Falling Angels: Tracy Chevalier:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6371005

This is the third novel by Tracy Chevalier that I have read and I have found them all utterly compelling and so different. I loved the choice of title which I felt was a clever use of symbolism, with angels falling throughout the book! The opening chapter may well surprise you about those staid Victorians.
Falling Angels is about the friendship of two little girls Lavinia Waterhouse and Maude Coleman.
Covering the time from when they first met in the local graveyard, where their family plots are next door to each other. It is 1901 and everyone is in mourning for the death of Queen Victoria. We follow the girls growing up through changing times for the next nine years. The book is narrated by just about every character in the book, so the story comes together seen through the eyes of not only the two protagonists but their families, household staff and two members of the graveyard staff that play important roles in the plot. This structure gave the effect of feeling very much part of the plot oneself as though all the characters were speaking to you personally, which very cleverly makes you feel you are there! Drawn into the seemingly mundane lives of the Waterhouse and Coleman families the drama builds as Maude’s mother becomes involved with the suffragette movement and a series of tragedies occur.
I recommend this novel as an enjoyable read written from an interesting angle about a fascinating period in British history.

Best Foot Forward by Susie Kelly

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4099664

Susie Kelly, a fifty plus English woman domiciled in France decided to take time out from a busy smallholding lifestyle and walk miles across France.

The idea came to her while walking in the lanes around her home one cold January day and becoming bored with repitiveness of her walks. Incidentally an idea I find strange as I always find there is something different to look at with the ever changing seasons.
So Susie decides to embark on a walk from La Rochelle to Lake Geneva. A journey of some 550 miles that would take her approx six weeks to complete. Four months of planning and training followed before she set off, leaving her smallholding in the capable hands of an American she had found via the internet!

This was a decent average read but I do not rate it highly enough to give it 4 or 5 stars on Amazon as all the other reviewers appear to have done. I felt that Susie must be an exceptionally determined woman with a good sense of humour to have succeeded in overcoming the difficulties she encountered en route. A leaking tent and almost constant pain with my feet would have had me going mad.

A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6391386

This personal diary covers a two month period in the life of a young German woman. She writes of her life in Berlin from April to June 1945 when Berliners came to realise what war and defeat was to mean to them as the Russian army arrived in the city. The protagonist is anonymous but we know that she worked in publishing and is intelligent. She speaks some Russian and French which helped her to cope in the horrendous situation Berliners found themselves in after the fall of the Nazis.
A large proportion of the women were subjected to the indignity of rape and the diary reveals how the women and the protagonist in particular coped with the terrifying situation that they found themselves in. They were struggling for survival from day to day from the horrendous violence, cruelty and starvation. It seemed that the Russians subjected them to this treatment in retaliation for their suffering under the Germans earlier in the war.
A tragic true account of an extraordinary brief period during the Second World War which I am glad I read although it is quite distressing.

Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7061961

If I had read the book cover before deciding to read this I would probably never have started it, as it does say that this author is the queen of modern fairytale, the idea of which just does not appeal to me.
A strange tale of modern fantasy; which did not appeal to me very much. Although I did finish reading in the hope that it might have improved. It didn’t which was disappointing.
I found the story was spun out for far too long and it therefore became rather boring. After having a blood transfusion the heroine Joyce Conway finds that she has memories and talents that she never had beforehand. It appears that she has taken these attributes from Justin Hitchcock the hero of the story, although of course it takes a long time for her to discover and prove this rather ridiculous fantasy.

The only other title I have read by this author is her debut novel P.S. I Love You which I seem to remember I enjoyed. I do not think I will be going out of my way to read any more by this author

If I had read the book cover before deciding to read this I would probably never have started it, as it does say that this author is the queen of modern fairytale, the idea of which just does not appeal to me.
A strange tale of modern fantasy; which did not appeal to me very much. Although I did finish reading in the hope that it might have improved. It didn’t which was disappointing.
I found the story was spun out for far too long and it therefore became rather boring. After having a blood transfusion the heroine Joyce Conway finds that she has memories and talents that she never had beforehand. It appears that she has taken these attributes from Justin Hitchcock the hero of the story, although of course it takes a long time for her to discover and prove this rather ridiculous fantasy.

The only other title I have read by this author is her debut novel P.S. I Love You which I seem to remember I enjoyed. I do not think I will be going out of my way to read any more by this author