Review: Painter of Silence

Paperback: £ 7.99

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Yep, apparently another WW2 book. I have admitted before and I'll admit it again I find WW2 really really interesting in some respects. However, I'm afraid that this is another book influenced by that time that isn't great. I was pleased to receive this book from Bloomsbury as I'd heard many good things about The Spy Game....I am now doubting these good things.....

Firstly, the sentence structure is really bizarre and rather awkward in places. It reads as if it has been translated from another language. The name Georgina Harding doesn't make me think that the author is not a native english speaker but the narrative voice on many occasions certainly makes me think that.

The story did make me feel sad about the total lack of understanding there was for people who are deaf! This was less than 100 years ago and it is incredible to see how our educational skills have developed. Augustin would have been a very different young man if he was alive now and not pre/during/post war. I'll stick with the characters seeing as I've mentioned Augustin. Safta was annoying. She may have a pretty cool name but bloody hell was she a winey bitch. Yes, to an extent she got on with things but she was so damn reflective and wishy washy in many other respects that she just ended up annoying me. To be honest, there wasn't really a character I completely liked or trusted at all in the entire book. I found continuous flaws with many of them, or traits I just couldn't get on board with. I did enjoy Augustin's sections the most, but I think this is because I found his deafness and muteness so interesting as his situation is completely removed from me. 

I was intrigued to read the book despite the downsides. I couldn't really see where the story was going so I wanted to know what would happen. There was no overly obvious plot for the novel to follow. Yes Safta was annoying but I wanted to know about why she fled and what was so bad about her past. Yes Augustin was a mute and found it hard to do anything when it came to interaction but it was really interesting reading about how he functioned, communicated and well, lived in general. 

Overriding the whole novel though was LURVE. BLOODY HELL! Why does everyone have to romanticise war?? Why can't people just follow through and tell you from start to finish how bloody awful it was?? I would love to read a book that doesn't try to make things happy and better in the end. I have a very vivid imagination but I do enjoy a shot of reality. Hell, misery is even great sometimes!

Similarly to The Beautiful Truth, the right type of person would no doubt love this book, but for me it was just too sappy and romanticised.

Happy Reading

Book Geek

:-)

Unlikely titles for memoirs: Part 2

Hardback: £ 14.99

Publisher: Boxtree

Putin' it down on paper: Vladimir Putin

Insert page 1 (Smervie) into page 2 (Flaaf) and read: By the bloke who invented Ikea

The Cable Guy: Vince Cable

By-Opik: Lembit Opik

More than just a pretty face: Angela Merkel

Postcards from the spare room: Selected poems of Ryan Giggs

Bill'O The Belt: Bill Clinton

In Praise of Younger Women: Silvio Berlusconi

Assad state of affairs: President Assad of Syria

My Struggle (With the Alphabet): Kerry Katona

Dull to read it, to read it, dull: Bruce Forsyth

Thatcher in the Rye: Margaret Thatcher, The Early Years

Review: Girl 4

Paperback: £ 6.99

Publisher: Arrow Books

Again, as I read this last week when away and knew I wouldn't be able to do an immediate review, I made notes. My notes are of course hugely comprehensive so I will be doing the review in point form. Please forgive me once again. Here we go:

1. I decided to read this book as Mr Will Carver is a lovely twitter man! Find him at @will_carver.

2. The continually twisting and intertwining narratives were not what I expected at all but they were great. Made it really interesting.

3. The different tones for all the perspectives were great. I enjoyed the totally different narrative styles.

4. The murders are NOT for the squeamish or those of a faint heart. The grimness was totally enjoyable.

5. The narrating of the events in the past tense made the book very interesting. I particularly liked the twisty beyond the grave narratives.

6. The creepy psychology of Eames was great. Making the girls famous, making them something as they become part of his 'art'.

7. The quaint and old school character names were very endearing to me.

8. The fact that the events were described by Eames, the victim and the detective made them particularly fascinating. And I didn't get bored at all with reading about the one event 3 times.

9. On occasion I did think that maybe Eames was a tad too twiddly mustache.

10. The fact that the events occurred in areas such as Shepherd's Bush where my boy lives made the story even more creepy!!! Really spooked me! Also I have mates who work in White City and that was really creepy.

11. Two words: CHICKEN COTTAGE

12. Every time The Smiling Man appeared, I felt totally unsettled, nervous and uncomfortable. Almost felt on edge. H was so so creepy. 

13. BLOODY HATE THE WORD PANTIES

14. There were great twists. The twists shocked me on some occasions to my very core, my core I say!

15. Crazy similarities between Eames and January. For a while that got my cogs turning.

16. There were some really confusing parts that totally confused me beyond belief. However, I did manage to understand most of them as it went along. I do hope that the next book answers a few questions...if it is linked at all.

Another positive review of this read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a real page turner. Not totally what I expected but in a good way! Not a book for those who can't handle gore so take that in to account when you read it...or don't. I'm defo going to read The 2!!!

Happy Reading

Book Geek

:-p

Review: Pack Men

Paperback: £ 7.99
Publisher: Hachette Scotland


Hello all!!! I am back from German lands!
It was a very hard core event but I managed to read two books, that's right, two!!
I made continuous notes in point form whilst reading the books as I knew it would be a while till I could blog. Soooooooooo, these blogs will be slightly different as they are from notes from last week! Hope that is ok, here we go:

1. I agreed/decided to read this book as Mr Bissett has been compared to Irvine Welsh and I am a big fan of that man.
2. I enjoyed the use of dialects being expressed with spellings. I am a big fan of that in every context!
3. It took me a while to get used to the interjecting of flashbacks but in the end I really enjoyed them and they brought a lot of explanation to the story.
4. Bloody loved Jack from the start, he is very very cute.
5. I liked how Alvin's language/dialect changed when he got a few drinks in him and spent more time with his home boys. I also liked the way that other characters in the novel noticed his accent changes.
6. Loved the retro references to things that are totally of my generation. Goosebumps, Pacmen etc etc. LOVE IT!
7. Liked the interesting links with religion and racism between the two football teams and Rangers' biggest rivals.
8. I think I'm going to have to read Three Men In A Boat now. It has inspired me. No idea what it is about however.
9. Liked Chrissie a lot as everyone has a mate like her.
10. The novel lacked the grotesque edge that Welsh has. But I didn't think it needed the grotesque-ness. The sex ruled though.
11. The bonding and brotherhood was so endearing and sweet even though there was the elements of bigotry. Mates are mates forever, regardless.
12. Enjoyed a hell of a lot more of it than I thought I would. It wasn't totally about footy, it was about the bonding and the characters and mainly Alvin.
13. Made me laugh that there was of course the typical domestic between a couple. A night out/day out is not a full event if there isn't a domestic at some point.
14. I don't anything about football but I would like to know if the book is based on real Rangers events.

Well, just to let you all know, in case you don't get it from the above, I really enjoyed the book. It was really funny and enjoyable. I really loved the characters, all of them and all of their different aspects. I think that this book would be enjoyed by boys for defo and I think that girls would enjoy it too, probably to their great surprise.

Happy Reading!

Book Geek!
:-)

Pimping myself out for work

I am not around ATM to do any blogging and tweeting! Sorry my lovely people!!!

I'm in Germany for work!

I would suggest that my Dad take over as he is flat and cat sitting for me...however, he isn't that tech savvy so it would all end in disaster!

I'll be back for defo on Monday 25th June!

Hopefully by then I will have found time to read and will therefore blog some shizz about books!

TTFN

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-)

Weird Reading!

From the ever lovely @LottieChase

Courtesy of a local gal @scoutharris75

@J9London introduces the first baby to my merry clan

OOO Quentin Blake!! @dedbutdrmng

  

The Ms @geologyjones collection

Another treat from @J9London: FUCKING CREEPY

AHHH!!! @J9London is my best one so far AND I LOVE THIS ONE!!!!

I have to include my lovely young CATSBY

 

The first BOY!!! The @mtcrowe collection

A book READING a book! It's blown my mind! Thanks @J9London

'OMG, I'm *so* Bridget Jones' - from fellow blogger @bookcunt

AND here is the pic that started off my #WeirdReading fetish!!!

Review: Deadlocked

Hardback: £ 18.99

Publisher: Gollancz

This is the penultimate book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries series! Boooo! I read the first 9 in pretty quick succession about 2 years ago. Had to wait 6 months for the 10th one and a year for this one to rock up. That did cause a few issues with regards to me remembering plot things but I coped. I now have to wait another a year I believe for 12!

It took me a while to get in to the first person, it always has with this series, but in the end I get completely on board with it and enjoy it thoroughly. The simplistic recapping and introductions/reminders about characters are pretty funny in comparison to the GOT series as that just never happens there. 

I loved the subtleness of the vial included on the front cover. I've only ever read ones with the drawing of the cartoon blonde or the TV covers before. Well done cover design person! I had a look at the covers of the others in the series that all have a subtle image in them. It's highly well done indeed.

As usual lots happens in a small number of pages, fast paced and never dull. I think this is a key to the books. For a Stackhouse book though, there was very little violence and sex, this was a bit of a shame. You can never have too much sex and violence! I have noticed that these books have become completely formulaic in their plots now. A soupe or vamp is in trouble, Sookie gets sucked in, she gets in trouble, the soupes and/or vamps save her, then they get in trouble again and Sookie ends up saving the day once again. It is reassuring, however, it is getting a tad predictable now. 

I still bloody love Pam, she is fantastic, Eric let me down a lot in this book, but I'd heard that Harris had begun 'ragging' on him so I was prepared. I didn't really like Sookie when I started reading the series but she is more feisty and strong now so she is greatly improved! 

This isn't of course the best book in the series. I really enjoyed the first 5/6 and now I think I'm just reading them, to an extent, to see how it all ends. Of course they are a fun read and very light hearted, a good holiday series maybe. I powered through this one in less than 48 hours. You really will have to like this type of stuff to enjoy the books and the style of writing will not suite everyone, however, for me they are fantastic light relief, provide a few giggles and are real page turners.

Happy Reading

Book Geek

:-D

Review: A Feast for Crows

Paperback: £ 8.99

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Frequent readers of my blog and tweets will know that I am a huge, huge, huge, huge, HUGE fan of Mr Martin and The Song of Ice and Fire. You guys will no doubt feel for me when I say, this part of the epic tale has left me distraught. It is nothing, that's right NOTHING on the other parts!! GEORGE WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??

I will admit it now, I am probably saying it's pants as I'm comparing it to the other volumes, and particularly Storm of Swords parts 1 and 2 which totally blew my mind! There are many many new POVs which I thought would rule, but alas they did not. Some of the new POV characters only cropped up once and George kept repeating the shittest one of the lot (I won't say who as it may spoil) all the time. This particular POV was so so so so so slow moving and tedious that I wanted to give up and skip those chapters! So very unlike me! I really missed two of the usual POVs (again no spoilers) and the book really missed a certain something for me by not including them. 

There is a lot of politics in this part and not all that much action (in comparison anyway). The action is what I have come to love about this series. The politics is pretty important though and hugely integral I'm sure. Also, the politics does indeed provide a lot of background to what has happened and why things are happening. OOO, another point, and a good one this time! The use of more old timey lang was more consistent here and I didn't get that annoyed at modern interjections at all as they were few and far between! HOORAY!! Also, I bloody love Asha! She is amazing!!!

The last 100 pages or so really picked up the pace and they were the most enjoyable bit of the whole book. Lots of action, some crazy cool twists and some fruition of plans that took BLOODY AGES to develop! OOO, actually I say the last 100 pages were the best bit, I also enjoyed the Prologue. That was pretty cool! 

OOOO, another point that may or may not be interesting, and may or may not be true, but I read somewhere (can't remember where now) that George initially intended this part to be set 5 years AFTER the wars in Westeros when the dragons were all big and cool and Dany had conquered, but he chose not to do that in the end as so much would have been missed out and glossed over. Could this have something to do with the fact that there is so much tedium and talking in this part? Maybe part 5 will answer some of these questions for me!

It may be unfair that I am comparing it to the previous ones and therefore saying this book is a bit shitty....but as it is part of a series then I don't think anyone can blame me. None the less, don't let this dishearten you from reading the series and this part. It is obviously needed in the grand scheme of things!

Happy Reading

Book Geek

:-)

My Mum's Review: The Millennium Series

Hello all!

I read this set of books long before I started my blog so there is no comparison review in this case! Sorry people!!!!

Due to popular demand however, I persuaded my Mum to give her opinions on the Millennium Series which she has been reading over the last few weeks. She's said the following about the series as a whole:

- Simple child like language appears in the books on occasion. Mummy Geek thinks that there could be something in the whole debate over if the Mrs wrote it...
- Mum found the first book pretty difficult to get in to.
- However, this didn't last long! When reading the third book she was up till 2 am reading it one night AND up until 5 am reading it another night! Gripped I say, gripped! If she wasn't still off work she'd NEVER get it read that quickly and stay up that late. (The day she stayed up till 5 am she didn't get up till 2pm that day.)
- My Mum can't cope with sub titles so does not want to see the Swedish film adaptations even though I've told her how good they are.
- Direct quote from Mum via text 'The heroine appears even less than most minor characters, either hiding, hospital etc.'
- Direct quote via text again 'Always an extra bit when you think the book has ended.'
- Mum has said she'd like to see the english version of the film as it'll help her differentiate between people. Mum struggled with character names which all sounded the same...apparently they all began with either s, b or e. Also, Mum said that names also help convey character, this was a bit difficult to grasp due to different Swedish Culture.
- Mummy Geek wasn't expecting so much Swedish politics.
- However, I think we have a winner as Mum said that in the end she enjoyed the whole series!

Now here comes the info:

Each book is about £ 7.99 and can be bought in a set, obviously for more money!

Happy Reading!

Book Geek

:-)

Book Celeb

Hello!

I have to just share with you all one of the best things that happened ever!!

I MET STREET CAT BOB YESTERDAY!!!

He is so cool! And he was so sweet, well behaved and did a funny thing when his dude tried to move his food! hee hee hee!

I would love to read Bob's book and will find one soon!
It is called 'A Streetcat Named Bob!'

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-)

Robin Hobb: Love that gal

I actually love this woman! The glorious ROBIN HOBB!

I was first introduced to the world of Robin Hobb when I was about 16. I was in college and a guy I knew called Tank struck up a conversation about high fantasy books with me. He showed me the way and brought this AMAZING author in to my life! 

The first book I read by the lovely lady was:

I fell in love with her, her world, her characters and her writing instantly! Hobb's narrative style is glorious. I will wholly admit that she won't be for everyone, epic high fantasy novels never are universally loved. But, if you want to have a go, I would suggest you start with Robin Hobb. 

Sadly I've only completely read 3 of her trilogies and the last book of hers I read was: 

However, I am determined to read all her books! She has 16 novels in total, so far, so I think 10 isn't pretty bad going. Yet, there is more! Ms Hobb also has short stories and a pseudonym!!! Yep, she writes under Megan Lindholm. These books fall in to the genre of Young Adult fantasy type books. I've only ever read:

I will probs get round to reading more of the Lindholm books at some point however, I'd like to finish the grown up Hobb ones first!

The lovely Robin is only 60 so I have everything crossed that there is more yet to come from her! Also, I like to think she's a lesbian, I don't know why, I just do. I've never heard or read about her having kids or a bloke, or for that matter a lady. She could well be a sexual or just an amazing book writing robot created in a lab! 

Her website is: http://robinhobb.com/

Her twitter is: @robinhobb 

Miss Lindholm's website is: http://www.meganlindholm.com/

Anyway, just thought I'd share my love of Robin Hobb with you. I will continue to share my love of authors are we go on...hope that is ok with you!

Happy Discovering

Book Geek 

B-)