State of Fear by Michael Crichton

(600 pages)



The undisputed master of the high-concept thriller has written his most gripping and entertaining book yet In Paris, a physicist dies after performing a laboratory experiment for a beautiful visitor. In the jungles of Malaysia, a mysterious buyer purchases deadly cavitation technology, built to his specifications. In Vancouver, a small research submarine is leased for use in the waters of New Guinea. And in Tokyo, an intelligence agent tries to understand what it all means. Thus begins Michael Crichton's exciting and provocative techno-thriller State of Fear. Only Crichton's unique ability to blend scientific fact with pulse-pounding fiction could bring such disparate elements to a heart-stopping conclusion. This is Crichton's most wide-ranging thriller. State of Fear takes the reader from the glaciers of Iceland to the volcanoes of Antarctica, from the Arizona desert to the deadly jungles of the Solomon Islands, from the streets of Paris to the beaches of Los Angeles. The novel races forward on a roller-coaster thrill ride, all the while keeping the brain in high gear. Gripping and thought-provoking, State of Fear is Michael Crichton at his best.

I love Michael Crichton normally, having discovered "Jurassic Park" the novel as a teenager.
This did not disappoint... Whilst it was hefty in more ways than one, witha very serious plotline, i was compelled to keep reading and managed to finish it in 4 sittings :)
the characters were interesting, the plotline was fantastic, with plenty of opportunities to go hunting for the facts because of all the references provided both in the text and via footnotes.
my only complaint is that i felt the twist at the end coming :( maybe i am just too clever for my own good!!
Overall this was a really great thriller and i would recommend it to everyone :D

The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice

(352 pages)



Set in the 1950s, in an England still recovering from the Second World War, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is the enchanting story of Penelope Wallace and her eccentric family at the start of the rock 'n' roll era. Penelope longs to be grown-up and to fall in love; but various rather inconvenient things keep getting in her way. Like her mother, a stunning but petulant beauty widowed at a tragically early age, her younger brother Inigo, currently incapable of concentrating on anything that isn't Elvis Presley, a vast but crumbling ancestral home, a severe shortage of cash, and her best friend Charlotte's sardonic cousin Harry... Eva Rice's novel is an utterly engrossing read

I found this quite enjoyable, but was slightly irritated by some of the characters, especially Mama. It is one I would read again, but not for a while.

Life Isnt All Ha Ha Hee Hee by Meera Syal

(333 pages)



Tania, Sunita and Chila have been close and somewhat unlikely friends since their schooldays. Sunita, a former law student and activist, married her university sweetheart Akash, and is settled, unsatisfied, into a life of overweight, underappreciated motherhood. Tania, top girl fighter at school, is a raven-maned beauty, who has rejected marriage and anything traditionally Asian, for a high-flying TV career and a compliant Indophile boyfriend called Martin. And then there's Chila. Innocent, kind, funny qualification-less Chila, with her glass animal collection, considered backward by her family, has just, to everyone's amazement, snared Deepak--the richest, most eligible bachelor within a 50-mile radius.
Writer, comedienne and actress Meera Syal, author of the prize-winningAnita and Me navigates her characters through the emotional rollercoaster of the coming-of-middle-youth--the time when the real growing up is done--with her trademark wit and sensitivity. From the bitching at the celebration--"Now the sister is howling. I'd howl if I had a moustache like hers ..." to the heavy embroidery and tears of a traditional Indian wedding, via the "artistic" wedding photos and "'about seventeen hours of video," Chila sighed, "all with Hindi love songs on them and those fancy Top of the Pops effects.'", through infidelity, TV documentaries and betrayal, Syal regales the reader with the strengths and limits of female friendship.

i really enjoyed this. I love Meera Syal and she did a great job of showing how difficult life can be when there is a clash of cultures, but of course she did it with amazing humour :D

Izzy, Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt

(276 pages)



Izzy, a popular, active cheerleader, happily accepts a date with an attractive senior she doesn't know well, flattered to be noticed by him. At the party her date drinks too much, insists on driving her home anyway, and smashes the car into a tree. Marco suffers only surface wounds, but Izzy's leg is crushed and has to be amputated just below the knee.During her weeks in the hospital Izzy finds that not only is her whole physical orientation to the world required to change--she suddenly sees every path in terms of obstacles--but her relationship to family and friends changes, too. Her three closest friends begin to avoid her, uncertain what to say or how to include her in their plans. In the meantime Rosamunde, a marginal classmate whose slightly unkempt appearance and quirky behavior makes her entertaining, but excludes her from the "in" crowd, moves into Izzy's world with curiosity, frankness, inventive amusements and a steady, if offbeat compassion.In her impassive and demanding African American physical therapist Izzy discovers another unexpected source of comfort on terms she doesn't at first recognize as kind. As the story ends, Izzy is back at school, finding her way into a new, more challenging relationship to her body and her peers, and a friendship with Rosamunde unlike any she's known before.

I remember reading this book as a teenager and loving it, so I was excited to get the chance to read it again and pass it on to other people. I wasnt disappointed. As usual Cynthia Voigt has managed to tell a heartwrenching story with great flair and compassion, making it compulsive reading. Fabulous :D