fairywhispers's "2008 Bookshelf"

This book was extremely disappointing. Being a fan of R.L. Stine, I was expecting some real thrills, but this turned out to be a typical teenage friendship story with the odd poltergeist activity thrown in. I won’t be bothering with anymore of the series.

I bought this book because clutter is overtaking my home. I’ve never been a great housekeeper and the mess seems to get worse every year. No More Clutter is easy to read and has loads of great tips for ways to create and maintain a clutter-free home. My the time I finished reading this book, I was feeling inspired and I have already begun de-cluttering. It’s a little difficult to part with stuff that was given to me by my family, even though it has sat there so long unused. But I have made a start and, little by little, I will get there!

I read about Nightfall when it was mentioned in passing in New Scientist magazine. Their description interested me, so I borrowed the book from the library. This is the first Isaac Asimov I have read and I can see why he has such a great reputation. Living on a planet with just one sun, we do tend to take darkness and stars for granted. But what if we had never seen either? How would a people, used to eternal light, cope with their first exposure to night? How would someone who had never seen the night sky deal with all those millions of stars? Nightfall is a riveting account of how one society faced just such a challenge and it is an account that is well worth reading.

The Dead and the Gone tells the story of how a family in the city cope with the events described in Susan Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It. I loved Life As We Knew It and while I did enjoy this book, I did not feel it was as good. It was interesting to read the different ways the people in the city were affected as opposed to those in the country, and how the residents dealt with it. This is a good book to read but it simply doesn’t have the urgency of the first one.

I was very disappointed with this book. I picked it up expecting it to be a thriller as this was the impression given by the blurb on the back. Unfortunately, The Ghosts of Now has nothing to do with ghosts. It is, instead, just another troubled family drama – and not even a very well written one at that. I doubt I shall read this again.

I picked this book up fully intending to read a chapter before bed. Nine hours and six glasses of coke later, I was finished. The story this book tells is sad and tragic, and the writing hooks you from the beginning. Betrayed details the doubts and uncertainties most parents feel at some point, especially when dealing with what appears to be a problem child, and highlights the lack of help available to such families. The fact that Sarah and her family had to endure such horrible events for so long is an inditement of our society, where parent’s concerns are dismissed as nonsense, and illnesses and psychosis are diagnosed for convenience. Betrayed is a difficult book for parents to read, but I highly recommend it.

Written in diary form, Life As We Knew It tells of one family’s struggle to survive while the world collapses around them. Told from the point of view of sixteen-year-old Miranda, this story brings home just how reliant we are on all the modern conveniences. How would you survive if you were suddenly without electricity, natural gas, air-con, phones, running water? If gas and food were no longer being transported? If medicines were running out? It’s a scary prospect for us as adults, how much scarier for children and teenagers?

This is an apocalyptic novel that is all the more frightening for it’s feasibility.

The Thirteenth Tale is an amazing journey into one woman’s hidden past. Filled with beautiful language and wonderfully descriptive passages, this is an extraordinary first work by an incredibly gifted author.

Book lovers will relate well to the narrator Margaret Lea, and will enjoy the timeless gothic atmosphere and the enchanting prose as Vida’s life slowly unfolds. The Thirteenth Tale is a remarkable story that will be enjoyed by all.

I loved the language in this novel so much, I am including two of my favourite quotes:

“What succour, what consolation is there in truth, compared to a story? What good is truth, at midnight, in the dark, when the wind is roaring like a bear in the chimney? When lightning strikes shadows on the bedroom wall and the rain taps at the window with it’s long fingernails? No. When fear and cold make a statue of you in your bed, don’t expect hard-boned and fleshless truth to come running to your aid. What you need are the plump comforts of a story. The soothing, rocking safety of a lie.” Vida Winter in The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.” The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Thrilling from beginning to end, Killing the Shadows is an un-put-downable novel. The twist on the typical serial killer novel is masterful and I was surprised when the author revealed the killer’s identity. McDermid reminds us that profilers and investigators are impacting on people’s lives and should not rush to place blame simply because a case is high profile. Most of all, she reminds us that murder extends beyond the victim to their family and friends and those around them.

Death Message is easy to read without losing the ability to thrill. The grief of the murderer and the psychological state of DCI Thorne are written with a sensitivity and insight seldom seen in the genre. I was fascinated by the blurring of the line between ethical and corrupt policing, and the portrayal of how easy it is to overstep boundaries, particularly in that grey area where the law does not always equal justice. I will definitely be looking for more work by this author.