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Kat's Reading 2007


Lilywhite

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I got an ARC to The Mathematics of Love and the synopsis on the back made the book seem wonderful, and I started to read it, and it was just DULL. Though I do hope that you found something that I didn't.

 

Well a few of us are getting a copy of this one, so we'll let you know our thoughts.

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As previously 'blogged' I finished Maggie O'Farrell's book, and it was great. I've never read anything by her before but will definately be making an effort to pick up a few more by her.

Since then I have been reading A Brief History of The Dead ~ Kevin Brockmeier which is another book that has turned out to be nothing like I thought it would be. I am really enjoying this one too. So far it is along the lines of Mitch Albom's TFPYMIH, although not too similar if you get me. And i haven't cried once yet as the story is so interesting :lol:

 

This spellbinding story about our lives, loves, and memories will be one of the most talked about novels of 2006. Laura Byrd is in trouble. Three weeks ago she and her friends found themselves alone in one of the coldest, most remote places on earth. Her friends set out in search of help, and now Laura realises that they are not coming back. So she gathers her remaining supplies and sets out on an extraordinary journey. Meanwhile in another city, more and more people arrive every day. Each has a different story to tell, but their accounts have one thing in common - it was their final journey. For this is the city of the dead. And the link between this city and Laura's journey lies at the heart of Kevin Brockmeier's remarkable novel. "A Brief History of the Dead" tells a magical story about our lives - about our place in the world, our connections with each other, and what happens to us all after our deaths. It is a story of spellbinding power and imagination, which resonates long after the final page.

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Ooh, enjoy Wee Free Men - I'll look forward to hearing what you think of it. I'm going to lend the Tiffany Aching booksto Purple Poppy next time we get together - she's been dying to find out about the Nac Mac Feegles!

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I finished Wee Free Men yesterday at work. The ending was definately some of the funniest stuff I've read in a while. I keep finding myself talking with a Scottish accent though :)

 

Now I'm reading The Constant Princess ~ Philippa Gregory

 

This is a splendid and sumptuous historical novel from this internationally bestselling author, telling of the early life of Katherine of Aragon. We think of her as the barren wife of a notorious king; but behind this legacy lies a fascinating story. Katherine of Aragon is born Catalina, the Spanish Infanta, to parents who are both rulers and warriors. Aged four, she is betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, and is raised to be Queen of England. She is never in doubt that it is her destiny to rule that far-off, wet, cold land. Her faith is tested when her prospective father-in-law greets her arrival in her new country with a great insult; Arthur seems little better than a boy; the food is strange and the customs coarse. Slowly she adapts to the first Tudor court, and life as Arthur's wife grows ever more bearable. But when the studious young man dies, she is left to make her own future: how can she now be queen, and found a dynasty? Only by marrying Arthur's young brother, the sunny but spoilt Henry. His father and grandmother are against it; her powerful parents prove little use. Yet, Katherine is her mother's daughter and her fighting spirit is strong. She will do anything to achieve her aim; even if it means telling the greatest lie, and holding to it. Philippa Gregory proves yet again that behind the apparently familiar face of history lies an astonishing story: of women warriors influencing the future of Europe, of revered heroes making deep mistakes, and of an untold love story which changes the fate of a nation.

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The Constant Princess ~ Phillipa Gregory Loved it Loved it Loved it!! What more can I say, brilliant book

 

Now moving on to Jed Rubenfeld ~ The Interpretation of Murder

 

Manhatten 1909

On the morning after Sigmund Freud arrives in New York on his first - and only - visit to the United States, a stunning debutante is found bound and strangled in her penthouse apartment, high above Broadway. The following night, another beautiful heiress, Nora Acton, os discovered tied to a chandelier in her parents' home, viciously wounded and unable to speak or recall her ordeal. Soon Freud and his American disciple, Stratham Younger, are enlisted to help Miss Acton recover her memory, and to piece together the killer's identity. It is a riddle that will test their skills to the limit, and lead them on a thriolling journey - to the darkest places of the city, and of the human mind.

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I finished this one on Thursday and really enjoyed it. I probably wouldn't have picked it up without the encouragement I had from here but I'm glad I did, it was interesting in it's setting and very descriptive. With characters that grow on you, you find yourself encouraging them to solve the mystery within.

 

Out of nowhere I've decided to give an Oprah Winfrey recommendation a go, The Deep End Of The Ocean ~ Jacquelyn Mitchard

 

'Watch your brother,' says Beth Cappadora to her seven-year-old son Vincent. Only minutes later she turns again and asks, 'Where's Ben?' It's the moment that every mother fears: for three-year-old Ben is gone. And no one can find him. Despite a police search that becomes a nationwide obsession, Ben has vanished, leaving behind a family that will be torn apart with anguish. Until, nine years later, the undreamed-of happens: a twelve-year-old boy knocks on their door - a boy who does not know them, but will irrevocably twist their lives a second time...

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Was slightly naughty today and got 3 new books but they were 3 for £5 in the Works. I bought Elizabeth Chadwick's The Greatest Knight, The Champion and The Marsh King's Daughter.

 

Not so bad and at a fraction of the cost of the books I bought from Borders yesterday, the cost of which I won't divulge in case we have some faint hearted people around.

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I stayed up late last night and finished The Deep End of The Ocean, I was a bit worried when I started it that I wasn't going to enjoy it as the first few pages where a bit long winded, but after the first 100 pages I was really into the story.

 

A good read, but it is quite long at just over 500 pages. At times, it's not one you can read in small bursts but the story is simple enough that it doesn't take a lot of mental capability to follow.

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Ooops, forgot to update this one. I started reading William Broderick ~ The Garden of The Dead about three days ago. I've nearly finished it, although I still don't have an opinion either way yet. It's an OK story but I don't feel I'm getting anything from reading it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Right, well. I finished garden of the dead but didn't really enjoy it that much, the story was OK but it just felt like it was lacking in depth. A bit of a no brainer really.

 

I did make a start on Brother Grimm ~ Craig Russell which I am enjoying but I had to do some OU work for the past week and a half so no 'real' reading got done. The OU work is done though and all handed in so now I can get back to my ever-growing TBR pile.

 

Whilst I have been working away, thr following books have found their way onto my bookshelves Strait ~ Kit Craig, Beautiful Child ~ Torey Hayden, Dead Witch Walking, The Good, The Bad and The Undead, A Fistful of Charms ~ Kim Harrison and Heart-Shaped Box ~ Joe Hill

 

Brother Grimm ~ Craig Russell

A girl's body lies, posed, on the pale sand of a Hamburg beach, a message concealed in her hand. 'I have been underground, and now it is time for me to return home...'

Jan Fabel, of the Hamburg Murder Squad, struggles to interpret the twistged imagery of a dark and brutal mind. Four days later, a man and woman are found deep in woodland, their throats slashed deep and wide, the names 'Hansel' and 'Gretel', in the same, tiny, obsessively neat writing, rolled tight and pressed into their hands.

As it becomes clear that each new crime is a grisly reference to folk stories collected almost two hundred years ago by the Brothers Grimm, the hunt is on for a serial killer who is exploring our darkest, most fundamental fears. A predator who kills and then disappears into the shadows.

A monster we all learned to fear in childhood.

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