Have you had a good, bad or indifferent month's reading in June?  Whichever it was, please share your lists and thoughts on what you read with the rest of us!

Ardour – Lily Prior – 6/10  Lightweight and full of magic realism..... what love can do (or not!) in a tiny Italian village one very hot Summer.

Ship of Souls – Zetta Elliott - 6/10  Older child/YA adventure with facts woven in, starring a black 11 year old, living in a foster home in Brooklyn, NY,  with two feisty schoolfriends.  He discovers a lot about himself, and much about local history.  Fascinated,  I looked up the African Burial Ground National Monument on Wikipedia.

Making it up – Penelope Lively – 7/10   Short stories  suggested by, rather than based on, her life.  Nice writing style, and any one of these makes an excellent read .

Mr Mac says:  Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance – 7/10 Interesting slant on ordinary and extraordinary things.  Especially interesting for me was a section about how storms might be controlled. (Yes, I am an information nerd!!)  and –

Paperboy – Christopher Fowler – 9/10 This will hit the spot for anyone of the “baby boomer” generation, reminding you of food, brands, films, books, views and everything else in the 60’s.  Very funny, with a nice thread of pathos running through.  

A Kind of Intimacy – Jenn Ashworth – 5/10 A woman moves in to a quiet street, and begins to tell her story.   A horror story for modern times, but I didn’t like it.  However, I had to finish it, as many things fell into place as I read on.

In the Sea there are Crocodiles –Fabio Geda - 7/10  The story of a 5 year journey from Afganistan to Italy, of a boy, abandoned by his mother aged 10.  Told in a simplistic and monotone way, there are only hints at what the boy went through before he found a place “safe to stay”. YA/children are the audience, but this is a book worth reading for its insight into illegal labourers, and how and why they work for little money.

The Story of Beautiful Girl – Rachel Simon – 9/10  - Mental incapacity forms the backbone of a haunting story of love and separation which brought me to tears at the end.

My Dear I wanted to tell you – Louisa Young -10/10 – and my book of the month  Definitely one of my 10 best reads for 2012.  Loved this beautiful, sad, gripping story set just before and during WW1. Nothing new to be said about the disastrous mistake that the war was, and decisions that were taken; but knitted up with loved ones at home, and the insertion of Dr Gillie, in Sidcup Kent, (a real doctor, whose work with the rebuilding of faces after dreadful injury is well documented) the whole makes it a more than worthwhile read.

Canvey Island –James Runcie – 5/10.  The story of a life from the flood (fact) that occurred in 1953, told through a (fictional) life.  Hated it.  Well-written and depressing.

Parnassus on Wheels – Christopher Morley – 8/10.  A delight of a tale from the early part of the 20^th century of a travelling caravan of books and it’s spinster owner.  Reviewed on here.

My June Reads

My starring system is 5 highest / 1 lowest rating

Island of Bones by Imogen Robertson 4****

The Secret Keeper by Sandra Byrd 4****

A Secret Wish by Barbara Freethy 4****

The Reckoning by Jane Casey 4****

Vows of Silence by Susan Hill 4****

This Perfect World by Suzanne Bugler 5*****

Beneath the Shadows by Sara Foster 5*****

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf 4****

Tideline by Penny Hancock 4****

Shelter Me by Juliette Fay 4****

A Place in the Country by Elizabeth Adler 4****

By Royal Command by Laura Navarre 4****

Pictures at an Exhibition by Camilla Macpherson 4****

Mrs Robinson's Disgrace (NF) 4****

Inside by Alix Ohlin 4****

All my reviews can be found on my book blog jaffareadstoo

This began as a pretty so-so month of reads for me but picked up latterly:

The Taint of Midas by Anne Zouroudi – 3/5

I have discovered that I don't find the Mysteries of the Greek Detective series especially mysterious... You might like it for the Greek characters and location but it didn't do much for me.

Candlemoth by R. J. Ellory – unfinished

I don't normally read crime/thrillers, but a friend really rates this book, so I wanted to make the effort to try it. I honestly gave it my best shot (I got over halfway), but I found I was wading through it so slowly that I was beginning to resent the time it was taking away from the reading of potentially more enjoyable books. I did find the coming-of-age story of the two friends quite readable, but the interspersed primer of American history of the period and the conspiracy theories were not very interesting. It just didn't hang together for me, and I found the prose to be very generic.

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman - unfinished but 2/5

I came to this one after a friend was weeping as she finished it, but I couldn't face reading beyond the halfway mark. The prose was so-so but the sense of history was non-existent, with dialogue that didn't fit the period at all. Mostly, though, I think it was just the story itself that was too sentimental for my taste.

After Such Kindness by Gaynor Arnold – 3.5/5

Based upon the relationship between Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), and his child-muse Alice Liddell, Arnold offers an interesting perspective and a good story. I was a bit put off by her attempted 'Carrollisms', though, which fell quite flat.

The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce – 3.5/5

Joyce is brilliant at portraying ordinary people in the real world, and this is a really good coming-of-age story of growing up in the 60s. Don't be put off by the fantasy aspect of the Tooth Fairy as the reality versus the psychological origins of the tooth fairy is very much a part of the story. I highly recommend Joyce, if you haven't tried him before...

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce – 3/5

...but don't start with this one!  I was very disappointed with it - really cliched, I've-seen-this-a-thousand-times-before Sunday afternoon fare. And the 'banter' between the couple became quite grating, quite quickly.

On Loving Josiah by Olivia Fane – 4/5

A well-written story, with challenging ideas but – for me more importantly – great characters. The style reminded me of Barbara Trapido (or a less-caustic Fay Weldon). I’m very interested to see what she writes next.

MY BOOK OF THE MONTH:
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt - 5/5 

Absolutely definitely the best book I read this month! It was a re-read, but I think I enjoyed it even more this time around and have given it pride of place within my Top 10 ATFRs.  DeWitt's style is a sprawling stream-of-consciousness (which I realise is not to everybody's taste), a witty and wonderful adventure through words. It's ages since I enjoyed a book so much!

Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson - 4/5

This is a very fable-ish story told in lyrical, lilting prose – very enjoyable to read but ultimately a little insubstantial.

Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith - 4/5

A wonderful, joyful love story that captures the happiness of Ovid’s original version of the Iphis myth (from Metamorphoses) whilst relating it to utterly contemporary themes. The prose is playful, witty and rhythmic stream-of-conscious style which will not appeal to everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Burning Bright by Helen Dunmore - 3.5/5

This was a re-read for me, and quite disappointing. With the exception of Enid, the characters are never really fleshed out, and although smoothly written and interesting in parts, it has neither the glittering crispness of A Spell of Winter, nor the taut and highly-charged atmosphere of Talking to the Dead (both of which I would recommend over this one!).

Another good month for me with 10 books read and 1 that I will have to carry on to July.  My running total for 2012 now stands at 63.

In reading order they were -

The Confession by John Grisham - 8/10

I went off John Grisham but I liked the sound of this one. I found it really made me think about whether justice is truly served by the death sentence.

13, Rue Therese by Elena Mauli Shapiro - 10/10

I loved the prose, perspective and the unusaual presentation of this one. Absolutely captivated me.

Shopaholic Ties The Knot by Sophie Kinsella - 6/10

One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus - 10/10

This is fiction based on fact and a cracking good read.

Palace Circle by Rebecca Dean - 8/10

Set around the time when Edward V111 was captivated by Wallace Simpson, it tells of the life of some influential people. Enjoyable read with twists to keep you interested.

Keeper Of The Light by Diane Chamberlain - 7/10

The story of a wife trying to compete with her husband's obsession with a dead woman. Several twists but I began to lose patience with some of the characters.

The Summer Of Living Dangerously by Julie Cohen - 0

I failed to engage with this story at all and after a 100 pages read, I can't even remember what it was about !

Moonshine by Christina Jones - 9/10

I am loving this author's books. She so picks me up when I need it with her sprinkling of magic. Lovely.

The Visiting Angel by Paul Wilson - 7/10

An angel on a mission and a good read.

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross - 7/10

After failing to like his last couple of books, this one was like being on a racetrack even though it got predictable.

Private Lives by Tasmina Perry - carrying this one over to July.

I haven't done this for a while but this month has been particularly good so here goes:

• The Thead by Victoria Hislip - 8/10 (not quite as good as her other books)
• The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin - 10/10 (Rankin at his best!)
• Tulip Fever by Debora Moggach - 10/10
• Homeland by Clare Francis - 8/10
• Fatal Remedies by Donna Leon - 9/10
• Call the Dying by Andrew Taylor 9/10
• Agatha Raisin and the Busy Body by MC Beaton - 8/10
• Darkside by Belinda Bauer - 10/10
  

Currently reading Looking for Peyton Place by Barbara Delinsky and really enjoying it.

Not huge in terms of quantity this month, but certainly great qualitywise, with mostly fabulous books all month!

Harry's Mad by D.ick King Smith 8/10, this was one of my favourites as a child, and I loved reading it to Zach!

Ogre, Ogre by Piers Anthony, 9/10 one of the ones I've never read before, and really enjoyed it!  Smash is a lovely character, despite being an Ogre!

Gents by Warwick Collins, 9/10, a lovely little morality tale, and all the sweeter for being a surprise, joint book of the month

The Hodgeheg by D.ick King Smith, 7/10, another one I've read to Zach this month, not one I ever got round to as a child, but a sweet little tale

When You Were Older by Catherine Ryan Hyde, 9/10, my other book of the month, a lovely story, but left me wanting more, hence not getting 10!

Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro, 6/10, short stories, not a lot of substance, didn't grip me enough

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston LeRoux, 8/10, I wanted to read the story as I was going to see the show, and I really enjoyed it!  Interesting comparing the two!

And I also read another section of A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, and am halfway through my other challenge book for June Night Mare by Piers Anthony

Nat

 Had a good month, both in terms of quantity and quality!

The underside of joy - Sere Prince Halverson - 4/5

The unremarkable heart (a short Kindle read) - Karin Slaughter - 3/5

The Lifeboat - Charlotte Rogan - 4/5

Her giant octopus moment - Kay Langdale 5/5

Getting away with it - Julie Cohen - 4/5

Pictures at an Exhibition - Camilla MacPherson - 5/5

Perfect People - Peter James 4/5

The accident - Linwood Barclay - 5/5

The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year - Sue Townsend 6/10   I usually love Sue Townsend’s books and find them spot on in terms of social quirks and dialogue. This one was a bit disappointing in that I didn’t identify or understand the protagonist or her reasons for going to bed for a year at all. Having said all that, there were some genuinely funny and insightful moments and I’ve enjoyed Sue Townsend’s work so much over the years that this little hiccup is not going to deter me from reading the next one.

Jubilee - Shelley Harris 8/10 Nostalgic but unsentimental look at 1970s and 21^st century Britain using the device of a photograph taken during a Silver Jubilee street party in 1977.

The Maid - Kimberley Cutter 8/10 Absorbing and interesting fictionalised account of the life and death of Joan of Arc.

A Perfectly Good Man - Patrick Gale 8/10 Typical Patrick Gale fare - religion, sexuality, family dynamics and Cornwall.. This book tells the story of a parish priest who is present and the suicide of one of his flock, and deals with the subsequent soul-searching and recriminations. Very engaging and moving.

Honor - Elif Shafak 8/10 Shocking story about a family of Turkish immigrants in 1970s London and the ‘honour’ killing which tears them apart. A multi-layered novel with themes of religion, family and racism.

Prince - Rory Clements 9/10 I’m loving this series and can‘t get enough of Tudor detectives in general at the moment. In this instalment Clements’ Tudor intelligencer, John Shakespeare, is on the trail of a group of terrorists who are targeting Dutch and Flemish immigrants to London in the 1590s, as well becoming involved in a plot to enthrone Mary Queen of Scots’ illegitimate son.

The Fear Index - Robert Harris 7/10 Fast paced novel about a maths genius turned financial whiz who has invented an algorithm which is basically a licence to print money. A lot of the financial jargon went completely over my head but I enjoyed the thriller aspect of the storyline.

The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton - Elizabeth Speller 9/10 The second outing for Speller’s church historian/school teacher/amateur sleuth Laurence Bartram, and this time he becomes involved in the investigation into the disappearance of a five year old girl shortly before the outbreak of WW1. The pace was slow but the characterisation and storytelling were spot on and I look forward to reading the next in the series.

Bed - David Whitehouse 6/10 My second ‘bed bound’ book this month and I had pretty much the same reaction - lack of empathy/understanding for the person who takes themselves off to bed and expects their family to wait on them hand and foot. Well written and insightful in places though, but overall I think I’ll give this ‘genre’ a miss from now on.

Circle of Shadows - Imogen Robertson 8/10 Book 4 in the Crowther & Westerman series featuring a pair of aristocratic 18^th century amateur detectives. Enjoyable and entertaining as ever but there wasn’t enough of the main characters, particularly Crowther, in this one for my liking.

The Other Half of Me - Morgan McCarthy 8/10 Very impressive debut novel about the close, intense relationship between a brother and sister.

Before I Met You - Lisa Jewell 9/10 Lovely dual-timeframe story about a young woman in London investigating the whereabouts of a mysterious benefactor of her grandmother’s will.

Summertime Death - Mons Kallentoft 8/10   A fine dose of Scandi-gloom, this time set during a baking hot Swedish summer! Things get very dark at times as morose detective Malin Fors investigates the murders of a number of young girls.

How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran 9/10  Very funny and insightful look at what it means to be a woman in the 21^st century. I found myself laughing and nodding in equal measure, and particularly enjoyed her diatribe about Katie Price and her ilk.  It's one of those books you want all your friends to read so you can compare notes.

8 new authors this month but all were good.

Codex - Adrian Dawson  (kindle) new author

Long Gone - Alafair Burke  (kindle)

Punishment - Anne Holt  (kindle)  new author

The Disciple - Steven Dunne  (kindle)

Tick Tock - James Patterson  (kindle)

Savage Run - C. J. Box  (kindle)

Act of Mercy - Peter Tremayne

Compulsion - Jonathan Kellerman

The Keys of Hell - Jack Higgins

The Whisperers - John Connolly  (not finished)

Sins Of The Heart - Jo Bannister  new author

Do or Die - Barbara Fradkin   new author

Helga's Web - Jon Cleary

Sequence - Lori Andrews  new author

The Surrogate - Tania Carver  new author

Dark of the Moon - P.J. Parrish   new author

Sworn to Silence - Linda Castillo  new author

Soft Target - Stephen Leather

The whisperers was only about the third book I have never finished, to me it was terrible.

 Look at all those books everybody has been reading .....and I?  Well I only managed one book - very sad since I got a lot to read. 

The Millionnaires by Brad Meltzer - I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and since I had to read the last ten pages again to "get" the ending, I gotta give it 9/10.  About two brothers robbing the bank they were working in and a lot of twists and turns until the very end.

A very good month for me in terms of quantity and quality - lots here I thoroughly enjoyed and would heartily recommend:

The Brothers Boswell - Philip Baruth   7/10
An interesting idea, taking one actual day's entry from James Boswell's diary and building a whole different plot and set of events round it, involving his brother's obsessive resentment of him and his relationship with Johnson. However, overall I found it was long on words (clever those these often were) and short on action.

11.22.63 - Stephen King   10/10
What if you could go back in time and change the course of history?  What would you change?  What effect would it have on the here and now?  In this novel King explores the "butterfly effect", in itself a well-worn theme of novels and films, but this book is no less gripping for that.  In fact, despite its considerable length, I found it very hard to put down. Cracker of the month.

While the Light Lasts and Other Stories - Agatha Christie  7/10
Disappointing only in that I'd read a number of these stories in other collections.

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals - Wendy Jones  8.5/10
This is a gentle story set in post WW1 Wales.  Quite short and uncomplicated, but very enjoyable. 

Mrs Bridge - Evan S Connell   8/10
A portrait in 117 very short chapters of a middle-aged woman who finds her children's behaviour increasingly bewildering, and her life increasingly empty, as they grow up.  This is extremely well-written and is by turns both funny and sad, as well as a wonderful portrait of Mrs Bridge herself and of the 1930s American bourgeoisie in which she lives.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot   9/10
Fascinating from a scientific point of view, eye-opening from the point of view of medical ethics (or lack of them). Ultimately though this book's importance is in highlighting the fact that we all owe Henrietta Lacks a huge amount since the tragedy of her cancer has benefited medical understanding and treatment in so many areas.

The Cleverness of Ladies - Alexander McCall Smith   7/10
A short of collection of short stories, all essentially (as the title suggests) about women who are clever in one way or another, including Precious Ramotswe and La and her orchestra.

As Meat Loves Salt - Maria McCann   7/10
A sweeping historical epic set in the English Civil War. Great period detail, though I got rather fed up of the somewhat overlong fighting scenes, but McCann's triumph here is in making the reader sympathetic to (or at least understanding of) a rather unsavoury and immoral leading character.

The Mapping of Love and Death - Jacqueline Winspear   8/10
Seventh in the Maisie Dobbs series, not quite as good as the best in the series, but an enjoyable read all the same.

Air and Angels - Susan Hill   7/10
An elegantly written short novel which is essentially about the dreams, hopes and fears of a variety of middle class characters. Good, though I felt the rather chopped-up structure made it difficult to really get under the skin of any of the various characters.

Next of Kin - John Boyne   8/10
I found this saga very Jeffrey Archer-ish - quite underdeveloped characters, scant attention to period detail (it's set in 1936 but you'd be hard pressed to know that if it weren't for the fact the plot revolves round the abdication of Edward VIII!) but a good yarn nevertheless with a central character who reminded me more than a little of Patricia Highsmith's Ripley. 

A Test of Wills - Charles Todd   7/10
A decent murder mystery, set in England just after WW1, and rather like the Maisie Dobbs books in that the events of the war cast an inevitable shadow over the characters. Overall this one wasn't as good as the Maisie books, but still an enjoyable read.

An Equal Stillness - Francesca Kay   5/10
I was disappointed with this and ended up speedreading the second half as I found it rather tedious.  I don't think the fictional biography format helped as it meant the book had a very flat, even tone (and very little dialogue) with the result that, although very well written, for me it lacked momentum.

Among the Wonderful - Stacy Carlsson   8/10
Set in P T Barnum's American Museum in its early years, the "wonderful" of the title are the museum's human and animal exhibits, focusing particularly on the taxidermist Emile Guillaudeu and the giantess Ana Swift, both of whom become horrified by the changes Barnum wants to introduce to his "ark for the human imagination".  Although I found the characters sometimes less than wholly convincing, I loved the historical detail about Barnum's museum, something that's long fascinated me, and the glimpses of what it must have been like to have been an exhibit in such a freak show.

Monsieur Montespan - Jean Teule   8.5/10
A bawdy, sometimes poignant and often very funny look at life in the Paris of the Grand Siecle. Like Among the Wonderful this is firmly rooted in the historical detail of the court of Louis XIV and his "appropriation" of the wife of the Marquis de Montespan for his mistress, but Teule breathes real life into his characters, as well as depicting with great gusto the questionable and often bizarre social mores of the nobility of the time.

The Beginner's Goodbye - Anne Tyler    9/10
I felt Anne Tyler was right back on form with this rather poignant story about loss, grief and coming to terms with both. 

The Colour of Milk - Nell Leyshon   9/10
Unique, memorable, and written with beautiful economy.  The way the story unfolds slowly but with a relentless logic makes this a very compelling read.  In few words Leyshon conjures up Mary's small confined world in all its harshness and remoteness, and the sense of ominous foreboding that builds as Mary relates her story is very well done.

Galore - Michael Crummey  8.5/10
A sort of Newfoundland saga spanning six generations, with elements of myth and Old Testament woven into the fabric.  Overall it's quite a bleak book in some ways, with hardship, disaster and death following hard on each others' heels, but there's also a strong sense of continuity and of rebirth and regeneration in the midst of the hardship and the inevitable changes in the community down the years.

Whatever's Been Going on at Mumblesby? - Colin Watson   8/10
One of Watson's highly entertaining Flaxborough Chronicles (murder mystery).

Parnassus on Wheels - Christopher Morley   8.5/10
A charming little story about books and love, set in a time when life was slower and simpler than it is now.

Gents - Warwick Collins   8.5/10
Another nice gentle book, with a profound moral dilemma at its heart.

Murder on the Flying Scotsman (Daisy Dalrymple) - Carola Dunn  7/10
Another fun little murder mystery for Daisy Dalrymple. Nice easy reading, formulaic but entertaining nonetheless.

The Loved One - Evelyn Waugh  9/10
Delicious black comedy that satirises the American way of death, written with devastating economy. 

pennyt:

Among the Wonderful - Stacy Carlsson   8/10
Set in P T Barnum's American Museum in its early years, the "wonderful" of the title are the museum's human and animal exhibits, focusing particularly on the taxidermist Emile Guillaudeu and the giantess Ana Swift, both of whom become horrified by the changes Barnum wants to introduce to his "ark for the human imagination".  Although I found the characters sometimes less than wholly convincing, I loved the historical detail about Barnum's museum, something that's long fascinated me, and the glimpses of what it must have been like to have been an exhibit in such a freak show.

neverendings:

  Have you seen the new book Little People by Jane Sullivan?  Might be up your street...

 

Funny you should say that - I downloaded the Kindle version a couple of weeks ago! It does indeed look like exactly my sort of book.  

I've read:

Abide With Me - Ian Ayris

Fifty Shades of Grey - E.L. James

Fifty Shades Darker - E.L. James

Fifty Shades Freed - E.L. James

Quenched - Z.L. Arkadie