6 July - Book 33: The old style adventure that is ... Greenmantle

So, I picked Greenmantle, by John Buchan in an audio format for my recent holiday as a book I could share with others while chilling by the pool. This is supposed to be the sequel to The 39 Steps, but it really didn't feel like it ... although this could be that I've only ever seen the film(s) and the theatre show (recently, in London - it was totally fab and hysterically funny with four people playing ALL the parts - absolute genius). We catch up with our hero - Richard Hannay - who is dispatched on a secret mission to combat a threat in the Arabic world which the Germans (this is first world war era) are trying to take advantage of! It's quite dated with some content that is no longer very PC, but it is a good stirring tale of daring do with spies, disguises, very bad baddies and an interesting "band of brothers" in the goodies camp. We travel across Europe and into Constantinople and end up in cahoots with the Russians. It's worth reading just for the line about a particularly strong piece of cheese that can apparently "raise the dead" - made me laugh out loud! I do enjoy reading an audio book with others listening to the same thing - it's a communal experience a bit like going to the theatre or cinema. I can recommend reading in a group - but getting the right book, for the whole group - is key!

My star rating: THREE

The stats bit:
Length: 320 print pages
Price I paid: £7.99 (via my Audible monthly account)
Other formats available: Print; uanbridged audio CD; Ebook.

4 July - Book 32 ... an epic adventure with Captain Sharpe!

How I do love Bernard Cornwell and his fantastic army misfit, Sharpe! We are still in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars with this latest tale - Sharpe's Battle, by Bernard Cornwell - which I read in print. Poor Sharpe gets himself into trouble very early on by executing two Frenchmen who he has caught raping the women of a village before murdering them and all the rest of the occupants! Thus, he creates an enemy of Brigadier-General Guy Loup, the leader of the French troop responsible for the atrocity. Needless to say, the rest of the book finds ways to bring these two strong men together, then apart and together again so that we can play out the final personal scenes against the backdrop of the real historical battle of Fuentes De Onoro. We find ourselves romping along, with some strong female interest in Dona Juanita (oh Sharpie, will you never learn!) who plays the field in more ways than one. Can Sharpe avoid being court martialled by commiting an act SOOOO brave, that Wellington just won't be able to resist forgiving him? Well, I'll leave that one dangling! Another good addition to the Sharpe series ... it won't be too long until I dive back into the non-stop adventure that is the life of Captain Richard Sharpe! 

My star rating: FOUR

The stats bit:
Length: 367 print pages.
Price I paid: £1.50 (from charity shop)
Other formats available: unabridged audio CD; Ebook.

Week 28 - A little bit of love for book 31!

I don't usually read love stories ... as you may have gathered ... I'm much more the adventure/thriller type! However, 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson attracted my attention one day when I was surfing my Kindle for new books. It had excellent reviews and sounded intriguing and it was free! It was billed as a romance, but it turned out that although there was a bit of relationship stuff, the main thrust of the book was more about a young girl - 17 year old Ginny - as she followed in the footsteps of the Aunt she idolised, and it turned into a bit of an adventure story. Ginny is a shy, American girl, who receives a parcel containing 13 letters, in blue envelopes, from her wayward Aunt who, neither she, nor anyone, had  heard from in a couple of years. The only rule spelled out within the first letter was that she shouldn't read the next one until she had completed the task in the one she was reading. This is the trigger for a journey to London, then across Europe - where Ginny meets people and goes to places that have influenced her artistic Aunt Peg - the Aunt who said she'd always be there for Ginny but who disappeared without trace for years. This is both a physical and mental journey for our young heroine who finds out that she is capable of so much more than she ever realised. A good holiday read - and something of a rallying cry to get out there and do things you would never usually dream of doing ... because they might just open up exciting new avenues to a fuller life! The end is a bit of a cliff-hanger and leaves you wanting to find out more ... and guess what, there is a sequel! So the fact that I paid nothing for my Kindle edition is a great marketing ploy to hook you into the next book.

My star rating: FOUR.

The stats bit:
Length: 336 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.00 (Kindle)
Other formats available: print; unabridged audio download.

30 June: Book 30 - two old fools in Spain!

I read and finished Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools by Victoria Tweed as an Ebook on my Kindle in very apt place ... while on holiday in Spain! This is the true story of an English couple in their 50's who give themselves 5 years to decide whether retirement in an isolated Spanish village in Andalucia is going to be a reality or whether the dream of a completely different way of life turns into a nightmare. Full of characters - from the ridculously friendly next door neighbours to the man whose mule seems to be in love with him - this is a highly entertaining memoir. We meet builders with varying timekeeping skills, an eccentric ex pat and her mother who seems to bathe in Chanel No. 5. One of the highlights for me is the recipes of Spanish dishes which are scattered throughout the book - tasty treats that the Tweeds have come across during their 5 years. This is a fun book, light, short and a swift read. It won't hurt your head and will keep you entertained for a few hours, but is one you will remember fondly if mentioned to you, but which you won't tell everyone you meet that they must read.

My star rating is THREE.

The stats bit:
Length: 196 print pages.
Price I paid: £2.49.
Other formats available in: Print.

27 June 2011 - Book 29: Chocolate Wars .. a tasty education!

So, here's the next catch up ... it's Chocolate Wars by Deborah Cadbury, which I read as an audio book and is my 29th book this year. The subtitle of this book is "From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry" ... and that just about covers it! This is the true account of how the chocolate industry developed both in the UK and around the world. How the race to find a really digestible product from the humble cocoa bean fired the imagination of Quakers up and down the country, leading them to create some of our most well known chocolate bars of the present day. Told by a member of the Cadbury family, it feels like you are listening to a simple family history - but one which spans the globe. We hear how Terrys, Frys, Hersheys and Nestle all started in the sweet tooth game. We touch on the ethics of the Quaker movement and how it leads to the improvement of conditions for workers. And, unfortunately, how each unique business has been swallowed up by huge corporations such as Kraft. This is a fascinating book and I learned a lot - including how takeovers can happen when the company doesn't want to be taken over.

o

Who would have thought history could be such a thrilling read? I can highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the development of a lucrative industry, the Quaker movement or indeed, good old chocolate itself.
My star rating is 5.

The stats bit:
Length: 352 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.84 (from Audible).
Other formats available in: Print; unabridged audio CD; ebook.

Week 26 - I'm BACK ... and vamping it up!

Well hello once again ... I am back online and able to start blogging. We've a lot to catch up on now I'm back from a holiday in Spain where the weather was SCORCHING hot, the people friendly and the reading opportunities many. Over the next few days I'll be posting my thoughts on my holiday reads, starting with Moon Dance (Vampire for Hire #1) by JR Rain which I read as an EBook on my Kindle. This was a fun and light read - not having to use up too much brain power, an ideal book for when you are travelling or on holiday. The star of the show is Samantha Moon - who, we discover, is an ex-FBI agent, now a private detective who only works nights ... for one very good reason ... she is a vampire (having been bitten by an assailant some 4 years previously!) She is also a Mum and a wife. As she struggles with a tricky case, her marriage is falling apart at the seams ... well it's hard for a man who is now so terrified of his wife that he can't bear to touch her anymore - she is not only NOT the woman he married, she's not even the HUMAN he married! It's no wonder that her case - involving an attorney shot 5 times in the head and yet miraculously survives, becomes the focus of her attention and she finds herself drawn more and more towards the hulk of a man who is her client. Will this case and her online chats with the mysterious "Fang9" help her to move on with her life? The book ends kind of suddenly, but sets itself up for more of the same in what is now a series of titles by the same author. Whilst I did enjoy this book and it made me laugh out loud, it's a bit "vampire light" and I'm not sure I'll be going back for more and I definitely wouldn't be paying much for it if I did.

Star rating: 3 stars (for the laughs)

The stats bit:
Length: 288 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.49.
Other formats available in: Print.

9 June 2011 - Chocolate and Vampires ... where will it end?

I'm posting a quick message here because I am not going to be able to post anything for a couple of weeks after today. I will, however, be continuing to read! I'm in the middle of two books right now - The Chocolate Wars in audio format, and Moon Dance on my Kindle. Am quite surprised how much I'm enjoying The Chocolate Wars - the story of the development of the chocolate business in the UK - I am learning so much about Cadbury's and Fry's and Terry's. But then, I DO like chocolate, so maybe I was very receptive to knowing more about how we got to some of the glorious delicacies we have available today. Moon Dance is a totally different read - very, VERY light crime novel about a private detective who is a) female and b) a vampire. It's going to be a very quick read - not hard going at all and I have laughed out loud a couple of times. True Blood it is not - a bit vampire light so far! Anyhow, that's me signing off for a couple of weeks, after which I hope to have lots to tell you.