Books finished in April 2013
May. 3rd, 2013 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivdunstanQuite a good month for books finished, though some were quite short.
First up was Ash by James Herbert. This is the third in a series of books featuring paranormal investigator David Ash. I must have read the first one in the late 1990s, but never read the second one. This is the last book James Herbert published before he died. And I enjoyed it. It's set in a castle in Scotland, and in some ways is more about the inhabitants of the castle than hauntings and ghosts. But it was quite excitingly plotted, and gripping, and a page turner. I read it on my Kindle and knew it was a long book, but when I saw a paperback copy in the supermarket the other day I was shocked at just how thick it was. And I read all that!
Next up was Summer Falls, a Doctor Who tie-in book supposedly by Amelia Williams, and featured on-screen in the first episode of the second half of the current series, the one reintroducing Clara. This was a very lightweight read, almost in an Enid Blyton vein. Fun, disposable, but enjoyable.
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff was this month's Yoggie Book Club read, a book given to Helen by her Mum, leading us all to read it. I'd probably never have read this otherwise, and really enjoyed it. It was a short quick read, perhaps it needed a little more plotting, but it was gripping, and had unexpected plot turns. Not sure how well it will do as a film (coming soon) but the book was good.
I've read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis many times since childhood. It was the first Narnia book I ever read, and on my reread of the series it was the one I automatically turned to first. As an agnostic and an adult I am more aware of the Christian overtones running through it. But I still think it is a thoroughly enjoyable book.
Doctor Who: Shroud of Sorrow by Tommy Donbavand is one of the recent new Eleventh Doctor books, this one including Clara. I wasn't convinced by the relationship portrayed between the Doctor and Clara: more spikey than it is on-screen. But in other respects it was really good, and felt like a celebratory anniversary book, even though it is not deliberately intended to be one. There are nods throughout to the series' past, and it also tied in nicely with the start in 1963. Good stuff.
My final finished read in April was Philip Reeve's e-short The Roots of Evil featuring the Fourth Doctor and Leela. This was fun: told more from Leela's perspective than the Doctor's, but the Fourth Doctor became more visible and recognisable in the latter half of the book. It also used the short length well, packing a lot of adventure into not many pages. Very good, perhaps the best in the e-short series so far. Which has admittedly been strong, apart from the first book mis-step.
Not sure I will finish so many books in May. I started a new long book a week or so ago, but have now had to put it to one side to be sure I get through the Yoggie book club choice for May, which is also a long one. We shall see anyway.
First up was Ash by James Herbert. This is the third in a series of books featuring paranormal investigator David Ash. I must have read the first one in the late 1990s, but never read the second one. This is the last book James Herbert published before he died. And I enjoyed it. It's set in a castle in Scotland, and in some ways is more about the inhabitants of the castle than hauntings and ghosts. But it was quite excitingly plotted, and gripping, and a page turner. I read it on my Kindle and knew it was a long book, but when I saw a paperback copy in the supermarket the other day I was shocked at just how thick it was. And I read all that!
Next up was Summer Falls, a Doctor Who tie-in book supposedly by Amelia Williams, and featured on-screen in the first episode of the second half of the current series, the one reintroducing Clara. This was a very lightweight read, almost in an Enid Blyton vein. Fun, disposable, but enjoyable.
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff was this month's Yoggie Book Club read, a book given to Helen by her Mum, leading us all to read it. I'd probably never have read this otherwise, and really enjoyed it. It was a short quick read, perhaps it needed a little more plotting, but it was gripping, and had unexpected plot turns. Not sure how well it will do as a film (coming soon) but the book was good.
I've read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis many times since childhood. It was the first Narnia book I ever read, and on my reread of the series it was the one I automatically turned to first. As an agnostic and an adult I am more aware of the Christian overtones running through it. But I still think it is a thoroughly enjoyable book.
Doctor Who: Shroud of Sorrow by Tommy Donbavand is one of the recent new Eleventh Doctor books, this one including Clara. I wasn't convinced by the relationship portrayed between the Doctor and Clara: more spikey than it is on-screen. But in other respects it was really good, and felt like a celebratory anniversary book, even though it is not deliberately intended to be one. There are nods throughout to the series' past, and it also tied in nicely with the start in 1963. Good stuff.
My final finished read in April was Philip Reeve's e-short The Roots of Evil featuring the Fourth Doctor and Leela. This was fun: told more from Leela's perspective than the Doctor's, but the Fourth Doctor became more visible and recognisable in the latter half of the book. It also used the short length well, packing a lot of adventure into not many pages. Very good, perhaps the best in the e-short series so far. Which has admittedly been strong, apart from the first book mis-step.
Not sure I will finish so many books in May. I started a new long book a week or so ago, but have now had to put it to one side to be sure I get through the Yoggie book club choice for May, which is also a long one. We shall see anyway.