Life has changed quite a bit for me since I last blogged. I'm now working for a publishing company and I've got back into reading in a BIG way. The last time I had such an appetite for books was probably in my teen years, when I would devour them during my morning and evening commute to work. I loved that feeling of being so absorbed in a book that you nearly miss, or in some cases do miss, your stop and have to walk half a mile further than needed to get home.
I decided that this very underused blog would be the perfect place for me to wax lyrical about the books I'm enjoying and what I'm really looking forward to reading in 2017. I'll warn you, it's a long post so grab a cup of coffee now!
I've realised that I've inherited a trait from my amazing Dad, the incredible Leo DeWissel, in that I am a polygamist reader. As a child I never understood how he could have more than one book on the go at a time. Didn't he get confused between storylines? Why bother with more than one book when you can only physically read one at a time? Well now I know. I currently have 4 books on the go, although I'm concentrating mainly on two in particular. Late last year I started to read The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick. I'd started to watch the tv series on Amazon Prime and decided I should probably read the book before I got too into the show, so that I could compare them. Luckily the aforementioned Leo DeWissel had a copy I could borrow as he's a big SF fan. Unfortunately I'm not an instant fan of the way Dick writes (*snigger*) and I've had to put this to one side for now. I will definitely be coming back to it though.
The next book I started was Follow Me by Angela Clarke. I discovered it during my research for an author's online book tour. Angela was also on a blog tour for her latest novel 'Watch Me' and I was intrigued by the idea of tapping into various social media as a basis for a murder novel. I decided I had to get the first book to see if it was as good as it sounded. I'm happy to say that it was and I finished it remarkably quickly (I'm a pretty slow reader). I wasn't totally sold on the main characters but I did find Freddie's character really refreshing, particularly her sexual freedom and attitude. I'm looking forward to reading the next book soon!Next up was a book that many have already read, but then I've always been fashionably late to the party. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson appealed to me purely on what I've heard about it's main character, Lisbeth Salander. I'm a big fan of damaged characters and particularly strong female ones. So far I'm only 29 pages in and as the book racks up a massive 542 pages, I have a LONG way to go. Unfortunately, due to the size of the book, I'm not able to carry it around with me everywhere so reading opportunities are limited to evenings at home. For this reason it's taken a bit of a back seat to the two e-books I'm now reading on my phone's Amazon Kindle app.
The first of these is The Last King's Amulet by Chris Northern. Now, I'll be perfectly honest, Fantasy novels are not usually my thing. I'll also admit that the first thing that attracted me to this book was the fit guy on the cover (me - shallow??). The second thing that attracted me to this book was that it was free! However, once I read the description and reviews on Amazon, my interest was piqued and I dived straight in.
I LOVE the character of Sumto, a fat, lazy alcoholic gambler, who was born, undeservedly, into nobility. He is flawed and yet, right from the start, you can't help seeing his point of view. Why go to the effort of joining the army and having to fight, just to satisfy the expectations of society? Why break a sweat climbing the nobility social ladder when you can quite happily slum it on the bottom rung with a pint of beer and a buxom woman for company? However, Sumto's family have had enough of him besmirching the family name and racking up creditors. He is issued with an ultimatum; do your duty and fight in battle or leave the city for good without a penny to your name. In the face of mounting pressure, Sumto joins the army and sets about making good his reputation. Now it would be easy to make this a cliched tale of 'bad boy come good' and show him rising to the top of his game with ease. However, Northern takes Sumto on the scenic route through failuresville first, creating a much more realistic protagonist. I'm about 75% through this so hoping to finish it next week.
The last book I'm going to talk about today is The Whisper Garden by David Harris Griffith. David is the latest author to join the MadeGlobal publishing family and I was intrigued by the blurb of his book...
Mardi Gras brings madness, music, love and questionable psychic experiences. But it also brings ... murder. Falling in love was a good start for Jeremy. He had no direction until his garden started talking to him, and then everything started to come together. Was Voodoo or chance driving events? His life was getting better, but would catching the attention of a killer bring it all to an untimely end? With more twists, turns and quirky characters than a tango contest, The Whisper Garden is a roller coaster ride through a carnival funhouse.
I figured it could either be fantastic or awful, but worth a try either way. I'm very pleased to say that early indications have this novel pointing firmly to the fantastic side of the meter. I will keep you informed as I progress through it though.
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