Books I read on my jollies

Just back from a wonderfully relaxing week of winter sun on our jollies. One of the joys of holidays, for me, is being able to sink into a book, or ten, and here's some I read this last week.

Diaries of a Fleet Street Fox by Susie Boniface

I've often felt disappointed by a book, often felt let down, but I've never felt cheated before. While this was a good read and engaging enough to keep me going to the last page, it didn't do what it said on the tin or indeed the front or back cover. It's not the tabloid tales I was given to expect - and what the cover of the book says it is. It's an account of the author's marriage breakdown.  Cathartic for her, I'm sure, but not what I was expecting or wanted.

A disappointing 3/10

Sun Dog by Monique Roffey

Wonderful, soft, sunny and special.  A tale of an unusual young man falling in love and finding out about life, his past and his future.  He's unusual because he's very sensitive to the seasons and I won't say more than that because I don't want to spoil anything for you.  Just go out and buy it, it's gorgeous. Monique Roffey isn't an author I've read before but I will seek out her other novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle.

A sumptuous 8/10

The Woman in The Fifth by Douglas Kennedy

Fantastic. I couldn't turn the pages quick enough to find out what was going to happen next. I absorbed every word, loved every minute of this book - until, that is, about two-thirds of the way through, when it all went wrong.   It was as if the author couldn't decide, or didn't know, how to end the story so stuck his finger in the air to see which way the cliches were belowing, plucked one from nowhere and stuck it to the last third of the story.  A real shame as it was fantastic up until then.

For the first two-thirds of the book, a whopping 10/10, for the last third 1/10

Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd

Beautifully written.  However I'm no fan of history novels and especially those dealing with war, so I found some of it dull.  But on the whole, a great read from, as they say, a master storyteller.

An enjoyable 7/10