Thursday, July 12, 2012

A whole lot of reading going on

I have been on holiday for nearly three weeks and have managed to pack in a number of good and not so good reads in that time. The bodies left behind by Jeffrey Deaver is one of the books that I recommend. Jeffrey Deaver, as always, keeps you guessing until nearly the last page.  A 911 call cut short leads deputy Brynn to a house on Lake Mondac, where she discovers two bodies and nearly becomes a victim herself. On the run from the murderers with only her wits to keep her alive, Brynn's fight to survive keeps you turning the pages. Deaver writes a good story and I was not disappointed. If you need a good page turner for a chilly winter's night ( or a lazy day on the beach for those lucky souls in the North) then you this is a good choice.

 Z by Michael Thomas Ford was one of the books that I reviewed for my husband's slibrary. If you are a teen reader and enjoy a good zombie thriller, then this might be for you. The plot is good and it is well written. It does however highlight the depths to which we as so called " civilized" beings can and do descend and is a bit gruesome in places, but then what can you expect from a book about zombies.

 Yet another zombie book that I reviewed is Monster Island, the first in a trilogy written by David Wellington.  This book was a bit too weird for my taste, although it is a great page turner and will certainly keep you reading.  A small band of Somali girl soldiers accompany a former UN inspector to New York city to look for AIDS drugs. The catch is that all of the civilized world has fallen to a zombie infection and Manhattan is crawling with the undead. Join Dekalb and his girl soldiers as they invade New York in their quest for these drugs. Besides these newly undead, a greater threat awaits them, as one of the undead is not quite as mindless as one would assume. A thinking zombie is far more  of a threat than the other undead and this twist in the tale lends itself to all sorts of action.Throw in an ancient druid, a couple of mummy's and this all makes for a good but disturbing read.
                                   
Finding a book by an author you enjoy that you have not yet read is like coming home. I have not read a Tony Hillerman in a long time and I really enjoyed reading Talking god . What do a corpse and a grave robber have in common? This question brings Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee together and as Joe tries to identify the victim and Jim arrests the grave digger. This story is well written and the plot all comes together in the last pages, leaving the reader guessing. I love a good detective novel where the plot is not given away in the first half of the book. Tony Hillerman hooks you and keeps you to the last page. It is also fascinating getting a glimpse into a world so far removed from my own, which is one of the special joys of being a reader and an armchair traveller.

As my holiday draws to a close, I find myself intensely wrapped up in the world of Henry and Claire in The Time traveller's wife by Audrey Niffenegger, as they fight to live a normal life with Henry time travelling throughout their relationship.  They meet when Claire is 6 and Henry 40, get married when Claire is 22  and Henry 30. While this is a beautiful love story , there is nothing typical about it and you keep reading , wanting to know how they resolve the fact that Henry keeps disappearing. I have an allergic reaction to most love stories and while I am not immune to chic lit, I generally avoid these types of books. However, this story is lovely and I would recommend it to anyone who is a romantic at heart.

Still on to read list is a Sue Grafton omnibus, The Worst Hard time by Timothy Egan and two murder mysteries by authors that I have not read before, which is always something to look forward to. What are the books you are reading these holidays or the ones still on your bedside table, waiting like a large box of chocolate allsorts? I would love to hear from you.