The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris

The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris

Pages - 443

Challenges - 100+ books.

This is my second reading venture into books by Joanne Harris and I am so glad that I read it. The Evil Seed is the first book that Joanne ever wrote. She wrote it back in 1989 and many of her fans were disappointed as they were unable to get hold of it as it went out of print very quickly. So back by popular demand, this book was reprinted and updated in September of last year.

The story begins with Alice, one of the main characters in the book, being confronted by her lost love,Joe and his new girlfriend Ginny. Alice is jealous of Ginny and thinks that she has Joe under a spell, because their is something not quite right about Ginny and her rather sinister group of friends. Compelled to find out the truth about Ginny, Alice searches through Ginny's belongings and comes across an old book written by Daniel Holmes. The book is written in diary form and details Daniel and his friend Robert's lives. When they were young men, they came across a mysterious, young, ethereal woman, who managed to bewitch both men, with her beauty and charm. The woman, Rosemary Virginia Ashley, is now said to be buried in Grantchester churchyard and has been for over half a century. Alice is compelled to follow the story of Daniel and Rosemary, and as the book goes on, the past and the present becomes entwined. Alice realises that her hatred of Ginny is not down to jealousy and she sets off on a turbulent journey in a nightmare she will never forget.

The book deals with the idea of vampires in a completely different way to any others that I have read. These vampires are not immortal and don't just suck blood. They are evil, but not necessary by choice as some are trapped in their lives due to the actions of others.

I absolutely loved this book. I preferred it to Coastliners which I read previously this year. For her first book, I am absolutely amazed at the quality of her writing. The prose is very descriptive,vivid and beautifully written and I could almost imagine being there. Joanne brings her characters to life with ease, with her natural talent for description. This book is limited in the amount of dialogue within it, but I didn't feel that it was missing in this area. The story is fast paced from the beginning and keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole time you are reading it.

The book jumps backwards and forwards in time between Alice's story and Daniel's story. I found with this, I was desperate to read onwards all the time, to find out what would happen next as the chapters were left on cliff hangers.

The book is set in Cambridge, which I found wonderful, as many years ago, I lived there. So I could actually picture the places Joanne wrote about, such as the river Cam and the Corn Exchange.

Other reviewers have commented on how Joanne Harris's writing has improved since this book. Now as I have only read one other of her books, I can't really comment, but as I mentioned earlier, I actually preferred this one to her later book Coastliner.

I would say if you only read one Joanne Harris book this year, make it this one.

Library Loot

I went to the library on Wednesday and found that they were having a big sale of books. All of them were being sold as 3 books for the price of 2, at prices of 30p and 40p - how could I resist.
I originally went in to see if I could find a book by Alice Hoffman. She wrote Practical Magic, which is one of my favourite films. After speaking to my friend Yvette, I discovered that she had written lots of interesting books,so I went to the library to see if they had any. My luck was in, I managed to get Skylight Confessions out on loan, but I also managed to purchase a novella by Alice Hoffman called Aquamarine. So I was really pleased. I also bought a Celia Rees book, because I just keep away from her books. This one is called City of Shadows and in part 1 of a trilogy. I also bought The Golden Door by Kerrie Jamieson, which is about life in New York during the early 1900's when lots of Irish immigrants travelled over to start a new life.

If you are one of my local reader, I would definitely check out the local libraries,at the moment, as they all seem to have sales on and their are some really good books in them.

I have a weekend of scrapping planned at a local scrap club, which I am really looking forward to, so hopefully I will have some scrap pages to show next week.

I am nearing the end of reading The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris and I have to say I like it much better than Coastliners. It is fabulous, but I will let you know more when I review it.

Going back to an earlier topic, has anyone read any good Alice Hoffman books that they would recommend?

Problems

Sorry to all my fellow bloggers. I understand you have been experiencing problems with my comments box. I have no idea what was wrong with it, but hubby said that Google did go down during this period, so it may have been connected, as Blogger is owned by Google.

I have also had problems putting todays blog up, its there just difficult to find, as I had to void the original post and start again.

Apologies for all the problems.

25th of the month again

For those of you who are new to my blog, on the 25th of every month I take pictures of my day all day and scrap them in my scrapbook. It was all started by Shimelle , if you click on her name it will take you to her website. So here are my pictures for the 25th. They are not very exciting, as yesterday was a strange day. My next door neighbour passed away Sunday evening and I spent some time with his wife. I feel like I am surrounded by death at the moment and I am struggling to be upbeat at all. So here is a view of yesterday.

My next door neighbours lovely garden. Tom used to spend hours in there and had on many occasions attempted to teach me about plants. Unfortunately, his skills never rubbed off on me.

Me, a stone lighter than I was last month.Hoorah! Only another one to go. No pressure!

The library to pick up some more books that I have been waiting on.

One of my favourite shops - Coast. It sells lots of lovely nik naks. Especially lovely cupcake goodies.

As you can see, I really didn't spend a lot. Facepacks to get rid of the wrinkles and some sparkly eyeliner, which I have fallen in love with. It makes me all sparkly, and boy do I need that at the moment.

My at my computer,as you can see my desk is not very tidy. There should be more scrapbooking stuff out than there is.

Driving to school to pick the girls up. As you can see, it is still cold here.

I am very good at multi tasking! It only takes one hand to cook with. Attempting to cook chilli whilst devouring Joanne Harris's The Evil Seed.

Doo Dahs hoping that his hypnotic skills will make DD1 give him her icecream. Unfortunately it did not work. That's my day. Not very exciting, I know, but at least it shows I am normal, like everyone else. I also picked up some books from the charity shops,as well as from the library which I will show later in the week.

That's all for today, thanks for stopping by.

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T Anderson

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M. T Anderson.


Pages - 351


Challenges - 100+, New Authors and Young Adults.


This book is one of those books that basically shocks you right from the beginning. I still haven't made a decision as to whether I like it or not. I am very much on the fence with this one.

The book is about Octavian, a black slave in the 1700s. He has been bought by Mr Gitney and his whole life is seen as an experiment. Mr Gitney runs the College of Lucidity, where using his benefactors money, he and his colleagues, all known by numbers rather than names, carry out lots of different experiments on different creatures. Everything Octavian does, is recorded in books to be used for scientific research, even measuring and weighing his faeces.... His mother, a former princess, also lives in the house and both are treated well to a certain extent. All is well, until their benefactor dies. Octavian's mother upsets a prospective benefactor and they are both continually whipped and left naked in a cold room. When Octavian's mother becomes ill, with small pox, they subject her to really cruel experiments. When she dies, Octavian bursts into find them cutting her up, to see what her insides look like. Octavian decides to run away and then spends a brief time helping the American revolutionaries, before he is recaptured and tortured.

I found this book upsetting in parts. If these poor people were really subjected to tortures like this, their lives must have been full of misery. I could only see that they would be happier dead. I did not realise exactly how badly they were treated. It was disgusting what they put them through. They were treated like lab rats and worse.

I felt like the book was split into two parts. The first part was easier to read than the second.
The language in the first part, I found to be archaic. I understand that the language is fitting for the type of people within the book, but personally I found it long winded. You don't learn much about Octavian to begin with, so you are about a quarter of the way through the book before you realise he is an African slave.

The second part deals with Octavian's life when he runs away and is written in the form of letters from Private Goring to his family, detailing his discovery of Octavian and helping him to settle in the army with the other men. The way the letters were written, annoyed me as they were not in proper English and littered with capital letters. My past teacher experiences found myself continually correcting the grammar.
Here is an example of the style of writing.

'We drill & drill & drill. I long ardently for Activity for my Hands is commissioned to Build & to wet & to warp & to bind.'

I understand that the letters were written by a soldier who has only learnt the basics of writing, so it is fitting for the story. However, I found reading it to be very awkward.

This book is very harsh and upsetting to read, so I would say only read if you have a keen interest in slavery.

It is one of those books that once read, you will never forget. With that the writer has achieved his objective of writing an unforgettable book.

Has anyone else read this book. Leave a comment if you have, as I would be interested to hear other people's opinions of it.

Waltham Abbey tour

As you know, I have been travelling back and forth to Essex recently. Whilst I was there I decided to take some pictures of Waltham Abbey, the town I grew up in. So here is a whistle stop tour of the church I got married in and the grounds.

A mosaic marks the position of the Meridian Line (0 degrees longitude) as it passes through the grounds of the Lee Valley Park Information Centre

The church from the Lee Valley grounds.

Wood sculpture of a cowled monk in the Abbey gardens. It is actually called Ancestor and was placed in the grounds in 1992.

River Lea running through the Abbey grounds.

The Abbey church from the front. This was where I got married many years ago. This is the fourth church to be built on this site and is said to be the place where King Harold was buried.

Inside the church, the altar and the stained glass windows.

The paintings on the roof of the church depicting the signs of the zodiac.

Philpotts tea rooms, where I worked as a waitress in my early teens.

Waltham Abbey High Street.

I hope you liked my little tour of Waltham Abbey church and grounds. Thanks for stopping by.

Tithe by Holly Black

Tithe by Holly Black

Pages 310

Challenges 100+, New Authors, Young Adult, Library and A to Z Title.

I had heard that this book was good and I was intrigued to read it as it was labelled as a modern faerie tale. I was entranced by this story and was dragged into the book, managing to read it in two sittings.

This is a dark and sinister faerie tale, and in no way should you expect it to be full of happy endings.

The story begins with the main character sixteen year old Kaye, who travels from city to city with her mother's rock band, until a nasty attack on her mother, pushes them to return to their hometown to live with her grandmother.

Once Kaye returns to her hometown, the faeries of her childhood come back to haunt her. This is no fairy tale this time and they are not as cute as she remembered. Kaye is dragged into a rather dangerous and frightening world, where she will become the Tithe, a sacrifice of a talented and beautiful mortal. If you don't want to know anymore about the story, I would stop reading now.

As the story moves forward, Kaye agrees to the sacrifice,when she realises it won't happen, as she has now found out that she is not a mortal, she is actually a green pixie, who was swapped at birth. All this time, she has been living behind a glamour, so she never really saw herself as she really was. Kaye now has to come to terms with the fact that her whole life is a sham and she has to learn to live with her real identity. On top of that, she saves the life of a rather sinister knight called Roiben, who brings her no end of trouble.

She becomes involved in an ancient power struggle, where she is pulled between two rival faerie kingdoms, neither set worrying if she dies in the struggle.

I really enjoyed this book. It was completely different from what I had expected. It is a lot darker than I thought it would be, so it is definitely not a faerie story for the faint hearted. Certain scenes in it, seemed quite harsh to me and had me cringing a little.

The author Holly Black,also wrote the now very famous Spiderwick Chronicles, as well as other books in the Tithe series. Tithe was the first book she ever wrote in 2002, closely followed by Valiant and Ironside.

I definitely intend to read more of her books, as I found Tithe to be entertaining and refreshing. The book was action packed right from the beginning and I felt quite exhausted for Kaye by the end of it. The storyline seemed unique to me and I could actually believe that faeries could exist at the bottom of the garden. Though if they do, after reading this, I will be very wary, because they sound like nasty little critters!

Here is a link to Holly Black's site. http://www.blackholly.com/

If you have read any of Holly Black's books including the Spiderwick Chronicles, do leave a comment, as I would like to know what you thought of them.

That's all for today. Happy reading.

Sunday Salon - Cassandra Clare

I am going to rave this week about Cassandra Clare as she so kindly replied straight away to my email this week.

For those who have not read my review of Cassandra Clare's book City of Bones, here is my review.

I absolutely loved her book and wrote and told her that I reviewed it on my blog. She read my blog and came straight back to me, saying how much she liked it. I had mentioned that it wasn't fair that City of Ashes was not being released at the same time in England as America and she agreed. She said that for her next trilogy, they will be released at the same time, so everyone in England won't have to wait. I really do think Cassandra Clare will become a very popular author, especially if they turn these books into films. I enjoyed her book just as much as I enjoyed the Twilight series, so do read City of Bones.

I have read two other books this week. The Hours by Michael Cunningham, which I have reviewed already here. I also read Tithe by Holly Black. Holly Black is a friend of Cassandra Clare and I could see similarities in their writing. I will review Tithe tomorrow, so do come back for that. All I will say for now, is it is a very dark and sinister faerie tale, definitely not for children!

This week I hope to finish The Noodlemaker by Ma Jian, which I am finding hard going, but I will persevere. I have also started reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson.

I also hope to read The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris,which looks really good, nothing like any of her other books.

I felt like I hadn't read that much this week ,but I have finished two books and started two others, so that is not so bad.

Tonight I shall try and catch the Oscars, though because of the time difference it will probably be tomorrow now before I see it.

I hope you have a fab reading week. Thanks for stopping by.

This week

Just to apologise to all my fellow bloggers, as I haven't had a lot of time this week to read all your lovely blogs.

My nan was buried on Monday and I feel like I have spent most of the week, racing up and down the M25 to Essex. Later in the week, I took my children back to Essex, to spend some quality time with my parents.

I hope to take some lovely pictures of my home town Waltham Abbey, which I will share with you next week.

I hope to be back to normal by tomorrow and will catch up on all your blogs. Thank you for all who have taken the time to leave comments. I really appreciate it. Also thank you to all my friends who have told me they are reading it too. Especially Fiona, who I met in the library taking out some books, because I keep recommending them on my blog. I am really enjoying writing this blog and have found it very therapeutic.

I hope you all have a great weekend and thanks again for stopping by.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Pages 226

Challenges 100+ books and New Authors

The Hours is a very subtle book. It took me awhile to actually work out what was going on it and I found in the beginning, I had to keep checking back to find the links between the stories.

There are three main characters in the book, who all live at different periods of time. The book follows their lives in a parallel fashion, looking at just one day of each of their lives. Each day looked at represents a subtle turning point in their lives, which they would be aware of, but would not show outwardly to others.

Firstly you have Virginia Woolf, in the last days of her life, before she committed suicide. She suffers with severe headaches which bring on a form of madness and depression and all the way through she is struggling to fight them and just exist wihtout feeling a failure.

Secondly, there is Laura Brown, a young wife living in the Los Angeles suburbs during the 1940s. She is struggling to live the life she has slipped into.

Lastly, you have Clarissa Vaughan, fondly known as Mrs Dalloway by Richard,her Aids stricken friend, of more than forty years. She is about to throw a party for her friend and questions her past and her present existence.

Each woman, appears to be strong and successful on the outside, but each is struggling with their emotions and they all find their lives to be a difficult. They are each unhappy with the way their lives have panned out and want to free themselves any way they can. Just existing is an effort to each of them. They each contemplate ways of escaping their lives, even considering suicide as an easy way out.

The main theme of the book deals with the outside appearance of sanity and the inside torment of insanity. They all feel that they are failures in what they do, yet to others they are seen as successes. Another big theme of the book is lesbianism. Virginia toys with making her new character, Mrs Dalloway love a woman; Laura Brown kisses another woman, wondering what a full blown relationship with one would be like and Clarissa has lived as a couple with a woman for eighteen years, but wonders what it would have been like if she had married her gay friend Richard.

Each character is also interlinked by flowers,each putting yellow roses to good use. Their days follow similar routines which link the stories together.

This book is a lovely book to read and I would recommend it. I did enjoy it once I got into it and guessed some of the links between the women before I finished reading it. By the end of the book, you will see how all their lives are intertwined.

Valentines present

For Valentines day, my hubby knew just what to buy me. A lovely book voucher. He
knows me so well. Look at all the lovely books I bought with my voucher.
I only ever buy brand new books when I get a voucher or if there is a book I am desperate to read, so I really enjoyed browsing round Waterstones, not really knowing what to pick.

I ended up buying 3 books for the price of 2 - The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, which has been highly recommended, without having a clue what its about as no one will tell me and the blurb doesn't want you to know, so as not to spoil the story.
North Child by Edith Pattou, for people who like Philip Pullman books.
The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris, who debut book which has only just been published.
I also got The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer, which was the book of the week and therefore half price.
Lastly I picked up When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson which was reduced to £2.99, if you spent over £10. The last book of hers I read was Behind the Scenes at The Museum, many years ago.

So I think I had a good haul for Valentines day, what did you get?

City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare

The Mortal Instruments Series Book 1 - City Of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Pages 442

Challenges - 100+, Young Adult, New Author and A to Z Author.

If you are a big fan of Bella and Edward and read the Twilight books in a matter of days, then this book is definitely for you.

I was lucky enough to be lent this book by Alison, who I am beginning to realise has very similar book tastes to me. She said this book was good and my god she was right.

The book starts in a nightclub in New York, where we meet the main character Clary Fray, a very ordinary teenager. Until she starts seeing things that others cannot. First she witnesses three teenagers stab a boy to death in the nightclub and then watches him disappear into thin air. Then she finds a nasty monster lurking in her apartment and her mothers disappears. At this point, she is seriously wondering what is going on.

Clary has discovered an invisible war to us mundanes (mere humans) between ancient demonic forces and the secretive Shadowhunters. This is a war in which she is intricately involved, but up to that point she had no idea.

You are probably wondering what a Shadowhunter is so I will tell you. A thousand years ago, the Angel Raziel mixed his blood with the blood of men and created the race of the Nephilim. Human-angel hybrids, they walk among us, unseen but ever-present, our invisible protectors. They are known as Shadowhunters.

In the story, Clary falls hopelessly in love with Jace, a gorgeous blonde Shadowhunter, who has fallen for her too, but true love never runs smooth and that is all I will say on the matter.

Clary is desperate to find her mother and risks her life and the lives of the Shadowhunters in order to find her. There are a lot of shocks and surprises along her journey, which I believe made her a much stonger character.

The book is completely action packed, right from the first page, you are plunged into this fast paced drama. I absolutely loved it and felt quite upset when I had finished it. It is one of those books that stays with you for quite a long while after you have read it.

The good news is that this book is part of the Mortal Instruments trilogy. The second part, City of Ashes is available now and the third part, City of Glass comes out in March in America and July in England.

If that isn't enough to quench my thirst for these books, Cassandra Clare is writing a prequel trilogy to these books set 150 years before in Victorian England, with one character appearing in all the books.

Also, there is also talk about it being made into a movie too.

I am really excited, as I loved the Twilight series, this is the nearest thing I have read that has grabbed me in the same way.

I have attached a couple of links to Cassandra Clare's website and the Mortal Instruments website, so if you want to read more about them do go and have a look.

A big thank you to Alison, as I would never have known about this series of books, if she had not lent it to me.

I really do recommend you read this, especially if you loved Twilight. I absolutely loved it and will definitely be reading the rest.

Scrapbooking

After procrastinating for so long, I finally got around to actually doing some scrapbooking this week. I forgot how much I really enjoyed doing it and managed to produce the following two LO's on Friday.

The first LO is of my twin girls and theri cousin singing on New Year's Eve. They continually sang the same song throughout the evening, though I could not tell you what it was, only I know is it was from High School Musical 3. The paper I used it actually HSM paper, which I bought ages ago, so I was glad to finally find a use for it. The second LO was for the UK Scrappers Weekly challenge. You were only allowed to use plain paper and you had to use read, white and blue with a touch of gold. The LO is of my mum and dad's golden wedding anniversary last year, where we all went to my parent's house for a party.
I hope to make at least a couple of LO's a week now, so when I do them I will put them on my blog.
Any other fellow scrapbookers out there, who are also obsessed by books or is it just me? Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday Salon - And the Winner is......

And the winner is ................................................................

Don't you just love award season. I am a big fan of all award show and just have to watch them, much to the despair of my husband. I have sat and enjoyed The Golden Globes and The Baftas and I am raring to go for the Oscars at the end of the month. I have a feeling though it will be Slumdog Millionaire sweeping the Oscars, with Mickey Rourke making a most welcome comeback and Kate Winslet hopefully finally winning an Oscar after six nominations.

I am hoping to get around to reading a few of the winning Oscar adaptations this year. I definitely want to read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as The Reader Bernhard Schlink and Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.

Have you read any books adapted into award winning films?

This week has been a slow reading week, but both the books I have been reading were quite long. I started the week reading Pirates! by Celia Rees and finished the week reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, which I will review next week. Though I will tell you now it was fabulous and I can't wait to get my hands on the second installment City of Ashes.

This week is half term, so things should ease up a little, no really early mornings, so I hope for lots of late night reading.

This week I hope to read:

The Noodlemaker by Ma Jian

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

So check back in the week for my reviews. Hope you are all having a good reading Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Sights of Chichester

Earlier this week, I ventured into Chichester, a place I often like to go to. Only this time, I remembered to take my camera, as I thought it would be nice to take some photos as a record of the town. Later on, I hope to turn them into a scrap page.

So for my blog today, here is a quick tour of Chichester in West Sussex.

Starting with the very impressive Chichester Cathedral.

A street still festooned with Christmas lights

The local buskers singing the blues.























The Chichester Cross clock tower in the town centre.

Glorious Valentine's cakes.

St Richard's memorial outside Chichester cathedral.

St Richard (1197-1253) spent several years tramping the roads of Sussex as a homeless outcast, after King Henry III refused to allow him to accept election as bishop of Chichester. Eventually Henry relented, and he became a bishop who was greatly loved for his compassion and sweetness of character.

Windows festooned with Valentines goodies and scrumptious chocolate au pains. Yum yum! Though I didn't actually get to eat one, far too many calories!!

The Old Cross pub, built in the time of George V. A warm seat in front of a fire and a lovely bowl of broccoli and Stilton soup.

Street seller, who looked very cold, selling wooden roses to quite a few passers by.








Sorry the photos are all over the place, I keep moving them and they move back into the same place once I close it down.

So that is a quick tour of Chichester for you, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great weekend, see you for Sunday Salon.

10 things I am looking forward to in the next couple of months

I have lots of good things coming up that I wanted to share with you all, so this is my list of 10 things I am looking forward to in the next couple of months.

1) Valentines Day - romantic meal with hubby, always lovely.

2) The Stitch and Craft Show in Olympia at the end of March, get to buy lots of scrapping goodies with my friends.

3) Getting hold of Series 5 of Beverley Hills 90210 - sad I know I am sorry!

4) Lighter mornings when the clocks go back at the end of March. Nothing better than getting up in daylight.

5) Pancake day on the 24th February - pancakes, syrup, chocolate sauce and strawberries, the works.

6) Oscar night - I always have to watch the Oscars - I love to see all the actresses in their beautiful dresses - I love to see who comes with who - and the winners of course.

7) The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry - this book doesn't come out here until the beginning of April and I can't wait. The reviews have been fantastic.

8) The snowdrops in my planter flowering.

9) Half term -getting time to spend with my family. Visiting my parents and going out with my husband and my girls.

10) Scrap day at the end of the month. I get to spend the whole day scrapping with good friends.

So I have good things to look forward to which make me happy.

What are you looking forward to over the next couple of months?

Pirates by Celia Rees

Pirates by Celia Rees

Pages 380

Challenges - 100+ books, Young Adult and A to Z titles.

'Land ahoy, me hearties! It's a pirate's life for me!

After reading this book, I could really understand why men became pirates. I am not saying that the life wasn't dangerous, because it most definitely was, but I like the sound of it.

This book is fantastic and may be one of my top ten books for the end of the year. I absolutely loved it. The book tells the story of Nancy Kington and her former slave girl Minerva Sharpe who traded their normal lives to become female pirates. Nancy began her life in Bristol. After her father's death, she is shipped off for Jamaica, where her brothers have made secret plans for her to marry, an evil Portuguese former pirate, Bartholome. She is shocked when she finds out on her sixteenth birthday held at his house and vows to find a way out of it. When she returns home, she finds out that her friend, her slave girl, Minerva is about to be raped by the plantation foreman. Nancy kills the foreman in order to save Minerva. They both decide they need to leave Jamaica that night as both their lives will now be in danger and end up joining a pirate ship. The story then revolves around their life as pirates and how they keep sailing in order to escape Bartholome.

I am giving you a very brief description of the story because it is full of unexpected twists and turns and I really don't want to spoil it by giving it away. I would definitely recommend you reading it. I have read quite a few Celia Rees books in the last couple of years and I do enjoy them.

There is only one thing that bothers me, which I have discovered in all her books. She seems to rush her climatic endings. Perhaps it is me, but when a book is full of action and drama, I expect the ending to have me on the edge of my seat and to keep me hanging on and build to a fantastic ending. With Celia's books, they are full of drama and are real page turners until you get to the end and each climatic scene leaves me feeling that something is missing, as if it has been rushed. I wish her endings were more dramatic, however that is my personal choice.

Please don't let that stop you reading it, because the rest of the story had me on the edge of my seat. I really enjoyed it, I just expected the last dramatic scene to be a bit more tense and gory for my liking.

I will still carry on reading Celia Rees books as I do like the topics she picks to write about. Her heroines are usually very strong willed characters and I like that. They always faced with real difficulties which they always manage to overcome.

Have you read any Celia Rees books? If you did, what did you think of the endings in her books?

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Pages - 171

Challenges - 100+ books and A to Z Author.

I actually bought the set of these books for my girls, I paid £1 for all seven of them, before Christmas. I can remember reading them when I was a child, so I thought they would fit perfectly with the Inner Child weekend set up by dovegreyreader. It took me just one day to read, so I would definitely recommend it for a quick read.

The story is about Digory and Polly, who are tricked by Digorys' uncle into travelling to another world. They end up in the woods between worlds and decide to explore the different worlds surrounding them in the form of pools. The first world they enter is coming to an end and whilst their they awaken a wicked witch, who manages to leave the dying world with them by holding onto Digory. She follows them into a new world, which has only just begun. The world is Narnia, which they all watch begin to grow as Aslan the lion sings his creation songs. It takes him seven hours to bring his world to life with plants, trees, sea and animals. However, evil has been brought into the world, in the shape of the wicked witch and Aslan sends Digory on a journey to bring back an apple from the sacred garden in order to protect Narnia from the witch.

When I was a child, I was unaware of the parallels to the Bible, but now as a grown up I find them blatantly obvious. The similarities I found are as follows.

Aslan as the Creator, creating the world in seven hours rather than seven days.

The apple tree in the sacred garden resembling the apple tree in the Garden of Eden.

The witch representing the evil serpent, tempting Digory to eat the apple.

There are probably a lot of other similarities which I failed to spot, but it was interesting to be able to list the similarities.

Originally this was the sixth book written in the series, but the series was later renumbered putting this book at the beginning.

I did enjoy rereading this book, because I felt I was reading it at a different level from when I was child. Due to all the biblical references that surpassed me as a child, it was like reading a completely different book.

I would definitely recommend it as a good read,even if you read it as a child.

If anyone has noticed any other Biblical connections in this books, do leave a comment.

Library Loot,Charity Finds and Nintendo Dog

I took the girls to the library to get some new books this week and here are the books we picked up. I picked up three.

The Shamer's Signet by Lene Kaaberbol. This is the second in the Shamer series. I read the first one earlier in January and really loved it, so I am really looking forward to reading the second one.

Palace Pier by Keith Waterhouse. This is the man who wrote Billy Elliot. I chose this book because it is set on Brighton Pier,which is near to where we live and one of my favourite places to visit.

Among Ruins by Harriet Vyner. I picked this specifically to help me with my A to Z authors - not many U,V, X and Z authors around!

My girls picked an abundance of Jacqueline Wilson books. I have kept them away from these for as long as possible, as sometimes I find the content unsuitable. This time, I caved as they have been so desperate to read Tracy Beaker, which I am tempted to read myself.

I also went to the charity shop again and picked up these wonderful books. I have read Garden Spells before and loved it,so I thought it would be nice to have my own copy. If you like the film Practical Magic, you will love this book. Ursula Under was recommended by the author of The Time Travellers Wife, a book I loved reading. I was really pleased to pick up A Thousand Splendid Suns as I really enjoyed The Kite Runner, by the same author. I have never read Anita Shreve, but a lot of people rave about her so I thought I would give one of hers a try.

I thought I would share this picture with you too. This is the Doodahs Deluxe ready to play on the Nintendo DS lite. He even has the most suitable game for his breed, Nintendogs!
Not sure about the fashion designing one though.

So there is my little haul of books for the week. Have you bought any books this week? What did you get?

Coastliners by Joanne Harris

Coastliners by Joanne Harris

Pages -396

Challenges - New Author, 100+ books and A to Z titles.

I have always avoided Joanne Harris books. I thought they may be too romantic for my taste. So I was bit apprehensive when I was lent Coastliners. My friend assured me that I would love it, yet I put off reading it until now.

The prologue did not enthrall me as I found it too wordy. The first couple of chapters nearly put me off as their seemed so many characters to remember, that I had to keep referring back. However, after the first few chapters, I could not put the book down. I became so enthralled in this beautiful story showing how people pull together in times of adversity.

The story begins with the character Mado, who is returning to the island of her birth place after the death of her mother. She seeks out her uncommunicative father and tries to build a relationship with him. Whilst there, she uncovers the secret of the village's destruction and with the help of Finn brings the village together to save their homes.

The characters are beautiful written and you can't help liking them.The description of the island is breathtaking, I found myself wishing to pack my bags and books and head straight there to stay. There are elements of the story that I would not have guessed at all and I found myself saying 'No way, really!' the more I read of it. The story had a mixture of laughter and sadness within it's pages.

So although in the beginning, I wasn't taken with the story, by the end, I was left wanting more and I will definitely need to get hold of some more Joanne Harris books.

Joanne Harris has written quite a selection of books which seem to cover a range of genres. I have attached a link to her website for you to have a look.

Joanne Harris website

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes romance mixed with subtle suspense.

Have any of you read any Joanne Harris books? If you have, which ones would you recommend?