I read, like, a lot! So i thought i'd share a few of my recent reads with you.... h yeah, expect them all to be murder mystery/ triller types i'm a bit stuck in that genre!
Firstly the 9th Judgement by James Patterson, i'd never read anything by Patterson before and the cover told me he was the 'worlds best selling thriller writer' so i mean how could i not buy it? I felt a bit betrayed and patronised by the book, for starters chapters were only two pages long and the writting was HUGE! Saying this however, this fact did allow me to complete the book in a day, something i enjoy doing. and admittedly i did not feel i had wasted the day, the book was enjoyable and captured me within the first few chapters. I engaged with the mostly female charcaters (possibly beacuse i am also a girl) and found the use of these characters a refreshing change from the macho tone of most crime novels. however i couldnt help feeling they were ever so slightly two dimensional and i found it rather difficult to emphathise with them. This was contrasted by two characters the victims, if you will, who were so far from stereotypical as it is possible to be. these two strong women's stories enthralled me and could have easily made better main characters than those of the 'Womens Murder Club' who were almost a grim parody of the Sex and The City girls discussing brutal murders over a drink at the end of the day.
I also read The Confession by John Grisham last week and OH MY GOD, it is a must read, sometimes i find Grishams books too heavy and filled with law jargon, but the confession could not have been more different it was so human, the storyline unexpected and truely moving. I can't say this for a lot of books, but after i read it i couldnt stop thinking about the storyline (a wrongly convicted fellon on death row) and spent days doing my own research into similar cases. There was just something about this book that made it so believeable, maybe it was the pefercted characters, that i could imagine living in Texas. Maybe it was the events in the book, opinions and views held by characters were so real i could imagine them really happening. But i think it was the clear and unavoidable injustice showed through out the book, and if it isn't an arguement as to why the death penalty should be banned i don't know what is. A truely mindblowing MUST READ!
I don't seem to be able to escape Sweedish writers and after devouring and loving the Millenium Trilogy last year (Stieg Larsson) I decided to read another series of books from a Sweedish author called Jo Nesbo, adveristed as 'the new Stieg Larsson' and frankly i was confused. Yes both authors share a country of orign and both write books in a similarly heavy fashion but these seem to be the only similarities. Nesbo's books bemused me with the constant mention of places i had never heard of and could not pronounce, i felt constantly lost when reading them as characters, places and events all blended together into one big sweedish mess. i supose this is the struggle when reading translated books, they are difficult to identify with as cultures are so differnt. however saying this after battling my way through The Snowman i had come to grips with Nesbo's style and felt confident to read The Redbreast, which i truely enjoyed the plot was brilliant and although it spanned two time periods i found it esay to follow a gem of a book.
No comments:
Post a Comment