It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This is a book meme by Sheila of Book Journey. A fun way for everyone to share their reading week

This month has turned out to be a great month reading wise. Even if I finish no books this week I have read the same as January and February combined. This means that I am catching up in my good reads target. Fingers crossed that after this week I will no longer be behind. I got some pretty new books which I can't wait to get to. I have managed to do a fair few reviews and I'm slowly catching up on those too. I was saddened to hear about the death of James Herbert. I used to devour his books in my teen years.

Last week I read;

The Wind Through The Keyhole - Stephen King. I was disappointed with this book. Not up to the Dark Tower standard although it gave me a taste of how much I loved that series.

The Sunset Limited - Cormac McCarthy. One of the library books I picked up on a whim. I read it in a day but I am still thinking about it. Not sure what I make of it yet.

Just now I am reading;

Amsterdam - Ian McEwan. Proving to read this quickly too. Enjoying it so far.

Next I plan to read;

The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton. The last of my library book pile. I am looking forward to this as I haven't seen a bad review for Morton. Everyone seems to love her books.

Chinua Achebe also passed away. I didn't do a post on him as I haven't gotten round to reading any of his books although I have almost bought one a few times. I did consider reading him for last years Classics challenge. He was a famous African author who was prominent in politics and was notable for criticising Joseph Conrad. His most famous book is probably his first called Things Fall Apart. Have any of you read him? Would be interested to hear your thoughts?

How has your week been?

The Beginner's Goodbye - Anne Tyler

Aaron Woolcroft has always had people in his life wanting to look after him. When he met his wife Dorothy she was a breath of fresh air. She gave him the Independence he craved. When she died he became lost but still didn't want the help of others. All he wanted was his wife back. An editor in a firm famous for it's beginner book series Aaron believes that he could benefit from a beginner's guide to get over the death of a loved one. As his wife returns to him in unexpected moments it lets him see that his life with her was maybe not as perfect as he had thought and that maybe it's time to let her go.

I quite liked Aaron. I usually do like Tyler's main characters even with their flaws. Then flaws are what make characters and separate them from the Mary-Sues of fiction. With Aaron his disabilities are not his flaws. That's just a part of him. The fact that he believes that the people who love him can't see beyond his disability and want to smother him is his flaw. With this belief he is pushing everyone away from him.

Again, like most of Tyler's books all the characters had their own flaws too and I like each of them for it. Even Dorothy who seemed to have been a woman who had been difficult to like. Having said that it wasn't enough. There was something missing from this book that the other Tyler books that I have read have. I don't know what that something is but this book just didn't do it for me.

I liked the characters, I liked the story but I don't think enough went into it. It was a very short easy read. I usually do find her books easy to read but this was almost too easy. Not in terms of language, the language was fine. It's one of those stories in a few months I will vaguely remember reading but won't remember much about the story. As sad as the story was it's not going to stay with me.

That's not to say it's the worst book I have ever read. Far from it. I still enjoyed it. I just think this one has nothing on Tyler's other books.

RIP James Herbert

James Herbert passed away at only 69 yesterday. 69 just seems like such a young age these days. Of course Herbert was famous for his horror books. Probably his most famous are The Rats and the two sequels. I was introduced to Herbert through these books not long after I started reading Stephen King. That was in my very early teens. Although I read a fair number of his books it's those ones that I remember most. Probably because they showed me that rats can scare the crap out of you. Particularly big killer rats. They hadn't bothered me before but since then I have eyed them with suspicion.

It's been a long time since I have read one of his books but I still remember going to the library and going straight to the horror section to see if they had any that I had yet to read. I usually always managed to go away with one in my pile. Although I'm not sure I would go back to reading his books I still remember them with great fondness. Anyone have a favourite book by Herbert?

The BBC have done a small piece on the author should you wish to know more about him.

The Woman Who Died A Lot - Jasper Fforde

Thursday Next is still recovering from her assassination attempt. She's getting on in years, has a dodgy hip and is still trying to remember that she doesn't have a daughter called Jenny. Despite all her problems Thursday is still hoping to keep in the thick of it but is instead relegated to be the head of all libraries. You would think that would mean a quite life but Goliath are still out to get her, her son might or might not murder someone on Friday and someone keeps replacing her with fake Thursdays. Oh, and lets not forget that Swindon might face all destruction on Friday as God has decided that it's next on his smiting list. He's a tad angry that Thursdays brother proved his existence.

I am going to admit that when I started this and realised that no part of this book was going to be in the book world I was more than a little disappointed. Especially when you discover that Thursdays injuries from her last exploits prevent her from going there. How could this book possibly hold any interest for me now? I needn't have worried as it still had plenty of laughs and book related humour.

In any other book series a fraction of this plot would have seemed ridiculous. Lets face it. How many of you would shake your head at God's existence being proved and so he starts smiting parts of the world in a timely manner. Never mind the fact that Thursday's brother is the reason behind it and the fact that he has proved it sort of brought God into existence in the first place. Something like there being lots of believers and so he exists. My mind is going cross eyed thinking about it. It works though and the whole smiting thing does have something to do with Thursday herself. Plus whilst it's essential to the plot it's only one part of it.

We then have another mind-twisty moment where Friday is no longer going to save the world a million times over as he becomes the leader of the chronoguard (people in charge of time travel). When they could no longer prove that time travel was ever invented time travel stopped and all the people who worked for and will work for chronoguard are give alternate life stories. Again this is central to the plot but only a small part of it.

There is also a teenage love affair, evidence of where lost stories go, replacement Thursdays all over the place and dodo experiments. Two of my favourites though have very little to do with the central story but they amused me no end. The first is a nutty Enid Blytonist who wants Blyton's stories protected to the point of being a little fascist about it. The second was the mention of Daleks. Sorry, anything that mentions Daleks has my vote.

I loved every page of this book and once again I can't wait until the next one. On that note I am going to leave you with a picture of Daleks. Just because.

Did You Miss Me? - Karen Rose

Daphne Montgomery in her new position is just finishing up her first big case. Convicting a man for murdering two people in their car. Since this is a race hate crime there is a lot of focus on it. The family have a lot of backing and Daphne has every right to fear for the safety of herself and her loved ones. Whilst in court Daphne's 20 year old son has been discovered to be missing along with his girlfriend. His bodyguard is found dead in an ally. It would be only natural to believe that the current case has something to do with it. But does it or is it because of something that happened to Daphne long ago? FBI agent, Joseph Carter believes there is more to it and is determined to protect Daphne and get her son back.

I said in my review of the book previous to this that I knew who the next couple were going to be. I was wrong but I still see a story for them coming up. This book has me more convinced than ever.The couple that it did focus on just didn't do anything for me. Both seemed completely different from their first appearance. I maybe would have liked them better if they had continued as they were. Instead I found it difficult to like them. Not that they were horrible people but just that they seemed more than a little two dimensional. I found it hard to engage with them and to feel for them or even root for them. In fact I didn't feel anything for them. I nothing them (if that makes sense).

Perhaps I am just bored with the formula of these books. They are all the same it's just the plot that differs each time. Woman is in danger. Man helps save woman. Both have dark secrets which make them two scared to act on the fact that they fancy the pants off each other. They get over it. Solve the case. Live happily ever after. I didn't mind the formula before now. It was after all the only romance I would really go near (classics don't count). Plus the murdery bit was usually enough to keep me going (I am Scottish after all and we do love our murder books). Not this time. This time it was more than a little far fetched or rather tenuous. Sadly I can't really explain that link without spoiling it.

I thought it was just me but the friend who got me reading Karen Rose in the first place didn't like this book either. This is her 14th book so maybe she is bored with he formula too. I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it. For me anyway this is the last one. I don't even want to go back to read the others that I have missed in the middle. I will just have to find another light murdery read for when I am stressed or busy.

Pretties!

I promise to look through posts for It's Monday later. I would much rather be doing that but I can't put off studying statistics and putting pen to paper any longer (sadly). For now though I thought I would quickly show off some new books I ordered from Waterstones. I really only went online to order John Connolly's The Unquiet. I have been waiting for bookshops to have this in but I can't be bothered waiting anymore. I want to get on with this series. However, it would be rude to order just one book so I ordered a couple of classics too.

I picked up Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy in the new penguin classic paperback. I get the impression that this is one of those books you either love or hate. A little like marmite. I hate marmite so I am hoping I will love this. I should probably have just got it out the library but with classics I feel I should get my own copy instead.

Lastly I picked up a Penguin Clothbound. I have been wanting to re-read Sense and Sensibility for a while now. I had planned to do it last year but didn't. So this is the year. I was determined if I was going to get my own copy of this book it had to be this edition. It's the magpie in me. I have read all of Jane Austen's books but I don't actually have my own copies (apart from P&P which you saw a few weeks ago) as I borrowed my mum's. I'm not sure she even has them any more. My mum is one of those people who passes on books as soon as she reads them. My dad is the same. My sister and I make up for it for the both of them.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This is a book meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. A fun way for everyone to share their reading week.

Another good week books wise. I managed another two whole books which puts me two books ahead of this years monthly best (so far). Not only that I managed actual reviews this week. Not just one but three of them. I am still behind but I promise more for this week. I also paid a happy visit to the library. At the end of the week I picked up some books which I have still to share with you.

This week I read;

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky. I read this as quick as I could because I had skipped the rather large queue at the library (all explained in my library post - I'm not a bad person, honest!). I would probably have read that quick anyway. I have since watched the film AND picked up the soundtrack. A first for me I think and I loved all three.

Capital - John Lanchester. I still don't know what to make of this book but I did enjoy it. I am just not sure why because there were so many things about it which should have annoyed me.

Just now I am reading;

The Wind Through The Keyhole - Stephen King. Far too early to tell. To be honest I have read two pages of this. I stayed up later than I should have to finish Capital and have read two pages of this one. Enough to know I don't remember the references King gave for placing this book in the timeline. Not going to worry about it as he does say you don't need to have read the Dark Tower to enjoy this.

Next I plan to read;

The Sunset Limited - Cormac McCarthy. Picked this up on a whim at the library. Looks like it's going to be a little bit different so I'm looking forward to it.

In the past I have given shout outs to various blogs that I like. Usually in the context of a review or something related to what I am posting about. This time I am just going to say go along to Alex In Leeds. You won't be sorry.