Wedlock - How Georgian Britain's Worst Husband Met His Match by Wendy Moore

This is non-fiction about the Queen's great-great-great Grandmother, Mary Bowes. Mary's father was an indulgent father who doted on his only child and educated her very well for a female in Georgian Britain. Mary is headstrong and is very interested in languages and botany. Mary's father is a rich gentleman and leaves his fortune to Mary on the condition that any husband of Mary's must retain the Bowes surname. Mary marries a gentleman whose surname is Lyons, and who then changes his name as a result of Bowes' will to "Bowes-Lyon", hence the current royal surname.

The main thread of the narrative follows Mary's life after her first husband dies, when she marries again. Her second husband is a violent bully who terrorises Mary. As a woman in Georgian Britain, Mary has few rights and the narrative follows how eventually Mary is able to obtain a divorce.

It is a very interesting historical book made accessible by the good writing. Worth reading if you have not studied this era. I imagine it could be a bit patronising if you have any knowledge of this area of history. In places it is a bit dull.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson

The third and last book in the Millennium series. Not as good as the first one as the story is more confused and unnecessarily violent. One of the main reasons why I enjoyed the first book was because I thought Lisbeth Salandar was such an oddly attractive character. This book does not involve enough of a focus on Lisbeth and loses its way. It is still fairly entertaining and probably worth reading if you enjoyed the other books. But don't expect this to be particularly life changing or worth remembering. Someone told me that the author died before this book was edited and whether or not that is true, this is certainly the less welll written of the trilogy.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

This novel follows the student days of a group of Greek scholars in an American university. The five students are considered odd-balls by the other undergraduates and avoided as much as possible. They try and re-create a Grecian ritual which would allow them to experience true freedom from their bodies. The ritual "works" and the students experience an evening of heightened awareness. When they come back to their bodies they realise they have murdered a farmer who bumped into them during their frenzy. The remainder of the book examines the impact of a murder on five intelligent students.

The book is well written and fairly engaging but not particularly amazing. Some of the reactions of the students are so unrealistic that the suspension of disbelief is not very willing. Not bad though.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

This was a recommendation from someone at work and it won a Pulitzer Prize.

It follows the partnership of 2 cousins (Joseph Kavalier and Sammy Clay) in New York. Joe is a refugee from Prague during the Second World War and arrives in Brooklyn to live with his aunt and cousin. From the day Joe arrives, the two cousins start to draw and write comic books. The novel charts their progress from small-time freelancers to the creators of a new comic superhero - the Escapist.

The two cousins grow older and the story then follows their marriages, romances and war time experiences.

Both Joe and Sammy are easy to like so the story definitely keeps your interest. It is a good book, although not one that will stay with you. Worth a read, particularly if you want to know about the history of comics.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Winner of the Booker Prize 2009

This historical fiction novel charts the rise of Thomas Cromwell from a young boy being beaten by his father in Putney to Henry VIII's most trusted advisor. The historical elements of the novel are very interesting particularly the focus on the reformation. However, the fictional narrative is pretty dull and the characters are not properly developed - it is very difficult to relate to them. The book is over 600 pages long which is about 200 - 250 pages too long. The pace of the book is odd - just as it gets so boring it's tempting to give up, it picks up again and revives your interest.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about Thomas Cromwell but would advise reading the Wikipedia entry rather than slogging through this. Although I think I may be fairly alone in this view - whilst I was reading this on the tube 2 separate people (both middle aged men) interrupted me to go on and on about how good they thought it was. Maybe one for Dad...!!

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2009.

A ghost story which is fairly frightening in parts. A Doctor goes on a house call to a crumbling mansion to treat a servant of an 'old money' family who have fallen on hard times. His life becomes entwined with theirs as he begins to treat the son for a war injury.

The house 'plays tricks' and the family become increasingly convinced that there is something sinister haunting the place. This leads to the destruction of the family and the Doctor is left wondering how everything fell apart. The ending was disappointing as it left a lot to each reader's interpretation which I personally find unsatisfying.

A good book and I enjoyed it but it is not as good as some of her other books, particularly The Night Watch.

The Children's Book by A.S Byatt

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2009.

The novel follows the lives of members of a bohemian family through the early 1900s. The mother is an authoress writing fairy stories for children and the father is a socialist whose strong political beliefs cause difficulties with his job in a bank.

The children's lives go from idyllic to complicated and, in some cases, traumatic as they grow older. The children discover that both their mother and father have been unfaithful with the result that the family relationships are not what they were raised to believe.

The novel intertwines dark fairy stories with real historical events. Interestingly, given that I have just read The Great Lover, Rupert Brooke features on a number of occasions and some of the narrative describes the same events as The Great Lover.

This is a good book but at least 100 pages too long as it loses its way towards the end. There are too many characters so that the narrative becomes confused and it is difficult for the reader to really relate to a single person. Definitely worth reading though.