On Writing - No ordinary textbook!

As an aspiring author looking for inspiration and advice on all things writing, I had been hearing great things about On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King, so decided to give it a go! I'd half expected a more structured textbook-type of a book, but this wasn't to be the case. The first part of the book is about how Stephen King, one of the most successful writers of the last few decades, came to be a writer in the first place. This memoir is fascinating, funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. It could be one of his novels, and you have to keep reminding yourself that this is the man himself, telling his own story - the good, the bad and the decidedly ugly parts are all here. Then we move onto his tips for writing ... a kind of rough guide. He openly admits that what he is telling the reader won't take long and that you should avoid lengthy tomes on how to become a best seller. You can either write or you can't - all he is providing is a framework to help make you become a better writer, but only if you put the work in. Littered with some memorable advice like "The road to hell is paved with adverbs" - which he demonstrates with some fine examples - are written in such a style that you forget that you are trying to learn stuff and just sit back and let his words soak in! I would recommend this book even if you don't think you like Stephen King (I'm not a horror fan, but have read a few of his other works). I wouldn't even say that you necessarily have to be thinking about becoming a writer to reach for it. If you are just interested in how someone finds their way to the job they really want to do, or maybe how a writer goes about their craft, then this works on that level alone. I read the audio edition, which is narrated by Stephen King himself, which I felt added a little extra something.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.
Length: 384 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.84.

Blood Rites - Wizardly deeds and misdeeds!

Blood Rites, by Jim Butcher is the sixth in the series following the adventures of Harry Dresden, Chicago's very own Wizard Private Investigator. The book opens with an action sequence involving Harry and his vampire buddy Thomas, who is helping him escape from a hail of flaming monkey poo. Thomas then asks Harry to look into a series of murders centred around the production of an adult film. It looks like someone is out to get the Producer, as the women he is closest to are being killed in unusual ways. Harry goes undercover on the set, discovers that dark magical forces are indeed involved and sets out to trap the perpetrator in his own inimitable fashion. However, it appears that two of Thomas's "sisters" are also involved in the film and matters inevitably become complicated. This novel entertains the reader with the usual mix of magical mayhem and sleuthing. However, we also get to know a more about Harry's long-dead mother, and that he might not be as alone in the world as he has always believed. This revelation is shattering and Harry is not sure he's equipped to deal with it - or even if he can live long enough to find out. Full of fun, flawed characters, most of whom are definitely in touch with their dark side, this is a book for fans of both fantasy and crime/thrillers. I read the audio version, superbly narrated, as always by James Marsters who is now, for me, the embodiment of the wizard himself.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook
Length: 416 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.84

Waiting for Sunrise - classy spy novel

It's 1913, and Lysander Rief, a young British actor, is in Vienna trying to find a cure for a very particular problem. He has a fiancée waiting for him at home, but unless he finds a cure, their wedding night is going to be disappointingly fraught. In the waiting room of Dr Bensimon, he meets Hettie Bull, a beautiful artist who he is immediately drawn to, and they embark upon an intense and destructive relationship that has far reaching consequences. Even though with Hettie, his particular problem seems to have cured itself, he continues his sessions with the good doctor, who is treating him with parallelism (where the subject recalls all the details of the event that led to their problem, and then creates a completely different memory of that event.) This involves Lysander keeping a journal, through which the story unfolds and we discover the root cause of his difficulty with intimacy. As Europe descends into war, Lysander finds himself being recruited into the shady world of the intelligence services, and embarks on a new career as a spy. Waiting for Sunrise, by William Boyd, is a classy novel which takes the reader down a variety of seedy paths that are the very bedrock of spydom. The characters are believable, if not always likeable, and there is a definite undercurrent of humour throughout which helps to keep the awfulness of the situation Lysander finds himself in - sometimes self-inflicted - more bearable. Boyd's books usually present a treat for the reader, and this one is no exception. Definitely recommended.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 353 print pages.

Formats: print, audio CD, ebook.

Price I paid: free - borrowed from my husband.

The House at Riverton - Gently absorbing

Grace Bradley is 98, but still as sharp as a razor blade. She is helping a young director who is making a film about a young poet who took his life during a glitzy party at a grand house in the English countryside in the early 1920's. Grace is being consulted to fill in some background detail, as she was a housemaid at Riverton during this time. However, Grace can do more than fill in the background, as she was intimately involved in the lives of the family, in particular, one of the two sisters who were witnesses to the grim event. This family saga is very much in the spirit of Downton Abbey - local village girl is sent to the Big House in the footsteps of her mother who worked there as a young woman. She grows up feeling close to the sisters and begins to share their secrets and maybe uncover some of her own. As you might have gathered, much tragedy ensues, and no one seems to have a very happy life (not helped, of course, by the events of the Great War). Despite its length, The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton felt like a fast read. The action bowls along and I really did care what happened to the characters. This would make a great holiday read - it may be light, but there's more than enough substance to the story and the characters who inhabit it. Whilst there may not be any huge surprises, the quality of the writing is enough to keep the reader interested in this study of the classes of a bygone era.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook
Length: 600 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.50.