Here is my reading summary for the week ending 15th January 2012.
Each week I will give a short summary of the books I have finished and a bit of a blurb for each. I will also give you a sneak peek of all the books I am currently reading (as I never read just one book at a time) and I will also share any quotes that catch my eye.
A= Excellent Stuff
B= Really Good Read
C= Average
1. This week I have finished:
- Hunter’s Way by Gerri Hill (Mystery) – A
Tori Hunter is one tough Homicide cop and has gone through 6 male partners in 3 years. She has got the reputation for being hard to get on with, and now she has been partnered with Samantha, Samantha gives back as good as she gets and a deep friendship is growing between the two. The two women are working on a serial killer case – four young women have been found murdered and their bodies discarded in a dumpster. At first it appears the link is that the girls are all prostitutes. The third victim alerts them to the fact that the three women are all lesbians – the fourth victim has now confirmed it. Tori and Samantha need to find out who is doing the killing quickly, which means Samantha is going to locations in the city she never dreamed existed.
- The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (Science Fiction/Dystopian) – A
This is a dystopian book that I reread every couple of years – I never tire of it. Set in the future, a nuclear war has destroyed civilization and those who survived now live in isolated communities with their own sets of rules. David’s community is run by religious fundamentalists who are constantly alert for any deviation from what they perceive as the norm of God’s creation. Plants and animals are destroyed; babies are killed at birth, but if the deviation is discovered when they are older people are made to leave the community and live in the wild country. David and few of the other children have their own deviation that cannot be readily seen, they can talk to each other telepathically. As they grow older they realise that if this knowledge gets out their lives will be in danger, help is on the way from far, far away but will it arrive in time?
- Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (Chick Lit) – C
Many of my reading buddies enjoyed this book but it just didn’t light my fires. Was a pleasant read and I enjoyed it, just didn’t LOVE it. The story centers around three main characters; Jennifer, Beth and the man who is invading their privacy, Lincoln. Lincoln is hired by a company to monitor the email going in and out of the workplace for inappropriate usage; and he is suppose to issue warnings on that misuse, including the use of email for personal chats. I am OK with this as this was company policy and all the staff was aware of the monitoring. BUT, Lincoln takes a step over the invasion of privacy line when the personal exchanges between Beth and Jennifer catches his eye and he continues to read the girls ‘chit chat’ emails without sending a caution. ‘Attachments’ follows all three characters as their stories unfold as they struggle with various problems.
- It Happened One Summer by Polly Williams (Chick Lit) – B
Nell Stockdale has a complicated life, she is 37 and has just been made redundant; her daughter’s father has recently married and announced his young wife is expecting a baby; the man she considered to be the love of her life is now engaged to her sister and now her mother is seriously ill and needs someone to mind her. Nell is railroaded by her family to spend the summer in Cornwall caring for her mother. So was there an up to all this – well there might just be a chance for Nell to sort out what she really wants from life, make friends with her mother, bond with her little daughter and possibly live happily ever after. But like all good chick lit stories there is a hurdle on the horizon and dark secrets are about to be revealed. I liked Nell – she has serious flaws as a person, but she is facing them and growing as a person
2. My Current reads:
The books I am currently reading are:
Ghoul Interrupted by Victoria Laurie – A Paranormal mystery, I love this series and this is the latest release.
A soldier’s Tale by M.K. Joseph – Historical, a disturbingly haunting story set in WWII France – written by a New Zealander. Has been made into a movie of the same name
Liverpool Daisy by Helen Forrester – Another Historical story – is the story of a woman called Daisy who lives in Liverpool during the depression.
3. Quote/s for the week
This week I have two quotes.
The first is from page 30 of ‘It Happened One Summer’ by Polly Williams and is where Nell has just found out that her secure world is starting to crumble:
“…"…Nell spent the rest of the day utterly wretched. It was a real struggle to keep up appearances for Cass who clearly sensed something was afoot and became clingy and difficult. Only once Cass was in bed could Nell finally collapse into her own misery on the grey velvet sofa with wine and cooking chocolate…" …”
The second quote are the opening lines on page 1 of ‘Ghoul Interrupted’ by Victoria Laurie which gives an insight into the zany main character M.J who is a ghost buster.
“…I’ve always believed in ghosts. Actually, I had no choice in the matter. My childhood was full of encounters with disembodied voices, strange blue flashes, flickering shadows at the edge of my peripheral vision, and odd-looking orbs appearing right over my head. And then of course, my mother died and her ghost came to see me…”
