Lilywhite Posted September 30, 2006 Author Share Posted September 30, 2006 I finished The chemistry of death and was quite impressed with this book. I liked the mixture of being part of the story and being part of the investigation, which the main character was. Ending was a bit wet but apart from that a brilliant story. Now I'm reading one of the reading circle books for this month. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with the secret of resurrecting the dead. But when he makes a new 'man' out of plundered corpses, his hideous creation fills him disgust. Rejected by all humanity, the creature sets out to destroy Frankenstein and everyone he loves. And the hunter becomes prey in a chase that carries them to the end of the earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 2, 2006 Author Share Posted October 2, 2006 I finished Frankenstein this afternoon and was quite surprised by how long it actually took me to read it. I think there was a slight language barrier to get through, as with a lot of the classics, oh, and the overuse of the word endeavour, throughout The story was not entirely what I expected it to be which made it a more enjoyable read. My idea of Frankenstein was visions of creating his 'wretch' but that was actually only a small part of the story. I also really enjoyed the ambiguity (sp) of the story. Is the real monster Frankenstein himself or is the monster and Frankenstein one and the same person.... Overall a good story although it does drag in places. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 4, 2006 Author Share Posted October 4, 2006 I decided to pick up Dime Store Magic ~ Kelley Armstrong although I haven't had too much time to read it at the minute. I am about 100 pages in and it's good so far, I think it makes a really nice change to introduce new characters, especially in a long series. Paige Winterbourne is a witch. Not that you'd notice, most of the time she's just a normal 23 year old - works too hard, worries about her weight, wonders if she'll ever have a boyfriend. An ordinary life, that is, until the neighbours find out who she is, and all hell breaks loose - literally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 This one was actually my favourite in the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 I'm very fond of Paige's character, being a bit Witchy myself - it's nice to read a positive Witchy-type character for a change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 6, 2006 Author Share Posted October 6, 2006 Finally managed to finish Dime Store Magic today, which is in no way representational of the book. I absolutely loved it, a much better story than her previous two books and a much more enjoyable character IMO. Looking forward to the next one now. However, I have a few other books to read first, primarily library books that I have had since tuesday and not even looked at. As O's is reading Blindness I will start with Empress Orchid ~ Anchee Min It is the final days of the Chinese empire. Orchid, a beautiful seventeen-year-old from an aristocratic but impoverished family, is pushed into the malestrom when she finds herself unexpectedly chosen to become a low-ranking concubine of the Emperor. The world inside the Forbidden City is erotically charged and highly ritualised, but beneath its immaculate face lie whispers of murders and ghosts. The thousands of concubines will go to any lengths to bear the Emperor a son and become his Empress. Determined not to be a victim of the jealousies and foul play, Orchid trains herself in the art of pleasuring a man, bribes her way into the royal bed and seduces the monarch. Little does she know that China will collapse around her, and she will be its last Empress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 I've managed to finish Empress Orchid in between a million other things I had to do. I can't say I'm a huge fan of this book although that's not to say I didn't like it. It just got boring in places and I couldn't sympathise too much with the character as she sometimes made her own bed to lie in. Nuharoo was frustratingly a cow and deserved to have her smile wiped off her face but that never really happened and I was slightly disappointed. A good read but not my ideal choice. Off to the library in a min so I didn't pick my next read. I shall see what they have waiting for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 I'm back from the library now and it was a fairly successful trip I got Slammerkin ~ Emma Donoghue and for my OC i got Mayada: Daughter of Iraq ~ Jean Sasson I also managed to pick up The Lovely Bones ~ Alice Seabold for 50p on the car boot as they didn't have it in at the library. Now I just have to decide which one to read first......... (much time elapses...) I will go with Mayada : Daughter of Iraq ~ Jean Sasson Mayada Al-Askari was born into a powerful Iraqi family. One grandfather fought alongside Lawrence of Arabia, the other is acclaimed as the first Arab nationalist. When Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath oarty seized power, Mayada little imagined the devastation that it would wreak upon her life. But soon she found herself alone in Baghdad under Saddam's reign of terror, a divorced mother of two, earning a meagre living printing brochures - until the morning in 1999 when she was summarily arrested by Saddam's secret police and dragged to the notorious Baladiyat Prison, accused of pringint anti-government propoganda. There she was thrown into a stinking cell already housing seventeen other 'shadow women'. These women came from different Iraqi backgrounds, but all shared the same fate: imprisonment and torture without trial, and the threat of execution. To block out the screams of other prisoners, while waiting for theor next interrogation session, like latter-day Scheherazades the 'shadow women' passed thier days telling each other their stories. Mayada's tales of her priviledged former life were a source of particular fascination to her cellmates: the history of her proud family, the assassination of King Faisal II, and her own encounters with the perpetrator if their current sufferings - Saddam himself. Well-loved for her bestselling Princess trilogy, in Mayada Daughter of Iraq Jean Sasson presents another topical story in her World of Women series. A friend since Mayada acted as her translator on a visit to Baghdad in 1998, Jean tells this brave woman's story, providing an intimate and fascinating insight into Iraq's cultured and ancient history and the dignity of it's people. But the book also bears powerful witness to the terror wrought by Saddam on the lives and souls of Iraq's ordinary citizens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Oh boy looks like another one for the TBR pile! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 I finished Mayada: Daughter of Iraq last night. It was a very interesting book, I loved the way Jean Sasson managed to combine the horrors of Iraq and Saddams rule with nostalgic stories of pre war Iraq and the extremely interesting live that Mayada has lived. She offers a great insight into Iraqs political figures as she met them and really sheds new light on a side of Iraq we didn't know existed. I'm now reading Slammerkin ~ Emma Donoghue Set in London and Monmouth, loosely based on a terrible murder that took place in 1763, Slammerkin is the gripping tale of Mary Saunders, the young daughter of a poor seamstress. Mary dreams not just of food and warmth but of ribbons and fine clothes. It is this hunger for glamour that makes her rebel against her lot in lofe, and lures her into prostitution at the age of thirteen. Roaming the dangerous streets of London, she wears a painted red smile. Forced to flee from a debt and a hired killer, Mary finally ends up in Monmouth, her mother's home town, where she tries to start a new life as a maid. But soon she discovers that the past is inescapable. Caught up in new loyalties and old lies, Mary Saunders sets off a chain of events that can only lead to tradgedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 I picked up Undead and Unemployed ~ MaryJanice Davidson as a filler and thoroughly enjoyed it. I love these books, they are so light and easy to read with great wit and sarcasm included. Not sure what to now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 I'm hoping to get the rest of this series for Xmas (I've only read the 1st one, but I really enjoyed it!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 17, 2006 Author Share Posted October 17, 2006 Went to the library today with the intentions of just returning books but it took me a whole minute to pick up two more I managed to get Keeping Faith ~ Jodi Picoult and The Death Artist ~ Jonathan Santlofer I think I may be turning a corner on my reading drought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcow Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Went to the library today with the intentions of just returning books but it took me a whole minute to pick up two more Must be a family trait seeing as i did the same thing last week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 17, 2006 Author Share Posted October 17, 2006 They were off my 'want to read' list, which makes it a teensy bit better I'm loving the Lovely Bones by the way. A fantasticly innocent book that has so many levels to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 I finished The Lovely Bones last night. I stayed up late just so I knew the ending I really really enjoyed this book and I do agree with the blurb on the back about it staying with you after the last page. Next I shall be reading..... Keeping Faith ~ Jodi Picoult For the second time in her marriage, Mariah White catches her husband with another woman, and Faith, their seven-year-old daughter, witnesses every painful minute. In the aftermath of a sudden divorce, Mariah struggles with depression and Faith begins to confide in an imaginary friend. At first, Mariah dismisses these exchanges as a child`s imagination. But when Faith starts reciting passages from the Bible, develops stigmata, and begins to perform miraculous healings, Mariah wonders if her daughter – a girl with no religious background – might indeed be seeing God. As word spreads and controversy heightens, Mariah and Faith are besieged by believers and disbelievers alike, caught in a media circus that threatens what little stability they have left. What are you willing to believe? Is Faith a prophet or a troubled little girl? Is Mariah a good mother facing an impossible crisis – or a charlatan using her daughter to reclaim the attention her unfaithful husband withheld? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renniemist Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 That sounds good Kat. I may need to give Jodi Picoult another go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 She is one of my Fav's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 19, 2006 Author Share Posted October 19, 2006 I have a small confession to make....I've nearly finished it. It's a great book so far and I'm really gripped as to the ending. Highly recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angel Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 I really enjoyed Keeping Faith. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 I've really enjoyed it to Angel. Another brilliant book by Jodi Picoult, still not MSK but a great read none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 I'm now going to read The Death Artist ~ Jonathan Santlofer that I got from the library. A killer is preying on New York's art community, creating gruesome depictions of famous paintings, using human flesh and blood as his media. Terror stalks this world of genius, greed, inspiration, and jealousy -- a world Kate McKinnon knows all too well. A former NYPD cop who traded in her badge for a Ph.D in art history, Kate can see the method behind the psychopath's madness -- for the grisly slaughter of a former protege is drawing her into the predator's path. And as each new murder exceeds the last in savagery, Kate is trapped in the twisted obsessions of the death artist, who plans to use her body, her blood, and her fear to create the ultimate masterpiece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Oooh that sounds very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everydayxangels Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 if you enjoyed Five People You Meet in Heaven, I definitely reccomend For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I am almost finished with it, and it is honestly delicious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilywhite Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 Will it make me cry??? Five people made me cry although I did like his style of writing. I may take a look at this one then. Thanks everydayxangels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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