Rach's 2009 Reading Lists

[Lucybird]

Handle with Care is next on my TBR pile, glad to see you liked it

[rach.at.the.disco]

I loved it. I just couldn't put it down!!

[Lucybird]

Since Mercy I worry that Jodi Picoult books won't reach up to expectations, hopefully this one will

[rach.at.the.disco]

I take it that Mercy is not her best? I have that along with Vanishing Acts, Salem Falls, Second Glance and Songs Of The Humpback Whale on my TBR pile. The Tenth Circle was a bit of a downer for me so I kind of avoided her for a while.

 

HWC is quite similar to My Sister's Keeper is some ways, which is one of my favourites.

[lexiepiper]

I didn't really think much of Mercy I must admit

[Lucybird]

yeah that and Second Glance I didn't rate. My Sister's Keeper is probably my favourite

[rach.at.the.disco]

28. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K Rowling

Synopsis from Waterstones:

Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. 'It is time,' he said, 'for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.' Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. He is desperate to get back to school and find out why his friends Ron and Hermione have been so secretive all summer. However, what Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his whole world upside down...But before he even gets to school, Harry has an unexpected and frightening encounter with two Dementors, has to face a court hearing at the Ministry of Magic and has been escorted on a night-time broomstick ride to the secret headquarters of a mysterious group called 'The Order of the Phoenix'. And that is just the start. A gripping and electrifying novel, full of suspense, secrets, and - of course - magic.

 

Started: 6th May

Finished: 11th May

766 pages

Rating: 8/10

[Rawr]

I finished this again not too long ago, i very much liked it more on the second read than when i first sped through it. Maybe i actually took the plot in this time rather than being annoyed that i didn't understand what happened

[rach.at.the.disco]

It's just so long though!! I was getting bored with it towards the end, counting down till the end.

Oh and killing Sirius off - was JKR effing mad?? He was only free for, like, a year then snuffs it. How unfair. Poor Harry.

[Rawr]

See, this is one thing i can't understand. I reckon she really hates Harry

like, he finally gets some parental figure (apart from Dumbledore) in his life, Harry is actually happy and has someone to look out for him, he even bought him a Firebolt! Then after one and a half books, he's just literally dropped right out of his life, for what purpose JK??? As if Harry doesn't have enough **** in his life lmao! There could have been so many cool things done with Sirius, why would she do that? I think Rowling has a murderous streak, look at book 7 jeez. But yeah i agree, it does drag a little, which only serves to make that event even more infuriating.

[rach.at.the.disco]

Poor Harry does get the rough end of the stick doesn't he. I'm surprised JKR didn't kill Ron and Hermione off in TDH, you know just to make him even more ****ed up lol. I quite liked Sirius, I was actually in tears at that bit in the film (the whole silent, Lupin holding Harry back got me). Yeah, I think she has a thing about making kids orphans

killing Lupin and Tonks makes little Teddy an orphan - what's the point. They didn't really have to die, she could have killed Draco off instead...

[Rawr]

 

but seriously, i have no idea why she made some of those choices. Like making Harry parentless again after having someone for a year or so, then making Lupin's child an orphan, decimating the Weasley's, and leaving Malfoy alive? I understand that Draco didn't want to do any of that stuff and he wasn't all evil, which i don't feel she ever expanded on when there was an opportunity. Some things were just unfair i feel.

 

 

And HAHA if he got any more mental torture with death, there would have to have been a last novel; Harry Potter and the Long Road Out of St Mungo's...

[rach.at.the.disco]

29. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J.K Rowling

Synopsis from Waterstones:

'In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned to this country and is once more active. "It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive and among us again," said Fudge.' These dramatic words appeared in the final pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In the midst of this battle of good and evil, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes up the story of Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with Voldemort's power and followers increasing day by day

 

Started: 12th May

Finished: 15th May

607 pages

Rating: 9/10

[rach.at.the.disco]

30. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K Rowling

Synopsis from Waterstones:

'His hand closed automatically around the fake Horcrux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.' With these words "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" draws to a close. And here, in this seventh and final book, Harry discovers what fate truly has in store for him as he inexorably makes his way to that final meeting with Voldemort. In this thrilling climax to the phenomenally bestselling series, J.K. Rowling reveals all to her eagerly waiting readers.

 

Started: 16th May

Finished: 18th May

607 pages

Rating: 8.5/10

[rach.at.the.disco]

31. The Shop On Blossom Street - Debbie Macomber

Synopsis from the back of the book:

Can you tell from first impressions whether someone could become your closest friend?

 

Thirty year old Lydia has survived cancer twice. She's determined to embrace the future, but is she brave enough to risk falling in love?

 

Image-conscious Jacqueline is in her mid-forties with an empty marriage. She's devastated that her son has married beneath himself.

 

High-powered thirty seven year old Carol longs for a baby. After two failed IVF attempts, she's hoping for one last miracle.

 

After a tough childhood, young Alix is angry and defensive. But meeting a special someone from her schooldays may make her change her ways.

 

Started: 25th May

Finished: 27th May

395 pages

Rating: 8/10

[rach.at.the.disco]

32. A Good Yarn - Debbie Macomber

Synopsis from Waterstone's

This is another heart-warming tale of friendship from the bestselling author of "Thursdays at Eight". When times are tough, confiding in friends can change your life. Cancer survivor Lydia's business is thriving but her dream-man's ex is threatening their relationship...Retired, self-contained Elise has lost everything and lives with her daughter, but still has disturbingly strong feelings for her gambling ex-husband. Nervous Bethanne is an unwilling divorcee whose husband left her and their children for a younger woman. She urgently needs a job, but has she the confidence to find one? Lonely teenager, Courtney, feels abandoned too. Grieving over her mother's death, she has put on weight and dreads starting a new school. This uplifting, heart-warming story proves that however bleak the future may look, the importance of friendship should never be underestimated.

 

Started: 27th May

Finished: 28th May

380 pages

Rating: 7/10

[rach.at.the.disco]

33. Can You Keep A Secret? - Sophie Kinsella

Synopsis from Waterstones:

Emma is sitting on a turbulent plane. She's always been a v. nervous flyer. She really thinks that this could be her last moment. So, naturally enough, she starts telling the man sitting next to her - quite a dishy American, but she's too frightened to notice -all her innermost secrets. How she scans the backs of intellectual books and pretends she's read them. How she does her hair up like Princess Leia in her bedroom. How she's not sure if she has a G-spot, and whether her boyfriend could find it anyway. How she feels like a fraud at work - everyone uses the word 'operational' all the time but she hasn't a due what it means. How the coffee at work is horrible. How she once threw a troublesome client file in the bin. If ever there was a bare soul, it's hers. She survives the flight, of course, and the next morning the famous founding boss of the whole mega corporation she works for is coming for a look at the UK branch. As he walks around, Emma looks up and realises...It's the man from the plane. What will he do with her secrets? He knows them all - but she doesn't know a single one of his. Or...does she?

 

Started: 28th May

Finished: 29th May

364 pages

Rating: 7/10

[rach.at.the.disco]

34. The Lost Daughter - Diane Chamberlain

Synopsis from Waterstones:

An unsolved murder. A missing child. A lifetime of deception. In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared. Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child.CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own. Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die to protect a lifetime of lies...

 

Started: 29th May

Finished: 30th May

522 pages

Rating: 8/10

[rach.at.the.disco]

35. Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend - Jenny Colgan

Synopsis from Waterstones:

What does an It girl do if she loses all her money? Sophie Chesterton is a girl about town - she knows all the right people, goes to all the right parties, and wears all the right clothes. But deep down she suspects that her best friends are actually rather nasty, and that her lifestyle doesn't really amount to much. Her father wants her to make her own way in the world, to make him proud. But after one shocking evening her life is changed for ever. Scraping a living as an assistant to a 'glamour' photographer; living in a hovel on the Old Kent Road with four smelly boys; eating baked beans from the can - this is one spectacular fall from grace. Sophie is desperate to get her life back - but does a girl really need diamonds to be happy?

 

Started: 31st May

Finished: 31st May

306 pages

Rating: 7/10

[rach.at.the.disco]

36. The Cupid Effect - Dorothy Koomson

Synopsis from Waterstones:

There's something magical about Ceri D'Altroy ...After leaving London to follow her heart's desire to become a psychology lecturer, Ceri D'Altroy vows to leave her matchmaking ways behind her for good. Unfortunately, all she seems to do is inspire the new people she meets to change their lives. There's Ed, who's decided to declare his love to a woman who is way out of his league; Mel and Claudine, two long-term friends who are now tempted to start an illicit affair; and Gwen, the chain-smoking head of department who has a deep, dark secret she only wants to share with her new employee. No one who comes into contact with Ceri is ever the same again. Could this unsuspecting young woman be modern-day Cupid?

 

Started: 1st June

Finished: 4th June

342 pages

Rating: 6/10

[Mac]

Good grief, Rach! You rattle through books like there's no tomorrow! I feel somewhat intimidated...

 

I hope you're well, chum.

[rach.at.the.disco]

And there's me thinking that I'm not reading enough.... It's actually quite sad how many books I've read so far, unlike me you must have a life Mac

 

I'm very well thanks. Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

[Mac]

And there's me thinking that I'm not reading enough.... It's actually quite sad how many books I've read so far, unlike me you must have a life Mac

 

I'm very well thanks. Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

That's not a bad thing, Rach! I'm well impressed, really. I wish I had more time to get down to it. It's all my own fault, actually, because I volunteer to do so much other stuff and my band takes up a reasonable amount of time as well.

 

I really am impressed by your devotion to books. My kind of mate!

 

Hope you've had a great weekend.

[rach.at.the.disco]

37. Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen

Synopsis from Waterstones:

In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to Mc Lean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles. A clear-sighted, unflinching work that provokes questions about our definitions of sane and insane, Kaysen's extraordinary memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers.

 

Started: 4th June

Finished: 6th June

168 pages

Rating: 6/10

[rach.at.the.disco]

38. Be Careful What You Wish For - Alexandra Potter

Synopsis from Waterstones:

'I wish I could get a seat on the tube...I hadn't eaten that entire bag of Maltesers...I could meet a man whose hobbies include washing up and monogamy...' Heather Hamilton is always wishing for things. Not just big stuff - like world peace or for a date with Brad Pitt - but little, everyday wishes, made without thinking. With her luck, she knows they'll never come true...Until one day she buys some heather from a gypsy. Suddenly the bad hair days stop; a handsome American answers her ad for a housemate; and she starts seeing James - The Perfect Man who sends her flowers, excels in the bedroom, and isn't afraid to say 'I love you'...But are these wishes-come-true a blessing or a curse? And is there such a thing as too much foreplay?

 

Started: 6th June

Finished: 7th June

352 pages

Rating: 8/10