Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edward-Jones & Anonymous

If you love fashion, love the catwalk and the labels and the gossip then this is the book for you. In the same series as Hotel Babylon, this book uses a fictional designer to deliver true tales from behind the scenes of the crazy fashion world.

How do those models stay that thin, who is taking what, why do the seasons change, who decides what??? The list is endless. You feel, by reading this book, that you are eavesdropping on a delicious conversation about all the famous household names. We all aspire to look good, but at what cost will the industry go to keep our interest?

It is a naughty, gripping, revealing no-holds-barred-sneaky-peek behind the scenes of a world most of us will never be lucky enough to grace!

I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read others by this author.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Catch 22 is a satirical novel set in world war 2. I didn't have a clue what to expect from it, other than it was most popular in the "best books" lists I browse on occasion. These usually tweak my curiosity and I bought the book with no preconceptions...well only that it was considered one of the greatest literary creations to come out of the 20th century. No pressure there then!

It mainly follows the plight of Yossarian a Bombardier, and many others from his squadron. Although on the whole I know little about the American involvement in Italy, the satire was not lost on me and even to someone who knows little about the army, the book entertained me page by page.

Catch 22 itself is a contradictory military rule where one cannot win. The desired outcome is unattainable. For example, Yossarian wishes to be grounded from his flight missions in the grounds that he is crazy. The Dr informs him that he could ground him due to him being crazy but the fact he has told the Dr he is crazy actually points to the fact that he is sane. To fly more missions would mean he was crazy but to ask to be grounded due to insanity means you are rational enough to know the danger you are in therefore you are sane! Due to this catch 22 no crazy man who asks to be grounded because of insanity can actually be grounded because by asking they are classed as sane!

Mind whirring brilliance!

Sense and Sensibility By Jane Austen

The story revolves around Elinor and Marianne, two daughters of Mr. Dashwood by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John, and the women are left in reduced circumstances. The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, a cottage on a distant relatives property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters' characters is eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. Through the events in the novel, Elinor and Marianne find a balance between sense (or pure logic) and sensibility (or pure emotion) in life and love. (Taken from Wikipedia.com...couldnt have said it better myself!!)

Sorry but this book was so awful in my opinion I couldn't bear to review it. All women seem to do in those days is sit brooding over which loser of a man is in love with them or become utterly devastated when something doesn't go right with said gentleman! They should have had a version of the Jeremy Kyle show in those days to go and spar it out! I couldn't take all the unnecessary drama!

In it's favour it was very beautifully written with wonderful use of English. Shame the content was like dull dishwater!

Sorry I think I have just massacred a classic! I feel strongly though, I have to warn people not to waste days of their precious lives reading this twaddle.

I should have had more "sense" not to read it! Never mind.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has become a classic much loved across the world, so I was curious to see what the fuss was all about. The themes that threw themselves at me were certainly morality based issues affecting many of us today, which is why i think the book has remained so popular.

As Scout and Jem grow up in their innocent child-world, life full of game and adventure with Dill, their father Articus Finch seems old and dull in comparison. The children spend their days tormenting the Radley house to catch a glimpsp of Boo Radley who no one has seen in years, and of whom rumours around the children are rife.

Articus, the moral hero of the book who's integrity and warmth are one of my favourite things about the novel, warns them off the Radley "adventure" they are on and the children slowly begin to open their eyes to the prejudice in their town.

Mirroring this prejudice, the children become increasingly aware of the case of Tom Robinson. Their father is representing him in a trail where he is accused of raping a local girl. The evidence is stacked in his favour, but the colour of his skin is not.

The children witness the atrocious behaviour of many of their so-called friends and neighbours and begin to see Articus in a different light.

Although the battle is lost before it is fought, Articus displays an unnerving defence for poor innocent Tom. The battle is subsequently lost, but the war is not. Though his rigorous and righteous battle for Tom, the community in which they had almost lost faith in seem to be moving some step forward thanks to this event.

It surfaces afterwards that Articus was not the only soldier fighting this war and others in the community have influenced the turn of events.

The readers eyes are opened to a corruption and evil present in all our societies. One would hope we all had a good sized share of Articus Finch's courage within us.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a thought provoking, impact-fulled read so relevant to our world today.
Sometimes a story though the eyes of a child makes more sense than any other.

A Town Called Alice by Nevil Shute

This book tells the story of Jean Paget an English woman who spent time in the war as a prisoner walking the country of Malaya as a walking prisoner. As the group of women trek from one place to the next surviving on what they can and dying as they walk they meet an Australian man called Joe Harmen who goes out of his way to help the women, especially for Jean and subsequently finds himself crucified by the Japanese for stealing some chickens.

Believing him dead when Jean is finally back in the UK she tries to get on with her life. The story told by her solicitor and friend Noel Strachen, unfolds as Jean comes in to a huge amount of money and returns to Malaya to those who helped her survive in the war and builds them a water well. During this time she discovers that Joe did not die and is back in Australia. Jean ventures off to Australia and Joe in the meantime is searching for her in England...all very frustrating. She travels through a prosperous town called Alice Springs and when she gets to the town Joe is from Willstown she eventually with Joe (who eventually returns, joins her and begins a relationship) builds the town up and keeps building until it is a prosperous town to live in attracting many others to come and work there.

It wasn't as good as i thought it would be. I have heard much about this book and when i read it I found it tedious in places and not gripping at all.

6/10

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

Three Secrets. Two Women. One Grail.




Alais from 1209 and Alice in 2005 are both on a journey and their destiny's are entangled. It is set in the French town of Carcassonne and the two women in their own times have fought to find the true meaning of the grail and protect its secrets.


The book, chapter from chapter, swaps between the time zones, making the story flow very cleverly but giving two totally different worlds a bond between each other.


The symbol of the Labyrinth causes intrigue and mystery as they seek to fulfil their respective destinies.



If you like a very in depth descriptive and intricate storyline, then this book will suit you well. It featured in the famous Richard and Judy reading club, which is how i got to hear about it. Reviews were mixed but on the whole positive towards the book.

I enjoyed it but it wasn't as compelling a page-turner as I have read before. I enjoyed the unfolding of the mystery but found some elements of the short a little unbelievable which spoilt it slightly for me. On the whole I would give the book a 6/10.

"The Bonfire of Berlin" and "Let Me Go" by Helga Schneider

Helga, as a child was left with her younger brother while her mother left them to go and work as a camp guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her father remarried and Helga was left with her step-mother who not only loved her brother and led others to believe he was her own, but rejected Helga and had her lead a most unloved and uncomfortable life, including getting her sent to a juvenile asylum. After coming back "home" to her step mother things do not improve and she has to live along with all the other residents of their block in a small cellar with threat not only of bomb attacks but with starvation, thirst, disease and death. On top of that they live in constant fear of physical attacks and rapes from enemy soldiers stalking Berlin.

When her father returns she gains little comfort from him. She leaves Berlin at the end of the book.

Let Me Go is the sequel to The Bonfire of Berlin, Helga finally as an adult decides to confront Traudi, her mother. She wants to see not only if she regrets her actions as a camp and extermination guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau but to see if she regrets abandoning her post as mother to her two children, which even the Nazi Party with all their evil ideas would have been against.

Helga hopes from this final meeting with her mother to be able to forgive her in some way and it is up to the reader to interpret whether or not she fulfils this. I believe she was finally at peace and had closure to the situation when she finally left her mother, who although in old age and fragile mental state, still had the evil ability to justify and control her actions.

Two amazing books from a different view point than we are used to when reading about Germany in the second world war.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

15 year old Michael falls ill with Hepatitis and is cared for briefly by a stranger, after recovering he goes to thank this stranger and subsequently begins a love affair with her. Slightly strange as she is in her middle 30's and he is a school boy of 15. The story follows this affair and how Michael reads to Hanna (the older woman) finally after a long affair Hanna leaves without warning. Heart broken at first Michael recovers and although he never forgets Hanna, and sets all future relationships against this one, he gains a good education and goes in to study law. It is during this time that he attends some war crime trials and is shocked to see Hanna in the dock, accused of not unlocking a burning church full of Jewish women, of which only a mother and daughter survive. She is accused of writing the report covering for herself and other female guards. Michael knows this is untrue as Hanna is illiterate. Regardless of this he says nothing and Hanna is finally sentenced to life in prison. Over her 18 year sentence Michael records hundreds if not thousands of books onto cassette sending her them to listen to. Only near the end of her sentence does he receive a small note from her so he knows she is learning to read and write. On the day of her release, of which Michael has been called in to help her reintegrate into the real world, Hanna hangs herself and leaves all her worldly goods and money to the Jewish daughter who survived the church fire, who subsequently doesn't want the money so Michael donates it to a Jewish illiteracy charity. All in all this is about sums it up.

I have read extensive material from the holocaust period, visited Auscwitzh and been very interested and horrified by the whole period. This book I didn't particularly value. I found it rather bland and forgiving to the monster that was the guard Hanna. Although I see the point of trying to humanize these guards and make them multi-faceted I didn't feel this was achieved. I know this has been made into a film and many would like to argue with me maybe on the basis of the film's success.I would like to see the film in order to judge for myself. I felt the idea was excellent but the execution of it was not so fluent.

If you are interested in this period then I would recommend it but don't expect too much.

I would recommend The fires of Berlin and Let me go, both by Helga Schneider if you are interested in some further reading. One follows on from the other and they are true accounts of the daughters experience of having a mother as an SS guard, the hatred, guilt and acceptance that she has to struggle with life long. I will write a review of them soon since we have discussed this area.

I am currently reading the Labyrinth by Kate Mosse.

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

The Year is 1909. Sigmund Freud and companions have just set foot onto American soil to partake in a number of lectures to spread their theories. Across town a murder and a terrible attack have taken place. The survivor of the attack, a society girl has lost both her voice and her memory. It will take the skills of Dr Younger, with Freud's help to use their genius to help her regain her memory and find the killer. It integrates beautifully a crime thriller, a mystery and a intricately pieced together piece of historical literature to create something so different and so compelling to finish that it only took me 2 days to finish from start to end.

With twists and turns on every page you can't help but be gripped into the scenery and story he so cleverly paints for us. His descriptive skills are second to none and he has accurately described the world around the characters as it would have been early in the 20th Century. This must have been no small feat. When he describes a situation you feel as though you are there in the room with them, standing in the park with them, or holding your breath in suspense for them! Great read. I thoroughly recommend it.

The next book I will review has recently been made into a film starring Kate Winslet. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.

Ninteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

1984 is written by the same author as Animal Farm. I had read Animal farm in 6th form when I was studying the Russian Revolution and found it both highly intelligent, and relevant to today's society as much as when it was written. I was interested to see if 1984 had the same command and affect over the reader. I was not disappointed. The Book follows the story of Winston Smith. Smith being representative of the society in which he lived in as it is the most common name. In a "Big Brother" society their every move is watched and hear on telescreens and any deviation from what is expected from Big Brother is punishable in the severest forms, often by torture and death.
Inside the not so safe few cubic centimeters of his head, Winston is forming a rebellion, he is committing thoughtcrime by wishing someone, somewhere could overthrow this oppression. He dreams of being loved, being free and being in a society where your every move isn't watched and analysed constantly.
Interestingly Big Brother who is ever present or omnipotent in the novel, never actually appear in person, so whether or not he is an actual person or just a representation to lead the population of Oceania is never known. The population are certainly not given the scope to explore this however, and are expected to love and serve Big Brother in body and mind at all times.
Free enterprise and individualism are none existent in the novel, Winston however is not under the party's entire control, in his mind he still maintains some of himself. He buys a diary on the black market and begins to fill in his thoughts for people of the future to read. He also falls in love and has secret relationships with Julia a fellow worker at the Ministry of Truth, where it is his job to amend and change articles from the past to constantly make them adhere to Big Brother's desires. Unfortunately the ending of the book is not a happy one. As with all my reviews I don't wish to ruin the ending for you but I strongly recommend you read it for yourself. It will change the say you not only view society but how you value or rights as individuals. It casts an interesting slant on our ever increasing "monitored" society bringing forward many debates as the increased CCTV on our streets, ID cards, and any such monitoring the government expects from us.

The next book I am reading is The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld. Review to follow soon!

A Study in Scarlet: Sherlock Holmes, By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A Study in Scarlet follows the murder of 2 men in London who have both dies at the hands of a cold blooded murderer...or have they? Holmes with his sidekick Watson embark on their first adventure together to discover the facts behind the two murders. Through the clever use of deduction the murderer is finally caught and justice prevails. The book is split into two parts, the criminal investigation and then the explanation and background. The detail is second to none and points he eludes on which you may think insignificant always tie up later in the story. I enjoy reading Sherlock Holmes mystery's and this one didn't disappoint.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

What a brilliant read! I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. Normally a book covering such a wide expanse of years struggles to keep the content so rich and flowing but this classic fulfils this task beautifully. From Jane's troubled and neglected childhood to her growing love and passion for Mr Rochester, the plain girl captures our hearts. Each time I picked up this book I was transported into her world forgetting all my worries and was able to totally absorb myself into the storyline. Not many books do that for me. I found her use of description incredible and could picture so clearly the landscapes, expressions, meals, clothes, colours, smells and rooms she described so articulately.
Even though it was published in 1847, the reader can so easliy relate to the charactor of Jane Eyre which is why I perceive it still to be so popular today. The different themes running through the book provoke much interest, morality, religion, social class, gender relations and even disability are so tenderly approached that they still feel as prominent now as when she wrote them. Jane Eyre tirelessly asserts her position in all the situations she finds herself in and in a male dominated world manages to become a strong and independant woman. Although she finally reunited with Mr Rochester the emphasis is more upon his need for her rather than the other way round and she is with him becasue she hopelessly loves him. In this I found a refreshing change to most love stories, whose main purpse is to demonstrate how the couple simply couldn't live without each other or like that of Heathcliff and Cathering in Wuthering Heights, self destruction commenced when they did not have each other. If I was a little more like the charactor of Jane Eyre I should be proud!

The next book I intend to review is A Study in Scarlet By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I am half way through so it should be finished in the next few days. Until next time............

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

I have wanted to read this book for long while now and am glad I have completed it unscathed. I appreciated that I was reading a piece considered to be of literary genius but upon further research I find that her ideas were not unique to her and the story line echoed that of others around that time. I was familiar with the story of Wuthering Heights but upon reading it I was not compelled to keep turning the page. Although it was written in the beautiful style of language common to their era, the story just didn't grip me.

Heathcliff is such a cold character and uncommonly cruel in my opinion. It is as though aside from Catherine (elder) he has no other room for any form of human kindness or humanity of any sort and I therefore found him rather unbelievable.

Hareton, who is made to seem almost animal like in his conduct due to his unfortunate upbringing by Heathcliff, surprised me most. To find that he and Catherine (younger) are, by the end of the book planning on marriage was so obscure and out of any expectation I held that again it diminished the level of believability for me.

I am glad I have read it and almost feel guilty to write such a review on one of the "classics" but I have to be honest with myself and say that I didn't particularly enjoy it.

I have started reading Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte's most well favored book, and am so far really enjoying it, I will not elude any further than that at this point but to say that there is a marked difference in the content to my liking!

The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield

This debut novel by Setterfield was absolutely outstanding. The plot, pace and content was second to none. Following the story of Vida Winters an ill and dying best selling authoress the main character Margaret begins to discover all is not what it seemed. It has quite a Gothic feel to it and an air of mystery that keeps you turning the pages. I felt like the way she described reading hit the nail on the head for me, the importance of words, no matter how long the writer has been dead their words will live on. Born as a conjoined twin herself, and grieving the death of her sister she was never to know about Margaret feels an affinity to the story of Vida Winters, but all is not as it seems. I hope To read more of her novels when she produces some more to see if they live up to this one. I certainly hope so!

Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage

I always read a book with great care not to bend the spine. If I lend a book to a friend or family member I always frown on its return to see the spine and pages creased and disrespected. I like to keep books in good condition and take care of them. I suppose aside from eating the books in the beginning of the story, I am much like Firmin the literary rat who devours words and relishes a great story captured on paper for a lifetime. It is a book with a depressive and lonely undertone and not one who leaves the reader feeling upbeat. It is a cleverly written piece which I hope to pass on to my more open minded friends who appreciate something a bit different. It does take an ounce or two of patience to get into the idea of a rat who reads but he is an endearing little thing who you ultimately grow to like and pity. Firmin articulately observes the society he can never be part of leading a lonely existence of unrequited love, friendship and contact.
I recommend this if you enjoy something a bit different to the norm.

The Misconceiver by Lucy Ferris

This is the only book i have read lately that I was relieved to finish!! It was so jumpy, hopping from one thing to the next and never really explaining parts of interest in any depth. The fact it was set in the future and under an authoritarian society that disallowed any form of abortions, know by the main character as misconceptions, any explanation of the society in which they were living or how it came to fruition were not clearly touched upon. Although I think she was trying to portray the technologically advanced society verses the culturally and politically backward aspect of control I feel it could have been done better and more clear to keep the reading wanting to turn the page. I think this would have given it more substance and made it flow more. Altogether a disappointing read already back in the charity shop for some other victim to purchase!

Coastliners by Joanne Harris

As I finished this book I had to admit I felt quite a sense of achievement. I'd made it! My trudge through treacle had come to a painful close. Sorry, to all of you expecting another chocolat you will be disappointed...at least I was. I found it slow-going and lacking of any gripping storyline. Although as always her descriptive skills are fantastic the actual storyline lacked that something special. I don't think I'll be picking up another of her books for a while.
Now I am starting The Misconceiver by Lucy Ferriss, I picked it up from a charity shop for 60p s0 I will let you know when I have finished it.
x

Slammerkin

Another book finished and enjoyed. Although this was probably the polar opposite to The Book Thief I really enjoyed it. The character is believable and like me LOVE dresses and clothes. How could I not enjoy the book...not one for prostitution myself the similarities end there but I really enjoyed reading about a time and conditions I know little about.

I sat in the sun and read the last few chapters and the red shoulders prove that it was a gripping ending as I didn't have time for suncream or shade! I'm like a woman possessed with the last few chapters of a good book, I have to finish it at all costs!

The Book Thief

I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak a few days ago and thought I would write a few words about it. I always intend to list the books I get through but there are so many and I never get round to jotting them down. This was quite possibly one of the best, most clever books I have read, and I have read a lot! It is narrated by Death himself and follows the tale of a young girl Lisel Meminger, the book thief and a child of Nazi Germany. Stealing stories helps her and many others through that terrible time. The use of language and the intricate story line kept me gripped till the last page. Death as the narrator gave me a totally different reading experience to the norm and I loved that unique stance. Rarely do I want to read a book a second time over but this one would definitely come in this category.

I am now half way to finishing Slammerkin, and again really enjoying it. I will review it once I have finished. The sun is shining, the house work is nearly done, and then the book will be my priority!!