Iagegu Posted December 2, 2008 Share Posted December 2, 2008 (edited) NOVEMBER 2008 Fortunes Rocks, Anita Shreve Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks DECEMBER 2008 Score, Jilly Cooper JANUARY 2009 1) The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman 2) Hellfire, Diana Gabaldon 3) Trial and Retribution, Linda la Plante 4) Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton 5) The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher 6) Blood in the Cotswolds, Rebecca Tope FEBRUARY 2009 7) The Bonesetter's Daughter, Amy Tan 8) Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte MARCH 2009 9) Petite Anglaise, Catherine Sanderson 10) Trial and Retribution II, Lynda La Plante April 2009 11) The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga 12) The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre 13) Trial and Retribution III, Lynda La Plante May 2009 14) Trial and Retribution IV, Lynda La Plante 15) Trial and Retribution V, Lynda La Plante 16) Far from the Maddening Crowd, Thomas Hardy 17) Trial and Retribution VI, Lynda La Plante 18) Handle with Care, Jodi Picoult 19) Silent Witness, Richard North Patterson June 2009 20) The Boy in the Stripped Pyjammas, John Boyne 21) Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham, M C Beaton July 2009 22) The Friend of Madame Maigret, Georges Simenon Edited July 4, 2009 by Iagegu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 From the back cover: Romance, glamour, seismic sex and delightful comedy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 4, 2009 Author Share Posted January 4, 2009 Taken from Amazon Philip Pullman brings The Amber Spyglass to the spellbinding "His Dark Materials" sequence, which dazzles everyone who reads it, children and adults alike. After the original Northern Lights, he kept up the quality in The Subtle Knife, the second title in the trilogy. Now he brings the series to an extraordinary conclusion. Will and Lyra, the two children at the heart of the books, have become separated amidst great dangers. Can they find each other, and their friends? Then complete their mysterious quest before it's too late? The great rebellion against the dark powers that hold Lyra's world, and many others, in thrall is nearing its climax. She and Will have crucial parts to play, but they don't know what it is that they must do, and terrible powers are hunting them down. The pace of the book is compelling, the writing powerful. Pullman's plotting is intricate and cunning, surprising the reader again and again. Perhaps what is most striking of all, however, is the depth of the characterisation. Lord Asriel, Mrs Coulter, Iorek Byrnison the king of the armoured bears, a host of minor characters, most of all Will and Lyra themselves: the book is a library of beautifully drawn, remarkably convincing characters walking in worlds of marvels. In this volume the cosmic dimensions of the story become more prominent, as a great conflict across many universes comes to a head--how well the narrative sustains such immensely weighty resonances is a question critics may well disagree on. The author's beliefs also come more into the open, and with them a polemic anti-religious theme that will please some readers and alienate others. Philip Pullman's writing commands immense respect; more than that, it is raising the profile of the best children's books among adults, as demanding critics of all ages fall in love with this remarkable trilogy. This book really didn't hit the mark for me. I loved Northern Lights but the final two books in the series were just not as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 5, 2009 Author Share Posted January 5, 2009 New York Times best-selling author Diana Gabaldon, beloved for her immensely popular Outlander series, crafted this intriguing tale when asked to contribute to a British mystery anthology honoring the late, great Ellis Peters. Starring Outlander character Lord John Grey, Hellfire wins Gabaldon new fans while further entertaining devotees of her saga. In 19th century London Lord John is investigating the death of a red-haired man when the suspense begins to build. Soon he is mixed up in the affairs of Sir Francis Dashwood and his notorious Hellfire Club. Suddenly, Lord John's own life may be in danger. I have read several of the Outlander series and enjoyed all that I have read. Decided to give this a go but was very disappointed. The first of her books that I have not enjoyed. I think perhaps that being so short the story did just not get going. It won't put me off reading more by her though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Anita Harris is about to experience a mother's worst nightmare. Her 5 year-old daughter Julie goes missing whilst in the playground on the council estate where they live. She and her partner, Peter, begin a frantic search of the local area - but Julie is nowhere to be found. A huge police search operation is put into action. One of the best books I have read so far this year. I will be looking out for more of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 17, 2009 Author Share Posted January 17, 2009 The author of The Andromeda Strain again combined thorough scientific research with the thriller genre to comment on an issue that will soon affect everyone's life. Jurassic Park takes place on a remote jungle island over 24 hours, in which an unprecedented emergency threatens the world. The crisis is the result of genetic engineering and 'the headlong rush to commercialize' this dangerous area of science which sees the potentially devastating recreation of the dinosaur. A highly imaginative thriller. Was the inspiration for the blockbuster film by Steven Spielberg. (Kirkus UK) Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone - a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research - it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and - most spectacularly - 15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters - who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power - and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos - ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs - stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980) - and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller. (Kirkus Reviews) I was really looking forward to reading this book and I was very disappointed. Not only after reading some 330 pages did I decide to give up but I really cannot imagine what all the hype is about. I haven't seen the Spielberg film but I shall watch it to see if it is any better. Very disillusioned with this book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted January 17, 2009 Share Posted January 17, 2009 That's a shame you didn't enjoy the book. I loved all the wee bits about genetics and chaos theory - they added a touch more realism. The film is a good representative of what is best about the book and cuts out a lotof the heavier-going bits, making it strictly an action/adventure affair and the effects still hold up now (at the time it was released we'd not seen anything like it before!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 Taken from Amazon: 'A huge warm saga ... A deeply satisfying story written with love and confidence' -- Maeve Binchy in The New York Times Book Review 'A beautiful, haunting story ... that will tug at your heart strings' -- Prima 'Her genius is to create characters you really care about' -- Daily Express 'A long, beguiling saga, typically English ... Splendid' -- The Mail on Sunday This is a traditional family story, filled with the problems and arguments most families endure (and sometimes enjoy), and set in beautiful places: the Cotswolds, Cornwall and the Mediterranean island of Ibiza. Penelope Keeling, daughter of a Pre-Raphaelite painter, has survived a Bohemian childhood, an unhappy wartime marriage, and the heartache of a love-affair that had to end. In her early sixties a mild heart-attack reminds her that she is not immortal. It is time to build bridges to her three children, who have all grown apart from her: conventional Nancy, whose conviction that she's unloved has made her bitter; devious Noel, who believes he deserves more from life than he's getting; and (Penelope's favourite) Olivia, who must choose between love and ambition. Is she, Penelope wonders, responsible for their unsatisfactory lives? Suddenly the picture by her father which hangs over her fireplace provides a catalyst. After years of bing dismissed as 'old-fashioned' a surge of interest in Victorian paintings sends 'The Shell Seekers' value rocketing. The jubilant children see the solution to all their material problems. But Penelope must decide. Her children's love - and security? Her nostalgic attachment to the picture? Or what she feels is 'right'? Twelve years after its first publication this is still a very good holiday read. (Kirkus UK) Following upon Pilcher's several comfy women's novels and collection of short stories (The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories, 1985) comes this chronicle of an indomitable Englishwoman. Living in her Cotswold cottage as the novel unfolds, Penelope Keeling is in her 60s, recovering from a heart attack and dodging the clumsy attempts of her progeny - a self-satisfied matron named Nancy; hopelessly venal and immature son, Noel; and Olivia, a workaholic magazine editor - to take over her affairs. Penelope is the daughter of Victorian artist Lawrence Stern, and though Noel and Nancy encourage her to sell her small legacy of canvases, Penelope staunchly keeps them, for they remind her of her idyllic childhood on the Cornish coast and of her lover, Richard Lomax, who died scaling the Normandy cliffs in WW II. Then Penelope befriends a young couple, Antonia and Danus, whom she comes to think of as her spiritual heirs. One morning she expires neatly on a garden bench; when her will is read, her greedy children get the shock of their lives - and Danus and Antonia, a windfall. Lots of weepy sentimentalism here, Cornish coast atmosphere, and Cotswold quaintness - in fact, probably enough to compensate for the slim plot and peculiar illogic of Penelope's character: she dies a fully satisfied woman despite the fact that her life has been a long chain of dashed hopes and misfortunes. (Kirkus Reviews) This is such a great book. I was totally hooked from the first page until the very last. Was just very disappointed that it was not longer. This is the second book I have read by this author and I shall definitely be looking for more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 Anita Harris is about to experience a mother's worst nightmare. Her 5 year-old daughter Julie goes missing whilst in the playground on the council estate where they live. She and her partner, Peter, begin a frantic search of the local area - but Julie is nowhere to be found. A huge police search operation is put into action. One of the best books I have read so far this year. I will be looking out for more of these. These books really are great. Have you seen the tv-series? They are also great, really scary and creepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 20, 2009 Author Share Posted January 20, 2009 No I haven't. I was looking at them on Amazon earlier and wondering if I should get them. I have seen the more recent ones but not the earlier ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Thea Osborne and her faithful spaniel, Hepzie, have taken on another house-sitting assignment, this time in the very quiet village of Temple Guiting. Detective Superintendent Phil Hollis is looking forward to visiting for a night or two and celebrating the couple's one year anniversary, but a slipped disk in Phil's back soon puts an end to their romantic weekend. As it turns out, having a policeman on the scene is not entirely unnecessary in the little village.A few days into their stay, a pile of human bones are discovered in the base of an uprooted tree. There is no concrete evidence as to who the bones belonged to though the locals all have their theories and rumours abound. Thea and Phil find there is a strong connection to the Knights Templar in the village with most locals claiming to be descendants of some or other lineage. Temple Guiting turns out to have more than its fair share of secrets and Thea and Phil find their relationship tested to the limits as they try to prevent another murder investigation from threatening the quiet solitude they hold so dear. Completely unputdownable, "Blood in the Cotswolds" is the fifth in Rebecca Tope's immensely popular series. This is the first book I have read by this author and whilst it is not a literary masterpiece it was quite an enjoyable read. I will be looking for others as I have only realised since completion that this is the fifth book in a series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethany725 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 NOVEMBER 2008 Fortunes Rocks, Anita Shreve I know it's been a while since you read it, Iagegu, but this is one of my absolute favorites.. I was wondering how you liked it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 I thought it was absolutely great. I got really involved with the characters of the story and although I was able to guess some of the storyline of the book I did not feel that this spoiled it in any way. I would not say that this was my favourite book of hers, that is reserved for The Pilots Wife which I have read many times. I certainly feel that some of her older books are far better than her more recent ones. What I did find interesting when I was reading an article about her writing was that she used the same setting for The Pilots Wife, Fortune's Rocks and Sea Glass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethany725 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 I thought it was absolutely great. I got really involved with the characters of the story and although I was able to guess some of the storyline of the book I did not feel that this spoiled it in any way. I would not say that this was my favourite book of hers, that is reserved for The Pilots Wife which I have read many times. I certainly feel that some of her older books are far better than her more recent ones. What I did find interesting when I was reading an article about her writing was that she used the same setting for The Pilots Wife, Fortune's Rocks and Sea Glass. That's really interesting about the same setting being used for 3 of her novels.. Do you know if she grew up there, or lives there now or anything? I haven't read either of the others you have read.. I'm going to put them on my "Look Up" section of my TBR list to see if I think they may be worth a shot, especially since "The Pilot's Wife" is your fav of hers. I've seen that one and read the jacket, but never taken it home to read. Did you also like "Sea Glass" ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 That's really interesting about the same setting being used for 3 of her novels.. Do you know if she grew up there, or lives there now or anything?I haven't read either of the others you have read.. I'm going to put them on my "Look Up" section of my TBR list to see if I think they may be worth a shot, especially since "The Pilot's Wife" is your fav of hers. I've seen that one and read the jacket, but never taken it home to read. Did you also like "Sea Glass" ?? The Pilot's Wife is superb and I would recommend this to anybody. Sea Glass was not one I really liked but I have heard people rave about it. It is a long time since I read the article about Anita Shreve so I cannot remember if there was any significance to her using that setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethany725 Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 The Pilot's Wife is superb and I would recommend this to anybody. Sea Glass was not one I really liked but I have heard people rave about it. It is a long time since I read the article about Anita Shreve so I cannot remember if there was any significance to her using that setting. Interesting, nonetheless I've added both of those to my list.. so thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 Amy Tan's fourth novel The Bonesetter's Daughter, like her highly successful The Joy Luck Club, explores the conflicts between a Chinese-American woman and her Chinese mother. Set in San Francisco, Ruth and her mother LuLing exercise a frosty commitment to each other. When her mother begins to show signs of Alzheimer's, and her talk of bad luck and curses becomes more jumbled, Ruth realises that her encroaching dependency will change her life. She questions how she will she care for a parent who she mostly resented throughout her childhood. The illness finally prompts Ruth to get her mother's autobiography translated and the central section of the book becomes LuLing's story of her mother, the bonesetter's daughter. Tan excels at locating the small, quotidian details of Californian domesticity and works the fissures and rifts between the generations very well. She can also blend hip, pop psychology with inherited Chinese lore to amusing effect. But the narrative starts to hum with energy and drive as the story is told from LuLing's perspective. The story shifts to a small Chinese village known as Immortal Heart, in the thirties, where LuLing's mother learnt her father's skill with a splint and special dragon bones dug out of a cave called Monkey's Jaw. The quality of the writing takes on the charm and compulsion of a fable as Ruth's grandmother's tragic life unfolds. In turn, Ruth uses what she learns of the maternal line of resilience to retrieve her own writing voice and vision: "These are the women who shaped her life, who are in her bones...They taught her to worry...They wanted her to get rid of the curses." As she recognises what her mother wants to remember, she begins to define what she wants for her own life. This was a re-read for me. I last read this book when it was first published. Whilst I enjoyed it I don't think it had the same power on re-reading. One thing that still stands out about the book is the amazing ability the author has for drawing the characters. The reader really feels as though they know them personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 Disatisfied with her life Catherine Sanderson sets up the blog Petite Anglaise in which she details her day-to day existence in Paris, her life with Mr Frog and her daughter tadpole. I assume that most of you will have heard of Petite Anglaise so it needs little explanation from me. I don't know quite what I expected from this book but safe to say I found it very boring. The only reason I kept reading was that I was expecting something to happen. Not recommended by me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 Identical and needlessly brutal assaults on three women. One woman survives to give a detailed description of her attacker. The police arrest a suspect, Damon Morton, confident he is their man. But three of his employees admit to the crimes. His wife and girlfriend provide him with an alibi. They all declare Damon Morton innocent. The police know he did it. If people lie under oath in a court of law, who can the jury believe? Loved this book. Storytelling at its best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Identical and needlessly brutal assaults on three women. One woman survives to give a detailed description of her attacker. The police arrest a suspect, Damon Morton, confident he is their man. But three of his employees admit to the crimes. His wife and girlfriend provide him with an alibi. They all declare Damon Morton innocent. The police know he did it. If people lie under oath in a court of law, who can the jury believe? Loved this book. Storytelling at its best. Is this the book where the attacker cut off some of their breasts ? If so, I've seen this one on television (Trial and Retribution -series, which I absolutely love!). This particular one was my favorite "season" of all the ones I've seen. Oh my god I just went to check my bookshelves to see which Trial & Retribution books I have because I was sure I didn't have this one, but it turned out I do have this one!! Wonderful, thank you for the review, I don't know when I would've found out about it if you hadn't written about it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 Is this the book where the attacker cut off some of their breasts ? If so, I've seen this one on television (Trial and Retribution -series, which I absolutely love!). This particular one was my favorite "season" of all the ones I've seen. Oh my god I just went to check my bookshelves to see which Trial & Retribution books I have because I was sure I didn't have this one, but it turned out I do have this one!! Wonderful, thank you for the review, I don't know when I would've found out about it if you hadn't written about it Yes it is one and the same book. Must say I was really surprised by the ending though. Let me know what you think. I think I will make a start on the next one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted April 8, 2009 Author Share Posted April 8, 2009 Taken from Amazon Winning the Man Booker prize is something that most authors dream of, although -- ironically -- the reputation of the prize itself was under siege a few years ago. Books that won the award were acquiring a reputation of being difficult and inaccessible, but those days appear to be over -- and unarguable proof may be found in the 2008 winner, The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Apart from its considerable literary merit, the novel is the most compelling of pageturners (in the old-fashioned sense of that phrase) and offers a picture of modern India that is as evocative as it is unflattering. The protagonist, too, is drawn in the most masterly of fashion. Balram Halwai, the eponymous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iagegu Posted April 14, 2009 Author Share Posted April 14, 2009 Taken from Amazon: Le Carre's new novel starts backstage at the British embassy in Cairo. Sandy, an apparently decent Englishman is in a bit of a state. Tessa, an Englishwoman married to Justin, a not very impressive Embassy official, has been brutally murdered up country; her companion, a charismatic African doctor called Bluhm, has disappeared. Sandy, it emerges, was in love with Tessa and rather despised her husband. He seems to suspect Tessa's vanished friend of complicity in her death. But nastier things are going on. Tessa was working on a project which threatened to expose a major international pharmaceutical company's cynical use of the African market to dump waste product - and conduct the kind of experiments on African humans that would not usually be allowed on mice. A great many people, some of them British, wanted her and Bluhm dead. The story of this beautifully written and elegantly paced book is how national self interest and moral principle come into meaningful conflict. These concepts are represented by the initially sympathetic Sandy on the one hand, and failed career diplomat Justin Quayle,constant gardener of the title, on the other. And the conflict is meaningful. One of the things this book (perhaps his best since The Spy Who Came In From The Cold) proves is that Le Carre has not lost his subject matter just because the Berlin Wall has been demolished. His description of the corporate world's lying, bullying and killing in the interests of profit rings horribly true and the faded trappings of decency with which his British stooges, like Sandy, clothe themselves, are all the more powerful because they represent a world in which the author once believed. This is a novel that attacks the English establishment with more force, passion and intelligence than many books which display their radical credentials more publicly and proudly. A powerful, cinematic and morally complicated novel, which should not disappoint either those looking for a good read or those who want the novel to deal seriously with the world around us rather than the existential dilemma of its creators. This is a book that as not really endeared itself to me at all. I found the first 200 pages difficult to the point that I almost gave up on the book several times. I then began to enjoy it and was glad that I had persevered to find that the ending was a complete let down. I have read many other Le Carre books and really enjoyed them so this one will not put me off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaraPepparkaka Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 I tried to read The Constant Gardener but couldn't get into it. I may not have gotten past those 200 pages that you talk about. But it's interesting to hear that other books by Le Carr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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