18 August 2011 - Varifocals and reading!

My eyesight has deteriorated substantially in the last year and the time has finally come for me to try to get to grips with varifocals. I have just picked up my new glasses today and am giving them a go around the house. Can really see the difference for the telly, but haven't yet done much reading. How will I get on with them ... only time will tell. I'm certainly hoping they'll help with my reading - which was starting to become awkward as I kept having to hold my books at arms length. With my Kindle, it wasn't so bad, because I could increase the size of the text to compensate for lack of focus on things within 2 feet of my face! Some people have huge problems with varifocals - including two of my sisters - but others just take to them instantly. Fingers crossed I'm in the second category. Will let you know how it goes ... as long as I don't fall down the stairs as I miss a step between focuses! TTFN 

Week 34 - Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans (book 38)

Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans, by Rosalyn Story - which I read as an Ebook on my Kindle - is a novel which uses the backdrop of hurricane Katrina to weave a tale of fathers and sons, home-coming, food and, of course, Jazz! When Simon Fortier, chef and stalwart of the community, goes missing after hurricane Katrina, Julian, his jazz-trumpeter son comes home from New York to try and find out what's happened to him. We follow Julian as he tries to come to terms with the devastation left behind by the hurricane, the apparent lack of timely support by the authorities and his guilt over the last conversation he'd had with his father.  He finds comfort in the music of the city, the homely food that somehow finds its way to the table when more than two locals meet, and the friends he had virtually abandoned when he'd left New Orleans to find fame and fortune across the world. Will he find his father and will he be able to understand how the city maintains its hold over a community that has been ripped apart. This is a really good read - and the writing evokes the sounds, smells, tastes and sights of New Orleans and the people who are trying to rebuild their homes and maintain their own particular culture.

My star rating: FOUR stars

The stats bit:
Length: 306 pages in print.
Price I paid: £0.00 (was free when I downloaded it, but it isn't now)
Other formats available:  Print.

Week 33 - I am Number Four (Book 37)

Growing up is hard to do at the best of times - but when you move house and change names every 3-6 months, never getting a chance to make friends, and your father keeps warning you to take care and don't do anything that will get you noticed - it makes it extra tough. But in I am Number Four, by Pittacus Lore, that's just the situation John Smith finds himself in as he moves to a new place yet again - Paradise, Ohio. You see, John is an alien, from a distant planet who escaped to earth with nine other children, each accompanied by a guardian. And they are being hunted down, one by one ... and John is number four! When number three is murdered, John knows he is next, but for once in his life, he's found both love and a best friend and he can't bear to leave again - and now that his "legacies" or super powers to you and me and starting to manifest themselves - maybe it's time to make a stand and fight! This story has all the general angst of being a 15 year old trying to find your way in the world, but with the uber-intense backdrop of constant peril! I really enjoyed this book, which I read in audio format, although the voicing of the female character was a bit on the wet side. This has been made into a film and I can see it working well in that format. The book worked best for me in the moments between John and his guardian, Henri - whose relationship is loving and combative. And look out for Bernie Cozar (no idea on spelling as I read this in audio) - the beagle who attaches himself to John very early on and becomes a bit of a hero!    

My star rating: FOUR.

The stats bit:
Length: 390 print pages.
Price I paid: £6.82 (Audible download)
Other formats available: Print; Ebook (Kindle)

Week 32 - The end of the Millenium trilogy (Book 36)

It's a bit of an odd couple of weeks and I didn't have much to tell you ... but in the last couple of days, all that has changed! I have, after what has seemed a long time, finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson, which I read in print. What a long book, and, as I was reading the hardback edition, it was very tiring to hold this tome whist reading (score one to the Kindle on that front!). This is the last of the Millenium trilogy by the Swedish author who sadly died before he could experience the worldwide phenomenon of his works about a most unusual heroine - Lisbeth Salander. The action picks up exactly where the previous book ended - with Lisbeth mortally injured by her father (Zalachenko), and in custody! Gradually, as she recovers, she realises that she is only a few rooms away from her father, who she had struck with an axe (these books are not for the faint hearted!). There is great tension as we wait to discover whether he will be able to finish what he started ... but events take an unexpected turn with the intervention of The Section - a secret unit of the secret police, who definitely do not want their dirty laundry (in the form of Zalachenko) aired in public. So begins the framing of Lisbeth, and it seems she is destined to spend her days in an institution - but her estranged lover, Mikael Blomkvist, fights her corner and uses all his investigative journalistic know-how to persuade, cajole and harrass at least some of the authorities to uncover the truth. This is a fitting end to the trilogy, with unexpected twists and turns that keep you going right to the last page. There is a certain genius at work here to make you root for the two main protagonists who are both exceptionally flawed individuals - particularly Salander. If you can stomach fierce violence and sexually adventurous characters then you can't go wrong with these thrillers.

My star rating: FOUR.

The stats bit:
Length: 602 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.00 (borrowed from my husband)
Other formats available in: Audio CD abridged; Audio download unabridged; Ebook (Kindle)

Week 30: A brush with DEATH for book 35

I have been delving into the singular Disc World of Terry Pratchett once again for my 35th book of the year. Mort, which I read in audio on CD (fantastic narration by Nigel Planer) tells the tale of a gangly 16 year old (Mort) whose father doesn't quite know what to do with, so takes him to the annual apprentice fair. Unfortunately, even there, noone is interested in taking him on, so his father is resigned to having to take him back home again and try and find something the boy can actually do! However, on the stroke of midnight - which marks the end of the fair - a booming voice declares that it will take on the boy as his apprentice. Slightly bewildered but glad nonetheless, Mort's father agrees to hand him over to this new employer ... who, it turns out, is none other than DEATH himself! Or rather, an anthropomorphic representation of DEATH - with skeletal features, black cloak and huge scythe, just as you would expect. And so begins the training of our hero into a profession for which there isn't a great deal of competition. Do not be fooled by the subject matter - this is not a grim tale. There is plenty of humour - particularly when DEATH becomes disillusioned with his lot and tries to find out why humans find such pleasure in things such as fishing dancing, drinking and eating canapes! Meanwhile, our young hero threatens to break the fabric of time by preventing the fated death of a princess by taking the soul of her would-be assassin instead. Mort needs to get history back on track and so seeks the help of the most powerful wizard in history as well as DEATH's daughter. This book was written by a Terry Pratchett on top form and has plenty of chuckles and mind-bending situations throughout. Highly recommended for those who like a bit of fantasy from time to time.

My star rating: FOUR

The stats bit:
Length: 320 print pages.
Price I paid: Free - borrowed from local library.
Other formats available in: print, unabridged audio download, Ebook.

Week 29: Ex Machina, by Robert Finn - Book 34

Some time ago, I read a book called Adept, by Robert Finn and I thought it was fabulous. A little bit of adventure, thriller and a sprinkling of fantasy thrown in for good measure. I knew there as a sequel, but hadn't been able to find it in my local library or in the second hand bookshops and had half forgotten about it until I came across it on my Kindle and immediately downloaded it. The book is called Ex Machina and I started to read it with great anticipation. However, I was a bit perplexed for quite a while as the main characters from the first book - Susan Milton and David Braun - seemed to be absent and we were being told a tale by a new, and, quite frankly, very irritating narrator called Jo Hallett who got right on my nerves from the get go. The book seemed to take an age to get going and didn't have the pace and verve of it's predecessor.  Eventually, Susan and David did appear but they took quite a back seat to the action which I found very frustrating. In a nutshell, both books are about a secret army of people who have magical powers - but only when they are wearing gold. They also have longevity, but that is dependent upon "The Marker" without which their time on this earth is limited. The book focuses on the hunt for the Marker - the good guys trying to prevent the bad guys from grabbing it to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world for a long, long time to come. It's all about the power (isn't everything). Into this comes Jo, an unhappy and ever so slightly unstable girl who is too clever for her own good and has very few social graces - but without her, all may be lost!. Her journey to redemption is a bumpy one, and a bit on the long side for my liking. I am sad to say I was disappointed by this book. Whereas the first had thrills and spills and likeable characters - this sequel, which relegates them to bit players, was an odd choice to make by the author in my view. Hey ho!

My star rating: THREE.

The stats bit:
Length: 416 print pages.
Price I paid: £4.31 (Kindle)
Other formats available: print.

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.