Deborah Harkness - A Discovery of witches

This is a great book. It is witches and vampires etc for grown ups. It is well written, well researched, adult, esoterically clever and I liked especially the science angle. The best thing for a librarian is that the book starts in the Bodleian Library and we have lots of action there. Our heroine is an American history professor based at Oxford University. She is descended from a long line of witches but has turned her back on this. She is an expert on the science of Alchemy. However, her heritage catches up with her when she manages to access a long hidden alchemical work in the Bodleian. Through doing so she attracts all sorts of interest from the supernaturals living around us, witches, daemons and of course vampires. She meets and falls in love with Matthew Clairmont a charismatic vampire old in years, ( he was at the crusades!) with a keen intellect, a love of yoga, and of course absolutely gorgeous. He is a professor of genetics and hopes to unlock the gene that creates the supernaturals. Togther they begin to attempt to decode the treatise she has found and Diane discovers that supernaturals do not mix and certainly do not fall in love.......... Loved the book, cannot wait for the sequel!

Richard Zimler - Warsaw Anagrams

Over 75 people packed out the large meeting room at Bournemouth Library to see Richard Zimler talk about this new book, as part of Jewish Book Week. They were not disappointed Richard is a brilliant speaker and was happy to discuss all his books with the audience. This book is stunning and very unusual. It is a murder mystery set in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1940, just before the uprising. So for those who know their history there is already a sense of menace hanging over the inhabitants of the ghetto. We follow Erik Cohen a psychiatrist in his 60s forcibly moved into the ghetto when his flat was requisitioned. Unable to work, he grumpily moves in with his niece and her son Adam. Then Adam goes missing, and finally is found murdered, in the barbed wire surrounding the ghetto. Erik decides to investigate his great-nephews death. Richard captures the enclosed, claustraphobia of the ghetto brilliantly. WE are presented with the whole gamut of the human race in that confined place . What unfolds is a gripping tale of evil, horror, hardship, friendship, heroism and hope and above all the resilience of one elderly man who refuses to give up no matter what the consequences. I hope this book wins an award it certainly deserves to.

Lee Carroll - Black Swan Rising

This is a fun book. It is a sort of graduation for Stephanie Meyer fans I think. We have a lovely male vampire, faeries, Gnomes, dragons and of course monsters. I really enjoyed it. It is fairly light reading but had some great ideas. I loved the idea that those of us who suffer migraines with visual disturbance, actually have the ability to see the faerie world if only we were taught how to use it. I also love the plug that faeries love libraries as they are free, safe places to be!
This is part of a trilogy and I am looking forward to the next instalment. Only criticism, it is set in New York and there seems to be an assumption that everyone knows New York and its landmarks etc. For those of us in Europe it would make it very much more interesting if we understood some of the references and it might help tourism!

Hitler concerned about savelibraries campaign.

Michele Giuttari - A death in Calabria

Another excellent series, these just get better. Michele is a bestselling author in Italy. This book takes place in New York and in Calabria. Murders in NewYork lead to a team visiting Calabria to find the key to these events. Michele Ferrara is now Chief Superintendant of the Anti-Mafia Investigation Department, and is tasked to help the New York detectives all he can. This book involves a type of Mafia called the 'Ndrangheta situated in the remote and beautiful area of italy called Calabria, it was absolutely fascinating, and an exciting read. I particularly like the authors notes at the end tying this up with real cases and history. I eagerly look forward to his next offering.

Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan - The Strain

I picked this up in the library and thought 'Oh, good , this looks similar to The Passage'.
I was wrong. Premise very similar. Plane arrives at US airport everyone dead inside, vampire virus gets loose. Whilst I absolutely support the move towards claiming vampires back to horror from romance, this was horror without substance. I notice that one of the authors is a film director and that may explain it, this read as though it was a film script. There was no descriptive text, no characterisation beyond the barest minimum - what did the characters look like, the buildings, New York? It also was very American, full of acronyms, CDC, FAA, SUV, et al, very irritating.
I notice it is part of a trilogy but I have to say vampire lover that I am I will not be reading on. I might watch the film though.........

Jo Graham - Hand of Isis

This looked a great book, as you know I enjoy historical books and love Egypt. I was a bit sceptical when I saw it was about Cleopatra thinking what more was there to be said ? However, this is good, it really is about Charmian, her half sister and handmaiden and it is this slant that makes it interesting. I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the book, about their early life and loves, and I have to say it was less interesting when Caesar came onto the scene, as that part is so well known. The love triangle between Charmian, Dion and Emrys was sexy and kept up the tension. It also explained the ending, which I thought was novel and a good twist.

This book has reading group notes and I think it would make a good reading group choice.