Review:- Meg ROSOFF – “How I live now”

Publ: 2004
My own copy
ISBN: 9780141380759
Genre: Young adult
Pages: 186p
Found by Serendipity
Rating: ***** ***

What led you to pick up this book?
It was in the library book sale and the p[lot sounded interesting.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
“It would be much easier to tell this story if it were all about a chaste and perfect love between Two Children Against the World at an Extreme Time in History. But let's face it, that would be crap.” Daisy is sent from New York to England to spend a summer with cousins she has never met. They are Isaac, Edmond, Osbert and Piper. And two dogs and a goat. She's never met anyone quite like them before - and, as a dreamy English summer progresses, Daisy finds herself caught in a timeless bubble. It seems like the perfect summer. But their lives are about to explode. Falling in love is just the start of it. War breaks out - a war none of them understands, or really cares about, until it lands on their doorstep. The family is separated. The perfect summer is blown apart. Daisy's life is changed forever - and the world is too.

What did you think of the characters and style?
Amazingly good for a first novel – the characters are all so believable and vibrant and within a couple of pages one is hooked. It is advertised as being a novel for young adults but I have never been sure where the borderline comes. The vocabulary never stretches one; the number of pages is not extensive and the hero is a young adult but I don’t think that really affects who the audience is. For me it is a novel for all readers.

What did you like most about the book?
The originality of the plot.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
no

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Didn’t do it justice.

Would I recommend it?
Yes.

Meg Rosoff was born in Boston, USA. She has worked in publishing, public relations and most recently advertising, but thinks the best job in the world would be head gardener for Regents Park. Meg lives in Highbury, North London.

Quotation

All books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hour, and the books of all time. - John Ruskin (1819-1900), British art critic and writer

Review – Alys CLARE – “Ashes of the Elements”

Publ: 2000
My own copy
ISBN: 0312261241
Genre: Cosy historical Crime
Pages: 244p
I’ve read and enjoyed Hawkenlye mysteries before
Rating: ***** **

What led you to pick up this book?
I’ve read and enjoyed Hawkenlye mysteries before

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
In this second Hawkenlye mystery, a grove of huge oak trees in the Wealden forest is felled. Then the man who wielded the axe meets with a violent end. Abbess Helewise teams up with Josse d'Acquin to discover what really lies inside the darkness of the ancient forest.

What did you think of the characters and style?
Cosy historical crime set in the twelfth century during the reign of Richard the Lionheart.

This is a list of the Hawkenlye mysteries. I have read the two with asterisks and at least another one but I'm not sure which.
1. Fortune Like the Moon (1999)
2. Ashes of the Elements (2000) *
3. The Tavern in the Morning (2000)
4. The Chatter of the Maidens (2001)
5. The Faithful Dead (2002)
6. A Dark Night Hidden (2003)
7. Whiter Than the Lily (2004)
8. Girl in a Red Tunic (2005)
9. Heart of Ice (2006)
10. The Enchanter's Forest (2007)
11. The Paths of the Air (2008)
12. Joys of My Life (2008) *

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Nothing special though as a series they look quite good together.

Would I recommend it?
yes.

Alys Clare – see Joys of my Life

Review:- Sara FRASER – “The Drowned Ones”

Publ: 2009
Pensby Library
ISBN: 978-0-7278-6854-1
Genre: Cosy historical crime
Pages: 216p
Found by Serendipity
Rating: ***** ***

What led you to pick up this book?
It was on the new crime books shelf in the library

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
This is the third 'Constable Thomas Potts' historical mystery. It is 1827 in the town of Redditch in Worcestershire and Thomas Potts is still reluctantly battling to keep the peace, whilst living in penury in the town Lock-Up with his battle-axe of a mother. Thomas is depressed at the slow progress of his courtship of local beauty Amy Danks: without any money nor prospects, he cannot hope to marry her, and he fears that she will soon look elsewhere. Then the body of a young serving-girl is found drowned in the Tardebigge Canal, and Potts is drawn into the investigation, forced to confront the notorious 'Leggers', town outcasts who work on the barges and who, he suspects, may know something. Tom will risk his own life and reputation several times over as he carries out his reluctant role as constable.

What did you think of the characters and style?
An easy going style that keeps one interested without testing ones brain too much. Tom is a most attractive – if reluctant – hero though poor, gangly and the butt of everyone’s jokes.

What did you like most about the book?
Typical cosy historical crime with enough of an atmosphere of the 1820s to make it feel realistic.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book?
No. I shall be looking to find the previous two Thomas Potts adventures.

Thoughts on the book jacket / cover.
Average.

Would I recommend it?
Yes.

Sara Fraser is a pseudonym for Roy Clews. Clews, , Royal Marines Commander, Spanish Foreign Legionnaire, Paratrooper, Merchant Seaman, Actor, Stuntman, Kibbutznik, International Tramp and Down and Out... he has been all these things and more in a roving life as colourful as any of the characters he creates for his highly successful historical novels, published in England and America. He lives in Tregaron, Cornwall.

Review – Charles DICKENS – “Tom Tiddler’s Ground”

Publ: 1861
My own copy
ISBN: 1-4069-1083-X
Genre: General Fiction
Pages: 26p
Found by Serendipity
Rating: *****

What led you to pick up this book?
I ordered it from Amazon because I had never heard it as a Dickens’ title.

Describe the plot without giving anything away.
It turned out to be a strange short story – and disappointing. To start with, chapters 2-5 are missing on the basis that they weren’t written by Dickens. Not that they are really missed. The moral of this very short story is that man is by nature and obligation a gregarious animal. i think he could have led to the moral in a more Dickens-like way!

What did you think of the characters and style?
Typical Dickens style but lacking his usual skill at enthralling the reader in the plot.

Would I recommend it?
No.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) has produced some of the most memorable writings in the English language, including such well known works as "A Christmas Carol", "Sketches by Boz", "A Tale of Two Cities", "Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield", "Great Expectations", and "The Pickwick Papers". This little tale doesn’t compare. Dickens is famous for the characters he created and his descriptions. A man of tremendous energy, he spent hours a day walking the London streets from which his characters and scenes came.