The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold

Have you ever read one of those books that you ploughed through the night, not because you wanted to know what happened (the ‘what happened’ had already happened in the beginning), but because you were drawn by the subject, her character and her life? This is how I feel about The Lovely Bones.

The Forgotten Children – David Hill

I really like David Hill. There is something about a guy who has made his living out of an interest, an interest that is – to others – so inherently boring (you may disagree). In fact, it takes a special skill to repackage something so boring and poached egg well enough to make your average, garden-variety reader sit and consume it in one intriguing sitting. Like eggs benedict. And The Forgotten Children.

Divided Kingdom – Rupert Thomson

I read this really quickly. Like, REALLY quickly. Like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows quick (i.e. 56 minutes flat).

This indicates two things:
1) I really enjoyed the book.
2) Good storytelling.

Sure, the writing is like an investigative journo had in epiphany, went back to uni and was forced to do CUL101, but don’t let that deter you – Divided Kingdom is to my Monday 30 Rock TV schedule as Watergate is to Vanity Fair (hint: Divided Kingdom wins). It’s that good!

Anne of Green Gables – L.M. Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables played an integral role in my childhood. For a long time, I lived vicariously through the life of Anne Shirley of Green Gables, later of Queens College and that little school that I forget the name of. She did all the things that I, a child of the mid 90s was not allowed to do – she played by the stream unsupervised, she roamed the town unsupervised, she had tea parties unsupervised, she was unsupervised. In most part.

Reading FAIL: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey

I had heard rumours about One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest being an excellent novel. It was the type of novel that people wrote about, that people made films about, that people wanted to read and, when they did read it, they found it an enjoyable and enriching experience. Unfortunately, I was not one of those people. At first, I was not against reading it. In fact, I was quite looking forward to it. I read book reviews, I talked to people about it. I even watched the film.

This, more unfortunately, was my mistake.

And The Ass Saw The Angel – Nick Cave

At the risk of making a wide sweeping generalisations, novels relating to flagrant worshippers of errant gods are prone to heroing the three D’s – the disabled, disadvantaged and downtrodden. Not so in Nick Cave’s And The Ass Saw The Angel. Everyone is fair game.