Laila Ibrahim, Yellow Crocus

I borrowed this book from the library, but after I finished reading it I wished I owed it, because I can already see it's the kind of novel I'll want to read again and lend out to other people.  

The Plot: Mattie, a slave living on a Virginian plantation, is taken from her baby son and forced to be a wet-nurse to her newly born mistress. Mattie comes to care for Lisbeth, though she never forgets her son. As Lisbeth grows she is forced to confront her position in society, and her complicity in a system that dehumanises and brutalises her surrogate mother. 

Rating: 4/5

*Spoiler Alert*

Charlaine Harris, Dead Ever After

I have a friend how is obsessed with True Blood and The Southern Vampire Mysteries the tv programme is based on, she was so enthusiastic about it, I thought I should give it a go as well. A couple of years ago I binge watched the programme and binge read the books.

However, after we'd moved further away from each other, and she wasn't there to remind me when a new book/programme was out I gave up on the whole thing.  Until I spotted the final book in my big library visit and thought I might as well see how the story ends.

The Plot: Telepathic waitress, Sookie Stackhouse has had a fair share of drama; she's discovered she's part fairy, her brother has become a were-panther, her boss is a shape-shifter, she's had relationships with 2 vampires and a were-tiger, survived Hurricane Katrina and made a ton of supernatural and human enemies. This is the last book of a 12 part series, will Sookie get her happy ending?

Rating: 2/5

Irvine Welsh, The Sex Lives of the Siamese Twins

I'm a fan of Irvine Walsh (see my reviews of Filth and Skagboys) but if I ever got the opportunity to meet him I think I'd be a bit scared, his novels are so dark and violent that I'd be worried that he'd be a bit of a bruiser. His author photo in he inside cover doesn't hep, he looks tough.

Anyway...

 The Plot: Lucy Brennan is a personal trainer in Miami, she has no patience for obesity or laziness and is obsessed with her own calorie count. When she disarms a gunman, she is touted as a have-a-go-hero by the media, and the publicity attracts offers of a tv show. Lena Sorensen witnessed Lucy's heroism and in a bid to emulate Lucy and improve her own life, the overweight and reclusive artist becomes her client.

Rating: 3.5/5

Paula Hawkins, The Girl on the Train

If you haven't already ready read this (after all it's had a fair bit of hype) your summer holiday, beach book is totally sorted.

I read this last month, but I thought it worth me still reviewing it.

rather annoyingly I've had to start watermarking my pictures
as I've noticed a couple of websites/blogs stealing them and not giving me credit 

The Plot: Rachel commutes past her old house every morning, the house where her ex-husband now lives wife his new wife and baby. As her train waits at stop signal she is able to peer into the garden of two strangers, who she nicknames 'Jason and Jess', she fantasies about their lives and she starts to feel like she knows them. One day she sees something shocking out of the window, and feels the need to intervene, soon she is embroiled in missing person's investigation, and is no longer just a passive observer.

Rating: 4.5/5  

Jackie Collins, Sinners & Jacqueline Susann, Valley of the Dolls

As promised - I've managed to finish one of my draft posts, sorry for being such a flaky blogger.

I read Valley of the Dolls last month but I thought it made sense to review it alongside Sinners as they are both similar.

The Plot (Valley of the Dolls) Anne, Neely and Jennifer are young and beautiful and trying to make it in the entertainment industry, Anne as a model, Neely as a singer and Jennifer as an actress. They become friends, when they are naive and idealistic, but the depravity of Hollywood begins to effect their relationships, appearance and self-worth. The higher they climb, the more they sacrifice. 

The Plot (Sinners) Sunday Simmons is on her way to stardom, but she is struggling the maintain her integrity, as directors push her into performing nude scenes. Charlie is a leading man, featuring in popular comedies, but his private life is a mess; his ex-wife is remarrying, so distract himself he is sleeping with multiple wannabe actresses. Herbert is a chauffeur to the stars, he also likes to send them anonymous explicit post and has started to target Sunday. 

Rating: Valley of the Dolls, 4/5. Sinners 2.5/5 

Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip

This was the first book I read this month and I'm only just now reviewing it. Partly because I've been busy, partly because I'm lazy and partly because it wasn't a book that I read and then immediately felt the need to share with anyone. 

It is overall average and I can't say it's made a memorable impression on me, a couple of weeks after reading and I'm having to struggle to remember the details. 

The Plot: Matilda is a young girl living in Bougainville, during the island's struggle for independence. Civil war and the blockade have drastic consequences for Matilda and her classmates, their education is disrupted until Mr Watts becomes the self-appointed teacher of their tiny school. Mr Watts is the last remaining white man, he was previously mocked for his eccentric appearance and behaviour, but the students begin to appreciate his efforts as he teaches them the best he can using the only textbook they have - Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. 

Rating: 3/5 

Kitty Hart-Moxon, Return to Auschwitz

When I was at school I had the great privilege to meet Josef Pearl, a survivor of the holocaust, (Faces in the Smoke  is his biography). I don't think it's until you read, or hear the testimonies told by survivors themselves that you can even slightly comprehend the horrors of the death camps.

 Return to Auschwitz is the autobiography of Kitty Hart-Moxon, who managed to live through unimaginable cruelty and barbarism of Auschwitz concentration camp.

Rating: 4/5

C J Sansom, Lamentation

C J Sansom's Tudor mystery series always end up on the best sellers list when they come. They are both popular, and well received by critiques and he is highly regarded as an author of historical fiction. Can't help but think he gets more respect that authors of the genre as he as in man in a category dominated by women... but that's a whole other argument and this is meant to be a review post.

The Plot:   The sixth book in the series, Matthew Shardlake lawyer/investigator returns to unravel plots and intrigues of the Tudor royal court. Henry VIII is dying, and is concerned about his legacy, and religious tensions threaten civil harmony. Catholics, Reformers, Anabaptist and Lollards are all Christians, but their differences regarding the holy communion are leading to unrest, charges of heresy and murder. Catherine Parr, the wife of the king, has had a potential inflammatory and heretical memoir stolen, Lamentations of a Sinner, so she calls on her long-term friend Shardlake to retrieve it, before it is made public.

Rating: 3.5/5    

Jennifer McVeigh, The Fever Tree

I won't be surprised if the The Fever Tree is eventually turned into a film, it has been favourably compared to Gone with the Wind and has been well received.

The Plot: Penniless and orphaned, Frances is forced to emigrate to the Cape to join her new husband Dr Edwin Mathews. On the boat journey to south Africa she meets William Westbrook, a magnetic and well-connected man, who helps his uncle run the Kimberley diamond mines. 1880, South Africa is a dangerous and corrupt land, built by speculation, greed and the blood of the indigenous population. As smallpox threatens the stability of an already unstable country, Frances is torn between an idealist but remote Edwin, and passionate but unpredictable William.  

Rating: 4/5 

Vikas Swarup, Q&A

Slumdog Millionaire is one of my favourite films, it make me ball my eyes out but I also find it uplifting. So I thought it about time that I read Q&A the book is is based on. 

The Plot: Ram Mohammad Thomas, a young man with a rough start in life wins the jackpot on the Indian version of the television show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? He is arrested and accused of cheating. With his lawyer, Ram recounts his life-story and the amazing coincidences that enabled him to answer the questions correctly.

Rating: 2/5

Bernadette Barton, Stripped

I always thing I need to read more non-fiction. I listened to a fair number of pod-casts, and watch a lot of documentaries so feel I expose myself to a decent range of opinions, facts and debates, but I really need to step up my game when it comes to reading about topics that interest me. 

 With this mind, I've just finished Stripped an investigative look at the lives of exotic dancers. 

Rating: 2.5/5

Margaret Atwood, Stone Mattress

As soon as a Margaret Atwood novel comes out it goes straight to the top of my must read list.

The Plot: Collection of short stories including: A retirement home under a siege by pro-youth activists. A murder committed to avenge a crime. A poet ponders his failing charms and talent whist been interviewed by a hopeful phd student.

The Rating:   3.8/5

Warren FitzGerald, The Go-Away Bird

Not going to lie, the reason I picked The Go-Away Bird up was because of its cover.

*Trigger Warning* murder, death, genocide, rape, mutilation, self-harm, violence, child-abuse

The Plot: Clementine's mum is Tutsi, her dad is Hutu, when the genocide begins in Rwanda, Clementine and her family are in perilous danger. Ashley had a troubled childhood, to cope with the memories he self-harms. When these two damaged people meet in a derelict London flat, their growing friendship and shared love of music, gives them both the opportunity to heal.  

Rating: 2.5/5

Tom Rob Smith, Child 44

Crime isn't really considered to be a highbrow genre, and I am also guilty of looking down on it, I think it's partly because there is a lot of really crap crime-fiction out there (Martina Cole, I'm looking at you).

Popular authors tend to bash them out, sticking to a tried and tested formula, which enables the reader to solve the crime before they've even completed the first chapter. Good crime-fiction though is truly impressive, the ability to spin a tangled plot and eke out clues and suspense is a rare and beautiful thing.

With Child 44, Tom Rob Smith gives crime-fiction a decent attempt, and manages to deliver on some fronts.

The Plot: 1933 Russia, near dead from starvation Pavel hunts in the nearby woods desperate for a meal, absorbed in his task he is unaware that he is also been hunted. 1953 Moscow, Leo is an investigator for the MGB, it his job to root out dissidents and enemies of the state, a task he performs ruthlessly and without question. When a colleges' son is found dead, Leo is sent to remind the grieving parents that murder does not officially exist in the Soviet Union. However, Leo's loyalty to the party and the country is tested when his own wife is investigated for crimes against the state. The bodies of mutilated children are discovered, and Leo begins to question is blind obedience and his role in the MGB.  

Rating: 3.5/5

Steven Saylor, Roma

My spate of reading trashy books continues with Roma by Steven Saylor. However, unlike Never Go Back  this is the good sort of trash: uncomplicated, swords-and-sandals escapism.

  
The Plot: Following the fortunes of the Potitii family and the history of Rome, as the city changes from a campsite on a trade route to an impressive metropolis,  Roma covers 1000 years of history.

Rating:  3/5

Lee Child, Never Go Back

I'm starting the year of with a complete trashy read, Never go Back. 

The Plot: Jack Reacher is a loner. Ex-military he is a rootless vagabond who hitch-hikes around the USA, who manages to run into trouble wherever he goes. He arrives in Virginia hoping to rendezvous with Major Susan Turner, commanding officer of his former unit, who he has spoken to a couple of times of the phone. She is not there, her arrest is soon linked with Reacher, has he charged with a crime from 15 years ago.      

Rating: 1/5

Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Yay! I've managed to cross another Man Booker off my list, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.

Much has been said about the plot twist, and this review would seem incomplete if I didn't so BIG SPOILER WARNING. If you are planning to read this novel, avoid reading this (and any other) review, as I don't think it'll be half as effective or enjoyable reading it already knowing the twist.

The Plot: Rosemary is unsociable and awkward, a legacy of her unusual upbringing. Rosemary's family life is dysfunctional. Her father, a psychologist, treated her and the rest of her family as a scientific experiment.
 When Rosemary's sister, Fern, vanishes , she is left feeling guilty, although she is unable to remember her role in Fern disappearance, This event also has repercussion on the rest of the family. Her mother becomes unhinged and neglectful, her brother runs away and engages in criminal activity that brings him to the attention of the FBI.  

Rating: 3.5/5
*spoiler warning*

Mary Roach, Gulp

As Christmas is 3 days away, this book about digestion seems kind of appropriate, as no doubt a lot of people will be indulging and over-eating. 

Synopsis: (non-fiction) Mary Roach takes a tour along the alimentary canal, from mouth to rectum, making stopoffs along the way to discuss pet food, drug smuggling and fecal transplants. An informative and disgusting look at our digestive system. 

Rating: 3.5/5   

full review under the cut:

Lyndsay Faye, Dust and Shadow

Seems ages ago that I did a proper book review- so allow me to present Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye....

The Plot: A serial killer is on the loose, dubbed The Knife, he is murdering, then mutilating street-walkers in Whitechapel. Unable to solve the case, the metropolitan police engage the help of a renown crime-fighting duo, Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes. It isn't long before suspicion falls on Holmes himself, and the private detective may well have met his match with Jack the Ripper.  

Rating: 3/4

Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North

As this was the winner of the Man Booker prize this year, I'm sure it'll be on many people's Christmas lists. Although, I've only just started to read my way through the shortlist, I'm not convinced this would have been the winner for me.

The Plot: The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, was built by Japan during WWII using forced labour. Approximately 180,000 Asian civilians and 60,000 allied Prisoners of War worked on the railway. Hundreds of thousands of people died, due to starvation, and the brutal regime of the camps.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North is the account of a fictional Australian army doctor, Dorriago Evans, and his life before, during and after his experience on the Death Railway. Dorriago struggles to save the lives of the men under his care, as is forced by his captors to select the POWs to work on the railway each day. Throughout he is haunted by the memory of Amy, the wife of his uncle, who he had an affair with.

The novel is non-liner, showing the long reaching consequences of trauma, and the importance of happier memories in difficult circumstances.

Rating: 3.5/5
Full review after the jump:-