Top Ten Tuesday: Please Write Another Book

Tuesday and time for Top Ten! This time it is "Top Ten Authors I Wish Would Write Another Book (debut authors, authors who seem to have taken a hiatus, OR for those who read classics authors you wish would have written another book before they passed". Thanks to The Broke and The Bookish for coming up with another great topic!! Without further ado and in no particular order: 10) Junot Diaz. "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" was a brilliant novel and I hope that this author will follow it up with another brilliant read. Soon!

9)Tom Wolfe. I wish he would write another novel in the style of "I am Charlotte Simmons" because even though he is male and was born in 1931, he does "little girl from the countryside goes to uni and longs for Diesel jeans" surprisingly well!

8)Marisha Pessl. I loved "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" - please write some more. Soon!

7)Alexandre Dumas. He created one of the best female baddies ever: Milady de Winter. I wish he had written another book telling the story of "The Three Musketeers" from her point of view.

6) Joe Hill. "Heartshaped Box" and "Horns" were both really amazing - I can't tell you what genre they are, somewhere in between thriller, mystery, fantasy and humour. So incredibly cool that you will have to read it to understand it.

5) Christian Jungersen. I really enjoyed the dark and dangerous "The Exception", it was so different and really one of the best mystery, thriller things I've read.

4)Alan Warner. And I am rather specific because I so wish he would write a follow-up to "The Sopranos" and "The Stars in the Bright Sky". Preferably five years after the events in the latter one take place, thanks.

3) Sofi Oksanen. "Purge" is an amazing book, it deals with such a difficult topic, topics actually, while telling an incredible story. Loved it!! Please write another book soon Sofi Oksanen!

2) Julian Fellowes. "Snobs", "Past Imperfect", "Downtown Abbey". What's not to love? Another book please :-)

1)Jane Austen. No need to explain I think, I love Jane Austen and she didn't write many books so another one would have made a lot of difference to all her fans. So what's your Top Ten? I can't wait to read it :-)

Review: "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater

You must have heard about "Shiver". I am sure you have - at least if you are a YA-liking kind of reader because it has been all over the blogs. For that very reason I held off reading it. I don't know, I just get really stubborn sometimes. "If everybody else likes it, I am going to skip it."-thing. Which is really stupid because if all you people like it, the chances that I will like it as well are so much bigger. Really, sometimes I exhaust myself...

But before Christmas I (luckily) gave in and bought both "Shiver" and "Linger", the sequel. I got them at a really good price (secondhand) and thought that if I like "Shiver", I would be glad to have "Linger" lingering around. This turned out to be a wise decision because even though "Shiver" is all about wolves (a subject that I have been off ever since "Twilight"), it is actually a really good YA book.

The story goes like this. Grace Brisbane is living in a little Minnesota town with her parents who are always absent. Even when they are home (rarely), they are emotionally absent and it falls to Grace to take care of things such as cooking dinner and making sure she does her own homework. They have no idea what happens in her life and that is probably good because Grace is honestly quite a strange girl. She is a bit of a loner who has only two friends at school and in the winter time she spends all of her free hours looking at the wolves at the edge of the forest. When she was a little girl, she was attacked and almost killed by them and ever since then, they have held a special place in her heart. Strangely, you might say. One of them, a wolf with beautiful almost human eyes, she almost sees as a friend and she dreams of following him into the woods.

SPOILER!!!!!!

Obviously (if you ask me) it turns out that the wolf is really a werewolf - or at least it is a boy, Sam, who during the winter is caught in the body of a wolf. When Grace saves his life after he is shot, it is love at first sight. And trouble at first kiss. And so begins the trilogy of The Wolves of Mercy Falls.

The good things about this book are many and I will only number a few here:

1) Grace is easy to sympathize with. As a main character she is quite good.
2) It has a lot humor and I love that about it! So many YA books are too busy being just serious or just fun. This one hits all the right notes when it comes to balancing humor and seriousness.
3) The love story part is much more realistic than other YA books (here I am thinking about Twilight in particular...)
4) Grace's parents really caught my interest and had me angered. They are so uncaring and it makes for an interesting side-story.
5) Some of the minor characters are really fantastic. My particular favourite is Isabel!
6) The poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke features. If you haven't read anything by Rilke, you need to do so asap. Off to Amazon you go.

There are also a few not-so-good things, the ones I found most annoying were:

1) Grace is rather boring... She has no real interests apart from wolves and maths and she is not a really very good friend. She is a leeettle beet socially akward.
2) Sam. A little bit whiny at times. Would like him more man and less... boy.
3) Olivia. As minor character goes, she is a pretty annoying one. She should either have been left out or had been given more personality. She ends up a bit cardboard-ish.
4) Sam's poetry is too much for me. Skipped it all, it was just too too much.

Read it if: You love paranormal romance. You always hurry straight to the wolves when you visit the local zoo. You like a good comfort-read with no big surprises but lots of little ones.

Review: "Lady of Quality" by Georgette Heyer

It has almost become a bit of Christmas tradition for me, going to bed with a Georgette Heyer Regency novel and not turning off the light until the last page is turned. A bad habit actually and one that I cannot recommend as it means reading until the early hours (unless you go to bed early, which I never do...) and missing the morning more or less entirely. However, it is also incredibly satisfying. I feel so safe and comfortable and essentially book-happy when I lie there, snuggled under the duvets in the room where I was a girl and read what is (again) essentially safe and comfortable books. One of the great things about Georgette Heyer's Regency novel (in my opinion) is that there are no surprises. Well maybe a few but none that really matter. From the first page you know who the heroine is, who the stiff-upper-lip types are and who the heroine will end up marrying. For love. Though he is usually very well-to-do and very well-dressed. What's not to like? This is as comforting as a large glass of red wine in front of a cosy fire on a rainy night, people.

Anyway, I was in bed sans the red wine but very much avec the Georgette Heyer novel this Christmas - the novel of choice being "Lady of Quality". This was the last Regency novel by the highly productive Heyer and it was published in 1972 but the Regency feeling is all there. From the horses to the boots to the drinks and food. It is pure historical bliss. Not that I am a historian, mind you, but I have read a fair few regency novels...

The heroine is Annis Wychwood who at the ripe old age of 26 has accepted her spinsterhood fate. I know. Crazy to think that you were officially off the shelf at 26 but quite lucky for the dear Annis as this means she is considered old and matronly enough to run her own household. This may sound like a lot of work but it definitely beats living with her stuffy older brother and his lovely but slightly dim wife. So off she has gone to Bath, Annis, to set up home - and having a considerable fortune, this is not a problem. With her, she has taken a chaperone, a rather annoying creature who by the virtue of being her cousin has secured the difficult position of keeping Annis on the straight and narrow road of propriety.

All the propriety and sensibility begins to unravel when Annis takes it upon herself to save a young and very dramatic young heiress who is fleeing a meddling family. However, soon in the footsteps of the heiress follow her uncle, the infamous rake Oliver Carleton. Oh yes, a rake has arrived on the scene and I have to say that the battle of words between these two (lasting for several pages) is pure, enjoyable Heyer. They argue so skillfully that it made me want to join a class - imagine being able to fight so masterfully with one elegant repartee after another?!

The rest of the story, you will have to read for yourself but trust me when I say that it is great. Pure Regency classic.

Read it if: You like you heroines opinionated and your heroes rakish. You prefer Ratafia wine to a normal "house red" and always carry smelling-salts in your purse.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Want To Give As Gifts

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Love it. I am in quite a Christmassy mood this December which fits in perfectly with the theme for this week's Top Ten Tuesday. Today we are talking about Top Ten Books I Want To Give As Gifts and who I want to give them to. Love giving books away, it is like giving a part yourself when you give a book that you love to someone. So in no particular order:

10) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - to my goddaugther's older sister
Because she is ten years old, just like I was when I got my first copy of this wonderful book.

9) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood - to my girlfriend who teaches a university class about feminism
Because it is the ultimate dystopian fiction novel about gender inequality and the terrible consequences of extremism.

8) The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch - to my little sister
She will be visiting me in London in January and this is a really fun way to learn about London. Covent Garden will never be the same again.

7) The Bonfire of Vanities by Tom Wolfe - to any of my male friends who dreamt of becoming (or became) investment bankers
Because it is the ultimate story of the banker who loses his cushioned life as he does not face up to his responsibility.



6) We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver - to my friend, the psychologist
Because this book is all about nature vs. nurture and I think she would find it fascinating.

5) The Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia - to my mother
Because my mum has really good style and she loves reading about and discussing clothes. And because this is one book that I would love to borrow!



4) A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - to my little sister (again, she reads a lot)
Because she and I share a secret love for "Twilight" (guilty pleasure) and "Pride and Prejudice" (proud pleasure) and I know that she will love Matthew Clairmont as much as I do.



3) The Dinosaur Feather by Sissel-Jo Gazan - to my mother-in-law
Because she loves crime fiction and this one is a really great piece.



2) Purge by Sofi Oksanen - to my father
Because he loves historical novels that deal with difficult topics and because we share an interest in communism and the effect it had on Eastern Europe.

1) How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran - to myself :-)
Because I wonder about this topic every day. What is it to be a woman and why is there still such a difference between men and women and the way we are being perceived.

Ten Things I Love About ... "A Discovery of Witches" - you need to read it!

I often find that the books that I not just enjoyed reading but actually LOVED are the ones that are the most difficult to review. When something is so good, it is just hard to really do it justice and I end up being so worried by my own ability to share the wonderful-ness of a book that I just don't review it. How sad is that?? So now I am going to stop being such a book-coward and will review one of the best books I have read in 2011. "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness. However, as it is such a great book, I am going to go about reviewing it an slightly different way than normally because otherwise I will just end up rambling. They who call it "Twilight" for adults have gotten the wrong end of the stick because this book is so much more than that.

The story is impossible to sum up really but it all begins with American historian Diana Bishop who is doing a stint at University of Oxford as a visiting professor. Diana comes from a long line of witches and her family story goes all the way back to the witch huntings in Salem. However, Diana want nothing to do with all that. She just wants to be a regular historian and she has devoted her life to the academic world. One day the peace is shattered when she comes across a magical book in the Bodleian and unleashes a string of events that she had never thought possible.
Suddenly she is surrounded by magical creatures - witches like herself, vampires and daemons. Especially one vampire, Matthew Clairmont, a gorgeous professor, is constantly following her around and Diana has to find out if he - and the others - are friends or enemies and why they are all going crazy for the magical book.

So here are ten things I love about this book:

1) First of all: Diana Bishop herself. This is a cool chick - best paranormal heroine, I have ever come across. This is not a girl but a real woman, an intelligent woman with a career in academia and an independent spirit. No little-girl-whimpering here, no ma'm. This witch is a kick-ass lady who rows to get energy out of her system and who has been taught to stay well away from vampires. Which brings be to number 2...

2) Matthew Clairmont. This guy is in a league of his own when it comes to the dream-man-factor. First of all, he is hot, like sizzling hot. He is also a professor, specialized in genetics. He is French and has a family castle somewhere in a lovely, rural part of La France. He does yoga but not in the girly way - in the I-am-so-much-man-that-I-can-do-this-without-coming-across-like-a-metrosexual kinda way. If you gave me the choice between Mr. Darcy and Mr. Clairmont, I would actually have trouble choosing!

3) The title. "A Discovery of Witches". Just that was enough to make me want to read it.

4) Diana's relationship with food. This is a woman who (like myself) will get really grumpy when she is hungry. No salads or fat free options here, it is a fry up all the way.

5) The bad guys. Harkness does "bad guys" very well, making them mysterious, yet humane and interesting. There are no real black/white personalities but lots of grey areas and it seems like a lot of the evil stems from ambition and greed. I like that - it always frustrates me when an author introduces characters that are just evil without any sort of explaining factor.
The size. This is a long book and I am so very grateful for that because it is so good that I just wanted to keep on reading.

6) The locations. If you have ever dreamt of studying at Oxford or going to stay at a French chateau then this book will definitely reignite those dreams.

7) The value put on family and friends. One of the things that often annoy me with the paranormal romance genre is that family and friends are somewhat "lost" as all focus is on the lovers. Even in aforementioned "Twilight" which has a rather strong cast of friends, they are not really that important. In this book, they are and family plays a really important role as well as the safety net that will always be there. Good strong values.

8) The dry humour. Diana is a girl with a really dry sense of humour and even when the action begins to unfold there is room for observations of the comical. She is one of those girls that you would love to have a cup of tea with while discussing all of the foolish things that humans do.

9) The supernaturals. These are better than in most other paranormals. Often the authors fall in the trap of making everything so strange (like sparkling in sunlight or tattoos randomly appearing??) that it is hard to keep a straight face but in this one, the differences are more in temper and habits which makes it so much easier to accept.

10) The fact this this is the first in a trilogy! I was so worried that this was a stand alone because I want more! Luckily Harkness is already working on the sequel "Shadow of Night" and though I don't like that title as much as I loved "A Discovery of Witches", I am still really looking forwrad to getting my hands on it.

If you are looking for the perfect Christmas holiday read, look no further but to "A Discovery of Witches"

Review: "The London Satyr" by Robert Edric

Hello again, it's been a while since I last blogged. My only excuse is that it has been really really busy. December always is, isn't it? So have done very little reading and even less blogging and I've missed it. One of the books I have recently finished reading is "The London Satyr" by Robert Edric, a book that I had wanted to read badly for a few months and that I had really high hopes for... Unfortunately it just did not do it for me.

The plot was definitely good, a good story. The narrator, photographer Charles Webster, is a rather anonymous man. He has a nice house and a nice wife and a daughter that he doesn't understand but that he... well... likes. He has a good-enough job and colleagues that he likes. And then he has a little job on the side that is the only exciting thing going on in his life. Working as the in-house photographer at the Lyceum theatre in London, he has access to costumes and props and once in a while, he secretly loans out to a rather creepy man named Marlow. Marlow, you see, is in quite a different line of business... He runs a pornography business and needs the props and costumer to spice up the photographies that he makes a fortune producing and selling illegally. Not the sort of man that a good, proper Victorian middle class man should associate with.
As the summer heat scorches London, Webster is sweating - but not just because of the weather, also because the authorities have decided to crack down on the illegal pornography trade and his whole life would tumble down like a house of cards caught by the wind.

So far so good. I really liked the plot and as I work very close to the Lyceum, I enjoyed reading about all the places that I visit every day. However, the let down (for me) was in the characters. Charles Webster is just not a character that I would want to know in real life, to tell you the truth, he is rather boring and that made it a bit hard to really get interested in the story... What frustrated me was that the characters I found interesting were the least developed characters. I especially found Webster's domineering, annoying and not-that-bright daughter interesting because she really changes her behavior and grows (though not in a good way) but Edric does not really take the opportunity to explore this or give us an insight to why this is or how it affects the family. Too bad because that would have been quite interesting. Instead the focus is on the chase which leads to dramatic-ish end which I did think was really good. However, not enough to make it a book that I would re-read, unfortunately...

Read it if: You are going to London soon and plan on visiting the Lyceum theatre. If you love your men middle-aged, spineless, bad at showing emotions and somewhat boring...

Review: "The Afterparty" by Leo Benedictus

Right. I am not sure where to begin this review. I can't remember why I bought this book but I think I just liked the sound of it and then last week, I was flying out for a weekend trip and I thought that I would give it a go. And I am so glad that I did. It could easily have ended up gathering dust on my shelf because I just hadn't gotten round to read it. But I did and it is great! In an exceptionally confusing way.

The book opens in a bathroom where lonely outsider Michael is hiding out, having crashed a celebrity party where he knows nobody and is wearing the wrong clothes. Actually he just wants to leave quietly and try to come up with something to say to the stroppy editor who let him have the invitation. However, that is not what happens because at this party there are lots of other characters for whom "quietly" is an unknown word. The man at the centre of the party is the birthday boy, the actor Hugo, whose supermodel wife is on the road to reigniting her drug abuse and who has an affair with a punk-rocking addict. She definitely does not do "quiet". Neither does the young X-factor celeb, who is just getting used to his new-found fame and the girls that come with it. As the night progresses, Michael becomes entangled in a web that includes all of these characters and that will change his life forever...

However. That is not all. While this story unfolds, every now and then it is broken by emails from the author of the book William Mendez. Hold on you say now, wasn't the author called Leo Benedictus? Yes, that is the name on the cover of the book. And I don't think I can say a whole lot more because I can't explain it anyway.

Confused much? Let me quote Sam Leith in his review of "The Afterparty": This is a book within a book, based on a true story. Well, not true-true. That is to say, the true story that is fictionalised in "The Afterparty" (the book-within-a-book) isn't actually true: it is a figment of the imagination of the author of The Afterparty (the book under review here).

If you like a bit of post-modernist writing with a strong sense of humour and a purpose as well, this book is for you. It focuses on the shallowness on our obsession with celebrity on the fact that behind every paparazzi picture in a magazine, there is a real human being.

And it messes with your head. Big time. In a very entertaining way.

Read it if: You like books with an edge. You don't mind thinking "what on earth is going on??" every now and then. Or if you've ever found yourself believing the crap that they write in the tabloid press.

Top Ten Tuesday: On my TBR list

Top Ten Tuesday. Love it. Go to The Broke and The Bookish if you haven't been there yet - and even if you have - do check it out again, it is a great blog. This tuesday it is all about our TBRs for the winter months. These are mine:



10) "A Cupboard Full of Coats" by Yvvette Edwards
This one takes place in East London and having just moved here, I absolutely have to read it. Preferably soon.



9) “The Fire Gospel” by Michel Faber
What I really admire about this author is his ability to shift between genres. From historical realism in “The Crimson Petal and The White” to sci-fi nightmare in “Under the Skin”, he manages to impress every time.

8) “From Where I Stand” by Tabitha Suzuma
Since reading “Forbidden” by this author I have been looking so much forward to reading more from her. Very talented YA writer, she does dark YA really well! Can’t wait to read this one.



7) "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" by Jeff Lindsay
My chosen crime fiction book for December. Have heard good things about it - it is different because this one focuses on the serial killer. A serial killer who chases the bad guys and only kills criminal. It sounds really interesting so I can't wait to give it a try.



6) “The Cure” by Rachel Genn
This one I totally picked up because of the title. I love The Cure – and for those of you who are too young to remember, they are a pretty amazing 1980’s punkrock band. The forefathers of emo. The makers of hits such as “Boys Don’t Cry”. Not actually sure if there is any music in this one but I loved the title and liked the sound of the plot (which I can’t remember now…)



5) "What the Nanny Saw" by Fiona Neill
Fiona Neill is one of my favourite comfort-reading-writer. Her books always make me relax and laugh and I think the plot sounds really interesting - it is about a girl who takes up a position as a nanny with a family that suddenly become headline news. Like a modern day governess novel I imagine.



4) "Delirium" by Lauren Oliver
I have heard so much good about this one and I really want to read it. Haven't bought it yet but it won't be long.



3) “Wings of the Dove” by Henry James
This one has been on my shelves forever and I am finally reading it in February for the Venice in February Challenge. Join in here.



2) "The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides
This is an author that I really admire. "The Virgin Suicides" is a very special book and I am looking forward to reading his new book "The Marriage Plot".



1) "Northern Lights" by Philip Pullman
This one is a classic - why have I not read it yet? I am not sure but it is on the TBR for this winter and I really look forward to reading it.

Venice in February!

I went to Venice some years ago and it was amazing. I loved it. Amazing city. More beautiful than you can imagine. I would love to go back and that is why I am considering participating in the "Venice in February" reading challenge.
Read all about it here at Dolce Bellezza's blog - thanks to Sam at Tiny Library for inspiring me.

Review: "The Brontës Went to Woolworths"

If you like a bit of whimsy and if you find yourself drawn to Anne Shirley from "Anne of Green Gables" (by L.M. Montgomery) because of her tendency to escape into her own fantasy world, then you will love this book. Being completely honest - which I find to work best for me on this blog - I was drawn to "The Brontës Went to Woolworths" by Rachel Ferguson not because I liked the sound of the plot but because I loved the title. Simple as that. And the title is actually very describing.

Meet the Carnes. A family consisting of three girls and their mother as well as a sour governess and several made up chacters. Living in pre-war London, these women have made good lives for themselves. Deirdre, the main charater, is a journalist with a good head on her and her sister Katrine is an aspiring actress. Both of them are clever girls, well able to to take of themselves and to take on the sour, constantly offended governess who tries to protect little sister Sheil from the rest of the family. Now why is the governess so protective and so worried that Sheil will be damaged by her vivacious older sisters?

The question lies in the irrepressible imaginations of these two girls. Not content with the normal everyday lives of middle class girls, they have dreamt up a world of their own which their mother is quite happy to participate in. In this world, they regularly get visits from Ironface, an old doll of Deirdre who married above her station and is now living a socialite's life in France from which she descends upon them with her la-di-da manners. They are also close friends with Dion Saffyn, a pierrot, whom the close family friend Judge Toddington does not think is good company.

Toddy, as they affectionately call him, is the man of the house. Calling them every evening, bringing them splendid presents and being ever so dear to them. Only they've never met him in real life... And one day reality strikes when Deirdre meets Lady Toddington - or Lady Mildred - as they call her, at a society event and is drawn into a friendship with her.

The clash between the real and the imagined is very relevant today I find. When I was a teenager, it was all Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise (who are now middle-aged, gee I feel old!), today I guess it is Justin Bieber, there isn't a teenage girl who hasn't had a crush on a guy she didn't know, whether celebrity or just a boy on the bus. This book is like 1930's YA. It is a great alternative to unimaginative boy-meets-girl stories and the perfect present for the girl who loved "Anne of Green Gables". This is quality people!!

For the Carne girls, especially Deirdre, Toddy is that secret crush-from-afar, the Justin Bieber. She adores him, and her worry and fear when he suddenly becomes part of real everyday life, I can completely understand. Oh how I felt for her. Sometimes, isn't it better to have a good daydream than a harsh reality? Anyway, I will not say anything more because I don't want to throw spoilers at you but let me just say that Rachel Ferguson turns this story on its head and invites the reader to ponder what is most strange - eccentric girls with their own fantasy worlds or realists who are unable to partake in daydreams?
And where do the Brontës fit in? Well apparently Katrine and Deirdre saw them go into Woolworths to fetch some highly everday-boring items, including a hairnet.

Read it if: You are a daydreamer. If you love Anne of Green Gables. If you too believe that the losers are not the people who allow themselves to let their imaginations soar and dream big and grand but the people who are unable to follow them into the realms of imagine.

Ten things I Love About... "A Provincial Lady Goes Further"

Sometimes it is hard to describe a book or review it because it is really good or really special or really difficult to describe. "The Provincial Lady Goes Further" by E.M. Delafield is one of them. The story of the provincial lady and her friends and family. The flegmatic husband Robert, the wild kids and the independent girlfriend. And of course the oh so French nanny and the stuck-up neighbor - the list goes on and on. It is a really wonderful book but I can't describe it so here are ten reasons why I love it - and they are all quotes!

1) On being a published author at a party: "...Pamela lavishly announces that I am very, very clever and literary - with customary result of sending all the very young gentlemen into the furthermost corner of the room, from whence they occasionally look over their shoulders at me with expression of acute horror."

2) On being a published author when having tea with elderly family members: "Tea and seed-cake appear, we partake, and Aunt Mary hopes that my writing does not interfere with home life and its many duties, and I hope so too..."

3) Having spent much time and effort to go to society event: "...on reaching party and seeing everybody else, at once realise that I am older, less well dressed, and immeasurably plainer than any other woman in the room."

4) About vanity: "Two small artificial curls - Scylla and Charybdis - always worn under bathing-cap..." (who would have thought they had extensions in the 1930's?!)

5) The dry humour of the Provincial Lady: "Lady F. says Shall we have coffee in the drawing-room? - entirely rhetorical question, as decision naturally rests with herself."

6) About having a second home in London, a small but independence-inducing flat: "Return to Doughty Street flat, and experience immense and unreasonable astonishment at finding it almost exactly as I left it..."

7) On clothing crisis (oh how well I know that!): "Question of clothes remains unsolved until eleventh hour, when I decide on black crepe-de-chine and new hat that I think becoming."

8) On the trouble with having staff: "Ethel's afternoon out, and customary fatality of callers ensues, who are shown in by Cook with unsuitable formula: Someone to see you, 'm."

9) On going to meet terribly successful niece of girlfriend: "Have a strong impulse to turn straight round and go home again, sooner than confront so much efficiency, but non-stop train renders this course impractical."

10) On introducing traditional husband Robert to rather ...untraditional... friend Pamela: "Pamela opens her eyes very widely and says she has hear so very much about him - (who from? Not me) - and they shake hands. Can see from Robert's expression exactly what he thinks of Pamela's finger-nails..."

If you like a little bit of 1930's glamour and lots of dry humour and witty remarks, please do not miss out on the Provinsial Lady. She really is an acquaintance worth making!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that are Gathering Dust on My Shelves

Have you been to visit The Broke And The Bookish yet? Otherwise, you absolutely must. It is a great book! They do this great little meme on Tuesday called Top Ten Tuesday which is absolutely amazing. This week the topic is books that are gathering dust on my shelves... books that I bought because I really wanted to read them, yet somehow never got around to read. I am ashamed to admit that this is topic hits quite close to home for me...

10) "The Sixth Wife" by Suzannah Dunn
A book about the sixth wife of Henry VIII, the one who survived him. I read a biography which described the lives of all of Henry VIII's six wives and I got very curious about his last wife, who outlived him. Still haven't gotten round to reading it though...



9) "Fortune's Daughters" by Elizabeth Kehoe
A biography of three very special sisters, three American heiresses who traveled to Europe to marry impoverished aristocrats.



8) "The Dice Man" by Luke Rhineheart
Apparently a classic and my boyfriend really enjoyed it so now I need to give it a chance because I think I will like it again.



7) "The Outcast" by Sadie Jones
Have you read this one? I got it for a really cheap price but still haven't read it...



6) "The Night Watch" by Sarah Waters
I love "Fingersmith" by Sarah Water so I am sure I will like this one as well. I just need to get it off the shelf...



5) "A Game of Thrones" by George R. R. Martin
This is another book that I have read a few pages of and then forgotten. Why do I do that? It is such a horrible habit! I need to stop it - and I need to read this book that everyone is talking about.



4) "The Black Swan - The Impact of the Highly Improbable" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
I've heard a lot of good about this book, it is a non-fiction piece about what happens when something highly improbable but with a huge impact happens. The thing that nobody expects. Just have to get round to it.



3) "1984" by George Orwell
This is actually my boyfriend's book and I have been wanting to read it forever but I am so scared to be disappointed that I shy away... Do you know that feeling?



2) "La Dame aux Camélias" by Alexandre Dumas Fils
One of the books that I really really wanted to get my hands one... Then read a few pages and somehow forgot it again. I liked it though so not sure why?! Will have to return to it soon and read it.



1) "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton
A classic! I love the sound of it and it isn't even very long so what is scaring me? I don't know. There is no reason why it keeps gathering dust - so I will have to get around to reading it, sooner rather than later.

Review: "Mercy"

Rarely do I review a book that I didn't enjoy which is mostly because I tend to not finish books that I don't enjoy. Call it lazy, call it silly and ignorant - I can't help it. If I don't enjoy a book, I find it intolerable having to force myself to read it. Not an option. There are exceptions though and this is one of them. "Mercy" by Jussi Adler-Olsen is the first books in a series and I for some unapparent reason started with number four, then number three, then number two and then the first. Strange way of doing it which I don't particularly recommend. Anyway back to topic. I had enjoyed the other three, especially the second one and I thought that I would give this one a go.

The context of the story is one that you have heard many times before... the main character is a policeman who is very very good at his work but who has trouble working with others. His boss is somewhat understanding of this and lets him go and do more or less his own thing on his own. In this case, said policeman, Carl Morck is not entirely on his own, with him he has his cleaner, Assad, who happens to have real talent for policework. Coincidence.
Together these two strange characters get involved with a case of a young, successful, female politician who went missing years ago. And meanwhile the point-of-view shifts from Carl to this young woman, who has been captured and imprisoned in strange room with no windows, no contact to the outside world, while her captors demand that she explain why she did what she did - while she keeps asking why she is there.

So far, so good. This is a pretty run-of-mill crime fiction piece if you ask me. It really didn't impress me. Too predictable and too unimaginative but let me be more specific:

Five things I liked about "Mercy":
1) The dry humour of Carl Morck is pretty great, saves the book actually.
2) The Assad character is quite loveable.
3) The imprisonment part is imaginative and different if really disgusting.
4) Carl Morck's stepson figures a bit in this book and more in the next ones and I have to admit that these descriptions of the sullenness and mood swings of a teenage boy are pretty spot on and funny.
5) ... can't think if one....


Five things I disliked about "Mercy":
1) The title. The original title translates "The Woman in the Cage" which you have to admit is about a 100 times more interesting than "Mercy".
2) The character of the female politician is beyond predictable. She is pretty, she is compassionate, she has nice suitors whom she rejects to dedicate her life to worthier things, she has all the right opinions.... Honestly, it is just too much.
3) The villains are never really explored or explained. In some of Adler-Olsen's later works, he does a much better job of exploring the motives, making it much more interesting to read.
4) The predictability of Carl Morck, the essential renegade policeman. Why are there no crime fiction books about policeman who do things by the book and succeed? It seems like they all have to be rebellious and anti-social, I would like a bit of change please.
5) The political remarks here and there. They are so misplaced and have nothing to do with the story. They end up being really annoying side-remarks that break up the story and promotes the author's political opinions without adding to the story.

So there you go. If you like Scandinavian crime fiction maybe this one is for you. My advice would be to let this one go and head straight for the next book in the series.

Desperately Seeking YA!

I have just published the post below about the books I have bought and I realized that I could really do with some inspiration - especially in the YA department. So please all of you wonderful people out there in blogland, write a comment and recommend a great book that you think I should read :-)

Soon in my mailbox!

It has been a long time since I have bought any books so the other day, I went a little bit crazy and bought quite a few. And now, all I have to do is wait for them to arrive which I must admit is testing my patience. I am currently reading a really really funny non-fiction book about feminism and gender equality (it is so funny that I keep giggling when I am reading it on the way from work!) but I have to say that I long for that special feeling of being absolutely absorbed in a good book.
So hopefully on of these beauties will make me feel exactly that:



Netherland by Joseph O'Neill



The London Satyr by Robert Edric



The Cure by Rachel Genn



From Where I Stand by Tabitha Suzuma

However... I want to get a few more. Do you have any suggestions?

Top Ten Tuesday: Reading Outside the Comfort Zone

Tuesday = Top Ten. If you don't know what I mean go to The Broke and The Bookish who created this amazing meme. This week's theme is Ten Books That I Read That Were Outside Of My Comfort Zone - doesn't matter if you liked them or not.



10) "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer
Vampires? As if I'd ever read a book about vampires... well, that all changed post-Twilight.



9) "Londonstani" by Gautam Malkani
English is not my first language and slang and ghetto/East End/London speak was way out of my comfort zone when I read this one. It took me a bit to figure out how to read but it was absolutely worth it!

8) The Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo
Crime fiction is not something that I read a lot of. Actually I more or less never read it unless somebody really recommends a specific book. However, I borrowed some of the Harry Hole books on audio to listen to on the way to work and got hooked on anti-here main character, the classic renegade, alcoholic policeman with a talent for hunting serial killers.



7) "Until The Final Hour" by Traudl Junge
Real life stories is not something that I really read a lot. Just don't find it that interesting but this one is different. It is the story of Traul Junge, the young women who was a secretary to Hitler and who was in the bunker with him until the final hour. A little piece of history.



6)"Just a Girl" and "They Sent a Woman" by Lise NoergaardNot sure that ehse have been translated into English but these were the first biographies I read and I must have been 13 or 14 years old. They are amazing, all about being a girl in a time when boys were worth much more and a girl was... well, just a girl.



5)"The Ice House" by Minette WaltersThis was one of the first adult books I read and definitely the first crime fiction. I found it during vacation time when going through my parents shelves, desperate for something to read. The cover was very artsy with lots of bright colours and I was very taken with it.



4) "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood
I thought I didn't like dystopian - actually was quite sure that I hated it - until I read this one. Now one of my fave books ever.



3)"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane AustenThis one figures on almost all my lists! And I do love it so it makes sense... When I read P&P it was the first time I read a real English classic. Totally out of my comfort zone (preferred chick lit) but Colin Firth in a wet shirt had tempted me too much - I had to read it. I am so happy that I did!

2) "Anne of Green Gables" by L. M. Montgomery
When I just starting reading, for years most of what I read was books about horses. There were a few classic contemporarty childrens books as well but mostly I loved the ones with horses. Then the older sister of a friend recommended "Anne of Green Gables" and from then on a whole new world opened to me.



1) "Collected Poems" John Betjeman
I don't actually read a lot of poetry but I go back to the collected poems of John Betjeman again and again and again. Bought the books out of curiosity as it was really cheap and I just fell in love with the words and the style. I even have some of his poems recorded on my ipod. Amazing, amazing artist.

Review: "Forbidden"

The story of how I came to actually read "Forbidden" by Tabitha Suzuma is a bit stumbly. I read a blogger review and bought it immediately, received it in the mail and kind of changed my mind... then left it on shelf for a few weeks, decided to give it a try, read two pages and gave up. Then desperately needed something to read before an afternoon nap last weekend (I know, I'm in my mid-20s but had worked out and been for a long walk so needed sleep) and decided to give it a second chance. And then something happened because I never got that nap. Never went to the shops to buy food, neglected to cook a nice dinner for my boyfriend as I had planned and spent the afternoon and evening reading. The first three hours I didn't even move but then my boyfriend came to say that he would go buy take-away at which point I relocated from bed to sofa. Without letting go of the book for a moment... I read it until I had turned the last page and then I spent days thinking about the characters and story.

Maybe you've heard about the plot already - it has been given some attention in the blogosphere. "Forbidden" is about five siblings who are just children but who have to take on adult responsibilities because their dad has left and their mother is too busy drinking and being with her boyfriend. The two oldest are Lochan and Maya who not only have to go to school but also have to be parents to their siblings, one of whom is only five and one who is a troublesome teenage boy with a rebellious side. Lochan is ambitious and responsible, willing to do anything for his family and a star pupil. He is also shy to a degree where it becomes a disability. Maya does okay in school and she is well-liked and has lots of friends. But she is a 16-year-old girl who lives the life of a 30-year-old mother of three. All the have is each other and one day brother and sister fall in love.
Now you are probably thinking something along the lines of sick, disgusting, creepy, wrong. But actually I didn't think it was - I was far more affected by the neglect of the parents, the pure and utter lack of love and responsibility, than I was about the sister/brother relationship.
By the end of this book I was ready to adopt the lot of them. They were so real to me and I felt so horrible for them, I was so sad when the book was over, I just wanted more. Which is why I am very happy that Tabitha Suzuma has written several other books that I will definitely be reading soon!

Review: "Heart-Shaped Box"

I love real old-fashioned rockn'n'roll and the real rock'n'roll bands where the band members are no longer musicians but icons. The main character of Joe Hill's "Heart-Shaped Box" is one of those icons.
Judas Coyne (not the name he grew up with but the name he chose when he decided to dedicate his life to rock'n'roll) is an American hard rock icon who is now no longer a young, energetic biting-heads-of-bats type singer but a man in his 50's who is a little tired. He lives a rather quiet life on his farm with a personal assistant to take care of all of the practical stuff and a 26-year-old, gorgeous girlfriend to take care of his ego. His only real love is for his dogs - the personal assistant he regards as a strange necessity and the girlfriends are named for the states they are from, not who they are. In lieu of a real hobby and as part of his image, Jude collects odd things. Things that other people would regard with fear or suspicion or disgust. So when somebody is auctioning off an old suit and a ghost. Curious but disbelieving Jude buys it and then it goes horribly wrong. Because the suit does actually come with a real ghost, a real and very evil-spirited ghost that is out to get Jude, this is a ghost that holds a grudge. It all relates to Jude's ex-girlfriend, the frail and vulnerable Florida and the ghost has been sold to Jude by her older sister.

I would love to write me but I don't want to spoil anything so I will leave the story here and tell you why I really really enjoyed this book. It is a bit of gem really, different from any other book I have read - the only book that it reminds me of is "Horns", also by Joe Hill, but I liked "Heart-Shaped Box" better, mostly because of the characters. The storyline in "Horns" is much more interesting and different and cool but the characters of "Heart-Shaped Box" are outstanding.
I very quickly warmed to Jude, the rock'n'roll antiquity who is still wearing leather trousers even though he would probably prefer slippers. He is so clueless and that makes him likeable and cute actually. He also develops a lot through the book, discovering parts of himself that he seems to have lost while living life in the fast lane. And then there is his girlfriend, Georgia, who is one cool chick. A real tough girl on the outside but with a heart of gold, she takes no b-s from her less than charming boyfriend... Together they make quite a couple as they roadtrip through the south to get rid of a ghost.

You will like "Heart-Shaped Box" if: You enjoyed "Horns" by Joe Hill, if you are intrigued by Ozzy Osbourne and Mick Jagger or if you have ever bought something on Ebay that you didn't really know what was...