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'Gem'
rating |
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The Girl in Times Square
by Paullina Simons |
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What a good read this book is!
We all enjoyed it, even though we had a suspicion it wasn't
as 'serious' as the other books we've reviewed. The characters
are all three-dimensional. The way that the central relationship
in the book develops is compelling. Who cares if it's not serious?
It's a great read and it goes to the top of our list! |
4.5 gemstones |
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The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini |
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We thought this was a great
book...great descriptions of Afghanistan before the Taliban
and subsequent invasion. Very atmospheric. This was a lucky
first - a book that we all enjoyed and agreed on. |
4.5 gemstones |
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The Road Home
by Rose Tremain |
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We loved this book. The characters
were all three-dimensional and very believable. It tells a very
moving - and inspiring - story of a migrant worker from a poor
European country who came to England to seek his fortune - a
bit like a modern telling of Dick Whittington. The streets aren't
paved with gold, though, and the hero, Lev, finds life very
difficult at first. This book tells the story of the people
he meets - some good, some bad - and the long journey back home.
A very worthy winner of the Orange Prize for 2008. |
4 gemstones |
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson |
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We found this book immensely
readable and enjoyed the story set in Sweden. We felt that the
cultural differences (and the Swedish names) made this feel
a little bit alien at times - but in a way that added to its
enjoyment. The mystery wasn't a great 'whodunnit' but the strength
of the storytelling and the interesting characters made it feature
amongst our best reads to date. |
4 gemstones |
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The Pursuit of Happiness
by Douglas Kennedy |
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A story of a great life-long
love that brought the central character great happiness and
great heartbreak. Two of us thought this was a fabulous book
- the other admits to being less romantic and had less sympathy
for this unfortunate woman. We all agreed that the book was
very well written, but we weren't all agreed on the enjoyment
factor. |
3.5 gemstones |
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The Island
by Victoria Hislop |
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We were divided in our opinions
about this book. It was certainly a good read, but some of the
characters were a bit 2-dimensional (eg the central character's
boyfriend). The story about a leper colony set against the backdrop
of the 2nd World War and the effect of advances in the treatment
of leprosy on that colony and their loved ones made for a very
interesting and engaging story. |
3.5 gemstones |
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American Wife
by Curtis Sittenfeld |
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A fictional autobiography based
on some of the facts from the life of Laura Bush, this is very
well written and easy to get through. We weren't all convinced
that the two halves of the book really matched - but the ending
brings it all together and overall this is one of our more enjoyable
reads. |
3.5 gemstones |
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This Blinding Absence of Light
by Tahar Ben Jelloun |
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Described as 'uplifting' by
many reviewers, we all found it a bit harrowing. It is based
on a true story and describes the dreadful experience of spending
18 years imprisoned underground in a dark, small cell. I suppose
it puts our problems into context! A very thought-provoking
book, we would all recommend it, but whether you will feel uplifed
or just depressed will depend on how you take it. |
3.5 gemstones |
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Hunting and Gathering
by Anna Gavalda |
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This spit us two to one - two
of us really enjoyed and the one couldn't get past the first
few chapters. It is a sweet story about some misfits who end
up living together in a large apartment in Paris who all seem
to live happily ever after. The only problems with the book
are firstly that it is a translation from French which doesn't
always work (eg different between 'tu' and 'vous' doesn't have
an English equivalent) and the sweetness gets a bit cloying
towards the end. However, this is an enchanting story if you
can get past these drawbacks so we have put it quite high up
our list. |
3.5 gemstones |
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Attention All Shipping
by Charlie Connolly |
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We were very divided on this
- it was a travel book doing a tour of all the shipping areas.
I think we all agreed that it was very well written. Charlie
Connolly's descriptions of - in some cases - very bland and
boring places was inspired. Topaz thought it was the best book
she had read in ages and was thrilled with it. Ruby couldn't
finish it and found it 'like a school textbook'. Moonstone struggled
a bit (not a great fan of travel books) but enjoyed and appreciated
it. |
3 gemstones |
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What is the What
by Dave Eggars |
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Although this calls itself a
novel, it is really more of a biography of one of the 'lost
boys' of Sudan. The detail of the suffering and endurance of
the lost boys is mind-boggling, but the story-telling is a bit
pedestrian so it doesn't really touch the readers' emotions
as perhaps it could. However, this is a story worth knowing
so we recommend persisting to the end. |
3 gemstones |
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Notes from an Exhibition
by Patrick Gale |
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We had mixed feelings about
this one. Although we all agreed that it was well written, we
didn't all take to the central characters - particularly the
artist whose exhibition the notes are from. Patrick Gale cleverly
matches fragments of the life story of the artist to her paintings
but later on they seem to become more detached. |
3 gemstones |
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The Giant's House
by Elizabeth McCracken |
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Beautifully written but not
completely to our taste so it doesn't get one of our top ratings.
Worth a try if you want a good read. |
3 gemstones |
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The River
by Tricia Wastvedt |
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This is one of those books that
goes from one era to another and makes you piece together what
is going on. Hints of a dark secret in the past are matched
with events leading up to the dark secret...until they meet
in the middle. Keeps you reading, but a few frustrations. Shock
ending was original but didn't quite make up for the rather
depressing story and some rather unpleasant passages. |
3 gemstones |
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A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian
by Marina Lewycka |
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This doesn't get a particularly
high rating, even though it was an easy read. The book starts
very well and immediately draws you in. The characters are well-drawn,
the bits about tractors are interesting and the background bits
about the Ukraine are convincing....but. The reviews all talked
about this being 'hilarious' and 'funny' but we didn't find
the characters and incidents in the book made us laugh. It was
rather sad. The story and characters didn't seem to develop
and at the end, we were rather glad to finish it. Reminded one
of us of the relationship with an elder sister in parts - but
that's a different story! |
2.5 gemstones |
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The Sixth Lamentation
by William Brodrick |
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We had quite mixed views on
this one (just for a change). Yet another book that chops back
and forward in time with events of the current day juxtaposed
with the dark history leading up to them. Frustrating characters
who seemed to believe that protecting people from dubious secrets
was more important than sorting out the truth. Annoying twists
as the story goes on meant that we didn't rate it very highly.
|
2.5 gemstones |
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The
Lovers Room by Steven Carroll |
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There were aspects of this book
that we enjoyed. It was well written and some of the imagery
was compelling. However, we didn't really take to the characters
and felt that the plot was unconvincing. We particularly didn't
like the last phase of the story when the action moved forwards
rather than as a flashback. As a result, this didn't rate very
highly with us. |
2 gemstones |
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Five
People You meet in Heaven
by Mitch Albom |
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We approached this one with
high hopes - the basis of the book is quite promising - but
we all felt a bit disappointed. It won't be giving anything
away to say that the central character - an aging engineer at
a funfair - dies soon after the book begins. He then meets up
with 5 people in Heaven that will, supposedly, help him make
sense of his life. The book is an easy read, and there are a
lot of good ideas, but ultimately, we were a bit disappointed.
Unlike the Blinding Absence of Light, it didn't hold our interest
after we had put the book down and didn't make us think deeply
about the meaning of our lives (which some reviewers thought
it should do). |
2 gemstones |
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A
Case of Two Cities by Qiu Xiaolong |
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This was a bit dull and the
characters didn't really come to life. We didn't really 'take'
to the Chinese poetry and the rather constrained personalities
of the 'heroes' didn't inspire. We didn't all manage to finish
this - just found better things to do with our time. |
2 gemstones |
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Human
Traces
by Sebastian Faulks |
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Sebastian Faulks has obviously
done a lot of research into mental illness and the approaches
to its treatment that were being developed around the end of
the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, that doesn't necessarily
make for a good novel. Although it seemed to start well, the
characters never really came to life - we didn't ultimately
care about their successes and failures. One of us didn't manage
to finish it; one of us summed it up in one word ...'dull'.
|
2 gemstones |
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Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo |
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Quite a good thriller although a little predictable towards the end. We couldn't really get a consistent picture of the main characters. Also, we were disappointed that we didn't learn a whole lot more about the Amish community in which it is set. Good points outweigh bad points but not by very much. |
2 gemstones |
| The
following are books that we really didn't enjoy and so we
have given them a 'coal' rating. The more lumps of coal, the
less we enjoyed them. |
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When
We Were Bad
by Charlotte Mendelson |
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This was shortlisted for the
Orange Prize and had good reviews, so we were very optimistic
about this book. However, none of us liked the characters in
it - some of them were hard to imagine from the descriptions.
Was the son really that wet? The husband that weak and wavering?
For the one of us with first-hand experience of a large Pesach
meal, some of the descriptions were very amusing, but the other
two who didn't know about the Passover traditions were a bit
lost and would have liked some more description. Having read
all of the Orange Prize shortlisted books, I liked this the
least of all of them. |
1 lump
of coal |
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The Almond Picker
by Simonetta Agnello Hornby |
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This one split us again. It
was about the fall-out from the death of an aged housekeeper
on the family she had been with for most of her life. The conditions
she laid down after her death influenced the amount of wealth
they could lay their hands on. Moonstone thought it was quite
a good story, although none of the characters was particularly
pleasant. Topaz couldn't finish it. Ruby struggled with it and
ultimately didn't really enjoy it. |
1 lump
of coal |
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This Year it will be Different
by Maeve Binchy |
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Oh dear - what a shame. The
publisher seems to have decided to create a 'new' Maeve Binchy
book by pulling together short stories written across several
decades. Some of them felt decidedly dated. There seemed to
be a certain 'saminess' to a number of the newer stories. We
didn't like the women who seemed to live only to please their
men - or in some cases, someone else's men. It is difficult
to bring characters to life in a short story - in some of the
better stories, the characters seemed to be nearly believable.
In the majority of stories, they seemed two-dimensional and
unsympathetic. Sorry Maeve. |
1 lump
of coal |
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Uphill All the Way
by Sue Moorcroft |
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We should have found something
to like about this - but didn't. The story was rather contrived
and the characters unconvincing. The descriptions of Malta were
nice, but none of us felt as though we could imagine being there.
The title says it all. |
2 lumps
of coal |
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Her Fearful Symmetry
by Audrey Niffenegger |
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After the Time Travellers Wife, our expectations were high. We weren't expecting anything very believable, but this was really too much to swallow. The descriptions of Highgate Cemetery were interesting and we warmed to the central hero of the story at first. It all got a bit silly when the kitten was introduced and went downhill after that. |
2 lumps
of coal |
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The Interpretation of Murder
by Jed Rubenfeld |
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This book should have been fantastic
- it is currently number 1 in the charts and has been critically
acclaimed. However. The characters didn't really come to life
and the outcome didn't seem worth ploughing through the book
for. One of us didn't manage to finish it and the other two
didn't feel it worth encouraging her to do so. Disappointing.
|
2 lumps
of coal |
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Never Close Your Eyes
by Emma Burstall |
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None of the characters seemed very believable. In fact they were more caricatures than characters - drawn to be extreme rather than human and three-dimensional. There was a paedophile, a hopeless drunk, a former child murderer, a batty spinster who talked to her cats and so on. All that said, the book was very readable and some aspects of the story - for example the hints and tips about writing a novel - seemed to come more naturally to the author and were therefore much more engaging. |
2 lumps
of coal |
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The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell |
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The only time we managed to
end up with a Science Fiction book. That's the trouble with
picking books by their covers! Again, we were very mixed in
our opinions of this one. And yet again, the book dots around
between a broken man in the current time and the past before
the traumas that left him broken. It requires the reader to
suspend disbelief, but if you can it's a good read. Unfortunately,
we couldn't. Moonstone thought it was a good read nevertheless.
Ruby and Topaz didn't rate it at all. Ho hum. |
2 lumps
of coal |
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The Flying Troutmans
by Miriam Toews |
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We really didn't take to this
book at all. One of us couldn't make it past the first chapter.
The problem was that we couldn't work up any interest in the
characters. Even those of us that made it to the end couldn't
really work up any enthusiasm. The only thing to say in its
favour is that it is easy to get through - you can read it from
beginning to end in a weekend! |
3 lumps
of coal |
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The Promise of Happiness
by Justin Cartwright |
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We read this because it was
a Richard and Judy recommendation. None of us really liked it,
although Topaz thought the writing was quite good. Guess what
- it juxtaposes current disfunctional family with events from
the past that caused it to be disfunctional. And what a family!
Moonstone nearly didn't manage to finish this one. Ruby didn't
dislike it quite as much. Between us, this was the book that
we liked least of all. |
3 lumps
of coal |
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Netherland
by Justin O'Neill |
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This book also had a 'Richard
and Judy' sticker on the cover, but we can't really understand
why. The Author says that he felt that plot was secondary to
maintaining the 'voice' of the narrator. Well, call us old fashioned,
but we would really enjoy a plot and some characters that we
can warm to as well as some well-written prose. Could this be
a book that would be better enjoyed by men who like cricket? |
3 lumps
of coal |
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Narrow Dog to Carcasonne
by Terry Darlington |
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We found this very hard to get
on with. Two of us didn't finish it. Although the writing style
is very original and can be admired (from afar), it didn't make
for an easy read. The descriptions of France seemed to consist
of finding other people with whippets, drinking in bars and
meeting up with other English people. Didn't glean much and
found it one of the hardest to finish of all the books we have
reviewed. |
3 lumps
of coal |
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The Accidental
by Ali Smith |
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How many people have bought
this book because it has won prizes and then been unable to
finish it? We all found this difficult but two of us managed
to finish it. A very clever book - but almost unreadable. |
3 lumps
of coal |
