Emma Donoghue - The Sealed Letter

I was absolutely bowled over by The Room, which was stratospherically a best seller and nominated for innumerable awards, and well deserved it was. I therefore approached this book with a sense of trepidation and anticipation.

What a surprise this is a totally different kind of book. It is set in Victorian London and concerns an infamous divorce case that occurred in real life. This is Emma's fictional take on it.

It is absolutely brilliant. Of course, I love historical fiction but it is the relationships of the central characters that like Room dominate the book and carry it forward.

I found I just could not put it down, it was utterly fascinating and I was desperate to find out the conclusion of the trial.

There is masses here to interest a reading group, women's rights, marriage, divorce, female relationships, Victorian London, hypocrisy, and the list goes on. I can predict that this book will become the stalwart of reading group lists for many years to come.

Phil Rickman - The Secrets of Pain

Another excellent offering from Phil Rickman. These suspenseful murder mysteries are great. It is another large book but once I had hit half way I just could not put it down. Here we have a police investigation into the murder of a local landowner, and we enter again the complicated world of DI Franny Bliss. For Merrily, the Diocesan Exorcist, this is the 11th book in the series, and it is worth reading the back list, we have a highly challenging situation surrounding once of her colleagues who has recently re-enlisted in the SAS as their chaplain.

I found the aspect dealing with the SAS absolutely fascinating, and once again this is a book where I came away having felt I had learned alot. I cannot say to much more about the plot without spoilers.

Phil Rickman is a master at creating brooding suspense and his creation of the atmosphere of Hereford and the Welsh borders really gives you a sense that you can be there, with the hairs on the back of your neck rising in sympathy. I also like the story arc concerning Merrily and Lol and of course her teenage daughter Jane, who always just seems to get it wrong!

Mario Reading - The Third Antichrist

Well here it is at last, the final volume in the Third Antichrist Trilogy, and it has been worth the wait! You can read it as a standalone novel but it is so much richer if you have read the previous two novels.

This is a large book, bordering on 666 pages (!), it is fast paced and witty. Unusually for this type of book it is also erudite. I love a book in which I learn alot and am entertained!
The glossary is also helpful as it answers all the in jokes/ entendres concerning the names of significant characters!
So, this book is mainly set in Moldovia and Romania, but ties up the threads of Nostradamus in France and the Mayan Codex from Mexico. I cannot say too much without spoilers but I can share that as Adam Sabir, Calcque and the intrepid gypsies rush to the climax, chased by the Corpus ( the wicked De Bale family - did I say my maiden name was Bale?) we find out not only who is the Third Antichrist but also who is the Second Coming!

If you like fast paced, mystery or conspiracy type thriller this is the book for you! Just the thing to curl up with at this time of year.............

Christopher Fowler - Bryant and May and The Memory of Blood

Another cracking novel in the Bryant and May series. This time Christopher turns his hand to the locked room mystery. Add to that the fact that the murder may have been committed by Punch from Punch and Judy, then you have the scene set for another delicious blend of mayhem, mystery and murder.

These books just keep on getting better. If you want to know more about the history of London and all its quirks, these books will entertain. Add to this the great duo of Bryant and May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit and you have a really special quality read. Although these books do stand alone, the story arc of the Peculiar Crimes Unit is great to follow, do I detect a slight softening towards Raymond Land?

These books are also well written and I love an author that plays with words and teaches me new ones.

I am very worried about this new condition I am sure I have abrakophilia !

Christopher has a great BLOG too follow the links on this page!

Man Booker Prize 2011

Well this year it was as controversial as always. I have to say that once again none of the books really appealed to me. The only one I attempted prior to the result was this one.

It certainly was not challenging but was very odd. This is a violent and peculiar western. It is very strange I am not sure what was the point of the book, was it to tell us that all sons need and crave their mothers? If anyone can enlighten me please post.

On the announcement of the winning novel, I decided to read it. Again an easy read, and very short, almost a novella. It is beautifully if somewhat self consciously written. It is about a 60 something year old man returning to an event in his past. I can't say too much as it would then contain spoilers.

What I could not decide is whether this book is absolutely brilliant or dreadful. It is as I said very lyrical, but none of the characters appeal, there is really no point that I can perceive to the story. There is no real denouement. The revelation at the end you could see coming, and it really doesn't solve anything BUT that is real life. Other human beings frequently are a mystery to us and there is no 'closure' that can be had, and some people we meet in our lives are just unpleasant or weird.

I am glad I read it , it will be excellent for reading groups as I suspect it will divide the readers into two camps and lead to a lively discussion.

End Of The Line - ed Jonathan Oliver

So what can I say about this collection of horror short stories? They are all loosely based about underground railway systems. They are incredible! A stellar cast of authors have been collected by Jonathan Oliver, Christopher Fowler, Adan L G Neville, Gary McMahon, Pat Cadigan, Paul Maloy, Ramsay Campbell, John L Probert, Nicholas Royle, Simon Bestwick, Al Ewing, Conrad Williams, Mark Morris, Stephen Volk, Michael Marshall Smith, James Lovegrove,Natasha Rhodes, and Joel Lane.
I found I had to read this book very slowly reserving time to read one story a day. They are haunting, terrifying, and very clever, they also stay with you, hence the desire not to overload the synapses.
I should say that next time I take the tube in London I am going to pay very close attention to everything, and be very afraid. I found it absolutely fascinating but not surprising to see how different author's imaginations run when given such a suitable topic. Am I the only person that has always been slightly uneasy on a tube platform?

October has been a busy month!

Phew, we have had a busy month here in Bournemouth. Firstly our reading groups have reached 52! We have been running a survey with them and they have feed back that they would over whelmingly like Readers Days, on Crime, General Fiction and Historical Fiction. So please keep your eyes open for advertising for future author events.

In October we had the excellent Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival. As part of this there was the interestingly named Horrorlitic events. Bournemouth has a wealth of literary connections,the author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley is buried here, as is the heart of her husband! Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde while living here, and the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker used to come here on holiday!

So we had the eminent horror writers Ramsay Campbell and Stephen Laws to the Bournemouth Library for tea with a specially commissioned horror cake. Over 40 people came to be chilled by readings of some of their latest short stories. Later they were grilled by the audience on how they wrote, where they got their inspriration from and whether they were normal! ( Their wives said yes!) Waterstones were there to sell books for a signing and I bought a particularly chilling collection of short stories. Review to follow!