Dawn

Not the easiest of reads, flowery language reflected the pastoral writing of the time but does require concentration (and the writing was tiny on tissue paper pages). I struggled to finish and now and again nearly gave up.
It's 194 pages until she is mentioned and not until 197 does Shirley appear. And thank goodness, as I was finding it rather dull. Historically interesting, yes, the industrial stuff with the weavers and all. But Caroline's woe and the many mournful ministers was wearing me down!
Shirley herself is a breath of fresh air, a feminist before the word was even thought of, opening Caroline's eyes to opportunities and the little independence possible in those days. Perhaps I was a little disappointed that there could be no hint of a relationship beyond friendship between the two, buried under the properness there was definitely potential.
My first Brontë has not enamoured me but I shall give them another go, just not for a while!

I found this pretty unpleasant with some downright nasty parts - nearly a DNF! But Slaughter managed to keep me reading (even when I'd worked it out - still wanted some vengeance). Put me off her work to be honest, I'll probably read some more but maybe give myself a break for a bit.

A fab little book packed full of my hero and hairspiration Tank Girl and her weird and wacky friends. A couple of short stories, a few mini comic-strip scenes and loads of glorious illustrations. What joy!

A really enjoyable novel from Robin Stevens, a new Detective Society is in the making as May Wong follows in her sister's footsteps. Amongst the familiar faces there were a few new faces, well written as always. The mystery kept me guessing (I had a few theories and some of them were right) and using the two different narrators rounded out the story. Lots of the book had it's roots in fact so the kids (and me) can be tricked into learning about history. Looking forward to more from this series.

Another fantastic Christie mystery which tricked me yet again (I was so sure that I'd worked it out). Actually rather shocked (and maybe a tiny bit disappointed in M. Poirot) at the denouement.
Obviously Bob was my favourite character “woof”, excellent stuff!

An interesting enough account of author's experience of the 60s and 70s. Full of personal anecdotes about The Beatles and, of course, Fleetwood Mac.
I just didn't enjoy the way she wrote, it lacked depth and failed to draw me in.

A lovely wee collection of (very) short stories and poems with Scotland as the link. Some funny, some sad, some good, some not too bad, some surprisingly moving for their length.

A collection of the polymath Gray's works: some strange, some sweet, some sting a little. His unique voice is apparent in each of the tales, at times self-depricating in others self-assured, sarcastic and acerbic yet down-to-earth. The text is lifted further by his strangely beautiful illustrations. The final tale brought a tear to my eye and reminded me just how much I, we, miss him (and Archie too) “teachers everyone”.

2.5 rounded up to 3 for being surprisingly better than just okay and a very quick read. It's your typical Western tale of drunken ex-sherrif, gunslingers and a posse off to save the girl (who actually isn't a pathetic waif or a whore). It was so stereotypical that when I described it to my daughter she said “Red Dwarf: Gunmen of the Apocalypse”. This doesn't have the laughs but it's certainly not a bad read.
I'm sure there's better Westerns out there and I'm sure there's around a hundred carbon copies of the one I've just read. I can assure you that I will not be searching them out!

3.5* rounded up to 4 because I have a little literary crush on Russell. She's the perfect partner for King's version of Holmes.

There's exotic travels, masterful disguises and real threats to life. Familiar characters were rounded out nicely and new ones fitted in well. However, I wasn't surprised by the villain and found the ending slightly humdrum after the previous fun and games.

I'm quite surprised that so many of these have been written. I'll definitely read at least another one or two to see if King can keep this up.

Bookclub read [UoG]: this novel covers much of the life of Roland Baines, a nobody or anybody whose existence is so very ordinary it is almost spectacular.
Twisting back and forth through time, it starts rather unpleasantly, I thought - nearly enough to put me off. I stuck with Roland though and even warmed slightly to the rather useless man he becomes. He went to some interesting places, I particularly liked the time in East Germany, and collected a varied cast of co-stars around him.
For a book called Lessons, though, I don't feel Roland actually learnt much at all. I'm not sure I did either.

Easy to read and incredibly informative, a must-read (literally) for anyone involved in inpatient hospital care.

A spacey Sci-Fi story that all comes down to friendship. Thoroughly enjoyable read only let down slightly by the female characters being a bit thin and huddled on the periphery. 3.5* rounded up as it deserves to be read by more people.

Bought in a Highland charity shop purely because I loved the cover: the gorgeous pen and ink illustration of the long-necked Greek-nosed young lady with her jaunty black hat juxtaposed by the classic Penguin bold orange stripes. Inside I found two very different, but complimentary, novellas beautifully translated from the original French.

The first follows Gilberte - Gigi - who, on the cusp of womanhood rebels against her courtesan education and, perhaps, finds love. This was so, so short and I wanted more of Gigi. Was she happy, will she be happy? If her mother, grandmother and great-aunt are anything to go by she isn't destined for love and joy. There was so much hope and love in the girl that this saddens me.

The Cat is a strange and twisted ménage à trois with murder mystery undertones. Alain, who loves nothing more than to sit peacefully in the garden of his family home with his beloved feline Saha, weds Camille a materialistic teenager with a love for modernity and fast cars.
Alone together in a third floor apartment the young couple quickly find faults in each other but cannot deny the sexual attraction they have. Meanwhile Saha pines at home, fading fast, until Alain can take it no longer and brings her back to the apartment. Here Camille's jealousy turns murderous and Alain must choose whom he truly loves.

These were my first introduction to Collette, apparently they are amongst the lightest of her works. However I found they both had much sadness, darkness and loss so dread to think what her other novels are like. I'll definitely look them out though, back to the charity shops I go...

Great little book full of triage nuggets. Designed for American ED nurses but extremely useful for anyone regularly involved in emergency care. Will be a handy resource to return to in the future, I'm sure.

Lovecraft's seminal work seemed to be the place to start with the “father of cosmic horror” but I found it mostly dull with a few dazzling descriptive passages. Much of the language served to distance me from the adequate plot. Often I found myself re-reading passages to try to interpret the meaning in long, meandering sentences (not helped by reading it on my breaks during busy, noisy nightshifts).
Mostly I could not see beyond the narrator's racial and intellectual superiority (reflecting Lovecraft's own) more horrifying and alienating than Cthulhu themself. While some may try to explain this as “of the time” I have read many American and British works from this era that reflect the “casual racism” but lack the nasty haughtiness that Lovecraft's encompasses. This novella is supposed to be classic of horror and the macabre but I found it disappointing and disturbing (for all the wrong reasons). If this is Lovecraft's best work I don't think I'll be bother with any of his others.

I'd previously started this and given up rapidly. Martin Millar is an acquired taste and while I'd loved many of his previous books I didn't think I could cope with 500+ pages of his clipped, punchy, punky style.

I was wrong. Once I got into it I was completely engrossed. The short chapters encouraging me to read “just one more” before putting it down. Everyone is selfish and vacuous, petty poets, many violent and/or with drug/alcohol/sex addictions because, well, it's Millar's world and what else would you expect?

By the end I was cheering for everyone in Kalix's circle and I've already ordered the second one!

Definitely not to everyone's taste but if you wants escapism and to laugh out loud at the sheer stupidity of the characters and situations - give it a go.

Having just read Hunger (the sequel to Gone) a worl without adults was not such a shock. This first volume gives no answers to why or how. Instead it introduced us to the small gang of kids who are thrown together and must learn to survive. The illustrations were good, reminding me almost of primary school reading books. I look forward to finding out more about what has happened and what this little group will have to face.

Cumming lets us into his family and his story with such generosity of spirit. This book is a reflection on his childhood at the hands of an abusive father and his investigation into his maternal grandfather for Who Do You Think You Are. Considering the subject matter you would expect it to be a heavy read but it flies along with its feet barely touching the ground. Cumming's voice is natural and welcoming, like a friend opening up over a pint. I finished it with a smile on my face and wished I could give him a hug.

Bookclub read [UoG]: Casa Rosa, the red house or home (in my head I translated it as home, it felt more personal - it is almost a character in itself, holding on to it's secrets beyond the final pages). Not a book that I would necessarily have chosen to read going by the blurb but the cover would have definitely grabbed me had I seen it in a bookshop.

Ultimately it is the story of a family, the three generations of females - grandmother, mother, daughters - seen through the eyes of of one of the daughters, Alina. This means that hers is the only life with details and the others are sketched from memories, tales, letters and paintings. I found Alina engaging, her life was interesting and Marciano maintained the flow whilst bringing her family's stories in too. I can see, however, that it would be a difficult read if one disliked her or her voice.

Much of the story does not take place at Casa Rosa, it is a place of memories, of the family coming together, both “now” and then. Alina's story is set in the 70s and 80s, across Italy and the USA, and touches on the politics of the time without delving too deep. Marciano writes like photographs, the memories yellowing with age yet still sharp. The images on the covers are a stunning too, beautiful timeless images that surprised me by being from the early 40s (and from France), I'd recommend searching for the works of Jacques Henri Lartigue.

Disappointedly I didn't read this quickly enough and only got to 75% before it digitally returned to the library. I then waited, impatiently, for 4 weeks and raced through the last quarter of the book on one sitting.
I'd read Cumming's previous biography which was mostly about his relationship with his father. This one was a bigger story, the making of the man, the man behind the pansexual sex symbol. And what a story, from the middle of nowhere in Scotland to the bright lights of the Big Apple, on stage and on screen.
Cumming writes with honesty, accepting his youthful mistakes and recognising that they are what makes him. He is an unabashed narrator and draws us into his world. He seems like a genuinely lovely chap and I'm glad he has found his happiness.

A twisty crime novel written by a lawyer that kept me guessing until the end. Not my usual sort of read but I'm glad I stuck with it. Kellerman is an interesting and believable character, her relationship with her son Ben was touching - more so when I realised Mancini was drawing on her own experience. I'll definitely read more of her works

Bookclub read (EotWRC): 3.5* for this debut novel set in the near future when the planet is burning up and the fate of mankind seems bleak. It was less dystopian than I expected more techy and quite political. I was quickly drawn in and it kept me guessing until the end.

3.5* rounded up for keeping me on my toes until the end.

A murder mystery with plenty of twists and turns. An investigation into the mind and it's possibilities.

Easy enough to read without being boring. Plenty of fact-based theories to keep you guessing - kept in the dark until the final “oh” moment.

Enjoyable enough read that bodes well for future writing.

Wow, just wow.

“Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren't so different. We saw the same sunset”

Hinton started writing this aged 15 and it was published by the time she was 18 - she's credited as having written the first YA novel. Written in the first person narrative of 14 year-old Ponyboy who lives with his brothers Sodapop and Darrel, the story takes place over just a couple of weeks but so much happens.

There's gang warfare, poetry and fire, heroes and villains, “Greasers” and “Socs”, cigarettes and alcohol, the literature and death. No wonder it's a core text in some US schools and banned in others.

I don't know how I've managed to get so far in life and not read this. It caught hold of me, despite my jaded adulthood, and drew me in. It's so beautifully written that you can't help but empathise with Pony's and experience everything alongside him. I'll be interested to see if the film does it justice (no, I've not seen it either).