New Year

Well, it HAS been a long time since i was here last, hasn't it!...


No excuses or explanations, you know how it is, just on with the show eh?

Since the new year arrived, I havent read a thing. Well, I've started a couple, but finished nothing. So not much to report on that front.

Maybe it's an idea to sum up some favourites of last year...?. yes, I think I might just do that.

Last year I read A lot of Laurell K Hamilton. I was practically eating up those books (having been pointed in their direction by the lovely Stacy), sometimes reading about three in a week.

Two books which spring to mind as being particularly fabulous were:

Soon I will be invincible by Austin Grossman. Being a huge superhero fan, i adored this book, didnt want to end and now hope that there will be a sequel.

Mr Darcy Takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll. Any one who loves Pride and prejudice should like this book. Its not Jane Austen but all the characters are back doing new (and quite naughty) things, and I just loved it.

A classic I got around to reading this year was I am Legend by Richard Matheson. Picked up at my local library, I read this before I even knew about the new film of it.

An author I'd never previously tried, Iris Murdoch was a delightful discovery for me. I read The Severed Head and whilst it wasnt a particular favourite, I really liked her writing.

My top read of the year would have to go to Khaled Hossieni for his second book One thousand splendid suns. Its a fantastic book , I completely loved it.

What I Read - 2007

A List of all the titles I read last year....

In Alphabetical order:

*A Caress of Twilight - Laurell K Hamilton
*A Kiss of Shadows - Laurell K Hamilton
*A Stroke of Midnight - Laurell K Hamilton
*Be Careful What You Wish For - Alexander Potter
*Blood Lines - Tanya Huff
*Blood Pact - Tanya Huff
*Blood Price - Tanya Huff
*Blood Trial - Tanya Huff
*Bloody Bones - Laurell K Hamilton
*Blue Moon - Laurell K Hamilton
*Burnt Offerings - Laurell K Hamilton
*Cerulean Sins - Laurell K Hamilton
*Circus of the Damned - Laurell K Hamilton
*Dance Macabre - Laurell K Hamilton
*Getting rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon
*I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
*Incubus Dreams - Laurell K Hamilton
*Love Story - Erich Segal
*Lucy in the Sky - Paige Toon
*Mistrals Kiss - Laurell K Hamilton
*Mr Darcy takes a wife - Liinda Berdoll
*Narcissus in Chains - Laurell K Hamilton
*Night Pleasures - Sherrilyn Kenyon
*Obsidian Butterfly - Laurell K Hamilton
*Public Confessions of a Middle-aged Woman - Sue Townsend
*Seduced by Moonlight - Laurell K Hamilton
*Soon I will be Invincible - Austin Grossman
*Storm Front - Jim Butcher
*The Association - Bentley Little
*The Dead of Summer - Camilla Way
*The Harlequin - Laurell K Hamilton
*The Killing Dance - Laurell K Hamilton
*The Laughing Corpse - Laurell K Hamilton
*The Lunatic Cafe - Laurell K Hamilton
*The Moth Diaries - Rachel Klein
*The Observations - Jane Harris
*The Outsider - Albert Camus
*The Painted Veil - Somerset Maugham
*The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chboski
*The Severed Head - Iris Murdoch
*The Testament of Gideon Mack - James Robertson
*The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
*The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
*Two Lipsticks and A Lover - Helena Frith Powell

More For Your Money

You just gotta love the internet....

Checking out your favourite authors website is deffinately worthwhile these days, there seems to be just tons of lovely stuff on them. Not just information on release dates etc but really good stuff. Extra stories for free, between the books chronicles, even diaries of characters. There's all that and more. I've been browsing, and I am a happy lady.

Bad, bad girl

I know, I know, I know....

I promised I was going to finish up my "what I'm reading" list before picking up any other books - especially the, oh so tempting Laurell K Hamilton book which I really did try resisting....
Yes. I gave in.

But I have a good reason... really!

I was working my way through the list pretty diligently but I made one mistake. Usually, I can have several books on the go at once and can happily put them down and pick them up without needing to do any back reading, or at least, not very much. The one exception to this seems to be one of the books that was on my list - 100 years of solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I'd just found a good pace with the book, despite two of its problems: 1) most of the names are too similar and 2) it is pretty surreal. Anyway.. I'd gotten to page 92 when in between, I picked up another book. I read it, enjoyed it, then picked up the Marquez again. As I started to read, I realised I didnt have a clue who any of the characters were. I read back a little, to no avail, and so I've decided not to try to continue from page 92. I'll have to read from the begining again if I'm ever going to finish it. So having abandoned that book, I set about reading some of the books I have from the local library, I read the Laurell K Hamilton and have basically been loving everything I've read - reviews will follow.

What I've Read #5 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

woo, is that list coming down!...

and let's face it, it needed to.

I'm not going to give an overlong review of this book, to be honest, I just don't have the time. Suffice to say, this is a very good book. Hugely enjoyable; even though at times I felt it was too long.

I give this book 8 out of 10

J J J J J J J J J J

My Daughter heartily recommends....

Did I tell you that I've completely and utterly corrupted my daughter....?

She's three and already she has a huge shoe collection and a very enviable library.

Every day she likes me to read to her, sometimes it can be three or maybe more sessions in a day. She likes being read to whilst in the bath, obviously she likes stories at bedtime and all other times in between.

As well as this the childrens tv channel CBeebies, has a story time too. During one of these story times, a presenter read The Rattletrap Car, which my daughter thoroughly loved. She had me scooting around every bookshop in our area just to buy this book, but we didnt manage to get it.

Instead we hotfooted it to the library where they ordered it.

I wonder how many orders a library gets from a three year old...?

I'll give this book 10 stars on her behalf (and they'll be in red as it's her favourite colour); we've read this book so much already that i almost know the whole thing without having to look at the words!

* * * * * * * * * *

What I've Read #4 - The Shoe Queen - Ann Davis

Could there be a book more perfect for me???

I borrowed this one from the library - when I saw it, I just knew I had to read it.

the blurb on the inside flap reads: English society beauty Genevieve Shelby King parties to the utmost with the Anglo-American artists and writers of Montparnasse. She has a rich husband, a glamorous apartment and an enormous shoe collection. But there is something hollow at the centre of Genevieve's charmed life. When she spots a pair of unique and exquisite shoes on the feet of an arch rival one night, her whole collection - indeed everything she has - seems suddenly worthless. The exclusive designer Paolo Zachari, renowned for his fabulous shoes and eccentric behaviour, hand-picks his clients according to whim. And he has determined to say no to Genevieve. As her desire for the pair of unobtainable shoes develops into an obsession with their creator, Genevieve's elaborately designed life comes under threat, and she is forced to confront the emptiness at its heart.

This was an okay book. The title immediately appealed to me (of course!) and I adored the cover (which fits perfectly with my living room decor - perfect coffee table book) but I wasnt as impressed with it as I had hoped.

Don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the book.. it just wasnt great. Good...but not great. It'll appeal to lovers of chick lit.

I give it a 6 (although after ive thought on it, I may up the score to a seven)

J J J J J J J J J J