Tuesday 17 January 2012

Reading a Little...January

For some reason I haven't given any book recommendations for a while. I guess I had better remedy that and get back into my monthly round-ups. I have read lots of books recently that I wouldn't necessarily recommend to anyone, but among the less exciting ones, I have found a few good reads for you...


Heart Burn - Nora Ephron
A short novel based (very transparently) on the writer's own personal experiences of divorce and breaking up. I'm not usually into these 'girly' reads, but actually this was a humourous take on what is essentially a really awful emotional roller-coaster. I enjoyed it; it's a very quick read and is a definite recommended read for those who have been through a break-up recently. Ephron manages to capture the sense of sadness, anger, upset, disbelief, incomprehension and all the other emotions that newly-singles feel with such a great touch of humour and cynicism that I was laughing for the most part.



The Black Dahlia - James Ellroy

I'm not really sure how to review this - it is incredibly violent, quite graphic and very bleak. A True Crime novel based on the real 'Black Dahlia' - Elizabeth Short whose body was found mutilated in Los Angeles in January 1947.  In reality the killer was never found, and is still a mystery - every time it is mentioned, people come forward claiming they were the murderer. The novel  revolves around the LAPD and two officers' quests to find the killer. Both are ex-boxers, both in love with the same girl, both horribly affected by the killing. It's a well-written novel that did have me wanting to read, but I found the subject matter really disturbing and I would not recommend it as bedtime reading. I can't say I enjoyed or disliked it - I found the writing good and there were a number of unsuspected twists and turns in the plot - most of which I totally did not expect, some of which had clues planted much earlier that were half forgotten. However, I'm not really into graphic violence and found it a little too much to cope with.


Eragon - Christopher Paolini

Much easier to review! I really enjoyed this. It may be something to do with the fact that there were dragons and magic, and you may have picked up that I quite like my fantasy books. Eragon lives in Alagaesia, a land ruled by Galbatorix - a king who believes more in subjecting his people to his whims than in their well-being. As Eragon is hunting he comes across a bright blue stone - which turns out to be a dragon's egg. What ensues is the pursuit of Eragon by the King's henchmen, narrow escapes, quick paced adventures and friendships made (and lost). Eragon grows in both maturity and skills as he makes his way and tries to determine his fate, although in reality his fate is determined the day that Saphira, his dragon, breaks out of her egg. It is the first of 4 novels about Alagaesia by Paolini and I will definitely be reading the next ones.

1 comment:

marci said...

Eregon has been on my reading list for so long. I need to hurry up and read it. :-) I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...