Kidsmum's Reading List 2012

[Kidsmum]

Oh no, Kidsmum, that's a shame. I too loved Red Leaves. Maybe this one was one of his earlier books before he had honed his talent.

 

Hope that's the case as I've also got The Last Talk With Lola Faye to read as well

[Kidsmum]

Once in a House on Fire Andrea Ashworth

 

Waterstones Synopsis

 

Set in 1970s Manchester, Once in a House on Fire tells the true story of three sisters and their mother, a close-knit and loving family forced to battle with poverty, abuse and the effects of depression. Beautifully written and deeply inspiring, with a new afterword by Andrea Ashworth, it is a book that will stay with its readers for ever. 'This is a brilliant book. Brilliantly written, brilliantly thought, brilliantly remembered ...Ashworth has written an extraordinary memoir; the only pity is that she had to live it to make it' Scotsman 'Enchanting and thrilling ...As a chronicle of northern working-class life in the seventies and eighties ...it would be hard to better this book. It is extremely moving ...It is also at time surprisingly, and gratifyingly, very funny' Tim Lott, The Times 'Full of energy, wit and a child's wide-open gaze ...Andrea Ashworth escaped the fire to write a remarkable book' Blake Morrison, Independent on Sunday

 

 

I think the Waterstones synopsis sums up the book perfectly, domestic violence is a difficult subject to read about but the book never feels like heavy going. Although I did have sympathy for the mother as the book went on I felt she came across as quite a selfish person who put her own wants & needs before her children.

5/5

[Kidsmum]

Plains of Passage Jean M. Auel

The continuing adventures of Ayla & Jondalar as they travel back to Jondalar's home. I did enjoy reading this book though at nearly 1000 pages I thought it was overly long.There were too many descriptive passages about the landscape & fauna which were just plain dull & I was tempted to skim read a lot of them also a lot of repetition, yes I get that Jondalar is worried that he can't father a child & Ayla misses her son but I don't need constantly reminding of it. But I do really like this series & I enjoy reading about the different tribes & their customs so all in all it was a good read.

3/5

[Kidsmum]

Dead as a Doornail Charlaine Harris - another good fun book from the Sookie Stackhouse collection essential reading if your a fan of the True Blood TV series 3/5

 

Pure Andrew Miller -I bought this book mainly because I loved the front cover, it sounded like a good story & got lots of good comments on the cover but it was a big disappointment. I didn't feel any connection to any of the characters & the story was boring & a bit depressing it was a relief to finally get to the end of it so I could sling it in the charity bag 2/5

[Kidsmum]

Had another cave in on the book buying front this morning but not feeling guilty because I got so many exciting books. I popped into the charity shop & came out with

 

The Troubled Man Henning Mankell

Nemesis Jo Nesbo

Snowdrops A.D. Miller

The Hare With Amber Eyes Edmund De Waal

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami

Killing Floor Lee Child

Ordinary Thundestorms William Boyd

 

and for the children

Mortlock Jon Mayhew

The Naughtiest Girl Again Enid Blyton

The Worst Witch Strikes Again Jill Murphy

Beast Quest Tagus The Horse-man Adam Blade

[Brian.]

Would love to hear your thoughts on The Hare With Amber Eyes once you have read it. I've seen it in a few shops but always decided against it.

[chaliepud]

Would love to hear your thoughts on The Hare With Amber Eyes once you have read it. I've seen it in a few shops but always decided against it.

 

Me too, it's sitting on my TBR shelf, but I can't seem to pick it up...

[karen.d]

One Day David Nicholls

 

Synopsis from back of book - 15th July 1988. Emma & Dexter meet on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows?

 

This book was totally different from what I expected. I thought it was going to be a kind of Jennifer Anniston type comedy romance but it's much better than that. It's funny I found myself smiling all the time I was reading it & there were some genuinely laugh out loud bits but it was very moving as well a timely reminder not to take what you have for granted because you don't know what life is going to throw at you next.

 

4/5

 

I also thought that I wasn't going to enjoy this novel, but after a friend recommended it, I read this and really liked it. Great Review!

The Book of Human Skin Michelle Lovric

 

Amazon synosis

The Book of Human Skin" is a large volume with many pages of villainy writ upon it. There are people who are a disease, you know. 13 May, 1784, Venice: Minguillo Fasan, heir to the decaying, gothic Palazzo Espagnol, is born. Yet Minguillo is no ordinary child: he is strange, devious and all those who come near him are fearful. Twelve years later Minguillo is faced with an unexpected threat to his inheritance: a newborn sister, Marcella. His untempered jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But in his insatiable quest to destroy her, he may have underestimated his sister's ferocious determination, and her unlikely allies who will go to extraordinary lengths to save her.

 

This book was recommended to me by a friend and is the first one I've read by Michelle Lovric, initially I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as I found the writing style difficult to get into. The story is told by five people in short excerpts so I couldn't get into the characters till about 100 pages in but then I was hooked & couldn't put it down. Minguillo is a truly horrific person with no redeeming features his sister Marcella almost his exact opposite, it's Minguillo's relentless determination to destroy Marcella that makes the story so gripping, will he or wont he succeed? I was a little disappointed in the ending which was a bit too neat & tidy for my liking, I felt it was such a strange story that it should have had an equally strange ending but overall a good read.

 

3/5

 

I have been meaning to read this book for some time. Great review!

 

One Day David Nicholls

 

Synopsis from back of book - 15th July 1988. Emma & Dexter meet on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows?

 

This book was totally different from what I expected. I thought it was going to be a kind of Jennifer Anniston type comedy romance but it's much better than that. It's funny I found myself smiling all the time I was reading it & there were some genuinely laugh out loud bits but it was very moving as well a timely reminder not to take what you have for granted because you don't know what life is going to throw at you next.

 

4/5

 

I also thought that I wasn't going to enjoy this novel, but after a friend recommended it, I read this and really liked it. Great Review!

The Book of Human Skin Michelle Lovric

 

Amazon synosis

The Book of Human Skin" is a large volume with many pages of villainy writ upon it. There are people who are a disease, you know. 13 May, 1784, Venice: Minguillo Fasan, heir to the decaying, gothic Palazzo Espagnol, is born. Yet Minguillo is no ordinary child: he is strange, devious and all those who come near him are fearful. Twelve years later Minguillo is faced with an unexpected threat to his inheritance: a newborn sister, Marcella. His untempered jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But in his insatiable quest to destroy her, he may have underestimated his sister's ferocious determination, and her unlikely allies who will go to extraordinary lengths to save her.

 

This book was recommended to me by a friend and is the first one I've read by Michelle Lovric, initially I didn't think I was going to enjoy it as I found the writing style difficult to get into. The story is told by five people in short excerpts so I couldn't get into the characters till about 100 pages in but then I was hooked & couldn't put it down. Minguillo is a truly horrific person with no redeeming features his sister Marcella almost his exact opposite, it's Minguillo's relentless determination to destroy Marcella that makes the story so gripping, will he or wont he succeed? I was a little disappointed in the ending which was a bit too neat & tidy for my liking, I felt it was such a strange story that it should have had an equally strange ending but overall a good read.

 

3/5

 

I have been meaning to read this book for some time. Great review!

[Ruth]

Peril Thomas H. Cook

 

Amazon Synopsis

Sara Labriola is a married woman haunted by the shattering secrets of her past—and terrified of the future. Tired of living in fear—and knowing that if she stays in her marriage she'll be killed—Sara decides to do the only thing she can: she makes herself disappear.

 

One afternoon, without telling a soul, she packs a single suitcase and leaves her life in Long Island behind. In New York City, she will reinvent herself. She will change her identity, and maybe even get the happy ending she's always dreamed of. But that dream is about to become a nightmare when her father-in-law decides to make her pay for abandoning his son.

 

Leo Labriola runs his modest but lucrative criminal organization like he does his family—with unspeakable brutality and zero tolerance for disobedience. He's determined to teach Sara a lesson and he'll stop at nothing to do it. Now six differently desperate and dangerous men—each with the power to destroy her—are on Sara's trail. But none of them suspect that the woman they are seeking has a dangerous secret of her own. For Sara is leading all of them down a path of private demons, past sins, and the deadliest peril.

 

After reading & enjoying the exellent Red Leaves I had high expectations for this book but I was sadly disappointed. I couldn't get into the story at all mainly because the characters were all like people from a really bad gangster movie the storyline was unconvincing here is a women supposedly running in fear for her life so where does she run to, the nearest big city, practically within spitting distance of where she used to live in fact she ends up getting a job in a bar where one of the guys who's involved in the search for her drinks in. Definitely not a book I could recommend

 

2/5

 

The first thing I thought when reading the synopsis was - "she's running away from Long Island and she goes to New York???!!! How about running a birt further?!

 

it's always a shame when a book disappoints - especially when it's by an author you've previously enjoyed.

[Kidsmum]

Would love to hear your thoughts on The Hare With Amber Eyes once you have read it. I've seen it in a few shops but always decided against it.

Me too, it's sitting on my TBR shelf, but I can't seem to pick it up...

 

Don't know when I'll get round to reading it but I'll let you know what I think of it when I do

[Kidsmum]

I also thought that I wasn't going to enjoy this novel, but after a friend recommended it, I read this and really liked it. Great Review!

 

Thanks Karen, it's not something I would have picked up if I hadn't read good reviews on here. That's what I love about this forum I've read so many good books that I probably never would have bothered with if I hadn't read about them on here

 

The first thing I thought when reading the synopsis was - "she's running away from Long Island and she goes to New York???!!! How about running a birt further?!

 

it's always a shame when a book disappoints - especially when it's by an author you've previously enjoyed.

 

Well OH bought me another of his books Breakheart Hill for Mother's Day & I've got The Last Talk With Lola Faye on my TBR pile so I really hope he isn't a one hit wonder

[Kidsmum]

Well I've been totally rubbish about keeping up with my book reviews lately & will get round to it eventually but I just seem to be so busy with other things at the moment. We went to visit our eldest in York a couple of days ago & came home with a sizable haul from the charity shops

 

1920's Omnibus Agatha Christie

The Novel in The Viola Natasha Solomons - I'm sure I saw this recommended on the forum awhile back

Collected Short Stories Vol 1 Somerset Maugham - so excited when I found this as I haven't read any Maugham for a long time

The King's General Daphne Du Maurier

Nights At The Circus Angela Carter - another one I heard about on here

Flanagan's Run Tom McNab

Place of Secret's Rachel Hore- think I heard about this one on here as well but not sure

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet David Mitchell - well I haven't read my other David Mitchells yet but what the hell why not buy another one

The Song of The Lark Willa Cather

 

Although I've done quite well with my reading this year ,I've already read 20 books so far, yet again my book buying has exceeded my literary consumption

[Kidsmum]

The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough

 

Set in Australia this is the story of Megan & her family their life & Megan's lifelong love for Father Ralph a catholic priest. I absolutely loved this book I really enjoy a good family saga & found this difficult to put down. Essentially a love story all through the book your hoping that Megan & Ralph will get together despite all the obstacles. I don't know if it's a book that would appeal more to women than men but I would definitely recommend it especially if like me you haven't seen the TV adaptation.

 

5/5

[Kidsmum]

Replay Ken Grimwood

 

Amazon Synopsis

At forty-three Jeff Winston is tired of his low-paid, unrewarding job, tired of the long silences at the breakfast table with his wife, saddened by the thought of no children to comfort his old age. But he hopes for better things, for happiness, maybe tomorrow . . . But a sudden, fatal heart attack puts paid to that. Until Jeff wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body, all his memories of the next twenty-five years intact. If he applies those memories, he can be rich in this new chance at life and can become one of the most powerful men in America. Until he dies at forty-three and wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body again . . .

 

I can't really better Karsa's review of this book so I wont try but I did enjoy this book it's one that gets you thinking about life & what's important. I've given it 4/5 because I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been set in England as some of the sporting events it refers to didn't really mean anything to me.

4/5

Edited May 6, 2012 by Kidsmum

[Kidsmum]

Tom-All-Alone's Lynn Shepherd - A 19th century murder mystery with a dickensian feel a great setting with lots of colourful characters I could imagine this being a really good TV drama. Will definitely be reading more by this author.

 

4/5

 

Sharpe's Fortress Bernard Cornwell- The third book in the Sharpe series this has been one of my favourites so far. As the first two it's set in India with Sharpe struggling to be excepted as an officer by both his men & fellow officers faced with impossible odds it seems like this time his luck will finally run out. Fast paced, full of treachery, adventure & derring do I love the Sharpe series & have now got my hubby & sister hooked on it too.

 

5/5

Edited May 6, 2012 by Kidsmum

[Kidsmum]

The Forsyte Saga Vol3 John Galsworthy

 

Amazon Synopsis

 

In this final volume of The Forsyte Saga Galsworthy writes about the lives and loves of the Cherrell family, cousins of the Forsytes. For centuries, the Cherrell sons have left their home of Condaford Grange to serve the state as soldiers, clergymen and administrators, but the 1930s bring uncertainty in a world of rapidly altering morals and unemployment. Galsworthy’s portrayal of the effect of political change on individuals show him as a great social novelist as well as the author of one of the most gripping family sagas ever written.

 

I was a bit worried that I wouldn't enjoy this book as much as the first two as it moves on to a completely new branch of the family but I needn't of worried as this one was as brilliant as the others. Not a book for you if a fast paced plot is what you like this is all about the characters their life, loves & insecurities it is like the literary equivalent of reality TV. The whole saga is huge, nine books in three volumes, but well worth the time & effort I actually felt bereft when I got to the end.

 

5/5

Edited May 6, 2012 by Kidsmum

[chaliepud]

Replay Ken Grimwood

 

Amazon Synopsis

At forty-three Jeff Winston is tired of his low-paid, unrewarding job, tired of the long silences at the breakfast table with his wife, saddened by the thought of no children to comfort his old age. But he hopes for better things, for happiness, maybe tomorrow . . . But a sudden, fatal heart attack puts paid to that. Until Jeff wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body, all his memories of the next twenty-five years intact. If he applies those memories, he can be rich in this new chance at life and can become one of the most powerful men in America. Until he dies at forty-three and wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body again . . .

 

I can't really better Karsa's review of this book so I wont try but I did enjoy this book it's one that gets you thinking about life & what's important. I've given it 4/5 because I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been set in England as some of the sporting events it refers to didn't really mean anything to me.

4/5

 

Another one for the wish list, great review!!

[Kidsmum]

Another one for the wish list, great review!!

 

Hope you enjoy it Chaliepud

[Kidsmum]

Breakheart Hill Thomas H. Cook

 

This is the story of Kelli Troy a girl who's battered body is found on Breakheart Hill, the crime has a huge affect on the inhabitants of Choctaw, Alabama especially Ben Wade as he is the only one who knows what really happened.

 

The book has a great opening line " This is the darkest story that I ever heard & all my life I have laboured not to tell it..." It was an enjoyable read which kept me hooked all the way through I didn't work out the ending which had a surprising twist. Not quite as good as the wonderful Red Leaves but a good book nonetheless.

 

4/5

[bobblybear]

^I must read more by Thomas H. Cook. I loved Red Leaves, and have The Quest For Anna Klein on my Kindle, but I just keep reading other books instead.

[frankie]

The Novel in The Viola Natasha Solomons - I'm sure I saw this recommended on the forum awhile back

 

Yep, some people on here have read the book and liked it, thanks to them I've also added it to my wishlist I just can't remember who discussed the book, unfortunately.

 

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet David Mitchell - well I haven't read my other David Mitchells yet but what the hell why not buy another one

 

That's the spirit!

 

The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough

 

I love a good family saga, too! It's just one massive book and I think the size of the novel keeps putting me off.

[Kidsmum]

^I must read more by Thomas H. Cook. I loved Red Leaves, and have The Quest For Anna Klein on my Kindle, but I just keep reading other books instead.

 

I've got The Last Talk With Lola Faye to read, going to have to get round to it soon as it was a present so I don't want to look ungrateful

[Kidsmum]

Yep, some people on here have read the book and liked it, thanks to them I've also added it to my wishlist I just can't remember who discussed the book, unfortunately.

 

I think it may have been Chesil but I could be wrong

 

 

That's the spirit!

 

I have no sense of restraint when it comes to books

 

 

I love a good family saga, too! It's just one massive book and I think the size of the novel keeps putting me off.

 

Yes it is a bit of a doorstopper but it's an easy read as there's no boring bits where it drags which you can get with some big books. How did you like The Ladies of Missalonghi I seem to remember you were reading att the same time as I was reading the Thorn Birds ?

[chesilbeach]

I've definitely recommended The Novel In The Viola on here, and I think SueK and Janet also loved it, if I remember rightly

[chaliepud]

I've definitely recommended The Novel In The Viola on here, and I think SueK and Janet also loved it, if I remember rightly

 

Me too!