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My Book Schedule

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In the past I’ve announced excitedly (see OMG…OMG…the latest in The Enemy Series by Charlie Higson, Exciting News & Things To Look Forward Too, etc.) when there’s a book coming out that I want to read, but there’s so many over the coming months, I’ve decided to share with you My Book Schedule instead:

Release Date: 20 September 2012
Title & Author: The Sacrifice (The Enemy Series) by Charlie Higson
About:

The sickness destroyed everyone over the age of fourteen. All across London diseased adults are waiting, hungry predators with rotten flesh and ravaged minds.

Small Sam and his unlikely ally, The Kid, have survived. They’re safe with Ed and his friends at the Tower of London, but Sam is desperate to find his sister.

Their search for Ella means Sam and The Kid must cross the forbidden zone. And what awaits them there is more terrifying than any of the horror they’ve suffered so far . . .
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: 27 August 2012)

Release Date: 11 October 2012
Title & Author: One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern
About:

Journalist Kitty Logan’s career is being destroyed by scandal – and now she faces losing the woman who guided and taught her everything she knew. At her terminally ill friend’s bedside, Kitty asks – what is the one story she always wanted to write?

The answer lies in a file buried in Constance’s office: a list of one hundred names. There is no synopsis, nothing to explain what the story is or who these people are. The list is simply a mystery. But before Kitty can talk to her friend, it is too late.

With everything to prove, Kitty is assigned the most important task of her life: to write the story her mentor never had the opportunity to. Kitty not only has to track down and meet the people on the list, but find out what connects them. And, in the process of hearing ordinary people’s stories, she starts to understand her own.
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: 27 August 2012)

Date: 19 February 2013
Title & Author: Fuse by Julianna Baggott
About:

After a young Wretch is abducted by the Dome and “cleansed” of her fusings and imperfections, she is only able to repeat the Dome’s latest message: “We want our son returned. This girl is proof that we can save you all. If you ignore our plea, we will kill our hostages one at a time.” Willux will go to any lengths to get his son Partridge back, including murder. Partridge sacrifices himself and returns, in the hope of taking over the Dome from within, only to uncover more of his father’s chilling, dark secrets.

Outside the Dome, Pressia, Bradwell, and El Capitan are decoding the secrets from the past – tucked away in one of the Black Boxes – to uncover the truth that might set the wretches free of their fusings forever. Those fighting Willux will be pushed over boundaries, both land and sea, heart and mind, in their quest – further than they ever imagined.
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: 27 August 2012)

Date: 4 April 2013
Title & Author: The Traitor Queen (Book 3) by Trudi Canavan (Paperback Version)
About:

Events are building to a climax in Sachaka as Lorkin returns from his exile with the Traitor rebels.

The Traitor Queen has given Lorkin the huge task of brokering an alliance between his people and the Traitors. Lorkin has also had to become a feared black magician in order to harness the power of an entirely new kind of gemstone magic. This knowledge could transform the Guild of Magicians – or make Lorkin an outcast forever.

The Traitor Queen is the triumphant conclusion to the Traitor Spy trilogy, which began with The Ambassador’s Mission and continued with The Rogue.

Hopefully this will give you an idea of what I’ll be reading over the coming months and what reviews you can expect.
(From: Amazon, Last Accessed: 27 August 2012)

Write & review soon,

Antony

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Thursday 27 September 2012

Book Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
Pure by Julianna Baggott Book Cover While shopping at my local supermarket I saw Pure by Julianna Baggott and decided to pick it up. I have to say, I’m glad I did. It’s a brilliant read with some really original ideas.

The storyline is epic with every event adding to the story’s development. It is an exceptional storyline, it just makes it complex to summarise the plot in this blog post. So instead of discussing the plot in detail, I’ll give you an introduction to the world and the three main characters:

Pure is set in a post-apocalyptic world; after the Detonations have caused destruction, ash filled air and fusing of people to animals, other people and inanimate objects. We are introduced to two distinct groups of people; the Pures who were safely inside the Dome when the detonations hit and the wretches who were outside of the Dome.

In the Prologue set a week or so after the detonations, a plane from the Dome drops little slips of paper saying:

“We know you are here, our brothers and sisters.
We will, one day, emerge from the Dome
to join you in peace.
For now, we watch from afar, benevolently.”
(From: Pure by Julianna Baggott, 17th September 2012.)

Then the story starts set years after the Prologue. We meet Pressia, a nearly 16 year old who lives in the remains of a barber’s shop with her granddad and has a fist fused with a doll head. Pressia and her granddad know that soon the OSR will come for her, as they do when everyone reaches the age of sixteen. OSR are Operation Sacred Revolution – a roughly banded military type group whose mission is to take down the Dome. But we later find out that OSR was originally stood for Operation Search and Rescue set up to save people following the Detonations.

Next inside the Dome we meet Partridge, he’s the son of the powerful Ellery Willux. Partridge doesn’t really like spending time with his father and his father is usually in the lab doing important work. But then one day Ellery asks to see him. Partridges mother was outside of the Dome when the Detonations struck and has been assumed dead. But when Partridge speaks to his father he gets the distinct impression she’s alive. Partridge is taken on a school trip to were the Dome keeps metal boxes of memorabilia from the dead. Partridge see’s a box with his mothers name and dates on, he opens it and finds things she left for him. Partridge makes plans to escape from the Dome and then escapes. Partridge is later called ‘Pure’ because he has no scares, burns or fusings like everyone else.

Bradwell is introduced to the reader through Pressia. He’s a man with two live birds fused to his back, the birds flutter their wings whenever Bradwell has adrenaline going through his body or is emotional, which throughout the course of the book is often. Bradwell is obsessed with conspiracy theories about the detonations, claiming that those in the Dome deliberately caused the Detonations.

Pure is excellently structured with each chapter having a character’s name and a title to indicate who and what the chapters about. Baggott’s use of description enables the reader to imagine the characters, world and events as clearly as watching a film. The book did have a few sentences that to me didn’t read right, but these didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the book.

Pure is a fantastic read and is a trilogy with Fuse (2013) the second book and Burn (2014) being the final in the series. Pure is available to buy on Amazon.

Blog soon,

Antony



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Wednesday 19 September 2012

Book Review: Can’t Stand Up For Sitting Down by Jo Brand

By Amazon, Books & Authors, History, ReviewsNo Comments
cant-stand-up-for-sitting-down-jo-brand-book-cover Can’t Stand Up for Sitting Down is Jo Brand’s second autobiography following on from Look Back in Hunger. I really enjoyed Look Back in Hunger, so much so that I wrote a book review: Book Review: Look Back In Hunger by Jo Brand. I couldn’t wait to read Can’t Stand Up for Sitting Down, so did it satisfy my expectations?

Brand starts with an author’s note stating that this book is more a collection of memoirs rather than a chronological writing of significant events in her life like Look Back in Hunger. The book is split into three distinct sections: Trying To Be Funny, Being Jo Brand and The Box.

Trying To Be Funny is about her comedy career but it felt really vague. I remembered how Brand wrote quite detailed accounts of her time as a Psychiatric Nurse in Look Back in Hunger, yet when writing about her more recent comedy career it lacked details.

Being Jo Brand is about her personal life. In this section Brand gives her opinions about what she likes; as well as writing about her labour political values, her family and friends and what it’s like “being clocked” – recognised by members of the public.

The Box is mainly about TV, Radio and Celebrities. Brand includes a chapter entitled “Writing This Effing Book” were she writes about the volume of words needed to complete this book. Reading this chapter made it click in my head, the word I wanted to describe how this book felt to me: strained. It felt as though Brand stretched out her autobiography to fit into a second book. I had high expectations for this book and unfortunately it didn’t quite meet them.

However the book does have funny and interesting chapters and is well worth a read, especially if you’ve read Look Back in Hunger, as it completes her story. Can’t Stand Up for Sitting Down is available to buy on Amazon.

Blog soon,

Antony



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Saturday 30 June 2012

Book Review: I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

By Amazon, Books & Authors, Reviews2 Comments
ive-got-your-number-sophie-kinsella-book-cover Sophie Kinsella is quickly becoming the Queen of chick-lit. In her latest book I’ve Got Your Number, we meet Physiotherapist Poppy whose just got engaged to Magnus Tavish. Magnus has given her a priceless family heirloom, an emerald engagement ring. But while at her hen party – a Marie Curie Champagne Tea in a Hotel she looses the ring when the fire alarm goes off.

Poor Poppy searches high and low for the ring, but cannot find it. So she leaves her number with the hotel receptionist and goes outside to ring a friend to see if she’s got the engagement ring. A hoodie on a bike rides past and snaps her phone out of her hand and makes a quick get-away. Poppy worried that the hotel won’t be able to get hold of her, goes back to the hotel to tell them that her phones been stolen. But then she sees a phone in a bin in the hotel foyer and thinks finders, keepers.

The phone belongs to Sam Roxton’s PA and it rings. Sam tells Poppy she must stop a group Japanese business men led my Mr. Yamasaki from leaving, as jobs are at risk if she doesn’t. Poppy gets Sam to agree to let her borrow the phone if she stops the business men from leaving. What follows is the most hilarious scene in the book where Poppy announces she’s a singing telegram. She sings “Mr. Yamasaki, Mr. Yamasaki” in the style of ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyonce. The business men like it and then Sam arrives. Poppy takes her leave quickly, before Sam can change his mind about borrowing her the phone.

A relationship starts to develop between Poppy and Sam, as Poppy continues to look for her engagement ring and forward Sam’s calls, text and email messages.

We learn more about Poppy’s life and about her fiancé Magnus. Poppy feels inferior to Magnus’ super-intellectual family, Antony & Wanda Tavish have both had articles published in journals and spend most of their time reading academic literature or debating it. Poppy seems to be a “people pleaser” and doesn’t like the conflict involved with saying “No.” Sometimes it feels like Poppy sees what she wants too and ignores the rest. Although the reader comes to understand the reasons why, early on in the book I felt myself getting frustrated with her because of it. As for Poppy’s men…

Magnus plays an arguably small role within the story. At the beginning of the book his role is bigger and as the story continues it wains. Poppy and he met through her Physiotherapy work. At first he seems OK – a little boring perhaps, but as the book goes on and revelations are made that change what you think about him. Magnus is a serial proposer, who has offered the emerald engagement ring to many women – including the Wedding Planner.

Sam is a executive of White Globe Consulting Group. But there’s ongoing office politics with potentially massive consequences – which is a usual plot line for Kinsella. Poppy can’t help read some of the messages on the phone intended for Sam’s PA. Poppy makes some assumptions based on the texts and emails for Sam about him, most of which turn out to be wrong. Poppy also finds it increasingly frustrating that Sam doesn’t respond to messages she feels important. So she decides to reply to some on his behalf with some funny consequences.

The book brings Poppy and Sam together in the end as you’d expect. The use of text messages to bring them together is interesting and I suppose it fits in to the “modern use of technology.” I would have preferred them to talk, but that’s just me. The book made me laugh, get teary eyed and feel good at the end. Everything that you’d want from a chick-lit book. You can buy I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella on Amazon.

Blog soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Monday 21 May 2012
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