When it Snows ... Stay in to Read or Watch TV!

The Gift - Cecelia Ahern

What an interesting, thought-provoking concept this book operates on!  It keeps the reader guessing as it moves from the 'now' - a teenager being held in custody by the police on Christmas morning to the past - in the form of a story the duty sergeant tells him.  It moves from the streets - a homeless man grateful for small change and a cup of coffee from a stranger - to high flying business and a man who works constantly, juggling his family and work commitments yet always short-changing everyone, including himself, a fact about which he is unconcerned and unaware at the start of the tale.

A small, out of character, act of kindness makes everything in their world shift out of kilter, and Lou - the businessman - finds himself swinging from a feeling of power, where he is the  captain of his 'ship' to a position where he is suspicious of his colleagues' motives and struggling to present himself in a good light.  His wife is already distrustful of him and he hardly know his own children - something has to change ... and then quite dramatically it does.  I found myself reminded of It's a Wonderful Life and the timing of the tale around Christmas does nothing to distract from that parallel.   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038650/

Having read & enjoyed Thanks for the Memories - another book by Cecelia Ahern -and having cried buckets each time I watch PS I Love You I was totally prepared to suspend reality and shed a few tears - The Gift did not disappoint me!  http://uk.cecelia-ahern.com/books/Books/The-Gift/

Recent TV Recommendations:

Suits [Dave] They have re-run all of Series 1 on consecutive nights so that viewers are ready for Series 2 which starts this week.  It is an american legal drama - it's fast paced and witty - the 2 main characters are like chalk and cheese, yet somehow they are yin an yang to each other.  Harvey is rich and successful, well respected but his boss is worried that he has not got enough heart or conscience to be really good for the legal practice.  Harvey takes a winger and hires Mike as his up-and-coming assistant - Mike has not even been to Harvard (a closely guarded secret which could topple his career) but he has a wonderful gift:  he only has to read something to remember it and he has an intense eye for detail.  Mike is also full of empathy and heart and - although it often looks like his achilles heel - it proves the tipping point time and again to winning their cases.  (Strangely enough I could 'see' Harvey and Mike as Lou and Gabe respectively when I was reading the Gift!)

The New Normal [E4]  Really liking this - it is funny and the wit is cutting - it airs out-moded prejudices and renders them ridiculous (if you watched Glee you will see that Grandma is cut from the same cloth as Sue!)  It is just a short show but it really brightens up my week.

My Mad Fat Diary E4 pushed this very hard over Christmas - the trailers were on all the time - so having seen a lot of clips I thought I knew what to expect, and yet it surprised me. The subject matter - a 16 year old girl with a weight problem and mental health issues - was dealt with sensitively and yet with humour.  The viewer is privvy to Rae's thoughts and counselling sessions, Rae is brutally honest about her sexuality - horny thoughts bombarding 24/7 - and her uncomfortable relationship with her mother "She's a Nightmare!"  It is set at the height of Cool Brittania and Rae - who loves music - is getting out there and trying to make new friends and feel more comfortable with herself and her size.  Anyone who has read the fantastic Swallowing Grandma by Kate Long might see some similarities, but I think its likely the plots will veer off in different directions.

www.katelong.co.uk/index.htm

Vampires, Were-creatures and Steamy Bedroom Action!

Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter - Laurell K Hamilton http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/

There are a lot of books in this series (music to your ears if you like a badass necromancer like Anita who helps the police with their supernatural cases in this parallel world where humans and supernatural beings co-exist in society).  I had already read books 1, 2 & 3 when I was given Blood Noir for Christmas - although I don't normally read books out of chronological order - I cracked open No. 16 in the series and was immediately struck by how the style had changed since the early books - a bit more fun and playful - certainly more racy - LKH was giving Charlaine Harris http://www.charlaineharris.com/ & her Sookie Stackhouse series a bit of competition.

One of the main things you need to know about Anita is that she is very 'chippy' - she has mexican heritage and so is very anti-prejudice, she works with the police, but cant stand the 'good ole boy' mentality, she is friends with a lot of supernatural creatures: were-rats, were-leopards and (in later books) is part-of a were-wolf pack, she's even reached some kind of truce with the vampires - in fact she is the main squeeze of  Jean-Claude the Master Vampire.  Anita never makes promises she can't keep and almost never leaves home without her Browning (loaded with silver bullets) and at least one knife - her  cross helps to protect her, but so does the voo-doo magic she inherited from her grandmother.  Anita thinks like a cop, but also like a monster and it seems that it is this particular intuition which helps her outwit the 'bad guys' every time - she has friends and colleagues who have taught her martial arts and weapon skills, but often it's her affinity with the monsters which helps her the most .... & gets her into the worst trouble! 

There is a lot of racy action in Blood Noir - Anita has developed ardeur which means she needs to 'feed' on sex in the same way that a vampire would need to feed on blood - and it seems as if this gives her a large appetite for sex, with multiple partners, sometimes more than one at a time!  So probably not the book for sheltered young teenagers to read! but nothing more shocking than people will have seen if they watch the True Blood series on TV.  There was a little more emotional soul searching than I would have liked, it held up the action in places, but hey! perhaps that is to make sure the reader does not view Anita as a slut!  Anyway I found it a fast paced read, and was curious to see what had happened in between this book and where I had left off, so next I read The Lunatic Cafe (4th in the series).


This book did not disappoint:  Anita was still working for her agency and assisting the police in their supernatural cases ~ in this story there seems to be a serial killer wreaking vengeance on were-creatures ~ Anita and her training partner Ronnie are both investigating from different standpoints.  Jean-Claude is still trying to get close to Anita but she is beginning to fall for Richard ... until she accidentally stumbles across his biggest secret.  At the Lunatic Cafe Anita meets a variety of were-creatures, some she has already befriended and several she would rather never meet again, but for some reason the pack leader wants to hire Anita for an assignment.  The plot is complex and unpredictable and kept me guessing to the end - the only thing I could be sure of was that Anita would come out on top!  Book 5 is already calling to me!

Regarding TV - there are a lot of good series starting in January.  I am loving Mr Selfridge  ITV1- it is like Downton Abbey or Upstairs Downstairs meets Mary Portas!!  It is glamorous, gossipy and has costumes to die for!  Revenge is back - series 2 - how delicious!  I am also very keen to see The New Normal and My Mad Fat Diary - both on E4 - I'll let you know what I think when I have watched them.

Dipping into the World of Witchcraft

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES - Deborah Harkness

I had this book recommended to me a few months ago [thank you Jo!] but now I am the proud owner of a Kindle [thank you Richard!] it was child's play to order the book on Christmas Day!!  Reading it, I was immediately drawn into the scholarly world of Oxford University, but from the viewpoint of a witch!  O but she doesn't like to use her powers ... well not often ... and she has had NO training ... but she comes from a very old family of witches (they can be traced back to Salem).  To further whet my appetite she becomes aware that a handsome Vampire (yum!) is watching her with avid interest.

My only criticism of this book is that the story is slow - there are a lot of details to impart to the reader, and a lot of back story to incorporate - I think this is often the way with  book 1in a series (this is the first book of the All Souls Trilogy).  I also found the central character Diana a little hard to get close to, but I loved the intense vampire Matthew who she teams up with, in fact I found him irresistible!  By the last 20% of the book I was truly hooked:  the 'team' has scattered to the four winds - different places and times - and I really want to know how they fare and who will survive the battle they are embarking on (sounds a bit like the premise for Lord of the Rings huh?) and, of course, what further secrets will come to light.  So long as the vampires feature heavily ... I'm in!!  Shadow of Night is already available in the UK.
http://deborahharkness.com/all-souls-trilogy/



A GREAT & TERRIBLE BEAUTY- Libba Bray

I have been wanting to read something by Libba Bray ever since I began reading other people's reading blogs in July 2012 - she was recommended on my favourite blog http://www.readingrants.org/
My local library had trouble getting me a copy to read ... Kindle to the rescue!  Within minutes I have a copy in my hand, and just a few pages into the novel I am on the edge of my seat!!

The novel is set in 1895 - at first the central character Gemma Doyle is living in India but longing to come to England and attend parties and tea dances and meet potential husbands - but a terrible tragedy brings those dreams crashing down. Very soon she is bundled off to a remote english boarding school to be 'finished' according to the requirements of polite society.  But Gemma is different, what happened in India has left its mysterious mark on her.  She sees visions she doesn't understand and sometimes seems to 'go places' without actually leaving the moment.  The girls at her newschool are cliquey and unkind, they try to 'test' her - the teachers seem rigidly bound by the rules of society and their spinsterhood - and a mysterious figure she first saw in the marketplace in India is now  watching her from the woods bordering the school grounds ... how much stranger can things get? Well throw in a dead girl's diary about dabbling with magic, a secret society of new friends and Gemma's growing ability to use her 'powers'  and you will see.  

The action is fast paced and the social commentary on a young girl's place in society, as she moves into woman-hood, is in sharp contrast to our modern world full of choices and options.  I shall definitely be getting my hands on the sequel very soon, and looking out for the film (but regular readers already know my feelings about films made of favourite books ... erk!  can go either way!!)

I shall also be reading The Diviners - the novel (recommended in the Reading Rants blog) which first whetted my appetite to read books by Libba Bray.  Check out the hilarious video on YouTube of Libba acting out the beginning of the book.
http://thedivinersseries.com/