The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks

I have to say I enjoyed this book far more than The Notebook.

I was immediately drawn to Kyle – the young son of Denise Holton. He’s probably one of the cutest children I’ve read in a book and it was very easy to fall in love with him. I also found it very interesting to learn about Kyle and the difficulties he has surrounding speech and language. It becomes all the more interesting because after reading the novel I learned that a lot of Kyle’s story is drawn from Nicholas Sparks’ own experience with his son. I found that the family element of this story really added to the story and I have to admit that a few of the scenes between Kyle and Taylor and Kyle and Denise had me in tears.

I also really liked the relationship between Denise and Taylor. I thought that they worked quite well together. I found Taylor’s story quite interesting and didn’t quite work out exactly what had happened and I can definitely see how it shaped Taylor’s future.

The story feels almost as if it’s in two parts. The first part is absorbing. The accident and the search for Kyle. It was a real page turner as I tried to place myself in Denise’s shoes imagining how it would feel to know that my four year old had gone missing in a storm near a swamp – and that the child wouldn’t be able to respond to rescuers because of his speech problems. But I was also trying to put myself in Taylor’s shoes – be to be one of those searching in those difficult conditions, looking for a small child and knowing all the difficulties they faced. I also liked how Taylor’s mother Judy was introduced and how she went to be with Denise.

The second part of the book is the love story. I loved how the relationship developed although sometimes time seemed a bit jumpy. The first part of the book – the search – took place over a relatively short space of time whereas the love story spans months. I have to admit I was very shocked by twist with the warehouse fire but it was interesting to see how Taylor reacted to that and I know that something like that was needed in order to bring the story to a close.

I really liked the ending. It fit with the book and it made me smile. A nice love story which at times was very tear jerking (with both sad and happy tear). I was pleasantly surprised especially after being disappointed by The Notebook. 

The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks

I have really mixed feelings about The Notebook. When I think about the story I really enjoyed it but when I think about reading it less so. That probably sounds a little bizarre but I'll try to explain.

Despite the book being quite short (my edition is 195 pages of the Notebook and then 20ish pages of the first chapter of A Walk To Remember) I found it quite slow going and in places rather plodding. As much as I had to say it I was almost glad when I realised that extra 20 pages weren't more of the Notebook – which I would have had to read – but rather the first chapter of a different book – which I didn't have to read. From reading the Notebook I think it's fairly obvious that it's one of his early books (possibly even his first published) because the style wasn't quite up to the standard I'd enjoyed with Dear John and The Last Song. It wasn't absolutely terrible but it wasn't overly good either.

And yet the story was quite good. The idea of the old Noah reading the story of his romance to his wife who has Alzheimers disease and how he hopes that by reading the story he will get to have a good day with her – a day when it is only her memories that are gone and she becomes the woman she used to be rather than a woman tormented by her mind. I think I almost enjoyed the present stuff more than the past. I liked the voice that Noah had and felt that it flowed more easily than the third person narrative of the past. The present time stuff was emotional. I cried but then I expected too.

I think the past stuff was maybe a little too perfect. Allie and Noah's relationship seemed so absolutely perfect and steady and maybe it would be been better to have seen something more. Something that made them seem more real rather than just perfection. I suppose I just wanted a bit more character development than what the book gave.

I've not seen the film adaptation but I have read the plot of it and I feel that the ending on the film would have been a better way to end the book as well. A rare example of when I feel a change made for a film was actually better than the source material.

I don't think this is a bad book. It's a good book for a hopeless romantic who wants a quick love story which will tug at your heartstrings and send your tear ducts in to overdrive. Maybe not the best written book ever. But it has a promising story idea.

I don't think I'd be in any hurry to read it again but I'm glad I've read it.  

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen

I like Water for Elephants. I can't say I absolutely loved it but I didn't hate, or dislike, it either. I think the only word to really describe my feelings is like.

There seems to be so much crammed in to this book and yet so little. Some of the characters and characterisations just didn't come across well to me. Marlena just seemed a little bit bland and I wish she'd had a bit more of a personality. All I really know of her from this book is that she looks good in pink sequins and she has some sort of power over horses. Similarly August seems a very odd character to me. His illness seems to come a little out of left field and doesn't really seem to be portrayed in a very realistic way. I suppose I just don't really see him as character who has that condition. I did like Camel and Kinko / Walter and thought the pair of them were very interesting and their ending very sad.

But certain characters charmed me – which is impressive given those are the characters who don't exactly communicate much. I'm talking about Rosie and Bobo. My favourite characters in this book were an elephant and a chimp. Although the twist with Rosie was a little bit bizarre and probably not all together realistic.

I did like Jacob and found the nursing home scenes to be very well written. In the circus he seemed such a humble character. He's harder and more grumpy in the nursing home but I think that's more the sadness of his situation and missing the life he led more than anything. I did like his ending.

Certain scenes in the book seemed to be a little bit over the top – primarily those in the Hooch tent and the Barbara / Nell scene. I don't think the scenes really add that much to the book and could have been eliminated from the novel or toned down and it wouldn't really have affected the story a great deal. I don't have a problem with sex in books but this just seemed strangely written.

I think from this book I take away a greater interest in Elephants, the treatment of animals in the entertainment industries and of circus life in general. Would I rush to buy another Sara Gruen book? Probably not.  

Case Histories - Kate Atkinson

I was really looking forward to this book. I saw the adverts for the television drama and thought it looked good (although I didn't actually watch it) and so when I saw the book I couldn't resist it. But I'm not entirely sure what to make of it.

I don't think this was bad book. The cases were fairly interesting and I thought it was well written – although some of the language was fairly crude and I could have perhaps done without that (and I'm no prude!). I just don't think it was needed and it didn't really add anything. I've heard a lot about the comedy of the book but I didn't really see that at all.

There were certain little things that niggled me about the way the book was written. The chapters were narrated by different characters from the book (Jackson, Amelia, Theo and Caroline along with the occasional case history) but some of the action in say Amelia's chapter would then be re-examined in Jackson's chapter or visa versa. This led to me being especially confused when a dog died during one of the chapters and then was alive and well at the beginning of a different characters narration. Sometimes it's good to see things from a different angle but when it isn't expressly stated which point in time your in at the start of us narrator change it gets a bit confusing (and boring when your covering the same point in time such as Jackson finding Theo and Marlee).

I quite liked Jackson Brodie the detective. I think the relationship between Jackson and his young daughter Marlee was a highlight of the book and I hope that this is continued in the other books in the series. I also liked how, not only did Jackson work on the main cases (Laura Wyre and Olivia Land) but we also got to learn a little bit about his other work. With Nicola – although after putting the book down I did forget who Nicola was and had to flick back just to refresh my memory. I also didn't quite get Jackson sleeping with certain characters but that may have just been me.

Of the cases I think it was the Olivia case that really drew my attention and I liked the fact that Binky eventually became a part of that case as well as having her own side plot. I think the crimes against Jackson didn't quite work properly and seemingly big things happened and yet there wasn't much reaction to it. The conclusion to Olivia's story was a good one and I liked that it was fairly well tied up. Although I have to say the change in Amelia come the end was rather unexpected and it was a bit of a “What The … moment”.

The Laura case was interesting but did it have to be stated so many times that Theo was fat? It was getting to the point of driving me insane. I got that he was overweight the first time the author mentioned it and I hadn't forgotten it by the 9999^th (maybe a bit of exaggeration there) time she mentioned it.

I think of the books cases I was most disappointed with that of Michelle Fletcher. I think I had it pretty much figured out the main aspects of the story (such as the fate of Tanya) and with the arrival of Shirley everything else sort of dropped in to place and suddenly that mystery just felt too obvious. I'm always a little disappointed when I manage to work out a mystery before it's conclusion. I also didn't really feel that this case fitted all that well with the other two. Perhaps because the majority of the action took place away from the other characters.

I'm not sure whether I'll read the remaining books in the Jackson Brodie series. Maybe they improve?  

Secrets She Left Behind - Diane Chamberlain

I can't believe it's been a year since I read Before the Storm. Nor can I believe I've had this book on my shelf for so long. Since reading Before the Storm I've read 3 more Diane Chamberlain novels (in addition to the Lost Daughter which I read before BTS) and I have to say I am really loving her work.

Secrets she Left Behind takes place a year after Before the Storm. So maybe the gap in my reading makes sense. The novel picks up with Maggie Lockwood finishing her 12 month sentence for the fire. The fire which killed three and injured many including Keith.

While the back of the novel seems to promote this as Maggie's book really it is Keith's – although their stories are very much intertwined. Keith was badly scarred in the fire which Maggie set but he's story is about a lot more than that. Keith is actually Maggie's half-brother – fathered as the result of an affair between Jamie (Maggie's dad) and Sara (Keith's mum). Making this family tree a little bit more complicated is Andy – Maggie's little brother who Maggie discovers during the book (but which the read found out in book 1) is actually her half brother as well. Andy's real father is not Jamie Lockwood but rather Jamie's brother Marcus. So back to Keith. His story really starts with the disappearance of his mum Sara. As time passes and Sara isn't found Keith goes on quite an emotional journey.

Maggie's story is a little different with her adjusting to life back in the world. The characters of the novel live on what I believe is quite a small island so everybody knows who Maggie is and what she did. She spends a lot of the novel hiding away. As part of her sentence Maggie must complete 300 hours of community service. And some of the scenes in the hospital where she does some of these hours is very emotional.

And then there is Jen. A character who ties to both Keith and Maggie although the reason isn't quite clear until near the end of the novel. I guessed that something was going to happen with the character and that she wasn't what she seemed but I didn't manage to work out exactly who she was.

Throughout the novel we are given Sara's insight in to the past through memoirs she had written. This allowed the reader to get her point of view on many of the events that we talked about in Before the Storm. It actually gave a bit more depth to it. Although I'll admit I did end up thumbing quickly through BTS just to jog my memory of certain things. - like how Jamie died.

And then there is the sweet little story of Andy and his girlfriend Kimmie. The previous book was very much about Andy but in this novel he takes more of a back seat although his actions early on in the novel do set some wheels in motion. I liked the relationship between the two although I wish we had seen his friend Emily from the first novel in the role. Emily isn't seen in this book at all although her family are briefly mentioned a few times.

This was a very enjoyable book to read although I'm not sure that I enjoyed it as much as Before The Storm and I wish it hadn't end where it did. I'd have liked to have known what happened to Maggie – did she complete her 300 hours and how did she do? Did she ever leave Topsail in order to live more freely? How did Keith cope with life? Did he and Maggie ever manage to forge a relationship after everything that happened? What about Keith and Andy?

Maybe there will be a third book. But I somehow doubt it.  

Minding Frankie - Maeve Binchy

Minding Frankie was a bit of a strange read for me.

I’d love to say that I really enjoyed it but for personal reasons I found certain parts of the book very difficult to read. As a sort of sub plot within the book we witness the diagnosis of a man with lung cancer and how he deteriorates and eventually passes away from the disease. This was sadly rather close to home with a great-granddad passing in much the same way. And while I commend the author for what seemed like a very realistic portrayal it was rather to hard for me to read.

But away from that we had the story of Noel and his discovery that he is a dad to a baby girl named Frankie. There’s a real sense of community in this book as everyone bands together to help Noel care for his new daughter and to support him in facing his demons in life. And while having so many characters is interesting it did leave me very confused and I often couldn’t work out just who was who especially all of the different families who live in St Jarleth’s cresent.

I also wasn’t overly fond of Emily as a character. She seemed to take over and monopolise everyone. Everyone became too reliant on her in such a short space of time it seems entirely implausible that they had survived a life without her. The doctors surgery cannot locate documents without Emily and hospital staff cannot find the best bus route to the hospital that they already work in. I also didn’t really like Moira but I guess as she’s the sort of villain of the piece that was too be expected.

I think though my main issue with the novel is the plot twist. I’m not going to spoil it for you but for me it destroyed the book. It came almost completely out of nowhere and didn’t add anything. I don’t think the ending would have suffered any without it and I don’t think it adds anymore to the novel. It just doesn’t really seem to fit.

I think that if a few things had been different this would have been a favourite of mine. Sadly I can’t change them.  And one thing I didn’t really get from the book was just who was St Jarleth and what did he actually do? 

The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ - Philip Pullman

I would really like to say I enjoyed The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ. I would like to say it – but honestly I can't.

I've read Philip Pullman books before and have found them to be good reads - well written and with interesting idea So when I saw this book I was firstly intrigued by the title and secondly by the fact that it was written by Pullman.

The title is interesting and from reading the back of the book I was hooked. The idea of the familiar stories from the bible being changed so that Jesus was born a twin and that it is the story of two brothers rather than one man.

Sadly though the book didn't live up to it's blurb. I found the writing to be very off putting. It wasn't the usual strong style I associated with Philip Pullman. I'm not sure whether this book was churned out quickly and therefore Pullman didn't have enough time to work on it to get it up to standard or whether it was actually supposed to be written that way. When I was reading the book the first thing that came to mind about the writing style was that it was almost written in the way I would explain bible stories to a young child.

Normally I don't mind short chapters. But some of the 'chapters' in this book it was barely worth classing them as chapters. One example is the chapter “The Death of John” which is literally a single page and is barely even a full page at that. Some chapters are longer such as the ones where Jesus has long speeches.

I was disappointed with this book. It held so much promise and it just didn't delivery.

Pretty Little Liars - Sara Shepard

Somehow I managed to miss this book when it was first released around 2006. Strange really given in 2006 I was 15 years old and really in the target age group for this book. But it passed me by and it's only now aged 20 that I've stumbled across it. That's probably in part down to the television show of the same name – although I haven't actually watched it yet. I wanted to read the books first.

So the first book in the series introduces us firstly to a group of five friends. Alison, Aria, Emily, Spencer and Hanna as they get together to hang out in Spencer's barn. Early on in the book it's introduced that there is some sort of big secret that binds the five friends together. Throughout the book this secret is referred to as “The Jenna Thing” and while we discover the end result we don't find out just what the “Jenna Thing” was. Anyway things take a turn during the time in the barn and Alison leaves the barn only to disappear.

Cut to three years later and things have changed considerably in Rosewood. The four remaining are no longer friends. In fact they have very little interacting during the course of the book – right up until the very end. I hope that in the future books we have some more of the 'Liars' together.

And then there is the mysterious 'A' a character who seems to know all the secrets of the 'Liars'. From reading the book I don't have a clue who 'A' is and I don't think that particular mystery will be solved quickly. The original series spanned over 8 books but this is now being expanded.

I think the best way to describe this book is Desperate Housewives for teenagers. You have to suspend your disbelief in order to accept what is happening and it's rather easy to forget the characters are only supposed to be 15 / 16. Characters like Aria's brother Mike and Emily's sister Carolyn I couldn't even begin to work out their ages.

So yes I'm quite looking forward to the next instalment of the Pretty Little Liars series – and it's also made me want to see the show that little bit more just to see how it ties up with my vision of how things look.  

One Day - David Nicholls

I really wanted to like this book. It's one of those that I'd heard a lot about and that I was interested by. The idea of following two characters for twenty years but only actually focussing on one specific day seemed intriguing and was a concept I hadn't really stumbled across before.

The problem for me was that I didn't especially like the two main characters. If I had to pick a favourite of the two it would be Dexter. He is something of an idiot and I spent a lot of the book wanting to be able to reach in to the pages and shake some sense in to him. But in many ways he was charming and that helped me to be able to see why Emma loved him.

On the other hand we have Emma. The second of the main characters. I would have liked to like her. With her dreams of being a writer and other aspects of her character, she shares many traits with me. However, I hope that that is where the comparison ends because Emma spends a great deal of time in the book moaning. Even when good things happen to her she doesn't seem to be happy.

The book is meant to be funny. Rather like the comedy styling of would be comic Ian – I didn't find it to be. I definitely didn't laugh out loud during the book and don't even recall the vaguest hint of a giggle or a titter on my lips.

I suppose I would touch on the ending of the book. The twist that comes in 2005. I'll be honest in that I didn't really see it coming but I also can't say that I was totally shocked by it either. I don't think it have the effect of me that it should have in that it was basically an 'oh well' sort of moment. I don't think it was a twist that worked overly well for me.

I did like how in the last few chapters we saw more of a glimpse in to the first day with Emma and Dexter. July 15^th 1988 (just over two years before my own birth). It was nice to read more about the day that started their friendship. I suppose part of me thought it was a little bit strange to end with a scene from 1988 but I suppose it ended where it started.

Would I pick up another novel by David Nicholls? Probably not. I doubt this is a book that'll stick with me. Maybe I'll go to the cinema to watch the film when it comes out but I don't think I'll rush there. I didn't really like Emma on the page and I can't really see Anne Hathaway bringing anything to the role – although I don't think she's a bad actress (just not how I see Emma).