A Winter Garden Mystery - Carola Dunn 1995 ***

What started off as an exciting read turned into a boring and long, drawn out affair. Carola Dunn does a good job of drawing up the initial characters and staking out the plot, but then it slowly goes downhill and we wander off in a daze. Daisy Dalrymple is our heroine, a quirky journalist on a photographic assignment who finds herself drawn into a murder plot at Occles Hall, after a body is discovered in the grounds. I think Daisy is a brilliant heroine. She's young, fresh, intelligent and can give Poirot or Miss Marple a run for their money. This is the third book in the Daisy Dalrymple series (I was amazed to see that there were 20!) so I might not give up quite yet and try the first one.

Started 25th June

Finished 7th July

Wilt - Tom Sharpe 1976 ***

'Wilt' was a strange book. Some parts were very funny, but then others had me straight-faced.

Wilt is a bit of a pathetic human being. He's Head of 'Liberal Studies' at the local Tech, and finds his life a bit of a mess. His colossal wife Eva whines constantly at him leading him to fantasize about different ways of killing her, and when he finds himself in an awkward situation involving a giant inflatable doll at his neighbour's party, things get really sticky. When he decides in a drunken stupor to get rid of the doll down a man-hole, the police get the wrong idea and start to think it is his wife. Enter hilarity.

I like the plot for this, but as with other Tom Sharpe books, it trails off a bit towards the end. It obviously was a fairly popular book at the time of release as it spawned a number of other sequels so I might give the next novel a try. 

Started 23rd May

Finished 25th May

Porterhouse Blue - Tom Sharpe 1974 **** 1/2

As someone who works in one of the older Cambridge Colleges I can relate to this book in so many ways. It's witty, smart, and above all completely hits the nail on the head with regards to what goes on inside the Colleges. Porterhouse is obviously a 'subtle' nod towards Peterhouse, describing it almost to a tee with a satirical snigger. I just found this book very clever, and there were several parts (including a chapter about escaping contraceptives up a chimney) that had tears of laughter rolling down my face. Hilarious. Will be lending this to friends and recommending it to even more.

Started 21st May
Finished 22nd May

About a Boy - Nick Hornby 1998 **1/2

I think I might have to stop reading Nick Hornby now. Sure he's easy to read but I find his novels so depressing and full of despair that it takes a while to recover afterwards. I've seen the movie of this book so of course I already have pre-set notions of the characters but I must say overall I was disappointed with the general tone of the book. Hornby's characters are so unlikable that you struggle to find any sympathy for them or their personal situations. On this occasion it's safe to say that the film is much funnier.