Dexter is Delicious - Jeff Lindsay

So I thought that I was lagging behind but actually im still in pretty good time :) so ive finished another book which is book number three but I also started book number four prematurely! ! Cant resist.

Dexter is Delicious - Jeff Lindsay

I can honestly say that if you have watched the tv show Dexter but not read the books your missing out!! I always always maintain that the book is better than the film/tv series and it is!!!

The more of Lindsays books I read the more I come to fall in love with Dexter, ehich may be a bit worrying seens as he is a serial killer who kills serial killers! If youve never seen or read a dexter book, Dexter Morgan is what appears to be an ordinary man but he is really a killing machine who hunts out serial killers the police havent found  and he takes his own kind of justice!! Dexter is charming but fake and in the book unlike in the tv shows you can hear what Dexter really thinks!!

So Dexter is Delicious is the fifth book in the seven book series!! They are all relatively short books (about 300 pages) and they are relatively easy reads that only take me about 3/4 hours at a time!! In this installment of Dexter the hero himself has now got a family !!! And he feels his dark side slipping away from him!! Until his work as a blood splatter analyst and his sisters role as Sargent of the Miami Police Department, brings him to a case of cannibalism. He twists and turns in some difficult positions he's usually left in by his sister Deborah. Dexter as usual gets a bit too close to the action but sorts himself out (kind of.) With a group of cannibals parading around Miami eating people, especially one girl whose remains they have found and they then find her best friend us missing brings more urgency to the case. Which leaves Deborah willing to risk her life for thus missing girl.

I thoroughly recommend these books bug do start from the beginning as otherwise they dont quite make sense! I cant wait for my next installment but im trying to drag it out as I dont want the books to end :)

Coming up next - The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton (which ive naughtily already started)

Thanks for reading.

See you again soon :)

The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer

So .... I am well ahead of myself in my 52 week challenge. I have now finished another of my books and I've done two in 1 week!! We all love an over achiever!!!

After this book I am going to have to take a quick break to try and catch up with my dissertation reading which is by far not as fun! But seens as I am ahead of myself I can take the time to catch up with myself in other areas!

The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer

So I started this book with a lot of expectations as it has been given many amazing reviews from everywhere!! However as I started to read it, its really not as amazing as it is said to be.

So The Shock of the Fall is about a boy/man who is documenting his life so far. He had a n older brother and he recounts what they used to do however his brother dies at a young age and this sends the other brother on a downward spiral into insanity. Which is when Matthew then begins to write his story, he writes from a day centre that he attends and from home. He tells the reader all about what his brother was like and what they did and how it felt to realise that you were different from the other kids at school and what happens when he realises.

Fair enough I have to admit that the book isn't a bad book!! The way that Filer writes the book is reminiscent of many books that I have read for my English Lit degree such as ... Slaughter House Five, Flaubert's Parrot and Miss Lonelyhearts in the way that Filer creates the idea of madness through chaos. This is an overdone thing in literature however Filer did manage to pull this off and the jumping from each story to the next and from past to present does make the book feel like you are in Matthews head.

The actual story does pull at the heartstrings a little bit, as I am renowned for being emotional, however the way the story is told does not evoke emotions. The way the book is written does not initially make you feel emotional or feel sorry for the people in the book as Filer is very distant from what he is saying. This in turn makes Matthew very distant from what he is writing and what he is thinking, so we don't really get a sense of emotion! And I have to admit that the story is a good story! I would say that to make this book better would be double it in size and go into more depth. Now I know this is probably not what the writer wanted when he was writing the book as being short, shallow and chaotic gives it a certain feel. BUT I personally think that if this was made longer and more in depth it could have been a really good, emotional novel looking at the effect that mental instability has on a life from a young age through the 19 years of age and the battle that happens.

Unfortunately the book does not do this ... however I would recommend the book to other people and with it only having just over 300 pages I would say its a quick and easy read for Summer (it did only take me about 3 hours to read the whole book!)

Next I'm onto a Dexter novel - Dexter is Delicious - Jeff Lindsay.

This one might take me a while longer as I say I need to get on with a bit more dissertation reading.

Thanks for reading!
See you soon..
Leanne :)

Life After Life - Kate Atkinson

Hi :)
So I had best just explain what I'm doing!!! This is my 52week reading challenge, in which I will read 52 books in 52 weeks and I will review them here. Plus keeping note here will help me to keep up with the challenge and keep myself going!!

So I have just finished my first book .... Life After Life - Kate Atkinson.

In one sentence this book has changed me!! Not quite as much as The Crimson Petal and the White did but it has!! It has left a lasting impression and I don't want to let them go!! So this book centres around Ursula, who is born on a snowy night in December 1910. Ursula dies as she is born, but she comes back to life again and relives her life and survives for awhile. Ursula is given chance after chance to live and to live her life right, which to me is such an interesting concept. There's so many times in my life where I would love to have been able to change what I have done, but I also find as I work my way through university that I am changing the path of my life, whether for good or bad I don't know yet but will know.

So Ursula eventually lives through the First World War and the Second in many different roles, which again is where the book gets interesting!! Its not just the fact that Ursula lives again she lives again and her life is changed!!! She manages to live due to small simple things that happen in order to prevent her dying!! These can be the smallest things from pushing a maid down the steps to rescuing a dog, to running away from a man in the street who seems harmless enough!! Again the way that Atkinson shows this in her repetition of the basic life that Ursula leads to the changes that are made in each chapter!!

After a while I found myself really rooting for Ursula and hoping that she could live and she could manage to have a happy life that she would be happy with. I have to admit I cried every time she died. Mainly due to me being emotional as the actual deaths in the novel are not as emotional to make most people cry!! However as I get so emotionally involved in a book I do find that I cry tremendously!! And this book did that to me. The fact that I am a history student also meant that looking at the history side was also interesting to me. Looking at the Second World War from both the British side, to the German side to a Wardens perspective and just a civilian perspective was a very good feat of engineering on Atkinsons side!! As I say this book really made me think and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a good read that will make them think!! Don't take it light-heartedly!!

Next on the agenda ... The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer.

See you soon :)
Leanne x