Northanger Abbey - a gentle end to the year

Catherine Morland is an impressionable young lady who loves the thrill of a gothic novel. Leaving a somewhat sheltered life behind, she goes to Bath to stay with the Allens, her neighbours from the country, and her real life adventures soon begin. She becomes best friends with Miss Thorpe, a star of the social set, and is delighted to discover that her brother has also become besotted with Miss Thorpe through his friendship with her brother. Catherine is avidly anticipating the day when they become "sisters", but there is a fly in the ointment in the shape of the boorish John Thorpe who seems to have designs on Catherine, but she is having none of it! Into this mix come brother and sister, Henry and Eleanor Tilney, who are gentle and humorous and Catherine is very much drawn to them both. When the Tilney's invite her to their home at Northanger Abbey, she readily accepts. At first, she is treated exceedingly well by their father, the General, but, heavily influenced by her addiction to gothic novels, she becomes convinced that the General has a dark secret concerning his departed wife...  Whilst I did enjoy this book on the whole, I do not feel that it is of Jane Austen's best works. Catherine was just too gullible, too silly and too willing to go with the flow. I like my heroines with a bit more fire in their bellies. That said, there are a lot worse ways to spend a few hours in the company of these characters, particularly when you read the audio edition narrated by Juliet Stephenson, who is a dream of a narrator to listen to.  

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 224 print pages.
Price I paid: £0.99p.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

Insurgent - a bit on the flaccid side

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the Divergent Series, I was expecting great things from Insurgent, the second outing for Tris and Tobias. The action picks up from where the last book ended, with Tris injured and wracked with guilt following the attack on her original faction, the Abnegation, by her chosen faction, the Dauntless, who were acting under the influence of the Erudite. In this dystopian world, people have been split into five different factions according to their particular aptitude. However, there are some people who do not conform to a faction - these are the Divergents, which is what Tris and Tobias are. Into this mix is added a large group of people who have been kicked out of the different factions - the factionless - who are becoming more and more powerful. There is soul searching and misunderstanding and it seems that no one can be trusted. Who will come out on top? I felt that the opportunity to really get under the skin of the two main characters, and develop them further was completely lost by author Veronica Roth. We do get to meet the mother and father of Tobias, but again, what should have been really big scenes fell a bit flat for me. Yes, there is plenty of action - which, for regular readers of this blog usually means a big tick from me - but it all felt a bit like going through the motions. It reads more like a movie than a book, with no real depth. We keep being dangled the gigantic carrot regarding a dark secret that will change the world forever. But when, FINALLY, it is revealed, I was underwhelmed to say the least. This book seems to spend almost its entire time setting the scene for the next book, but takes a long time to get there. Disappointing.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length: 544 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, borrowed from library as an ebook.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; unabridged audio CD; ebook.

The Long Song - the triumph of the human spirit

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, The Long Song, by Andrea Levy is the epic tale of Miss July, who was born into slavery in Jamaica, but who ends her days as a free woman. Persuaded by her well-to-do publisher son, July writes her story in her own words. She tells of her mother, Kitty, who is abused by the overseer on the sugar plantation of Amity, the result of which is July, a pretty girl who, as she grows, comes to the attention of Caroline Mortimer, the widowed sister of the plantation owner. She removes July from her mother, as she wants her to be her housemaid, and renames her Margueritte. Through the eyes of July, we witness the heart-breaking treatment dealt out by white men and women on their fellow human beings. I find it so hard to comprehend how a life could be deemed to be so worthless by those in power, and that people were totally at the mercy and whims of the plantation owners, who grew fatter and fatter while their slaves withered and died. July grows into a young woman and finally sees the abolition of slavery - but it is not the joyous event they all felt it would be, for not much really changes. Almost everyone stays where they were, doing what they were doing. Things do change over time, and a new overseer to Amity brings love into July's life. But this can't possibly last! This book does not hold back on the grim nature of slavery, but manages to do it in such a way that the reader is not hit over the head with it. There is plenty of humour which bring bright shards of light into the dark and heavy subject matter. But do not think that this is a slog to read, for it is not. I loved the device of the narrator coming to what might be a natural end, but then moaning that she must continue because her son is telling her that she must write about some of the things she has merely touched upon, or not even mentioned. This helps the reader to see that no matter how grim things are appearing to be for July, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I read the audio edition and I think that the narration by the author herself really helped bring this book to life. I was so eager to keep going with the story that I found myself putting it on first thing in the morning whilst I was doing my yoga session. If you want a book that contains pretty much the whole range of human emotions and are not afraid to look the evil of slavery in the eye, then The Long Song should suit you very well.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 432 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, it was a gift.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio CD: unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Return of the Native - Love on the Heath

Life is hard ... life is VERY hard if you happen to be living it within the pages of a Thomas Hardy novel. So thank your lucky stars that you are not a character in The Return of the Native, which is set on the forbidding Egdon Heath, where it's tough to make a living, and opportunities for entertainment are few and far between. The action opens with the revelation that the sweet and homely Thomasin has been let down on her wedding day by the shifty Damon Wildeve. It all seems to be a misunderstanding that will soon be mended, but we discover that Damon still holds a torch for his former lover, the beautiful but haughty Eustacia Vye. Damon had turned to Thomasin when Eustacia had grown bored of him, but with his affections now apparently elsewhere, Eustacia's interest has rekindled and with her encouragement, Damon's feelings for her resurface. Into this tense atmosphere enters Clym Yeobright, the "native" who has returned from several years in Paris. Eustacia sees Clym as an escape route from the Heath that she detests, and sets her cap at him. He is smitten and despite protestations from his mother, they are married. Damon finally fulfils his promise to Thomasin and they are also married. Needless to say, there is no happy ever after, with Eustacia's plan to head to Paris being thwarted by Clym's desire to stay put and open a school ... and Damon still can't leave her be! This book is dark, foreboding and if you are looking for laughs, don't bother. Tragedy begets tragedy, most of which is totally unavoidable and can be hard to comprehend in this modern age where women have choices and are, or at least should be, able to determine their own destiny. There are so many wasted opportunities for people to say what they actually mean that I found myself becoming frustrated with some of the characters, and I could not bring myself to warm to Eustacia or Damon one little bit. The bright star shone out from this book for me was Diggory Venn, a reddleman who, due to his trade, is one step removed from society, but is Thomasin's guardian angel and a quiet man of honour. If only there were more Diggory Venn's out there! Some might see this book as a tragic love story, but I saw it as a book about selfishness, pride and dishonesty. Fantastic moods are created by the descriptions of the Heath, which is a character in its own right, influencing and shaping the mood of its inhabitants. These descriptions bring the book to life and the writing was ably assisted by the immense vocal talent of Alan Rickman who narrated the audio edition I was reading. His dulcet tones transported me to a different time and place and helped to get me through a challenging book that, once I'd finished, realised that it had been worth the effort.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 400 print pages.
Price I paid: £7.99.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair - Uncomfortable but intriguing

For my birthday this year, my big sister sent me an Amazon voucher with the instruction that I was to use it to buy The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, by Joel Dicker in whatever format I chose to. Well, I plumped for the ebook edition, which turned out to be a bargain of massive proportions. It's a lot of book for a small amount of money, and there is a heck of a lot of story packed into it. Having never heard of the book or the author before, I wasn't sure what to expect. At it's core, it is a murder mystery full of twists and turns that keep the reader guessing and guessing and guessing again. Harry Quebert is a famous author, whose life is turned upside down when the body of Nola Kellerman, a 15-year-old girl who disappeared 33 years ago turns up on his property. She had been brutally murdered and buried with a copy of the manuscript that had made Harry's name. The police have no option but to arrest him as their prime suspect. Enter Marcus Goldman, Harry's protégé and a celebrated author in his own right. Marcus is shocked to discover that Harry had fallen in love with Nola the summer he moved to the small town of Somerset, and that they had planned to leave together on the day of her disappearance. Marcus, as is only reasonable, is shocked to hear this news, but is also convinced that Harry is innocent (of the murder at least) and sets out to investigate. This sets in motion a train of events that slowly reveal the secrets and lies of what had appeared, on the surface at least, to be a sleepy town where nothing much happened. The tale is told by referencing the past, the present and utilises extracts from the "famous" book written by Harry all those years ago, as well as the book Marcus writes about the case as he is investigating it ... which cures him of the crippling writer's block he had hoped to speak to Harry about! It would be difficult for the love story element between an author in his 30's and a 15-year-old girl to be anything but uncomfortable for the reader, but it is all referenced by feelings rather than physically explicit scenes which helps a little. I think this aspect might well put people off, but if you take this book on its merits as a murder mystery, it really works. All in all, thanks sis, for getting me to read something that otherwise could quite easily have passed me by.

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 658 print pages.
Price I paid: £1.96.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.

Black and Blue - Rebus on the wagon!

There is a killer on the loose, who has been nicknamed "Johnny Bible". He seems to be paying a grim homage to the infamous killer named Bible John who was active some twenty years previously, but was never caught and seemed to just stop killing. This stirs up bad memories for John Rebus (in this, his 8th outing), the troubled detective based in Edinburgh, who had known one of Bible John's victims and has always felt the failure of never bringing the killer to justice. Is there a connection between the two killers, or could they indeed be the same person? Whilst itching to be put onto the Johnny Bible case, Rebus is, instead, assigned to investigate the grim discovery of a body impaled on some railings ... bad enough one would think, but the man was also tied to chair and had a plastic bag over his head. Was this murder or a bizarre accident? Not only that, but he is hounded by the press and is put under investigation when a person he helped to put away commits suicide in prison, still claiming his innocence. Rebus can't help but antagonise pretty much everyone around him and is given a baby sitter in an attempt to keep him out of mischief ... it kind of works in that it helps keep him off the bottle, but his baby sitter gets sucked into helping Rebus with the many threads to the investigation. Ian Rankin does a great job of combining the personal and professional lives of those in the police force and brings into focus the difficulty of keeping those two things separate with any great success. With plot twists by the bucketful and comings and goings involving the North Sea Oil Industry, the reader is led in all sorts of directions but slowly and gradually, everything starts to come into focus. The writing is, as you would expect from Ian Rankin, realistic and engaging. The ending is not the one that Rebus would have chosen, and, I suspect, not all readers will like it either ... there is no clean tying up of all loose ends here, but then, life's like that! Black and Blue does not leave Rebus a happy chappy  ... but then, that's just as it should be, any other way just wouldn't suit him!

My STAR rating: FOUR.

Length: 516 print pages.
Price I paid: Free, borrowed from my husband.
Formats available: print; audio CD; unabridged audio download; ebook.

Treasure Island - Yo Ho Ho!

Due to the numerous TV and film adaptations of this classic tale of buccaneers and buried treasure, many people will be familiar with this adventure story. I certainly was, but have never actually read it, so when I spotted a freebie audio version a few months ago, I couldn't resist. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson begins in a nondescript public house run by Mr and Mrs Hawkins. They are just about scraping a living together in this quiet West Country backwater when their lives are rudely interrupted by the arrival of a loud and paranoid seafarer ... who turns out to be a pirate on the run from his former crew mates. Much rum is imbibed and endless verses of Yo Ho Ho And a Bottle of Rum are sung, but in quiet times, the rough and ready pirate engages young Jim Hawkins as a kind of lookout. However, following the death of Mr Hawkins, lookout duties are forgotten, and the grim Blind Pugh turns up and delivers the dreaded Black Spot to the resident pirate, sending him into a tail spin, which leads to his sudden death. Before Pugh and his rabble return, Jim finds a treasure map amongst the pirate's belongings and he and his mother flee. When the local Doctor and Squire see the map, a plan is hatched to go on a treasure hunt, and Jim gets to go too. Unfortunately, the Squire does not chose his crew wisely and ends up recruiting Long John Silver and his cohorts who were part of the crew looking for the map. Now the adventure really kicks off with a long sea journey ending up at Treasure Island. Jim overhears talk of mutiny, and those loyal to the Squire club together to try to save themselves ... but what will become of the treasure, and is there someone already on the supposedly deserted island? This is a real adventure and there is plenty of action, with Jim getting into all sorts of scrapes. There are two stand out characters, Jim and Long John Silver, the latter being particularly engaging as he veers from kindness to viciousness, and cunning to treachery with alarming speed ... and don't mess with the parrot! The audio version, narrated by David Buck, worked well for me, as what could have become a bit too stagy was dealt with in a largely understated manner. Overall, an enjoyable (but not exceptional) time was had by all ... except for the pirates! It buckles the swashes and shivers the timbers in fine, if a little dated, style.

My STAR rating: THREE.

Length:122 print pages.
Price I paid: FREE.
Formats available: print; unabridged audio download; ebook.