Lesley49
member
Reged: 26/03/2007
Posts: 8
Loc: Peel, Isle of Man.
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Dead Simple by Peter James
This is a thriller that I came across by accident but which has led me to become hooked on the author.
The plot starts with a stag night prank that goes horribly wrong, leaving the impending groom encased in a coffin.
The story introduces a police detective who is leading the hunt for the missing groom and the plot twists and turns toward an unexpected ending.
This is the sort of story where you get half way through and then suddenly it makes you think, "whoa, I wasn't expecting that". I can't say much more without giving the plot away, but Peter James has a fascinating imagination.
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AlisonP
member
Reged: 01/04/2007
Posts: 1
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Buttertea at Sunrise (A year in the Bhutan Himalaya) by Britta Das
I love armchair travelling. I'm interested in people's lives and I like books that have at least a thread of fact running through them.
This book hit all the spots.
Britta is a Canadian physiotherapist who visited Bhutan and was drawn to work there. She tells her own story and that of countless Bhutanese villagers.
Britta's writing draws you in, so you feel you are experiencing life in our time in another place.
Don't miss it.
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MarieDH
member
Reged: 31/03/2007
Posts: 5
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Five People You Meet In Heaven
It is a book with a story but more importantly with a message and it is that message that I will focus on here. The author teaches us that, for our life to be rich, we must have and indeed acknowledge that we may all have great teachers and that we can all be great teachers. It is a book about the lessons we learn, the lessons we miss, and the lessons we should say thankyou for.
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JustMe
member
Reged: 31/03/2007
Posts: 60
Loc: Shropshire Hills
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The Invisible Girl by Peter Barham
This book is incredible. The memoirs of Peter Barham about his beautiful daughter and her battle with anorexia. She had a very successful, though short, life. She inspired others, she could be bitingly sharp and always hilariously witty and clever. This book made me want to laugh and cry. I wanted to know her. I felt I did know her. The complications of her relationships with her parents, her internal struggle, her ambition and her successes are revealed in a touching narration by her father, with emails and insights from her peers after her death. Superb.
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Buzz50
member
Reged: 14/09/2006
Posts: 5
Loc: East Yorkshire
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Mary Wesley - A Sensible Life
I only read Mary Wesley’s ‘A Sensible Life’ because it was taking up too much room on my bookshelf but it proved a most enjoyable read. Beginning in 1926 it combines an eclectic mix of English middle-class families who are in Brittany for the Easter Holidays. Flora, whose parents are too wrapped up in themselves to care much what happens to her is lonely and alone yet she captures the hearts of two sisters and three young men on the verge of adulthood. Flora’s story, woven with interesting characters spans 40 years during which time she is lost, betrayed and moreover loved. A completely satisfying read.
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claires
member
Reged: 07/04/2007
Posts: 2
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The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
It is the title that attracts you to this book and the following pages do not disappoint.
Set in the 1860’s Canadian frontier it evokes hardship, loneliness and the power and beauty of the land. The central person is a tough back-woods farmer’s wife who bravely sets out, at the on-set of winter, in pursuit of her missing son who is suspected of murder. The story brilliantly moves between characters capturing their complex individualities and history whilst continuing to build intrigue and suspense.
A fabulously written, enthralling and prize winning, debut novel.
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claires
member
Reged: 07/04/2007
Posts: 2
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The Tenderness of Wolves
It is the title that attracts you to this book and the following pages do not disappoint.
Set in the 1860’s Canadian frontier it evokes hardship, loneliness and the power and beauty of the land. The central person is a tough back-woods farmer’s wife who bravely sets out, at the on-set of winter, in pursuit of her missing son who is suspected of murder. The story brilliantly moves between characters capturing their complex individualities and history whilst continuing to build intrigue and suspense.
A fabulously written, enthralling and prize winning, debut novel.
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Lib
member
Reged: 07/04/2007
Posts: 228
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The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro
In this book Munro goes in search of her roots. From Will O'Phaup, grandfather of the Scottish writer James Hogg, to her father who farmed turkeys and fox fur in the American Depression, all Munro's ancestors leap from the page and engage our imagination. She recalls her own childhood and young love, writes of the hopes of her first marriage and reveals the solidity of her second.
Munro writes perceptively of the complexities of family life and those hidden ties that link her to past lives, while celebrating the joys of the present time.
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HeidiMary
member
Reged: 09/04/2007
Posts: 1
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The Egg Race by Polly Williams
Another cracking (!) read from the author of 'The Rise and Fall of the Yummy Mummy'. This time her focus is thirty- something women with loudly ticking biological clocks. The story centres on Stevie who is about to marry a man who, whilst not making her earth move, is the nearest she can get to husband material! The story carries you along with a poignant humour as she deals with a series of crises involving her family as well as some old friends and unlikely faces from the past. A real page turner of a romantic comedy with a likeable central character whom you really hope will find happiness.
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Jacqueline
member
Reged: 20/01/2006
Posts: 5
Loc: North Devon
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Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
When I read Joanne Harris's (Chocolat) comments on Lawson's first novel I was impressed that such an accolade could be bestowed by a recognised author onto an apparent "rookie" in the profession. And, Harris was right to praise this work - this is a sensitive, passionate tale of a bereaved family of 4 young orphans in the rural outback of Canada. The descriptions of each individual's hunger and thirst for, and pleasure and disappointment with life, all different, but inexorably intermingled with each other, will have you reaching for the tissues in either sympathy and/or empathy before the last page praying for a conceivable resolution - and Lawson doesn't thwart our appeal.
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clare29
member
Reged: 07/03/2007
Posts: 24
Loc: South London
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Time Traveller's Wife - I also loved this book - it really seemed to get "under the skin" as it were - and Henry and Claire became very real to me, although I was always trying to work out where in time they were!
I only saw this post tonight (16 April 2007) as I am a rather intermittent follower of forums. But as I enjoy reading, it's always good to see if anyone likes the same books I do.
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lynne
member
Reged: 13/03/2006
Posts: 938
Loc: The Far North Of England
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Well done Sally.......it looks like you are in for some good reads! 
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sallyj
member
Reged: 10/12/2006
Posts: 71
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The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella
Rock solid ‘roasted’ chick peas, an untamed ironing board and a gardener who can see straight through her ‘housekeeper’ act. Top lawyer, Samantha Sweeting, leaps all these hurdles as she plummets from law firm partner to cleaning her new employer’s toilets. With absolutely no domestic experience can she live up to her own ‘cordon bleu trained’ boasts?
This book is a delightful departure from Kinsella’s Shopaholic series. It takes the reader on a frothy roller coaster of humour and romance as Samantha’s life is turned upside down.
But beware – it may leave you questioning your own 9 – 5 office existence!
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sallyj
member
Reged: 10/12/2006
Posts: 71
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Thank you, Lynne. I've received a box of 13 books! That should keep me busy for a while. Good Luck to all the other reviewers out there.
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janis
member
Reged: 24/01/2006
Posts: 5
Loc: Lnacashire
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I too enjoyed this book enormously. It is quite unique and a rather challenging read. I have passed it on to several friends but most of them found it 'difficult' and 'strange.' I thought it was excellent and shed a tear at the end - always a good sign!
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happiness28
member
Reged: 29/05/2007
Posts: 1
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Fans of Maggie O' Farrell will not be disappointed with her latest novel, 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox'. This is a story of family - of sisters and sisters, of brother and sister, all inextricably linked. The power of O'Farrell's writing lies in her ability to blend narrative voices so expertly that they all appear to be present at once, telling their tale to the reader. Esme's story is heartbreaking and provokes sympathy; Kitty's constant ramblings reveal the true events and Iris, as a young modern woman, with issues of her own, is left to pick up the pieces. A stunning read.
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Stella
member
Reged: 03/06/2007
Posts: 1
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The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin
Two stories alternate through the book, seemingly very different, but inextricably linked by the end.
Major Stephen Fairhurst, maimed at the Battle of Waterloo, travels Europe, mourning his lost love and searching for meaning in his life. He befriends an independent-minded woman, passionate about photography.
Anna, a lonely teenager in the mid-seventies, is left to fend for herself one summer with unknown relatives. She is befriended by exotic neighbours, who help teach her about photography - and life. The themes of photography, independent thought and especially the importance of love for others, blend the two stories satisfyingly into one.
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mbing
member
Reged: 11/05/2007
Posts: 3
Loc: Cambridgeshire
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The Last Detective by Robert Crais
When the step-son of ex-special forces Elvis Cole is kidnapped, everything points to a revenge kidnapping relating to events in Cole's army life. How could the kidnapper know the details of military operations unless he was there?
A true 'can't put it down' thriller, this book has clever twists and turns, deep characters, and bucket loads of plot.
This is the seventh Cole novel, and Crais’ tenth bestseller, so there’s lots more once you’re hooked. Other examples of his work include TV scripts for LA Law and Cagney and Lacey.
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SUEG
member
Reged: 07/06/2007
Posts: 1
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'Ghostwalk' by Rebecca Stott is a beautifully written, thought-provoking, literary novel. It’s also a page turner. Set in present day Cambridge, it’s the story of Lydia Brooke, who is caught up in a web of ghosts, time slips, scientific intrigue and murder when her ex-lover Cameron asks her to complete the book that his mother, a historian, was writing before she was found drowned---and, mysteriously, holding a glass prism in her hand. Why did this happen? The hairs on the back of your neck will rise with a frisson of exquisite terror as you discover the truth.
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feathers
member
Reged: 20/05/2007
Posts: 563
Loc: Tyneside
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Those who save us
by Jenna Blum
Although this is quite a thick book it was so compelling I devoured it in 24 hours. The narrative switches between the wartime years in Germany and the USA in the 90s where the main characters settled with a GI husband after 1945. Key characters are Trudy and her mother, Anna, who has never talked about what she endured to survive in Nazi Germany. It's only through a university project Trudy is running examining how ordinary Germans lived through these extraordinary years that she finally learns the truth about her heritage. But her mother, who has learnt to hide the past, is silent to the end.
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