This was a surprise choice as I didn’t intend to buy it or listen to it but again I had discovered a narrator that I liked and was searching for other books that he had narrated.  The narrator in question is George Guidall who narrated American Gods by Neil Gaiman (another excellent book both in print and audio btw) He did absolutely brilliantly with all the many characters and accents in  American Gods and he does terrific with this one too.  I should explain that I have never read a Jeffery Deaver book though my friend Janien is a big fan and this book is number 6 or 7 in a series so probably not the best place to start but as I said, I couldn’t resist the lure of the narrator :p  I think I may have forgotten this or perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention, but Jeffery Deaver wrote the book that the movie, The Bone Collector, was based on.  I did see the movie when it came out a few years ago on DVD and it was ok, your basic serial killer mystery type movie, and it starred Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. 

The Bone Collector is the first book in the same series as The Cold Moon and features quadriplegic forensic detective, Lincoln Rhyme (played by Denzel in the movie, though I’m fairly sure the character is white) and his sidekick Amelia Sachs (played by Angelina in the movie).  Anyway, I enjoyed this audio book so much that I decided to read the whole series!  I bought the first four books for myself (happy christmas to me!) and the the first two for my BIL who also likes this genre but had never read any of Deaver’s books.  Result!

The Brutal Art
Jesse Kellerman

Sucked into an investigation four decades cold, Ethan will uncover a secret legacy of shame and death, one that will touch horrifyingly close to home - and leave him fearing for his own life.

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
Kate Summerscale

This true story has all the hallmarks of a classic gripping murder mystery. A body, a detective, a country house steeped in secrets and a whole family of suspects - it is the original Victorian whodunnit.

The Gargoyle
Andrew Davidson

As she spins her tale, Scheherazade fashion, and relates equally mesmerising stories of deathless love in Japan, Greenland, Italy and England, he finds himself drawn back to life - and, finally, to love.

When Will There Be Good News?
Kate Atkinson

Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe is also looking for a missing person, unaware that hurtling towards her is an old friend - Jackson Brodie - himself on a journey that becomes fatally interrupted.

The 19th Wife
David Ebershoff

Bold, shocking and gripping, The 19th Wife expertly weaves together these two narratives: a pageturning literary mystery and an enthralling epic of love and faith.

The Bolter
Frances Osborne

Osborne tells the moving tale of betrayal and heartbreak behind Sackville’s road to scandal and return, painting a dazzling portrait of high society in the early twentieth century.

Netherland
Joseph O’Neill

Netherland is a novel of belonging and not belonging, and the uneasy state in between. It is a novel of a marriage foundering and recuperating, and of the shallows and depths of male friendship. With it, Joseph O’Neill has taken the anxieties and uncertainties of our new century and fashioned a work of extraordinary beauty and brilliance.

The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite
Beatrice Colin

Gripping and darkly seductive, The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite showcases all the glitter and splendor of the brief heyday of the Weimar Republic, and the rise of Hollywood to its golden age. As it foreshadows the horrors of the Second World War, the novel asks what price is paid when identity becomes unfixed and the social order is upended.

December
Elizabeth H Winthrop

A compelling, ultimately uplifting novel about a family in crisis, showing the delicate web that connects a husband and wife, parents and children, and how easily it can tear.

Steven Galloway

Told with immediacy, grace and harrowing emotional accuracy, The Cellist of Sarajevo shows how, when the everyday act of crossing the street can risk lives, the human spirit is revealed in all its fortitude - and frailty.

We would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year from all of us to all of you.  We hope your New Year will be filled with peace and joy and all good things and that you will continue to spend time with us, your fellow Book Addicts, feeding and supporting your addiction discovering new books and generally having fun.

Just a couple of things we wanted to bring to your attention:

Since we are at the end of the 2008, and getting ready for a new Book Group year, some of the book group threads will be reorganised to make way for the new ones.

Remember also to finish up your 2008 “52 books” and “52 movies” threads and get your new 2009 ones started before January 1st.

and, here are the book discussions we can look forward to next month:

January Book Groups:

Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
Will be hosted by first time host, Bloodwings, so please dust off your copy and give her your support by signing up for the group and joining us for the discussion.
Signup by clicking here or visiting the 2009 Book Group board

Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie
Will be hosted by long time host, Thea.  One of the most famous Agatha Christie Poirot mysteries, so please join us for the discussion.
Signup by clicking here or visiting the 2009 Book Group board

Paranormal Social Club book discussion will be Veil of Midnight - Lara Adrian.  This is book five in the Midnight Breeds series and will be published on 30th December 2008.

* signup threads only visible if you are a member.  Please register with the forum if you are not yet a Book Addict!

A list of the books follows as well as the announcement from The Telegraph under the cut.

This from the Telegraph:

A slot on the husband and wife presenters’ chat show has become one of the most powerful endorsements in the literary world, swaying more readers than long-established prizes like the Man Booker and the Costa awards.

Past best-sellers, including Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and The Island by Victoria Hislop, have all benefited from the “Richard and Judy effect” since they launched the book segment of their programme in 2004.

This year’s Book Club is likely to have a more modest impact on sales as it will be the first since the couple moved to moved to digital UKTV station Watch, which attracts a fraction of the viewers of their old Channel 4 programme.

But the 10 authors can still expect to see their reputations and royalty cheques rise, along with their chances of securing a lucrative Hollywood adaptation. A film version of PS I Love You by Cecilia Aherne, a previous Book Club favourite, was released this year.

The 2009 list includes Frances Osborne’s The Botler, about the scandalous life of her great-grandmother, the Edwardian socialite Idina Sackville. It is the second book by Mrs Osborne, who has two children with George Osborne MP.

The selection also includes The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, the Victorian detective drama that won this year’s Samuel Johnson non-fiction award for Kate Summerscale, former literary editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Also featured is The Brutal Art, a thriller about a series of drawings that appear to provide clues to a spate of child murders, written by Jesse Kellerman, the son of thriller writers Faye and Jonathan Kellerman.

The 19th Wife, David Ebershoff’s murder mystery set against the backdrop of a community of polygamous Latter Day Saints community in America, also makes the shortlist.

Richard and Judy will feature one book a week from Jan 21, leading up to a public vote to decide which of the titles will win the Best Read Award in April. Their daily early-evening show also contains a monthly feature focusing on the work of first-time authors.

Amanda Ross, who has been described as the most powerful person in publishing for her role in compiling the Book Club list, said that the 2009 line-up boasts a “wealth of talent”.

“The public faith in the Book Club is overwhelming, and I take that very seriously,” she said. “As consumer confidence dips with the credit crunch, we hope to help people not to waste their time or money. More than ever before, people will stick with what they know, and they know they can trust our recommendations.”

Richard Madeley said: “Judy and I are always intrigued by each new list, we really enjoy reading along with the public. We’re very proud of the Book Club and we’re delighted it has made the transition with us to Watch.”

Judy Finnigan said: “As an avid reader myself, I have high expectations for the shortlist, but I’m never disappointed – each book is unique in its own way, and has those engaging and compelling qualities you need to stand out in the crowd. The Galaxy British Book Awards is a real highlight for Richard and I, it’s a great opportunity to meet all the authors we’ve championed.”

Richard and Judy’s first show on Watch in October attracted just 100,00 viewers, less than a tenth of the number of people who used to tune in to their teatime Channel 4 show.

The Richard and Judy Book Club re-launches on WATCH TV at 6pm on 12th January 2009 and will run until 25th March 2009. The winner will be revealed at the Galaxy British Book Awards in April.  Whether the books selected contain a “wealth of talent” remains to be seen.  I’m a little perplexed by the fact that one of the books - The Brutal Art - won’t be published in paperback until April according to amazon UK.  I would imagine if that is the case that that would spoil it’s chances of being chosen for best read *scratches head*  Let’s hope amazon’s publication dates are wrong.

Dear Book Addicts

Happy Christmas from us to you!

We hope you all have a lovely Christmas and of course receive lots of book-y presents!

Just a reminder of what’s going on now and what’s to come in the New Year.

December 2008

Book discussions
1984 - George Orwell
Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer

Writing Contest
Please see the writing contest thread for details - your inspiration this time should be taken from one or more of the photos in the first post

Banner Contest
Well it wouldn’t be Christmas without a Christmas banner contest now would it?

General fun and games can be had for all as usual.  We don’t close for Christmas and New Year holidays so you can usually find someone around to talk to!

January 2009

January Book discussions

Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie
Veil of Midnight - Lara Adrian (published 30 Dec 2008)

Please beg, steal, buy, borrow, or root around on your bookshelves until you find these books and make sure you are ready to get reading and chatting when the discussions start after the New Year.  More details will follow shortly, this is just advance notice.

Reading Challenges

For everyone who enjoyed reading and writing about their 52 books this year, and everyone who missed out, 2009 brings us even more reading challenges!  Go start your own “Reading Challenges” thread in the 2009 Reading Challenges board and let’s get started!  You can find more information about 2009 Reading Challenges in the stickied thread in that section.

2009 The Longlist

You can find the books that made it through to our Longlist in the 2009 Book Group board.  Not all of the 60 books are going to make it to the shortlist unfortunately but you can still volunteer to host a discussion if you see one of your favourites on the list.

Have a safe and Happy Christmas everyone and we look forward to seeing you over Christmas and in the New Year.

“Packed full of fine analysis, solid advice, and thoughtful reflection on the state of contemporary publishing. It’s further distinguished by more common sense than any book of its type that I have ever read. A treasure.” — Dean Koontz, author of Intensity

Visit this page and click download to download the .pdf

This month we are reading the following books in the Book Group, complete with lovely and informative Hosts, so come along and join in.

George Orwell - 1984

Novel by George Orwell, written in 1948 and published in 1949 as a warning about the menaces of totalitarianism. The novel is set in an imaginary future world that is dominated by three perpetually warring totalitarian police states. The book’s hero, Winston Smith, is a minor party functionary in one of these states. His longing for truth and decency leads him to secretly rebel against the government. Smith has a love affair with a like-minded woman, but they are both arrested by the Thought Police. The ensuing imprisonment, torture, and reeducation of Smith are intended not merely to break him physically or make him submit but to root out his independent mental existence and his spiritual dignity. Orwell’s warning of the dangers of totalitarianism made a deep impression on his contemporaries and upon subsequent readers, and the book’s title and many of its coinages, such as NEWSPEAK, became bywords for modern political abuses.

Jon Krakauer - Into the Wild

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later…(don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone who isn’t familiar with the book!)

Richard and Judy Book - December

This month’s New Writer’s Club book is Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.

I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current.

So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.

Reading Challenges

December is also the time to update your 52 books lists before we reach the end of this year, and don’t forget we are also looking for your top 10s.  Go to your 52 books thread, browse through the list of titles you’ve read this year and then come up with your top ten favourite books and your top ten worst books from the list.

You can also start your new 2009 Book challenges thread while you’re there.  Next year we will be keeping track of all our reading, including the 52 book challenge and some other smaller challenges throughout the year.

January book groups are still being decided, but don’t forget to check what books made it to our Longlist of books for next year!

Christmas Writing Contest

There will of course be a seasonal writing challenge for this month too.  We are still working out a few details but it will be Christmas themed and details posted up in the forum shortly.

Love the books, buy the t-shirts!

Also of news, we have some cool book related designs currently available in both Cafepress and Zazzle shops and if I ever get any spare time, then I will add new designs to the other shops.  The photos are behind the more tag/cut, so please click to check them out.

Zazzle designs with links are featured below. The Cafepress designs are similar, just click on the Cafepress link to see them.

Twilight related designs are also in both shops too. The ranges are similar but not identical and obviously each company has its own product ranges which do differ quite a lot. I ordered a “Reading is Sexy” white thermal travel mug for someone and it arrived yesterday. I have to say I’m really impressed with the quality. It looks really good. I also personalised it with the name of the person I’m giving it too. This is an option Zazzle has that Cafepress doesn’t!

New York, NY - December 8, 2008 — The Random House Publishing Group and Lexcycle, Inc., jointly announced today that Random House and Ballantine will be the first major book publishers to make full-length books available for free on iPhone through Lexcycle Stanza, the most popular electronic book reader for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

This promotion will allow over 500,000 Stanza users to enjoy free eBooks from a varied list of authors including Alan Furst, Julie Garwood, Charlie Huston, David Liss, Laurie Notaro, Arthur Phillips and Simon Rich. The initial offerings will be drawn from each author’s backlist and will include excerpts for any new hardcovers coming in 2009. Random House is providing links to retailers like Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, Borders.com, Powells.com and IndieBound.org to encourage readers to purchase more books by these authors.

However, the promotion is not just for iphone users. The books are available in a range of different formats all free of charge from your favourite ebook retailer. I got mine from Books on Board but you can also get them from Amazon, Fictionwise and a few others.  Titles include three by Charlie Huston so if you are a fan, get on over there and get yourself some free books!

“A free eBook is a great way to sample a new writer, and help spread the word,” says Charlie Huston, whose novels ‘Caught Stealing’, ‘Six Bad Things’, and ‘A Dangerous Man’ will all be available on Stanza. “Besides, it’s good to give things away. They’re books. We write them for people to read them.”

The full list of titles is below:

I absolutely loved this book.  I was captivated by it like I never expected to be by any audio book.  I think most of the charm comes from the fact that it is narrated by two very excellent narrators; William Hope and Lauren Lefkow as Henry and Clare.  The story comes alive and welcomes you inside in such a way that I have no words for (useless I know) but hopefully you will be willing to give it a try for yourself and see what I mean.  I loved the narrators so much that I even searched to see what else they had narrated but I doubt that anything else they read (great though they are) will ever compare to this.

Absolutely brilliant, funny, heart wrenching, sweet.  Definitely in my top ten books for this year.

Just a quick reminder that this month we are reading and talking about The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.  Both fantastic books and both discussions have just started so there’s plenty of time to join in.

In December we can look forward to 1984 by George Orwell and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

Both The Virgin Suicides and Into the Wild will also have a book-to-movie discussion included.

Also this month we are featuring the Richard and Judy New Writers Club book, The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama, which is described as Jane Austen in India.  I have reservations that anything should be compared to Jane Austen but we’ll see.  Grab it and check it out for yourself, it looks like quite a quick read, and is apparently the start of a new series.

The December book for this New Writers Club is Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.  Don’t even get me started on the trouble I went through to get this book with the cover I wanted lol.  First edition was out in June, second edition with hideous cover came out in October, and quite honestly I wouldn’t want to read a book with a cover like that, so I made it my mission to track down a copy of the edition with the cover I liked (it is btw now out of print but you might still be able to find it in individual bookshops)  I know I know, don’t judge a book by its cover :p

Paranormal Social Club

The votes have been counted and the results are in, and November’s PSC book is Pleasure Unbound (A demonica novel) by Larissa Ione.  A book that is apparently full of wit and wicked hot demons!  First book in a brand new series, so come and join us.

What I’ve been reading

What I’ve been reading recently includes The Time Traveler’s Wife both in print form and as an audio book and I have to say that it is the best audio book I’ve “listened to” in ages.  The narrators were superb, completely faultless and utterly compelling.  I was just blown away and listened to it for 18 hours!!! There is also an abridged version but I just hate abridged books.  Just started on The Virgin Suicides for the book group and just finished the third instalment of David Wellington’s excellent vampire series, Vampire Zero.   Horror is not usually my thing and these are classed as horror/thriller.  I discovered them accidentally when browsing on Amazon and the second one was recommended to me.  I liked the cover, then discovered it was a sequel and hunted down the first book.  Kept them on the shelf for about a year lol before finding them again (there’s a lot of books there and a chair in front).  Read the first and the second and then couldn’t wait for the third one to be published here and ordered it from the US.  The vampires are not sexy, they are bloodthirsty fiends.  There are no superpowerful female characters, and no other type of supernatural creatures at all.  There are just cops and state troopers doing the best they can with what they have.  There is quite a lot of death and blood and gore but nothing to give you nightmares, they are really pretty exciting!  The books are:

13 Bullets
99 Coffins
Vampire Zero
23 Hours (is due out next year)

99 Coffins is an interesting book because it is billed as a historical vampire novel and it’s set in Gettysburg, so there is a lot in it about the civil war including flashbacks and historical references.

A bit more about the author I think is in order too since he’s very generous with his writing.  If you go to his website you will be able to read approximately six of his books online for free.  Yes, FREE.  Some of his books including 13 Bullets started off life as online serials which he wrote as a kind of test to see if it would work.  He has also written three zombie novels in the same way which are all available to read for free on his site, as well as for purchase in printed form.  Monster Island, Monster Nation, and Monster Planet - I think the titles might be an indication of how bad things get lol.  There is also another couple of books on there too, one called Plague Zone which features a Seattle librarian as its hero, and Frostbitten, a werewolf novel, which I am currently reading inbetween everything else, and it’s the first of his books that I’m reading for free on his site.  I’m about a third of the way through and I’m liking it so far.  Interesting take on the werewolf mythology.

Oh yeah and I forgot to upload a new audio to my phone so I got caught on the train yesterday with nothing new to read, so I started listening to American Gods again. It’s not Mr Gaiman narrating this time but the dude who is reading it is just perfect.  Another audio I would highly recommend.  I’m slowing collecting all of his audio books, so far I have six - The Graveyard book, Fragile Things, Stardust all read by the author, and Good Omens, Anansi Boys and American Gods.  On some of them there are some great interviews with Neil Gaiman which are just such a bonus to listen to.  The Anansi Boys is read by an British Comedian/actor called Lenny Henry who is very well known here but maybe not be so well known overseas.  He is just brilliant with all the Caribbean accents and really brings a unique flavour to the book.  I would of course, recommend them all

And now I need to go read more…