Sawbones - Stuart Macbride

It's always cool to stumble across an Author that you haven't read before and I was lucky enough to receive this in a pile of books from a work colleague. I read this small book in two days and it was fun with a capital F.

There is a lunatic abducting young women in America but this time he has picked on the wrong woman. This time it's not the police he has to worry about but a notorious set of gangsters! Sawbones is witty and dark, fast and furious and highly entertaining. I really like Stuart Macbrides style and he is an author that I must revisit at some point.


If you fancy a quick filler, you can't go wrong with this. 4/5

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling

Ok it has been nearly two years since I read the first Potter book and since my intention (as a writer) is to read everything I thought it was about time I read another one. This is as fun and enjoyable as the Philosophers Stone and again I enjoyed it immensely. That is the great thing about these books, they are for the whole family, including me!

I think every aspiring author (of any genre) can learn a lot from Joanne Rowling. This book is imaginative and funny and well crafted and even though I confess I have never seen any of the Harry Potter books I actually saw the whole thing in my head as if it was a movie. I guess that is her talent, I have read so many books where I can't always picture the characters and the places but this isn't one of them. Will I ever get to read all the series? Maybe, I hope so.

The big kid in me says give it a 5 out of 5 and who am I to argue, I'm in a good mood.

Hogwartstastic ! 5/5

The Diary of Anne Frank

I could describe this book as moving. I could describe it as incredibly moving. I could also say that this book is devastatingly tragic but any words of mine are not enough. This is a book that was never intended to be read by anyone, let alone me, a 41 year old bloke from Chorley.It is a personal diary of a young girl who is hiding with her family and four other people in a secret annexe in Amsterdam, hiding from sickening and evil Nazi invaders.

It is a book of courage, of love, of family life and frustration. Anyone that reads 'The Diary of Anne Frank' cannot escape feeling her sense of claustrophobia and cannot escape a desire to go back in time and rescue her and her family from impending doom. This is more than just a history lesson, it is a life lesson, incredibly touching and inspiring. I dare anybody to read this book without feeling a tragic sense of loss and sadness at the end. I cannot rate this book, I can never write a book like this and nobody ever will again. I became Anne Frank for a few days and I will never forget this book. Powerful stuff.

38 The Black House by Peter May

The quiet and remote Isle of Lewis in Scotland is disturbed when a man is found hanging by his neck on the rafters of an old boatshed. Detective Inspector Fin Macleod is sent from Edinburgh to investigate and finds himself in a private battle not only with an unknown killer but also with himself.His past and present begin to unravel and he finds that this tiny island has more than a few skeletons in its closet.

I can't believe this book has been sitting on my 'To Be Read' pile since March, I guess my problem was that I was expecting it to be just another average thriller and most thrillers are really not my thing.After hearing a few good things said about it I decided to take it from my bookshelf.

This is definitely not an average thriller, it is superb. I was really taken by the main character and I enjoyed the way I was taken on a journey through the past and into the present of the inhabitants of Lewis. I have never been to the Isle of Lewis but it was a beautiful and powerful backdrop to a delightful read. For the first time in ages I was emotionally connected to the story, a story that was actually revealed slowly piece by piece, something I really like in a book. The past and future were interwoven cleverly through alternating first person and third person perspectives.

Personally I wouldn't say it was an all out thriller as the crime mystery at the very centre of the plot was often on the fringes of the main story.It was more of a literary fiction piece with the story of Fin and Marsaili and Artair, the principal characters, as the main story. For quite a larger than average book The Black House is pretty impressive and won me over from the beginning. I was surprised and pleased to discover that this is the first in a trilogy and I am looking forward to continue my adventures on Lewis.Especially after reading the except from the second book that was included at the end.

A very good book, I gave it a 5 out of 5.