(no subject)

[spooky_miss]

Books from 9th June to 7th July 2011

Book 97 – I’ll Go To Bed At Noon by Gerard Woodward - this wasn’t so great, basically about a family and how drunk they were all the time! Didn’t really develop any kind of story, just went around various family members explaining their troubles (mainly drunknness!) and how their troubles troubled the rest of the family.

Book 98 – Southern Cross by Patricia Cornwell - one of her non-Scarpetta books, and it suffers for it. Not recommended, it was a bit boring really. I think it was about a police chief in a town, and the kind of crimes she had to deal with, but it didn’t have any of Patricia Cornwell’s normal subjects in it, so wasn’t so great.

Book 99 – Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry - the first part of his autobiography, unfortunately this wasn’t as funny as I was expecting, it was almost like it tried too hard to be funny and so failed, but it was interesting to read about his early life. I have the second one, and hopefully that will be better.

Book 100 – The Exiles by Hilary McKay - one of my favourite books from when I was a child! About a family of four girls who are sent away to “Big Grandma” in the summer holidays, and what they get up to there.

Book 101 – The Long Song by Andrea Levy - About slaves in the Caribbean around the abolition of slavery, how they interacted with their former masters and mistresses. It was a great idea for a book, but unfortunately it really dragged, nowhere near as good as Small Island.

Book 102 – The Exiles at Home by Hilary McKay - the next book in the series, in this one they have to find £10 a month in various inventive ways to pay to sponsor a child in Africa!

Book 103 – The Princess of the Chalet by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer - from my favourite book series ever! In this one a princess comes to the Chalet School and Joey has to help save her from a evil plot by her uncle. In amongst all the normal school things of course!

Book 104 – The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday - read for my Book Club, I wasn’t very impressed, it turned out to be about one man’s mental illness and how it affected him, but it was more from his wife’s point of view than his, which meant it wasn’t as good as it could have been.

Book 105 – Self’s Punishment by Thomas Richter - this is part written by Bernhard Schlink, and I loved The Reader but this book just isn’t as good. It is mainly about an investigator investigating something to do with a chemical company – there are vague hints to a Nazi past, which would have been interesting, but they’re not expanded upon. I’d say anyone who liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo might like this though.

Book 106 – Close by Martina Cole - about some gangsters, as normal for Martina Cole’s books, but it was a bit vague and wasn’t as good as her other books that I’ve read. I think I prefer it when her stories are more about the wives and families rather than intricate criminal descriptions.

Book 107 – Eustacia at the Chalet School / Shocks for the Chalet School / The Chalet School Wins the Trick by Elinor M. Brent Dyer - three books in one, all set throughout the series and in totally different places, so it was a bit disjointed going from one to the other, but they were good. Eustacia is a horrible girl who comes to the Chalet School, I can’t quite remember what the “shocks” were, haha, and Win is a small child who along with a group of girls seems to hate the Chalet School and wages a campaign against them. All good!

Book 108 – Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - This is the second time I’ve read this and I now know why I didn’t remember it the first time. It is so vague! There are hardly any details about the world they live in, and so many unanswered questions – what does the rest of society think about them? How do people become guardians? What do they donate, even! I suppose it could be read as a study on human relationships, but its just not very good. Which is a shame, as the idea has a lot of potential.

I haven’t really read that many great books recently, apart from the Chalet School ones, which is a shame. Everything has been a bit disappointing really! But at least I have them out of the way, and my pile of books for the car boot sale is growing! I’m currently reading a book which I have seen to be quite badly reviewed previously, but its ok so far…and next I’m going to try Midnight’s Children, which I’m looking forward to. Just in time for my parents to come back from India with all their photos as well! I haven’t done too well with reading books from the 1001 books to read before you die recently, so that will be a start again. I think I might just concentrate more on reading the books I have that I haven’t read, and then go back to the library to get more books in September.

As for general life things…I’ve started the next OU course I’ve signed up for, its just psychology this time, and its been interesting so far. Just waiting for the mark from my first essay now! The next one isn’t due until September, although I want to get it done before Bloodstock in August really. And talking of Bloodstock I’ve met a few more metallers recently, so I’m getting increasingly excited about that, (Bloodstock I mean, not the metallers, though they are cool, haha!) even though I keep forgetting what bands are playing! I know when I go I’ll find loads to go and see though. It’ll be great :D I don’t have any more gigs to go to until September apart from that, which is a bit of a shame!

I hope everyone reading this has been well and been doing fun things! :)