deb's 2007 list

[~V~]

I read 'Anybody Out There?' very recently - thoroughly enjoyed it - definitely her best. Intricate and well written study of bereavement process I thought

 

shhh..... shouldn't that be in spoilers?

[~V~]

11. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

 

Amazon Link

 

Sadly I read a spoiler about this book on here which meant I was reading it with some fore-knowledge. It would have been good to read it with no preconceptions and see how long it took me to click.

 

However, that all said, the book is excellent. It tells the story of Bruno from his point of view well. He is nine years old and the portrayal of how a child that age views the world is very convincing. Bruno appears to be a very typical child; selfish, self-serving and yet loyal. There are many things around him he does not understand and so he puts his own inference onto what they may mean, and yet he also appears to be quite perceptive as to who is 'good' and who is not. Obviously the author has the benefit of hindsight when writing about a subject such as this, but nonetheless this does nothing to deter from the pleasures (can I call them pleasures) of the story.

 

It isn't a book for children, but for all ages.

 

8/10

[~V~]

12. Can You Keep a Secret - Sophie Kinsella

 

Amazon Link

 

I've read nothing by this author before, but have heard people rave about her (maybe it's just the 'Shopaholic' books they rave about) and at the moment all I can read is light stuff.

 

Anyway, it's a girl-meets-boy-loses-boy etc book. It's supposed to be funny (I think) but isn't really. I just read it and waited for the inevitable ending

 

So, it passed a few days ....

 

5/10

[happyanddandy]

shhh..... shouldn't that be in spoilers?

 

 

sorry I only just saw this today and you are right - I was not thinking

[~V~]

13. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell

 

Amazon Link

I loved this book. It slowly unfolds, showing you the secrets within but never overstating the point.

 

The story is told from the point of view of three characters, one of whose is very disjointed due to Altzheimer's but there are these small nuggets of reason behind what she is saying.

 

It spans various time-zones over the past sixty years, showing how attitudes have changed in such a short space of time.

 

I want to say more but would hate to post any spoilers so, suffice to say, I like the less-is-more approach Maggie O'Farrell has taken and will now seek out more of her work.

 

10/10

[~V~]

14. This Book will Save your Life - a. m. homes

 

This book took me ages to read. However, it wasn't because it was difficult or boring. I really did enjoy it. It's an unusual book in many ways telling the story of a wealthy chap who has shut himself away from the world and how he starts to engage in life again.

 

The author uses some wonderful techniques to enable the reader to visualise the story and adds some great, characters that are all true to life

 

8/10

[happyanddandy]

14. This Book will Save your Life - a. m. homes

 

This book took me ages to read. However, it wasn't because it was difficult or boring. I really did enjoy it. It's an unusual book in many ways telling the story of a wealthy chap who has shut himself away from the world and how he starts to engage in life again.

 

The author uses some wonderful techniques to enable the reader to visualise the story and adds some great, characters that are all true to life

 

8/10

 

great news - this is next on my reading list B)

[~V~]

15. The Twelfth Card - Jeffrey Deaver

I'd forgotten how much I love Lincoln Rhyme books. The puzzles within them are so well crafted and the characters are sparse enough for you to paint your own pictures of them. This puzzle has layer upon layer and is a total page-turner

 

Full kudos to Deaver too for making a point that he too didn't approve of the inappropriate casting of Denzel Washington as Rhyme. In this book he couldn't make it plainer that the quadriplegic is white

 

10/10

[~V~]

16. Love Lives - Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees

 

Amazon Link

 

Great Chick Lit from this 'real life' couple. Nice and easy to read with some fun parts too. There's a great sex scene that had me in a bit of a dither in the dentist waiting room yesterday, especially when it was followed by something that is very true to me at the moment. Was a bit spooky.

 

Nonetheless, it's only a 'good' book rather than a 'great' one so ....

 

8/10

[~V~]

17. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - Patrick Suskind

 

Amazon Link

 

I really hated most of this book. All apart from the mental end which made me laugh. If the book had been any thicker I would have stopped reading it. While reading it I was getting cross and it was affecting my mood - plus it took forever to wade through all the waffly passages. One paragraph was over two pages long ffs!

 

I wanted to read this before I saw the film, now I probably won't bother with the film

 

1/10

[~V~]

18. The Bone Vault - Linda Fairstein

 

Amazon Link

 

I needed some 'safe territory' after the previous piece of garbage and this did the job nicely.

 

It's the usual crime thriller and in this one you learn a bit about museums. Linda Fairstein is another of those authors who has constant characters and I read this one a bit out of synch. It didn't really matter though as they aren't so much to the fore that you care a great deal about them.

 

Formulaic but did its stuff

 

6/10

[~V~]

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

 

Amazon Link

 

I wanted to get this read before I got any spoilers.

 

It's more grown-up than the previous books, more swearing and things happen that show more of a coming-of-age.

 

I really enjoyed it and it'll be a shame there are no more to look forward to

 

9/10

[~V~]

20. Chart Throb - Ben Elton

 

Amazon Link

 

I have read and enjoyed many Ben Elton books in the past. Sadly, I think this one was towards the 'poor' end of the scale.

 

Usually there is an element of wit to the tale, but in this case, it is the same joke tole over and over. I may as well have been watching a fly-on-the wall documentary about Simon Cowell and X Factor. The parody of the three judges was spot-on (Simon's mannerisms, Sharon's ridiculous speech patterns and Louis' nonentityness) but after the first couple of times it fell flat.

 

Ok, so I am going to view the next X Factor with more cynicism, but is that a good thing?

 

6/10

[~V~]

21. Mark Billingham - Buried

 

Amazon Link

 

I love Mark Billingham. I'm sure I've said this before. His humour has a wonderful outlet in the deliciously dry and acerbic Tom Thorne. In fact, in many ways, I found this book far more humorous than Ben Elton's offering that I had read immediately before this.

 

This story is centred around a kidnap, with multi-agency input. There is also time to visit a couple of other cases.

 

The story didn't flow quite as well as some of his other books, but it would appear that some notice has been taken in the States as there is a comment on the front cover from the marvellous Karin Slaughter and it would appear that Linda Fairstein (another favourite of mine) helped with information abour DNA.

 

In many ways, Thorne and Holland appear to be morphing into Morse and Lewis. I wish it would stop but I suppose it's a natural step to take in many ways

 

Nonetheless, this is a great book for reading in the sun (which I did)

 

8/10

[~V~]

22. Philip Pullman - Northern Lights

 

Amazon Link

 

For ages I've toyed with whether to read this or not. I'm not a huge fantasy fan and it is a fantasy book. Loads of people have told me I should read it too, but I have withstood the encouragement. However, it's another that is having a film made and so I figured I should at least give it a go.

 

I liked it. It is odd at times, the first chapters had me all confused as it is set in this world but not as we know it. ALso I was curious as to when it was set. Once I'd got over all that and started to get into the story, I enjoyed it immensely. Iorek puts me in mind of Aslan so that is always a positive

 

No point in telling any of the tale. Those of you who know it don't need that, and those of you yet to read don't want it

 

9/10

[~V~]

23. Garden of Beasts - Jeffrey Deaver

 

Amazon Link

 

I've said before that I love Deaver. This book however is very untypical of his usual stories. No Lincoln Rhyme, no Amelia Sachs, not even set in the goold old US of A (mostly) and not in current times.

 

What it is is a thriller set in pre-WWII Berlin with a backdrop of the Olympic Games. The two main characters are on different sides and as you progress through the book you can't decide who you are supporting. Well I couldn't. I loved the stuff about the Stormtroopers, Kripo and the Gestapo, they were just weaved into the story quite effortlessly and added to the suspense.

 

It's been a long time since a book has made me do a double-take and this snuck in more than one surprise.

 

A good read

 

9/10

[Maureen]

I read this book and enjoyed it. It painted a different picture of Nazi Germany....

[~V~]

Yes, it was an area I'd not really thought about beforehand. You can feel why (if it is real to life) the 'everyday' Germans kind of went along with stuff

[Kell]

~V~ - You might enjoy The Separation by Christopher Priest. It also has a backdrop of WWII, albeit a slightly alternative one, and part of it features the Olympic Games. The main characters are twin bothers who are almost exact opposites of each other in many ways. Very enjoyable.

 

You can see my review HERE if you're interested.

[~V~]

Oooh Kell, that looks interesting, especially as I appear to have a bit of a fascination with twins.

 

When Mount TBR is smaller than three bookcases, I shall be looking for new authors, I like the look of this guy

 

Thanks for that

[Kell]

Oooh Kell, that looks interesting, especially as I appear to have a bit of a fascination with twins.

Well, I can heartily recommend Mr Priest - I really enjoyed this one, but not half so much as I loved The Prestige - definitely get hold of that one (even though it's not about war) - it makes use of confusion and misdirection in the same way as the magicians in the story do. Excellent stuff very cleverly written!

[~V~]

24. The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman

 

Amazon Link

 

I loved this book. Many of you will have read the trilogy by now and will know what I mean when I talk about the 'otherworldliness' of it. To me, it was even better than 'Northern Lights' maybe because 'our' world is included in it

 

9/10

[~V~]

25. Shark Music - Carol O'Connell

 

Amazon Link

 

Mallory is such a great character and in this book we get to see a different side of her. Ryker and the lovely Charles are in attendance after discovering a dead body in Mallory's apartment. What follows is a huge road trip along Route 66

 

9/10

[~V~]

26. Case Histories, A Novel - Kate Atkinson

 

Amazon Link

 

I think this is the best book I've read so far this year. I adored 'Behind the Scenes ...' but 'Emotionally Weird' put me off her a touch and so I hadn't read anything by this author in years.

 

Having read very positive reviews on here, I decided to read it. I was so glad I did. It is such a 'British' (or maybe even 'English') book and really gets to the heart of who we are as a nation in so many ways. The petty snobberies, the obsession with the weather, the dysfunctional families, and to top it all a brooding detective who's not seeing enough of his daughter.

 

 

I loved the fact that not all of the aspects of the story had a full conclusion in the conventional sense and that I was constantly working out how old people would be 'now' to see if anybody who cropped up could 'fit'.

 

 

Highly recommended read - I defy any women not to fall for Jackson Brodie just a little

 

10/10

[happyanddandy]

I so agree with you - I have only been to Edinburgh when I was about 12 but having read this I really want to visit again and perhaps during the Festival.

 

Can't wait for her next book.

 

I haven't tackled 'Emotionally Weird' yet