Juliet, Naked - obsessive fan vs reclusive rock star

Annie and Duncan have been living together for 15 years in Gooleness, a sleepy seaside town where the most exciting thing to happen was when a dead shark was washed up onto the beach in 1964.  Neither seem happy, but have stuck it out together partly through a mutual interest in music, but mostly through inertia. The object of Duncan's real affection is Tucker Crowe, a rock star who suddenly disappeared from the public eye many years ago after creating a masterpiece of an album. Annie puts up with this obsession because she is a bit of a fan too. One day, a CD is delivered to the house, which contains the raw, bare demo tracks for that album. Annie listens to it first and is not impressed, but Duncan thinks it is THE best thing he has ever heard and writes an incredible review on the fan website. When Annie writes a counter review, completely dissing it, the gulf between them finally cracks open and a major fallout ensues! Annie is wondering how she could have wasted all those years on such a freak as Duncan, when she receives an email in response to her online review ... and the email is from Tucker Crowe himself. They begin to correspond and this leads us into Tucker's life and we start to find out more about why he dropped off the radar and what he's been doing since then. Can this electronic relationship ever become anything more or, as Annie fears, is this all in her mind ... has that 15 years with Duncan affected her own sense of reality? In Juliet, Naked, Nick Hornby brings together a cast of characters who are letting life slip them by for a variety of reasons. Despite their many flaws, the author has written them so that you can feel for each and every one of them and there is also some crackling dialogue between the main protagonists. There is a Seize The Day feel about the book, and there is an urge to grab at those second chances should they come your way. Life goes by so quickly, try not to waste too much of it with the wrong people! This is an easy, quick read - ideal for a holiday or a cold and rainy evening when there's nothing on the telly!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 256 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, borrowed from library as an ebook.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Rosie Effect - outstanding follow up!

The Rosie Effect is a welcome return for the unique Don Tillman, an Australian man whose particular mental condition means that he is pretty much socially inept. He is a professor of genetics who, in his first outing, set out to find himself a wife. Incredibly, he was successful and ended up marrying Rosie. The two Aussies are now in the USA, Rosie is still studying medicine, and Don is professor at Columbia University. Don, a man who needs routines to keep him from the meltdowns he is apt to have is actually happy. Everything is "on schedule" in his life, and it is good. However, when Rosie falls pregnant, this upsets his equilibrium and his own way of coping is to read up on pregnancy, and then inform Rosie about what she can and cannot do. Rosie, a strong individual herself, does not take too kindly to this and things go from bad to worse when Gene, Don's only real friend and Rosie's supervisor, comes to live with them (unbeknownst to Rosie) after he splits from his wife in Australia. Don, who takes everything literally, but who has no natural empathy with anyone, even his wife, keeps on getting himself into deeper trouble with Rosie and, in his attempts to understand what it means to be a father better, ends up getting arrested in a children's playground. Desperate to keep any possible stress away from Rosie, he tries to tackle all the scrapes he gets into by himself, and things start to spiral out of control. All of which helps to convince Rosie that while she might be able to cope with Don, there would be no way that a baby or child would do so, and therefore, he is not good father material. Will their marriage survive? Author Graeme Simsion brings the familiar characters from the first book back to life, and by transporting them to a different place, takes the opportunity to add a couple of cracking new ones. There are some really amusing scenes, and some heart breaking ones too. Don is such a frustrating man that you want to be able to reach into the book to stop him making yet another poor choice or decision - decisions which seems totally logical, but only to him! Whilst Don is the main feature, I would have liked to have seen more of Rosie. She, by default, has to be a strong person in her own right to put up with Don, but she seems too much in the background and we don't really get to engage properly with what she is going through. I just wanted to scream JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER! Maybe that's the whole point of the book ... to remind us that communication is everything in a relationship and that things can go horribly wrong when the talking stops and the assumptions begin! Take heed ... for there's a little bit of Don and Rosie in all of us! I didn't enjoy this book as much as The Rosie Project, which blew me away, but it is still a great read, particularly the audio edition which I read, narrated by Dan O'Grady.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 432 print pages.
Price I paid: £1.99.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Empty Throne - once more into the shield wall dear friends, once more!

Uhtred, the central character of The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwell, is starting to feel his age. He is in constant pain from a less than fragrant wound inflicted during the battle described at the end of the previous book. The wound just will not heal, and Uhtred is starting to think that death will be a happy release. His son, Uhtred (not at all confusing for us readers!), is coming along nicely in terms of becoming a rough and tough fighter, but is he ready to take on the heavy burden of responsibility from his once fearsome father? In The Empty Throne, the eighth book in this epic series, Uhtred's life seems to hang in the balance but he is determined to battle until the end, especially when the future of the kingdom of Mercia is threatened by the death of the estranged husband of King Alfred’s daughter, Aethelflaed. Somehow, Uhtred manages to foil a plot to bring in a de facto leader who is in the pocket of the neighbouring kingdom. Can he bring about the election of Aethelflaed, the Lady of the Mercians (and his former lover) to become ruler instead? Will the Mercians accept a woman as their leader? Oh, and also on his to do list is stopping a threatened invasion by the dreaded Norsemen, which could completely derail the whole scheme if he's not up to the job. And finally, can he NOT end up dead in the process? This is an absolute tour de force of a book. Full of political intrigue, action and revenge, intermingled with some humour and tenderness ... and not forgetting the odd shield wall to contend with. Bernard Cornwell is so at the top of his game that it's enough to make me go giddy with excitement whenever I pick up one of his books. I thought it couldn't get any better than his Sharpe novels, but in this Saxon versus Norseman, Pagan versus Christian epic, it actually has. The BBC have just produced a TV Series based on these novels which starts tonight in the UK ... happy days!!! If you haven't yet ventured into The Last Kingdom, and you like the action to come thick and fast, and feel like you are learning a bit of history too, then please take the time to do so. I would recommend this book in any format, but I found the audio edition (my first in this series), which is narrated by Matt Bates, to be a particular treat.

My STAR rating: FIVE.

Length: 352 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, borrowed as an audio book from local library.
Formats available: print; audio CD; unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Peculiar Life Of A Lonely Postman - Haiku Heaven!

I stumbled across The Peculiar Life Of A Lonely Postman, by Denis Theriault, completely by accident when browsing through the ebook offerings from my local library. And what a happy accident that turned out to be! Set in Montreal, we are introduced to shy and lonely Bilodo, a postman who is living his life vicariously through the letters he steams open to read every evening. After which, he reseals them and delivers them to their intended recipients the following day. Of particular fascination for him are the letters from Segolene, a young teacher from Guadeloupe, who sends and receives haiku from scruffy academic, Grandpre. Through reading her poetry, Bilodo falls in love with Segolene, and his quiet life bumps along until one fateful day when Grandpre is knocked down and killed while trying to post his latest haiku to Guadeloupe. Unable to face the prospect of no more correspondence from Segolene, Bilodo decides to step into Grandpre's shoes ... which means he has to learn more about haiku and how to write them! The deception works and the postal exchanges become more frequent and more intimate. As Bilodo retreats further and further from real life, is he in danger of losing his own identity and sanity for the sake of his perfect dream world? This book almost has a fairy tale quality about it, helped enormously by the presence of many haiku strewn throughout the prose. It holds a stark warning about losing sight of reality, but also has a reassuring twang about the circle of life. There is much to enjoy in this short book, with the heartstrings being pulled which leaves you rooting for the unfortunate Bilodo despite his less than admirable methods of finding the girl of his dreams ... or does he? Worth a few hours of anyone's time!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 128 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, borrowed from library as an ebook.
Formats available: print; ebook.

Nemesis - keep your wits about you!

Jo Nesbo is a master at the type of thriller that grips you within the first couple of paragraphs and lets you know that you are in for a good time. In Nemesis, the fourth outing for Harry Hole, we find that our troubled detective is not only off the booze, but is actually in an adult relationship with the lovely Rakel. She, however, is in Russia, trying to prevent the dodgy father of her son from taking him away from her. Harry misses his new little family, and is continuing to brood over the death of his partner, Ellen, a year ago. He is not convinced that the whole truth has been uncovered and wants to keep investigating. However, when a bank robbery ends up with one of the female tellers being shot dead, he is assigned the case. Joining him is Beate, a young police officer whose father was killed in the line of duty by a bank robber, and who has the ability to remember every single face she has ever seen. At the same time, Harry happens to meet an old girlfriend and stupidly accepts her invitation to a drink in her apartment. When Harry wakes up the next day, he cannot remember a thing, but has got the mother of all hangovers! Unfortunately for Harry, the girlfriend turns up dead and he is not entirely sure that he didn't do it. And so begins an incredibly complex novel, full of twists, turns, revelations and dead ends. Just when you think you know who did what, you are thwarted once again. To keep all these threads going and keep the surprises coming is an epic feat. Very well written and full of great characters, in which it is never safe to assume which side anyone is on. I found this book to be highly imaginative, but you do have to keep your wits about you in order to make sure that you keep up! I was confused a couple of times but was able to get back on track and I found Nemesis to be an edge-of-the-seat tale that kept me guessing and then guessing some more right up to the last page. It's only a matter of time before I turn back to Harry Hole!
 

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 706 print pages.

Price I paid: Free, borrowed from my husband.

Formats available: print; audio cassette; unabridged audio download; ebook. 

My Dear, I Wanted To Tell You - More WWI drama!

It is a bit unfortunate that I had started to read this book at the same time as Toby's Room, because not only is this set during World War I, but it also features artists, a facial injury and even two of the same characters!!! However, this did not deter me from continuing with My Dear, I Wanted To Tell You, by Louisa Young ... Riley Purefoy comes from humble beginnings, yet finds his way into the rarefied life of artists by first becoming a model in his youth and gradually making himself indispensable to this artist and finally becoming his pupil. Also being tutored is the very well-to-do Nadine Waveney. They become firm friends and that friendship turns to love, but with the class divide between them, Riley never vocalises his feelings. The war starts and Riley joins up, and finds that he is a remarkably good soldier and works his way up the ranks under the guidance of Peter Locke, his commanding officer. One time on leave, Riley and Nadine meet up and their love can no longer be hidden. Meanwhile, Peter is slowly falling apart, as is his wife, Julia, who is desperately trying to hang onto her beauty, convinced that unless she does so, Peter will never want her when he returns from the war. When Riley receives a terrible facial injury, he is shipped home and decides that he will not be a burden to Nadine, and ends their relationship with a cruel letter. Distraught, she heads to France as a nurse, and experiences the horrors Riley had been protecting her from. Will the war ever end, and can there ever be a happy ending after the inhumanity it has wrought ... This book is a love story, but also encapsulates the ceaseless determination of the human spirit to triumph over adversity despite all attempts to grind it into submission. The dreamy idyll of life before the war is juxtaposed by the senseless destruction of human life in the trenches. It's the story of those who are left at home as much as those who go to war, with each fighting their own personal battles. There is much to recommend in this story, though the ending will not be to everyone's taste. I read the audio edition, narrated by Dan Stevens (pre Downton Abbey fame), and he does an excellent job in conveying all the characters. Worth a punt!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 33 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, it was a gift.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio CD; unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story - Still fresh!

Almost everyone knows a bit about The Jungle Book, although maybe mostly, like myself, through watching the fabulous Disney cartoon ...Get with the beat Bhaggy ...! Could the original work by Rudyard Kipling be as good? In a word ...YES! In The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story, all the tales of the young Indian boy are brought together in one edition. We first meet our hero as a toddler, who is saved from the jaws of the tiger, Shere Khan, by the timely intervention of a pack of wolves. Amazed at the lack of fear shown by this man-cub, they take him into the pack and raise him as one of their own, giving him the name of Mowgli. As he grows, he is given lessons on the law of the jungle by Baloo the bear, Bagheera the black panther and Kaa the python. We follow Mowgli through his childhood, which include a kidnapping by Monkeys and several near misses with Shere Khan. But all too soon, his wolf mother and father feel that the time is right for him to go back to live with his own kind again, but Mowgli struggles to fit in and cannot help but return to what he calls home. Will Mowgli ever be able to feel human, or will he always want to swing around in the trees with his adopted family? And will he ever be able to escape the threat of his stripy nemesis? This is a book that can bring you back to your childhood within a few pages. It is full of the growing pains we all experience in our youth, with both dark and light moments, but always, there is an immense amount of love.  I thoroughly enjoyed the slightly dramatized version from Audible which included Tim McInnery as the narrator and Bill Bailey as Baloo. I found it an evocative and touching book with themes as relevant today as they were when it was written, but then maybe I'm just a sentimental old Hector. Maybe this is why Disney are producing a new live action version as we speak!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 160 print pages.
Price I paid: Free offer from Audible.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; unabridged audio CD; ebook.