aromaannie Posted March 7, 2008 Author Share Posted March 7, 2008 Fear by Jeff Abbott This is another author that I tend to buy everything he writes after reading his book Panic that I really enjoyed. This didn't quite live up to Panic but was still an enjoyable read. I did get the characters mixed up at times as they appear to be changing sides all the time. I felt at points I didn't really know what was going on (a bit like watching the last series of Spooks) but it didn't matter to much. Definately a fast paced thriller with lots of twists and turns. 8/10 Books read this year = 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 Somebody Else's Kids by Torey Hayden NON FICTION They were all just "somebody else's kids" - four problem children placed in Torey Hayden's class because nobody knew what else to do with them. They were a motley group of kids in great pain: a small boy who echoed other people's words and repeated weather forecasts; a beautiful seven-year-old girl brain damaged by savage parental beatings; an angry ten-year-old who had watched his stepmother murder his father; a shy twelve-year-old who had been cast out of Catholic school when she became pregnant. I love TH's books as they always fill me with such a huge range of emotions. 8/10 Books read this year = 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 Boy A - Jonathan Trigell 'Jack has spent most of his life in juvenile institutions, to be released with a new name, new job, new life. At 24, he is utterly innocent of the world, yet guilty of a monstrous childhood crime.To his new friends, he is a good guy with occasional flashes of unexpected violence. To his new girlfriend, he is strangely inexperienced and unreachable. To his case worker, he's a victim of the system and of media-driven hysteria. And to himself, Jack is on permanent trial: can he really start from scratch, forget the past, become someone else? Is a new name enough? Can Jack ever truly connect with his new friends while hiding a monstrous secret? This book was made into a film for channel 4 recently and I meant to watch it but forgot so I decided to buy the book instead. The story flits between Jack's childhood and at 24 his release from prison and his attempt to fit back into society. I really enjoyed the writing style and at 248 pages it's easy to zip through this book but it will leave you thinking about it. 8.5/10 Books read this year = 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
March Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Severed - Simon Kernick One of my new favourite authors. Not as good as Relentless (his last relaease)but I'm still don't mind that I had to go to 3 different shops to find it on Friday. Books read this year = 14 Hi Aromaanie, I enjoyed Relentless too. I finished it in a day as it was "unputdownable". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 Hi Aromaanie, I enjoyed Relentless too. I finished it in a day as it was "unputdownable". I'm really enjoying his books at the moment and am currently working my way through his back catalogue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted March 15, 2008 Author Share Posted March 15, 2008 Jade Goody - My Autobiography Another person I don't like and a book that I sat shaking me head at half the time. I wanted to read her book to see if it would explain how in a country with free education someone could be as thick as she is (and no it didn't). 8.5/10 Books read this year = 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult The First JP book I read was The Tenth Circle which I read last summer. I bought it after hearing such good things about the author. I was actually quite disappointed with it and wondered what all the fuss was about with hre books. Before Xmas whilst in tesco I came across a 3 box set of JP's books for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted March 15, 2008 Author Share Posted March 15, 2008 Rant alert! I completely hate this book with every fibre of my being. It's a sorry excuse for a novel, an utter tree-killing, big sloppy bowl of arse-gravy and if I ever met JP she'd get a hefty bitch-slap for that cop-out of an ending. It's the only book I've ever THROWN OUT as opposed to selling, swapping or giving away...I mean, Christ, I even kept The Da Vinci Code and we all know what I think of that. Brown's prose is pants but Picoult's is better and that ending lets down anyone who reads MSK. God, it's like a migraine, PMT and breaking a nail all rolled into one. That's how much I hate it. I hate it so much it makes me puke, cry and lose control of my bowels all at once. It makes baby Jesus cry. Grown men run screaming from it in bookstores. There have been documented cases of library members spontaneously combusting on passing the P-shelf. In conclusion: AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!! Man. I feel better now. That made me laugh - a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 I wonder how you'd feel if you publish a book, and someone writes something like this about it...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Honestly? I'd laugh. I fully believe in free speech and if someone wants to rip into something I write, I'd welcome their right to do so. And surely writing something that's so obviously meant to be comedic is better than laying into the author as a person (as I have seen happen). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicnic Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 I quite liked the Picoult book, but appreciate your critique. It is most amusing and I find myself half agreeing with you. She's a bestselling author and I'm sure she can handle the fact that some people will hate her books. And I'm glad you enjoyed the catharsis of writing that. Let it aaallllllll out now! hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Without meaning to derail the thread, I just want to add a quick apology to those who took my rant seriously, or thought I went overboard. I didn't mean to cause offence, just make people laugh. The disadvantage of being online is you can't read someone's body language and it's easy to misread their intentions. (And it won't stop me trying any other Picoult books - I think I have another three on Mount TBR). As you were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted March 22, 2008 Author Share Posted March 22, 2008 The 6th Target - James Patterson JP's book seem to be a bit hit and miss recently probably due to the fact he churns out so many books a year now that he uses co-authors. As usual the book is fast paced but to me it seemed like there were 2 seperate stories which didn't make a book on their own so they were put together to make one. I didn't really see how these seperate stories fitted together. 7.5/10 Books read this year = 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 He has a stable of about six ghosts, I think, and he aims to publish eight novels a year. I've noticed that too about the women's murder club (what a patronising idea that was...can you imagine a men's murder gang? A bloke's fraud squad? A geezer's GBH crew?) - they seem to be two stories smushed together to pad out the pages. Still, for whatever reason, I enjoy them! 7th Heaven is an improvement IMO so that's something for you to look forward to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted March 23, 2008 Author Share Posted March 23, 2008 He has a stable of about six ghosts, I think, and he aims to publish eight novels a year. I've noticed that too about the women's murder club (what a patronising idea that was...can you imagine a men's murder gang? A bloke's fraud squad? A geezer's GBH crew?) - they seem to be two stories smushed together to pad out the pages. Still, for whatever reason, I enjoy them! 7th Heaven is an improvement IMO so that's something for you to look forward to. Good - I look foward to his books and hate it when I'm left disappointed by one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 Don't You Know Who I Am? by Piers Morgan Once I got use to the idea that this book wasn't quite what I imagined, I really enjoyed it. Initially I thought it was purely gossip about famous people he had met and although their is a fair amount of that in the book it's more of a diary from when he was sacked as the Mirror editor to his time as a judge on America's Got Talent. 8/10 The Murder Exchange - Simon Kernick I struggled a bit with this book even though I normally enjoy SK's books. I didn't really warm to either of the 2 main characters which I think was probably the problem. I also thought the storyline was a bit far fetched too. 7/10 Mixed Blessings - Diane Lazarus To begin with this book reads like any one of the many 'abuse' books out in recent years. After around 100 pages it starts to focus mainly on Diane's psychic abillities and this is when the book gets really interesting. I really enjoyed this book and just wish she had included more of her psychic tales rather than detail her childhood. 8.5/10 Books read this year = 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith This is 2nd book of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency set in Botswana. I really enjoy this series as they are such gentle novels completely different from the books I normally read. 8/10 Kim: Empty Inside edited by Beatrice Sparks This book is described as being for young adults. It is written in diary form and is the story of a young girl suffering from Bulimia. I don't think I have ever read a bigger pile of rubbish. I can't believe I wasted my time & money buying & reading this. I even gave it an extra mark for being so short (150 pages) that it only took me a couple of hours to read! 4/10 Books read this year = 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esiotrot Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Glad you enjoyed Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith. I think I am going to read it next. Feeling the need for something lighthearted and relaxing - and hopefully the heat will help warm me as we have hailstones here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted April 5, 2008 Author Share Posted April 5, 2008 I couldn't read books like this all the time but they are lovely to pick up when the world seems like it's a bit of a nasty place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted April 5, 2008 Share Posted April 5, 2008 Funnily enough my friend told me that she had either heard on the radio or read an article that they became popular after 9/11 because people needed something to make them feel good about the human race again. I think it is their simplicity that makes them such a nice read - we live in such complicated times and they certainly offer light relief. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 Karin Slaughter - Skin Privilege Another great book from KS and I love the Grant County series which this is the latest of. The 3 main characters are intersting and it's great to have seen them develope throught the books. If you haven't read any of them before I would suggest you start with the first book. All I can say is OMG the ending! 9/10 Books read this year = 30 Not Without My Sister by Kristina, Celeste & Julianna NON FICTION I was looking forward to this book becuase I was interested in reading about a cult. Disapointingly I found it a bit hard going. The book is written by the 3 sisters with them all telling their story seperately. Unfortunately their stories are all very similar so when you start to read the 2nd sisters account you begin to think I've read all this before and by the 3rd sister's account it's difficult to stay focused on the book. 7/10 Books read this year = 31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 The Manny - Holly Peterson Welcome to the Grid, home to New York's uber rich, where a manny -- a male nanny -- is the hottest new hire in town. And Peter Bailey is young, fun and drop-dead gorgeous. He could be the answer to Jamie Whitfield's prayers, even if her husband disagrees. Peter comes from a very different world to Jamie's. He's cool, calm and he sees right through her attempts to fit in with her chic and sleek neighbours. Ditching high society dinners for dancing in Brooklyn, Jamie begins to wonder if a married uptown girl can fall for a downtown guy. He's good for her children. Could the manny be good for her too!? I got this book for filling in a survey and would probably not have picked it up otherwise. I don't read a huge amount of chick lit but this was an entertaining enough read although rather predictable in places. 7.5/10 Books read this year = 32 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 The Rachel Files by Detective Inspector Keith Pedder NON FICTION No one could have imagined that when beautiful young Rachel Nickell went for a walk on Wimbledon Common with her little son, it would have resulted in a wicked, sickening crime that appalled a nation; or that the police investigation that follwed would cost over a million pounds. This is the "inside" story of the operation to catch the killer of Rachel Nickell by the police detective that headed it up. Keith Pedder reveals information that has hitherto been withheld, and prints letters from the police involved in the operation to the chief suspect. I bought this book as it was written by the lead detective investigating the crime when the main suspect was Colin Stagg. The case was thrown out of court when the judge said the main evidence involving a 'honeytrap' was not admissable. I was interested in reading it because at the time it was written the police really felt the person responsible was Colin Stagg. Since then through advances in DNA they have found that it was actually someone else who they have arrested and charged with the murder. This book took me a long time to read and I struggled with it at times. It has small print and small margins so it takes a lot longer than you intially think to read it. A lot of it was very interesting but also a lot just didn't need to be included. The author seemed to get side tracked at times and went into far too much detail and it was easy to find your attention wandering. It was also quite badly 'proof read' with spelling mistakes, the wrong peoples names being used and there were also 3 occasions where a whole page was suddenly reprinted halfway through a sentence. This could have been a very good book but ending up being very average. 7/10 Books read this year = 33 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith This is the first book in the series featuring Precious Ramotswe. Now I have got used to the writing style I really enjoy these books which arte always quick to read. They are so gentle and really transport you away to Botswana. 8/10 Books read this year = 34 Hell in Barbados - The True Story of a Man Imprisoned in Paradise By Terry Donaldson NON FICTION What springs to mind when you think of Barbados? Is it the warm tropical climate, the golden sands, or the clear blue ocean? Or is it the cool, laid back attitude and friendliness of the people? If you were asked to think of a single word to describe the island, most people would say the same thing: Paradise. Over 500,000 people visit Barbados every year, and almost half of those are from the UK and Ireland. Most come back having enjoyed the holiday of a lifetime. Few, thankfully,get to see the truth behind the postcard image of this place; fewer still get to tell the tale. But those unlucky enough to fall foul of the law as I did are left in no doubt-this is far from heaven. Corruption, squalor, poverty, crime; they all raise their ugly heads in this place, and though I deserved to be sent to prison for a crime I should not have committed, nobody deserves to have their human rights taken away, and nobody should be forced to endure the horrors of that place where I spent more than three years of my life. You might consider it Paradise, but I consider it Hell. This was a fairly interesting read but I have read more intersting books on the same subject. If you fancy reading something like this then I would recommend Marching Powder or Forget You Have a Daughter over this book. 7.5/10 Books read this year = 35 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aromaannie Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 Perfect Match - Jodi Picoult After years of dealing with abused children and their families and working her damnedest to bring the perpetrators to justice, assistant district attorney Nina Frost takes a while to recognise the signs of abuse in her only child. When five-year-old Nathanial stops speaking and finally, through sign language, identifies his abuser, Nina takes the law into her own hands. And so begins a fast and furious tale of twists and turns--just when you think you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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