Books read in March

April 1, 2013 by Carole 1 Comment

11.22.63 – Stephen King
This was amazing! It’s a huge book but I’ve got through it in three days. I could so easily have read it more quickly, but I thought it might be an idea to spend some of the day not reading. I love time travel books in general, and King mentions one of my favourites in his notes at the end – Time and again by Jack Finney. The thing that I loved the most about 11.22.63 was the scale of it, the exploration of the consequences and the fantastic ending. Which made me tear up a little. This is definitely one of King’s best, along with The Stand and is going on my Keeper bookshelves.

The Vanishing Point – Val McDermid
I picked this up last week along with the new Karen Rose. I was in Asda and spotted them in the 2 for £7. This is why I shouldn’t be allowed in supermarkets. I love Val McDermid’s books so this got bumped right to the top of Mount TBR. I started reading it this morning while I was waiting for the washing machine repair man to come. He had excellent timing and arrived ten minutes after I finished the book.
I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as the Tony Hill books that she writes, but I did like it a lot. It was very obvious who the celeb character was based on, which I wasn’t that keen on, but the story itself was very good. I was a bit perplexed at the ending though. It didn’t seem quite finished and it just didn’t seem in character for it to happen as it did. I had lots of questions going round and round in my head after I closed the book.

Cold Days – Jim Butcher
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I’ve been waiting to read this since I finished Ghost Story and although I tried to make it last a few days, I read it almost in one sitting. How can I possibly manage until the next one comes out? This was full of action with lots of familiar characters and plenty of new ones too. There were twists and turns as it led to the final showdown, but you just couldn’t imagine how Dresden would pull it off this time. The ending was magnificent with an ending that I could never  have predicted. Never. Now I really, really need to know what happens next. There are so many possibilities now.

Dangerous Alterations – Elizabeth Lynn Casey
This is another of the Southern Sewing Circle mysteries and the last one that I had on my TBR pile. I’m quite pleased that I’ve read all that I had now as they were getting a bit samey. A bit boring too, if I’m honest. The plot was telegraphed very loudly almost at the beginning of the book so how it turned out was no surprise at all. The characters are just too perfect and sickly sweet, especially Tori, and especially as the author keeps banging on about how wonderful Tori’s friends are. Having said that, this book was an ok read. It’s one of those books that takes no effort to read and was amusing in places, although the banter and bickering that is in every book is getting slightly tedious now. I’ve mostly enjoyed these books but I don’t think I’ll be getting any more

Slow man – J. M. Coetzee
I decided to give Coetzee another chance and reserved this one at the library. I rather enjoyed it. It’s the story of an old man who is knocked down by a car while he’s on his bicycle. The book describes what happens to him from there on. It’s a fascinating tale. I’m glad I decided to read it.

Very Valentine – Adriana Trigiani
I bought this when I was out with Jackie. We got three books between us with the plan of swapping them with each other once they were read. This one is now heading Jackie’s way. It was a lovely read, set in recent New York and was about an Italian family, specifically Valentine who makes shoes. I really enjoyed it, so much so that I’ve just reserved the sequel at the library.

The Unconsoled – Kazuo Ishiguro
This was a nice chunky book by an author that I generally like, and sometimes love. This book fell somewhere between. It was rather offbeat, which I loved, and one of those books that you have to keep reading just to find out what’s going on. I have no idea how to describe the plot of it though, so I’m going to leave it at that.

Blonde bombshell – Tom Holt
It’s been a while since I read any Tom Holt. I’ve got quite a collection of his books, all of which I’ve enjoyed, but because I got out of the habit of checking to see if he had anything new out, I don’t have his latest ones. I put that right last week by ordering three of the ones that I was missing from Amazon Marketplace.
I loved Blonde bombshell. The style of writing was just as I remembered – on the surface they’re simple but very, very good. And funny, lets not forget that his books are laugh out loud funny. This one was about bombs that become human and is partly set on a planet where the dominant species is the dog. They keep humans for pets, and are trying to blow up Earth. That doesn’t even begin to describe the book. It’s got so much going on. Barbie and the Skywalkers were so funny. At the end was the first chapter of another of his books, which I accidentally read, so I’m now going to have to dive into the rest of that book.What a shame.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of sausages – Tom Holt
This was a great read. It got more and more convoluted until I almost wanted to cross my eyes, but it was still very, very funny. I laughed out loud several times, just like with the previous book. It starts with a pig who is trying to work out where her piglets go to, by applying the laws of physics, before moving onto a puzzled lawyer and her musical brother, along with the disappearing dry cleaners. When you find out what became of the pig, it seems so logical yet so amusing.
I have another Holt to read but I’m going to save it for later as I’ve just picked up the sequel to Very Valentine from the library.

Encore Valentine – Adriana Trigiani
I really enjoyed this! It followed straight on from Very Valentine and was just as lovely to read. It was humorous in parts, romantic in others, and some of it was so sad. Valentine has to work with her brother, who she doesn’t get on with, in order to build the shoe making business. On top of this she is trying to work out how she feels about Gianlucca, while trying to help with family problems. There’s an old family secret that gets unearthed by Valentine, which causes upset with some family members, but which may be the answer to some of her problems. My only issue was that a couple of things got skipped over at the end. Things that I’d really have liked to know. It didn’t spoil the book, just left me with questions.
This was the first Trigiani that I’ve read in years. I’d forgotten how much I like her style so I may have to get a couple more out of the library at some point. I must try to get Mt TBR under control a bit more first though.

 

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