Lightning

Title: Lightning
Author: Dean Koontz
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Library

From Goodreads: A storm struck on the night Laura Shane was born, and there was a strangeness about the weather that people would remember for years. But even more mysterious was the blond-haired stranger who appeared out of nowhere—the man who saved Laura from a fatal delivery.
Years later—another bolt of lightning—and the stranger returned, again to save Laura from tragedy. Was he the guardian angel he seemed? The devil in disguise? Or the master of a haunting destiny beyond time and space?
   
What I thought: It's been years since I've read a Koontz book. This is our book group book for February. To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what I think about it. The stranger appears at various times to save Laura, in essence keeping her alive. You work out pretty fast where he is coming from, his need to save Laura is not so clear. When the reason is revealed, I'm not sure I bought it - too simple maybe. In the end it should promote some good discussion about whether or not it would be a good idea to interfere in history if we could.

Challenges: What's in a Name

Sins of the Father

Title: Sins of the Father
Author: Eamonn Duff
Genre: Non fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Lent by a friend

Synopsis: Schapelle Corby is an Australian girl who was accused of smuggling a large amount of marijuana into Indonesia. She has always maintained her innocence. Her family turned it into a media circus. This book examines her father's involvement in the drug trade in Australia, the families apparent hunger for media attention and whether Schapelle is as innocent as she pretends.
   
What I thought: This book had potential. You say the name "Schapelle Corby" to any Australian and they will have an opinion. The family, particularly her sister Mercedes, rode the media wave for a long time and still crop up on the cover of women's magazines. Debate has raged for awhile over the role of the media and Schapelle's innocence or guilt. For quite a time, the country believed she was innocent, believed she was set up, but as time has gone on, more people have questioned the truth of this. Me personally - I don't see how she couldn't know the drugs were in her boogie board bag. I don't think she was alone and I think she has taken the fall for others - most particularly her father. I also think if you are stupid enough to traffic drugs into Indonesia you cannot cry foul when you get caught. They aren't exactly secretive about how they treat drug runners. At the same time, I also believe all efforts should be made to bring her home to serve her sentence in an Australian jail.
Now, having said that, the book was not well written. It was clunky, disjointed and in real need of a good editor. What could have been a really interesting, insightful  book in the end was just frustrating.

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge

The Complete Peanuts 1963 - 1964

Title: The Compete Peanuts 1963 - 1964
Author: Charles Schulz
Genre: Comic
Series: Peanuts
Audience: Everyone!
Format: Book - Library

Synopsis: Volume 7 in this series takes us through 1963 and 1964.

What I thought: You all know what I'm going to say here - love it, love it, love it!! The Goodreads synopsis does a much better job of describing this book than I ever could. Check it out here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Is a meme hosted by Shelia over at Book Journey. A weekly check in to see what you are currently reading and what is coming up. Head over to Shelia's blog to see what others are reading this week.

 What am I reading now.

 

The Complete Peantus 1963 - 1964

Seriously, who doesn't love a little peanuts in their life? This is the 7th volume in a planned 25 volume series which will see the whole 50 years of Sculz's masterpiece published. So far 16 volumes have been published, which takes us to 1981- 1982. I hate to think what I'm going to do when I catch up as the plans are for two volumes a year.

What I finished this week (and last week).

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling
2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
3. The Retribution - Val McDermid

 

I also finished proof reading an unpublished manuscript for a friend of my husbands.

What's next

I have a few possibilities. Of course there are the last remaining Potter books. I also picked up Donna Tartt's The Secret History from the library the other day. A friend has lent me a copy of Sins of the Father by Eamonn Duff. Those outside of Australia may not know a lot about the topic of this book - Shapelle Corby. Corby was caught carrying a large amount of cannabis into Bali - not a good idea at all! There was much media attention and she is currently serving a lengthy sentence in a not nice Indonesian jail. There has been a lot of controversy over the case - whether or not she was guilty, whether she deserves to be where she is or whether she should be bought home. This book looks at her father's supposed links with drug trafficking and whether Shapelle took the fall for a man who is now dead and taken the truth to his grave.

 

So what was your week like? Leave me a comment and a link, I'd love to know!

The Retribution

Title: The Retribution
Author: Val McDermid
Genre: Fiction - Crime
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Library

From Goodreads: Clinical psychologist Tony Hill has had a good run. He and police detective Carol Jordan have put away scores of dangerous criminals and have a clearance rate that colleagues envy or resent. But there is one serial killer who has shaped and defined their careers, a person whose evil surpasses all others: Jacko Vance, an ex-celebrity and sociopath whose brilliance and utter lack of remorse have never left Tony’s mind in the ten years Vance has been locked up. Now Jacko has broken out of prison and, with a mind even more twisted and cunning than before, he is focused on wreaking revenge on Tony and Carol for the years he has spent in prison. They don’t know when Jacko will strike, or where. All they know is that he will cause them to feel fear like they’ve never known.
   
What I thought: I love Val McDermid's books that have psychologist Tony Hill as the main character. This series has been made into a TV series in Britain called Wire in the Blood and it's excellent. While several of the episodes are based on books, many just use the characters.
In this latest book, Tony Hill is faced once more with Jacko Vance. A serial killer he helped DCI Carol Jordan put away for the murder of several young girls. Now Vance has escaped and is bent on exacting revenge on those he feel are responsible for his downfall.
I don't know exactly what it is that I love about this series. Like most crime novels with recurring characters you do start to wonder exactly how many traumatic episodes these people can handle before losing it completely. But McDermid manages to convince you that her characters are up for this continual beating up. Maybe it's partly the fact that Tony Hill has been "different" from  the beginning - socially awkward and obsessed with his chosen field of psychology. The first Tony Hill book was released in 1995 - a time when profiling was in it's infancy. It has been interesting to see how McDermid has incorporated the growing acceptance of criminal profiling as the series has grown. Where in early books Tony had to fight to prove his skills and their worth, by now it's just accepted a profiler will make up part of the team.
A worth while series for any crime nut.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Author: J.K Rowling
Series: Harry Potter
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Children/ Young Adult
Format: Book - Personal Collection

From Goodreads: Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His best friends Ron and Hermoine have been very secretive all summer and he is desperate to get back to school and find out what has been going on. However, what Harry discovers is far more devastating than he could ever have expected...
Suspense, secrets and thrilling action from the pen of J.K. Rowling ensure an electrifying adventure that is impossible to put down.
 
What I thought: Most probably my least favourite book in the series. Having said that, I did still enjoy it. I can remember reading this for the first time and getting rather annoyed with Harry's woe is me attitude about everything. How on earth Ron or Hermoine did not lay him flat at some stage I will never know! Mind you, at the same time, it would be incredibly frustrating to be kept in the dark so much. I love Dumbledore's speech at the end where he admits he has kept too much from Harry for too long. I think it's important that children get to experience characters they love being flawed and apologising when they get it wrong. As for Umbridge - truly the most despicable character Rowling ever came up with!

Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

Title: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Author: J.K Rowling
Series: Harry Potter
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Children/ Young Adult
Format: Book - Personal Collection

From Goodreads: Fourteen-year-old Harry Potter joins the Weasleys at the Quidditch World Cup, then enters his fourth year at Hogwarts Academy where he is mysteriously entered in an unusual contest that challenges his wizarding skills, friendships and character, amid signs that an old enemy is growing stronger.
 
What I thought: The one where it all really starts to happen! For me, this is the first of the books you could class as young adult. I know that when it came out I was working as a teacher librarian in a primary school and there was much discussion about whether it should be in the library. At our local library it is the last one to be in the junior fiction area.
It's also the first book that starts to examine the characters and their feelings further. There is the beginning of attraction to the opposite sex, jealousy, betrayal and death to deal with.  The end of the book sets the scene perfectly for the next book.