Man of the month club

Author : Jackie Clune,

Chicklit. Would suit readers 25-40. 

Amy Stokes is fed up of her friends having babies and talking about babies. Despite running a business selling baby things she is not interested until one night she has to go back to work and sees something that will change her mind. 

I thought the book was pretty far fetched and the character was not likeable. I would not read this again. It was okay to pass some time. It was well written which was a bonus.

Review By : Gigi Piggyfan 

The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl

Author: Belle de Jour/Dr. Brooke Magnanti
Link to book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intimate-Adventures-London-Call-Girl/dp/0753819236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281129543&sr=8-1
Main characters: Belle, N (best friend), The Boy (Belle's boyfriend), A1 - A4 (4 close friends) & 'The manager'
Genre and ideal audience: Autobiography in diary format. Designed for adults, but aimed at women.

Now, I'd be surprised if there was anyone in England/UK who wasn't familiar with this book, the blog it came from or the TV series it inspired, featuring Billie Piper. For those who are not familiar with the concept, the title pretty much says it all. Belle aka Brooke was a highly paid (£300 per hour) call girl in London for a number of years, and, after deciding to detail her exploits in a blog, was approached to structure said exploits into novel format. It includes the typical conflicts that you'd expect from this kind of novel - managing personal relationships with getting paid for sex, dealing with how your boyfriend feels about your choice of job and what to do when you get an 'unusual' client or request.

Belle starts by making it very clear that she is in fact a whore. And not flippantly. She's being deadly honest and open from the start, giving no false pretences and making it much more believable, I think.

'The first thing you should know about me is that I'm a whore.

I don't mean that in a glib way. I'm not using it as an analogy for working a desk job or toiling away in new media. Many of my friends will tell you how temping for a year or ending up in sales is equivalent to prostitution. It's not. I know this because I've been a temp and I've fucked for money, and they are in no way similar. Not even the same planet. Different solar systems altogether.'

The book continues in this manner, giving often too graphic details of some of the things she gets up to on the job, and how to manage it best. In that sense, the TV show 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' (of which I have Season 1 on DVD) manages to stay true to this very well, often taking script directly from the book. It spans a 6 month period, from November to April (not sure what year, although it was first published in 2005 so I'm guessing late 2003/early 2004)

The general public reviews are particularly mixed on this, with some saying that they're not even sure it was written by a woman due to the style of writing, and that it doesn't translate to a particularly good novel. With reference to the style of writing, I completely disagree. Yes, it is written in a blunt and sometimes narcasstic manner. However, doing that job for a prolonged period of time when it's not anything you really wanted to do in the first place - The real Brooke is a research scientist! - is going to change the way you see things. I figure that you would have to be that way to get through the day.

The way I see it, is that it was intended to be a daily diary, a blog. Never a novel, despite what has happened in publishing. It is important to treat every little section, every day as a separate piece of writing, inspired by different moods and events, because that's what it is. This makes it easy to read as you can stop quite easily or read it in little segments as and when you please. However, due to this it doesn't flow like you would expect a normal novel to, and it can be quite difficult to read continuously.

Would I read it again?: This is one that's part of my collection, so I've already read it more than once. But I have to take quite a gap between reads, unlike some of my other books which I can read over and over.

All in all: 3.5/5: a no-holds barred account of life as a call girl, but it was clearly not designed to be a book, but a blog. I believe it would be better to have read it in its original format, updated daily. Belle/Brooke does write well, giving a proper insight into her situation, however some of it seems just too clichéd, especially on the relationship front. I would recommend it to anyone into this style of writing, and anyone looking for something kinda girly but full of the kind of sexual script that you don't really get in 'chick novels'

Review By - SapphireDreams 

Holes

Author: Louis Sacher
Link to book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holes-Louis-Sachar/dp/074754459X
Main characters: Stanley (aka Caveman), X-Ray, Armpit, Zero, Magnet, ZigZag, Mr. Sir, Dr. Pendanski & The Warden.
Genre and ideal audience: Children’s fiction, adventure based.

This book was first released in 1998, when I was 9. I remember reading it for the first time when I was in Year 6, aged 11, and since then I have read it at least once a year. Don’t let the fact that it is children’s fiction put you off – this book has a wonderfully developed storyline, some loveable (and hateable) characters and a sense of narrative that means you will struggle to put it down.

Blurb: Stanley Yelnats’ family has a history of bad luck, so he isn’t too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to a boys’ juvenile detention centre. At Camp Green Lake, the boys must dig a hole each day, five feet deep, five feet across, in the dried up lake bed. The Warden claims it is character building but it is a lie. Stanley must dig up the truth.

If you haven’t read this book, then chances are that you’ve heard of it or the subsequent Disney film, starring Shia LaBeouf  (his first major film, actually!) Louis Sacher actually wrote the screenplay for the film as well, and as such the similarities between film and book are like nothing I’ve ever seen; you can actually hear the lines that come straight from the book, the characters are performed brilliantly in the way that you may or may not have pictured them.
It is a staple of children’s fiction, often used in schools to this day. Stanley Yelnats IV (intentional, Yelnats is Stanley backwards – kind of a tradition!) is a down on his luck teenage boy, picked on and generally not very happy young boy. Through a series of events that I won’t explain so as to save the plot, he ends up being sent to Camp Green Lake in Texas where he meets a variety of other boys as part of ‘D-Tent’, who have never questioned why they do what they do. The story centers around Stanley and Zero (also known as Hector), and their family history which runs deeper than the holes they dig. There are various sections as well which delve into the history of Green Lake 100 years previous, and why perhaps things are the way they are in the present.

Louis has written a modern work of fictional brilliance designed for both children and adults alike to be able to enjoy. For children, the chapters are short and nicely broken up. The characters are relatable and fun. The narrative is simple enough to read, even more so to have it read to you. As an adult, you can read the same story in a similar context, but read deeper into it. It is easier to understand the complexities in the story that may perhaps be lost on the children, such as the flickering between present and historical context. It is easier as an adult to read the full book at once, whereas with children you would have to break it up so they don’t get lost. This is a book that I would read to my children at bedtime; it is as simple as that. The descriptions are vivid enough that you can picture the scenes and almost imagine the characters and what they might look like.

Would I read it again?: Definitely. This is a book that I never tire of, no matter how many times I read it. Despite knowing the story and the ending, I would still pick it up every time if I wanted something light and easy to read, with enough detail to make you pay attention and not simply skim through.

Total score: 5/5. It takes something special for a book to be one that you continue to read time after time. I have studied this book in school, read it to classes when I taught in school, and continue to read it myself for pleasure. The story, characters, narrative and general consistency of the writing makes it something that I have no qualms with whatsoever. Louis Sacher is a wonderful children’s writer, and while none of his books have been as well-known as this one,  this one makes me want to see what else he has to offer.

Name & TGPF username: Lauren – SapphireDreams

http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=315328

A video put on facebook by one of our great members, thought i'd share (:

The woman in black

Author: Susan Hill
Genre: Horror

You may recognize the title from the cinema hit starring Daniel Radcliffe, but the movie is based on this novel by Susan Hill from 2006.

Its a creepy ghost tale that starts how it finishes. Its similiar to many typical horror stories, doors creeking, ghosts, haunted mansion but i promise you its so much more then that. The key to all these cliches is how its written, you really get to understand the emotions of the protaginist, its a rollacoaster that you follow throughout. Its about a young lawyer sent from the big city of London to a small village to gain papers of a late Mrs Drablow but he is delved into wivestales about the widow and there are many unanswered questions about her home and her past but he is determind to get his job done and he gets caught up in the reactment of a tragedy. There is a fantastic twist at the end of this story and you will not be able to put this book down! I listened to it via audio book which added another dimension through the narrator who told this story beautifully. You really feel the tremble in his voice and its a performance worthy of an oscar.

Although its not gory or shocking its not for the feinthearted as it will creep you out and will at the end leave you with a feeling of desperation and disbelief. Its definately worthy of a place in my top 5 of books read. I would read this again later on despite knowing the twists and turns and answers to the big mystery surrounding her past but the way its told would make it very worth doing so.

5 outta 5 stars

Review by Aaron (Macca)

Noughts and Crosses (Special Edition feat. An Eye for An Eye)

Author: Malorie Blackman
Link to book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Noughts-Crosses-Trilogy/dp/0552555703/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281439743&sr=8-1

Main characters: Persephone aka Sephy, Callum, Jude (Callum's brother), Meggie & Ryan (Callum's parents), Minerva (Sephy's sister), Kamal and Jasmine (Sephy's parents)
Genre and audience: Teenage upwards, fiction: based around racial equality, relationships and terrorism.

First of all, I finished this book a few days ago and don't actually have a copy in front of me, so this might not be as strong a review as the others.

Noughts and Crosses is a book based around a fictional race divide, where the Noughts (white people) are the second-class citizens, demeaned and victimised by the Crosses (black people), who are the superior race, apparently 'closer to God'. Mixed race? Forget about it. If you are, you're better off dead in this book. I can't tell whether Malorie has based it in England or America, it never really makes it that clear. What I can tell is that it is a more developed country such as these.

I first read this book when I was in my early teens, and I've been hooked ever since. The concept is unique, in that it looks at the world in a way that has never been done to this extreme! Race has been used in books before, of course, but not to this level of extremism including political terrorist groups, murder, assault and battery due to a person's race, and the serious degradation of a race simply because of their skin colour. It's sort of what could have happened to our countries if we hadn't looked past it.

Callum is a nought, a downtrodden 16 year old in a society which sees him as good for nothing and better off dead or as a terrorist. Sephy is a 14 going on 15 Cross girl, daughter of the Deputy Prime Minister and treated as top dog simply because of her skin and who her father is. These two spark an unlikely friendship as young children through their mothers' socialising (Meggie used to work for Jasmine) which blossoms as young adults a la Romeo and Juliet/star-cross'd lovers and all that. However, the world just can't see past their skin colour, and it is fated to become something much more than ever expected, involving the Liberation Militia, a nought 'Freedom Fighter/Equality' group which seems to the outside world to be nothing more that home-grown terrorists. It is tragic throughout, dealing with loss, madness, alcoholism, murder and much more.

Malorie perfected the different viewpoints feature that's been mentioned in previous reviews. She seems to see through the eyes of every different character perfectly (and why wouldn't she? She created them!) and has done so taking into account not just who everyone sees them as, but their emotions, feelings and internal conflicts. She also managed expertly to script the thought processes from these two main characters as they grow and change from young teenagers to young adults, and does it with a finesse that you just don't see in other books. The story draws you in from the first few pages, although it takes reading a couple of (short) chapters from each character to get a real grasp of what they are like as people. Which is what I think a book should be like - you get a feel for the characters from the start, but it takes reading to understand more about them.

From the story point of view, even jumping from character to character doesn't restrict the continuity, and they are all related clearly. The story is exciting, unique and involving - you feel yourself seeing the scenes and feeling the atmosphere. At least, I did! It makes you think about what it would be like if the world was really like this, and how on Earth you would survive through it. I can guarantee that no-one would want to live in this detailed, complex and heartbreaking world that Malorie has created.

Would I read it again?: Of course! I was so hooked on reading this that I read the full 448 pages in less than 36 hours. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a deep, involving read that will draw you in from page 1. Or just anyone who wants something to read!

All in all: 5/5. The first novel in the Noughts and Crosses series (there are currently 3 more, with a 5^th novella set as a ‘What If?’ scenario) sets the stage perfectly, with detailed, sophisticatedly written characters, scenes and backgrounds that could only be imagined by Malorie and is written like you were almost there, and a plot that will have you feeling the pain of the characters involved. I can't see a way that this book could be improved, but you'll have to read it for yourself


Name & TGPF username: Lauren – SapphireDreams

Poppy Shakespeare

Author: Clare Allan
Link to book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poppy-Shakespeare-Clare-Allan/dp/0747585849/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281970760&sr=8-1

Main characters: N, Poppy, Saffra (Poppy's daughter), Tony Balaclava (head of the Dorothy Fish Day Centre.)
Genre: Fiction, based around mental health and the mental health care system.

I knew this story well before even looking at the book. Channel 4 did a feature length rendition of it, staring Anna Maxwell Martin as N, and Naomie Harris (best known as Tia Dalma/Calypso from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' films) as Poppy. It was this version of the story that made me pick the book up straight away from the library. For those of you who haven't seen it, you MUST watch it. It's powerful, heartwrenching and so very very well done. Naomie and Anna play their respective parts perfectly, and it is shot exactly how it needs to be. It's currently on Youtube, but it is an hour and a half long, so settle down for a long stint if you plan on watching it.

Blurb: Welcome to the Dorothy Fish, a day hospital in North London. N has been a patient here for thirteen years. Day after day she sits smoking in the common room, swapping medication and comparing MAD money rates. Like all the patients at the Dorothy Fish, N's chief ambition is never to be discharged. Each year when her annual assessment comes round, she is relieved to learn that she hasn't got any better.

Then in walks Poppy Shakespeare in her six-inch skirt and twelve-inch heels. She is certain she isn't mentally ill and is desperate to return to her life outside. Though baffled by Poppy's attitude, N agrees to help. Together they plot to gain Poppy's freedom. But in a world where everything's upside-down, are they crazy enough to upset the system?

Oh how I wanted to like this book. I really really did. But this is the first book in a very long time where I haven't been able to finish, no matter how hard I tried. I got to page 40, which equates to approximately the first 8 minutes of the TV show. I was so upset when I finally closed it because I wanted to like it so badly!

It's not that it's a bad book, it's simply the manner in which the narrative is written, from the perspective of N, that meant I just couldn't get into it. It's because I'm used to different writing styles to this: the narrative is really written in the style of a mental patient. Clare knows a lot about this, as she herself was a patient in a mental health day hospital for 10 years and so was using this to inform her writing. That and this being her first novel means that she perhaps had not quite perfected her writing style.

Poppy Shakespeare is a beautifully tragic tale (I can comment on the story through watching and reading what I could), in where, to prove she isn't mad, she must pretend to be mad to gain access to the funds she needs for a lawyer. So N helps her to complete the forms in the style of a mentalist, and Poppy acts her heart out to show the staff she's mad enough to get the funds. However, when it comes to her daughter's father believing that it's more than an act, N starts to wonder just how sane Poppy really is, and so does she.

There have been many references to 'Catch-22' and 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', and there are clear similarities between the themes. I can't comment on how they're presented in the book because sadly, I didn't get that far. However, from what I have seen of the feature length take on it, Clare has written some believable, deep characters which make you feel their pain. It also takes very strongly from the book and that's what I like about it in particular. I could hear words I'd read hours before coming at me.

Would I read it again?: I would like to give it another shot, but I wouldn't want to force myself to read past what was enjoyable simply for the sake of reaching the end of the book. Again: not because it's a bad book, but because the narrative being written in this style meant that it just wasn't my cup of tea.

All in all: 3/5 - for true to life, emotional characters and a story that will damn near break your heart when it gets to the end (not for watching at 4am like I did!), The narrative is believable, well written as if spoken and realistic but just not for me.

Name & TGPF username: Lauren - SapphireDreams