Literature: 42 Books within 5 months!

I had decided a few months ago that I was going to write a book review for every book that I read but since May I have been busy and not had the chance to do a book review for every book that I have because between the months of May to September I have read 40 books – which would be a lot of book reviews! Yes, I have been busy reading! But have been busy doing other things too – work gets in the way of doing other things!

It would take me a while to write a review for each individual book so I have decided just to condense it and give a review of which genres, authors and books I read within those 5 months.

So what have I read?  There has been a mix including:

• Christian books - there have been 12 of these read in total including authors such as Max Lucado, Vaughan Roberts, and Rico Tice as well as others.
• A collection of Short Stories called ‘Nocturnes’ by Kazuo Ishiguro
• A book about how the brain works called ‘Sane New World’ by Ruby Wax
• Three Children’s books – ‘Brain Freeze’ by Tom Fletcher and ‘The World Worst Children’ and ‘Awful Auntie’ by David Walliams
• Two true stories – “The Tumor’ by John Grisham and ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ by Mitch Albom
• A historical mystery book called “The Watchmaker’s Daughter” by C.J Archer which is part of a series called ‘Glass and Steel’
• Two Thrillers - ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn and ‘The Retreat’ by Mark Edwards
• And four books which I would class under Contemporary Fiction which are:
• Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
• The Godforsaken Daughter by Christine McKenna

But mostly I have been reading Crime Fiction (16 in total). A couple of years ago I never really liked crime fiction and the only ones I really read where Jack Reacher Books by Lee Child – but some would argue they aren’t true crime fiction but the definition of crime fiction is that it is a literary genre that fictionalises crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives – and crime definitely happens in the Jack Reacher series.

However a couple of years ago my friend introduced me to other crime writers and now I seem to be reading them all the time. And the locations where these crimes happen include America, Sweden, Northern Ireland, and England!

In the Northern Ireland Crime Fiction, two writers whom I have recently got into are Adrian McKinty and Brian McGilloway whose novels are both set in their home country with McKinty’s Detective Sean Duffy’s series (currently seven in the series) being set in Carrickfergus and McGilloway’s DI Lucy Black series (currently four in the series) set in Derry.

Both writers are great and their books are really good and reading them as a Northern Irish person makes them more interesting as I can picture some of the places where the stories and crimes take place. In May I read ‘In the Morning I’ll be Gone’ by Adrian McKinty (no. 3 in the series) and in September I read ‘Bad Blood’ by Brian McGilloway (no. 4 in the series – and currently the last, so am hoping more in this series will be written).

In the Swedish Crime Fiction, I recently read ‘Still Waters’ by Viveca Sten which follows the work of Detective Thomas Anderasson. I really enjoyed this book and there are more in the series which I am looking forward to reading. And reading this made me want to go and visit Sweden, a place I have never been before.

In the English Crime Fiction, I have been reading Damien Boyd who sets his DCI Nixon series (currently eight in the series) in Avon and Somerset and LJ Ross who sets her DCI Ryan series (currently eight in the series) in Northumberland.

I must confess in August I read three of Damien Boyd’s books: ‘Swansong’, ‘Kickback’ and ‘Dead Level’ all within three days.  I just couldn’t put them down and after reading one I had to continue to read the next one in order to find out what was going to happen next. But before that in June, I had already read the first two books: ‘Head in the Sand’ and ‘As the Crow Flies’

This is the same with LJ Ross as in September within three days I read ‘Angel’, ‘Highforce’ and ‘Cragside’. I read ‘Angel’ over 24 hours and then after reading the last chapter of it, where DI McKenzie was kidnapped, I needed to read ‘Highforce’, the next one in the series to find out what happened to her – and I stayed up to 2am reading half the book and finished it the next day. And if that wasn’t enough I then started on ‘Cragside’ – book 6 in the series. But before all that in June I had already read ‘Sycamore Gap’, the first in the series and then in August, I read ‘Heavenfield’, the second in the series.

They are excellent books – all of them in both series. And now I feel like DCI Nixon and DCI Ryan are friends as I have read so much about them!

And in American Fiction I have read ‘Alert’ by James Patterson which is part of the Detective Michael Bennett series (there are eight in the series so far) and they are set in New York. Then there was ‘No Middle Name’ which is a collection of short stories all about Jack Reacher by Lee Child who is an ex-Military Policeman but now a Nomad, travelling around America – but wherever he goes trouble seems to find him!!. And the last book was ‘Shakedown’ by Joel Goldman which is part of the Special Agent Jack Davis series (there are four in the series so far).

I do seem to read a diverse mix of books and here is to doing some more reading! It is great to read and get lost in another world and escape from real life for a moment or two! 

TV: Intriguing TV Characters

Following on from my previous post re Book Characters who become like part of the family, I now want to move on to TV Characters who have that something which makes you wish they were your friends, or they have an air or a mystery about them which makes you want to know more about them. Sometimes you just want to know what is going on inside their heads, what is their backstory, what makes them tick etc. – basically characters that intrigue.

The characters who intrigue me are:

Dr. Derek Shepherd – AKA McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy (Portrayed by Patrick Dempsey). Derek Shepherd is a neurosurgeon, and yes he is very handsome as well a deep and brooding which is why he got his McDreamy nickname. He is a very compassionate man. He is very good at his job as well as being a perfectionist. Everything for Dr. Shepherd is black and white and there is a sadness in him which seems to stem from his father’s murder which he witnessed when he was only a child.

Detective John Cardinal from Cardinal – a show named after its protagonist (portrayed by Billy Campbell).  Cardinal is another deep and mysterious man who always seems to have the whole world on his shoulders as he juggles dealing with difficult murder cases and his wife’s manic depression. When you look at his eyes you can see a sadness within them which just makes me want to give him a hug and make things a bit brighter for him!

Jason Bull from Bull – another show named after its protagonist (portrayed by Michael Weatherly). Bull is a trial scientist and is a very intelligent and determined man who hates to lose or be taken for a ride. Again he has a sadness in his eyes which comes from a difficult childhood, but he is a very caring man who always looks out for others – putting their needs before his which can be detrimental to him.

Dr. Doug Ross from E.R (portrayed by George Clooney) – another brooding doctor whose life hasn’t been the best – from a bad childhood to messing up with women and never getting any of his relationships right. However, there is one woman who tries to change him and that is Nurse Carol Hathaway. Dr. Ross is a paeds doctor and goes over and beyond in his work which gets him into trouble more than once, eventually leading to him upping sticks and leaving his job, his friends, Chicago, and even Carol  - his one true love – behind, which causes heartache for both of them. But he asked her to go and she wouldn’t…..

So the common denominator between all these men are – they have a deep sadness in their eyes, they are all caring – wanting to fix others either by healing them or finding justice by locking up criminals or proving people are innocent. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that they are all extremely easy on the eye!! 

Literature - Intriguing Book Characters

Have you ever read a book and felt like you really know the characters? Like they are friends of yours?  Are there characters in books who have got under your skin – for good reasons and for bad! – are their come characters who you want to know more about e.g. what is their back story etc. – are their characters who just seem to be good people who you wish you were more alike?

Well this is the case for me – I can get absorbed into a book and there are people in books who I want to know more about and if they were real would love to have a chat with them.

These characters are:

1. Jack Reacher – created by Lee Child. Reacher as he is known as, is an ex-military policeman who is now a nomad - he travels around America - just going from city to city – only carrying his passport, money and a toothbrush - but no matter where he gets off the bus he always seems to be in the right place at the right time or actually some may say that wherever Reacher goes, trouble always follows him
2. Michael Bennett – created by James Patterson. Bennett is an NYPD Cop who as well as dealing with crime on the streets of New York, also has to cope with 10 children who are all adopted and are a mix of different races. Bennett’s wife died so he brings the kids up alone but does have help from his grandfather Seamus as well as the live in Nanny Mary Catherine. Bennett is good at his job but can also get into scrapes from time to time and put people’s backs up!
3. DI Nick Dixon – created by Damien Boyd. Dixon is a DI in the Somerset & Avon Police in England. In the first book Dixon starts off as a single man who lives with his dog Monty - but as the story continues he becomes involved with a fellow colleague. Dixon is a very good DI and always ends up bringing down the bad guys of the crimes he is investigating – which range from a climber falling to his death to bodies turning up without their heads!
4. Detective Sean Duffy – created by Adrian McKinty. Duffy is a quirky character who works as a detective in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. Duffy always seems to be getting himself into trouble while trying to solve the latest murder that happens on his turf. He gets on very well with his fellow colleagues in his unit but isn’t a favourite with other people on the force – he is very good at ruffling feathers.
5. DCI Maxwell Finlay-Ryan – created by LJ Ross.  Ryan as is known as, is a DCI within the Northumbria Police Force. Ryan has a part he cannot run from and in the first three books gets embroiled in a case which is far bigger than he thinks - but in the middle of it all he meets the love of his life – Anna Taylor.  Ryan is the type of guy who will never give up in getting the bad guy – he is dedicated to his job and getting justice for those who have been murdered.
6. Will Jaeger - created by Bear Grylls. Jaeger is an ex- SAS soldier whose family have been take away from him and now is on a mission to find them and the truth about what happened to them and bringing down those who kidnapped them. Jaeger is determined to get to the truth and will go to the ends of the earth to find it – his mission takes him to the Amazon Jungle to Africa via the Arctic Circle.

All these characters intrigue me and they all have one thing in common – they all fight for what is right and they are all men in uniforms!!!   

Life: Singleness

Singleness can be a good thing but it can also be very hard – seeing all your friends partnered up, some with children and some with no children. It is hard seeing them happy – having a companion to do life with. But what we have to realise is that marriage can be hard and bringing up children is no piece of cake either.

So is singleness better or is marriage better? It is not really a contest, though sometimes when married people always talk about their husbands it can be hard e.g. “I better go as my husband has made a cup of tea for me” - well why rub it in – those comments can sting. Us single people can be very sensitive about the issue.

There are benefits in both being single and also in being married.

According to the Bible being single is a gift – a present from God to us. Well, sometimes I wish I could return the gift of singleness – but maybe I should just accept that the season of life that I am in at the minute – singledom – and be grateful for this git   but its not easy to be grateful for a gift that you don’t necessarily want - it can be difficult to enjoy a present that is not what you asked for – like a kid at Christmas who asked for the latest games console but got a science kit instead!!

Something we need to remember is that while we may be single, in Jesus we have the greatest friend who is always with us.  Sometimes it is hard to see this when we are craving earthly companionship.

Some people say that if you are single you are incomplete without “the one”, but we have to remember that cliché or not, we do already have the ultimate “one” – we are Christ’s bride – our identity is in him and not in having a boyfriend, a husband or children. So instead of a Christian woman saying “I am single,” we should say “I am a Christian who just happens to be single” -so putting our identity before our circumstances.

Singleness feels so hard in a world that promote couples and in churches it is mostly about couples and families – hardly any mention of those who are on their own – whether they are single because of never being married, or single because their husband/wife has died or single because their husband/wife has left them.

The saying “You can feel lonely in a crowd” becomes a total reality when you walk into church or a party with friends or family alone – but in these times we need to remember that God is with us and he is not unfaithful to any of his promises and He promises to always be there for us – so we all need to sit back and let him do so – whether we are single or married, have kids or are childless.