Booking In Heels

Review: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

2012-03-09T16:04:00.002Z

I saw Virtuosity a few months ago and instantly knew I had to get my hands on it. I'm a sucker for books about music or dance, especially those written by musicians themselves and this fits the bill perfectly. Jessica Martinez has been both a violin teacher and a symphony violinist, not to mention she's now the author of this amazing YA novel. Not sure which is the biggest achievement there really...

Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen's whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn't just hot ...what if Jeremy is better than her?

I really really liked Virtuosity. At times I've wanted desperately to be a classical pianist, dancer and opera singer (my chosen drearily academic career path will probably tell you just how creative I am) so books like these give me the next best thing - the experience. Carmen's shoes aren't a bad pair to fill either - I actually really liked her, and I'm terrible for irrationally loathing protagonists. She's not snobby about her talents, but she's not irretrievably naive about the world either. Maybe a little, but it's only to be expected from her sheltered world and it's actually a little endearing.

It's a much, much deeper book than you'd imagine. Carmen struggles not only with the looming competition and her pushy mother, but also the light of first love and an overwhelming dependence on anxiety medication. I think it's the latter that really pushed Virtuosity into 'awesome' territory for me. Whilst not suffering from physical addiction, Carmen has been gradually led to believe that she cannot perform without Inderal. She's ashamed of her secret weakness and yearns to let it go, but her mother and teacher refuse to even condone the idea. It wasn't really a necessary sub-plot and I wouldn't even have thought of including it - but it makes me wonder exactly what the author witnessed during her violining days! All in all, there's a lot of sub-plot shaped balls for Jessica Martinez to keep in the air... but she manages, and does so with style.

It's even written wonderfully - not a hint of the clunkiness that often pervades hastily dashed off YA novels. It's here that the author's musical experience really comes to light - Carmen and her mother are intimately familiar with symphonies, arias and musical technique but their knowledge is slotted into the text so subtly it never feels like somebody has just opened a music textbook and is just showing off what she knows.

Furthermore, Carmen's emotions are shown to us completely. Elation, doubt, confusion, suspicion... we're not just told that Carmen is feeling them, we're shown through her actions and her words. We're even inside her head as she tries to puzzle out the actions of others - Jeremy and her mother for example. It's a remarkable feat of prose.

The final fifth or so introduces a twist that I can't quite decide if I liked or not. The notes in my Filofax were scribbled as I read, so it kind of goes 'Annoying subplot. Actually, it's okay. Argh, no it's not. Oh well, I'm used to it now...' and so on. Looking back on it a week later, I can now accept that it worked. I've talked before about having different reactions to a book right after you've finished and a week later, and this is one of those instances. I did love the entire thing and even that little niggle has ironed itself out in my mind. There was a decision Carmen made that wasn't very believable and that still bugs me (and it's not as obvious as you'd think, so I'm not being spoilery) but I can cope.

Obviously, I loved Virtuosity. Almost every single little thing about it. Not only can I not wait for Jessica Martinez' new book, but I'll be purchasing a paper copy of this one just as soon as I can. It's a wonderful, wonderful YA novel about music, romance and career pressure and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Visit Jessica Martinez' super pretty website here, or find her on Twitter.

Top Ten Tuesday - Favourite Book Covers I Own

2012-03-08T15:01:00.000Z

First off, some more-than-a-little exciting news -

I GOT ONTO THE BAR COURSE!!!

And no, that doesn't mean I'm learning how to mix margaritas. I've been accepted by three different Law Schools to do the vocational part of my legal training, which is the bit that actually teaches you the advocacy skills necessary to become a bad-ass lawyer.

It's a stupidly exclusive course, and I was barely expected to scrape my way on to one, much less all three of my choices. I opened the e-mail before even getting out of bed this morning and screamed so loud my Dad genuinely thought I'd hurt myself.

So yeah, I'm slightly pleased. Is it September yet? :)

And now, because I haven't forgotten the purpose of this course, my favourite book covers of books I actually own.

1) Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein
The cover actually sparkles!

2) Matched by Ally Condie

3) Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne (Vintage edition)

4) Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent

5) The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
All the books in this series have beautiful covers and they feel lovely too.

6) We Bought A Zoo by Benjamin Mee

7) Pegasus by Robin McKinley
One of the nicest covers I've ever seen - shame I didn't like the book as much!

8) Positively by Courtney Sheinmel

9) The Princess Bride by William Goldman
My Aunt bought me this years ago and it's still the nicest edition I've ever seen

10) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Folio Society 2006)
I could actually fill up this entire list just using editions of Pride and Prejudice, but I won't. The Boy bought me this one last week as a surprise and it's amazingly beautiful - easily my favourite of the 36 editions I own. It's hardback with a case and really detailed illustrations. I just want to sit here and nuzzle it all day!

UK Giveaway of Mum in a Million by Judith Holder

2012-03-05T17:12:00.000Z

Orion Books have once again been nice enough to host a giveaway for Booking in Heels readers! This time, four lucky, lucky people can win a copy of Mum in a Million: For the Stressy, Know-it-all Mum I Couldn't Do Without.

There is no-one quite like your mother - but along with the unconditional love and understanding, this also means that there is no-one else who always knows when you're fibbing, or where you keep your diary, or the terribly amusing thing you once said at a family wedding when you were five. In an affectionate, amusing and mischievous book, Judith Holder's tribute to motherhood covers everything from mothers through the ages (it's not only the Virgin Mary who we wish had had an immaculate conception), to maternal anxiety, to those little things she says and why she says them: "You're not going out like that", "What are you doing inside on a lovely day like today?", and the classic: "because I said so". Using interviews and testimonies from mothers and daughters of all ages, this will be beautifully woven together to produce a humorous look at motherhood and everything that goes with it, with beautifully illustrated and funny line drawings integrated into the text.

Judith Holder has a great deal of experience with humour, having worked with some of the funniest people on television - Victoria Wood, Billy Connolly, Lenny Henry and many more. She is also the author of books like The Secret Diary of a Grumpy Old Woman and It's Not Grim Up North.

Looking at the book in front of me, it's easy to see that her sense of humour shines through. Everybody can find something to relate to in this book. For me, it was the section headed 'Shopping with your Mother.' It brought back memories of many trauma-filled hours shopping for school shoes with my Mum - it always, always ended in tears and a pair of shoes that weren't high enough for me (I started early!) and too shiny for my Mum.

I started reading this on the train earlier, and so many parts made me smile and nod. Then I immediately rang my Mum and told her how much I loved her.

Mother's Day in the UK is the 18th March, and there honestly doesn't exist a better gift. Like I said, four lucky winners will get hold of a copy, which means four lucky Mums will feel extra specially loved on that day :)

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Review: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

2012-03-04T16:50:00.004Z

Wow. This is some strange book. I'm sure a lot of you have seen the trailer for the film released a few weeks ago - find it here if you haven't. I hate being one of those people that picks up a book just because it's been made into a film, so my misplaced sense of pride requires me to point out I got it waaaaay back in October, before my media-ignorant mind eventually clicked on to the fact. I watched the trailer before reading the book though, and I think it led to my expecting an entirely different tone from the book somehow.

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies.

When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father's closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace.
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You have to be on the ball to really follow Extremely Loud & Incredibly Loud; it's not an easy book to get along with. It's very, very choppy - the viewpoints change every few chapters without notice or warning and it can take a few pages to deduce who's talking to who. Characters are addressed in these places as 'mother' or 'my son' and it's a story that follows three different generations, so you really have to be willing to bare with it a little. Oskar's 'voice' is very rambling too - he gets distracted by memories and tangents so easily that it can be difficult working out where in the timeline you are, especially when he refers to events that haven't actually happened yet.
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It is worth it though. It can seem a little gimmicky at first, but eventually I realised that there is a point to all the photographs and insertions. Oskar has a scrapbook called "Things That Happened To Me" in which he pastes photos of things that particularly affected him, like the man falling off the World Trade Center or out of control soldiers in Iraq. A lot of these photos are shown to the reader as they're mentioned, kind of in a Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children type way. It's not really necessary, but it's interesting.

Example of different images.

There are also insertions than photographs. Like, early on in the story, Oskar mentions how he used to watch his Dad circle grammatical mistakes in newspapers and later in the book, it's demonstrated in a letter his father has read. That kind of thing. There are a few irritating formats that I struggled with a little, but on the whole it works.

I found Oskar incredibly irritating until I realised that it seems as if he's suffering from Asperger's or something similar. They never really make a point of discussing it, but it does seem to fit. He doesn't really have any social skills and is often unintentionally offensive because he doesn't understand social conventions. Honestly, I did want to throttle him at times. I understand that the entire concept of the plot involves his illness, if indeed there is one, but it didn't make me like him anymore. His absolute obsession with a strange key he finds draws him down the path of learning more about his family - without that conviction, there would be no book. Actually, I hadn't even realised that even the title of the book gives it away until The Boy pointed it out out sufferers generally don't like loud noises or close contact. Yeah, give him the points for observation if you must but hey, I'm prettier :P

Realising this changes the whole idea of the book. At first glance, it appears to be a quest Oskar's father has sent him on from beyond the grave - much like one of the scavenger hunt games they used to play. But then, the more time you spend inside Oskar's head, you realise that actually, maybe the little boy has invented the whole idea as a way to feel closer to his father. It's not until the end that you finally discover where it was actually a self-imposed coping method or a fun game invented by the boy's deceased father.

The ending is slightly anti-climactic though, and that doesn't reveal the option above as much as it seems. It's all neatly tied up and I didn't even dislike it, but it could have been a little more satisfying, I think.

I did enjoy Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, although it wasn't really what I was expecting. It's slightly manic and very disjointed, so you really have to be willing to suffer a few raised eyebrows and confused glances. That said, it's also a moving look into a little boy's grief if you're willing to put in the effort and examine the different formats used.

Visit Jonathan Safran Foer's website here.

Review: The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada

2012-03-01T13:52:00.002Z

I desperately wanted to read The Auschwitz Violin as soon as I saw the review posted by the Lit Addicted Bri t. Months later I convinced my doting Father to buy me a copy on Christmas Eve, the annual day of buying-Hanna-whatever-she-wants-for-no-reason. It reminded me a little of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas before I'd even opened it - it's of a similar size and obviously there's a similar topic. Truth be told though, The Auschwitz Violin can more than stand on its own feet and I'd be hard pressed to say which I enjoyed more.

In the winter of 1991, at a concert in Krakow, an older woman with a marvellously pitched violin meets a fellow musician who is instantly captivated by her instrument. When he asks her how she obtained it, she reveals the remarkable story behind its origin. . . .

Daniel is a talented luthier, but he is also an inmate at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. He has kept his true occupation a secret in order to avoid the gas showers, but when he offers to repair a broken instrument belonging to the Commander, he makes a mistake that may cost him his life.

Somehow, hearing the story of one individual can be more traumatising than being told the statistics of the estimated 1.1 million people that were slaughtered at the Auschwitz camps. I can't take credit for that particular revelation - go thank The Lit Addicted Brit for the insight. When I read that review though, something just kind of clicked inside my head - it's true. We've all heard the horrifying figures from our history lessons and TV documentaries, but we don't really feel it until we're told the story of one particular inmate, even if it is fictional. That's why books like these are so important - they might not be 100% completely accurate, but they get the true feeling across more than any Wikipedia page ever could.

I liked Daniel but I couldn't help but feel I should have connected to him more. Perhaps that's more to do with the short length of the novel than any fault of the writing, but even so. That said, I respected him and his love for violins is palpable. It's clear a lot of work has gone into researching craftmanship - each stroke of sandpaper and tightening of string is meticulously detailed, and it's easy to get as drawn into to its creation as Daniel does.

He's close to giving up hope and sometimes feels like the violin is the only reason he hasn't given in to despair. I have an Irrational Hatred (so frequent it needs to be capitalised) for whiny characters even if they have every right in the world to complain. However, even despite my usual dislike, Daniel never bothered me. Not once. If that's not a glowing recommendation, I don't know what is. It's just a very subtle book, I think. It doesn't need to bludgeon you with the desperation because you can feel it slowly seep in around the edges and that's much, much more effective.

The only thing that didn't seem to make much sense were Daniel's feelings towards the violin. I understand that its creation was possibly the only thing keeping him alive at that time, and yet I didn't really believe that he would love it so much. Surely after going through such a horrendous ordeal, he'd never want to see the damn thing again, much less ensure that his family keep hold of it after he's gone. Not a huge point, don't get me wrong, but I didn't think it was explained very well.

Interspersed between chapters are genuine documents from the time when Auschwitz was functioning. These detail punishments meted out to the inmates along with their living conditions and experiments performed. There's just a few scattered in and amongst - not enough to overwhelm the story, but enough to cement your impression of its horrors and remind you that the story may be fictional, but the camp was not.

I enjoyed The Auschwitz Violin. It's strange though - having finished it, I put it on the shelf and wandered off to do something else without feeling particularly moved or pensive. It does keep coming back to me though, and it's nearly a week since I finished it. Parts of it will pop up in my head for no apparent reason and I can't help but feel they'll be haunting me for a while to come.

Review: The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

2012-02-25T23:12:00.002Z

I first picked up The Scarlet Pimpernel in March last year and absolutely adored it. It had history, action, romance, terror, mystery and everything else we stubbornly demand from a good book. I immediately vowed to track down the rest of the books and get them read as soon as humanly possibly. Who knew it was a series? I didn't, and apparently there are seventeen - including two prequels and a spin-off biography. For some unknown reason though, the second book isn't in print even though all the others are - it's just some strange little black hole on the list. Regardless, I ran out and bought the third one, this one... and uhh, read it a full year later :) What can I say, my TBR pile ate it.

More adventures amongst the terrors of revolutionary France. No one has uncovered the identity of the famous Scarlet Pimpernel - no one except his wife Marguerite and his arch-enemy, citizen Chauvelin. Sir Percy Blakeney is still at large however, evading capture...

This has a slightly different format to the original book, which explains the unfulfilling summary. It's a short story collection, not a novel. Normally that's not my kind of thing but the stories contained are written so beautifully that I was more than able to deal with it.

Unlike the first one, this requires a basic understanding of the French Revolution to really 'get' all of the stories. Primarily, a knowledge of the Reign of Terror and the leading figures, like Marat and Robespierre. You don't need to know all the ins and outs - we covered it in A-level five years ago (*cringes*) and I managed fine and dandy. I think having read The Scarlet Pimpernel first might suffice though. It would make sense without that, but it's a lot more fun if you have :)

The stories themselves contain just the same atmosphere as the original. Nearly all are told from the perspective of a potential victim of the guillotine, living in daily fear of the Committee of Public Safety knocking at their door . Their terror and relief are almost tangible - the point when their rescue has been pulled off is always wonderfully described. Their gratitude and awe rolls off them and out of the pages. It's a wonderful feeling.

I think I'd have liked a little more about the man himself though, and his wife. I really liked Marguerite Blakeney in the original, so it's a shame that she had only a passing mention here. Hopefully she'll pop up again in the later books.

A short review, I know, but I struggle to review short story collections. I would recommend reading it, but definitely start with The Scarlet Pimpernel. Oh, incidentally - I can't help but picture Chris Hemsworth as the Pimp himself. Perhaps without the big-ass hammer though.

TGIF #4

2012-02-24T16:18:00.008Z

Required Reading: Which book from your school days

do you remember reading & enjoying? Is there a book published now

that you'd like to see in today's curriculum for kids?

Salt Grammar School library

My school wasn't very bookish. In fact, I probably only lost myself in reading out of sheer rebellion. It's strange really, because we had an awesome library - it was a circular, one-roomed tower above a pond. Nobody used it though, and I mean nobody. I think I may have borrowed a book from there once and that was only because the crazy, pink-haired librarian wouldn't let me edge away.

Anyway, not so much for the reading, even in class. I remember Jane Eyre was on the GCSE syllabus and our teacher just photocopied three pages because that was all we needed for the exam. We never even touched the damn book. It's a shame, because I love that now.

My friend Caroline and I got so bored one day that we took the characters from Jane's school and warped them into Kinky Sex Nun and Hardcore Bondage Priest. Then we wrote a story about them and accidentally handed it in to OFSTED. Yeah, we were a strange couple of 14 year olds...

When they couldn't avoid making us read an entire piece, it was usually either a play or something short. I really liked An Inspector Calls but I still hate Of Mice and Men to this day. I'd much rather have read something longer (and better, ideally).

I'd like actual books to be read in school. None of that photocopying crap - schools just wouldn't be told which bits were relevant, so they'd have to teach the entire thing. I'd use the classics as much as possible - The Scarlet Pimpernel or Pride and Prejudice maybe. They're both fairly accessible for children.

Review: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

2012-02-23T15:32:00.003Z

That awkward feeling when your boyfriend asks what you're reading and you mumble that you're reading a book for pre-teens about incest.

She is pretty and talented - sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But... they are brother and sister.

Seventeen-year-old Lochan and sixteen-year-old Maya have always felt more like friends than siblings. Together they have stepped in for their alcoholic, wayward mother to take care of their three younger siblings. As defacto parents to the little ones, Lochan and Maya have had to grow up fast. And the stress of their lives—and the way they understand each other so completely—has also also brought them closer than two siblings would ordinarily be. So close, in fact, that they have fallen in love. Their clandestine romance quickly blooms into deep, desperate love. They know their relationship is wrong and cannot possibly continue. And yet, they cannot stop what feels so incredibly right. As the novel careens toward an explosive and shocking finale, only one thing is certain: a love this devastating has no happy ending.

I can't help but think that perhaps so many people have raved about this book simply because of the shocking subject matter. So many plots have been repeated until we know them by heart, so that when an author comes along with something just that little bit different (the more so, the better) she is pretty much guaranteed to get rave reviews, regardless of the actual quality of the book.

I'm not sure why, but I don't seem to be as repulsed by the concept of consensual incest as most people seem to be. It's not something I'd want to partake in, but I don't really feel like locking up everybody who does. In fact, I don't actually understand why it is against the law - preventing siblings from having children is one thing, but I don't get prohibiting their relationships. Maybe this had something to do with my lack of regard for the book, I'm not sure.

Anyway, my own views on incest aren't really at issue here. The point is, I just wasn't a fan. To me, the book was separated into two parts - the first three quarters of the book and then the final one. I had such differing opinions on the two that they may as well have been completely different books.

First off, I disliked Maya and loathed Lochan. I understand that they have a hard life looking after their three siblings, but well... they're so sulky. Again, they probably have a right to do so, I get it, but they don't really try and help themselves. They never once sit their mother down to try and reason with her or try and communicate properly with Kit. Lochan infuriated me - for no apparent reason at all, he refuses to speak in front of anybody non-family. It never really explains why, but it barely seems like he even tries. I honestly just wanted to shake him and tell him to get a grip.

I never really believed in their relationship either; it doesn't really show us why they're so different from every other brother-sister duo out there. I understand they were pushed into the role of parents and so thought of each other that way, but it doesn't really show that. You're kind of just supposed to accept that that is The Way It Is. Aside from anything else, they're teenagers. Incest aside, teenage love just isn't... well, it just isn't. Teenage relationships can stand the test of time, but most teenagers aren't as melodramatic as Lochan and Maya are.

That's the perfect word for Forbidden - melodramatic. Everything is exaggerated beyond the bounds of believability and there's a gloomy cloud of despair over the whole thing, even the supposedly happy parts. It wouldn't be so bad, but it's terribly written - so clunky and strangely awkward. It doesn't flow at at all. I've read a lot of reviews praising Ms. Suzuma for the beauty of it all, but the awful prose just made me cringe.

All that said... I do respect the ending. It's not something I saw coming, although the synopsis on the blurb already warned me of an unhappy ending (which was a bit strange in itself). But yeah, I liked the difficult decisions Maya and Lochan were forced to make - although after one particular event, I was all 'What? Really?' with an exasperated sigh. Over-dramatic again. As a whole though - it was a quite clever ending.

As for the very, very end - Maya's selfishness annoyed me. I could quite easily have stabbed her because God, that was ridiculous and entirely pointless. I know I'm kind of speaking in code here, but if you understand what I'm talking about, e-mail me and I'll happily discuss it :)

I think I didn't like this book because there was so much I didn't understand. Why did Lochan and Maya's relationship develop how it did? Why were their siblings so horrible? Why couldn't Lochan talk? If various points had been developed a little more and it had been written a little better, it could have been amazing. I'm 22 - I don't need sock puppets to comprehend the basic plot of a YA novel, but a little too much relies on the reader's willingness to 'accept' in Forbidden.

Visit Tabitha Suzuma's website here, or find her on Twitter.

Review: The Psychopath Test

2012-02-20T15:27:00.000Z

Sometimes it surprises me how the books popular in the blogosphere aren't always the same ones as in the real world. I've only ever seen The Psychopath Test on one blog (Katie's Book Blog - click here for her review) but when I went into the library the other day, they had seven shiny new copies on the New Release shelf. Not only that, but they were one-week-loan only, presumably because they're just that in demand. I reserved my copy because I didn't realise just how many would be in stock!

What if society wasn’t fundamentally rational, but was motivated by insanity? This thought sets Jon Ronson on an utterly compelling adventure into the world of madness. Along the way, Jon meets psychopaths, those whose lives have been touched by madness and those whose job it is to diagnose it, including the influential psychologist who developed the Psychopath Test, from whom Jon learns the art of psychopath-spotting. A skill which seemingly reveals that madness could indeed be at the heart of everything . . . Combining Jon’s trademark humour, charm and investigative incision, The Psychopath Test is both entertaining and honest, unearthing dangerous truths and asking serious questions about how we define normality in a world where we are increasingly judged by our maddest edges.

Everybody's heard the term psychopath before, but how many of us actually know what it means? Therein lies the premise of Jon Ronson's book - what is a psychopath and why do so many influential businessmen display the symptoms? Prompted by a mysterious package sent to many leading academics, Mr. Ronson eventually tracks down the man responsible and is intrigued by his odd mannerisms. This leads to a deep investigation of psychopathy and those who suffer from it - a mature, intriguing look at aspects of the mental health regulations worldwide.

The actual Psychopath Test is a checklist devised by Bob Hare, used by medical institutions worldwide in an attempt to discover whether an individual is genuinely a psychopath. It includes symptoms such as pathological lying, lack of remorse and irresponsibility and is said to be the fool-proof method of detection. Jon Ronson meets with Mr. Hare to discuss various consequences of the existence of such a test. For example, the author frequently found himself quietly diagnosing his friends and relatives with psychopathy - like he was actually looking for reasons to deem them a psychopath.

I can sympathise. I've spent the week since I read The Psychopath Test informing The Boy that he is, in fact, a psychopath. I've even blu-tacked a list entitled 'Why Lewis is a Psychopath' to the radiator and I update it periodically. When he gets annoyed, I tell him that it's because he has a grandiose sense of self-worth - as befits a true psychopath.

It can actually have more serious consequences than infuriating your loved one, however. The author meets with Toby, an inmate at Broadmoor who pretended to be a psychopath to avoid a prison sentence. Now, years after his sentence would have ended, the authorities refuse to release him because they still believe in his psychopathy despite his confession. Similarly, an experiment was conducted a few years ago where eight 'normal' people were told to complain that they heard a voice saying three words, but otherwise act completely normal. Each of those people was incarcerated and struggled to convince doctors of their sanity. Later, the head of the experiment told the mental hospitals that more individuals were about to carry out the same concept. A month later, the authorities proudly announced they'd caught forty imposters. How many had actually been sent in? None.

So obviously the Test isn't infallible, and that's what Jon Ronson sets out to investigate. On the way, he discusses the views of different organisations on the psychological profession, a number of conspiracy theories and speaks with a few successful business men suspected of psychopathy. It's not always strictly on topic, but then at least it's never repetetive.

It has a very conversational tone - almost as if Mr. Ronson was sat across from you in a coffee shop, casually discussing psychopathy. As you do, obviously. He rambles sometimes and then suddenly realises and jumps back on track, but I like that. It never comes across as pretentious or preachy... Instead it's informal and friendly.

A quote on the cover proclaims how gloriously funny it is, but I didn't really see it that way. I mean, I really enjoyed it and I loved Mr. Ronson's 'voice,' but it's not a funny book. But hey, I think that added to my enjoyment. I'd have respected The Psychopath Test a lot less if it trivialised psychopathy or tried to joke about the consequences.

Long story short, I really enjoyed this book. It's a very, very accessible piece of non-fiction, but without talking down to the audience. I'll definitely be seeking out Jon Ronson's other work- The Men Who Stare At Goats in particular.

In My Mailbox #22

2012-02-19T16:13:00.001Z

Well, we've reached the end of another week at Booking in Heels and it's been a fairly productive one, as far as I'm concerned.

It's unlikely you've actually noticed a difference, but I'm starting to be much more organised in the management of my blog. Hell, I've even done the unthinkable and actually scheduled a post! Round of applause, anyone? I've been much more focused on my reviews and I'm starting to think about the future of Booking in Heels a little more.

Despite my super-productive week though, I've still managed to get my hands on a fair few books.

Sam from Falling Books was nice enough to send me Stray as a RAK last week. I raved about it in my review, so imagine my happy dance when it turned up on my doorstep. Finally I own my very own copy! Thanks Sam :)

So I've managed to once again go vaguely psycho in the library again. Haha, 'psycho,' cause I borrowed The Psychopath Test... get it? :) Sorry.

Anyway, all five of these were actually requests, although the library did manage to temporarily lose Shockoholic. I found a stray librarian to ask if she knew where it was, and she managed to help me immensely by looking confused and asking if the book I was already holding was it. Err... no. Regardless, she eventually located it and I toddled off home to roll about in my requested books.

I've read The Psychopath Test and Shockaholic already. Ideally the review of the former will be going up this afternoon but I can smell an almost completed Sunday lunch, and that pretty much means nap-time will follow.... Yeah, we'll see.

I'm oddly excited about Jurassic Park. The Boy brought home all three films last week and I fell in love with the first one all over again, so I'm suddenly desperate to see how the book compares.

For the first time in a very long while, I've actually had a tiny bit of spare money. It's been ages since I treated myself to some books, so I had a quick traipse round the charity shops the other day.

I had absolutely no idea that Minority Report was by Philip K. Dick. I knew it was a book, but if I'd known who'd wrote it, I'd probably have read it before now.

We watched The King's Speech not so long back and surprisingly really enjoyed it. Both my Dad and I stammer (although his is a lot worse than mine) so it made a nice change to see a strong film character who does so too. I was curious about how accurate the film actually was and added the book to my wishlist - but then it turned up in Help the Aged! Yeeeaaaah!

Finally, The Children's Book was a swap on ReaditSwapit. I've had a quick flick through and it has tiny text and not a lot of paragraphs, so I might hold back until I'm in a slightly more patient mood.

What's in your mailbox this week?

Review:The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau

2012-02-18T20:08:00.002Z

First off, a huge thank you to Orion Books for sending me The Crown in exchange for an honest review. Not only that, but they're very generously giving away copies to three lucky readers at Booking in Heels! UK only, I'm afraid but click here to enter. It's a beautiful, very intelligent book that would be a great addition to anybody's historical fiction collection.

London, May 1537: When Joanna Stafford, a young novice, learns her cousin is about to be burned at the stake for rebelling against Henry VIII, she makes a decision that will change not only her life but quite possibly, the fate of a nation. Joanna breaks the sacred rule of enclosure and runs away from Dartford Priory, but when Joanna and her father are arrested and sent to the Tower of London, she finds herself a pawn in a deadly power struggle. Those closest to the throne are locked in a fierce fight against those desperate to save England's monasteries from destruction. Charged with a mission to find a hidden relic believed to possess a mystical power that has slain three Englishmen of royal blood in the last 300 years, Joanna and a troubled young friar, Brother Edmund, must seek answers across England. Once she learns the true secret of her quest, one that traces all the way back to Golgotha and the Relics of the Passion, Joanna must finally determine who to trust and how far she is willing to go to protect her life, her family and everything she holds dear.

The press release that accompanied my copy described The Crown as a cross between Dan Brown and Philippa Gregory. I was slightly dubious at first because I've seen many, many books profess Brown-esque similarities but this actually is. The plot revolves around a search for a missing religious relic but set in Tudor England and written in a beautifully elegant historical style. It really is the best of both worlds.

I love Britain in the 1500s and I love biblical archaeology, so this was the perfect blend for me. Joanna Bulmer, a young novice at Dartford Priory, is blackmailed into locating an ancient artefact by Bishop Gardiner - if she does not, Henry VIII will succeed in closing every monastery and priory in England. I'm not really that familiar with the Bible, but I was still captivated by her struggle to protect her Sisters and her faith.

The prose is beautiful. It flows like a well-crafted story but still emanates intelligence and elegance. It's very formal, as befitting the story of a young Tudor nun. Nothing irritates me more than Tudor princesses using the slang of today, but The Crown steers as far away from that as it's possible to be. Nothing but authenticity here, thank you very much! Whilst it's definitely heavier on the description than the action, it never felt like a slog. Instead I was captivated by the attention to detail and atmosphere present throughout.

I liked Joanna as a character. She is clearly a pious and devoted young novice who believes strongly in her faith, but somehow manages never to come across as preachy and never irritated me, and trust me - I irritate easily. Instead, her struggles between obedience towards her prioress and the desire to do what is right is obvious and I sympathised. I liked the way her Spanish background was brought in to explain the sympathy she felt for Katherine of Aragon and her faith.

Ms Bilyeau has clearly done her research. The novel is filled with minor Tudor personages and historical references, as well as a clear understanding of the Dominican order. I like to think I'm reasonably well versed in the history of this period, and yet even I had to dash off to Wikipedia a good few times. I learned a lot, although it did make the plot occasionally a little hard to follow when I wasn't really sure who a character was meant to be.

When a burning is announced, the taverns of Smithfield order extra barrels of ale, but when the person to be executed is a woman and one of noble birth, the ale comes by the cartload.

I will admit that the ending bothered me a little. It just seemed to kind of fizzle out a little and I didn't really see the relevance of certain (very minor) subplots right at the finish. The romance (if it could be called that) seemed to spring from nowhere and the whole issue with Joanna's father was a little surprising. However I can't say those really detracted from my enjoyment of The Crown.

Long story short, this is the best piece of historical fiction I've read in a long time. I'd thought I was burned out from all the Tudor fiction I've read, but perhaps The Crown was just what I needed to bounce back!

Click here to enter the giveaway!

You may also be interested in Nancy Bilyeau's website, or click here to see The Crownon Amazon.

UK Giveaway of The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau

2012-02-18T20:07:00.001Z

Orion Books have been nice enough to offer three lucky readers of Booking in Heels their very own copy of The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau!

It's easily the best historical fiction I've read in a long time - read my review here.

London, May 1537: When Joanna Stafford, a young novice, learns her cousin is about to be burned at the stake for rebelling against Henry VIII, she makes a decision that will change not only her life but quite possibly, the fate of a nation. Joanna breaks the sacred rule of enclosure and runs away from Dartford Priory, but when Joanna and her father are arrested and sent to the Tower of London, she finds herself a pawn in a deadly power struggle. Those closest to the throne are locked in a fierce fight against those desperate to save England's monasteries from destruction. Charged with a mission to find a hidden relic believed to possess a mystical power that has slain three Englishmen of royal blood in the last 300 years, Joanna and a troubled young friar, Brother Edmund, must seek answers across England. Once she learns the true secret of her quest, one that traces all the way back to Golgotha and the Relics of the Passion, Joanna must finally determine who to trust and how far she is willing to go to protect her life, her family and everything she holds dear.

Giveaway ends in a week's time, after which three winners will be contacted. They then have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be picked instead.

UK only, I'm afraid!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

2012-02-16T20:33:00.002Z

So who remembers a film about a year or so ago with Amanda Seyfried called Red Riding Hood? It looked like a fairly good film actually, quite dark and gritty. Well this is the novelisation of said film. I had thought the film was based on the book, but apparently (unfortunately) not. The producer (who also did Twilight) liked the screenplay so much that she wanted the story to be told in another, deeper, format. And hey, who better to do that than her childhood friend who has conveniently just finished her Creative Writing degree? It explains a lot, trust me.

Valerie's sister was beautiful, kind and sweet. Now she is dead. Henry, the handsome son of the blacksmith, tries to console Valerie, but her wild heart beats fast for another: the outcast woodcutter, Peter, who offers Valerie another life far from home.

After her sister's violent death, Valerie's world begins to spiral out of control. For generations, the Wolf has been kept at bay with a monthly sacrifice. But now no one is safe. When an expert Wolf hunter arrives, the villagers learn that the creature lives among them - it could be anyone in town.

It soon becomes clear that Valerie is the only one who can hear the voice of the creature. The Wolf says she must surrender herself before the blood moon wanes...or everyone she loves will die.

Believe it or not, I do usually try and write at least moderately balanced reviews - I don't want to be a gushing pre-teen fangirl, but then I don't like slating the book, the author and all her descendants unfairly either. Just... okay, look. Keep in mind as you read this review that I'm trying, okay?

Because God, it's awful. Mind-numbingly horrendous. I was vaguely interested in the film when it was released because I love werewolves, fairytales and Amanda Seyfried. Unfortunately I never got round to it, but I did manage to get my hands on the book. Go me, right? Wrong. I finally got round to reading it last week, and while it's not a complete and utter waste of a good tree, I do hope the film is better.

The very first thing that stuck me was the clunky writing style. It's horrendous. It doesn't flow in the slightest, just clomps its way from sentence to sentence. By the end of the third page I was considering abandoning the whole endeavour; every other sentence was making me cringe. But, as always, I got used to it and found something else to dislike instead.

With this book being a novelisation of somebody else's screenplay, it wouldn't be fair to blame Sarah Blakley-Cartwright entirely for the plot faults. In fairness though, the plot itself is more than acceptable. The typical Red Riding Hood story is retold using a werewolf and a psychotic visiting werewolf-slayer. The village has a very Forest of Hands and Teeth feel to it - citizens living in fear on raised cabins, etc. Actually, the more I think about it, the more similar t appears. Even the atmosphere and general tone are similar, but I guess there are only so many ways you can write about an isolated, terrorized village.

So yeah, the plot is fine, it works for me. But good God, the relationships. I haven't seen the film yet, so I can't tell is Ms. Blakley-Cartwright has butchered the romance herself, or if she was making the most of someone else's slaughter-fest. There's your typical YA love-triangley thing, but I can't help but feel that Valerie made the wrong choice. I know that you can't slate a book because the main character doesn't have the same taste in men as you, but I honestly expected a big twist where she realised how silly she'd been all along and changed her mind. But... no. It makes no sense! There's no build-up, no relationship. The Insta-Love is apparently excused because she knew the boy in question when they were children, but how on earth does a childhood friend from ten years ago instantly morph into Burning Heap of Lust upon first sight as teenagers? Gaaarrgh.

With such terrible relationship development, it surprised me how well-written the characters themselves actually were. In the introduction, the producer tells us that the author actually spent a lot of time on-set, interviewing the actors about their characters; perhaps that's why they feel so well-rounded. Of course, I'm sure Ms. Blakley-Cartwright wasn't at all bothered about meeting celebrities and only visited out of duty to her book, but hey, at least we got some decent characters out of it.

So while I do concede that the plot is acceptable... the ending is not. It really is truly, deeply awful. Again, I haven't seen the film yet, but I'm kind of leaning towards it being the author's fault on this one. It's just not explained. I still don't know who the damn werewolf is. Valerie spends the entire book suspecting somebody different every other sentence (which does get fairly annoying - admit it, you silly woman! You CLEARLY don't know who it is!) so you'd assume that you'd find out which of her many suspicions turned out to be correct. It was very unsatisfying, as if whoever was actually responsible for it just kind of got bored and gave up (the creator, I mean. I'm not saying that the werewolf got bored and gave up, although I wouldn't really blame them...).

I'll be back with a 'So Whose Fault Was It Then?' post when I've actually seen the film. I'm leaning towards the author personally, but we'll see. In the mean-time, I'd stay away from both book and film, because I swear - you will regret it.

Blog Tag and I'm It! is excited

2012-02-13T17:59:00.002Z

This seems to be all over the blogosphere at the minute so I've been interestedly perusing all the different posts while lying here with my fluffy blanket this afternoon. What can I say, I'm a nosy little piggie. Imagine my surprise, when having never ever been tagged in anything before, Laura at Devouring Texts tagged me for this one. I haven't been this excited since I learned I could do this to my future child.

1. Post the rules
2. Post 11 fun facts about yourself
3. Answer questions from the person who tagged you
4. Make up 11 questions for the people you tag
5. Tag 11 people

Eleven facts about Hanna:

1) Despite having been profoundly apathetic about sports for almost all of my 22 years, I seem to have developed a slightly embarrassing interest in American football. My boyfriend loves it and apparently the attraction seeped into my brain by osmosis because I actually, willingly stayed up until 4am to watch the Superbowl.

2) I love frogs, to an extent that is nowhere near normal. I have a frog toothbrush holder, two frog showercaps, some frog maracas and pretty much anything else you can think of. The above froggy link in the first paragraph is a set-in-stone certainty for any of my future offspring.

3) I have a current yearning to run off and be an au pair in the US. I found a program where you get free board, food, flights and $97 a week to look after someone's children for a few hours a day. I know that's not a whole lot of money, but it's not like you have to pay rent. If I wasn't in a serious relationship in England, I'd pretty much already have applied - I want to do this so badly!

4) I very, very rarely watch TV or films. Actually, that's not true - I very, very rarely watch TV or films by choice. My boyfriend is a huge watcher and so I pretty much end up watching whatever he wants to. We have 'our' programs, of course - Castle, The Mentalist, Once Upon A Time, etc - but on my own, I don't even turn the damn thing on. Today I have sat in this room from 10am to currently 5pm in complete and total blessed silence.

5) I'm dying for a tattoo, but I'm too ill for my body to take it at the minute and I'm too poor besides. I have so many ideas for what I want though. I'm after a big piece that runs from my hip up to my shoulder along the side - something to do with frogs, but it has to be elegant not cartoonish. I also want this quote -

'This is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.'

It's what Elizabeth I said in 1558 when she first heard that her sister had died and she was to be Queen. Allegedly, anyway. I'm not sure where, but probably along my shoulder.

Not heels but a favourite :)

I have to be careful with tattoo placement though - I want to be a barrister and they tend to prefer you tattooless.

6) I can't walk in tiny heels, not one bit. Give me a pair of six inch heels and I can do the can-can down the street, but I will fall flat on my face within three steps of putting on a pair of one inch. I can about manage in completely flat shoes, but it's genuinely easier for me to stride along in heels.

7) I sometimes end up with massive gaps in my memory, caused by my ME or my Lupus (I genuinely can't remember why, and that's not even a pun!). I pretty much always lose the first 30 minutes to an hour after getting up, along with periods of the day where I'm particularly tired. My ridiculously extensive Filofax is the running joke of the family!

8) I'm terrified of fish. Not even a mild dislike, but they scare me. I have panic attacks in pet shops! Funnily enough, I'm fine watching documentarys on whales or sharks (you know, things that could actually hurt me) but goldfish? Uh-uh. My boyfriend keeps an episode of Bear Grylls stored on the SkyBox where he bites into a live fish. Just the thought of it makes me feel panicky so he says he uses it to 'keep me in line!'

9) I have a ridiculous sleep pattern, but it's not entirely my own fault. Sleep reversal is a massive symptom of ME and it used to be a huge problem for me. I'd sleep from 4am to 11am everyday and be completely unable to sleep at any other time. I know this can happen to 'normal' people too, but for me, it's not just a matter of getting out of the pattern. It's genuinely just the way it is. I've got used to it now, although I haven't given up trying to sleep earlier.

10) So, so clumsy. So very slumsy. When I was a Scout Leader, it used to be a running joke that if I didn't walk in with some sort of bruise, cut, bandage or sling, I was an imposter. I once needed a total of 14 stitches in my head, arm and hand just because I tried to get a glass out of the cupboard.

11) I hate talking on the phone, I always have. When I was little I used to pretend to be ill so I didn't have to phone relatives on their birthdays. Even now my sole motivation for paying bills on time is so I don't have to speak to a representative on the phone.

BONUS - I am 100% way-over-the-top ridiculously excited about The Muppets Movie. I love Kermit and the theme tune was my ringtone for the longest time. I may just go and change that back actually...

Now for Laura's questions:

1. If money was no object, where would you most like to live in the world?

London or New York. I've never been to the latter, but I adore the former. I could easily spend all day every day wandering round all the museums and poky little shops. There's just so much culture!

2. What books are on your nightstand/wherever you keep the books you're going to read next right now?

I know it's strange, but I hardly ever think about what book I'm going to read next before I've finished my current one. I like to keep my options open :) Unless I have some review books that need to be read that is, but otherwise I'm slowly trying to get my TBR down.

3. Do you have any hobbies apart from reading that are really exciting?

The short answer would be a raised eyebrow and a snort. The long answer would involve a book about Lupus and ME, and would probably have a photograph of my bed on the front.

4. What is your favourite cartoon?

I'm not really a big cartoon watcher. I used to love Scooby Doo when I was little though. Well, until I started to get nightmares about the Headless Horseman and my parents banned me from watching it!

5. Who is your favourite celebrity crush, if you had to pick just one?

I've never really done the whole celebrity crush thing, but the guy from Thor is so pretty I would do all kinds of nasty things to him.

6. What kind of music is your favourite, and which artist would you most recommend to me/anyone?

I'm a rock/indie girl. I think. I've never been that good at classifying different genres of music. I love The Dropkick Murphys, Blink 182, Death Cab for Cutie, The John Butler Trio, etc.

7. Are you a simple girl or a Katie girl? (For help with this question, see this video)

Oh ho ho, I am so not a simple girl. You could ring up every single one of my ex-boyfriends and not one of them would tell you I'm simple. I'm not entirely sure if that's a good thing (it's probably not) but there you go.

8. Readalongs: Scourge of the devil, or really really really fun?

I always sign up but I always fail. I love the idea of reading the same thing at the same time as a bunch of other people and then all talking about it, and posting similar posts. Even now the concept has made me smile! But when the time comes I either don't want to read that book at that time or I can't slow down enough to read it in the designated time period. What can I say, I'm a free spirit.

9. Cupcakes: anti-feminism, or just tasty little cakes?

Anti-femi...what? No, really. What!?

10. You're given a ticket for a round the world trip- who do you take with you, and where are you going first?

Either my best friend, Caroline or The Boy, depending on whether we've recently had a Harry Potter Argument. It'd be fun to go travelling with Caroline, I think. We're pretty similar and I'm more than a little jealous she's in New Zealand at the minute.

I'm not sure where we'd go. There are so many places I'd love to visit. I've always wanted to go to Russia but right now I'm in the mood for somewhere warm, so I'll go with... Egypt!

11. What is your desert island book?

Oh, I don't know! I don't think I could survive anywhere with just one book! If I had to choose, probably Pride and Prejudice. It's my absolutely favourite, to the extent that I have 33 copies :)

My questions:

1) What's your TBR pile like? How many books are on it and how is it organised?

2) Are you scared of anything?

3) Do you like inscriptions in books or prefer them in mint condition?

4) Would you say you're a girly girl?

5) Favourite dinosaur? :)

6) Your favourite pair of shoes? This is Booking in HEELS, after all!

7) What's the last film you watched?

8) Who would you want to play you in a film about your life?

9) What's your take on audio books?

10) If you could ban one actor/actress from ever acting again, who would it be?

11) What's the strangest google search term used to find your blog?

I'm tagging:

EVERYONE! I know that's a bit of a cop-out but I'm way too socially awkward to actually tag anyone in case they somehow resent being tagged (or something). Instead, if you're reading this and haven't done it yet - I HEREBY TAG YOU!

Review: Reserved for the Cat by Mercedes Lackey

2012-02-13T13:30:00.001Z

I've read this book so many times I can practically recite it, but it just gets better and better with every reread. I wasn't actually going to post about it here, but it's given me so much pleasure of the years that I felt I kind of owed it a review. Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters series is possibly my ultimate favourite of all fantasy books. Each one is based on a different fairytale and set in an alternate England in the early 1900s. Instead of your typical fairytale however, Lackey uses elemental magic to create her wonderful worlds and stories. Reserved for the Cat is, in my opinion, the best of them all.

Based loosely on the tale of Puss in Boots, Reserved for the Cat takes place in 1910 in an alternate London. A young dancer, penniless and desperate, is sure she is going mad when a cat begins talking to her mind-to-mind. But her feline guide, actually an Elemental Earth Spirit, helps her to impersonate a famous Russian ballerina and achieve the success she’s been dreaming of. Unfortunately she also attracts the attention of another Elemental Spirit— a far more threatening one— and the young dancer must once again turn to her mysteriously powerful four-legged furry friend.

God, I love this book. I can't explain how much without taking a photo of myself in the process of actually licking my battered copy. I admit to not really recognising the fairytale it originated from at first, but that's hardly a fundamental issue. The fairytale link is more of an interesting aside than anything concrete. The other books in the series do follow the original stories more closely, but so what? :)

So. Ninette is a semi-successful ballet dancer in Paris until she accidentally offends the Prima and ends up penniless with desperate plans to prostitute herself. However, a guardian in the form of a cat sent by her father finds her and persuades her to follow his madcap plan to Blackpool, England. Once there, Thomas sets up a ploy to convince the owners of a famous music hall that Ninette is actually Nina, a famous Russian ballet dancer shipwrecked on the coast. Soon though, it turns out that Ninette has angered one of the most dangerous elemental creatures of all time and she must earn the help of the Elemental Masters who own the music hall she now dances for.

I think it's the tone of Ms. Lackey's books that makes them so wonderful. They're beautifully written, in a semi-formal tone that leaves you in no doubt you're reading the work of a talented author. They are fantasy books, but it's not in-your-face fantasy. Instead, there are two nicely interwoven plots in Reserved for the Cat - there's the talking cat and the elemental magic, but then a large part of the book is also Ninette's struggle to win the trust of the music hall owners and succeed as a ballerina. They bounce off each other perfectly, leaving a pleasant mix of the mundane and the magical.

The characterisation never fails in any of Mercedes Lackey's books, but this one features especially likeable people. Ninette is desperate but still retains her morality, and struggles against the lessons her now-deceased mother instilled in her. There is a romantic interest but it's actually very well done - there's no InstaLove and it's quietly developed between the lines almost. Although Ninette is the clear protagonist, the narrative is occasionally told from the point-of-view of each of the characters, so they all become more than a little real and the plot is explored from every angle. Honestly, I feel like I know each and every one of them.

There actually isn't one single thing I dislike about this book, not one. It's a beautifully told, moving rendition of Puss in Boots with a likeable ballerina threatened by a world she never knew existed.

A Case of the Lazy-itis

2012-02-12T18:10:00.001Z

I am all kinds of awful at actually getting round to signing up for challenges. I've known about the Telling Tales Challenge since about December but hey, I'm signing up for it in February. Sorry Bex...

Anyway, the challenge is to read books or graphic novels about mythology, fairytales etc.

I'm going for Level 2 which is to read ten fairytale related books, and I've chosen to read a mix-and-match of all the different categories.

Wish me luck!

So far I've read 2 out of 10 books.

1) Reserved for the Cat by Mercedes Lackey (Puss in Boots)
2) Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

Review: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

2012-02-12T12:56:00.000Z

I'm not sure why, but Neil Gaiman has never really featured on my reading radar. I'd read Good Omens and loved it, but as a stand alone writer I'd never really had the inclination to pick up his books. I'm not sure what made me change my mind - possibly all my book blogger friends threatening to disown me if I didn't get it read immediately, but I'm glad I did regardless.

Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, and pale girls in black velvet. Richard Mayhew is a young businessman who is about to find out more than he bargained for about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his safe and predictable life and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and yet utterly bizarre. There's a girl named Door, an Angel called Islington, an Earl who holds Court on the carriage of a Tube train, a Beast in a labyrinth, and dangers and delights beyond imagining ... And Richard, who only wants to go home, is to find a strange destiny waiting for him below the streets of his native city.

While I did enjoy reading Neverwhere, I can't help but feel it's ever-so-slightly over-rated. I'm not sure if it suffered from the weight of my too-heavy expectations or what, but I just didn't love it. There didn't seem to be much to set it apart from all the other urban fantasy books out there - you know, simply bouncing from clue-giver to clue-giver as an attempt to find the lost key/solve the murder of Miss Duvet/ get back to Never Never Land. I expected it to be cleverer, I think. Instead it's just fantasy. The tone is a lot more serious than I expected; I mean, it's still fairly light but not as funny or as acerbic as Pratchett and it's not as deep as most fantasy books.

That said, it does have some adorable little quirks that made me smile. I loved The Market - how could I not? A secret marketplace filled will all kinds of items, both magical and mundane, all available to be traded for a biro pen or a half-eaten sandwich. It somehow embodies the entire book for me - the diversity present in these scenes is, to a lesser extent, existent throughout the whole.

There are some interesting characters kicking about in there too. Door is a favourite of mine. She can unlock any door, padlock or box just by the power of her mind. It just seemed quite unique to me - it's not toted as 'magic,' it's just one of those cool things that makes Door... well, Door.

However, the absolute best thing about this book was Richard himself. He's nothing that special as protagonists go, but he was believable as a normal person (one of us, even) who suddenly finds that everything he thought was a myth is as real as real can be. Rats can talk, little smelly men inhabit the sewers of London, a mysterious beast terrorizes London Below... and Richard doesn't believe it. You don't know how refreshing that really is. I'm sick to the back teeth of urban fantasy characters that just automatically accept the newly magical world around them. I'd give Neil Gaiman an awful lot of brownie points for having Richard assume that it's either all a giant joke, he's dreaming or slightly insane. I know I wouldn't just suddenly believe in a secret underground world below London, so why should a fictional character?

I actually liked the epilogue-y thing, which is rare for me. I pretty much just hate Every Epilogue Ever Written, so for there to be one that made me smile is a pretty big thing. All Richard wants throughout the book is to get back to his life. It wasn't his fault he fell through one of the cracks and ended up in London Below, so he just wants a normal life. Without revealing the ending, there's a tiny little part that rounds off the whole thing nicely. Seriously, it's perfect. Not overdone, just... nice.

There's not much I really disliked about Neverwhere. I enjoyed reading it and I would do so again, it's just not the ultimate reading experience that I've had it described to me as.

In My Mailbox #21

2012-02-06T13:49:00.000Z

It's been a while since I've actually been able to post one of these, since I've implemented a few strategies to cut down on my book obtaining. It's not been that successful, despite numerous plans involving sticker charts, threats and bribery but I guess it hasn't been a complete failure. That's how I know I'll be successful in my legal career - I achieve nothing but I'm damn good at making it look like I have!

The Pride and Prejudice cushion above has to be the single most exciting thing I've ever received by another blogger. I won the Dreaming of Books giveaway over at The Book Garden and Birgit was clever enough to offer the winner their choice of book-related cushions! How awesome is that!? I love themed giveaways! Anyway, after a ridiculously long length of time browsing through Cafepress, I eventually went for the one above.

It arrived really quickly and God, it's gorgeous. It's huge, plump and soft and the design is amazing quality. I can't stop stroking it and smiling!

So anybody who read my review of Stray by Rachel Vincent will know how desperate I was to get my hands on the others in the series. I've managed to get hold of the next three already, all by different means! Pride was the result of a ReaditSwapit swap, Prey came from the second-hand book stall in the market and Shift I had to reserve from the library. Can't wait to get stuck in to those!

I'd reserved these two from the library this week, but I've already read them both so they're not with the Rachel Vincent books on my TBR shelf. Perhaps this is why I haven't really made a dent in my unread books for a while...

Anyway, most of you will know what Neverwhere is. I was never bothered about it before, but I actually really liked it. Review will follow!

Amadeus is a play from the 1970s about the death of Mozart. I've been kind of interested in it since I read The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani and wanted to see what a few other people thought about it. I haven't decided whether to review it or not yet - I've never reviewed a play before although I did like it.

What's in your mailbox this week?

Review: Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

2012-02-05T18:11:00.001Z

So this is my first entry for the What's in a Name? challenge hosted by Beth Fish Reads. This is for the second category which is something you'd see in the sky and it's also the sequel to Rivers of London. That review was a pain to write and this one is too - so hey, if you've any sympathy with the blood-from-a-stone type of trauma I'm going through here, run over and check out my new feature, Books My Boyfriend and I Have Argued About.

The song. That’s what London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho’s 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body—a sure sign that something about the man’s death was not at all natural but instead supernatural.

Body and soul—they’re also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace—one that leads right to his own doorstep.

I actually liked this one more than Rivers of London. I felt that it just made that little bit more sense somehow. The plot line is just as refreshingly different though - there's no way you can get around Ben Aaronovitch's unique creativity. Here, Peter gets a whiff of jazz music-flavoured magic when he examines a fresh corpse and eventually comes to the realisation that something or someone is causing the death of jazz musicians from London. Like the puppetry in the first book, it's something I've never seen even a passing resemblance to before.

My major problem with the first book was the lack of understandability, if that's even a word. It just didn't seem to flow properly. I know I wasn't the only one who had to keep checking back just to see what on earth was going on. Moon Over Soho has much improved on that - it's much easier to follow what's going on. However, it still has the tendency to make my eyes absent-mindedly follow the lines of text while I'm actually thinking about breakfast cereal, or something similar. It's only when I pause that I realise I haven't taken anything in. It's not that it's boring; far from it, it just doesn't seem to grab my attention somehow.

For me, the thing that sets these books apart from the other urban fantasy books is the police-work. For once, the magician hero is working for the Police, not despite them. The author has obviously very carefully included all the detail he could about the inner-workings of the London policing system, because it's fascinating and doesn't disrupt the plot at all.

I liked how the events at the end of Rivers of London continued on into Moon Over Soho - what happened to Lesley, I mean. I was a little afraid it would be glossed over, but obviously Mr. Aaronovitch is cleverer than that. It deals with it perfectly - it's raw and emotional, but it's infrequently mentioned enough to not take over the entire book. Hey, I like continuity, okay?

Emotion-wise, I wanted to give Peter Grant a good slap. There are two women he's supposed to have feelings for, and apparently cares for them both. But not in an oh-aren't-I-a-cad-hoho way and not with any feelings of guilt... he honestly just seems to somehow forget. It's like the other one doesn't exist at a particular time and it's actually very, very irritating. There's no confusion and the story follows Peter and still doesn't even mention it. Gnargh. It bothered me in the first book (different women) but I didn't mention it in my review in case I was being over-picky.

I know I've done that thing again where it seems like I didn't like a book from the way I'm talking about it. I actually did, it's just that are a lot of faults and I found it hard to pick it up again once I'd put it down. Despite that though, the thing that I hated the most about Rivers of London has been fixed and so I liked this one a whole lot more.

Books My Boyfriend and I Have Argued About #1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Silence

2012-01-26T15:52:00.176Z

Welcome to a slightly different new feature at Booking in Heels; one that's dedicated to the Richter-scale rows caused by various books and book-related concepts in the Heels household. And I'm not talking a mild discussion over a nice cup of tea during the adverts of Dancing on Ice. We're talking about the batten-down-the-hatches-and-get-ready-for-a-long-Winter-cause-you-ain't-going-nowhere arguments that usually culminate in tears, my hurling the book in question at Lewis' head and/or us both texting everybody we know to see who's right and the losing partner claiming that well, they must be stupid too. What can I say, we love each other but we're not good at domesticity.

First up, we have the mother of all argument-causers. Harry Potter.

*there should be ominous music here, seriously*

We're now at the point where any friend or family member that hears those words around us, instantly drops to the floor and plays dead, in the hope that their existence won't be remembered and therefore be dragged into a hideous, bloody re-enactment of this argument. Klaxons sound when an unsuspecting third party mentions it and everybody hides as Hanna and Lewis whip round and instantly assume a fighting stance, ready to Do Battle.

It first kicked off when we saw Deathly Hallows: Part Two at the cinema. I hadn't particularly wanted to go - I don't like any of the others that much because I didn't think they did justice to the books, but Lewis enjoyed them and so requested we attend. I agreed because, like when you see a dead rabbit on the road, some things are so awful you just can't look away.

But you know what? It was alright actually. Obviously they'd missed out a lot of the smaller parts (like the scene with the family photos and Percy near the end - I loved that) but as a whole, disregarding the unfortunate existence of Emma Watson, it was pretty good. They got the atmosphere right, the tone, the characters... The only thing I didn't like was the strange swishy, over-dramatic battle between Harry and Voldemort, but hey, I could look past that.

Lewis? Not so much. As I said, he liked all the other films more than I did, so he's hardly being snobby. However, he does prefer the earlier ones as being more magicky (all technical terms are my own) because he says the later ones are pretentious and trying too hard to be adult. He loathed this one especially though. I can't remember the exact quote, but I'm pretty sure J.K. Rowling would have an aneurysm if she heard.

So, we left the cinema and the ensuing argument started at quite literally the exact minute the lights turned on and I turned to him with tear-filled eyes and hands clasped in unspeakable glee. It lasted through the ten minute walk to the bus stop, during the fifteen minute bus ride, down the ten minute walk home and for a good half an hour after we got home. That's more than an hour of arguing about Harry Potter, folks.

People always look at me slightly askance when they hear that our biggest argument to date was about Harry Potter, but it's true. It could be because we're so happy in our little snuggle nest of love that we simply don't have big things to argument but... let's just say that that's not it, shall we?

We're the kind of couple that would have two mules on the wedding cake, assuming we ever got to the Altar without stabbing each other in the first place. We're stubborn. Reeeaaaally stubborn. And I love Harry Potter, so I absolutely point-blank would not let it go. Well. Except for the part at the bus stop where I flatly refused to speak cause hey, I'm a grown up y'all.

I'm sure the woman at the bus stop was only dissuaded from calling the Domestic Abuse Hotline when she gleefully edged closer to listen a bit more (as old ladies around strange arguing couples always do) and found that the word 'Horcrux' was occasionally snarled and decided that we were merely crazy, not abusive.

So, during this time we vehemently were discussing the merits (or lack thereof) of Harry Potter, as you do. Lewis has read up to The Prisoner of Azkaban and liked them, but got distracted by something else before The Goblet of Fire and never went back. Point is, he's never read the book in question so he was claiming the film was bad, and therefore the book must be also.

He says the books are badly written. Not the prose exactly - it's just that he thinks J.K. Rowling got so carried away with her success that she just rammed any old tripe onto paper and shoved it away to Bloomsbury. The ending to Deathly Hallows is anti-climactic and the entire Horcrux concept is pointless and trying to be too adult when they're supposed to be children's books.

Personally, I think the plot is very clever. Not all of it, obviously. It has its faults - look at the middle of the book where they wander around the tent aimlessly for ridiculously long length of time. But I like how it links back to previous books - like how the diary in Chamber of Secrets is relevant in the end and the basilisk's teeth also make a reappearance. I think it shows planning and commitment to the whole story arc that she can relate the last book back to the all others.

Lewis claims that anybody could churn that out - relevance in later books is easily faked. If Harry used a spoon in Prisoner of Azkaban, it could easily later turn out to be The Spoon of Destiny, and it doesn't prove she's a good writer. He also has ranty issues with the relationships (but yeah, okay, I'll give him that one), various deaths and unnecessary darkness.

I also love all the tiny little characterisation points, most of which don't make it into the film. I think they show she's a good writer. As examples, we have 'NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH' and the part where the three Houses all kind of snarl and point their wands at the Slytherins. Either of those will bring tears to my eyes and provoke that funny tight feeling in my stomach.

Not so Lewis, for he is a Manly Man (we watched Gnomeo & Juliet the other day - I flooded the basement with my tears while he... uh, laughed. If you don't cry at that film, I'm sorry but You Have No Soul). So, as every argument among adults eventually does, it downgraded into:

L: She can't write!
H: She can!
L: She can't!
H: *cries* She can!
L: Are you stupid!?
H: I hate you!

During which much was resolved, naturally.

Eventually (and that's a loooong 'eventually,' people) Lewis brought me a cup of tea and cautiously nudged it towards me, and I stopped sniffing pointedly into my tissue and edged a little more Lewis-wards, so we're all good.

For now.

Waiting on Wednesday #3

2012-01-25T15:09:00.001Z

I'm not usually a fan of book covers with generic girls in dresses on the front, and I tend to not like the story much either. The Selection though... it looks beautiful. I adore the reflections and the colours - it's just a little different from all those other books on my shelves.

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

The plot sounds perfect too. I have a weird penchant for dire situations happening to a randomly selected person (*waves at The Hunger Games*) and this seems to have an almost reality TV show aspect, but in a much classier way.

Add in a gorgeous Prince and all those wonderfully positive reviews that have been popping up lately, and I can't wait to get my hands on this on April 24th!

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Characters (and Literary Figures) That I'd Name My Children After

2012-01-24T22:27:00.007Z

So this week's Top Ten Tuesday is kind of a freebie - The Broke and the Bookish have cleverly decided that you can choose your own list today. I was ambling through the list of previous Top Tens for inspiration when I saw this category and clicked on it so fast I nearly dislocated my finger.

I am forever deciding that I'm going to name my child after a particular character or author. It happens so often that I'm going to need about sixty children to use up my ideas - I'm sure The Boy will be more than thrilled when I reveal the mathematics to him.

Thing is, it irritates me beyond belief when people give their children stupid names. I know it's their choice and isn't any of my business in the slightest, but for God's sake - you're not a celebrity and it's only mildly more acceptable when they do it, so think of your god-damned child! I just know there are going to be 50 million 'Katniss' children born this year... Anyway, rant over. It doesn't stop me from wanting to name my child after one of my favourite things in life - books - but I'd like to somehow combine sense with fiction.

And so, in no particular order -

1) Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Elizabeth.

With or without this list, this is genuinely what I want to name my first-born. I adore this name and I always have. When you add in the Pride and Prejudice link and the fact that it's a variation of my middle name, there's absolutely no chance I could be dissuaded from calling my daughter Elizabeth.

I have more than thirty copies of Pride and Prejudice -it's a small step to inflicting the character names on my offspring.

2) Anouk from Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Anouk was the daughter of Vianne, the lady that owns the chocolate shop. She has a whiff of magic about her, but that's not why I'd name my daughter Anouk.

To be honest, I pretty much just like the name. I love French female names and this is unusual but still nice-sounding.

3) Marguerite Blakeney from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy

There's a slightly more concrete reason for wanting to call my daughter Marguerite, although it is French (again) and I genuinely like it.

In the book, Marguerite is the (unknowing) wife of The Scarlet Pimpernel, but instead of choosing to stay home and pine for her mysterious, absent husband, she sets off across revolutionary France to track him down and finally find out what's going on.

She's a very strong woman, especially for the time period and I'd be proud for any of my daughters to emulate her.

4) Oscar Wilde

Another dual-purpose name. I like the name for it's own name-ishness, but Oscar Wilde is one of my favourite all-time authors. Any child who looked into the history of Oscar Wilde would be inspired to stand up for what they believe in and know it's important to be who you are.

I want an Oscar Wilde tattoo one day, but I can't think what to have.

5) d'Artagnan from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

I like this name so much I can even spell it without conscious effort.

I don't really want to call my son this (she admits grudgingly) but I love it nevertheless. There have been many Whitehead-Parkinson arguments regarding this potential name choice and it usually ends in The Boy protecting our potential unborn child from name doomery by flatly refusing to speak to me (ergo - potential child remains just that).

6) Arthur, as in King

Surely there can't be a stronger role model for a child growing up? Perhaps fictional, perhaps not - but either way, it's a nice sounding, relatively normal name with a fascinating background for them to delve into when they're older.

What a great way to introduce him to mythology and legend!

7) Harper Lee

So does this contradict my don't-call-your-child-something-stupid diatribe? I can't decide. I'm not sure if I'd name my daughter it or not, but I love the name Harper anyway.

It's just so pretty. It's like naming your child after a famous author, but without it sounding overly pretentious and thereby irrationally irritating me.

LATER - What!? The Beckhams have named their daughter Harper? Seriously? Scrap this one! Thanks Laura!

8) Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hester, Harper... I'm seeing a pattern here.

I know naming your daughter after a woman that was forced to wear an adultery badge in puritan society might not be the best idea in the box, especially when you have to one day explain to said infant daughter exactly what that woman did. It was the way that Hester dealt with the stigma that is particularly inspirational though, and I can't think of a better name to show your child that sticks and stones can't hurt them.

9) Elena from Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

I love this name. It sounds so feminine but with a fictional role model that's strong and independant. A mix of a genuinely nice name with a sensible inspiration behind it.

10) D.H. Lawrence and also Laurie from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Despite my less than favourable review of Daughters of the Vicar (here) I do like D.H. Lawrence as an author and as a name.

Also, Little Women is one of my all-time favourite books but I don't really like any of the girls' names, so Lawrence is the perfect way to declare my love for the book and give my son a name I like.

If nothing else, it'll inspire him to read it and show him that it's not just a book for girls!

The Bronte Parsonage

11) (just because I can) Charlotte Brontë

Haworth is only about fourteen miles from my house so I'm intimately familiar with the Brontë parsonage and Haworth moor, where Wuthering Heights was set. Although I'm not a fan of that particular book, Jane Eyre marked the beginning of my reading of classics.

So not only would naming my child Charlotte be a nod to local heritage, it'd also be commemorating my first foray into classical literature.

What's in a Name 2012 Reading Challenge

2012-01-23T19:37:00.002Z

A little late but not too late!

I meant to sign up for this way back in December (and where has January gone, seriously?) because it looks like so much fun, but then I forgot, as you do.

So Beth Fish's challenge is to read one book in each of the following categories in 2012:

A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
~~A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas~~
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
A book with a type of house in the title: The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Ape House
A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking.

So far I've read 1 out of 6 books.

Review: The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani OR 'The Masons Did It!'

2012-01-22T15:42:00.000Z

So hey, who wants to hear how well I'm doing in the TBR Challenge? You do? Well that's just awesome. Funnily enough, I'm doing awesome too! In fact, The Mozart Conspiracy is my ~~fifth~~ fourth (alright, so maybe not quite as awesome as I'd thought...) book this year that was on my TBR pile before 2012 and that's nearly half. Go me and my overuse of italics!

Former SAS operative Ben Hope is running for his life. Enlisted by the beautiful Leigh Llewellyn - world famous opera star and Ben's first love - to investigate her brother's mysterious death, Ben finds himself caught up in a centuries-old puzzle. The official line states that Oliver died whilst investigating Mozart's death, but the facts don't add up. Oliver's research reveals that Mozart, a notable freemason, may have been killed by a shadowy and powerful splinter group of the cult. The only clues lie in an ancient letter, believed to have been written by Mozart himself. When Leigh and Ben receive video evidence of a ritual sacrifice being performed by hooded men, they realise that the sect is still in existence today and will stop at nothing to remain a secret. From the dreaming spires of Oxford to Venice's labyrinthine canals, the majestic architecture of Vienna and Slovenia's snowy mountains, Ben and Leigh must forget the past and race across Europe to uncover the truth behind THE MOZART CONSPIRACY!

These books are a guilty of pleasure of mine. I'm never sure exactly what type of genre they are, but you know what I mean - action/thriller books with an intelligent, conspiracy-type base. Like The Da Vinci Code or The Medusa Amulet. There's usually either a good-looking scholar or an ex-military man who searches for some long-lost artefact, but oh no - there's a team of similarly ex-military backgrounded people who are also searching for the artefact, only they're baddies so they have bigger guns. Oh, and the Freemasons are usually running about somewhere too.

I don't know why I'm making fun of them really. I own so many I could put Waterstones to shame. It's just that they're generally pretty awful. But you know, so awful they're actually kind of... well, good. And you don't need to concentrate to read the, so they're the ultimate comfort book.

I really liked the central premise - you don't see a lot of books about conspiracies regarding famous historical composers. It's usually biblical artefacts or art history related. Apparently there's genuinely been a lot of conspiracy over the death of Mozart. Theoretically he died of rheumatic fever, but similar symptoms are produced when the victim ingests a certain type of poison, so it's possible (if unlikely, in my opinion) that he didn't die from natural causes after all. Mozart himself declared he had been poisoned but was ignored at the time, and ever since.

To be honest though, I'm getting a bit bored of all the Freemason plots. Just once I'd like to read one of these without a Mason lurking mysteriously behind every corner. I understand the attraction, I suppose - a secretive, mystical archaic cult with many prominent members and I know that Mozart was genuinely a part of the group. The plot would have worked just as well, if not better, without their inclusion - the explanatory notes at the back say that the real conspiracy theory (if there is such a thing) goes that he was poisoned by Salieri, a rival composer. Why wouldn't that have worked as a plot device? You know how on every single mystery/crime programme, some hilarious person watching it with you will pipe up with 'The Butler did it!?' Well it's getting to the point where whenever I pick up one of these books, I want to shout out immediately that 'The Masons did it!'

But hey, that's all par for the course. I don't mean to judge a book on the genre it's affiliated with. The Mozart Conspiracy takes a bit of getting into, but it has a fast-paced plot and reasonably developed characters, if a little generic. It does have a few twists that make it stand out from the usual and the romantic sub-plot is actually fairly subtle.

I liked Leigh Llewellyn. She stood out as a well-rounded and interesting character. She's an opera singer with a musically trained background, and so can actually contribute to the investigations. She's not a pushover but not unnecessarily stubborn either. One of the better female book leads, I'd say.

However. However, however, however. The ending is appalling. Like, really I'm-making-a-point-of-it bad. I read it and just kind of blinked in confused astonishment. It seems incredibly pointless, unless it was about a point that Mr. Mariani just couldn't be bothered to carry through to the next book, in which case - why add it the first place? I know that seems unnecessarily cryptic, but you'll understand what I mean if you've read the book. It's terrible, honestly.

Last thing - have you ever read one of those books that seems to be overly brutal for no reason than to shock? I know a lot of people said that about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but The Mozart Conspiracy is just as guilty. There's one particular scene that's so horrific I had to dare myself to go back and make sure I'd actually read the damn thing right. It's just... uhhh. I don't mind a little brutality every now and again, but I do like it to fit in with the book and not just shoved in for the sake of it.

So there are parts that set The Mozart Conspiracy apart - the interesting plot, the believable characters and relationship, the fast-paced action... But then there are a few horribly clichéd parts that let the side down. The Mason culpability for example, or the pointless ending. It's worth a read, but I'd say it's more of a library thing.

Review: Daughters of the Vicar by D.H. Lawrence

2012-01-19T14:04:00.001Z

Okay, so I like D.H. Lawrence. I liked Lady Chatterley's Lover and I liked The Virgin and the Gypsy. This one though... t'ain't so good. It would beat Emily Bronte for the Most Depressing Book of the Year Award, and that's even if she really actually tried to be miserable. It's perfectly accessible and blessedly short, but I finished with the over-whelming urge to go buy D.H. Lawrence a puppy.

Looking for acceptance from his new congregation, the Revd Ernest Lindley cannot long ignore the fact that his parishioners are far from welcoming. Rather than confront such hostility, the Lindleys instead become ever-more isolated: he 'pale and miserable and neutral'; she 'bitter and beaten by fear'. And having raised their children to be similarly dispassionate, it surely seems inevitable that their daughters should enter suitable, but loveless, marriages. Whilst Mary becomes the dutiful wife, younger sister Louisa vows to experience love for herself - little knowing that such desires will divide an already broken family.

D.H. Lawrence seems to like the theme of contrasts in his book - usually between men and women, or the upper class and the lower. Daughters of the Vicar, however, seems to be slightly different in that it's more of a contrast between... well, the daughters of the vicar. Mary has dark hair while Louisa is fair - Mary is willing to marry a man she dislikes for the sake of her family, whilst Louisa is disgusted and swears she will only marry for love. Even their love interests (and I use the term loosely) are polar opposites - Mr. Massy is 'a little abortion' while Alfred is a hulking, manly brute. It actually works very well, but the atmosphere has a very gloomy, poor-people-in-the-19th-century feel to it that seems to take over the entire book.

The explanatory notes in my edition told me that this was one of Lawrence's earlier works - a short story that was later broken up and various aspects used in his other books. It explains a lot. There isn't a likeable character in the whole damn thing - Mr. Lindley sulks because his parishioners don't like him and he's poorer than he wants to be, while his wife lies on a sofa and whines. Mary, the eldest, is very virtuous... imagine if Meg Marsh was more annoying and had a baby. She married her husband for the good of the family, which naturally gives her the right to mope about being a martyr. Louisa, the younger sister, resents Mary for that (the only relatable thing in the book) while her own love interest is awkward and gauche.

The plot itself isn't too bad. It's an old staple of classic literature - the whole 'I will marry for love!' thing. It's nice, I understand where she's coming from. Parts of it make made me so angry though, that apparently I kept pulling a (and I quote) 'squinty cat face.' The way Mr. Massy speaks to Mary is intolerable, but the ending especially made me want to tear my hair out. I can only hope that the majority of parents managed to refrain from speaking to their children like that in those days, because it was honestly beyond belief.

So, you thought Insta-love was a modern, YA-esque creation? T'ain't. We know that there is an Unsuitable Love Interest, but we're not really told that Louisa even really likes him towards the end and I still couldn't tell you what his feelings for her are. It's kind of predictable but a little more explanation would have been nice.

Okay, so this isn't the worst book in the entire world. But it's the worst book of D.H. Lawrence's that I've read so far. It has a kind of dreary, monotonous atmosphere and I know that it's meant to and it's kind of the entire point, but it doesn't make for the most enjoyable reading.

Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

2012-01-17T01:34:00.000Z

Oh Good Omens, how much do I love thee? I love thee as though thou were a vassal of water and I were a lonely wanderer in the desert, or as though thou were a sugary donut and I a fat child. Know that I would do aught to preserve thy existence as I love thee more than aught else in the frickin' world.

There was a bit of a mix-up when the Antichrist was born, due in part to the machinations of Crowley, who did not so much fall as saunter downwards, and in part to the mysterious ways as manifested in the form of a part-time rare book dealer, an angel named Aziraphale. Like top agents everywhere, they've long had more in common with each other than the sides they represent, or the conflict they are nominally engaged in. The only person who knows how it will all end is Agnes Nutter, a witch whose prophecies all come true, if one can only manage to decipher them.

So, the Antichrist has been born and uh... lost. Both Heaven and Hell know that the end is nigh and are using their representatives on Earth, Aziraphale and Crowley, to manipulate the situation so their side can be victorious in the Final Battle. Except neither Aziraphale or Crowley particularly want the world to end. All the good musicians are in hell, and Aziraphale dreads the concept of sitting around in Heaven listening to nothing but Elgar. Crowley loves his 1926 Bentley, that has one owner from new (him) and doesn't want to lose all the work he did for Hell creating the M1 and mobile phones. So eventually, the pair think that perhaps it might be better after all if the World continued to, well... exist.

There isn't a single part of this book that isn't ridiculously clever. Even the insignificant parts have lengthy and hilarious footnotes. It's set in the modern day, unlike a lot of fantasy novels, so we can relate to a lot of the humour. It's definitely not a comedy novel though - it's much more subtle, more mature that that. The humour never gets in the way of the plot, so it doesn't trip over its own feet trying to be funny.

Demons aren't bound by physics. If you take the long view, the universe is just something small and round, like those water-filled balls which produce a miniature snowstorm when you shake them*. For those of angel stock or demon breed, size, and shape, and composition, are simply options.

*Although, unless the ineffable plan is a lot more ineffable than it's given credit for, it does not have a giant plastic snowman at the bottom.

However, it wouldn't be half the masterpiece is is without Aziraphale and Crowley. They bounce off and support each other wonderfully. Although on opposite 'teams,' they've known each other for millennia and so bonded out of mutual respect and loneliness. I've never seen such amazingly-crafted characters in any other piece of fiction - while they both obviously emerged from their respective sides, thousands of years on Earth has mellowed them out. Hilarity ensues, especially when each side suspects the other of being responsible for a particular grievance, like traffic wardens.

Crowley put the Bentley in gear. Then he remembered something. He snapped his fingers. The wheel clamps disappeared.
"Let's have lunch," he said. "I owe you one from, when was it..."
"Paris, 1793," said Aziraphale.
"Oh, yes. The Reign of Terror. Was that one of yours, or one of ours?"
"Wasn't it yours?"
"Can't recall. It was quite a good restaurant, though."
As they drove past an astonished traffic warden his notebook spontaneously combusted, to Crowley's amazement.
"I'm pretty certain I didn't mean to do that," he said.
Aziraphale blushed.
"That was me," he said, "I had always thought your people invented them."
"Did you? We thought they were yours."
Crowley stared at the smoke in the rearview mirror.
"Come on," he said. "Let's do the Ritz."

Sorry. I could pretty much sit here and post quotes at you all day, but then you wouldn't have the fun of discovering them for yourself. Which I highly recommend you do, by the way. Even the minor characters are amusing - Famine, of Apocalyptic Horseman fame, is responsible for introduction of fast food, diet crazes and insta-meals all over the globe and constantly visits McDonalds restaurants to gleefully examine his handiwork for himself.

It does have a fairly formal tone though, and frequently discusses theology issues, albeit in an accessible and humorous way. It suggests that perhaps God and his demonic counterpart aren't as infallible as they're supposed to be and that even their plans can go awry. I wouldn't say it's likely to offend anyone as it's very tongue-in-cheek, but be ready to consider that maybe God's plans are only ineffable because he isn't quite sure what's going on himself!

My only complaint is that the ending is a little slow. It's not bad exactly, far from it, but it doesn't seem to keep up to the fast-paced style of the rest of the book. I'm not really sure how I'd have changed it myself but it seems to very nearly cross the border into Twee And Cheesy Land.

Dark light is not actually an oxymoron. It's the colour past ultra-violet. The technical term for it is infra-black. It can be seen quite easily under experimental conditions. To perform the experiment simply select a healthy brick wall, with a good runup, and, lowering your head, charge.

The colour that flashes in bursts behind your eyes, behind the pain, just before you die, is infra-black.

I've read works of both Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, but I'd be hard pressed to liken this to any of their other books. It's clear that the positive literary aspects of both authors are showcased in Good Omens. It's more formal than Terry Pratchett's usual works and funnier than Neil Gaiman's. I wish more than anything that they'd teamed up again and written at least one more novel because this is, and always will be, one of my absolute favourite novels.

Review: Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie

2012-01-15T22:12:00.000Z

The stand-alone Agatha Christie books (the ones that feature neither Poirot nor Miss Marple) seem to be a little hit-and-miss.I think that And Then There Were None is one of the cleverest mystery books of all time; I read it before I set up this blog, but you can see The Lit Addicted Brit's review here. It's simply wonderful. But then you have novels like Passenger to Frankfurt (review here - my own this time) where I actually regretted the loss of the few hours it took me to plough through it. So, keeping the above in mind, I was fairly apprehensive when I picked up Sparkling Cyanide. Would it be a spectacular mystery with suspense and a truly thrilling ending, or a complicated political flop?

A beautiful heiress is fatally poisoned in a West End restaurant. Six people sit down to dinner at a table laid for seven. In front of the empty place is a sprig of rosemary -- in solemn memory of Rosemary Barton who died at the same table exactly one year previously. No one present on that fateful night would ever forget the woman's face, contorted beyond recognition -- or what they remembered about her astonishing life.

All of society knows that Rosemary Barton committed suicide with cyanide on the evening of her birthday party, but when her husband starts receiving notes that tell him otherwise, he sets out to investigate who could have poisoned his late wife. The book starts out with a chapter devoted to each of the six suspects, as they muse on what they remember of Rosemary Barton. Naturally, as with most mystery novels, it turns out that every single one of them had a motive for murder. After this, the true investigation begins as the Police, aided by an old friend of Mr. Barton, try and discover whether Rosemary's life was in fact cut short by the hand of another.

I know it's kind of a strange idea to start a review by talking about the ending of the book, but ohhh, it's all kinds of awesome! The denouement is always the key to a kick-ass mystery story - if it's boring, the whole story will fall apart. The revelation in Sparkling Cyanide is definitely not boring. I honest-to-God literally sat here with my Iron Man blanket and went 'AAaaahhhhh!' and grinned like a lunatic. It's very, very nearly as clever as And Then There Were None, and that takes some doing.

The characterisation is a little better than it can be in certain Agatha Christie books. Sometimes they all meld into each other and you can't remember whether Mrs. Tomato was the lady with the little dog, or whether she was the one that slept with Mrs. Butter's husband. Anyway, before I get sucked into the world of kitchen related scandal, that's not the case here. All the suspects have identifiable personalities, and I was fascinated by how each person could have a different perspective on the same event. Frequently a person would know something that another person didn't think they knew, and that could affect the entire case. It was just wonderful how everything could tie in with everything else.

Agatha Christie books are very difficult to review, because they all follow more or less the same formula, so I only usually bother if they're particularly good or particularly bad. I read Sparkling Cyanide in pretty much one sitting and it emerged as at least one of my top three mystery novels.

In My Mailbox #20

2012-01-15T14:59:00.000Z

Uhh, I can't even explain how nice it is to have pink hair again. I had a string of Law-related interviews and they tend to prefer their grad students to be... well, un-pink. But they're done now and it shows how expectant of actually getting any of those placements I am by the fact that I immediately dyed my hair back to it's normal, stupid, colour.

I missed having little girls excitedly inform their parents that they wanted pink hair like me!

And now on to the books, much as I'm sure you all care deeply about my hair colour.

This is an awful picture, but I wasn't about to drop the hot water bottle and blanket I was clutching to my chest in order to take a better one.

First off, Ellie from Musings of a Bookshop Girl was nice enough to send me a copy of Anna and the French Kiss, and I was thrilled by how pretty it is! Obviously I'd seen the cover before, but the pages are all old-fashioned and wonky and the cover has an embossed title and... wow. What can I say, Ellie is wonderful. I've said it before and no doubt I'll say it again!

The books that are helpfully completely obscured by white paper above are library books. I've recently discovered the library's online request system and I may have got a little over-excited.

Not that you can tell, but those are Ill Wind by Rachel Caine and Telling Tales: A History of Literary Hoaxes by Melissa Katsoulis.

I'm really excited to read both of these - I've been keeping an eye out for the first book in the Weather Warden series for ages, but Sheffield Library always seemed to have the third, fourth and fifth books, but no others. Sigh. But now I have my grubby little paws on it!

I saw Telling Tales in Waterstones ages ago and thought the idea was fascinating. It was the more obvious hoaxes - like the Shakespeare manuscripts - but also a few of the more obscure ones, and I've always been interested in bookish scandals!

The big black book, The Ring of Solomon, is also a requested library book but the white paper must have fallen out. It's a prequel to the Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud, which I loved years ago.

There's a funny story to The End Specialist. I've had a book on my wishlist for a while called The Postmortal, or something similar, but it never seemed to be available. So I was wandering round Waterstones with my Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket and picked up this book, which I duly purchased. I got home and examined it more closely... and it turns out to be the UK version of The Postmortal! Don't you love it when you accidentally end up knocking a book off your wishlist?

I bought Pride from the bookseller on the market as part of my plan to devour the complete Shifters series in as little time as humanly possible. I read the first book Stray (review here) a few days ago (part of my psychotic library book requesting) and adored it, so I've been frantically trying to gather the other books together. This is the third book, the second is on request from the library, and the fourth is on it's way via a swap. I'm getting there, people!

A massive thank you needs to go out to Eleni at Hodder & Stoughton for being nice enough to send me an ARC of The Killables. It looks like a brilliant dystopian novel and even had a little badge attached to the cover!

Last but not least, An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain: Or Sixty Years of Making the Same Stupid Mistakes as Always by John O'Farrell. I've always been more knowledgeable about older history - the Tudors are 'my' time period. So when this popped up on a request on ReaditSwapit, I couldn't resist the chance to reach out. I think I'll use it for Ellie's Mixing it Up Challenge.

LATER: Oops, it turns out the above book wasn't last or least! After being impressed by the creativeness that went into Rivers of London when I read it last week (review here), I couldn't resist picking up the second one from Waterstones.

The first book had its faults, but I liked it enough regardless to want to see what Moon Over Soho can do. It's currently at my boyfriend's flat because I only had so much room in my bag for books, and unfortunately it was one of the books that got temporarily culled.

So what's in your mailbox this week?

Review: Stray by Rachel Vincent

2012-01-14T23:32:00.000Z

For some reason it's taken me forever to get round to reading this series, even though I love Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series - see My Soul To Take and My Soul To Save. I think I was put off by the idea of werecats - because you know, werewolves are perfectly believable but werecats? That's just silly. I finally picked it up because it formed part of my Emergency Book Collection at my boyfriend's flat, and I finished my previous book quicker than expected. I'm so, so glad I did though and I can't believe I waited this long - if the rest of the books are even half as good as Stray, this series will be amazing.

There are only eight breeding female werecats left . . . And I'm one of them. I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.

Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked. I'd been warned about Strays -- werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female, and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared.

This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back . . . for my own protection.

Yeah, right. But I'm no meek kitty. I'll take on whatever -- and whoever -- I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays -- 'cause I got claws, and I'm not afraid to use them.

Yuck. That summary is appalling. Faythe Sanders is nothing like that, or at least she doesn't seem like that to me. She's much less menacing, less arrogant and less generally irritating, to be honest. In fact, I liked her and any of my friends will tell you I tend to... well, not like people. She's doesn't make stupid decisions or decide she can handle the whole thing herself, like some other paranormal 'heroines' I could name, but nor does she hide behind the closest male crying into a hankerchief. Instead she makes informed, rational decisions where possible but will fight like a tiger (appropriately enough) when cornered to defend herself or her family. I've seen a few reviews that call her selfish, but there are a number of times where she puts the wellbeing of Abby, her cousin, before her own. She has her selfish moments, sure, but so do we all.

I also liked the character of Faythe's mother. I know she's meant to be slightly irritating, but I ended up just wanting to give her a hug instead. I've read a few reviews that complain about how un-feminist these books are (but then again, isn't there a similar rant for every book in the entire world?) but I'd go for the opposite. Even the minor character of Mrs. Sanders had an important role on the Council, as she explains to Faythe. It's nice to see a paranormal novel with genuinely strong female roles, not just characters that pretend to be while fluttering their eyelashes.

The werecat concept does work, by the way. I don't know why I didn't think it would. If anything, it makes a refreshing change from werewolves. It never feels silly or forced, because because it felt slightly tongue-in-cheek to me.

The plot takes a while to get going, but I was halfway through the book before I even noticed, and it's a good 500 pages long. What I'm trying to say (badly, I know) is that I didn't mind. I was quite happy learning more about Faythe, the Pride and her family because the prose is so accessible and the characters are so amusing. The action kicks off about two thirds of the way through and from there it's a merry skip to the end. Well, not so much merry. A violent, bloody sprint to the end then, more appropriately.

My only slight gripe (and it is a slight one) was the introduction of too many love interests for Faythe. I'm not really a fan of love triangles in the first place, so a love square was really tipping the scale for me, especially when one seemed a little pointless and, uh... Insta, if you catch my drift. That said, I really did like the relationship between Faythe and Marc. I'd have preferred a little more explanation of why they broke up in the first place, but they way it developed throughout the book was wonderful.

Stray is very, very, very similar to Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. I'm not saying that to imply that Rachel Vincent deliberately stole her ideas - far from it. After all, there are only so many werewolf/cat plotlines possible. And hey, both books are fabulous, so it's hardly a complaint. But still, let's examine - female werewolves/cats are rare, but yet this fiesty, strong example does not want to be in the Pack/Pride any longer. She moves away to a different city and a new boyfriend, but is then dragged home due to a dangerous Mutt/Stray on the loose, even though her ex-lover also lives at home who she left because he was too clingy... You get the idea. It's more than possible to read both books though - in fact, reading Stray made me want to reread Bitten more than I already did!

Long story short, even if you think you're sick of paranormal romance/fantasy, read this book. It'll reignite your interest, I guarantee it. It took me ages to get round to picking it up, but I'm so desperate for the next installment I'd fight a werecat myself to get to it sooner.

Booking Through Thursday Survey

2012-01-14T18:23:00.000Z

What do you mean 'it's Saturday?' No it's not, I don't believe you! And even if I did, I would still post this survey today, simply because I can. It's not like I saw it on Musings of a Bookshop Girl and any potential restraint was overshadowed by my pathological need to fill out surveys or anything.

1. What’s your favorite time of day to read?

All the time! I know that's a bit of a cop-out answer, but it's pretty much true. I'm not good at reading right after I've just got up, but any other time is fair game. I don't work, so you can pretty much find me with a book in my hand at any given time. I do especially like reading in the early evening though, or maybe just after tea.

2. Do you read during breakfast? (Assuming you eat breakfast.)

No, it's the only time of day when I don't. I can't really. I have ME so most days I wake up fairly ill. Imagine your most groggy morning of the last month and multiply it by about four and then pretend you have a sheet of clingfilm across your vision. I do carry my book about with me though, ready for when I'm read to act like a normal person!

3. What’s your favorite breakfast food? (Noting that breakfast foods can be eaten any time of day.)

Again, I wake up too ill to eat actual breakfast. The combination of ME and IBS mean that I tend to automatically throw up anything I eat too soon after I wake up. Wow, this is turning into quite a woe-is-me post, isn't it? I do love sausage sandwiches with red sauce though - those are definitely my favourite breakfast food.

4. How many hours a day would you say you read?

It varies. I spend half my time at my parents house in Bradford, and the other half with my boyfriend in Sheffield, so it depends where I am, really. I tend to read less when I'm staying at Lewis' because I'm more likely to watch a film with him. Probably only about an hour and a half a day, unless he's obsessed with a particular x-box game, in which case it will be more.

At home it's easily three or four hours a day, simply because I have a short attention span for anything else.

5. Do you read more or less now than you did, say, 10 years ago?

More, but only because I have more spare time. I've always been a huge reader. I was a little more into TV back then though whilst now I hardly ever turn the damn thing on, so that probably makes a difference.

6. Do you consider yourself a speed reader?

I don't know, what's a speed reader? And no, that isn't as stupid a question as it sounds! I don't skim read, but I do read quickly.

7. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

How odd, I had this conversation just yesterday! I'd want to be able to freeze time. There are so many practical applications! You could sit on the floor of Waterstones and read forever, without ever having to buy a book or move out of the way. You could avoid people you don't like and you'd never be late for classes. This is always my 100% convinced answer to this question.

Failing that, because it doesn't really count, I'd like to jump into books like Thursday Next.

8. Do you carry a book with you everywhere you go?

Yes. More out of habit than anything else. I trail my book about everywhere in the damn house, so it's a logical progression to shove it in my handbook before I go out. It used to annoy me in the Sixth Form Common room when I'd take out my book to read when I was alone, and someone would come over and say "Oh, I saw you were bored so I thought I'd come over!" No. I'm not bored, I'm reading. GO AWAY.

9. What KIND of book?

Big books, little books, cardboard book? All kinds!

10. How old were you when you got your first library card?

I don't remember. Very young. I remember they were basically just pieces of laminated white paper with printed black text. You could get six books out at a time, and I remember being so excited when I turned ten and my limit increased to twelve books! It was great because the library is literally a five minute walk from our house.

11. What’s the oldest book you have in your collection? (Oldest physical copy? Longest in the collection? Oldest copyright?)

Oh god knows. I have my Mum's old copy of Little Woman, so probably that. It's hardback and the binding is falling apart, but I love it.

I have a lot of classic books, so I have no idea about the oldest copyright. I have a collection of Euripedes' plays, so that's probably the one. Not that they had copyright 2000BC, but you get the idea.

12. Do you read in bed?

Every single night when I'm at home. I spend a large portion of the day reading on the bed too, because both The Boy and I live with our parents, so it's the only place to get privacy.

13. Do you write in your books?

No, never. I don't have a problem with reading or buying books that have been written in; sometimes I find it quite interesting. But I don't even like breaking the spines, so writing in them really goes against the grain!

14. If you had one piece of advice to a new reader, what would it be?

Surely if they're already a reader, the hard part is done? They've already decided to give a books a go and found reading to their liking! I guess I'd remind them that if they aren't getting alone with a book, it's perfectly acceptable to put it down and choose another.

Review: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

2012-01-14T00:42:00.000Z

I first read this when I was about fourteen, after an aunt recommended it to me. I'm not sure what prompted her to wave it in front of a teenager with no experience of censorship, totalitarianism or the concept of dystopia but I'm glad she did as I loved it even then. It's not a particularly difficult book to get on with, but I appreciated the darkness of it quite as much the first time round.

The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden.

Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires. And he enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs or the joy of watching pages consumed by flames, never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then Guy met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. And Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do...

I loved this book primarily due to the depth of the world Ray Bradbury has created. I need my dystopian novels to have a logical reason behind why society changed with details provided to make it believable - not so much to ask, but it happens less frequently than you'd think. Here, books have been prohibited to promote equality. In a world where television takes up four walls of every lounge and driving recklessly is encouraged, those few people that actually read were shunned and feared because of their intelligence. Therefore, to bring those few down to the level of the less-educated, books (and the houses that contained them) are burned by the firemen. Society has degraded to the extent where civilians can't even understand why they would want to read books - they've been brainwashed to believe that 'the family' on television are all they need. What can they possibly contain that they don't already have? The protagonist is happily ignorant until he meets a girl on the street who takes the time to smell the grass and look at the stars. Eventually Guy realises that perhaps she's learnt her peculiar way of thinking from books and wonders what other secrets they might contain. It's wonderful; easily one of the best sci-fi worlds ever created although I never, ever want to visit.

Guy's character is fairly standard, but his thought processes are so detailed that you feel as though you're slowly coming to the same revelations that he does. He doesn't magically change his entire outlook - it's a drawn-out process, prompted by understandable events. I particularly liked his conversations with his wife - Millie has time only for the people on the three walls of their television and fervently demands Guy return to his unquestioning obediance. She's shrill, unlikeable and irritatingly naive but she's necessary for the contrast to what her husband has become.

It's a very dark little novella. Very dark indeed. It was first published in 1954, but it seems to be massively ahead of its time. Hasn't everybody wondered what all those reality TV shows, gimmicky adverts and the downfall of books are doing to society? I admit to being slightly spooked by the parallels. Obviously the issue of censorship is prevalent here, but it's the lengths that the firemen will go to prevent the spread of prohibited literature that's really disturbing.

Plot-wise, it's fast paced and very character driven. I'm not over-fond of the ending because it seems to fizzle out a little but I'm not really sure how I would have changed it for the better. It's a very short book, so I suppose providing an ending I'd have preferred would have made it an awful lot longer.

I really can't recommend Fahrenheit 451 enough. I have the 50th anniversary edition (which was eight years ago - God I feel old) so it has a lengthy introduction written by Mr. Bradbury himself. I don't usually read them but this one is excellent. He talks about combining lots of different stories into one novella on rentable typewriters in the basement of his library, and what inspired separate parts of the book. Buy this book. Buy this edition especially!

Review: Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

2012-01-12T23:06:00.001Z

This is actually the first book I've read in 2012 and since I've finished another four books since then, it should tell you how much I've been struggling with this review. It's a bit of a strange book to write about really - I enjoyed it's inventiveness but at the same time it was occasionally an effort to continue reading. On the bright side, this is the first book to be knocked off my TBR Challenge - only forty-nine left to go!

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden . . . and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.

The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying. Which, I don't mind telling you, would involve a hell of a lot of paperwork.

Wow. That's a long blurb. It still doesn't really describe the central theme of the book though, because it's way more complicated than that. I can't quite decide if it's spoilery or not to mention it, so I won't bother for now; just know that it's not even hinted at in the summary. It is quite creative and original though - I've don't think I've ever seen an even vaguely similar idea in a novel before.

I picked up Rivers of London expecting to fall in love, but unfortunately I just didn't. Perhaps it just suffered from the weight of my too-heavy expectations, but the best I can say is a profound 'meh,' if that's not too much of an oxymoron. The characters seemed all completely flat and one-dimensional - even Peter Grant's voice is lifeless and he's supposed to be the main character. The others all seemed to run into each other - there were no distinct personalities to really make you sit up and go 'Hey, I like her!'

There are some wonderful, wonderful ideas in this book and a few of the jokes made me giggle out loud. It's funny without consciously trying to be, so it doesn't stumble over its own awkwardness. It seems to have a very British humour and I loved the references - he mentions minor shops in London (especially Covent Garden) that really are located where he says. I remember them from my last visit and I will admit the knowledge gave me a small twinge of smugness.

“I gave the prescribed Metropolitan Police "first greeting".
"Oi!" I said "What do you think you're doing?”

However, the fundamental point I have to make with this book is how much I struggled to follow it. It's possible I was having one of those weeks where you're just a bit slow on the uptake, but I've seen a few other reviews that say the same thing (see Katie's Book Blog here). More specifically, there were a few leaps of logic and plot twists that had me flicking back a few pages to see what I'd missed. Even now I'd have a problem trying to outline the plot to you. The basic gist? Sure. But no more than that. Lapses of concentration are highly prohibited here.

Despite that, the premise and humour was enough to prompt me to have already purchased the second book, Moon Over Soho. Hopefully Mr. Aaronovitch will have brought some of the same brilliant ideas to the table, but perhaps slow down enough to explain them properly.

Review: The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn

2012-01-09T14:13:00.004Z

I can't help but think that the sales figures for The Future of Us are derived directly from the gimmicky plot. It's a strange concept to write a novel about, even for YA - but it obviously intrigued a great deal of us enough to buy it. Unfortunately, it was executed so poorly that I have to wonder why it's received so many glowing reviews.

It's 1996 and very few high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD. She and her best friend Josh power it up and log on - and discover themselves on Facebook in 2011. Everybody wonders what they'll be like fifteen years in the future. Josh and Emma are about to find out.

I like Jay Asher - I read Thirteen Reasons Why and loved it, so why is this book so horribly written? Aside from anything else, that book dealt with serious issues in an adult way, while this one... this one's about Facebook. But hey, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place if I didn't find that interesting. Even the sub-plots come across as shallow and immature, so the teenage-centric theme had no chance. All the characters seem to think about nothing but boys/girls, the Internet and parties and it does wear thin after a while.

My primary irritation was the complete and utter lack of explanation. Emma loads up the Internet on her computer for the very first time... and suddenly There Is Facebook. I know, I know - it seems like my laptop does that 99% of the time, but at least I'm dimly aware that it's my own fault. The not-overly-thin novel doesn't explain at any point why she can suddenly visit the Facebook of the future or how it's shown up on only her computer. More than that, Emma doesn't even wonder herself. After establishing that it's not a practical joke, she isn't even mildly interested in the fact that apparently she has Super Facebook Powers. I love dystopian novels and books about time travel, but I do like to have a reasonably feasible explanation.

I liked the whole concept of every tiny action having huge repercussions in the future. The genders and ages of Emma and Josh's children alter frequently depending on how they have interacted with their future spouses that day. Unfortunately this is where Emma really comes into her own. She just can't stop whining. After investigating her future spouse, she whines that he isn't attractive enough or they live in the wrong city, so she goes out of her way to change her future, uncaring about the consequences for Josh or anybody else. She's obsessed with a certain guy at her school and is determined that Facebook will name him her one-day husband. Unlikeable, complaining main characters are a pet hate of mine and Emma epitomises everything that annoys me.

InstaRomance. Hate. So, we know that Josh likes Emma since before the book even began; it says that on the blurb - so I suppose we can excuse him from having to believably fall in love with her in front of our eyes, since hey, theoretically he already has. Emma only sees him as a slightly awkward friend until well, suddenly she doesn't. There's so gradual build-up or any form of realism, it just kind of... happens. Literally.

I don't know, I guess. It's more than readable - I got through it in just a few hours. I had hoped it would deal with the interesting concept in a manner a little less shallow. I just can't help but think it could have been so much more if the writing style wasn't so basic and clunky.

Project Fill In The Gaps

2012-01-08T13:14:00.007Z

The point of this project is to (shockingly) fill in the gaps in your reading. So you take a hundred or so books that you've always meant to read or that illustrate a gap in your well-read-ness, and ideally get them read within the next five years. Click here to sign up.

Splitting them up, that's only twenty books a year and I figure I should easily manage that. Some of these I've been dying to read but just haven't got round to them yet, so it's not like I'll resent having to read them!

Here's my list, in no particular order:

I've read 4 out of 100 books.

1) Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
2) Tristam Shandy by Lawrence Sterne
3) The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4) Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
5) The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
6) Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
7) Dracula by Bram Stoker
8) King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
9) Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

10) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick

11) The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas

12) 1984 by George Orwell

13) A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
14) The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
15) ~~Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos~~
16) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

17) Louise de la Valliere by Alexandre Dumas
18) The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

19) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
20) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
21) Sophie's Choice by William Styron
22) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
23) The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
24) Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
25) The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
26) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
27) The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
28) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
29) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
30) Hamlet by William Shakespeare
31) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
32) Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott
33) The Giver by Lois Lowry
34) Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
35) The Collector by John Fowles
36) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
37) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
38) The Lady with the Little Dog by Anton Chekhov
39) The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
~~40) The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy~~
41) I Will Repay by Baroness Orczy
42) Sir Percy Leads the Band by Baroness Orczy
43) The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
44) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
45) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
46) Don't Tell Alfred by Nancy Mitford
47) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
48) SCOOP by Evelyn Waugh
49) The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights by John Steinbeck
50) Lolita by Vladmir Nabokov
51) Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
52) Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
53) The Devil and Miss Pym by Paulo Coelho
54) The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
55) The Time Machine by H.G.Wells
56) Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
57) Salome by Oscar Wilde
58) Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
59) The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
60) The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
61) Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
~~62) Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman~~
63) American Gods by Neil Gaiman
64) Middlemarch by George Eliot
65) ~~Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer~~
66) Kafka on the Shore by Murakami
67) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
68) A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
69) The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
70) The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
71) Lord Tony's Wife by Baroness Orczy
72) El Dorado by Baroness Orczy
73) Mam'zelle Guillotine by Baroness Orczy
74) The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpetnell by Baroness Orczy
75) Lady Susan - Jane Austen
76) The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer (retelling acceptable)
77) Atonement by Ian McEwan
78) Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
79) Agatha Christie: An Autobiography by Agatha Christie
80) Modern Baptists by James Wilcox
81) Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung
82) Mapp and Lucia by E.F. Benson
83) Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
84) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
85) Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
86) The Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith
87) Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
88) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
89) Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
90) Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
91) Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
92) We'll Always Have Paris by Ray Bradbury
93) Farewell Summer by Ray Bradbury

94) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

95) The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
96) The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
97) The Trial by Franz Kafka
98) A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
99) Like Water For Chocolate by Lauren Esquivel
100) The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern

2012-01-08T12:45:00.000Z

Bex from An Armchair by the Sea sent me this as part of her self-imposed campaign to make everybody in the entire world read The Night Circus. But hey, it's a worthy cause because this book is amazing. I know there are already a million and four reviews talking about how pretty the book is, but just for continuity's sake... it is really pretty. I'm not usually a fan of coloured page edges, but it just kind of works here. Combine that with the silhouetted illustrations and a shiny jacket covering a dark red hardback and the result is a book I want to store in an airtight room under MI5-level security to preserve it forever.

In 1886, a mysterious travelling circus becomes an international sensation. Open only at night, constructed entirely in black and white, Le Cirque des Rêves delights all who wander its circular paths and warm themselves at its bonfire.

Although there are acrobats, fortune-tellers and contortionists, the Circus of Dreams is no conventional spectacle. Some tents contain clouds, some ice. The circus seems almost to cast a spell over its aficionados, who call themselves the rêveurs - the dreamers. At the heart of the story is the tangled relationship between two young magicians, Celia, the enchanter's daughter, and Marco, the sorcerer's apprentice. At the behest of their shadowy masters, they find themselves locked in a deadly contest, forced to test the very limits of the imagination, and of their love...

It reminds me to a ridiculous extent of The Prestige by Christopher Priest (review here), and that will never be a bad thing. Both involve Victorian-esque magicians skulking around trying to defeat each other in a secret duel. But hey, there's a circus so I'm hardly trying to deduct points from The Night Circus for originality. There's no plagiarism and I'm not trying to suggest there is, just that I loved the pair of them :)

It's the atmosphere that does it, I think. That's what makes it so compelling, so addictive, so... wonderful. I've never read anything like it. There is a plot, and a fairly fast-paced one at that, but it would be nothing without the beautifully descriptive prose of Erin Morganstern. Inserted between between every few chapters is a page written in the second person, detailing your visit to the circus - I swear you can really see/smell/hear the infamous black and white circus swirling around you.

The relationships featured are just as wonderful as the setting - Celia and Marco, Celia and her father, Bailey and Poppet... Each relationship is built differently but with just the same care and consideration for detail. There's no insta-anything. It's easy to see the foundation for every single one and they all seem as real and feasible as the last. I particularly liked how Celia slowly grows away from her father - she gradually learns to stand on her own two feet and make her own decisions, and it's wonderful to see her progress.

I do think the ending was lacking something, but I'm not sure what. A bit of 'oomph' maybe. It just seemed to drift on a little longer than perhaps it should. I'm just not sure it really need the bit of housekeeping that went on afterwards.

I haven't read a book in a long time that's so close to being perfect. Erin Morganstern has a talent for manipulating prose that will never be surpassed. I freely admit that I'm a completionist reader - I take a small amount of pleasure from having finished books - but even I wanted to savour every word of The Night Circus. I purposefully read it at the end of 2011 so I could pick it up again in 2012, and I will definitely be doing so.

IMM Christmas Edition

2012-01-05T01:58:00.001Z

Who says you can't do an IMM on a Wednesday? Or write about Christmas on January 5th? It has to be done, I'm afraid. I've been ill for a little bit so this is very, very late, but hey, we'll all survive.

This is to say thank you for all the bookish Christmas presents I got this year. I got some wonderful things, some of which I've already got stuck in to!

From family

I'm superbly happy with what I opened on Christmas morning! The top two books are editions of Pride and Prejudice that I didn't already have, and the top one especially is beautiful. It has a grey hardback cloth cover with printed pink flowers and elegant font on the inside. Pretty :)

The third book down is Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey. I adore her Elemental Masters series, so I was more than a little excited to get my grubby paws on the latest one.

The last book still makes me smile in a horribly dopey way whenever I look at it. Want a close-up? I think we should have a close-up.

A horrible close-up, but a close-up nevertheless.

It's one of those new Barnes & Noble leather-bound editions, and I swear, I love it more than oxygen. It's hardback and embossed and the pages are that wonderful crisp quality. You know what else? It smells damn good too.

Look at these, look at these, look at these! These are bookends that combine two of my favourite things - books and frogs. Not only that, but the frogs are wearing graduation caps and I graduated from Law School last month.

I know they're not technically books, but I just had to show you them.

From friends:

By which I mean other bloggers, but hell - I have real-life friends who don't know me as well as these people! The following are my friends and I'm more than a little lucky to have them.

I was blown away by what I got through the post this year.

I know I've already mentioned The Story of King Arthur and His Knights which was sent to me by The Lit Addicted Brit but I'm including it here again, partly for completion's sake and partly because it matches the Poe book above. Unlike that though, I still haven't forced myself to take off the plastic wrapping yet!

Ellie from Musings of a Bookshop Girl wasn't only nice enough to send me a copy of Ape House by Sara Gruen (which I've already reviewed - click here), but she also included the Pride and Prejudice DVD! You know, the proper one.

I could have posted a picture of the DVD itself up there, but why bother why I could just post a photo of the reason we all watch it in the first place?

The Night Circus is easily one of my favourite reads of 2011, so a massive thank you to Bex from An Armchair By The Sea who sent it to me a few days before Christmas. I was so eager to read it that I devoured it in the few days between Christmas and New Year! I haven't posted a review yet because I'm so behind it's ridiculous, but it's next on my list :)

And finally, Forgotten Bookmarks is from Hannah at Once Upon A Time, the Queen of Perfect Timing! This book was actually waiting on the doorstep when I got home on Christmas Eve, and you just can't get any better than that.

_______________________________________________________________

Right then. You're going to be so, so sick of my posts over the next few days, I can guarantee it. I'm waaaay behind but I suddenly feel motivated so I'll work on catching up.

I'll do a normal IMM on Sunday (or thereabouts) and talk about my non-Christmassy books but I couldn't wait any longer to say a public thank you for the above :)

Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

2012-01-05T00:34:00.000Z

This is one of those books that looks really ominous - a huge, hardback full of scary-sounding scientific terms as chapter headings and a bibliography the size of a phone book - so you put off reading it despite however much you might actually want to. If the library hadn't been vehemently demanding it back for the last three days, it may have been even longer before I read it myself, but I'm glad I did.

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells -- taken without her knowledge -- became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences . . . Balancing the beauty and drama of scientific discovery with dark questions about who owns the stuff our bodies are made of, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an extraordinary journey in search of the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells live on today in all four corners of the world.

When I did eventually come to pick it up, I found that I had no idea what the hefty book was actually meant to be about, so I'll just paraphrase it quickly - Henrietta Lacks was admitted into hospital in the 1950s with a severe form of cancer. Before she died, doctors took a number of samples from her tumours without her consent. These cell samples proved to be the only cells able to be grown in a laboratory despite numerous samples from other 'donors' also being tested. Clones of these cells are still used more than 60 years later to test everything from new vaccines to cancer treatments - they've been to space and they've been blown up by miniature atomic bombs. The companies that sell these clones to basically anybody that wants some have made millions of dollars doing so, and yet the Lacks family only discovered Henrietta's cells were a valuable commodity a few years ago and are so penniless they can't afford medical insurance.

I was surprised by how accessible it actually is. Obviously it would be impossible to discuss scientific development in cell culture without throwing around a few bits of terminology, but Ms. Skloot clearly doesn't expect readers to have a Master's Degree in Biology. She explains exactly what she's talking about in a capable, unpatronising manner, so I never once felt like the whole thing was whooshing past over my head. She frequently repeats conversations she explained the whole thing to the Lacks family and I found that helped to consolidate my own understanding.

You know a book is written very well indeed when the issues it raises makes you so angry you get that tight feeling in the pit of your stomach. I haven't quite decided how I feel about my tissues being used for research without my consent, but the millions of dollars made in profit by the medical companies was clearly immoral, especially when the Lacks family can't even afford medical insurance. I love medical ethics and I could easily sit here all day and lecture you all, so I won't, but the author does a valid job of making you care without sounding too preachy.

I think that's the fundamental reason I liked this book - Rebecca Skloot is a very likeable author. I've read non-fiction books before that I probably would have enjoyed a lot more if I didn't want to throttle the author (Cinderella Ate My Daughter, So Many Books, So Little Time - what can I say, grouchy misanthropy works for me). But hey, at least now I've learnt that it works both ways. I like Ms. Skloot. She comes across as dedicated, intelligent, friendly and approachable and I genuinely respect her for the time and effort she put in to getting these issues across. She frequently describes how she collected the information so it makes it easy to see her as a living, breathing person instead of a bunch of fingers aimlessly typing out Latin terminology onto a manuscript. I like her, and to be honest, I tend not to do that!

My only slight gripe with The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was the very sudden ending. But then again, it isn't a fiction book and so Ms. Skloot can hardly just go and whip up a better ending. Still, I can't help but feel it could have been rounded off a little better - the narrative is progressing nicely but then it suddenly... stops. There's then a concluding chapter about Ms. Skloot's personal take on the issues, which I did find interesting but isn't quite the same.

I really would recommend this book. I was concerned over how difficult it was going to be to read but it's not at all. If nothing else, you should be aware of how little right you have to your own cells!

Top Ten Books I've Read in 2011

2011-12-26T23:46:00.003Z

Well, I know a lot of you are away on mini-hiatuses for Christmas but apparently I love the Internet just that little bit too much. Also, as we all know, I can't resist a good ol' list so I'm using my Boxing Day to take part in Fiktsun's Week of Looking Back.

It was left pretty open-ended so you can choose how to list your books. Personally I'm going to only list the books I read for the first time this year. For example, I read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban this year (and adored it, naturally) but I can't use it because I read it before.

So, in no particular order...

1) How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

This should be recommended reading for every woman (and man - they might learn something) over the age of 18 or so. It's absolutely hilarious and deals with all the little things that women don't really talk about. It's not a self-help book by a long chalk - it's just a very personal biography of Ms. Moran's growing up as a woman.

'It also turns out that husbands do not read Grazia, and no matter how magnificent or loving they may be, they can't help themselves from sporadically saying '£225! For a purse! JESUS CHRIST,' as if you've just stabbed them quite violently in the balls with a fork, left the fork there, and then hung your coat on it while you go and have a bath.'

2) The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy

No review for this one because I read it pre-Booking In Heels. It is wonderful though. Written in 1905, but much more accessible than you might think. Percy and Marguerite Blakeney are two of my all-time favourite fictional characters and I really can't recommend it enough. I had no idea there were about fifteen books in the series until I picked it up!

3) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I know, I know. Everybody and their dog has this on their lists. But hey, it's popular for a reason. I think this (and Mockingjay) are the books that made me start reading YA. I very rarely did so before, but now I've seen how good they can be.

I'm really, really not bothered about the film though. Maybe I'd be interested if they'd cast a decent actor for Peeta but hey, they haven't. It also annoys me, which is very silly, that it's going to be as mainstream as Twilight when the film comes out and it deserves better.

4) Divergent by Veronica Roth

Another book everybody has got on their list, but with the addition of a beautiful cover. It's so shiny and pretty. I loved Divergent at least as much as The Hunger Games and it doesn't have a crappy third book (yet) to ruin it all!

Another example of wonderful a Young Adult novel.

5) The Prestige by Christopher Priest

I read this about a month or so ago, and I'm still nagging Mr. Booking-In-Heels to go get the film out of the garage. The book was so amazing that I desperately need to see how they've managed to do the film. I'm even considering buying a second copy and whacking him over the head with it until he consents to watch it with me.

All threats aside, it's a wonderful book. Gloomy, Victorian magicians and dark secrets. What more can you want?

6) Emma by Jane Austen

Funnily enough, I watched the TV movie of Emma today, the one with Gwyneth Paltrow. It seems to be one of those books that annoy the hell out of people, but I loved it. My Grandma told me she wanted to throttle Emma every time she spoke, but I felt that she always meant well at least, so she endeared herself to me.

I was going through a few personal problems when I read this, so it will always be special to me for taking me away from all that.

7) Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

One of the first books I reviewed on Booking In Heels and yes, it's just as cheerful as it sounds.

It's the beautiful prose that really does it for me. Veronika decides to end her life, but her thought process is spelled out so clearly and calmly that you can't help but understand. It's a tiny little book, but I loved every minute of it.

8) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I'm cheating a little bit with this one because I haven't finished it yet. Still, I'm only a third of the way through and I already adore it. Like, to the bottom of my heart. I'll definitely finish it before New Year but I'd feel horribly guilty about not including it on the list, so here we are.

9) Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

I'm not usually much of a autobiography reader, but this is absolutely hilarious. It details her rich and crazy parents, her Star Wars fame and her psychological and alcohol problems in a genuinely self-deprecating manner.

It's a tiny book because large portions of her memory are missing, but the anecdotes that are present made me giggle like a maniac.

'I'm a PEZ dispenser. True story. Which not only has really made my life great, but it's enhanced the lives of everyone I run into. If you can get someone to make you into a PEZ dispenser, do it. And my daughter loves it because like I told you, she's a teenager, and they love to humiliate the parent for sport, so all she has to do is flip my head back and pull a wafer out of my neck.'

10) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

I nearly forgot about this one because it was pre-BIH again but God, I loved it. I wouldn't shut up telling everybody I knew (and some that I didn't) how wonderfully, fantastically brilliant it is. It haunted me for weeks afterwards and it still does now.

I'll get round to watching the film at some point but I don't see how it can be anywhere near as good.

2012 TBR Challenge - I'm Jumping on the Bandwagon!

2011-12-23T23:03:00.010Z

Who hasn't seen this challenge about? The basic gist is to read books that are already on your TBR (and so must have been obtained before 31st December 2011). These are the levels of participation -

1-10 - A Firm Handshake
11-20 - A Friendly Hug
21-30 - A Sweet Kiss
31-40 - Love At First Sight

41-50 - Married With Children

I'm going to go for the last one and read 41-50 books. My TBR is desperate. I have 97 books on there already so my plan for 2012 is to get at least half of them read! I read approximately 120 books a year, so that leaves me plenty of room to read my 2012 books too!

I'm not going to make a list because there's so many to choose from, but I can't wait to get started. There are 10 hosts, mini-challenges and giveaways every month. The first host is Donna from A Passion For Books, so keep your eye out!

So far, I've read 9 books out of 50.

1) Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2) Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie
3) Daughters of the Vicar by D.H. Lawrence
4) The Mozart Conspiracy by Scott Mariani
5) Nemesis by Agatha Christie
6) Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
7) The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
8) The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada
9) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Final 2012 Reading Challenges!

2011-12-23T22:56:00.001Z

So I've already bothered you all with continuously mentioning my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Challenge but now it's time to look at the challenges I've joined this year.

This is run by my almost-namesake, Hannah, at Once Upon A Time. The challenge is read as many Terry Pratchett books as you desire!

I read the Witches books fairly recently, so I think it's time for a Vimes reread this year. I think they're my favourite if I'm honest, although I like pretty much all of them.

So I'm going for... ooh, seven books. Yes, seven will do nicely :)

So far I've read 1 book out of 7.

1) Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Review: Ape House by Sara Gruen

2011-12-23T15:11:00.006Z

First off, a massive thank you to Ellie from Musings of a Bookshop Girl for being wonderful enough to send this to me for Christmas because she loved it herself (her review is here). She also sent me the Pride and Prejudice DVD (the proper one, with Colin Firth) so that's my Christmas Day all sorted! Anyway, gushing thank yous aside, I really can't recommend Ape House highly enough.

Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn’t understand people, but animals she gets – especially the bonobos. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she’s ever felt among humans… until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter who braves the ever-present animal rights protesters outside the lab to see what’s really going on inside.

When an explosion rocks the lab, severely injuring Isabel and “liberating” the apes, John’s human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime, one he’ll risk his career and his marriage to follow. Then a reality TV show, Ape House, featuring the missing apes, débuts under mysterious circumstances and immediately becomes the biggest – and unlikeliest – phenomenon in the history of modern media.

I had no idea that Ape House was written by the author of Water for Elephants until browsing Ellie's blog a week or so ago. I haven't read it yet, so I can't comment on the multitude of comparative reviews I've come across, but if it's even half as good as this book, I can't wait.

To be honest, I've never really been a massive fan of apes but I still loved this book. Obviously they feature heavily in the story, but it's more about Isabel's perseverance to save the animals she loves and the extent humans will go to achieve their own ends. It discusses both the terrible treatment of animals in entertainment and in laboratories, but also when animal rights activists take their protesting too far. My feelings towards bonobos and their primate relations have taken such a turn-around that I have a Firefox tab open this very minute for The Great Apes Trust to see what I can do to help.

I don't think I've ever gone through such a range of strong emotions while reading one book. I had to keep putting down the book and staring off into space just to process what I'd just read. In fact, it's so impossible trying to write this review without talking about what happens that I'm writing an e-mail to Ellie at the same so I can rant/rave without spoiling anything for anyone. I think my primary emotion was sheer horror - you know where you're so shocked and disgusted at human nature that you get that tight, contracted feeling in the pit of your stomach? I particularly wanted to slap Cat Douglas - not a pathetic little tap, but a fully-fledged whack across her face. She and Peter have to be two of the best-written characters of all time.

Even without the drama, Ape House is fascinating. Ms Gruen has obviously put a lot of effort and time into researching the methods of communication between humans and apes. Basic American Sign Language is taught to the bonobos which they can then use to communicate with each other and with their human carers. They're even intelligent enough to order products online with a simplified computer program. It just blew me away. Plus, it's hardly just scientific babble - the facts and concepts are inserted so subtly into the storyline that you have no idea you're being taught. I had no idea about any of this and I've already wishlist-ed the books the author recommended.

It's a very intelligent book, but it's very emotional and domestic at the same time. John and Isabel's personal lives and problems are a major part of the book, and the thought of the actions of various characters actually kept me awake last night.

Long story short, it's a wonderful, moving, compelling story with likeable characters and tangible issues. I'm dying to read Water for Elephants, but I don't see how it can really improve on Ape House.

Ape House by Sara Gruen is available at Amazon here.

2011 Book Survey

2011-12-18T20:42:00.001Z

I'm a sucker for book statistics so this definitely won't be the last of the year, but I saw this at An Armchair by the Sea and couldn't resist! Although I only started blogging in May, I've included books right from the beginning of the year up to today (the 18th). I get the feeling my real end-of-year list may change though, as I have The Night Circus (sent by Bex herself!) and A Christmas Carol to read before January!

1) Best Book of 2011

Pfft. I don't even know where to start with this one. I can't narrow it down to one, I just can't, so I'll choose a couple. All links lead to my reviews.

The first amazing book I read this year was The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. I don't have a review because it was pre-Booking In Heels but it was amazing. It really surprised me how accessible it was, and Percy Blakeney is a dream. Did anybody else know that it's a series of about twelve books? I'd spent all of my 22 years thinking it was stand-alone, but apparently I have a lot of reading left to go!

As for YA, I'm torn between The Hunger Games and Divergent, but I doubt I'll be the only one stuck on that decision! It's difficult, but I'm leaning towards Divergent. That's pretty only because Mockingjay ruined the series for me and I don't like the look of the upcoming film, but I don't think I could choose if I based it on the first book of both series.

Lastly, I read The Prestige very recently and adored it, so a huge thank you to Colleen at Les Livres for sending it to me as a R.A.K. I plan to watch the film over Christmas, but I'm waiting for The Boy to leave first so we can avoid the completely foreseeable resulting argument!

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?

I'm probably going to be chased by a mob of YA-ers with flaming pitchforks for saying this, but I really didn't get on with Matched by Ally Condie. I really expected and wanted to love it, but I just... didn't. I keep seeing wonderful reviews of Crossed everywhere though, and I'm trying to convince myself not to buy it, but it's so hard!

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?

I'm definitely going to have to go with Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons for this one. I was warned off it by several people but found it to be funny, clever and accessible when I read it only last week. It's definitely going to be a frequent reread for me.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?

I've been thwacking everybody I know (and those I don't!) over the head with my copy of The Prestige to get them to read it, but then I've also recommended How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran to an awful lot of people too. I distinctly remember being told by a friend that if I didn't shut up about this book, she was going to stab out my eyes with a fork and I'd Never Read Again. It's hilarious though, and every woman (and man, for a thorough education about womanhood!) over the age of 19 should definitely read it.

5. Best series you discovered in 2011?

Looking back, this is the first year ever that I've read more stand-alone books than series. Regardless, there are a few and the best must be The Hunger Games, despite the disappointing conclusion.

This series was the one that got me in to YA - I'd barely touched it before I picked this up, not even when I was a teenager. Now I'm more than happy to pick up a Young Adult novel, but there are few that are anywhere near as good as this one!

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?

This might be a bit premature, as I haven't finished the first of her books that I've read yet, but I can foresee that Sara Gruen will be on this list - thank you to Ellie for sending me Ape House!

Who else? Uhh... Rachel Vincent and Rachel Caine (I went on a big paranormal kick last month!), Paulo Coelho, Neil Gaiman and Cat Patrick.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

I don't really have any reading comfort zones - I'll happily pick up most things. However, I don't read a whole lot of autobiographies and I adored Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking. It's so, so funny that I cracked up and temporarily became That Crazy Person On The Train.

Her reminisces about Star Wars, her illness and her glamorous parents are moving, yet hilarious.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?

I read both Divergent and The Hunger Games pretty much in one sitting. I know, I'm boring, but I'll choose some new books to love soon, I swear!

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?

Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey. I haven't picked it up yet because I'm getting it for Christmas, but this author's Elemental Masters series is one of my favourite ever. They're adult fantasy about good magicians in the Victorian era wielding different types of magic and they're wonderful. To make them even better, each one is loosely based on a different fairytale. I think my absolute favourite is The Fire Rose which is take on The Beauty and the Beast.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?

Oh this is easy. Pegasus by Robin McKinley. Shame the story wasn't nearly as good as the cover...

11. Most memorable character in 2011?

Marguerite Blakeney from The Scarlet Pimpernel. She's very empowered for a female character written in 1905 and chases her husband all over revolutionary France to keep him safe.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?

I'm half-tempted to reserve this spot for The Night Circus (eee! I get excited whenever I think about it!) but it's probably not a good idea to raise by expectations any more than the dizzying heights they already reside at.

So, hmm... Emma and Persuasion by Jane Austen! I know that all her books are written beautifully but these in particular blew me away.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?

How to Be a Woman completely changed my view of feminism and women in general. I now understand what that word actually means and I'd now willingly stand on a chair and shout that I'm a feminist.

14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?

Zee Scarlet Pimpernel, naturellement! I can't remember what made me finally reach for it in the first place, but I'm, glad I did.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?

This is from How to Be a Woman (God, I might as well have just picked five books and wrote out those titles over and over again, hadn't I?) and I know it's not the most intellectual passage I could have found, but I go into fits of laughter each and every time I read it.

'It also turns out that husbands do not read Grazia, and no matter how magnificent or loving they may be, they can't help themselves from sporadically saying '£225! For a purse! JESUS CHRIST,' as if you've just stabbed them quite violently in the balls with a fork, left the fork there, and then hung your coat on it while you go and have a bath.'

16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?

Oh there are loads. I've never had a year like for 2011 for immediately wanting to reread so many books. The Hunger Games in particular, although I might just read the first two.

There's also Wishful Drinking, How to Be a Woman and Cinderella Ate My Daughter. Seems like I had more of a feminist kick this year than I thought!

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

Oh God damn it. There was a book just like this a fortnight or so ago and I can't remember what it was to save my life.

Right, I've just been through my entire review archive and I still can't remember, so I'm going to go with The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I vaguely liked this book until the ending which was appalling. Seriously one of the worst book endings I've ever read and I was dying to rant to somebody about it but couldn't.

Review: Wolfsong by Amanda Prantera

2011-12-18T19:18:00.001Z

First off, a huge thank you to Anna at Quartet Books for sending me a copy of Wolfsong to review. It's completely different to any other werewolf-y novels you may have read recently - it's not YA and possesses a completely unique, beautiful prose. It's released in the UK on 26th January 2012 and I really recommend pre-ordering a copy with any Christmas book vouchers.

When nineteen-year-old Sarah receives an invitation to a society ball from a notorious aristocratic socialite, she assumes there must have been some mistake. What could Nico, the belle of swinging sixties London, want with Sarah, a trainee secretary with a chequered past? Yet Nico has sniffed Sarah out for a reason. Like Nico herself, Sarah is not-quite human - she is a wolf and a woman trapped in the same body. Bound together by their shared fate the two girls descend together into a dream-world of louche parties, country estates, Italian noblemen and increasingly animalistic instincts... But there are choices to be made. And when Nico disappears one freezing winter, Sarah is left to make the final decision on her own.

The mysterious blurb doesn't really give you all that information about the plot of Wolfsong but that seems to almost work in its favour. It's a short book and so the majority is given over to the life and society of Nico and Sarah - the fact that they're werewolves seems almost incidental. It's only approaching the end that the implications and hardships are shown and it's a shock when they are. I was completely blown away because I just didn't see it coming.

Just to re-emphasise - this isn't Young Adult. It's one of those rare books that manage to take a topic that's usually dealt with on a lighter note, and turn it into a mature, literary masterpiece. The prose is beautiful - both the descriptions of the many soirées attended and those of the Italian countryside are stunning and create a sleek, dark atmosphere.

It's not a long book and it's not a particularly fast-paced one either, but the growing relationships and settings pull the reader in and hold them past. By the time, the plot started to thicken, I was already hooked.

Review: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons

2011-12-15T19:44:00.003Z

You know that feeling where you're not entirely sure you've read the book you were actually meant to be reading? I'd been warned off Cold Comfort Farm twice in the past week - my Mum spent a full ten minutes telling me how boring it was and a friend texted me saying she didn't like it because it was 'weird.' Regardless, with the heavy weight of trepidation in my heart, I grudgingly picked it up.... and loved it.

When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex. At the aptly named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders: cousin Judith, heaving with remorse for unspoken wickedness; Amos, preaching fire and damnation; their sons, lustful Seth and despairing Reuben; child of nature Elfine; and crazed old Aunt Ada Doom, who has kept to her bedroom for the last twenty years. But Flora loves nothing better than to organize other people. Armed with common sense and a strong will, she resolves to take each of the family in hand.

I think the key to getting along with Cold Comfort Farm is accepting it as a parody. It's not really meant to be a serious work of fiction. Instead, it's a send-off of the earlier rural novels like those by D.H. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy. Now, I do like what I've read of Lawrence so far, but I still appreciate what Stella Gibbons was trying to do. More than that, it's actually funny. Flora's well-intentioned contempt for her family's bad habits shows itself in dry, sarcastic comments which even made me snort at one point. Perhaps I should be next in line for fixing up by Flora...

That's basically the plot of the book. Flora is suddenly forced to live on a meagre income after the death of her parents, and so decides to reside with her distant family, the Starkadders, at Cold Comfort Farm. On arrival, she sees her cousins for exactly what they're intended to me - exaggerated, cartoonish cliches of all those rural novels. There's Amos who's obsessed with religion, Judith and her profound depression, the over-sexed Seth, the contraceptionally unaware and therefore always pregnant Meriam and the commoner in love with the gentry plot-line of Elfine. They're all so loveable in their extremes that you can't help but wish for a happy ending.

It's a very accessible book - it flew by in a matter of hours for me. It takes a few pages to get used to the heavy accents of the Starkadder family but it's not really much of a problem after that.

   'I ha' scranleted two hundred furrows come five o'clock down i' the bute.'
   It was a difficult remark, Flora felt, to which to reply. Was it a complaint? If so, one might say, 'My dear, how too sickening for you!' But then, it might be a boast, in which case the correct reply would be, 'Attaboy!' or more simply, 'Come, that's capital.' Weakly she fell back on the comparatively safe remark:
   'Did you?' in a bright, interested voice.

The literary influences are quite obvious. As well as the afore-mentioned Lawrence and Hardy (Huh. Unintentional, but vaguely amusing regardless...), Flora reminds me strongly of Emma Woodhouse with her insistence on 'fixing' the problems of everybody herself. Then there are a number of discussions between Flora and Mr. Mybug regarding the true author of Jane Eyre - whether it be Charlotte herself or Branwell Bronte. Flora becomes understandably quite irritated at this and calms herself by quoting Mansfield Park when she returns home.

Not only did I enjoy Cold Comfort Farm, I also read and enjoyed the introduction, and seriously - who does that? It's by Lynne Truss in my edition, which is the Penguin Modern Classics version with the cow pictured above (incidentally, the cows in the book are called Graceless, Pointless, Feckless and Aimless, which amused me no end). I don't normally bother with the introductions to classics, but I gave the first few pages a quick scan and liked what I read. Instead of a long, dreary introduction about the symbolism and hidden messages as usual, Ms. Truss briefly talks about how she was introduced to the book and what it means to her now. I love hearing personal reminisces of reading - to me it's much more interesting that critical interpretation.

Long story short, I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to start tracking down some of Stella Gibbons' other books. My work may be cut out for me there though - on LibraryThing there are 3,070 copies of this book, but only 198 of the next popular, Nightingale Wood. I'll be interested to see how they compare to this pleasantly surprising genius of a book.

'I saw something nasty in the woodshed!'

Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman

2011-12-13T23:45:00.001Z

If I see one more review complaining that The Magicians ripped off J.K. Rowling, I swear I'm going to ram this down somebody's throat. Hogwarts was not the first fictional school of magic (Mildred Hubble, anyone?) and I seriously doubt it will be the last. Therefore, a book including such a school of magic is not automatically stealing from Harry Potter, especially when it contains no other similarities other than the afore-mentioned school of magic.

Quentin Coldwater's life is changed forever by an apparently chance encounter: when he turns up for his entrance interview to Princeton he finds his interviewer dead - but a strange envelope bearing Quentin's name leads him down a very different path to any he'd ever imagined.

The envelope, and the mysterious manuscript it contains, leads to a secret world of obsession and privilege, a world of freedom and power and, for a while, it's a world that seems to answer all Quentin's desires. But the idyll cannot last - and when it's finally shattered, Quentin is drawn into something darker and far more dangerous than anything he could ever have expected ...

I expected to like this; I wanted to love it. Actually, I did neither. The first thing I should point out is how horribly wrong that cover is - it's all dark, mysterious and gloomy, where perhaps a more appropriate image would have a glittery fairy with an inane smile. Perhaps also a bunny rabbit. I didn't really dislike the book but I do think it (and the blurb) are misleading. The story's much more... twee than that. Hey, I'm not complaining - it's a good plot and twee never hurt anybody.

To sum up in a better manner than the professional summer-upper did above, Quentin Clearwater is obsessed with a series of books that bear a striking (intential) resemblance to the Narnia books, despite his age of 17 years and his current attendance at Brakebills - a prestigious school for aspiring magicians. He studies hard, gets a girlfriend and is one day excited to discover that the magical land from his childhood books may not be so fictional after all.

Except it's much slower than that. I don't know how many people besides me always wished that certain stories could be more mundane - like, I wanted to know more about the everyday classes Harry Potter took, and what they did when they were bored. Stop fighting Dementors and read your Alchemy textbook! That kind of thing (and yes, I referenced Potter. But I'm not really comparing them as such... So sue me). The Magicians actually does that really well - the full four years of Quentin's time at Brakebills is crammed into this book, in excruciating detail. Only it's a case of 'be careful what you wish for,' I think, because nothing else happens. Literally. Oh, you think something does quite near the start... but it doesn't. No relation to anything. So that's the first two thirds of the book with Quentin and Alice just... studying.

It reads kind of like a NaNoWriMo novel actually. You know, where you have a month to write 50,000 words so you just frantically shove in random unrelated events and characters to get your word count up. The Magicians has odd parts that aren't really relevant to anything else - like an international game tournament that lasts for two pages and is never mentioned again. The passage of time is strange as well. An afternoon can take four pages, but then a year whooshes past in a sentence.

I did like the romance, and that's odd for me. It seemed kind of real. There was no InstaLove and it takes them a while after arguments to calm back down, just like real people. Alice was definitely my favourite character throughout - she's nicely rounded and likeable, but with a few believable flaws too.

Thing is, I liked this book right up to the very end. The twist and the final battle is wonderful - I adored it and it could have been one of my favourite book endings of all time. But hey, then it went and ruined it. There's an epilogue-type thing and I hate them. Except it's not really an epilogue; it's part of the story, but it really should have ended much earlier. It's terrible. Certain Things happen with no explanation or reason and characters just accept this as being perfectly normal and every day. The only possible reaction that I can imagine for a reader is 'What? But... why!?' I suppose it's just to make you buy the second book so you can get an explanation, but for me it made it less likely because I now know exactly where the story will go and I don't like it, thank you. My partner tells me I looked so disgusted that I looked like a pissed-off, squinty cat.

I didn't hate this book, although I realise I sound like I did. Hell, I didn't even dislike it. The majority of it is a well-written, unique, fantasy story with likeable characters. But I loathed the ending, and for me, the book is the ending.

In My Mailbox #19 - King Arthur and Christian Louboutin

2011-12-11T20:56:00.000Z

I can't even explain how awesome this week has been. I only received one book, but oh what a book it was!

I came home from an extended trip to my boyfriend's the find the heaviest (yet smallest) Amazon parcel you have ever seen in your entire life. Confused, because I hadn't ordered anything, I ripped it open and found...

This was sent to me as a surprise Christmas present by The Lit Addicted Brit who, naturally, I now love more than life itself. This book is beautiful. It's hardback leather with an embossed cover, gold-edged pages and apparently it has illustrations but I haven't quite brought myself to take off the plastic wrapping yet!

It was such a wonderful surprise and it still makes me happy everytime I look at it. I have sent her a proper e-mail thank-you (well, I haven't yet, but it's typed and ready to be sent!) but this will serve as a public one because hey, she deserves it!

Like I said, that was the only book I got this week, but (and I apologise for this but we are Booking In Heels, after all!) just look at these!

These are Christian Louboutin heels that I found in my advent calendar yesterday. I know, I know - most people get chocolate pieces in theirs. I do too - Disney Princess shaped ones, in fact. But ever since I was little, my Dad has made advent 'buckets' for me and my Mum - a bucket full of little wrapped presents, one for each day of advent, consisting of 23 little presents and one big one.

Obviously this was my big one. Huge one, in fact. These shoes are expensive and to be honest, I'm surprised my Dad even knew what they were. I opened a parcel marked 'Fragile' and found a stick-on mirror for the visor in my car (I've pulled it down expecting there to be a mirror every day for the last three years, despite there Never Ever being one) and a post-it not telling me to look in the cupboard under the wash-stand.

Doesn't everybody want to open a cupboard and find a surprise pair of Louboutins?

It's an awful photo, but these are the shoes on my feet. Perhaps French designer heels shouldn't be paired with a skeleton dress and a spaniel, but hey, that's what Sundays are for!

Have a great week everyone!

Review: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

2011-12-09T20:35:00.002Z

I bought this a good few months ago for two reasons: a) as an attempt to bump up my reading of classics and, less intelligently b) because the Vintage Classic editions all look nice on a shelf together. I finally picked it up last week and although it took me a while to plough through it, I don't regret a single minute spent.

Hester Prynne is a beautiful young woman. She is also an outcast. In the eyes of her neighbours she has committed an unforgivable sin. Everyone knows that her little daughter, Pearl, is the product of an illicit affair but no one knows the identity of Pearl's father. Hester's refusal to name him brings more condemnation upon her. But she stands strong in the face of public scorn, even when she is forced to wear the sign of her shame sewn onto her clothes: the scarlet letter 'A' for 'Adulteress.'

The plot of the novel isn't much explained on the blurb - it explains Hester's situation, but not the emotional journey she faces throughout. In fact, it's not even primarily about her. The point of view stays mostly with the father of the child, with a little about Pearl and less about her mother. I won't mention who the father actually is, although he's identified to the reader fairly early on. Regardless of his identity, the novel narrates his struggle with the burden of his sin - he has not been punished as Hester has and so feels the weight more heavily.

I had steeled myself for a novel-length lecture on weakness and untrustworthiness of women, while men are strong but are tempted to sin by those evil women. In fact, I found it fairly pro-women. A lot of reviews have slated it as anti-feminist but I really, really don't see it. Obviously Hester is spurned by her village (it's set in the 1640s, after all) for her adultery, but she is ordered several times to name the father so he can be adequately punished also. It's mentioned several times they're both condemned, not just her. The narrative seems to pity her somewhat - she always holds herself with dignity and fervently tries to repent for her sin. The reader's attention is often drawn to this in an attempt to make us feel for her what her village cannot.

My copy of The Scarlet Letter has a huge red 'A' stamped on the front, but it would be impossible to forget it regardless. Mr. Hawthorne calls attention to it frequently so Hester is somehow embodied by that one red patch of colour. It almost has a life of its own - it's what the townsfolk see when they look at her and Pearl can't quite get past the symbol embroidered on her mother's chest. It's a very moving piece of imagery.

It's not really light reading. It's taken me a good few days to struggle through, to be honest. The story is wonderful, but the prose and dialogue can be a bit... stodgy. Although it was written in 1850, it's set two hundred years earlier and the syntax reflects that. It's rather preachy and moralistic, but that's only to be expected. I'd only recommend picking it up if you're willing to exert a lot of time and effort into it. It's definitely worth it, but it's a slog.

I really liked the ending, although it's not what I would have expected. It's not happy nor sad, but it is a fitting conclusion. It was especially clever how the townsfolk each adapted the spectacle to suit their own beliefs and wishes. That's what the book was about, for me - about the emotion and judgement of regular people, and how sin can more easily be borne when it's not kept to yourself.

Review: Positively by Courtney Sheinmel

2011-12-05T22:53:00.001Z

Positively was one of the five books I allowed myself to buy after coming into money last week. It's special for that reason and (less logically) it's one of the four books of that five that was PINK! Somehow the accidental colour scheme amuses me no end, but hey, we can't all be sane.

Since the day Emerson Price and her mother were diagnosed as HIV positive, nothing has been the same. When her mother dies of AIDS, Emmy has to go live with the father and stepmother she barely knows, and she feels more alone than ever. Now she has to take pills by herself, and there is no one left who understands what it's like to be afraid every time she has a cold. But when her father decides to send her to Camp Positive, a camp for HIV-positive children, Emmy begins to realize that she's not alone after all, and that sometimes, opening up to other people can make all the difference in the world.

This is a tiny, very accessible book that deals with the adult issues of sexual disease, grief and acceptance in an easy manner. Think of it as Jodi Picoult for pre-teens. It's more about Emmy's grief over the loss of her Mother than about her life with HIV, but it still gets across how traumatising and scary the disease can be for a child.

Parts of this nearly moved me to tears, as my Mum is my favourite person in the whole world and the thought of something happening to her is more than I can take. Ms Sheinmel taps into that fear most people and uses it to place you in Emmy's shoes. Her pain is very real, very adult and very sad - it's not softened or sugar-coated. Instead, it's raw and brutal and I challenge you not to be shaken by it.

The plot revolves around Emmy pushing her friends and family away because she feels they don't understand what it's like for her and she worries they only tolerate her because of her illness. Eventually she goes to Camp Positive where she befriends other children with HIV and slowly realises that life goes on, despite her loss. To be honest, I did find her a little irritating and whiny at times but then I realised how realistic it would actually be. I've thought things very similar on occasion regarding my own illness, and I just don't think I'm used to having those thoughts accurately portrayed on paper.

Despite that, it's not a depressing book - a quick glance at the picture on the cover will tell you it's more about hope than despair. I finished the book with a smile on my face and it's sitting neatly on my shelf waiting to be read again one day when I'm feeling low.

I think it could have benefited from being a little deeper and a little more HIV/AIDS-centric, but Emmy's only thirteen and so the writing style fits her age perfectly. If Ms Sheinmel wrote a follow-up book when Emmy was a little older, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Review: Passenger to Frankfurt by Agatha Christie

2011-12-04T19:22:00.002Z

I love Agatha Christie. I love her novels, I love her plays and I love her life story. I love Poirot, Marple and even Tommy and Tuppence. Passenger to Frankfurt, however? This I did not love. The last Christie book I read was The Body in the Library- you can find my review here, just to prove that I'm usually a fan!

A middle-aged diplomat is accosted in an airport lounge and his identity stolen. Sir Stafford Nye's journey home from Malaya to London takes an unexpected twist in the passnger loungs at Frankfurt -- a young woman confides in him that someone is trying to kill her. Yet their paths are to cross again and again -- and each time the mystery woman is introduced as a different person. Equally at home in any guise in any society she draws Sir Stafford into a game of political intrigue more dangerous than he could possibly imagine. In an arena where no-one can be sure of anyone, Nye must do battle with a well-armed, well-financed, well-trained -- and invisible -- enemy!

It just doesn't read like an Agatha Christie mystery novel at all - there's no crime to solve and no suspects to investigate. It has much more of a political vibe. A moderately successful diplomat, Stafford Nye, is recruited by a mysterious committee to discover who is causing the youth of the world to revolt. He flies all over the world with his companion in order to... umm, have a lot of conversations with people.

There's not a whole lot of action - just pages and pages of dialogue. By the end there were so many new characters I was seriously considering making a list to keep them all straight in my head. The plot changes direction from page to page, so the ending really only makes any sense at all if you've been paying very close attention - which I hadn't.

The best thing about this book was Ms. Christie's introduction at the beginning. She was such a wonderfully witty woman, and her own musings are always a pleasure to read. She talks about how irritating she finds journalists who perpetually ask her from where she gets her ideas, and how she yearns to tell them that she plucks them off the shelves at Woolworths.

It pains me to write such a negative review of an Agatha Christie book - until this point I've pretty much loved them all. I'm excusing it by pointing out again that this isn't a murder mystery novel at all - more a story of political intrigue.

In My Mailbox #18

2011-12-04T16:18:00.003Z

Well folks, it's finally happened. My TBR pile has got to the point where even I have to admit it's ridiculous. I'm obtaining books far faster than I'm reading them. I can't say this actually bothers me over-much, but navigating my bedroom is like an obstacle course and I'm fast running out of available floor space.

So what am I planning to do about this?

Well... uh, nothing, actually. Just thought I'd let you know!

Anyway. After adoring The Prestige last week (my review is here) I naturally set out to track down as many of Christopher Priest's other books as humanly possible. I managed to get hold of two - The Glamour and The Islanders, which is his newest work, I believe. I'm so excited about these it's ridiculous.

I was talking to Hannah from Once Upon A Time about Twenties Girl, funnily enough. She'd found it in a charity shop and I was complaining about how I kept looking for it but could never find it. The next day, there it was in Help the Aged. I swear she's my Fairy Bookmother and swished her magic wand to make it appear!

Actually, it was kind of a weird week for charity shops all round. I kind of had to convince myself to go and rummage through them because I was having a moderately poorly day and didn't really feel like it. I managed in the end by reminding myself of all those new YA books that could be waiting patiently on the shelves for me to come and grab them, picturing The Knife of Never Letting Go in my head, as I did so. I wasn't even particularly looking for that one - it just popped into my head. But hey, in Help The Aged again - there it was.

That shop is magic, I tell you.

Wolfsong was sent to me for review. It looks like just my type of thing so I can't wait to get started on that one.

I also got two new copies of Pride and Prejudice this week. This makes my total collection up to 33, I think. The big red one is an old one from the 1950s and came from a Wildlife Sanctuary charity shop. The other has a strange parcel paper type cover and I bought it from eBay. I keep meaning to post a photo of them all but I keep getting distracted by picking Purple Mountain Flowers on Skyrim.

What did you find in your mailbox this week? Do you have a magical charity shop near you?