The Lost Boy - Dave Pelzer 1997 * * * *

This was the follow up to 'A Child called IT' which I gobbled up in less than a day, and yet again I found myself staying up late to finish this one! David's life has by now progressed to foster care and this book follows his different relationships with varying homes that take him. To say I enjoyed it would be in bad taste for it is a true account of someone's life, but I must say I was gripped throughout and am looking forward to reading 'A Man Named Dave.'

Started August 6th
Finished August 6th

Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years - Sue Townsend 2003 * * * * *

Adrian Mole is a character that I can read at any time and still find myself laughing non-stop at. I have read all his books many times and still find new things to laugh at with each renewal. Sue Townsend is a brilliant writer and I find it amazing that she can write so freely and realistically about the life of a man!

Started 5th August
Finished 6th August

World Famous Murders - Colin Wilson * * * * 1/2

I always have the knack of picking up a book on true crime that I haven't read yet and that was what happened with this book. I found it, bought it and read it all in the space of two days. Wilson writes with a surprisingly clear and open manner and I was fascinated by some of the lesser - known cases that he mentioned. Very easy to read.

Started 4th August
Finished 5th August

Ghost Girl - Torey Hayden 1991 * * * * 1/2

I have never read Torey Hayden, after reading so many misery memoirs she was someone I was trying to stay clear of until I'd finished all the others out there, but when this book jumped at me off the shelf I had to give it a go. Within about ten minutes I was hooked and devoured the book speedily. In fact I stayed up late and woke up early to finish it! And I did!
Brilliant and captivating story.

Started 2nd August
Finished 3rd August

Sons and Lovers - D. H. Lawrence 1913 * * * *

I have heard so much about D.H.Lawrence that I was desperate to try one of his books. Sons and Lovers is widely acclaimed as one of the great works of English literature and it was so with a beating heart that I decided to tackle it! Although the novel has taken me a considerable amount of time I am really in awe of Lawrence's writing technique and am keen to read all the rest of his books. His desciptions of life and nature are sumptious and can be pictured vividly in one's head.

Started 18th July
Finished 2nd August

A Child Called 'IT' - Dave Pelzer * * * *

Supposedly one of the best-selling 'misery memoirs' of it's time, this book shocks, grips and pains with its true account of the little boy who was beaten, abused and mentally tortured by his monster of a mother who refused to call him anything other than 'IT.' At times this book was so painful to read that I had to put it down and go back to it a few days later.

Started 10th July
Finished 18th July

Gentlemen and Players - Joanne Harris * * * * 1/2

A brilliantly crafted and suspenseful book filled with all the things that make me want to read it. Joanne Harris writes brilliantly and I am very keen to read many more of her novels. She has a knack of making any topic exciting and the twist at the end of this book really knocked me back.
Divine.

Started 2nd July
Finished 15th July

The Girl with the Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier * * * * *

What a totally engrossing and unbearably powerful novel following the life of the servant girl Griet and her master, the painter Johannes Vermeer. The book is written sumptuously and the images portrayed are amazingly vivid and real - a winner with me.

Started 16th June
Finished 18th June

Street Kid - Judy Westwater * * *

A little slow to start, but this book certainly picked up later on and had me on tenterhooks until the end - a really disgustingly brutal and abusive story that makes you angry to read it and not be able to help.


Started 7th June
Finished 13th June

The Step Child - Donna Ford * * *

Although not as gripping as the last misery memoir that I was reading was, this still kept me reading until the end. The account was disgustingly graphic and painful to read in some parts but very well put together all the same.


Started 30th May
Finished 5th June

Adrian Mole : The Cappuccino Years - Sue Townsend * * * * *

Well what can I say except that Sue Townsend always makes me luagh out loud, especially whilst on public transport and I really enjoyed this installment of Mr Mole and his family. In his own words he is a '21st Century Mole!' I know I have read this book before but the thing I love about Adrian is that I can read every one of his books and then go straight back to the beginning without feeling in the least bit bored, his books deserve to be read at least once every month!


Started 21st May
Finished 23rd May

Don't Ever Tell - Kathy O'Bierne * * * *

I have recently become obsessed with the world of 'misery memoirs' and after trying desperately to get a hold of some I stumbled across this gut-wrenching tale of a little girl growing up in the Magdalen Laundries in Ireland. I find the whole subject really eerie and devestating because of how it was covered up by the authorities and so devoured the book in just over a day. Having recently found out that this book is actually a fake account still does not demote the emotion that I felt from reading it and if anything I would very much like to read another account and compare the two to see if anything she said actually rang true.


Started 16th May
Finished 17th May

Maurice - E.M. Forster * * * *

A divine and intelligently written work based on the life of famed author E.M Forster dealing with the subject of his closet homosexuality. I found references to the Cambridge colleges divine as I live close to them and was especially interested to see that Forster appears to describe his reaction to homosexuality in the same sort of way as Oscar Wilde, another of my idols although the book never appears dirty or perverted.


Started 10th May
Finished 15th May

Getting Rid of Matthew - Jane Fallon * * * * *

Although quite long for a 'chick lit' novel I really felt this book could be read at an amazingly fast pace and I stayed up late two nights to read more because I loved the characters and story! By the end of the novel I was totally rooting for the main character and felt her sadness and happiness!


Started 8th May
Finished 10th May

Conversations with the Fat Girl - Liza Palmer * * * *

A very funny and light-hearted novel about best friends who drift apart and find it difficult to come together again. Very easy and quick to read, it was read in just over one sitting!


Started 2nd May
Finished 3rd May

The Last Summer - Boris Paternak *

An awfully written, tedious piece of literature which was about as enjoyable as watching some paint dry, I'm relieved this wasn't a long novel as I would have given up if it had been and as it was I was dragging myself through it not enjoying it at all. This is a testament to show that not all 'classics' are worth reading!


Started 4th March
Finished 4th March

Amphitryo - Plautus * *

Not a favourite of mine out of the four plays, but not a bad effort although the idea of the Gods pretending to be mortals just became too confusing and the story didn't lead to a finish.


Started 2nd March
Finished 4th March

Three Dollar Day - Plautus * * * *

Very amusing, this and the first play 'The Ghost' are so far my favourites. You really can laugh out loud with these, amazingly up-to-date humour!


Started 1st March
Finished 2nd March

The Rope - Plautus * * *

While not as funny as the previous play 'The Ghost' I still found this an enjoyable romp with the Greeks, as a pair of shipwrecked whores are washed up on the shore next to the temple of Venus after being kidnappd from Athena by a pimp,however they are unaware that their former master has also been washed up alive and well...
This kind of storyline makes it almost impossible to believe that Plautus was writng such a long time ago, for he still maintains a certain modernism and humour to his work today!


Started 1st March
Finished 1st March

The Ghost - Plautus * * * *

A satirically funny look at 200BC Roman comedy as only Plautus knew how, contrasting in many modern opinions and outbursts along the way - very funny!


Started 1st March
Finished 1st March

The Bridges of Madison County - Robert James Waller * * * 1/2

No way near as powerful and heart-wrenching as the movie, which is a now rare occurance in books, but still a moving portrayal of a passionate affair. Lovely easy reading but would prefer to watch the film again than read this for a second time.


Started 1st March
Finished 1st March

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner - James Hogg * * 1/2

Although the story to this novel was genius (in fact it was said to be the idea for Dr Jeykll and Mr Hyde) the language was awful to read. Quarter of a way into the book I was contemplating giving up, and I don't normally give up on books. The second half improved, but not enough that when I had finished the book I didn't give a cry of relief. 18th Century Scottish can get a bit much sometimes! So in short, great story, terrible language!


Started 26th February
Finished 28th February

Come and Tell me Some Lies - Raffaella Barker * * *

Unlike her other non stop hilarious novels, Barker has recounted the story of her life in a painfully brutal and honest way. The relationship she had with her father and how she coped when her mother went driving in a blonde wig with no license, this book offers a fascinating insight into her life that is also surprisingly charming and funny.


Started 26th February
Finished 27th February

Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh * * * *

A hilarious account of upper class life at Oxford, where the concept of teaching there is even more unpleasant than going to jail! Evelyn Waugh is a genius, and I am desperate now to read many more of his ageless and brilliant novels of 1920's England.


Started 23rd February
Finished 26th February

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte * * *

After seeing the film I decided this was a book I had to read. Everyone has an opinion about this book and I do as well. I absolutely loved the first part of the novel, but found the second half a bit slow, that may be because I was thinking the book would be exactly like the 1939 movie, and so when the movie finished there was still another half of the book left that I didn't understand at all. I think from now on I should concentrate on reading books before I see the film!


Started : 17th February
Finished : 23rd February

Playing Away - Adele Parks * * * * *

Adele Parks is fastly becoming one of my favourite writers. Her wit and realistic heartache are all too real in this fun-packed and humourous look into what happens when you are happily married but crave a bit of excitement, how far will you go...?


Started: 13th February
Finished:15th February

Affinity - Sarah Waters * * * *

I thoroughly enjoyed my first Sarah Waters novel and my pleasure is such that I am determined to find her remaining novels and read those also. This is a powerful and heart-wrenching piece of literature about a woman who falls in love with a female prisoner at Millbank Prison at the turn of the 20th century who is said to possess other-worldly powers...


Started 9th February
Finished 13th February