The Adventures of Sally - P.G. Wodehouse 1922 - * * * *

One of the better Wodehouse's, I sped through this barely stopping to take a breath except when I wanted to laugh! Sally's travels around Europe and back to America make for very funny reading and I was sad to come to the end of this one although I know I have to so that I can start new Wodehouses. The thing I liked most about this was that I didn't get mixed up with the characters like I do in many of his books and managed to stay focused the entire novel. Brilliant.

Started 25th May
Finished 26th May

Stalked - Kate Brennan 2009 * * * *

This is the kind of book that would make a good horror film, the scary part would be that it is actually a true story. One of the few books that genuinely scared me and made me go around locking all the doors before bed last night this kind of book really gets under your skin. The scary thing about it is that this woman is stalked by someone she knows better than anyone who proclaimed to love her when they were together and also threw daily insults and put downs in her face ( one such occurance happens when he pats her arm patronizingly and tells her that it's such a shame that he isn't sexually attracted to her anymore and he really wishes he was but it's just not going to happen.) How insulting and demeaning, as if this man has a right to act this way and then get angry when she mentions she can't stand it anymore. Her stalker Paul sounds like a very frightening character and the fact that he is still at large after all this time means Kate has to constantly up and move house for fear of him finding her. That is no way to live your life constantly looking over your shoulder, but unfortunately it is a reality that Kate must now live with.
A riveting read.

Started 23rd May
Finished 24th May

Something Fresh - P.G.Wodehouse 1915 * * *

After a mix up at his friend's house, Lord Emsworth absent-mindedly pockets a valuable scarab and takes it back to his home Blandings, to add to his collection. Things go from bad to worse when his friend hires someone to steal the scarab back for him, which would be fine if the man he hired wasn't also up against a beautiful and secretive woman who coincidentally lives in the same block of flats as him and has been invited to Blandings as a cook ( she secretly wants the scarab). The trouble is neither knows about each other... let the chaos begin!!
Funny and easy to read, Wodehouse is not capable of writing a dud!!

Started 20th May
Finished 23rd May

The Throwback - Tom Sharpe 1978* * * *

The first Tom Sharpe I have ever read has had me in hysterics since the beginning. I finished it last night and towards the end I had to stop for a breather because my gasping and snorts of amusement was making it hard to breathe. Sharpe is effectively Wodehouse with all the rude bits thrown in. However just because he's rude doesn't mean he is vulgar and though critics have mentioned that they find him over the top he still has a jolly good sense of humour and isn't afraid to talk about anything. Don't read this on public transport as I doubt you would last the trip (the taxidermy incident nearly made me fall off my bed I was laughing so much) and besides, this type of humour should be savoured and appreciated at it's fullest sense. But that didn't stop me from finishing it all in 2 days!


Started 17th May
Finished 18th May ( late!!!)

What to Do When Someone Dies - Nicci French 2009* * * * 1/2

This is my first Nicci French novel and is certainly not going to be the last. The story is a compulsive page-turner ( I read it in just over a day) and the layout of the story is very believable. If you found out that your husband had died in a car with another women how would you feel? Hurt, angry, betrayed or not convinced? That is how Ellie feels after learning that her husband met his death in a car with a glamourous yet unknown woman. And she won't rest until she finds out the truth.
All I can say is if all the Nicci French books are this good I'll be hoicking them to the top of my TBR pile!

Started 16th May
Finished 17th May

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie 1926 * * * * *

I'd heard high aclaim for this book but seldom is praise this justified. Christie's first novel surroundingthe mysterious murder of Roger Ackroyd is a compelling and thrilling read. The ending is well known for making you go, ' I don't believe it but I knew it all along!' and I felt exactly the same after finishing. This book has really made me want to explore more of her work and I am already building up quite a collection of her books!

Started 13th May

Finished 16th May

The Girl on the Boat - P.G. Wodehouse 1922 - * * *

Wodehouse has done it yet again, this time aboard a cruise ship where cousins meet ex-fiances and new fiances meet old acquaintances who aren't always what or whom they seem ( are they ever in his books???). This book is funny, silly, and more to the point exactly what we want from Mr W. You can never feel sad when finishing any of his books, except of course for the fact that it's over. He transports us to a world where men are genteel and wear smoker's jackets and women are pretty, silly little things who need to be protected but seem to have strong opinions. You can count on the men acting like idiots and mucking up in front of the women in an attempt to show off, but with Wodehouse you are 100% sure that the women will always forgive them; that's the kind of world I'd love to live in.


Started 9th May
Finished 12th May

Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller 2003* * * *

Having seen the film I was immediatly making judgements about this book before I'd even started it. However the film and the book don't always cover the same ground and certainly end very differently (I prefered the ending of the film) but there were many parts that were similar. I think the idea for this story is very good and rather daring for a book, dealing with underage affairs between pupils and teachers and the consequences for all those around.
Barbara is a lonely mid-sixties spinster who spots pretty new pottery teacher Sheba at her first day in the elementary school. Recognising ( in her own head) a kindred spirit, Barbara and Sheba become very close ( Barbara records everything in her diary) and it is only when Sheba confides the news of an affair between herself and a 15 year old boy from the school that Barbara's world threatens to come crashing down.
Brilliantly addictive. The kind of book you stay up late to read even when you can barely keep your eyes open.

Started 7th May
Finished 9th May

Laughing Gas - P.G. Wodehouse 1936 - * * * *

I blasted my way so fast through this book that the first thing I did this morning when I woke up (at 4 am!) was to finish it! This is extremely funny about a newly appointed Earl - Reggie Havershot who, after being sent to America to track down his newly alcoholic cousin Eggy happens to go to the dentist's at the same time as a young child star named Joey Cooley and subsequently they are given laughing gas. When they awake... you've guessed it, they have switched bodies but still have the same minds, leading to some hilarious and typically Wodehouse situations. His books just keep getting funnier.

Started 6th May
Finished 8th May

Pig Island - Mo Hayder 2006* * * *

This book holds a certain meaning to me, for a few years ago I was on the train to London and once I'd reached the tube station I noticed an advert for this book on the wall. The image never left me and although I forgot ( many times) the title of the book I swore to myself that I would read it someday. And now I have. Mo Hayder has a brilliant way of enticing the reader into the story and keeping you there as a prisoner until you are too weak or tired to read anymore. This book barely took me any time at all and I was terrified, excited, entranced and amazed by the subject matter. I really enjoyed this.

Started 4th May
Finished 6th May

Uncle Fred in the Springtime - P.G. Wodehouse 1939* * *

Like all his books, Wodehouse manages to incorporate unique and funny language with ( most of the time) bizarre and hilarious plots! This time we are treated with a trip to Blandings' Castle, where the prized pig 'The Empress' gets embroiled into a kidnapping plot including a couple of the members of the Castle! Confused? You will be, but it's all in good fun really and another light and frothy read from the Master.

Started 26th April

Finished 3rd May

The Beach - Alex Garland 1996* * *

Without meaning to I spent most of this book comparing it to the film even though I knew that the film had changed things around and missed things out!

I won't say this is a great book by any standards, but it was certainly captivating and I really couldn't wait for lunch break every day to get back stuck into it ( it's been my work only reading book!). I thought the first half of the book was very well written with amazing descriptions of Thailand and surrounding scenery but later on into the novel my interest lagged a bit, and near the end I was just desperate to see what happened. The ending was a big disappointment to me, a) because the events surrounding it were just a blur to me and b) nothing was explained or justified. Yet again I was comparing the end to the ending in The Beach and it was nothing like it (dare I say that the film ending was a lot better and much more fullfilling..) Of course I am not going to dislike a book simply because the ending doesn't work out the way I want it to as sometimes that can be even more refreshing, but I'm not impressed when authors spend ages enticing you with gorgeous prose until about 3 pages before the end then suddenly decide that's enough and you are plunged out the other side! Worth a read, but I'm afraid to say the film IS better.

Started 22nd April

Finished 28th April

Cocktail Time - P.G. Wodehouse 1958 * * * *

As I had hoped, Wodehouse is getting funnier with each read (although so far I am only on my second out of nearly 100!) and I sped through this book in 2 days. Wodehouse has a lovely easy way or writing and drawing you in that means you literally cannot put the book down ( it was taken into every room of the house, held whilst cooking and read whilst walking to put the rubbish out to the bin!) and that is what I love about him. The premise of this novel is effectively a story about a story. We are introduced to Lord Ickenham who, one day after feeling particulary naughty, takes a catapult and shoots his in-law Beefy in the head with a Brazil Nut. Unaware of who the culprit is, Beefy publishes an annonymous and scandelous novel about the events and then, because he is afraid that exposure may ruin his chances in politics he lets his dreadful cousin Cosmo take all the credit, and the royalties! Mayhem ensues of course! Hilarious!

Started 20th April

Finished 21st April

Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman E.W. Hornung 1890 *

Try as I did to like this I just couldn't. It was dull, tedious and most importantly unfunny! I liked the idea of a cracksman who is also a keen cricketer but it was poorly executed and the characters were so boring and unlikeable!

Within the first page it is almost as though we have been thrown headfirst into a story that is already in the middle of happening and therefore we are given the impression that we have missed a lot including Raffles and Bunny getting to know each other and planning their ideas meticulously (although they never work properly!)

It was a chore to finish this book and that is not what a good novel is about; this author will never be a Sherlock Holmes or have his extreme dry humour and simply genius ideas, nor should he even try.

Started 12th April

Finished 18th April

The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova 2005 * * * *

Having finally finished this book yesterday I breathed a huge sigh of relief. This was an amazing book, not simply because of the story but because of the intricate detail that Kostova put into researching the folklore of Dracula, and his surrounding homeland. There are literally pages and pages of descriptive beauty as the story shifts from present to past and the hero/heroine comes across sumptuous countries and traditions.

Not everyone will like this book, purely because the legend of Dracula is a tricky subject, and also because some people feel that this is author is trying to overtake Bram Stoker's wonderful book.

She is doing no such thing and if anything is bringing the Dracula myth to the surface, alive and kicking. I am astounded at some of the folklore that Kostova shares with us, and also how she intergrates it into the story. I think she really deserves praise for the book and for her dedicated research, added to which the story itself was really gripping with some solid and heartfelt characters.

The one thing I wasn't keen on was how the story shifted immediatly from past to present without much of a warning, which gave me the impresssion that sometimes I was reading the account of the wrong person. The whole account is a story inside a story so to speak which can make you loose track sometimes, but overall that didn't stop me loving the idea of the story, and spending ages thinking afterwards 'as Vlad Tepes (Dracula) was a real person, who's to say this folklore couldn't be true and that he may not be alive today in some shape or form?..'

Started 1st March ( I was only reading this at work so it has taken longer!)

Finished 20th April

Sweeney Todd : The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Peter Haining 1993* * * *

I've gone back to being fascinated by the legend of Sweeney Todd after recently re-watching the newest film with Johnny Depp and so was pretty excited to find that this book had been written, trying to prove that his story was more than just a myth, but actually a reality. Although in my rather grotesque mind I had hoped that it was based on truth I didn't really start to believe it until I read this book, where the author has painstakingly laid out all the evidence from first-hand accounts to newspaper articles and proven (in my opinion) that Todd was a real life person. I think one of the reasons that the public have got it into their head that Todd was a character of fiction is because there were many plays performed of his story fifty years or so after the events were supposed to have happened.I also think that people could not believe that something this gruesome could have occured in our society and decided to denounce it as ever having happened,(which is where the writer makes excellent references to Sawney Bean, who, along with his lover, allegedly killed and decapitated hundreds of people in 16th Century Scotland, pickling their body parts ready to be eaten. This gastly event is well documented and thoroughly believed by all so why can't the same be said for Sweeney Todd?).
The book is brilliantly written and very well researched and is a welcome breath of air to all books that base themselves purely on Sweeney's Todd's "legendary" existance.


Started 10th April
Finished 12th April

Money For Nothing - P.G. Wodehouse 1928 * * *

With nearly 100 Wodehouse novels to get through I decided to go down to the library and take a few out to start me off so that I'd know if I liked the style of his writing. I can say that I really enjoyed the way Wodehouse wrote and think these books would be brilliant for an easy read which is sometimes what I desperately need!
The plot roughly follows a group of likeable fellows who decide to stage a robbery to get some much needed money by breaking into their friend's house;with his say-so! The only trouble is a few other people catch on to what is happening and cannot keep it secret forever...
Can't wait for the next one!

Started 27th March
Finished 10th April

How could he do it? - Emma Charles 2008 * * * *

I think this is to be the last misery memoir that I read for a while because there comes a point where you find yourself too depressed to continue reading book after book of ghastly and disgusting information about child abuse. The difference with this book is that Emma Charles is not the daughter but the mother, and she decided to write the book to give her events of how difficult it was for her monster of a husband Daniel to get convicted because of his sexual abuse on her daughter Tamsin. She painstakingly takes us through the weeks and months after finding our from her daughter about the horror that she endured and explains how awful it was for her and her family when her husband refused to give them any money to live on and so for a time they were barely making it through with benefits that she managed to receive from her disability. It really speaks volumes to have a book written like this and in a way it was more interesting than some of the other memoirs I have read by the children themselves because it shows us how corrupt and uncaring people like the Social Services and the Criminal Justice System can be (for example Daniel's lawyer tried to make out that Tamsin who was under ten at the time of the event had thrown herself on her father and forced him to perform sexual acts on her, an idea that is so disgusting and insulting that it is almost laughable) and for that I am glad I have read it and my eyes have been opened.

Started 25th March
Finished 30th March

Norwich Murders - Maurice Morson 2006 - * * * *

I cannot help but be interested in murders that take place in places that I have visited before. Although I didn't know every part of this book of Norwich-based murders I certainly knew enough to be thoroughly amazed and disgusted by some of the cases.
The particular highlights for me were the last trilogy of murders from about 1860-1950 all based around passionate killers. Very eerie to see pictures where the bodies were found and areas the suspects were arrested etc.
Very well written.

Started 22nd March
Finished 27th March

Sickened - Julie Gregory 2003 *

This was quite frankly a really boring and badly written book. The author writes in a peculiar and barely readable way, mixing up real and fantasy in a way that really confused me. I didn't enjoy it at all and I'm very pleased it's over.

Started 20th March
Finished 26th March

The Edible Woman - Margaret Atwood 1969 * * * *

Margaret Atwood has an amazing knack of conjuring up a vivid and distinctive picture of a certain scene for me when I read and although this is shamefully my first Atwood it won't be my last. She writes in a perfectly normal way with a hint of bizarre obscurity. I was also surprised to learn that she was only 23 when she wrote this, her first novel and although there are hints of a naive writer there are also parts of the book that seem incredibly mature. I look forward to sampling more of her books.

Started 19th March
Finished 23rd March

Crimes of Passion: An unblinking look at murderous love - Howard Engel 2001 * * * *

Although this book took quite a while to get into I found it really fascinating to read about so many cases (some that I knew, and some that were unknown to me) where people have either got off a jail sentence (or the death penalty)when it was clear it was premeditated murder or have been executed when they really shouldn't have been because it was literally a crime of passion. The cases span back hundreds of years from the case of Grace Marks (who was written about as the subject of Margaret Atwood's novel 'Alias Grace') right until more recent ones including the case of Lorena Bobbitt who cut off her husbands' penis after a row. Very well written and documented.

Started 7th March
Finished 19th March (was also reading other things!)

Forgotten - Les Cummings 2008 * * *

Not a bad read, I got through it pretty fast, written in an easy style and this time we are confronted with the dreadful story of a boy who is abused in the children's home that he is sent to after being abandoned by his mother. This man really confronts his demons later on in his life though and it is a relief to read.

Started 17th March
Finished 19th March

Broken - Shy Keenan 2008* *

Although this story was dreadful and hearbreaking I didn't much care for the way it was written. References began to annoy me afterwards such as rape being called 'doing the horrible' which came up on nearly every page and for that I don't want to rate it higher than 2 stars. That is only for the writing style and technique however and nothing to do with the story - unlike fiction you cannot even think of rating a story such as this because it seems like an insult to mark it out of five. Still it has taken me a lot longer than some misery memoirs I have read in the past.

Started 5th March
Finished 17th March

Bel-Ami - Guy De Maupassant 1885* * * * *

A first book from this writer for me, but it definitely won't be my last. A wonderful portrayal of 19th century Paris and the ruthless, money-grabbing chauvinist that is Georges Duroy a.k.a Bel-Ami to his friends and many adoring mistresses. Maupassant has an amazing way of capturing Paris through his writing and when reading about his walks up and down various streets at night one could almost make believe that you were there too. His writing style is exquisite and the story is one of the best satires about a corrupt social-climbing manipulator that I have ever read.
Amazing.

Started 1st March
Finished 9th March

The Chocolate Run - Dorothy Koomson 2004* * * *

I'd never heard of this writer before until a good friend recommended her and I sped through this book. This was incredibly easy to read and I found that I really cared about the main character and what happened to her from beginning until end, however I did manage to guess the big 'secret' way before the finish but all the same a fun read.

Started 2nd March
Finished 5th March

Intimate Adventures of an Office Girl - Sienna Lewis 2009* * * * *

I thoroughly enjoyed this account of an office girls' exploration into one night stands, sex clubs and 'uncomplicated' flings. Written in a very real and very refreshing way, Sienna manages to pull the reader straight into her life and witness her failings at finding 'the one.'
Great Read.

Started 1st March
Finished 3rd March

Please don't make me go - John Fenton 2009- * * * *

This story really touched a nerve. I'm not sure if it was the way the boy had been brought up to believe that violence was a normal part of life, or the fact he was so religious despite all the trauma he went through including being sexually abused and beaten and caned by the sadistic Brothers at his school - St Vincent's.
Written in a very easy style to read I skimmed through this book in no time.

Started 23rd February
Finished 26th February

Evil Psychopaths - Gordan Kerr 2009* * * *

I have quite a few books based around this subject but am always on the look out for more and so I was pleased to find this in my library. It covers quite few killers that I've heard of already and know of quite well but also shows a few lesser known characters who have the ability to shock and disgust all the readers.
A good book but with some obvious mistakes such as spelling.

Started 22nd February
Finished 26th February

The Most Evil Women in History - Shelley Klein 2003 * * * *

This book had it's good and bad parts. The selection of women was interesting and there were a few that I hadn't heard of which is very rare for me. However a few of the women mentioned at the beginning of the book were simply double acts to their powerful husbands and were drunk on the power of what he could do instead of being ruthless killing machines themselves. There will always be a difference on opinion on books like this as certain people find certain female killers worse than others and so the definative list will never be 'correct.'
Each woman however was covered with a lot of information and each of their stories was interesting/gruesome to the extreme.

Started 19th February
Finished 23rd February

Don't Tell Mummy - Toni Maguire 2007* * * *

I devoured this book in just over a day. I simply could not stop reading it and finding myself moved beyond belief. When Toni is questioned about her father's actions by the police they actually ask her if she enjoyed what he did to her because she had not mentioned what was happening for so many years! How depraved is that in a society where the police are supposed to help and support instead of patronise and insult the victims.
Spell-binding read.

Started 17th Febraury
Finished 18th February

Mummy Knew - Lisa James 2009* * *

Another vile and depraved story about a girl who is sexually abused by her father with her mother's full knowledge. How a mother can literally sit back and let something like this happen is beyond belief. Her claims were that he would 'take it out on her if he didn't get what he wanted from Lisa' when in reality a normal and sane person would have run to the police taking her little girl with her to get away from this monster.

Started 12th February
Finished 15th February

Punished - Vanessa Steel 2009* * * *

An absolutely disgusting and heartbreaking story of a little girl who is abused systematically first by her mother and then by her grandfather while her mother does nothing. These books really do draw me in and I can't stop reading them for their dreadful stories.
Had me on the edge of my seat as I read.

Started 11th February
Finished 12th February

Remember Me? - Sophie Kinsella 2008* * * *

Totally hilarious as always, Sophie Kinsella is one of my favourite chick lit writers and everytime she brings out a new book I have to read it. This was particularly funny based around a woman who wakes up after a night out and finds that time has gone forward by years and years and that she is married! The only problem is she has no idea who her husband is or why all of her best friends from work suddenly hate her guts.
Quick to read and very very funny.

Started 10th February
Finished 11th February

Derailed - James Siegel 2003* * * *

I saw the film of 'Derailed' ages ago and thought it was pretty good. Seeing that this was the debut novel from James Siegel I thought I would check this out too and see how different the two were. I found myself gripped and mesmerised by the story. It is brilliantly written and very easy to get through, and I found myself staying up late and waking up early this weekend to read more and more. Compelling and exciting. Started 5th February Finished 7th February

Silenced - Vicky Jaggers 2009 * * * *

I finished this book today and so far I have read this and Escaping Daddy in two days. I am ashamed (is that the right word?) to say I'm addicted to these books. I really don't know why but as you read them you feel like everything is much better in your life even though that's a dreadful way to look at these stories. They are also terribly frustrating because you know how differently you would do things if you were in that situation which is quite upsetting as you are reading. However another well written account.

Started and finished 5th February

Escaping Daddy - Maria Landon 2008 * * *

This was yet again a pretty gastly story, although it was so easy to read that I finished it in one day. Maria's story was dreadful, being abused by her father and then finding out that she really had no alternative than to go back to him when she had no where else to go. The writing flowed well and I was totally engrossed.

Started and Finished 4th February

Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis 1954* * * * *

What can I say about Lucky Jim? It really incapsulates the feeling of a 1960's college and Amis's writing is absolutely hilarious. Dixon is the most peculiar yet lovable character that I have read for a long time, you can't decide whether to find him a rude and arrogant chauvanist (he isn't interested in women who don't have a perfect figure or face) or feel incredibly sorry for him as he tries desperately to cling onto his job after mishap after mishap takes place. Having seen the hilarious film starring Ian Carmichael as Jim I could not help but place parts of what I was reading back into the movie, especially Dixon's encounters with Bertrand (who Terry Thomas played with jest and humour). This book will never be a chore to read and I ended up trying to slow myself down towards the end because I didn't want it all to be over.

Started 29th January
Finished 3rd February

Little Face - Sophie Hannah 2006* * *

I'm finding it hard to decide what I think of this book. I devoured in just over a day and when I got to the end I realised I was desperately disappointed. The writer is very good at telling the story but contrary to many reviews I actually found the constant junp from one character's story to the next (as well as the jump from 1st to 3rd person) most annoying. I thought the idea of the story was brilliant as I am always interested in slightly eerie and unnatural ideas that 'could just happen' but the ending was really unfair on the readers as it suddenly blurted out an idea that had been hidden pretty much through the whole novel and so we would have had no way of understanding that perspective. All I can say on the good side was that actually I wasn't expecting the ending and it did surprise me which is what a good novel should do. I also couldn't put it down so that was another positive as I love being gripped by a book, but the story could have been woven in a slightly more sympathetic way to the readers.

Started 27th January
Finished 28th January

Deliver Me From Evil - Alloma Gilbert 2008* * * * *

Sorry to say this, and I don't mean it as an insult to this poor girl but I really couldn't put this book down. I gave misery memoirs a rest for a while at the end of last year because there are only so many of those books you can actually deal with without slumping into total depression yourself. As it was a new year I opted for this book, knowing that the crimes commited by this child's 'foster mother' were especially dreadful (how sick does that make me sound, but you can't deny that a really disturbing story is totally gripping to read!). As I raced on devouring page after page I was disgusted by Eunice Spry's behaviour and many times found myself screaming at the book in total rage as she acted this way to these children and actually got away with it (the people who had suspicions such as Alloma's teachers never actually bothered to make their feelings known to the social services). This women then went on to deny all charges as she appeared in court and blame her fostered children as the culprits of her 'firm' behaviour.
She has now been sentenced to 8 years in jail, but whether that goes anywhere near repairing the mental and physical damage she has done to these children is another thing. My feelings are probably not.
Although a totally awful subject, I couldn't put the book down.

Started 22nd January
Finished 23rd January

The Mist in the Mirror - Susan Hill 1992* * * *

Susan Hill has the amazing knack of totally terrifying and paralysing her reader. Some of the scenes she created in this book are still on my mind now as they were so detailed in description that it makes you feel you have watched the scenes on t.v. Parts of this book will not allow you to go to sleep if you are reading at night and I have had to limit myself to reading it during the day so as not to scare myself rigid.
I have never read 'The Woman in Black' but hear that it is even scarier than this book and so it gives me a good enough reason to want to get it.
The reason it hasn't been given full marks is because of the ending. So much happens in such a short space of time and then all of a sudden it's over. We barely know why and it feels like Hill just decided to wrap it up there and then instead of tying up any loose areas of the plot. I was disappointed by that as I had become so immersed in the story that it was quite a shame to have it all just pulled away.
Still the majority of the book was great and guaranteed to give anyone who reads it a scared few nights.

Started 16th January
Finished 26th January

Possession - A.S. Byatt 1990* * * *

This book was fantastic to read and really held me gripped throughout. The story was original and I loved the tangled stories within the story. The one downside I will say for this book is that some of the letters to and from Christabel and Randolph just dragged on far too long. At one time we have a good ten pages of detailed letters including conversations about insects and various types or rock. My mind started to wander at these times as well as with the poetry, but the actual modern day story really held my attention. I will definately read more of Byatt's work, for she has a beautiful lyrical style to her words that I have rarely seen these days.

Started 10th January
Finished 13th January

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