Bogormen

Title: Voyager
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 1059
Date read: June 2011, August 2014

Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her...and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her...the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland... and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite—or forever doom—her timeless love.

It's a tribute to Diana Gabaldon's writing that no matter how many times I read this book (I think this is my 6th reread? At LEAST), I still get completely drawn in. The only problem is that now I want to reread other books in the series as well and they're all looooong.

Next to Outlander, Voyager is without a doubt my favourite in the series. I love reading about Claire's return to Scotland and her reunion with old friends. The parallel stories of Claire and Jamie frustrated me on my first read-through, because I just wanted to see them together already!! but now I appreciate that insight into their lives.

Sometimes I wish Gabaldon would give them a bit of a break though... although that's even more apparent in later books.

Title: About the Author
Author: John Colapinto
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 254
Date read: June, 2011

Despite a severe case of writer's block, Cal Cunningham dreams of writing an autobiographical novel that will permit him to escape from his life as a penniless bookstore stockboy in dirty and dangerous upper Manhattan. Cal's dreams are threatened when he learns that his law student roommate harbors secret literary ambitions of his own. Stewart has just finished writing a page-turning novel - based on Cal's life. When a timely, fatal bicycle accident removes Stewart from the scene, Cal appropriates the manuscript as his own, and places it in the hands of legendarily freocious literary agent Blackie Yaeger, who sells the book and movie rights for two million dollars. Propelled to the top of the bestseller lists, Cal finds that he has realized his most outlandish fantasies of literary success. That is, until he discovers that someone knows his secret.

This book is really the poster child of "What a tangled web we weave, when at first we practise to deceive."

Honestly, I mostly wasn't too impressed. About half way through I could sense that the author was just a couple of pages away from making a really, really bad mistake. I wanted to shake him and make him stop, and the only way I could do that was by putting the book down, so it took me quite a bit longer to read than the size of the book warranted.

I really liked aspects of it, but mostly I felt the main character was too stupid for words, and didn't like him much... it's hard to enjoy a book when you can't feel sympathetic for the main character.

Title: Sisterhood Everlasting
Author: Ann Brashares
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 382
Date read: June, 2011

Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bridget have grown up, starting their lives on their own. And though the jeans they shared are long gone, the sisterhood is everlasting.

Despite having jobs and men that they love, each knows that something is missing: the closeness that once sustained them. Carmen is a successful actress in New York, engaged to be married, but misses her friends. Lena finds solace in her art, teaching in Rhode Island, but still thinks of Kostos and the road she didn't take. Bridget lives with her longtime boyfriend, Eric, in San Francisco, and though a part of her wants to settle down, a bigger part can't seem to shed her old restlessness.

Then Tibby reaches out to bridge the distance, sending the others plane tickets for a reunion that they all breathlessly await. And indeed, it will change their lives forever - but in ways that none of them could ever have expected.

It feels wrong to give this an average rating, because it is anything but an average book. However, the rating indicates mostly how well I liked it, and to be honest, at times I didn't like it much (although at other times I loved it, so there you go...) I read the book in a single day - not because I particularly wanted to, but because I HAD to. I'd gotten so attached to the characters that it was the only way to get it out of my system and remember they were fictional - not real.

Explaining exactly why I had such an emotional reaction to this book would bring on spoilers, so I shall have to stick to generalities. It was at times desperately sad and I sobbed my way through much of it (to my husband's bemusement), but though occasionally depressing, it had just enough hope to keep me turning pages. Even more importantly, it satisfactorily answered my most pressing questions - anything less, and it would have ended up being thrown across the room in disgust.

Thankfully Ann Brashares didn't go there, and now I have left to figure out what I actually think of it, once the immediate emotional response has worn off.

Title: Make Me a Match
Author: Diana Holquist
Genre: Chick Lit
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 330
Date read: June, 2011

Cardiologist Cecelia Burns's psychic sister Amy has the ability to see the name of a person's true love. Even though Amy swore never to tell Cecelia the name destined for her, she breaks her vow when she realizes the man is dying and only Cecelia can save him.

I've wanted to read this ever since I reviewed the sequel, "Sexiest Man Alive" for Armchair Interviews. Unfortunately it couldn't quite live up to my expectations, but to be honest I don't know if that's because I remember SMA as being better than it really was ;)

That said, it was an enjoyable and quick read. Diana Holquist is a talented writer who knows how to grasp the attention of a reader, even if the plot itself is perhaps more than shallow. But if all you're looking for is a good romance, then this definitely fits the bill.

Title: Sweet Valley Confidential
Author: Franscine Pascal
Genre: YA
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 293 pages
Date read: June, 2011

Ten years after graduating from Sweet Valley High, the Wakefield twins have had a falling-out of epic proportions. When Jessica commits a complete and utter betrayal, Elizabeth flees to New York to escape the pain and immerse herself in her lifelong dream of becoming a journalist.

Jessica remains in California, dealing with the fallout of her heart-wrenching choices. She has a career she loves and lots of old friends, but misses her sister, her oldest friend. With Jessica as her enemy, Sweet Valley is no longer the idyllic town of their youth.

Jessica longs for forgiveness, but Elizabeth can't forget her twin's duplicity. She decides the only way to heal her broken heart is to get revenge. Always the "good" twin, Elizabeth is now about to turn the tables.

Disclaimer: I stopped reading Sweet Valley while they were still at high school, so haven't read any of the SVU books. Also, I don't know of Francine Pascal actually wrote this herself, or had a ghost writer do it, like with most of the older books.

That said, I found the atmosphere of SVC very different from that of SVH. Some of this is explained by everybody having gotten older, and the changes in technology - naturally people will have facebook and twitter, and it makes sense that couples do more than just hold hands and kiss now - but that doesn't cover all of it, and I feel that some of it is simply a change of writing style, meaning that SVC more than anything reads like a work of elaborate and well thought out fanfiction. The book didn't come across as canon to me at all, and I think that's partly because of all the stereotypes, clichés and fan wish-fulfilments (just take a look at 1bruce1 to see what I mean) that got their time in the sun here.

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At some point, I may write a snarky review of this, like I've done with several of the SVH books, because it definitely deserves it (suddenly everybody can tell Liz and Jess apart on the phone! Though they haven't seen each other in 8 months, they've managed to get the same haircut! Everything happens within the space of a week as per usual. Nobody can ever resist Jessica!), but for now I'll just say that I rather liked it, but it will never be part of the 'real' Sweet Valley universe to me.

Title: Our Tragic Universe
Author: Scarlett Thomas
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3/5
# pages: Audiobook ~16hrs
Date read: June, 2011

Can a story save your life?

Meg Carpenter is broke. Her novel is years overdue. Her cell phone is out of minutes. And her moody boyfriend's only contribution to the household is his sour attitude. So she jumps at the chance to review a pseudoscientific book that promises life everlasting.

But who wants to live forever?

Consulting cosmology and physics, tarot cards, koans (and riddles and jokes), new-age theories of everything, narrative theory, Nietzsche, Baudrillard, and knitting patterns, Meg wends her way through Our Tragic Universe, asking this and many other questions. Does she believe in fairies? In magic? Is she a superbeing? Is she living a storyless story? And what's the connection between her off-hand suggestion to push a car into a river, a ship in a bottle, a mysterious beast loose on the moor, and the controversial author of The Science of Living Forever?

I hardly know what I think about this book. I liked it well enough, I'd be hard pressed to tell you what it was actually about. Perhaps it, in itself, is one of those storyless stories that Vi goes on about?

The End of Mr Y (also by Scarlett Thomas) is certainly better, but I'm not sure I'd call this bad - just... different. I became really fond of Meg, which was fortunate, as the book was more a simple account of her life over 4'ish months than an actual story with a plot.

I liked her job though :)

Title: The Reading Group
Author: Elizabeth Noble
Genre: Chick-lit
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 440
Date read: June, 2011

What starts out as a good idea born from a glass of wine and the need to socialize, turns into much more. Over the span of a year, Clare, Harriet, Nicole, Polly and Susan -- five women of different ages, backgrounds and contrasting dilemmas -- transform themselves through the shared community of a book group.

Their reading group becomes a forum for each of the women's views, expressed initially by the book they're reading and increasingly openly as the bonds of friendship cement. As the months pass, these women's lives become more and more intertwined.

Not as good as I'd hoped, but better than I'd feared - especially after I saw the average rating here.

I'd only read 3 of the 12 books the ladies covered in their reading group, but that turned out not to be a problem at all, as the reading group was really more an excuse to meet than the purpose of the book, so I didn't feel left out. On the surface it's got a lot in common with all the knitting club books that have surfaced lately, in that it's about a group of people who meet for some common purpose, end up as friends and you end up following all of their lives.

It was more believable than some of the others in that the women didn't suddenly become best friends - they still spent most of their time with the people they were already friends with in advance. On the downside was the fact that it was really rather depressing. Out of the five ladies in the reading group only one had a happy and healthy relationship at the beginning of the book, and though that had fortunately changed by the end, it still seemed over the top to include so many unhappy/troubled/adulterous relationships in one circle of friends.

I mostly liked the way it all panned out though, and ended up being quite fond of most of the characters, but purely as a piece of fluff I'd recommend picking up books like "The Friday Night Knitting Club" and "The Knitting Circle" - or even "The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society" instead.

Title: The Last Concubine
Author: Lesley Downer
Genre: Historical fiction, cultural
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 475
Date read: June, 2011

It is 1861.

Growing up deep in the mountains of rural Japan, Sachi has always felt different, her pale skin and fine features setting her apart from her friends and family.

Then, when she is just eleven, an imperial princess passes through her village and sweeps her off to the women's palace in the great city of Edo. Bristling with intrigue and erotic rivalries, the palace is home to three thousand women and only one man - the young shogun. Sachi is chosen as his concubine.

But Japan is changing. Black Ships have come from the West, bringing foreigners eager to add it to their colonial empires. As civil war erupts, Sachi flees for her life.

Rescued by a rebel warrior, she finds unknown feelings stirring within her. But before she dare dream of a life with him, Sachi must unravel the mystery of her own origins - a mystery that encompasses a wrong so terrible that it threatens to destroy her.

I feel a bit bad giving this a rating of only 2.5, because it's in no way a bad book... it's just a book that was so easy for me to put down that it took me 4 months to finish it! It wasn't boring, it just... wasn't engaging either. The author was too far removed from the characters, so the reader never really got to know them or care too much about them either.

It did have some really interesting insights into Japan at the time though, but as a period book was far too long for what I got out of it.