A book by any other name...

This is the paperback version of....
..this. They changed the name. I can sort of understand why. When I looking into the book I searched Spanish Fly and all sorts of unwanted images came up on the computer. Still, it's annoying when publishers change the name of titles.

Spanish Fly - Will Ferguson

It's the 1939 and America is in the midst of the great depression whilst Europe is heading towards war. Jack McGreary is just surviving in the American dust bowl when he comes across Virgil and Rose. Together they take him under their wing and teach him all the great cons as they travel from town to town. Turns out Jack might be more gifted than his teachers.

I was looking forward to reading this book. The blurb on the back made it sound hilarious. Turns out you should never judge a book by it's cover or it's blurb. That's not to say it wasn't a good book it just wasn't what I thought it was going to be. It was a slow burner. A good third of the book was about Jack in his home town of Paradise Flats and various events that lead him to leave with Virgil and Miss Rose. Since I was expecting something with a faster pace it was a little disappointing. I would definitely have enjoyed it more if there had been a hint of it at the back. Eventually it did speed up and became more of what I thought it was going to be (funny but not hilarious). When it reached that point I found it difficult to put down. The main characters were actually quite likable considering what they were doing. A little part of me didn't want it to end.

I still prefer Ferguson's travel writing books to his fiction. They are more laugh out loud funny and as I read those first I always expect the same to be true of his fiction. I do think Spanish Fly is better than Happiness and I highly recommend it. If you come across a review, as I did, saying that this book is more of a boys book ignore it. I hate the categorising of books although I have done it myself occasionally. Maybe the reviewer felt that the subject of con artists would mainly appeal to men. Whilst this might be true I do think that women can get as much out of this book as men. I don't think that the author wrote it thinking only of a male audience.

I did think something the author wrote was very interesting. One of the characters was discussing an investment scam. He mentioned that investors generally would feel they then had the right to dictate terms. The narrator used authors as an example. They write a book and then those selling that book felt they were owed something by the author, that they were more important than them. I wonder if the actual author really feels this way about those selling his books. Is he talking about publishers, reps or booksellers?

I haven't worked in the other forms so can't possibly say but as a bookseller it would be disappointing if he did mean us. For the majority of booksellers we talk to customers about books we love. It's safe to say that none of us are doing it for the money. We don't think that the author's owe us anything for it. All we ask is that you are nice to us when you come in for events as we're not just staff we like your books too and it's us who recommend them to customers.

Okay that last point sounded like a threat. I don't mean it to be. Not really. Most authors I have met are lovely. They seem to enjoy meeting booksellers who love their books. There have been a very small minority who have been dismissive and even down right rude. It's deflating when that happens and does put you off.

End of An Era

Yesterday Borders US declared bankruptcy and today Borders Pacific Rim has went into administration. With British books going into administration a few weeks ago and Waterstones having problems themselves you have to wonder what's going to happen to our book shops in the future. Here in the UK we are currently fighting to save our libraries. So where lies our future with books in general? Are we now going to have to rely on Internet sites and ereaders?

It really is sad. Many of my favourite memories as a child was spent in a library or a bookshop. I feel saddened that our children might not have that happy pleasure.

My thoughts go out to all those with their jobs on the line and keep my fingers crossed for you.

Anything Goes - John Barrowman

Basically what it says on the tin. The autobiography of John Barrowman. He writes about his life growing up and how it prepared him for showbiz. It then goes on to focus on his musical career interspersed with stories of family life. If you are looking for a book filled with stories of Doctor Who and Torchwood this isn't it (although he does talk about it in a chapter at the end).

I hate star biographies. It's a pet hate of mine (have I mentioned this before? I rant about this so often it's easy to forget). It's a pet hate of most booksellers. They clog up the Christmas releases and drown out all the good fiction (and non fiction for that matter). In the last few years there has been a steady decline in fiction released for Christmas. What's the point? The stores are being forced to push sales of the star biogs anyway. It especially sets your teeth on age when it's a child star who hasn't done enough in life to warrant a biography or the same face releasing yet another instalment you could easily read in an hour.

Despite my ranting I seem to have read my fair share of them. I have to confess that if there is someone I admire or like I am as likely as the next person to pick it up. Stephen Fry, Joe Brand, Parkinson, William Shatner and Michael Palin are just a few on my list and some of those I have still to get round to reading. Oh and I even confess to reading Billie Piper's. That's what comes from being an avid Doctor Who fan. If David Tennant had written his own that would be listed here too.

I am a bit slow off the band wagon with this one. It was released in 2008 and this is me just reading it. To be fair I have a rather large reading pile but it's only now I am being strict with it (basically no more books until I get through the pile). Like most star biographies I found it vaguely disappointing. The first chapter irritated the hell out of me. It was written as though reading a scene of a script. If the rest of the book had continued like that I would have thrown it straight into the charity pile. Thankfully it didn't and over all it was quite entertaining. Lots of funny stories of Barrowman growing up in Glasgow then the States. As I already mentioned it focuses on how he got into showbiz and musicals with some personal stories thrown in.

It was disappointing in that it was a little too fluffy. Not too serious although I get the impression that Barrowman himself isn't too serious (nothing wrong with that - life is too short as they say). I guess I just always seem to expect more. Plus he comes across as the constant good guy. Surely no one is that perfect? I don't think that I learned anything new about him. Nothing that he hasn't said in interviews. But at the very least it did keep me entertained for a couple of hours. I doubt I will read his follow up but I am glad I read this one.

Bloodline - Mark Billingham

Andy Thorne is investigating a series of Murders. Each murder victim has been killed in the same way and discovered with a piece of X-ray film clutched in their hands. It is quickly revealed that the mother of each victim was murdered by Raymond Garvey. It becomes a race for the police to find the remaining offspring of the Garvey victims and to catch the killer. Meanwhile Thorne is undergoing his own personal issues.

I have said it many times before that I am not much of a crime reader but that's not why I didn't enjoy this book. I had just finished watching the latest series of Bones on DVD and I was in the mood to read some good crime which is why I picked it up from my very large 'to read' pile. When I first bought this book I had thought it was American. I also thought that the author had also written the film Copycat. That would normally have put me off but the plot looked interesting enough for me to want to buy it.

I should point out that I am not a lover of all things American over British. I do enjoy British authors and actually the crime books I have read my favourites have been Scottish. It's just that British and American authors have very different writing styles. Particularly when it comes to crime. It was American I was in the mood for thanks to the TV show that I had watched and so was disappointed when I realised that wasn't the case (the fact that the book mentions London early on was a big giveaway too).

I could have gotten over that but I also broke one of my rules. I normally like to start with an authors first book. Especially when all his books, although can be read as standalone, have the same main character. Crime authors are famous for this but I don't know why I didn't think this one would be any different. I hate reading a book and I am expected to already know the main character. This one delves in straight away to Thorne and his partner going through a horrible situation. Had I read the series from the start I am sure I would have had more of an emotional attachment to the characters. But as I didn't I found it uncomfortable and then boring.

The crime plot line was everything I expected it to be when I first picked it up over a year ago now. It was a little predictable though and I guessed most of it in the first fifty pages. There was another unexpected twist at the end but the rest, whilst meant to be predictable, was a little too much so. I got bored with it half way through to be honest. As I said before though, if I had an emotional attachment to the characters then maybe I would have enjoyed it more. Plus I think I could have gotten to like the characters had I read the series from book 1. A while back a friend loaned me a Linda Fairstein book. Again it was half way through a series and I was expected to know the characters. Unlike this book though I knew I wouldn't have liked them even from book 1.

I do think that if you enjoy crime books generally you will probably enjoy it. My mum reads almost exclusively crime these days and she loved it. It's also an easy read. I got through it quite quickly.

What did surprise me though was some things about the author. After realising he was a British author I had to look him up. Turns out Mark Billingham was an actor and a comedian before he became a writer. I wouldn't recognise him from most of the things he has acted in. He did, however, have a part in Maid Marion which I loved as a child. He was one of the Sheriff of Nottingham's guards.

Just testing

I have loaded a new app onto my iPad that should allow me to blog on the go. Am just testing to see if it works. Should hopefully allow me to update when I am travelling, if I travel. Might encourage me to leave more posts. Look out for a new year update which I have planned.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

"The Lovely Bones" Alice Sebold

Like "The Da Vinci Code" this book is one that I think most people know the story to whether they have read it or not. A young girl is murdered and then watches her family from heaven. I was a new bookseller when it first came out in paperback and was hugely popular then. As with other books this put me off reading it. To be honest the story didn't particularly appeal either and the popularity of her real life book "Lucky" also put me off. It's second life as the film came out also didn't induce me to read it. I had no interest in seeing the film. So why did I finally pick the book up? A friend encouraged me to. She said I should ignore the hype, open up my mind and give it a try.

Unfortunately I did. The first scene is the murder scene. I have read my fair share of crime and horror books and so this shouldn't have bothered me. It did though. I found it very difficult to read and more than a little disturbing. I think if I hadn't promised my friend I would have put it down. As it is thinking about it still disturbs me a little. As a result I found the first half of the book a very upsetting.

Once I had gotten over that I felt the second half of the book was just boring. It read like a very bad teen book. Again I have read my fair share of teen books both good and bad so I know a bad one when I see it. The family live their lives with the dead daughter watching on and that's pretty much it. Nothing else happens. Sure they are still affected by her death (what real life parent wouldn't be?) but not much changes after the half way point. The family didn't even get closure. Instead they moved on as best they could as did the daughter in heaven.

In case you hadn't guessed I didn't enjoy it at all but at least I gave it a chance. I honestly don't get what the fuss was about. I don't understand how anyone can get enjoyment out of it or why anyone would want to make a film never mind go and see it. I do think that the author has used this book as some sort of therapy for her own experiences (unconsciously I am sure). If that's the case and it helped then maybe that's a good thing. It's the only positive thing I can say about the book.