The Last Honest Woman by Nora Roberts

Now, after reading something so heavy (like Wolf Hall) and then something mad (like Fear and Loathing) I needed to give my brain a big break. So what did I choose? A sure thing - a Nora Roberts. The Last Honest Woman is the first in the O'Hurley series and follows the middle triplet (of the O'Hurley triplets) Abby. Abby is a race car driver's widow, with two young sons, struggling to get her horse breeding business up and running. But for reasons that aren't just to do with money, but her own sons' memories of their father, she agrees to an authorised biography of her ex. This also includes having the writer, Dylan, come to stay at her home for a few weeks. Harmless, she thinks, she hasn't felt anything for a man in a long time...

But, Abby wasn't prepared for Dylan. While in the beginning you quickly figure out that the race car driver was not only a terrible husband, but a negligent father and that Abby is only trying to protect her sons, Dylan is hardly like-able. I wanted to protect Abby from him, until Nora worked her magic and showed that true love (in Nora Robert World) can bring out any man's true kindness. Dylan goes from writer in residence to care-giver. Abby's character is one of the best Nora has crafted, being both strong-willed and inspiring, she is a woman who lives with her mistakes and focuses on how to make the world better for her children.

As with all Nora's this book has it's ups and downs and proves that honesty is always best, especially when two people fall in love.

Final verdict, if you love a bit of Nora have a look through her back catalogue, it is a foray of genius and you get to read the first of those recycled story-lines, which is always a bonus. A great book to cleanse the palate, before embarking on your next epic (War and Peace?) - but watch out, this is a quartet so try and resist the wonderful next book, about the youngest O'Hurley triplet and her adventures on and off the Broadway stage!

Also, a quick bit about the cover I have chosen: How brilliant is this? A classic cover that you hardly see anymore. The cover of my actual book (I must confess it was the 2-in-1 O'Hurley's Born) pales in comparison. Let's bring those old covers back! Whenever I review a Nora again I will include not only the cover of the book I am reading, but the vintage cover as well! Enjoy.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Have you ever read this book? If not, get yourself a copy! Beg, borrow, buy and whatever you do do not bow to pressure from the others - those people who might not understand.

As a girl - yes I am a girl, well a woman, but let's not get hung up on labels - reading this book, I noticed many manly-looking men glance at me pityingly. It was as if they felt, I would not understand this book, this book about the American Dream, that I was far too simple to leap inside this book and the electric writing and come out with any understanding. Perhaps, I didn't. I would never claim to have understood this book, but I did feel. I felt an incredible rush of emotions crashing head-long into each other with every turn of the page.

If any book could ever conduct electricity, it would be 'Fear and Loathing'. From the first page, you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. As you enter the Mint Hotel you find yourself dissolving into a particularly hairy paranoid delusion that drives you slightly insane, with words running into each other as if they're drunkenly charging down a corridor, crashing against the walls of convention. You are hooked. I felt like the hitchhiker, an innocent locked in a car with two crazy men, speeding along a desert highway desperate for escape - but did I leap out of a moving vehicle? Hell no! I grabbed hold of the door handle and went along for the ride.

If you have ever seen the movie, you will be able to envision the type of journey this book is taking you on, but it is so much more than that. I can't wait to re-read it. Next time, I will grab myself a litre of Wild Turkey, hunker down in a spot of sunlight and not move until I have read it cover to cover. I can only encourage you to do the same (except please, you know, drink responsibly and wear sunscreen, etc. Though, I suppose, Hunter S. Thompson would think that lame.)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Just before 12 o'clock this morning (or I guess we are just entering the afternoon) I finished Wolf Hall. I had started it on my (early) summer holiday and had been getting very into it - but found it quite hard to read on a beach (probably the only person who had this problem). But since then, I haven't been able to put it down.

Waking up at 6am (by mistake - thank you sunshine and thin curtains) suddenly became a blessing, I was able to heft this tomb from my bedside table and read for an hour and a half before getting ready for work. I even read it on the train (crushed, at rush hour), but oh how much I adored reading it. It was worth all the tired mornings and the hand/arm aches, because this book is truly a tremendous, epic history of one man's journey to power.

Thomas Cromwell is a man we all know from our primary school history lessons. He was that guy who made the Church of England and helped Henry VIII get rid of his boring, old wife Katherine and get a new exciting one, Anne Boleyn. Now, check all of your school girl/guy history buff knowledge at the door. While the Tudor period of English history is one of the most exciting and baffling reigns you are allowed to study in school, we all remember the rhyme: Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. And if you have seen this episode of QI, you will know that the number of true wives Henry VIII had is still under debate - do you count the divorces, is his marriage to Anne a true one and on and on and on... For Hilary Mantel (and many other historical novelists) this is a period with such incredible richness it would almost be unkind not to dive right in.

Now, Thomas Cromwell, is a man we are taught well to hate, but as with Mantel's other fabulous novels, she takes an "evil" character and makes him human. I read Mantel's A Place of Greater Safety at university and sat for three days reading non-stop - it was truly a glorious book - and somehow I found myself close to tears when the inevitable happens. It is just the same here (though Mantel has cleverly eked it out to a trilogy - the publishing version of a hat trick) Cromwell is always cast as the villain and yet I found myself understanding him and his own actions.

The novel begins with Cromwell as a young boy, being beaten by his father in Putney, swiftly we are moved through the years and are now faced with a protagonist with a murky history who happens to work for Cardinal Wolsey. Here is another "evil" man were are told to hate from history, and yet we see him as Cromwell does: Yes, he is out for power, yes, he does believe himself to be the centre of the universe and yes, he's made some errors, but he was also a very nice to his servants. (Don't worry, dear reader if you fear I will launch into a History Boys-esque 'Hilter was a sweetie' essay - this is not that kind of review.) Then we see the fall of Wolsey and somehow begin to see that while Cromwell is Wolsey's man he is still moving up the ranks in court. When did a brewer's/blacksmith's son ever become a king's confident, the highest courtier and the most powerful man in England? The answer to all your questions rest within the pages of this book.

So, without giving too much away here is what I thought:
There are so many people called Thomas in this book, thankfully many of them are referred to by their last name - keeps things simple.
Mantel has written this book in a present tense style that can sometimes feel quite confusing as 'he' is normally Cromwell, but can also be any number of other male characters Cromwell happens to be in the same room with or thinking about.
Anne is exactly as I wanted her to be, a cruel malicious woman who has managed to scheme her way to the top and once there, can hope only to deliver an heir to the throne, or risk losing everything she fought so hard to achieve. I also loved Mary Carey (that's Anne's sister), while we have all learnt to pity and love her in Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl, she felt fresh and interesting.
Cromwell's character is so complex, you find yourself wondering constantly about the moments in his past (his secrets) that even the reader doesn't know about.
Also, there is a delicious peek at what is to come, with Jane Seymour growing up, while Anne is on the rise.

In total, this is a book anyone who loves/likes to read will love. It is elegantly written, compelling and rich in fantastic characters from a period we all have some knowledge of. As Mantel's follow-up is out now, Bring Up The Bodies, this is the perfect time to get into the series. A refreshing take on a much loved period of history, that is just as unputdownable as you could imagine.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

I am little behind the times in reading this one, but I am so glad I waited. All the hype would have made me really dislike the book for not living up to my expectations or being asked by everyone and their mother whether I had read this part or that part yet?! So, I waited, patiently as this book never really grabbed my attention like it did millions of other readers, and when I was offered it in a trade (yes, I lent them my Caitlin Moran's How To Be a Woman) I thought why not, it's about time. And it was.

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian is not really about tractors, though there is a bit of information about them and I have to say the only one I recognised was John Deere (felt slightly ashamed), it is about family. A family that has lost their mother two years before, two sisters who are not speaking to each other since the row over money at the funeral, and their father, the man with the Big Ideas. In his 80s, Father has become more and more peculiar since the death of his wife, and nothing makes Big Sis and Nadia (Nadezhda) realise this than when he informs them he is to marry a 36 year old Ukrainian woman.

I must say, I felt Nadia's intense pain when her father talks about Valentina's (that's the 36 year old slut) enormous breasts and his desire to have a child with her. It is a completely horrific thought, never ever ever does a child want to discuss anything of a sexual nature with their parents, my goodness, the 'talk' was hard enough, let's not go back there! There are some brilliant scenes of Nadia meeting the 'slut' Valentina in all her glory, the enormous bosom, the long painted nails, the dyed blonde hair, the outrageous fur coat and the awful way she seems to speak. I also, loved the relationship between Big Sis (Vera) and Nadia, their differences that seem to all stem from one of them being born in the Ukraine just before the war and Nadia being the peace baby. 10 years age gap and they seem to be completely different people, with entirely different childhoods. Nadia has only seen the good, the fair, she still believes (even as an adult) that things aren't just black and white; whereas Vera has known hunger, fear, terror, she has lived through it and come out the other side. To Vera England is a safe place, one not to be taken advantage of, to Nadia it is just home.

However, as much as I enjoyed the relationships and the humorous episodes, I never once found it funny, it wasn't hilarious, I didn't roll upon the floor laughing. I laughed out loud once, while reading the last chapter, but otherwise I just wanted to find out what was going to happen. It kept you in a trap of suspense and wonder, would Valentina ever leave, would Nadia and Vera maintain their truce, what was Valentina up to and many many more. The ending was of the satisfactory kind, with  an uplifting feel.

Final verdict, if you haven't read this book you probably should, it's pretty light and easy to read. Perfect for reading on the way to work or where ever, but it certainly won't change your life.

'Pure' by Andrew Miller

'Dazzling' Guardian
'Gripping' The Times
'Irresistibly compelling' The Sunday Telegraph

Now, I am quite tempted to leave my blog post about this book at that. It was so incredibly good that the plethora of quotes decorating the cover were so justified I almost feel unable to add my very small voice to the fire. But, I will anyway.

Jean-Baptiste Baratte has arrived at the palace of all palaces, Versailles. Here he sits, across from another silent man, waiting for a silent door to open. He is comfortable in his father's suit, he knows it's true worth and his own, or at least he believes he does. A well-educated farmer, an engineer who has built one bridge, well really it was more of a decoration over a small lake, but he engineered it. Jean-Baptiste is a man, just like every other man. He will follow orders from a minister and take money to do as he is told, because that is the only way to make something of yourself. Well of course, this is France, Paris to be exact in 1785, a world that appears to be endless in it's inequality.

Jean-Baptiste is welcomed into the belly of the Parisian beast, he is given a job he is hardly qualified for and has great distaste for and yet, he will take it. He will stay in a house neighbouring a graveyard, a graveyard he has been hired to 'purify'. For Baratte, this place appears unhealthy, there is a stench that seems to come from people's very breath, from inside, a stench that comes from the earth, the cemetery, known as les Innocents, overflowing with death. This unsavoury realisation comes upon him while eating in his new lodgings in the Monnard's house, there is Monsieur Monnard who has his own shop that sells blades, Madame discusses the weather and Ziguette (their rather attractive young daughter) plays the piano badly and enjoys watching people in the street. Their home borders the cemeteries walls and they breath the very breathe of death. For Barette, he must deal with his demons, rally a whole troop to dig up the bones and dispose of the corpses, though of course the minister must have thought of that?!

Now, I really could go on and on, there are so many incredible characters (Armand, the organist, Jeanne, the granddaughter of the sexton, Leceour, the idealistic miner, Jan Block, Lisa Sagent, Helouise, the literary prostitute, Dr Guillotine and many many more), shocking developments, Baratte's adventures around town, the market, the infamous suit... I really could go on and on. But I do warn you, do not read the back blurb too closely, do not turn your copy over, just sit down and read it from the first page. Andrew Miller has a true gift, he makes prose that dances off the page in true unbridled purity. He can make even the most horrific moments appear to be poetic and yet, it is so powerful you find yourself trapped within the moments, almost reliving the horrors as you dream (though of course these dreams are better scripted than anything you could come up with yourself).

I would encourage you all to go out and fetch this book, as always a plea to go to a real bookshop or library (they do the real thing there too, only free!) and then find yourself a quiet place to sit down, for you shall not be moving for a long time! Read it, love it, share it, enjoy the luxuriating wonders of it, for it is truly a monumentally wonderful book. Oh and the cover is great too!

How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran

So, while it was warm and lovely I got to hankering for a book with a bit of humour and damn good writing. For some reason my bookshelves, heaving with fiction, weren't quite doing it for me and I went in search of something else. To my surprise it was a non-fiction title that contained all I was looking for, a mixture of biography and feminist rant, but still bursting with humour Caitlin Moran's How To Be A Woman delivered when nothing else was quite right.

If you haven't heard of this book, I really do wonder where you have been!? It has catapulted its way into bookshops and brought more and more people (women, but also lots of men) to the realisation that they are indeed feminists! Feminism is not about burning your bra or never shaving your armpits, it's about recognising that men and women are not so different. If we are basically the same (or 'the guys' as Moran puts it) then why should one earn less than the other, or be seen in a different way. So let's just all be 'one of the guys' and not seen separately.

Now, I don't want to turn this into a rant about feminism, but please tell me you are a feminist! Young, old, male, female - we all deserve to be treated equally and that's all feminism is! Want to get a job, live on your own, date whoever you want, wear whatever you want, do whatever you want and you believe everyone else has that right to - then by gosh you are a feminist! Congrats, now lets topple this moronic belief that women should be controlled by men and tada we will be better off - all of us (even the men).
Okay, rant over!

Here is my favourite paragraph, well aside from all the gazillions of my other favourite paragraphs: 'Of course, whilst ostensibly both a literally and figuratively small problem, tiny pants have massive ramifications for us as a nation. It cannot have gone unnoticed that, as a country, our power has waned in synchronicity with the waning of our pants. When women wore undergarments that extended from chin to toe, the sun never set on the British Empire. Now the average British woman could pack a week's worth of pants into a match box, we have little more than dominion over the Bailiwick of Jersey, and the Isle of Man. All the good that women getting the vote has done has been undone by their constant struggle against their tiny pants.'

So anyway, you should all go buy this book, it is out in normal paperback now and is super duper amazing-ness! As a woman you should buy it because it will be one of the first times any other woman has ever been so heart-wrenchingly honest about what it means to grow up and become a woman. It will also have you laughing so hard that you embarrass yourself on buses and trains. Trust me, you will be giggling all the way to work/school or where ever and back again!

The Good Plain Cook by Bethan Roberts

The next book I read during my sunshine reading marathon was Bethan Roberts' The Good Plain Cook. It appealed to me because of the myriad of reviews from varied broadsheets and magazines I really admire. However, I found this novel to be a little too predictable. A nineteen year old girl, Kitty, is searching for a new job to escape from living with her controlling sister, she responds to an ad for a 'plain cook' at Ellen Steinberg's house. Ellen Steinberg is an American who is living with a married man, George, and her daughter, Geenie. It is a rather unconventional arrangement and most of the town are talking about her and wondering what it is like inside that house. Kitty is also attracted to all the mystery and so unfolds a rather dreary novel about class, love, sexual awakening and cooking.

Kitty cannot cook, Kitty has never been in love and she has always understood her position in the world. Kitty has also had no sexual experience, she has never even seen herself naked in a mirror! Ellen is pretending to be 'bohemian' but it is all just an act, though her past sexual exploration is covered with some shock and awe by the author. A woman in the 1930s paying for sex from a hairdresser! I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be shocked by this, or by Ellen's constant need to tell us and Geenie, that being naked is so great! (By the way, all the ! after sentences are showing my own disbelief that this is a major plot point of the novel. Sexual awakening in the countryside in England! My little cheeks are flushing!) I felt that Roberts found writing about sex shocking and all I can say is it was not shocking at all!

George is a middle-class (he works in publishing and is supposed to be writing a novel or poetry) Communist. He believes that everyone is equal, but we rarely see him lift a finger to do anything. Instead he is, as Arthur the gardener points out, pretending to care, he hasn't actually helped pull down the wall inside, neither does he help with the gardening, he just stands around. To be honest George is a little like this novel. The reviews would have you believe this to be a brave look at 1930s class and the levelling power of love. Everyone is on equal pegging when they are heart-broken right?

The only character I had any interest in at all was Ellen's daughter, Geenie. I hoped she would see right through the thinly veiled characters of Kitty, Ellen and George and join the reader in finding them wanting. But even Geenie, poor neglected little girl, is left with only half a character. Her rebellions that gave me such hope only ended in pathetic half-hearted gestures at remedy.

All in all, I didn't really enjoy this novel. Especially after reading The Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, I found Roberts' world and characters to be incredibly lacking. Even the ending was unsatisfying, or perhaps I no longer cared for the characters and therefore found the last few chapters incredibly dull and incomplete. I must say that by the end I was incredibly glad to close the book and go off in search of something better.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

I have been a terrible blogger. All those lovely days I spent sitting outside devouring book after book and not once did I sit at my laptop and write about it. So, I will attempt to make up for it today!

The first book I read was by Mary Ann Shaffer, a book many people were talking about a year or so ago. I don't think I could walk into a bookstore or have coffee with a friend without someone mentioning this book. The title alone seemed to attract readers. 'Potato Peel Pie Society' seemed to exude a type of mystery and humour that had been missing from literary books before. The 'Jane Austen Book Club' didn't sound as appealing after hearing this title. But, as you probably know now, I find it difficult to read a book when everyone is raving about it. So instead I re-read 84 Charing Cross Road and fell in love with it again.

Now, finally, I sat down to read 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' and I really enjoyed it. A beautifully written story that explores the realities of life after the war and the importance of family, no matter how that family is made. Juliet Ashton, the accomplished writer who is the central protagonist of this story, engages in a endearing relationship with the members of a Literary Society in Guernsey. Through letters the reader is drawn into the enchanting world of Guernsey's only Literary Society and their terrifying and incredibly brave past.

I have studied quite a lot of history, spent time poring over history books and yet, I know almost nothing about the German occupation of Guernsey. Part of me wished this book was real, like 84 Charing Cross Road that these stories I was reading were true and real. Yet, I was drawn into the story regardless. It is an engrossing and endearing read about the love of reading and the joy you can get from sharing a good book with others.

You should read this book, but if you have a low tolerance for whimsy then read 84 Charing Cross Road but for everyone else read both. Compare! Enjoy them and remember how much you love to read, because the sunny days are coming (I hope) so we are all in need of good books!

Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson

This book is about amnesia, a women wakes up in a bedroom that is not hers, beside a man she does not know and she wonders how much she had to drink last night to end up in someone else's house. That is until she makes it to the bathroom and realises that not only is she 20 years older than she thought she was, but there are pictures all around the mirror telling her that that man, in the bed, is her husband, Ben. She is married? She is older. She doesn't know who she is. Christine's memory resets every night before she wakes up. So she has no memory of the last 24 hours let alone the rest of her life.

I won't spoil this thrilling, page-turner for you. It is a breathless immersion into the life of an amnesiac. What would you do if all your memories were gone? If the only person you could trust was a man you didn't know, didn't recognise? How do you know who you are when you don't have any memories of your life?

I found this a very convincing and incredibly honest book. Similar to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time this novel draws you into an unknown reality. While many of us would like to relive our past, right our wrongs, forget our most embarrassing moments - would you really want to lose it all? Without hindsight we are nothing, we never learn, we would always be making the same mistakes over and over again. You would never be able to move on, to experience life the way you should. I found this to be a rather life-affirming read, while also being a pacey thriller with incredible twists and turns that make your heart beat faster with every chapter.

I have to admit to being the glazed eyed commuter, head buried in my book, eyes widening with each turn of the page, an involuntary gasp emitting my lips whilst my head began to whirl. This is a book that is well worth the embarrassing glances I received this evening. Well worth nearly missing my stop and walking home in a daze.

A brilliantly executed novel that is worth reading no matter where you are. I can't imagine any reader will be able to put this book down.

The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness

Now, I desperately want to write all about this book - it was so good, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was a roller coaster - like The Knife of Never Letting Go. A thrilling, no holds barred kind of a book that kept me turning the pages so quickly I nearly moved faster than light.

But, unfortunately, someone who reads my blog has finally got around to reading these fantastic books and therefore so as not to spoil it for everyone else who hasn't read The Knife of Never Letting Go - and you should!!! For now I will say I am a huge fan of the Chaos Walking trilogy and it belongs on every bookshelf. Get it from a bookshop, borrow them from a library and for goodness sake try not to give Amazon any more money - but if you must then do, because you really don't want to miss out.

So until next time!