Casino Royale - Ian Fleming

Le Chiffre is a Soviet Spy who is down on his luck. After several unsavoury business failures he is making his last bid to bring in the money and get back his power. Failure means death. He makes his last stand at the Casino Royale gambling for high stakes and so far is succeeding. The UK government would rather he failed and so send their undercover agent, 007, to bet against him. The French and American governments are of the same belief and so send Bond some back up. Unfortunately his cover is blown before he even gets there. However, Bond still has a job to do and he intends on doing it.

I have to admit that in the first chapter I had a little trouble with the language of the book. I can't quite put my finger on why but there were a few sentences that made absolutely no sense and I had to continually go back and re-read them. Either I got used to it or the language improved as that problem went away after the first few pages. I did notice that Fleming like to use the word ironical over and over which irritated me slightly. He has this in common with Doris Lessing. Like Lessing though I managed not to hold it against him.

That aside I loved the book and I am so completely surprised by that. Who knew I would love spies that much? In fact it wasn't nearly spy enough for me. Also I should probably confess that I hate gambling. I find it completely boring. Almost as boring as I find magic shows and have no interest in watching, reading or taking part in gambling games. That said I found the game exciting. I had no clue about the rules since I skimmed that part (too much detail there) but I still found myself routing for James. The book itself was dated. A little chauvinist (I really wasn't expecting anything else) and Bond came across as a petulant child at times. Still these things amused me and it fitted in with the era.

I will definitely be reading more of these books but I still find it hard to see Deaver writing in this style. Oh, and it would seem that my poor reading mojo was mainly down to my disappointment with City of Fallen Angels.

City of Fallen Angels - Cassandra Clare (or my 6 month break from YA)

Clary, Jace, Luke, Simon and everyone else are back home in New York after the war in Idris. Clary is training to be a shadowhunter whilst her mum and Luke are preparing for their wedding. She also has Jace to worry about who seems to be pulling away from her without telling her why. Meanwhile Simon is now a daywalker and this means all sorts are after him. The mark Clary gave him protects but what do all these downworlders want? Simon is forced to realise he can't go back to having a normal life after all.

Unlike the first three books this one is mainly from Simon's point of view. Clary doesn't really have much to do with it other than worrying about Jace. I wonder if this is because there are is a surprisingly large Simon fan base. Simon did make a nice change. I did like the fact that he went from being Clary's geeky side kick to a vampire who's balancing two girlfriends.

If I am going to be honest though I wasn't all that fussed about reading this book. I thought the ending in the third book was great and that was it for me. I didn't even imagine that there was more to tell and so was surprised when this book was coming out. It honestly took about 200 pages for me to feel any sort of enthusiasm for the story and I think that was all down to Simon. I could have lived without Jace's angst particularly at the end. Almost felt that he was too full of self pity. I was also amused by the ending. Couldn't help but think of Supernatural (if you have read this and are a Supernatural fan you will know what I mean).

I don't think it was just the book though. I think I lost some of my reading mojo this week as I am finding it difficult to be enthusiastic about any of the books I am reading (other than the Iliad which I am enjoying). Plus, I have mentioned on more than one occasion that I seem to have moved away from YA. Despite that I still have quite a few in my tbr pile as well as a few series I am in the middle of and would actually like to see what happens in the end. So I am going to have a six month break away from them. Maybe when I come back to them I will enjoy the ones that I enjoyed before (thinking of Scott Westerfeld, Rick Riordan and Patrick Ness).

At the moment though I have my doubts as to whether or not I will read the next Mortal Instruments book.

Booking Through Thursday

And–the reverse of last week’s question. Name one book that you hope never, ever, ever gets made into a movie (no matter how good that movie might be).

I actually didn't join in last week because of a similar prompt from TTT not long before. I am tempted to say all of my favourite books because I don't want the film industry to ruin them. So I am picking out just one and I am trying to pick one that I haven't mentioned in one of these memes before. "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Cray" by Michael Chabon, although I have a feeling it's been picked up for a film already. I think this book would make a wonderful film if done correctly. However, because of it's size a lot of it would be cut out and the film would then lose something. I loved every page of this book. I think only an amazing director would be able to translate the atmosphere (which changes through out) onto the big screen. I would be worried that the film would fail there.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books That Came Recommended!

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme over at The Broke and the Bookish.

1. Lanark by Alasdair Gray. This was recommended to me by a friend after I mentioned that I wanted to read more Scottish authors. I was expecting him to be more in the style of Grassic Gibbons (whom I also haven't read yet) so thought he was an author I was going to have to work myself up to reading. I couldn't have been more wrong. One of the strangest books I have ever read and I loved it. Surprisingly I liked the autobiographical sections more than the sci fi.

2. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davison. A friend who has recommended lots of books to me had been raving about this one for a few years. I always get round to reading her recommendations eventually and when I do I wonder why it took me so long. This was one of them. The first fifty pages are disturbing and if you have a week stomach then read it in bits. Once you get past it it's definitely worth it.

3. Hokkaido Highway Blues by Will Ferguson. This is on my list for a few reasons. First of all it's a fantastic book. Ferguson is a funny writer with the ability to laugh at himself. Second if you have a love of Japan and want to learn more about the country then I highly recommend it. Lastly it taught me that travel writing books can be fun. It's a non fiction genre that had never had much appeal to me in the past. I would rather go travelling myself than read about others experiences. Whilst I still haven't read that much travel writing it's something I plan on rectifying at some point.

4. One For the Money by Janet Evanovich. I have mentioned that I love the Stephanie Plum books before. I love them for their humour (grandma Mazur in particular). I don't remember who recommended them but I have to thank them for more than introducing me to a funny series. Crime is another genre I dismissed. I had read a few crime books when I was a young teen and didn't think much of them. Thanks to this one book I began to listen to friends who do read a lot of crime books. Have had a great time reading them and this year I seem to reading more crime than anything else.

5. Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland. Through this I found one of my favourite authors. Although I don't recommend people new to Coupland starting with this one. It's good but I think "All Families Are Psychotic" is more likely to hook new fans.

6. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Halloween a few years ago I wanted a book that really scared me. I do like a good horror book (although I am a coward when it comes to zombies and films). I don't remember what I had been reading but I do know I was disappointed. My friend recommended this one. He said it was one of the scariest books he had ever read. It didn't scare me but it was very creepy. One of those books that stays with you and you have absolutely no idea where it is going. I think it might even beat Lanark on the strangest book front.

7. Nocturnes by John Connolly. The same friend who recommended The Gargoyle recommended this. Again I took my time to getting round to it. Truth is I probably would have read it eventually as I liked his other book "The Book of Lost Things". Who knows how many years later I would have read it had my friend not nagged at me and I'm glad she did. This is what I should have read when I wanted a scary book. It's short stories and most of them scared the hell out of me. The first one in the book actually made me want to throw up at one point. Oh, and the novella got me onto the Charlie Parker series. A great book and a pretty cover.

8. Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman. One of the funniest books I have read in a long time. Mainly from the point of view of the supervillain who is in prison and making plans for his next evil plan of world domination. Full of cliches which just made it all the more funny. So glad this was recommended to me. A few similar books were released around the same time but they just weren't as good.

9. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I am mainly glad I read it when it was first released after a friend recommended it. That year it was one of my favourite books and I had soon passed it on to others too. I have since been put off the book. I hated the film which is maybe no surprise as how many of us are disappointed by the films of our favourite books? I then read "Her Fearful Symmetry" and this books is now listed as one of my most hated if not the most hated. It was just awful. It has put me off reading any future books by the author and rereading the one that I did love. So I am glad I read it when it was recommended as I would have missed out otherwise.

10. East of Eden by John Steinbeck. When I was told I should read this I had already been aware of Steinbeck and had loved "The Grapes of Wrath" yet it was still a number of years before I picked it up (noticing a theme here?). I can't rave about this book enough. It's not only my favourite Steinbeck but is on my list of all time favourite books.

Roadside Crosses - Jeffery Deaver (or I like Kathryn Dance better than Lincoln Rhyme)

A young boy is the victim of cyberbullying. No longer willing to put up with it he begins targeting those who attacked him online. The only clue he leaves is a cross at the roadside with the date of the intended victims death. Kathryn Dance must find the boy before he actually manages to kill someone. Meanwhile her mother has been arrested for potentially assisting a suicide. Kathryn is unable to do much to help and she can't help but think that her mum may have done it.

The bulk of the book is actually about the Roadside Killer which is what the young boy is nicknamed. This is the second book by Deaver that deals with some of the scarier aspects of the Internet. In his Lincoln Rhyme book "The Broken Window" it deals with identity theft. This one deals with cyberbullying. Not just from facebook or any other social media website. Whilst those are mentioned the main source of the bullying comes from blogging. Reporter Chilton makes a post about road safety. This leads to comments by students veering off into slating the driver of an accident which become personal attacks. Both of these issues are a problem and instances of both have been seen on the news more and more. In fact I have come across horrible comments myself on various blogs and message boards over the years. Deaver clearly feels strongly about them as both these books were published one after the other. In fact The paperback of Broken Window and the hardback of Roadside Crosses came out at the same time.

I liked both these books but enjoyed Roadside Crosses just that little bit more. I think that mainly had to do with the main character Kathryn Dance. This is the second book with Dance although she does make an appearance in "Cold Moon". She's the complete opposite of Rhyme and not just because she is female. She is warmer than Rhyme, a widower with two children and lots of close family and friends that she relies on heavily. She has interests out side of her field of work. Mainly her love of music and runs a website with her best friend. She also relies on her ability to read people and witnesses to solve crimes. Something that Rhyme scoffs at as he believes that people are unreliable and it should all be about the evidence. In fact Dance's speciality is reading people and she has been trained to do it and do it well. She's also fresher than Rhyme. This is only her second book so there are still new things to learn about her. Rhyme is on his ninth and his character is starting to feel a little stale (don't get me wrong I still enjoy the stories). What did intrigue me though is that when I read a little about Deaver I couldn't help but notice some similarities between himself and Dance. They both were once journalists and folksingers. I wonder if he feels more of a connection to Dance too.

I did also notice similarities between the book and a certain TV show (not the story itself). A CBI agent with ability to read people so well that some might think they can read minds. Remind you of anything? I think Deaver himself joked about it as the characters mentioned that there should be TV show about them to compete with all the CSI shows.

Overall I liked the book and I look forward to the next one with Kathryn Dance (which I believe is out this year). Like with most of his books I was kept guessing all the way through although I knew there had to be a twist in it somewhere. Plus, like a lot of his books there were actually several. If you do fancy reading one in this series you don't have to start with Cold Moon. I recommend the first one, "Sleeping Doll".

I understand his next book is actually a James Bond novel "Carte Blanche" which I am finding hard to imagine. I haven't read any of Fleming's books (which I am rectifying this week) but I have sat through the films on many occasions thanks to my mum (not a huge fan but I did like the character Jaws). It's such a different style. Am looking forward to seeing how people review it.

It's Monday!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! D This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! Find this meme over at Book Journey.















Last week I did quite well and read;

"A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole (favourite of the four)
"1602" by Neil Gaiman (still undecided about Graphic novels)
"Dark Places" by Gillian Flynn (it grew on me)
"Dying Light" Stuart MacBride (funny Scottis crime).














Just now I am reading;

"The Iliad" by Homer (as part of a readalong)
"Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver (in an attempt to get through my tbr pile)


















This week I plan on reading;

"City of Fallen Angels" by Cassandra Clare
"Heroes Vol1"by Titan books (no author is listed)
"Casino Royale" by Ian Fleming

Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

When she was just seven years old Libby survived the massacre of her Mother and two sisters. Ever since she believed that her brother, Ben, killed them in some sort of satanic ritual. Twenty five years on she is running out of sympathy money. She has no marketable skills and so decides to investigate into the case for cash. Reluctantly, she begins to believe that all these crazy women might be right and Ben could be innocent. As she begins to investigate further she discovers that there is more to that day than she initially believed.

A friend recommended this to me not so long ago. Either my memory is bad or I wasn't listening because it was nothing like what I thought it was going to be. I knew the main character survived her family being murdered but I had thought she discovers the truth whilst investigating satanic cults for a television show (I honestly don't know where I got that from). As I read it and realised that it was nothing like what I was expecting I began to feel a little disappointed. Add to that the fact that I did not like Libby. She made it hard for you to feel for her. Clearly a victim but it doesn't mean she's a nice person. The rest of the characters in the book aren't exactly a treat either.

I did like the fact that it was from three different points of view. Most of it is Libby in the present with alternate chapters from her mum or brothers point of view on the day of the massacre. It meant that you were learning a little bit more than Libby although not necessarily know how it fitted in. Seeing Ben as a young boy you did begin to feel sympathy for him and want him to be innocent even though Libby needed him to be guilty. He comes across as just your typical 15 year old boy from a struggling family. He just wants a father figure, to fit in and to be liked. This leads to lots of stupid mistakes which climax on the night of the murders.

I felt for the mother too and I couldn't help but seeing similarities between herself and Libby. Both seemed to struggle in life and suffered from depression. The mother because of having to raise four young children on a failing farm on her own. Libby because she can never leave behind the horrors of her past and as a result pushes everyone who might care away. It was through the mother that I began to actually like the character Libby and by the half way point I couldn't put the book down.

The book was also a lot darker than I was expecting it to be despite my friend mentioning that (this I did remember correctly). There are all sorts of accusations rife through the book and none of them are exactly pleasant. As disturbing as I found one or two scenes I did have to keep going to find out what happened. I did guess a little of it but much of the ending was still a surprise.

Not my favourite book this year but I'm glad I read it. I'm glad too that it was also recommended to me as I don't think I would have picked it up otherwise.