Fifty Shades of Grey, E L James

Read on the Kindle, mainly to see what the fuss was all about.

I can see how it has become a sensation, through clever marketing.  It's like it's given women permission to read and talk about reading 'saucy' books.

I read it all the way to the end, but found the repetition really grating.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson

Read on the Kindle, downloaded following a recommendation from Amazon.

The first Kindle book that I have regretted buying in electronic format.  There were lots of footnotes, bit of a pain clicking on them, then coming back to your original page, and lots of photographs, which go a bit fuzzy when you zoom in on them.

Having said that, Jenny Lawson is a very funny woman and has written a very funny book.  If you love her blog, you will certainly love this book where her whimsy and flights of fantasy are given a more free rein in chapter form rather than being constrained to the length of a blog post.

Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins

The last instalment of the trilogy, I read this straight away after the second book to keep the momentum going.

As our heroine Katniss takes on the Capitol in the final battle, there is much more violence than the first two books, more intrigue too.

All plot lines suitably closed, the story done and dusted, including the Harry Potter style epilogue.

Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins

Clearly it would be difficult to match the excitement and originality of the first book, but this sequel does a good job of moving the characters, plot and story forwards towards the conclusion.

Reading the sequel next.

The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas

Read for Book Club - Jo's choice.  Book borrowed from Granny.  Read it a couple of years ago, but needed to refresh my memory.

One man slapping another couple's child at a suburban barbeque is the catalyst for a series of events which involves a cast of characters drawn from all walks of Australian society.

Each chapter is written from the point of a different character.  My favourite chapter is Manolis, the elderly Greek immigrant, trying to come to terms with the lack of respect shown by the younger generation, the gradual loss of his contemporaries and the change in his relationship with his wife.

There could not be a more perfect book club book.  So many issues are covered - women who are over protective mothers, women who work and have children, women who don't want children, tension between the older and younger generations, religious intolerance, racial intolerance, drug taking, homosexuality, teenage angst, marital infidelity - it's got the lot.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple

Read on the kindle.

Recommended to me by Amazon.

Genius architect and agoraphobic Bernadette goes missing in the Antarctic, and it's up to her gifted daughter Bee to find her.

I loved this book, found it funny and human.  I enjoyed the settings of Seattle and the ship cruising the Antarctic, and believed in the flawed characters.

Pure, Andrew Miller

Read on the Kindle.

Winner of the 2011 Costa Book of the Year Award.

Set in pre-Revolutionary Paris, engineer Jean-Baptiste Baratte is charged with clearing the cemetery and church of Les Innocents, to make the ground, and the air around pure again.

A very atmospheric book, a great cast of characters, including the rustic Jean-Baptiste, out of his depth in a Paris which seems spoiling for change.