Notes of Life

It’s Halloween which means October will be over in just a few short hours. Where does time go?! With the nights drawing in, I’ll hopefully be able to spend a bit more time reading than I have been.

Anyway, here’s what I read during October…

6th October – The Affair by Lee Child
Having been disappointed by the previous Jack Reacher book, I decided I’d give The Affair a chance and I’m glad I did – I really enjoyed it! If you like your crime thrillers with plenty of action, some violence and a little love then make sure you read this.

8th October – Crafting With Cat Hair by Kaori Tsutaya
This is a quirky book for those crafty people with cats! It’s fun and the crafts can be made without using cat fur (for those of you who are allergic to cats!).

11th October – The Quarry by Johan Theorin
The Quarry is a Swedish crime thriller with several story strands that knit themselves together. I read this in a couple of days and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

13th October – Already Gone by John Rector
I loved this crime thriller! I read the book in just two sittings and couldn’t put it down. I was hooked from the very beginning until the very last page.

23rd October – The Accidental Adventurer by Ben Fogle
This is a wonderful autobiography of a man who has done so much with his life. It’s honest and humourous and makes me want to get up off my backside and do something… anything! (On a side note: Ben will be featuring on my blog very shortly!).

30th October – The Bomber by Liza Marklund
Another Swedish crime thriller. Unfortuntely, this one just didn’t do it for me. Don’t ge me wrong, it wasn’t a bad read, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. A lot of people love it though, so it’s worth checking out.

Following on from September’s two giveaways (a signed copy of Passion by Lauren Kate and a copy of Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde), I had another giveaway this month. The lovely Catherine Ryan Hyde kindly sent me a handful of Don’t Let Me Go bookmarks to give to my readers and they were won by Books For Company, Alicia, Kelsey, Katherine and Nina! The bookmarks were put in the post today, so the 5 lucky winners should receive them this week.

I may hold another giveaway nearer Christmas, so look out for that.

Here’s looking forward to November!

Author: Liza Marklund
Publisher: Corgi Books
ISBN: 9780552160926

When I was making my choices of what to read for the Transworld Book Group Challenge, I thought The Bomber sounded right up my street. As the timeline leads up to Christmas and is set in the run up to the Olympics, I thought it would make an ideal read as Christmas isn’t far off and London will be holding the 2012 Olympics next year.

Christmas is just a few days away when the Evening Post’s crime reporter Annika Bengtzon is woken by a phone call in the early hours of the morning. An explosion has ripped apart the Olympic Stadium, and it’s not the only thing that’s been ripped apart, there’s a victim too.

Annika makes it her mission to investigate and report on the explosion and it’s victim. Unwittingly making herself a target of a serial killer.

The story, set in Sweden, revolves around the main character, Annika Bengtzon, the reporter. She’s realistic and we don’t just get to see the reporter side of her, we also get to see her home life and how tough it is to juggle both sides.

The Bomber starts off fairly fast paced, diving straight into the action. However, the story them seemed to plod along with Annika’s investigation. While there was more than one bombing, I didn’t find the story exciting enough for my taste.

I think the aim was to build up the suspense, but it just didn’t do it for me. I thought the story just plodded along and lacked the tension, twists and turns I come to expect in these types of storyline. I may not have guessed who “The Bomber” was – Liza Marklund was pretty good on that score – but I didn’t find myself particularly shocked by anything.

The story didn’t seem to pick up the fast pace again until near the end, but even then I was already expecting the “event” that happened.

Harlan Coben is quoted on the front cover as saying this book is “Edge-of-your-seat suspense”, but I’m afraid I didn’t feel the suspense myself. It’s a shame because this book does seem to be loved by some great crime authors, so I’m possibly in a minority here. Don’t get me wrong… I didn’t hate this book, far from it, but I didn’t love it either.

I’d certainly advise giving The Bomber a go. After all, I enjoyed some of it. Who knows, it might be your kind of read. This isn’t the only book of Liza Marklund’s to feature the character of Annika Bengtzon, so I may give one of those books a go.

The Bomber by Liza Marklund is released in paperback by Corgi on 24th November 2011. Pre-order your copy at The Book Depository.

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Please note: I received this book free from Transworld Publishers as part of the Transworld Book Group Challenge. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Ben Fogle
Publisher: Bantam Press
ISBN: 978-0-593-06849-6

The Accidental Adventurer charts Ben Fogle’s journey from a shy, geeky, homesick schoolboy through an array of adventures, marking him firmly as a national treasure. Ben has done so much in his life so far and I can’t ever imagine he’d stop.

Ben first came to our screens while taking part in Castaway, an early reality TV programme, back in 2000. Since then he has taken part in some of the toughest challenges on Earth such as rowing across the Atlantic ocean, walking to the South Pole, doing the 180 mile Marathon des Sables in the Sahara and ice-skating a 100 mile marathon across Sweden. He has also competed in some of the more odder challenges such as stinging nettle eating, worm charming, oyster eating and more. He might not be the best at these things, but Ben has never let that stop him, he gives everything a damn good go!

While Ben has led an extraordinary life, his book proves he’s just an ordinary, down-to-earth man who just won’t let shyness, laziness, illness, fears or anything else stop him. If Ben is given a challenge, he grabs it by the horns and rides it out, even if he does sometimes wonder if he’s taken on more than he can chew!

The Accidental Adventurer is an honest account of Ben’s life. It’s humourous (it certainly made me giggle when deep in Antarctica Ben decides to copy a penguin by running and flinging himself on to the ice and gliding across it on his belly!), compassionate and open. I loved reading all about Ben’s adventures, the highs and lows, and I was totally engrossed in it.

As an armchair adventurer (I love to watch travel/adventure programmes, but I’ve yet to get off my backside and do anything as exciting myself), The Accidental Adventurer has made me yearn to get up and do something, rather than plod along life’s path without challenging myself. Ben Fogle is a true inspiration and I’d be happy to have accomplished just a small fraction of what Ben has done so far.

I’d definitely recommend reading Ben Fogle’s The Accidental Adventurer and I can’t wait to see what Ben will get up to next!

Buy The Accidental Adventurer by Ben Fogle.

This is the 25th book I’ve read for the British Books Challenge.

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Please note: I received this book free from Transworld Publishers in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

UK Readers: Win 1 of 5 Bookmarks! (CLOSED!)

The wonderful author Catherine Ryan Hyde has sent me some lovely bookmarks to give out to my visitors. Catherine’s friend Joan Swan made these bookmarks in celebration of the UK release of Catherine’s latest book, Don’t Let Me Go. Don’t they look great?

If you would like to win 1 of the 5 bookmarks all you have to do is leave a comment on this post! It’s as simple as that.

Entry for this giveaway is open until 5pm (UK time) on Monday, 24th October 2011.

Back in September, Catherine Ryan Hyde was kind enough to participate in a “Meet The Author” post for me and you can check out the post here – Meet The Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde. We found out where Catherine likes to hike, where she gets her inspiration from when writing her books, and more. For those who participated in the comments of the post and asked Catherine questions, don’t forget to check back for her replies!

You can also read my review of Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde or order your own copy of the book from the Book Depository.

Good luck!

Young swan on Montgomeryshire Canal.

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