Book Addicts Anonymous

Wow!!!
What a great book!
Most people are familiar with the "snow girl" fairy tale.
This story incorporates the tale.
You think you know what is going to happen next..and you don't!
I was in tears as the book ended for me.  I won't give anything away, but if you think you know the "snow girl" tale and can predict this story, you are WRONG!
The book is brilliantly crafted and well written
This is Eowyn Ivey's first book...I hope it isn't her only one!

This is omnibus number 6, comprising of Paint your Dragon and Open Sesame.
In Paint your Dragon a sculpture of George and the Dragon "comes alive" and mayhem ensues, in typical Holt fashion.
Open Sesame is based around "fairy tale" characters "crossing the line" and becoming real people.
Both stories are funny from start to finish. I just hope Tom Holt has been busy writing something new, as I've nearly read all his older books.

The Gargoyle By Andrew Davidson is one of those books that gets it's hooks into you and pulls you in. The start is pretty gruesome, and if you read past it you are in a for a very entertaining tale, where the un-named narrator recovers from a horrific car accident, leaving him with extensive bodily burns. He is helped through this by Marianne, a woman who might have mental health issues, or she might as she claims have lived several lives with the un-named narrator. Provided you can stomach some of the more graphic descriptions in this book, you are in for a very good read.

Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead tells a version of Will Scarlet's tale, of Robin Hood's band. It is a very well researched book, and an enjoyable read. As there is some dispute as to whether Robin Hood existed it is no small wonder that there are several stories springing up around him and his band. Scarlet is the second of a trilogy by Lawhead, but can be read as a stand alone novel, as I read it.

I should do this more often.
I'm going to just name the books and star them, with a brief note.
December, by ??? (Have lent this book to a friend)*** Very well written, but the story was not resolved to my satisfaction.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. ****Introducing Dirk Gently, so the story is very slow to start, but a good book, the second Dirk Gently book is better.
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson. ****Good story, nice twist at the end, but was missing that certain something, but don't know what.
The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenburg. ****Set in Rhodesia just before it is declared independent, in fact it is at the end of the book. Tells the story of two girls, who's idyllic life is rudely shattered by their elder boy cousin, who has a sadistic streak.
Ye Gods by Tom Holt ****** It's by Tom Holt, need I say more? Jason Derry is a hero of the Jason and the Argonauts style, except he lives in the modern day. I love the fact the only person who can get the better of him is his Mum.
The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley. **** A mystery story with a secondary theme of a romance thrown in for extra measure. A really well written book.

I haven't finished reading anything on my Kindle for a while, the physical books have been taking my attention.

Another one of Tom Holt's omnibus's...or should that be ominbae?
This one has Overtime and Grailblazers in it, [omnibus number n4]
Two crazy tales of knights in in modern times, but not....if you have read any of Tom Holt's work you will realise that he likes to play around with the idea of "time"
As usual the history side of the book is well researched, and Holt seems to relish putting people in situations "out of their time".
In Overtime a WWII pilot is persuaded to help John de Nesle in his quest, namely to find Richard Coeur de Lion, the mayhem a regular reader is used to ensues.
In Grailblazers a knight who has been "asleep" for 1500 years is awoken in order to gather up the remaining grail knights in order to find the Holy Grail. The knights have given up their quest in favour of pizza delivery and insurance sales, to name two of their new occupations.
Whenever I read one of Holt's books I am always appreciative of how much research has gone into the fine details.

Since I last posted I have read four real, by that I mean physical books, and two ....sorry....three more on Kindle.
The books I have read on my Kindle are
The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, Expecting someone taller by Tom Holt and A dog's tale by Mark Twain. These three have been kept within my parameters I said I would try to stick to when getting books on Kindle.

1. These are, classic books, as they are relatively cheap, or even free.
2. Books that are too huge to hold comfortably
3. and books that I would really like to read, but have difficulty finding as they are not currently "in print", yes....you can find second hand copies, but they sometimes leave me feeling cold when I handle them, don't know why the just do.

The "real" books are
The Shakespeare Secret by J.L.Carrell, Theft by Peter Carey, The first hour I believed by Wally Lamb and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.
The Shakespeare Secret was a thriller/mystery based around The Globe Theatre, places of importance in Shakespeare's life and literary institutions, (mostly in USA.) It twisted and turned a fair bit and kept me interested right up to the end.
Theft is about love/fraud in the art world, betrayal and family loyalty. Peter Carey is not an author you can second guess. A really good read.
The First Hour I believed is a touching story of how one man deals with the consequences that occur after his wife is caught up in the Columbine high school massacre. (The book is fiction, but bases some of the story in "real" facts, Caelum, the main character also finds out more about his forebears during the mammoth story, over 620 pages long in a smallish typeface. Saying that like his previous book I have read, [I know this much is true] a very good engrossing read.
Birdsong is again about someone looking for their forebears, but it is also a love story based around the first world war. If you watched the BBC dramatisation of this that was recently on TV you would only recognise part of the book, as the dramatisation centred on the love story and ignored the part about the young woman looking for "lost" relatives from the first world war. The book was great, the BBC dramatisation , a little disappointing, for me, as it missed out some of the story.

I was given this for Xmas.
In short it explores a "What if?"
Very readable, and you can hear Fry's voice in the writing.