I Capture the Castle (82) - a journal of delight

Who knew that the diary of a seventeen year old girl could be so thoughtful, funny and deep. I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith (who is probably better known for writing One Hundred and One Dalmatians) tells the tale of the artistic, but down-at-heel Mortmain family. The father wrote an acclaimed book many years ago, but since that time, his wife has died and he remarried the exotic Topaz - an artist's model who plainly adores him - and moved to a dilapidated castle on a forty year lease. He has been suffering writers block ever since and becomes increasingly distant from his children - Rose (pretty, but not very practical), Thomas, the youngest child and Cassandra - the middle daughter. It is Cassandra, an aspiring writer herself, who is the voice of this novel, which is set sometime in the 1930's. Now as poor as church mice, having sold anything of value, the family is struggling to feed themselves. Cassandra starts to write a journal to get all her feelings and thoughts out  - even if they are starting to veer towards despair. Then, the Cotton family arrive from the USA. They are the new landlords, but instead of the long-awaited eviction notice for non-payment of rent, this new family takes the Mortmains under their wing. Rose, fed up of being poor, sets her sights at Simon, the eldest brother - whereas Cassandra forms a friendship with Neil, the younger sibling. When Simon asks Rose to marry him, she says yes, trying to convince herself that she really is in love. All looks good until Cassandra falls for Simon herself, and it becomes increasingly obvious that Rose is only in it for the money! Things come to a head on the romance side at the same time as Cassandra and her brother put into action an extremely risky plan to get their father writing again! This might sound like your average romantic novel, but it is not. There is a lightness of touch to the tale and some beautiful descriptive passages of the countryside, the characters and, bizarre as it may seem, living in poverty. It's a great read, and I thoroughly enjoyed the excellent narration of Jenny Agutter in the audio version I invested my time in. More than happy to recommend this book, though I think it is one more for the female half of the population!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 432 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99.
Formats available: Print; abridged audio CD; unabridged audio download; ebook.

Tess of the D'Urbevilles (26) - not many laughs

If you are looking for a book to brighten your day and bring a little ray of sunshine into your life, then DO NOT read Tess of the D'Urbevilles by Thomas Hardy. Blimey it's grim. Set in the late 19th century, it is a tale of poverty and innocence lost. Our eponymous heroine falls victim to the whims of her father who, upon discovering that he is descended from an ancient and well-to-do family (the D'Urbevilles), is convinced that there may be a way to restore the now named Durbeyfields to their former glory. This comes to a head when her father gets drunk one night and Tess has to take his place on a trip to market, which results in the accidental death of their horse. Thinking that if they can successfully "claim kin" with a distant relative they have heard of, their fortunes might turn around, the teenage Tess is shipped off to work at the grand house of an old lady named D'Urbeyville, without realising that her husband had bought the title rather than being born into it. Unfortunately for Tess, this lady has a lecherous son who takes a shine to her and pesters and flatters her continually despite her efforts to dissuade him. The inevitable happens and he takes advantage of the innocent teenager and leaves her bewildered and pregnant. She heads back home and hides away, feeling great shame. Her baby does not survive for long and Tess eventually goes back into the world to work as a dairy maid some distance from her family home. At the dairy, she meets Angel Clare who is soon smitten with her. She feels deeply attracted to him too, but keeps him at arm's length, determined that she is not good enough for anyone. Yes, there is romance, but it is all so fraught and there are scant moments of happiness. Needless to say, this does not end well and Tess struggles through life constantly troubled and fearful. This book is well crafted and the descriptive texts of the countryside at different times of the day are excellent. You feel the pain and the hard work and stress ... but for me, there is just so little relief from this that it's difficult to say that it is an enjoyable read. Great narration from Peter Firth did not save Tess for me, who, with a modern perspective, you can feel sympathy for, but you still want to shake her for such weakness at times.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 384 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; unabridged audio CD; ebook.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (5) - darker and darker

In this, the fourth outing for Harry Potter, the adventures of the young wizard take a decidedly darker turn. JK Rowling recognises that with each passing year, the characters must mature, and this is reflected in the narrative of this book. The book starts with Harry finding himself going to the Quidditch World Cup with his friends Ron and Hermione. The excitement and joy of the match (think of England, 1966, Wembley ... but on broomsticks!) gives way to fear when the hooded Death Eaters go on the march, followed by the display of the Dark Mark in the sky. The Dark Mark is a call to arms for the followers of Lord Voldemort (the wizard who killed Harry's parents), and the wizarding community are thrown into confusion ... is he really back? With this backdrop, Harry returns to school at Hogwarts, but soon becomes the centre of attention when his name is unexpectedly pulled from the Goblet of Fire and he is chosen to take part in the Triwizard Tournament. Nobody believes that he didn't put his name in for this event and his popularity takes a tumble - even his best friend Ron stops speaking to him. The Tournament begins and Harry manages to get through the events, helping out the other contestants along the way. However, on the point of victory in the last event, he and Cedric Diggory, a fellow Hogwarts contestant are transported to a cemetery, where they face Lord Voldemort in bodily form ... yes, HE IS BACK! There are some shocks in this book, and not everyone comes out alive. The action cracks along at a fast pace, and while there is definitely less humour, there are still some lighter moments to relieve the tension. The characters have grown on me and I really do want to find out what happens to them. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is not high art, but as an escape from everyday life into another world that doesn't hugely tax the brain, it's a winner.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 752 print pages.
Price I paid: free - borrowed from local library.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio CD; unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Stand (53) - an epic of good vs evil

When I saw that there was a book by Stephen King on the Top 100 Reads list, I was slightly concerned. I associate him with horror, and that's not a genre of book that I would ever choose to read after scaring myself silly reading some James Herbert novels in my youth. However, within a couple of minutes of starting The Stand in audio format, I was hooked. It is an action-packed thriller ( I think dark thriller, rather than full on horror) which has incredibly deep themes - life, death, good, evil and the frailties of humanity. Disaster befalls the world when a deadly man-made super flu is accidentally released into the atmosphere. What follows is a nightmare of cataclysmic proportions - with a 99% infection-rate, with nobody surviving once infected - within a few short weeks, the population of the USA (in which the book is based) is devastated. You cannot get comfortable - victims of the flu are introduced and bumped off in quick succession. Finally, we start to get to know a few people who seem to be immune - Stu Redman, Larry Underwood, Fran Goldsmith and to name a few. They are spread all over the country, and have watched all those around them die a horrible death. Society completely breaks down - there is no-one left to keep the power on or to keep the water supplies clean! Apart from their immunity, the survivors start to experience the same dreams. One features a kindly old lady sitting on her porch playing her guitar, and the other features a shadowy, faceless, threatening figure - variously known as the dark man, or the walking dude. Those who feel the pull of the old woman (Mother Abigail) and her inherent goodness, start to travel to where she lives, pick her up and end up in Boulder where they try to form a new community of survivors. Those who feel the pull of the dark man congregate in Las Vegas and also start to organise themselves into a community. On the surface, the two might look similar, but life in Vegas is full of fear, mistrust and painful deaths. The Boulder community feel that the dark man is gathering his forces on the other side of the Rockies and will bring destruction to them sooner or later - and start to realise that they must make a stand, and try to put a stop to the tide of evil that threates to overwhelm them. This is a book that will keep you guessing and it is hard to know who will ultimately triumph. Relentless and exhausting at times, this is ultimately a very satisfying read ... all 47 hours and 47 minutes if it!

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 1344 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (24) - I'm warming to this wizard!

I have surprised myself by warming to the Harry Potter books. I felt that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling had greater depth to it than the previous books ... maybe that's natural and right in books where the characters age by one year each time. There is no getting away from the fact that this is a good story - with this third installment, the characters are familiar and there isn't too much time required anymore to set the scene. This means that the book starts at a run and maintains its pace pretty much the whole way through. Harry, once again, gets into trouble at his aunts and uncle's home and flees after he inflates his aunt like a balloon. He is surprised to find that instead of being banned from his beloved Hogwarts for practising magic out of the school boundaries, he is welcomed back and those in charge are being very protective towards him. On the train back to school, Harry encounters The Dementors - he goes weak, hears screaming and eventually slips into unconsciousness. It turns out that these are the guards at Azkhaban - the dreaded prison of the magical world. They suck the joy out of everyone around them. They are on the hunt for an escaped prisoner - Sirius Black - who, Harry is told, helped to kill his parents and who is now after him. But, as always, things are never as simple as that! As Harry and his two best friends, Ron and Hermione, start their new school year, the action really gets going and keeps going - including a werewolf, a hippogryff and a smidgen of time travel. If I hadn't already seen the film, I think there would have been some super twists and turns in this book. And you know what, I am actually looking forward to the next installment!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 320 print pages.
Price I paid: Free - borrowed the ebook from my local library.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio CD; unabridged audio download; ebook

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (23) - spells, potions and beasts

Harry Potter is a total, worldwide phenomenon. The books, the films, the games ... on and on it goes. When the first book came out, I thought I would find out what all the fuss was about, and read it. I thought, at the time, that it was okay ... not spectacular and certainly not deserving of the ridiculous following that it created. Maybe because I had also read the first of Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy around the same time - now THAT was a book that made me want to find out more and keep on reading. So, it was with a bit of trepidation that I embarked on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, one of several of JK Rowling's series on the Top 100 Reads list. Weirdly, my thoughts about the actual quality of the writing haven't really changed ... there are much better written books out there, but I have to admit that there is something compelling in the stories themselves. You do want to keep reading despite the occasional jarring (in my opinion) of the actual words. There is no denying that they are page turners. In this book, the second outing for our schoolboy wizard, Harry has had a miserable summer at his aunt and uncle's house, and thinks his friends from Hogwarts have forgotten all about him. With the arrival of Dobby, an elf, comes a warning for Harry not to go back to school - but when Ron Weasley and his brothers come to rescue Harry from the clutches of his relatives, he can't wait to get back to learning more about becoming a wizard. However, danger stalks the corridors and when people start to be attacked, Harry and co are determined to find out what is going on. And so the adventure begins ... I did enjoy this book, but it's very much forgettable fluff - good while it lasts, but doesn't stick in the mind. And maybe sometimes, that's exactly what we need.

My STAR rating: THREE

Length: 251 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.00 (borrowed from my local library)
Formats available: print; unabridged audio CD; unabridged audio download; ebook

Watership Down (42) - don't go "tharn" on me

A book about rabbits ... surely this couldn't be exciting in any way? Well, you would be wrong. Watership Down, by Richard Adams which I read in print, is full of incident from page 1 until the very end. Our hero is Hazel, a brave rabbit with a bigger brain than most, who trusts the instincts of his best pal Fiver - who is a bit of an oddity amongst their home warren in that he has a sixth sense. When Fiver tells Hazel that they all have to leave the warren, Hazel tries to persuade the leaders ... but to no avail! Only a handful of rabbits join them in their escape, and those who stayed behind befall a deadly fate at the hand of man. The small band of escapees, including Bigwig, my favourite character, then begin an epic journey to find somewhere new to set up home. Dangers and perils abound but they eventually end up at Watership Down. All seems good until they realise that the lifespan of their warren is limited, as they have no does ... so there will not be a second generation! Hazel hatches a plan to secure prospective mothers for the warren, but this means facing the danger of approaching a huge warren that is run by a despot called General Woundwort. This book is an odd mixture - it's an action adventure at its heart, but it is also a bit of a wildlife manual with a bit of rabbit religion thrown in too. For me, it's at its best in the adventure elements - the characters are well written and individual, with clear goodies and baddies and a few who might have a paw in each camp! The bunny theology kind of left me a bit cold, and the special rabbit words were totally unnecessary - I didn't feel that it drove the story forward in any way. The only phrase I liked was "going tharn", which describes how a rabbit is transfixed by danger and can't move ... a rabbit in the headlights! Even though this is primarily for children, it's quite adult in style and there are some dark moments. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't feel that it is a MUST read book by any means.

My STAR rating: THREE

Length: 478 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.00 (borrowed from my local library)
Formats available: print, audio CD, audio download, ebook.