Books read in January 2005

1. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
2. Slaves of the Mastery - Willaim Nicholson
3. Firesong - William Nicholson
4. Deception on his mind - Elizabeth George
5. Stark - Ben Elton (not finished)
6. The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith
7. Wideacre - Philippa Gregory (not finished)
8. Tales from the secret annex - Anne Frank

Tales from the secret annex - Anne Frank

I think this book was given to me for Christmas one year by my mother. I have finally decided to read it. It seems an appropriate time near to the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

This book is in two parts. The first is fables and short stories and the second is personal reminiscences and essays.

I personally preferred the second part of the book because I'm not a big fan of short stories. However I found all of Anne Frank's writing to be positive and insightful. I kept a diary from the age of eleven and I doubt that my writing from the age of thirteen could be compared even closely to Anne's. Yes the stories are childish in topic (children, fairies etc) but the themes are relevant to everyone.

Bookcrossing journal - wild released

Wideacre - Philippa Gregory

I found this book difficult to get into at first, but after about 70 pages I was gripped. But then suddenly about half way through the book I realised I didn’t like the main character Beatrice Lacey and really didn’t care about what happened to her or the Wideacre estate that she was so concerned with so I stopped.

I sympathised with her situation, a woman who loves her home but which she can never own because it is entailed, but I can’t understand her choice of actions and the more extreme they were the more I disliked her. I was hopeful at the arrival of Dr MacAndrew who seemed to be a ‘normal’ with no extremes personality characteristics but that didn’t last long.

I am disappointed with this book because I really enjoyed ‘The other Boleyn girl’ and hoped that this would be a similar style. If I came across another Philippa Gregory book I think I would be willing to read them, but only if they were not part of this trilogy.

Bookcrossing journal - passed to friend

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith

I did enjoy this book, but to be honest if I had lost the book mid-read I probably wouldn’t have bothered to buy it again.

The style of the book is one that I would usually not like. It jumps from topic to topic and apart from seeing if Precious Ramotswe’s detective agency survives there isn’t much of a main theme to the book; although there is a nice ending. However the style of writing is so pleasant that it almost felt that I was being told a story, instead of reading one, where the storyteller tells you a key fact first and then realises you don’t know the background so does a bit of backtracking. The different mysteries all fit together well and the characters are so well written that although most of them are only around for a short period the book doesn’t feel disjointed.

Bookcrossing journal

Stark - Ben Elton

I am still surprised that I did not enjoy this books as I enjoy Ben Elton as a comedian and thought 'Dead Famous' was a great read.I thought the style was trying to be like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, but just seemed forced. I got ~80 pages in to the book before giving up, although I gave it a second go by jumping into the middle of the book to see if it improved; it didn't.I also didn't bond with any of the characters, in fact most of them irritated me. Even if I don't enjoy a book I usually like to finish it to find out what happens to the characters, but I decided it wasn't worth the effort with this book.


Bookcrossing journal - wild released

Deception on his mind - Elizabeth George

This is my review for this book, which for some reason Amazon won't accept and is the reason I decided to set up my own site to store my reviews.



I found myself first interested in Elizabeth George's books after watching the Inspector Lyndley Mysteries on TV. I have found the books I've read as enjoyable as the series if not more so because the books contain so much more detail.

In this book the characters are really well written and you can imagine the community of the run down seaside town where racial tensions are high. There are also the interactions between Barbara Havers and the police woman in charge of the murder investigation DCI Emily Barlow. Emily is a sort of role model to Barbara, but working with her isn't what Barabara expected, and certainly isn't like working with Inspector Lynley.

I know that this is part of a series of book, but I read them when I come across them; infrequently and in any order. Therefore I am disappointed in this book because I feel it wasn't finished properly. I want to know what is going to happen to Barbara Havers, but I guess that is part of the story of Book 10.

Bookcrossing Journal - wild released

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

This isn't my usual type of book, but I persisted with it because it was lent to me by a friend who really enjoyed it. I soon found myself engrossed wanting firstly for Pi to be shipwrecked (as it was the only thing I knew about the book from the back of the book)and secondly rescued. It was also easy to fit the reading in around everything else because it has short chapters (sometimes less than a page).

I admit I found some of the imagery distrubing, but not enough for me to stop reading and in fact probably added to my satisfaction with the book as I was often thinking about it between reading sessions. I will certainly remember this book for a long time to come.

I give 5*s to my absolutely favourite books which I read over and over. I'm not convinced this is one of those books, but I am still very glad I've read it and would recommend it to others.