Emotionally Weird - weird yes, emotional ... not so much!

The letter A was the next to be pulled from the alphabet bag, and it brought me to Kate Atkinson, an author whose work I have enjoyed in the past. There were several books of hers that I hadn't read sitting on the shelf and I plumped for Emotionally Weird. I find it hard to describe this book, or indeed give an adequate outline of the plot, such as it was. Effie, a student at Dundee University, is holed up on a bleak island off the Scottish coast with her mother Nora, and they begin to tell each other stories. Effie wants to know about her father, but Nora seems evasive or incapable of telling her anything useful, or indeed truthful. Effie relates her time as a student amongst a bunch of untalented creative writers, and ineffectual tutors, whilst living with her accidental boyfriend. There are many, many characters, all, apparently writing books, of which we get to see various extracts scattered throughout the book. The plot felt very loose and incomprehensible at times. I didn't relate to anyone, and I didn't really care what happened to a single one of them - which is a big problem for me when reading a book. However, there were some nice passages of prose where I felt that we were getting somewhere and the next minute - boom, either a book extract or another trip in a car to a random place came in and it took me out of the story again. As you can probably tell, this was not the book for me and I was pleased to finish it and move onto something new. Sorry Ms Atkinson, but I might just have to go back to your Jackson Brodie series rather than tackle another of your standalone novels. Hey ho!

My STAR rating: TWO

Length: 496 print pages.

Price I paid: Free, borrowed from my husband.

Formats available: print, unabridged audio download, ebook.

61 Hours - Jack Reacher is back!

It's the letter C and I felt I needed something little lighter than what I've been reading of late, so pounced on 61 Hours by Lee Child, which had also been gathering dust for a while. It is a Jack Reacher novel - which I have been reading in chronological order over the last couple of years. And while this wasn't the next on the list, you can read them as standalone novels so I thought, what the heck! The action opens at "Hour 61", with a bus skidding and crashing during a winter storm in South Dakota. On the back seat is Jack Reacher, an ex military policeman who wanders the country without luggage, travelling wherever the whim takes him. Jack tries to help the mostly elderly passengers, and is relieved when they are taken to a nearby small town to rest up. The local policeman is drawn to Jack who exudes a forceful but sensible capability and puts him up in his own house, and it's not long before he entrusts him with helping to protect a local woman who is waiting to testify against a dangerous criminal. Sinister forces are at play, and a suspected assassin is coming their way. Was the bus crash deliberate? Who are the bikers stationed at the old air base? And what has the local prison got to do with it? As each hour is counted down to the denouement, it becomes increasingly hard to know who to trust, and it will take all of Jack's guile and strength to come out of this one alive. This is a book for fans of action - it is relentless, but satisfying, and sometimes surprising. The descriptions of the intense cold and stormy conditions are very effective - I'd recommend having a cup of hot chocolate on standby to help take the chill off while you read! There are some interesting characters too, I particularly liked the dignified lady Jack is trying to protect, and the relationship between her and Reacher is quite touching. As always, the body count whenever Jack Reacher is around is high, but the hour by hour countdown format of this book provides a real momentum and it's definitely a great page turner.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 395 print pages.

Price I paid: £1 in a charity shop.

Formats available: print, audio download, ebook.