Fabulous debut novel!

I've got through a number of books this week but the best by far was 'Before I go to Sleep' by S J Watson. This was so gripping I read it in one sitting - sorry family! Just imagine waking up each morning not remembering anything about your life. You have to re-recall memories that the rest of us take for granted by reading your journal. A man tells you he is your husband and another man tells you he is your doctor. Can you believe either of them? Any threads of memories that you have during the day are written in your journal that is hidden from your 'husband' on the advice of your 'doctor'. I can't recommend this one too highly.

My 13 (going on 18) year old daughter has just finished The Hunger Games and it was so good to see her similarly glued to a book that I downloaded the next book in the series to my new kindle. Big mistake - I haven't seen it since. Out of interest I started The Hunger Games myself and can quite understand the attraction; it's a scary story about the not too distant future and how the world has evolved. In order to keep 'the plebs' in order, the leaders (the Capitol) have devised a horrific 'game' that takes place each year. Each district has to provide two children (one of each sex) who then hunt each other to the death. The winner takes prizes back to his/her district. And the whole thing is televised just so everyone is sure of who is ruling who. TV viewing is of course compulsory. The scary thing is, you can just about see this happening in the future.

Paul Torday

I've just finished 'The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers' by Paul Torday. This is a writer who was recommended to me by my mother. I took my time about taking up her suggestion as I had so many other books waiting to be read, but finally picked up 'More Than You can Say' a couple of months ago on audio. I was absolutely hooked immediately. The link I've given here doesn't give a very good write up but I found it a very plausible story line. The narrator is an army veteran who has seen terrible things in Afghanistan and Iraq and isn't dealing well with his memories. He has lost his fiancee and their business and is coasting along day by day, spending a lot of time gambling. He is bet that he can't walk from London to Oxford in time for lunch the next day. On his way he is kidnapped and forced into a marriage with an Afghan girl. He falls in love with her and is not the participant that was expected for the agreement made, in fact makes life quite difficult for the arrangers of this marriage. Al Quaeda is involved and things get very interesting. I felt it said a lot for the numbers of soldiers who go away to fight a fairly filthy battle on behalf of the West without sufficient support when they come home and out of the army. He is obviously suffering from post traumatic stress with all its attendant problems and I found it a fascinating story.


The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers, which I finished yesterday deals with the issues of banking and money, particularly in the late 80s/early 90s when money was virtually being given away - you could get a mortgage with very little savings. Charlie Summers is a con man who drifts from one entrepreneurial scheme to the next with little thought for how it could work out although not intentionally out to hurt people. He meets up with Eck who's a front for a Hedge Fund. Eck is enjoying earning spectacular money without much understanding of the whys and wherefores of the banking industry. The parallels between the two were interesting and a tad scary in their own way. I enjoyed the book in a fairly light hearted fashion.

Also finally finished The Thread which I thooughly enjoyed. I know now much more about Greece's past that I did before. Lovely book; one I know I will return to.

I've got Victoria Hislop's The Thread going on the MP3 player at the moment. I love listening to audio books when I'm sewing (can't hear the radio when the machine's going) or when I'm walking the dog without a friend to keep my company and put the world to rights.

Victoria Hislop writes excellent books and this last one is just as good as the others. She really researches the area she writes about and you get such a sense of history happening. This one is particularly interesting to me as an embroiderer because one of the main characters learns her craft in a workshop in Thessaloniki sewing on buttons, beads, ruffles, and finishing off tailor made clothes. Right up my street!

She also covers such things as what happens to the Jews in Greece during the Second World War when the Germans marched in (take a guess) and Greek Orthodox refugees from Turkey, swapped for Greece’s Muslim population - a part of Greece's history I had never heard of before. I'll let you know how I get on with it but I think it might well be my favourite of her three books to date.

My first posting! I read voraciously, always have done. I used to get into terrible trouble as a child for always having my 'nose in a book' and nothing's changed. I'm always looking for new book recommendations and recommending titles and authors to friends so it seemed a good idea to put it down in writing.

I usually have at least two books on the go plus at least one audio book - my MP3 player is one of my favourite little devices around the place. I can't pass a charity shop without checking if there's anything on the shelf that I haven't got and my book collection is now stored in an adjoining barn. That's getting pretty bad!!



My first recommendation (finished yesterday evening) is The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller. It's a little like a mix between Birdsong and something by Robert Goddard - excellent reading and kept my gripped up to the end. In a nutshell, it's post First World War and a woman writes to the friend of her dead brother asking him to find out why her brother survived the war only to kill himself two years later. There's a little love interest in it and quite a lot of information about what happened to deserters during this terrible time. I loved it and would highly recommend it to anyone.