The Soldier's Song by Alan Monaghan

A true anti war book
Review by The Mole

The story is about Stephen Ryan, a maths student from Dublin and follows his life from the start of the first world war when he volunteers and becomes an officer in a Dublin regiment.

I was warned it would be about family conflict around the Easter Uprising because so many are. It wasn't.

It's a love story that so rings true it is beyond belief. It is about family in conflict during war. It is about stress and trauma on the battlefield. It is about 'bravery' whatever that actually is. It is about social class.

This book was a brilliant book. It was compelling to read as well as easy to read.

The story takes Stephen from conflict to conflict while at the same time building a bond between himself and his younger brother and finds this shy, if not aspergic, individual falling for Lillian, a student at the same university before the war. It exposes Stephen to about every form of shock and trauma that the war could throw at him in an effort to try to get the reader to understand the full horror that a war can create.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough and if it doesn't make the best seller lists for 2010 then there is no justice. Please, Please try this book.

Publisher - Macmillan
Genre - adult, war, fiction

Kiss of Death by Peter Beere

Do we understand it all?
Review by The Mole

Sadie Ross is all alone. Her mother is dead and her boyfriend has left her. All that she touches seems to shrivel and die. Sadie has the kiss of death... but when she meets Tony, Sadie's Luck seems to change - perhaps life and love have not passed her by...

Until the murders start... is there anyone she can turn to before she becomes the next victim?

It is difficult to say much about this book without giving plot spoilers. It was an easy read but an experience like one I have not had before. Told from Sadie's point of view but it is very difficult to get to understand her - but this is not because it is badly written, but quite the opposite it is very well written but Sadie is a teenager that has had a lot of things happen to her and she is lost, alone and very sad. But is she paranoid as well?

An extremely entertaining book aimed at teenagers but having finished reading I was left wondering "Did that explain it all? Is there more unsaid?".

Unfortunately there aren't many new versions of this around now as it was first published in 1994 and our library service lists it but has lost it (someone ought to return it?). Non the less well worth a read if you can get your hands on a copy.

Publisher - Point Crime - Scholastic
Genre - Teenage, Crime, Thriller

Buy Kiss of Death (Point Crime) from Amazon

Late For Tea at the Deer Palace by Tamara Chalabi

"The Lost Dreams of my Iraqi Family"
Review by The Mole

... is described as "The story of Iraq, told from an Iraqi woman's perspective" which is not truly the case. Tamara Chalabi was born in Lebanon into a family in exile from Iraq after the 1958 revolution. But this family was no ordinary family having been a very influential family in Iraq - and Mesopotamia before - for many years and in fact the story starts the history of the family in 1833 with the birth of Ali Chalabi - although the narrative itself starts in 1913.

Because they were one of the most powerful, respected, influential families much of their history intertwines with the history of Iraq, even when in exile.

Tamara has a PhD in history and tells their story quite impartially and in trying to explain the 1958 revolution I actually could see some justification for the revolution - such is her impartiality. The story follows family members from each generation and reflects on their successes, their failings as well as their misfortunes. If the real lives of some of the family were written into novels then the reader would scoff - but these are real events in history and sometimes life IS stranger than fiction. More than just a history of Iraq and her family she also tries to explain the difference between between the various forms of Islam and the plight of such groups as the Kurds through the involvement of her family with these groups.

I found it most fascinating and laden with information. I was amazed with how much Iraqi - and sometimes world - history I gleaned from the reading. Well worth a read for so many reasons, not least of all is because it was 'enjoyable'. Not quite the right word but it's the closest I can come to a word and I came away feeling a lot more informed on the history of Iraq as well as customs surrounding the Islamic faith and just a little of the religion as well.

Publisher - Harper Press
Genre - history, non-fiction, Tamara Chalabi

Buy Late for Tea at the Deer Palace: The Lost Dreams of My Iraqi Family from Amazon

My Swordhand Is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick

Proper Old-Fashioned Vampires
review by Maryom

After many years of travelling, constantly moving from one place to another, Peter and his father have settled at last in the village of Chust. Despite it's picturesque setting with meadows and forests, Peter feels it's a place with something dreadful hanging over it. As the villagers prepare for winter - coating their door and window frames with tar and garlic to keep evil at bay - the feeling increases. Then various villagers start to claim that their dead loved ones have returned from their graves to visit them...


My Swordhand Is Singing takes the reader back to a time when vampires were ghastly, disgusting, half-rotten, half-dead creatures risen from their graves, best avoided at all costs - not the handsome, devilishly-dashing, film-star sort played by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt - and I think I prefer them this way. It's a wonderfully spooky, creepy, shivers down the spine book. The tension mounts slowly with hints of evil lurking in the forest and the reader just *knows* something appalling is going to happen.

I first discovered Marcus Sedgwick through an audiobook of White Crow which I won on Twitter and found seriously scary. So when I found My Swordhand is Singing in my library I picked it up mainly out of curiosity and loved it so much, I've immediately ordered more by the author. Although aimed at teens, they've the right amount of scariness and horror for me.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Orion
Genre - teenage fiction, horror

Black Swan Rising by Lee Carroll

Something Strange Stirring in New York City
review by Maryom

On a wet, foggy day Garet James finds herself in an unknown area of New York, desperately seeking somewhere to take shelter from the rain. Something draws her into a strange antiques shop where the owner talks her into doing him a favour and opening an old, soldered shut, silver box. Little does she know, her life will never be the same....

I thought this book started off very well. I was suitably intrigued by the discovery of the silver box, by burglars obviously trying to steal it but somehow when more supernatural beings entered the story, I started to lose interest. I've nothing against vampires, particularly if they're young, rich and handsome, nor the otherworldly beings occupying New York City but somehow they weren't presented in a way to keep my attention. I'm sure a lot of paranormal romance fans will love this book - unfortunately I didn't.

Maryom's review - 3 stars
Publisher - Bantam Books
Genre - paranormal romance,

Buy Black Swan Rising from Amazon

Philip Ardagh's Book of Howlers, Blunders and Random Mistakery

No mistake with this one
Review by The Mole

I saw this on sale as I walked past a shop doorway and just felt I had to take a closer look. The first page I read was about some Rossian soldiers during the first world war and rumours that they started. I quickly became convinced I had made a mistake. Having started to read I found it addictive and I had appointments to keep.

This book is, despite the look of it, non-fiction and is a collection of facts gathered from too many sources to contemplate and totally based on fact. But these facts are not ordinary facts. The people involved in many of them would rather you didn't know these facts. Facts from film, radio, TV and many more sources that have caused many people very red faces. But there is one question I would like an answer to... why is it sold as a children's book? It is a while since my 18th birthday (in fact I have long since completed my 3rd 18th birthday) but I still find it entertaining, informative and amusing. I will admit that Mr Ardagh has written it in a style that makes it accessible to children but it does not adopt a condescending attitude that makes adults want to put it down. Well worth a read and if you are embarrassed to buy it for yourself then get it for a son, daughter, grandchild, niece, nephew or some random child on the street - just make sure you've read it before you pass it on.

Publisher - Macmillan Children's
Genre - Non-Fiction

Buy Philip Ardagh's Book of Howlers, Blunders and Random Mistakery from Amazon

The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Not So Scary
review by Maryom

Strange things are happening in the MacNeil household - noises in the attic, strange smells, furniture that re-arranges itself.... Then 11 yr old Regan's behaviour changes dramatically. When medical tests can't find a reason, mother Chris decides it's time to call in an exorcist...

Scary? Not really.
I hadn't read The Exorcist before and, perhaps more surprisingly, haven't seen the film, even so I've seen lots of clips of the 'making of' variety which gave me a good idea of what to expect. It's hardly possible for someone of my age to be unaware of The Exorcist's basic plot - though to be honest, I think the title itself actually gives away quite a lot. Therefore when the noises first start in the attic, I knew what they represented and there was no gradual build up of tension as I knew what was coming.
I had expected though that as things moved along, they would get scarier - but I didn't find they did. In retrospect I think it comes down to two things - a) I don't believe in possession - and b) none of the characters seemed particularly afraid. Chris, the mother of the possessed girl is distraught and despairing, but at the same time quite practical in her outlook - If conventional doctors cannot solve her daughter's problems, then she'll get in a priest who can. All the priests seem to approach the concept in a pragmatical 'how to tackle this' frame of mind. It's something unusual but not outside their remit and they even have laid down procedures for it, which they follow. If you watch this film in a cinema then someone in the audience is bound to squeal at the sickening bits; the characters don't - they just get on with tidying up!

Shocking? I wonder if back in the good old days of the '70s Regan's language would have been worthy of note. I can hear this sort of thing from 12 year olds most Saturdays downtown outside MacDonalds - hopefully without the vomiting though.

Considering all the hype around the film, I'd expected something FAR scarier. Maybe if I'd seen the film first, my reaction would be different - who knows?

Maryom's review - 3 stars
Publisher - Corgi
Genre - adult, horror
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