Moranthology, Caitlin Moran

Read in hardback, birthday present from Paddy.

Caitlin Moran's book, How to Be a Woman, was my favourite read from last year. So I was eager to read this one when it came out.

This book is a collection of Moran's writings for The Times - including articles, TV reviews, interviews, and reported late night conversations with her long suffering husband.

The subject matter is various and wide ranging, so not as focussed as How to be a Woman. Also some serious articles have been included, so it's not a laugh a minute, although I did snigger out loud in places.

Almost makes me prepared to pay for online subscription to The Times so I can read everything Caitlin writes, but maybe I'll just wait for the next book to come along.

The Prisoner of Heaven, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Read in hardback, birthday present from Granny.

Not so much a sequel, more of a companion piece to The Shadow of the Wind.

This book gives the back story to one of the characters from The Shadow of the Wind - Fermin Romero de Torres, and continues the story of Daniel Sempere, who comes to learn the truth about his mother's death.

Very atmospheric.  I've never been to Barcelona, but I'd like to after reading this.  I've also ordered the third book The Angel's Game, so I can complete the series of The Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

Oh Dear Silvia, Dawn French

Read in Hardback, after recommendation from Amazon, and having loved "A Tiny Bit Marvellous", Dawn French's first novel and "Dear Fatty" her memoir.

This has a great central premise - Silvia lies in hospital in a coma having fallen from a balcony.  A succession of visitors passes through her room, and we hear both their private thoughts and their monologues with the inert Silvia, although we never hear from her.  Our perception of Silvia as wife, mother, sister, employer and lover changes as the book goes on and more of the plot is revealed.

I very much enjoyed this book; I liked the different voices of all the characters and although I thought the plot was fairly obvious I nevertheless enjoyed watching it being played out.

Delirium, Lauren Oliver

Recommended by and borrowed from Linda, read in paperback.

Lena lives in a future where love has been classified as a disease and all young people are "cured" on their eighteenth birthdays after being "paired" with a person from the opposite sex deemed appropriate by the authorities.

Lena has a secret - her mother was subjected to the cure, but it didn't work, and so Lena grew up knowing real love, not just "bonding" until she was six when her mother committed suicide.  At the start of the book, Lena is terrified of love, and can't wait for her cure.

Another "Young Adult" novel, and again it suffered from the lack of bite.  I found the story to be just too predictable.  Having said that it is well written, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone over the age of 19.

I am the Messenger, Markus Zusak

Read in paperback, November book club book, Nicci's choice.

Another book club book set in Australia.  This is a "Young Adult" novel, and reads a bit like a PG film.

Small town loser Ed is working as a taxi driver, even tho' he is under age.  He loves his best friend Audrey, but she dates other guys, he loves his smelly dog - the Doorman, and his two other friends miser Marv and waste of space Ritchie.

After haplessly foiling a bank raid, Ed receives playing cards in the mail, which encourage him to carry out missions on behalf of his town's less fortunate citizens.

The central premise seems to be: be nice to the elderly, encourage the young, be welcoming to immigrants, don't forget about your family, don't get into fights, go to church: in essence think about others rather than yourself.

Dan Savage put it more succinctly: "Worry less about getting your 16-year-old self laid and more about getting your 20-year-old self laid. Get out of the house and do shit, get books and read shit, volunteer for a political organization and change shit. You'll have more boys to choose from in a few years and be a more interesting, informed, and attractive guy thanks to all that doing, reading, and volunteering."

Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel

Read in hardback - firstly borrowed from Millie, then I bought my own copy so I could read Wolf Hall again, then read this book again.

It starts where Wolf Hall leaves off, with Henry VIII now married to Anne Boleyn, and covers the years until her execution.  After forcing the break with the Catholic church, her inability to give Henry a son makes him again question the validity of his marriage.

Told from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell, by now the King's closest confidante, it follows the extreme pressure he is under to remove all obstacles in the way of the King obtaining his new object of desire - Jane Seymour.

Scenes and characters from Wolf Hall echo through this book.  It's as beautifully and poetically written, but now Cromwell has to be even more ruthless in service of the King.

I simply cannot wait for the third book in the series, where the downfall of Cromwell will be played out.

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

Originally read in 2009, as part of the Booker shortlist, which it went on to win.  Read again in hardback in preparation for reading the sequel.

Tells the story of Henry VIII's divorce from Katherine of Aragon, from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell, a commoner who rises to the position of Henry's most trusted advisor.

A magnificent feat of imagination, bringing to life those who lived in Tudor times, their motivations (greed and power) echoing with relevance today.

Words cannot express how much I loved this book.  I read it twice when it first came out, and again this year after I'd read Bring Up the Bodies, so I could read that book again too.