Book Addicts Anonymous

At the start of the novel we are introduced to two main characters, Louisa, a New Yorker Hotel chambermaid, and Nikloa Tesla a guest at the hotel. The novel brings them together and explores how this unlikely pair of characters interact with each other.
A thought provoking book

In the past few weeks I have read 3 bookis and am half way through a fourthh.
How to paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall....follows four characters, and explores how their lives intertwine. The four separate characters have distinct sections, but the tone of the narrator gives clues as to which narrative is being followed. I didn't like this as much as Electric Michaelangelo by the same author, but it was good.

Next was The last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde. Although classed as a children's book, I felt this was every bit as good as Fforde's "adult" novels. It explores the possibilty of the end of magic as the population knows it. Practioners of "magic" have fallen on hard times, and these days "rewire houses and unblock drains". There is only one dragon surviving, and it's death has been predicted. The story follows on from there. I am pretty sure that this is not the last of Jasper Fforde's "young adult" books.

The invention of everything else by Samantha Hunt.
This book revolves around two characters, who meet and interact. Louisa, a chambermaid a The New Yorker Hotel, and Mr Tesla a guest at the same hotel. It is a mix of fact and fiction, as the Nikola Tesla is the book is based on the real life Nikola Tesla. It is an engaging novel exploring many different scientific ideas. The two become friends due to their love of pigeons. Not a quick read, but definitelyy worth reading.

I've read three books since I last posted here.
One being a pre-released title that I as sent from Waterstones, to review.
The title of the book is The Gallows Curse by Karen Maitland, it's on Waterstones.com if you want to read it. I know that I should now find Maitland's previous titles and read them.
The other two books are The House of Lost Souls by F.G.Cottam. This book takes in "evil" magical practises" substantial ghostly images, and a type of "exorcism". I don't want to give away too much, but it was a very enjoyable book of dark intrigue. To read more, click here.
And the third book is Post Birthday World by Lionel Shriver. In the first few pages of the book there is no split reality, but after a birthday dinner Irina's, the main character, life is played out in two separate realities, both of which could have sprouted from a single instant in time. The chapters are alternate, and follow each separate "fork" in her life's pathway. The only thing the reader could find confusing is that the two realities are not separated by chapter titles, or anything, but then again, Shriver expects a certain level of intelligence from her readers, also, alternate plots are becoming quite popular. I think Shriver cleverly keeps the alternates a close together as possible. Quite a lengthy, but enjoyable book.

I was bought this book for Yule from Oliver. His friend had recommended it. As I never got further than page 50 in Cloud Atlas, I was a little apprehensive.
However, I have thoroughly enjoyed the book. The action takes place over 17-18 years at end of the 18th and start of the 19th century, when Japan was still very much a closed country. It is the tale of more than one lot of "unrequited" love. The residents of Dejima were to all intents and purposes exiles, only having contact with their homeland through the island of Batavia. Jacob de Zoet is an honorable man who manages to resist the corruption that the others fall prey to.
A little slow to start, but soon captures the reader in Japan of the late 1700s, early 1800s.
After reading this I think i should go back and give Cloud Atlas another try.

The Gathering follows Veronica through the days after her elder brother, Liam's, suicide. There is less than 12 months between the two, so they spent a lot of time together whilst growing. Saying that it is a novel about family life does not do it justice. The narrator tries to piece together family history, etc in an attempt to make sense of her own life. Dealing with a close sibling's suicide brings her to question where her own life is going.

I'll list them and add a brief note about each.

1. Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert. Brilliant book, NOT the book of the film just about to be released, this is set in the present.
2. The Selected Works of T.S.Spivet by Reif Larsen. Good book, but unwieldy to read as it is a larger size book with very soft covers, kept flopping around.
3. Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith. I should read more of Cruz Smith's books as I thoroughly enjoy them.
4. Notes from an exhibition by Patrick Gale. A non linear timeline novel that might frustrate some readers, but I loved it.
5. The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds. A novel based on real events in the 1840s, couldn't put it down.
6. The Resurrectionist by James Bradley. The story of how Gabriel Swift falls easily into the job of resurrectionist after being "let go" from his apprenticeship with a surgeon. Intriguing.
7. The Visible World by Mark Slouka. I know I loved this book, but can't remember why in particular.
8. The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G.W.Dahlquist. This is a fantastic book, it's a huge 753 pages long. It reminded me in parts of several of Philip Pullman's books, both the His Dark Materials trilogy and the Sally Lockheart series. Well worth a read, there is a sequel that I really must read.
9. The things we do for love by Imogen Parker. A family novel, on ther surface. However it seems to have taken certain events in recent history and shrunk them down from events that touch everyone's life to events that just touch a small number of lives. To the people involved, the events don't become any less, just their national importance does.
10. Poison Study by Maria V.Snyder. A novel idea shapes the plot of this novel, that being, in place of being excecuted the condemned Yelena is given a job, but not just any job. She is given the job of food taster to the Commander of Ixia. A very intriguing idea makes for a very good novel.
    
11. The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike. I bought this after seeing the film for the "don't know howmanyth" time. To me it is much better than the film, but then again most books that are made into films are better in book form, in my opinion.....but I like to read.
12. A Black Englishman by Carolyn Slaughter. A complex, interesting novel set in 1920s India exploring the love of a white woman for a man she presumes to be Indian, but turns out , despite his colour to be more English than she is, [she's Welsh actually.] A brilliant novel.
13. Testimony by Anita Shreve. An engaging novel that I just couldn't put down.
14. Room by Emma Donoghue. I can see exactly why Room made it onto the Man Booker shortlist. Told by Jack, a five year old boy who's whole life has been lived in Room. Although it has not been based on any true life events, the concept is quite well thought out. "What if you lived your whole life in one room, and only ever saw two other people, one living in the room with you, the other a frequent visitor? Then one day the visitor does not come." A brilliant thought provoking book, that, as it says on the cover, "you can read in one sitting", just because you are so completely drawn in.
15. In the Woods by Tana French. A crime thriller, carefully crafted with some good red herrings and twists to the tale.
16. The Thirteenth Tale by Dianne Setterfield. This is another book I could easily have read cover to cover in one sitting. At first glance it seems that it is just a standard family saga with the odd hidden secret, however there is one secret only a few people know, and it is only when this secret comes to light are the strange events explained fully.
17. How to talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper. At 29 Doug is widowed, after only three years marriage to Hailey. He is left with a teenage stepson, and an inability to make sense of life any more. Not as maudlin as the plot outline would make some people think. It answers one of those "what if?" questions we all hope we'll never have to find out the answer to.
18. Brick Lane by Monica Ali. In short, what life was like in the Tower Hamlets area of London, from the Asian point of view, in the 1980s- 1990s.
    
19. Knots and crosses by Ian Rankin. Crime thriller, with Rebus in the role of detective.
    
20. The Merlin Conspiracy by Dianna Wynne Jones. A teenage fantasy novel set in Medieval Britain.
21. The Outcast by Sadie Jones. A brilliant novel, another one that really didn't want to be put down.
22. Digging to America by Anne Tyler. Two families from the same town, with different lifestyles each adopt a Korean child, and their lives become closely entwined.
23. The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller. So long since I read this one, all I really remember is I thoroughly enjoyed it.
    
24. Embers by Sandor Marai. The novel is all told over an evening, as two old acquaintances meet up. The story also involves a third person, the one person who is missing from the room. Very enthralling, and very well translated, as I have found some books translated from their native language sometimes lose meaning.
25. Minarette by Leila Aboulela. A subtle love story is entwined through the story of Najwa, a Muslim woman, originally from Khartoum, now living in London

On Wednesday 29th December2010 I will bring you up to date with all the books I have read since late August.
I need to before the pile topples over and permanently injures someone!