Reader's Corner reviews

Noah's compass by Anne Tyler

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:07:00 +0000

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Genre - Fiction

This is a new novel from the prize winning author of “The Accidental tourist” and “Dinner at the homesick restaurant.” This story is also set in Baltimore and examines everyday life for recently retired teacher Liam Pennywell. He is widowed and divorced and has just been retrenched from his teaching position. When he decides to downsize his home and possessions he draws criticism and concern from his three adult daughters and his bossy ex wife. An assault by a stranger causes him to lose his memory of the first night in his new apartment and brings him more unwanted attention from the family. His youngest daughter, Kitty, decides to move in with him just as he begins a new relationship with an unusual woman called Eunice. This is a gentle story with some eccentric characters finding their way through family relationships.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Belgrave

Remarkable creatures by Tracy Chevalier

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0000

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Genre - Historical fiction

This is the story of Mary Anning, an extraordinary fossil hunter who lived in the 1800’s. This is a fictional account of real people and events during this time of stimulating scientific debate. Fossil evidence from the English seaside town of Lyme Regis was of great interest to Natural History Museums and was also very challenging to the prevailing religious view of the times. Mary’s fossil discoveries came at a time when men dominated the field of science and she has to fight for recognition of her work. She is helped in many ways by her unusual friendships with the feisty and intelligent spinster Elizabeth Philpot . Despite their differences in age and background their relationship remains strong through their shared love of fossils. This novel has captured many of the details of daily life for women from both the working and upper classes and brought these characters together in an exciting quest beyond the limits and conventions of their world.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Belgrave

The paperbark shoe by Goldie Goldbloom

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:41:00 +0000

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Genre - Historical fiction

Set in Wyalkatchem in the West Australian wheat belt, this is a fictional tale about Gin and Toad and 2 Italian prisoners of war who came to work on their farm as labourers in 1944. She has captured the harshness of the country and the deprivation of the times and given us the character of Gin Toad. Married to Toad to escape a mental institution she survives the heat and dirt of the farm and gives up her ladylike ways as she becomes immune to the lack of music and lover in her outback life. Then she meets Antonio and becomes infamous as the traitor who helped an Italian POW to escape. This story is haunting, gritty and sad but it has a wonderful style of language which captures the atmosphere of the times and life on the land.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Belgrave

Some tame gazelle by Barbara Pym

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:23:00 +0000

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Genre - Fiction

Belinda & Harriet Bede are sisters living in an English village in the 1950s. They’re happily unmarried, although Harriet has an admirer, Count Bianco, who proposes marriage at regular intervals. Belinda has been in love with Archdeacon Hoccleve since their University days but he married the very capable Agatha instead. This is a story of gentle irony & humour as village life brings challenges such as the church fete & what to give the local seamstress for lunch when she comes to make up the new curtains. When Archbishop Theodore Grote arrives for a visit from his African diocese, Belinda finds herself the object of attentions that she suspects Agatha might envy.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The monster in the box by Ruth Rendell

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:14:00 +0000

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Genre - Mystery

Inspector Reg Wexford is startled to see a face from the past, a man who he believes has committed at least two murders, but who he never expected to see again. This is the catalyst that takes Wexford back to his early days in the police force, when he was convinced that Eric Targo had murdered young mother, Elsie Carroll. He had no evidence & was too junior to influence the murder investigation, but he knew Targo was guilty, & Targo knew that Wexford knew. So, a strange game developed where Targo would walk his dog past Wexford’s house or stare up at the windows of the police station. Then, he would disappear for years before unexpectedly turning up again. As Wexford tells the story to his deputy, Mike Burden, the evidence becomes more compelling, especially when another murder occurs close to Wexford’s home. The Wexford series has been one of the best police procedurals for over 40 years & this is another great installment. It’s not one of the best, but interesting to see Wexford as a young man, starting his career & meeting his wife, Dora.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The pattern in the carpet by Margaret Drabble

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:01:00 +0000

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Genre - Non Fiction

The subtitle of this book is “A personal history with jigsaws”. Drabble reminisces about her childhood visits to her Auntie Phyl, who lived in a B&B on the Great North Road, the main route from London to Scotland. Assembling jigsaws became one of the pleasures of these childhood holidays & they continue to enjoy it on many later visits until Phyl’s death. Drabble intended to write a history of the jigsaw puzzle & she has done this, but the picture she draws of her childhood in the 40s & 50s & Phyl’s life as a schoolteacher & later helping her parents run the B&B is the most interesting part of the book. Jigsaws began as dissected maps that could be assembled as an aid to teaching children geography. It wasn’t until the 20th century that they became a pastime that everyone could afford. Drabble’s research into the history of art, mosaics & children’s toys is fascinating but the heart of the book is her relationship with Phyl & her memories of a happy childhood.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:20:00 +0000

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I really enjoyed this book ... as a matter of fact, I found it hard to put down! The main character, Karen, is someone I instantly empathized with as the reader and throughout the story I felt how torn and courageous she was dealing with the "death" of her husband. The thing I liked most was that there was something I can take away from the fictional story to empower my own life (that's what makes a book especially good in my opinion). The story reinforced my belief that we are never really powerless, and we always have choices. Furthermore, we chose the life we live and the challenges our lives give us prove just how strong we are. These are lessons all of us, particularly divorcees, need to be reminded of often! I can't wait to begin my next book!

---- Reviewed by Linda, Guest

The Fault Tree by Louise Ure

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:07:00 +0000

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Genre - Mystery

A gutsy blind female motor mechanic is hit by a car on her way home from work. Several murders later, she is more battered and bruised and her friend is nearly killed. The police do not recognize her "blind " skills at first, until they realize she is telling the truth and someone is out to kill her also. A great read. Unputdownable!

---- Reviewed by Carol, Guest

Forbidden fruit by Kerry Greenwood

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:36:00 +0000

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Genre - Mystery

The latest Corinna Chapman mystery is set at the beginning of a hot summer in Melbourne. Corinna hates summer, hates Christmas & just wants December to be over so she can close her bakery & have a month’s holiday. Her lover, Daniel, has been hired to find two runaway teenagers, Manny & Brigid. Brigid’s parents, members of a strange religious group, locked her away when they discovered she was pregnant. Manny helps her escape & they’re now on the run, with the baby due any day. There are lots of echoes of the Christmas story in this fast-paced book – the race to the hospital with Brigid riding on a donkey called Serena is especially funny - & Greenwood uses traditional carols & Christmas music to great effect. As always in this series, the luscious descriptions of food & drink & the lives of the people & cats living in the Insula building are almost more important than the plot. This series is a treat for the senses, full of humour & a real feeling of life lived to the full.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

The last office by Geoffrey Moorhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:26:00 +0000

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Genre - Non Fiction

This is the story of the monks of Durham Priory & their fate when Henry VIII split with Rome over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon & created the Church of England. The Dissolution of the Monasteries was a complete break with religious life as it had been lived for hundreds of years. Henry & his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, were eager to get their hands on the riches of the Church & to have complete control on the religious life of the nation. Small monasteries & nunneries were broken up & the monks & nuns pensioned off or sent to other houses. Gradually it was time for the larger priories such as Durham to be transformed from Catholic communities into Anglican cathedrals with priests rather than monks. Moorhouse describes the life of the Priory before the Dissolution & how the Bishop of Durham & the Prior guided the monks in their care towards an accommodation with the new order.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Jane Austen ruined my life by Beth Pattillo

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:22:00 +0000

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Genre - Fiction

I’m not a fan of the many Austen sequels, prequels & other novels cashing in on the popularity of one of my favourite authors. This novel is an exception as it uses Austen’s life & work in an intriguing way. Emma Grant is an American academic. Her life is falling apart. Her husband has been unfaithful & she’s lost her job due to an unfounded allegation of plagiarism. Emma has been contacted by Mrs Parrot, a mysterious woman who hints that she has access to over a thousand unpublished letters by Jane Austen. Emma sees publishing the letters as a way of regaining her academic reputation. So, she goes to England to meet Mrs Parrot. Emma is sent on a series of journeys to places associated with Jane – Bath, Lyme, Winchester - & must pass tests at each place to be allowed to read more of the letters & discover more about the secret at the heart of Austen’s life. Emma also meets up with Adam, an old friend who is also in London doing research. Is his interest in Emma altruistic or is he chasing the same prize? The plot has a few holes in it, but Emma is an engaging character & a tour of Jane Austen’s England is always a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Sherlock Holmes was wrong by Pierre Bayard

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:18:00 +0000

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Genre - Non Fiction

What if Sherlock Holmes missed some vital clues in his investigation of the mystery of the Hound of the Baskervilles? Bayard reimagines the classic crime story from a new angle. He takes the story as written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, & interprets the clues differently to come up with a different ending - & a different murderer. This is a lighthearted look at a classic story & an iconic figure of crime fiction. Bayard has previously written about Agatha Christie in Who Killed Roger Ackroyd? & does a great job of breathing new life into the Holmes legend.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Mud, muck & dead things by Ann Granger

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:13:00 +0000

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Genre - Mystery

This is the first in a new series of mysteries by Granger, set in the Cotswolds. Lucas Burton, a shady businessman, is lured to a deserted farmhouse for a meeting. Instead of his business partner, he finds a dead girl in the barn. In his panic, he scrapes his silver Mercedes against a fencepost & is seen leaving the farm by Penny, who owns the livery stables nearby. Inspector Jess Campbell is called in to investigate the murder, &, as well as identifying the victim & coping with the eccentric old man who owns the farm, she has to deal with the expectations of her new boss, Superintendent Carter. No sooner has Jess & her team identified Lucas’ car & tracked him down, than he is found murdered in his garage. Granger sets up her characters nicely in this first novel, & the Cotswolds setting is a bit less attractive than usual – all that mud & muck. Great for fans of Midsomer Murders.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

What Alice forgot by Liane Moriarty

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:45:00 +0000

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Genre - Family

When Alice Love hits her head at the gym and loses her memory of the past 10 years, she wakes up knowing that something is wrong. She believes she is a happily married expectant mother and soon finds out otherwise. She meets 3 children she can’t remember having and discovers she is in the process of divorcing her beloved hubby. She is estranged from her best friend and has no knowledge of her sister’s struggles with fertility. It is interesting to follow her story with input from her grandmother’s blog and her sister’s journal and see her put the pieces of her life back together. This is a tender and true account of modern family life.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon

noreply@blogger.com (Webgurl) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:25:00 +0000

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Genre - Science Fiction

Lou Arrendale is a high-functioning autistic man working for a pharmaceutical company doing patterns analysis. A new manager, who disagrees with the supportive environment given to Lou and the other autistic people in his section, threatens their jobs unless they sign up for an experimental treatment designed to cure their autism.

Speed of Dark challenges the ideas of what it is to be "normal" and societies attitudes to individuals who are different. The reader struggles with the difficult decision facing Lou and his colleagues. Mostly told from Lou's POV, it is an interesting insight into the autistic mind.

This won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2003 and I highly recommend it.

---- Reviewed by webgurl, Admin

The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:38:00 +0000

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"This then is how I come to stave off death, with nothing but my will for weaponry. And it is how, paradoxically, I find myself housed in a sepulchre of death.
My voice might be weaker but still it cries, ‘I am not ready yet. Not yet.’
Then one day the children come. Among them is Alice."

Anne Berry has written an accomplished tale of two beings entwined: one a ghost, one living a ghostlike existence. The Hungry Ghosts covers lives and time, from war ravished Hong Kong to modern day England and Paris. There are many weavings of individual stories, the impact each entity has on the whole, the complexities and levels every member of any group brings to the mix.

There is always a level of dysfunction in a family, but sometimes that dysfunction is more extreme than ‘average’. Such it is in Alice’s family and she, the youngest daughter and second youngest child, is the scapegoat, not only for her family but for her ghosts. She is haunted, but it comes to be her norm, her family, her true reality, one in which there is no place for her real family.

The writing and language in The Hungry Ghosts is almost ethereal at times, adding its own layering to the complex story being told. The descriptions are textured and highly defined, coloured with lyrical language that hypnotises and draws the reader on, deeper and deeper into the haunting and haunted world of Alice and Lin Shui.

Tragedy and pathos are ever present; darkness, despair and familial injustice; but there is humour and beauty, love and questing, and a final knowing of self that is as poignant as it is satisfying.

I would not hesitate to recommend this book for the lover of ghost stories and the lover of good, well told stories alike. I look forward to Anne Berry’s future books with wonder and expectation.

--- Reviewed by Hannah, Guest

Love and other secrets by Sarah Challis

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:55:00 +0000

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Genre - Family

Nothing can really prepare you for the terrible anxiety and overwhelming fatigue of having a baby. Florence is a first time mother at 35 and her carefully planned life is about to be rudely interrupted in ways she has never imagined. This pregnancy brings also back memories of her own birth for her mother Jane. Florence has never understood the reality of her mother’s life as an unmarried 18 year old struggling to keep her baby in the tumultuous 1960’s. Old resentments are stirred up and secrets are revealed with the birth of this new baby and ultimately the two women are brought closer together.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

Sunshine on Sugar Hill by Angela Gilltrap

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:38:00 +0000

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Genre - Biography

Once upon a time, an Australian girl moved to Harlem. This is the true story of ABC “Strictly Dancing” presenter, Angela Gilltrap who grew up in sunny Queensland, shared a flat at beautiful Bondi Beach and chose to live on Sugar Hill in Harlem. Angela fell in love with an African American and went to live in his sixth floor apartment on one of the noisiest streets in Manhattan. She describes her adventures as the only white woman living in this part of the city with humour and tries to explain her attachment to her new home. I especially enjoyed the contrasts with life in Australia … “the trees, the silence, the absence of guys hanging out on my block”.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

While my sister sleeps by Barbara Delinsky

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:24:00 +0000

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Genre - Family saga

The latest book by this prolific author poses an ethical dilemma for the Snow family. Robin Snow is an Olympic level long distance runner who suffers a heart attack whilst out running one day. When it is determined she has suffered permanent brain damage from a lack of oxygen, the rest of her family deal with the tragedy in different ways. Molly has always lived in Robin’s shadow and feels terribly guilty that she wasn’t with her older sister when she collapsed. Her mother Kathryn wants to believe Robin will survive this prognosis, whilst Charlie is a strong silent supporter and her brother Chris is distracted by his own relationship problems. Family secrets are revealed as they struggle to find out what Robin would have wanted. They have to decide how much to tell her friends and supporters and reach a decision on the ethics of life support. A thought provoking novel.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

True Colors by Kristin Hannah

noreply@blogger.com (Sue) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:10:00 +0000

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Genre - Family saga

There are three Grey sisters, Winona, Aurora and Vivi Ann raised by their stern and distant father, Henry, following the early death of their mother. As adults they still live in a close ranching community where the reputation of their family is very important and the domestic details of their lives becomes the subject of town gossip. A rift develops between the sisters when Winona and Vivi Ann seem to be in love with the same man whilst Aurora is struggling with the reality of her own failing marriage. True love rarely runs smooth and even when Vivi Ann finally finds her true soul mate in ranch hand Dallas Raintree their happiness is destroyed by small town prejudices. This is an emotional story with strong female characters who reveal a range of family values. They represent a real combination of the love and support as well as jealousy and betrayal that can exist between sisters.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox

Dark mirror by Barry Maitland

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:05:00 +0000

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Genre - Mystery

Marion Summers dies a painful death in the London Library. The autopsy reveals that she died of arsenic poisoning, a method of murder more suited to the murky 19th century world of the Pre-Raphaelite painters & poets she was researching. Detectives Brock & Kolla investigate secretive Marion’s background & discover that her research may have been the reason she was killed. Did her discoveries threaten the career of her academic supervisor? Or was it the fellow researcher who had been following her, taking photos on his mobile phone? Or her mysterious lover, who may have been the father of the child she lost just weeks before her death? This is a complex mystery with fascinating literary & historical elements. Brock & Kolla are sympathetic characters & it’s always good to catch up with them again.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Love letters by Katie Fforde

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0000

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Genre - Romance

Shy Laura is about to lose her dream job in a bookshop where she’s been responsible for organizing successful author events & bookclubs. She finds herself agreeing to help run a new literary festival at the stately home of Fenella & Rupert. When she reveals her admiration for the writing of reclusive Irish novelist, Dermot Flynn, she finds herself on the way to Ireland to convince him to appear at the festival. This is a lovely romantic comedy about first love, literature & friendship. Dermot is an engagingly scruffy, sexy hero & there’s a lot of humour in Laura & Dermot’s growing relationship.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters

Hater by David Moody

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:55:00 +0000

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Genre - Horror

It’s just another typical day, you are on your way to work when the person walking next to turns and murders an old woman in front of you, out of the blue, for no reason at all, what would you do? What would you think?

This is just the start of David Moody's Hater. An intriguing novel, I found it strangely fascinating even if I was not absorbed by the story, I kept reading because I needed to know why people were committing these seemingly random acts of violence towards strangers as well as loved ones.

With recommendations from the directors of the Orphanage and Pan's Labyrinth.I would not be surprised if this is turned into a movie.

I can recommend this novel if you are looking for something different to read.

'Kill or be killed. Hate or be hated.'

---- Reviewed by Megan, Knox

The City & the City by China Mieville

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:16:00 +0000

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Genre - Science Fiction Mystery

Mieville's latest offering could be read as a straight police procedural but the mean streets that his hero, Inspector Tyador Borlu, walks are twisted and tainted. Borlu belongs to the city of Beszel but his murder case leads his investigation to the city of Ul Qoma.... the only problem is that the two cities occupy the same place and the same time. The cities overlap, cross hatch and mingle. Their respective denizens have learnt to "unsee" each other in order to avoid being in "breach" of a harsh and severe higher law.
It is a fascinating concept and one that Mieville expertly plays with bringing to mind all of those cities divided by internecine conflict that currently exist in our strife torn world - think of Belfast, Beirut or Jerusalem.
I so enjoyed the book that I will now be tracking down more of this newly discovered author's work.

---- Reviewed by Paul, Headquarters

The little stranger by Sarah Waters

noreply@blogger.com (Lyn Baines) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:05:00 +0000

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Genre - Literary fiction

This is an atmospheric ghost story set in England after WWII. Hundreds Hall is a crumbling stately home & the Ayres family are struggling to survive with dwindling income & only a couple of servants. Local GP, Dr Faraday is called in to attend the housemaid, Betty, & meets Mrs Ayres, her son, Roderick, who was badly injured in the war, & her daughter, Caroline. Dr Faraday was a working class boy who became a doctor & has never felt at home with the local gentry, but in the post-war world, he becomes a trusted friend of the family. The social changes of the period are obvious as the Ayres are forced to sell off their estate to property developers to survive. The strange happenings at the Hall - the running footsteps in the old nursery, the speaking tubes whistling for no reason, the fires that break out in Roderick’s room – unsettle everyone. Is a malevolent spirit haunting the family or are they tainted with madness? Echoes of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca are very effective in creating an atmosphere of menace & doom in this beautifully written story of a family in a time of change.

---- Reviewed by Lyn, Headquarters