Book Reviews

It has been a long time since I have done one of these posts. Basically I haven't read that many good books of late. Most of what I have read I haven't finished because I am so easily distracted. Here are one or two reviews though for now.

"First Amongst Sequels" by Jasper Fforde.

This is another Thursday Next series and is set many years later. Thursday now has a teenage son and two daughters. Her husband continues to write while Thursday pretends to work for a carpet company. Thursday is really still working for Special Ops and Jurisfiction. Her main worry is encouraging her lazy son Friday to become the genius time agent he is supposed to become. She soon discovers however, that Goliath are up to their old tricks and trying to get back into jurisfiction and in the land of fiction there is a serial killer on the loose. Unfortunately Thursday's time is spent training other jurisfiction agents not that she lets that stop her.

I was so excited when I heard that there was going to be another Thursday Next story. I had believed that the last one was actually going to be the last in the series. While I didn't feel that this one was quite as good as the others I still very much enjoyed it. It had all the things that I loved about the others. So many books referenced and characters from them making an appearance (one of my favourites was Jiminy Cricket and his stunt double). I couldn't help but feel though that the author is now writing them just because they are popular rather than because he has a story to tell. Going by the way it ended there is definitely going to be more still which adds to that feeling. This shouldn't let fans be put off reading it because it's still a good Thursday Next story and worth reading.

"One For The Money" by Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum has just lost her job. She is now struggling to survive as she has sold just about everything she had worth selling. She is now hanging onto her flat with the edges of her nails but refuses to move back home. On one of those visits to home she hears from her mother that her cousin Vinnie is looking for a Secretary. She decides to pay him a call only to find that the position has already been taken. Instead she decides to take on another role as a Bond agent. Stephanie now has to bring in people who have run off after making bond. Her first one is a hard one. An ex cop who is accused of murder and has went on the run. Not only that he was her first love. Stephanie has to get over these feelings in order to bring him in but he insists that he's innocent.

I have said many times that I don't read crime. A friend of mine who is actually a very high brow reader surprised me by mentioning how much he loved these books. On this recommendation I decided to give it a go. Surprisingly I very much enjoyed it. It was a fun and quick read. Perfect for when you are in between reads and not sure what to move on to next. Or if you are looking for something light. I would definitely read the others in the series.

"Cross Stitch" by Diana Gabaldon

Claire is a nurse in 1948 who is recovering from working during the war and getting to know her husband all over again. They have taken a trip to Scotland where they first honeymooned. While there Frank is looking into his past lineage and Claire is learning about the plants in the area. One area in which both their interests cross is the standing stones of Craig na Dun. they visit there and discover the local women carrying out some sort of ceremony. Once over Claire goes back to find the flower she first saw only to disappear. She finds herself face to face with someone who looks like her husband but clearly isn't. just managing to escape him she is then kidnapped by a group of Scots and taken to their castle. There she realises she is in fact in 1743. While trying to find away back home she falls for the young Scot Jamie Fraser and is torn between returning home and staying with him.

Yes, once again I moved away from what I usually read. I thought that I really enjoyed that crime book and decided to give this romance book a go. I had heard that the author insists that her books are not romance (despite their classification as such in most book shops). She describes it as an historical fantasy. For that reason it stood out for me as one book I might consider trying. However, I only got about a third of the way through it. To me it was just a romance. While it did have a good beginning nothing much else seemed to happen after she got together with Jamie and I became bored with the story. It wasn't badly written but it just wasn't for me. I do think this is most definitely a romance book and if you enjoy historical romance then you might enjoy this.

Timewarden, hope you are well. I didn't watch "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" until after I had saw her in DS9. I wasn't a fan of Jack Nicholson and so it took me some time to be convinced to give the film a go (very glad that I did). I loved Louise Fletcher in the role of Nurse Ratchett. She plays that part and the part of Kai Win very well. I actually once saw her in a made for tv movie. She played the caring and worried grandmother. Nothing wrong with her acting there but I preferred her in the role of the bad guy.

Lili, while I do find it easy to slip into a book no matter where I am I do prefer to be on my own. When I think about it I can lose myself more easily then. When it comes to writing though, like Timewarden, whether it's my blog or a letter or email, I do need the conditions to be just right. I can't concentrate while someone is talking to me at the same time.