August books

Categories: uncategorized

Tags: books, reading

Date: 31 August 2010 12:00:31

Welcome to the Real World by Carole Matthews is a kind of X-factor book. Fern Kendal is a barmaid working in a grotty pub and doing a bit of singing on the side. She gets a temp job working as a PA to the world-famous opera singer Evan David. He has a sad history of bereavement which makes him reluctant to commit to any relationships but Fern charms him. All is going well until she enters a singing competition and finds out he is a judge. She can't deal with this and does a runner. A fun read, with a happy ending.

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Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani is a rather sweet little book. Set in the 1950's Lucia Sartoria is the youngest child of a large Italian family who live in New York. Her father owns the grocery store and she works as a seamstress is a prestigious department store. She works hard and is excellent at her job and wants to meet a man who will let her continue with her work. The story shows her battle for love, as well as retaining some of her independence.

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The Real Deal: My Story from Brick Lane to the Dragon's Den by James Caan was on my reading list of the Dragon's autobiographies. Born in Parkistan James moved to London when he was small with his parents. Fighting aginst the constraints of hus culture he left home at 16 and started doing menial office jobs. He became a seriously successful entrepreneur and made millions. What really impressed me though was his love for his family and his commitment to being a businessman with integrity. He has invested millions in charity, but has been very specific about how he would like his money to be spent and he seems to be a nice bloke who means who wants to make a difference. A good read and I liked him!

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The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble isn’t quite what I expected. The story is about a bunch of friends who meet together as part of a book group. Each had pretty sorted lives and the novel follows the unravelling (and in some cases the re-ravelling of their personal circumstance.) Whilst I did enjoy the book there were so many characters in the story, not to mention their partners and children, that I found myself getting lost with who was who. It was only the last 5 chapters that I gained any interest in how things were going to work out in the end.

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I found The Diplomat's Wife by Pam Jenoff a very enjoyable read, despite there being major accuracy errors throughout the book. A sequel to the book Kommandant's Girl which I listened to on audio CD back in May 2009. Following on after the war the book takes up the story of Marta, a Polish girl who was involved in the Resistance movement. She ends up in a concentration camp before being liberated by a handsome American soldier who she rather predictably falls in love with. There ensues a tale of lost love and tragedy! I enjoyed the read but one of the things that annoyed me so much was the extraordinary and stunningly unlikely coincidences which meant this story held together.

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I can honestly say that Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz is one of the mpst bizarre books I have ever read. Moments before he is born Jimmy Tock's grandfather predicts that he will have five terrible days in his life, and then his grandfather dies. At the maternity unit whilst he is being born a psycho-clown goes on a rampage, killing the medical staff. The story of this book is the story of those 'five terrible days' and how Jimmy Tock and his family go on to survive it. Just a bizarre story, but a good read.

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The Self-Preservation Society by Kate Harrison is about Jo Morgan. Probably one of the most irritating characters I have ever read about. She is convinced that the world is going to end in some terrible nuclear holocaust so right from when she is a little girl she is preparing for such an emergency. As an adult she works in risk management or something. Everything changes when she is involved in an accident with a cyclist and starts becoming a bit of a risk taker. I think I might have preferred it if she never emerged from her coma!

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Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult is quite an interesting book. A woman, Cassie, is found in a graveyard suffering with amnesia. She is rescued bu a police officer who has recently moved to Los Angeles from an Indian reservation. Cassie is 'claimed' by a famous actor, her husband, and she tries to remember what led up to her losing her memory. What she finds out means that her life begins to unravel again. Quite a good read and I thought how the story worked out was interesting. A good beach book!

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Up and Down in the Dales by Gervase Phinn is a really lovely read. Continuing his reflections of life in the Yorkshire Dales working as a schools inspector. His wife Christine is now expecting their first child and he gets into all sorts of problems when he realises he has demolished a very old Quaker meeting house which was in his garden. I love these books. They are so gentle and so funny. Now I live in Yorkshire I hear the voices in my head so much better. Great books and well worth a read.

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I, Alex Cross by James Patterson once again features Detective Alex Cross. This time the case he is working on is much more personal. His niece has been murdered and his investigations lead him to find out that she was a high class prostitute. She, and several other girls were murdered by a serial killer and the story takes him on a dangerous journey to find the killer. Fast paced and exciting I thought this was quite a good read.

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