Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Sophie Kinsella - 'Remember Me?'

I have read this book lots of times before. But I am home sick with something poxy (literally) and it is the perfect time for re-reading, and for chick lit. Plus my mum has got the new Sophie Kinsella for me for my birthday (but I haven't got it yet) so I am enjoying re-reading old ones in in anticipation.

It is 2005 and Lexi Smart is a 25 year old with a life where everything is not quite right. Bad teeth,  a funeral to go to and a love life and professional life that could do with some improvement. Then Lexi wakes up and it is suddenly 2007. Lexi is now 28, gorgeous, boss of her department and married (to a millionare no less). Unfortunately Lexi has no idea how she got between these two worlds or how she is going to maintain her new persona when she still feels like a bumbling 25 year old. Worse, as she discovers more about her new life she is not sure it is the life she wants to be living.

Funny. Warm. Addictive. I love Sophie Kinsella and this book is great. If you want a book that is going to change the world, this is probably not for you. But if you want a book that will make you smile and take you to a happy place I highly recommend picking up this book.

Matthew Reilly - 'Temple'

As you can see I am still in the process of reading all the Matthew Reilly books I have inherited!

'Temple' has the interesting twist of being two adventure stories in one. William Race is a linguist professor who finds himself called upon to help the US Army translate an 1500's Spanish text. In doing so he finds himself following the story of a Spanish monk and his adventures with the Incan people. He also finds himself embroiled all to closely with the modern day Nazi movement. Both stories connect in some totally unexpected ways.

Fast paced and action filled. The story includes the most up-to-date modern warfare technology and ancient mysteries and supposedly mythical beasts. Throw in a couple of gorgeous girls, spies and some unexpected twists and this story is everything I have quickly come to love from a Matthew Reilly book.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Catherine Alliott - 'The Real Thing'

I picked up my first Catherine Alliott book because there was a line on the front from Marian Keyes saying "one of my favourite authors". I figured I loved Marian Keyes and if this is what she reads it must be good. I was right.

I have read 'The Real Thing' a number of times before and it was the perfect book for me to read after reading so many new, fairly in-depth books. Tess is 30 married to a moderately successful barrister and has two small children, a career-woman sister, overbearing vicar father, slightly eccentric mother, reformed sex-addict cousin and a long lost first love of her life who suddenly comes back into the picture. A family holiday brings a whole heap of issues to life making Tess question whether the life she is living is the life she really wants? And makes her wonder what happened to the hopes and dreams she harboured when she was young. What follows is a journey of family, humour, temptation, betrayal and the quest for happily ever after.

Catherine Alliot's books are romantic, slightly satirical and very humorous. A lovely light read that leaves you with a happy feeling afterwards.

Bernard Cornwell - 'The Winter King'

A friend gave me the 'Warlord Chronicles Trilogy' for my birthday remembering I said I like Arthurian stories. This book is the first of the three.

This Arthurian story is a combination between legend and history. No elegant knights on quests to rescue fair maidens. Instead it is a tale of medieval battles, magic, superstitions, torture, rape, pillage and slaughter. The story is told from the perspective of Derfel Cadarn many years after the events. He is retelling the saga to Igraine, Queen of Powys, while he is a brother in a monestry. However, at the time of the main event he was a boy who was the ward of Merlin and later a soldier who fought at Arthur's side.

Arthur in this version is a warlord. The bastard son of Uthur and protector of Mordred a infant heir with a disability. It is a time of war. Saxon armies are ready and waiting to invade. There is in-fighting amongst the local kings. There is the conflict between the old religions and the new Christians. Morgan, Lancelot, Galahad and Guinevere are all part of this story, just not necessarily in the persona that is expected.

A not-so-romantic version of an old  tale that is very worth reading for anyone who likes medieval history and Arthurian re-tellings.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Nicola Thorne - 'In Time of War'

I told you I had been on a bit of a Nicola Thorne bender! Actually it felt like more at the time, but I think in reality it was only three.

This book is the final volume of 'People of the Parish' series. Once again, I haven't read all the books in the series, but I have read two of the earlier books. There are six in total.

The complete story follows the lives of the Woodville family and other associated families in their area over three generations. This chapter of the saga begins in 1939 just as World War II is breaking. Alexander Martyn marries Irene who almost immediately rushes back to Germany in the hope of saving a friend. As a German Jew, Germany is not a safe place to be, even if you are a British citizen by marriage. Meanwhile other family members are located in the country home, London and even Italy and the war affects them all in different ways.

Once again, a typical Nicola Thorne book of this era. I think it was probably a good end to the series, but wasn't one of my favourites of her books. I will have to re-read some of my favourites and blog about those, because I do not think the ones I have done so far have done her books or my love of them justice!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Matthew Reilly - 'Contest'

This is the first book Matthew Reilly wrote and it was the one he initially self-published. According to what I read on the Internet today, it is also the only one he has written with a science fiction element to it (and this may very possibly be inaccurate now).

Dr Stephen Swain finds himself involuntarily a contestant in an alien competition set in a labyrinth inside the New York State Library. Seven contestants from around the universe enter the library and the competition and only one will come out alive. To make matters even worse, his daughter Holly is also drawn into the competition with him. It is a competition where you must kill or be killed, the fight is to the finish and the alien knowledge of the event and of combat surpasses anything Swain has contemplated.

Science fiction is not normally a genre I would pick to read. However, this book is also most definitely an adventure book and contains all the face-paced action you would expect from Matthew Reilly. I think it will turn into one of my favourite from this author!

Nicola Thorne - 'The Water's Edge'

I have collected Nicola Thorne books for a number of years. I went to the discard book shop the other day at our State Library and added another few to my collection! So stay tuned for a few reviews coming up.

'The Water's Edge' is the third in a series and I haven't read the first two. Because of this, some of the background was missing when I read this book, but it was still a nice read. Set in the 1920's this book contains all the key elements of that era: independent woman, class consciousness (although it is beginning to be broken) and unmarried women due to a generation of lost men. It also contains a lot of the typical Nicola Thorne elements: it is part of a saga, half-siblings, illegitimate children, romantic affairs and the breaking of class boundaries, along with the unsurprising side-effects.

It was a nice story. Not my favourite one, but I generally love her books. I think I will have to re-read it in chronological order when I find the first two books!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Philippa Gregory - 'Virgin Earth'

So for those of you who read my last post, 'Virgin Earth' is the sequel to 'Earthly Joy'. Very conveniently both of the books were on sale cheaply when I bought the first one for bookclub so naturally I had to buy/read the second one too. As much as I enjoyed the first book, I think I like the second one better. 'Virgin Earth' looks at the journey of John Tradescant the Younger (aka as J in the first book). He travels to America. Specifically to Virginia in it its early days as a Royalist colony. John falls in love with the native people and the plants in the colonies while of course still loving what he had left behind in England. This book explores the barbaric nature of the treatment of indigenous inhabitants, slavery, conflicting loyalty, idealism, family and the English Civil war. I have realised how limited my knowledge is of this era! Time to do some non-fiction reading too I think. Not that the book isn't perfectly easy to follow without that background, but my curiousity has been sparked. I found in this book the characters less complex in this book, but that this meant some of the themes were are little more confrontational. I enjoyed the book and definitely recommend it to people who like 'meaty' historical fiction.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Philippa Gregory - 'Earthly Joy'

It was my job to pick the book for this week's month's bookclub book. I was given the genre of 'historical novel' which I am sure they thought would be easy for me with my background! For the record it is really hard to pick a book you haven't read before for a group (just in case you have not been in this position). Anyway, I picked Philippa Gregory as the auther and then asked a friend who I knew had read a lot of Philippa Gregory's books to recommend one for me and here we are! The novel is set in the 1600's when Elizabeth I is still on the throne. The central character is John Tradescant, a gardener who shares a strong bond with the lord he serves. Time does not stand still however, and as time goes on John's loyalty is tested. New monarchs, new masters, new family. Conflicting views and as time progresses John realises the things he thought were straight forward might not be. Initially, the other members of the bookclub were a bit dubious after reading the blub. None of them had read this type of book before. While we have not had our official meeting, the comments on facebook have been very positive! Based on this, I would recommend the book for those wishing to try the genre. Oh, and I enjoyed the book and I am halfway through the sequel!