A book that might just change your life!

I have just read a book that really resonated with me and has already started to transform my daily routines. It's called How to save an hour every day, by Michael Heppell which I read as an audio book, narrated by the author himself. The concept is to look at the things you do during a day and how you approach doing them and assess whether a) you really NEED to be doing them (do you really need to hoover the house every day); b) you really SHOULD be doing them (can you delegate, or push back); c) you could I be doing them in a more EFFICIENT way (do a job, just that job, until it's finished). I have really, REALLY found this little book useful. I have got very stressed by "not having enough hours in the day" to do all the things I think I should or want to be doing. I know it's early days, but this book has already helped me to be more focused. My biggest weakness is to start a job, then let myself get interrupted by emails or other people or by another job that's also on my to do list ... and then try and restart that job later, or maybe next week, So, I spend time going over stuff I've already done to remind myself of where I was ... anyway, you get the picture. This book has helped me to turn a corner with this tendency and I've already completed jobs that have been loitering for ages. It's a real sense of achievement to actually feel like I'm making positive steps every day. I've also dumped my massive TO DO list, which I diligently wrote out each day, rewriting things that were on it from the previous day, and then adding more things every day - and then, just to make sure I'd ticked something off, do a couple of  the really easy things. Now I focus on the MUST DO's - up to 5 a day (and they can be work and home related ... this is NOT just about your working life, but home too), and they become the centre of your attention. I have found that on most days, I not only do those five, but other things also get done as if by accident. The aim of the book is to save you an hour a day which you can spend on something you really would rather be doing - whether that's exercise, more quality time with the family, taking up a hobby, gardening, whatever. There are some liberating ideas, and I know I'm going to be revisiting the book from time to time to pep myself back up again if I feel I'm flagging once again. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to anyone struggling to find time they didn't think was there for them.

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 192 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.99 (Audible)
Other formats available: print; ebook.

Can love really triumph over all adversity?

This is the question at the centre of Harvesting the heart, by Jodi Picoult which I read as an audiobook. We open with Paige trying desperately to catch a glimpse of her son and estranged husband through the window of what used to be her home. What follows is her journey to that point and beyond. Paige was abandoned by her mother when she was five, but adores her inventor father who then brought her up single-handed. Aged 17, she runs away from home, abandoning her hopes of attending art school, but too ashamed of her recent actions and unable to face her father. She ends up working in a diner, where she meets, falls for and marries an ambitious young doctor who couldn't have had a more different upbringing. Delirously happy until the birth of her son, she becomes untethered by exhaustion and overwhelmed by memories of her mother, and starts to convince herself that she is set to repeat the mistakes of her own mother. Can she reconcile herself with her past and find her way back to her husband and child and convince them that no matter what has happened, her love for them is strong enough to bring a reconciliation and get their lives back on track? Jodi Picoult is an author who tackles difficult issues, often using unsympathetic characters, but her skill as an author is to keep you following their story and try to put yourself in their shoes and ask the question ... so what would you do? I think you either love her books or hate them. I'm in the former category. Sometimes a hard read, but always interesting, this edition was helped hugely by having a female and male narrator, flipping the viewpoint between Paige and her husband. Time with this book is time well spent.
My STAR rating: FOUR

Length: 512 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.99 (Audible)
Other formats available in: print; audio CD; ebook.

Rebus ... grumpy, slovenly ... but always gets his man

Ian Rankin, you clever boy. You've given us another cracking crime novel featuring my favourite detective, Inspector Rebus. Strip Jack, which I read in print, features Gregor Jack, a popular MP who appears to be one of the clients flushed out during a raid on an Edinburgh brothel. Embarrassing, yes, but his career might still be salvageable. But when his wife goes missing and eventually turns up dead, things start to spiral downwards. Surrounded by childhood friends - known as the pack - nothing ever seems to be quite what it appears in the life of Mr Jack. Will Rebus get to the bottom of ... well, of course he does .. but the journey getting there will keep you interested and turning those pages. Everything you want from a crime novel is here, from dysfunctional partnerships, complicated love lives, grumpy detectives and a whole shoal of red herrings. We also find out about Rebus' love for fish and chips in an almost poetical moment when he partakes of this forbidden (by his girlfriend) fruit. Great stuff. 

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 304 print pages.
Price I paid: free (borrowed from my husband)
Other formats available: audio CD; audio download; ebook.

A lenten reflection from St Teresa of Avila

During the season of lent, I try to read something inspiring to help me on the 7 week journey leading up to Easter. This year I chose The Way of Perfection, by St Teresa of Avila, which I read as an ebook. St Teresa lived 400 years ago in Spain and was a Carmelite nun who experienced visions, illness and revelations about God. When she formed her own convent, she started to share her thoughts with her sisters and also in the form of writings. The Way of Perfection is a great introduction to her writings - it's easy to follow and what I really liked about it was the focus on the Lord's Prayer, taking it slowly, line by line and looking in depth deeply at what each line could really mean to us. Although she was writing for her fellow sisters living a cloistered life, there is much anyone can take from this conversational piece. This book had me thinking and I looked forward to my "chapter a day", which quite surprised me.

My STAR rating: FOUR

Length: 168 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.77.
Other formats available in: print; audio CD; audio download.

Dogs chase cars ... all a bit pointless!

I don't feel like I've been lucky with my book punts of late ... but then I haven't had to pay much for them which is some consolation. Dogs chase cars, by Mark Porter which I read on my Kindle, is the story of Harry - a private investigator whose marriage is a little shaky, and whose trips to his therapist don't seem to be helping. He has an odd assortment of friends, one of whom is Lambert - a college lecturer who he put up for a few nights, but who seems to have become a permanent fixture two years down the line. Harry is a little disgusted, yet fascinated by the immense womanising activities of Lambert - and is deeply surprised when his friend becomes involved in trying to help a student, and ends up getting shot. This trauma brings his circle of friends together to try and find the culprit. In the course of these events, Harry finds his inner parent when he takes Lambert's long lost daughter under his wing. I was attracted to this book by the great reviews it had received, but I just didn't get it! Mildly amusing at times, but only mildly and not suspenseful - I just don't know what genre to place this in. Whilst I did want to find out what happened in the end, I have to admit that if my Kindle had decided to delete this book before I'd finished it , I probably wouldn't have downloaded it again!

My STAR rating: TWO

Length: 272 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.86
Formats available in: print; ebook.

The Invention of Murder ... gird yourself for blood and gore

The details in this book could be the stuff of nightmares, but I found it endlessly interesting. The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime, by Judith Flanders contains tragic tale after tragic tale - some well known and others completely new to me - are woven together in an excellent narrative that tracks the treatment of murder and murderers through the Victorian era, by the legal profession, the press and the arts! I read this in audio which I'd downloaded from iTunes. The narration was calm and authoritative, which helped to keep the reader calm too, so thank you Janice McKenzie - you pitched it about right. Murder was rare in the 19th century, but when it did happen, it started to become sensationalised in broadsides, ballads, plays and novels.  In the early days, all it took to convict someone was gossip and a bad character reference - proof could be a bit thin on the ground - all that seemed to matter was that someone was convicted and punished for the crime. This was no joke when the penalty was death by hanging, and not all the hangmen were particularly skilled at their jobs. We follow the development of the police force, detectives and forensic medicine. But one of the most remarkable things is how these murders inspired people - Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins seemed to be following every big case. The Victorians seem to have been genuinely fascinated by the crime of murder, to the extent that the lines between fact and fiction no longer mattered. Some of the plots in some of the most famous tales of the era are inspired by real life murder cases - The Moonstone, The Sign of the Four, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Dracula (thank you Jack the Ripper) to name but a few. This is history at it's most accessible. Shocking in places, and hideously disturbing at other times but ultimately satisfying.



My STAR rating: FOUR

The stats: 556 print pages; I paid £5.95 (audio edition on iTunes); also available in print, ebook and audio CD.

The Life of Pi ... worth the wait!

I've been a bit lax with my reading over the last few weeks, hence I've been a bit quiet on the old blog. But I'm back, and with a great book to tell you about. The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (which I read in print) is a really odd tale of a young Indian lad (Piscine Patel ... the Pi of the title) whose father owns a zoo. When hard times hit, the zoo has to go, as well as all the animals. The family intends to move to Canada, helping to transport some of their animals to new facilities there. However, the boat they are sailing on sinks. The only survivors are Pi, a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger, whose name is Richard Parker ... all of whom end up in the same lifeboat. Over time, and, as expected with this mix of creatures in a confined space, carnage ensues until the only ones left are Pi and Richard Parker! This is such a fantastical tale that is really difficult to put into one genre. Funny, tragic, philosophical, thrilling and imaginative - you are carried along on the tide with the boy and the tiger as they learn to carve out their territory and live with each other in the confines of the boat. This is a book that I can heartily recommend to anyone who may have missed it when it first came out. It's been one of those books that I have kept meaning to read and never quite got round to. If you are the same, don't wait any longer -  please make time and READ THIS BOOK! Enjoy the ride, I promise you won't regret it.



My STAR rating: FIVE.

The stats: 319 print pages; free to me (borrowed from my husband); also available in audio (CD and download) and ebook.