Service with a Smile - PG Wodehouse - 1962 ****

I'm very pleased to be able to say that this latest Wodehouse binge of mine was back on top form again after several questional works I read beforehand. However my goal is to read as much of him as possible and you can't expect even excellent writers not to have a few bad works.

Introduced once again to Uncle Fred who can always put a smile on our face, Lord Emsworth who has such a heart-felt attachment to his home Blandings that he cannot bear to be torn away and of course the star of the show, the Empress of Blandings, one of the most pampered and respected pigs of the county (well that's what Lord Emsworth thinks anyway!) who in turn is adored and despised by certain people. The plot is fairly similar and people of course will have that strange feeling of deja-vu that the whole thing has been done before, but that is one of the reasons I keep going back to Wodehouse, because I know that with him at least I am guaranteed to bask in vintage England.

Started 4th April

Finished 14th April

Murder in the Mews - Agatha Christie - 1937 *****

What a superb collection of short stories from the Mistress of Crime. I didn't actually realise when I started reading this book that there were 4 stories and was getting quite engrossed in the first one when it ended and I was plunged into yet another beautifully written piece!

If anything these stories are even more clever than her full-length ones, because she manages to cram in all the fascinating plot, suspects and final scene into a few pages with exactly the same amount of panache and excellence! Added to which they are short and sharp, leaving you wanting more and only by reading another immediatly can you feel better. She really is a genius at work.

My favourite story was 'Murder in the Mews' followed closely by 'Dead Man's Mirror' which both had absolutely brilliant storylines and amazing twists which as always, knock you out and make you go 'It was there all the time and I never saw it', that for me is the mark of a true genius.

Started 26th March

Finished 29th March

Your Heart Belongs to Me - Dean Koontz 2009 * * *

I'm pretty sure this is the first Dean Koontz novel I have read, and it certainly was an easy read. The story itself is pretty bizarre and weird but apparently that is Dean Koontz's style. However, the first part of the book introduces us to Ryan, a rich kid with a beautiful girlfriend named Sam. After a terrifying ordeal involving his heart he finds out he needs urgent surgery. His operation is a success but what happens afterwards is definitely not on the side-effects list.

The plot is a bit jumpy further into the book and I must say that the ending doesn't make any sense at all, but I guess that's the point of a book like this. Will have to read another of his books to see how his style changes. My idea of an ideal horror/thriller is a sort of adult Point Horror, I wonder if I will ever find one.

Started 18th January

Finished 19th January

A Woman's Life - Guy de Maupassant 1883 * * * * *

By now I have come to realise that Maupassant is a complete and utter genius and that this second book of his which I raced through was equally as amazing and excellently written as his other. His writing style is light years ahead of the time it was written in and the story is packed with exciting and devestating betrayals and infidelities that are still relevent and present in today's society. I am so struck with how easy I have found Maupassant's work, as before I started Bel-Ami I had the stereotypical view that classic French literature would be up there with Russian works in terms of how hard it was to read and understand. How wrong I was. Another amazing thing is how much I can relate to his novels, in particular A Woman's Life which has never happened to such an extent before. I literally devoured this book and understood and sympathised with every single aspect of Jeanne's life. To be able to relate so strongly to a male author writing over 110 years ago has made me almost burst with joy and wetted my palate for more French classic literature. Yet again another tragic waste of a brilliant mind (Maupassant died aged 42) which is so disheartening when you see how absolutely superb his stories and style are. For him not to have understood or believed in his greatness is genuinely heartbreaking. One of the best things I can say about Maupassant is that he hasn't aged. Some authors writing more recently than him are now incredibly dated and 'old-fashioned' but not this man, he is still sharp as a knife over a century later.

Started 17th January

Finished 19th January

Misery - Stephen King - 1987 * * * *

Blimey that Stephen King doesn't half pack a punch with some of his work. 'Misery' is the first book I have read by him and it was an occasion marked in utter terror as I refused food or drink and even refused to move until I had got to the end. I very rarely read an entire book in one sitting ( time does not permit, and there is the added cramp which you feel after a while) but with this book I had a bizarre feeling that there was no way in hell I could stop until I had read it. I think the fact the film had such an impact on me at the time meant that I was desperate to know what was going on in the book and how it had originally been explained ( i.e. the hobbling scene in the film, quite different in the book...say no more..). What was great about this book ( and seemingly something that Stephen King no longer does in his newer work) was that from literally the first page we were in Annie Wilkes's house with Paul Sheldon there on the bed, there was no pussy-footing around or inane rambling that meant we had to wait until half way through the book before we could get our teeth into something interesting; it was already there from the first time we opened it.

My opinion is that some parts were ten times better visually than they were written, and other parts were written so well and with so much detail that the film could not compare, so a bit of pick 'n' mix was definitely present. But a book that needs to be read. And not alone.

Started 16th January

Finished 16th January

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides 1993 * * *

Having seen the film first and been totally blown away by it I guess I hoped the same would be said for the book. Starting out well the book seemed to progress downhill so that only in the last 20 pages or so did the story really fall into place and come into it's own. The rest of the time the writer was hanging around aimlessly and not making much sense, filling pages and pages with ramblings about topics that seemed of no use or relevance to the story at all. Obviously knowing the story and knowing what to expect I was on the lookout to see how the film had shown various elements in the book and most of the time ( I'm sorry to say) the film won hands down. I did not feel a particular empathy or attachment to the girls in the book and Mrs Lisbon isn't presented in such a domineering and overpowering way as she is on screen ( Kathleen Turner is excellent as her). In fact I found that most of the book was a drag and I was just willing myself to get through it. Sadly not as good as I was expecting. It could be this reason that made me read the whole thing in one sitting.

Started 15th January
Finished 15th January

The British Museum is Falling Down - David Lodge 1965 * * *

I've never read any David Lodge, and this first offering wasn't too bad at all. It wasn't hysterical and I wasn't rolling around on the floor in laugh like I had hoped but it was an easy and unassuming read by someone greatly admired in the literary world. I will be happy to read another of his books although like Tom Sharpe I had hoped that this author would have opened up new doors of hilarious reading which doesn't seem to have happened quite yet. Maybe I need to read another of his to really get a feel for his style of writing? I'll leave David Lodge for a while and go back to him later, maybe he needs to be read in another state of mind.

Started 9th January

Finished 15th January

The Gropes - Tom Sharpe 2009 * * * 1/2

When I first discovered Tom Sharpe, I was under the impression that he was hidden treasure - someone I had not read anything by who claimed to be hilarious and light-hearted. I'm a huge fan of comic novels ( let's face it, who doesn't enjoy reading something that will make them laugh out loud) and thought ' Here's the jackpot, look at the load of books he has written and I'm going to work my way through them.' Before I had even read anything by him I decided he was the writer for me and I started collecting what books I could of his to pile up in my room and savour for a day when I really needed a good chuckle. Well this is my second of his novels ( I read The Throwback some time ago) and I must say that although there are a few funny moments, in general he's not as hilarious as I thought he would be. I'm hoping this is a temporary glitch and when I move on to his more famous works ( Porterhouse Blue + Granchester Grind spring to mind) I'll really be having a good laugh. Although in general if I don't like an author by the time I have read two works of theirs it's usually time to give up and move on. Maybe with Tom Sharpe I'll give him three.

Started 4th January
Finished 9th January

Before She Met Me - Julian Barnes * * * * 1986

I've never read anything of Julian Barnes before but after reading this novel I am sure I will be turning to his work again in the near future. This story follows the life of a historian who becomes increasingly obsessed and jealous over his second ex-movie star wife's sexual history. The book is funny, light and not to be taken too seriously, however the ending did give me a bit of a shock, being totally different to the rest of the book. I flew threw the book in just over a day and am now eager to read more of Mr Barnes' work especially 'Talking it Over.' Mr Barnes is a great writer on the subject of relationships and there are parts in the previous novel that I could actually understand and relate to myself. He is obviously completely clued up on how people relate to and understand each other as regards to romance and should be read by everyone who has ever been in a relationship.

Started 5th January
Finished 6th January

The Golden Prince - Rebecca Dean

I'm super excited about reading this latest historical tale of the monarchy from author Rebecca Dean (whose first historical novel Enemies of the Heart was inspired by her own German and British history). This book in my opinion has come at the very best time considering the recent announcement of the Royal Wedding between Prince William and (dare I say commoner?) Kate Middleton.

The blurb on the back of this book reads like so - 'Edward VIII became notorious for abandoning the throne for Mrs Simpson, but in the summer of 1911 he was a prince straight from the pages of a fairy-tale. Raised by the harsh disciplinarian King George V and his unfeeling Queen Mary, the prince longed for the warmth that had been deprived of him. The high society Houghton girls' lives however, were full of fun, both at their magnificent family seat Snowberry, and at the whirlwind of glamorous parties which punctuated their lives. When a moment of serendipity brings Edward and Lily Houghton together, the pressures of a stuffy court are replaced with the lightness that Edward has dreamt of. But a future monarch could not choose his own Queen, and even an enduring love might falter under the furious gaze of a King. Could the devotion of Edward and Lily triumph against him and the impending doom of World War I? Or would they bow to the inevitable and set in train events that could bring down the Crown, and change the course of history forever?

How can anyone not be interested in reading this novel?

A full review of this book will be added on here as soon as I have read it.

I would like to thank Sylvie from FuelMyBlog.com who was kind enough to offer me the chance of reviewing it.

To snap up this much sought-after novel before it's sold out simply follow this link below to the amazon website.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Golden-Prince-Rebecca-Dean/dp/0007315724/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290527328&sr=8-1

Big Money - PG Wodehouse - 1932 * * 1/2

I'm sad to say that this latest Wodehouse I read was a big disappointment to me. Compared to the quick-witted humour and sharpness of the last books it was a big mess with far too many characters for me to remember and too many situations happening that made me loose my place more than once. I won't even give you a synopsis because I think it would be too difficult for me. Let's just say it follows the structure of most of Wodehouse's novels with misunderstandings and incidents that are supposed to be funny ( but sadly I didn't find them funny at all this time around) and everything is always sorted out by the end. So yeah, that's it. Hopefully the next will be better.

Started 14th December

Finished 18th December

The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks 1984 * * *

It's hard to know what to say about this book. In some areas it's the work of genius and definitely a promising debut novel for Mr Banks, but in other areas it's full of the typical cliches and grammatical errors that you would expect from a new-comer into the work of book-writing. Some of the conversations between the protaganist Frank and his brother Eric on the phone are very wooden as though they were written by someone in school. I should know because I used to think adding as many 'doing' actions as possible to a short conversation in a story I wrote at school was a way of better writing, but it's not ( i.e. 'he said angrily', 'then he said manically' 'then he said crazily feeling very angry' etc'). However there are some paragraphs that are brilliantly written and although very gruesome, the definitions of Frank killing insects and particularly baby rabbits are excellently drawn. A book that needs to be read, if not purely for the hype, but I'm not sure if I would read any more of his work.

Started 12th December

Finished 15th December

Uneasy Money - PG.Wodehouse 1916 * * * *

I've only seen a few Wodehouse books and although they were funny some started off very well and then went downhill. This novel didn't, and I chuckled my way to the very last page.

Lord Dawlish who is running out of money fast, is amazingly left a million pounds by some man he helped on the golf course a while back. He also comes into the knowledge that the niece and nephew of the deceased man are only left a pitiful amount and so decides to seek them out to give them half his inheritance despite his nagging fiance Claire's negative attitude. Things don't go as planned when he finds himself falling in love with Elizabeth the niece, who has sworn to give the man who stole her inheritance a hellish remainder of his life, unaware that the man she has started to feel close to is the 'cad' himself. Through in romantic mix-ups, manic bees, the hilarious antics of a monkey and a blonde Lord Dawlish meets in club who makes a scene and causes him to fall over and you have all the ingredients of a classic Wodehouse.

Started 7th December

Finished 12th December

George Formby:A Troubled Genius - David Bret 2001 * * * *

George Formby - The chirpy and gappy-toothed man who has been my hero since I was 5 years old. The man who really got me hooked on black and white films ( followed closely by Fred and Ginger), the man who conjures up an immense feeling of affection and love for him more than any other star of his time and the man who made me truly appreciate comedy in it's best form. Needless to say I'm one of his biggest fans and have just recently completed my collection of every single Formby film that has ever been released ( sadly some are yet to be realised to DVD but hopefully it will happen one day). Watching him play the gormless yet loveable chap who 'always gets the girl' in his films made me realise that whether I liked it or not I had to find out whether he was as nice as I had always hoped and imagined. So when David Bret's book came along to my library I pounced on it. David Bret is a very controversial writer because he is known for exaggerating the lives of the stars he writes about ( his Jean Harlow book was read earlier in my blog) and not always in the most favourable terms. However as this was the only George Formby book within a 100 mile radius to me I decided it was better than nothing.

To put it bluntly ( and happily) Bret writes about George in exactly the way I had hoped he would. He covers George's problems with working with attractive female co-stars in his films, pointing out how overbearing and paranoid his wife Beryl was about him even looking at another woman. Because of this I think a number of his fellow actors came away with a less than favourible impression of him as being unfriendly and dull when in reality he was so controlled by Beryl that he tried to avoid trouble from her whenever was possible making it almost impossible for him to communicate normally with members of the opposite sex. To say he was 'dull' was a gross misunderstanding as many of his male friends and acquaintainces would agree on. Bret also recalls one particular incident that Dinah Sheridan who was George's co-star in 'Get Cracking' mentions in the official Formby website about her going to the set for what she thought was a quick chat with George and finding Beryl there instead. " Soon after, she had a call to meet with George Formby. "I walked into the office, there was no Formby. No director. Only Mrs. Formby, sitting behind a desk. She looked at me and asked immediately if I was married. I said 'Yes.' 'How long?' 'Three months, 'I replied, and she said, '"You'll do.' I was so newly married that I presumably posed no threat!" I find this to be a typical example of how horrible and uncompromising Beryl was to any female near the set. So much so that George wasn't allowed even to kiss his co-stars in the final scenes because she didn't allow it and in a few incidents Beryl was called away to the 'telephone', leaving George to finish the film with the kiss that was appropritate and much needed. She was a tyranical and pitiful excuse for a female in my opinion, seemingly there only for the fame and fortune that greeted George when he became famous and desperate to control every aspect of his life. Sadly, George never knew anything else other than her controlling and dominating ways as well as her cruel refusal to let him be a father and it was only when she died many years later that he felt he could finally be happy. Such a dreadful waste for a man who made millions laugh and never shared any of the joy in his own private life. David Bret actually does a great job here exploring all George's early life as well as his later life after and through his popular films where he risked his life consistantly to fly to dangerous areas of the country to perform to the troops and people, even at the risk of his health. Bret then goes on to mention in detail the horrible war than ensued between George's fiancee Pat Howson and George's mother after he died and his inheritance had to be broken up. His mother was another dispicable excuse for a human being.

Of course George made mistakes - he was known to have had affairs throughout his marriage to Beryl which is never the right thing to do, but I believe that if Beryl hadn't been the way she was he wouldn't have seeked solace with other people and I support him 100% on his choices. I only wish he could have escaped his turbulent marriage a lot earlier which would then at least, have given him a fews years or so of happiness. George was never boastful or arrogant, he was kind and considerate to those who knew him, and although he was hard to work with (mainly because of his domineering wife), he was never intentionally unkind to anyone for no reason preferring to stay out the way of his co-stars in case arguments erupted on set. He was totally misunderstood by many people and in no way gormless or thick. He had a warm and loveable quality that calmed many and helped hundreds of thousands through the war. It goes withought saying of course that he was a genius, and one of the most unforgettable people I have ever had the pleasure of seeing on film or reading about, I would have dearly liked to have met him to tell him how loved and appreciated he still is today.

UK on a G-String - Justin Brown 2004 * * *

Not a bad book in my book ( snort!), Justin Brown makes a ridiculous bet with his friend in New Zealand, I think to do with football, and to cut a long story short, his penalty ( I'm hilarious today!) for his team loosing is for him to fly to Englad and busk around it, making enough money for a plane ticket home. I'm sure many people would be thinking 'what a ridiculous idea, he's just setting himself up for disappointment,' 'why doesn't he just refuse to do it?' etc and you may well be right. However Justin isn't just a normal busker in that he plays to wide open spaces in horrible areas of London, he is in fact the first and I'm sure he won't mind me saying this 'most awful door to door busker ever.' That's right, he knocks on unsuspecting families, couples, pensioners' doors and demands to sing to them. Armed with a song about a Kentucky fried Kitten and a slightly rude tune based on Harry Potter he's all set to go traipsing around lovely and goddam awful parts of Britain where he soon meets a myriad of bizarre and charming characters. As long as someone will be kind enough (or desperate enough) to give him some money! By half way through the book you come to see Justin as an old friend and really start rooting for him ( although you wish he'd stop spending the money he makes on pints of beer with new acquaintances!)

Very humorous, easy to read and fun.

Started 18th November

Finished 25th November

Jean Harlow:Tarnished Angel - David Bret 2009 * * * *

I know enough about Jean Harlow to know that part of this book is fabricated stuff. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it immensely but I feel that for people who don't know about Jean's life that this is not a brilliant book to get them started. Classic movie stars dominate my world and I spend hours researching them for my own enjoyment. Hence how I know that many of the things Bret says about her are quite obviously fake. But hey I can still enjoy a good old scandal bio. 'Hollywood Babylon' is one of my favourite books despite the fact most of it is fictional gossip because I love imagining 'what if' these scenerios were true.

Harlow lived a tragically short and unfulfilled life, only just starting to realise her true potential when it was too late and I think she really was one of the most unique and adorable actresses of the day. She was also incredibly loving and kind to people around her which is a rare thing in Hollywood and that is the reason her funeral was almost mobbed with fans - nothing since Rudolph Valentino's early demise had caused such a commotion.

I was, am and will continue to find myself astounded and mesmerised by the Hollywood of yesteryear, it's people, it's image and it's life. Timeless to me forever.

Although I know Bret was far off on many areas of his biography that doesn't stop me from getting out his Joan Crawford and George Formby ( my favourite) biographies to eagerly devour. I know so much about George Formby that I doubt anything in Bret's book will make me adore him any less.

Started 26th October

Finished 1st November

Ivor Novello: Portrait of a Star - Paul Webb 2006 * * * *

Biographies are another of my 'phases'. I love them and have started drooling over all the possible books I can read on my favourite old stars ( as long as I can find them in the library!)
I have only seen Novello in 'The Lodger' and so couldn't really say I was a hard-core fan of his but after reading about his life in a lovely easy and entertaining way and seeing numerous pictures of him through various stages of his life I was hooked. Sad really that 'The Lodger' is the only film of his that is now properly accessable as all others have been lost or destroyed ( it always upsets me to hear that rare silent films have been lost of detroyed - my generation will never be able to see them) and therefore anyone who wants to know more about Ivor would do well to watch that first. I feel awful not knowing that it was Novello who was responsible for 'Keep the Home Fires Burning' which was one of the most popular songs of WW1. He was an incredibly talented and charismatic individual that doesn't seem to have been matched today on account of his quantity and quality of work complete with drop dead handsome looks. To be a genius is one thing, but to be an amazingly jaw-droppingly handsome genius is quite different as his looks opened up many doors for him in film and theatre.
Amazing book and so easy to read. I'm now an Ivor Novello fan.

Started 20th October
Finished 27th October

Someone to Watch Over me - Izzy Hammond 2007 * * *

This was another misery memoir that succeeded in pulling me out of my reading block. I sped through it, devouring everything Izzy explained about her ghastly childhood at the hands of her abusive father Ronald who was also deaf and partially blind. Her mother Emily was also deaf and so Izzy had no one to turn to when the sexual abuse inflicted upon her became too much to bear, resulting in her bringing her own children up in a similar pattern to her mother and neglecting them emotionally. I very brave story full of heart-breaking events that was easy to read.

Started 17th October

Finished 21st October ( with breaks)

Love, Honour and Betray - Kathy Lette 2009 * * * *

I never realised Kathy Lette was so incredibly funny but she is, and also has a wonderful way with words when it comes to describing people.

I had a bit of a slump this month and the last and as I approach the middle of October this is really the only book I have properly read ( flicking through my Adrian Mole volumes hardly counts!). I needed a book to pick me up from my rut that I have become accustomed to finding myself in throughout the months and usually when this happens I either turn to chick lit or true crime. Having exhausted the majority of the true crime books in my library I decided to give this novel a go, having seen it a few times leering at me from the shelves as I went past and I must say it really brought me out of my reading block. The story follows the same kind of format that most other chick lit books do in that the lead character has found out her husband is cheating on her and so decides to become an independent woman and in doing so win him back forgetting in the process that her children are going to prove some work to convince.

There are loads of hilarious incidents and some memorable characters and the book flew along for me which is always a good thing. Lette's writing is fresh and witty and she describes Australia ( where most of the novel is set) in a very eye-catching way that makes me want to experience the place for myself. I'll be reading more of Kathy Lette's work and more books in general again hopefully!

Started 3rd October

Finished 5th October

Missing - Rose Rouse 2008 * * *

A very sad book but very interesting as well to hear some of the first-hand accounts of families who have lost their children or partners in unusual ways. The horrible thing that they all agree on is never knowing whether their loved one is dead or alive. That can be even worse than finding out that they have died.
Some accounts are of those people who walk away from their children, only to find them years later, and others are from parents whose sons walk out one day and never come home. Unexplained disappearances are hard to comprehend, and usually (certainly from reading the book) we get the immediate feeling that these people would not have chosen to leave of their own free will, which, sadly leaves them being made to leave or taken against their wishes. Well written and well compiled, took a bit to get used to though as you are literally plunged into tight and completely different stories every 20 pages or so.

Started 19th August
Finished 1st September ( with breaks!)