped by one of the adults, after misbehaving one too many times. Following this incident, The Slap then has eight chapters, each telling a point of view of eight people who were at the barbeque.
 
There was a lot of publicity about this book a few years ago, and I had been waiting to read it for a while. I managed to borrow it via Amazon Prime, and I'm glad I did, rather than buying it as it's not a book I would read again.
 
So.....where do I start? I pretty much hated all the characters. I thought they were poorly written, far too black and white, with everyone having a very extreme personality. There were no 'ordinary' people, and so it was very difficult to relate to them as genuine people, let alone be interested in any of their thoughts or opinions. It's as though the author wanted to show the two most extreme points of view about corporal punishment, and created a bunch of ridiculously over the top characters in order to express his opinion through them. I thought there was a little bit of bias as well; the impression I got was that everyone in favour of the slap was described as depraved in all other areas of their life (spousal abuse, drugs, affairs), while the anti-slappers  were the calmer and more sane characters. There was also far too much descriptive sex for my liking - very graphic and I thought unnecessary, told almost for shock value.
 
I don't think the controversy about the book was over the subject matter, but rather the extremes of the characters. I found myself quite angry as I was reading it, because of how these people behaved. It was like a description of life with all the nice bits taken out of it.

The book itself was mediocre. It’s described on the cover as thought-provoking, but not for me. Frankly I forgot about it as soon as I finished it. Perhaps I missed the point of the book, but that is perfectly fine by me!
 
Give it a miss, I'd say.
 
1.5/6

 

Alexi said earlier in this thread that she enjoys reading other people's reviews, and that she especially enjoys the negative ones. I'm really sorry you disliked The Slap, but I have to say your review made me laugh It's cathartic to write those reviews and sometimes it's cathartic to read them, too This book is on my TBR and I've read a lot of very mixed reviews... I hope I will bear it somehow!

 

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion
 

 

This is such a great gem of a book Did you know there's a sequel on the way? 
 

The Invisible Ones - Stef Penney

Ray Lovell is a private investigator, who at the start of the book wakes up in hospital partially paralysed, but with no recollection of how he got there.

The story then backtracks to several weeks earlier, in which an elderly gypsy seeks Ray’s services to find his daughter (Rose Janko) who went missing seven years before, following a marriage into another local gypsy family.

The story is told in split narrative between Ray, and JJ - a 16 year old gypsy who is part of the family that Rose married into. The timelines were somewhat confusing as the story jumped around a bit, but it's followable. The story itself was very engaging. I loved The Tenderness of Wolves, and so was hoping for something similar, but you can't really compare the two as they are completely different stories.
 
There is a bit of a twist at the end. I'm not sure how plausible it was, but it was a good one!
 
Recommended.
 
4/6

 

Another one to go on my wishlist! I guess I will be a bit disappointed initially because like you, I'm probably expecting something similar as TToW, eventhough I know from your review that that's not going to happen But I'm glad it's a good novel on its own merits =)

 

The Uninvited - Liz Jensen

The book opens with a 7 year old girl taking a nailgun to her grandparents – killing one and blinding the other. At first this seems like a one off case of this type of violence, but this is not to be.
 
Hesketh Lock is the narrator. His job is to investigate cases of corporate sabotage and interview any whistleblowers. He provides a very unique perspective; he has Aspergers Syndrome, which is beneficial to his job as it enables to see any underlying patterns of behaviour in an objective manner. However, the Aspergers has been a detriment to his personal relationships (his ex-wife referred to him as “a robot made of meat”  ), although he still remains close to his stepson, Freddy.
 
While investigating two separate cases in Taiwan and Sweden, more instances of children turning against their parents start to occur. Hesketh begins to see patterns in these events and also some strong connections to the corporate sabotage cases he is currently investigating.
 
Soon Freddy starts acting strangely and Hesketh must dig even deeper, to find what is causing these behavioural changes in order protect himself and his son.
 
Hesketh is an interesting and likeable narrator, and I don't think that the book would have worked half as well had he not been the one telling the story. He provides an unusual viewpoint, and his personality is quirky and appealing.
There’s a very menacing feel throughout– you can feel the suspense building but it’s not overt. Rather it's hidden away, but due to how the story is told, you can feel the bleakness and hopelessness of it. It's not a thriller by any means, because due to Hesketh's narration it's told in an almost dispassionate manner, but it works to make it more creepy.
 
I really enjoyed reading this – in fact it may be the best of the year so far. I’ve never read any Liz Jensen before, but will most definitely be keeping an eye out for any others by her.
 
6/6

 

This sounds really intriguing! Great review, another title to be added on my wishlist

[Athena]

This is such a great gem of a book Did you know there's a sequel on the way?

Is this true? That would be awesome news !

[frankie]

Is this true? That would be awesome news !

 

Why would I lie about something like this  

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rosie-Effect-A-Novel/dp/1476767319

[Athena]

Why would I lie about something like this

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rosie-Effect-A-Novel/dp/1476767319

I'd love to read that when it's released (and out in paperback) , thanks!

[bobblybear]

Sorry for making your wishlist a bit longer, Frankie.

 

Regarding the negative reviews (eg. The Slap), I think you are right that it is very cathartic to write them. It helps to vent which is why they tend to be the longer and more detailed reviews.

 

The sequel to The Rosie Project caught my eye on Amazon a few days ago. I was a bit surprised to see a sequel out so soon, but hopefully it will be as good as the first one.

[bobblybear]

I Know This Much Is True - Wally Lamb

Dominick and Thomas Birdsey are identical twins, born 5 minutes apart – one on 31 December, 1949 and the other on 1st January, 1950 (can't recall who is the older one ). Aside from physical appearance they are completely different individuals.

 

Thomas has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and in a fit of religious zeal, chops his hand off whilst in a public library. He is then committed to a mental hospital, which is different to the one he usually has his extended stays in. Dominick, in his role as Thomas' protector, must argue on his behalf for his release (or transfer), arguing that Thomas is not a danger to himself or society.

 

Although most of the events revolve around Thomas, Dominick is the narrator and it's through his eyes that the story is told. It's his story and how Thomas has impacted on his life and how he can't cut free of him (as much as he sometimes wishes to). The story switches between the twins' childhood, and their present lives (now in their late 30's), as a way of giving a bit of background to explain who they are as adults. It concentrates on the key people in their childhood - their mother, their mysterious unknown father, and their dominating step-father. There is so much detail and backstory about their lives, and both their childhood (and teenage) years and their current lives are very compelling.

 

It’s 859 pages long, but quite easy to read and enjoyable throughout. The characters are very well developed and plausible and their lives are fully-fleshed out, so they do feel like living and breathing people. Although Thomas is the one with the 'issues', the story is really Dominick's, and there's so much that has happened in his life, that you really want him to somehow get through it all and be happy for once. He's a likeable character, but he's also an 'ordinary' person just coping with unbelievable amounts of stress, and he's written as such - warts and all. 

 

Although it's a whopper of a novel, it didn’t feel like such a hefty book. I mean it was exhausting emotionally, because so much happens (of course it does, there are 859 pages!  ) but it wasn't a struggle to read. It was a book I really looked forward to picking up. Another case of "Why didn't I read this sooner?!"

 

5/6

[bobblybear]

Sycamore Row - John Grisham

This is a very loose sequel to A Time To Kill, in that it features the same main characters, but the events bear no relation to the events of that case. In fact, he could have used completely new characters and it would have made no difference aside to make the book marginally shorter.

 

The premise was interesting. Seth Hubbard – a very rich old man, dying of cancer – commits suicide, and leaves a new will (written hours before his death) which gives 90% of his considerable fortune to his housemaid, with explicit instructions that his children and grand children are to receive nothing. He leaves instructions for Jake Brigance to be the attorney representing the estate. Of course, the family contest the will, and it is down to Jake to determine if Seth Hubbard was of sound mind, or if his housemaid has unduly influenced him to line her own pockets.

 

Well, this was a mighty dull read. It’s been quite a while since I’ve read John Grisham, and I now realise he is a very mediocre writer indeed. There is plenty of filler and very little actual story, and I struggled to read it. I can’t think of why this is marketed as a sequel, except that he wanted to boost his sales. Jake Brigance isn’t a strong enough or interesting enough character to lead this book, and there are several irrelevant references to the A Time To Kill case but it has no bearing whatsoever on this story. The plot just dragged on and on, with so many deviations into unrelated or uninteresting events; if you stripped all of that out, the book could have been shortened by half. I know a lot of deviations can make a story richer, but in this case it just didn't happen and I think it's down to Grisham's lack of creative ability.

 

Avoid.

 

1/6

[bobblybear]

A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness (unfinished)

I’m in the clear minority with this one, but I didn’t like it (and that's putting it mildly) and had to give up at about 80% (though I really could have given up much sooner).

 

Basically, the main character, Diana, is a reluctant witch who is also a professor at some university. Whilst doing research she finds a book, and unconsciously releases a spell which has kept this book shut. This attracts the attention of other witches, vampires, daemons etc. One in particular has taken a very strong interest in Diana – the vampire, Matthew. They spend more time together and eventually fall in sickly love, but their love is forbidden…..blah, blah, and so on…..

 

This is one of those books that I really wanted to like. I think it’s because I liked the title and have heard many positive things about it.

 

The over the top emphasis on romance…I mean I lost count of the number of times Diana was trembling with fear (though insisting she was a strong modern woman who could handle anything ) and had to collapse in Matthew’s strong masculine arms for comfort. I mean, for goodness sakes! It was just so over the top and in your face!   And this type of scene was repeated ad infinitum. Pass the vomit bucket…..another one to avoid.

 

1/6

[bobblybear]

Omigosh, one more review then I'm caught up!!!

[Athena]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy those last two books . Your reviews are all great though !

[bobblybear]

Thanks Athena!

[Anna Begins]

Well, this was a mighty dull read. It’s been quite a while since I’ve read John Grisham, and I now realise he is a very mediocre writer indeed. There is plenty of filler and very little actual story, and I struggled to read it. I can’t think of why this is marketed as a sequel, except that he wanted to boost his sales. Jake Brigance isn’t a strong enough or interesting enough character to lead this book, and there are several irrelevant references to the A Time To Kill case but it has no bearing whatsoever on this story. The plot just dragged on and on, with so many deviations into unrelated or uninteresting events; if you stripped all of that out, the book could have been shortened by half. I know a lot of deviations can make a story richer, but in this case it just didn't happen and I think it's down to Grisham's lack of creative ability.

 

Avoid.

 

1/6

Oh dear.  I was afraid of this review.  I just can not read this.  It was nice of my dad to buy it for me and everything, but I'll just gently (nicely) let him stop asking  l Maybe I can use some of your review and pretend I read it  I can usually get him talking non stop about books.

[bobblybear]

I am in the minority though. Most people rave about it, but the ones who don't like it have the same criticisms that I had. Some of the one-star reviews for it on Amazon are quite funny actually.

[pontalba]

Crikey, two lemons in a row.  Yuck.  Better luck in the future!

[bobblybear]

Thanks, Pontalba.

[Devi]

Now, don't ask me why because I have no idea but when I read two lemons, I thought, what would I make with those?

 

Cheesecake!!

 

I think I need to go to bed.

Edited August 31, 2014 by Devi

[bobblybear]

Cheesecake is yummy!

[Athena]

I've never had cheesecake . I'd like to try some at some point, though . I did once look up how to make it but it looked very complicated.

[Devi]

Well I will be sure to post pictures, as my boyfriend wants me to make one for his birthday on thursday!

[Athena]

Well I will be sure to post pictures, as my boyfriend wants me to make one for his birthday on thursday!

Please do !