ReadingAdventures

I've been making a bit of an effort to catch up on my book posts because I keep on finding things that I want to post about but then think I shouldn't because I will mess up the posting order!!

If you recall I was participating in Sassymonkey's October Challenge. The three books I was going to read were Poison Study, The Silver Rose and The Observations, with a bonus of Exit Unicorns if I got to it. Well, I read Poison Study and The Silver Rose (review still to come on that one!), but I didn't get to The Observations or Exit Unicorns.

Kailana has proposed a November challenge to read books set in World War I or World War II in honour of Remembrance Day. I would like to do it but I am not sure if I am going to officially participate or not. I have plenty of books on my list that qualify. Maybe I will just set the challenge for one book - The Book Thief, although it will depend on whether the book comes in from the library or not as to whether I will read it in November or not. Edited to say that I might try and read Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes as well.

In other news....I changed over to Blogger Beta a couple of days ago - so far so good, except for having to sign in all the time!! Driving me crazy!

Did everyone see that Rachel McAdams is in talks to star as Clare in the movei of a Time Traveller's Wife? Sounds like a really good casting decision to me!

Marian Keyes's sixth novel is a truly captivating story about a marriage that's gone wrong and a sensible woman who suddenly just wants to let her hair down.

"We will shortly be landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Please ensure your seat is in the upright position, that you weigh less than a hundred pounds and that you have excellent teeth."

Unlike the rest of her family, Maggie Walsh has always done everything right. Sensibly. By the book. Until the day she leaves her husband and runs away to Hollywood, that is.

In LA the primping, preening and partying are non-stop and even the palm trees are skinny. Staying with her best friend, Emily, a struggling screenwriter, Maggie starts doing things she's never done before. Like wearing tights on her head, mixing with film stars - even pitching scripts to studios - and much, much more. Including meeting the mysterious Troy, a man so non-stick he's known as Human Teflon.

Follow Maggie on a journey of discovery, from suburbia to a suntan, taking in some heartache and lots of Martinis along the way, as she discovers what she really wants in life and why she really walked out on her marriage....

This is the third book in the series focussing on the Walsh sisters, following on from Rachel's Holiday.

This really is a trademark Marian Keyes. Her ability to take a situation that is neither entertaining or funny, and turn it into an extremely poignant story that is very entertaining.

Maggie and her husband Garv have had a couple of "setbacks" over the last couple of years, and have gradually drifted apart and stopped really talking to each other. When Maggie finds out that he may have been cheating she leaves him immediately, going to stay with her parents until her best friend Emily calls her and asks her to come and stay with her in LA. Emily is a writer, trying to sell her movie script and make ends meet in a town where appearance is everything. Suddenly Maggie is masquerading as Emily's assistant, accompanying Troy to showbiz parties, attending premieres, being regroomed from head to foot and generally just trying to forget about her real life.

Maggie is thrown into a world of parties and grooming, along the way starting to loosen up a bit and take the kind of risks that she would never have usually taken. When it turns out that one of her old boyfriend's is going to be in town, it brings up many memories for Maggie, including a huge plot twist that I never saw coming! I love it when an author can surprise me so completely!

As Maggie is spending her time with a variety of characters, she gradually comes to some realisations about why her marriage faltered, and to accept some of the responsibility, as distinct from taking the blame for things beyond her control.

One of the highlights of the book was when the Walsh family descended on LA en masse - Mum and Dad, Helen and Anna....very entertaining! The next book in the series is Anybody Out There? about Anna. I already have it sitting on my shelf ready to read!

Rating 4/5

I am a bit of a fan of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, although I haven't read any for ages, and I really have been meaning too, but I am not sure that I would ever be as much as a fan as some others.

Click on the link to see pictures of a wedding cake that has been made based on Discworld.

What about you? Is anyone else so obsessed with a character, or a series of books that they would consider making a wedding cake for it, or some other odd tribute?

Aspiring romance novelist Jane Sillee was completely in love with her fantasy man - the hot and strapping dark-haired Highlander who'd been coming to her in her dreams for years and inspired her sensual flights of literary fancy.

But it was more than her imagination that conjured up the brilliantly woven tapestry sporting the spitting image of her magnificently arrogant warrior. It was more than a dream that transported her to medieval Scotland to break an evil spell. And it was more than she could handle when she found herself wrapped in the muscular arms of Aeden MacKinnon, who had his won fantasies to fulfill.

This novella was originally published in the Tapestry anthology that also featured Lynn Kurland, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Madeline Hunter. It was recently rereleased as a kind of standalone novella and at only about 100 pages long it is a very quick read. I'm not really sure what I think of the format, and I'm not sure that I have seen too many others around in this format. As someone who came a bit later to this author, it is good to be able to easily locate this story that means that I have read most of what have been published. Just waiting for her latest, Darkfever, to come in at the library. Can't wait!!

As the first piece of writing that KMM had published, you can definitely see the bare bones of what became her really successful Highlander books. There is time travel, hot men in kilts, feisty virgin heroine, and the fae are there as well.

Well worth reading if you are a KMM fan!

Rating 4/5

I was tagged by C2 to do the Five Things meme that is going around so here goes:

1. I am pretty drained by my job at the moment. I think the time is coming to move along. I am however going to stay at least 6 months more so that I can get paid out my Long Service Leave when I do leave.

2. I'm not really a good Aussie. I don't like Vegemite, Russell Crowe, not real keen on Lamingtons, don't really get why we get a day off for a horse race! Not that I am complaining though. Means that I have a four day weekend this weekend. Wait...any excuse for a long weekend...that makes me a better Aussie than I thought.

3. I really, really need to lose weight. I keep on thinking about it, but haven't really done anything about it. Oh, I've tried just about every diet going, but not wholeheartedly, if I am being honest with myself.

4. I think I have a new hobby...just not sure how it happened! LOL!! I have gone and bought lots of paper and punches, ink and stamps to be able to start card making. Guess the only thing to do now is to actually make some!

5. I collect new groups and new blogs like there is no tomorrow. Usually they are related to books that I have read or reading in some way or another. Just can't help myself!

Makepeace Burke, colonial tavern keeper, accepts an offer of marriage from the aristocrat she rescues from a rebellious mob, and sets sail for London.

As the second Lady Dapifer, Makepeace soon realises that English society will not easily accept an uneducated colonial.And the first Lady Dapifer, well-connected and refusing to acknowledge her divorce, proves to be an extremely dirty fighter once her silk gloves are off. But Makepeace, having been chased out of one town by prejudice and intolerance, is damned if she'll let that happen again.

Makepeace Burke and her collection of friends, from rescued waifs to Grub Street scribblers, from Northampton miners to prime ministers are irresistible characters. Diana Norman is an addictive discovery.

I first heard about this author when the girls at Dear Author blogged about a couple of her books. With historical fiction being one of my favourite genres, this book, with it's setting in Boston just before the start of the war between Britain and it's young colony, is right up my alley. Boston is full of unrest, and when innkeeper Makepeace Burke rescues a man from the waters of Boston Bay she is dismayed to find that he is an English Lord. The rebels that use her tavern as a meeting place will be less than pleased if they find out that she is harbouring him...not to mention the reaction of her future mother-in-law when she finds out that Makepeace had the man in her bedroom alone for a whole night. The fact that he was unconscious at the time is irrelevant. And then it is Sir Pip's turn to rescue Makepeace and her loved ones, and Makepeace finds herself not only married to him, but falling in love with the dashing Sir Pip, and on her way to make her mark in London society.

Unfortunately, Sir Pip was in Boston trying to obtain a divorce from the first Lady Dapifer, a lady who is finding it very difficult to let go of her former husband, and his money, and she does her best to make as uncomfortable as possible for Makepeace. Well, actually, truth be told the first Lady Dapifer is pretty much a psycho bitch, especially at a time when Makepeace is at her lowest ebb. Luckily she has a quirky and loyal group of friends who are willing to support her, something that she needed after have to move on with her life after a terrible tragedy.

As Makepeace learns to live again, she finds herself in the tough and cold world of Northern England, having to start with very little and try to build a life for herself, always with an eye on vengeance against those who destroyed her life. It is however a fine line between gaining vengeance and allowing that unquenchable thirst for revenge to destroy her again.

I really liked Makepeace as a character. She was tough and resilient, noble and still vulnerable, loyal and direct. It could be said that she might be a little too modern, but to be honest it would only be marginally true, and it is such a minor flaw compared to the very many positive aspects to this book!

As we follow Makepeace as she transitions from innkeeper to society lady to businesswoman, I was completely drawn into her various worlds. When I was reading this book, I was very disappointed when I had to get off the train because it was my stop. I would have been happy to keep on riding the trains until I finished the book! Unfortunately, whilst my boss is a reader, I don't think even she would have appreciated that as a reason for me being late for work.

I have already got the next book in the series out from the library! Can't wait to get to it!

Rating 4.5/5

The fourth book in the Bridgerton series, following on from An Offer from a Gentleman.

Penelope Featherington has secretly adored her best friend's brother for...well, it feels like forever. After half a lifetime of watching Colin Bridgerton from afar, she thinks she knows everything about him, until she stumbles across his deepest secret...and fears she doesn't know him at all.

Colin Bridgerton is tired of being thought nothing but an empty-headed charmer, tired of everyone's preoccupation with the notorious gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, who can't seem to publish an edition without mentioning him in the first paragraph. But when Colin returns to London from a trop aboard he discovers
notyhing in his life is quite the same — especially Penelope Featherington! The girl haunting his dreams. But when he discovers that Penelope has secrets of her own, this elusive bachelor must decide...is she his biggest threat — or his promise of a happy ending?

Penelope Featherington has been in love with Colin Bridgerton since she was 15 years old. And he knows that she exists at least..after all, he always used to dance with her at balls, oh, and there was that unfortunate incident where he declared quite loudly that he wasn't going to marry her (how mortifyingly embarrassing!). When Colin finally returns home after one of his many trips abroad, Penelope is thrilled, especially when it seems that after all these years, Penelope and Colin are actually going to really become friends...perhaps even more than friends. But before things can progress too much further, they both have secrets that need to be revealed, and dealt with, all the while hoping that the magnitude of the secrets are not going to destroy their fragile new relationship.

I really, really enjoyed this book, athough I did scratch my head a couple of of times trying to think if maybe I was reading the story out of order. I was somewhat intrigued at the secrets, particularly Penelope's. I can't say anything more because it would be a major spoiler for the whole series, but it did seem strange for this particular secret to be revealed at this point in the series. I would have thought that it would be somethign that needed to be kept a while longer.

Penelope was at times a fraction annoying, but Colin was charming and funny and sweet and handsome. I wouldn't have minded accepting a glass of lemonade from Colin at a ball...anything more than that would probably be bad ton!

There was plenty of clues as to what is going to happen in the next book in the series, without there being an overload of foreshadowing. Overall, very entertaining!

Rating 4.5/5

In this delightful second installment in Alexander McCall Smith's bestselling new detective series, the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, gets caught up in an affair of the heart - this one a transplant.

When Isabel's niece, Cat, asks Isabel to run her delicatessen while she attends a wedding in Italy, Isabel meets a man with a most interesting problem. He recently had a heart transplant and is suddenly plagued with memories of events that never happened to him. The situation appeals to Isabel as a philosophical question: Is the heart truly the seat of the soul? And it piques her insatiable curiosity: Could the memories by connected with the donor's demise? Of course, Grace - Isabel's no-nonsense housekeeper - and Isabel's friend Jamie think it is none of Isabel's business. Meanwhile, Cat brings home an Italian lothario, who, in accordance with all that Isabel knows about Italian lotharios, shouldn't be trusted....but, goodness, he is charming.

That makes two mysteries of the heart to be solved - just the thing for Isabel Dalhousie.

I am a big fan of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series by this author, so when he started a new series featuring Isabel Dalhousie I was very excited to read it. I was however a little disappointed. The main character seemed a bit too intellectual, too pompous, too.....something. It has therefore taken me nearly a year to get around to picking up the second book.

This time I guess either my expectations weren't quite so high, or maybe the book was better. There were still the obligatory (or so it seems) mentions of opera and literature, lots of contemplation (what do you expect from a philosopher) and even a couple of laugh out loud moments, including one when Isabel asks a married woman who is having an affair with her friend what her husband does for a living, as well as an entertaining visit to a session with a medium.

I do think that maybe this character is a bit too highbrow for me. At times she mentioned WH Auden throughout the novel. I thought I was doing okay in knowing who she was talking about, but I couldn't figure out why there was no mention of trains. Eventually I realised that WH Auden is not Rev W Awdrey, author of the Thomas the Tank Engine stories! Whoops!

In this installment Isabel is occupied with matters of the heart - her own, her housekeeper Grace's, her nieces, her friend Jamie. The conundrum that Isabel faces in relation to her own heart is quite interesting. Is a young man her niece's age too young for her to be half in love with, and the moments of angst around this are very subtle and well written.

The other affair of the heart that is occupying her mind, is the question of whether the heart can hold memories. She meets a man who has been the recipient of a heart transplant, and since then he has been having memories about a man who he doesn't ever remember meeting, memories that cause him pain, and Isabel sets out to discover who this man is and why memories of him cause so much pain.

It amazes me how prolific Alexander McCall Smith is. Not only is he writing the Ladies Detective Agency series, this series, plus a couple of kids series, plus goodness knows what else. It always seems as though there is something new coming out.

BTW Doppelganger over at 50 Books has a link to a podcast that has an interview with Alexander McCall Smith - he has a voice you could listen to for hours!

Rating - A much better 4/5

Elena Michaels is a wanted woman. She hasn't done anything wrong. Well, not recently, anyway. But ten years ago her lover turned her into a werewolf: the only female werewolf in the world, in fact.

And now, just as she's finally coming to terms with it all, a group of scientists learns of her existence. They're hunting her down, and Elena is about to run straight into their trap. But they haven't reckoned on Elena's adoptive family, her Pack, who will stop at nothing to get her back. They haven't reckoned on Elena herself, either, and that's a very big mistake.

When I first read Bitten, it took me a long while to get really drawn into the story, and in the end I enjoyed it, but I have to say that this book was so much better. Having read the synopsis from all of the book that are out in this series, I couldn't quite see how we were going to get from a completely werewolf centred story in Bitten, to a book about witches in Dime Store Magic, but it all makes perfect sense now and I am very much looking forward to reading it!

One of Elena's jobs in the Pack is to keep track of any news that might be making it into the public realms about werewolves, thereby making sure that no mutts are making a nuisance of themselves. When following a lead down, she meets two witches who set a trap to try and get Elena's attention, and thereby to be able to talk to the leader of the Pack (insert tv ad jingle here) Jeremy. The two witches are part of a coalition of paranormals (vampires, witches, shaman, half demons, amongst others) who are meeting to try and work out what to do about a common threat to all of them. Various individuals with paranormal tendencies have been disappearing - and it appears as though someone is trying to "research" their paranormal abilities.

Elena is one paranormal that the researchers really want to get hold of due to her unique position as the only female werewolf in the world. When she is captured and taken to the facility, she is put into a situation where she is regularly endangered, humiliated, and lonely. Elena doesn't lose faith though that her partner Clay will not do everything he can to save her, but she knows that she has to do whatever she can to help herself, and the other captives, including a very young witch named Savannah. As Elena fights to maintain her dignity and to obtain her freedom, the body count piles up big time. Lots of death in this book!

The author is really very clever, to bring all those different types of paranormals into the books this early in the story. To me it didn't feel like a forced attempt to broaden the width of the series, but a natural development, but it definitely has the effect of broadening the interest in the series, and more than likely extending the life of the series.

Whereas there was a strong focus on the relationship between Clay and Elena in Bitten, so that you could possibly have called it a paranormal romance, this book is definitely not a romance in my opinion. It is almost like the relationship between Clay and Elena is so settled now that they are ingrained in each other and therefore it is still part of the book, and still romantic, but just there in another way. This would be more horror/paranormal in my opinion....you have no idea how surprising it is to me to be reading horror!

I was so eager to get the next book in this series, that I accidentally requested the fourth book in the series instead of the third one....whoops!

Rating 4.5/5

On a calm moonlit night, as the scent of jasmine and pine embraced the island of Ascension, the pirate prince Lazar di Fiori returns with lethal grace to avenge what was stolen from him: his kingdom, his birthright, his soul. . . .

Allegra Monteverdi, the daughter of Lazar's sworn enemy, proves an uncommonly powerful adversary. She throws herself on his mercy, her courage and beauty touching his cold, unforgiving heart. He agrees to spare the lives of her family--but only if Allegra sails away with him as his captive. For his quest for vengeance still burns fiercely, and he will settle for nothing less than Allegra's body and soul.

Alone at sea with this dark, intriguing man, moving between seduction and fear, Allegra gazes into eyes as deep and mysterious as the night and sees who this pirate really is. Lazar--the prince of her childhood dreams. Though he was rumored to be murdered years ago, she always believed someday he would return. But it will take more than her love for this pirate prince to bring peace to her beloved home. For Lazar must face the demons of his shattered past--if he is to forge the destiny that is theirs to claim. . . .

Not too long ago on someone's blog (and I am thinking it was either on Suisan's or Kristie's but I can't remember for sure!) the call went out for good pirate romances...and this book was mentioned.

If I had the energy I would do the rest of this post in pirate talk....but I'm too tired tonight, and besides our pirate, also known as Prince Lazar di Fiori didn't even have a pet parrot!

Lazar was just a young boy when he escaped from the massacre that killed the rest of his family, who happened to be the King and royal family of Ascension. Now he has returned to his homeland with vengeance on his mind. He is determined to get revenge on the man he blames for his family's destruction, and he has chosen his weapon well - his enemy's daughter Allegra. His plan doesn't quite work, and he ends up having to take her back to his ship as his captive, and as he makes his escape, his life is about to change dramatically.

It takes a while for Allegra to believe that Lazar is who he says he is, but once she does believe, she takes it upon herself to try and convince him that Ascension needs him, and that he will make a great King. She also begins to fall in love with the man that she knows wants to sleep with her, but who really is such a gentleman that he is willing to wait until she is ready to give herself to him! And as the feelings begin to grow between them, so does the despair, because if Lazar goes back to Ascension and claims his birthright, he can no longer be Allegra's due to a formal engagement that was negotiated many years before when he was still a young boy.

This book really has it all...not only is our hero a pirate, he is also a handsome prince. There are battles of wills between our hero and heroine, sea battles, land battles, daring escapades such as when Lazar has to go back to his nightmarish past to claim his ring so that he will be able prove his identity to the people of Ascension, hot sex and so much more!

If there is any criticism I would say that the ending was a bit rushed, but other than that I really enjoyed it! This was my first read by Gaelen Foley. I have already got the next book in this trilogy out, and I am very much looking forward to reading it. I also have to say that the author's website is really very good. Very easy to use, and lots of interesting titbits to be found there.

Well done darling, well done!! (Sorry, obscure Australian Idol reference there!!).

Rating 4.5/5

The third book in the Faire Isle trilogy, following on from The Dark Queen and The Courtesan.

From Brittany's fog-shrouded forests to the elegant dark heart of Paris's royal court, one woman must challenge a country's destiny-and her own dangerous fate.

France, 1585. She is the youngest and most powerful of the "Sisters of Faire Isle," women known far and wide for their extraordinary mystical abilities. Skilled in healing and able to forecast the future of those around her, Miri Cheney has returned to her ancestral home to take refuge from a land devastated by civil war-and to grieve for her family, driven to exile. But she cannot hide from the formidable new power threatening to seize control of France from the dread "Dark Queen," Catherine de Medici-a diabolical woman known only as the Silver Rose. Miri has no choice but to turn to the one man she distrusts as much as she desires: Simon Aristide, the charismatic witch-finder who is now himself the hunted, and who has reluctantly made an unholy pact with Catherine. Miri must defy throne and family to save all that she loves most-and command a future greater than she could ever imagine.

Vibrant with stunning historical detail, alive with characters as richly passionate as they are compelling, The Silver Rose is a sweeping, exquisitely wrought tale from a mesmerizing storyteller.

When the legendary witch hunter Simon Aristide, is becoming the hunted rather than the hunter, he turns to the one person who he would prefer not to - Miri Cheney. Miri was just a young girl living on the Faire Isle when he first met her, but he betrayed her and nearly caused her to be tried as a witch. Some years later he met her as a young lady in Paris, but he was well and truly entrenched in his role as witch hunter, and she was once again betrayed.

After many years of living in exile, Miri has returned to live on the Faire Isle, looking to recapture her lost happiness. For Miri, Simon was a young boy that she first came to love during an idyllic summer that nearly ended in tragedy. When he reappears asking for her assistance Miri is reluctant, especially once she understood that he was asking for her assistance in tracking down a witch.

Miri has always thought of herself, and others like her, as a wise woman, as opposed to a witch, and getting Simon to understand the difference was a big part of their journey, but in a way another part was having Simon find the man behind the witch hunter. The young boy with a happy family life, who survived in the face of tragedy, and who was taken in and taught to hate and fear. Ah...Simon. He would have to be write up there with the most tortured heroes every written..surely. Not only is the man terribly scarred, and missing an eye, but he really is a good man as well struggling to live with the way he had previously lived his life and the actual and emotional consequences of that life.

Miri was practically engaged to Wolf, a man who had been her loyal friend, for many years, but she had always held back from committing to him, and from allowing any kind of hanky panky. In a way I felt sorry for Wolf even though he was a bit of a womaniser. I liked him from the time we first met him in the second book in the trilogy, and I was really scared that something horrible was going to happen to him. It was certainly an interesting twist in the story for him during this book. The other really interesting twist was the identity of The Silver Rose!

This third book is definitely one that you will appreciate more if you have read the two books proceeding it in the series. I am not sure if there is going to be more books related to this one, but there certainly seems to be scope for it particularly in relation to Wolf who you may notice I have a certain tenderness for! I for one would certainly read any future books.

One small note to the author though...please, please get a website so that your fans have some idea about what is coming up next! Having read and enjoyed this trilogy, I will definitely be trying to find whatever books I can of Susan Carroll's backlist. Anyone have any idea what she is working on now?

Rating 4.5/5

Some time ago I posted asking the question, how much is too much to pay for a book. That initial post was in response to the fact that I hadn't been able to find a reasonably priced copy of The Wild Hunt by Elizabeth Chadwick! Yesterday I put in a bid on Ebay...and I won! I'm very excited!!

Fast forward a week, and the book has already arrived from England and it seems to be in really, really good condition! Now I just need to fit it into the reading schedule somewhere!!

This book is published under the title Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail in most countries, but the copy I read was a Canadian version, with the title La Prisonniere.

Malika Oufkir was born into a proud Berber family in 1953, the eldest daughter of the King of Morocco's closest aide. She was adopted by the king to be a companion to his little daughter, and at the royal court of Rabat, Malika grew up locked away in a golden cage, among the royal wives and concubines.

But when Malika was eighteen, in 1972, her father was arrested after an attempt to assassinate the king. General Oufkir was swiftly and summarily executed. Malika, her beautiful mother and her five younger brothers and sisters were seized and thrown into an isolated desert jail. For fifteen years, they had no contact with the outside world, and lived in increasingly barbaric and inhumane conditions.

Like a modern Scheherazade, Malika kept up the spirits of her younger siblings by telling them stories every night about an epic world of her own invention. Then, after fifteen endless years of imprisonment, the Oufkir children managed to dig a tunnel with their bare hands, and made an audacious escape. Although they were recaptured after five days, the ensuing public outrage resulted in house arrest rather than a return to prison. In 1996, Malika was finally permitted to leave Morocco to begin a new life in exile.

La Prisonniere is a heart-rending account of resilience in the face of extreme deprivation, of the courage and even humour with which one family faced their tormented fate. A shocking true story, it is hard to comprehend that it could have happened in our own times.

This book was the July or August book (I think - whichever month it was I am behind!) for one of the groups that I am in. Or more precisely, I probably skirt around the edges of this group now. I used to be fully involved in it, but I find myself not keeping up with all the reading that I need to do for all the different groups I have attached myself to, and this seems to be one that is going by the wayside.

As a read, this was very interesting. It was set in a country that I know very little about, with very different religious and cultural experience to my own, and thankfully much different life experiences to mine.

Malika Oufkir lived a very comfortable life - as a very young girl she was even adopted by the King of Morocco so that she could be a playmate for his young daughter. However, Malika's opulent lifestyle was very often tinged with loneliness as she missed her parents, and the brothers and sisters that she barely knew. Her early life is portrayed as a gilded prison.

When she was in her late teenage years her father lead a coup against the King, and was executed. As a result of his actions, the Oufkir family were all arrested and then transported to a variety of different prisons across the country - each feature terrible living conditions, incredible isolation. In some cases they were kept in their cells 24 hours a day, unable to see or touch there loved ones who were kept in separate cells, but they found ingenious ways to keep in communication with their family members, and to not let their spirits be defeated by their oppressors.

When several of the family escape after many, many years of incarceration, and manage to get their story out, things begin to change. The family is released from prison into house arrest, allowing for some freedom, but it is a hard adjustment for them to make, and then ultimately to freedom outside of Morocco. Her youngest brother was just 3 years old when he was imprisoned, so for him to come out into the world having been incarcerated for so many years, through his childhood, and teenage years, must have been terribly overwhelming.

As a life story Malika Oufkir's is certainly very dramatic, and very interesting to read, and for the most part it was very well written. There were occasional times through the book that felt a little stilted, but for the most part, it was quite good. I am also not sure how much of that "stiltedness" would come from the fact that the book was not only an autobiography, but it was also translated from French to English for publishing. I noted with interest that she has a new book out called Freedom: The Story of My Second Life, which I will definitely read if I can find it.

I think that writing an autobiography would actually be pretty hard - details that certain people find fascinating would bore others to tears, needs to be well written without being monotonous, need to portray your life story in a variety of shades in several ways. For example, whilst you are telling your story there would presumably still be parts of yourself that you want to keep private. Sorry, just random musings there!!

Rating 4/5

A little while ago, Kailana asked an interesting question - what's your dream library?

Jennie linked to these pictures - why use words when pictures will do! As long as there is a comfy chair somewhere in one of the corners I will be happy!