Book: Lovers and Liars - Josephine Cox

Blurb: The powerful new bestseller from Josephine Cox -- one of our foremost storytellers. It is 1902. Emily is sixteen years of age and blissfully in love with John, two years her senior. Together they are secretly planning a life, when they are violently driven apart. Denied the man she loves, and dominated by a brutally possessive uncle, Emily is devastated when she is cruelly taken advantage of. When a child is born, her life is in tatters. And she cannot reveal the identity of the father to anyone, or there will be a terrible price to pay. Trapped and ashamed, she seeks solace in her daughter, Cathleen, but there is little consolation. As time passes, and still there is no sign of the man she loved, Emily resigns herself to the fact that he may never return, and her life begins to take another direction. However, John is never far from her mind. Is her love still waiting for her?But when history threatens to repeat itself and the father of her child once again preys on her, she must put all thoughts of John aside and find a way to safeguard her daughter.

Rating: ***

Review: A decent romantic book which follows fairly predictable lines. One or two surprises during the story, but, on the whole, you know what you are getting when you read a book like this - and it doesn't disappoint. Easy to read and not really much of a challenge, a good book for a quiet evening or if you enjoy romantic novels.

TV film: Abigail's Party

Blurb: Abigail’s Party is a play for stage and television written in 1977 by Mike Leigh. It is a suburban situation comedy of manners, and a satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that emerged in Britain in the 1970s.

Rating: *****

Review: Finally, after many years of hearing about this play, I have mangaged to watch it. It is a brilliant dark comedy - well written and well-acted. Alison Steadman steals the show as the nasty Beverley, who continually manipulates those around her for her own ends. None of the characters in the play, especially those who are married to each other, seem to like one another - the atmosphere is uncomfortable from the start. I spent most of the play waiting for something to happen, the tension is there between the characters so you know something will kick off sooner or later, and when it does, it is almost comedic in its delivery whilst managing to be tragic too. A brilliant play.

Book: Branded Robert Swindells

Blurb: Dale's older brother has been convicted of killing five women. The family are branded forever as relatives of a murderer - they're forced to change their names, move away and start new lives. That's bad enough, but Dale is also afraid that he might take after his brother and turn into a monster too. Then the family's new-found peace is threatened when a tabloid journalist gets on the trail - and all Dale's fears are put to the test.

Rating: ****

Review: Although aimed at older teens, this book is a good quick read for an adult - it took me a couple of hours to read it. An interesting take on a murder story, it tells the aftermath of a murder and the impact upon the murderer's family. It is not sentimental and has enough substance to make you care about the central characters. Overall, a good read.

Book: My Sister's Keeper Jodi Picoult

Blurb: In my first memory, I am three years old, and I am trying to kill my sister. Sometimes, the recollection is so clear I can remember the itch of the pillowcase under my hand, the sharp point of her nose pressing into my palm . . .’
Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and injections to help her sister, Kate, fight leukaemia. Anna was born for this purpose, her parents tell her, which is why they love her even more.
But now she can't help but wonder what her life would be like if it weren't tied to her sister's . . . and so she makes a decision that for most would be too difficult to bear, and sues her parents for the rights to her own body.

Rating: *****

Review: A brilliant book that tackles a difficult subject head on, with a heart-breaking ending that I, for one, didn't see coming. This book will inspire you, make you think and make you cry before the end. A fantastic read.

Book: Jigs and Reels Joanne Harris

Blurb:Take your partners, please. Suburban witches, defiant old ladies, ageing monsters, suicidal Lottery winners, wolf men, dolphin women and middle-aged manufacturers of erotic leatherwear. In these twenty-two short stories from the author of HOLY FOOLS and FIVE QUARTERS OF THE ORANGE, the miraculous goes hand-in-hand with the mundane, the sour with the sweet, and the beautiful, the grotesque, the seductive and the disturbing are never more than one step away. JIGS & REELS is Joanne Harris' first collection of short stories, As she says in her Foreword, a good short story can startle, ignite, and illuminate...giving you vivid, anarchlc glimpses into different world, different people. Here, she proves she is as good as her word by creating an eclectic selection of tales for our times that will delight, surprise, entertain and horrify in equal measure. Sly, funny, sometimes provocative but always personal, JIGS & REELS shows a side to Joanne Harris you have never seen before. So go on, be tempted. After all, it's only dancing.

Rating: ***

Review: I enjoyed reading some of the stories in this book - but found it a little hit and miss. One or two had disturbing endings, some were funny and a couple I didn't bother to finish because I had no interest in the subject matter. On the whole, a reasonable satisfying book that you can dip into.

Book: Body Double Tess Gerritsen

Blurb:

Dr Maura Isles makes her living dealing with death. As a pathologist in downtown Boston, she has seen more than her share of corpses – many of them victims of violent murder. But never before has the lifeless body on the medical examiner’s table been her own.
But there can be no denying the evidence: the dead woman before her and her close friend and colleague Detective Jane Rizzoli is the mirror image of Maura, down to the most intimate physical details. Even more chilling is the discovery that they share the same birth date and blood type. When a DNA test confirms that Maura’s mysterious double is in fact her twin sister, an already bizarre murder investigation becomes a disturbing and dangerous excursion into a past full of dark secrets.
Searching for answers, Maura is drawn to a seaside town in Maine where other horrifying surprises await. But even more frighteningly, an unknown murderer is at large on a cross-country killing spree. To stop the violence, and uncover the twisted truth about her own roots, Maura must probe her first living subject: the mother she never knew …
In her brilliant and terrifying new novel, Tess Gerritsen – bestselling author of The Surgeon and The Sinner – taps into the deep well of murder and obsession, and builds an almost tangible atmosphere of tension and suspense before arranging for an explosive release that is as horrifying as it is unexpected.

Rating: *****

Review: A brilliant book that had me hooked from the start. I have never read any of Tess Gerritsen's books before but, after this, I certainly will keep an eye out for her. I didn't guess whodunit - although I was close (will say no more on this so I don't give anything away). Well worth a read.

Film: Flightplan

Blurb:
Jodie Foster plays Kyle Pratt, a recently widowed aircraft designer who must fly her and her daughter back from Berlin to America in order to bury her late husband. When she awakes from a much-needed nap, she realises to her horror that her six-year-old daughter Julia is missing. Kyle initially thinks her daughter may have wandered off, but mild panic turns to full-scale hysteria when after an exhaustive search Julia is nowhere to be found on the plane. More worryingly, it emerges that Julia was never even registered as a passenger on the flight. With no one on board confirming that they had seen her, the audience is left guessing as to whether this is all a figment of Kyle's strained state of mind. Tense action follows as Kyle must rely on her own instincts to save herself and find her daughter.
Rating: ***
Review:
Saw this DVD last week for the 1st time. Good thriller - though if you have previously seen "The Lady Vanishes" you can guess most of the clues before they arrive. The ending was a bit weak, but - on the whole - not a bad film.



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Books and films

Hi, I am an avid reader and film watcher. What I intend to do with this blog is: every time I finish reading a book or watching a film (including DVDs), I will write and review and post it here so that people who have also read or watched them can express their views too. All ratings will be a number of stars, max 5.

Hope you enjoy reading this and leave plenty of comments. Thanks xx