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spooky_missBook Fifty Four - The Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger
This book tells the story of a man who continually changes his name, life history, location and friends, to try and erase his terrible childhood. It starts with him having taken an overdose, and he has to speak to a psychiatrist for them to decide whether he needs to be sectioned. He's done this so many times that he knows what he should do or say to make people think he's sane, he knows what the psychiatrist is thinking about him from his notes and his body language. It goes on to explain how and why he changes his name and life so often, and how he meets a woman who he finally tells that he's not who he is...and then discovers that she is not who she is either. I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would. Its interesting to see how he manages to totally change his life and story all the time. It's fiction, but theres some notes about the author at the end which make you think that maybe he could actually do something like that, which is interesting :) Recommended :) 7 / 10
Book Fifty Five - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Stories by F Scott Fitzgerald
I was looking forward to reading this book, although I haven't seen the film of Benjamin Button, but it was quite disappointing. It just describes how Benjamin Button ages down instead of up, says how he can't get into Harvard because he looks too young, so goes to a prep school instead, and then eventually just gets too young and seems to disappear! He doesn't actually *do* anything! I'm not sure how they managed to make it into a whole film. The other short stories are equally quite disappointing, one about some people who stay out all night and meet some people at a dance, and a man who shoots himself as he finds he's married. None of them really went anywhere or had any kind of interesting events in them, which is a shame. I've read Great Gatsby which I thought was quite good, but this was disappointing. 4 / 10
Book Fifty Six - The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
This is another of the "old crime" books which came free with the Times, and was really quite good! It tells the story of a man, Richard Cadogen, who, walking in Oxford at night, finds a toyshop which has a body of a woman in it. When he gets the police to come to the toyshop he finds it has turned into a grocers shop! Richard gets the help of Professer Fen to investigate what has happened, and they uncover a story of a huge inheritance which has a condition that the main inheritor can only claim it if she comes back to Oxford within a certain time - if not there are four other people set to inherit the money. This is one of the ones which I don't want to ruin the story of, but it includes a few murders, and a cast of quite eccentric characters in an old fashioned style - including one man who is part of the group just because of his talents for seducing ladies, haha. This was a nice fun read, I recommend it to anyone who likes crime / mystery stories. 8 / 10
Book Fifty Seven - Election by Tom Perotta
This book was better than I thought it would be - but it was quite light and fluffy, I wasn't sure if it was supposed to have a point or not really. Its about a teacher at a school, the election of a school president, and the relationships between the three candidates for the school presidency. The teacher has told one of the pupils he should run for the presidency against the most popular girl in the school, then his sister decides to run as well. It all seems to go a bit wrong, and everyone wants to vote for the sister, who just wants to be against the other two for the sake of it. There are also problems in the personal life of the teacher, and he ends up having an affair. Oh and another teacher is having an affair with the popular girl. This book is ok, but nothing really much to it. Quite good if you've read a heavy, boring book and want something easy and light! Not bad, but nothing spectacular either. 5 / 10
Book Fifty Eight - The Cloning of Joanna May by Fay Weldon
This book was a bit weird, and not quite what I thought Fay Weldon's books were like! Its about Joanna May, who has split up from her husband Carl May, and is just generally dissatisfied with her life, as she has no children, and no job, and nothing from the marriage really. It turns out that as Carl May had such a horrible abusive childhood he had a vasectomy so he couldn't carry on his flawed family line. Joanna May wanted children, and had some kind of imaginary pregnancy, and so then had an imaginary abortion, during which Carl arranged for some of her eggs to be taken to create clones of her...the book then follows the lives of the clones and how different they have all become, compared to Joanna. Joanna doesn't know about these clones, but they by accident seem to meet each other and realise that something weird is going on. They find out that they are clones, and all move in together. Then they seek out Joanna. Its just a really weird book, not really quite sure what it is trying to say! I didn't really like the characters of Joanna or Carl, but the story of the clones lives was ok. Not sure if I recommend it or not really - if its the only book you have, read it, but if you have others , read them first, haha. 6 / 10
Book Fifty Nine - Starting Over by Tony Parsons
I'd never read anything by Tony Parsons before, but having seen so many of his books in charity shops, I wasn't sure if it was going to be any good, but I really quite enjoyed it. Its about George, who has a heart transplant and his life totally changes. He's a policeman who worries about getting distant from his children, and is quite strict with them, but once he has a new heart becomes more like the donor of it, a 19 year old boy, gets a tattoo, starts behaving more like a young man again. His wife doesn't like this, and it does cause a split between them, but it was sweet how it portrayed how he loved her so much and was just trying to tell her that - like he had a tattoo of her name, and was surprised when she asked what it was, as to him it was obvious he would have a tattoo of her name as he loves her so much :) The family start to fall apart, he loses his job as a policeman, but in the end it all comes together again - with a hint of something which I think sets it up for a sequel, haha. Recommended if you would like a quick, light read :) 8 / 10
I'm currently reading "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell, which is ok. Not as good compared to the film though, I'm finding it a little boring, but it might be better once I get a bit more into it. This is my 60th book of the year, so I'm on track once again...although all the books I've read recently are the "summer reads" ones which have been free with the Times, none over 300 pages, so thats why I've been able to get through so many so quickly! I haven't read any non fiction or historical novels for ages, so I need to get back into them. Every time I look at all my books in my bedroom I get frustrated as there are so many books I want to be able to read but don't have time! I need a holiday so I can read lots of books, hehe.
I'm off work ill at the moment - I am just about to look up on the internet to see if anyone has ever had two appendixes, as thats how my stomach hurts, but on the other side! I do feel slightly guilty though, as I always do when I'm off work ill! Also theres some really good tennis on today, so I'm worried people are going to think that I'm only off because of that! But I'm really not!
This book tells the story of a man who continually changes his name, life history, location and friends, to try and erase his terrible childhood. It starts with him having taken an overdose, and he has to speak to a psychiatrist for them to decide whether he needs to be sectioned. He's done this so many times that he knows what he should do or say to make people think he's sane, he knows what the psychiatrist is thinking about him from his notes and his body language. It goes on to explain how and why he changes his name and life so often, and how he meets a woman who he finally tells that he's not who he is...and then discovers that she is not who she is either. I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would. Its interesting to see how he manages to totally change his life and story all the time. It's fiction, but theres some notes about the author at the end which make you think that maybe he could actually do something like that, which is interesting :) Recommended :) 7 / 10
Book Fifty Five - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Stories by F Scott Fitzgerald
I was looking forward to reading this book, although I haven't seen the film of Benjamin Button, but it was quite disappointing. It just describes how Benjamin Button ages down instead of up, says how he can't get into Harvard because he looks too young, so goes to a prep school instead, and then eventually just gets too young and seems to disappear! He doesn't actually *do* anything! I'm not sure how they managed to make it into a whole film. The other short stories are equally quite disappointing, one about some people who stay out all night and meet some people at a dance, and a man who shoots himself as he finds he's married. None of them really went anywhere or had any kind of interesting events in them, which is a shame. I've read Great Gatsby which I thought was quite good, but this was disappointing. 4 / 10
Book Fifty Six - The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
This is another of the "old crime" books which came free with the Times, and was really quite good! It tells the story of a man, Richard Cadogen, who, walking in Oxford at night, finds a toyshop which has a body of a woman in it. When he gets the police to come to the toyshop he finds it has turned into a grocers shop! Richard gets the help of Professer Fen to investigate what has happened, and they uncover a story of a huge inheritance which has a condition that the main inheritor can only claim it if she comes back to Oxford within a certain time - if not there are four other people set to inherit the money. This is one of the ones which I don't want to ruin the story of, but it includes a few murders, and a cast of quite eccentric characters in an old fashioned style - including one man who is part of the group just because of his talents for seducing ladies, haha. This was a nice fun read, I recommend it to anyone who likes crime / mystery stories. 8 / 10
Book Fifty Seven - Election by Tom Perotta
This book was better than I thought it would be - but it was quite light and fluffy, I wasn't sure if it was supposed to have a point or not really. Its about a teacher at a school, the election of a school president, and the relationships between the three candidates for the school presidency. The teacher has told one of the pupils he should run for the presidency against the most popular girl in the school, then his sister decides to run as well. It all seems to go a bit wrong, and everyone wants to vote for the sister, who just wants to be against the other two for the sake of it. There are also problems in the personal life of the teacher, and he ends up having an affair. Oh and another teacher is having an affair with the popular girl. This book is ok, but nothing really much to it. Quite good if you've read a heavy, boring book and want something easy and light! Not bad, but nothing spectacular either. 5 / 10
Book Fifty Eight - The Cloning of Joanna May by Fay Weldon
This book was a bit weird, and not quite what I thought Fay Weldon's books were like! Its about Joanna May, who has split up from her husband Carl May, and is just generally dissatisfied with her life, as she has no children, and no job, and nothing from the marriage really. It turns out that as Carl May had such a horrible abusive childhood he had a vasectomy so he couldn't carry on his flawed family line. Joanna May wanted children, and had some kind of imaginary pregnancy, and so then had an imaginary abortion, during which Carl arranged for some of her eggs to be taken to create clones of her...the book then follows the lives of the clones and how different they have all become, compared to Joanna. Joanna doesn't know about these clones, but they by accident seem to meet each other and realise that something weird is going on. They find out that they are clones, and all move in together. Then they seek out Joanna. Its just a really weird book, not really quite sure what it is trying to say! I didn't really like the characters of Joanna or Carl, but the story of the clones lives was ok. Not sure if I recommend it or not really - if its the only book you have, read it, but if you have others , read them first, haha. 6 / 10
Book Fifty Nine - Starting Over by Tony Parsons
I'd never read anything by Tony Parsons before, but having seen so many of his books in charity shops, I wasn't sure if it was going to be any good, but I really quite enjoyed it. Its about George, who has a heart transplant and his life totally changes. He's a policeman who worries about getting distant from his children, and is quite strict with them, but once he has a new heart becomes more like the donor of it, a 19 year old boy, gets a tattoo, starts behaving more like a young man again. His wife doesn't like this, and it does cause a split between them, but it was sweet how it portrayed how he loved her so much and was just trying to tell her that - like he had a tattoo of her name, and was surprised when she asked what it was, as to him it was obvious he would have a tattoo of her name as he loves her so much :) The family start to fall apart, he loses his job as a policeman, but in the end it all comes together again - with a hint of something which I think sets it up for a sequel, haha. Recommended if you would like a quick, light read :) 8 / 10
I'm currently reading "Julie and Julia" by Julie Powell, which is ok. Not as good compared to the film though, I'm finding it a little boring, but it might be better once I get a bit more into it. This is my 60th book of the year, so I'm on track once again...although all the books I've read recently are the "summer reads" ones which have been free with the Times, none over 300 pages, so thats why I've been able to get through so many so quickly! I haven't read any non fiction or historical novels for ages, so I need to get back into them. Every time I look at all my books in my bedroom I get frustrated as there are so many books I want to be able to read but don't have time! I need a holiday so I can read lots of books, hehe.
I'm off work ill at the moment - I am just about to look up on the internet to see if anyone has ever had two appendixes, as thats how my stomach hurts, but on the other side! I do feel slightly guilty though, as I always do when I'm off work ill! Also theres some really good tennis on today, so I'm worried people are going to think that I'm only off because of that! But I'm really not!
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no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 01:13 pm (UTC)I so understand this problem! 3 shelves of books waiting to be read in my bedroom, plus all the books on my wishlist at amazon, plus those waiting in the library...
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Date: 2010-06-30 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-30 01:41 pm (UTC)My three shelves stay pretty constant as I'm still buying a couple books every week, just what's on them waiting to be read gets rotated, though there are a few that have been on there for years!
Have I mentioned I might have a book addiction? ;) I always tell everyone that I feel the way about books that women are supposed to feel about shoes!
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Date: 2010-06-30 01:59 pm (UTC)I'm so jealous you're a librarian, I want to be one, hehe. But it comes down to the money again, I can't afford to do the qualifications and don't have any library experience so can't get library jobs :( But hopefully one day!!
And yes I agree - I'd 100 times rather go in a bookshop than a shoe shop, haha! I can go out and buy many many books in a day, but even if I only need one dress for an occasion or something, I find it really hard! :)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-01 03:38 am (UTC)i love that you get free books with the times. nothing like that would happen here! ;) i'm also constantly frustrated by how many books i want to read vs. the amount of time i have. i think i need about 3 more pairs of eyeballs.
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Date: 2010-07-01 11:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-02 01:16 am (UTC)aww that's sweet! but yeah - it would totally take away the awesomeness of getting them for free if you had to pay to send them to me! :) but thanks. i'll live vicariously through you hehe.