1-4: Off to a flyer
1. Open the Cage, Murphy: Further Savage Adventures... - Paul O'Grady
Pages: 326
Blurb: To describe 'Open the Cage, Murphy' as action-packed is a massive understatement. The book takes us on a roller-coaster ride through a decade of Paul O'Grady's life and is stuffed to the gunwales with hilarious stories, extreme situations and outrageous one-liners. At the end of Paul's previous volume of autobiography, 'Still Standing', his brilliant comic creation Lily Savage stood on the brink of fame. Here, Lily embraces success as to the manner born, and world domination beckons!
Along the way, the stories come thick and fast. Paul is inolved in a place crash, gets caught up in the LA riots and has a close encounter with Madonna. He takes us with him to a gay-themed weekend at Butlin's in Skegness, on a rowdy bus tour with 'Prisoner from Cell Block H - the Musical' and into the depths of the Australian rainforest, where he befriends a rare bird that can disembowel a man with a single kick. The dramatis personae include a family of dolphins, Charlton Heston and the ghost of Joan of Arc - and there's a starring role for a certain remarkable dog. Buster Elvis Savage.
But whether he's writing about star-studded Hollywood parties, the devastating loss of close friends to AIDS, or late-night shenanigans at the end of Blackpool Pier, Paul's wit and humanity never desert him. 'Open the Cage, Murphy' is a genuine delight - all the more so for being delightfully funny.
Thoughts: I have read all of O'Grady's biographies thus far and have not found a single one to be disappointing. I loved the flow of this one and the ever changing emotions. The anecdotes were delightful and I read a number out to my other half, who had no idea of the life O'Grady had lived. There is a tinge of sadness throughout the book, with the ongoing AIDS epidemic, O'Grady reflecting on how proud his family would have been for all he achieved and his breakdown on finding out his partner had liver cancer. O'Grady comes across as genuinely a rather lovely person who I would love to meet one day. A brilliant book, I hope he brings out another!
2. The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton
Pages: 432
Blurb: On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives at a grand house in Amsterdam to begin her new life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. Though curiously distant, he presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations ring eerily true.
As Nella uncovers the secrets of her new household she realises the escalating dangers they face. The miniaturist seems to hold their fate in her hands - but does she plan to save or destroy them?
Thoughts: This review on Goodreads really sums up how I felt about this book. I had been curious about it for a while as the blurb offers so much of a good story but my gosh is it disappointing. The characters are underdeveloped and so much more could be done with them and the story as a whole. You can't put the book down, but that' likely because you keep reading in the hope that something decent actually happens. I feel very divided on how I would rate this book and almost feel bad saying "disappointing, read to see if you feel the same" as it does seem to be a divisive book.
3. Zehn kleine Negerlein/And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie, Translated by Sabine Deitmer
Pages: German: 223 (completed); English: 159/210 (incomplete)
Blurb: A relaxing weekend on a small island. The great unknown has invited them - the guests 10 persons with dark pasts. They judge themselves, until one after the other they lose not only their composure but their life. [Translated from the German by myself!]
Thoughts: Firstly, apologies for the German title of this novel, there seems to be very little shame in using such a horrid word. Secondly, I've made a resolution to try to actually use my German and read/watch more German things. Having watched two adaptions of this and with everyone touting this as Christie's best book I decided I should finally give it a go. I must say I greatly prefer the book's descriptions of the past lives of the 10 guests and feel that they were definitely over-embellished in the latest BBC adaption. Now to be truthful, I actually wasn't very keen on this book. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it's uniqueness and cleverness but I actually found it a tad predictable. The male characters left toward the end all seemed rather stupid and reluctant to admit that perhaps they should have listened to each other all along. I think it was actually quite obvious who Christie had planned as the mastermind (the German translation was less subtle than the English). I gave up reading in both languages as I found the whole book just a tad depressing and couldn't bring myself to check my understanding. Not my favourite Christie, but I do get why people like it so much.
4: No Rest for the Wiccan - Madelyn Alt
Pages: 295 (1435)
Blurb: It's a long, hot summer in Stony Mill, and Maggie is busy watching TV reruns, minding the store, and figuring out her love life. Then, she reluctantly volunteers to care for her bedridden, oh-so-perfect sister, Mel. But Mel isn't the only focus of Maggie's attention. There are some strange spirits hanging about the area - and it looks like a job for Maggie and the NIGHTS ghost-hunting team.
Even as she tries to deal with the long dead, Maggie must also cope with the recently deceased. When a friend of Mel's loses her husband to a dreadful fall, the police call it an accidental death. Maggie's not so sure, and sets her second sights on finding a first-degree murderer...
Thoughts: I seem to have had a run of disappointing books of late. This is another of the could have been so much more club. The story again sounds so promising but there is a fair amount of faffing around the story involving a kitten and 'cleansing'. The murder is barely covered until the last few chapters where it is blitzed through. There's not much development of how Liss and Maggie cope with the newly-found attention on them and the business even though this is covered deeply in one chapter. The ending was also just a bit...random. I have one book left from this series to read and I sincerely hope it's better than this one.
Good lord are there a lot of tags on this entry.
Pages: 326
Blurb: To describe 'Open the Cage, Murphy' as action-packed is a massive understatement. The book takes us on a roller-coaster ride through a decade of Paul O'Grady's life and is stuffed to the gunwales with hilarious stories, extreme situations and outrageous one-liners. At the end of Paul's previous volume of autobiography, 'Still Standing', his brilliant comic creation Lily Savage stood on the brink of fame. Here, Lily embraces success as to the manner born, and world domination beckons!
Along the way, the stories come thick and fast. Paul is inolved in a place crash, gets caught up in the LA riots and has a close encounter with Madonna. He takes us with him to a gay-themed weekend at Butlin's in Skegness, on a rowdy bus tour with 'Prisoner from Cell Block H - the Musical' and into the depths of the Australian rainforest, where he befriends a rare bird that can disembowel a man with a single kick. The dramatis personae include a family of dolphins, Charlton Heston and the ghost of Joan of Arc - and there's a starring role for a certain remarkable dog. Buster Elvis Savage.
But whether he's writing about star-studded Hollywood parties, the devastating loss of close friends to AIDS, or late-night shenanigans at the end of Blackpool Pier, Paul's wit and humanity never desert him. 'Open the Cage, Murphy' is a genuine delight - all the more so for being delightfully funny.
Thoughts: I have read all of O'Grady's biographies thus far and have not found a single one to be disappointing. I loved the flow of this one and the ever changing emotions. The anecdotes were delightful and I read a number out to my other half, who had no idea of the life O'Grady had lived. There is a tinge of sadness throughout the book, with the ongoing AIDS epidemic, O'Grady reflecting on how proud his family would have been for all he achieved and his breakdown on finding out his partner had liver cancer. O'Grady comes across as genuinely a rather lovely person who I would love to meet one day. A brilliant book, I hope he brings out another!
2. The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton
Pages: 432
Blurb: On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman arrives at a grand house in Amsterdam to begin her new life as the wife of wealthy merchant Johannes Brandt. Though curiously distant, he presents her with an extraordinary wedding gift: a cabinet-sized replica of their home. It is to be furnished by an elusive miniaturist, whose tiny creations ring eerily true.
As Nella uncovers the secrets of her new household she realises the escalating dangers they face. The miniaturist seems to hold their fate in her hands - but does she plan to save or destroy them?
Thoughts: This review on Goodreads really sums up how I felt about this book. I had been curious about it for a while as the blurb offers so much of a good story but my gosh is it disappointing. The characters are underdeveloped and so much more could be done with them and the story as a whole. You can't put the book down, but that' likely because you keep reading in the hope that something decent actually happens. I feel very divided on how I would rate this book and almost feel bad saying "disappointing, read to see if you feel the same" as it does seem to be a divisive book.
3. Zehn kleine Negerlein/And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie, Translated by Sabine Deitmer
Pages: German: 223 (completed); English: 159/210 (incomplete)
Blurb: A relaxing weekend on a small island. The great unknown has invited them - the guests 10 persons with dark pasts. They judge themselves, until one after the other they lose not only their composure but their life. [Translated from the German by myself!]
Thoughts: Firstly, apologies for the German title of this novel, there seems to be very little shame in using such a horrid word. Secondly, I've made a resolution to try to actually use my German and read/watch more German things. Having watched two adaptions of this and with everyone touting this as Christie's best book I decided I should finally give it a go. I must say I greatly prefer the book's descriptions of the past lives of the 10 guests and feel that they were definitely over-embellished in the latest BBC adaption. Now to be truthful, I actually wasn't very keen on this book. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it's uniqueness and cleverness but I actually found it a tad predictable. The male characters left toward the end all seemed rather stupid and reluctant to admit that perhaps they should have listened to each other all along. I think it was actually quite obvious who Christie had planned as the mastermind (the German translation was less subtle than the English). I gave up reading in both languages as I found the whole book just a tad depressing and couldn't bring myself to check my understanding. Not my favourite Christie, but I do get why people like it so much.
4: No Rest for the Wiccan - Madelyn Alt
Pages: 295 (1435)
Blurb: It's a long, hot summer in Stony Mill, and Maggie is busy watching TV reruns, minding the store, and figuring out her love life. Then, she reluctantly volunteers to care for her bedridden, oh-so-perfect sister, Mel. But Mel isn't the only focus of Maggie's attention. There are some strange spirits hanging about the area - and it looks like a job for Maggie and the NIGHTS ghost-hunting team.
Even as she tries to deal with the long dead, Maggie must also cope with the recently deceased. When a friend of Mel's loses her husband to a dreadful fall, the police call it an accidental death. Maggie's not so sure, and sets her second sights on finding a first-degree murderer...
Thoughts: I seem to have had a run of disappointing books of late. This is another of the could have been so much more club. The story again sounds so promising but there is a fair amount of faffing around the story involving a kitten and 'cleansing'. The murder is barely covered until the last few chapters where it is blitzed through. There's not much development of how Liss and Maggie cope with the newly-found attention on them and the business even though this is covered deeply in one chapter. The ending was also just a bit...random. I have one book left from this series to read and I sincerely hope it's better than this one.
Good lord are there a lot of tags on this entry.