Kat's Reading 2007

[Lilywhite]

A couple more to add that arrived from Aromaannie yesterday, Jonathon Nasaw ~ 27 Bones, Fear Itself

 

I promise to read more before I buy any more books

brand new ones anyway

[Louiseog]

[madcow]

I promise to read more before I buy any more books

brand new ones anyway

I won't hold my breath

[Lilywhite]

Does winning them count?????

 

Still reading Alias Grace, it's taking me longer than anticipated as it keeps getting busy at work and I've also been working on some other stuff for the supervisors. Hoping to finish this one this week as I have a mountain of others just begging to be read.

[Lilywhite]

I finished Alias Grace and loved it, I have now moved onto The Game ~ Mandasue Heller as I couldn't take a hardback book in the bath with me. So far so good though, I like her style of story telling.

 

Mary James is a bright, confident, rebellious teenager who never sticks to the rules. Thrown out of her family home on the notorious Crescents estate, she learns how tough life can be. Then Lynne meets Ali and Raiz, drug addicts desperate for alibis for murder, and Mary finds herself involved in a far more dangerous game.

[Lilywhite]

Doing well, haven't purchased any books since I said I wouldn't. Not even second hand ones, although I have been in Waterstones twice and the Oxfam bookshop. It's very hard though....

 

Haven't been able to do any reading cuz I'm doin stoooopid work instead

[Lilywhite]

Still not bought any books

 

Don't know what to read next though.....

[Lilywhite]

Have decided to pick up Vladimir Nabokov ~ Lolita

 

So far so good.

[Kell]

Have decided to pick up Vladimir Nabokov ~ Lolita

I hope you'll enjoy this one - I loved it!

[Lilywhite]

I finished this one and I did enjoy it. It took a while to get into the style of writing but overall it's quite easy to read. I loved the dark humour throughout.

 

I'm now making a start on Industrial Magic ~ Kelley Armstrong

After Paige Winterbourne is ousted as leader of the American Coven of Witches, all she wants to do is hide under her duvet for a few months. Let the supernatural world manage without her, see if she cares...But fate, of course, has other plans. A murderer is on the loose - someone with superhuman skills. When Paige learns that the killer is targeting children, she realises she has to get involved in the covert investigation. And so Paige - desperate to protect those she loves - is thrown into a world of arrogant Cabal leaders, drunken necromancers, sulky druid gods and pretentious leather-clad vampires. Luckily, she has a female werewolf and a certain renegade sorcerer on her side...

[Icecream]

Sounds good. I will be interested to know what you think.

[Kell]

Sounds good.

It IS good. They ALL are! I highly recommend the entire series, Emma - start with Bitten and work your way through all seven currently available (the most recent one, No humans Involved was just released this month and is excellent too).

[Lilywhite]

I am hooked on this series, Ices. The first book was a bit hit and miss, I could have walked away and not picked up the others, but I'm so glad they did because the characters have developed so much since the start. Maybe I just didn't get along with Elena as a main character?? Unfortunately I've not been able to give this book as much time as I would like, as stupid work keeps getting in the way. I mean, how rude.

[Michelle]

Some people find Elena et al to be their favourites, others prefer the other characters. I loved Dime Store Magic myself, but my new favourite is No Humans Involved!

[Lilywhite]

I'm really looking forward to giving exit strategy a go too

 

I liked Dime Store Magic the best so far but I still have a few to read so I'm reserving my decision until I'm better informed

[Michelle]

I'm really looking forward to giving exit strategy a go too

 

Yep, I have that one on order too!

[Lilywhite]

I finished this one last night and thought (as usual) it was brilliant. Love the intro to Eve for the next book, I'm looking forward to it already.

 

Picked up Sophie Hannah - Little Face in the library today, (not my fault, O's wanted to go in there) So I started this one at work as it was looking at me from my handbag.

 

Alice's baby is two weeks old when she leaves the house without her for the first time. On her eager return, she finds the front door open, her husband asleep on their bed upstairs. She rushes into their baby's room and screams. 'This isn't our baby! Where's our baby?' Her increasingly hostile husband swears she must be either mad or lying, and the DNA test is going to take a week. One week later, before the test has been taken, Alice and the baby have disappeared. Run away, abducted, murdered? The police who dismissed her baby swap story must find out, and as they do they find dark incidents in David's past - like the murder of his ex-wife...

[Lilywhite]

I finally managed to finish this one, it's taken me ages. I was really enjoying the story until the last few chapters when it all came together, I just didn't like the conclusion. I thought the majority of the book was really well written, full of changing opions about characters but, to me, the end was a bit random.

 

I will be moving on to Stef Penney ~ The Tenderness of Wolves

 

1867, Canada - As winter tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River, a man is brutally murdered and a 17-year old boy disappears. Tracks leaving the dead man's cabin head north towards the forest and the tundra beyond. In the wake of such violence, people are drawn to the township - journalists, Hudson's Bay Company men, trappers, traders - but do they want to solve the crime, or exploit it? One-by-one the assembled searchers set out from Dove River, pursuing the tracks across a desolate landscape home only to wild animals, madmen and fugitives, variously seeking a murderer, a son, two sisters missing for 17 years, a forgotten Native American culture, and a fortune in stolen furs before the snows settle and cover the tracks of the past for good. In an astonishingly assured debut, Stef Penney deftly weaves adventure, suspense, revelation and humour into a panoramic historical romance, an exhilarating thriller, a keen murder mystery and ultimately, with the sheer scope and quality of her storytelling, one of the books of the year.

[Lilywhite]

I managed to read Clive Barker ~ The Thief of Always this afternoon. This was a light read, and although aimed at a younger audience it was still quite a tale. If you haven't already, check this one out and join our reading circle discussion.

 

Mr. Hood's Holiday House has stood for a thousand years, welcoming countless children into its embrace. It is a place of miracles, a blissful round of treats and seasons, where every childhood whim may be satisfied...

There is a price to be paid, of course, but young Harvey Swick, bored with his life and beguiled by Mr. Hood's wonders, does not stop to consider the consequences.

It is only when the House shows its darker face - when Harvey discovers pitiful creatures that dwell in its shadows - that he comes to doubt Mr. Hood's philanthropy.

The House and its mysterious architect are not about to release their captive without a battle, however. Mr. Hood has ambitions for his new guest, for Harvey's soul burns brighter than any soul he has encountered in a thousand years...

[Lilywhite]

Finally, I managed to finish The Tenderness of Wolves, iI didn't quite expect it to take this long but I haven't had much reading time lately with one thing or another.

 

So, my thoughts on this one. Overall, a fantastic read. The story is slow but steady in it's development and the characters are all down to earth types that you can really get aong with. The story is set in a small village in Canada in 1800's (i think) and the story plods along with the general pace of a village in winter with not a lot to do. It doesn't particularly have many twists and turns but it still keeps you reading right up until the last just to make sure your suspicions were right.

 

Don't be put off by it's size, it is a really good and easy to get along with read.

 

Not sure what to read next, off to have a look.....

[Lilywhite]

OK, I've gone for the book at the bottom of my TBR pile and that is Vicky Halls ~ Cat Confidential

 

How much do cat owners really know about their feline friends? Do our pampered pets really want all that food and affection or is that insistant miaow trying to communicate something more complex?

Many cats and their owners co-exist in an atmosphere of polite misunderstanding, with each party blissfully unaware of the wishes of the other. The cat 'says' one thing and the owner hears another, but somehow it works. Until, that is, something goes wrong....

Renowned cat counsellor Vicky Halls has helped hundreds of owners and their problem cats. Why do they soil the house, behave aggresively or pull out their own fur? Cat Confidential answers these questions and many more and will enable all cat owners to reach a far better understanding with their feline companions.

In her fascinating, funny, heart-warming and occasionally tear-jerking book, Vicky Halls has finally revealed the innermost secrets of the feline psyche.

[Lilywhite]

Cat Confidential is all finished now, and what a great book it was. So much information crammed into one easy to read book that regularly brought a smile to my face (even on a crowded bus ) Definately recommended for the cat lover wanting to understand their furry friend.

 

I will now be making a start on the reading circle book for this month, D.H. Lawrence ~ Lady Chatterley's Lover

[Janet]

Was that Cat Confidential, or Kat Confidential?!

[Lilywhite]

 

definately cat confidential, I'm not that difficult to live with

[Lilywhite]

I finished Lady Chatterley's Lover and I'm still in two minds about this book. Part of me loved the descriptive writing and very emotional state of the characters but the other part of me was bored with the lack of real story and bits of the story that didn't add up for me. Maybe it's one I need to think on.