All posts tagged: Fiction

‘Heart-Shaped Box’ by Joe Hill ~ A Review

First of all, let me admit that I hadn’t a clue who Joe Hill was, until about a month ago. I then bumped into a review of NOS4A2 on Tanya Patrice’s blog, Girlxoxo – and thought it sounded like a great read for the holiday season. With ample time ahead of me before Christmas and, given the fact that I usually prefer getting to know new authors by reading their debut novels, I looked at Hill’s bibliography to figure out where I should start. Heart- Shaped Box is what came up and it was in the readers’ reactions to that, that the key to Hill’s true identity lay… Now, I can only imagine how tough it must be to fill dad’s (call me King, Stephen King) shoes, still Hill not only does an excellent job of that but also manages to hold his very own while at it. Heart- Shaped Box is a well thought out horror story, with characters that feel real, are well developed and arrestingly loveable (albeit a bit dark). Hill “pressure …

Press Play: Audible Weekly (18/11- 24/11/2013)

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding From Audible: With her hotly anticipated third instalment, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, Fielding introduces us to a whole new enticing phase of Bridget’s life set in contemporary London, including the challenges of maintaining sex appeal as the years roll by and the nightmare of drunken texting, the skinny jean, the disastrous email CC, total lack of twitter followers, and TVs that need 90 buttons and three remotes to simply turn on. An uproariously funny novel of modern life, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is a triumphant return of our favourite Everywoman. This seems to be getting mixed reviews but, having loved both of the previous Bridget Jones’ books (& the subsequent movies), I feel like I owe it to her character to read on – if only to see where life takes her next. And, as I’ve said once before: It’s only chic-lit so… how bad can it be? The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro From Audible: One letter will turn newly married …

Press Play: Audible Weekly (11/11- 17/11/2013)

Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe From Audible: London, 1958: unassuming civil servant Thomas Foley is plucked from his desk at the Central Office of Information and sent on a six-month trip to Brussels. His task: to keep an eye on The Brittania, a brand new pub which will form the heart of the British presence at Expo 58 – the biggest World’s Fair of the century, and the first to be held since the Second World War. As soon as he arrives at the site, Thomas feels that he has escaped a repressed, backward-looking country and fallen headlong into an era of modernity and optimism. He is equally bewitched by the surreal, gigantic Atomium, which stands at the heart of this brave new world, and by Anneke, the lovely Flemish hostess who meets him off his plane. But Thomas’s new-found sense of freedom comes at a price: the Cold War is at its height, the mischievous Belgians have placed the American and Soviet pavilions right next to each other – and why is he being …

Press Play: Audible Weekly (4/11- 10/11/2013)

About a year ago I registered for an account on Audible. I remember thinking that some insta- gratification of both my book & shopping obsessions couldn’t hurt – in fact it sounded like great fun. Well, guess what? It kinda did, hurt that is… My ever-growing book and e-book “To be Read” list has been added to at quite an alarming rate these last few months (at least 3-5 audiobooks per week) – to the point where I’ve actually started wondering if I’ll ever manage to get through it all. “Press Play: Audible Weekly” will make a point of documenting audiobooks that capture my attention online & hopefully offering “upcoming read” ideas to any of you fellow book-aholics out there. It will also feature links to the full reviews, if & when mentioned titles are in fact read. So, here comes the first installment, which for no particular reason seems to be Crime- Suspense- Thriller themed: The Misletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales by Kate Mosse From Audible: A wonderfully atmospheric collection of stories from …

‘The Hundred- Year- Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared’ by Jonas Jonasson ~ A Review

While I am all for not “judging a book by its cover” I often do judge by the title and, I think, I ought to begin this review by saying that is exactly what happened here. There I was, browsing through possible reads online, when this grabbed my attention and simply refused to let go. That said, I never expected anything quite like what I got as I promptly paid for and downloaded the e-book for my Kindle: Enter Alan Karlsson, our endearing, totally laid- back, totally apolitical protagonist who – on the eve of his 100th birthday – decides to climb out the window of his nursing home and disappear. Moving back and forth from the clever and quirky present plot to a lough- out- loud retrospective of Alan’s mischievous journey through life in the 20th century, Jonas Jonasson ventures miles away from the Swedish noir trend to deliver the delightful, hard to put down tale of his colorful, well- rounded, lovable characters. Hands down one of the best books I have read (so …