Brightness Falls From The Air - James Tiptree Jr

Awesome auroral displays and a strangely heady time-flurry were all that were generated when the two outer novas expanded and passed over the tiny remote planet of Damiem. There was little danger, in fact no more than a stunning light show whose radiance shimmered seductively and majestically, sending benign tremors through the bosies of the excited onlookers.

Now the last - the core nova - was ready to burst from the very heart of the shell that had once been a star. Only from Damiem could it be seen, but none of the witnesses who had eagerly gathered to watch the spectacle would ever forget the events of that night. Because when the time came to recount what they'd seen, there would be so few left to remember....


A reasonable sci-fi read that I got through in a few days, as it kept me interested enough to want to find out how it all panned out fairly quickly. The concept, characters and world were interesting but some of the plot was a little predictable.... didn't spoil it though. :0)

Registered with Book Crossing and available if anyone wants it. :0)

Karan

The Last Wife of Henry VIII - Carolly Erickson

In this powerful historical novel, Carolly Erickson vividly brings to life Catherine Parr, an alluring young woman and the cleverest of Henry VIII's wives. Catherine attracts the lust of the dangerous and mercurial king and finds herself thrown into the intrigue-filled snakepit of the royal court, all the while hiding her feeling for her true love, Thomas Seymour.

While all around, victim's of the king's wrath suffer torture and execution, the witty and resourceful Catherine survives. But even after Henry's death, her struggle continues when she has to fight for the affection of her beloved - a contest that will cost her dearly.


If you want a story that rigidly sticks to the known historical facts then you won't find it here.... what you get, instead, is a reasonably entertaining story built around the main historical characters that loosely follows the facts. Purists would probably be irritated by this.
It was a slightly different take to the many Tudor based novels I've already read - an easy read that suited being picked up in the odd few spare minutes, then being put down again.

Registered with Book Crossing and avaialble if anyone wants it. :0)

Karan

'Every Light in the House Burnin' by Andrea Levy

Every Light in the House Burnin' was Andrea Levy’s first novel, and is semi-autobiographical written in 1994. The story is of a Jamaican family living in London in the 1960s . They arrived from Jamaica in 1948 for a ‘better opportunity’ the Dad, Mr Jacob in the story’s own words and in all probability her own Dad’s words too as this mirrored her own life.
Six months after her mother followed him and they set up home in a council flat in Highbury, London. The story is told by the youngest child, Angela.

Twenty years and four children later Mr Jacob has become seriously ill and starts to move unsteadily through the care of the National Health Service and the chapters swing between that time and Angela’s memories of her childhood life. I loved this book and was sad when I got to the end; the innocence of the parents in a very prejudicial England, their outlook was to keep low and not make a fuss made me feel sympathetic towards their plight. When the Dad was very ill they were typical of that time that they didn’t want to trouble the Drs. It was Angela then in her early twenties, who tries to help her mother through this ordeal. Delightful little insights to girls growing up in the sixties was just as I remembered this time.. I am that old!
Well worth reading, perhaps you saw her ‘Small Island’ televised in two parts on two Sunday evenings just before Christmas?

Chris

Blackberry Wine - Joanne Harris

Jay Mackintosh is trapped by memory in the old familiar landscape of his childhood, more enticing than the present, and to which he longs to return. A bottle of home-brewed wine left to him by a long-vanished friend seems to provide both the key to an old mystery and a doorway into another world. As the unusual properties of the strange brew takes effect, Jay escapes to a derelict farmhouse in the French village of Lansquenet, where a ghost from the past waits to confront him, and the reclusive Marise - haunted, lovely and dangerous - hides a terrible secret behind her closed shutters. Between them, a mysterious chemistry. Or could it be magic?

After enjoying her book Chocolat so very much I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this one and wondered if I would end up being disappointed by it. Not at all. :0)

Although based in the same area, having several characters who appear in both books and a few slightly similar aspects (young mother with young daughter with a mysterious past as outcast), the storyline is quite separate. It has likeable characters and an interesting storyline that pulls you in just the same as Chocolat. I didn't enjoy it as much as..... but it was a very close second. :0)

Am registering this with Book Crossing - it's available if anyone wants it. :0)

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

The Book Thief is set in Germany before and during World War II. The story is told from the point of view of Death, who narrates the story and gives a whole new image to the "death" image we see. "Death" finds the story of the book thief, Liesel Meminger. Liesel's story begins when she and her brother are sent to a foster home by their Communist mother when she is interned in Dachau Concentration Camp. On the way to the foster home, Liesel's brother Werner dies. As the gravediggers are burying her brother, Liesel takes a book which she finds lying on the ground, The Gravedigger's Handbook, despite her inability to read. She later arrives at the home of foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann, near Munich. They treat her well, although Rosa swears fiercely. Liesel then meets Rudy Steiner, a neighbour of her own age who later becomes her best friend. Rudy is well known in the neighbourhood for his romp around the Hubert Oval as Jesse Owens. Max, a 24 year old Jewish man that the Hubermann family helps to hide, composes his experiences with Liesel in a series of sketches, as well as two homemade books.

This book was borrowed from the library after a recommendation by a friend. A nice book, but a sad story of a young girls life at that time.

The Sixth Wife - Suzannah Dunn

Clever and compassionate Katerine Parr, Henry VIII's sixth and final wife, survived their four turbulent years of marriage. But when the ambitious and handsome Thomas Seymour won her heart, mere months after the old king's death, their hasty union undid a lifetime of caution.

.............................................................................

Catherine, Duchess of Suffolk, her best friend, is the unwilling witness to the dowager queen's late-blossoming love. But as she harbours nagging suspicions of kate's new husband, it gradually becomes clear that she has her own dark tale to tell. For if Thomas might betray hiw wife for power, then cool, calculating Cathy might betray her for passion.

In times when the least discretion could mean arrest and death, Katerhine Parr's tragedy plays itself out amonsgt those who loved - and deceived - her most. As events reach their inevitable climax, it becomes clear that Cathy and Kate will risk all in a world where love is a luxury even royalty cannot always afford...

I love reading books set in Tudor times and have read many over the years, so this one was a must read for me but I couldn't understand why I initially struggled to get into this one...... until I realised that I wasn't that keen on the main character, Catherine of Suffolk. Odd, until I read the bumpf at the back of the book and realised that the writer hadn't particularly liked her character either, and it becomes obvious: the way she felt about the character has coloured the way she has written about and presented her and you can tell.

Despite this I still thought the whole a good read. There were enough of the known historical facts in there to keep it believable and the writer's twist to the story is different enough from the many others written about this time period to keep it interesting.

Am registering this with Book Crossing - available to anyone who wants it. :0)

The Lost Book of Salem - Katherine Howe

I watched today as Giles Corey was presst to death between the stones. He had lain so for two days mute. With each stone, they told him he must plead, lest more stones be added. But he only whispered, More weight. Standing in the crowde, I found Goodwyfe Dane, who, as the last stone lower'd, went white, grippt my hand, and wept. Salem Towne, 16 September, 1692

While clearing out her grandmother's cottage for sale, Connie Goodwin finds a parchment inscribed with the name Deliverance Dane. And so she steps into a mystery that dates from 1692 in Salem.... and the infamous witchcraft trials.

Nothing is entirely as it seems, and when Connie unearths the existence of Deliverance's spell book, The Physick Book, the situation takes on a menacing edge as interested parties reveal their desperation to find this precious artifact at any cost.

What secret does the Physick Book contain? What magic is scrawled across its parchment pages? Connie must race to answer these questions - and reveal the truth about Salem's women - before an ancient family curse fulfils its dark and devastating prophecy.

As it was leading up to Samhain I thought this would be a good book to delve in to. LOL It gives a slightly different take on the whole Salem story as it flows between Deliverance's story (and some of her descendants) and the current day Connie. The to'ing and fro'ing was easy to follow and keep track of what happened to which character and when - always important for the flow of the whole and the enjoyment of the tale.

A few interesting twists but I was still managed to suss several important "reveals" before they were duly revealed...... though it didn't spoil things. The book did, however leave one gaping hole: was the curse broken by Connie's extreme measure towards the end.... or not?

An enjoyable and entertaining read.... you just need to suspend belief a little. :0)

Registered with Book Crossing - available if anyone wants it. :0)