Last year, I became rather despondent when it came to writing Book reviews. I left it till the last minute to write all my book reviews and the task became unwieldy and onerous. I was worried about making the book reviews really good and also have a weird occurrence where I forget the names of characters when I read a new book. I thought this year, I would try again to keep up with it but once again, I missed out on January.
Anyway, I thought I would write something short on the books I read rather than have the sense of doom that pervaded last year.
January
6. Radio Girls - Sarah-Jane Stratford
5. Winter Tales- Various Authors compiled by Abi Elphinstone
4. Mr Stink - David Williams
3. Unpleasantness in the Ballroom- Catriona McPherson
2. The Hunger Games- Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins
1. The Norfolk Mystery- Ian Samson
In January, I read 6 books.
The Norfolk mystery was a very gentle book with some enjoyable geographical information. The narrator or the central view point of this story is fairly interesting with a very quirky 'detective'. Not the finest Whodunnit I have ever read but certainly a different denouement than I am used to.
In re-reading The Hunger Games- Catching fire, I was in need of something easy to read as I had a lot on my mind at the time. Also, the majority of my books were in boxes.
Unpleasantness in the Ball room was a HUGELY entertaining and interesting Whoddunit which was given to me by Char for Christmas. It was really intriguing and exciting and constantly kept you guessing about the crimes involved in the story. I enjoyed the historical detail and descriptions and characterisations were pretty well written. I definitely would like to read more of the Dandy Gilvers investigations.
Mr Stink was a wonderful children's book to read. I can see why people cite David Walliams as a contemporary Roald Dahl. His characters were delightful and great caricatures and characters of extremities. I feel like there needs to be a sequel in the way Mary Poppins also had a sequel!
Winter tales was a wonderful compilation of short stories with a winter theme written by popular and new children's authors. There was an excellent variety of stories including magical stories, historical ones, Adventure stories, contemporary twists and heartfelt tales. I really enjoyed this book as it introduced me to some fantastic new children's authors to seek out books by and I think this would be great for children to find a new author to enjoy which is why I bought it.
Radio Girls was probably the book of the month for me. It is published by my favourite crime publishers, Allison and Busby and tells the account of a girl who is seeking employment at the BBC in the early days of Radio. She is frumpy and poor but has always loved reading and books and as she gets to know the personnel at the BBC, she finds her way and eventually unearths a conspiracy. The historical detail in this book was excellent. I really did have no idea about the origins of the BBC and how they were one of the few employers who paid men and women equally. The book is set in the late 20's at the time when the vote was given universally to all women and I found it an interesting coincidence that I happened to read this (not intended) during the centenary of the Suffragettes and women achieving the vote. I thoroughly recommend this story which is based on real historical people even though the main character is fictional.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
In February, I read 35 books. This may extreme until you realise that 27 of them are Oxford reading tree stories.
February
7. The perplexing theft of the jewel in the crown- Vaseem Khan.
8. Six stories - Matt Wesolowski
9. The Railway Detective - Edward Marston
10. Ant's Pact - Elen Caldecott
11. The Sands of Akwa- Elen Caldecott
12. Holo-board Havoc.- Elen Caldecott
13. The trap- Mike Brownlow
14. The secret whirlpool- Elen Caldecott
15. Race to the Pyramid- Karen Ball
16. The Screams of the Raptiss- Elen Caldecott
17. One step ahead.- Karen Ball
18. Chamber of Treasures- Karen Ball
19. Space Hunt- James Noble
20. The deadly Cave- James Noble
21. Grumptus Attack- James Noble
22. Return to Exis. - Tony Bradman
23. The Miines of Moxor - James Noble
24. The Contest.- James Noble
25. Planet Exis- Tony Bradman
26. Attack of the Buzzles- Tony Bradman
27. Battle with the Beast.- Tony Bradman
28. The Empty Palace.- Tony Bradman
29. Nurp Stampede- Mike Brownlow
30. The Crystal Planet- Karen Ball
31. Tiger x 4- Elen Caldecott
32. The Ruby Cage- Karen Ball
33. The Hunt for Nox- Karen Ball
34. Attack of the Giant Meeb
35. Fear forest.- Steve Cole
36.Swamp Crash- Steve Cole
37. Spaceship Graveyard- Steve Cole
38. Save the World!- Steve Cole
39. The Cave of Life. -- Steve Cole
40. Nights at the Circus- Angela Carter
41. Signal for Vengeance- Edward Marston
The perplexing theft of the jewel in the crown is a sequel to a Whodunnit I read last year. The book is set in Mumbai, India and features Inspector Chopra, ex-inspector of the Mumbai police force and now the manager of the Baby Ganesha Detective Agency and restaurant. At the start of the story, Chopra is visiting the exhibition of the Crown jewels from England which have arrived for a while. They are amazingly stolen whilst Chopra is there- well, the crown containing the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond. Chopra's old colleague is accused of stealing it and he works to clear the name of his friend and locate the jewel. The book is so delightfully eccentric- I love how the baby elephant is such an important part of the investigations and how clever it is. There is a gentle humour and quality to the book but at the same time, it is real and gritty at conveying the danger and also, the difficulty of life in Mumbai. I love gaining tidbits about life in this Indian city!
Six Stories was recommended to be by Jake at Forum Books in Corbridge as a modern spin on a Whodunnit and it certainly didn't disappoint. A famous anonymous Podcaster is interviewing people from a crime committed 20 years prior to see if they can shed any light on the affair. It then remains for the criminal to be unmasked. The brilliant thing about this book is, because the interviews are told from 6 different people, you just cannot trust anyone. There is a pervading darkness and air of sinister doom throughout the story which reminds me of the Hound of the Baskervilles in some way. It was a very, very clever denouement and I thoroughly recommend it. This was probably the best read of the month.
The Railway detective is a reread for me. I bought a new book in the series in Half Term and thought I would like to reread the series. I do find Edward Marston's books a little bit formulaic now that I have read around 30 of them but I still love them. The characters have their foibles and ways of acting which I know well now and enjoy.
Books 10-39 are the Oxford Reading Tree books. You are wondering why I read them maybe?
Well, I have 2 focus readers at school and they had been reading these books called Alien Adventures the 2 weeks before half term and I really enjoyed reading the 3 books they had read. Annoyingly, when I went to change their books, the next book in the series didn't seem to be in the book box so I had to pick another one.
It was then a curious coincidence that I visited a charity shop 2 days later that had 27 of these books in it for 29p each. I phoned our librarian and asked if she thought I should buy them and she said yes, definitely. I duly bought them (checked out the price online and I had saved a fortune!) and decided that I might as well read through them. I think these are EXCELLENT books for reluctant readers, particularly boys- the adventure, searching for fragments to the core of the Planet Exis. They are creative and imaginative and have some interesting vocabulary. I have always been a person who LOVED treasure hunt stories so this hugely appeals to me. I have read online reviews of these and parents who have bought these have told how their children adore these!
The annoying thing was, I thought in the final story Return to Exis, I would see the story complete but it ended on a bloomin cliff-hanger! Nooooo! Apparently, there are higher stages in the Alien Adventures where it continues. I feel similarly to how I felt when I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and had to wait ages not knowing what was going to happen next!
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter was a Christmas present from my little sister. She picked me up a 'Blind Date' book parcel in Waitrose which turned out to be this. I was a little dismayed to discover it was this author as I read her 'The Magic Toyshop a while back and really was disturbed by it. I found this book equally disturbing and weird although eventually, strangely compelling. I dislike her crude use of language and gratuitous descriptions of how women were treated and debauchery and felt like I had no idea where the book was headed at times.She is certainly a unique and imaginative writer but I don't think I would actively seek out her frankly odd stories. Also, I think she has a slight swan obsession.
The final book of the month was Signal for Vengeance, a much later book in the Railway Detective series. I always enjoy Edward Marston's Whodunnits and I felt there was some interesting developments in the characters in this particular book.
What books did you read this month?
Anyway, I thought I would write something short on the books I read rather than have the sense of doom that pervaded last year.
January
6. Radio Girls - Sarah-Jane Stratford
5. Winter Tales- Various Authors compiled by Abi Elphinstone
4. Mr Stink - David Williams
3. Unpleasantness in the Ballroom- Catriona McPherson
2. The Hunger Games- Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins
1. The Norfolk Mystery- Ian Samson
In January, I read 6 books.
The Norfolk mystery was a very gentle book with some enjoyable geographical information. The narrator or the central view point of this story is fairly interesting with a very quirky 'detective'. Not the finest Whodunnit I have ever read but certainly a different denouement than I am used to.
In re-reading The Hunger Games- Catching fire, I was in need of something easy to read as I had a lot on my mind at the time. Also, the majority of my books were in boxes.
Unpleasantness in the Ball room was a HUGELY entertaining and interesting Whoddunit which was given to me by Char for Christmas. It was really intriguing and exciting and constantly kept you guessing about the crimes involved in the story. I enjoyed the historical detail and descriptions and characterisations were pretty well written. I definitely would like to read more of the Dandy Gilvers investigations.
Mr Stink was a wonderful children's book to read. I can see why people cite David Walliams as a contemporary Roald Dahl. His characters were delightful and great caricatures and characters of extremities. I feel like there needs to be a sequel in the way Mary Poppins also had a sequel!
Winter tales was a wonderful compilation of short stories with a winter theme written by popular and new children's authors. There was an excellent variety of stories including magical stories, historical ones, Adventure stories, contemporary twists and heartfelt tales. I really enjoyed this book as it introduced me to some fantastic new children's authors to seek out books by and I think this would be great for children to find a new author to enjoy which is why I bought it.
Radio Girls was probably the book of the month for me. It is published by my favourite crime publishers, Allison and Busby and tells the account of a girl who is seeking employment at the BBC in the early days of Radio. She is frumpy and poor but has always loved reading and books and as she gets to know the personnel at the BBC, she finds her way and eventually unearths a conspiracy. The historical detail in this book was excellent. I really did have no idea about the origins of the BBC and how they were one of the few employers who paid men and women equally. The book is set in the late 20's at the time when the vote was given universally to all women and I found it an interesting coincidence that I happened to read this (not intended) during the centenary of the Suffragettes and women achieving the vote. I thoroughly recommend this story which is based on real historical people even though the main character is fictional.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
In February, I read 35 books. This may extreme until you realise that 27 of them are Oxford reading tree stories.
February
7. The perplexing theft of the jewel in the crown- Vaseem Khan.
8. Six stories - Matt Wesolowski
9. The Railway Detective - Edward Marston
10. Ant's Pact - Elen Caldecott
11. The Sands of Akwa- Elen Caldecott
12. Holo-board Havoc.- Elen Caldecott
13. The trap- Mike Brownlow
14. The secret whirlpool- Elen Caldecott
15. Race to the Pyramid- Karen Ball
16. The Screams of the Raptiss- Elen Caldecott
17. One step ahead.- Karen Ball
18. Chamber of Treasures- Karen Ball
19. Space Hunt- James Noble
20. The deadly Cave- James Noble
21. Grumptus Attack- James Noble
22. Return to Exis. - Tony Bradman
23. The Miines of Moxor - James Noble
24. The Contest.- James Noble
25. Planet Exis- Tony Bradman
26. Attack of the Buzzles- Tony Bradman
27. Battle with the Beast.- Tony Bradman
28. The Empty Palace.- Tony Bradman
29. Nurp Stampede- Mike Brownlow
30. The Crystal Planet- Karen Ball
31. Tiger x 4- Elen Caldecott
32. The Ruby Cage- Karen Ball
33. The Hunt for Nox- Karen Ball
34. Attack of the Giant Meeb
35. Fear forest.- Steve Cole
36.Swamp Crash- Steve Cole
37. Spaceship Graveyard- Steve Cole
38. Save the World!- Steve Cole
39. The Cave of Life. -- Steve Cole
40. Nights at the Circus- Angela Carter
41. Signal for Vengeance- Edward Marston
The perplexing theft of the jewel in the crown is a sequel to a Whodunnit I read last year. The book is set in Mumbai, India and features Inspector Chopra, ex-inspector of the Mumbai police force and now the manager of the Baby Ganesha Detective Agency and restaurant. At the start of the story, Chopra is visiting the exhibition of the Crown jewels from England which have arrived for a while. They are amazingly stolen whilst Chopra is there- well, the crown containing the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond. Chopra's old colleague is accused of stealing it and he works to clear the name of his friend and locate the jewel. The book is so delightfully eccentric- I love how the baby elephant is such an important part of the investigations and how clever it is. There is a gentle humour and quality to the book but at the same time, it is real and gritty at conveying the danger and also, the difficulty of life in Mumbai. I love gaining tidbits about life in this Indian city!
Six Stories was recommended to be by Jake at Forum Books in Corbridge as a modern spin on a Whodunnit and it certainly didn't disappoint. A famous anonymous Podcaster is interviewing people from a crime committed 20 years prior to see if they can shed any light on the affair. It then remains for the criminal to be unmasked. The brilliant thing about this book is, because the interviews are told from 6 different people, you just cannot trust anyone. There is a pervading darkness and air of sinister doom throughout the story which reminds me of the Hound of the Baskervilles in some way. It was a very, very clever denouement and I thoroughly recommend it. This was probably the best read of the month.
The Railway detective is a reread for me. I bought a new book in the series in Half Term and thought I would like to reread the series. I do find Edward Marston's books a little bit formulaic now that I have read around 30 of them but I still love them. The characters have their foibles and ways of acting which I know well now and enjoy.
Books 10-39 are the Oxford Reading Tree books. You are wondering why I read them maybe?
Well, I have 2 focus readers at school and they had been reading these books called Alien Adventures the 2 weeks before half term and I really enjoyed reading the 3 books they had read. Annoyingly, when I went to change their books, the next book in the series didn't seem to be in the book box so I had to pick another one.
It was then a curious coincidence that I visited a charity shop 2 days later that had 27 of these books in it for 29p each. I phoned our librarian and asked if she thought I should buy them and she said yes, definitely. I duly bought them (checked out the price online and I had saved a fortune!) and decided that I might as well read through them. I think these are EXCELLENT books for reluctant readers, particularly boys- the adventure, searching for fragments to the core of the Planet Exis. They are creative and imaginative and have some interesting vocabulary. I have always been a person who LOVED treasure hunt stories so this hugely appeals to me. I have read online reviews of these and parents who have bought these have told how their children adore these!
The annoying thing was, I thought in the final story Return to Exis, I would see the story complete but it ended on a bloomin cliff-hanger! Nooooo! Apparently, there are higher stages in the Alien Adventures where it continues. I feel similarly to how I felt when I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and had to wait ages not knowing what was going to happen next!
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Bargain Alien Adventures. |
The final book of the month was Signal for Vengeance, a much later book in the Railway Detective series. I always enjoy Edward Marston's Whodunnits and I felt there was some interesting developments in the characters in this particular book.
What books did you read this month?