More
Books...
The stuff I've been reading recently.
Thirtynothing -
Lisa Jewell "What did you do with the rabbit?" Not a surefire line
to seduce a woman perhaps but when Dig Ryan bumps into his first love after
a 12-year gap he just can't help himself. Instead of winning her back with
his wit and whispered sweet nothings, Dig finds himself faced with an affliction
he didn't know he had--he says completely the wrong thing at completely
the wrong time. Often. But his ex, the delicious Delilah, seems as keen
as he is and it looks like Dig is about to put the something into his thirty-nothing
life.
So where does that leave Nadine--Dig's best friend
since school? Instead of being thrilled that Dig is settling down, the
reunion unlocks her insecurities and she regresses into the "big ginger
gooseberry" she was as a teenager. She realises--just when it's too late--that
she's in love with him, that she's always been in love with him. And, to
make matters worse, she thinks she just might feel better if she gets back
in touch with her ex (who Dig reckons is the Antichrist).
e - Matt Beaumont The
idea of the first e-mail novel could have been a disaster but instead is
a minor comic triumph thanks to Matt Beaumont's E. The novel of letters
goes back to Richardson, of course, but things have moved on from Regency
rape to the lethal office politics of an advertising agency. The beleaguered
protagonists may appear to be concerned with pitching for the Coca-Cola
account but their real problem is watching their
backs: the knives are out and everyone from head honcho David Crutton downwards
is well aware that their careers are on the line. Another part of Beaumont's
lineage in this unputdownable novel is the This Life school of detailed
interpersonal observation: no one character is allowed to assume centre
stage; people screw, argue and discuss professional responsibility while
the reader slowly makes his mind up about them from the information conveyed
in the increasingly frantic e-mails. Matt Beaumont, though, is primarily
a sharp and witty observer of the social scene, with caustic humour that
leaps out of his characters' electronic missives. And we're pitched headlong
into the situation: it's impossible not to find ourselves riveted by Rachel,
James, Harriet, Daniel and all the rest of Beaumont's at-the-edge characters
as they strive to achieve a common goal and sink deeper and deeper in the
waste matter.
Adrian
Mole : The Cappuccino Years Adrian Mole is balding, he's bitter
and he's back, this time aged 30¼. Working at the Hoi Polloy restaurant,
Soho,he is spotted by a cable TV producer and ends up starring in a celebrity
chef show celebrating offal. Though he may be older he is certainly no
wiser, still passing his time by dreaming of Pandora (now a shining star
in Tony Blair's New Government) after his marriage to a Nigerian beauty
ends in tatters. But underneath the layers of experience and sophistication,
fans of the Mole family will find the same dysfunctional mess that made
Adrian's Secret Diary an instant bestseller--his young son is being brought
up by his mother in Ashby-de-la- Zouch, his16-year-old sister leaves home
to live with her multiply pierced boyfriend and his father is bed- bound
with manic depression. Adrian still makes constant lists of juvenile neuroses
and concentrates on his penis activity to an unhealthy extent (it is when
it reaches 0/10 he realises something has to be done).
Crisis
Four : Andy McNab
Crisis Four is Andy McNab's fourth book and his second work of fiction,
but he has already established himself as a brand name. His trademark is
the SAS and dirty operations, so it will come as no surprise to anyone
that the hero, Nick Stone, is a hard but fair ex-SAS man, now working for
£250 per day as a freelance agent for British Intelligence on undercover
missions which will be denied if they go wrong. The basic story is relatively
straightforward. Stone undertook a mission to Afghanistan in the late 80s
with a mysterious femme fatale, the posh Sarah; they had a fling and she
promptly dumped him on her return. In 1995, they meet up briefly on another
undercover mission to Syria which starts to go horribly wrong as Sarah
appears to be working to a different briefing. Then, in 1998, Stone gets
a summons on his pager to meet his bosses at Gatwick. Sarah has gone AWOL
from her apartment in Washington DC and Stone's job is to find her. This
he ingeniously achieves quite quickly and there then follows a long, tense
chase across the US. Sarah's true past, and the secret that she holds,
is gradually revealed and the ending is truly gripping.
Shall
We Tell The President? - Jeffrey Archer. This follow-up to Archer's
"Kane and Abel" and "The Prodigal Daughter" finds Florentyna Kaye, now
President of the United States, the target of an assassination plot. FBI
agent Mark Andrews has just one week to find the answers. This book is
in its second edition, having been rewritten (in the mid eighties) to be
the follow up to the two aforemeantioned books, which I haven't read :
it was just to put her as the central character to be assinated. The book
is excellent, well plotted story, and leaves me wondering why no one has
filmed it.
Powder
: Kevin Sampson. Keva McCluskey, lead singer of Liverpool band The
Grams, is convulsed with jealousy when their inferior rivals Sensira hit
the headlines. But a fortuitous meeting with society Trustafarian Guy de
Burret boots the unsuspecting Grams straight into the harsh limelight.
The band's camaraderie is rent asunder, as a bewildering host of journalists,
music moguls and parasites works its sinister magic. The Grams have tofight
to save their minds, their bodies and their friendship. They win, lose
and ultimately, win again in this bacchanalian tale of sex, drugs.And rock'n'roll.